Today In Issues:
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Iran appoints another hard-liner to head state broadcasting JPost's Seth J. Frantzman: Iran's IRGC Quds Force head hints at group's power at home and Middle East U.S. lost war in Afghanistan through miscalculations spanning multiple administrations, Milley tells lawmakers WaPo’s David Ignatius: The Pentagon begins a very American process of postwar accountability and rebuilding Amid tensions with U.S., Erdogan praises ties with Russia Bloomberg’s Eli Lake: Why is Iraq afraid of better relations with Israel? U.S., Qatar target Hezbollah financial network with sanctions Text of Treasury Department press release: The United States and Qatar take coordinated action against Hizballah financiers Former New Zealand Ambassador to the U.S. Tim Groser: The U.S. has a way back on Pacific trade North Korea sees U.S. as ongoing threat, Kim Jong Un says in speech Congressman Mike Gallagher: The Pentagon’s ‘deterrence’ strategy ignores hard-earned lessons about the balance of powerIn The News
Iran
In response to a media report of the US asking China to cut oil imports from Iran, China’s Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday that China’s cooperation with Iran is conducted within the framework of international law and urged the US to drop its “long-arm jurisdiction.” – Global Times
With U.S. sanctions still strangling the economy, record-breaking inflation has hit ordinary Iranians where it hurts most. Stunned shoppers are cutting meat and dairy from their diets, buying less and less each month. – Associated Press
Iran’s state TV is reporting that the country’s top leader has appointed a new hard-line ally to head the state broadcasting company. The Wednesday report says that Peyman Jebeli has replaced Abdolali Ali Asgari, who completed a five-year term. The change comes at the order of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the final say on all state matters. – Associated Press
A German-Iranian professor at a Norwegian technical university was charged Wednesday with violating sanctions on Iran by inviting four guest researchers from the Islamic Republic and giving them access to a laboratory. – Associated Press
Adm. Shahram Irani, head of the Iranian Navy, recently visited the Kurdish Region of Iran, where he is from. He was in Sanandaj, according to Iranian reports, where he spoke on a TV program and held other meetings. He highlighted the navy’s recent successes and also encouraged Kurdish Iranian youth to be encouraged by these recent successes. Iran’s Kurdish community has been sidelined by the regime at times, and there are many Kurdish dissident groups that Iran has contended with. – Jerusalem Post
Singer Googoosh has been called “The Voice of Iran,” but in 1979 her voice was silenced by the Islamic Revolution. This year, she’s celebrating 21 years since she broke that silence, with a new album and a tour of North America that stops next in Washington, DC, on Oct. 2. – NPR
Seth J. Frantzman writes: Iran’s Tasnim News Agency shed light on Thursday on the role that Iran and its support for Shi’ite Islamic groups may be playing in Nigeria. […]What is interesting here is that Iran’s Tasnim wants to showcase his role now, which appears to lift the lid on growing Iranian interests in spreading its influence in Africa. – Jerusalem Post
Seth J. Frantzman writes: Recent years have seen an ascendancy of key individuals linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in Iran. The IRGC already has a parallel state in Iran, controlling parts of the economy, foreign policy and building up new military technologies such as missiles, drones and attack boats. – Jerusalem Post
Jesse Bogner writes: Yet it is essential that Israel and the U.S. name the recent Iranian fuel deliveries, in Lebanon and Karabakh, for what they are — aggressive attempts to destabilize the Middle East and Eurasia, to circumvent American sanctions, and to undermine the broader shared strategic interests of Jerusalem and Washington. – Arutz Sheva
Afghanistan
President Biden’s top military adviser told lawmakers Wednesday that the war in Afghanistan was lost through pivotal decisions spanning four previous administrations, offering his latest defense of the commander in chief whose order to end the 20-year campaign and the treacherous evacuation that followed have come under withering scrutiny on Capitol Hill. – Washington Post
And so goes the cultural unraveling of Afghanistan’s capital six weeks into the Taliban’s resurgence. The group’s return to power — and its history of destroying precious art and relics it considered sacrilegious — has reopened the psychic wounds of the past, at once triggering anxiety and efforts by individual Afghans to protect their culture. – Washington Post
The Taliban has said that women will be banned from teaching or studying at public universities in Afghanistan until they can be segregated from men — but at Kabul University, students of both genders have been sent home. The normally bustling campus was deserted and silent on Wednesday. Classes have been suspended; only male staff have been allowed to work on research or office tasks. – Washington Post
