The most consequential week in global politics is coming.
I’m back in the D.C. area, getting my head in the game for whatever happens on Tuesday. National Journal will have a live blog of the U.S. elections that you should follow for updates as the results roll in. I’ll be writing about how the elections will impact U.S. foreign policy and, consequently, the entire world.
It’s incredible to think that this political system, with its electoral college and swing states, all of these things that are so uniquely American, can mean life or death for millions of people around the world. That is the power of U.S. foreign policy. It’s the power to shape markets, conflicts, weapons deliveries, sanctions, and everything that makes the world livable or not. I’ll think about that a lot this week as I cover the election.
But first, a thought for all of the people in Spain who have lost their homes and even family members in the flash floods this week. The images are genuinely horrific. Politico Europe has a report on how Valencia’s president downplayed the risks.
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What I’m writing:
• My recent report on the Demilitarized Zone between North and South Korea and the efforts to reunify the peninsula should be unlocked and free to read.
My weekly news blurbs:
What I’m reading:
• The JournalismFund.Eu warns that Europe is starting to experience its own fentanyl crisis.
• Several thousand North Korean soldiers have arrived in Russia’s western Kursk region, where they are expected to participate in an upcoming counteroffensive aimed at expelling Ukrainian forces, the New York Times reports.
• Ukraine and South Korea agreed to step up cooperation to counter North Korean involvement in the war, the Kyiv Independent reports.
• The number of summary killings of Ukrainian soldiers by Russian forces has been steadily increasing over the past weeks, the Washington Post reports.
• Elon Musk has regularly contacted Russian President Vladimir Putin since late 2022, the Wall Street Journal reports.
• The Atlantic questions why Elon Musk has a security clearance.
• Satellite images show major expansion at a Russian site used for bioweapons development during the Cold War, the Washington Post reports.
• Thousands of opposition protesters rallied outside Georgia’s parliament after the country’s president denounced the recent parliamentary elections as rigged and illegitimate, the Washington Post reports.
• Western pollsters say Georgia’s election results make no statistical sense. The BBC has the reports.
• Resident Advisor has a video on why Georgia’s election matters for club culture.
• Alexandr Stoianoglo, the Russia-friendly challenger to pro-European incumbent Maia Sandu in Moldova’s presidential election, told Reuters he would meet with Vladimir Putin if elected.
• Lithuania’s opposition Social Democratic Party won parliamentary elections, pushing out Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė and her party, Politico Europe reports.
• The European Commission said in a draft progress report on Serbia that Belgrade made insufficient progress on core issues related to democracy, the rule of law, and alignment with EU foreign policy, N1 reports.
• Former Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov’s party came out on top in Bulgaria’s seventh parliamentary election in four years — but once again fell short of a clear majority to form a government, Politico Europe reports.
• Russia provided Yemen’s Houthis with targeting data as they attacked Western ships in the Red Sea earlier this year, the Wall Street Journal reports.
• Iran is preparing to launch a retaliatory strike against Israel from Iraq in the coming days, potentially before the U.S. election, Axios reports.
• The United Kingdom will consider providing intelligence gathered from surveillance flights over Gaza to the International Criminal Court if requested, the BBC reports.
• Israel’s Knesset voted to bar the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) from activity within Israel and prohibit Israeli authorities from any contact with the organization, the Guardian reports.
• The United States is “deeply concerned” the UNRWA ban will further exacerbate Gaza’s dire humanitarian crisis and has urged Israel to pause its implementation, Axios reports.
• The United States is running low on some types of air-defense missiles amid a widening crisis in the Middle East, raising questions about the Pentagon’s readiness to keep up with demand, the Wall Street Journal reports.
• North Korea test-fired an intercontinental ballistic missile that flew for its longest-ever recorded flight time and with a theoretical range capable of striking the U.S., U.S.A Today reports.
• The majority of Mexico’s Supreme Court justices resigned over last month’s controversial constitutional overhaul requiring all judges to be elected by popular vote, Reuters reports.
• NPR has a report on life in the grips of Sudan’s brutal civil war.
• Democratic lawmakers asked the U.S. Attorney General to investigate whether Jared Kushner, former President Trump’s son-in-law, was functioning as an unregistered foreign agent for Saudi Arabia, Reuters reports.
You can write to me for any reason: c.maza@protonmail.com