foreignpolicy--2020-07-28--Viktor Orban Has Declared a War on Mayors

BUDAPEST , Hungary—When Gergely Karacsony was elected mayor of Budapest last fall , it was a major moment of hope for Hungary ’ s political opposition : His victory , along with the success of dozens of other opposition candidates in cities and towns across the country , was the first major electoral setback Prime Minister Viktor Orban has suffered in a decade .
Seeing their newly earned local-level offices as key to challenging Orban in the 2022 parliamentary elections , Karacsony and others were eager to convince voters that the opposition was the source of competent , steady governance @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Since the beginning of the coronavirus outbreak in Hungary , Orban and his government have moved aggressively to combat the spread of the virus—including passing a law in March giving Orban the ability to bypass parliament and effectively rule by decree .
In the process , the prime minister has used the pandemic as political cover to make life significantly more difficult for newly elected opposition mayors .
By reallocating funding , cutting major sources of revenue , designating so-called special economic zones , and not providing up-to-date information about new infections , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ out basic municipal tasks and take care of their cities .
“ Obviously there ’ s a political calculation behind what the government is doing , ” Karacsony told Foreign Policy via a translator .
“ The government is interested in showing that these opposition mayors and opposition-led municipalities are not delivering on what they had promised … then they can point fingers at us and say , ‘ These guys can ’ t govern.
’ ” Budapest , like many other municipalities , is already feeling the pain .
In addition to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ during the pandemic from things like business and public transit , a series of moves by Orban ’ s government deepened its financial woes : For example , Orban declared parking would be free nationwide , cutting off a key source of revenue for municipalities such as Budapest .
And significant chunks of the city budgets , including vehicle registration taxes , were reallocated into a national coronavirus response fund .
( Funding for political parties will also be redirected to this fund until the end of the year . )
“ That @ @ @ @ @ @ @ can not make any new investments , green investments , that we ran on during the campaign , ” Karacsony said .
“ In the medium term , we can ’ t really finance the basic responsibilities and tasks that Budapest is supposed to carry out.
” Orban , who took office in 2010 , has spent the last decade working to centralize power and realize his vision of the country as an “ illiberal ” democracy .
He has , among other things , demonized refugees and migrants ; directly and indirectly @ @ @ @ @ @ @ remaining independent media , as is currently unfolding at the online news portal Index ; and overhauled Hungary ’ s electoral laws , redrawing districts and implement a first-past-the-post system , to all but ensure a victory for his Fidesz party .
Most of the recent attention internationally has focused on Orban ’ s new emergency powers , and on a new law punishing pandemic-related disinformation with up to five years in prison .
But equally consequential have been the ways the pandemic has allowed Orban to accelerate a long-running effort to shift @ @ @ @ @ @ @ national level , as a way of undermining his political opposition .
“ For Karacsony and other opposition politicians who ’ ve been elected to be mayors , this would be the opportunity where they have to prove themselves , ” said Marta Pardavi , a co-chair of the Hungarian Helsinki Committee , a Budapest-based watchdog organization .
“ Proving yourself , of course , requires resources .
… The space to act is limited , and the resources are limited.
” Although Budapest is by far Hungary ’ s biggest city , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Other opposition mayors in big and small cities across the country are reporting similar issues and facing similar struggles to effectively govern in the wake of new budget cuts .
Back in early 2018 , when Peter Marki-Zay was elected mayor of the southern city of Hodmezovasarhely with support from all major opposition parties , his victory provided a blueprint for intraparty cooperation that led to last fall ’ s opposition gains .
The pandemic-era funding reallocations have hit Hodmezovasarhely hard as well : Marki-Zay said the city will lose 7 to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the year , which has led him to cut staff and put on hold various development projects he had planned .
“ It ’ s a huge blow .
… It makes absolutely no sense , except as a political annihilation of opposition political cities , ” said Marki-Zay , who founded the pro-opposition coordination movement Hungary for All .
“ They used the COVID crisis to conduct a smear campaign against opposition mayors and criticize us for anything .
… We are very easy to blame.
” In addition to funding reallocations @ @ @ @ @ @ @ get up-to-date information about new infections in his city , meaning mayors like him are flying blind when making local-level decisions about reopening .
Over Easter weekend in April , Marki-Zay and other mayors were asked to decide themselves whether to open farmers markets and playgrounds—knowing only how many active cases there were in the whole county , not specifically within their cities .
The opposition mayor in nearby Szeged chose to close farmers markets that weekend , Marki-Zay said , while he chose to keep them open .
Both were blasted for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Marki-Zay summed up the experience this way : “ They really tie your hands and feet together , and throw you into the water , ” he said .
“ And then you have to swim.
” In God , a municipality of about 20,000 just north of Budapest , the scale of the revenue losses is even more staggering .
In addition to the same kinds of budget reallocations Budapest and Hodmezovasarhely faced , God faced another significant challenge when Orban ’ s government designated a Samsung battery factory in town a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the factory and the tax revenues it brings in now belong to the Fidesz-aligned county council .
Csaba Balogh , God ’ s mayor from the opposition party Momentum , estimates that the municipality ’ s revenue losses between now and 2024 will add up to 50 billion Hungarian forints ( about $ 170 million ) .
“ This year we are going to manage somehow … but in the long term , that ’ s really an enormous amount of money , ” he said .
“ We could have such great @ @ @ @ @ @ @ but right now we don ’ t have that.
” Orban and his government say that their actions have been focused on combating the pandemic , and that the country ’ s low case count and death rates are proof their strategy has worked .
Zoltan Kovacs , Orban ’ s international spokesman , told Foreign Policy that because Budapest is the wealthiest city in Hungary , Karacsony ’ s claims that the funding reallocations are unfair are politically motivated .
“ Nobody ’ s punishing anybody , ” Kovacs said .
“ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Budapest and the parties that some measures and steps are unjust toward Budapest , that we are punishing [ them ] , is a political game on the national level.
” For the moment , the number of coronavirus cases in Hungary is relatively low , and things have begun returning to normal in the country , both politically and in Hungarians ’ daily lives .
The parliament voted in mid-June to formally lift the “ state of danger ” and Orban ’ s emergency powers , but it also approved a mechanism @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in the future without the approval of parliament .
With fears of a potential second wave of infections hanging over many European countries , how and when such a move will be made remains to be seen .
But Orban ’ s efforts to shift powers from local governments toward county and national governments are not new , and mayors and political observers say they expect further attempts to undermine the opposition—and the overall trajectory of Hungary ’ s democracy—if the virus returns .
“ These less-clear changes that people were not necessarily @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , the director of research for Europe and Eurasia at Freedom House , “ were the ones that were more insidious and more dangerous in some way .
”

