Iran
Iran is rapidly gaining new capabilities to strike at U.S. warships in the Persian Gulf, amassing an arsenal of sophisticated anti-ship missiles while expanding its fleet of fast-attack boats and submarines, U.S. and Middle Eastern analysts say. – Washington Post
Computer systems at Iran’s nuclear facilities were attacked recently by a new worm that forced some workstations to randomly play the heavy metal rock song Thunderstruck, U.S. officials said. – Washington Free Beacon
The House of Representatives may approve a new package of sanctions next week aimed at Iran’s oil revenues, the No. 2 House Republican said on Thursday. – Reuters
An Iranian-led shipping venture is close to collapse after struggling to steer its oil tankers and dry bulk vessels past tightening Western sanctions, a senior company official said on Thursday. – Reuters
Syria
Syrian Army helicopters fired on neighborhoods in Aleppo on Friday morning, activists said, as the army readied assault troops and armored columns for a possible invasion of the city, Syria’s densely populated commercial capital, where insurgents have embedded themselves over the past week in preparation for a battle. – New York Times
Turkey’s prime minister warned Thursday that Ankara would not allow a Kurdish “terrorist organization” to operate from northern Syria, in the latest illustration of how the Syrian conflict is spilling over to neighboring nations. – Los Angeles Times
A former Syrian general whose defection was called a major blow to President Bashar Assad has finally spoken out publicly, voicing support for the rebellion but expressing fears that Syria could be torn asunder. – LA Times’ World Now
After the fighting, after the war, comes the “day after.” In any conflict in which the United States is involved, the planning for the day after begins well before the guns stop firing. But a former ambassador who also served in a senior position at the CIA says the U.S. is failing in that mission. – CNN’s Security Clearance
The question of whether some of Syria’s stockpiles of chemical weapons have fallen out of government control is a source of great concern for the U.S. government, according to one of the nation’s top intelligence officials. – CNN’s Security Clearance
There has been much speculation about whether Islamic radicals have gained a foothold in the chaotic battlefield that is Syria today. They have, albeit a small one. While there are jihadists, both foreign and local, inside Syria, their presence should not be overstated. At this stage, they remain a minor player in the conflict. But…should the conflict spiral out of hand, their role may grow exponentially. – Time
Syria’s most prominent defector is promoting himself as someone to unite the fractured opposition as the disparate factions were set to gather in Qatar Thursday to try to agree on a transitional leadership if Syrian President Bashar Assad is toppled. – Associated Press
The United States said it feared a massacre in Aleppo after President Bashar al-Assad’s forces launched ground and air bombardments in preparation for a major onslaught against rebels in Syria’s commercial capital. – Reuters
Reuters has learned that the White House has crafted a presidential directive, called a “finding,” that would authorize greater covert assistance for the rebels, while still stopping short of arming them. – Reuters
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s days may be numbered but his fall could be slow and chaos could ensue…One senior Western government source said the most likely outcome might be protracted conflict such as that in 1980s Lebanon, dragging in foreign powers and lasting well over a decade. – Reuters
Iran said on Thursday it would stand by its ally Syria despite mounting international pressure on President Bashar al-Assad to step down to defuse a 16-month uprising against his rule. – Reuters
Demands that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad quit power are blocking efforts to end the 16-month-old conflict, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned on Thursday. – Reuters
A leading Syrian cleric turned opposition activist says his country needs his message of sectarian unity more than ever as the revolt against President Bashar al-Assad turns bloodier. – Reuters
Seth Jones writes: The United States and its allies should consider opening a second front in the Syrian war. In addition to helping end Bashar Assad’s rule, there is a growing need to conduct a covert campaign against al Qaeda and other extremist groups gaining a presence in the country. – Wall Street Journal (subscription required)
Gary Schmitt and Thomas Donnelly write: The Syria conundrum reveals the true nature of the Obama “strategic pivot.” It’s less a pivot to the Pacific than it is a pivot away from the greater Middle East. And though the Syrians are the first to feel the effects of this transition, they won’t be the last. – The Weekly Standard Blog
Noah Glyn writes: Assad’s murderousness is now a banner headline, but his past crimes, and those of his father, were never truly hidden. On the contrary, anyone with a clear moral compass would have recognized them for who they are: dictators heading an evil regime intent on spreading terrorism across the globe. It reflects poorly on the political judgment of certain politicians that they thought the Assads could be changed or honestly negotiated with. – National Review Online
