Iran
International sanctions helped drive down Iran’s oil exports nearly 45% in July, a new report showed, while Canada said on Friday it had closed its embassy in Tehran and would expel all Iranian diplomats in Canada. – Wall Street Journal
Iran has exported a crude-oil cargo through the private sector for the first time, Iranian media said Sunday, as it seeks new ways to circumvent mounting sanctions. – Wall Street Journal (subscription required)
Despite what the administration calls some of the toughest economic sanctions ever imposed, including a European Union oil embargo and a U.S. ban on financial institutions doing business with Iran’s central bank, Tehran is finding legal ways to sell or barter oil to its most important markets in Asia. – Los Angeles Times
As speculation grows over whether Israel will attack sites such as the Isfahan Uranium Conversion Facility, on the city’s outskirts, or Iran’s main uranium enrichment plant at Natanz, 87 miles to the northeast, Isfahanis themselves shrug off the danger. – Washington Post
As Iran’s president crafts his talking points for his annual trip to New York, one message is likely to remain near the top: Tehran has not closed the door on nuclear dialogue and is ready to resume negotiations with world powers. – Associated Press
If 44 really is determined to take military action if Iran takes decisive steps toward producing a bomb, such as enriching uranium to bomb-grade levels or expelling inspectors, he would be wise to say so publicly. Doing so would improve relations with Mr. Netanyahu and deter unilateral Israeli action — and it might well convince Iran that the time has come to compromise. – Washington Post
Iran is at the threshold of a nuclear weapons capability. Sanctions, direct action, and diplomatic tools have neither changed Iran’s nuclear policy nor had a visible effect on the enrichment program, including the growing stockpile of 19.75% LEU. – AEI’s Iran Tracker
Syria
The Syrian government accused France of “schizophrenia” on Sunday for pledging to support a peaceful resolution to the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad and simultaneously aiding the armed groups driving the insurrection. – New York Times
More than two dozen people were killed and scores injured late Sunday when at least one car bomb exploded in a residential district of the embattled northern Syrian city of Aleppo, according to state television and other broadcast reports in Syria. – Los Angeles Times
Clashes between the Syrian military and rebel fighters burst a main pipe that delivered drinking water to hundreds of thousands of residents of Aleppo, opposition groups said Saturday, as the United Nations refugee agency said more than 1.2 million Syrians still inside the country, half of them children, had been displaced from their homes. – New York Times
Syrian rebels claimed Friday night that they had freed 350 prisoners held in a security building in the divided city of Aleppo, while in the opposition stronghold of Homs the rebels’ supporters held a public protest against the disorganization and lack of unity among their forces. – New York Times
[D]estabilizing rifts threaten the effort—stoking fights over ideology, weapons and political influence. The rifts partly explain a stall in the rebels’ momentum to capture Aleppo, which was the scene of a lethal car bombing Sunday. The splits also offer a glimpse into the nascent political forces that would vie for power in a post-Assad Syria. – Wall Street Journal (subscription required)
Turkish authorities have begun knocking on doors of thousands of Syrian refugees here to demand that they either enter camps or move deeper inside Turkey, far away from a border region tense with sectarian strife. – Washington Post
Syria’s uprising, which began 18 months ago with peaceful protests, has been overtaken by bloodshed as the country spirals deeper into civil war. Yet the nonviolent movement continues in Damascus, though sometimes in such a fleeting fashion that you might miss it if you blink. – Washington Post
Republican Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) on Saturday blasted 44’s handling of the conflict in Syria saying that the administration’s policies had denied rebels seeking to oust Bashar al-Assad a “fair fight.” – DEFCON Hill
Syrian opposition leaders based in the United States took their plea for tougher action against President Bashar Assad to the political conventions in an attempt to bend the ear of decision-makers away from the din of Washington. – The Hill’s Global Affairs
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Sunday acknowledged deep differences with Russia over how to handle the crisis in Syria, saying she would continue to try to persuade Moscow to back increased international pressure on Syrian President Bashar Assad, even if such a step is unlikely. – Associated Press
A Jordanian militant leader linked to al Qaeda warned Sunday that his extremist group will launch “deadly attacks” in neighboring Syria to topple President Bashar Assad, as Damascus lashed out at France for backing Syrian rebels. – Associated Press
There is still time for the United States to control this growing sectarian threat, but the volatile cocktail of religious antagonism, national interests and oil requires immediate and vigorous action. – Washington Post
White also explains that Syrian air defenses, once described by U.S. officials as “sophisticated,” are “not a serious obstacle for a Western air force” seeking to impose a no-fly zone. Similarly, the 44th administration and its surrogates should no longer imagine that the prospect of an al Qaeda victory in Syria is an obstacle to American support. – The Weekly Standard