BUDAPEST, Hungary—When Gergely Karacsony was elected mayor of Budapest last fall, it was a major moment of hope for Hungary’s political opposition: His victory, along with the success of dozens of other opposition candidates in cities and towns across the country, was the first major electoral setback Prime Minister Viktor Orban has suffered in a decade. Seeing their newly earned local-level offices as key to challenging Orban in the 2022 parliamentary elections, Karacsony and others were eager to convince voters that the opposition was the source of competent, steady governance.
BUDAPEST, Hungary—When Gergely Karacsony was elected mayor of Budapest last fall, it was a major moment of hope for Hungary’s political opposition: His victory, along with the success of dozens of other opposition candidates in cities and towns across the country, was the first major electoral setback Prime Minister Viktor Orban has suffered in a decade. Seeing their newly earned local-level offices as key to challenging Orban in the 2022 parliamentary elections, Karacsony and others were eager to convince voters that the opposition was the source of competent, steady governance.
And then came the pandemic. Since the beginning of the coronavirus outbreak in Hungary, Orban and his government have moved aggressively to combat the spread of the virus—including passing a law in March giving Orban the ability to bypass parliament and effectively rule by decree. In the process, the prime minister has used the pandemic as political cover to make life significantly more difficult for newly elected opposition mayors. By reallocating funding, cutting major sources of revenue, designating so-called special economic zones, and not providing up-to-date information about new infections, Orban has limited their ability to carry out basic municipal tasks and take care of their cities.
“Obviously there’s a political calculation behind what the government is doing,” Karacsony told Foreign Policy via a translator. “The government is interested in showing that these opposition mayors and opposition-led municipalities are not delivering on what they had promised … then they can point fingers at us and say, ‘These guys can’t govern.’”
Budapest, like many other municipalities, is already feeling the pain. In addition to the city’s decreased tax revenue during the pandemic from things like business and public transit, a series of moves by Orban’s government deepened its financial woes: For example, Orban declared parking would be free nationwide, cutting off a key source of revenue for municipalities such as Budapest. And significant chunks of the city budgets, including vehicle registration taxes, were reallocated into a national coronavirus response fund. (Funding for political parties will also be redirected to this fund until the end of the year.)
“That basically means we can hardly survive—and we cannot make any new investments, green investments, that we ran on during the campaign,” Karacsony said. “In the medium term, we can’t really finance the basic responsibilities and tasks that Budapest is supposed to carry out.”
Orban, who took office in 2010, has spent the last decade working to centralize power and realize his vision of the country as an “illiberal” democracy. He has, among other things, demonized refugees and migrants; directly and indirectly sought control over the country’s remaining independent media, as is currently unfolding at the online news portal Index; and overhauled Hungary’s electoral laws,redrawing districts and implement a first-past-the-post system, to all but ensure a victory for his Fidesz party. Most of the recent attention internationally has focused on Orban’s new emergency powers, and on a new law punishing pandemic-related disinformation with up to five years in prison. But equally consequential have been the ways the pandemic has allowed Orban to accelerate a long-running effort to shift power from municipalities to the county and national level, as a way of undermining his political opposition.
“For Karacsony and other opposition politicians who’ve been elected to be mayors, this would be the opportunity where they have to prove themselves,” said Marta Pardavi, a co-chair of the Hungarian Helsinki Committee, a Budapest-based watchdog organization. “Proving yourself, of course, requires resources. … The space to act is limited, and the resources are limited.”
Although Budapest is by far Hungary’s biggest city, Karacsony’s experience is not unique. Other opposition mayors in big and small cities across the country are reporting similar issues and facing similar struggles to effectively govern in the wake of new budget cuts. Back in early 2018, when Peter Marki-Zay was elected mayor of the southern city of Hodmezovasarhely with support from all major opposition parties, his victory provided a blueprint for intraparty cooperation that led to last fall’s opposition gains.
The pandemic-era funding reallocations have hit Hodmezovasarhely hard as well: Marki-Zay said the city will lose 7 to 8 percent of its overall income for the year, which has led him to cut staff and put on hold various development projects he had planned. “It’s a huge blow. … It makes absolutely no sense, except as a political annihilation of opposition political cities,” said Marki-Zay, who founded the pro-opposition coordination movement Hungary for All. “They used the COVID crisis to conduct a smear campaign against opposition mayors and criticize us for anything. … We are very easy to blame.”
In addition to funding reallocations, Marki-Zay said he has struggled to get up-to-date information about new infections in his city, meaning mayors like him are flying blind when making local-level decisions about reopening. Over Easter weekend in April, Marki-Zay and other mayors were asked to decide themselves whether to open farmers markets and playgrounds—knowing only how many active cases there were in the whole county, not specifically within their cities. The opposition mayor in nearby Szeged chose to close farmers markets that weekend, Marki-Zay said, while he chose to keep them open. Both were blasted for their choices in the Orban-aligned media. Marki-Zay summed up the experience this way: “They really tie your hands and feet together, and throw you into the water,” he said. “And then you have to swim.”
In God, a municipality of about 20,000 just north of Budapest, the scale of the revenue losses is even more staggering. In addition to the same kinds of budget reallocations Budapest and Hodmezovasarhely faced, God faced another significant challenge when Orban’s government designated a Samsung battery factory in town a “special economic zone.” That means the factory and the tax revenues it brings in now belong to the Fidesz-aligned county council.
Csaba Balogh, God’s mayor from the opposition party Momentum, estimates that the municipality’s revenue losses between now and 2024 will add up to 50 billion Hungarian forints (about $170 million). “This year we are going to manage somehow … but in the long term, that’s really an enormous amount of money,” he said. “We could have such great achievements with this kind of money, but right now we don’t have that.”
Orban and his government say that their actions have been focused on combating the pandemic, and that the country’s low case count and death rates are proof their strategy has worked. Zoltan Kovacs, Orban’s international spokesman, told Foreign Policy that because Budapest is the wealthiest city in Hungary, Karacsony’s claims that the funding reallocations are unfair are politically motivated. “Nobody’s punishing anybody,” Kovacs said. “Any claims coming from the leaders of Budapest and the parties that some measures and steps are unjust toward Budapest, that we are punishing [them], is a political game on the national level.”
For the moment, the number of coronavirus cases in Hungary is relatively low, and things have begun returning to normal in the country, both politically and in Hungarians’ daily lives. The parliament voted in mid-June to formally lift the “state of danger” and Orban’s emergency powers, but it also approved a mechanism for such a state to be reinstituted in the future without the approval of parliament. With fears of a potential second wave of infections hanging over many European countries, how and when such a move will be made remains to be seen.
But Orban’s efforts to shift powers from local governments toward county and national governments are not new, and mayors and political observers say they expect further attempts to undermine the opposition—and the overall trajectory of Hungary’s democracy—if the virus returns. “These less-clear changes that people were not necessarily focusing on,” said Zselyke Csaky, the director of research for Europe and Eurasia at Freedom House, “were the ones that were more insidious and more dangerous in some way.”


foreignpolicy--2020-07-28--Israel Accuses Hezbollah Of ‘Playing With Fire’ in Alleged Incursion

Israel Accuses Hezbollah Of ‘ Playing With Fire ’ in Alleged Incursion Here is today ’ s Foreign Policy brief : Israel and Hezbollah exchange statements over an alleged incursion in the Golan Heights , former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak is found guilty in the 1MDB case , and Vietnam ’ s third-largest city goes into lockdown .
If you would like to receive Morning Brief in your inbox every weekday , please sign up here .
Israel has accused Hezbollah of “ playing with fire ” after an alleged incursion by up to four of the group ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Sunday .
Hezbollah has denied that any such incursion took place .
“ Everything claimed by the Israeli media and the IDF about a Hezbollah infiltration … is an attempt to invent false Israeli victories , ” the group said .
The Israel Defense Forces ( IDF ) said that the incursion was halted after an exchange of gunfire , causing the militants to return across the border into Syria .
The risk of open conflict between Israel and the Lebanese group has increased following the killing of a Hezbollah fighter in an @ @ @ @ @ @ @ In a Monday statement , Hezbollah said retaliation for the strike “ will definitely come , ” although Hezbollah ’ s deputy secretary-general , Naim Qassim , suggested that it is not imminent .
“ The deterrence equation with Israel is holding and we are not willing to amend this equation .
There is also no change in the rules of engagement , ” he told the news channel Al-Mayadeen on Sunday .
A good crisis .
The flare-up comes at an opportune time for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu , who is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ resignation .
On Saturday , Haaretz reported a gathering of 10,000 demonstrators in front of the prime minister ’ s official residence—a crowd that has been increasing over the past two weeks .
Budget troubles .
It also comes as the coalition between Netanyahu ’ s Likud and Benny Gantz ’ s Blue and White party comes under strain .
The latest flashpoint is an impasse over the national budget .
Gantz is insisting on passing a two-year budget , while Netanyahu wants the budget to cover one year .
Critics say such @ @ @ @ @ @ @ force another election before Gantz assumes the role of prime minister in 2021 .
And the pandemic , too .
All the while , as Joshua Mitnick reports for Foreign Policy from Tel Aviv , Israel is facing a second wave of coronavirus infections .
As Mitnick observes , Israel ’ s response has been “ a cautionary tale about governance that responds well to emergencies but fails to organize for a sustained fight and about the distractions of politics and populism.
” Najib Razak found guilty .
Former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib @ @ @ @ @ @ @ seven charges in his first corruption trial related to the looting of the 1MDB state investment fund .
Najib had been charged with abuse of power , three charges of criminal breach of trust , and three money laundering charges .
This trial is just one of five brought against the former prime minister , who could face years in prison .
Najib plans to appeal the ruling and has denounced the trials as politically motivated .
Trump ’ s national security advisor has coronavirus .
U.S. National Security Advisor Robert O ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ He is the highest-ranking Trump administration official to contract the virus so far .
It ’ s not yet known how recently O ’ Brien was in contact with U.S. President Donald Trump , but White House officials played down the risk of the infection spreading .
“ There is no risk of exposure to the President or the Vice President , ” and the “ work of the National Security Council continues uninterrupted , ” a White House Statement said .
Danang on lockdown .
Danang , Vietnam ’ s third-largest city @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a the discovery of a coronavirus outbreak linked to a local hospital .
Vietnam is still closed to foreign tourists , but all flights , buses , and train services in and out of the city have been suspended .
Vietnam is the most populous country that has not yet registered a single coronavirus-related death .
It has reported only 431 cases in total .
New Zealand suspends extradition treaty with Hong Kong .
New Zealand has joined Australia , Canada , and the United Kingdom as the latest country to suspend its @ @ @ @ @ @ @ passage of a Beijing-imposed national security law .
“ New Zealand can no longer trust that Hong Kong ’ s criminal justice system is sufficiently independent from China , ” Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters said on Tuesday , adding that if China was to revisit its “ one country , two systems ” policy then New Zealand would reconsider its decision .
ECOWAS threatens sanctions over Mali proposal .
The 15 West African nations of ECOWAS have called on opposition leaders to embrace a government of national unity and abandon hopes of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ risk facing sanctions .
As well as establishing a unity government , the ECOWAS plan would involve by-elections for 31 parliamentary seats won in March and April ’ s disputed legislative elections .
Mali ’ s opposition has been unmoved by the ECOWAS proposal .
“ We take note , but we really believe that this is not the will of the people , it is not what we expect , ” said opposition coalition spokesman Nouhoum Togo .
Zimbabwe targets U.S. ambassador .
Zimbabwe ’ s ruling ZANU-PF party labeled U.S. ambassador @ @ @ @ @ @ @ accused him of funding anti-government protests planned for this week .
Zimbabwe summoned Nichols after U.S. National Security Adviser Robert O ’ Brien accused the southern African country of stoking unrest online after the police killing of George Floyd in late May .
Opposition groups plan to protest on July 31 against government corruption and an ongoing economic crisis .
As the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic threatens to erode U.S. soft power , Harry Harris , the U.S .
Ambassador to South Korea , has gone the extra mile and removed his @ @ @ @ @ @ @ smooth relations between the two countries .
Harris , whose mother was born in Japan , drew criticism from some sectors of South Korean society when he took up his post sporting his newly-grown facial fashion .
Critics said it was reminiscent of the mustaches worn by Japanese governor-generals during Japan ’ s colonial rule of the peninsula from 1910-1945 .
Harris has given a more innocent explanation for the removal , saying a clean-shaven look helps him both handle the muggy summer and follow face mask guidelines .
For more from FP @ @ @ @ @ @ @ or sign up for our other newsletters .
Send your tips , comments , questions , or corrections to morningbrief @ foreignpolicy.com .

