Iran
Iran is ratcheting up pressure on the U.N. agency responsible for overseeing the country’s nuclear program, accusing its inspectors of engaging in spying and sabotage and threatening to restrict U.N. access to Iranian nuclear facilities. – Washington Post
Iranian officials on Saturday dismissed a New York Times report saying Iran had offered a “nine-step plan” for resolving a standoff with the United States and its allies over its disputed nuclear program, calling the report “baseless.” – New York Times
Iranian lawmakers on Sunday attacked President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad over the decline of the country’s currency—questioning a subsidy overhaul the president has championed and demanding he account for his handling of the economy—as the crisis threatens to morph into a broader political showdown. – Wall Street Journal (subscription required)
The black-market money changers are lying low these days here in Iran’s capital, feeling the heat of a government that has singled them out for much of the blame in the free fall of the national currency, the rial. – Los Angeles Times
As unrest over rising prices flares in Tehran, Israeli officials are urging additional sanctions against Iran and tempering for now suggestions of a possible Israeli military strike on Iranian nuclear sites this fall. – Washington Post
A delegation of House Democrats is urging President Barack Obama’s administration to extend an exemption on Iran sanctions—a move that could allow certain groups linked to terrorism to benefit from American philanthropic donations, experts say. – Washington Free Beacon
Josh Rogin reports: Israeli leaders remain intent on acting to degrade Iran’s nuclear capabilities, probably within 6 to 8 months, and Israel believes it has the capability to succeed in such a mission, an envoy of Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu told The Cable Friday. – The Cable
Michael Singh writes: Obama is right to want to avoid conflict with Iran. But lest his patience be mistaken for apprehension, and allies and adversaries alike tune out U.S. warnings, he would be wise to overcome his aversion to red lines. – Washington Post
Syria
Rebel fighters and security forces in Syria clashed near the border with Lebanon and fought over a military barracks in Aleppo on Sunday, while Turkish artillery fired into Syria for a fifth consecutive day in retaliation for cross-border shelling. – New York Times
[Saudi King] Abdullah, normally a discreet behind-the-scenes conciliator, has denounced the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad with rare royal rage, and his people have joined in with gusto. Beyond humanitarian concerns, Abdullah sees an opportunity to strike a key strategic blow against Iran, Syria’s key ally and Saudi Arabia’s main rival for power in the Middle East – Washington Post
While they have publicly called for arming the rebels, they have held back, officials in both [Saudi Arabia and Qatar] said, in part because they have been discouraged by the United States, which fears the heavier weapons could end up in the hands of terrorists. – New York Times
Here, the PKK is widely lauded as the vanguard of Kurdish nationalism, a movement that has unsettled countries in the area for decades. In recent months, the de facto “liberation” of Syrian Kurdish communities like Afrin has ranked among the most unanticipated and broadly significant outcomes of the Syrian rebellion. – Los Angeles Times
The arrival of Libyan fighters in Syria is raising questions about the motives of some of those seeking to overthrow the regime in Damascus. – Washington Times
In the aftermath of last week’s initial strike on Akcakale, Mr Erdogan’s government won parliamentary permission to deploy troops to Syria. While Ankara insists it sought such powers purely for deterrent effect, some analysts argue that the line between deterrence and escalation may be difficult for Mr Erdogan to tread, particularly if Syrian shells continue to hit Turkish terrain. – Financial Times
Classified leaked papers from Syria further confirm the government has relocated some of its chemical weapons, al-Arabiya reported on Thursday. – Global Security Newswire
The continued exchange of artillery fire between Syria and Turkey raises additional concerns that the conflict may escalate and spread to neighboring countries, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said Saturday. – Associated Press
David Ignatius reports: If the United States wants the rebels to coordinate better, it should lead the way by coordinating outside help. The shower of cash and weapons coming from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait and other Arab nations is helping extremist fighters and undercutting any orderly chain of command through the Free Syrian Army. – Washington Post
Libya
The Libyan Parliament voted on Sunday to dismiss the prime minister it chose less than four weeks ago, deepening a leadership crisis at a moment when the country’s transitional authorities are under intense pressure to catch the killers of the American ambassador, J. Christopher Stevens, and to stop the prevailing lawlessness that led to his death. – New York Times