With the Taliban victorious, what will happen next for the people of Arzo is uncertain. International aid money to Afghanistan has been frozen, and the new government’s ability to provide public services — let alone rebuild villages like Arzo that were practically destroyed in the fighting — is unproven. – New York Times
Iranian media have trumpeted a report that the Taliban warned the US against drone operations, which the group says violates obligations to Qatar. Of interest here is that the Taliban claimed the US use of drones goes against not only international law but also “its obligations to the Islamic Emirate of Doha, Qatar.” – Jerusalem Post
More than 100 U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents evacuated to Abu Dhabi from Afghanistan aboard a charter flight are expected to fly on to the United States on Thursday, the State Department and flight organisers said. – Reuters
An extraordinary meeting of the Group of 20 major economies to discuss Afghanistan will take place on Oct. 12, Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi said on Wednesday. – Reuters
As the international community wrestles over whether to recognise the new Taliban regime in Kabul, one country has quickly made clear where it stands. Neighbouring Tajikistan has emerged as a vocal critic of the government and a hub for Afghan resistance. – Financial Times
President Joe Biden should not position U.S. troops at Russian bases, his congressional allies warned following a report that a top Pentagon official discussed such an idea with his Russian counterpart. – Washington Examiner
The sprawling size of the U.S. airbase at Bagram and its isolation from Kabul meant that keeping it under American control was “untenable under the situation” once President Joe Biden ordered all U.S. forces out of Afghanistan, U.S. Central Command’s top officer told a House panel Wednesday. – USNI News
James Hohmann writes: Now the U.S. government has no presence at all. The rapid collapse of Afghanistan’s government and military should humble U.S. leaders about our ability to bend the world to our will. The horizon will always be receding. – Washington Post
David Ignatius writes: The military did its duty in Afghanistan. It followed orders up the hill and back down, but it made its own mistakes, too. This week, a very American process of postwar accountability and rebuilding seemed to begin. – Washington Post
Shabana Basij-Rasikh writes: They know that the permanent threat to their legitimacy is the way they choose to control women and girls. We are the ones they must talk to, and we always have been. We are the ones who must be shown proof that it is possible to continue to educate girls in their new Afghanistan. A nation cannot be built upon a foundation of empty classrooms and ashes. The Taliban — and more crucially Afghanistan — needs us now. – Washington Post
Judith Miller writes: If there was one area of agreement – but perhaps cold comfort to President Biden, whose popularity ratings have been falling in recent weeks — it was the generals’ agreement with him that staying in Afghanistan would have triggered an end to the one pledge the Taliban had made in Doha and honored – its vow not to kill U.S. and allied troops during the withdrawal. – Fox News
James Jay Carafano writes: What we learned Tuesday is that everyone in Washington is well-practiced at their parts. If we are going to get transparency and accountability over what happened in Afghanistan and the threats we now face as result, we are going to need an independent, non-partisan commission like we had after 9/11. – Fox News
Kelly Moss, Jacob Kurtzer, and Sue Eckert write: While a temporarily pause of bilateral assistance is warranted, it is imperative that it remains just that: a temporary pause. The longer the international community takes in deciding how to proceed with the Taliban, the greater the likelihood of a humanitarian catastrophe. If countries condition aid to the government of Afghanistan under Taliban control, donors need to ensure that direct funding continues to humanitarian and other civil society organizations. – Center for Strategic and International Studies
Syria
The United States has no plans to “normalize or upgrade” diplomatic relations with the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and also does not encourage others to do so, a State Department spokesperson said on Wednesday. – Reuters
Jordan fully reopened its main border crossing with Syria on Wednesday in a move to boost the countries’ struggling economies and reinforce a push by Arab states to reintegrate Syria after shunning it during its civil war. – Reuters
Elham Ahmad, Andrew J. Tabler, and David Pollock write: Turkey plays a particularly important role in the Syrian story. Its military activities in the north have critical implications for the SDC, Syrian Kurds, the AANES, and Syria writ large. Despite a pre-2015 record of cooperation with Syrian Kurds, Turkey’s more recent invasion and occupation will complicate any efforts to restore cooperation. […]Yet the need to find such a balance will surely remain important going forward. – Washington Institute
Turkey