Here is today’s Foreign Policy brief: Israel and Hezbollah exchange statements over an alleged incursion in the Golan Heights, former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak is found guilty in the 1MDB case, and Vietnam ’s third-largest city goes into lockdown.
Here is today’s Foreign Policy brief: Israel and Hezbollah exchange statements over an alleged incursion in the Golan Heights, former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak is found guilty in the 1MDB case, and Vietnam’s third-largest city goes into lockdown.
If you would like to receive Morning Brief in your inbox every weekday, please sign up here.
Israel and Hezbollah Trade Barbs Over Alleged Incursion
Israel has accused Hezbollah of “playing with fire” after an alleged incursion by up to four of the group’s fighters into the Golan Heights on Sunday.
Hezbollah has denied that any such incursion took place. “Everything claimed by the Israeli media and the IDF about a Hezbollah infiltration … is an attempt to invent false Israeli victories,” the group said.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said that the incursion was halted after an exchange of gunfire, causing the militants to return across the border into Syria. The risk of open conflict between Israel and the Lebanese group has increased following the killing of a Hezbollah fighter in an Israeli airstrike in Syria last week.
In a Monday statement, Hezbollah said retaliation for the strike “will definitely come,” although Hezbollah’s deputy secretary-general, Naim Qassim, suggested that it is not imminent. “The deterrence equation with Israel is holding and we are not willing to amend this equation. There is also no change in the rules of engagement,” he told the news channel Al-Mayadeen on Sunday.
A good crisis. The flare-up comes at an opportune time for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is facing loud street protests calling for his resignation. On Saturday, Haaretz reported a gathering of 10,000 demonstrators in front of the prime minister’s official residence—a crowd that has been increasing over the past two weeks.
Budget troubles. It also comes as the coalition between Netanyahu’s Likud and Benny Gantz’s Blue and White party comes under strain. The latest flashpoint is an impasse over the national budget. Gantz is insisting on passing a two-year budget, while Netanyahu wants the budget to cover one year. Critics say such a maneuver would give Netanyahu room to force another election before Gantz assumes the role of prime minister in 2021.
And the pandemic, too. All the while, as Joshua Mitnick reports for Foreign Policy from Tel Aviv, Israel is facing a second wave of coronavirus infections. As Mitnick observes, Israel’s response has been “a cautionary tale about governance that responds well to emergencies but fails to organize for a sustained fight and about the distractions of politics and populism.”
What We’re Following Today
Najib Razak found guilty. Former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak has been found guilty of all seven charges in his first corruption trial related to the looting of the 1MDB state investment fund. Najib had been charged with abuse of power, three charges of criminal breach of trust, and three money laundering charges. This trial is just one of five brought against the former prime minister, who could face years in prison. Najib plans to appeal the ruling and has denounced the trials as politically motivated.
Trump’s national security advisor has coronavirus. U.S. National Security Advisor Robert O’Brien has been diagnosed with COVID-19. He is the highest-ranking Trump administration official to contract the virus so far. It’s not yet known how recently O’Brien was in contact with U.S. President Donald Trump, but White House officials played down the risk of the infection spreading. “There is no risk of exposure to the President or the Vice President,” and the “work of the National Security Council continues uninterrupted,” a White House Statement said.
Danang on lockdown. Danang, Vietnam’s third-largest city, has been placed on lockdown after a the discovery of a coronavirus outbreak linked to a local hospital. Vietnam is still closed to foreign tourists, but all flights, buses, and train services in and out of the city have been suspended. Vietnam is the most populous country that has not yet registered a single coronavirus-related death. It has reported only 431 cases in total.
New Zealand suspends extradition treaty with Hong Kong. New Zealand has joined Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom as the latest country to suspend its extradition treaty with Hong Kong following the passage of a Beijing-imposed national security law. “New Zealand can no longer trust that Hong Kong’s criminal justice system is sufficiently independent from China,” Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters said on Tuesday, adding that if China was to revisit its “one country, two systems” policy then New Zealand would reconsider its decision.
Keep an Eye On
ECOWAS threatens sanctions over Mali proposal. The 15 West African nations of ECOWAS have called on opposition leaders to embrace a government of national unity and abandon hopes of ousting sitting President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita or risk facing sanctions. As well as establishing a unity government, the ECOWAS plan would involve by-elections for 31 parliamentary seats won in March and April’s disputed legislative elections.
Mali’s opposition has been unmoved by the ECOWAS proposal. “We take note, but we really believe that this is not the will of the people, it is not what we expect,” said opposition coalition spokesman Nouhoum Togo.
Zimbabwe targets U.S. ambassador. Zimbabwe’s ruling ZANU-PF party labeled U.S. ambassador Brian Nichols a “thug” and accused him of funding anti-government protests planned for this week. Zimbabwe summoned Nichols after U.S. National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien accused the southern African country of stoking unrest online after the police killing of George Floyd in late May. Opposition groups plan to protest on July 31 against government corruption and an ongoing economic crisis.
Odds and Ends
As the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic threatens to erode U.S. soft power, Harry Harris, the U.S. Ambassador to South Korea, has gone the extra mile and removed his signature mustache in a move that could smooth relations between the two countries. Harris, whose mother was born in Japan, drew criticism from some sectors of South Korean society when he took up his post sporting his newly-grown facial fashion. Critics said it was reminiscent of the mustaches worn by Japanese governor-generals during Japan’s colonial rule of the peninsula from 1910-1945. Harris has given a more innocent explanation for the removal, saying a clean-shaven look helps him both handle the muggy summer and follow face mask guidelines.
That’s it for today.
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foreignpolicy--2020-07-29--Big Tech Faces Off With Congress

Big Tech Faces Off With Congress

Here is today ’ s Foreign Policy brief : The U.S. House Judiciary Committee plans to grill Big Tech leaders on antitrust , Taliban leaders announce a three-day cease-fire , and working level U.S.-Russian nuclear talks begin in Vienna .
We welcome your feedback at morningbrief @ foreignpolicy.com .
At noon today in Washington , four of the world ’ s most powerful tech leaders will testify before a U.S. Congressional committee investigating whether their companies have become too dominant in their respective markets .
The CEOs of Amazon , Apple , Facebook , and Google will all testify via @ @ @ @ @ @ @ CEO Jeff Bezos ’ s first time appearing before Congress .
The hearing has been called by the antitrust panel of the House Judiciary Committee and is part of a year-long investigation into possible monopolistic practices of the tech giants as Chairman David Cicilline , a Democrat , attempts to build a case for updating current U.S. antitrust laws .
Appitol Hill .
All four companies are immensely profitable , and any effort to break them up or impose onerous regulations will be fought aggressively by a sector becoming more and more at @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the amount Amazon has spent lobbying the U.S. government has more than tripled and overtook the spending of Alphabet—Google ’ s parent company—in 2019 .
What they ’ ll say .
Despite user bases in the billions , expect each tech leader to play down their company ’ s dominance ( and in Mark Zuckerberg ’ s case , talk up TikTok ’ s competitor status ) .
Although the hearing is ostensibly about antitrust , expect Republican lawmakers to bring up perceived censorship of conservative views on web platforms and Democrats to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ U.S. presidential election .
Taliban calls cease-fire .
The Taliban has announced a three-day cease-fire during the Islamic holiday of Eid al-Adha , with the suspension of hostilities scheduled to begin this Friday .
Separately , Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has suggested peace talks are imminent , based on his government nearing an agreed number of prisoner releases .
“ With this action , we look forward to the start of direct negotiations with the Taliban in a week ’ s time , ” Ghani said .
The decision comes as U.S. special @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Afghanistan this week .
Russian and U.S. officials meet for nuclear talks .
Working groups of government experts from Russia and the United States meet in Vienna today to begin three days of talks on the topic of nuclear arms control ahead of the expiry of the New START agreement .
The meetings follow negotiations between U.S. arms control envoy Marshall Billingslea and Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov in June .
U.S. admits to killing civilian in Somalia .
U.S. Africa Command ( Africom ) has admitted to killing one civilian and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ airstrike in Somalia .
It is only the second time Africom has admitted to killing civilians in its Africa operations since it began reporting .
The strike took place near Jilib , an area south of Somalia ’ s capital Mogadishu .
The Feb. 2 killing had been highlighted in a report by Amnesty International in March , and at the time U.S. officials maintained that only terrorists had been killed in the operation .
Africom ’ s commander , Gen. Stephen Townsend said the military did not intend to target civilians in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ work hard to prevent civilians from getting hurt or killed during these operations designed to bring increased security and stability to Somalia , ” Townsend said .
Powell ’ s view on economy .
The monthly meeting of the U.S. Federal Reserve ’ s Federal Open Market Committee , which sets U.S. interest rates , takes place today in Washington .
Although rates are expected to remain unchanged , Fed chief Jerome Powell ’ s subsequent press conference should give an insight into the direction central bankers see the U.S. economy going in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is needed .
Australia to increase cooperation with U.S. Australia has agreed to “ increased and regularized maritime cooperation ” with the United States in the South China Sea and the Indian Ocean following a meeting between the countries ’ top defense and foreign-policy officials .
The declaration does not mean Australia will join U.S. freedom of navigation operations in the disputed sea , a practice that Beijing deems provocative .
Australian Foreign Affairs Minister Marise Payne told reporters that Australia has “ no intention of injuring ” its relationship with China , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ joint statement also announced the formation of a U.S.-Australian working group to “ respond to disinformation efforts ” in the region .
Biden to announce running mate .
Former Vice President Joe Biden , the Democratic party nominee for president told reporters on Tuesday that he will announce his choice of running mate by next week .
Biden has promised to choose a woman for the role , although there is not yet a clear frontrunner .
On Tuesday , Biden was photographed with handwritten notes with a list of positive talking points @ @ @ @ @ @ @ also accidentally published a page on its website which named Harris as Biden ’ s running mate , before it was swiftly updated and the claim was removed .
In a development that may have been more welcome in the earliest stage of lockdown , when bread-baking and gardening were in vogue , residents in more than a dozen U.S. states have reported receiving suspicious packages of seeds , apparently from China .
The U.S. Department of Agriculture is investigating the mystery , and has advised anyone who has received the seeds to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ speculated that the seeds may have been part of a “ brushing ” scam , whereby products are shipped to unwitting addressees in order to create a fraudulent ( but authentic-looking ) review online in order to drive sales .
“ At this point in time , we don ’ t have enough information to know if this is a hoax , a prank , an internet scam or an act of agricultural bio-terrorism , ” Ryan Quarles , the Kentucky agriculture commissioner , said .
For more from FP , visit foreignpolicy.com @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for our other newsletters .
Send your tips , comments , questions , or corrections to morningbrief @ foreignpolicy.com .

