POWER AND PROFIT: INVESTIGATING SRI LANKA’S MILITARY BUSINESSES

1. INTRODUCTION

Written by Super User-30 April 2018

The end of the armed conflict in Sri Lanka saw a significantly increased level of military presence in civilian life across the country, with the military actively engaging in a variety of activities. These activities include humanitarian relief and participation in infrastructure projects, as well as engaging in profit generation through businesses and other economic ventures. This foray into economic activities and businesses by the military covers a range of sectors including hotels, restaurants, travel, leisure, and agriculture. These enterprises are spread across the country and have nationwide implications for the economy and rule of law.

This report examines these implications by discussing the following concerns and issues arising from the military’s economic activities:

 The lack of information regarding the legal and administrative frameworks within which the military engages in businesses;

 Potential unfair competition and market distortion by the military's engagement in business resulting in the crowding out of private investors;

 Lack of oversight over military businesses by the government, causing several rule of law implications regarding transparency and accountability;

 Social and economic consequences particular to the North and East as a result of the military occupying an economic vacuum.

The report concludes that the military's engagement in businesses and economic activities in Sri Lanka has led to serious consequences for the economy and rule of law. Markets are distorted, civilians are deprived of economic opportunities and state-funded or operated businesses are neither transparent nor accountable. The report recommends that these businesses be eventually managed by private or public sector entities, to ensure fair play in the market and greater transparency and accountability.

Power and Profit_ Investigating Sri Lanka’s Military Businesses (1).pdf by Thavam on Scribd

Sirisena Dances To Faizer’s Tune: Halts Mirissa Illegal Structure Demolition

APRIL 30, 2018

President Maithripala Sirisena has ordered the suspension of the removal of illegal dwellings on the Mirissa beach, despite court orders being granted for the removal.

Sources said that three ministers led by Faizer Mustapha had called on the President to halt the removals, after the Coast Conservation Department (CCD) said they were to go ahead despite Mustapha’s attempts to influence.

Earlier in the month a group of Dutch tourists were sexually harassed and assaulted thereafter by waiters of an illegal restaurant in the area.

Following the reports many tourists and locals continued to detail incidents of harassment, sexual abuse and physical assault in Mirissa, on Social media.

The BBC SInhala in an investigative story on Mirissa dated 28th April 2018 detailed an experience of a British woman who was attempted to be raped after the Beach boys had drugged her boyfriend in 2018.

Many others said that the sexual and physical assaults were a common occurrence in the area.

However, following the revelations Mustapha had throughout objected to any moves to regulate Mirissa.

The CCD had identified 17 illegal structures operating in the area and had obtained court orders for demolition. However, Musthapaha issuing a press statement objected to it.

The tourism ministry does not fall under the purview of Mustapha nor is he a member representing the area.

Questions have been raised by many regarding Mustapha’s involvement. Police sources told the Colombo Telegraph that Mustapha is a frequent visitor of the area and that he was present on the night the most recent sexual and physical assault incidents had occured. CCTV footage viewed by Colombo Telegraph shows the minister and members of his entourage present at the party on April 8, 2018.

Sources from the CCD said that Mustapha had exerted enormous pressure on them to halt the removals. “He kept calling the Director and we said there is no provision to stop it”.

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Ranasinghe Premadasa: His leadership had style 

By Krishantha Prasad Cooray-April 30, 2018, 9:02 pm

As a young man interested in politics, there were people I looked up to. There were people I believed had unique qualities. Ranasinghe Premadasa was not one of them.

Indeed, my opinions about his policies and style of governance were a permanent source of friction between myself and his Press Secretary of 30 years, my uncle Evans Cooray. Much to the chagrin of Evans, I was openly critical of President Premadasa while he was in office, unable to resist the urge to contrast his brash and populist leadership style with the more learned and erudite ways of his political rival Lalith Athulathmudali.

In his frustration, Evans cautioned me with words that today are no less true than the inevitability of sunrise at dawn: "Some-day, when there are no more leaders like him, you will appreciate the leadership qualities and commitment of a man like President Premadasa. Today, you are so young and inexperienced that you take them for granted," he snapped. I was confident that time will prove Uncle Evans wrong.

Ranasinghe Premadasa was killed exactly 25 years ago, on May Day. He is the only elected executive president to be assassinated. Some would no doubt say that he himself was to blame for one of his glaring errors of judgment was giving arms to the LTTE. The LTTE was not his only enemy. He holds the dubious distinction of being the only President in our history to have confronted a motion of impeachment by Parliament, one which he survived only through the most unprecedented and fortuitous political and constitutional maneuvering. One notes also, that among these firsts there is the fact that he is the last President elected from the United National Party, D.B. Wijetunga’s ascension being procedural consequent to Premadasa being assassinated.

Today, as I reflect on Ranasinghe Premadasa 25 years after he was killed, the words of Evans Cooray haunt me. They haunt me because I know of leaders and leadership, and I know what’s lacking. When I reflect on such things, I remember Premadasa.

Premadasa was alone among elected presidents or leaders of the United National Party in that he, unlike anyone else, had to struggle for everything he ever accomplished. He did not hail from a political family, nor did he have the benefit of a first-class education. In his era, many held against him what was then known as his "caste", a snooty reference to his humble roots. As with so many others around the world, it was in these flames of adversity and discrimination that the tenacity, determination and leadership style of President Premadasa were forged.

He saw the promise of the garment industry and made it a national priority for growth, taking radical measures to ensure that a fair share of the spoils of this thriving export industry made it to the villagers and workers whose skill and sweat allowed that industry to thrive. President Premadasa was the architect of the revitalized "Samurdhi" programme, which is still today the backbone of our national poverty alleviation effort.

While many can better expound on his accomplishments than I, my intimate relationship with perhaps one of his closest confidants Evans Cooray, has left me with a unique appreciation for how Premadasa accomplished so much in so short a time.

He had an eye for talent, surrounding himself with none but the finest administrators and public servants of his era. He identified and brought into his circle rising stars such as R. Paskaralingam, Bradman Weerakoon, K.H.J. Wijeyadasa, Evans Cooray and Susil Siriwardena. These were dedicated, hard-working and disciplined government servants, who appeared to outsiders to exist for no other reason but to serve the institution of Premadasa around the clock. These are not qualities that they brought to Premadasa, but ones that they shared with him.

