Iran
After a brief spurt of optimism, impetus toward resolving the nuclear dispute with Iran slowed further on Friday as senior inspectors from the United Nations nuclear watchdog said they had made “no progress” toward gaining access to restricted sites they suspect of being used to test potential triggers for nuclear warheads. – New York Times
India’s plan to use a rupee payment mechanism for oil imports from Iran in exchange for agricultural commodities such as wheat and rice has been hit by delays amid lack of clarity on the differential tax treatment promised in this year’s federal budget. – Wall Street Journal (subscription required)
Syria
An increasingly effective Syrian rebel force has been gaining ground in recent weeks, stepping up its attacks on government troops and expanding the area under its control even as world attention has been focused on pressuring Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to comply with a U.N. cease-fire. – Washington Post
As the Syrian conflict escalates to new levels of sectarian strife, Mr. Assad is leaning ever more heavily on his religious base for support…But interviews with a dozen Alawites indicated a complex split even within their ranks. – New York Times
Syrian government forces shelled rebel strongholds across the country on Sunday, opponents of the government said, while the main opposition group in exile, the Syrian National Council, chose a new leader. – New York Times
The main Syrian opposition group’s choice of a Kurdish dissident as its leader reflects the pressures on it to address doubts that the country’s many minority groups share about the opposition. – Wall Street Journal
United Nations observers reported gruesome findings after visiting a hamlet in central Syria which activists say was the scene of a massacre – Wall Street Journal
Activists reported new violence in southwest Syria on Saturday, saying shelling by troops and clashes between soldiers and rebel fighters in the city of Dara’a had killed 17 people, including women and children. – New York Times
With the help of high-priced public relations advisers who had worked in the Clinton, Bush and Thatcher administrations, the president and his family have sought over the past five years to portray themselves in the Western media as accessible, progressive and even glamorous. – New York Times
Much of the Christian population of the besieged Syrian city of Qusair has abandoned the town after an “ultimatum” from the rebel military chief there, reports Agenzia Fides, the official Vatican news agency. – LA Times’ World Now
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told reporters Saturday that Russia isn’t against a negotiated deal for Syrian President Bashar al Assad to step down, a hopeful sign that the Obama administration’s approach might work. – The Hill’s Global Affairs
Editorial: In Istanbul, Ms. Clinton discussed greater coordination of international aid for the Syrian opposition and a tightening of economic sanctions. These are steps in the right direction; but the transition in Syria will begin only when Mr. Assad is confronted with irresistible force. – Washington Post
Anne-Marie Slaughter writes: President Obama believes in sovereignty as responsibility. Standing up for that principle will result in a world that will be more stable, prosperous and consistent with universal values …But bringing it into being requires demonstrating firmly and quickly that when governments cross the line of genocide, or engage in crimes against humanity, ethnic cleansing, or grave and systematic war crimes against their own people, the world will act — with force if necessary and with the approval only of a regional organization and a majority of the members of the U.N. Security Council. – Washington Post
John Bolton writes: If we assume, however, that Obama wakes up to reality — or, more likely, that the conflict in Syria drags on until Governor Romney’s January 20, 2013, inauguration — what should we conclude the United States ought to do? Or must we simply watch the killing continue? – National Review Online
Leon Wieseltier writes: Russia is the key: that is the smart, brandy-soaked opinion now. Why is it less fanciful than more active measures? The really shocking thing is not that a massacre of children occurred. The really shocking thing is that a massacre of children hardly mattered. They died for Westphalia. – The New Republic
Jackson Diehl writes: he calculus about Syria and Iran is also more complicated than it looks at first. The two are not just linked by their alliance, but also by the fact that the United States and its allies have defined a distinct and urgent goal for each of them. In Syria, it is to remove Assad and replace him with a democracy; in Iran it is to prevent a nuclear weapon. It turns out that the steps that might achieve success in one theater only complicate Western strategy in the other. – Washington Post
Egypt
Thousands of Egyptians filled Tahrir Square on Friday with fury building amid fears that the punishment meted out to their ousted president might not stand and that the vote to choose his successor might in fact be part of a slow but unmistakable re-emergence of authoritarianism. – New York Times
