Iran
The top nuclear negotiators for Iran and the big powers met face to face for the first time in nearly three months on Tuesday, part of an effort to revive the stalled talks over Iran’s disputed uranium enrichment activities as new military tensions roil the Middle East. – New York Times
Foreign ministers and the chief negotiator for world powers will meet next week to try to figure out how to break an impasse in negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program, after talks on Tuesday yielded no sign of progress. – Reuters
Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates have confiscated a number of items Iran may have sought for its nuclear program, a development that diplomats said showed how enforcement of U.N. sanctions against Tehran is steadily improving. – Reuters
The U.N. nuclear agency said on Tuesday Iran must address concerns about its suspected atom bomb research, one day after Tehran alleged that “terrorists” had infiltrated the organization to sabotage the Islamic Republic’s uranium enrichment plants. – Reuters
Eli Lake reports: The chief of Iran’s nuclear program says the power lines to his nuclear facilities were sabotaged. U.S. Special Forces have trained for operations inside Iran for years. Do these latest disclosures suggest they are already on the ground? – The Daily Beast
Syria
For the second time in a week, the bloody civil war in Syria spilled across border areas on Wednesday as rebel forces reportedly expelled government troops from a northern frontier crossing in an apparent expansion of the their effort to control infiltration and resupply routes in the campaign to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad. – New York Times
The Turkish government is facing a spasm of reproach from its own people over its policy of supporting Syria’s uprising; hosting fighters in the south, opposition figures in Istanbul and refugees on the border; and helping to ferry arms to the opposition. While many Turks at first supported the policy as a stand for democracy and change, many now believe that it is leading to instability at home, undermining Turkey’s own economy and security. – New York Times
In an attempt to project calm in the midst of relentless violence, Syria’s Education Ministry ordered schools to open this week. Instead of calm, however, the schools reflected what had happened in the rest of the country during the summer: the fighting had grown worse, the routines of daily life more dangerous and education had become one more casualty of the unrest. – New York Times
The UN-Arab League mediator for Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi, says the Syrian crisis is worsening and threatening to stabilize the wider region. – Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
The speaker of Iran’s parliament has revealed that the Islamic regime has held talks with Syrian opposition groups, accusing unnamed countries of blocking its efforts to find a peaceful solution to the conflict in Syria. – Financial Times
Jordan, a small country with a big budget deficit, has won praise and admiration from the UN and other bodies for its willingness to take in the thousands of refugees that stream across the border every week. But Jordanian officials admit that they are struggling to cope with the influx and that conditions at Zaatari need to improve fast. – Financial Times
The Syrian military is understood to have late last month test-fired a number of chemical weapon delivery munitions, witnesses told Der Spiegel for a Monday report. – Global Security Newswire
Civilians, including many children, are the main victims of indiscriminate Syrian army bombing and shelling of areas abandoned to opposition forces, Amnesty International said in a report on Wednesday – Reuters
Iraq reopened its border with Syria on Tuesday to receive refugees escaping violence, but refused entry to young men for security reasons, Iraqi officials said. – Reuters
Syrian refugees in Jordan protested a Tuesday visit to their desert camp by the U.N.’s international Syria envoy, with some pelting his entourage’s vehicles with stones in a reflection of frustration at his mission’s seeming inability to end their country’s civil war. – Associated Press
Libya
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Tuesday that a team of FBI agents has arrived in Libya to investigate the deaths of four Americans who were killed when the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi was overrun last week. –Washington Post
A senior Libyan official who spoke on the condition of anonymity told Karadsheh that U.S. and Libyan officials have held a series of meetings to “assess what went wrong” in Beghazi that resulted in the death of the U.S. Ambassador and three other Americans at the U.S. consulate there. – CNN’s Security Clearance
A Libyan Salafi group which has denied it was involved in a deadly assault on the American consulate in Benghazi said on Tuesday Libya would turn into “an inferno for U.S. troops” if the U.S. military retaliated. – Reuters
