Fdd's overnight brief

September 6, 2022

In The News

Iran

An Iranian warship seized two U.S. uncrewed surface vessels in the Red Sea before releasing them 18 hours later, the Navy said, in a provocative move that comes as indirect nuclear talks between Tehran and Washington appear close to stalling. – Washington Post

Iran has equipped 51 of its cities with civil defence systems and boosted readiness at air defences to thwart any possible foreign attack, military officials said on Saturday, amid an escalation of tensions with Israel and the United States. – Reuters

A court in Iran has sentenced to death two gay rights activists on charges of promoting homosexuality, campaigners said Monday, urging pressure from the international community to stop the implementation of the verdicts. – Agence France-Presse

Iran is seeking the closure of the U.N. nuclear agency’s investigation of its nuclear activities among other guarantees, in order to revive the country’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, a senior Iranian official said on Monday. – Reuters

President Joe Biden’s Iran envoy is scheduled to brief members of Congress in a classified setting about the status of nuclear negotiations with Tehran, according to a Sept. 2 memo obtained by POLITICO. – Politico

The European Union’s chief diplomat played down the prospect of a rapid revival of the Iranian nuclear deal, saying the chances of an agreement between Tehran and world powers had faded. – Bloomberg 

The US is no closer to wrapping up negotiations on re-entering a 2015 nuclear accord with Iran after a week of trading responses to a European Union proposal, a person familiar with the matter said, dimming prospects that the talks will end anytime soon. – Bloomberg

The Biden administration “stands by Israel to make sure Iran never obtains a nuclear weapon,” US Ambassador to Israel Thomas Nides said on Monday. – Arutz Sheva

A new study has found that the best way to allow Kurdish communities in Iran to flourish from their rich minerals, dense forests and massive water deposits is for a “radical decentralization” of Iranian central government activity. – Jerusalem Post

The Free Union of Iranian Workers says 67 workers from the South Pars Gas Company were arrested over the weekend after they came to Tehran from the southern city of Bushehr to hold a protest rally in front of the Oil Ministry building. – Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell says he is less optimistic about reaching an agreement on a revival of the Iran nuclear deal than he was only a short while ago. – Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty

Iran has stepped up its actions against Baha’i citizens, arresting 12 believers accused by Tehran of being “heretics” and having links to Israel in a continuing crackdown that has been condemned by Iranian and global rights groups. – Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty

Mossad chief David Barnea, perhaps the Israeli official most critical of a new nuclear deal being negotiated with Iran, landed in Washington on Monday hoping to sway U.S. officials to take a stronger position against Tehran. – Haaretz

Iran is weighing plans to buy Sukhoi Su-35 fighter jets from Russia, Air Force chief Hamid Vahedi was reported as saying by local media. – Agence France-Presse

As President Biden prepares to bring the United States back into the JCPOA, and as the public, the press, and Congress consider the deal’s terms, we identify the seven most pernicious myths and explain the reality that they seek to conceal. – Hudson Institute

Benny Avni writes: Regardless of which American president is to be blamed, that premise is no longer valid. The fast approaching sunset clauses now favor the Islamic Republic, whose officials are increasingly candid about their desire to become a nuclear-armed state — or at least threaten all enemies with the prospect of being on the threshold of becoming one. – New York Sun

Jonathan Schachter writes: With or without the deal, Biden needs to prepare his Plan B. Failing to do so would almost certainly result in an Israel-Iran war, a nuclear Iran, or both. Biden claims that he wants none of these outcomes, but his policy choices suggest otherwise. Time is running out. – The Hill

Bernard Haykel and Mohammed Alyahya write: The difference between the governments in Tehran and Riyadh could not be clearer. Yet because the White House is intent on reviving the nuclear deal, large sections of America’s political and media elites seem bent on erasing reality in favor of a fantasy that a peaceful Iran will emerge after the deal and will be “integrated” with its neighbors. What happened on stage in Chautauqua, New York should be a warning that deal or no deal the Iranian regime will continue to pursue violent means and use religion for its political ends. – Jerusalem Post

Catherine Perez-Shakdam writes: If the regime has not yet industrialized its ethnic agenda, one would hope we shall not wait for such a day to pass to raise the alarm and demand of our leaders that they call Iran into account for its crimes against humanity. It is not war-mongering to call for actions against the brutality of a system that calls for the blood of minorities on account they do not fit the narrative of its ideology. – Jerusalem Post

