Iran
Using its New York-based operations, a major British bank schemed with the Iranian government for nearly a decade to launder $250 billion, leaving the United States financial system vulnerable to terrorists and corrupt regimes, New York’s top banking regulator charged on Monday. – New York Times
U.S. intelligence analysts watching for indicators of Israeli military action recently reported that there are signs the Jewish state plans an attack against Iran in October. – Washington Free Beacon
New intelligence information obtained by Israel and four Western countries indicates that Iran has made greater progress on developing components for its nuclear weapons program than the West had previously realized, according to Western diplomats and Israeli officials who are closely involved in efforts to prevent Iran from building a nuclear bomb. – Haaretz
Two news publications have reported receiving details from the 44th administration on blueprints for a potential aerial campaign against atomic installations in Iran, the London Times reported on Monday – Global Security Newswire
Iranian state television aired what it described as confessions of individuals accused of assassinating Iranian nuclear scientists, saying they worked as Israeli agents to sabotage the country’s nuclear programme. – Reuters
Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Michael Oren writes: A combination of truly crippling sanctions and a credible military threat—a threat that the ayatollahs still do not believe today—may yet convince Iran to relinquish its nuclear dreams. But time is dwindling and, with each passing day, the lives of eight million Israelis grow increasingly imperiled. The window that opened 20 years ago is now almost shut. – Wall Street Journal (subscription required)
Syria
The defection of Syria’s prime minister, Riyad Farid Hijab, began like so many others: with coded conversations and furtive planning. He began discussing the idea of fleeing, an aide said, as soon as President Bashar al-Assad strong-armed him into taking the job in June. In recent days, he worked to get his extended family out. Then, early Monday, the prime minister slipped out of Damascus under cover of darkness with his wife and four children, scrambling through the desert as a fugitive. – New York Times
Nearly 20 high-ranking Syrian military officers defected to Turkey on Monday, says an opposition source who added Bashar al-Assad’s regime “is falling apart.” – DOTMIL
With Syrian diplomacy all but dead, the Obama administration is shifting its focus on the civil war away from political transition and toward helping the rebels defeat the Syrian regime on the battlefield. – Associated Press
Syrian forces pressed on with their offensive against rebels in the largest city Aleppo after the prime minister fled the country, denouncing the “terrorist regime” of Bashar al-Assad. – Reuters
Fearful of deadly retribution for his defection to Jordan, Syrian Prime Minister Riyad Hijab sought help from rebels to spirit dozens of family members out of the country and beyond the reach of President Bashar al-Assad’s forces. – Reuters
Iran, a close ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, plans to host a meeting of regional and other countries this week on ways to resolve the country’s conflict, the official IRNA news agency reported on Monday. – Reuters
Josh Rogin reports: Following three prominent defections this weekend, the State Department declared [yesterday] that the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is “crumbling,” but can’t say how, when, or what comes next. – The Cable
Egypt
The Egyptian government on Monday vowed to act swiftly to restore security in north Sinai as a brazen attack near the Israeli border that killed 16 Egyptian security personnel dealt the country’s new president a vexing first crisis – Washington Post
The Israeli defense minister, Ehud Barak, said on Monday that a terrorist attack that killed 15 Egyptian soldiers on Sunday night should serve as “a wake-up call” to the new Egyptian president about the growing danger in the Sinai Peninsula and the border between the two nations. – New York Times
With the relationship between Egypt’s new Islamist leader and Israel still in its fragile infancy, the terrorist attack on the border that the two countries share with Gaza over the weekend presented a critical opportunity — and a crucial test. – New York Times
Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood said on its website that the attack on a police station in Sinai on Sunday in which 16 policemen were killed “can be attributed to Mossad” and was an attempt to thwart Islamist President Mohamed Mursi. – Reuters
Editorial: Perhaps some of the U.S. military aid now being misdirected into Egyptian purchases of F-16s and other weapons systems should be repurposed to support what will be, at best, a difficult and prolonged campaign to restore order in the Sinai. Egyptians forces could benefit from training in counterinsurgency and from better surveillance and intelligence equipment. It’s difficult to think of a better cause. As this attack showed, a takeover of Sinai by Islamic extremists could quickly destabilize what for the last three decades has been a border vital to the preservation of Middle East peace. – Washington Post
