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Travel Ban Upheld | Bolton Meets Putin | Brexit Bill Becomes Law

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Council on Foreign Relations Newsletter If you are unable to see the message below, click here to view. June 27, 2018 Daily News Brief   TOP OF THE AGENDA U.S. Supreme Court Upholds Travel Ban The Supreme Court voted 5–4 to uphold the Trump administration’s third version of a travel ban, saying the order was within the scope of presidential authority to decide how to secure the country’s borders (NYT) and that Trump’s past statements about Muslims did not undermine it. Trump called the court’s decision to uphold the ban, which affects travelers from five Muslim-majority countries, as well as North Korea and Venezuela, a victory for the American people (NPR). In a dissent, Justice Sonia Sotomayor compared the vote (Vox) with the court’s 1944 decision to allow the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II and said “any reasonable observer” would conclude the travel ban “was motivated by anti-Muslim animus.” ANALYSIS “The logical core of the travel ban decision is the idea that the government prevails in a national security case so long as it can muster some—any—trace of evidence of a legitimate motive,” Aziz Huq writes for Vox. “The Supreme Court decision upholding the travel ban is a shot across the bow of all lower courts that they must insulate themselves from the often incendiary comments of this president. The question is not how he views his office but how judges view their own,” Jonathan Turley writes for the Hill. “Resolving uncertainties in vetting visa applications is part and parcel of consular officials’ role. The blanket presidential authority that the majority envisions would displace that role. Moreover, the authority claimed by Trump lacks any intelligible limits,” Peter Margulies writes for Lawfare. EUROPE Bolton Meets Putin in Moscow U.S. National Security Advisor John Bolton will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin today to discuss the “dismal state of Russian-U.S. ties” (TASS), a Kremlin spokesperson told Russian state media. The meeting comes ahead of a scheduled summit (WaPo) between the Russian leader and President Donald J. Trump next month. In Axios, CFR’s Stephen Sestanovich discusses what's at stake with the Bolton-Putin meeting. UK: Queen Elizabeth II gave her royal assent (BBC) to the bill on Britain’s withdrawal from the European Union, making it law. The legislation will formally repeal the 1972 European Communities Act, by which European law takes priority over laws passed by the UK parliament. PACIFIC RIM Mattis in China Amid Tensions Over Waterways, Taiwan U.S. Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis, meeting today with his Chinese counterpart, Wei Fenghe, is the first in his position to visit China (VOA) since 2014. Mattis has been a vocal critic of the country’s military buildup in the South China Sea, saying the United States will “compete vigorously” with Beijing (SCMP) in the disputed waterway if necessary. In Foreign Affairs, experts look at how the United States and China view each other. INDONESIA: Candidates allied with President Joko Widodo in at least three provinces appeared to be ahead in unofficial vote counts (Reuters) in regional elections seen as a bellwether ahead of next year’s presidential and parliamentary elections. SOUTH AND CENTRAL ASIA Taliban Rejects Islamic Scholars’ Conferences The Taliban denounced a series of conferences (AP) for religious scholars in the Middle East and Asia that began in Indonesia last month as an “American process” and a “scheme of the invaders.” The militant group did not offer evidence of a U.S. role in the conferences. INDIA: U.S. envoy to the UN Nikki Haley made her first trip to India (PTI) since taking office. She said Washington and New Delhi can further boost their alliance by working together on counterterrorism, military issues, and democracy. MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA U.S. Presses Allies to Halt Iran Oil Purchases The United States is pushing countries to end their purchases of Iranian oil (State Dept) by November, a State Department official said yesterday. The move follows the Trump administration’s decision to abandon the 2015 Iran nuclear agreement (Bloomberg) despite opposition from European and Asian allies. CFR’s Amy Myers Jaffe discusses the geopolitics of U.S. oil sanctions on Iran. YEMEN: The United Nations blamed the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen (Al Jazeera) for more than half of child deaths in the conflict in 2017. SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA Ethiopia, Eritrea Hold Landmark Talks Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, following a visit from a high-level delegation from Asmara in Addis Ababa yesterday, said that Ethiopia will soon resume flights to Eritrea (Al Jazeera). The meeting was the first of its kind in two decades, as relations between the countries remained tense since a 1998 border war. CFR’s Michelle D. Gavin looks at Ethiopia’s long political transition. SUDAN: In a case widely followed among women’s rights activists, a Khartoum court overturned a death sentence (Guardian) for a teenage bride who said she killed her husband when he tried to sexually assault her. She will serve five years in prison. AMERICAS Pence, in Brazil, Warns Migrants Against Coming to U.S. U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, on a three-country tour in Latin America, praised Brazil for accepting Venezuelan refugees fleeing economic collapse in their country while he warned migrants (AP) to not attempt to enter the United States “if you can’t come legally.” This CFR Backgrounder looks at how violence in Central America’s Northern Triangle drives asylum seekers to the United States. COLOMBIA: Colombia will resume aerial fumigation of coca plants (DW) with drones after a court banned the practice in 2015 over health and environmental complaints. Authorities say they will use a less potent pesticide (Colombia Reports) and that the aircraft are more precise. UNITED STATES Military Seeks Missile Defense System in Hawaii Military officials are seeking to build a $1 billion missile defense system (AP) to detect U.S.-bound missiles and send information to interceptors in Alaska to shoot them down. U.S. lawmakers have already set aside $61 million for the planning but not construction of the radar system.         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 27, 2018 at 10:08PM