Ranasinghe Premadasa believed in discipline and hard work above all else. Rarely did he wake after 3.30am. Whatever he lacked in intellectual capacity and finesse, he sought to make up for with sweat. He knew that discipline involves sacrifice, and eschewed the luxuries and trappings of the presidency to spend his time building a legacy and achieving results. Whenever he was faced with adversity or disapproval, his solution was simply to work harder.

His loyalty to those around him was unparalleled but conditioned on performance, best exemplified by his daily morning phone calls to his closest advisors, which more often than not, were made between 3.30 and 4.30 in the morning. Every day, he expected progress on his directives from the previous day, and he spared no quarter for his ministers or advisors who failed to perform.

It was this ruthless pragmatism that won him the support of many "doers" in the country. People who could perform and deliver results were drawn to Premadasa, who found room for them in his ranks. Being known as a villager himself, surrounded by the trappings of Colombo, Premadasa prioritized poverty alleviation above almost all else. Under his direction, several amenities that were taken for granted in the capital were brought to villages across the country – from clean water, to pothole-free roads, schools and medical facilities.

As a leader, he held his people accountable for not just results but also for their conduct. Under no-circumstances would he have sanctioned a government where nearly every supporting member of parliament was appointed to the cabinet or given a state or deputy ministerial portfolio. He kept an intimate cabinet and expected the rest of his MPs to focus on delivering in their electorates, ensuring that they had access to the funds and resources to do so.

It is almost amusing to imagine how President Premadasa would have reacted to discovering that a number of his ministers and officials were gallivanting across the world with public funds at the drop of a hat, or spending our tax rupees on expensive furniture and adornments for their ministries and official residences. It is less amusing to recall that during his time, no public servant would have dreamt of participating in such abuses, which have become all too commonplace today.

Never satisfied with any particular accomplishment, Premadasa believed that a government, political party or individual had to keep growing in order to succeed. Not comfortable resting on his accolades, and despite lacking the formal educational background of most of his predecessors, he constantly struggled to adapt and surmount newer and greater political challenges.

As a man who struggled a great deal in his life, Premadasa was objective and practical. He had extraordinary determination. He believed that if you could see something in your mind, you could hold it in your hand. He never ever gave up. He was a tough man to work for but he would stand by his team members in a way no other leader would; thus did he secure their loyalty.

President Premadasa had a way with words. He was a disciplinarian who was effective because he was so disciplined himself. No president and no leader since has followed up on matters he had delegated to ministers and officials and agencies in the way he did. This is how, after being at the helm of government and the UNP for only four years, Ranasinghe Premadasa came to be recognised as a kind of demi-god by the country's rural masses; and as the man who single-handedly lifted millions of Sri Lankans out of poverty and brought them dignity and hope.

Ranasinghe Premadasa had extraordinary energy, determination and skill. Indeed, in the words of Evans Cooray himself, Premadasa was not a man, but "an institution".

Many years ago I did not have much regard for Ranasinghe Premadasa. Today, when I reflect on that fateful May Day in 1993 and what followed, I remember what Evans Cooray told me. If I made my uncle turn in his grave over my opinions of Ranasinghe Premadasa, I am convinced he will now rest in peace. He will rest in peace because today I am able to say with full conviction, that he was right.

Criminalizing politics and politicizing crime

Veeragathy Thanabalasingham/Daily Express

By Editor on April 30, 2018

Each time a horrific crime hits the headlines, ministers and police top brass make solemn avowals that stringent action will be taken against the perpetrators and that effective deterrent measures will be taken to ensure that such crimes are not repeated.

But like all promises, these are also put on the back burner, until another serious crime occurs. Then these promises are brushed up and renewed, only for the cycle to be repeated again, and again.

After Maithripala Sirisena came to power in the 2015 Presidential election, the disruption of law and order, violence and criminal activities appeared to have considerably subsided all over the country.

But that seems to have changed in the past few months with the sudden upsurge in violent incidents and serious crimes.

And violent incidents that range from gun fights to murder and underworld gang rivalry, is not limited to the South. Even in the North and East, which were devastated by three decades of civil war and is struggling to come back to normalcy, serious crimes including murder, sexual violence and robbery have been rampant.

In Jaffna peninsula, sword-wielding gangs most of whom are in their twenties are running amok despite the prevalence of heavy army and police security. Sexual crimes are also reported as being relatively high in the peninsula and residents are at a loss to understand how these gang members are able to move freely with dangerous weapons, even in broad daylight, and engage in criminal activities, without being detected by the law enforcement authorities.

Meanwhile, the recent upsurge in violence against foreigners, especially women, by perpetrators with political connections has once again noticed world wide because of media coverage.

After the incidents in Mirissa, where two female tourists were alleged to have been sexually assaulted and several others who attempted to save them were brutally attacked, and in Midigama where a group of Dutch tourists were attacked, the government vowed action against all perpetrators irrespective of their allegiances.

And while a number of the perpetrators were arrested and remanded, the police top brass and politicians have gone on record saying everything was being done to ensure the safety of the tourists.

The media, quoting some eye witnesses, reported that a powerful ruling party politician was sighted where the attackers were boozing prior to the attack. It is worth noting that both the Mirissa and Midigama incidents occurred in the same police area.

There is no gainsaying that police more often than not swing into action long after the crimes are committed and the damage is done.

Sex offences are not unknown in the tourist areas in Sri Lanka. Many such incidents have been reported in the past, with some of the offenders even being sent to jail. But jail terms don’t seem to have a deterrent effect if the recent tourists related crimes are any indication.

Waking up to the reality of the damage done to tourism by these violent incidents, the government swung into damage control mode, requesting the foreign diplomats in Colombo to persuade their compatriots to visit Sri Lanka, pledging that strong security measures are in place to ensure the safety of tourists.

In this backdrop, it heartening to note that many socially conscious people have via newspaper columns pointed out the irony of violence and criminal offences intensifying in many parts of the country nine years after the guns in the North and East fell silent, and urged that the root causes of the rising violence be investigated.

This writer’s attention was drawn to a comment by Kishali Pinto Jayawardene, a leading political columnist and a civil rights activist lawyer, in a weekend English paper last week.

