Putin’s Next Move | North Korea’s Nuclear Fail-Safe | Leveraging Immigration, and more

A Russian victory would strengthen fascists and other tyrants, as well as nihilists who see politics as nothing more than a spectacle designed by oligarchs to distract ordinary citizens from the destruction of the world. This war, in other words, is about establishing principles for the twenty-first century. It is about policies of mass death and about the meaning of life in politics. It is about the possibility of a democratic future.

An Immigration Strategy for Great Power Competition  (Ike Barrash, National Interest)
If the United States seeks to engage a country with over four times the population in long-term competition, it is imperative that it approach the challenge by leveraging all available advantages, particularly immigration.

North Korea’s Nuclear Fail-Safe  (Megan DuBois, Foreign Policy)
With a new law, Kim Jong Un takes a page from the Soviet nuclear playbook to ensure payback.

The Left’s Negative Campaigning Helped the Right Win in Sweden  (Elizabeth Braw, Foreign Policy)
A U.S.-style smear campaign suggesting that all conservatives condone fascism doomed the Social Democrats.

Chinese and Russian Militaries Share a Potential Weakness, New Report Finds  (Brad Lendon, CNN)
China’s military leaders share a potential weakness that has undermined their Russian counterparts in Ukraine and could hamper their ability to wage a similar war, according to a new report from the US National Defense University.
The report identifies a lack of cross-training as a possible Achilles’ Heel within the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), but analysts remain wary of underestimating China’s capabilities and warn against comparisons with Russia.
The report delved into the backgrounds of more than 300 of the PLA’s top officers across its five services – army, navy, air force, rocket force and strategic support force – in the six years leading up to 2021. It found that in each service leaders were unlikely to have operational experience in any branch other than the one they began their careers in.
In other words, PLA soldiers stay soldiers, sailors stay sailors, airmen stay airmen. Rarely do they venture outside those silos, the report said, noting a sharp contrast to the US military, where cross-training has been a legal requirement since 1986.

Were Drone Strikes Effective?  (Bryce Loidolt, Texas National Security Review / NDU)

Evaluating the Drone Campaign in Pakistan Through Captured al-Qaeda Documents

Is Tunisia Abandoning Morocco for Algeria?  (Simon Speakman Cordall, Foreign Policy)
Power balances in North Africa are shifting. The latest indication that Algeria’s star is rising—along with European demand for its natural gas—as Moroccan influence wanes was all but confirmed by Tunisia’s decision to include the leader of the Western Sahara independence movement the Polisario Front in an investment conference, a move seemingly designed to ruffle feathers in Morocco.
The Polisario Front, with Algerian support, has been fighting to secure independence for the disputed territory of the Western Sahara since 1973, a move fiercely contested by Morocco since it claimed the territory in dramatic fashion two years later, when some 350,000 flag-carrying Moroccans crossed the desert in Rabat’s “Green March” and essentially forced Spain to hand it over. Fleeing the Moroccan advance, the local population, the Sahrawis, headed for Algeria, eventually settling in a cluster of refugee camps near Tindouf, where they have remained since.
For decades, Tunisia has looked on, maintaining its neutral stance as both sides jockeyed for dominance. However, by appearing to have unilaterally invited Brahim Ghali, the Polisario leader and president of the self-declared Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, to a conference it was holding in tandem with Japan, that neutrality has come into question. Moreover, for many observers, the invitation confirmed what many suspected: that Tunisia is growing increasingly close to Algeria, potentially at the expense of its historically close ties with Morocco, while Rabat’s relations with Japan, which Tunis enjoys a burgeoning relationship with, are cast into doubt.

Medics “Flying Blind” in Fight Against Superbugs Due to Patchy Diagnostics  (Ben Farmer, The Telegraph) Doctors and nurses in Africa battling the rise of deadly superbugs are effectively flying blind because of patchy monitoring and lab testing, new research warns. Anti-microbial resistance (AMR) kills as many as 1.4m people worldwide each year, with African countries thought to bear the highest burden from an escalating global problem. The scale of the crisis has led the World Health Organization to declare AMR one of its top health priorities, with many doctors worried it poses one of the biggest health challenges of this century. Yet the first comprehensive survey of Africa’s resources to tackle the menace has found a serious lack of laboratory capacity and testing needed to keep tabs on infections and the rise of resistant germs. A review of 13 countries in sub-Saharan Africa has found only five of the 15 most concerning antibiotic resistant bugs are consistently tested for. Those that are monitored all demonstrated high resistance.