A former air force general, Shafiq finished second in the first round of balloting and faces the Muslim Brotherhood’s Mohamed Morsi in a presidential runoff next weekend. A victory by Shafiq would be seen as a defeat by many who took part in the wintertime revolution last year that ousted Mubarak. – Washington Post
Activists and human rights advocates have criticized Egypt’s military-led government over a series of new television ads suggesting that foreigners are spies out to destroy the country. – LA Times’ World Now
Hosni Mubarak is slipping in and out of consciousness eight days after the ousted Egyptian leader was sent to prison to begin serving a life sentence, a security official said on Sunday. – Associated Press
North Africa
Libya’s transitional government on Sunday postponed the first national election since the ouster of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, changing it to July 7 from the previous date of June 19. – New York Times
Sarah Chayes writes: [I]t wasn’t religion that set off the Jasmine Revolution; it was acute economic injustice and the pervasive and structured corruption that helped produce it. The fate of Tunisia, and its neighbors, may depend most on whether that lingering problem is addressed. – Los Angeles Times
Iraq
Senate Republicans are raising concerns about emails apparently exchanged between President Barack Obama’s nominee to be U.S. ambassador to Iraq and a Wall Street Journal reporter who was covering Iraq while the nominee was assigned there. – Wall Street Journal (subscription required)
Sen. James Inhofe (R., Okla.) may hold up the nomination of former National Security Council member Brett McGurk in light of allegations that McGurk engaged in a love affair with a Wall Street Journal reporter while the duo were stationed in Iraq, according to sources close to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. – Washington Free Beacon
Fertility Rates
Nicholas Eberstadt and Apoorva Shah write: Whatever the case may be, the great and still ongoing declines in fertility that are sweeping through the Muslim world most assuredly qualify as a “revolution” — a quiet revolution, to be sure — but a revolution in which hundreds of millions of adults are already participating: and one which stands to transform the future. – Policy Review
Israel
Armies of volunteers and organizations, and a plethora of programs largely financed by American Jews, helped ease the transition of the Ethiopians from the rural life to modern Israeli society…But a second generation of young, educated adults who have grown up in Israel say they are still struggling to be accepted as Israeli, and are distancing themselves from the grateful passivity of their parents. – New York Times
There are few reasons for Netanyahu or Abbas to take risks to revive the “peace process.” If not dead, it is dormant, quiescent, moribund — choose your synonym. Any remotely likely change will leave Abbas worse off than he is today. Whatever action Netanyahu might take would bring enormous political problems in Israel and few gains outside it. Sooner or later Israelis will have to once again make decisions about their relations with the Palestinians, but not while the outcomes of the “Arab Spring,” the Iranian nuclear program, and the U.S. presidential election remain unclear. – Foreign Policy
Turkey
Turkish authorities are preparing to announce in early July their choices on two critical weapon systems totaling more than $5.5 billion, one senior procurement official said. – Defense News
Afghanistan
America is preparing to end its longest war…But out here in what feels like the edge of the world, in remote eastern Afghanistan near the Pakistan border, the battle is a tough day-to-day reality for these soldiers. They fight to keep one another alive in a war that has already been called off. – New York Times
The $89 million U.S.-funded forward operating base, called Super FOB, is being built to house the Afghan army brigade that patrols Paktika province, along the contentious Afghanistan-Pakistan border. But Super FOB is being completed, and due to be expanded, after the U.S. and its allies have decided the Afghan security forces should be about a third smaller than envisioned when the base was conceived by U.S. and Afghan strategists. – Wall Street Journal
The top American commander in Afghanistan apologized to Afghans on Friday for a coalition airstrike that killed women and children in Logar province earlier in the week. – Washington Post
The Afghan president’s spokesman sternly rebuked American officials on Saturday, saying that the civilian casualties last week during an NATO-Afghan raid on Taliban fighters in eastern Afghanistan were unacceptable, not only because of the loss of innocent life but also because Afghan forces were not involved in the decision to call in an airstrike. – New York Times
Afghanistan’s president said Saturday that the United States failed to consult Afghan forces when it called in an airstrike that killed 18 civilians, and he warned that his government will consider such actions in the future to be in violation of the country’s pact with Washington. – Washington Post
