Today's Headlines and Commentary

A stalemate in Swedish elections this month is pushing opposing parties to form unlikely alliances—and may spark an alliance between moderate parties and the right-wing, anti-immigration Swedish Democrats, reports the New York Times.

The Netherlands is instituting new practices to move away from its image as a tax haven—efforts that some critics have dismissed as too feeble, says the Times.

Ismail al-Ithawi, a deputy to ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, was sentenced to death by an Iraqi court, making him the highest-ranking ISIS member to be prosecuted in a court of law, reports the Times.

The State Department released on a report on Wednesday, Sept. 19, identifying Iran as the top state sponsor of terrorism with “near global reach.” The Iranian mission to the United Nations then issued a statement denying Iran’s support of terrorists and denouncing the U.S. as a destabilizing force in the Middle East, according to the Washington Post.

“The Apprentice”, a new book by Post reporter Greg Miller, will be released October 2, 2018, and seeks to provide insight into President Donald Trump’s conversations with Russian President Vladimir Putin, and how Putin’s expertise as a KGB officer colors conversations between him and President Trump, reports the Post.

Details surfacing about the apparent poisoning of Pussy Riot member Pyotr Verzilov suggest that his poisoning may have been in retaliation for his work investigating the deaths of three murdered Russian journalists, says the New Yorker.

For the first time in almost 60 years, the president of Cuba is not a Castro. However, the administration of former vice-president Miguel Díaz-Canel has not led to the rapid reforms that many were expecting, reports Foreign Affairs.

Yesterday on Lawfare

Matthew Kahn uploaded the Department of Defense’s summary of its 2018 Cyber Strategy Report.

Robert Chesney and Steve Vladeck posted this week’s episode of the National Security Law podcast, covering the history of military commissions in the United States.

Megan Reiss argued that legislative sanctions aimed at countering election interference are the next step following the president’s recent executive order declaring such interference a national emergency.

Ed Stein analyzed the executive order on election interference and how it differs from bills on the subject being considered on Capitol Hill.

David Stanton and Wenqing Zhao posted the newest Sinotech article covering the Trump administration’s tariffs on Chinese goods and China’s response.

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