Russia & Ukraine

Russian energy giant Gazprom announced Friday that it won’t reopen the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline tomorrow as expected, leaving Europe at risk of severe energy shortages in the winter and the rest of the world bracing for price increases. – Washington Post

Power prices surged, European currencies hit multidecade lows and governments scrambled to contain the economic hit after Russia cut its main natural-gas pipeline to Europe. – Wall Street Journal

A fire caused by renewed shelling near Europe’s largest nuclear power plant led to its disconnection from the national power grid on Monday, Ukrainian officials said, raising fears that despite the presence of U.N. inspectors, conditions at the Russian-occupied facility could deteriorate quickly and threaten a catastrophe. – New York Times

A Russian court on Monday sentenced a former journalist to 22 years in a high-security prison on two counts of treason, the court said in a statement, signaling a new level of repression against the free press in Russia. – New York Times

As Russian forces fire precision-guided weapons at military and civilian targets in Ukraine, officers in Ukraine’s security service working with private analysts have collected parts of the crashed missiles to unravel their enemy’s secrets. – New York Times

John Sullivan, who served as U.S. ambassador to Russia as President Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine and returned full-scale war to the European continent, has left his post and departed Moscow, the U.S. Embassy in Moscow said in a statement Sunday. – Washington Post

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky and other officials said Ukrainian forces were advancing in the south and east, in Kyiv’s most positive assessment of the military picture in months. – Wall Street Journal

Thousands of Russians on Saturday stood for several hours in snaking lines amid a heavy police presence to pay their respects to Mikhail S. Gorbachev, the last Soviet leader, who died on Tuesday. – New York Times

President Vladimir Putin attended large-scale military exercises on Tuesday involving China and several other Russia-friendly countries, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told local news agencies. – Agence France-Presse

Russian-installed authorities in an occupied Ukrainian region on Monday suggested plans for a referendum on joining Russia had been delayed as Moscow blamed Western sanctions for a halt in gas supplies across Europe. – Agence France-Presse

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is set to issue a report about nuclear safety in Ukraine expected to include the agency’s findings after a delegation from the agency visited the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant. – Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty

U.S. President Joe Biden on Monday said Russia should not be designated a state sponsor of terrorism, a label Ukraine has pushed for amid Russia’s ongoing invasion while Moscow has warned it would rupture U.S.-Russian ties. – Reuters

President Vladimir Putin on Monday approved a new foreign policy doctrine based around the concept of a “Russian World”, a notion that conservative ideologues have used to justify intervention abroad in support of Russian-speakers. – Reuters

Ukraine’s state nuclear chief said on Monday it was vital that a mission by UN inspectors to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant led to the end of Russia’s occupation of the facility and called for new missions to the site, including by UN peacekeepers. – Reuters

Ukraine is scoring some military successes in its southern regions as well as in the north, Shmyhal said without elaborating, voicing the hope that the nation will be able to liberate the whole of its territory within internationally recognized borders, including Crimea. – Bloomberg 

Russia on Monday banned 25 more Americans from entering the country, including Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, multiple U.S. senators, and actors Ben Stiller and Sean Penn. – The Hill

Editorial: Undoubtedly, Mr. Putin has been anticipating the price cap and trying to figure out how to circumvent it via side deals and other subterfuge. G-7 governments have many details to hammer out between now and December, when the plan is likely to take effect. The prospect of disrupting Russia’s cash flow without disrupting global energy markets is worth the effort. – Washington Post

Editorial: Europeans now see how false that was, and one can ask what took them so long. But it’s a mistake they’re unlikely to make again, however the Ukraine war ends. Other potential Russian gas customers such as China are also watching this energy blackmail. Europe is paying for its energy dependence on Russia. Mr. Putin may pay later for exploiting it. – Wall Street Journal

Volodymyr Zelensky writes: Advantage Ukraine, our new program, outlines investment opportunities that will unleash the economic potential of Ukraine while delivering growth for those who have the vision to invest. I stand by what I said in May, and I say it now with even greater conviction: Ukraine is a land of surprising opportunity. I personally invite you to be surprised by our potential and to invest in the future of Ukraine. – Wall Street Journal

David Von Drehle writes: Too soon to say if Ukraine’s offensive will help it win — but not too soon to say who is losing: Vladimir Putin and, because of him, the Russian people. – Washington Post