Relations between President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the Biden administration may be frayed, but on Wednesday the Turkish leader made abundantly clear his access to an alternative partner for trade and military deals: President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia. – New York Times
The foreign minister of the divided island of Cyprus is accusing Turkey’s president of attempting to promote a new Ottoman empire in the eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East — and says such an approach to geopolitics could adversely impact regional security. – Associated Press
Russian President Vladimir Putin told his Turkish counterpart Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday that Turkey is shielded from a gas crisis, which has gripped Europe, thanks to the Russian-built TurkStream gas pipeline. – Reuters
Asli Aydintasbas writes: The meeting between Erdogan and Putin lasted nearly three hours, and it’s hard to know what Turkey got out of it. But what is clear is that Erdogan’s traditional balancing act is no longer working, and Putin is the one in a position of strength, able to pressure Turkey economically and in Syria. If Erdogan had not alienated his NATO partners, or if he did not face a critical majority at home, no doubt he would have found it easier to push back against Putin. – Washington Post
Stefano Graziosi and James Jay Carafano write: What could be achieved in Turkish-U.S. cooperation would likely be modest, but helpful to both nations—especially helpful to Erdogan in mitigating his risks in Afghanistan. This is the way Ankara and Washington should have, but didn’t, partner in Libya. Can both learn from their mistakes? – Heritage Foundation
Israel
Israeli police said Thursday that officers shot a Palestinian woman who allegedly attempted to stab them in east Jerusalem’s Old City. She was pronounced dead at the scene. – Associated Press
US President Joe Biden reportedly rejected a request from Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to meet last week on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. – Times of Israel
A Palestinian Islamic Jihad gunman was shot dead as he opened fire toward Israeli troops near the West Bank city of Jenin overnight, the Israel Police said in a statement Thursday morning. – Times of Israel
Iraq
A conference last Friday in Iraq’s Kurdistan Region looked routine enough, with speakers at a satin-draped table in the ballroom of a luxury hotel and men in suits and tribal robes in the audience. But there was nothing routine about the agenda: pressing for Iraq to normalize relations with Israel, a rare and risky public stance in Iraq that has emerged as an unexpected flash point in the simmering tensions between the Kurds and central government. Participants are now facing arrest warrants, death threats and the loss of jobs. – New York Times
Iraq’s top Shiite cleric called Wednesday for wide participation in next month’s parliament elections, saying that despite “shortcomings,” voting remains the best way for Iraqis to take part in shaping their country’s future. – Associated Press
Iraq is scheduled to go to the polls on October 10, electing a new House of Representatives that will then choose a prime minister. These will be the first elections since popular demonstrations roiled the country beginning in October 2019. Government and militia death squad repression of those demonstrations killed hundreds of young people with little to no accountability. – Middle East Media Research Institute
Eli Lake writes: The U.S. should protect the Iraqis who attended the Erbil conference. This is not only because it is in America’s interest that Iraq have a normal relationship with Israel. It is also because Iraq cannot be considered a free or democratic nation if its militias and courts are used to silence its own citizens. – Bloomberg
Lebanon
This fall, the academic year in Lebanon is gripped by the same chaos that has overwhelmed everything else in the country in its financial and economic meltdown. Thousands of teachers are on strike, demanding salary adjustments to cope with hyperinflation and the currency’s free-fall. A month’s pay is now barely enough to fill a vehicle’s gas tank twice. – Associated Press
Hundreds of Lebanese, including families of Beirut port explosion victims, rallied Wednesday in the capital to support the judge investigating the blast after he was forced to suspend his work. – Associated Press
More than 1 million Syrian refugees in crisis-hit Lebanon are experiencing deteriorating conditions that have left nine out of ten of them in extreme poverty, U.N. agencies warned Wednesday. – Associated Press
A senior official in the Lebanese Shi’ite group Hezbollah told the judge investigating the disastrous Beirut port blast that it would remove him from the probe, according to a journalist who says she conveyed the message and a judicial source. – Reuters
Arabian Peninsula
The United States and Qatar took coordinated action on Wednesday targeting a Hezbollah financial network in the Arabian Peninsula, the U.S. Treasury Department said in a statement. – Reuters
Leader of the UK Labour Party Sir Keir Starmer has said he welcomes the Abraham Accords agreements between Israel, the United Emirates and Bahrain, and that he welcomes diplomatic normalization between Israel and Arab countries. – Jerusalem Post
