Editor’s Note: There will be no Daily News Brief on Wednesday, June 19, in observance of Juneteenth. |
|
|
Record Twenty-Three NATO Countries Hit Defense Spending Target |
North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) countries are carrying out their largest collective increase in defense spending in decades, Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on a visit to Washington yesterday. While a defense spending target of 2 percent of each country’s gross domestic product (GDP) was set ten years ago, progress toward it jumped significantly following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, and Turkey are among the countries that hit the target for the first time, according to NATO statistics released yesterday. A NATO summit in Washington next month is due to discuss further long-term support for Kyiv.
Stoltenberg’s tenure as secretary-general ends later this year, and the process of choosing his successor is currently underway. Yesterday, candidate and outgoing Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte met with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and pledged to allow Hungary to opt out of some activities to support Ukraine if Budapest dropped a veto against Rutte’s candidacy, unnamed sources told the Financial Times. (Politico, NYT, FT)
|
|
|
“To my mind, NATO is much better positioned now than it was when I became the deputy secretary-general in 2016, and again, those commitments to defense expenditure, to the defense industrial capacity, to being able to acquire real modernization capability, really modernized systems that are so important to the future of NATO’s defense mission,” Stanford University’s Rose E. Gottemoeller said at this CFR virtual meeting.
“Strengthening the European pillar of NATO is the clear answer to the continent’s security problem,” the Center for Strategic and International Studies’ Mathieu Droin and Sean Monaghan and the Center for a New American Security’s Jim Townsend write for Foreign Affairs. “Without a stronger European pillar of NATO, Russia will continue to threaten transatlantic security and the United States will be unable to focus its resources on China.”
This Backgrounder by CFR’s Jonathan Masters unpacks NATO. |
| |
White House Announces Path to Green Cards for Undocumented Spouses of U.S. Citizens |
Undocumented immigrants who are married to U.S. citizens and have been in the United States for ten or more years will be eligible to apply for a green card and be shielded from deportation if they pass a Department of Homeland Security screening, the White House announced today. U.S. President Joe Biden is due to give a speech about the plans this afternoon. Noncitizen children with one parent married to a U.S. citizen could potentially qualify for the same process. The new measures could affect more than half a million people. (White House, AP)
|
|
|
Putin Visits North Korea, Celebrates ‘Unwavering Support’ for War in Ukraine |
Russian President Vladimir Putin arrives in North Korea today on his first official visit to the country in more than twenty years. Ahead of the two-day trip, Putin published an article in North Korean state media thanking the country for its “unwavering support for Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine.” He will then travel on to Vietnam. (Bloomberg)
Thailand: The legislature passed a bill today to legalize same-sex marriage, sending it on to final legal review and consideration for royal approval. If it clears those final steps as is widely expected, Thailand will become the first Southeast Asian country to legalize same-sex unions. (Nikkei, NYT)
|
| |
U.S. Delegation to India Talks Trade, Strategic Ties |
U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan is leading a delegation to India in what is the first visit by a high-level U.S. official since Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi started his third term last Sunday. Yesterday, the two countries announced a new semiconductor partnership and pledged to prevent leakage of sensitive and dual-use technologies to “countries of concern.” Ahead of the visit, an Indian man accused of a plot to kill a Sikh separatist leader in New York was extradited to the United States; he pleaded not guilty in U.S. court yesterday. (The Hindu, AP)
Tajikistan/Russia: Russian authorities detained five Tajik nationals and extradited them to Tajikistan, where they were charged with “membership in an extremist organization,” an unnamed source close to Tajik law enforcement told RFE/RL. Russian authorities have heightened scrutiny on Tajiks in the country following a March attack on a Moscow concert hall, which Russia says was carried out by four Tajik nationals. (RFE/RL)
|
| |
Join us next Monday, June 24, for the launch of CFR’s China Strategy Initiative, a cross-cutting new effort on U.S. strategy toward China led by Senior Fellow Rush Doshi. You can find a list of speakers and a link to register below. |
|
Lintao Zhang/Getty Images |
| |
Middle East and North Africa |
Washington Unveils New Sanctions on Houthis as Red Sea Attacks Continue |
The sanctions announced yesterday target people and groups that have facilitated funding for the Iran-backed Houthi rebel group, the U.S. Treasury Department said. The Houthis have recently stepped up attacks on shipping in the Red Sea, prompting the U.S. military to respond. U.S. forces have destroyed four Houthi radars and one sea drone since Sunday, U.S. Central Command said. (NYT)
Israel: Thousands of Israelis demonstrated against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government outside of the Israeli parliament and Netanyahu’s Jerusalem home yesterday. They called for a cease-fire to return hostages in Gaza and new elections. (AFP) |
|
|
AFP: France to Reduce Troops in Central, West Africa to Around Six Hundred |
France has gradually reduced its military presence in the region in recent years and now plans to reduce its footprint in Chad, Gabon, the Ivory Coast, and Senegal from some 2,300 troops to around 600, three unnamed sources told AFP. The troop presence could be expanded in each country based on local needs, the sources said. The French military did not comment. (AFP)
South Africa: The African National Congress (ANC), the largest party in South Africa’s new legislature, said yesterday that its governing coalition includes at least five parties: the pro-market Democratic Alliance and three smaller parties, the center-left GOOD, the conservative Inkatha Freedom Party, and the far-right Patriotic Alliance. Talks with other potential coalition partners are still underway. (Reuters)
For the Africa in Transition blog, CFR expert Michelle Gavin explores South Africa’s landmark elections. |
|
|
BBC: Greek Coast Guard Linked to Dozens of Migrant Deaths in Mediterranean |
The Greek Coast Guard caused the deaths of forty-three migrants between 2020 and 2023, a BBC investigation found based on witness accounts. The coast guard forced migrants out of Greek waters, took them out to sea after arriving on Greek islands, and sometimes threw them in the water. The Greek Coast Guard said it strongly rejects all allegations of illegal actions, while Greece’s independent National Transparency Authority said it would review BBC footage. (BBC, DW)
This photo essay by CFR’s Sabine Baumgartner, Kali Robinson, and Diana Roy unpacks Europe’s migration dilemma.
|
|
|
Venezuelan Opposition Reports Four Activists Detained in Recent Days |
Opposition presidential candidate Edmundo González Urrutia denounced the arrests, while Venezuela’s attorney general’s office did not immediately comment. The opposition leads in the polls ahead of an election scheduled for July 28. (Reuters)
U.S./Mexico: The United States suspended some imports of avocados from the Mexican state of Michoacán over security concerns. Mexico’s avocado exporters’ group said it was working to resume shipments. A similar U.S. ban in 2022 lasted one week, after which the Michoacán government established a security plan. (Bloomberg) |
|
|
Council on Foreign Relations |
58 East 68th Street — New York, NY 10065 |
1777 F Street, NW — Washington, DC 20006 |
|
|
|
