CIA Chief Visits Middle East as Israel Conducts Attack in Gaza City |
CIA Director William J. Burns arrived in Israel yesterday and will visit other nearby countries on a trip focused on diplomatic efforts to free hostages and to contain the war’s spread, the New York Times reported. Meanwhile, Israel last night announced that it was carrying out a “large attack” (NYT) on infrastructure of the Palestinian militant group Hamas both above and below ground in the Gaza Strip; after a territory-wide communications blackout yesterday, mobile phone and internet service was gradually restored today (AP).
Burns’s trip follows U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s visit to the region. Blinken visited Iraq and the West Bank over the weekend before traveling on to Turkey today. U.S. officials are also engaged in diplomacy to reopen the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and Gaza after it was closed to foreign nationals over the weekend. As the United States increases its deterrence posture, it announced a guided missile submarine was dispatched (CNN) to the Middle East.
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“It’s imperative for the security of the entire region that Hamas’ hold on Gaza be broken. And, you know, if Israel were to stop fighting now, basically Hamas would declare victory,” CFR expert Max Boot said during this CFR virtual media briefing.
“Israel, of course, is feeling deeply vulnerable, a vulnerability made worse by the appalling rise of antisemitism in so many parts of the world, including the United States. But it is worth reflecting on whether policies forged in anger and retribution yield lasting gains,” CNN’s Fareed Zakaria writes for the Washington Post.
Read the full suite of Foreign Affairs and CFR.org resources on Israel and the current conflict.
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Japan, Philippines Negotiate Reciprocal Troop Deployment |
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UN: Opium Poppy Cultivation Plunges in Afghanistan |
Cultivation of the plant dropped an estimated 95 percent following an April 2022 drug ban by the Taliban government, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said. The director of the UNODC said the shift was an opportunity to build toward sustained results against the illegal opium market, but warned that Afghan farmers need alternative sources of income.
Nepal: At least 157 people were killed and more than 160 injured after a 6.4-magnitude earthquake struck northwestern Nepal (PTI) on Friday, authorities said. The earthquake destroyed hundreds of houses.
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Middle East and North Africa |
At UAE Climate Talks, World Bank Chosen to Host Loss and Damage Fund |
At negotiations in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE), over the weekend, several countries determined that the World Bank will temporarily house (AP) the loss and damage fund, established at last year’s UN climate summit to provide financial assistance to countries most vulnerable to the effects of climate change. The draft agreement will go to global leaders for signature at the UN climate conference later this month, also hosted by the UAE.
This article by CFR’s Noah Berman and Clara Fong explores the current status of global climate finance.
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Ghana’s Ruling Party Selects Vice President as 2024 Presidential Candidate |
Mahamudu Bawumia, an economist and former central banker, will run (Africanews, AFP) as the candidate for the ruling New Patriotic Party in next year’s election. Bawumia won 61.4 percent of the vote, according to the primary results. The vote comes as the country experiences its worst economic crisis in years.
Guinea: A group of armed men briefly freed (FT) former dictator Moussa Dadis Camara from prison over the weekend. He has since returned; his lawyer said that the incident was a kidnapping rather than a jailbreak. Camara is accused of abetting the massacre of at least 150 pro-democracy protesters in 2009.
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Turkey’s Main Opposition Party Elects New Leader |
The Republican People’s Party voted yesterday to oust longtime leader (FT) Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu and instead elect veteran lawmaker Özgür Özel, who pledged to shift the party’s strategy ahead of local elections scheduled for March. Kılıçdaroğlu oversaw the party’s general election loss earlier this year. This Backgrounder by CFR’s Kali Robinson unpacks Turkey’s growing foreign policy ambitions.
Ukraine: A Russian missile strike on a Ukrainian military awards ceremony in the Zaporizhzhia region killed nineteen service members (AP), Ukrainian officials said. Ukraine’s defense minister has ordered an investigation into the incident, which President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called a “tragedy that could’ve been avoided.”
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Uruguayan President Shakes up Cabinet After Passport Scandal |
President Luis Lacalle Pou accepted the resignations (MercoPress) of his interior minister, undersecretary, and presidential advisor amid the fallout over the issuance of a passport to a known drug trafficker. Uruguay’s foreign minister resigned over the scandal last week.
Honduras/Nicaragua: Nicaragua pardoned twenty-one Honduran prisoners (Reuters) and returned them to Honduras, Honduran police said. Costa Rica’s government said it also expects to receive returned prisoners from Nicaragua. Authorities in Nicaragua did not immediately announce a reason for the pardonings.
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U.S. Treasury Secretary to Hold Talks With China’s Top Economic Official |
The two days of talks between U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and her Chinese counterpart He Lifeng in San Francisco this week will further (Bloomberg) the renewed economic dialogue between the two countries. The talks will occur before the expected meeting of U.S. President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit later this month.
For the Asia Unbound blog, CFR expert Joshua Kurlantzick looks at what to expect at the APEC summit.
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Council on Foreign Relations |
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