Assault on Yemeni Port City | North America's 2026 World Cup | Boost for South Korea's Moon

Council on Foreign Relations Newsletter If you are unable to see the message below, click here to view. June 13, 2018 Daily News Brief   TOP OF THE AGENDA Arab Coalition Attacks Yemeni Port City A coalition led by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates launched an assault today to oust Houthi rebels from Hodeidah, the gateway for most of Yemen’s aid and home to some six hundred thousand people, raising fears of an exacerbated humanitarian crisis (ReliefWeb). Saudi Arabia, which backs the government (AP) of exiled President Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi, has accused the rebels, who the coalition says are supported by Iran, of using the port to smuggle weapons (Guardian). The United States has provided military assistance to the coalition (NYT) since it began its fight against the rebels three years ago, though it is unclear what role the United States is playing in the current assault. ANALYSIS “The Saudis intervened in the war three years ago with hopes of a quick victory over the Houthis, who Riyadh says are backed by Iran, but they have instead been dragged into a quagmire. With the assault on Hudaydah, they apparently hope to isolate the rebels, cutting off their supplies of weapons, food and other essentials,” Margaret Coker writes for the New York Times. “The fighting will discourage rather than enable a return to the negotiating table. Yemen will fall even deeper into what is already the world’s worst humanitarian crisis,” writes the International Crisis Group. “The Houthis have longstanding ties to Iran—something that helped to spur the Saudi-led coalition’s entry into the conflict into the first place. The potential of regional escalation has been underlined by the recent spate of missile attacks on Saudi Arabia, which the coalition blames on Iran,” said the European Council on Foreign Relations’ Adam Baron. CFR Event: Assessing the Summit Panelists discuss the summit between U.S. President Donald J. Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Singapore. Watch today at 12:30 p.m. (EDT).   AMERICAS North American Nations’ World Cup Bid Wins Canada, Mexico, and the United States beat out Morocco in a joint bid to host the 2026 FIFA World Cup (ESPN). Sixty of the tournament’s eighty games would be played in the United States, while the other countries would host ten games each, according to the bid. ARGENTINA: One of Argentina’s largest labor union groups called for a general strike (Reuters) later this month to protest government economic policy. Last week, President Mauricio Macri’s government struck a $50 billion loan deal with the International Monetary Fund. PACIFIC RIM South Korean Ruling Party Buoyed in Elections Exit polls showed President Moon Jae-in’s party winning fourteen of seventeen mayoral and gubernatorial posts (Korea Times), as well as ten of twelve open seats in parliamentary by-elections, on Wednesday. The victory is viewed as a boost for Moon (Nikkei) as he has sought increased engagement with North Korea. CHINA: Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi praised North Korea and the United States for “creating a new history” (SCMP) by holding talks between the country’s leaders yesterday and called for sanctions relief on Pyongyang. CFR's Scott A. Snyder writes that the meeting was the message in Singapore yesterday. SOUTH AND CENTRAL ASIA Taliban Calls for U.S. Talks in Eid Message The Taliban’s leader said the militant group’s aim is to force foreign troops out of Afghanistan and that it seeks direct dialogue (Tolo) with the United States. Ahead of a cease-fire the group agreed to follow during the Muslim holiday Eid (Reuters), deadly attacks by Taliban militants were reported yesterday (Tolo) in Faryab and Ghazni Provinces. PAKISTAN: The rupee reached a record low (Dawn) against the U.S. dollar in market trading yesterday following devaluation by the central bank. MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA Iraqi Cleric Announces Alliance With Pro-Iran Bloc Muqtada al-Sadr, an influential Shia cleric behind the bloc that won the most seats in recent parliamentary elections, announced the formation of a coalition with the pro-Iran political bloc (Al Jazeera) that came in second in last month’s vote. Sadr has traditionally been opposed to Iranian influence in Iraq. This CFR panel examined Iranian influence in Iraq, Syria, and the Gulf. SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA Ebola Outbreak ‘Stabilizing’ But Not Over, Says WHO The head of the World Health Organization, in the Democratic Republic of Congo yesterday, said the fast deployment of an experimental vaccine and effective management of confirmed Ebola cases were behind the stabilization of an outbreak in the country’s northwest (Reuters). Twenty-seven people have died in the outbreak. This CFR Backgrounder looks at Ebola outbreaks in Central and West Africa. CAR: The International Criminal Court ordered the release of former Congolese Vice President Jean-Pierre Bemba after he was acquitted by an appeals court last week (France 24). In 2016, the court found Bemba guilty of crimes committed by his private army in the Central African Republic in 2002–2003. EUROPE Greece, Macedonia Resolve Decades-Old Name Dispute Greece and Macedonia reached a deal for the latter to be renamed North Macedonia (Ekatherimini), potentially ending a twenty-seven-year dispute that has kept Macedonia out of the European Union and NATO. Greece has long objected to the country’s name, saying it implied the neighboring country had a claim to Greek territory (AP) with the same name. IRELAND: The country will hold a referendum in the fall on whether to remove a constitutional prohibition (Irish Times) on blasphemy. UNITED STATES Fed Expected to Raise Interest Rates After two days of meetings, the Federal Reserve is expected today to increase its target rate (NYT) by a quarter of a percentage point. The move would put the rate at its highest since the 2007–2008 global financial crisis. NATO ally Norway asked the United States to deploy seven hundred marines (DW) to its northern region, where it shares roughly 120 miles of land border with Russia. Just over three hundred U.S. marines have been on rotation in the area since last year.         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: June 13, 2018 at 10:13PM