North Africa
A delegation of more than 100 American business leaders is touring Cairo this week, part of a White House-led effort to burnish Egypt’s image as an investment destination and help restore the country’s flagging economy. – Wall Street Journal (subscription required)
Sectarian tensions have ignited deadly outbursts over the last 18 months, including churches set ablaze and the killing of more than 20 Copts by security forces and armed thugs at a rally in downtown Cairo. President Mohamed Morsi, a former Muslim Brotherhood leader who took office in June, has been criticized for not stemming the animosity that has sent thousands of Copts fleeing the country. – Los Angeles Times
Clearly, Libya’s new government has more pressing needs than new museums. Security and a well-functioning civil service are higher priorities, and the West can better assist with both. But Libya’s new leaders should understand—perhaps even better than most—that a people who do not respect their past and fail to write their own history will find it written for them by others. – Wall Street Journal (subscription required)
Bahrain
Harsh jail terms upheld this week for 13 Bahraini activists marked a setback to the Obama administration’s hope that the Sunni Muslim monarchy was ready to settle its bloody conflict with the country’s restless Shiite majority. It wasn’t the first time Washington has been disappointed. – Los Angeles Times
Security forces again fired tear gas and arrested demonstrators in Bahrain’s capital on Friday, as protesters renewed their calls for reform and the release of political prisoners in the island kingdom that is home to the United States Navy’s Fifth Fleet. – NYT’s The Lede
Iraq
The vice president of Iraq, a prominent Sunni Muslim, was convicted of murder and sentenced to death on Sunday in a trial conducted in absentia. The verdict coincided with a wave of bombings and insurgent attacks that claimed at least 100 lives, making Sunday one of the bloodiest days in Iraq since American troops withdrew last year. – New York Times
The vice president of Iraq, a prominent Sunni Muslim who was convicted of murder and sentenced to death in a trial conducted in absentia, denounced the verdict on Monday as “false and unjust,” depicting the court’s finding as “an acquittal, confirming my innocence.” – New York Times
Israel
Thrown on the defensive by street protests against rising prices of basic goods, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas backed his embattled prime minister Saturday and blamed Israel for restrictions that he said hampered an effective response. – Washington Post
Afghanistan
The U.S. military prison in Afghanistan known as Bagram, infamous for its association with abuse of detainees during the 11-year war against al-Qaeda and the Taliban, was officially transferred to Afghan control Monday. – Washington Post
The American and NATO training missions in Afghanistan have told United States government investigators that more than four years of financial records covering about $475 million worth of fuel purchases for the Afghan National Army may have been shredded, raising concerns about potential fraud. – New York Times
A suicide attacker set off a bomb Saturday near the headquarters of the U.S.-led coalition in Kabul, killing six people in what the Taliban said was a deliberate response to the U.S. designating an affiliated insurgent group as a terrorist organization. – Wall Street Journal
A minor traffic incident in Kabul this weekend escalated into a deadly gunbattle between rival ethnic groups that threatened to rekindle civil-war tensions and marred a major government celebration. – Wall Street Journal (subscription required)
Officials and industry experts say the potential resource boom seems increasingly imperiled by corruption, violence and intrigue, and has put the Afghan government’s vulnerabilities on display. – New York Times
A U.S. soldier held by Afghan militants will not be harmed despite the Obama administration’s decision to declare his alleged captors a terrorist group, a senior member of the Pakistan-based Haqqani network told The Associated Press on Saturday. However, the United States and NATO can expect stepped up attacks, he said. – Associated Press
It was another week at war in Afghanistan, another string of American casualties, and another collective shrug by a nation weary of a faraway conflict whose hallmark is its grinding inconclusiveness. – Associated Press
Pakistan
Pakistan and India signed a new visa agreement on Saturday, easing restrictions for travelers in what was seen as a step toward warming relations between the rival South Asian countries after years of heightened mistrust and hostility. – New York Times
Under heavy security, a Christian girl accused of blasphemy was released from a Pakistani jail Saturday and flown by government helicopter to be reunited with her family three weeks after a mob threatened to set her on fire for allegedly desecrating the Koran. – Washington Post
Pakistan is growing increasingly impatient as host of the world’s largest refugee community — millions of Afghans who fled the Soviet invasion and, later, Taliban rule. At the end of the year, Afghans in Pakistan will lose legal status as refugees, making them vulnerable to deportation. – Los Angeles Times
The White House’s decision to place the Haqqani terror network on the State Department’s terrorist organization list will set relations between Washington and Islamabad “back to square one,” a senior Pakistani security official said Friday. – DEFCON Hill
