Iran
The United Nations secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, expects to discuss the disputed Iranian nuclear program, the Syria conflict and the need to provide “greater space” for Iranian political freedoms when he talks with Iran’s leaders during a visit to Tehran this week for the Nonaligned Movement meeting, his spokesman said Tuesday. – New York Times
The Islamic Republic of Iran and its various opposition group[s] are competing to capitalize on U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon’s first visit to Iran on Wednesday. – Wall Street Journal (subscription required)
With blanket official media coverage and graphic memorials to the “martyrs” of its nuclear program, Iran is using an international summit to assert that Western nations have failed to isolate it diplomatically and to present itself as a leading voice in the developing world. – Reuters
William Tobey writes: The Iranian nuclear program presents a serious and hard problem. There is no easy solution, and no option that does not entail significant risk, including both diplomacy and military action. But the difficulties and the stakes make it all the more important to avoid unforced errors. A self-defeating policy will never succeed, and unfortunately in rushing to insist that there is still “time and space” for diplomacy, the administration has chosen one. – Shadow Government
Syria
The United Nations refugee agency said on Tuesday that the number of Syrian refugees fleeing to Jordan last week had more than doubled from the previous week, raising further fears of a growing exodus from Syria that threatens to overwhelm international relief efforts. – New York Times
Representatives from Syria’s political opposition presented a road map Tuesday that they hope will serve as a guide to the democratic transition of power in their country after the expected fall of President Bashar al-Assad. – New York Times
Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad claimed Tuesday to be gaining ground in the bloody conflict that has racked the country for nearly 18 months, offering an assessment that appeared to be backed up by developments on the ground. – Washington Post
Turkey on Wednesday said it had discussed with the United Nations the possibility of housing Syrian refugees inside Syria, reiterating Ankara’s call to set up an internationally protected “safe zone” on Syrian territory a day after Turkey said it would open new camps to house the rapidly rising number of Syrians fleeing violence. – Wall Street Journal (subscription required)
Supporters of the Syrian government hacked the Web site of Amnesty International, posting items that falsely accused the rebels of a string of atrocities. The sophisticated cyberattack, which occurred Monday, was similar to the targeting this month of blogs operated by Reuters news service. – Washington Post
Working together and at the urging of antigovernment fighters, local businesses and tradesmen have organized into a network engaged in making weapons, in part by delegating different tasks among the various trades. – New York Times
Many Alawites characterize themselves as the first and last line of defense for their nation. And they may be right, now that other sectarian groups, including many Sunnis and Kurds, have turned into opposition or pulled from the government orbit. – Wall Street Journal (subscription required)
A key leader of the Syrian opposition criticized the United States Tuesday for failing to endorse calls for rebel groups to form a transitional government. Abdelbaset Sieda, head of the Syrian National Council, said in an interview with The Associated Press that the United States and its international allies should take decisive action against Syrian President Bashar Assad rather than blaming the opposition over its divisions. – DEFCON Hill
Turkey has called for the United Nations to establish a safe zone within Syria to prevent refugees pouring across the border from overwhelming the capacity of Ankara and other neighbouring states. – Financial Times
Syria’s refugee exodus is accelerating and up to 200,000 people could settle in Turkey alone if the conflict worsens, the United Nations warned on Tuesday, increasing pressure for creation of a buffer zone inside Syria. – Reuters
A prominent figure in the Syrian National Council (SNC), resigned on Tuesday, the latest of several senior members to leave the leading Syrian opposition group this year. – Reuters
Rebel commanders said the weapons they do have — Kalashnikovs, some RPGs, a handful of anti-aircraft guns — are old and expensive, while the weapons they need to take on the might of an army are impossible to come by. – AFP
The head of Russia’s army said Aug. 28 that Moscow had no intention to end its military presence in Syria despite the escalating violence and threat of President Bashar al-Assad’s fall. – AFP
Ruled successively by Hittites, Greeks, Romans and Ottomans, Aleppo’s ancient city has survived violent change over thousands of years. But the modern weaponry of Syria’s escalating civil war is proving too much. – Reuters