Convinced that the continuous violence and criminal activities are the result of the impact of the culture of violence nurtured during the war, she wrote: “What happened at Mirissa and Midigama were not isolated incidents but reflections of a daily lived reality in Sri Lanka, not only for tourists but also for citizens, where at any given point, the law can yield to bestiality with catastrophic consequences. That is what war, political savagery and abandonment of the Rule of Law have brought about for this country.”

There is no gainsaying that nearly 30 years of war had brutalized Sri Lankan society. Killing had become common place often justified for political reasons. But there has been no tangible action by successive governments and political class to change the situation. What we are experiencing now is the degeneration of society where murder has come to be seen as an ordinary weapon for settling disputes whether they be personal, political or economic.

Most Sri Lankans, particularly Buddhists are fond of referring to the country as an ‘island of peace, wedded to the doctrine maithri and non- violence’.  The first Buddhist precept, which is intoned by every Buddhist at the temple on poya days is; ‘I shall not kill’. Despite this, not only does Sri Lanka possess the highest crime rate in Asia it also has become a land of frequent communal violence.

Small time armed robberies have become common

It is not an exaggeration to say that killing has become a business – reminding us of the gangster killings in Chicago. It may be that we have not reached American standards. But, we are certainly well on the way to it.

It is ironic to note that even Buddhist priests, didn’t just advocate the killing of Tamil militants during the war, but even blessed the security forces that went to do a murderous job. There had been even instances of Buddhist monks disrobing themselves in order to join the army.

One thing should be said about Buddhist doctrine is that the Buddha never compromised on his commitment to non-violence. He did not condone the killing of man by man.

On the one hand, in the name of ‘liberation struggle’ internecine warfare between Tamil militant groups was encouraged in the North and East resulting in the death of hundreds of youth in the initial phase of the war.  And killing was justified.

Even when innocent civilians who disagreed with the militants for genuine reasons were branded as ‘traitors’ and subjected to lamppost killings. Tamil society couldn’t condemn it fearing repercussions. It was argued by the militant groups that loss of life was inevitable in a freedom struggle and they even went to the extent of justifying their unfair actions, thus paving the way for the promotion of a culture of violence.

The other significant reason for the rise in violence and killings are the nefarious activities of the underworld and unscrupulous activities of the new class of capitalists with enormous political clout at the highest level, who are notorious for their lavish spending habits and complete lack of respect for law and order.

These men and their women are to be seen every evening at the liquor bars of the five star hotels and in the posh casinos that have sprung up all over Colombo.

There have been several instances where foreign tourists had been attacked and women molested by these ‘new rich men’.

It is no secret that hundreds of thousands of rupees are gambled away every night at these casinos, most of which are foreign owned. As this sort of money can be accumulated only through illegal means, it follows that such money can only be protected either by heavily bribing politicians, the customs or police officers. This has led to politics becoming criminalized and crime becoming politicized.

(The featured image at the top shows the Central Bond Scam accused being brought to court)

Alleged Police assault in Eppawala: SI interdicted

Camelia Nathaniel-Tuesday, May 1, 2018

Inspector General of Police (IGP) Pujith Jayasundara had issued instructions to the North Central Province DIG to take disciplinary action against Police personnel who had allegedly assaulted the villages who had behaved restlessly on April 28.

A Sub-Inspector attached to the Eppawela Police has been interdicted in connection with the alleged assault, based on the directive issued by the IGP.

The alleged assault had taken place over a dispute with a monk at the Nallamudawa Shailya Bimbarama Temple in Eppawela, Police Media Spokesperson SP Ruwan Gunasekara said.

The IGP had issued this order on April 29.

It was reported that several female protesters at a temple in Nallamudawa, Eppawala were allegedly assaulted by the Police following tensions arising when the Police tried to disperse the crowd.

The protesters were agitating against a Monk who resides at the Nallamudawa Shailya Bimbarama temple.

Palestinians should 'take Trump deal or shut up', says bin Salman

Saudi crown prince says Palestine is not a priority for his country, according to reports from Israeli news channel

MBS said Palestinian leadership has sqandered its opportunities for peace (Reuters)

Monday 30 April 2018

Mohammed bin Salman said the Palestinian leadership should accept whatever peace terms are offered by the United States and stop complaining, according to reports based on an Israeli diplomatic cable and Israeli and American sources.

The Saudi crown prince also heavily criticised the Palestinian leadership, including President Mahmoud Abbas and said Palestinian statehood was not a priority for Riyadh, according to the reports by Israel's Channel 10 news.

It is about time the Palestinians take the proposals... or shut up and stop complaining

- Mohammed bin Salman, as reported by Israeli media

"In the last several decades the Palestinian leadership has missed one opportunity after the other and rejected all the peace proposals it was given," bin Salman was reported as saying.

"It is about time the Palestinians take the proposals and agree to come to the negotiations table or shut up and stop complaining."

According to Channel 10, the comments came in a 27 March meeting with heads of Jewish organisations in New York.

Channel 10 cited an Israeli foreign ministry cable sent by a diplomat from the Israeli consulate in New York, as well three sources - Israeli and American - who were briefed about the meeting.

The US president, Donald Trump, has said he is offering Palestinians the "deal of the century", but diplomats and Trump's advisers have made it clear that Palestinian approval is not required.

Trump also recognised Jerusalem as the capital of Israel in December, a move that drew international criticism. 

Bin Salman reportedly pressed Abbas to accept the US framework for peace after Trump's recognition of Jerusalem, and gave the Palestinian leadership the terms.

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Palestinians have seen Trump's 'deal of the century' - and want nothing to do with it

However, the Palestinian leadership has boycotted the White House since Trump's announcement in December.

Abbas said the US was no longer an "honest broker" in peace talks. 

"The plan calls for having a Palestinian state with provisional borders on half of West Bank and the Gaza Strip, without Jerusalem, and calls for humanitarian solutions to the refugee issue," a Palestinian official told Middle East Eye at the time.

"The deal calls for building a new Jerusalem for the Palestinians from the surrounding villages and communities," he said.  

Channel 10 diplomatic correspondent Barak Ravid reported a source briefed on the MBS meeting in New York as saying that some of those in attendance "literally fell off their chairs".