Pakistani security forces pushed Taliban militants who came from Afghanistan back across the border after more than two weeks of fighting in a mountainous tribal region, spokesmen for both sides said Sunday. The government says over 100 people were killed in the offensive. – Associated Press
Reza Jan writes: Powerful as the FTO label is, it is no panacea as far as Pakistan is concerned. That pill is currently out of stock. Designating the Haqqani Network as an FTO does, however, give the U.S. government powerful new tools with which to seriously raise the cost of doing business with the network without placing undue strain on its relationship with Pakistan. The Pakistanis are probably surprised it did not come sooner. – AEI Ideas
China
The re-emergence of party “elders” on the political scene highlights a problem for the next generation of leaders due to take over this fall, according to party members, diplomats and political analysts. – Wall Street Journal (subscription required)
One day before Hong Kong residents vote to elect a new legislature, the Chinese territory’s leader backed down on a contested plan to promote patriotism in local schools, bowing to political pressure and hunger strikers. – Wall Street Journal
Pro-democracy candidates won strong voter support in legislative elections here, but failed to capture some key seats because pro-Beijing political parties with greater financial resources proved more skillful in navigating Hong Kong’s complex electoral system. – New York Times
China reported falling imports and lackluster growth in exports for August, the latest set of worrying data to come out of the world’s second-largest economy. – Wall Street Journal (subscription required)
The House Intelligence Committee is kicking off the next phase of its probe into the national security threats posed by Chinese telecommunications companies doing business in the United States by holding an open hearing [this] Thursday. – Hillicon Valley
A group of Asian men set off alarm bells in U.S. counterintelligence circles last week by showing up outside the entrance to a U.S. strategic missile base in Wyoming. – Washington Free Beacon
A Chinese Communist Party-managed newspaper on Friday called for the country to boost its nuclear arms strength, the Indo-Asian News Service reported. – Global Security Newswire
Japan
Gazprom, Russia’s state-controlled gas monopoly, signed an accord on Saturday with the government of Japan to move forward with plans for the construction of a $13 billion natural gas terminal here that would propel the Kremlin’s ambitions to multiply its business and trade ties in the Far East. – New York Times
As Japanese lawmakers grapple with widespread voter dissatisfaction with mainstream political parties ahead of a general election, the growing popularity of a grass-roots political movement led by Osaka mayor Toru Hashimoto is helping shape policy and politics in Tokyo. – Wall Street Journal (subscription required)
Tens of thousands of people rallied Sunday against U.S. plans to deploy Osprey hybrid aircraft on a southern Japanese island amid renewed safety concerns. – Associated Press
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
East Asia
Asia-Pacific leaders took steps forward on trade and environmental issues at their weekend summit in Russia but their progress was overshadowed by continued diplomatic strains across the region. – Wall Street Journal (subscription required)
As two F-16 fighter aircraft flew over Pengjia Islet, Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou told journalists that Taiwan was reaffirming its sovereignty over the islets, which were only 33 nautical miles from Taiwan’s northern port of Keelung. – Defense News
China and South Korea are tracking advances made by North Korea in construction of a reactor that could have nuclear weapons applications, a senior South Korean Foreign Ministry official told Yonhap News Agency on Friday. – Global Security Newswire
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton urged Asian countries embroiled in simmering territorial disputes to work together to ease rather than raise tensions. – Associated Press
Southeast Asia
Myanmar’s Parliament passed a long-anticipated law that lays the ground rules for global companies planning to move into the country’s long-restricted market—legislation that dropped several provision that would have deterred foreign investment but still fell short of what many businesses had hoped to see. – Wall Street Journal (subscription required)
China has expelled 5,000 ethnic Kachin people who fled fighting between rebels and Myanmar troops, the United Nations refugee agency said Friday, calling on China to protect and shelter the displaced people. – LA Times’ World Now
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s visit to East Timor on Thursday–the first by a U.S. Secretary of State–rekindled talk about the Connecticut-sized nation someday joining the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations. – WSJ’s Southeast Asia Real Time
China’s controversial territorial claim is at the heart of a simmering dispute among the nations that ring the South China Sea. That dispute was on full display last week, after China rejected calls by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to find agreement on the maritime borders. – Defense News
Central Asia
A human rights group on Monday accused three oil companies and the government of Kazakhstan of abusing and repressing workers in the country’s oil fields. – New York Times
Russia