Holman W. Jenkins, Jr. writes: Events seem to have conspired against us. If there were any chance of reducing long-term CO2 emissions, nuclear was the key. But a risk standard that once seemed exemplary, erring on the side of caution even if lacking in scientific rigor, has proved itself to be a source of risk. I hear a few saying “follow the science” but it will take many more to turn around Western politics on nuclear power. – Wall Street Journal

Harlan Ullman writes: Finally, he challenged Congress to reorganize, reducing its vast number of overlapping committees and subcommittees. And he proposed that before voting on any bill, all members would swear or affirm that each had read and understood the pending legislation. – The Hill

Israel

Israeli officials are scrambling to influence the Biden administration as the U.S. attempts to revive the Iran nuclear deal, pushing for hardened positions and no concessions to Tehran as negotiations enter a critical phase. – Wall Street Journal

An Israeli military inquiry concluded that it was “highly likely” that Palestinian American reporter Shireen Abu Akleh was killed by Israeli fire, in the first full reversal of an earlier position that contended that the fatal bullet was probably from a Palestinian. – Washington Post

Israel on Sunday issued revised protocols for the entry of foreign passport holders into the West Bank, omitting some controversial clauses after outcries from human rights organizations that said the previous version codified Israel’s discriminatory restriction of Palestinian movement. – Washington Post

Hamas authorities executed five Palestinians in Gaza on Sunday — two for “collaboration” with Israel and three for murder, the Hamas-run Ministry of International Security said in a statement Sunday. – Washington Post 

Gunmen wounded six Israeli soldiers and a civilian when they sprayed bullets at a bus driving on a highway in the occupied West Bank, the army said. – Agence France-Presse

Israeli soldiers killed a Palestinian who belonged to the Islamic Jihad militant group on Monday during clashes in the occupied West Bank, Palestinian officials and Islamic Jihad said. – Reuters

State-run Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) (ISRAI.UL) said on Monday it received a deal to supply systems that jam communications and navigation in drones to an unnamed country in Asia. – Reuters

The Israeli military arrested around 1,500 terror operatives and thwarted hundreds of attacks in the months since undertaking a major operation to stem an uptick in Palestinian violence, its chief of staff said Monday. – Algemeiner 

The United Nations on Monday condemned Gaza’s Hamas rulers after five Palestinian Arabs were executed on Sunday, two of them for helping Israel. – Arutz Sheva

The Israel Missile Defense Organization (IMDO), together with the U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA), the Israeli Air Defense Command, and the U.S. Air and Missile Defense Task Force carried out a joint simulation training exercise in Elbit Systems’ Battle Lab that took place in late July and focused on protecting the State of Israel from Ballistic Threats. – Arutz Sheva

The idea was not to launch a public campaign against the Biden administration’s effort to return to a nuclear deal with Iran, even though there is consensus in the government and among the leaders of Israel’s defense establishment that the deal is bad. Rather, they would try to work with the White House behind the scenes to try to mitigate the damage or even convince the administration to change tack, without damaging the US-Israel relationship. – Jerusalem Post

Israeli security forces entered the West Bank town of Jenin on Monday night and demolished the home of Ra’ad Hazem, the terrorist who carried out the Dizengoff shooting attack earlier this year.  – Jerusalem Post

Walter Russell Mead writes: One hundred years after the Lodge-Fish Resolution, Jewish and non-Jewish Americans alike continue to debate America’s relationship with the Zionist movement and the Jewish state. That is as it should be. Those who think that Jewish financial and media power are the forces that drive America’s Middle East policy continue to miss the point. Anti-Semitic myths about Jewish power can’t explain America’s past policy in the Middle East and provide no useful guidance for the future. – Wall Street Journal

Zev Chafets writes: There was also a surprising consensus that Iran shouldn’t be at the top of Israel’s defense priorities. A bigger concern, according to the panel, was the polarized state of the nation. One by one, without mentioning any names, the participants pointed to the lack of solidarity and the decline they perceive in social resilience and patriotism under Netanyahu’s long and divisive reign. – Bloomberg

David Lehrer writes: Gaza unrest on the West Bank mean that Israel must take the initiative. Israel must use its power to reverse the cycle of violence, stop the killing and work toward a peaceful solution by engaging with Palestinians on improving their daily lives and creating a political process that leads to a two-state solution. For Israeli voters tired of seeing the can kicked down the road, this may be a message they can get behind, despite what conventional wisdom says. – Jerusalem Post

