Iran
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Wednesday that economic sanctions against Iran will not stop the country’s nuclear program. Speaking on state TV, Khamenei said that the sanctions from the United States and European Union will only give Iran greater confidence to pursue its nuclear ambitions. – DEFCON Hill
Iran’s U.N. envoy accused Israel on Wednesday of plotting and carrying out a suicide bomb attack on a bus in Bulgaria a week ago in which five Israeli tourists were killed. – Reuters
Syria
The 44th administration and officials of some Arab and Western nations are discussing ways to place Syria’s highest-ranking military defector at the center of a political transition in the Arab state, according to U.S. and Middle East officials. – Wall Street Journal (subscription required)
Government forces maintained their shelling of key Syrian cities on Thursday, with Aleppo in particular bracing for an anticipated showdown between rebel fighters expanding into more neighborhoods and government military reinforcements who have yet to materialize. – New York Times
[R]efugees do not use the official [border] crossings. Nor do the rebels, arms smugglers, defectors and war wounded who have swarmed into southern Turkey in recent months, transforming one of the sleepiest parts of the country into a nerve center for the Syrian revolution. – Washington Post
Fearing the fallout and the spread of the uprising in Syria, Jordanian officials have recently moved more forcefully to restrain opponents of the Syrian government who have fled to Jordan, activists here say. – New York Times
On Wednesday, as battles continued to rage across Syria, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov took another swipe at his Western adversary, lambasting Washington’s failure to condemn last week’s Damascus bombing, which took the lives of four of President Bashar Assad’s top security lieutenants. – LA Times’ World Now
The Pentagon has set up a special team to prepare for what many U.S. officials believe is the imminent collapse of the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad, The Washington Examiner has learned. – Washington Examiner
Peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous has announced that the monitoring mission in Syria is sending half of its unarmed observers back to their home countries. – Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
The United Nations has halved the number of international aid workers deployed in Syria in the past week due to the deteriorating security situation in Damascus, a U.N. source said on Wednesday. – Reuters
U.N. Security Council members blamed each other for rising violence in Syria on Wednesday, with Western states pledging to also seek an end to the 16-month conflict outside the world body as Russia warned of “likely catastrophic consequences” with that approach. – Reuters
Arab nations announced plans Wednesday to go to the U.N. General Assembly and seek approval of a resolution calling for a political transition and establishment of a democratic government in Syria following the Security Council’s failure to address the escalating crisis. – Associated Press
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called on world powers on Wednesday to urgently unite to end the bloodshed in Syria, recalling the inertia of the United Nations in 1995 as genocide occurred in the Bosnian town of Srebrenica. – Reuters
Syria’s ambassadors to the United Arab Emirates and Cyprus, who are husband and wife, have defected to Qatar, spokesmen for the opposition Syrian National Council said on Wednesday. – Reuters
Israel‘s foreign minister warned on Wednesday his country will act immediately if it discovers Islamic militants are raiding Syria‘s chemical or biological weapons stocks, while Israelis rushed to stock up on gas masks as the bellicose rhetoric swells. – Associated Press
Russia said on Wednesday it had clearly told the Syrian government it was unacceptable to threaten to use chemical weapons, after Damascus warned it might do so if faced with foreign intervention. – Reuters
Jordan has taken precautions in case chemical weapons are used in Syria, the Jordanian foreign minister said on Wednesday, reflecting regional concern about a Syrian threat to use such weapons against foreign forces. – Reuters
Lebanon’s powerful Shi’ite militant group Hezbollah has publicly tied its future to Bashar al-Assad, but as the tide turns against the Syrian president it is silent on whether it will join the fight to support him. – Reuters
The Alawite flight has led to speculation that Assad himself and his inner circle might fall back on their ancestral mountain fortress if they felt power was slipping from them. – Reuters
Tempers are running short in Syrian refugee camps just inside Turkey, where torrid summer heat and the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan are compounding complaints about living conditions and perceived mistreatment by the Turkish authorities. – Reuters
North Africa
The makeup of a new Egyptian government is likely to be decided by the middle of next week, a presidential spokesman said on Wednesday, a day after the new prime minister was named by President Mohamed Mursi. – Reuters
A Sudanese court on Wednesday charged two men including a U.S. resident of forming a terrorist organization, in the first trial of people arrested during a spate of anti-government protests that broke out more than a month ago. – Reuters
Sudan must press ahead with reforms to ensure its economic stability, an International Monetary Fund mission said on Wednesday, while welcoming the country’s recent moves including scaling back its fuel subsidies and devaluing its currency. – Reuters
Yemen
Al Qaeda-linked militants attacked a village in south Yemen on Wednesday, fighting to regain control of territory for the first time since they were driven from their strongholds in a U.S.-backed army offensive last month. – Reuters
