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Speaker Nancy PELOSI will continue her series of dramatic trips when she arrives in Armenia this weekend, even as a Russian-brokered ceasefire has not involved fatal clashes with Azerbaijan.
The planned trip, first reported via NatSec Daily, will take place after a stopover in Berlin for the G7 speaker summit. She will join Yerevan through Representative JACKIE SPEIER (D-Calif. ) for an assembly with Prime Minister Nikol PASHINYAN and government officials.
As we approach the halfway point of the term, and the option that she will lose the hammer if Republicans return to the majority, confidence in Washington is that Pelosi wants to cement her legacy as a human rights defender, not only in the United States but around the world. world. . Just a month ago, Pelosi was in the Taiwanese capital for her democracy in the face of China’s competitive behavior. Speier, meanwhile, is one of the few Armenian-American lawmakers in Congress.
Armenia and Azerbaijan are locked in a decades-long bloody dispute over Nagorno-Karabakh, the territory identified around the world as part of Azerbaijan but populated by ethnic Armenians. Two years ago, they fought their first momentary war on disputed lands, leaving thousands dead. and more regional strength for Baku.
Violence erupted last weekend, with officials in both capitals accusing the other of attacking first. More than 170 of both sides have been killed in skirmishes in recent days, officials in Yerevan and Baku say.
Russia said it had negotiated a ceasefire on Tuesday, but it was short-lived and violence continued into Wednesday.
Pelosi’s scale in will mean a lot to the Armenian-American community, which has called for greater politics on the crisis. border in violation of foreign law,” said Anthony Barsamian, co-chair of the Armenian Assembly of America.
Read the full story.
‘MASSIVE GLOBAL FAILURE’: A panel of independent experts has said the global reaction to the Covid-19 virus has proven to be “a major global failure”, leading to the pandemic that has killed millions, disrupted the economy and disrupted lives. .
“This staggering death toll is a profound tragedy and a major global failure on many levels. Too many governments have failed to meet the fundamental criteria of institutional rationality and transparency, too many other people, influenced by disinformation, have disrespected and protested fundamentally. public health precautions, and the world’s major powers have not worked in combination to control the pandemic. Experts wrote in The Lancet, stating that there were 17. 7 million more deaths due to insufficient global response.
“In addition, at the national level, many governments have proved unreliable and ineffective. Globally, cooperation between governments has been undermined by resentment from marvelous powers. This hostility has seriously weakened the ability of foreign establishments like the WHO for their assigned roles in the response to the pandemic,” the experts continued.
Read: ERIN BANCO, ASHLEIGH FURLONG and LENNART PFAHLER from POLITICO tell how 4 personal teams used their strength for the Covid reaction with little oversight.
PUTIN PRAISES CHINA AND PRAISES THE UNITED STATES AT XI MEETING: Russian President VLADIMIR Putin praised China’s “balanced stance” on the war in Ukraine at a meeting with XI JINPING in Uzbekistan on Thursday.
“We very much appreciate the balanced position of our Chinese friends in relation to the Ukraine crisis,” Putin said. “We welcome your questions and considerations on this. At today’s meeting, of course, we will maintain our position. “
He also claimed that the United States is to blame for recent tensions over Taiwan: “We condemn the provocations of the United States and its satellites in the Taiwan Strait. “
The heavily watched assembly was Xi’s first outdoor assembly in China since the pandemic began. While there is still no evidence that China is offering money or direct army for Russia’s war, Xi is obviously offering a political ceiling for Putin by showing bonhomie between the two.
“China will work with Russia to strengthen each other on issues related to each other’s core interests and deepen practical cooperation in trade, agriculture, connectivity and other fields,” the Foreign Ministry said.
EO ON FOREIGN INVESTMENT SECURITY: President Joe BIDEN today signed the first Executive Order since the creation of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States in 1975, which requires more national security points to be established before the company approves a transaction.
The five new points come with whether the investment affects the resilience of U. S. supply chains. UU; have an effect on the leadership of the American generation; is a component of a tendency to have a negative effect on U. S. national security. UU; poses a cybersecurity risk; and/or may compromise Americans’ non-public data.
“Strengthening our supply chains and opposing foreign threats strengthens our national security, and this executive order underscores CFIUS’ vital role in this work. It also reaffirms CFIUS’ project for U. S. technology leadership. threats,” said Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, who chairs the review body.
