Coming Up This Week

• Former president Trump and Vice President Harris will hold their first - and perhaps only - live debate tomorrow night. It will air live on multiple broadcast channels and stream online via Hulu, Disney+, etc., starting at 9 pm ET.
• The UN General Assembly opens tomorrow in New York - though its first high-level debate won't happen until Sep. 24.

Commodity Prices

• Aluminum: $2,342/ton
• Antimony (ingot min. 99.65% fob China): $25,100/ton
• Cobalt: $24,300/ton
• Copper: $8,996/ton
• Gold: $2,495/toz
• Lead: $1,963/ton
• Natural Gas (Nymex): $2.20/MMbtu
• WTI Crude Oil (Nymex): $68.55/barrel
• Zinc: $2,718/ton

Venezuela

• Venezuela's opposition president-elect, Edmundo Gonzalez, fled the country for Spain on Saturday, but vowed to "continue to fight" for democracy from asylum.
• Gonzalez, 75, was the target of a politically-motivated arrest warrant, and even though Venezuelan law prohibits imprisoning convicts over age 70, Pres. Maduro probably would've found a way to lock up his rival: if he can change Jesus's birthdate to prepone Christmas festivities, he could surely change Gonzalez's birthdate too.
• As Gonzalez fled for Spain, Maduro revoked Brazil's custody of the Argentine Embassy in Caracas and sent security forces to surround the building, where six other opposition figures have been holed up since March. [Brazil took custody of the Argentine Embassy last month after Maduro evicted diplomats from countries like Argentina that disputed his vote count.]
• All six opposition leaders in the Argentine Embassy have outstanding arrest warrants for "terrorist activities" - like challenging the official vote count.
• Brazil maintains that it will "remain in charge" of the Argentine Embassy - and the asylees inside it - until Argentina and Venezuela agree on another custodian, but the Venezuelan troops encircling it are threatening to disrupt the uneasy peace. They cut off power to the building over the weekend.

Ukraine

• U.S. and European officials reported that Iran has sent several hundred short-range ballistic missiles to Russia for use in Ukraine (Iran denied it).
• The G7 previously threatened to impose additional sanctions on Iran if it transfers missiles to Russia, and the U.S. is pushing the other six G7 countries to follow through on that threat by coordinating new sanctions.

Afghanistan

• U.S. House Republicans and Democrats both plan to issue reports blaming the other side for the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021. The Republican report will blame the Biden administration that oversaw the withdrawal, while the Democratic one will blame the preceding Trump administration for agreeing to a withdrawal deadline.
• Meanwhile, Taliban border guards engaged Pakistani soldiers in a shootout in Khost that left at least four of each injured. Pakistan blamed the Taliban for starting the skirmish by building a new border outpost without Pakistani approval.

Sudan

• Human Rights Watch (HRW) published a new report on Sudan today, and it concluded that both sides of Sudan's civil war - the Rapid Support Forces and the military - have recently acquired new modern weapons, including armed drones and anti-tank guided missiles.
• HRW called on the UN to renew and expand its embargo on sending weapons to Sudan.

Other News

• Algeria's strongman, Abdlemadjid Tebboune, easily won reelection against the two weak candidates he allowed to run against him. Foreign journalists were banned from documenting the election, and Western governments aren't complaining about it much: they don't want to jeopardize the critical supply of hydrocarbons they get from Algeria.