The senior allied commander in Afghanistan has ordered new restrictions on airstrikes against Taliban fighters who hide in residential homes, coalition officials said Sunday, a move in response to a NATO attack in the eastern part of the country last week that Afghan officials say killed 18 civilians. – New York Times
The United Nations fired three officials running its $1.4 billion Afghanistan police trust fund as the first step in what is expected to be a broader shake-up at the program currently facing an internal investigation of mismanagement, according to U.N. and Western officials. – Wall Street Journal (subscription required)
New Delhi’s ambassador to Washington made clear Friday that India is positioning itself to fill a vacuum that will be created in 2014 when most U.S. and western troops leave Afghanistan. – DOTMIL
Massive U.S. troops withdrawals from Afghanistan this summer will not impact American commanders’ plans for an upcoming spring offensive against Taliban forces in the eastern part of the country. – DEFCON Hill
French President Francois Hollande on June 9 said France will begin its pullout from Afghanistan next month and complete it by Dec. 31, after four French troops were killed on the eve of key elections. – AFP
India
The third U.S.-India strategic dialogue gets under way in Washington this week as the Obama administration considers imposing sanctions on the South Asian nation for importing oil from Iran. – Washington Times
The refurbished aircraft carrier Vikramaditya reportedly began its long-delayed sea trials June 8, leaving its Sevmash shipyard in northern Russia and heading for the White Sea. – Defense News
Editorial: The world’s largest democracy is often talked up as a possible partner for the U.S. It’s time to see some evidence that it is willing and capable of becoming one. – Wall Street Journal Asia (subscription required)
Tim Roemer writes: Neither the U.S. Congress nor the Congress Party in India is working very effectively these days. Our respective societies should underscore the economic issue of fairness, make sure the benefits of trade reach all citizens and ensure that the dream of social mobility is readily achievable. Both countries have millions of struggling citizens and elections around the corner. – Washington Post
South Asia
Expressing both public and private frustration with Pakistan, the Obama administration has unleashed the CIA to resume an aggressive campaign of drone strikes in Pakistani territory over the last few weeks, approving strikes that might have been vetoed in the past for fear of angering Islamabad. – Los Angeles Times
The United States, Britain and Mauritius have begun talks that may lead to the loss of ports, airstrips and listening posts on Diego Garcia, the remote tropical atoll that has played an important role in American maritime, air and space operations throughout Asia and the Indian Ocean for much of the last 50 years. – AOL Defense
The U.S. and Pakistan are starting to look more like enemies than allies, threatening the U.S. fight against Taliban and al Qaeda militants based in the country and efforts to stabilize neighboring Afghanistan before American troops withdraw. – Associated Press
Analysis: [A]s the talks between Pakistan and the United States drag into their seventh week, a haggle is what they have become — over money, certainly, but also over roads, drone strikes and, the trickiest of all, intangible notions of honor and pride that play into electoral politics in both nations. – New York Times
Southeast Asia
The president of the Philippines made a direct pitch to the White House Friday to help bolster his country’s relatively weak defenses as the island nation increasingly finds itself tangled in territorial conflicts with China. – Washington Post
For seven weeks now…Bangoy has not been able to sell a single banana to China. He is a victim of sudden Chinese restrictions on banana imports from the Philippines that China says have been imposed for health reasons but that Bangoy and other growers view as retaliation for a recent flare-up in contested waters around Scarborough Shoal. – Washington Post
Myanmar declared a state of emergency on Sunday in a western state where at least 17 people have been killed this month in violence between Buddhists and Muslims. – New York Times
An outbreak of sectarian violence in western Myanmar is helping nudge this once-reclusive country further into the Internet age as people take to the Web to condemn the clashes and help organize street protests of their own, creating a new set of challenges for the country’s military-backed government. – Wall Street Journal
The Philippines is studying a military training agreement with Singapore and is closely watching the progress of a similar accord with Australia for lessons, the Defense Department said June 9. – AFP
East Asia
Chinese activists were stunned [last] week to learn that Mr. Li, 62, who was enjoying his first year of freedom, had supposedly taken his own life…Friends and family members have questioned the authorities’ version of events, saying Mr. Li was far too feisty to bow out of the fight for political reform. – New York Times