Egypt
The prime mover behind Egypt’s crackdown on U.S.-funded pro-democracy organizations — and one of the highest-ranking survivors of the Hosni Mubarak era — said Thursday that she would not serve in the country’s new cabinet, expected to be announced within days. – Washington Post
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta will meet with Egypt’s newly-elected president Mohamed Morsi during an official trip through North Africa, Pentagon officials said on Thursday. – DEFCON Hill
Gaza Islamist leader Ismail Haniyeh met Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi on Thursday in an official visit that signaled a big shift in Cairo’s stance toward the Hamas movement after the election of a Muslim Brotherhood head of state in Egypt. – Reuters
Iraq
Insurgents from Al Qaeda in Iraq clashed with the country’s security forces on Thursday, the second attack this week in what the insurgent group’s leader has depicted as a new offensive aimed at recapturing lost ground. – New York Times
Yemen
Yemen has resolved a months-long spat with Ukraine that had threatened to derail its bid to join the World Trade Organization, the WTO said on Thursday. – Reuters
Israel
The number of Jewish settlers in the West Bank has crossed the 350,000 mark for the first time, and most of the growth –- now about 4.5% annually –- is coming outside the major settlement blocs in areas that are not expected to become part of Israel under a two-state solution, according to a report Thursday in the pro-government Israel Hayom newspaper. – LA Times’ World Now
Israel’s Supreme Court on Friday granted a government request to delay the eviction of the largest illegal settler outpost in the occupied West Bank. – Reuters
Two conversions that a Christian family says were forced have strained relations between a tiny Palestinian Christian community in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip and the Muslim majority. – Reuters
Sen. John Barasso (R-WY) writes: Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s visit to Israel gives Americans another opportunity to reflect on our Middle East policy. For the past 3 1/2 years, 44’s failed efforts at comprehensive peace in the Middle East have come at the expense of our ally Israel and democratic movements across the region. It is time to change course. – Washington Times
Turkey
A semi-presidential system will govern Turkey after the first public elections for the head of state in 2014, Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdag said Thursday, marking the latest attempt to set the stage for a powerful presidency amid stuttering efforts to overhaul the constitution. – Wall Street Journal (subscription required)
South Asia
The number of insurgent attacks in Afghanistan in the three months through June was 11% higher than last year, the U.S.-led coalition here said, an increase that comes after almost a year of declines and provides fuel for the debate about whether the Taliban are regaining momentum as American forces withdraw. – Wall Street Journal (subscription required)
The Afghan president released a sweeping set of proposed reforms late Thursday, including a number aimed at stemming the government’s endemic corruption; the proposals touched every ministry, the attorney general’s office and the Supreme Court. – New York Times
The breakthrough, American and Pakistani officials say now, was not won through the high diplomacy efforts that dominated headlines through that stretch, but rather through an unconventional back channel run by a low-key duo: Thomas R. Nides, a deputy to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, and Abdul Hafeez Shaikh, Pakistan’s finance minister. – New York Times
Such novelistic details emerge in a newly surfaced Pakistani intelligence report supposedly based on interrogations of Shakil Afridi, the imprisoned physician who has been lauded in Washington as a hero for his role in the operation that led to the al-Qaeda chief’s killing but is branded a traitor here. – Washington Post
A series of “uprisings” by local tribes against the Taliban Islamist terror group in Afghanistan are beginning to spread throughout the country, a sign U.S. and allied efforts to stabilize the country are increasing, according to U.S. officials. – Washington Free Beacon
China
Prosecutors indicted the wife of Bo Xilai, the fallen Chinese politician, on charges of murdering a British businessman, setting the stage for China’s most sensational criminal trial in 30 years. – Wall Street Journal
Chinese military officials denied Thursday that they used technology from an arm of United Technologies Corp. to build an attack helicopter, saying the allegation is “seriously inconsistent with the facts.” – Wall Street Journal (subscription required)
The top U.S. commander in the Asia-Pacific region said Wednesday he’s seeing positive signs as he tries to develop relations between the U.S. and Chinese militaries. – Associated Press