Ten journalists among 36 killed in Afghanistan attacks

Nine journalists killed while reporting on first of twin blasts in Kabul, while BBC reporter shot dead in Khost province

Saeed Kamali Dehghan, Akhtar Mohammad Makoii in Herat and Haroon Janjua in Islamabad-Mon 30 Apr 2018

Aftermath of second deadly explosion in Kabul – video

Ten journalists have died in Afghanistan in a coordinated double suicide bombing in Kabul and a shooting in the eastern Khost province, on the deadliest day for media workers in the country since the fall of the Taliban.

Nine journalists died in the Afghan capital when they gathered at the scene of the first of two blasts. Ahmad Shah, a BBC reporter, was shot dead in a separate incident in Khost province, near the border with Pakistan.

In Kabul, a suicide attacker riding a motorbike blew himself up in the Shash Darak neighbourhood, near the Nato headquarters and the US embassy, at about 8am on Monday. A second bomber, holding a camera and posing as a journalist, struck 20 minutes later, killing rescue workers and journalists, including an Agence France-Presse photographer, who had rushed to the scene. Islamic State claimed responsibility for the Kabul attacks, which left at least 25 people dead and 45 injured in total.

Hours later, a suicide bomber targeting a Nato convoy in southern Kandahar province killed 11 children at a religious school located near where the explosion occurred. At least 16 people, including five Romanian Nato soldiers, nine civilians and two police officers, were also wounded.

AFP paid tribute to its chief photographer in Kabul, Shah Marai, who was among those killed in the capital. “This is a devastating blow, for the brave staff of our close-knit Kabul bureau and the entire agency,” AFP’s global news director, Michèle Léridon, said. “We can only honour the strength, courage, and generosity of a photographer who covered often traumatic, horrific events with sensitivity and consummate professionalism.”

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty said three of its journalists were also killed. They were named as Abadullah Hananzai, Maharram Durrani and Sabawoon Kakar, a photojournalist and camera operator, who was wounded at the scene but died in hospital. A camera operator from the local network Tolo TV was also killed.

“This terrorist attack is a war crime and an organised attack on the Afghan media,” read a statement by the Afghanistan Federation of Journalists, demanding an investigation by the UN. “The attack in the heart of Kabul and in the Green Zone indicates a serious lack of security by the government.”
Saifulrahman Ayar, a journalist who was at the scene, told the Guardian the second attacker was disguised as a journalist and held a camera. “I was near the blast site when the office called me and [asked me] to cover the incident. It was minutes after the first explosion, I was metres away when the second explosion occurred among the journalists,” he said.

“The second attacker was acting like a journalist and had a camera. I am injured in my leg, I was confused, then I saw that I’m in hospital. I told them to let me go because I want to cover the attack on my colleagues.”

Agence France-Presse photographer Shah Marai sits in a helicopter with a member of the International Security Assistance Force while on assignment in Afghanistan in 2013. Photograph: Ben Sheppard/AFP/Getty Images

Elyas Mousavi, a journalist, was crossing the checkpoint to report on the attack when the second attacker blew himself up. “After the second explosion no one could go near the site, because they were afraid of another explosion. And then ambulances arrived. I saw also some security personal dead,” he said.

Shahhussain Murtazawi, spokesperson for the Afghan presidency, condemned the twin attacks, saying that “the criminal terrorists once again hit Kabul and Nangarhar and committed crimes against humanity, during which a number of civilians have been martyred and injured”.

The US embassy in Kabul also condemned the double suicide bombing. “Where media are in danger, all other human rights are under greater threat,” it said.

The Paris-based Reporters Without Borders said Monday was the deadliest for journalists in the country since the fall of the Taliban in 2001. At least 34 journalists and media workers have been killed by Isis or the Taliban in Afghanistan since 2016, according to RSF.

A string of deadly large-scale bombings and assaults have struck the capital and other Afghan cities this year. Isis claimed responsibility for Monday’s attack on its Amaq propaganda news agency.
The Afghan affiliate of the Isis militant group calls itself Khorasan Province, an archaic name for a central Asian region that includes modern-day Afghanistan. It posted an urgent statement on an Isis-affiliate website saying two of its martyrdom seekers carried out the double bombing targeting the headquarters of the “renegade” Afghan intelligence services in Kabul.

Security officials have warned of the risk of increased attacks in the run-up to parliamentary elections planned for October. The attacks underscore the struggles Afghan security forces have faced to rein in the militant groups since the US and Nato concluded their combat mission at the end of 2014.
Like the more well-established Taliban, the Isis affiliate is committed to overthrowing the US-backed government and imposing a harsh form of Islamic rule. But while the Taliban mainly target government officials and security forces, the Isis affiliate tends to favour large-scale attacks on civilians from Afghanistan’s Shia Hazara minority, who it views as apostates.

Last week, an Isis suicide bomber attacked a voter registration centre in Kabul, killing 60 people and wounding at least 130. There were 22 women and eight children among the fatalities.

In March, an Isis suicide bomber targeted a Shia shrine in Kabul where people had gathered to celebrate the Persian new year. That attack killed 31 and wounded 65.

Associated Press in Kabul contributed to this report

Netanyahu: Iran lied about not seeking nuclear weapons

Israeli Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a news conference at the Ministry of Defence in Tel Aviv, Israel April 30, 2018. REUTERS/ Amir Cohen

APRIL 30, 2018

TEL AVIV (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday that Iran had lied about never having pursued nuclear weapons and had continued to preserve and expand its nuclear weapons knowledge even after signing a 2015 deal with global powers.

“Iran’s leaders repeatedly deny ever pursuing nuclear weapons,” said Netanyahu during a prime-time televised address carried by Israeli networks. “Tonight I’m here to tell you one thing: Iran lied.”

Israeli Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a news conference at the Ministry of Defence in Tel Aviv, Israel, April 30, 2018. REUTERS/ Amir Cohen

The Israeli leader spoke in English and showed pictures and videos purporting to be of historic secret Iranian nuclear facilities, as well as Iranian documents and plans to develop atomic weapons.

While the lion’s share of the briefing focused on what he said was past nuclear work and alleged obfuscation about it by Iran, Netanyahu asserted that such activities had continued after the 2015 deal that was meant to curb Iranian capabilities.

Slideshow (3 Images)

“After signing the nuclear deal in 2015, Iran intensified its efforts to hide its secret files,” he said. “In 2017 Iran moved its nuclear weapons files to a highly secret location in Tehran.”

