Iran
The Iranian government, determined to limit Western influence and defend itself against cyberattacks, appears to have laid the technical foundations for a national online network that would be detached from the Internet and permit tighter control over the flow of information. – Washington Post
Iran’s extremist militias and their proxies were behind a recent string of terror attacks against Israeli diplomatic targets around the globe and might seek to strike the United States, U.S. counterterrorism officials said Wednesday. – Washington Times
Pentagon policy chief Jim Miller said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s warning this week that Iran would have nearly enough bomb-grade uranium to build a nuclear weapon in six months does not change the U.S. assessment of the need for military action. – The E-Ring
Military action against Iran would be “highly costly” for the US and threats issued by Mitt Romney as he tries to become the next American president are campaign rhetoric only and can be largely ignored, Ali Larijani, Speaker of the Iranian parliament, has told the FT. – Financial Times
Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili said on Wednesday he and European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton had agreed to defer more nuclear talks until she has consulted the six world powers she represents next week. – Reuters
A series of conversations conducted by Reuters with Iranians by telephone reveal how widespread unemployment is becoming. They requested that their identities or the names of their employers not be revealed because of the sensitivity of the issue. – Reuters
Ray Takeyh writes: As with the Soviet Union, the United States will make genuine progress with Iran only when moderate leaders assume greater control of the state. An interim accord may provide time, but that time must be used to broaden the contours of Iran’s political system. – International Herald Tribune
Syria
Syrian authorities said on Thursday that a military helicopter had crashed near the capital, Damascus, close to a suburb where insurgents and government forces have battled for dominance. – New York Times
As President Bashar Assad’s government has fought to reassert control, Aleppo has become an exhausted expanse of bread lines, fuel shortages, inflated prices, panicked families and abrupt Syrian military bombardment. – Los Angeles Times
President Basher al-Assad has told visiting Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi that the war engulfing his country threatens not just Syria, but also Iran and Lebanon’s Shi’ite Hizballah movement. – Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
The embattled Bashar Assad regime will use chemical weapons against its citizenry “as a last resort” to maintain its hold on power, a high-ranking Syrian army defector said in an interview with the London Times published on Wednesday. – Global Security Newswire
Syrian rebels seized another border crossing with Turkey on Wednesday, consolidating their grip on a frontier through which they ferry arms for battles with President Bashar al-Assad’s troops around the northern city of Aleppo. – Reuters
Syria’s main opposition bloc wants Arab states to work together to effect an international intervention in Syria similar to the joint initiative in Libya, Syrian National Council (SNC) head Abdulbaset Sieda said in an interview published on Wednesday. – Reuters
Syria, itself suspected of illicit nuclear activity, accused the West at a major U.N. meeting on Wednesday of double standards in implicitly condoning an Israeli atomic arsenal and warned of a nuclear arms race in the Middle East. – Reuters
The U.S. Treasury said on Wednesday it was designating Syria’s Army Supply Bureau and a Belarus-based weapons firm as contributing to the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. – Reuters
Zalmay Khalilzad writes: [T]he United States and relevant allied and friendly countries should empower the moderates in the opposition — including through the provision of arms and other lethal assistance — and encourage a coup by officers willing to break with Assad. The United States should then assist in brokering a power-sharing arrangement between these forces that will marginalize extremists and attract the support of all of Syria’s diverse communities. – Foreign Policy
Libya
The U.S. ambassador and three other Americans killed last week in Libya died “in the course of a terrorist attack,” a senior U.S. intelligence official told lawmakers Wednesday. – Washington Post
Nearly a year after Libyan rebels killed Moammar Gaddafi, ushering in a new democratic era, Libya’s central government still exercises so little authority here in the eastern part of the country that Abu Hameida sees little peril in refusing an order from the Interior Ministry in Tripoli that he step down from his post. – Washington Post
The U.S. Consulate in Benghazi apparently was not troubled at first by a smattering of protesters on the anniversary of the September 11 attacks last week, but that changed abruptly at 9:35 p.m. when it sent a message that the building was under heavy assault, U.S. government sources said. – Reuters
