Today's Headlines and Commentary

According to the Washington Post, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had a phone call with Jared Kushner and national security advisor John Bolton in which he described journalist Jamal Khashoggi as a dangerous Islamist. The call reportedly occurred after the journalist’s disappearance and before Saudi Arabia publicly acknowledged the killing of Khashoggi.

The U.S. and UK are calling for a ceasefire in Yemen in an effort to stop the humanitarian disaster, says the New York Times. The censure on Saudi Arabia comes on the heels of the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, and Riyadh’s unwillingness to reveal the full details of the matter.

President Trump said on Wednesday that he might send 15,000 troops to the southern border in anticipation of the migrant caravans moving north; this number of military personnel is approximately equivalent to the number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan, says the Washington Post.

Iran-backed Hezbollah is paying former U.S.-backed Syrian rebels to switch sides and join its force in southern Syria, a move that would deepen Hezbollah’s presence near the Israeli border reports the Wall Street Journal.

A no-fly zone and prohibition on military drills near the border between North and South Korea have taken effect as of Thursday morning, reports Reuters.

ICYMI: Yesterday on Lawfare

Benjamin Wittes flagged the unsealing of the Watergate Road Map, along with other relevant documents, and shared the document on Lawfare. Victoria Clark and Quinta Jurecic provided an overview of the unsealed documents. And Jack Goldsmith and Benjamin Wittes explored the connections between the Watergate Road Map and the path forward for Robert Mueller.

Rachel Brown and Preston Lim posted the newest edition of Sinotech, discussing the Commerce Department’s ban on American sales to Chinese computer chip company Fujian Jinhua.

J. Dana Stuster posted this week’s Middle East Ticker, which focused on the scope of U.S. action against Saudi Arabia in response to the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, escalating violence in Yemen and the terrorist attack in Tunisia.

Eliot Kim analyzed the Trump administration’s withdrawal from the Universal Postal Union.

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