Josh Rogin reports: Mitt Romney’s top foreign-policy advisors said [Tuesday] that the presumptive Republican nominee is not ready to support growing international calls for establishing a no-fly zone inside Syria. – The Cable
Editorial: One response would be to impose a no-fly zone over Syria, and French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian called for a partial one last week. As with Libya last year, none of this is likely to happen without active and visible American participation. But as with Libya, a U.S. Administration that likes to lead from behind still needs someone to follow. Mr. Hollande deserves credit for showing the way. – Wall Street Journal (subscription required)
North Africa
President Mohammed Morsi on his first official trip outside the Middle East took early steps to tie Egypt more tightly to Beijing, at a time when China’s wider reach in the region is posing an increasing challenge to U.S. influence there. – Wall Street Journal
Libya’s interior minister retracted his two-day-old resignation announcement on Tuesday amid a growing uproar over the destruction of Sufi shrines and sacred sites, punctuated by a United Nations plea for an end to such “brutal attacks.” – New York Times
Libya’s interior minister said on Tuesday he could would not risk an armed confrontation with hardline Muslims behind a string of sectarian attacks, in an unusually candid admission of the scale of the security challenge facing the country. – Reuters
Egypt’s military said on Wednesday it would broaden its offensive against militants in the Sinai Peninsula, a campaign that has raised concerns in Israel about the movement of heavy armor into the area near its border. – Reuters
Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said on Tuesday he hoped Egypt’s new Islamist President Mohamed Mursi would soon visit the Jewish state to back up his reassuring words. – Reuters
Gulf States
Symposium: The monarchies of the Middle East have managed, for the most part, to weather the turmoil that has brought down authoritarian governments in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya and now threatens Syria’s rulers. Why? – NYT’s Room for Debate
Iraq
In a single day, Iraq has executed 21 people for terrorism offenses, officials told reporters Tuesday, repeating an activity that has outraged the United Nations and human rights groups in the past. – LA Times’ World Now
Iraq’s Kurdistan regional government threatened to stop its share of national oil exports again at the start of September, claiming Baghdad has continued to hold off on payments to oil companies, as the two sides continue a long-running dispute. – Reuters
A wave of new American-style restaurants is spreading across Baghdad, enticing customers hungry for alternatives to traditional offerings like lamb kebabs and fire-roasted carp. – Associated Press
Israel
Nearly eight years after the death of Yasser Arafat, French prosecutors, spurred by the Palestinian leader’s family, opened an inquiry Tuesday on the possibility that he was killed by poisoning. – LA Times’ World Now
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers (R-Mich.) on Tuesday said he believes the Israeli government is likely to wait until after the U.S. election to take military action against Iran. – The Hill
U.S. intelligence agencies recently reported growing concerns that Israel will conduct a strike on Iran using a high-altitude nuclear burst aimed at disrupting all electronics in the country. – Washington Free Beacon
Western envoys are urging Arab states not to berate Israel over its assumed nuclear arsenal at the U.N. atomic agency’s annual conference, fearing this could imperil wider efforts for a nuclear weapons-free Middle East, diplomats say. – Reuters
Afghanistan
The Taliban tried and failed to kill one of their most hated enemies late on Monday when the police chief of Kandahar Province, who is pursuing an aggressive campaign against the insurgents in their former southern homeland, survived a powerful suicide car bombing that killed four civilians and wounded 20 more, Afghan officials said Tuesday. – New York Times
Marine Corps Commandant Gen. James Amos said the punishment three Marines received for a video of Marines urinating on dead Taliban soldiers was “not a slap on the wrist,” despite no criminal charges being filed. – DEFCON Hill
The transfer of security control from a U.S.-led international mission to Afghan troops has reached an irreversible phase, a top NATO commander said Aug. 28, as he outlined moves to stem insider attacks on NATO forces. – AFP
Afghan President Hamid Karzai filled gaps in two top security ministries on Wednesday as part of a reshuffle forced on him by a fractious parliament, but risked a destabilizing row with lawmakers by reappointing a sacked minister. – Reuters
