Attention to the Unseen

Politico reports: Sweden on Monday started to distribute copies of a booklet advising its citizens how to prepare for war, as Nordic countries teach people how to brace for a potential Russian attack. The 32-page brochure, which is also available in English and several other languages, advises citizens on warning systems, how to seek shelter during an air raid and even psychological and digital security. “We live in uncertain times. Armed conflicts are currently being waged in our corner of…

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The New York Times reports: President Biden has authorized the first use of U.S.-supplied long-range missiles by Ukraine for strikes inside Russia, U.S. officials said. The weapons are likely to be initially employed against Russian and North Korean troops in defense of Ukrainian forces in the Kursk region of western Russia, the officials said. Mr. Biden’s decision is a major change in U.S. policy. The choice has divided his advisers, and his shift comes two months before President-elect Donald J….

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Axios reports: The Israeli attack on Iran in late October destroyed an active top secret nuclear weapons research facility in Parchin, according to three U.S. officials, one current Israeli official and one former Israeli official. Why it matters: The strike — which targeted a site previously reported to be inactive — significantly damaged Iran’s effort over the past year to resume nuclear weapons research, Israeli and U.S. officials said. One former Israeli official briefed on the strike said it destroyed sophisticated equipment used…

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  As Donald Trump’s administration picks are revealed, the Middle East watches closely for the implications of the new White House in the region. This comes at a time when Israel’s Foreign Minister has rejected the establishment of a Palestinian state, while the Saudi Crown Prince has harshly criticized Netanyahu, accusing Israel of ‘genocide’ against Palestinians in Gaza. Trita Parsi, Executive Vice President at The Quincy Institute, and Alon Pinkas, former Israel Consul General in New York, join CNN’s Becky…

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Phillips Payson O’Brien writes: Europeans should pay Donald Trump the compliment of believing what he does and says, not what they desperately want to hear. He has clearly indicated that he wants the United States out of the Ukraine war as soon as possible. Both the president-elect and his most important supporter, Elon Musk, have reportedly been in frequent contact with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Vice President–elect J. D. Vance has outlined a “peace” deal with Ukraine that would serve…

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Politico reports: Arab American leaders for months warned Vice President Kamala Harris that she needed to separate herself from President Joe Biden’s support of Israel in the war in Gaza — or face an electoral backlash from this influential community in a key battleground. But those pleas went largely ignored. Instead, Harris made strategic errors that deeply insulted Arab American voters reeling from intense grief as the death toll in the Middle East climbed. She refused to host a Palestinian…

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The Washington Post reports: President-elect Donald Trump spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday, the first phone conversation between the two men since Trump won the election, said several people familiar with the matter. During the call, which Trump took from his resort in Florida, he advised the Russian president not to escalate the war in Ukraine and reminded him of Washington’s sizable military presence in Europe, said a person familiar with the call, who, like others interviewed for…

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The Guardian reports: Benjamin Netanyahu has appointed a hardline supporter of the war in Gaza and longtime backer of settlements in the West Bank as his ambassador to the US as Israel prepares for the incoming administration of Donald Trump. Yechiel Leiter, an American-born rightwing publicist and former government aide who immigrated to Israel four decades ago, was announced as Israel’s next ambassador to Washington on Friday. His son, a soldier in the Israel Defense Forces, was killed in fighting…

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Reuters reports: Qatar will stop trying to mediate a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal until Hamas and Israel are willing to resume talks, an official briefed on the matter said, while also casting doubt on the continued presence of Hamas’ political office in Doha. The Gulf country has been working alongside the United States and Egypt on months of so-far fruitless talks between the warring sides in Gaza and its withdrawal from that process would further complicate efforts to…

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  Middle East Eye reports: Jordan’s former foreign minister has told Middle East Eye that Arab countries need to abandon the two-state solution for Israel and Palestine. “Practically, that is not going to take place,” Marwan Muasher, who also served as Jordan’s deputy prime minister and opened the kingdom’s first embassy in Israel in 1995, said of the two-state solution in a video interview with Middle East Eye. The ex-diplomat, who is now vice president for studies at the Carnegie…

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Justin McCurry writes: Depending on whom you ask, they are the boost that Russian forces need to make a significant breakthrough in Ukraine, or they are simple cannon fodder, destined for repatriation in body bags. After weeks of speculation, Nato and the Pentagon have confirmed that around 10,000 North Korean troops are in Russia, with most massing near Ukraine’s border in Kursk, where the Kremlin’s forces have struggled to repel a Ukrainian incursion. US officials believe the North Koreans could…

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