Marcus Sheff writes: The ultimate question is, however, whether the disbursal of $1.6b. in annual aid is enough for donor nations to finally put a stop to the radicalization of Palestinian school students. Or, alternatively, will UNRWA continue in its current self-destructive path, shielded by international apathy? If the world’s largest UN educational infrastructure fails to foster the resolution of conflict and the promotion of peace, then what is it really worth? – Jerusalem Post

Brenda Katten writes: While antisemitism, the longest hatred, has not disappeared, what was denied to our forbearers for 2,000 years is no longer denied to us. We are the generation living at a period in history where there is Israel, which knows for all the valued financial aid it receives from the US, it can only rely on itself for defensive purposes. – Jerusalem Post

Afghanistan

The Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan last year rattled India’s foreign policy and security establishments over concerns the country would again become a base for militants targeting India. – Wall Street Journal

A suicide bomber attacked the Russian Embassy in Kabul on Monday, killing two employees and four Afghan civilians, Russian and Afghan officials said, in the first assault on a diplomatic mission in the country since the Taliban seized power last year. – New York Times

An explosion tore through a crowded mosque in western Afghanistan on Friday, killing at least 18 people, including a prominent cleric close to the Taliban, according to Taliban officials and a local medic. – Associated Press

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Friday appointed a former president of Kyrgyzstan as his new special envoy for Afghanistan. – Reuters

Turkey

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan upped his rhetoric against Greece on Saturday, threatening to “come down suddenly one night.” – Associated Press

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan offered on Saturday to mediate in the standoff over a Russian-occupied nuclear power station in Ukraine stoking fears of an atomic disaster. – Agence France-Presse

A Turkish court has ordered the pre-trial jailing of a pro-Kurdish member of parliament on a terrorism charge, Istanbul police and her lawyer said, while her party called the detention illegitimate and unethical. – Reuters

The EU voiced concern on Monday over what it called “hostile remarks” after Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan accused Greece of occupying demilitarised islands in the Aegean and said Turkey was ready to “do what is necessary” when the time came. – Reuters

France’s foreign minister heads to Turkey on Monday to emphasise to Ankara the importance of its firms not circumventing Western sanctions on Russia after the United States said Turkish businesses faced the risk of sanctions. – Reuters

A Turkish warship anchored Saturday at an Israeli port for the first time in over a decade, after the recent reestablishment of ties between Jerusalem and Ankara. – Times of Israel

Seth J. Frantzman writes: If Ankara thinks it got diplomatic capital from “helping” Ukraine, then it may try to use this influence over the UN and EU – and even in talks with Washington – to play a greater role in Gaza and the West Bank. Every move Ankara makes with Moscow potentially impacts Israel in this regard. Turkey’s close ties to Azerbaijan and Iran’s own goals in the Caucasus also play into this large dance between Moscow, Tehran, Jerusalem and Kyiv. – Jerusalem Post

Soner Cagaptay writes: This includes potential U.S. or international requests to establish cargo controls, regulate Russian merchant navy crossings through the straits, or otherwise attempt to control these waterways in any fashion stricter than that prescribed by the convention. In Erdogan’s view, supporting Ukraine militarily, containing the war’s fallout, and maintaining beneficial economic and diplomatic ties with Putin are essential to his strategy for staying in power next year. – Washington Institute

John Lechner and S. Asher write: Despite an early August Azerbaijani offensive in Nagorno-Karabakh and increasingly belligerent rhetoric from the Azerbaijani government, Syrian recruiters are unaware of any new programs for the region. Rumors, however, have begun to swirl that a “peacekeeping” force will soon deploy to Yemen to enforce a ceasefire. Former fighters like Hasan know all too well that anything said about the upcoming mission is unlikely to be true. – The National Interest

Salahuddin Hawa writes: Moreover, the Turkish government’s precarious balance between profits and losses indicates that their abandonment of the revolution will only postpone the major confrontation with Turkey’s enemies, bringing the conflict inside Turkey instead of extending it tens of kilometers into Syrian territory. – Washington Institute

Lebanon

Lebanese protesters on Sunday sailed down the country’s coast in dozens of fishing boats and yachts toward Israel, days before a US envoy is expected in Beirut to continue mediating in a maritime border dispute between the two countries, and as reports circulate that an agreement could be imminent. – Times of Israel

A border demarcation agreement that will potentially put an end to more than a decade-long maritime dispute between Israel and Lebanon “is almost complete,” according to sources cited Sunday by the Saudi news network Al Arabiya. – Times of Israel