Israel’s foreign minister arrived in Bahrain on Thursday, the first high-level visit to the small Gulf state by a senior Israeli official since the signing last year of a landmark agreement to establish diplomatic ties. – Associated Press
Middle East & North Africa
Tunisian President Kais Saied, facing growing resistance to a power-grab that his opponents called a coup, appointed a new prime minister on Wednesday to help tackle the North African country’s worsening economic problems. – Wall Street Journal
European judges have struck down two trade and fisheries agreements between the EU and Morocco, in a victory for campaigners who argued the union had not gained consent from the disputed territory of Western Sahara. – Financial Times
A series of high level meetings with US officials and regional officials showcases how Washington wants to shore up its policy in the Middle East. […]Israel is a key partner of Greece, Cyprus, France, Egypt, the US and many of the countries involved. These partnerships include activities such as the Noble Dina naval exercise earlier this year and other groupings such as the East Med Gas Forum. As such the US delegation in the region this week and next should be seen to be part of thew wider network of friendships from Paris to Abu Dhabi. – Jerusalem Post
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, in a phone call with Tunisian President Kais Saied on Wednesday, stressed the importance of Tunisia’s democratic achievements for its stability, her spokesman said. – Reuters
President Joe Biden’s national security adviser held talks Wednesday with Egypt’s president that focused on regional tensions and the ties between Washington and its Mideast ally, the Egyptian leader’s office said. – Associated Press
Korean Peninsula
Kim Jong Un said the U.S. threat against North Korea remains “utterly unchanged” under President Biden, accusing Washington of using increasingly cunning methods and words. – Wall Street Journal
On Wednesday, North Korean state media confirmed that a pillar of Mr. Kim’s plan had gotten its first public showcase. – Wall Street journal
South Korea’s ruling party has backed down on a controversial bill to impose tougher penalties for the publication of false information, after critics at home and abroad labelled it a move to stifle a free press and critical coverage. – Reuters
The United States is seeking more information on North Korea’s recent testing, including its hypersonic missile test, but remains keen to resume diplomatic talks, a senior U.S. arms control official said on Wednesday. – Reuters
China
The United States remains committed to expanding Taiwan’s space for international participation, a senior U.S. diplomat said at an event with Taiwan’s foreign minister that was also attended by the deputy U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. – Reuters
U.S. and Chinese military officials held “frank, in-depth” talks this week on a range of defense issues, the Pentagon said on Wednesday, as the countries grapple over their competing interests in the Indo-Pacific region. – Reuters
Hong Kong legislators have outlawed insulting the Chinese flag, including on the Internet, as the Asian financial hub continues a broad crackdown on and dissent. – Bloomberg
Recently, quite a few observers and analysts have suggested that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is unfamiliar with Afghanistan and the Taliban, and that the complete withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan will leave Beijing facing the Taliban directly and destabilize China. However, that is not the case. – Middle East Media Research Institute
LinkedIn is censoring profiles on its Chinese website of prominent journalists over “prohibited content” that is considered offensive to the country’s ruling communist party. – Business Insider
Adam Mount and Van Jackson write: Mr. Biden should guarantee that agreements like AUKUS do not undermine the United States’ deterrence credibility, its alliances and partnerships and its long-term interests like nuclear nonproliferation. Too often, a narrow focus on great power competition just leaves America less competitive in the long run. – New York Times
Shuli Ren writes: The anti-graft watchdog hopes that the crackdowns teach China’s bureaucrats to “dare not, cannot, and not want” to be corrupt. The loopholes in China’s labyrinthine system are tempting to exploit. But with so much harsh sentencing, who would dare? – Bloomberg
Vincent Bevins writes: Western voices have begun to characterize the U.S.-China rivalry as a new cold war, with the more hawkish among them demanding that Washington and its allies confront Beijing. Too often, these conversations evaluate this potential conflict and its consequences as if they will only concern people in the U.S. and China. How much damage—economic or military—would the two powers tolerate? How much might each suffer? Who would win? – The Atlantic
South Asia
A prominent Rohingya Muslim leader who once visited the White House was shot and killed Wednesday by unidentified gunmen at a refugee camp in Bangladesh, police officials and rights groups said. – Washington Post