China’s leadership faced continued resistance on Friday in its efforts to hand down final judgment against deposed politician Bo Xilai, despite moving swiftly to wrap up a murder charge against his wife who now risks the death penalty. – Reuters
A Chinese court threw out a fraud charge against a disabled lawyer in a small victory for the country’s battered rights movement on Friday, a day after the United States pressed Beijing to improve its human rights record. – Reuters
Editorial: A century after the last dynasty fell and three decades after the Party granted economic freedoms, Chinese still want their rulers to seek heaven’s mandate. In the modern world, that means recognizing the popular will as not just a portent but the mandate itself. Only a democratic ethos can preserve governments when the floods come. – Wall Street Journal Asia (subscription required)
FPI Director of Democracy and Human Rights Ellen Bork writes: Donilon won’t claim that his meetings are inconsequential, or part of a broader effort on human rights and democracy. Posner shouldn’t either, but he’s been left all alone by an administration that unilaterally disarms itself on human rights and asks him to carry out a “dialogue” rather than negotiate for releases of political prisoners, or create consequences for their arrest in the first place. – The Weekly Standard Blog
Koreas
Ri Sol Ju, the wife of North Korean dictator Kim Jong Eun, may have visited South Korea in 2005 as part of a singing group, authorities in the city that hosted the group said Thursday as South Koreans scrambled to learn more about her. – Wall Street Journal
So striking is the resemblance of Kim Jong-eun to his grandfather, Kim Il-sung that wild rumours circulate in Seoul that the young North Korean leader has undergone plastic surgery to achieve it. Now, experts say, Mr Kim appears to be developing a personality cult in the gregarious style developed by the country’s founding leader – and one that contrasts with the closed, militaristic image of his late father, Kim Jong-il. – Financial Times
Talk that North Korea’s young leader plans to reform the broken economy is already having an impact. It’s helping send rice prices even further out of the reach of most families in one of the world’s most under-fed societies. – Reuters
Blaine Harden writes: Before we allow ourselves to get too hopeful or amused, it is worth noting that North Korea remains uniquely repressive. Indeed, after seven months under Kim Jong Un, the entire country seems to have become even more of a prison than it was under his father, Kim Jong Il, not less. – Foreign Policy
Taiwan
A Taiwanese media tycoon known for his pro-China views will be allowed to take over one of the island’s largest cable TV systems, but must limit his control of his existing news stations. – Financial Times
Southeast Asia
A U.S. ban on imports from Myanmar was set to expire, at least temporarily, at the end of September because of a clash between lawmakers over funding for an African trade provision. – Reuters
Jim Holmes writes: Beijing may have concluded that patient diplomacy will forfeit its destiny in the South China Sea. In Chinese eyes, it’s better to act now — and preempt the competition. The lesson of 1974: Timing is everything. – Foreign Policy
Russia
A Russian blogger and anticorruption activist who helped inspire street protests in Moscow last winter accused Russia’s chief federal investigator on Thursday of secretly owning real estate and other investments in Europe. – New York Times
Some of Russia’s neighbors feel Moscow never really has gotten over losing control of them when the Soviet Union fell apart in 1991. Now, it seems Russia is claiming them back — if only in the biographies of athletes at the London Olympics. – WSJ’s Emerging Europe
Two powerful congressional leaders appealed to each other on Thursday to quickly push through legislation to implement normal trade ties with Russia as the bill’s prospects remain uncertain. – The Hill’s On the Money
Hundreds of opposition supporters have gathered in Moscow to demand that authorities release activists arrested as part of a probe into clashes on the eve of President Vladimir Putin’s inauguration for a third term in May. – Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
Vladimir Kara-Murza writes: Symbolically, the adoption of the Magnitsky Act has been tied to the repeal of the antiquated Jackson-Vanik Amendment, thus replacing trade sanctions against a nation with personal sanctions against specific criminals. Perhaps the most pro-Russian piece of legislation ever put before the U.S. Congress, the Magnitsky Act offers Washington an opportunity to speak with a unified voice and with unquestioned moral clarity. I hope that it will be signed into law before the end of the year. – Washington Post
Europe
A government plan to hand over the running of Britain’s defense procurement and support effort to a private contractor is based on dubious economics and will be difficult to make work, one of the country’s top think tanks will say in a report due to be released in London on July 27. – Defense News
Ukraine’s parliament will reconvene for an extra session on Monday, the chamber said, in a move which could lead to a contentious bill to make Russian the official language in parts of the former Soviet republic being signed into law. – Reuters