Amos Hochstein, the U.S diplomat mediating talks between Lebanon and Israel over their shared maritime border, will be in Beirut at the end of the week, a statement from Lebanon’s presidential palace said on Sunday. – Reuters

The Israel Defense Forces said Sunday it would conduct a three-day military drill along the Lebanese border, as tensions remained high with the Iran-backed Hezbollah terror group. – Times of Israel

Middle East & North Africa

The United States military said Monday it flew a pair of nuclear-capable B-52 long-distance bombers over the Middle East in a show of force, the latest such mission in the region as tensions remain high between Washington and Tehran. – Associated Press

The Foreign Ministry has recalled the country’s top representative in Morocco pending an investigation into allegations of a slew of sexual and financial improprieties at the newly opened Israeli mission in Rabat, including charges that a senior official sexually exploited several local women. – Times of Israel

Seth J. Frantzman writes: On the other hand, those who value a traditional US role may wonder whether Washington can fully undertake to confront Russia and China when countries such as Iran and Turkey are all looking to challenge America in various ways. – Jerusalem Post

Seth J. Frantzman writes: These reports paint a picture of Syria in flux and a potential struggle between Iran’s agenda and other agendas in Syria. This week and subsequent weeks could prove crucial in whether Iran continues to escalate its role. – Jerusalem Post

Alexandra Stark writes: The United States and the international community should resist the urge to pivot away from Yemen to the next international crisis. Rather, the United States should remain engaged over the long term and continue to support a process that is led by Yemenis themselves. As Grundberg said in his briefing for the U.N. Security Council this week, “We need to end the conflict, not merely manage it.” Embracing the envoy’s proposal for an expanded truce extension by October 2, when the latest extension expires, would be a good start. – War on the Rocks

Korean Peninsula

Russia is buying millions of artillery shells and rockets from North Korea, according to newly declassified American intelligence, a sign that global sanctions have severely restricted its supply chains and forced Moscow to turn to pariah states for military supplies. – New York Times

An activist said Monday he has again flown huge balloons carrying COVID-19 relief items and an anti-North Korea placard across the tense inter-Korean border, despite the North’s recent warning of a deadly attack over his activities. – Associated Press

But for many of these influencers, who have fled one of the world’s most isolated and impoverished nations for one of its most technologically advanced and digitally connected, this career path isn’t as strange as it may seem. – CNN

China

China threatened over the weekend to take countermeasures after the Biden administration approved the sale of more than $1.1 billion worth of arms to Taiwan. – New York Times

Beijing on Monday accused the United States of launching “tens of thousands” of cyberattacks on China and pilfering troves of sensitive data, including from a public research university. Washington has accused Beijing of cyberattacks against US businesses and government agencies, one of the issues over which ties between the two powers have nosedived in recent years. – Agence France-Presse

China’s top legislator Li Zhanshu will visit Russia next week, state media reported Sunday, becoming the highest-ranking Communist Party politician to travel to the country since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. – Agence France-Presse

The new head of the US consulate in Hong Kong, Gregory May, is set to arrive this month, according to a person familiar with the matter. – Bloomberg 

China’s president Xi Jinping will travel to Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan this month, according to announcements by the two central Asian governments, setting the stage for a meeting with Russia’s president Vladimir Putin. – Financial Times

High-profile universities and state-run research institutes in China have been relying on a U.S. computing chip to power their artificial intelligence (AI) technology but whose export to the country Washington has now restricted, a Reuters review showed. – Reuters

Editorial: Beijing cannot be allowed to continue committing atrocities with impunity. The U.N. report represents a small, overdue step toward accountability and justice. Now, it’s on the international community to follow through. – Washington Post

Stefan Vladisavljev writes: While the rise of Chinese influence remains unchallenged by domestic political actors, it has faced resistance from some in the political opposition, as well as the environmental groups due to Chinese companies’ harmful practices in Serbia. Still, China remains one of the most popular partners for the Serbian government as well as a key partner for Serbian economic development. – Center for European Policy Analysis

South Asia

Gotabaya Rajapaksa, the former Sri Lankan president who was forced to flee the island nation and relinquish power after months of protest over the economy’s being run into the ground, returned home late on Friday. – New York Times