The United Nations chief is urging unified regional and international action to prevent the crisis in Myanmar from becoming a large-scale conflict and multi-faceted “catastrophe” in the heart of Southeast Asia and beyond. – Associated Press
“Taliban Khan” got the last laugh. Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan appears vindicated by the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan. The charismatic former cricket star and playboy had for years criticised the US invasion of Afghanistan, using anti-American messaging that found an audience beyond hardline Islamists in his own country. – Financial Times
Harsh V. Pant and Chirayu Thakkar write: The political differences between the United States and India require sensitive handling and patient, pragmatic solutions that address mutual concerns while keeping in mind the Quad’s broader goals. Creative and accommodative diplomacy between the two countries will underpin any future Quad success—a test neither can afford to fail. – Foreign Policy
Asia
Access to an online museum commemorating the Tiananmen Square massacre appeared to be blocked in Hong Kong, the latest regression for Internet freedoms and a strike against a symbol of what distinguished the city from mainland China. – Washington Post
With the world’s oldest population, rapidly declining births, gargantuan public debt and increasingly damaging natural disasters fueled by climate change, Japan faces deep-rooted challenges that the longstanding governing party has failed to tackle. Yet in choosing a new prime minister on Wednesday, the Liberal Democratic Party elected the candidate least likely to offer bold solutions. – New York Times
Singapore’s main opposition, The Workers’ Party, has called for changes to be made to a draft foreign interference law, citing a need for more transparency, after experts and rights groups also raised concerns about the law’s broad provisions. – Reuters
Chinese language community news groups in Australia are publishing news censored by translators they use in China to avoid potential repercussions in Beijing, an Australian think tank said. – Reuters
Tim Groser writes: The regional stakes were high even before China’s aggressive move on Hong Kong, its saber-rattling in Taiwan, and its ramped-up trade war with Australia. We now need to hear American leaders on both sides of the aisle talking about re-engaging in the region, not only on the political and military levels, but on the trade and economic architecture that will shape economic relations over the next decade and beyond. – Wall Street Journal
Russia
Russia is delaying the appointment of panels of independent experts to monitor violations of U.N. sanctions on South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Central African Republic (CAR)and Mali, diplomats said on Wednesday, leaving their work in limbo. – Reuters
Russia on Wednesday declared the OVD-Info protest monitoring group that played a major role in documenting anti-Kremlin demonstrations a “foreign agent”, in the latest move of its kind that critics say is designed to stifle dissent. – Reuters
Tom Rogan writes: In turn, whatever their factual grounding (or absence thereof), the charges against Sachkov evince just how delusional the Biden administration has been in its dialogue with the Kremlin on countering cybercrime. Biden should be holding the Kremlin to account for its active facilitation of ransomware and other cybercriminal activity. – Washington Examiner
Europe
U.S. and European Union officials agreed to join forces in an effort to boost the semiconductor supply chain and maintain leadership in emerging technologies. – Wall Street Journal
The head of the European Union’s executive branch on Wednesday called on Kosovo and Serbia to resolve their disputes through the dialogue and deescalate the recent tension over license plates. – Associated Press
President Joe Biden’s nominee as U.S. representative to a U.N. aviation body suggested on Wednesday that Belarus should be temporarily barred from voting at the council in response to its May diversion of a Ryanair (RYA.I) flight. – Reuters
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban backed his Czech counterpart Andrej Babis’ re-election bid on Wednesday, making a display of the close ties between the two central European leaders who have supported each other in disputes with the EU. – Reuters
Ukraine on Wednesday signed a memorandum to establish joint training and maintenance centres for Turkish armed drones, a statement on President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s website said. – Reuters
The United States on Wednesday condemned the death of a man in a shooting in Belarus, saying it provided further evidence of human rights abuses under President Alexander Lukashenko’s rule. – Reuters
BAE Systems (BAES.L) said Tempest, the British-led project to build a new fighter jet, would sign contracts with partners Italy and Sweden by the end of this year and talks were ongoing with Japan about joining the project. – Reuters
France is set to sell 52 Caesar artillery guns to the Czech Republic in a deal worth 257 million euros ($301 million) as Paris pushes for greater European defence autonomy, an Armed Forces Ministry official said on Wednesday. – Reuters
