Today's Headlines and Commentary

The Iraqi parliament has approved a new cabinet to be led by Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, the New York Times reports. However, lawmakers left what are perhaps the two most important positions for countering the country’s growing security threats, Defense and Interior Ministries, unfilled. Mr. Abadi announced that he would temporarily run the ministries himself, providing lawmakers one week to name new ministers before filling the posts with his own choices. Representatives of the Kurdish autonomous region have given approval, but specified certain conditions that must be met within three months, including an agreement on oil and gas revenue sharing. Elsewhere, the Wall Street Journal describes how the Kurds came to play a key role in U.S. plans to battle ISIS. Reuters reports that the U.N. Security Council will issue a resolution for countries to “prevent and suppress” the recruitment and movement of foreign fighters attempting to join extremist groups like ISIS in Iraq and Syria. It will do so by ensuring that it is considered a serious criminal offense under domestic laws. In the U.S.-authored draft, all states would be required to prove that it is illegal for their citizens to travel abroad, collect funds, or provide for the travel of other individuals “for the purpose of the perpetration, planning, or preparation of, or participation in, terrorists acts, or the providing or receiving of terrorist training.” This comes as the Wall Street Journal reports that U.S. efforts to track Westerners for counterterrorism purposes are hitting a number of complications amid incongruous international approaches to information sharing and domestic security. And if you needed proof as to how quickly the foreign policy debate in America has changed, look no further than this new ABC News/Washington Post poll. Apparently, 71 percent of Americans now favor airstrikes against ISIS in Iraq, an increase of 17 percent in the last month, while 65 percent now support strikes in Syria. Still, a majority of Americans in a recent CNN poll oppose putting U.S. soldiers on the ground 61 percent to 38 percent. The polls were released a day before the President will explain his strategy to defeat ISIS to the nation. Writing in the New York Times, Peter Baker outlines the complexities and challenges the President will face as many of his past statements and assessments come back to haunt him. As President Obama looks to ramp up American involvement in the conflict with ISIS, Congress continues to waiver on whether or not he has the necessary authority, and even if not, whether they want to be involved. While various members of Congress have introduced at least four different authorizations to use military force in recent weeks, Foreign Policy points out that many of their colleagues remain reluctant to take up an issue that is so inconvenient for their election schedules. The Hill has more on Congress’s attempt to pass the buck. Finally, in an op-ed in the Times, Nawaf Obaid and Saud Al-Sarhan argue that far from being the driving force behind ISIS, it is the Saudis who can really “crush” the group. In Donetsk, blasts around the airport and on the outskirts of the city threatened to derail a ceasefire reached only Friday between Ukraine, pro-Russia separatists, and Russia. Foreign Policy reports. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe has the details of that agreement via the Kyiv Post. According to Reuters, while officials on all sides insist the ceasefire is still holding, the Ukrainian military admitted 5 of its servicemen have died in fighting since it was signed. Russia has urged Ukraine to begin negotiating with the separatists on the final political status of the region. Yet, even as the ceasefire appears strained, Vladimir Isachenkov at the Associated Press believes Russian President Vladimir Putin has an interest in making sure these negotiations, unlike past rounds, are successful: his forces have the upper hand militarily, but only for now. Whether the ceasefire holds or not, the BBC announced that the EU is pushing ahead with sanctions on Russia that would limit the ability of large Russian state-owned oil companies to raise money on European financial markets. The measures are slated to come into effect in the next few days. There is a new development in the Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 tragedy: according to the BBC, Dutch experts now say that the flight broke up in mid-air after being struck by “objects” that “pierced the plane at high velocity.” They went on to state that there is “no evidence of technical or human error.” Correspondents assert that the findings corroborate earlier reports that shrapnel from missiles fired by pro-Russian separatists was responsible for the crash that killed all 298 people on board. The New York Times announced that a delegation from the U.S. is making its way to Moscow this week to address American allegations that the Kremlin violated a nuclear accord between the two countries. Washington asserts that Russia tested a cruise missile launched from the ground in violation of a 1987 Soviet-American treaty banning intermediate-range missiles based on land. While the U.S. raised its concerns in May of last year, it formally alleged the violation this July. The