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton pledged Saturday that the United States would soon lift cold-war-era trade sanctions on Russia, but she did not address human rights legislation in Congress that has so far stalled passage, infuriated the Kremlin and become an unexpected issue in the American presidential race. – New York Times
At times, President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia seemed to be limping and in pain this weekend, but as the annual Asian-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting wrapped up here on Sunday, the Russian leader showed some of his trademark swagger, hitting back at political opponents who mocked his latest stunt – New York Times
Russia has no intention of cutting weapons from its nuclear force in the absence of comparable steps by other powers, a high-level Russian diplomat told Interfax in comments published on Thursday. – Global Security Newswire
United States of America
Newly minted GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney fired back at critics who claim the former Massachusetts governor is neglecting the ongoing war in Afghanistan in his run for the White House. – DEFCON Hill
U.S. Sen. John McCain says he is disappointed with his party’s presidential candidate for sidestepping world affairs in his campaign for the White House but reserves his most scathing words for the current dweller, blaming Barack Obama for inaction while the situation in Syria and elsewhere “cries out for American leadership.” – Associated Press
Kori Schake writes: This is an administration that seems not to appreciate the difference between saying something and achieving it. They are hoping that killing Osama bin Laden will deflect attention from their policies that have made America more resented in crucial sections of the world than we were in the Bush administration, that view defense spending not in the context of threats and opportunities we face in the world but as a funding source for their domestic priorities, that consider trade in more mercantilist terms than do the Chinese, that end wars instead of winning them, and that shun responsibility to advance our values in the world. – Shadow Government
Mexico
The growing middle class that is fast becoming Mexico’s majority is buying more U.S. goods than ever, while turning Mexico into a more democratic, dynamic and prosperous American ally. – Washington Post
A former Mexican president who is now a scholar at Yale University should be immune from a civil lawsuit brought against him in the United States in connection with a 1997 massacre during his term, the State Department said Friday. – New York Times
Under a banner declaring “ours is a question of dignity,” defeated presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador announced Sunday in this city’s massive Zocalo main square that he was withdrawing from the leftist parties he has long dominated while also launching a campaign of peaceful resistance to the newly elected government. – Los Angeles Times
Central America and the Caribbean
American authorities have discovered at least three models of a new and sophisticated drug trafficking submarine capable of traveling completely underwater — unseen from the surface — from South America to the coast of the United States. – New York Times
Seeking better controls for its militarized approach to combating drugs in Central America, the United States has suspended all sharing of radar intelligence with Honduras after the Honduran Air Force shot down two planes that might have been carrying drugs in July, American officials said Friday. – New York Times
In this city long devoted to La Virgen, the patron saint of Cuba, it was yet another dazzling display of her munificence and mystery. Mexicans may have La Virgen de Guadalupe, but among Cubans, Cachita, as she is endearingly called, reigns supreme. – New York Times
Colombia
A spokesman for Colombia’s main leftist guerrilla army said Friday that President Juan Manuel Santos’s rejection of a proposed cease-fire would not derail next month’s peace talks on ending a half-century of armed struggle. – Associated Press
Editorial: [Santos] has said that military operations will go on and that the term of the talks will be limited to a few months; “If there are not advances, we simply won’t continue,” he told the country. Perhaps the FARC will use the chance it has to give up violence and criminality. If not, the United States should support Colombia’s military in a renewed war against this menace. – Washington Post
Jose Cardenas writes: What is clear is that [Santos] is taking a huge risk, not only with his own political fortunes, but Colombia’s future as well. It’s one thing to open a window of opportunity for legitimate peace; it’s quite another to open an escape hatch for the FARC to prolong their criminal conspiracy against the state. President Santos can preserve both his legacy and Colombia’s security by keenly appreciating the difference between the two. – Shadow Government
Africa
In this crowded port city, however, a widespread belief that Kenya’s police are killing off Muslim clerics has taken on a life of its own, stoking antigovernmental tensions among Muslims on the country’s largely Islamic coast. – Wall Street Journal (subscription required)
Analysis: Authority has been challenged — in the streets, by ambush at night, with stones or guns in broad daylight — and the governments have struck back with their customary heavy hand. Regardless of whether those governments are considered legitimate by outside observers and governments, as in the case of Guinea and Ivory Coast, or suspect, as with Togo and Gabon, it has been a summer of siege. – New York Times