Interview: Zahawi and Tarshani claimed that none of the brigade’s members were involved in the consulate attack, and none were among the 50 people Libyan officials say have been arrested in connection with the attack. They justified the assault, during which rocket-propelled grenades were fired into the compound and the mission set ablaze, as an “emotional” response to an Internet film that denigrated Islam and the prophet Muhammad — but they said they disagreed with this action. – Foreign Policy
Ann Marlowe writes: Libya has a long way to go, but the independent Libyan character allows for hope. If there’s anything Libya will not do, it is to conform to expectations. There is a streak of stubborn individualism here, worn with charm and Mediterranean allegria, that calls to mind American individualism. Now it remains to be seen if Libyans will also show some American responsibility and take ownership of their streets before a tiny minority hijacks their revolution. – Wall Street Journal Europe
Egypt
Egypt‘s general prosecutor issued arrest warrants Tuesday for seven Egyptian Coptic Christians and a Florida-based American pastor and referred them to trial on charges linked to an anti-Islam film that has sparked riots across the Muslim world. – Associated Press
Yemen
The U.S. ambassador in Sanaa insisted Tuesday that Marine reinforcements deployed to Yemen were on a temporary mission with limited duties, a day after protests demanding their withdrawal and his expulsion. – AFP
Israel
A fiscal crisis in the aid-dependent Palestinian economy will worsen unless foreign funding increases and Israel eases its restrictions in the occupied West Bank, the World Bank said on Wednesday. – Reuters
Egypt’s crackdown on smuggling tunnels along its border with the Gaza Strip is making shortages ever tighter and has forced the enclave’s Islamist Hamas rulers to consider urgent alternatives. – Reuters
Turkey
At least 10 Turkish soldiers were killed and more than 70 were wounded in a rocket attack by Kurdish militants in Turkey’s eastern province of Bingol, government officials said, in the latest of a series of brazen attacks on Turkey’s security forces that underline how the region’s three-decade-old conflict is deepening. – Wall Street Journal (subscription required)
Afghanistan
As U.S. and NATO forces have evicted insurgents from a broad swath of southern Afghanistan, senior Taliban commanders have shifted toward a new battlefield strategy, one less focused on reclaiming lost territory and more on winning the next phase of the 11-year-old war. – Washington Post
Amid escalating violence and growing doubt on the American transition plan in Afghanistan, one top House Republican is now calling for an immediate withdrawal of U.S. forces from the country. – DEFCON Hill
American and coalition forces have captured a top Taliban commander who helped coordinate a deadly raid on a coalition outpost in southern Afghanistan last Saturday, U.S. command officials say. – DEFCON Hill
The White House said Tuesday that the suspension of most joint operations between NATO and Afghan forces would not derail the planned security transition to the Afghans in 2014. – DEFCON Hill
NATO’s top official has played down the significance of the alliance’s decision to scale back joint operations with the Afghan army and police after a string of insider attacks, saying NATO’s strategy of handing over responsibility for the war to its Afghan allies remains unchanged. – Associated Press
South Asia
After months of legal battles, Pakistan’s government relented on Tuesday to judicial demands that it agree to write a letter to the authorities in Switzerland regarding corruption charges against President Asif Ali Zardari. – New York Times
India’s plans for economic overhauls were thrown into disarray, along with its government’s prospects for survival, as a crucial ally of the ruling coalition said it would withdraw over plans to let foreign supermarkets operate in the country. – Wall Street Journal
The turmoil surrounding India’s national government intensified on Wednesday, with a growing number of regional partners threatening to withdraw their support from the government and a former ally calling for the prime minister to seek a fresh electoral mandate. – New York Times
China
Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta met early Wednesday in Beijing with the Chinese vice president, Xi Jinping, who is expected to become the nation’s next leader. – New York Times
Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta, on a visit to Beijing, sought Tuesday to reduce concerns that the American rebalancing of forces in Asia was directed at China by offering new ways for the two militaries to cooperate. – Washington Post
A former Chinese police chief helped to cover up the murder of a British businessman by the wife of Bo Xilai, the Communist official toppled from power this year, but he also secretly collected evidence used to convict her, according to a lawyer for the police chief and an official account released Tuesday at the end of his trial. – New York Times
The car of the U.S. ambassador to China was surrounded by a small group of demonstrators on Tuesday, who damaged the vehicle and briefly prevented it from entering the U.S. Embassy compound in Beijing. – LA Times’ World Now
China’s air force is laboring mightily to improve both its planes and its personnel — causing much American concern — but it has a long way yet to go. – AOL Defense