New details are emerging of discord among federal agencies that has complicated the Obama administration’s response to last month’s deadly attack on the American consulate in Libya, creating intense political pressure for the White House just weeks ahead of the presidential election – Wall Street Journal (subscription required)
The investigation of the deadly attack on the U.S. consulate in eastern Libya faces major hurdles, even after a U.S. team gained access to the charred compound this week for the first time. – Los Angeles Times
As the United States weighs responses to the Islamist-led assault on its diplomatic mission in Benghazi that killed Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens, Mr. Qaid says the two brothers’ diverging paths trace a timely lesson: a parable of the dangers of treating the many different strands of political Islam as a single radical threat. – New York Times
The State Department earlier this year denied a request by the security team at the U.S. Embassy in Libya for continued use of a plane for security personnel and diplomatic business, according to an internal State Department email provided to CNN. – CNN’s Security Clearance
Pakistan-based al Qaeda is secretly setting up sleeper cells and a clandestine network of jihadists to destabilize and take over Libya while hiding under a new cover name to prevent exposure and attacks, according to an internal Pentagon report obtained by the Washington Free Beacon. – Washington Free Beacon
Eli Lake reports: Five administration officials tell The Daily Beast that the White House is now weighing whether to pursue those responsible through law enforcement or via military means like drone strikes or special operations. – The Daily Beast
Lake also reports: In a dispatch sent the day he was killed, Ambassador Christopher Stevens described how the militias keeping the peace in Benghazi threatened to quit over a political feud. – The Daily Beast
Josh Rogin reports: U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice told Republican senators that her televised statements last month on the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi were based entirely on information she was given by the intelligence community. – The Cable
North Africa
As moderate Islamist leaders in all three countries begin to craft post-revolutionary constitutions, the Salafists in their midst are pushing — sometimes at the ballot box, sometimes at the point of a gun — to create societies that more closely mirror their ultraconservative religious beliefs and lifestyles. – Washington Post
After an uprising toppled President Hosni Mubarak early last year, women and minorities hoped for a nation that would guarantee long-denied equal rights. But their pleas have gone unanswered as Egypt has shifted from military control to the conservative designs of a new Islamist president. – Los Angeles Times
Elected in June in the country’s first democratic presidential elections, Morsi had promised to accomplish a lot during his first 100 days in office, a window that closes on Sunday. In a manner that would have been inconceivable during Egypt’s authoritarian past, critics have been taking turns putting Morsi through the ringer. – Washington Post
About 1,000 Moroccan judges held an unprecedented sit-in Saturday in front of the Supreme Court, calling for greater independence for the judiciary. – Associated Press
Kuwait
Kuwait’s ruler dissolved Parliament on Sunday, a step toward ending months of political gridlock and calling the second elections this year that could again swing in favor of Islamist-led opposition groups. – Associated Press
Levant
Thousands of Jordanians joined an Islamist-led demonstration in the capital Friday to demand that King Abdullah II implement democratic reforms, in the largest of a wave of protests launched since last year’s Arab Spring. – Washington Post
Palestinian militants from Gaza fired a barrage of rockets and mortar shells into Israeli territory on Monday, causing no casualties but some property damage, after an Israeli airstrike wounded at least 10 Palestinians in southern Gaza on Sunday. – New York Times
The morning after the Israeli Air Force shot down an unidentified drone in the Negev Desert, the Lebanese government said that four Israeli warplanes spent an hour on Sunday illegally circling in its airspace. – New York Times
The day after an unidentified drone penetrated Israeli airspace and was shot down by the Israeli air force Saturday, speculation continued about the origin of the small craft or its assignment. – LA Times’ World Now
Daoud Kuttab writes: Controlling opinions is impossible in today’s connected world, but some governments are counting on the chilling effects of such laws. While Arabs, most of whom are 25 or younger, may be able to bypass blockades of Web sites, such restrictions signal that their government doesn’t trust them to decipher news. Worse yet is that governments want to go back to controlling the flow of information. – Washington Post
Afghanistan