The U.S., Germany and the U.K. were among nations that took the rare step of withholding support from a recent International Monetary Fund decision to approve $67 million in emergency financing for Equatorial Guinea, a dictator-led nation dogged for years by corruption concerns. – Bloomberg
Henry Olsen writes: Keeping Europe down and the Americans in, to update the old saw, would dissipate U.S. power without advantage. The United States and Europe would both benefit from an alliance of true equals rather than maintaining the current imbalance. We are both stronger together if we are both strong separately. – Washington Post
Benjamin Haddad writes: When it came to the Afghanistan withdrawal, however, Europeans felt powerless. But why should the Biden administration submit its agenda to partners that are unable to even control Kabul airport on their own? Nostalgia for a supposed golden transatlantic age will not make European voices heard in Washington. European autonomy is not competing with the alliance; it could save the transatlantic relationship. – Financial Times
Peter Chase writes: At the same time, enforcing a prohibition on data transfers to the United States (and other countries that pry aggressively into personal data) would bring the European economy – and maybe even society – to a grinding halt. This potential Armageddon may be the only thing capable of convincing Europe’s top court that it needs to be a bit more judicious, and a bit less fundamentalist, in its protection of Europeans’ fundamental rights. – Center for European Policy Analysis
The Americas
Republican politicians in the U.S. attacked on Wednesday Vice President Kamala Harris over her response to comments made against Israel by a student at George Mason University. While visiting GMU’s campus in Virginia, Harris was told by a student that Israel was committing “ethnic genocide” as part of a broader complaint by the student about U.S. foreign and domestic policies. – Haaretz
The United States government has pulled its defense attache out of Nicaragua following comments complimentary of Nicaragua’s military that drew the ire of the political opposition. – Associated Press
The European Union will send observers to regional elections in Venezuela scheduled for Nov. 21, on the invitation of the country’s National Electoral Council, the bloc’s foreign policy chief said in a statement on Wednesday. – Reuters
U.S. and Mexican officials will hold high-level security talks on Oct. 8, Mexico’s Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard said on Wednesday. – Reuters
Cybersecurity
A prominent Russian cybersecurity executive was arrested on suspicion of treason in a case that follows a recent spate of arrests on charges of attacking state authority and that some business leaders said risks rattling the country’s IT sector. – Wall Street Journal
Germany’s federal cybersecurity watchdog, the BSI, is conducting a technical examination of a mobile phone manufactured by China’s Xiaomi Corp (1810.HK), a spokesperson for the interior ministry told Reuters on Wednesday. – Reuters
Scott Franklin and Jay Obernolte write: AI is a powerful tool with the potential to progress humankind’s technological journey or suppress billions under the thumb of the CCP. Whoever sets this technology’s standards will determine the course it takes in the future. America must be at the forefront, just as it always has been. – The Hill
Defense
Part of the U.S. Army’s lead role in standardizing anti-drone strategies across the armed forces is a joint training effort on a suite of tools and sensors to jam or take out small unmanned aerial systems. – Defense News
Boeing has inked a contract with the U.S. Navy to produce five P-8A Poseidon maritime surveillance and anti-submarine aircraft destined for the German sea service, the company announced. – Defense News
Mike Gallagher writes: The jargon provides cover for political leadership that is too weak or too distracted to give the military what it needs to execute its missions or to make hard choices between military services that would free up resources for the main effort: deterring China from invading Taiwan. Platitudes — “Integrated deterrence means all of us giving our all” — cloud our thinking and give false hope that nonmilitary tools, new technologies and allies can substitute for hard power when it comes to denying aggression from our adversaries. – Washington Post
Long War
Two Palestinian brothers were arrested in Belgium in the past week after they threatened their sister and brother-in-law for being “too western,” according to Belgian media. After their arrest, a partially completed explosive device was found in the home of one of the brothers. – Jerusalem Post
New Zealand passed a new security law on Thursday that outlaws preparations for terror attacks, closing a loophole exposed after seven people were stabbed and wounded this month in a supermarket in the most populous city of Auckland. – Reuters
James Jay Carafano writes: Dealing with transnational terrorism is like flossing your teeth: as soon you as stop, the rot starts to set in again. Biden is done with flossing. The terrorists, however, are not done with Biden. They are dreaming of the next 9/11 right now, redemption for the 20 years of humiliation from America. Biden has given them new space to run. They will. – New York Post