Iran
When 44 announced last month that he was barring a Baghdad bank from any dealings with the American banking system, it was a rare acknowledgment of a delicate problem facing the administration in a country that American troops just left: for months, Iraq has been helping Iran skirt economic sanctions imposed on Tehran because of its nuclear program. – New York Times
Iran’s president fanned the flames of confrontation with Israel on Friday, calling the Israeli government “an insult to humankind” in a speech on the annual Iranian holiday that calls for the Palestinian reclamation of Jerusalem from Israel’s control. – New York Times
With American and European sanctions spurring a currency crisis in Iran, officials say a growing number of Iranians are packing trucks with devalued rials and heading to the freewheeling currency market next door in American-occupied Afghanistan, to trade for dollars. – New York Times
Syria
President Bashar al-Assad of Syria appeared Sunday at a small mosque in Damascus, with state television showing him completing his prayers for an important Muslim holiday alongside some, but not all, members of his inner circle. – New York Times
Across the country, Syrians shared a somber Eid al-Fitr holiday as bloodshed continued. Activists reported more than 150 people killed, a death toll that has become the new normal as the conflict has reached every part of the country. – Los Angeles Times
The United Nations sent its final group of observers out of Syria on Saturday as the war lumbered on, with activists reporting raids, airstrikes and shelling across the country, in Aleppo, Dara’a, Azaz and around Damascus, where opposition groups counted 40 bodies on the streets of a nearby suburb. – New York Times
Syrian insurgents fighting loyalist forces in the northern city of Aleppo seized areas near its airport on Friday, threatening the government’s control of a strategically vital supply conduit and scoring a propaganda victory in what has become a protracted battle in Syria’s largest metropolis. – New York Times
A shadowy jihadist organization that first surfaced on the Internet to assert responsibility for suicide bombings in Aleppo and Damascus has stepped out of the shadows and onto the front lines of the war for Syria’s cities. – Washington Post
Opponents of Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad are showing signs of splintering along a deep regional fault line, with Arabs and Turks uneasy about a military offensive last month by Syrian Kurds, who overran four towns in the country’s north. – Washington Post
[T]here is a power vacuum in towns and villages across Syria that have recently come under the control of the opposition. Now some residents are cobbling together councils and courts to fill it. – Los Angeles Times
The regime’s pullout from much of the countryside last month has left the Tawheed Division as the area’s army, government and police. That is why on Wednesday, Mr. Shehab Eddin and his aides spent some 14 hours hashing out questions about their next deployment to the front line in Aleppo, scrambling to defuse a flare-up with a neighboring Kurdish village and mediating petty disputes between villagers. – Wall Street Journal
Members of the Syrian opposition support international armed intervention in their country, including establishing a “no-fly” zone, humanitarian corridors and training Free Syrian Army fighters, but they do not support an international presence on the ground, a survey showed. – CNN’s Security Clearance
Russian leaders are vehemently opposing any plans to establish no-fly zones in northern Syria along the country’s border with Turkey, claiming the plan would only push the country closer to total collapse. – DEFCON Hill
The leader of a prominent Lebanese political party called Friday for declaring a state of emergency in his country as the Syrian conflict continued to spill over into Lebanon. – LA Times’ World Now
The White House on Saturday could not validate reports that Syrian Vice President Farouq al-Shara defected from President Bashar Assad’s cabinet, despite claims by rebel forces that he has abandoned Damascus for Jordan. – The Hill’s Global Affairs
The new U.N. special envoy to Syria admitted Sunday that he faces a difficult job trying to broker peace in Syria, and said his first task is overcoming divisions within the Security Council that stymied the efforts of his predecessor. – Associated Press
German spies are stationed off the Syrian coast and are passing on information designed to help rebels in their fight against President Bashar al-Assad, a newspaper reported on Aug. 19. – AFP
Egypt
Egypt’s new Muslim Brotherhood-backed government plans to cut powers of the country’s judicial system, in a move that would limit a major check on the Islamist organization’s growing political power and threatens to increase tensions between Islamists and secularists. – Wall Street Journal (subscription required)
The Egyptian military had long been run by aging generals and ambitious colonels who for six decades guarded the nation’s power while sitting poolside at social clubs and enriching themselves and their ranks through an intricate business empire. – Los Angeles Times