Here is today’s Foreign Policy brief: The U.S. House Judiciary Committee plans to grill Big Tech leaders on antitrust, Taliban leaders announce a three-day cease-fire, and working level U.S.-Russian nuclear talks begin in Vienna.
Here is today’s Foreign Policy brief: The U.S. House Judiciary Committee plans to grill Big Tech leaders on antitrust, Taliban leaders announce a three-day cease-fire, and working level U.S.-Russian nuclear talks begin in Vienna.
If you would like to receive Morning Brief in your inbox every weekday, please sign up here.
Big Tech’s (Virtual) Showdown
At noon today in Washington, four of the world’s most powerful tech leaders will testify before a U.S. Congressional committee investigating whether their companies have become too dominant in their respective markets. The CEOs of Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google will all testify via video conference. It will be Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos’s first time appearing before Congress.
The hearing has been called by the antitrust panel of the House Judiciary Committee and is part of a year-long investigation into possible monopolistic practices of the tech giants as Chairman David Cicilline, a Democrat, attempts to build a case for updating current U.S. antitrust laws.
Appitol Hill. All four companies are immensely profitable, and any effort to break them up or impose onerous regulations will be fought aggressively by a sector becoming more and more at home in Washington. Since 2014, the amount Amazon has spent lobbying the U.S. government has more than tripled and overtook the spending of Alphabet—Google’s parent company—in 2019.
What they’ll say. Despite user bases in the billions, expect each tech leader to play down their company’s dominance (and in Mark Zuckerberg’s case, talk up TikTok’s competitor status). Although the hearing is ostensibly about antitrust, expect Republican lawmakers to bring up perceived censorship of conservative views on web platforms and Democrats to raise concerns about disinformation headed into the U.S. presidential election.
What We’re Following Today
Taliban calls cease-fire. The Taliban has announced a three-day cease-fire during the Islamic holiday of Eid al-Adha, with the suspension of hostilities scheduled to begin this Friday. Separately, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has suggested peace talks are imminent, based on his government nearing an agreed number of prisoner releases. “With this action, we look forward to the start of direct negotiations with the Taliban in a week’s time,” Ghani said. The decision comes as U.S. special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad is due to visit Afghanistan this week.
Russian and U.S. officials meet for nuclear talks. Working groups of government experts from Russia and the United States meet in Vienna today to begin three days of talks on the topic of nuclear arms control ahead of the expiry of the New START agreement. The meetings follow negotiations between U.S. arms control envoy Marshall Billingslea and Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov in June.
U.S. admits to killing civilian in Somalia. U.S. Africa Command (Africom) has admitted to killing one civilian and injuring three others in a February 2 airstrike in Somalia. It is only the second time Africom has admitted to killing civilians in its Africa operations since it began reporting. The strike took place near Jilib, an area south of Somalia’s capital Mogadishu. The Feb. 2 killing had been highlighted in a report by Amnesty International in March, and at the time U.S. officials maintained that only terrorists had been killed in the operation. Africom’s commander, Gen. Stephen Townsend said the military did not intend to target civilians in their operations against al-Shabab. “We work hard to prevent civilians from getting hurt or killed during these operations designed to bring increased security and stability to Somalia,” Townsend said.
Powell’s view on economy. The monthly meeting of the U.S. Federal Reserve’s Federal Open Market Committee, which sets U.S. interest rates, takes place today in Washington. Although rates are expected to remain unchanged, Fed chief Jerome Powell’s subsequent press conference should give an insight into the direction central bankers see the U.S. economy going in the coming months and whether more intervention is needed.
Keep an Eye On
Australia to increase cooperation with U.S. Australia has agreed to “increased and regularized maritime cooperation” with the United States in the South China Sea and the Indian Ocean following a meeting between the countries’ top defense and foreign-policy officials. The declaration does not mean Australia will join U.S. freedom of navigation operations in the disputed sea, a practice that Beijing deems provocative. Australian Foreign Affairs Minister Marise Payne told reporters that Australia has “no intention of injuring” its relationship with China, its number one trade partner. A joint statement also announced the formation of a U.S.-Australian working group to “respond to disinformation efforts” in the region.
Biden to announce running mate. Former Vice President Joe Biden, the Democratic party nominee for president told reporters on Tuesday that he will announce his choice of running mate by next week. Biden has promised to choose a woman for the role, although there is not yet a clear frontrunner. On Tuesday, Biden was photographed with handwritten notes with a list of positive talking points about California Senator Kamala Harris. Politico also accidentally published a page on its website which named Harris as Biden’s running mate, before it was swiftly updated and the claim was removed.
Odds and Ends
In a development that may have been more welcome in the earliest stage of lockdown, when bread-baking and gardening were in vogue, residents in more than a dozen U.S. states have reported receiving suspicious packages of seeds, apparently from China. The U.S. Department of Agriculture is investigating the mystery, and has advised anyone who has received the seeds to refrain from planting them. It is speculated that the seeds may have been part of a “brushing” scam, whereby products are shipped to unwitting addressees in order to create a fraudulent (but authentic-looking) review online in order to drive sales. “At this point in time, we don’t have enough information to know if this is a hoax, a prank, an internet scam or an act of agricultural bio-terrorism,” Ryan Quarles, the Kentucky agriculture commissioner, said.
That’s it for today.
For more from FP, visit foreignpolicy.com, subscribe here, or sign up for our other newsletters. Send your tips, comments, questions, or corrections to morningbrief@foreignpolicy.com.


foreignpolicy--2020-07-29--Britain Is Botching This Cold War Just Like the Last One

