September 16, 2019



									Daily News Brief
									
								
									September 16, 2019
									
								
									Top of the Agenda
									
									
									Attacks on Saudi Arabia Send Oil Prices Soaring
									
									
									Drone attacks on Saudi Arabia’s largest oil processing center and its Khrais oil field disabled more than half (FT) of the country’s daily oil production. Houthi rebels in Yemen claimed responsibility for the attacks, while the United States released photographs (NYT) purporting to show Iran may have been behind them. Tehran denied involvement in the attacks.

									 
									On Twitter, U.S. President Donald J. Trump said he was waiting to hear from Riyadh about the suspected culprit, and that Washington was ready to respond. Saudi Arabia has not said who it believes was behind the attacks. Oil prices rose (FT) to above $71 per barrel at the start of trading Monday, the biggest single-day percentage jump in nearly thirty years.
									
									
									Analysis
									
									
									“What Iran is saying is: You can’t stop me. This is Clint Eastwood diplomacy: ‘Go ahead, make my day’. We have the capability to take out the facilities that are vital for the production and export of crude oil, even in the most sensitive of places,” CFR’s Amy Myers Jaffe told the Financial Times.

									 
									“Maybe here ‘leadership’ means letting the Saudis do their own dirty work, learning to provide their own security, and seeing the cost of their own poor choices,” tweets Georgetown University’s Paul D. Miller.

									 
									“Iran deserves an outsize share of the blame for destabilizing the Middle East. But Trump has only aggravated the crisis by blindly backing his friends in Israel and Saudi Arabia. The attack on Saudi oil production is only the latest blowback—and far from the last,” CFR’s Max Boot writes for the Washington Post.
									
									
									Pacific Rim
									
									
									Australia Reportedly Uncovers Chinese Hacking
									
									
									Australian intelligence officials concluded that China was behind cyberattacks on Australia’s parliament and several political parties ahead of the May election, according to a new Reuters report. Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s government declined to comment on the report.

									 
									South Korea: The country could remove Japan (Yonhap) from its list of preferred trading partners as early as this week, though the trade ministry has said it is still open to talks.

									 
									In Foreign Affairs, Bonnie S. Glaser and Oriana Skylar Mastro write that Washington is watching the Seoul-Tokyo dispute from the sidelines.
									
									
									South and Central Asia
									
									
									Afghan Officials: Peace Talks to Resume After Election
									
									
									President Ashraf Ghani’s government said it is suspending peace efforts (TOLO) with the Taliban until after the country’s September 28 election.

									 
									South Asia: U.S. President Trump, in a statement, said Hamza bin Laden, son of al-Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden, was killed in a U.S. counterterrorism operation.
									
									
									Middle East and North Africa
									
									
									Outsider Appears to Lead in Tunisia Election
									
									
									Conservative constitutional scholar Kais Saied held a slight lead (AFP) over jailed media magnate Nabil Karoui in exit polls during the first round of Tunisia’s presidential election. Roughly a quarter of votes have been counted, according to the election commission. 
									
									
									Sub-Saharan Africa
									
									
									West Africa to Ramp Up Counterterrorism Efforts
									
									
									Leaders of more than a dozen West African nations pledged $1 billion (Reuters) to fight Islamist terrorism and called on the United Nations to strengthen its peacekeeping mission in the region.

									 
									On CFR’s Africa in Transition blog, Adam Valavanis looks at the growing threat of Islamist extremism in coastal West Africa.

									 
									Kenya: Health authorities have begun administering the world’s only licensed malaria vaccine (AP) to children in rural areas. The vaccine has already been introduced in Malawi and Ghana.
									
									
									Europe
									
									
									Ankara Summit Aims for Truce in Syria’s Idlib
									
									
									The leaders of Iran, Russia, and Turkey will meet in Ankara today (Reuters) to discuss implementing a cease-fire in northwest Syria. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan recently threatened retaliation from Turkish forces if any of their military posts in the area are attacked.

									 
									This CFR Backgrounder lays out who’s who in Syria’s civil war.

									 
									Italy: The country’s new government has allowed more than eighty migrants (Politico) aboard a charity rescue ship to disembark on the island of Lampedusa. The new coalition forced far-right Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini, known for his anti-immigration stance, from power.

									 
									In Foreign Affairs, Alexander Stille writes that Italy’s triumph over populism is exaggerated.
									
									
									Americas
									
									
									Mexico to Probe Officials Over Missing Students
									
									
									The attorney general’s office will investigate officials (Reuters), including a former attorney general, over their handling of a probe into the 2014 disappearance of dozens of students, according to the deputy interior minister. The UN human rights office has reported Mexican authorities likely tortured dozens of people during the investigation.

									 
									Brazil: Foreign Minister Ernesto Araujo met with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for trade talks, the countries’ first high-level strategic dialogue (WaPo) in seven years. Pompeo said the countries will launch a $100 million investment fund to protect biodiversity in the Amazon. 
									
									
									United States
									
									
									Autoworkers Strike at GM
									
									
									Close to fifty thousand members of an autoworkers’ union went on strike today (NYT) at General Motors, calling for higher wages and the reopening of some plants.
									
									
									Council on Foreign Relations

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