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Stories We’re Watching

At Least 50 Afghans Dead in Election Violence

On Saturday Afghanistan held a hotly contested parliamentary elections. More than 2,500 candidates, including 417 women, were up for election. Over 4 million Afghans voted to fill 249 seats in parliamentary elections amid violence and voting delays. Violence before and on Saturday included assassination attempts, bomb threats, and gun violence. The assassination of Kandahar’s police chief, Gen. Abdul Raziq, delayed the elections. The Taliban had called for an electoral boycott on the grounds that the election was “a foreign plot to prolong occupation.” Taliban armed groups killed one candidate by placing a bomb under his chair. Nine other candidates were killed during Saturday’s vote.

• PBS: At least 50 Afghans died in election day violence. Will future votes be safer?

• The Atlantic Council: Why Afghanistan’s Parliamentary Election Matters

• Reuters: Afghan Taliban issue fresh call to boycott ‘foreign plot’ of elections

• Brookings: Ballots and bullets in Afghanistan

US Space Force Meeting to Be Held Next Week at Whitehouse

In a memo to the President earlier this month, US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis asked President Trump to formally establish a US Space Command, a new military headquarters for space warfare. The Defense Department’s US Space Force would be the 6th branch of the military and would include uniformed service members from the Air Force, Navy, and Army. Vice President Mike Pence leads the National Space Council and has repeatedly pushed for US Space Force. Next week Vice President Pence will host a White House space-focused meeting which Secretary Mattis is expected to attend.

• Defense One: Here’s The Pentagon’s Initial Plan For Creating a Space Force

• Military.com: Pence Won’t Rule Out Nuclear Weapons in Space as Plans for New Force Begin

• Space News: National Space Council votes unanimously to send Space Force proposal to Trump

President Trump Directly Attacks Central Bank Independence

Yesterday, during an interview with the Wall Street Journal, President Trump sent a direct message to Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell to lower interest rates. President Trump said: “Every time we do something great, he raises the interest rates.” Earlier today, Senate Finance Chairman, Orrin Hatch, offered support for Chairman Powell, telling reporters he believes Chairman Powell and his team are all doing a good job. Chairman Powell appears to join a growing list of appointees with whom Trump has grown disenchanted.

• Bloomberg: Senate Finance Chairman Backs Powell After Trump Faults Fed Chief

• CNBC: Trump directly attacks Fed Chairman Powell

• The Wall Street Journal: Trump Steps Up Attacks on Fed Chairman Jerome Powell

• Market Watch: Trump says Fed Chairman Powell ‘almost looks like he’s happy raising interest rates’

The US Joins List of Countries Facing Violence Ahead of Elections

US authorities have intercepted 3 explosive devices two weeks before Congressional midterm elections. Earlier today the US Secret Service intercepted explosive devices addressed to Hillary Clinton, former President Barack Obama, and former CIA director John Brennan (in care of New York City’s CNN Studios). CNN headquarters were evacuated earlier this morning. Police are also investigating a package sent to a US Democratic congressperson in Florida. Law enforcement officials say that the devices were similar to one found on Monday at the home of George Soros. So far, there have been no suspicious packages addressed to the White House.

• BBC News: ‘Explosive device’ sent to Hillary Clinton and Obama

• AP News: Explosive devices sent to Obama, Clintons; CNN evacuated

• The Guardian: Suspected bombs sent to Obama and Clinton homes as CNN building evacuated

Brazil Election Updates: Gift of Gab?

Brazil will hold run-off elections this Sunday amidst widespread misinformation shared on a relatively new app, Gab. Since the 2016 US presidential election, Gab has become the go-to messaging app for the spread of hate speech by US-based white supremacists and neo-Nazis. Last year Google banned the app from the Play Store for hate speech. In August, Microsoft threatened to ban Gab due to the amount of anti-Semitic posts. Users in Brazil can still access Gab on the desktop website. Despite the uptick in Gab usage, polls show that Brazil’s far-right presidential candidate Jair Bolsonaro has lost a bit of his sizeable lead over rival Fernando Haddad.

• Al Jazeera: Brazil election: What is behind the rise of Jair Bolsonaro?

• The Brazilian Report: It’s not just WhatsApp: Brazil’s far-right grows on Gab

• Reuters: Brazil election poll shows Bolsonaro with 57 percent versus Haddad’s 43 percent

• BBC: How WhatsApp is being abused in Brazil’s elections

Yemen Crisis: Half of Population Facing ‘Pre-Famine Conditions’ amid Worst Cholera Outbreak in Modern History

Half of Yemen’s 14 million population face “pre-famine conditions” according to a new warning from the United Nations. At least 6,660 civilians have been killed and 10,560 injured since the 2015 Saudi-led invasion. Armed combat and the Saudi-backed blockade have created the world’s largest food security emergency and have led to a cholera outbreak. Over 1.1 million individuals have been affected by the cholera outbreak, and an estimated 22 million individuals are in need of humanitarian aid.

• IRIN News: Cholera returns to Yemen, with powerful allies

• Brookings:  A brief history of America’s troubled relationship with Yemen

• Deutsche Welle: UN warns Yemen in ‘present danger’ of famine

• BBC: Yemen crisis: Half of population facing ‘pre-famine conditions’

• The Lancet: Cholera epidemic in Yemen

From Deep State Radio

ON ELECTION DAY, YOU WILL BE VOTING FOR WHO WE ARE AS A NATION

This coming election is going to tell us more about the character of the US than any in our recent past. The 2016 election of Trump was deeply concerning, of course, both because of how Trump won, who he appeared to be & because it seemed to come in reaction to Obama’s victory. Continue

Feature:  Kori Schake: Trump Is Right to Leave This Nuclear Agreement

President Donald Trump’s national-security adviser has traveled to Moscow to withdraw the United States from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty. That agreement precluded the U.S. and Russia from building or deploying ground-based conventional or nuclear missiles in the ranges from 500 to 5,500 kilometers. Because Trump announced this move at a typically unruly campaign rally, the administration’s motives may seem suspect—just another reckless effort to stir up the nationalist base.  Read More Here From the Atlantic