Britain Is Botching This Cold War Just Like the Last One Britain ’ s long-awaited intelligence report into Russia has finally been published .
The report , suspiciously delayed for seven months until after Britain ’ s December 2019 general election , is a damning indictment of London ’ s failure to recognize Russia ’ s threat .
The British government took its eye off the ball regarding Russia , concludes the report , with its attention focused instead on counterterrorism .
While Britain looked away , Russian President Vladimir Putin pursued an aggressive clandestine foreign policy against Britain and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ British soil , launching cyberattacks , unleashing disinformation to meddle in elections , and using Russian money to buy political influence in London—laundered through an industry of bankers , accountants , and lawyers in “ Londongrad.
” Driven by a relentless desire to be treated as a great power again and to defend against perceived Western aggression , Putin ’ s strategy appears a zero-sum game : Anything to weaken Britain and other Western democracies means Russia is winning .
The British government has made similar miscalculations about Russia in the past .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ was allies with Soviet Russia , it took its eye off the ball regarding Moscow ’ s long-term threat .
The result was disastrous for Britain and its closest ally , the United States , in the postwar years as the Cold War set in .
The same is happening today .
Although it now seems remarkably naive with hindsight of the Cold War , when Soviet Russia was drawn into World War II by Nazi Germany ’ s invasion in June 1941 , the British government imposed a moratorium on all British @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
It did so on the grounds that allies apparently do not spy on allies—especially when fighting a shared enemy posing an existential threat .
Some British intelligence officers were unconvinced that the Soviet Union ’ s threat had disappeared .
After the Nazi invasion of Soviet Russia , MI5 circulated a memorandum to senior government officials , “ lest we forget , ” warning that the Russian leopard had not changed its spots .
The head of MI5 ’ s counterespionage department , Guy Liddell , noted in his now-declassified diary in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ espionage by Britain ’ s ally : There is no doubt to my mind that it is going on and sooner or later we shall be expected to know all about it .
On the other hand if we take action and get found out there will be an appalling stink .
Short of creating an appalling stink , Britain ’ s intelligence services tried to circumvent the moratorium on Soviet intelligence collection by ramping up surveillance on the Communist Party of Great Britain ( CPGB ) , using it to detect Soviet @ @ @ @ @ @ @ MI5 planted listening devices in the Communist Party ’ s London headquarters , transcripts of which can be found in declassified MI5 records today , revealing party conversations otherwise long ago lost to history .
Its bugs showed that the CPGB ’ s leadership worked hand in glove with Moscow .
Its surveillance on the CPGB produced some counterespionage successes , leading to the identification and prosecution of wartime Soviet agents who passed British secrets to Moscow .
In their hopeless legal defenses , those agents claimed they were merely passing information to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that the information they stole was classified and disclosed without permission .
Using the CPGB to investigate Soviet espionage , however , was never going to be sufficient : Soviet intelligence services , the KGB and GRU , purposely distanced themselves from the CPGB , because they assumed—correctly—that British authorities kept it under tight surveillance .
Britain ’ s Secret Intelligence Service ( also known as MI6 ) was also alert to the continued Russian the threat during the war .
In May 1943 it established a new department , Section IX , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ reflecting the postwar importance it believed those subjects would have .
Unfortunately for Western security , but fortunately for Soviet intelligence , in 1944 MI6 appointed a new head of Section IX : Kim Philby , a high-level Soviet agent inside the service .
A Soviet agent thus became head of Britain ’ s foreign intelligence department responsible for catching Soviet spies .
As one of Philby ’ s colleagues in MI6 later recalled , his appointment as head of Section IX was devastating for Western security : “ Philby at one stroke @ @ @ @ @ @ @ effort to counter Communist espionage would become known in the Kremlin .
The history of espionage records few , if any , comparable masterstrokes.
” Philby , and his fellow Cambridge spies , were not alone .
While London showed police espionage restraint toward its new wartime ally , Soviet Russia showed no similar restraint toward its Western allies .
While they were looking away , with their defenses down , Moscow launched a hostile clandestine assault on them .
It achieved its greatest wartime intelligence successes not against its enemies , the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ allies .
When the Soviet government established diplomatic offices in the United States under the terms of the Lend-Lease policy , America ’ s supply lifeline to the Soviet Union , they housed professional Soviet intelligence officers tasked not with assisting Lend-Lease but with collecting intelligence on the United States .
Soviet leader Joseph Stalin ’ s strategy was to steal as much Anglo-American wartime intellectual property as possible , because he feared his Western imperialist allies would cut a peace deal with Nazi Germany , and , his Marxist reading told him @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Soviet agents acquired London ’ s and Washington ’ s most closely guarded wartime secrets : Bletchley Park ’ s successful decryption of German codes , a secret referred to as “ Ultra , ” as well as their plans for world ’ s first atomic bomb .
Soviet espionage inside the Manhattan Project profoundly impacted postwar international relations .
Stalin ’ s British and American spies provided him with a firehose of secret intelligence about Western wartime and postwar strategy .
Soviet agents penetrated every branch of U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt @ @ @ @ @ @ @ president ’ s trusted personal assistant , the Harvard economist Lauchlin Currie ( Soviet codename “ PAGE ” ) , Harry Dexter White at Treasury ( “ JURIST ” ) , and Alger Hiss ( “ ALES ” ) at the State Department .
America ’ s wartime intelligence service , the Office of Strategic Services , was probably the most compromised intelligence agency in history .
Its head of research , Maurice Halperin , was a Soviet agent ( “ HARE ” ) , as was the personal assistant to the office @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ( codenamed “ KOCH ” ) .
Thanks to his agents , Stalin was at times better informed about Western secrets and strategy than Western leaders themselves .
Stalin knew the Ultra secret , which Roosevelt and British leader Winston Churchill concealed from most of their cabinets—it was revealed to only six British ministers .
The Soviet leader also learned about the U.S. atomic bomb project before Vice President Harry S. Truman , who was only briefed on it after he became president in April 1945 , when he was also informed about @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was only after World War II when the British and U.S. governments woke up to the threat Soviet Russia posed .
By that time , the damage was done .
The British government today is repeating similar mistakes .
While British security was focused elsewhere , on counterterrorism , Russia has been conducting a similar clandestine attack .
The attention that Britain ’ s intelligence services , MI5 , MI6 , and Government Communications Headquarters ( GCHQ ) , have given to hostile foreign states has been decimated since 9/11 , as the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ reveals that , while at the height of the Cold War 70 percent of GCHQ ’ s resources were devoted to the Soviet Bloc countries , by 2006 just 4 percent were devoted to Russia .
In 2006 , the year when Russia assassinated its former spy Alexander Litvinenko in London , 92 percent of MI5 ’ s effort was devoted to counterterrorism .
Although the resources of Britain ’ s intelligence services targeting Russia have recently increased , they are racing to catch up , the report concludes .
There are understandable @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , the British secret state ’ s limited resources were devoted to the urgent threat of terrorism .
As the report notes , however , apart from operational reasons , there was a more insidious “ willful neglect ” by British policymakers about Russia .
When it came to Russian election meddling , few in the government wanted to go there—neither policymakers nor Britain ’ s intelligence services .
Like their U.S. counterparts , Britain ’ s foreign intelligence services , MI6 and GCHQ , rely on tasking from policymakers about subjects they @ @ @ @ @ @ @ they will recruit foreign human agents and which communications they will intercept .
When no tasking is forthcoming , there is no intelligence collection .
The issue of Russian meddling in British elections , particularly the Brexit referendum , have been such politically charged subjects— “ hot potatoes ” —that nobody in government wanted to touch them with a “ 10-foot pole.
” British politicians have little desire to see whether Russian skeletons are lurking in the closets of elections they won .
They are not alone in this : U.S. President Donald @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as a “ hoax ” because , it seems , he fears it threatens his election victory legitimacy .
Western politicians who welcomed , and sought to benefit from , Russian meddling may now wish it away and pretend it is so-called fake news , but it is real—and a serious national security threat to Western democracies .
The report reveals that Russia meddled in the 2014 Scottish independence referendum , with the intent of breaking up the United Kingdom .
When it came to the Brexit referendum , however , the British @ @ @ @ @ @ @ meddling .
The report ’ s authors , Britain ’ s oversight Intelligence and Security Committee , are correct to call for an independent inquiry to settle this contentious subject .
Prime Minister Boris Johnson ’ s government has rejected this idea .
When the Intelligence and Security Committee asked MI5 to provide written evidence about Russian meddling in the Brexit referendum , its initial report was staggeringly just six lines long—and referenced open-source ( nonclassified ) academic works .
Unlike MI6 and GCHQ , MI5 is self-tasking , meaning that it makes @ @ @ @ @ @ @ national security threats .
If it assessed that Russian election meddling fell in its jurisdiction , it would have been free to investigate .
As it was , its six-line report on Russian meddling was because of its understandable reluctance to bring its intrusive powers anywhere near Britain ’ s democratic electoral process .
This , of course , is correct for a security service in a democracy .
It is simply incorrect , however , that Britain ’ s intelligence service should refrain from involvement when a hostile foreign state like Russia @ @ @ @ @ @ @ definition , the subversion of democracy constitutes a national security threat .
Britain ’ s intelligence services have a major role to play protecting its electoral process from hostile states : They have unique collection and assessment capabilities that can detect and attribute foreign intrusions , which other government departments can not .
This is important because , the report notes , Russian influence operations in Britain are now the “ new normal.
” Back in 2016 , soon after Russia ’ s U.S. election meddling was exposed , the chief of MI6 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ public warning about Russian meddling in Britain : “ The risks at stake are profound and represent a fundamental threat to our sovereignty ; they should be a concern to all those who share democratic values.
” His warning may have been aimed at urging British ministers to take the Russian threat seriously and task his service to collect intelligence on it .
Apparently it fell on deaf ears in Downing Street .
The history World War II shows that Britain and the United States were in a Cold War with Soviet Russia @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is true today : Whether policymakers in London and Washington like it or not , they are already in a new cold war with Russia—or rather , for Putin , the Cold War that never really ended .