Sasha Gordon writes: Working with and through the Yemeni tribes will be the key to any long-term solution to the Ansar al Sharia and AQAP problem. But it would be unwise to rely entirely on the tribes to keep AQAP out of south Yemen, where tribal culture has been damaged by government policy and there are signs of tribal fracturing and weaknesses. The progress that tribes have made against AQAP has also required the deployment of a significant portion of the Yemeni army. A sustainable “tribal solution” to AQAP and Ansar al Sharia is unlikely to be effective by itself for these reasons. – AEI’s Critical Threats Project
Gulf States
The Pentagon said Wednesday it planned to sell 60 Patriot missiles to Kuwait in a deal worth an estimated $4.2 billion, as the emirate tries to bolster its defenses against the threat from Iran. – AFP
Dubai’s chief of police has warned of an “international plot” to overthrow the governments of Gulf Arab countries, saying the region needs to be prepared to counter any threat from Islamist dissidents as well as Syria and Iran. – Reuters
Israel
[A] large swath of Israeli businesses and consumers remain prone to cyber attacks, placing individuals, companies—and perhaps the economy—at risk in a country believed to at the forefront of a cyber-espionage effort against Iran’s nuclear program and targeted by political hackers. – Wall Street Journal
Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak called on Wednesday for major powers to speed up efforts to stop Iran’s nuclear program, cautioning it would be tougher to confront it once Tehran managed to cross an atomic threshold. – Reuters
Turkey
Turkish security forces killed at least 15 Kurdish rebels in a raid near the country’s border with Iraq after tracking them with drones and attacking them with helicopters and on the ground, officials said on Wednesday. – Reuters
South Asia
Gul’s return to the scenic, mountainous Khyber tribal area that borders Afghanistan also depends a great deal on the Pakistani military — which has made little headway in three years against a relatively small concentration of Taliban-allied insurgents, raising questions about the security forces’ capacity and will to defeat them. – Washington Post
The surge of Marines and other forces in southwestern Afghanistan has broken the Taliban’s grip on a former stronghold, allowing coalition forces to begin turning over security to Afghans, commanders said. – USA Today
Afghanistan’s former warlords and militia leaders have slammed the leaked findings of an unpublished report that implicates hundreds of them in atrocities committed during the country’s devastating civil war in the 1990s. – Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
Pakistan’s government told the Supreme Court on Wednesday that it will not reopen an old corruption case against the president, defying a judicial order that has already brought down one prime minister and now threatens his replacement. – Associated Press
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is likely to hold off on widely anticipated fuel subsidy and retail reforms because of renewed opposition from party colleagues and coalition allies, leaving budget targets in tatters and rattling investors. – Reuters
Bangladeshi authorities have arrested four men suspected of killing a Saudi Arabian diplomat in Dhaka on March 6, the press agencies of both countries said on Wednesday. – Reuters
Sadanand Dhume writes: On all these occasions, the political class blundered by viewing the community through the prism of faith rather than nationality. Muslims are Indians and the best way for India to integrate them is to strive to treat them as individuals, not members of a group. Indians disregard this commonsense notion at their own peril. – Wall Street Journal (subscription required)
China
The Obama administration’s national security adviser, Thomas E. Donilon, ended two days of talks with China’s top leaders Wednesday evening, a visit that was billed as low-key but was freighted as much with domestic politics in both the United States and China as with foreign policy. – New York Times
The State Department on Wednesday released its latest sober diagnosis of human rights abuses in China, along with some gentle encouragement to Beijing to do better. – New York Times
The government of Taiwan, the self-ruling island over which Beijing claims sovereignty, has been inching toward more amicable relations with the mainland in recent years. The full opening of the island’s universities to students from across the strait last year followed more limited academic exchange programs and the expansion of tourism and direct flights from the Chinese mainland. – New York Times
China’s central bank is starting to guide the yuan downward against the dollar after two years of trying to boost its value, reflecting concern in Beijing over China’s slowing economy—and risking a political fight with the U.S. – Wall Street Journal (subscription required)
The International Monetary Fund has softened its stance on the Chinese renminbi, calling the currency “moderately undervalued” against a basket of currencies, an important change in wording that will make it easier for Beijing to rebuff foreign criticism of its exchange rate regime. – Financial Times
The United States is pressing China to address its “deteriorating” rights record, citing cases including the nephew of blind dissident Chen Guangcheng who activists say has been targeted following his famous uncle’s departure for New York this year, the State Department said on Wednesday. – Reuters
China’s defense ministry on Thursday labeled as “fictitious” a case in which United Technologies Co. admitted selling software in contravention of U.S. export rules that helped Beijing develop its first modern military attack helicopter. – Reuters
North Korea
North Korea revealed Wednesday that new dictator Kim Jong Eun is married, ending curiosity in and out of the country about the identity of a woman seen in photos with him the past two weeks and drawing another contrast with the leadership style of his father. – Wall Street Journal