Netanyahu referred to a secret Iranian nuclear project, codenamed “Amad”, which he said had been shelved in 2003, but he said work in the field had continued.

“Even after the (2015) deal, Iran continued to preserve and expand its nuclear weapons knowledge for future use,” Netanyahu said. Iran has always denied seeking nuclear weapons.

U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened to withdraw from the agreement reached between Iran and global powers.

Israel has long opposed the agreement. Washington’s major European allies have urged the Trump administration not to abandon it and argue that Iran is abiding by its terms.

Reporting by Rami Amichay, Stephen Farrell, Ori Lewis and Ari Rabinovitch; editing by Peter Graff and David Stamp

Trump keeps U.S. allies on edge ahead of steel tariffs deadline

President Donald Trump speaks during a news conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in the East Room of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)

By Steven Mufson and Damian Paletta April 30 at 1:32 PM

President Trump on Monday neared a midnight deadline for one of the most consequential economic decisions of his presidency, whether to exempt key allies from steel and aluminum tariffs, but both cabinet members and foreign leaders remained unsure how the commander in chief will proceed.

“The president has not made any decision yet,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in an interview that aired Monday on Fox Business Network. Over the weekend, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said that the White House would grant some countries relief, but he wouldn’t say which ones.

The deadline is a key test for Trump’s trade strategy and diplomacy, pitting his highly personal bargaining style against the determination of major U.S. trade partners and allies to hold fast and retaliate if necessaryunder World Trade Organization rules.

Trump has shown a willingness to both befriend and berate almost every ally and adversary, a dynamic that has played out in the past two months as he has tried to lure many of them into making concessions in exchange for delaying tariffs.

“We are in uncharted territory in terms of trade policy,” Chad Bown, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute of International Economics, said. “What President Trump has done is make everything uncertain in trade policy. You don’t know on almost day-to-day basis what trade policy is going to be and businesses find it very difficult to operate in that kind of environment.”

Earlier this year, the Commerce Department issued a report alleging that the U.S. reliance on imported steel and aluminum posed a national security threat. In March, Trump used that finding to announce steep tariffs against China and Japan, temporarily offering exemptions for many other countries.

Ross said in an interview with The Post that Trump was acting within his authority. He said that under section 232 of a key U.S. trade law Trump “has very broad powers. He can raise the tariffs. He can lower them. He can let countries in and let them out.”

In recent weeks, Trump has met with leaders from three U.S. allies caught in the middle of the tariff debate.French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel appealed last week to Trump to alter his stance, yet the administration has continued to press for concessions and there is no guarantee that they will be spared.

European leaders have threatened a series of countermeasures if Trump goes ahead with his proposed tariffs. The European actions would target items such as motorcycles and bourbon, which are produced in Republican electoral strongholds.

In March, the administration set aside tariffs it had proposed on South Korean steel and aluminum manufacturers. In return, South Korea amended its U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement, accepting quotas that will cut its steel exports to the United States by 30 percent below the average of the past three years.

The Trump administration has pushed European nations to adopt the same approach, but European leaders do not want to do so. “We are asking for them either to be in the tariff mode or to accept a quota,” Ross said.

Quotas, however, are more appealing in some ways than tariffs, Bown said, because the governments of exporting countries get revenue by selling export permits to their own firms without paying anything to the U.S. government. The U.S. government would gain revenue from taxes on higher priced steel and aluminum. Consumers would pay higher prices.

The role of China looms large in all these talks. South Korea is the third largest steel exporter to the United States and the top importer of Chinese steel, which some trade experts say made it a conduit for Chinese exports to the United States.

The Chinese government in recent decades fostered massive domestic steel and aluminum industries, which have shipped their goods around the world in a way that pushed down prices. China accounts for barely 6 percent of U.S. steel imports, but Trump says that the worldwide flood of cheap steel is one factor that has led to the closure of numerous U.S. smelters, and the loss of American jobs.

A number of other countries have agreed with U.S. officials for decades that China needs to do more to address a global oversupply of steel and aluminum, but so far they have taken measured steps at international gatherings to try to prod China toward change. Trump upended this approach by declaring he would act unilaterally, and threatening to slap tariffs on numerous U.S. allies, not just China.

“The Chinese have created the overcapacity problem,” William Reinsch, senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said. “It’s one of the few cases in the trade business where you can assign blame and be accurate. It’s not that big a leap to say that if it is their fault it is not unreasonable to design a policy that pushes the problem back on them.”

Canada and Mexico, which would be hit by Trump’s initial proposal for broad tariffs on steel and aluminum, will be given extensions, Ross told Bloomberg News over the weekend. Canada is the single biggest source of U.S. steel imports.

Staff writer Heather Long contributed to this article.

Where goes Korea after the crucial talks?

2018-04-27

When Donald Trump after his 2016 election victory met President Barack Obama in the White House, the outgoing President in a parting advice to Trump said: North Korea should be a foreign policy priority.

Obama tried to work out a summit meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un but due to opposition from the conservatives, both in his Democratic Party and the opposition Republican Party, he had to abandon his plans. Maybe it was too much for Obama, for he had spent much of his bargaining power on normalising ties with Cuba – a demanding task just as tough as normalising ties with North Korea. In 2015, Obama not only established diplomatic ties with Cuba after 54 years, but also visited Cuba and sat together with Cuban President Raul Castro to watch a baseball match between the Cuba national team and an American Major League team. Obama’s diplomatic triumph was a shocker and belatedly justified the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to him.

But now Trump, who has often scoffed at Obama for his failure to deal effectively with North Korea, has pulled out a similar shocker. If nothing untoward happens, Trump will meet North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un by the end of next month or early June at a place yet to be named. The two leaders together with South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in could even share this year’s Nobel peace prize.  

Certainly, much of the credit should go to President Moon Jae-in, a liberal politician, who dreams of Korean unification. Moon was a supporter of the Sunshine Policy former South Korean President Kim Dae-jung formulated to unite the two Koreas and improve the combined economy.  With Trump-Kim rhetoric taking the world to the brink of nuclear war in August last year, Moon feared for the safety of millions of South Koreans.  The Winter Olympics in February helped him revive the Sunshine Policy. He urged North Korea to send a strong athletics delegation to the Games. 

