Syria
The French government is providing funds to five revolutionary councils in rebel-held parts of Syria to help them restore water supplies, sanitation, health services and bakeries, a senior French diplomat, Éric Chevallier, said Thursday. – New York Times
The assassination of a Syrian rebel fighter linked to Al Qaeda called new attention on Thursday to the ideological differences among the Islamists fighting the government of President Bashar al-Assad and threatened to set off new strife among the rebels. – New York Times
Western spy agencies suspect Syria’s government has several hundred tons of chemical weapons and precursor components scattered among as many as 20 sites throughout the country, heightening anxieties about the ability to secure the arsenals in the event of a complete breakdown of authority in the war-torn nation, U.S. and Middle Eastern officials say. – Washington Post
Rebels claim to have shot down a few aircraft, but they admit there is little to do about the threat from above — so they are moving against the source. The leader of the rebel brigade doing most of the fighting in Aleppo announced Tuesday that air bases would be the new target for their forces. – Washington Post
After hours of heavy shelling, Syrian troops recaptured a border town Thursday in what activists said was a government attempt to stem the flood of people fleeing the country’s civil war. – Associated Press
The U.S. is ramping up its presence at Syria’s Turkish border, sending more spies and diplomats to help advise the rebel forces in their mismatched fight against the better armed Syrian regime, and to watch for possible al-Qaida infiltration of rebel ranks. – Associated Press
Peter Maurer, president of the Geneva-based International Committee of the Red Cross, says his talks with Bashar Assad were “sober, to the point” and “clearly focused on humanitarian needs,” such as freeing up deliveries of food, medicine and other supplies to hundreds of thousands of people. – Associated Press
Iran
Iran’s official news agency is reporting authorities have set June 14 as the date for next year’s presidential election. – Associated Press
Iran and a representative of six major governments are set during a Friday telephone discussion to assess whether their sides have established sufficient common ground for a new multilateral gathering aimed at defusing an intensifying standoff over Tehran’s atomic activities, the Iranian Students’ News Agency reported on Wednesday. – Global Security Newswire
Olli Heinonen and Simon Henderson write: Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei claimed last week that his government isn’t interested in nuclear weapons: “Our motto is nuclear energy for all and nuclear weapons for none,” he said. A better perspective was provided almost simultaneously from the world’s nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, which on Aug. 30 released its latest report on Iran’s nuclear activities. – Wall Street Journal (Subscription)
Turkey
The latest focus of that angst is the arrest last week by Turkish authorities of seven alleged Iranian agents accused of informing Tehran about Turkey’s military installations, its battle against Kurdish militants and its support for Syrian rebels. The affair has grown in importance since the first two alleged spies were hauled from a minibus for taking ill-advised photos; some reports say the police have uncovered a 100-strong espionage network. – Financial Times
Erdogan once touted a “no problems with neighbors” foreign policy that emphasized removing longstanding points of tension with surrounding countries, including Syria. But with the advent of the Arab Spring, he strongly supported revolutionaries working to topple the established order. – Foreign Policy
Jordan
The nearly 25,000 Syrians who have taken refuge here from the war in their homeland live in pervasive frustration: Penned in by a wire fence, many wear surgical masks against the swirling dust as officials scramble to provide enough shelter, food and water. – Los Angeles Times
Israel
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the U.S. ambassador to Israel argued heatedly during a meeting about U.S. and Israeli strategy in confronting Iran, according to a U.S. lawmaker who was present. – Washington Post
U.S. Adm. James Winnefeld, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, concluded two-day talks here today focused on Iran and other regional threats. – Defense News
Libya
A Libyan man says he was waterboarded while in CIA custody in Afghanistan, a new allegation that challenges the long-standing claim by U.S. officials that just three people since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, had been subjected to the simulated drowning technique many consider torture. – Los Angeles Times
Libyan authorities have taken custody of Moammar Gadhafi’s former spy chief, who was captured by Mauritania in March while on the run from an indictment on war crimes by the International Criminal Court. – Wall Street Journal (Subscription)