Britain’s long-awaited intelligence report into Russia has finally been published. The report , suspiciously delayed for seven months until after Britain’s December 2019 general election, is a damning indictment of London’s failure to recognize Russia’s threat. The British government took its eye off the ball regarding Russia, concludes the report, with its attention focused instead on counterterrorism. While Britain looked away, Russian President Vladimir Putin pursued an aggressive clandestine foreign policy against Britain and other democracies, carrying out assassinations on British soil, launching cyberattacks, unleashing disinformation to meddle in elections, and using Russian money to buy political influence in London—laundered through an industry of bankers, accountants, and lawyers in “Londongrad.” Driven by a relentless desire to be treated as a great power again and to defend against perceived Western aggression, Putin’s strategy appears a zero-sum game: Anything to weaken Britain and other Western democracies means Russia is winning.
Britain’s long-awaited intelligence report into Russia has finally been published. The report, suspiciously delayed for seven months until after Britain’s December 2019 general election, is a damning indictment of London’s failure to recognize Russia’s threat. The British government took its eye off the ball regarding Russia, concludes the report, with its attention focused instead on counterterrorism. While Britain looked away, Russian President Vladimir Putin pursued an aggressive clandestine foreign policy against Britain and other democracies, carrying out assassinations on British soil, launching cyberattacks, unleashing disinformation to meddle in elections, and using Russian money to buy political influence in London—laundered through an industry of bankers, accountants, and lawyers in “Londongrad.” Driven by a relentless desire to be treated as a great power again and to defend against perceived Western aggression, Putin’s strategy appears a zero-sum game: Anything to weaken Britain and other Western democracies means Russia is winning.
The British government has made similar miscalculations about Russia in the past. During World War II, when Britain was allies with Soviet Russia, it took its eye off the ball regarding Moscow’s long-term threat. The result was disastrous for Britain and its closest ally, the United States, in the postwar years as the Cold War set in. The same is happening today.
Although it now seems remarkably naive with hindsight of the Cold War, when Soviet Russia was drawn into World War II by Nazi Germany’s invasion in June 1941, the British government imposed a moratorium on all British intelligence collection on its new wartime ally. It did so on the grounds that allies apparently do not spy on allies—especially when fighting a shared enemy posing an existential threat. Some British intelligence officers were unconvinced that the Soviet Union’s threat had disappeared. After the Nazi invasion of Soviet Russia, MI5 circulated a memorandum to senior government officials, “lest we forget,” warning that the Russian leopard had not changed its spots. The head of MI5’s counterespionage department, Guy Liddell, noted in his now-declassified diary in March 1943 about the continued threat of espionage by Britain’s ally:
There is no doubt to my mind that it is going on and sooner or later we shall be expected to know all about it. On the other hand if we take action and get found out there will be an appalling stink.
Short of creating an appalling stink, Britain’s intelligence services tried to circumvent the moratorium on Soviet intelligence collection by ramping up surveillance on the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB), using it to detect Soviet espionage. After the Anglo-Soviet alliance, MI5 planted listening devices in the Communist Party’s London headquarters, transcripts of which can be found in declassified MI5 records today, revealing party conversations otherwise long ago lost to history. Its bugs showed that the CPGB’s leadership worked hand in glove with Moscow. Its surveillance on the CPGB produced some counterespionage successes, leading to the identification and prosecution of wartime Soviet agents who passed British secrets to Moscow. In their hopeless legal defenses, those agents claimed they were merely passing information to Britain’s wartime ally, neglecting that the information they stole was classified and disclosed without permission. Using the CPGB to investigate Soviet espionage, however, was never going to be sufficient: Soviet intelligence services, the KGB and GRU, purposely distanced themselves from the CPGB, because they assumed—correctly—that British authorities kept it under tight surveillance.
Britain’s Secret Intelligence Service (also known as MI6) was also alert to the continued Russian the threat during the war. In May 1943 it established a new department, Section IX, concerned with communism and Soviet espionage, reflecting the postwar importance it believed those subjects would have. Unfortunately for Western security, but fortunately for Soviet intelligence, in 1944 MI6 appointed a new head of Section IX: Kim Philby, a high-level Soviet agent inside the service. A Soviet agent thus became head of Britain’s foreign intelligence department responsible for catching Soviet spies. As one of Philby’s colleagues in MI6 later recalled, his appointment as head of Section IX was devastating for Western security: “Philby at one stroke had … ensured that the whole postwar effort to counter Communist espionage would become known in the Kremlin. The history of espionage records few, if any, comparable masterstrokes.”
Philby, and his fellow Cambridge spies, were not alone. While London showed police espionage restraint toward its new wartime ally, Soviet Russia showed no similar restraint toward its Western allies. While they were looking away, with their defenses down, Moscow launched a hostile clandestine assault on them. It achieved its greatest wartime intelligence successes not against its enemies, the Axis powers, but instead its Western allies. When the Soviet government established diplomatic offices in the United States under the terms of the Lend-Lease policy, America’s supply lifeline to the Soviet Union, they housed professional Soviet intelligence officers tasked not with assisting Lend-Lease but with collecting intelligence on the United States. Soviet leader Joseph Stalin’s strategy was to steal as much Anglo-American wartime intellectual property as possible, because he feared his Western imperialist allies would cut a peace deal with Nazi Germany, and, his Marxist reading told him, conflict was inevitable with them. Soviet agents acquired London’s and Washington’s most closely guarded wartime secrets: Bletchley Park’s successful decryption of German codes, a secret referred to as “Ultra,” as well as their plans for world’s first atomic bomb. Soviet espionage inside the Manhattan Project profoundly impacted postwar international relations.
Stalin’s British and American spies provided him with a firehose of secret intelligence about Western wartime and postwar strategy. Soviet agents penetrated every branch of U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s wartime administration, including the president’s trusted personal assistant, the Harvard economist Lauchlin Currie (Soviet codename “PAGE”), Harry Dexter White at Treasury (“JURIST”), and Alger Hiss (“ALES”) at the State Department. America’s wartime intelligence service, the Office of Strategic Services, was probably the most compromised intelligence agency in history. Its head of research, Maurice Halperin, was a Soviet agent (“HARE”), as was the personal assistant to the office’s director, Duncan Chaplin Lee (codenamed “KOCH”). Thanks to his agents, Stalin was at times better informed about Western secrets and strategy than Western leaders themselves. Stalin knew the Ultra secret, which Roosevelt and British leader Winston Churchill concealed from most of their cabinets—it was revealed to only six British ministers. The Soviet leader also learned about the U.S. atomic bomb project before Vice President Harry S. Truman, who was only briefed on it after he became president in April 1945, when he was also informed about Ultra for the first time.
It was only after World War II when the British and U.S. governments woke up to the threat Soviet Russia posed. By that time, the damage was done.
The British government today is repeating similar mistakes. While British security was focused elsewhere, on counterterrorism, Russia has been conducting a similar clandestine attack. The attention that Britain’s intelligence services, MI5, MI6, and Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), have given to hostile foreign states has been decimated since 9/11, as the terrorist threat grew. The Russia report reveals that, while at the height of the Cold War 70 percent of GCHQ’s resources were devoted to the Soviet Bloc countries, by 2006 just 4 percent were devoted to Russia. In 2006, the year when Russia assassinated its former spy Alexander Litvinenko in London, 92 percent of MI5’s effort was devoted to counterterrorism. Although the resources of Britain’s intelligence services targeting Russia have recently increased, they are racing to catch up, the report concludes.
There are understandable and legitimate reasons why, after 9/11, the British secret state’s limited resources were devoted to the urgent threat of terrorism. As the report notes, however, apart from operational reasons, there was a more insidious “willful neglect” by British policymakers about Russia. When it came to Russian election meddling, few in the government wanted to go there—neither policymakers nor Britain’s intelligence services. Like their U.S. counterparts, Britain’s foreign intelligence services, MI6 and GCHQ, rely on tasking from policymakers about subjects they need intelligence on, which determines where they will recruit foreign human agents and which communications they will intercept. When no tasking is forthcoming, there is no intelligence collection.
The issue of Russian meddling in British elections, particularly the Brexit referendum, have been such politically charged subjects—“hot potatoes”—that nobody in government wanted to touch them with a “10-foot pole.” British politicians have little desire to see whether Russian skeletons are lurking in the closets of elections they won. They are not alone in this: U.S. President Donald Trump has persistently dismissed Russian election meddling as a “hoax” because, it seems, he fears it threatens his election victory legitimacy. Western politicians who welcomed, and sought to benefit from, Russian meddling may now wish it away and pretend it is so-called fake news, but it is real—and a serious national security threat to Western democracies. The report reveals that Russia meddled in the 2014 Scottish independence referendum, with the intent of breaking up the United Kingdom. When it came to the Brexit referendum, however, the British government made no effort to investigate Russian meddling. The report’s authors, Britain’s oversight Intelligence and Security Committee, are correct to call for an independent inquiry to settle this contentious subject. Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government has rejected this idea.
When the Intelligence and Security Committee asked MI5 to provide written evidence about Russian meddling in the Brexit referendum, its initial report was staggeringly just six lines long—and referenced open-source (nonclassified) academic works. Unlike MI6 and GCHQ, MI5 is self-tasking, meaning that it makes its own assessments and prioritization of British national security threats. If it assessed that Russian election meddling fell in its jurisdiction, it would have been free to investigate. As it was, its six-line report on Russian meddling was because of its understandable reluctance to bring its intrusive powers anywhere near Britain’s democratic electoral process. This, of course, is correct for a security service in a democracy.
It is simply incorrect, however, that Britain’s intelligence service should refrain from involvement when a hostile foreign state like Russia interferes in its democratic elections. By definition, the subversion of democracy constitutes a national security threat. Britain’s intelligence services have a major role to play protecting its electoral process from hostile states: They have unique collection and assessment capabilities that can detect and attribute foreign intrusions, which other government departments cannot. This is important because, the report notes, Russian influence operations in Britain are now the “new normal.”
Back in 2016, soon after Russia’s U.S. election meddling was exposed, the chief of MI6, Alex Younger, made a rare public warning about Russian meddling in Britain: “The risks at stake are profound and represent a fundamental threat to our sovereignty; they should be a concern to all those who share democratic values.” His warning may have been aimed at urging British ministers to take the Russian threat seriously and task his service to collect intelligence on it. Apparently it fell on deaf ears in Downing Street.
The history World War II shows that Britain and the United States were in a Cold War with Soviet Russia before they knew it. The same is true today: Whether policymakers in London and Washington like it or not, they are already in a new cold war with Russia—or rather, for Putin, the Cold War that never really ended.


