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Israeli troops are advancing into Rafah, while doubt looms over a prospective cease-fire deal.
…Chinese President Xi Jinping is in Serbia on the 25th anniversary of NATO’s accidental bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade.
…The Pentagon’s new Indo-Pacific Command chief says ‘gray zone’ is too weak a term to describe China’s increasingly aggressive military activities in Asia.
…Russian President Vladimir Putin has officially begun his fifth term as president, and British intelligence says the Kremlin is planning to draft Ukrainians living in occupied territory into the Russian military.
…The Biden administration’s new International Cyberspace Strategy aims to expand global coordination with like-minded partners to “counter threats to cyberspace and critical infrastructure.”
…And the Special Competitive Studies Project’s major AI expo just opened in Washington and will showcase cutting-edge tech to a slew of U.S. agencies.
Israeli troops rolled into Rafah on Tuesday in what authorities said was a limited operation to eliminate the Hamas militant movement’s infrastructure in the eastern section of the Gaza city. U.S. officials have said they were opposed to such an operation unless specific measures were taken to safeguard the civilians trapped in Rafah.
Israel’s move came just hours after Hamas leaders signaled that they had agreed to a cease-fire brokered by Egypt and Qatar that aims to end the 7-month-old war. Israel issued a brief statement casting doubt on a cease-fire breakthrough, but said its delegates would continue to negotiate a pause in the brutal fighting.
“While the Hamas proposal is far from meeting Israel’s core demands, Israel will dispatch a ranking delegation to Egypt in an effort to maximize the possibility of reaching an agreement on terms acceptable to Israel,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said. It offered no further details on the proposal, although Israel apparently had concerns that Hamas had tried to preempt the talks by agreeing to a cease-fire draft that differed from the one given to Israeli officials.
An American soldier is being held in custody in Russia after he was arrested last week on charges of criminal misconduct, U.S. Army officials revealed Monday.
Authorities detained the soldier — who has not been identified — on May 2 while he was in the Russian city of Vladivostok, a major Pacific port city near the border with China and North Korea.
The Russian Federation notified the State Department, which is providing the soldier with “appropriate consular support.” Army officials said the family has been notified, but U.S. officials did not say why he was in Russia at the time.
Robotics will play a key role in 21st-century conflicts but face limitations in urban environments or underground operations, according to National Security Correspondent Ben Wolfgang, who reports that the Israel-Hamas war is driving conversations about the future of warfare at the Special Forces Week conference taking place this week in Tampa, Fla.
The event, organized by the U.S. Special Operations Command and the Global Special Operations Forces Foundation, is one of the world’s largest annual gatherings of special operations professionals and defense industry leaders and serves as a showcase for military technologies and a forum for large contractors and niche start-ups to demonstrate and potentially sell their products.
The technology on display often mirrors current conflicts or wars about to erupt. The heavy focus on naval capabilities and maritime technology has increased as war planners prepare for a potential U.S. clash with China in the Pacific. Threat Status is reporting from the conference, where some specialists say the Israel-Hamas war has crystallized the reality that even the best-trained, best-equipped fighting forces lose much of their advantage in urban war zones packed with civilians.
Avi Melamed, a former Israeli intelligence official, tells Mr. Wolfgang that “this war has highlighted the theory of asymmetric warfare, specifically that the larger and more powerful force holds the upper hand over the smaller and less powerful force in battle is essentially flipped in an urban combat environment where the smaller force is entrenched within the battlespace.”
The Philippines is flexing its information warfare muscles over the intensifying territorial battles with China in the South China Sea.
Days after China fired water cannons on a Philippine Coast Guard vessel carrying teams from global media that relayed video of the incident to the world, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. took to the moral high ground, saying he would not permit Philippine vessels to return fire with fire, or rather, water with water.
“We have no intention of attacking anyone with water cannon or any other such offensive…weapons. That is not something that is in the plan,” Mr. Marcos said Monday, adding that “the last thing we would like is to raise the tensions” and “we will not follow the Chinese vessels down that road.”
Video footage last week showed two Chinese Coast Guard ships opening fire with high-pressure water cannons on a smaller Philippine Coast Guard vessel. The water cannon obliterated a metal-plastic canopy on the Philippine ship as crew members dashed for cover and slammed hatches.
The term “gray zone” tactics is too benign to describe China’s increasingly aggressive military activities in Asia, according to Navy Adm. Samuel J. Paparo, the new commander of the Pentagon’s Indo-Pacific Command,
Recent People’s Liberation Army activities have included flying interceptor jets dangerously close to U.S. and allied aircraft, using warships to try and force American and allied vessels out of international waters, and, in some cases, firing water cannons and underwater sonar beams at allied military ships and personnel.
Adm. Paparo, who on Friday took control of Indo-Pacific Command from outgoing Commander Adm. John Aquilino, said at a ceremony in Honolulu that “gray zone” — the current military term for Chinese military operations — does not properly describe the activities.
“Some call it ‘the gray zone,’” Adm. Paparo said. “My friend, [Army Chief of Staff] Gen. [Romeo] Brawner from the Republic of the Philippines has a phrase called ‘ICAD,’ … which is illegal, coercive, aggressive and deceptive.”
Mexico may be an ally of the United States, but lately, it hasn’t been behaving like one, according to Coalition for a Prosperous America CEO Michael Stumo.
“Not only is Mexico helping China avoid U.S. tariffs, but it’s also openly violating an agreement not to flood the U.S. with steel products,” Mr. Stumo writes. “Unfortunately, President Biden keeps failing to act. Unless he responds soon, our steel industry could be irreparably damaged.”
Mexico is a major assembly and shipment point for Chinese parts and components sold in the United States, essentially helping Beijing “bypass many of the tariffs imposed during the Trump administration,” he writes. “This has helped to boost Mexico’s annual trade surplus with the United States — and to a record $152 billion in 2023 alone.”
With America’s renewed aid, Ukraine’s victory over Russia is inevitable and will embolden the United States and the free world, according to Jeffrey Scott Shapiro.
Mr. Shapiro writes that Kyiv’s ammunition rationing is at an end, thanks to strong Republican leaders such as House Speaker Mike Johnson, House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who helped pass the Ukraine Security Supplemental Appropriations Act last month.
It is telling that Ukraine still managed to inflict significant damage against Russian invaders with depleted ammunition stocks, even after U.S. aid was delayed for months by the self-destructive, isolationist faction of the GOP, writes Mr. Shapiro.
• May 10 — U.S. Leadership in Multilaterals: A Fireside Chat with Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for International Trade and Development Alexia Latortue, Center for Strategic and International Studies.
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