Daniel Nisman writes: In the Sinai Peninsula, a strict counter-terrorism doctrine must be enforced upon Egypt, requiring the new leadership to provide tangible results in reigning in militancy within their borders. It would serve the Obama administration well to correct its approach toward post-revolution Egypt. – Wall Street Journal Europe
Saudi Arabia
International human rights groups have asked Saudi Arabia for permission to observe the court cases of four rights activists in a country they have accused of conducting unfair trials. – Reuters
Yemen
Yemen’s president ordered the restructuring of some military units on Monday, aiming to curb the powers of a son of former leader Ali Abdullah Saleh and stabilize a country where Saleh’s legacy still looms large. – Reuters
Yemeni security forces seized six suspected Islamist militants on Monday in a flashpoint town where a suicide bomber killed 45 people last week, a security source said. – Reuters
Lebanon
The Posse of Allah has long enjoyed military and financial support from the governments of Iran and Syria. But as fighting rages in Syria, and the international community intensifies its standoff with Iran, Hiz”B”Allah may be approaching a moment of truth: Will it fight for these backers? – Wall Street Journal (subscription required)
Afghanistan
Faced with a sudden shift in two critical Afghan security ministries after Parliament dismissed the departments’ chiefs over the weekend, the new leader of the international joint command here insisted that allied forces would not let the shake-up derail the transfer of authority to Afghan forces. – New York Times
A bomb blast in a picturesque area near the Afghan capital killed eight civilians on Tuesday, officials said, in the latest string of such attacks uncommon until recently near Kabul. – Washington Post
Afghan Defence Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak resigned on Tuesday after losing a no-confidence vote in parliament on his handling of security and being relegated to an acting role as President Hamid Karzai searched for a replacement. – Reuters
Like many other entrepreneurs in an Afghanistan bracing for an exodus of foreign troops and aid workers in two years, D’Cruz thinks business can only get worse at his popular Namaste Indian restaurant, as expat customers vanish. – Reuters
China
At least five senior Communist Party officials have arrived at the beachside resort of Beidaihe, including Xi Jinping, the man expected to be the next leader of China, setting the stage for what some analysts expect to be the climactic negotiations over the coming once-a-decade power transition. – New York Times
A Tibetan monk from Kirti Monastery in a Tibetan region of western China set himself on fire on Monday in what appeared to be a protest against Chinese rule, according to reports on Tuesday by Radio Free Asia, which is financed by the United States government, and Free Tibet, an advocacy group based in London. – New York Times
Cold-blooded killer or scapegoat, China’s Lady MacBeth or over-protective mother — Gu Kailai remains an enigma as she is tried for murder in a case that has shaken the ruling Communist Party and placed its secretive world of political privilege under intense scrutiny. – Reuters
Michael Mazza writes: Bell seems to believe that the party’s leaders set about their daily business with Mao’s dictum to “serve the people” firmly at heart. Perhaps some local cadres do (certainly not all—see the recent Chen Guangcheng case, for example). But the provincial and national leaders—those deemed to merit high political office—ignore, sanction, or perpetrate numerous injustices against the Chinese people on a daily basis. Yes, democracy is a flawed political system. But Chinese meritocracy is an ugly one. – The American
India
Lack of electricity is the perhaps the most obvious symbol of the inequality that still cripples this country and of the governance failure that is holding back its ambitions to be an economic powerhouse. – Washington Post
Sikhs in India reacted with outrage and grief to Sunday’s shooting at a Sikh temple in Wisconsin, with many expressing concern that the incident is evidence of growing intolerance against the religious community in the U.S. – Wall Street Journal (subscription required)
Josh Rogin reports: Top State Department officials including Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have been working behind the scenes to assuage Indian anger following the attack on a Sikh temple in Wisconsin over the weekend by an Army veteran and alleged former white supremacist. – The Cable
Editorial: India gets a bad rap for its governance these days—one of the world’s worst power outages last week reinforced that image—but its democracy has dissuaded separatists from fragmenting the country and checked the worst impulses of statism. What most worried the architects of India’s Anglo-American constitution was the prospect of demagogues dominating democrats. It’s a testament to the strength of this system that Mr. Hazare is now joining the mainstream. – Wall Street Journal Asia (subscription required)