Sri Lanka’s International Monetary Fundbailout plan could be a turning point in its worst economic crisis, but far-from-stable politics and a need to get debt relief from competing powers China, India and Japan means some of the hardest work is still to come. – Reuters

Myanmar’s junta leader was on a visit to Russia on Monday, his second trip there in less than two months, as Myanmar’s ruling military tries to shore up one of its few diplomatic alliances as it comes under growing international pressure. – Reuters

Pakistan’s military shot back at former Prime Minister Imran Khan after he accused the government of delaying fresh elections until after a new army chief is appointed in November, further raising political tensions in the South Asian nation. – Bloomberg 

India commissioned its first home-built aircraft carrier Friday as it seeks to counter regional rival China’s much larger and growing fleet, and expand its own indigenous shipbuilding capabilities. – Defense News

Pakistani security forces raided a militant hideout in a former Taliban stronghold near the border with Afghanistan Monday, triggering a shootout that killed five soldiers and four insurgents. – Associated Press

Asia

Hanoi’s city government suspended regular broadcasts in 2017 but said recently that it planned to reinstate them and expand the loudspeaker network. Critics say that the plan reflects old-fashioned thinking by the ruling Communist Party of Vietnam, and that the speakers no longer have a place in the one-party state’s civic life. – New York Times

A congregation of Christians who left China to seek asylum in South Korea has now traveled to Thailand to ask the United Nations’ refugee agency for protection from religious persecution. – Wall Street Journal

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has underscored the importance of mobilizing civilians when under attack, as Ukraine’s reserve forces helped fend off the invaders. Nearly halfway around the world, it has highlighted Taiwan’s weaknesses on that front, chiefly in two areas: its reserves and civilian defense force. – Associated Press

Taiwan’s former top military official issued a dire warning last week. The armed forces lacked a clear strategy to defend the country against a Chinese attack and the president might not understand the conceptual thinking needed to counter that threat, said Admiral Lee Hsi-ming, former chief of the general staff. – Financial Times

A statement by Philippine president Ferdinand Marcos Jr in response to escalating tensions over Taiwan last month rippled through south-east Asia. – Financial Times

The US plans to sell Taiwan $1.1bn in weapons, including 60 Harpoon anti-ship missiles, as Washington steps up efforts to bolster the country’s defences as it comes under increasing military pressure from China. – Financial Times

Taiwan has fired the first shots in its David-and-Goliath duel with mainland China, challenging President Xi to avenge the downing of a Chinese aircraft. It now awaits his response. – New York Sun

The combat skills of Taiwan’s military are now “more mature” and it is better able to fight thanks to having to repeatedly scramble to see off Chinese forces during their recent drills, President Tsai Ing-wen said on Tuesday. – Reuters

A Malaysian businessman at the center of a major U.S. Navy bribery scandal has escaped house arrest ahead of his impending sentencing by cutting off his monitoring anklet, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported on Monday. – Reuters

Navy vessels from Australia and New Zealand will be exempt from a temporary ban on foreign ships entering the ports of the Solomon Islands, the Pacific island nation’s prime minister told parliament on Monday. – Reuters

Malaysia’s Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah on Monday called on the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to act more urgently in its efforts to provide humanitarian assistance and spur a peace process in junta-ruled Myanmar. – Reuters

Myanmar exiles ousted in a 2021 coup are pressing the Federal Reserve to endorse their bid to use $1 billion in funds frozen by the US to back a digital currency and a plan to establish a new central bank.  – Bloomberg

Australia has offered to fund elections in the Solomon Islands after the Pacific nation’s prime minister introduced legislation to delay the vote until 2024, arguing his country couldn’t afford to hold both the election and the 2023 Pacific Games. – Bloomberg

Kris Osborn writes: Defense of Japan 2022 provides many of the conceptual premises upon which Tokyo is basing its current military modernization campaign. It is a comprehensive effort to upgrade and strengthen Japan’s Self Defense Forces, including a multi-billion dollar F-35 stealth fighter purchase and continued collaboration with the United States on key weapons programs such as the ship-based Aegis Combat System and SM-3 IIA missile interceptor. – The National Interest

Europe

They are among the countless Ukrainians grappling with the uncertainty of how the next chapter of their lives will unfold as the war with Russia enters its seventh month, making it clear that their temporary displacement could become long term. But the communities hosting them are also confronting the complexities of assimilating and providing for newcomers as they face their own economic and social challenges. – New York Times