NATO countries may temporarily send more troops to Afghanistan to pack up and ship out huge quantities of weapons and equipment as they wind down operations after more than a decade of war, a military planner said on Tuesday. – Reuters
The central Taliban leadership is trying to improve the group’s image in case it wants to push forward tentative reconciliation steps and perhaps even enter mainstream politics. But some militant units are hard to control, roaming the countryside and slaughtering those deemed immoral. – Reuters
Max Boot writes: We will need to maintain at least 30,000 troops in Afghanistan past 2014 to advise and assist local security forces in their battles against weakened but undefeated foes. That commitment would be hard to sustain in the face of active domestic opposition. But it may be possible in today’s atmosphere of apathy. Just as there is little public awareness of troop deployments in Kosovo or South Korea or the Sinai Peninsula, so troops could conceivably stay in Afghanistan for years—as long as they don’t take many casualties. – Wall Street Journal (subscription required)
Pakistan
The fate of a Pakistani Christian girl at the center of a contentious blasphemy case hung in the balance on Tuesday, as lawyers applied for her release from jail and an influential Muslim cleric offered his support. – New York Times
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said on Tuesday it was halting most of its aid programs in Pakistan due to deteriorating security and the beheading of a British staff doctor in April blamed on Taliban insurgents. – Reuters
Taliban militants attacked an army post in northwest Pakistan on Wednesday killing eight soldiers, military sources said, challenging official assertions that offensives in the region had severely weakened insurgent groups. – Reuters
India
India’s Supreme Court on Wednesday confirmed the death sentence of Mohammed Ajmal Kasab, the only surviving gunman of the 2008 Mumbai attacks, which left 166 people dead. – Wall Street Journal (subscription required)
A proposed direct-tax law that India is framing may require a fresh look, Finance Minister P. Chidambaram said Tuesday, indicating more modifications that could delay the implementation of the new rules. – Wall Street Journal (subscription required)
In an hourlong interview, Mr. Modi ticks off what he says are ways for India to reverse a slowdown in growth that is worrying policy makers. The government should invest to support private-sector manufacturing to make the nation more globally competitive, he says. It should make changes in the power sector, as he has done in Gujarat, to avoid widespread blackouts like the one that plunged hundreds of millions of people into darkness last month. And it should revitalize the liberalization process that began in the 1990s by privatizing vast public-sector industries. – Wall Street Journal (subscription required)
Ruling Congress Party leader Sonia Gandhi accused the main opposition party on Tuesday of holding India to ransom in a stand-off over coal deals that has paralyzed parliament. – Reuters
China
China’s exports to Europe have remained weak during the traditional peak season for shipping, but the country’s trade with the U.S. appears to have more traction, according to the chief executive officer of Maersk Lines, the world’s largest container shipping group. – Wall Street Journal (subscription required)
China is attempting to slowly assimilate Taiwan, said a new report issued by the London-based Business Monitor International (BMI). – Defense News
Hong Kong is getting ready to roll out the doormat for more mainland Chinese tourists—much to the chagrin of many residents. – WSJ’s China Real Time Report
The head of a group of chief executives does not expect Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney to label China as a currency manipulator the first day he takes office. – The Hill’s On the Money
Blind Chinese legal activist Chen Guangcheng, whose escape from house arrest sparked a diplomatic crisis between Beijing and Washington, said on Tuesday he will “most likely” accept an invitation to visit Taiwan, a move likely to infuriate China. – Reuters
Josh Rogin reports: China’s state-controlled media lashed out at GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney Monday, warning that his policies would poison U.S.-China relations. – The Cable
Analysis: Despite public anticipation in China that the carrier — a refitted, Soviet-era vessel bought from Ukraine — will soon become the flagship of a powerful navy, defense experts say it lacks the strike aircraft, weapons, electronics, training and logistical support it needs to become a fighting warship. – Reuters
Editorial: The Chinese government’s standard response to police crimes is to cover up the evidence and silence those who try to find the truth. Mr. Li’s case fits this pattern. As the Hong Kong newspaper Ming Pao wrote in an editorial, the Hunan investigations drew conclusions without releasing evidence to support them. The probes have persuaded no one but the gullible that the police claim of suicide is credible. As Chinese demand their civil liberties, the movement to hold Li Wangyang’s killers accountable will only grow stronger. – Wall Street Journal Asia (subscription required)
