Innholdsfortegnelse for August 18-25, 2023 i Newsweek International

PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS ARE RARELY WON or lost over foreign affairs. But in the early stages of the 2024 race for the White House, Ukraine has already become a potent issue on the campaign trail. President Joe Biden insists he’ll support Ukraine for “as long as it takes.” Former president Donald Trump claims he’ll end the war in “one day” as soon as he re-takes office. The two candidates’ dueling visions offer voters the starkest contrast in foreign policy between the major parties in 20 years, since the debate over the Iraq War played a key role in the 2004 presidential race and eventual victory by George W. Bush. The split between Biden and Trump on Ukraine—and the divide within the Republican field of candidates over U.S. involvement in the war—reflects…

SEVENTY YEARS AFTER AN ARMISTICE COOLED a hot war on the Korean Peninsula, the threat of a new conflagration on this frontline threatens to spark a catastrophic nuclear conflict. And with the United States focused more on threats posed by Russia in Ukraine and China in Taiwan, a number of former U.S. officials believe that, in the absence of an official peace treaty, Korea is the likeliest flashpoint for such a devastating scenario. Among them is Dan Leaf, a retired Air Force lieutenant general and former deputy commander of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command. “We could look at the nuclear stakes and risks and say, ‘Well, the Ukraine situation could go nuclear, the China-U.S. competition and a potential conflict with regard to Taiwan could go nuclear,’ Leaf tells Newsweek. “But those would…

THE INCREASING RELIANCE OF THE FEDERAL government on Microsoft software, and in particular the exclusive use of its security tools, is causing heartburn among cyber experts, former officials and some on Capitol Hill, who worry that reliance on a single IT vendor will make the nation more vulnerable to foreign hackers, enemy cyberwarriors and online spies. Microsoft, by some estimates, already provides 85 percent of the office software (think email, word processing and meetings/collaboration) in the federal government. Now the federal government is moving to use its security tools, too. Last year, despite internal opposition and criticism from experts, the Department of Defense abandoned one of its longest-running stand-alone cybersecurity program, which multiple vendors competed for, opting instead for Microsoft security tools that the company bundles with its other software—all…

DAVID BEN-GURION, ISRAEL’S FIRST PRIME MINISTER, ONCE SAID: “IN ORDER to be a realist, you must believe in miracles.” I didn’t see any miracles during a five-day visit to the country, my first, early in July, but Israel did look like it could use some. The country I got a glimpse of was under intense pressure. The day after I arrived, Israel Defense Forces raided a Palestinian refugee camp in Jenin in the West Bank, a move that put the country on edge and triggered Hamas reprisal attacks. Meanwhile tension was building over the proposed overhaul of the country’s judiciary by the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Despite large, angry protests, part of the overhaul aimed at limiting the power of the Israeli Supreme Court passed the Knesset on…