China’s military for the second time in two years upstaged a visiting U.S. defense secretary by disclosing the first photographs of its second stealth jet under development. – Washington Free Beacon
Chinese and U.S. naval vessels have conducted their first joint anti-piracy exercise in the Gulf of Aden, officials said Sept. 18, citing the drill as a sign of improving security ties. – AFP
Michael O’Hanlon writes: As the Pentagon looks ahead to a new Quadrennial Defense Review in 2013, it needs a concept of strategy and a name for that strategy that works with rather than against the central goals of U.S. global security policy. Air-Sea Operations fits that bill. – Foreign Policy
East Asia
A territorial spat between China and Japan will “definitely” harm trade between the two nations, the Ministry of Commerce said Wednesday. – Wall Street Journal (subscription required)
China drove home its opposition to Japanese control of a contested group of islands on Tuesday, with angry protests in dozens of cities and a warning from its defense minister that “further actions” were possible. – New York Times
The flare-up between China and Japan over a small group of islands has exposed vulnerabilities in the governments of both nations that make diplomatic compromises difficult despite their deep economic ties. – Wall Street Journal
The Japanese government has watched largely helplessly as protesters in China in recent days have damaged Japanese property and products. Officials are now wrestling with a more nettlesome prospect: how to respond if Chinese activists, possibly escorted by Chinese government boats, take their challenge closer to home by entering waters near disputed islands controlled by Japan. – Wall Street Journal (subscription required)
Japan and the U.S. reached agreement on Wednesday over deployment of U.S. Osprey military aircraft in Japan, settling an issue that had been an irritant in their relations as both countries grapple with China. – Wall Street Journal (subscription required)
Chinese leader-in-waiting Xi Jinping denounced Japan’s decision to buy disputed islands as a farce on Wednesday and said Tokyo should “rein in its behavior” as China moved to snuff out anti-Japan protests. – Reuters
Analysis: China’s decision to open its streets to a wave of anti-Japan protests could end up rebounding on Beijing, which has emerged from days of fervent nationalism with eroded authority at home and fewer options in dealing with Tokyo. – Reuters
Editorial: Ultimately, China will pay a price for putting its nationalist impulses ahead of its national interest in cultivating foreign trade and investment and acquiring a reputation as a stable, rational and trustworthy power. The question is, how high will the price have to go—and who else will have to share in paying it—if Chinese leaders don’t put their worst impulses in check. – Wall Street Journal Asia (subscription required)
Linda Jakobson writes: Although the current demonstrations are smaller than in 2005, this time around the outpouring of anti-Japanese sentiment in China could have much more serious consequences. – Wall Street Journal Asia (subscription required)
Koreas
A software millionaire and professor who has energized South Korean youth with his criticism of social and economic problems, Ahn Cheol-soo, said Wednesday that he will run for president as an independent, posing a challenge to the country’s political establishment and business elite. – Wall Street Journal (subscription required)
Russia and North Korea have signed a deal to write off nearly all of the isolated Asian country’s $11 billion Soviet-era debt, the Russian Finance Ministry said Tuesday. – Wall Street Journal (subscription required)
Burma
Myanmar’s opposition leader, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, called for the lifting of American sanctions against her country on Tuesday, beginning an emotional visit to the United States that punctuated the remarkable shift in relations with Myanmar over the past year. – New York Times
Laura Bush writes: The next generation of Aung San Suu Kyis is out there, working and sacrificing for freedom. As she receives the Congressional Gold Medal Wednesday afternoon, they will be watching and listening. They will hear of freedom’s enduring support—and they, too, will have hope. – Wall Street Journal (subscription required)
ICYMI, FPI Director of Democracy and Human Rights Ellen Bork writes: Burma’s change so far is impressive but not irreversible…Further moves on sanctions – such as an end to the ban on loans by international financial institutions – should be tied to permanent, systemic changes. – Foreign Policy Initiative
Russia
Russia has ordered the United States to end its financial support for a wide range of pro-democracy, public health and other civil society programs here, in an aggressive step by the Kremlin to halt what it views as American meddling in its internal affairs. – New York Times
Russian President Vladimir Putin rapped the government over its budget plans for the next three years, accusing ministers of not taking into account decrees he issued when he returned as president in May. – Wall Street Journal (subscription required)