Afghanistan
The Obama administration has decided to blacklist as a terrorist organization the Haqqani network, the militant organization responsible for some of the deadliest attacks against American troops in Afghanistan, several American officials said late Thursday. – New York Times
It was billed as a news briefing by American and Afghan commanders on what the allies are doing to stop insider attacks by Afghan forces against NATO troops. The first question, though, was just about the last thing the three generals on the dais wanted to hear. – New York Times
The top U.S. commander in Afghanistan Gen. John Allen issued a lengthy statement Thursday detailing the steps NATO and the Afghans are taking to stem the rising number of “insider attacks.” – The Hill’s Defcon Hill
Gretchen Peters writes: This weekend brings the congressional deadline for Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton to decide whether the group meets the criteria for designation as a foreign organization engaging in terrorist activity that threatens U.S. citizens or national security. – Washington Post
China
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton put a positive spin on meetings with Chinese leaders earlier this week that yielded little visible progress on diplomatic disputes, saying the relationship between the two superpowers is mature enough to withstand differences. – Wall Street Journal
India
The latest session of India’s often-raucous Parliament has been adjourned after weeks of shouting matches between the country’s beleaguered government and the opposition. – Associated Press
Sadanand Dhume writes: Just when you thought India’s economic story couldn’t get any more depressing, it does. In the World Economic Forum’s annual Global Competitiveness Report released Thursday, India fell three spots to 59th among 144 countries surveyed. Over the past three years, India has plummeted 10 places, slipping behind fellow BRICS economies South Africa and Brazil. It now trails 30 places behind putative rival China. – Wall Street Journal (Subscription)
Pakistan
The Pakistani government has ordered foreign staff members of Save the Children to leave the country, a spokesman for the international aid group said Thursday. – Associated Press
In the Pakistani tribal regions that harbor al Qaeda and a caldron of other jihadist groups, Islamic militants from Central Asia, China, Turkey and even Germany are growing in number, eclipsing Arabs and possibly raising new challenges not just for the U.S., but for Europe, Russia and China, say intelligence officials, analysts and residents of the area. – Associated Press
Pakistan is reinforcing protections around a primary nuclear site in the wake of indications it could be targeted by Taliban fighters in the region, the Express Tribune reported on Thursday. – Global Security Newswire
Japan
Japan’s defense budget will post the biggest drop in more than half a century next year but Tokyo will make new investments in equipment to help defend remote islands, the defense ministry said on Friday. – Reuters
Nepal
The U.S. State Department on Thursday removed Nepal’s ruling Maoist party from its list of global terrorist groups, providing a diplomatic victory for the former rebels who waged a decadelong civil war until 2006 that killed more than 13,000 people. – Wall Street Journal (subscription)
Singapore
In an unusual public airing of strategic problems surrounding China’s rise, the prime minister of Singapore, Lee Hsien Loong, warned China on Thursday that it should view the United States not as a declining power, but as a nation with the ability to innovate and bounce back. – New York Times
East Asia
Taiwan’s president used a high-profile visit to a Taiwanese islet on Friday to warn Japan against making any attempts to nationalize islands that are part of a disputed chain in the East China Sea. – Washington Post
They are mere specks on the map. Many are uninhabited, and others sparsely so by fishermen and seasonal residents. Yet the disputed ownership of these tiny constellations of islands is inflaming nationalist fervor from the cold North Pacific to the tropical South China Sea. – Associated Press
Central Asia
The Kyrgyz parliament approved a new coalition government this week, choosing a prime minister lawmakers hope will be able to soothe the volatile nation’s glaring north-south political divide while holding together the shaky alliances of the new administration. – Washington Times
They say compromise is the genius of democracy — so Jantoro Satybaldiev’s confirmation as Kyrgyzstan’s prime minister might just be what the country needs to get through the current crisis that threatens to tear it apart along north-south lines. – RFE/RL
