WORLD ROUNDUPIran’s Imminent Nuclear Dilemma | Who Will Wield All Those Shiny New Weapons? | Israel’s Arms Exports Have Made It Sanctions-Proof, and more

The World No Longer Takes Trump Seriously  (Tom Nichols, The Atlantic)
At parades and in the halls of global power, America has been sidelined.
The leaders of Russia, China, and North Korea are not good men. They preside over brutal autocracies replete with secret police and prison camps. But they are, nevertheless, serious men, and they know an unserious man when they see one. For nearly a decade, they have taken Donald Trump’s measure, and they have clearly reached a conclusion: The president of the United States is not worthy of their respect.
Trump’s damage to American power and prestige would be less severe if the president had a foreign policy and a team to execute it. He has neither.
At the Pentagon, Trump has Pete Hegseth, who shows little apparent inclination or ability to think about complexities.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio was supposed to be one of the new “adults in the room,” but he has been reduced to sitting glumly in White House press sprays with foreign leaders while Trump embarrasses himself and his guests. Meanwhile, the director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, is spending her time trying to root out the spies she thinks hate the president. Unfortunately, the agents she’s hunting are Americans, which must bring a smile to Xi’s face and perhaps even produce a belly laugh from former KGB officer Putin.
Little wonder that the men who gathered in Beijing—three autocrats whose nations are collectively pointing many hundreds of nuclear weapons at the United States—feel free to act as if they don’t even think twice about Trump or the country he leads.

How Israel’s Arms Exports Have Made It Sanctions-Proof (Economist)
Israel gains diplomatic insurance by supplying weapons crucial to Europe’s defense.

Iran’s Imminent Nuclear Dilemma  (Economist)
The prospects for a new deal look slim, but other options are hardly better.

The Battle of Narratives on the Thai-Cambodian Border  (Andrew Nachemson, Foreign Policy)
The recent conflict has shifted domestic politics in both countries.

Who Will Wield All Those Shiny New Weapons?  (Gil Barndollar,Foreign Policy)
As defense spending rises and production ramps up, allied armies struggle to fill the ranks.

How a Top Secret SEAL Team 6 Mission Into North Korea Fell Apart  (Dave Philipps and Matthew Cole, New York Times)
The 2019 operation, greenlit by President Trump, sought a strategic edge. It left unarmed North Koreans dead.

German Security Services Launch Campaign Against Russian Recruitment of “Disposable Agents”  (The Insider)
Germany’s security services have launched a campaign titled called “Don’t Become a Disposable Agent” (“Kein Wegwerf-Agent werden”) as part of an effort to warn citizens about attempts by Russian intelligence to recruit collaborators through social media. The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) has announced that Russian intelligence services use messaging apps and social networks to find individuals who are willing to carry out espionage and sabotage operations in Germany, according to a report by Tagesschau.