After refusing to cede power for nearly a week, Moldova’s Democratic party finally surrendered last Friday under international pressure.
How it happened: The party’s leader, oligarch Vladimir Plahotniuc, fled the country. He’s been accused of presiding over corruption and democratic backsliding. The new government consists of pro-EU and pro-Russia parties and was formed expressly to expel Plahotniuc from power.
David Miliband, chief executive of the International Rescue Committee and former U.K. foreign secretary, says we’ve entered an “age of impunity” in which bad actors all over the world “believe they can get away with anything” — and are being proven right.
The big picture: Miliband tells Axios that brutal acts are being carried out in a “vacuum” caused in part by a U.S. retreat from “global responsibility,” a “castration” of U.K. foreign policy by Brexit, and widespread disdain for international norms and institutions. In Miliband’s view, the “world’s most vulnerable” are paying the heaviest price.
The World Bank has released a study on China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) that predicts major economic benefits, but only if Beijing makes some even bigger course corrections.
The big picture: While the authors find that infrastructure can increase growth through trade and investment, these gains depend on a host of reforms such as greater transparency and data reporting — especially around debt, open procurement, and social and environmental standards. Essentially, the study advises China that success requires becoming more like the World Bank.
Israeli officials told me they are closely following the escalating tensions in the Gulf and that they are concerned that the Trump administration's response against Iran so far has not been strong enough.
Details: The Israeli officials told me that based on the last few weeks, the Iranians believe President Trump wants to avoid military confrontation — which has led them to escalate their provocative actions. The officials said that without some kind of a military action by the U.S. — even a limited one — they believe the Iranians will continue to escalate.
President Trump said in a pool spray with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau Thursday that he does not believe Iran intentionally shot down an unmanned U.S. drone flying in international airspace over the Strait of Hormuz, claiming it was probably "a mistake made by somebody who shouldn't have been doing what they did."
Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt will square off to replace outgoing U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May as the leader of the Conservative Party after its 1922 Committee announced Thursday the results of the final round of voting by the party's members of Parliament.
The state of play: Boris Johnson, a brash Brexiteer and the former mayor of London, is firmly in control of the race — taking a huge chunk of MPs votes and widely favored by the public. He's up against Jeremy Hunt, May's foreign secretary who is widely viewed as being more moderate in his Brexit views.
An Iranian surface-to-air missile shot down an unmanned U.S. drone in international airspace over the Strait of Hormuz — not over Iran's airspace as state media had claimed, ABC News and Reuters reported Thursday, citing U.S. officials.
Details: The AP reports Gen. Hossein Salami, commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guard, said on state TV he wanted to send "a clear message" to the U.S. that Iran does "not have any intention for war with any country, but we are ready for war," he said.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement Wednesday that Russia should ensure its citizens who are charged with murder over the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 in 2014 face justice.
Details: 4 men, 3 with close "ties to Russian military and intelligence agencies," will face murder charges over the incident that killed 298 people, per the New York Times. However, Russian authorities labeled the charges "absolutely unfounded accusations," according to AFP news agency.
Russian-born real estate developer and twice-convicted felon Felix Sater will testify privately before the House Intelligence Committee on Friday about his work with Michael Cohen to build a Trump Tower in Moscow, Sater confirmed to the Washington Post.
Why it matters: President Trump's efforts to secure a lucrative real estate deal in Russia at the same time the Kremlin was interfering in the 2016 election on his behalf have drawn intense scrutiny from House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.). Sater was previously scheduled to testify in public before the committee in March, but his appearance was delayed as a result of the pending release of special counsel Robert Mueller's report.
Brian Hook, the U.S. envoy for Iran, insisted today that the Trump administration’s "maximum pressure" campaign is working, despite escalating tensions and growing fears of war.
Between the lines: Asked to justify that claim of success, Hook told members of a House Foreign Affairs subcommittee that funding to Iranian proxies had dropped, and argued with limited evidence that the regime is now "weaker." He didn’t deny that withdrawing from the 2015 nuclear deal and ramping up sanctions had rendered Iran more aggressive, rather than less.
After years of bitter complaints about cyberattacks from foreign adversaries, a new report describes aggressive U.S. cyber plans and intrusions of its own against Russia, a show of long-understood American prowess on the leading edge of warfare.
What’s happening: Experts tell Axios that the leak, published Sunday in the New York Times, may intend to signal the damage that the two countries could suffer in its confrontation with the U.S. But the disclosure also risks exacerbating already-fraught relations.