Iran and North Korea have pledged to deepen their collaboration on bilateral “strategic projects” that could include additional nuclear and high-altitude missile work, Kyodo News reported on Wednesday – Global Security Newswire
Southeast Asia
In a surprise ruling, a judge ordered former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo of the Philippines released on bail on Wednesday after finding that vote-rigging charges lodged against her were weak. – New York Times
China has adopted a more aggressive stance in recent weeks on territorial disputes in the South China Sea as hard-line officials and commentators call on Beijing to take a tougher line with rival claimants. – Reuters
Josh Rogin reports: Now that China has announced it intends to build a military garrison on disputed islands in the South China Sea, raising fears about the outbreak of conflict in the contested maritime region, several top U.S. senators are urging China and Southeast Asian countries to return to the negotiating table and solve their disputes peacefully. – The Cable
Russia
A Russian spy ring busted in the U.S. two years ago planned to recruit members’ children to become agents, and one had already agreed to his parents’ request, according to current and former U.S. officials. – Wall Street Journal
Europe
The wartime spokesman for Slobodan Milosevic’s party will be sworn in as prime minister of Serbia on Thursday, officials said, stoking international concerns that Serbia will abandon its European path and return to the nationalism of the past. – New York Times
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, viewed by many as Europe’s last dictator, will not attend the London Olympics after being denied entry to Britain, officials said Wednesday. – LA Times’ World Now
Four men accused of membership of an al Qaeda cell and charged with plotting an attack in Germany went on trial in the western city of Duesseldorf on Wednesday. – Reuters
United States of America
Lawmakers who oversee the nation’s spy agencies moved this week to curb leaks of classified information by approving legislation that would further restrict intelligence officials’ ability to talk to news organizations or work for them after leaving their government jobs. – Washington Post
This weekend, Republican contender Mitt Romney will be making the pilgrimage. He has worked hard to portray himself as a better friend than Obama is to Israel. Based on experience, many Israelis are likely to take his visit, and his expressions of support, with a grain of salt. – Los Angeles Times
Mitt Romney vows to avoid publicly bashing President Barack Obama during his first overseas trip as the presumptive GOP presidential nominee—but what he will likely say behind closed doors is another matter. – DOTMIL
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano told lawmakers on Wednesday that a member of an Egyptian militant group labeled by the United States as a terrorist organization was vetted by three U.S. agencies before visiting the White House. – The Hill
The attacks from presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney on intelligence leaks put Obama campaign officials on the defensive Wednesday, as Republicans stepped up attempts to chip away at the president’s credibility on national security. – The Hill’s Congress Blog
Josh Rogin reports: A top advisor to Mitt Romney’s campaign on Wednesday accused U.S. National Security Advisor Tom Donilon of leaking classified intelligence information to New York Times reporter David Sanger. – The Cable
Editorial: We’ve had disagreements with Mr. Romney, but this week he presented a strong case for more forceful foreign-policy leadership and the means to handle the global troubles that he would inherit as President. – Wall Street Journal (subscription required)
With respect to the presidency, national security isn’t a bug; it’s a feature – The Weekly Standard Blog
Latin America
Colombia’s President Juan Manuel Santos rejected accusations that leftist FARC guerrillas are making a comeback, describing recent attacks as a last-gasp effort to grab headlines that did not pose a threat to economic prosperity. – Reuters
The White House on Wednesday condemned the arrest of dozens of Cuban pro-democracy activists who were mourning the death of leading dissident Oswaldo Paya, saying it showed the “climate of repression” in communist-ruled Cuba. – Reuters
Editorial: Castro may believe another problem is gone. But when the island’s liberation finally comes, Payá and Pollan will count for more in Cuban memory. – Wall Street Journal (subscription required)
Jose Cardenas writes: In this country, one hopes that Payá’s sacrifice can have some effect on the thinking of critics of U.S. policy. Payá was everything their caricature of Cuban dissidents was not; he did not receive official U.S. support, he would criticize U.S. policy and exile opinion when he believed it necessary, and he tried to affect reform working within the system — something even former President Jimmy Carter supported. And still it did not protect him from the regime’s wrath. The question those critics ought to be asking themselves now is, where do we go from here? – Shadow Government
West Africa
While much alarm has been expressed about the extremist ministate in northern Mali, which has prompted hundreds of thousands of residents to flee the country, the situation here in the Malian capital is dire in its own way, with a worsening climate of repression and intimidation. – New York Times
East Africa
The State Department’s war crimes chief has warned President Paul Kagame and other Rwandan leaders they may end up being charged with aiding in war crimes over their country’s interference in the conflict in next-door Congo, England’s Guardian newspaper reports. – The Hill’s Global Affairs
Sudan will revise its transit fee demand for South Sudan’s oil exports when the African neighbors resume talks to end an oil dispute for the first time since border fighting escalated in April, a Sudanese official said on Wednesday. – Reuters