East Asia
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un appears more approachable than his late father, but despite a new emphasis on economic improvement, there are few signs of real reform under way in the totalitarian state, a pair of senior defectors working for South Korea’s most secretive think tank said Tuesday. – Washington Times
Japan’s main opposition parties submitted a censure motion against Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda on Tuesday, intensifying a standoff over the timing of a general election and threatening the implementation of the budget. – Wall Street Journal (subscription required)
Burma
Myanmar’s government said it is removing more than 2,000 names from an infamous blacklist that has blocked dissidents and some journalists from entering the country, but many well-known dissidents insist they are still blocked from visiting the country. – Wall Street Journal (subscription required)
The United Nations said on Tuesday that two people working for the world body who were sentenced by a Myanmar court in connection with sectarian violence there earlier this year had been released, but a third remained in detention. – Reuters
Protectionist clauses introduced by Myanmar’s parliament to a long-awaited foreign investment law have sparked concern the legislation will scare off foreign companies and benefit the crony capitalists who have long dominated its economy. – Reuters
Cook Islands
The tiny South Pacific islands and atolls known as the Cook Islands have rarely been more than an afterthought to the world’s great powers. Yet in their intensifying contest for influence in the Asian Pacific region, the United States and China are seeing new value in far-flung outposts that until now were coveted more for pearls and sunsets than geostrategic importance. – Los Angeles Times
Central Asia
A second political party in Turkmenistan — still under an absolute dictatorship more than 20 years after achieving independence from the Soviet Union — will do nothing to bring democracy to the oil-rich Central Asian nation, political observers and analysts say. – Washington Times
Jeff Goldstein writes: The United States should focus as much on public diplomacy as it does on government-to-government relations, making clear that we will stand up for our values and the rights of the residents of Central Asia while continuing to engage with the region’s governments. – Huffington Post
Trans-Pacific Partnership
Eight Democratic House members wrote to U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk on Tuesday asking to be included in far-ranging trade talks involving 11 countries in Asia and the Americas. – The Hill’s Global Affairs
Russia
Seven people died in a suicide bombing, including a respected Muslim cleric, and a border guard shot to death seven of his fellow soldiers before being killed on Tuesday in separate attacks in the Republic of Dagestan in the North Caucasus, where Russia has long battled violent Islamic separatists. – New York Times
A Russian court Tuesday sentenced an opposition activist to eight years in prison on drug charges, doubling the time sought by prosecutors in a case government critics call trumped-up retaliation. – Los Angeles Times
The two other members of the feminist punk rock collective who participated in the Christ the Savior Cathedral protest have left the country to avoid prosecution. For the remaining 12 to 15…members remaining in Russia, many remain so leery of authorities they concoct elaborate schemes for meeting with journalists, often conducting interviews only once all voice recorders have been turned off and their anonymity guaranteed. – Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
Josh Rogin reports: Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney was right when he called Russia America’s “No. 1 geopolitical foe” and a Romney administration would confront Moscow on its poor record on democracy, human rights, and the rule of law, two top foreign-policy advisors to the GOP candidate said Tuesday. – The Cable
Europe
Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg proposed devoting more resources to better prepare for future terrorist attacks following a massacre that killed 77 people last summer in the Nordic nation. – Wall Street Journal (subscription required)
A Ukrainian high court on Wednesday rejected an appeal by jailed former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko against her conviction for abuse of office, an outcome likely to complicate Ukraine’s already poor relations with the West. – Reuters
Lawyers for Ukraine’s ex-prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko denounced what they called the inhumane conditions of her detention before the European Court of Human Rights on Tuesday, saying her 2011 arrest was intended to bar her from elections. – Reuters
