Iran, Trump exchange words; What the new great-power era demands; Alexander Hamilton on cyber policy; Russian robots in space?

Iran, Trump EXCHANGE WORDS. “America should know that peace with Iran would be the mother of all peace and war with Iran would be the mother of all wars,” Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said Sunday. That drew a tweeted response of 246 capital letters from U.S. President Donald Trump that began “NEVER, EVER THREATEN THE UNITED STATES AGAIN...”

Rouhani was apparently set off by “an offensive of speeches and online communications” launched by the Trump administration “to foment unrest and help pressure Iran to end its nuclear program and its support of militant groups. Current and former U.S. officials said the campaign painted Iranian leaders in a harsh light, at times using information that is exaggerated or contradicts other official pronouncements, including comments by previous administrations,” Reuters reported.

White House doubles down. On Monday morning, National Security Adviser John Bolton issued this statement: “I spoke to the President over the last several days, and President Trump told me that if Iran does anything at all to the negative, they will pay a price like few countries have ever paid before” (via CNN’s @kaitlancollins).

Some reactions:

• Former DASD Middle East Colin Kahl: Such “maximum pressure” tactics aren’t working on North Korea, and won’t on Iran, either.
• The Atlantic’s Conor Friedersdorf: Is Trump bluffing? Or is he really willing to go to war over “something as inconsequential as a foreign leader saying, in effect: You’d better not go to war with us, you’ll regret it if you do.”

And: Plenty of people took note of this DJT tweet from 2011: “In order to get elected, @BarackObama will start a war with Iran.”

From Defense One

Faster, Transient, Endless: How America Must Adapt to Today's Great-Power Competition // Army War College’s Nathan Freier: Three years of research have revealed the surprising contours of post-primacy security — and the single animating principle that must guide U.S. strategy.

Here's How the Russian Military Is Organizing to Develop AI // CNA’s Samuel Bendett: Harking back to Soviet big science, a 10-point plan calls for new organizations and focus areas, from job training to a giant new R&D campus.

What Alexander Hamilton Can Teach Us About Cyber Policy // Jessica Malekos Smith: Let’s apply the first Treasury Secretary’s principles to, say, China’s economic espionage.

The US Must Build Saudi Arabia’s First Nuclear Reactors // Sagatom Saha: Riyadh will get its atomic energy. The question is who gets the construction contracts — and the influence that goes with them.

Russia May Put Androids in Orbit Next Year, State Media Says // Paulina Glass: The mission would be the latest for FEDOR, created for rescue work — and more recently given the ability to shoot guns.

Yemen's Fleeting Opportunity for Peace // Peter Salisbury and Robert Malley: A deal to stop a bloody fight over Hodeidah has no shot without the full backing of the Saudi-led coalition and the West.

Welcome to this Monday edition of The D Brief  by Bradley Peniston. And if you find this useful, consider forwarding it to a friend or colleague. They can subscribe here for free.

What’s new about this era of great-power competition? Something fundamental, writes Nathan Freier, who for three years has been leading teams of researchers at the Army War College. Their latest findings reveal what Freier argues must become the single animating principle of U.S. strategic in a disruptive, post-primacy age: “If the defining characteristic of post-primacy is that strategic advantage is in constant dispute, the persistent struggle to gain, exploit, and regain transient advantage must be the new object of American strategy.” Read this important piece, here.

Russia’s race for AI is starting to look like Soviet big science. CNA’s Sam Bendett: “After several years of watching American and Chinese researchers accumulate breakthroughs and funding, while Russia continues to lack a relevant high-tech culture, Ministry leaders have decided that if they can’t outspend their global competitors, perhaps they can out-organize them.” Read on, here.

Progress in North Korean talks? Not so much. In the days and weeks since the Trump-Kim summit, the Washington Post reports, “U.S. negotiators have faced stiff resistance from a North Korean team practiced in the art of delay and obfuscation. Diplomats say the North Koreans have canceled follow-up meetings, demanded more money and failed to maintain basic communications, even as the once-isolated regime’s engagements with China and South Korea flourish.”

And finally, a word from Alexander Hamilton. “Let’s apply the first Treasury Secretary’s principles to, say, China’s economic espionage,” writes Jessica Malekos Smith, who served as an Air Force JAG and then as a post-doctoral fellow at the Belfer Center’s Cyber Security Project at the Harvard Kennedy School. The U.S. and China see economic espionage differently, she writes, so a framework based on a standard test used in U.S. contract disputes may help. Don’t give up your shot to read that, here.