WORLD ROUNDUPWhy Israel’s Post-Oct. 7 Security Doctrine Has Failed | What Viktor Orbán’s Opponents Sacrificed to Beat Him | Trump Is Flailing on Multiple Fronts, and more
· What Viktor Orbán’s Opponents Sacrificed to Beat Him
· Why Israel’s Post-Oct. 7 Security Doctrine Has Failed
· Trump and Meloni Split Amid Growing Dispute Over Pope and Iran
· The Price Israel Is Paying for Its Wars
· Why Did China Buy Up the World’s Ports?
· It’s Not Just Iran. Trump Is Flailing on Multiple Fronts.
What Viktor Orbán’s Opponents Sacrificed to Beat Him (Idrees Kahloon, The Atlantic)
Hungary offers lessons in defeating right-wing populists.
Why Israel’s Post-Oct. 7 Security Doctrine Has Failed (Marc Lynch, Foreign Policy)
From Gaza to Lebanon to Iran, Netanyahu has sought to end threats rather than manage them.
Trump and Meloni Split Amid Growing Dispute Over Pope and Iran (Jason Horowitz, New York Times)
Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni was once considered one of President Trump’s closest European allies. Their friendship now appears in danger.
The Price Israel Is Paying for Its Wars (David E. Rosenberg, Foreign Policy)
Fighting on multiple fronts has taxed its military, economy, and ties with the United States.
Why Did China Buy Up the World’s Ports? (Alexander Wooley and Lea Thome, Foreign Policy)
Beijing is less focused on acquiring sovereign control, more so in assuring its own strategic security.
It’s Not Just Iran. Trump Is Flailing on Multiple Fronts. (Jonathan Lemire, The Atlantic)
The president is on a losing streak, and even some of his aides are dismayed by his choices.
Even some of Trump’s advisers were deeply dismayed, a few of them told me. Members of Trump’s inner circle had counseled him to avoid issuing deadlines; he had now set several, and looked weaker each time one passed. His post was threatening actions that would amount to war crimes—and a genocide. The president was flailing, several people close to him told me. His usual maneuvers had not worked, so he believed that his only play was to escalate. But it wasn’t strategically employing unpredictable behavior to get his way; it was desperation. He looked erratic. Republican allies and world leaders lobbied him to back off his threat, and as the deadline approached, his team seized on a cease-fire offer dangled by Pakistani negotiators. But the talks this past weekend in Islamabad did not yield a deal, prompting Trump to order the blockade. The plan was to apply pressure on Iran to open the strait and on Europe to aid the U.S. So far, neither result has been achieved.