talks come at an inopportune time, as the U.S. and Russia spar via a series of escalating sanctions over Russia’s involvement in the conflict in Ukraine. In Washington, while some U.S. lawmakers want Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko to speak before both chambers in September, a packed schedule before the midterm elections might render this impossible. According to Foreign Policy, the GOP-controlled House only has 12 legislative days before the November 8 elections, a number which it might reduce further to 8. The Ukrainian President is not the only world leader to succumb to midterm election-frenzy: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had to cancel his hopes to address the chamber during his first visit to the United States as head of state as well. The New York Times brings up another potential headache for Republicans: a dearth of foreign policy experience among its leading 2016 presidential candidates. The instability in Yemen continues: the BBC reports that police in the capital, Sana'a, shot and killed at least 4 anti-government Shia protesters. The New York Times writes that a criminal court in the Egyptian capital of Cairo sentenced two top Islamists to 20 years in prison today. The court found leading member of the Muslim Brotherhood Mohamed el-Beltagy and conservative cleric Safwat Higazy guilty of leading a terrorist organization and abducting and torturing two police officers last summer. Israeli Defense Minister Moshe “Bogie” Ya’alon made waves today after he accused Turkey and Qatar of openly supporting terrorism. According to the Times of Israel, Ya’alon’s comments are the most hostile yet from a senior Israeli minister against the Jewish state’s former ally, and were specifically directed at Istanbul’s hosting of senior Hamas leader Saleh al-Arouri. The criticism comes amid a changing of the guard in Turkey and a recent re-deterioration in bilateral ties over the conflict in Gaza. According to Turkish daily Hurriyet, Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz said on Tuesday that Istanbul would not conduct energy deals with Israel until there was permanent peace in the region. His comments appeared to put an end to rumors of a Turkish-Israeli rapprochement and possible natural gas deal. Even so, a Western intelligence official stated on Monday that Israel is providing satellite imagery and other intelligence to support the U.S.-led aerial bombardment of ISIS. Once collected, the intelligence is then often scrubbed of Hebrew and other Israeli markers and passed on to Turkish and Arab allies. Reuters has more. Hurriyet also reports that Turkey has approved a new telecoms law just weeks after a new government was sworn in. The new law will tighten Internet controls and expand the power of the TIB telecoms authority to block sites in order to protect “national security and public order, as well as to prevent crime.” The bill also grants government authorities the power to store data accumulated by Internet users, which was previously performed by service providers. Its passage comes on the heels of a controversial piece of legislation approved in February that made it easier for authorities to block websites without a court order. The Times of Israel divulges that Israel and the U.S. tested the Arrow 2 missile system, officially operational since 2000, over the Mediterranean Sea on Tuesday. There are no reports yet as to the test’s results. The Arrow 2 system, one part of Israel’s not-yet-completed, five-tiered missile defense array, is meant to protect against ballistic missile threats. In addition to Iron Dome, which has a 90% success rating at repelling short and mid-range rockets, the three other components to Israel’s aerial defense include Iron Beam, David’s Sling, and Arrow 3, all of which are expected to come online within the next two years. In a tour of areas in East Jerusalem impacted by Palestinian rioting, Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch vowed to provide reinforcements in order to restore calm to the city. Riots have been ongoing in the disputed Israeli capital since the death on Sunday of 16-year old Abd al-Majid Sunuqrut, who was shot during fights in Jerusalem with security forces a week earlier. Reports emerged a few days ago that Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sissi offered land in the Sinai Peninsula five times the size of the Gaza Strip to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas for the resettlement of Palestinian refugees. Politicians from across the Israeli spectrum welcomed the idea, even as both Egyptian and Palestinian officials denied such an offer had been made. The Times of Israel has details. The BBC has a live-feed on its website for all things regarding the upcoming referendum in Scotland on independence. The debate surrounding the September 18th vote to secede from the United Kingdom, which would rupture a 300-year old union, has heated up in recent days, especially after a recent poll showed the pro-independence faction leading for the first time in months. Amid reports that the Queen herself is concerned about the momentum on the pro-independence side, the Guardian reports that top UK officials, including Prime Minister David Cameron and former Prime Minister Gordon Brown, are making stops in Scotland in the coming days to