Today's Headlines and Commentary

Yesterday, the Pentagon released five Guantanamo detainees to Kazakhstan. The men---three Yemenis and two Tunisians---had been approved for repatriation in 2009; none of them had been charged with a crime during their stay at Guantanamo. According to Carol Rosenberg of the Miami Herald, this transfer brings the total population of Guantanamo prisoners to 127. Following the official conclusion of the International Security Assistance Force’s military operations in Afghanistan, the Washington Post considers how Kabul has changed in the past few months since militants have begun bombing and destroying “foreign symbols and sanctuaries - aid agencies, guest houses, even a performance at a French cultural center, while warning that they will treat Western civic activities exactly like military enemies.” In an interview with Reuters, former Afghan President Hamid Karzai announced that he regularly advises current President Ashraf Ghani on important policy matters. Indeed, Karzai remarked, "President Ashraf Ghani and I are meeting very, very often. Or, almost daily." Reuters notes that such close relations are cause for worry among Western governments, whose relationship with Karzai soured by the end of his time in office. Yesterday, the U.N. Security Council rejected a measure, which would have called upon Israeli and Palestinian negotiators to strike a peace settlement within the next year. The proposal also would have asked Israel to withdraw to its 1967 borders by 2017. It garnered only eight votes, one shy of the threshold necessary for passage. The Post shares more on the vote. The New York Times reports that U.S. troops deployed to Iraq have begun training Iraqi forces, “putting them through morning fitness exercises and instructing them in marksmanship and infantry tactics, in an effort to gather enough forces to mount a spring offensive against the extremists of the Islamic State.” The Wall Street Journal analyzes the numbers of the U.S.-led coalition’s operations against the Islamic State. “Two figures illustrate U.S. strategy on the different, albeit intertwined, wars playing out in Syria: one focused on the Islamic State and the other on the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.” According to the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Syrian Kurdish forces now control nearly seventy percent of Kobani, a town near the Syrian-Turkish border that “has became a symbol in the fight between the ultra hardline Islamic State group and its enemies in Iraq and Syria.” Reuters shares the news. Meanwhile, the militant group has demanded that Lebanon release Saja al-Dulaimi, the former wife of Islamic State head Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, and Ola Sharkas, the wife of al-Qaeda commander Anas Sharkas. Beirut is currently negotiating with the Islamic State to secure the release of 25 Lebanese police officers and soldiers taken hostage when jihadists briefly invaded the border town of Arsal. Al Arabiya has more. The Times examines how Russian President Vladimir Putin initially managed to secure the European gas pipeline deal, which ultimately floundered this month in the face of falling global oil prices and the spiraling of the value of the ruble. The Times also informs us that yesterday, a Moscow court convicted Russian opposition blogger Aleksei Navalny and his younger brother Oleg of criminal fraud. Although Aleksei was spared jail time, his brother will serve three and a half years in prison. “The jailing of the brother, a former postal worker generally viewed as a pawn in a larger battle, signaled that the Kremlin was adopting a heavy-handed strategy in seeking to suppress Mr. Navalny’s political activities by sidelining him without transforming him into a martyr.” Following the two convictions, a number of anti-Putin activists gathered in Moscow over night. However, the Guardian reports that over 100 of the so-called “Pussy rioters” were arrested this morning by riot police. In an op-ed in the Times, Emily Parker wonders whether the Internet can defeat the Kremlin. Meanwhile, the Cuban government has failed an early test of its willingness to tolerate and expand freedoms and human rights. Yesterday, demonstrators sought to organize a street protest in Havana, during which citizens would be free to share their visions for the country’s future. However, Cuban authorities prevented certain critical voices from joining the demonstration. Given recent steps toward normalizing U.S.-Cuban relations, the Times argues that this move will ultimately prove “self-defeating for Havana.” Reuters informs us that a suicide bomber in central Yemen killed 23 people and injured 48 others in an attack on a cultural center. The Saudi Press Agency released news that the country’s 90-year-old King Abdullah was admitted to the National Guard’s King Abdulaziz Medical City hospital today for tests. The AP reports the story. And of course, from all of us here at Lawfare - Happy New Year!

ICYMI: Yesterday, on Lawfare

Jack considered the consequences of credible doubt regarding the U.S. government’s attribution of blame for the hack of Sony. Wells flagged a podcast from the Federalist Society, in which the Wall Street Journal’s Bret Stephens discusses his book America in Retreat: The New Isolationism and the Coming Global Disorder. Wells also shared the D.C. District Court’s order, declining to stop Abd al Rahim al Nashiri’s military commission trial at Guantanamo Bay. Steve Vladeck then articulated two problems he finds with the D.C. District Court’s decision. Email the Roundup Team noteworthy law and security-related articles to include, and follow us on Twitter and Facebook for additional commentary on these issues. Sign up to receive Lawfare in your inbox. Visit our Events Calendar to learn about upcoming national security events, and check out relevant job openings on our Job Board.