I get a bunch of newsletters every day about a whole range of political things. I read some of them every day and read most of them some days. “Just Security” is a valuable (and free) newsletter: it provides a quick synopsis of the previous day’s news with links to longer articles in case there’s something that you want to know more about. You don’t have to subscribe to the newsletter to get information; their website https://www.justsecurity.org/ is updated throughout the day.
Here's a list of the stories they included in this morning’s newsletter:
Domestic Developments
Former Vice President Mike Pence will not appeal a ruling compelling him to testify before a grand jury investigating former President Trump’s efforts to subvert the 2020 election, an adviser to Pence said yesterday.
Former Vice President Mike Pence will not appeal a ruling compelling him to testify before a grand jury investigating former President Trump’s efforts to subvert the 2020 election, an adviser to Pence said yesterday.
Former President Trump yesterday called on Republicans in Congress to slash funding for the Justice Department and the FBI.
Democratic Tennessee State Representatives Justin Jones, Justin J. Pearson, and Gloria Johnson may be expelled from the General Assembly today after participating in a protest for stricter gun laws that temporarily halted legislative proceedings.
Chair of Fox Corp, Rupert Murdoch, could be forced to testify in person, said Judge Eric M. Davis yesterday, who is overseeing the Dominion Voting Systems $1.6 billion defamation trial against Fox News.
Twitter added a warning to NPR’s account on Tuesday, declaring it “state-affiliated media,” a label usually reserved for foreign media outlets representing a government’s official views.
US Foreign Relations
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy discussed speeding up weapons deliveries with Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen in California yesterday.
China today accused the United States and Taiwan of “serious wrongdoing” after Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen met with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
China’s Fujian maritime safety administration launched a three-day special joint patrol and inspection operation in the central and northern parts of the Taiwan Strait that include moves to board ships, it said on its WeChat account.
Paraguay may be the next state to end its recognition of Taiwan as China aims to whittle down the list of seven countries in the Americas that still recognize Taiwan, U.S. policymakers say.
The FBI and European law enforcement agencies have arrested more than 100 people as part of a global crackdown on a cybercrime forum that facilitated large-scale identity theft, officials said yesterday.
A statement on Iran’s nuclear program by Gen. Mark Milley, the chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, last week alarmed Israeli defense and intelligence officials, four Israeli officials have said.
Russia, Ukraine Developments
Poland’s President Andrzej Duda pledged to send 14 more MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine yesterday.
Belarus’ President Aleksandr Lukashenko met with Russian President Vladimir Putin yesterday to discuss expanding military and economic ties.
The U.K. and the United States yesterday said Russia is using its position as president of the U.N. Security Council to spread disinformation and propaganda.
The United States is working through a formal process to determine whether the detention of Evan Gershkovich, a Wall Street Journal reporter, by Russia is “wrongful,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said yesterday, adding that in his opinion, there was no doubt.
Following sanctions and export controls, Russia has limited access to parts, software, and technical skills needed to perform critical maintenance on hundreds of commercial jets, raising safety concerns among industry executives and regulators.
Global Developments
Chinese Premier Li Qiang welcomed “a new starting point” as French President Emmanuel Macron and E.U. chief Ursula von der Leyen began meetings with Chinese leaders in Beijing today.
New Zealand is subject to “increasingly aggressive activity” by unnamed states, according to an annual report published by the Security Intelligence Service this week.
Canada is repatriating six women and their 13 children who have been held for at least three years in a camp for ISIS affiliates in Syria, their lawyer said yesterday.
London Metropolitan Police Commissioner, Mark Rowley, has said he expects hundreds of officers to be removed over the next two or three years after the force was branded institutionally racist, homophobic, and misogynist in a damning report last month.
COVID-19
Chinese government scientists yesterday published a long-awaited study about a market in Wuhan, acknowledging that animals susceptible to the coronavirus were there around the time the virus emerged.
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