A U.S.-military-dominated peacekeeping force of 1,650 troops in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula is finding itself caught between restive Bedouin tribesmen and an escalating Egyptian army offensive against insurgents. – Washington Post
Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi plans to visit Iran this month for an international summit in what would mark the highest level official contact between the two nations in more than 30 years, according to Egypt’s state news agency. – LA Times’ World Now
Dennis Ross writes: The administration’s position needs to be clear: If this behavior continues, U.S. support, which will be essential for gaining international economic aid and fostering investment, will not be forthcoming. Softening or fuzzing our response at this point might be good for the Muslim Brotherhood, but it won’t be good for Egypt. – Washington Post
Libya
At least two people were killed when car bombs exploded on Sunday outside security buildings in Libya’s capital, Tripoli. The blasts appeared to be the first deadly car bombings in Tripoli since the fall of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi nearly a year ago, and the latest in a string of violent episodes that have shaken several Libyan cities in recent weeks. – New York Times
Najwa al-Beshti writes: I urge the S.E.C., as well as European regulators, to resist the lobbying from the oil, gas and mineral industries and to issue strong rules consistent with the spirit of Section 1504. By making the oil companies answerable to the public — in America, Europe and everywhere they do business — we can turn oil into a force for transparent and open commerce rather than corruption and repression. – New York Times
Yemen
It’s been six months since a populist revolt ended President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s 33-year rule. But here in Change Square — the nexus of the uprising, where tens of thousands once gathered — the revolution continues, in a different shape and form…Still, the activists at Change Square expressed a shared core goal: to oust Saleh’s relatives and loyalists of his regime, who continue to wield clout in the government and military. – Washington Post
The death toll of an al-Qaida suspected attack on a Yemeni intelligence headquarters rose to 20 on Saturday, in the worst such attack in a year that highlights the challenges faced by the country’s new leadership as it struggles to bring security and reconcile a military with split loyalties. – Associated Press
Iraq
An influential Sunni cleric was critically wounded and four of his bodyguards were killed when a bomb struck his convoy in western Baghdad on Sunday morning during one of the country’s most important holy days, according to Iraqi security officials. – New York Times
Israel
Preparations in Israel for a possible war are focusing new attention on whether Israel will attack Iran’s nuclear facilities and forcing an unwelcome debate in the thick of a presidential campaign about the U.S. role in stopping an Iranian bomb. – Washington Post
Israel’s cabinet is holding a special session on the future of its military that is considering, among other things, a proposal to purchase a second squadron of F-35s. – Aviation Week
Amos Yadlin writes: Israel cannot afford to outsource its security to another country. But if the United States wants Israel to give sanctions and diplomacy more time, Israelis must know that they will not be left high and dry if these options fail. Ironically, the best assurance the U.S. president can give Israel is a commitment to, if all else fails, resort to military action to protect critical U.S interests. But time is running out to make this commitment credible to the people of the United States, Israel and Iran. As the adage goes, if you want peace, prepare (credibly) for war. – Washington Post
Afghanistan
The 44th administration plans to double the size of a rural police force in Afghanistan and arm it with heavier weapons to fight insurgents as U.S. troops withdraw, despite Pentagon and Afghan government concern about the village self-defense units becoming predatory criminal gangs or defecting to the Taliban. – Los Angeles Times
Seizures in Afghanistan of ammonium nitrate fertilizer, the main explosive used in Taliban bombs, more than doubled in the first seven months of 2012 compared with the same period last year, U.S. officials said. Despite that increase, senior U.S. officials said, the number of improvised explosive devices, or IEDs, manufactured with the chemical compound is on pace to surpass the record levels of 2011. – Washington Post
The Taliban continued its strategy of trying to assassinate government officials in Afghanistan on Sunday, killing three relatives of a police chief in Helmand Province, and trying but failing to kill top government officials of Logar Province in an ambush and extended firefight. – New York Times
In one of a series of recent steps, the military decreed that American and NATO service members should always carry a loaded magazine in their weapons, to save precious moments if attacked by Afghan forces. Another initiative, now a priority, is a program named “Guardian Angel” that calls for one or two soldiers to monitor the Afghans during every mission or meeting, officials say. – New York Times
