Attention to the Unseen

Axios reports: A week after Israel’s missile strikes in Qatar, it’s clear not only that the assassination attempt against Hamas leaders failed, but that it backfired. Why it matters: The strike increased the feeling inside the Trump administration and around the world that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government is reckless and has become a destabilizing force in the region. How it happened: Israel’s plan was to take out several of Hamas’ top leaders all at once as they met to discuss President Trump’s Gaza peace proposal. Five…

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Politico reports: When Vladimir Putin sent at least 19 drones into Poland last week, the Russian president was delivering a message: He’s not planning to end his war against the West anytime soon. The Russian incursion into NATO airspace follows weeks of aerial attacks in Ukraine that killed dozens of civilians, damaged buildings housing the EU and British delegations and struck for the first time a government building in central Kyiv. Far from being ready to strike a peace deal…

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Reuters reports: NATO announced plans to beef up the defence of Europe’s eastern flank on Friday, two days after Poland shot down drones that had violated its airspace in the first known action of its kind by a member of the Western alliance during Russia’s war in Ukraine. At the United Nations, the United States called the airspace violations “alarming” and vowed to “defend every inch of NATO territory,” remarks that appeared aimed at assuaging Washington’s NATO allies after President…

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Phillips Payson O’Brien writes: The small incursion of Russian drones into Poland overnight was a test of NATO’s capabilities—a test that the Western military alliance should have easily passed. Polish authorities say 19 unmanned aircraft traveled through Ukrainian territory to enter their country’s territory. The scale of the attack was modest compared with the barrage of hundreds of drones, plus cruise missiles and ballistic missiles, that Vladimir Putin’s forces unleash against Ukraine nearly every night. For NATO air defenses with…

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Mohamad Elmasry writes: If any state should have felt safe from an Israeli attack, it would have been Qatar. It is a small country that poses no real threat to Israel. It is an ally of the United States and hosts the largest American military base in the Middle East. In May, Qatar pledged to invest hundreds of billions of dollars in the US economy. Qatar has also cultivated a reputation as a peacemaker, mediating in numerous conflicts. Just last…

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The Kyiv Independent reports: Russia launched a large-scale overnight attack on Ukraine on Sept. 7, killing at least four people and injuring more than 40, prompting swift condemnation from Kyiv’s European partners. The attack, one of the most severe in recent months and which claimed the life of a 3-month-old baby, came as Ukraine’s allies seek to pressure Russian President Vladimir Putin into pursuing a diplomatic resolution of the war by imposing additional sanctions on Moscow. As Western partners explore…

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Tom Nichols writes: In 1949, after two years that included a massive reorganization of the U.S. military (and the establishment of an air force), Truman christened the new United States Department of Defense, which consolidated elements of the previous War and Navy Departments. That name was good enough for Truman, who served in combat in World War I and dropped two nuclear bombs on Japan. And it was good enough for President Dwight Eisenhower, the former supreme allied commander, who…

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