Horns of a Dilemma: Biden, Trump, and the Future of U.S. Foreign Policy with Jim Golby and William Inboden
During the visit of an Israeli-US delegation to Manama on Sunday, Bahrain and Israel signed a joint communique to formalize relations. The visit marks the first commercial nonstop flight from Israel to Bahrain following the two countries' normalization agreement signed last month. “It was indeed a historic visit, to start opening relations between both countries,” Bahraini Foreign Minister Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani said after the signing ceremony. US President Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy Avi Berkowitz, who accompanied the delegation along with US Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, expressed hope that the “the Abraham Accords will continue to grow” even if Trump loses the US elections next month. The group is scheduled to fly to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Monday. The UAE and Bahrain became the third and fourth Arab countries, after Egypt and Jordan, to establish relations with the Jewish state. Meanwhile, Israel and the UAE reached a bilateral agreement that will provide incentives and protection to investors and encourage economic ties, both finance ministries said on Sunday.
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(USNI News) Venezuela’s propaganda videos are showing off warships armed with new Chinese-made anti-ship missiles.
(The Day) Military contractors in Connecticut had their most lucrative year in more than a decade in 2019, receiving $37.1 billion in defense contracts last year.
(Al-Monitor) For the first time, the Egyptian navy holds joint exercises in the Black Sea with Russia, at a time of escalating tensions with Turkey.
(Defense One) A recent Defense One commentary titled “Esper’s Convenient Lie” contains a number of statements challenging how the defense secretary is portraying the Pentagon’s focus on counterterrorism wars of the past and the current shift to state-on-state conflict with China which warrant our attention — but let’s start with the title.
Secretary of Defense Makes Strong Case for a Navy of Over 500 Ships
By Brent D. Sadler, RealClearDefense: “When The New York Times reported that Russia had likely deployed a nuclear-armed cruise missile in violation of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty.”
By James Holmes, The National Interest: “Xi recently exhorted Chinese marines to devote their “minds and energy” to “preparing for war.” Much of the message was meant for the U.S. and Taiwan."
The Central Idea of Conflict: Will
By Wayne Michael Hall, Strategy Bridge: “Good strategic thought empowers winning in conflict. With it, conflict’s constancy spreads across multiple domains and among levels of conflict and demand our fighters understand will as it relates to a resisting entity’s purpose for fighting."
Below Threshold Options for China against the U.S.
By Eli Kravinsky, Divergent Options: “The U.S. is continuing to orient its foreign policy and defense policy towards the People’s Republic of China (PRC). Accordingly, PRC tactics that have proven successful against the U.S. thus far may begin to fail. This failure will cause the PRC to develop new tactics to use against the U.S. below the threshold of armed conflict."
Danny Citrinowicz writes: And while Assad’s position appears to be secure for now, Israel should work to ensure that if the opportunity to influence the Syrian political scene does arise, it possesses an extant framework for communicating its concerns to involved parties in Syria. Without a diplomatic component, Israel’s military strikes will not open a permanent solution to the Syrian problem. With Hezbollah’s and Iran’s backs to the wall, continued aggression might lead to an undesired escalation not worth any operational achievement. – Washington Institute