The killings of two Americans and the wounding of a third Friday by the new recruit to an Afghan village police force brought the number of U.S. forces killed in “insider” shootings — attacks by Afghan allies on Western troops — to nine in 11 days. – Los Angeles Times
Aside from the devastating emotional blow dealt to families of the slain service members and the effect on morale in field units, insider shootings have wider-ranging repercussions. They have provided a propaganda bonanza to the Taliban, and could threaten a linchpin of the Western exit strategy: training Afghan security forces in preparation for handing over most fighting duties to them by 2014. – Los Angeles Times
The New Zealand government said on Monday that it would probably speed up the withdrawal of its small contingent of troops from Afghanistan. Prime Minister John Key said the decision was not prompted by the recent deaths of five New Zealand soldiers, including three who died Sunday in a roadside bombing in Bamiyan Province in central Afghanistan. – New York Times
Nationwide, there are now 13,500 villagers in the self-defense groups, which are considered a critical part of efforts to turn security responsibility over to Afghan’s government as U.S. forces withdraw from Afghanistan. – USA Today
Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta called Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Saturday to press Kabul to take more steps to stop the recent spate of attacks by local forces on their U.S. and NATO counterparts. – DEFCON Hill
South Asia
India’s top domestic security official on Sunday called on the Pakistani government to investigate Indian claims that “elements based in Pakistan” had orchestrated a fear-mongering misinformation campaign using text messages and social media that helped set off last week’s nationwide panic among migrants from India’s isolated northeastern states. – New York Times
Militants’ storming of a Pakistani Air Force base where some nuclear warheads are reportedly stored has once again sounded the alarms about the security of the country’s atomic weapons. – Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
American drones fired a flurry of missiles in a Pakistani tribal area bordering Afghanistan Sunday, killing a total of 10 suspected militants, Pakistani officials said. – Associated Press
East Asia
Gu Kailai, the wife of ousted Communist Party official Bo Xilai, was found guilty and given a suspended death sentence on Monday for the murder of British businessman Neil Heywood in the southwestern city of Chongqing last year, according to observers in the courtroom. – Wall Street Journal
[T]here is another side to Mr. Wang, now accused by many people of being as much a criminal as those he boasted of persecuting. He locked up and tortured lawyers, business executives and other police officers as part of a relentless crackdown he oversaw, say those victims and people in Chongqing with police contacts. – New York Times
Anti-Japanese protests spread across China over the weekend, and the landing of Japanese activists on a disputed island on Sunday sharply intensified tensions between the two countries. – New York Times
A Marine Corps command investigation has cleared the service’s V-22 Osprey fleet as fit for duty, paving the way for flight operations based in Japan to begin. – DEFCON Hill
Koreas
The North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, has visited soldiers stationed near the two Koreas’ disputed sea border and bestowed official accolades on the artillery unit that shelled a South Korean island in 2010, killing four people, the North’s state-run news agency reported Saturday. – New York Times
A former dictator’s daughter who cited Queen Elizabeth I of Britain as her role model became the first serious female contender for South Korea’s presidency on Monday when she was chosen as the governing party’s candidate for elections in December. – New York Times
Moon Jae-in, the former aide to President Roh Moo-hyun who polls show is leading the race for the Democratic United Party presidential nomination, said Friday that if he wins the presidency he’ll take South Korea back to his former boss’ policy of few-questions-asked aid to North Korea. – WSJ’s Korea Real Time
Southeast Asia
Myanmar’s overhauls of the past year remain fragile and tenuous, the new U.S. ambassador to the country said, with continuing evidence of human-rights violations and concerns about opaque policy-making and possible military ties to North Korea. – Wall Street Journal (subscription required)
Myanmar’s government Monday said it has ended the censorship of local publications, more than a year after it began a series of reforms aimed at freeing up the country’s closely restricted media. – Wall Street Journal (subscription required)
Sen. Jim Webb (D-VA) writes: The question is whether the China of 2012 truly wishes to resolve issues through acceptable international standards, and whether the America of 2012 has the will and the capacity to insist that this approach is the only path toward stability. – Wall Street Journal
Russia
Three members of a feminist-performance group whose anti-Kremlin “punk prayer” inside Russia’s main Orthodox cathedral led to one of the most politically charged trials of the country’s post-Soviet era were convicted of hooliganism Friday and sentenced to two years in prison. – Wall Street Journal