President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia is seizing on the Asia-Pacific economic summit conference being held here this weekend to turn assertively to the Far East, hoping to strengthen ties with the Pacific Rim and pursuing ambitious development in Russia itself, starting with this formerly secret naval fortress turned shipping hub on the Sea of Japan. – New York Times
President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia sauntered into American presidential politics on Thursday, praising President Obama as “a very honest man” and chastising the Republican nominee, Mitt Romney, for describing Russia as “without question our No. 1 geopolitical foe.” – New York Times
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday accused the United States of inadvertently backing elements of al Qaeda in Syria through Washington’s continued support for rebel forces in the country. – The Hill’s Defcon Hill
Eastern Europe
Kosovo amended its constitution on Friday to allow for the closure of a Western-led supervisory body created when the territory split from Serbia in 2008, though EU police and NATO soldiers will stay on in the volatile and impoverished state. – Reuters
NATO’s chief accused Azerbaijan of undermining peace efforts with its neighbor Armenia by pardoning a soldier who had murdered an Armenian and warned the countries on Friday they must not return to war. – Reuters
United States
44 and his allies made the case for him as commander in chief Thursday night, saying he was a steady hand in a dangerous world, while accusing Mitt Romney of outsourcing his policy to “neocon advisers” who would lead a return to the reckless adventurism of the Bush administration. – New York Times
Following a tumultuous and embarrassing episode Wednesday in which the Democratic National Committee suddenly altered its platform to embrace Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, top Democrats are pointing fingers in every direction. – Foreign Policy’s The Cable
So far, Pakistan hasn’t been mentioned once at the Republican or Democratic conventions. But what was lost in all the talk last week about Mitt Romney not mentioning Afghanistan in Tampa was the fact that, only days earlier, a campaign advisor had made an interesting case for why the Republican presidential candidate would improve U.S.-Pakistani relations. – Foreign Policy’s Passport Blog
A little more than four years ago in western Iraq, then-senator Barack Obama met for 90 minutes with a group of Arab sheiks, allies of the U.S. military in the war against al Qaeda. Known as the Anbar Awakening, the tribal leaders are credited by the Marine Corps’ own official historian with helping turn the tide of the Iraq War and creating the conditions on the ground for the country’s fragile government to survive. During the meeting the future president assured the group that there would be a long-term partnership between America and Iraq, according to two of the sheikhs who were there and a U.S. translator in the meeting. – The Daily Beast
The administration’s other major foreign policy initiatives – engaging America’s foes such as Russia, Iran, and Syria – were also endemically flawed. The president’s outreach to Dmitry Medvedev, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and Bashar al-Assad effectively committed U.S. policy to supporting authoritarians even in the face of pro-democracy uprisings against their regimes, just as he was slow to back the people of Egypt in their efforts to oust Hosni Mubarak in 2011. While liberal foreign policy experts may argue that the Bush administration’s refusal to negotiate with some of these despotic regimes limited America’s options for success, the Obama administration’s regime centered approach likewise undermined America’s traditional role as a beacon of freedom. – Weekly Standard Blog
Colombia
Colombia’s leader warned that violence in the country could rise over the coming months as soldiers and communist guerrillas fight for advantage on the battlefield while their proxies begin peace talks to end the country’s half-century-old conflict. – Wall Street Journal (subscription)
Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos rejected a proposal on Thursday by leftist FARC rebels for a bilateral ceasefire during talks next month aimed at bringing an end to half a century of war. – Reuters
Venezuela
The American captain of a U.S. cargo ship was detained at a port in Venezuela early Thursday after three assault rifles were found on board, the U.S. Embassy said. – Washington Post
Dwight Sagaray, 35, was second-in-command at the Venezuelan Embassy in Kenya, even briefly heading the mission. He is now stripped of immunity and accused of murdering his boss. – New York Times
The Rwandan government has launched a development fund aimed at weaning the country off aid and offsetting donor funding shortfalls because of alleged support for a fresh rebellion in the neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo. – Financial Times
