Today’s Headlines and Commentary
Let's start by acknowledging the seasonal:
Stun-gun fights, knife fights, human-trampling, mass evacuations---as expected, the national security threat known as the period betwee
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Let's start by acknowledging the seasonal:
Stun-gun fights, knife fights, human-trampling, mass evacuations---as expected, the national security threat known as the period between Black Friday and Cyber Monday proves the tragicomic stuff of reality TV. The Huffington Post reports on rampant arms-stockpiling; Reuters covers Walmart melees; EuroNews marvels at what it's tagging #USA #tradition.
On to the international:
A bipartisan group of senior senators split their Thanksgiving holiday between turkey and the Iran sanctions question...and the Obama administration is concerned that the resulting sanctions bill could kill the hard-won interim U.S.-Iran nuclear deal, write Karen DeYoung and Joby Warrick of the Washington Post. Meanwhile, former CIA and NSA director Michael Hayden went on "Fox News Sunday" to express his doubts about the deal and the general dearth of good choices when it comes to Iran's nuclear program.
Why is the U.S. comfortable with Israel having nuclear weapons but not Iran? Detailing the story of the Israeli nuclear program, Max Fisher of the Post claims the answer is "is more complicated and surprising than you might think."
David Kenner has a piece in Foreign Policy casting President Obama's non-proliferation goals as the centerpiece of his foreign policy agenda.
Protests swept the globe this weekend. Thousands in Cairo took to the streets to protest the killing of a university student last week, reports the Los Angeles Times; the New York Times details the government's violent response to peaceful demonstrations. Hundreds of thousands of protestors also demonstrated in Ukraine on Sunday to call for the resignation of President Viktor Yanukovych after the country's last-minute decision to back down from an EU integration pact in favor of sidling up next to Russia. Oksana Grytsenko and Shaun Walker of the Guardian report. Last but not least: where is Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra? Forced to flee, Shinawatra remains MIA after 30,000 protestors took to the streets of Bangkok in what is being called a "people's coup." Here is a summary from the Guardian; here is a timeline of Sunday's events from the Bangkok Post.
At FP, Francis Wade suggests that some combination of history and common sense call into question the glowing international response to the Burmese government's recent attempts to negotiate with ethnic rebel groups.
The Burmese government used past ceasefires as an opportunity to plunder areas inhabited by local ethnic groups, prompting additional armed conflict while complicating efforts to resolve it. Indeed, the government's recent reform push may be attempting to do the same thing. All signs suggest that the government is hoping to exploit the bounty of Burma's periphery as it opens to foreign investment.
The Economist notes the political underpinnings of Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's unconventional decision to delay naming Lieutenant General Raheel Sharif the country's army chief.
Did U.S. and coalition forces withhold fuel supplies from the Afghan army? That's the accusation being made by Afghan President Hamid Karzai as of Sunday night after a meeting with his security council. Here's David Zucchino of the LA Times.
On Saturday the U.S. called on North Korea to release 85-year-old former special forces officer Merrill E. Newman, who is being held on charges of killing civilians during the Korean War. Lesley Wroughton and Jack Kim report for Reuters.
Over at the New Republic, Sam Kleiner discusses Russia's decision to (briefly) charge anti-drilling Greenpeace activists with piracy and argues for defining---and confining---the crime so it applies specifically to those who commit violence on the high seas, be their motivations financial or political. Aye aye?
Cold War throwback, warns David Sanger of the New York Times: the East China Sea dispute between China and Japan, which, as one of President Obama's advisers reminds us, "isn't really about the islands."
China sent its first ever robotic lunar rover, the Jade Rabbit, into space early Monday. Writes Chris Buckley of the New York Times:
For China’s Communist Party under President Xi Jinping, such feats embody his rallying cry of a “Chinese dream” of patriotic unity under one-party rule, supported by technological advances and rising international stature.
The Guardian is reporting that the latest Snowden-leaked documents reveal Australia's surveillance agency offered to shared information about its countrymen with its key intelligence partners. The Guardian is again itself a news item---the Post had a story this weekend on the pressures being brought to bear on the British daily as it continues putting Snowden disclosures to print.
On the domestic front:
Speaking of surveillance, is it time to sever NSA and U.S. Cyber Command? Divorce talks are underway, says the Post, and national security adviser Susan Rice is expected to put forth a recommendation in the coming days.
Yesterday on CNN's "State of the Union," intel chairs Sen. Dianne Feinstein and Rep. Mike Rogers stated that Americans are not safer from terrorism today than they were two years ago, and that the Taliban is positioned for a comeback. See the video here.
Chuck Hagel, paper tiger? Glenn Thrush of Politico cites officials who claim that the secretary of defense is "entering the make-or-break phase of his Pentagon stewardship."
This weekend the New York Times editorial board argued that budget cuts require some hard choices---and should perhaps include docking military pay.
What the Onion is to the college sophomore the Duffel Blog is to the Pentagon. So suggests the Washington Post, in this piece on why the brass is laughing along at the site's humorous take on even the least funny issues facing the military today---everything from the sexual assault crisis to PTSD.
And we round out the weekend with tech talk:
Could Bitcoin go bust? The Economist ponders whether the peer-to-peer, trust-based currency can withstand the pressure as it grows ever more popular.
What do airport security and dating services have in common? Today, awkward close encounters. Tomorrow, face-reading software, according to this piece by Anne Eisenberg of the New York Times.
Imagine all your Amazon needs fulfilled...by drone. In an interview on Sunday, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos told "60 Minutes" that the "Prime Air" dream is already in the works. Here's yesterday's front-page story from the Huffington Post; see the CBS video with Charlie Rose.
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. Visit our Events Calendar to learn about upcoming national security events, and check out relevant job openings on our Job Board.
Jane Chong is former deputy managing editor of Lawfare. She served as a law clerk on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit and is a graduate of Yale Law School and Duke University.