Libyan police in Benghazi have mutinied and refuse to serve under the man appointed by the government to take over security following last week’s storming of the U.S. consulate in which the ambassador and three other Americans were killed. – Reuters
Josh Rogin reports: The State Department is setting up an independent, bipartisan panel to investigate what happened in the Sept. 11 attack on the Benghazi consulate that resulted in the death of Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans. – The Cable
North Africa
The U.S. State Department is airlifting armored vehicles and other equipment to its missions in Tunisia and Somalia, part of efforts to boost security in the wake of last week’s attacks on diplomatic compounds in North Africa and the Middle East. – Wall Street Journal (subscription required)
Key House Republicans warned the government of Egypt on Wednesday that Congress will be closely watching how it responds to the attack on the U.S. Embassy earlier this month, and that decisions on foreign aid will likely be based on its response. – The Hill’s Floor Action Blog
Mahmoud Salem writes: Maybe “revolution” isn’t the right word for what we did. Because let’s face it: the “revolution” is now over for the time being…As someone who fought on the front lines in Tahrir Square and even ran for parliament at the height of my revolutionary exuberance, all this breaks my heart in ways I can’t even begin to describe. – Foreign Policy
Bahrain
The United States urged Bahrain on Wednesday to speed democratic reforms and hold meaningful talks with opposition groups to ensure stability in a strategic Gulf ally at a sensitive time. – Reuters
Yemen
Yemen will investigate alleged human rights violations that occurred during an uprising last year, officials said on Wednesday, possibly opening the way to prosecution of ousted President Ali Abdullah Saleh and his relatives. – Reuters
Iraq
The top Democrat and Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday urged the Senate to quickly approve President Obama’s nominee for ambassador to Iraq before leaving town at the end of the week. – DEFCON Hill
Senate Tea Party leaders Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) said Wednesday they’re not blocking President Obama’s nominee to be ambassador to Iraq, increasing the chances that Robert Beecroft will get confirmed before Congress leaves town at the end of the week. – The Hill’s Global Affairs
Iran has been using civilian aircraft to fly military personnel and large quantities of weapons across Iraqi airspace to Syria to aid President Bashar al-Assad in his attempt to crush an 18-month uprising against his government, according to a Western intelligence report seen by Reuters. – Reuters
Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan said on Thursday it will receive 147,000 barrels of oil products per day, as part of a deal concluded with Baghdad to end a dispute over oil payments. – Reuters
Josh Rogin reports: Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman John Kerry (D-MA) said Wednesday that Congress might start restricting U.S. aid to Iraq if the Iraqi government continues to allow Iran to use its airspace to supply the Syrian regime. – The Cable
Levant
King Abdullah II and his top aides appear to have decided that the best course, unpopular as it may be, is to keep a relatively tight lid on protests, free speech and online media. At the same time, demonstrations, while continuing, remain relatively small. The opposition is divided and mostly behaving with restraint, because dissidents worry about ushering in something worse than the monarchy. – New York Times
As spillover from the civil war in Syria continues to unsettle Lebanon, the prolonged absence of Saad Hariri, the country’s former prime minister and leader of its Sunni community, has created a political vacuum of sorts, as his influence has declined and new voices have emerged. – New York Times
A new Israeli survey shows a split in public opinion over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s handling of his dispute with the U.S. over setting conditions for an attack on Iran, reflecting anxiety over the tensions with Israel’s most important ally and the possibility of a lone Israeli strike. – Wall Street Journal (subscription required)
Israel’s military launched a surprise large-scale exercise on Wednesday on the occupied Golan Heights, testing its battle readiness amid tensions over Iran’s nuclear drive and civil war in Syria. – Reuters
Turkey
An explosion of separatist violence in Turkey’s Kurdish southeast is fuelling criticism of the government’s bellicose rhetoric on Syria and dampening what little public appetite there is for intervention in its crisis-torn neighbor. – Reuters
Afghanistan
The mishandling of the war in Afghanistan by the Obama administration has made it so dangerous that the U.S. should consider withdrawing all troops from the country early, according to Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and other lawmakers. – DEFCON Hill
A trio of Senate defense hawks called on President Obama to halt troop withdrawals in Afghanistan after NATO said Monday it was suspending most joint operations between Afghan and NATO troops. – DEFCON Hill
The crackdown on so-called “insider” attacks by Afghan soldiers on U.S. and NATO troops has shifted to identifying and rooting out Taliban infiltrators within the ranks of the national military and police, a top coalition official said Wednesday. – DEFCON Hill