Koreas
A South Korean activist who says he was tortured by Chinese police earlier this year said Monday he’ll keep pressing officials in both countries to acknowledge the alleged treatment and find ways to prevent it from happening again. – Wall Street Journal (subscription required)
An underground, democratic movement is active inside North Korea, a human rights advocate claimed Monday, surprising many observers skeptical that any organized opposition could exist in one of the world’s most secretive, totalitarian states. – Washington Times
As the director of Caleb Mission, a Christian organization, Kim [Sung-eun] has brought hundreds of people to South Korea who have heard about his works by word of mouth or the Internet. – Los Angeles Times
BAE Systems confirmed Aug. 6 that South Korea has selected the company to perform an upgrade to the avionics and electronics systems for its fleet of 130 KF-16 Block 52 fighters. – Defense News
A high-level North Korean Foreign Ministry official warned last week that there was little chance of her nation giving up its nuclear arms ambitions without a change in U.S. policy, Voice of America reported – Global Security Newswire
Southeast Asia
A leading figure in [Malaysian] civil society and a longtime member of the political opposition, [Irene] Fernandez’s habit of not mincing her words has often landed her in trouble with the authorities. – New York Times
While Southeast Asia contains a diverse and often confusing patchwork of economies, it is on the way to becoming the next big growth engine in Asia, helping lift incomes and living standards across the region, according to a new report. – WSJ’s Southeast Asia Real Time
Myanmar’s government has agreed to lift suspensions on two weekly journals within two weeks, their editors said on Monday, just days after rare protests by journalists in two cities to demand more press freedom. – Reuters
Russia
If there was one place in Moscow that embodied the gold rush mentality of expatriates in the troubled Yeltsin era, it was the Hungry Duck, a dive bar that until it was shut down by the city in 1999 brought together profiteers, thugs with crew cuts, drifting students, émigré castaways and Russian women hoping to meet foreign men. Thirteen years later, the bar’s former owner, Doug Steele, has brought back the Duck, as it is affectionately called, to a city that is barely recognizable. – New York Times
Mikhail Khodorkovsky, Russia’s most famous prisoner, has attacked the trial of three female members of [the] punk band…who protested against Vladimir Putin in a Moscow cathedral, likening it to a medieval inquisition where conditions may be close to torture. – Financial Times
Members of a feminist Russian punk band on trial for performing a stunt against Vladimir Putin in Moscow’s main cathedral sought to dismiss their judge on Monday, accusing her of being politically biased and ignoring their side of the story. – Associated Press
A state prosecutor demanded a three-year jail sentence for three women from the punk band who stormed the altar of Moscow’s main cathedral and sang a “punk prayer” denouncing Vladimir Putin’s close links to the Russian Orthodox Church. – Reuters
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said “No” to the West so many times over Syria that he may come to rival a Cold War predecessor for the title of “Mr Nyet”. – Reuters
David Satter writes: Russia now stands on the verge of important events that may have significance not only for Russians but also for the West. There will be temptations toward radicalism as Russians, under the pressure of the battle with an authoritarian regime, are exposed to the political appeal of extreme ideologies. They can avoid these extremes and create a new basis for their country’s future, but to do that and to take advantage of post-Soviet Russia’s second chance at democracy, they will have to focus on the value of the individual and let truth be their guide. – National Review Online
Europe
Britain’s two governing parties, the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats, announced on Monday that they had abandoned attempts to overhaul the House of Lords, a sign that many on both sides of the coalition government saw as its growing fragility. – New York Times
John Rosenthal writes: We will undoubtedly not know the full story of the Munich mosque project and the creation of a German base for Islamic extremism until all the relevant German government records are made available, including those of the bnd. But that is not likely to happen anytime soon, if indeed ever. – Policy Review
United States of America
After an overseas trip that left the impression among some Americans and others abroad that the former Massachusetts governor is not ready to steer the country through perilous international waters, senior campaign officials acknowledged that they need to sharpen their message and its delivery. – Washington Post
Members of the Senate Intelligence Committee are considering changes that would cut the teeth out of legislation designed to crack down on national security leaks. – DEFCON Hill