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Many of today’s military systems and platforms have been designed to operate independently. With our vision of twenty-first century security, Lockheed Martin accelerates innovation, connecting defense and virtual with the functionality of key platforms, equipping consumers to stay ahead of emerging threats. Learn more .
IRAN SANCTIONS ON RUSHDIE?: Biden’s management is contemplating imposing sanctions on elements of the Iranian regime for encouraging the attack on SALMAN RUSHDIE, BENOIT FAUCON and IAN TALLEY of the Wall Street Journal reported.
A resolution has not yet been made, but the WSJ pointed out some objectives.
“The 15th Khordad Foundation in Iran is a charity operating under the supervision of the Office of the Supreme Leader. He put up a reward of about $2. 5 million for Mr. Rushdie in 1997, bringing it to $2. 8 million in arrears in 1998, and then to $3. 3 million. millions in 2012,” Faucon and Talley wrote. Iranian media organizations, in addition to the semi-official Fars news agency, also publicly pledged to contribute to the reward. In 2016, 40 Iranian state media outlets added $600,000 reward for Mr. Rushdie, said the organizer of a virtual generation exhibit in which the money was announced in a post on its website.
The sanctions would force those organizations to obtain donations and send budget abroad.
Usa. U. S. AND THE EU WAITS FOR TURKEY FOR SANCTIONS RUSSIA: The United States and the European Union are pressuring Turkey to curb Russia’s sanctions evasion, claiming that Moscow is the NATO ally’s banking sector for illicit activities.
“The United States is focusing on Turkish banks that have been incorporated into Mir, Russia’s domestic payment system,” two Western officials involved in the plans told the Financial Times, as Brussels prepares a delegation to express its considerations directly to Turkish officials, “HENRY FOY, SAM FLEMING, JAMES POLITI and LAURA PITEL reported: “Five of Turkey’s largest banks, VakıfBank, Ziraat Bank, İş Bank, DenizBank and Halkbank, are members of the Mir payment system, which evolved through the Russian central bank as a national option. to Visa and Mastercard”.
In recent weeks, Western countries have resorted to enforcing existing sanctions or imposing new ones on Russia. “You’re going to see us focusing on escaping the monetary sector,” one of the Western officials said.
The European Union is contemplating a new cybersecurity law that would include all devices in the Internet of Things, from “smart” toys to refrigerators.
According to the Cyber Resilience Act, “[t]he brands of digitally connected products comply with the new EU requirements, regardless of whether the products are manufactured in the EU or not. The law would ensure that products bearing the CE mark comply with a minimum cybersecurity checkpoint. Sensitive products that break the rules face fines of up to 15 million euros, or 2. 5% of global turnover, whichever is greater,” said ANTOANETA ROUSSI of POLITICO.
An annex attached to the law specifies two categories: one for critical products, which will cover about 10% of the market; and a moment category that will cover everything else. For low-risk products, the European Commission will ask corporations to conduct a self-assessment, indicating that a product meets cybersecurity standards. For critical products that pose a significant cybersecurity risk, a manufacturer will want to demonstrate that it complies with the requirements of a national authority or through a third-party assessment.
NO MORE SHIPS CAN BE BUILT: U. S. Shipping BuildersUU. no can increase shipment production in the coming years to meet congressional demands, naval operations chief Adm said Wednesday. MIKE GILDAY, according to our friends at Morning Defense (for professionals!).
“Right now, we’re not at a point where the commercial base supports 3 destroyers a year,” Gilday said at an event hosted by Defense One. “Right now, there are between two and two and a half. So, we need to make sure that if we’re going to spend that cash on shipbuilding, that there’s the capacity for that cash to be spent well.
As for the frigate program, Gilday plans to build “at least two or three a year once this production line launches” through 2026. Still, he admitted that the defense trade base “lately is strained. . . This professional manual workforce is something those corporations are laser-targeting today to expand and that talent.
JAVELIN CONTRACT: The military has awarded the Javelin joint venture between Raytheon Missiles and Defense and Lockheed Martin $331 million to deliver 1,800 Javelin missiles that would upgrade those shipped to Ukraine.
We’ve done the math so you don’t have to: it’s over $180,000 each.