North Korea did respond favourably, sending not only a powerful athletics team which took part under the banner of unified Korea in some events, but also sent Kim Yo-Jong, the elegant sister of Kim Jong-un to the Games village in Pyeongchang. In official events connected with the Games, Kim Yo-Jong was seen in the presence of US Vice President Mike Pence. Moon meets Kim today at a border village.

Whether or not Trump succeeds in persuading Kim Jong-un to dismantle North Korea’s nuclear programme, the ice has been broken. It was only in August last year that a nuclear war between them seemed a possibility. This was after North Korea test-fired a series of long-range missiles that could hit any part of the United States and reports appeared in the US media that North Korea had successfully developed miniature nuclear warheads that could be fitted into the missiles. 

Reacting to the developments, Trump issued a doomsday warning in a twitter message: “North Korea best not make any more threats to the United States. They will be met with fire, fury and, frankly, power, the likes of which this world has never seen before.”

In response, North Korea said it would send a salvo of four missiles over Japan and towards the US territory of Guam and mocked Trump as a man “bereft of reason”.
In October last year, Trump in another tweet mockingly called Kim Jong-un “A little Rocket Man”. But on Tuesday, Trump hailed the North Korean leader as a “very honourable man”.  The change probably underscores the maxim that in politics, there are no permanent friends or foes, but only permanent interests.

Permanent interests apart, the turn of events also goes well with Trump’s re-election campaign. On the one hand, the North Korea turnaround – Chinese media reports say North Korea suspended nuclear tests due to the collapse of its testing site -- has given Trump a magician’s wand to divert the American people’s attention away from the Russia probe and bad publicity over his alleged affairs with porn stars and playmates. On the other, he emerges strong as a President who has tamed North Korea, a President who does what others cannot do.  He apparently knows how to keep his vote bank intact. 

Trump hailed the North Korean leader as a “very honourable man”.  The change probably underscores the maxim that in politics, there are no permanent friends or foes, but only permanent interests

Given Trump’s style of crisis management, one can safely assume that he has got an assurance of sorts from Kim Jong-un during the secret meeting between the North Korean leader and Trump’s envoy Mike Pompeo, the secretary of State-designate, earlier this month. In a concession to the US, North Korea has indicated that it will not ask for the withdrawal of US troops from South Korea. 

Now this raises serious geopolitical issues. If the Moon-Kim and Trump-Kim talks lead to a peace treaty between the two Koreas and eventually unification, it will be a big victory for Washington’s China containment policy.

But China is unlikely to let go of North Korea to the US camp, without a fight. For China, North Korea is a vital part of its geostrategic plan. Apart from Russia, North Korea is China’s only ally in the East Asian region where China feels it has been surrounded by US military bases. From China’s point of view, a unified Korea should, at best, be pro-China and, at worst, be neutral. It is naïve to assume that the North Korean leader was acting without informing China first.  What else would he have discussed with China’s President Xi Jinping after he made a secret train journey to Beijing in March other than the geopolitics of the upcoming meetings with Moon and Trump? 

What is at stake at Kim’s meetings with Moon and Trump is the issue of North Korea’s nuclear weapons and missiles. Severely affected by international sanctions, North Korea is struggling to maintain a multibillion dollar nuclear programme and look into the basic needs of its 25 million people at the same time. It badly needs an economic takeoff. It apparently feels the time is now. 

But can North Korea agree to Trump’s demand that it dismantle its nuclear arsenal? Knowing well that nuclear weapons can deter big power invasions, Kim is unlikely to say yes. He may agree to re-enter the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty or to a gradual dismantling of the nuclear arsenal but conditional upon certain measures the US will have to take. Such a scenario once again takes us to the six-party talks that went on from 2003 to 2007.  Apart from North Korea and the US, the other countries involved in the discussions were China, Russia, Japan and South Korea. But largely due to the US failure in fulfilling its part of the deal, the talks collapsed, leading to North Korea emerging as a full-fledged nuclear state. 

Given the geopolitics of the issue and Trump’s ambitions, the breakthrough lies in efforts to work out a win-win formula for not only North Korea, the US and South Korea, but, more importantly, also for China. 

Security Brief: Trump Admin Drives Hard Line on Korea; Details on Kim’s Offer

After a historic summit light on details, White House reiterates tough demands for North Korean denuclearization.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in are in talks during the Inter-Korean Summit on April 27, 2018 in Panmunjom, South Korea. Photo by Korea Summit Press Pool/Getty Images

BY ELIAS GROLL-

APRIL 30, 2018, 9:23 AM

By Elias Groll, with Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian and Robbie Gramer

And now for the hard part. Last week’s historic summit between the leaders of North and South Korea has set the stage for President Donald Trump to attempt to close a deal with Kim Jong Un. The North Korean leader said all the right things in a series of meetings in South Korea that provided a burst of good feelings but few specifics as to how the conflict on the peninsula would be resolved.
On the heels of a pledge by North and South Korea to seek the denuclearization — a term that still hasn’t been defined — of the peninsula and to forge a peace deal ending the Korean war, Trump administration officials are pushing a hard line against the North.

Asked whether North Korea would have to give up its nuclear weapons before it receives sanctions relief, National Security Advisor John Bolton said, “I think that’s right.”

“I think we’re looking at the Libya model,” Bolton told CBS, using an analogy that probably won’t be much appreciated in Pyongyang. Among the other issues on the agenda: ballistic missiles, chemical and biological weapons, and the abduction of foreign nationals, according to Bolton. “So, there’s a lot to talk about,” he said.

While analysts remain deeply skeptical that Kim will give up his nuclear weapons, administration officials continue to maintain that is the goal. Speaking with ABC, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo described the U.S. objective as the “complete, verifiable, irreversible denuclearization” of North Korea.

“This administration has its eyes wide open,” Pompeo said. “We’re going to require those steps that demonstrate that denuclearization is going to be achieved.”

The North Korean offer. South Korean officials provided additional details on Sunday about their talks with Kim, with a spokesperson telling reporters that Kim would be willing to give up his nuclear arsenal in exchange for a pledge by the United States not to invade the North and end the Korean war.

“If we meet often and build trust with the United States, and if an end to the war and nonaggression are promised, why would we live in difficulty with nuclear weapons?” Kim was quoted as telling his counterpart from the South.