Analysis: Presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney will probably not choose a vice president based on that person’s fluency in foreign relations. Even more than most, this presidential election is all about the domestic economy. But after Romney’s shaky and gaffe-ridden foray into international affairs on his recent trip to the United Kingdom, Israel, and Poland, perhaps he should reconsider. – National Journal
Latin America
Presidents everywhere are criticized by those they lead, but President Ollanta Humala of Peru may be unique in that some of his fiercest detractors are his own flesh and blood, including his brothers, sisters, cousins and, chief among them, his voluble father, Isaac. – New York Times
Otto J. Reich & Ezequiel Vázquez-Ger write: If Delgado has indeed broken the U.S. Iran Sanctions Act, as the evidence indicates, the very least the United States should do is designate Delgado and the Central Bank of Ecuador. Delgado has properties and businesses in the United States and still holds a valid U.S. visa. Why is someone who is actively collaborating with Iran on behalf of a foreign government still enjoying the privileges of U.S. hospitality? – The Hill’s Global Affairs
West Africa
From Lagos in the west to Nairobi in the east and Lusaka in the south, trendy shopping malls have sprung up across Africa as the continent’s mushrooming cities modernize and its emergent middle class swells. – Washington Post
Gunmen killed 16 people when they fired on worshippers at a church in Nigeria’s central Kogi state during a Monday evening service, police said on Tuesday. – Reuters
Gunmen killed five soldiers and seized weapons in a pre-dawn raid on an army camp in Ivory Coast’s commercial capital Abidjan on Monday, military officials said, heightening fears of renewed instability in the world’s top cocoa-growing country. – Reuters
Malian youths clashed with ruling Islamists in the city of Gao in a protest against the planned punishment by amputation of a suspected robber and the beating of a journalist covering the demonstration, local residents said. – Reuters
East Africa
Venezuela’s first secretary at its embassy in Kenya was charged Monday with murdering the newly arrived ambassador as allegations surfaced that officials at the scandal-plagued post in Nairobi may have been trafficking drugs under cover of diplomatic immunity, Kenyan media reported. – LA Times’ World Now
Kenya’s second-most senior judge should be removed from office after allegedly threatening to shoot a security guard at an upscale Nairobi shopping mall, a tribunal ruled Monday. – Christian Science Monitor
[I]n the wake of a year-long offensive in southern Somalia – led by the transitional Somali government, the Kenyan and Ethiopian militaries, and the African Union’s Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) – much of rural southern Somalia remains off limits to many foreign aid groups with the resources to feed and protect hundreds of thousands of displaced Somalis. – Christian Science Monitor
Sudans
Slogans sprayed across walls in a dusty, working-class district of Khartoum are painted over but still convey their message: Sudan’s young opposition activists want to bring an Arab Spring to their country and end President Omar Hassan al-Bashir’s rule. – Reuters
Sudan agreed on Sunday to allow aid into two rebel-held southern border states where humanitarian groups say fighting has left civilians facing an impending famine. – Reuters
Sudan will resume talks with South Sudan on August 26 to resolve remaining conflicts after reaching an interim oil agreement, the Sudanese state news agency SUNA said on Monday. – Reuters
Southern Africa
Nelson Mandela, retired from public life and largely confined to his house, smiled when he saw Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Monday, but the 94-year-old Nobel laureate appeared very frail. – Washington Post
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton will meet Tuesday with South African leaders in the capital, Pretoria, amid somewhat strained relations between the two democratic nations. – Washington Times
Fred Hochberg, chairman of the Export-Import Bank of the U.S. and one of the highest-ranking business leaders in the Obama administration, arrived Monday in South Africa with a group of trade representatives and officials from companies such as Boeing Co. and General Electric Co. to sign new commercial deals. The trip is an example of how the U.S. is seeking to catch up in Africa to other countries—not just China, but India, Brazil and even companies from crisis-hit Western Europe. – Wall Street Journal (subscription required)
South Africa’s system of traditional rulers and tribal courts endures, and the ruling African National Congress moved recently to widen the reach of that system. The Tribal Courts Bill would subject 20 million rural South Africans to courts ruled by traditional chiefs, in a move critics say creates one law for urban people and another for those in tribal areas. – Los Angeles Times
King Mswati III of Swaziland taunted the West and his domestic political opponents on Monday, saying their dreams of a popular uprising in Africa’s last absolute monarchy would not be realized. – Reuters
