Military show of force

NORWAY: The largest military exercise in NATO history gets underway Thursday. Dubbed Trident Juncture, the two-week show of force features all 29 NATO members, plus Finland and Sweden, involving 50,000 troops and 10,000 vehicles. Days ahead of its start, the USS Harry S. Truman entered the Arctic Circle, the first time a U.S. aircraft carrier has done so in 30 years. Hundreds of U.S. Marines arrived in Iceland earlier this week to begin cold-weather training in anticipation of the exercise.

TURKEY: In the Jamal Kashoggi affair, time is on President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s side. The Turkish president’s speech Tuesday withheld evidence the Turks claim they have of a top-level hit squad from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, planning and carrying out the murder—as Erdogan seeks to use the case to bolster his standing in the region and before U.S. and Saudi Arabia—and undermine the Saudi-Egypt–United Arab Emirates alliance.

SAUDI ARABIA: Changing course after his phone call with Erdogan, U.S. President Donald Trump called the journalist’s killing “the worst cover-up ever,” and the United States took its first steps toward punishing Saudi Arabia, revoking visas for officials implicated in the killing.

The alleged Khashoggi murder is no exception to Saudi rule, and it’s time for realism in U.S.-Saudi relations.

AFGHANISTAN: Parliamentary elections were marred by at least 200 attacks and 50 deaths. Afghan officials have fingered Pakistan militant groups for the insider attack at the governor’s compound in Kandahar that killed Afghan Gen. Abdul Raziq and wounded U.S. Army Brig. Gen. Jeffrey Smiley.

CHINA: Perhaps to file under “sanctions work,” China’s leading oil refinery concerns aren’t placing orders for November crude from Iran because they fear new U.S. sanctions, as the next round comes into effect Nov. 4 and particularly targets the most serious oil-related restrictions.

GREAT BRITAIN: Not enough has been said about the European Union’s failure to meet its obligations in negotiating Britain’s departure, writes analyst Henry Newman:

“The EU is not a trap. Each country has a right, specifically afforded in fundamental treaties, to depart. Article 50 places a responsibility on the EU not just to negotiate with the departing member but to conclude a deal with them. It is not clear that the EU is taking this responsibility seriously.”

MEXICO: Hurricane Willa weakened as it made landfall Tuesday night in Sinaloa State, about 60 miles south of Mazatlán, but brought flooding and evacuations just a week after Tropical Storm Vicente killed 12 in impoverished Oaxaca state.

BULGARIA: The world’s oldest intact shipwreck has been discovered in the Black Sea, a 75-foot wreck lying more than a mile below the surface and believed to be an ancient Greek merchant ship. “This will change our understanding of shipbuilding and seafaring in the ancient world,” said principal investigator Jon Adams.

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