Governments across Europe moved this weekend to introduce measures aimed at tackling soaring energy costs and inflation, amid growing concerns that rising prices fueled by the war in Ukraine could stoke social unrest. – New York Times

European officials have expressed confidence that they can endure a winter with limited Russian energy, as Moscow postponed restarting the flow of natural gas to Germany through a closely watched pipeline. – New York Times

U.K. Foreign Secretary Liz Truss won the race to lead the ruling Conservative Party and become Britain’s next prime minister, taking the helm of a nation heading into an economic storm. – Wall Street Journal

Germany will keep two of its three remaining nuclear-power plants online past their December shutdown deadline in an effort to buttress its power supply after Russia halted gas flows, the government said Monday. – Wall Street Journal

Ukraine’s prime minister on Monday urged the European Union to stand firm against Russian energy “blackmail” and appealed for more weapons, including aircraft, for the war-ravaged country even as EU armament stocks run low. – Associated Press

Poland will order 48 more AHS Krab self-propelled howitzers and 36 accompanying vehicles from local arms producer Huta Stalowa Wola for 3.8 billion zlotys ($797 million), National Defence Minister Mariusz Blaszczak said on Monday. – Reuters

U.S. Navy amphibious assault ship USS Kearsarge is taking part in international training in the Baltic Sea amid Russia’s war in Ukraine and tensions in the region. – Associated Press

The European Union signed a deal with war-torn Ukraine on Monday to release a further 500 million euros ($497 million) in planned aid, this time to support housing, education and agriculture. – Agence France-Presse

European Union member states are running low on weapons at home because they’ve given so many to Ukraine, the bloc’s top diplomat said, renewing calls for a restock. – Business Insider 

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier on Monday asked for forgiveness at a ceremony to mark the 50th anniversary of the 1972 Munich Olympics attacks on Israeli athletes and team members at the airfield near Munich where a failed rescue attempt took place. – Reuters

Editorial: The main charge against Ms. Truss is that her agenda is fiscally reckless. But the Tory status quo has failed miserably and it would be reckless for the country and political malpractice to keep doing the same thing. Wish the new Prime Minister luck, because she is going to need it. – Wall Street Journal

Gerard Baker writes: Above all, she lacks a mandate, validation through a popular victory. She was backed by a minority of her party in Parliament and—for the first time in a Tory contest—failed to win an outright majority of party members. She must now work to win her own mandate by reviving a moribund conservatism. – Wall Street Journal

Edward Lucas writes: Chancellor Willy Brandt’s spontaneous genuflection in 1970 at the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising memorial paved the way for partial reconciliation with communist-ruled Poland. Nobody is expecting that from Scholz. But the new Ostpolitik, like its predecessor, needs openness and honesty about the past to succeed. – Center for European Policy Analysis

Africa

African leaders criticised on Monday the lack of Western counterparts at a meeting in Rotterdam where they pleaded for funds to help their countries adapt to global warming. – Agence France-Presse

Three women among the 49 Ivorian soldiers held since July in Mali accused of being mercenaries have been released, Malian, Ivorian and Togolese officials said Saturday. Talks are underway for the release of the other soldiers, said Togolese Foreign Minister Robert Dussey. – Agence France-Presse

The United States on Friday dispatched an envoy to Ethiopia to seek an end to renewed fighting and condemned neighboring Eritrea for re-entering the conflict in the northern region of Tigray. – Agence France-Presse

At least 35 civilians were killed and 37 injured in northern Burkina Faso on Monday when a vehicle in a convoy hit an improvised explosive device (IED), the interim government said in a statement. – Reuters

Gunmen killed at least 42 people in Ethiopia’s Oromiya region, two residents who buried the bodies in mass graves said on Friday, the latest killings in the country’s most populous region where escalating violence has left hundreds dead. – Reuters

Gunmen kidnapped dozens of worshippers attending Friday afternoon prayers at a mosque in Nigeria’s northwestern state of Zamfara, police and witnesses said. – Reuters

Nanjala Nyabola writes: History reminds African countries to approach the conflict in Ukraine with caution and to treat claims of friendship with suspicion. For many Africans, the current overtures from both Russia and the West are not about friendship. They are about using Africa as a means to an end. […]But the dominant African position, given the large uncertainties about the war and its outcome, has been to demand peace and urge diplomacy—and, whenever possible, to avoid having to take sides in a conflict that seems unlikely to offer much to Africa, particularly if it turns the continent into a new theater of proxy war. – Foreign Affairs