foreignpolicy--2020-07-28--Viktor Orban Has Declared War on Mayors

Viktor Orban Has Declared War on Mayors


foreignpolicy--2020-07-29--Why China Isn’t Taking Pompeo’s Bait

Why China Isn’t Taking Pompeo’s Bait

Welcome to Foreign Policy ’ s China Brief .
The highlights this week : What to make of the Chinese response to Mike Pompeo ’ s speech last week , Hong Kong faces a growing pair of crises , and China seeks out dissidents and exiles in U.S. courts .
If you would like to receive China Brief in your inbox every Wednesday , please sign up here .
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo ’ s attempt to realign the U.S.-China relationship toward a purely adversarial one last Thursday met a surprisingly mild response from Beijing and harsh criticism @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Pompeo ’ s speech at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum framed the U.S.-China conflict as a clash between freedom and dictatorship that Trump ’ s predecessors had neglected , and the secretary harshly criticized policies of engagement .
The speech seemed to be in part an attempt to provoke Beijing into further distrust , forcing disengagement from U.S. firms already facing a riskier environment in China .
Instead , the Chinese response is not conciliatory , but it is less extreme than many expected .
The foreign ministry responses used @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with appeals to a past of engagement and cooperation .
Richard McGregor , an Australian expert on China ’ s Communist Party , argues that the response represents a pushback by cooler-headed Chinese diplomats against the so-called wolf warrior diplomacy of earlier this year .
And that ’ s possible in part because of recent diplomatic disasters with India , Australia , and the United Kingdom .
The decision to close the U.S. Consulate in Chengdu rather than a larger outpost in response to the U.S. shuttering of China ’ s Houston consulate @ @ @ @ @ @ @ wouldn ’ t bet on that holding , especially if U.S. actions hit the Chinese elite , through such tactics as targeting financial holdings or enacting travel restrictions .
Expert scorn .
Pompeo ’ s speech received failing marks from a wide range of U.S. commentators .
Brookings Institution senior fellow Thomas Wright criticized Pompeo and the administration for their leaps of logic and failure to build strong ties with potential allies .
Other pieces made more tenuous claims , such as that U.S. engagement had prevented China from using force against Taiwan—and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a result .
Hong Kong faces dual crisis .
Hong Kong police made the first arrest under the draconian new national security law outside of the context of immediate protest action on Wednesday , seizing 19-year-old activist Tony Chung Hon-lam and three other students , and authorities charged them with inciting secession .
Chung officially dissolved the Hong Kong branch of his activist group , Student Localism , ahead of the law taking effect .
The move is likely the first in a series of arrests of political leaders and activists as Beijing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ submission .
Meanwhile , leader Carrie Lam has threatened to delay elections to Hong Kong ’ s Legislative Council this year .
Some Hong Kong officials are seeing their U.S.-based bank accounts forcibly closed as tensions mount between Beijing and Washington .
And on top of all this , the city ’ s early , community-led success against the coronavirus is now being eroded as faulty quarantine procedures produce fresh outbreaks .
Public anger has focused on the government ’ s exemption of over 250,000 travelers from quarantine laws .
Chinese lawfare .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ try to force dissidents and fugitives from President Xi Jinping ’ s purges to return home , citing their supposed financial misdeeds .
Some of this may be true : Plenty of exiles were involved in murky business dealings in China , especially those who fled because they were on the losing side of a power struggle rather than out of political principle .
The approach is unlikely to pay off in the United States , but it may presage further attempts to use the Western court system to the party ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ lawsuits against critics of China .
Southern water crisis .
Torrential rains are still battering southern China , causing the Yangtze River to rise again this week .
Devastating flooding in the south this summer has displaced 3.7 million people and caused economic damage .
More remote rural residents have seen little of the emergency funds released by the central government .
For families already struggling to survive after the coronavirus lockdown , the additional burden of flood damage is devastating .
China ’ s extensive dam-building programs , meanwhile , have left @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Seed mystery .
Unknown seeds from Chinese addresses have been mailed to recipients all over the United States , prompting confusion .
The most likely explanation is that this is a “ brushing scam ” —in which companies buy their own product online and send it to a random address , artificially boosting their sales and allowing them to create fake reviews .
Agricultural technology is one of the biggest targets of Chinese intellectual property theft , but it ’ s hard to imagine how sending seeds from China to the United @ @ @ @ @ @ @ scheme .
First in line , South Korea .
After a freeze on visas and the cancellation of existing ones due to COVID-19 , China is cautiously starting to issue work and student visas again—starting with South Korea .
That ’ s not a surprising pick : South Koreans are the largest group of foreigners in China , though they still make up only a tiny proportion of foreign-born residents .
Around 50,000 Koreans who usually reside in China have been stuck in their home country since March .
Returnees still face a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s no word on any similar issuance for North Korea , where the status of the coronavirus remains largely a mystery .
Search wars .
The Chinese internet giant Tencent has put in a bid for Sogou , a search engine currently owned by the internet company Sohu , at $ 9 a share .
Sogou is already integrated into Tencent ’ s WeChat app , which is virtually an internet unto itself .
The move likely precedes an aggressive assault on the search giant Baidu , by far the weakest of China @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Tencent and Alibaba .
Baidu ’ s key product is not even a good search engine , and it has been hit by scandals , most notably accepting money to promote dubious medical forums .
The firm bet big on artificial intelligence , but so has every single company in China—eager to scoop up government funds from officials with little knowledge of how to evaluate the success or relevance of AI projects .
India doubles down on tech ban .
New Delhi has instituted another round of bans on Chinese apps after the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ giants .
The new bans mostly target clones of previous apps , but the government is reportedly looking at another 250 candidates for elimination , particularly some popular Chinese-owned mobile games such as PlayerUnknown ’ s Battlegrounds .
( See tomorrow ’ s South Asia Brief for more on this topic ) .
Barbara Demick , the author of one of the best books on North Korea , turns to a small Tibetan town in Sichuan province in this beautifully crafted study of Tibetan culture and resistance .
Demick mixes culture , oppression @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of one town ’ s history since 1958 , when the harshest repressions against Tibetans began .
The book is a fine example of the kind of work that is becoming harder and harder to do as visa restrictions and security paranoia cut Western journalists off from access to much of China .
It is also a reminder that the atrocities committed against Tibetans presaged those happening in Xinjiang now—and those still happening to Tibetans as well .
That ’ s it for this week .
We welcome your feedback at newsletters @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of China Brief here .
For more from Foreign Policy , subscribe here or sign up for our other newsletters .

Welcome to Foreign Policy’s China Brief. The highlights this week: What to make of the Chinese response to Mike Pompeo’s speech last week, Hong Kong faces a growing pair of crises, and China seeks out dissidents and exiles in U.S. courts .
Welcome to Foreign Policy’s China Brief. The highlights this week: What to make of the Chinese response to Mike Pompeo’s speech last week, Hong Kong faces a growing pair of crises, and China seeks out dissidents and exiles in U.S. courts.
If you would like to receive China Brief in your inbox every Wednesday, please sign up here.
China’s Mild Response to Pompeo’s Speech
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s attempt to realign the U.S.-China relationship toward a purely adversarial one last Thursday met a surprisingly mild response from Beijing and harsh criticism from China analysts in the United States. Pompeo’s speech at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum framed the U.S.-China conflict as a clash between freedom and dictatorship that Trump’s predecessors had neglected, and the secretary harshly criticized policies of engagement.
The speech seemed to be in part an attempt to provoke Beijing into further distrust, forcing disengagement from U.S. firms already facing a riskier environment in China. Instead, the Chinese response is not conciliatory, but it is less extreme than many expected. The foreign ministry responses used boilerplate language, not heated rhetoric, with appeals to a past of engagement and cooperation.
Richard McGregor, an Australian expert on China’s Communist Party, argues that the response represents a pushback by cooler-headed Chinese diplomats against the so-called wolf warrior diplomacy of earlier this year. And that’s possible in part because of recent diplomatic disasters with India, Australia, and the United Kingdom.
The decision to close the U.S. Consulate in Chengdu rather than a larger outpost in response to the U.S. shuttering of China’s Houston consulate also indicates some restraint. But I wouldn’t bet on that holding, especially if U.S. actions hit the Chinese elite, through such tactics as targeting financial holdings or enacting travel restrictions.
Expert scorn. Pompeo’s speech received failing marks from a wide range of U.S. commentators. Brookings Institution senior fellow Thomas Wright criticized Pompeo and the administration for their leaps of logic and failure to build strong ties with potential allies. Other pieces made more tenuous claims, such as that U.S. engagement had prevented China from using force against Taiwan—and received praise in Chinese state media as a result.
What We’re Following
Hong Kong faces dual crisis. Hong Kong police made the first arrest under the draconian new national security law outside of the context of immediate protest action on Wednesday, seizing 19-year-old activist Tony Chung Hon-lam and three other students, and authorities charged them with inciting secession. Chung officially dissolved the Hong Kong branch of his activist group, Student Localism, ahead of the law taking effect. The move is likely the first in a series of arrests of political leaders and activists as Beijing seeks to terrorize young Hong Kongers into submission.
Meanwhile, leader Carrie Lam has threatened to delay elections to Hong Kong’s Legislative Council this year. Some Hong Kong officials are seeing their U.S.-based bank accounts forcibly closed as tensions mount between Beijing and Washington. And on top of all this, the city’s early, community-led success against the coronavirus is now being eroded as faulty quarantine procedures produce fresh outbreaks. Public anger has focused on the government’s exemption of over 250,000 travelers from quarantine laws.
Chinese lawfare. China is turning to U.S. courts to try to force dissidents and fugitives from President Xi Jinping’s purges to return home, citing their supposed financial misdeeds. Some of this may be true: Plenty of exiles were involved in murky business dealings in China, especially those who fled because they were on the losing side of a power struggle rather than out of political principle. The approach is unlikely to pay off in the United States, but it may presage further attempts to use the Western court system to the party’s ends, such as through threatening libel lawsuits against critics of China.
Southern water crisis. Torrential rains are still battering southern China, causing the Yangtze River to rise again this week. Devastating flooding in the south this summer has displaced 3.7 million people and caused economic damage. More remote rural residents have seen little of the emergency funds released by the central government. For families already struggling to survive after the coronavirus lockdown, the additional burden of flood damage is devastating. China’s extensive dam-building programs, meanwhile, have left downriver Mekong nations seeing record water lows.
Seed mystery. Unknown seeds from Chinese addresses have been mailed to recipients all over the United States, prompting confusion. The most likely explanation is that this is a “brushing scam”—in which companies buy their own product online and send it to a random address, artificially boosting their sales and allowing them to create fake reviews. Agricultural technology is one of the biggest targets of Chinese intellectual property theft, but it’s hard to imagine how sending seeds from China to the United States could be part of such a scheme.
Tech and Business
First in line, South Korea. After a freeze on visas and the cancellation of existing ones due to COVID-19, China is cautiously starting to issue work and student visas again—starting with South Korea. That’s not a surprising pick: South Koreans are the largest group of foreigners in China, though they still make up only a tiny proportion of foreign-born residents. Around 50,000 Koreans who usually reside in China have been stuck in their home country since March. Returnees still face a mandatory two-week quarantine period. There’s no word on any similar issuance for North Korea, where the status of the coronavirus remains largely a mystery.
Search wars. The Chinese internet giant Tencent has put in a bid for Sogou, a search engine currently owned by the internet company Sohu, at $9 a share. Sogou is already integrated into Tencent’s WeChat app, which is virtually an internet unto itself. The move likely precedes an aggressive assault on the search giant Baidu, by far the weakest of China’s Big Three internet companies alongside Tencent and Alibaba.
Baidu’s key product is not even a good search engine, and it has been hit by scandals, most notably accepting money to promote dubious medical forums. The firm bet big on artificial intelligence, but so has every single company in China—eager to scoop up government funds from officials with little knowledge of how to evaluate the success or relevance of AI projects.
India doubles down on tech ban. New Delhi has instituted another round of bans on Chinese apps after the decline in relations between the two Asian giants. The new bans mostly target clones of previous apps, but the government is reportedly looking at another 250 candidates for elimination, particularly some popular Chinese-owned mobile games such as PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds. (See tomorrow’s South Asia Brief for more on this topic).
What We’re Reading
Eat the Buddha: Life and Death in a Tibetan Town, Barbara Demick, Random House, July 28, 2020.
Barbara Demick, the author of one of the best books on North Korea, turns to a small Tibetan town in Sichuan province in this beautifully crafted study of Tibetan culture and resistance. Demick mixes culture, oppression, and ordinary life in her telling of one town’s history since 1958, when the harshest repressions against Tibetans began.
The book is a fine example of the kind of work that is becoming harder and harder to do as visa restrictions and security paranoia cut Western journalists off from access to much of China. It is also a reminder that the atrocities committed against Tibetans presaged those happening in Xinjiang now—and those still happening to Tibetans as well.
That’s it for this week.
We welcome your feedback at newsletters@foreignpolicy.com. You can find older editions of China Brief here. For more from Foreign Policy, subscribe here or sign up for our other newsletters.


