TimeLine Layout

April, 2021

  • 14 April

    Iran blames Israel for Natanz attack, vows to ‘take revenge on the Zionists’

    Nuclear official claims enrichment ongoing; Tehran claims person behind attack identified; FM Zarif says damage to centrifuges will lead to installation of more advanced versions Iran’s foreign minister on Monday blamed Israel for a power failure that reportedly caused massive damage to the Natanz nuclear facility, vowing to “take revenge …

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  • 14 April

    IDF is only 22% protected from drone attacks – comptroller report

    IDF intelligence suffering because of the move from North to South. Only 22% of the IDF has any protection from drone attacks, State Comptroller Matanyahu Englman said in a report on Monday. Covering the time period of October 2019 – June 2020, the report fleshes out in grim numbers and …

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  • 14 April

    Striking Natanz facility planned long before Vienna talks – sources

    At the time the operation was planned, it was still unclear exactly when and if the US and Iran would return to serious negotiations regarding a return to the 2015 nuclear deal. The strike on Iran’s key Natanz nuclear facility was prepared long before the ongoing Vienna nuclear talks between …

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  • 14 April

    How Germany Can Work With Biden to Rebuild Trans-Atlantic Ties

    Joe Biden’s election as U.S. president was greeted with deep relief in Berlin, as it was in most other European capitals. After Donald Trump’s presidency—which was characterized by animosity toward Germany and repeated attempts to sow division among European countries—German policymakers hope that some immediate sources of tension can now …

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  • 14 April

    The U.S. Must Prepare for the Worst in Afghanistan

    Afghanistan’s president, Ashraf Ghani, stands between the proverbial rock and a hard place. Faced with the fact that the United States has lost patience with the Afghan government’s dithering negotiations with the Taliban, Ghani now has little choice but to orchestrate a deal that will likely end his presidency—and almost …

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  • 14 April

    The Dangers of Trump’s Hasty Troop Withdrawal From Somalia

    In a nod to his campaign promise to end U.S. participation in conflicts abroad, outgoing President Donald Trump ordered the withdrawal of American troops from Somalia last week. The announcement came a week after Trump’s acting defense secretary, Christopher Miller, capped a whirlwind Middle East tour on Nov. 27 with …

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  • 14 April

    Ending Yemen’s Multilayered War

    For U.S. officials who worked under former President Barack Obama, many of whom are now beginning or contemplating jobs in Joe Biden’s administration, the war in Yemen casts a long shadow. What started on their watch as a primarily internal power struggle has since metastasized into a messy and multilayered …

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  • 14 April

    Will Biden Seize the Opportunity for an Alliance With India?

    President Joe Biden faces a slew of important foreign policy challenges. But with India, he has a historic opportunity to forge a strategic alliance to help build a stable balance of power in Asia and the wider Indo-Pacific region. India has been a bright spot in U.S. foreign policy over …

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  • 14 April

    The U.S. Military Must Be Nonpartisan, but Not Apolitical

    When an agitated mob of extremist supporters of President Donald Trump sacked the U.S. Capitol last month, egged on by Trump and other Republican politicians, they struck at the bedrock principles in the oath that members of the U.S. armed forces swear to protect and defend the Constitution. Nonetheless, America’s …

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  • 14 April

    How the U.S. Should Respond to Russia’s New Escalation in Ukraine

    For the better part of six years since Russia and Ukraine signed the Minsk II cease-fire accord for the disputed eastern Ukrainian region of Donbass, one question has loomed: How will the U.S. and NATO respond if Russian troops again cross back over the so-called Line of Contact, dividing Ukrainian …

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