Chinese Hackers Are Getting Bigger, Better and Stealthier | Israel’s Expansionism Is a Danger to Others—and Itself | A Trump-Putin Alliance, for All to See | Fanning the Flames of Conflict, and more

Cybersecurity Professor Faced China-Funding Inquiry Before Disappearing, Sources Say (Zeyi Yang, Louise Matsakis, and Caroline Haskins, Wired)
A lawyer for Xiaofeng Wang and his wife says they are “safe” after FBI searches of their homes and Wang’s sudden dismissal from Indiana University, where he taught for over 20 years.

Secret Pentagon memo on China, Homeland Has Heritage Fingerprints  (lex Horton and Hannah Natanson, Washington Post)
An internal guidance memo from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth focuses on deterring China’s seizure of Taiwan and shoring up homeland defense. In some instances, the document is nearly a word-for-word facsimile of a report from the conservative think tank behind Project 2025.

Chinese Hackers Are Getting Bigger, Better and Stealthier  (Economist)
Experts say it is the main shift in the cyber-threat landscape in a decade.

Taiwan’s Biggest Limitation in Defense Isn’t Spending, It’s Late Deliveries from U.S. Defense Companies  (Kevin Ting-Chen Sun and Howard Shen, War on the Rocks)
When it comes to Taiwan, comments from the Trump administration about the island nation increasing its defense budget to up to 10 percent of its annual gross domestic product have been making headlines, but this isn’t the real problem.
Taiwan relies almost exclusively on the United States for arms sales due to its diplomatic constraints. Such sales from the United States are mandated by the Taiwan Relations Act, passed by the U.S. Congress in 1979. This reliance renders Taiwan particularly vulnerable to chronic delays and systemic problems in U.S. arms deliveries. Persistent backlogs continue to hamper Taiwan’s defense planning and budgetary momentum — casting a long shadow over even the strongest political and institutional support for arms investment.
If the U.S. government and the defense industry it oversees can’t fix the systemic problems with late deliveries, Taiwan will be left to defend its shores with outdated equipment, including World War II-era artillery.

MIDDLE EAST

Surprisingly, the Lebanon-Israel Cease-Fire Is Holding  (David Schenker, Foreign Policy)
Notwithstanding continued exchanges, the agreement is functioning and appears durable.

What Are Uyghurs Doing in Syria?  (Umar Farooq, Foreign Policy)
They helped overthrow Assad, but potential terrorist ties complicate the community’s future in the country.

Stopping Iran’s Nuclear Program Requires U.S.-Israel Unity  (Michael Makovsky and David Deptula, National Interest)
No specific weapons transfer can ensure Israel is able to block Tehran’s nuclear ambitions on its own—even an MOP.

Israel’s Expansionism Is a Danger to Others—and Itself (Economist)
It risks turning hubris into disaster.

Syrian Christians: Debating the Past, Worry for the Future  (Claudia Mende, DW)
Syria’s Christians are a minority in flux. There are concerns about instability and insecurity in the country alongside demands for accountability, for members of the community who supported the brutal Assad regime.

THE LONG VIEW

Nuclear Deterrence: Can Britain and France Take on America’s Role in Defending Europe Against Russian Aggression?(Paul van Hooft, RAND / The Conversation)
European doubts about deterrence predate the current U.S. administration. Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, and its growing reliance on nuclear coercion to ward off NATO support, brought the importance of nuclear weapons to the foreground again for the first time since the Cold War.

A Trump-Putin Alliance, for All to See  (Vladimir Kara-Murza, Washington Post)
This is the first U.S. administration in modern times to openly side with dictatorship over democracy.

Russia’s Reach  (Josh Holder, Lara Jakes and Bill Marsh, New York Times)
President Trump’s disdain for protecting European allies gives Vladimir Putin a fresh opportunity to extend his influence.

The Case for a U.S.-UK Tech Alliance  (Paul Steidler, National Interest)
A “special relationship” should include thriving tech cooperation without burdensome regulations.

Fanning the Flames of Conflict  (Sherri Goodman and Leah Emanuel, Lawfare)
A review of Peter Schwartzstein, The Heat and the Fury: On the Front Lines of Climate Violence (Island Press, 2024).

MORE PICKS

Tariffs Can Actually Work—if Only Trump Understood How  (Michael Hirsh, Foreign Policy)
Smart trade policy could help restore jobs, but the president’s carpet-bomb approach portends disaster.

How Will Russia Reconstitute Its Military After the Ukraine Conflict?  (Michelle Griséet al., RAND)
While the ultimate resolution of the war in Ukraine is still uncertain, the way in which the conflict ends will inform the lessons that Russia learns from the conflict and, by extension, the decisions that Russia makes about reconstituting its military.

Trump’s U.S.A.I.D. Cuts Hobble Earthquake Response in Myanmar  (Hannah Beech and Edward Wong, New York Times)
While China, Russia and other nations have rushed emergency response teams to the devastated country, the U.S., once a leader in foreign aid, has been slow to act.

A Way Out of the DRC’s Proxy War  (Sasha Lezhnev and John Prendergast, Just Security)
A full-scale cross-border invasion has been unfolding in an oft-ignored corner of the world, but one with important U.S. and European interests at stake, given the humanitarian toll and gold and other minerals that play a key role in the conflict. Rwandan-backed M23 rebels and as many as 12,000 of Rwanda’s own troops have fueled what is now one of the three most acute humanitarian crises in the world, with 6.5 million people displaced, as they have conquered the two largest cities in eastern DRC, Goma and Bukavu. Additionally, Rwanda is jeopardizing the global supply of some of the minerals by restarting a war in the DRC that threatens to expand beyond the east. For its part, the DRC government endangers the supply of these minerals through corruption that mainly favors China.

A Continent-Wide Blind Spot Revisited(Joe Bruhl, War on the Rocks)
The United States continues to neglect Africa at its own peril. Without a major shift, it will keep ceding influence to its biggest geopolitical rivals.