Ukraine’s move to restore Russian as the language for official business and schools in some regions risks polarizing the country, the head of minorities’ rights at the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) said on Thursday. – Reuters
The wartime spokesman of late strongman Slobodan Milosevic was set to take power in Serbia on Friday, telling the Balkans to forget the past and not fear the return of a political alliance that once led the country to war with NATO. – Reuters
United States of America
Mitt Romney launched an overseas tour Thursday that injected a dose of national security into a presidential race that has been nearly devoid of it. But in his first day of official visits with British leaders, the presumptive Republican nominee had to deal instead with a flap that followed comments he made about British preparations for the Olympics that ruffled feathers and drew a dig from London’s mayor. – Wall Street Journal (subscription required)
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s off-the-cuff admission that he met with Britain’s secret service chief has sparked speculation that he was pressed to adopt a more interventionist U.S. policy in Syria if he becomes president. – The Hill’s Global Affairs
Backers of President Barack Obama and GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney are trading barbs over how America’s foreign policy should be shaped even as the candidates largely focus on economic issues. – DOTMIL
Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice writes: The American people have to be inspired to lead again. They need to be reminded that the US is not just any other country: we are exceptional in the clarity of our conviction that free markets and free peoples hold the key to the future, and in our willingness to act on those beliefs. Failure to do so would leave a vacuum, likely filled by those who will not champion a balance of power that favours freedom. That would be a tragedy for American interests and values and those who share them. – Financial Times
Charles Krauthammer writes: Unlike Barack Obama, Romney abroad will not be admonishing his country, criticizing his president or declaring himself a citizen of the world. Indeed, Romney should say nothing of substance, just offer effusive expressions of affection for his hosts — and avoid needless contretemps, like his inexplicably dumb and gratuitous critique of Britain’s handling of the Olympic Games. The whole point is to show appreciation for close allies, something the current president has conspicuously failed to do. – Washington Post
Latin America
Cuban President Raul Castro on Thursday said he is ready for talks with the United States, a day after the Obama administration slammed the communist government for detaining mourners at the funeral of a prominent Cuban dissident. – Washington Times
[A] visit this month to a remote region of Venezuela’s vast western plains, which a Colombian guerrilla group has turned into one of the world’s busiest transit hubs for the movement of cocaine to the United States, has shown that the government’s triumphant claims [against drug trafficking] are vastly overstated – New York Times
Cuba adopted a new tax code this week and said it would loosen regulations on some state companies while turning others into cooperatives, as one of the world’s last Soviet-style economies moves in a more market-friendly direction. – Reuters
Editorial: While [Chavez] lives, the United States should be doing what it can to preserve and protect Venezuela’s democrats; they will be needed for what, at best, will be a long and painful rebuilding process. – Washington Post
Paul Bonicelli writes: [N]o one who purports to promote democracy and to support democrats around the world should kid himself: If policy is founded on a muddled view of what democracy is and isn’t, then democracy and democrats around the world will suffer. Let us settle at the outset that democracy means real freedom, not pretended freedom, and craft our policy that way. – Shadow Government
Western Africa
The U.S. is considering new steps to counter an emerging haven for al Qaeda militants in Mali, officials said, ranging from working more with local forces to more direct intervention should the U.S. be threatened. – Wall Street Journal (subscription required)
Mali, a country bloodied by a violent March coup, has become a greater focus of U.S. counterterrorism attention, a Department of Defense official said Thursday. – CNN’s Security Clearance
East Africa
Before the opening ceremony, before a drop of sweat was shed by any of the nearly 15,000 Olympic and Paralympic athletes from 206 nations, an African runner walked into a police station here and asked for political asylum, according to news reports confirmed Thursday by a government official. – New York Times
Sudan and recently independent South Sudan resumed crucial talks on Thursday to end an oil dispute for the first time since border fighting brought the African neighbors to the brink of war in April. – Reuters
United Nations human rights experts called on Kenya on Thursday to investigate fully all cases of violence after 2007 elections and denounced a “climate of impunity” still shielding suspects. – Reuters