North Korea said Saturday that although it had no current plans to conduct a nuclear test, South Korea was trying to provoke it into conducting one and taking other retaliatory actions, like an artillery attack. – New York Times
Russia
President Vladimir V. Putin signed into law on Friday a measure that will impose heavy fines on people who organize or take part in unsanctioned demonstrations, giving the Russian authorities powerful leverage to clamp down on the large antigovernment street protests that began six months ago and seemed to be re-energized after Mr. Putin’s inauguration last month. – New York Times
Russian authorities said Sunday that they had arrested five more people in a continuing investigation of clashes between protesters and riot police officers at a demonstration on May 6, the day before Vladimir V. Putin’s inauguration for a third term as president. – New York Times
Russian fighter jets are conducting an increasing number of training flights over Armenia, a military spokesman said Saturday, sending a clear warning that Russia could intervene at any moment should violence escalate further in the territorial dispute between Armenia and Azerbaijan. – New York Times
Congress, the Obama administration and business groups are ramping up efforts to pave the way this summer for improved trade relations with Russia, but that work is being complicated by parallel efforts to address human rights concerns in that country. – The Hill’s On the Money
Mr. Putin has cracked down on the opposition since returning to the presidency, and he seems to be betting that by threatening demonstrators with prison time and harsh fines he can quash the street protests that have posed an unprecedented challenge to his 12 years in power. His strategy faces a major test Tuesday, when the opposition plans its first mass demonstration since he began his third presidential term May 7. – Associated Press
Ukraine
Europe’s 2012 soccer championship, which began Friday, was supposed to be co-host Ukraine’s moment to step into the spotlight, to show that it had finally arrived as a proud, democratic and modern member of the European community. That’s not how it’s turning out. – Washington Post
United States of America
Lee Smith writes: Defense Secretary Robert Gates thought President Obama’s national security adviser was responsible, directly or indirectly, for the leaks. And if Donilon is responsible, the buck stops with President Obama. To paraphrase the president, that his White House would purposely release classified national security information is offensive. And it’s wrong. – The Weekly Standard
Mario Loyola writes: Either senior administration officials will have to be prosecuted, or the president himself must accept responsibility for the leaks, and let the American people decide if he can still be trusted to guard the nation’s secrets. – National Review Online’s The Corner
Latin America
The top three contenders for Mexico’s presidency have all promised a major shift in the country’s drug war strategy, placing a higher priority on reducing the violence in Mexico than on using arrests and seizures to block the flow of drugs to the United States. – New York Times
Mexico’s presidential candidates engaged in low-energy exchanges Sunday in their second and final debate before the July 1 election, largely sparing the front-runner as the three candidates trailing in the polls squabbled among themselves. – New York Times
In a move that critics believe will help Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez at the ballot box, the nation’s top court changed the leadership of two political parties [last] week. The Supreme Court decisions came just before a Monday deadline for political parties to decide which candidates they’ll back for president. – LA Times’ World Now
Opposition leader Henrique Capriles marched through Venezuela’s capital Sunday accompanied by hundreds of thousands of supporters as he formally launched his candidacy to run against President Hugo Chavez. – Associated Press
West Africa
Liberia closed its border with Ivory Coast on Saturday but did not confirm claims by Abidjan that gunmen who killed seven UN peacekeepers, eight civilians and a soldier had come from its territory. – Reuters
A car bomber detonated his explosives on Sunday outside a church in this central Nigerian city, and gunmen attacked another church in the nation’s northeast, killing at least four people and wounding dozens in the latest attacks against Christian worshipers, officials and witnesses said. – Associated Press
East Africa
A top Kenyan official, who grew up chasing cows in the Great Rift Valley and went on to become one of the most powerful men in the country, was killed Sunday morning when the police helicopter he was riding in plunged into a forest west of Nairobi, Kenya’s capital. – New York Times
For the first time in nearly 20 years, a senior U.S. official visited the Somali capital of Mogadishu on Sunday, a sign of improving security in a country long considered a failed state. – CNN’s Security Clearance