“To date, the Javelin joint venture has produced more than 50,000 Javelin missiles and more than 12,000 reusable command launch units. Javelin is expected to remain in the U. S. weapons arsenal. “It is subject to ongoing updates to meet evolving operational needs,” Pentagon Read.
NEW TAIWAN BILL: Legislation that would revise U. S. policyThe U. S. vote on Taiwan passed smoothly through a tough Senate committee on Wednesday, the latest bankruptcy in Congress’ swift reaction to China’s belligerent threats against the self-governing island, our own ANDREW DESIDERIO reported.
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee passed the Taiwan Policy Act, which supplements the Taiwan Relations Act of 1979, by a vote of 17 to 5. The bill aims to strengthen Taiwan’s ability to protect itself militarily from an imagined Chinese invasion while deepening symbolic U. S. policy. The U. S. ties are Taiwanese that Beijing has called an inversion of the prestige quo.
But senators made clear at the hearing that the bill was not a substitute for American politics. By contrast, said the panel’s most sensible Republican, Sen. JIM RISCH of Idaho, the law “gives [Chinese leader] XI JINPING an explanation of why to think twice about invading Taiwan. “
RUSSIA DRAWS ‘RED LINE’: Russia’s Foreign Ministry said the delivery of long-range missiles from the United States to Ukraine was a “red line” that Biden’s management does not cross.
“If Washington makes the decision to send longer-range missiles to Kyiv, then it will cross a red line and be a direct part of the conflict,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told reporters at a news conference on Thursday.
This comes after NatSec Daily and other media outlets published Ukraine’s weapons wish list for war, which included ATACMS, missiles that can be introduced from HIMARS and fly up to 186 miles. It turns out that Moscow is letting Washington know that it deserves to keep its promise, if not.
FIRST IN NATSEC DAILY –– LAWSUIT AGAINST RAISI: Iranian dissidents and former hostages are initiating a federal civil lawsuit in the Southern District of New York Iranian President EBRAHIM RAISI, NatSec Daily learned.
The lawsuit comes just ahead of the United Nations General Assembly that will draw dozens of world leaders, Raisi added. The plaintiffs will say Iran violated the Torture Victims Protection Act by unjustly torturing, assaulting and imprisoning people.
The plaintiffs come with former Shiraz city councillor MEHDI HAJATI and former hostages KYLIE MOORE-GILBERT and HAMID BABEI. They plan to hold a press conference at nine a. m. Tuesday at a personal club in the centre, the day before Raissi’s speech at the UNGA.
– FIRST IN NATSEC DAILY: ADIL AHMED began as a senior representative for FEC Vice President Dara Lindenbaum. He was named the first day in Biden-Harris’ leadership, where he recently served as a special advocate for the U. S. military. USA(m/t DANIEL LIPPMAN)
— RAVI AGRAWAL, Foreign Policy: LINDA THOMAS-GREENFIELD on Russia, China and the United Nations General Assembly
— CONOR FRIEDERSDORF, The Atlantic: King Charles Should Prepare to Abdicate
— E. TAMMY KIM, New Yorker: China and the History of American Manufacturing
– Communications and Electronic Association of the Armed Forces and National Intelligence and Security Alliance, 8:00 a. m. m. : Intelligence and National Security Summit 2022 »
— Centre for Strategic and International Studies, nine o’clock in the morning: “Strengthening the security of Somalia”.
— The Wilson Center, nine a. m. : “Unusual Business: A Rapidly Changing World Requires Adapting Peacebuilding in Africa”
– The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 10:00 a. m. : “Unpacking Italy’s Political Future”
— Center for a New American Security, tomorrow: “Russia in the Arctic. “
RAND Corporation, 1 p. m. : Verbal exchange on biodefense with experts and member of the BRAD WENSTRUP House Intelligence Committee
— The Wilson Center, 3:30 p. m. : Jordan and the United States: A Conversation with Jordan’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister H. E. AYMAN SAFADI
Transition to a new concert adjacent to defense or foreign policy?Email me at [email protected] to appear in the next edition of the newsletter.
And thanks to my editor, Ben Pauker, who has never held a “balanced position” in his life.
Many of today’s military systems and platforms have been designed to operate independently. With our vision of twenty-first century security, Lockheed Martin accelerates innovation, connecting defense and virtual with the functionality of key platforms, equipping consumers to stay ahead of emerging threats. Learn more .