rally the pro-union faction. Reevel Anderson of the BBC analyzes the national security ramifications an independent Scotland would have on the UK, Europe, and the U.S. And the Guardian reports that despite the hysteria in the UK, Scotland’s possible secession is arousing only one thing across the pond: silence. The BBC reports that Ebola is surging across the West African nation of Liberia, with WHO officials predicting thousands of new cases in the next few weeks. In order to arrest its exponential growth, the officials said organizations dealing with the outbreak needed to scale up their operations “three to four fold.” Also at the BBC, news reports are emerging that Boko Haram shot and wounded ex-President Obasanjo’s son, Lt. Col. Adeboye Obasanjo. The sides were fighting after the government launched an offensive to recapture towns in north-eastern Adamawa state from the militant Islamist group. In other news, Boko Haram took control of the vital northeastern town of Michika, a keystone as the group advances towards the state capital of Maiduguri. According to Al-Jazeera, the Cameroonian government claimed its soldiers killed over 100 Boko Haram fighters after the group attempted to cross the border from Nigeria. The New York Times announces that the government of Sudan released Mariam al-Mahdi, a female opposition figure who serves as the deputy head of the National Umma Party. Al-Mahdi was kept for 28 days in solitary confinement. In Somalia, Al-Shabaab claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing that killed 12, including 4 Americans, and wounded 27. The attack occurred southwest of the capital, Mogadishu, and involved a militant ramming a car packed with explosives into an African Union convoy. Al-Jazeera has more on the attack and its links to the killing of former Al-Shabaab leader Ahmed Abdi Godane by the U.S last week. The electoral process in Afghanistan faced another setback yesterday, as presidential candidate Abdullah Abdullah vowed to reject any power sharing agreement based on the ongoing U.N. audit of ballots. The BBC reports that the Pakistani navy repelled a militant attack on its dockyard in Karachi. The gun battle lasted for six hours on Saturday night and saw two militants killed as well as a low-ranking navy personnel member. Foreign Policy has a series of rare photographs of one of China’s most restive regions: Xinjiang. The images document the “wrenching change” the region is going through as Beijing seeks to clamp down on interethnic tension between Uighurs and Han. The BBC has a comprehensive report, complete with topographic maps and satellite photos, detailing how China puts facts on the ground (or water) in the South China Sea using man-made islands. In Hong Kong, the Wall Street Journal interviews pro-democracy activist Benny Tai, who says he wants to get arrested in order to “awaken more people to a just cause.” Former Bush-era U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad is the subject of an investigation into alleged money laundering in Vienna, Austria. At issue is $1.7 million, which Khalilzad transferred to his wife. The money, according to court documents obtained by Austrian magazine Profil, came from oil and construction contracts in Iraq and the United Arab Emirates that allegedly violated U.S. law.  While no charges have been issued, the probe has led Austrian authorities to freeze Khalizad's wife's bank account. Bloomberg has more. The transfer of Guantanamo detainee Abu Wa’el Dhiab has been put on hold, as Uruguayan Presidential spokesman Diego Canepa announced that aspects of the transfer were still being finalized. The handover is unlikely to occur within the next two to three months. The Associated Press has more, including the ongoing standoff between Dhiab and Guantanamo guards. Intelligence officials are worried about the potential for a “cyber Fort Hood,” wherein a rogue IT administrator destroys critical infrastructure. Politico has more on the threat, and the systems of “continuous monitoring” and “continuous evaluation” designed to alert intelligence officials to the possibility of such an attack. The New York Times reports that Google Chairman Eric Schmidt met with a panel of experts today in the first of seven public sessions regarding how the company should enforce a new “Right to be Forgotten” that allows Europeans to request the removal of content from Google’s search results. Meanwhile the Times also notes that Google is increasingly becoming a target of a European backlash against U.S. tech dominance. A number of technology industry groups, including representatives of Google, Microsoft, and Facebook, have sent a letter to Senate leaders supporting Senator Patrick Leahy’s (D-VT) USA Freedom Act, reports the Hill. The State Department has distributed a list of ambassadorial nominations and the total days they have been pending confirmation. As Foreign Policy notes, “the list makes for eye-rolling reading,” with no fewer than 10 nominees pending for over a year. Email the Roundup Team noteworthy law and security-related articles to include, and follow us on Twitter and Facebook for additional commentary on these issues. Sign up to receive Lawfare in your inbox. Visit our Events Calendar to learn about upcoming national security events, and check out relevant job openings on our Job Board.