Stevenson’s army, January 12

– The US and others have launched attacks on Houthi positions in Yemen.

– WSJ has best details.

– Politico has background on planning.

– Before the strikes, BBC explained the downsides.

– The US explained with a presidential statement, a statement in the name of the still-hospitalized SecDef, and transcript of a briefing.

– Some on the Hill questioned the legal authority for the attacks.

Poor Tony Blinken. He gets a Time cover and story that reports how he keeps trying to settle the Gaza war.

But NYT reports how much he has been rebuffed by Israel.

David Ignatius sees a path to progress

And Graeme Wood says some pressure on Israel has worked.

In anticipation of the Taiwanese elections, the US Senate passed a resolution.

Pentagon IG reports problems tracking Ukraine aid.

NYT sees fight between political think tanks supporting Trump.

Like many of you,  I have grudging admiration for Winston Churchill — admiration because of his leadership in WWII, grudging because of many other actions, such as Gallipoli, “aerial policing,” India and the Empire.  But you gotta love him for his adventure as a soldier and war correspondent in the Boer war, as recounted in last week’s Economist.

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My SAIS colleague Charlie Stevenson distributes this almost daily news digest of foreign/defense/national security policy to “Stevenson’s army” via Googlegroups. I republish here, with occasional videos of my choice. To get Stevenson’s army by email, send a blank email (no subject or text in the body) to stevensons-army+subscribe@googlegroups.com. You’ll get an email confirming your join request. Click “Join This Group” and follow the instructions to join. Once you have joined, you can adjust your email delivery preferences (if you want every email or a digest of the emails).