The court case against the young women ignited the anti-Putin cause in a way that months of protests by Russia’s weak and divided opposition movement had failed to do, and led to broad condemnation of the Kremlin by governments as well as A-list stars. – Los Angeles Times
A suicide bomber on Sunday attacked the funeral of a police officer shot to death by unknown gunmen the previous day in the volatile North Caucasus region of Russia, killing seven and injuring 10 others in the crowd of mourners, officials said. – Los Angeles Times
A top Senate Republican wants to know how a Russian attack submarine was able to conduct a patrol mission miles off the U.S. coastline without the knowledge of the American military or intelligence officials. – DEFCON Hill
The two-year jail sentence for the three women members of Russian punk band Pussy Riot for performing a protest against Vladimir Putin in a Moscow cathedral is deepening a growing rift between Russia’s conservative heartland and its more liberal elements – Financial Times
Eli Lake reports: When chess grand champion and Russian opposition leader Garry Kasparov showed up Friday at the sentencing of Russian punk band Pussy Riot, he didn’t expect to spend the next five hours in the custody of the Moscow police, recovering from a severe beating. – The Daily Beast
Editorial: What really has occurred in this case is that Pussy Riot was singled out to discourage others from challenging the establishment. It is wrong that three women in colorful costumes should be severely punished for a moment of expression. It is doubly wrong that they should be punished in the new Russia, where Stalin’s terrible legacy of pain is well known and should have been long ago abandoned. – Washington Post
Editorial: To reporters outside the courthouse, the husband of defendant Nadezhda Tolokonnikova put it this way: The “only thing that can save our daughter, my wife and all of us, is a revolution. So that’s what we’ll have.” They deserve U.S. support. – Wall Street Journal
Garry Kasparov writes: Mr. Putin could not care less about winning public-relations battles in the Western press, or about fighting them at all. He and his cronies care only about money and power. Friday’s events make it clear that they will fight for those things until Russia’s jails are full. – Wall Street Journal
United States of America
The FBI probed a late-night swim in the Sea of Galilee that involved drinking, numerous GOP freshmen lawmakers, top leadership staff – and one nude member of Congress, according to more than a dozen sources, including eyewitnesses. – Politico
A four-star Army general who was the first head of the new U.S. Africa Command allegedly spent hundreds of thousands of dollars improperly on lavish travel, hotels and other items for himself and his wife, according to a Defense Department report. – Military Times
A top adviser to GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney on Sunday refused to disavow a new super-PAC video from former U.S. military officers attacking 44′s national security record, and questioned whether the White House had made the country safer. – The Hill’s Blog Briefing Room
Josh Rogin reports: 44 is a socialist, was raised by communists, and wasn’t born in the United States, according to the former Navy SEAL who founded the group Special Operations Speaks (SOS), which aims to portray 44 as anti-military in this election season. – The Cable
Latin America
Mexico has not made much sense of one of the most sensational killing sprees in recent history, which has left 10,500 dead in the streets of Juarez as two powerful drug and crime mafias went to war….But the fever seems to have broken. – Washington Post
Editorial: “My father dedicated his life to fight for citizen rights for all Cubans,” Ms. Payá told us. “I am afraid that some evil force took my father’s life. But I think his passion for freedom is now alive in people. Cubans are awakening.” A first step toward fulfilling Mr. Payá’s promise would be to determine the truth about how he died. – Washington Post
West Africa
As Mali remains racked by infighting and has failed to reverse a rebel takeover of the north, the number of people pushed out of their homes in the African country has soared and more children are being recruited as fighters, United Nations agencies warn. – LA Times’ World Now
East Africa
[A] year of relative peace in Mogadishu, long the world capital of chaos, and the recent adoption of a new constitution have raised faint hopes that this latest stab at shedding the “failed state” label might actually work. But can it? – Los Angeles Times
The overall trend [in Darfur] for the past couple of years had been one of cautious improvement, United Nations officials say, with civilian deaths gradually declining. But this year is on track to be a setback, they warn, with more criminality, rebel attacks, rapes, displacements and assorted mayhem than in the recent past. – New York Times
An airplane carrying a Sudanese cabinet minister and 31 others crashed on Sunday in a mountainous region in the south, killing everyone on board, the state-run Sudan Radio reported. – New York Times