NATO’s decision limiting some operations with Afghan troops might lessen so-called insider attacks, analysts say. But the move could undermine the coalition’s efforts to help the locals take over their nation’s security. – CNN’s Security Clearance
Taliban video purporting to show the aftermath of a brazen attack on American and British troops in Afghanistan isn’t what it claims to be, according to an intelligence analysis by coalition forces. – CNN’s Security Clearance
President Barack Obama and Afghan President Hamid Karzai agreed on Wednesday to press forward with a U.S.-Afghan security pact, the White House said, despite the curtailment of NATO operations in response to a surge in “insider” attacks on foreign servicemen. – Reuters
President Hamid Karzai is considering sacking or moving the governors of a fifth of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces as part of a shakeout of corrupt or underperforming officials aimed in part at soothing foreign donors. – Reuters
The Afghan president on Wednesday urged his nation to rally behind the push for peace despite persistent violence, evoking the memory of a former leader who was assassinated while trying to broker negotiations with the Taliban. – Associated Press
South Asia
India’s ruling Congress party on Wednesday said it won’t reverse a controversial decision to allow foreign supermarkets to invest in India as part of other market-opening measures. – Wall Street Journal (subscription required)
A prominent factory monitoring group heavily financed by industry gave a clean bill of health to a Pakistani apparel plant last month, just weeks before a fire engulfed the premises and killed nearly 300 workers, many of them trapped behind locked exit doors. – New York Times
Several hundred lawyers protesting an anti-Islam video forced their way into an area in Pakistan’s capital that houses the U.S. Embassy and other foreign missions on Wednesday, and the United States temporarily closed its consulate in an Indonesian city because of similar demonstrations. – Associated Press
Joseph Sternberg writes: [T]he airline bailout that probably won’t happen; the foreign retailers who probably won’t come in; the private-sector carriers that probably won’t invest—brings home a point too often lost in Delhi and elsewhere. Late is better than never, but it’s still a poor substitute for sooner rather than later. – Wall Street Journal Asia (subscription required)
China
The Chinese government on Wednesday released an official account of the trial of a former police chief that essentially accused the disgraced politician Bo Xilai of trying to cover up the murder of a British businessman by his wife. – New York Times
Chinese authorities said they would investigate how protesters surrounded and damaged the car of the U.S. ambassador there, an incident that didn’t result in injuries but highlighted security concerns over U.S. officials abroad. – Wall Street Journal (subscription required)
Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta came here hoping to allay Chinese concerns that the U.S. is pursuing a new military containment strategy aimed at Asia’s biggest power, but he failed to fully convince the leaders in Beijing. – LA Times’ World Now
Panetta said he raised the issue of China’s growing cyber warfare capabilities during what he termed “candid” discussions with Chinese military leaders. – Washington Free Beacon
While the administration’s strategic “pivot” or “rebalancing” to the Pacific is framed by some as Cold War II, top military leaders have made clear in recent statements just how eager they are to avoid a clash with China. – AOL Defense
Photos of a new Chinese stealth fighter, dubbed the J-21 and/or J-31, appeared on Chinese-language military blogs this week in time for U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta’s trip to China. – Defense News
Bill Gertz reports: Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta’s unusual offer to China’s military to join a major U.S.-led naval exercise in the Pacific prompted several U.S. security officials to express fears privately that China will gain valuable war-fighting intelligence from the Rimpac, or Rim of the Pacific, exercise. – Washington Times’ Inside the Ring
Miles Yu reports: China’s state media gave prominent space last week to the People’s Liberation Army’s most outspoken hawks, who urged Beijing to adopt a unanimous policy of getting tough with Japan. The 10 generals agreed that an immediate war with Japan might not be beneficial for China. But they argued that China should take all measures necessary, including military action, to gain administrative control of the Diaoyudao, known as the Senkaku Islands in Japan. – Washington Times’ Inside China
East Asia
One factor behind Japan’s mounting tensions with China and South Korea is an increasingly vocal movement arguing that Tokyo has for too long apologized for World War II and needs to move past the events of seven decades ago. – Wall Street Journal
Burma
Burmese opposition leader and former political prisoner Aung San Suu Kyi called Wednesday for an easing of U.S. sanctions on her country and targeted investment to help Burma shed its pariah past and crushing poverty. – Washington Post