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) took a dig at the Obama administration’s “reset” policy with Russia on Tuesday after the Kremlin opted to eject the U.S. Agency for International Development out of the country. – The Hill’s Global Affairs
Russia accused the United States on Wednesday of using its aid mission in Moscow to try to influence Russian politics and the outcome of elections, one day after Washington announced Moscow had ordered the mission’s closure. – Reuters
David Kramer writes: Depriving abusive Russian officials the privilege of traveling to or living in the West or banking here is a neatly targeted penalty. It is not anti-Russian, for it goes after only those who engage in abuses. Nor is it a partisan attack against the Obama administration’s Russia policy, for its chief congressional sponsors — Rep. James McGovern (Mass.) and Sen. Ben Cardin (Md.) — are Democrats. Passing the Magnitsky legislation would tell those Russians protesting Putin’s depredations that the West is on their side. It is an urgently needed signal, especially in light of the Obama administration’s cave to Putin’s pressure on USAID. – Washington Post
Europe
Testing the theory that it often takes a crisis to bring Europeans together, 11 foreign ministers, led by Guido Westerwelle of Germany, have called for a big increase in economic, political, diplomatic and even military integration within the European Union. – New York Times
Despite having no political experience to his name, [Bidzina Ivanishvili] has managed in 10 months to consolidate the country’s disparate opposition and present the first serious challenge to President Mikheil Saakashvili in his nine-year rule — a feat alternately attributed to the billionaire’s charms and his pocketbook. – Washington Post
Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili promised on Wednesday to punish those responsible for torturing and raping prisoners, after video of the abuse was shown on television and sparked protests in the capital Tbilisi. – Reuters
Police in Belarus broke up a small protest on Tuesday against a parliamentary election the two main opposition parties say will be a fake exercise, and detained several protesters as well as a group of journalists. – Reuters
United States of America
[I]f he is elected president in November and finds himself in negotiations over a future Palestine on Israel’s borders, Mr. Romney may find that his comment at a campaign fund-raiser — captured on video — that “there’s just no way” a separate state can be workable could undermine his effectiveness in bringing the two sides together. – New York Times
Tom Mahnken writes: It remains to be seen how the past week’s events will affect the presidential election. At the very least, these emerging narratives call into question Barack Obama’s stewardship of American foreign policy. More seriously, they could prefigure a more serious weakening of our position in the Middle East. – Shadow Government
Michael Singh writes: There is little U.S. policymakers can do to prevent future sparks of the sort that triggered the violence convulsing the Middle East today. But through a clear understanding of the region’s challenges and a principled and realistic response to them, we and our allies can hope to prevent them from becoming infernos which engulf our interests and those of the region’s citizens. – Shadow Government
Cuba
Prominent Cuban dissident Marta Beatriz Roque and 29 others ended an eight-day hunger strike and declared victory on Tuesday when they said Cuban authorities would free a jailed opposition member whose release they had demanded. – Reuters
Nigeria
Suspected members of Boko Haram killed the attorney general of the state of Borno in northeastern Nigeria overnight, authorities said on Tuesday, a day after a security source said the military had killed the Islamist sect’s spokesman. – Reuters
East Africa
Senior Islamist commanders today began fleeing the last major urban stronghold held by Somalia’s Al Qaeda-allied rebel army, taking their weapons, vehicles, and logistics gear with them, the city’s residents say. – Christian Science Monitor
Somalia remains one of the world’s most dangerous countries for journalists, whether they are reporting from the street or the conference room. – Reuters
Two mass graves were found in Kenya’s coastal Tana River region and 20 people were charged with murder, police said on Tuesday, after a wave of inter-tribal fighting that killed more than 100 people over the past month. – Reuters
Sudan’s President Omar Hassan al-Bashir will hold a summit with his counterpart from South Sudan, Salva Kiir, in Ethiopia on Sunday to wrap up two weeks of talks to end hostilities between the African neighbors, state media said on Tuesday. – Reuters
Congo
Rebels have set up a de facto administration in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, U.N. peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous said on Tuesday as the Security Council urged a political solution to the crisis rather than applying sanctions. – Reuters
South Africa
South African miners employed by Lonmin PLC agreed to a pay raise that will return them to work on Thursday, ending a bloody strike that strained the country’s economy, its social fabric and embattled the country’s president. – Wall Street Journal (subscription required)
