U.S. Intel Chiefs Warn Russian Election Interference Not Over

Council on Foreign Relations Newsletter If you are unable to see the message below, click here to view. February 14, 2018 Daily News Brief   TOP OF THE AGENDA U.S. Intel Chiefs Warn Russian Election Interference Not Over Top U.S. intelligence chiefs told lawmakers yesterday that Russia is expected to continue the use of tactics, including propaganda and cyberattacks, in an attempt to influence upcoming elections in the United States and Europe. Directors of the CIA, FBI, and the National Security Agency, among other agencies, were in agreement that Moscow has not ceased attempts to sway foreign election results (RFE/RL) since it was charged with conducting such a campaign for the 2016 presidential race. Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats said that "at a minimum" Russia would use deceptive social media to try to "exacerbate social and political fissures in the United States" (Reuters). Their assessment puts the intel chiefs at odds (WaPo) with President Donald J. Trump, who has doubted that Russia interfered in the 2016 election. ANALYSIS "It's an ongoing effort to destabilize our society and pit Americans against each other, which [is] as serious a threat as we face even compared to traditional national security threats," says CFR's Philip H. Gordon. "At its core, this assault is motivated by the Kremlin's desire to protect its wealth and power," former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden and Michael Carpenter write for Foreign Affairs. "It is critical that we think not only in terms of a direct response to Russia, but a reaction to the greater shifts in our society and, in some cases, societal failures, that allowed Russian meddling to become so effective," Nina Jankowicz writes for the Wilson Quarterly. PACIFIC RIM South Korea to Pay Some of North's Olympic Tab South Korea's Unification Ministry has agreed to pay approximately $2.6 million in bills (Korea Times) for the northern neighbor's cheering squads, musicians, and journalists at the winter games. Andrew Zimbalist discusses the cost of hosting the Olympics on the President's Inbox podcast. CAMBODIA: Lawmakers unanimously passed a bill making it illegal to insult the monarchy (DW), with infractors facing prison sentences of up to five years and fines. SOUTH AND CENTRAL ASIA Afghanistan Hosts Regional Military Chiefs Kabul hosted army chiefs from Pakistan, Uzbekistan, and Kazakhstan, along with the U.S. commander for Afghanistan, on Tuesday to discuss insurgencies and narcotics trafficking (Tolo). A spokesman for Pakistan's army chief said his country has "eliminated all terrorist sanctuaries from its soil" (VOA). INDIA: Stock prices for one of India's largest banks dropped 10 percent on Wednesday after it informed investors it had detected $1.8 billion in fraud (CNN) in one of its branches. MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA Mattis Says Unaware of Russians Killed in Syria Strike U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said he had received no information about Russian deaths  (RFE/RL) in a U.S. air strike on Syria's Deir ez-Zor last week, which Syria said killed about a hundred people. Russian news outlets have reported at least four Russian casualties (NYT). ISRAEL: Israeli police recommended that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu be indicted for bribery and breach of trust (DW). Netanyahu denied any wrongdoing. SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA Police Raid House of Family With Links to South Africa's Zuma Three people were arrested in a raid (FT) on the Johannesburg home of the prominent Gupta brothers, a business family accused of using its relationship with President Jacob Zuma to win public contracts and influence political appointees. Parliament scheduled a no-confidence vote for Zuma to take place on Thursday as his party and opposition groups seek to remove him from office. CFR's John Campbell discusses Zuma's undoing in this Expert Brief. ETHIOPIA: Ethiopia has released and dropped all pending charges against a senior opposition leader who had been in jail since late 2015 after mass protests broke out in the Oromia region (Reuters). Nearly six thousand detainees have been released since January. EUROPE France Threatens Strike in Syria President Emmanuel Macron said that France will strike weapons-producing facilities in Syria (France 24) if he finds evidence that chemical weapons have been used against civilians, but noted that he did not yet have proof of such an attack. NATO: Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said that fifteen of NATO's twenty-nine members set out plans to meet the alliance's spending targets by 2024, increasing overall spending by $46 billion (RFE/RL). AMERICAS Former President, Oxfam Official Arrested in Guatemala Former President Alvaro Colom and his finance minister, now chairman of the charity Oxfam International, were arrested on graft charges (NYT) on Tuesday. Colom is the fourth former president of Guatemala to face corruption charges since an international panel was set up to probe such crimes. VENEZUELA: Venezuela's UN voting rights have been suspended for the third time in as many years (AP) due to nonpayment of dues. This CFR Backgrounder looks at Venezuela's political and humanitarian crisis. UNITED STATES Bill Gates Warns Against U.S. Cuts to Foreign Aid In an annual letter on behalf of the Gates Foundation, philanthropist Bill Gates has warned that cuts to foreign aid (Guardian) proposed by the Trump administration could lead to millions of preventable deaths worldwide.         Council on Foreign Relations — 58 East 68th Street — New York, NY 10065 CFR does not share email addresses with third parties. Forward This Email | Subscribe to CFR Newsletters | Unsubscribe - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  

From: dailybrief@e.cfr.org

Date: February 14, 2018 at 11:02PM