foreignpolicy--2020-07-29--Democrats See Senate Republicans Vulnerable Due to Trump’s Russia Problem

President Donald Trump ’ s lack of response to reports of Russian bounties for killing U.S. troops in Afghanistan is giving Democratic Senate contenders hope that they ’ ve found a vulnerable flank to challenge White House loyalists in contested races .
Though lawmakers and political analysts still expect kitchen-table issues like the economy and the pandemic to dictate the balance of power in the Senate come November , the Trump administration ’ s continued appeasement of Russia , coupled with limited criticism from most Republicans in the upper chamber , appears to offer an opening for a foreign-policy challenge @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Russia influence investigations that dominated Trump ’ s first term or the confusing Ukraine scandal that culminated in Trump ’ s impeachment this year .
Speaking to Axios on HBO in an interview released Tuesday , Trump said he did not raise the issue of alleged bounties on a recent call with Russian President Vladimir Putin , dismissing the reports as “ fake news.
” He also claimed to be unaware that Russia is arming the Taliban , even though top U.S. generals have said so publicly .
With U.S. troop deaths in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ hold back on criticizing Russia has given Democrats a fresh opening .
“ I ’ m not sure a lot of Americans were able to follow completely the story of Russia ’ s interference in the 2016 election , but every American understands what a bounty is , ” Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut told Foreign Policy .
“ Anybody that has a relative or a friend in the U.S. military , their confidence in the president by this one disclosure has been gravely shaken.
” Because most Republican senators have toed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s continued dismissal of the affair could give more ammunition to down-ballot Democrats .
In Arizona , Mark Kelly leveraged his combat background to push for further investigation into the bounties and suggested economic retaliation against Russia .
In North Carolina , contender Cal Cunningham is ahead of incumbent Thom Tillis in the polls and said Russia should not be invited to the next G-7 summit , as Trump intended .
Tillis , who moved toward defending Trump during the impeachment inquiry to survive a stiff primary challenge , has now called for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the bounties to be named as a state sponsor of terrorism if the reports of bounties are confirmed .
In Kentucky , Democratic challenger Amy McGrath has pulled no punches in highlighting Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell ’ s silence on the bounties , noting in a statement that he “ has shirked his war powers duties and proven unwilling to hold the executive branch accountable.
” McGrath , who is currently polling 22 points behind McConnell , argued that his paralysis is an affront to U.S. troops and a “ dereliction of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Senate .
Texas contender M.J. Hegar also made swings at incumbent Republican Sen. John Cornyn ’ s tepid comments in this regard , noting in a tweet : “ He ’ s afraid to stand up to his political bosses even when the lives of our soldiers are on the line.
” The controversy over the bounties , as well as Trump ’ s handling of the coronavirus pandemic , has dragged down poll numbers for Republicans in battleground states , according to a recent New York Times-Siena College poll .
Democrats @ @ @ @ @ @ @ try to distance themselves from the White House across a range of issues .
“ You ’ ll find the Republican senators trying to distance themselves from Donald Trump , ” said Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland , who chaired the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee during the last election cycle .
“ I don ’ t think they ’ re going to be able to run away from the fact that they ’ ve been joined at the hip with Donald Trump.
” That ’ s especially true for several Republican insurgents @ @ @ @ @ @ @ vault over establishment Republican candidates .
In Alabama , Trump officially endorsed former Auburn University football coach Tommy Tuberville , who won a primary runoff against former Attorney General Jeff Sessions .
Tuberville ’ s primary win , despite no political experience and a limited platform , “ speaks to the pull of Trump in Alabama , ” said Allen Linken , a political science professor at the University of Alabama .
Aligning himself with the president directly on foreign-policy controversies , Tuberville called Sessions ’ s decision to recuse himself from the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Foreign-policy liabilities for senators are coupled with those of the administration ’ s handling of the pandemic , as cases have spiked in Arizona , Colorado , Georgia , Florida , and Iowa , which all have Republican incumbents fighting competitive Senate races .
“ There ’ s a deep issue regarding the question of whether or not these senators are exercising their independent judgment for the good of their states and the country , ” Van Hollen said .
“ I think the issues regarding national security and foreign policy will @ @ @ @ @ @ @ they have become rubber stamps for Donald Trump .
”

President Donald Trump’s lack of response to reports of Russian bounties for killing U.S. troops in Afghanistan is giving Democratic Senate contenders hope that they’ve found a vulnerable flank to challenge White House loyalists in contested races.
President Donald Trump’s lack of response to reports of Russian bounties for killing U.S. troops in Afghanistan is giving Democratic Senate contenders hope that they’ve found a vulnerable flank to challenge White House loyalists in contested races.
Though lawmakers and political analysts still expect kitchen-table issues like the economy and the pandemic to dictate the balance of power in the Senate come November, the Trump administration’s continued appeasement of Russia, coupled with limited criticism from most Republicans in the upper chamber, appears to offer an opening for a foreign-policy challenge more understandable for voters than the convoluted Russia influence investigations that dominated Trump’s first term or the confusing Ukraine scandal that culminated in Trump’s impeachment this year.
Speaking to Axios on HBO in an interview released Tuesday, Trump said he did not raise the issue of alleged bounties on a recent call with Russian President Vladimir Putin, dismissing the reports as “fake news.” He also claimed to be unaware that Russia is arming the Taliban, even though top U.S. generals have said so publicly. With U.S. troop deaths in question, Trump’s decision to hold back on criticizing Russia has given Democrats a fresh opening.
“I’m not sure a lot of Americans were able to follow completely the story of Russia’s interference in the 2016 election, but every American understands what a bounty is,” Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut told Foreign Policy. “Anybody that has a relative or a friend in the U.S. military, their confidence in the president by this one disclosure has been gravely shaken.”
Because most Republican senators have toed the White House line, Trump’s continued dismissal of the affair could give more ammunition to down-ballot Democrats.
In Arizona, Mark Kelly leveraged his combat background to push for further investigation into the bounties and suggested economic retaliation against Russia. In North Carolina, contender Cal Cunningham is ahead of incumbent Thom Tillis in the polls and said Russia should not be invited to the next G-7 summit, as Trump intended. Tillis, who moved toward defending Trump during the impeachment inquiry to survive a stiff primary challenge, has now called for the Russian military intelligence unit that sponsored the bounties to be named as a state sponsor of terrorism if the reports of bounties are confirmed.
In Kentucky, Democratic challenger Amy McGrath has pulled no punches in highlighting Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s silence on the bounties, noting in a statement that he “has shirked his war powers duties and proven unwilling to hold the executive branch accountable.” McGrath, who is currently polling 22 points behind McConnell, argued that his paralysis is an affront to U.S. troops and a “dereliction of duty” for the top Republican in the Senate.
Texas contender M.J. Hegar also made swings at incumbent Republican Sen. John Cornyn’s tepid comments in this regard, noting in a tweet: “He’s afraid to stand up to his political bosses even when the lives of our soldiers are on the line.”
The controversy over the bounties, as well as Trump’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic, has dragged down poll numbers for Republicans in battleground states, according to a recent New York Times-Siena College poll. Democrats expect embattled members of Congress to belatedly try to distance themselves from the White House across a range of issues.
“You’ll find the Republican senators trying to distance themselves from Donald Trump,” said Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, who chaired the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee during the last election cycle. “I don’t think they’re going to be able to run away from the fact that they’ve been joined at the hip with Donald Trump.”
That’s especially true for several Republican insurgents who used Trump’s endorsement to vault over establishment Republican candidates. In Alabama, Trump officially endorsed former Auburn University football coach Tommy Tuberville, who won a primary runoff against former Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Tuberville’s primary win, despite no political experience and a limited platform, “speaks to the pull of Trump in Alabama,” said Allen Linken, a political science professor at the University of Alabama. Aligning himself with the president directly on foreign-policy controversies, Tuberville called Sessions’s decision to recuse himself from the Russia investigation as a betrayal of Trump.
Foreign-policy liabilities for senators are coupled with those of the administration’s handling of the pandemic, as cases have spiked in Arizona, Colorado, Georgia, Florida, and Iowa, which all have Republican incumbents fighting competitive Senate races.
“There’s a deep issue regarding the question of whether or not these senators are exercising their independent judgment for the good of their states and the country,” Van Hollen said. “I think the issues regarding national security and foreign policy will be part of the narrative for how they have become rubber stamps for Donald Trump.”