Kim also offered to invite foreign observers and journalists to watch the closure in May of North Korea’s nuclear test site.

While some reports have claimed the test site is no longer functional, Kim denied those reports outright. “Some say that we are terminating facilities that are not functioning, but you will see that we have two more tunnels that are bigger than the existing ones and that they are in good condition,” he was quoted by South Korean officials as saying.

Signaling from the Pentagon. If North and South Korea strike a lasting peace treaty, it may require the departure of American troops from the peninsula, and Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis is indicating he’s open to the possibility. “Well, that’s part of the issues that we’ll be discussing in the negotiations with our allies first and, of course, with North Korea,” Mattis said on Friday. “We just have to go along with the process, have the negotiations, and not try to make preconditions or presumptions about how it’s going to go. We — the diplomats are going to have to go to work now.”

Good Monday morning and welcome to this edition of Security Brief, in which we bemoan the Mossad taking Kanye West’s advice and tweeting “I love you” to a sworn enemy. As always, send your tips, comments, and questions to elias.groll@foreignpolicy.com.

The UAE’s drone war. When Saleh al-Samad, a senior Houthi political leader, was killed earlier this month in Yemen, the Saudis were quick to take credit. The Houthis, in the meantime, blamed the Americans. But sources and videos reviewed by Foreign Policy point to the United Arab Emirates, which is increasingly exerting its military power in the region. It appears that the UAE used a Chinese armed drone to kill Samad, who was widely regarded a conciliatory figure among the Houthis.

Bolton’s favorite Iranian opposition group. Long considered a fringe movement, the Mujahideen-e Khalq, better known as the MEK, finally has a friend in the White House, reports FP’s Rhys Dubin and Dan De Luce. John Bolton, President Trump’s latest national security advisor, has been sympathetic to the MEK (and a paid speaker at their events). Whether those connections will pay off into influence on policy is yet to be seen.

More Syria attacks? Syrian state television reported that missiles struck military facilities in the country’s north. It remains unclear who was behind the attacks, and unconfirmed reports indicate 26 pro-government fighters were killed. Both Israel and American and allied forces have carried out air strikes against regime targets in recent weeks.

Pompeo’s opening act. New Secretary of State Mike Pompeo made a big debut with a whirlwind tour through the Middle East over the weekend, showing the world through a flurry of activity and press conferences he is no Rex Tillerson. On pit stops in Saudi Arabia, Israel, and Jordan, Pompeo slammed the Iran nuclear deal, signaled to the Saudis that U.S. patience on the Gulf dispute was wearing thin, and touted unwavering support for Israel.

Pompeo and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lavished praise on one another in a press conference on Sunday, where Pompeo also hailed Trump’s decision to move the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem next month.

What wasn’t on his agenda? A meeting with Palestinians, even amid deadly protests on the border of Gaza and Israel that has sparked the worst crisis in Israel-Palestinian relations in years.

Pompeo returns to Washington on Monday after his final stop in Jordan, where State Department employees wait to see if he can keep his promise of bringing “swagger” back to Foggy Bottom after his predecessor’s troubled 14-month tenure.

Can Kim trust Trump? Ahead of a looming decision by President Donald Trump on whether to stay in the Iran nuclear deal, Secretary of State Pompeo is downplaying the importance of that move for negotiations on North Korea’s nuclear arsenal. “I don’t think Kim Jong Un is staring at the Iran deal and saying, ‘Oh, goodness, if they get out of that deal, I won’t talk to the Americans anymore,’” Pompeo told reporters. “There are higher priorities, things that he is more concerned about than whether or not the Americans stay.”

At least someone is in agreement. With President Donald Trump apparently moving toward withdrawing from the Iran nuclear agreement, the leaders of France, Germany, and Britain agreed in a call over the weekend that the deal represents the best way to prevent Iran from gaining a nuclear bomb. In a call between French President Emmanuel Macron and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, the two leaders agreed to work to preserve the agreement, Reuters reports.

Pony up. Pompeo did his best to charm his NATO counterparts last week, but he pulled no punches on the Trump administration’s demand that America’s European allies step up their defense spending, Reuters reports. Pompeo called out Germany for failing to meet the 2 percent spending target. “That’s the expectation, not only for Germany but for everyone,” Pompeo said.

Germany’s defense minister pushes for expanded military budget. German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen has requested an additional $14.6 billion for the country’s military budget, saying the current budget of $45 billion is vastly inadequate for the military modernization Germany needs. Germany is currently still below the 2% GDP military budget that NATO asks of members.

Charm offensive. Fresh off losing a reliable ally in former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis is trying to forge a close relationship with freshly minted National Security Advisor John Bolton, CNN reports. Pompeo hosted Bolton for breakfast at the Pentagon last week as part of a push to establish a closer relationship.

Eye in the sky. Australia will deploy a P-8 Poseidon surveillance aircraft to Northeast Asia as part of an effort to monitor North Korean sanctions compliance, Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said over the weekend.

Take it or leave it. Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman delivered a harsh message for Palestinian groups while in New York last month, according to Axios. “The bottom line of the crown prince’s criticism: Palestinian leadership needs to finally take the proposals it gets from the U.S. or stop complaining,” Barak Ravid reports.

Make it go boom. A cyberattack on a nuclear powerplant sits at the top of the list of security experts fears of how state-backed hackers might cause devastating destruction, and with large sums being invested to secure such facilities, attacks targeting the supply chain represents one of the most promising ways to penetrate their defenses, Motherboardreports.

Navy gets a new drone. The first drone warship recently joined the U.S. naval fleet, CNBC reports. The Sea Hunter is a 140-ton, 132-foot long ship that was first developed by DARPA in a program launched in 2010. While its exact mission remains under wraps, the ship appears to provide the Navy with an adaptable, relatively inexpensive ship capable of scanning the ocean for adversary submarines and working in tandem with other vessels.

The hacking chronicles. When Qatar paid hundreds of millions of dollars — the exact amount remains unclear — to free a group of kidnapped royals last year they also set aside funds to pay a variety of intermediaries involved in the deals, according to “intercepted communications” that were obtained by the Washington Post. The messages appear to describe a $50 million payment set aside for Qassem Suleimani, the head of  Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Russians on the wire. NBC News has obtained recordings of Russian mercenaries discussing the consequences of an American military strike that killed somewhere between 200 and 300 private military contractors in a disastrous assault on an American military position in Syria. “We’ve had our butts kicked,” one Russian speaking fighter says in an intercept.

