US News

• Two fifty-year old documents related to the coup in Chile were released by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the State Department last week. The democratically elected, left wing government of President Salvador Allende was overthrown in 1973 by the Chilean military, with covert CIA backing. A US-supported dictatorship led by General Augusto Pinochet was subsequently installed. The Institute 
• The Department of Defense is developing the ability to launch thousands of drones at a time for use in a future war with China, according to top Pentagon officials. The Institute 

Russia

• NATO members Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia are demanding Belarus expel Wagner fighters who went to the country after Yevgeny Prigozhin’s short-lived mutiny in June. AWC
• The Biden administration is working to reach a deal with Ukraine for long-term military support to keep backing the war with Russia that would be difficult for a future president to exit, The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday. AWC
• The Biden administration on Tuesday announced a new $250 million arms package for Ukraine that includes HIMARS ammunition, AIM-9 missiles, artillery rounds, and various types of other military equipment. AWC
• Russian authorities said early Wednesday morning that drones targeted an airport in Pskov, a Russian city about 20 miles from NATO member Estonia’s border that’s over 400 miles from Ukraine. AWC
• The Economist reported Sunday that Ukraine’s increasing drone attacks inside Russia are carried out using intelligence gathered by Kyiv’s Western backers. AWC

China

• During a visit to China, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and her Chinese counterpart agreed to establish new lines of communication to discuss trade policy. She emphasized the channels are aimed at transparency, not normalizing trade relations with Beijing. The Institute 
• The Philippines and Australia plan to conduct joint maritime patrols in the South China Sea, disputed waters that are increasingly becoming a potential flashpoint for a conflict between the US and China. AWC

Korea

• Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un slammed the US, Japan and South Korea for conducting war games in the waters around the Korean Peninsula. During the speech celebrating the formation of Pyongyang’s Navy, Kim said Washington’s actions had become more “frantic” and could cause a nuclear war. The Institute 

Middle East

• Israeli airstrikes on Syria targeted the Aleppo airport early Monday morning, knocking it out of service, Syria’s SANA news agency reported. AWC
• Three Congressmen traveled to a region of Syria controlled by Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), an offshoot of al-Qaeda. The Congressional delegation met with several Syrians who were suffering and blamed President Bashar al-Assad for poor living conditions. The Institute 
• Iran announced it reached an agreement with Iraq to both disarm and relocate exiled Iranian Kurdish “armed terrorist groups” operating in camps in the autonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq (IKR) on Monday. Baghdad must accomplish the task before a mid-September deadline unless Iranian forces will intervene. The Institute 
• On Monday, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani said Tehran summoned a Swiss diplomat over the discharging of a tanker carrying Iranian oil that was seized by the United States. AWC
• The Biden administration has been aware since last year that Saudi border guards were slaughtering African migrants on Saudi Arabia’s border with Yemen but kept quiet about the killings, The New York Times reported on Saturday. AWC

Niger

• On Tuesday, UN officials said sanctions on Niger imposed by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) were blocking aid deliveries and shipments of food into the country. AWC
• French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday said that his country would support a military intervention in Niger to reinstate President Mohamed Bazoum, who was ousted in a July 26 coup. AWC