The Americas

It is the element of President Biden’s foreign policy that overlaps most significantly with his domestic agenda: defending democracy. – New York Times

Cristina Fernández de Kirchner has been the most prominent politician in Argentina for almost two decades. After an eight-year run as president, she is now the country’s leftist vice president, and political analysts are expecting her to make a bid to return to the top job next year. – New York Times

Chile’s President Gabriel Boric on Monday was laying the groundwork for a political reset after voters overwhelmingly rejected a proposed constitution that his leftist supporters had endorsed. – Wall Street Journal

A US judge on Monday granted Donald Trump’s request for the appointment of a “special master” to independently review material seized in an FBI raid on his Florida home, dealing a blow to prosecutors. – Agence France-Presse

An attack on Argentina’s vice president sent shock waves through the campaigns of Brazil’s presidential front-runners just weeks before October’s election.  – Bloomberg

Editorial: The widest margins in opposition were in the lowest-income communities in Chile. The message to Mr. Boric is that Chileans are mostly moderate, practical and interested in improving their standard of living. If he hopes to salvage his Presidency, he will have to respond to the public’s needs by moving to the center and recognizing interests beyond his base of left-wing urban elites. – Wall Street Journal

Cybersecurity

Ireland’s Data Protection Commission on Monday said it had fined Instagram a record 405 million euros ($402 million) for breaching regulations on the handling of children’s data. – Agence France-Presse

A number of governments have expressed concerns over cryptocurrencies, but those behind the first Crypto Policy Symposium say they hope the event will prompt much more “critical discourse” of the sector. – Agence France-Presse

Multiple Montenegrin government websites remained inaccessible Friday, a week after government officials there said the country’s “critical state infrastructure” had been targeted with an “unprecedented” cyberattacks. – CyberScoop

Officials from the FBI and French government are in Montenegro to help the country as it recovers from a wide-ranging ransomware attack perpetrated last week. – The Record

Defense

The Pentagon’s former defense secretaries and top generals warned Tuesday that political polarization and other societal strains are creating an “exceptionally challenging” environment for maintaining the traditional relationship between the military and civilian worlds. – Washington Post

The F-35 fighter jet is making its debut at the multinational Pitch Black exercise in Australia, with U.S. Marine Corps “B” variants participating in drills there in the lead-up to the main event. – Defense News

The United States military said Monday it flew a pair of nuclear-capable B-52 long-distance bombers over the Middle East in a show of force, the latest such mission in the region as tensions remain high between Washington and Tehran. – Associated Press

Adm. Lisa Franchetti took the helm as the Navy’s 42nd vice chief of naval operations during a ceremony Friday. – Military Times

Air Force Special Operations Command today cleared its CV-22 Osprey fleet to resume operations, but pilots will be required to operate using a series of risk-mitigation techniques in order to avoid a safety issue related to the engines on the rotorcraft. – Breaking Defense 

Francis J. Gavin writes: The most important change Washington must make, however, is to its mindset. Cold War thinking about nuclear strategy has long outlasted the conflict itself. More than three decades into the post–Cold War era, policymakers have still not managed to fully update their view of the nuclear threats the United States faces and the proper way to deal with them. For the sake of U.S. national security and for the stability of the world, they need to pick up the pace. – Foreign Affairs

Long War

The third high-profile terrorism trial in France in two years opened on Monday in Paris, with eight defendants facing charges in a 2016 attack in the Mediterranean city of Nice that left more than 80 people dead and hundreds more injured or traumatized. – New York Times

A simple digital card praising Islamist militants for an attack on a Taliban position in Afghanistan last month is the first known nonfungible token created and disseminated by a terrorist sympathizer, according to former senior U.S. intelligence officials. – Wall Street Journal

Seven men and one woman went on trial Monday, accused of helping the driver of a truck that barreled through a crowded seaside promenade on Bastille Day six years ago, killing 86 people in a terrorist attack that scarred France’s national psyche. – Wall Street Journal

Senior Canadian intelligence officials would support an inquiry into their organisation’s deeply contentious role in the smuggling of British schoolgirl Shamima Begum into Syria, the Observer has been told. – The Guardian

Somali state media and residents say the extremist group al-Shabab killed at least 20 people and burned seven vehicles transporting food in the Hiran region Saturday morning, and the government’s drought envoy called it “devastating” for communities in the grip of a severe drought. – Associated Press