United States of America
Republicans included a call for a special counsel to investigate national security leaks from the White House in their party platform that was approved at the Republican National Convention on Tuesday, accusing President Obama of leaking details of the Osama bin Laden raid for political gain. – DEFCON Hill
Republicans on Tuesday approved a foreign-policy platform that urges the defeat of three treaties the Obama administration had hoped to ratify this year, putting some GOP senators in a bind. – The Hill’s Global Affairs
Interview: While Republicans have sometimes labeled President Obama an appeaser and called for ending foreign aid, Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H., wants a more thoughtful approach to national security. Her husband, after all, was an A-10 pilot who served in Iraq. Ayotte talked with National Journal about her second year in the Senate, why she begged for her committee post, and what it’s like being mentored by John McCain. – National Journal
Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) writes: In country after country I visit, our nation’s friends and allies tell me they still have faith in America….There are so many people who still believe in America and who still want to live in a world shaped by American power, American values, and American leadership. With all of these people counting on us, and by no means counting us out, the least we can do is endeavor to be worthy of their high hopes. Mitt Romney has this faith in America, and foreign policy under a Republican administration would ensure that America can remain the best hope for mankind. – Foreign Policy
Latin America
The two Americans who were wounded when gunmen fired on an American Embassy vehicle last week were Central Intelligence Agency employees sent as part of a multiagency effort to bolster Mexican efforts to fight drug traffickers, officials said on Tuesday. – New York Times
The prospect of peace talks in Colombia to end a half-century-old guerrilla war is stirring optimism among many ordinary Colombians and scholars, even if they say the chances for reconciliation are uncertain. – Wall Street Journal (subscription required)
A deadly explosion at Venezuela’s largest refinery over the weekend is only the latest sign of crumbling infrastructure in the oil-rich Andean nation, putting renewed pressure on President Hugo Chávez as he gears up for a critical re-election battle. – Wall Street Journal (subscription required)
The discourse may have reached a new low on the program, called “Cayendo y Corriendo,” or “Falling and Running,” but insulting Chavez’s opponents is standard fare on Venezuela’s six state-owned TV stations. – Los Angeles Times
While ostensibly aimed at the poor, Venezuela’s petro-diplomacy is benefiting another group in Nicaragua, the second-poorest nation in the Americas after Haiti, according to these critics. – Financial Times
West Africa
In the past year, the long-running tensions in Plateau state have increasingly attracted the interest of the Islamist insurgent group Boko Haram, which appears to be trying to incite a religious war in Nigeria…These attacks have prompted fears that Boko Haram could exploit the underlying disputes in Plateau state – over land, identity, politics and access to resources – for its own gain. – Financial Times
The United States urged African nations on Tuesday to pool their air force assets in a NATO-style effort to take on terrorists and international criminals rather than struggle to fund costly independent operations. – Reuters
Mokhtar Belmokhtar, a founder of al Qaeda’s North African offshoot, is alive and leading military operations, an associate said on Tuesday, denying a report that the Algerian had been killed in clashes in Mali in late June. – Reuters
East Africa
Acts of piracy in the treacherous waters around the Horn of Africa have fallen sharply in 2012, according to statistics released by the United States Navy. The Navy credits aggressive patrolling by international forces and increased vigilance by the commercial shipping industry for the decrease. – New York Times
Sudan and South Sudan are still supporting rebels in each other’s country as they prepare for a fresh round of talks this week over disputes that brought the two neighbors to the brink of war earlier this year. – Washington Times
A Kenyan police officer died and 13 others were wounded late on Tuesday in a grenade attack during riots in Mombasa over the killing of a radical cleric, a senior police official said. – New York Times
Former cabinet minister Mohamed Osman Jawaari was elected speaker of Somalia’s parliament by a majority vote on Tuesday to lay the groundwork for a new government in the war-torn Horn of Africa country. – Reuters
A former Somali prime minister denied diplomatic immunity must pay $21 million in damages to the victims of his alleged torture and human rights abuse, a U.S. federal court ruled on Tuesday. – Reuters