President Obama welcomed Myanmar’s opposition leader, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, to the Oval Office on Wednesday, amid signs that the administration was likely to further ease sanctions on her once-isolated Southeast Asian nation. – New York Times
The U.S. Treasury Department said Wednesday it removed sanctions on two top Myanmar officials as the country continues being welcomed back into the international community. – Wall Street Journal (subscription required)
Now [Suu Kyi] is free, on her first visit to the United States in four decades — she was awarded Congress’s highest honor Wednesday afternoon, the Congressional Gold Medal — and she has a dog. Fairness is still very much on her mind, as she tries to help engineer an improbable peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy in her Southeast Asian nation of 50 million people. – Washington Post
Russia
Russia accused the U.S. on Wednesday of trying to influence elections inside the country under the guise of aid to pro-democracy groups, confirming it is kicking the U.S. Agency for International Development out of the country and warning that Russia’s civic groups no longer need U.S. funding. – Wall Street Journal (subscription required)
In an exclusive interview with the FP National Security channel, [Under Secretary of Defense Jim] Miller claimed the so-called “reset” has helped win Moscow’s support for two of the U.S. military’s top priorities: war supply routes into Afghanistan and the toughest-ever economic sanctions on Iran. – The E-Ring
Amid a Kremlin crackdown on dissent, Golos and other groups are now scrambling to find alternative sources of funding to keep their Russia organisations going. – Financial Times
Interview: RFE/RL correspondent Tom Balmforth spoke to human rights veteran Lyudmila Alekseyeva about the likely impact of the cessation of USAID’s financing on the Moscow Helsinki Group she heads and Russia’s human rights sphere as a whole. – Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
Editorial: The Obama administration long resisted the bill but now is prepared to accept it if it is linked to legislation that would remove restrictions on trade. Passage of the Magnitsky bill and the new democracy fund would be an appropriate response to Mr. Putin; Congress should make those a priority. – Washington Post
Editorial: Russia’s beleaguered democrats deserve better, and Congress can help by passing a human-rights bill named after slain lawyer Sergei Magnitsky. The bill has bipartisan support but has been held up by legislative bickering. The Magnitsky Act punishes Russian rights abusers by blocking their ability to travel and bank in the U.S. Prompt passage would be an ideal riposte to Mr. Putin’s reset of the reset. – Wall Street Journal (subscription required)
Ukraine
In Ukraine’s supercharged political atmosphere, where trust between rivals is rare, opposition supporters say the two-day advance notice provision and others in the bill just give the government the means to block protests the authorities oppose. – Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
Ukrainian opposition parties sounded the alarm on Wednesday over a move by President Viktor Yanukovich’s allies in parliament to reinstate defamation as a crime, saying it was aimed at further curbing the free press ahead of an election next month. – Reuters
South America
Mauricio Cardenas, Colombia’s new finance minister, faces a challenging task: reducing the country’s wide inequality gaps while sustaining the sound macroeconomic policies that have turned this Andean nation into a sweetheart of Wall Street investors. – Wall Street Journal (subscription required)
The last Colombian president to negotiate with Marxist rebels says current leader Juan Manuel Santos will face an even tougher time in new talks because of opposition from the far right and doubts about whether rebel leaders are united. – Reuters
Just months ago, it was the issue dominating Venezuela and its presidential campaign. Now Hugo Chavez’s bout with cancer is barely mentioned as his October 7 re-election bid approaches. – Reuters
West Africa
Ivory Coast prosecutors are pursuing genocide charges against eight top allies of former President Laurent Gbagbo in a move analysts called an apparent attempt to demonize the old regime and demonstrate that local courts can try the most serious cases stemming from post-election violence that ended last year. – Washington Times
The amputations of the five cousins earlier this month in the northern city of Gao shows how much Mali, once praised for its democracy with undulating deserts and camel caravans a magnet for Western tourists, has changed in just a few short months. – Associated Press
East Africa
Somalia’s al Shabaab Islamist rebels fell back on their last bastion on Wednesday, pouring hundreds of fighters into the port city of Kismayu and raising fears of a bloody showdown with advancing African Union soldiers, residents said. – Reuters
AFRICOM
Gen. David M. Rodriguez, a former top Army commander in Afghanistan, has been chosen by the Pentagon to take charge of the military’s Africa Command, which in the wake of the Arab Spring has become one of the Defense Department’s most challenging theaters of operation. – New York Times
