WORLD ROUNDUPA New Beginning for the Middle East | Washington’s Risky Bet on Argentina | New Approach in the Fight Against Transnational Violent Extremism is Needed, and more
· A New Beginning for the Middle East
· The Ripple Effects of the Oct. 7 Attack on Israel
· For the European Union, Political Trouble Rises in the East
· The Return of Economic Statecraft
· US Targets Chinese Companies Over Drone Components Used by Hamas, Houthis
· Microsoft’s Crackdown on Unit 8200 Reveals Tech’s Intermediary Role
· Some Questions About Trump’s Order Pledging to Defend Qatar’s Security
· A New Approach in the Fight Against Transnational Violent Extremism is Needed
· When Ideology Writes the Check: Washington’s Risky Bet on Argentina
A New Beginning for the Middle East (Economist)
The breakthrough in Gaza could open up a new approach to peace.
The Ripple Effects of the Oct. 7 Attack on Israel (Janice Stein, Gabriel Mitchell, Jonathan Lincoln, Zaha Hassan, and Yael Mizrahi-Arnaud, War on the Rocks)
Two years ago, Hamas led an attack on Israel. During the brutal assault, Palestinian militants killed more than 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and abducted 251 hostages. Today, around 20 hostages remain in Gaza who might still be alive, while the remains of around another 28 have not been returned. Israel’s response to the attack has devastated Gaza over the last two years, with intensive airstrikes, extensive ground operations, and severely restricted humanitarian aid. The true number of Palestinian fatalities is unclear but exceeds 64,000 people — most of them civilians — and many more have been injured. Famine has hit parts of Gaza, and around 90 percent of the population has been displaced.
The United States recently proposed a 20-point peace plan, and Egypt began hosting negotiations yesterday. Yet, on the second anniversary of the Oct. 7 attack, the war continues. We asked five experts to assess how the war has shaped Israel’s internal politics, Israel’s foreign policy, the U.S.–Israeli relationship, regional dynamics, and prospects for peace.
For the European Union, Political Trouble Rises in the East (William Booth, Washington Post)
A populist victory in the Czech Republic, protests in Lithuania, obstruction in Slovakia and Hungary —all show the E.U. faces political turmoil on its eastern flank.
The Return of Economic Statecraft (Francesca Ghiretti, Internationale Politik Quarterly / RAND)
The “Liberation Day” tariffs that US President Donald Trump announced on April 2 did not resurrect economic statecraft. It never went away. The new US approach, however, signaled a decisive shift. Until then, the European Union had preferred to convince itself that each episode of economic statecraft could be managed without asking hard questions regarding the existing multilateral system of rules and institutions.
That illusion is a luxury the EU can no longer afford to harbor. America’s tariffs and China’s relentless use of economic levers have forced Europeans to ask whether their existing approach is suited to the realities of power politics.