China’s stealth bomber. As part of its rapid modernization plans, China appears to be pursuing plans for a stealth bomber, Popular Science reports. “The future strategic bomber, tentatively identified by Chinese Internet commentators as H-20, is believed to be a flying wing bomber designed for range and stealth,” according to authors Jeffrey Lin and P.W. Singer. “It would be armed with bombs and, likely, systems like the 1,200-mile-range CJ-10 land attack cruise missiles.”

Russian missile sales? After Syria’s vaunted air defenses failed to defend against American-led strikes against the country’s chemical weapons infrastructure earlier this month, Russian officials indicated they may provide new weapons to the Assad regime. On Wednesday, Col. Gen. Sergei Rudskoy said Russia will supply its client state with “new missile defense systems soon.” Rudksoy did not specify the type, but recent reports indicate Moscow is considering supplying Damascus with the S-300 system.

Fresh nuke sniffers. The U.S. Air Force will convert three KC-135R tankers into WC-135 Constant Phoenix “nuclear sniffers,” which are equipped with sensors to detect nuclear tests, Defense News reports.

Hypersonics. The Air Force is pushing hard to get two hypersonic weapons deployed to counter Russian and Chinese investments in the field. Speaking to lawmakers last week, Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson said the service is seeking a conventional strike weapon and an air-launched rapid response weapon, Flight Global reports. “The guidance is to go fast and to leverage the best technology available,” Wilson said. 

Nakasone confirmed. The Senate voted last week to confirm Gen. Paul Nakasone, the head of Army Cyber Command, as the next chief of the National Security Agency and U.S. Cyber Command.

Faster sub production. The U.S. Navy is stepping up the pace of submarine production, with plans to build two instead of three attack subs in some years, the AP reports. “The U.S. attack submarine fleet is expected to shrink by 20 percent over the next decade,” according to the AP. “There are 52 attack submarines today; by 2028, that number is expected to dip to 42. The Navy has said it needs a fleet of 66 attack submarines, but that isn’t expected to happen until 2048 under current plans.”

A warning about China. During his confirmation hearing last week to become the next head of Pacific Command, Admiral Philip Davidson warned that “there is no guarantee that the United States would win a future conflict with China.” The East Asian giant has rapidly modernized and expanded the competitive space in areas from hypersonic technology to cyber warfare. “Through coercive diplomacy, predatory economic policies and rapid military expansion, China is undermining the rules-based international order,” Davidson said.

DF-26 deployed. The Chinese military deployed the intermediate range D
F-26 rocket, capable of carrying both conventional and nuclear warheads, according to the AP.

U.S. sends bombers over the South China Sea. On the heels of recent Chinese naval drills in the disputed South China Sea and near Taiwan, the United States deployed two bombers from Anderson Air Force Base in Guam to fly over the large stretch of water.

A Chinese spy plane spent four hours in near South Korean airspace. Over the weekend, South Korea scrambled jets after a Chinese reconnaissance aircraft entered the country’s air defense identification zone, the third time that’s happened this year. Seoul lodged a formal complaint with the Chinese ambassador.

The most important obsolete carrier ever. China’s first domestically produced aircraft carrier entered sea trials last week, and while it marked a huge milestone for the country’s navy, the ship is already obsolete by global standards. But that may be missing the point. “China’s carrier-centered navy is not designed so much to challenge U.S. maritime supremacy as to inherit it,” analyst Sam Roggeveen writes for FP. “China may be betting that the United States won’t need to be pushed out of Asia, at least not by a frontal challenge to its naval power. Rather, the United States will slowly withdraw of its own accord because the cost of maintaining that leadership is rising so dramatically.”

AI isn’t good for nuclear war. Rapid advances in artificial intelligence could destabilize nuclear deterrence, according to a new Rand Corp. report. Among several interesting findings of the report, AI-powered intelligence gathering and analysis technologies may n the short term, increase fears that an advanced nuclear power could detect its adversaries nuclear launch sites and mobile weapons, raising the attractiveness of a first strike.

AI made in China. An artificial intelligence system developed in China defeated a top-ranked Go player, replicating last year’s achievement by a Google-built machine intelligence, AlphaGo. The victories of AlphaGo reportedly sent shockwaves through the Chinese military establishment and spurred heavy investments in AI technology, and now China appears to be catching up to its American counterparts.

Another poisoning? A former BP employee is alleging that the company’s top executive, Bob Dudley, was poisoned by Russian authorities, spurring his evacuation from Russia,
the Telegraph reports. “The whole idea was to oust Bob Dudley and about 150 Western managers,” said Ilya Zaslavskiy, a former employee of the joint venture TNK-BP who now runs research for the Free Russia Foundation think tank.

More bad news for the Apache. The U.S. Army will delay final operational testing for the latest generation of the Apache helicopter gunship, Defense News reports. The delays comes after the Pentagon halted deliveries of the chopper because of a faulty nut. Military officials claim the delay isn’t related.  

No F-35 for Erdogan. A new bill introduced in the Senate would ban Turkey from taking delivery of the F-35 fighter jet if it does not release the imprisoned American pastor Andrew Brunson. The measure is just the latest indication of the downward spiral of relations between the United States and Turkey, a NATO ally which has pledged to buy 116 F-35As.

Compete on price. With President Donald Trump promoting the sale of American military gear abroad, the United States will decrease its surcharge on the material exports from 3.5 to 3.2 percent.
Meet the Eurodrone. A consortium of European aerospace companies introduced the first full-size model of the Eurodrone, a medium-altitude, twin-prop unmanned aircraft that will be available in both armed and reconnaissance versions.

Machine learning for EW. With modern radar systems rapidly switching frequencies to evade jamming, Northrop Grumman was awarded a $7.3 million contract to develop machine learning algorithms to help electronic warfare planes pin down and jam radar systems, Flight Global reports.  
Escalating against ISIS. Though President Donald Trump has vowed to get U.S. troops out of Syria, Defense Secretary Mattis told lawmakers last week that U.S. forces are increasing their operations against what remains of the Islamic State, the Washington Times reports. “We are not withdrawing” Mattis said. “You will see a re-energized effort against the Middle Euphrates River Valley in the days ahead.”