Special operations forces in Afghanistan have resumed training Afghan Local Police recruits after a suspension last month in response to two insider attacks by recruits on their international coalition trainers in August, U.S. officials say. – Washington Times
In [1st Lieutenant Michael] Molczyk’s corner of eastern Afghanistan, uniformed Afghans had saved American lives time and again. They had developed a brotherhood with their U.S. partners that felt earned and unassailable. – Washington Post
A recently awarded Afghan human rights campaigner has found herself on the defensive as critics have questioned her organization’s failure to publish its report on grave human rights violations committed in Afghanistan over the past three decades. – Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
Nobody wants a repeat of the bloody ethnic fighting that followed the Soviet exit from Afghanistan in the 1990s…Yet as the Afghan war began its 12th year on Sunday, fears loom that the country will again fracture along ethnic lines once international combat forces leave by the end of 2014. – Associated Press
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta lashed back at Afghan President Hamid Karzai Friday, saying the Afghan leader should say thank you now and then to the allied forces who are fighting and dying there, rather than criticizing them. – Associated Press
Javid Ahmad writes: Greater respect for local culture and improved treatment of Afghan forces would categorically minimize the odds of Afghan forces becoming willing to kill their U.S. and NATO partners. There will always be some uncertainty in Afghanistan. But greater cultural understanding would alleviate some of the tension that continues to produce violence. – Washington Post
South Asia
The military on Sunday blocked Pakistan’s most vocal antiwar politician from leading thousands of his supporters into the nation’s insurgency-racked tribal region to call for a halt to U.S. drone strikes and promote peace with the Taliban. – Washington Post
India’s second wave of economic reforms is facing a fractured opposition, building hopes that New Delhi may manage to push its proposals on insurance and pension through Parliament. – Wall Street Journal (subscription required)
Analysts say the appointment of an outspoken academic like Mr. Rajan, along with the recent push by New Delhi to reduce energy subsidies and open up retailing, insurance and aviation to foreign investment, signal that India’s policy makers appear to be serious about tackling the nation’s economic problems. – New York Times
China
The federal government should block mergers of U.S. firms with Chinese telecommunications companies suspected of ties to the Chinese government to lower the potential risk that such firms could serve as conduits for espionage, a congressional panel concluded. – Washington Post
Supporters of ousted political leader Bo Xilai are turning up the note of political discord in China with increasingly loud criticism that the policies of current Communist Party leaders are widening inequality and breeding social unrest. – Wall Street Journal
The story, recounted in two recent interviews with Mr. Bo’s estranged first wife, Li Danyu, 62, deepens the Shakespearean dimension of a scandal that has gripped this nation and disrupted the party’s once-a-decade leadership transition. – New York Times
[A]fter 15 years as part of China, a [Hong Kong] population that is overwhelmingly Chinese and deeply proud of its Chinese heritage has increasingly come to view the rest of the country as a source of trouble, not pride, that needs to be kept at arm’s length. – Washington Post
China risks economic malaise, deepening unrest and ultimately even a crisis that could shake the Communist Party’s grip on power unless its next leader, Xi Jinping, pushes through stalled reforms, experts close to the government have warned. – Reuters
East Asia
Japan has decided to change tack in promoting its claim to disputed islands in the East China Sea amid an escalation of tensions with China over the territorial dispute, highlighted by a recent verbal tit-for-tat with Beijing at the United Nations. – Wall Street Journal (subscription required)
The potential for limited military conflict around disputed islands is a primary concern to regional countries, and also to the U.S. In addition to the military concern, the economic and social impact — although less noticed now — might turn into a bigger concern for related countries. – Defense News
Koreas
South Korea has reached an agreement with the United States that lets Seoul more than double the range of its ballistic missiles to counter what it considers to be a growing threat from North Korea. – New York Times
A North Korean Army sergeant defected to South Korea on Saturday after killing his platoon and squadron leaders, a South Korean military spokesman said. – New York Times
A North Korean soldier underwent questioning by South Korean authorities following his weekend defection across the heavily fortified border between the countries, officials in Seoul said Monday. – Wall Street Journal (subscription required)
Southeast Asia
President Benigno S. Aquino III announced Sunday that the Philippine government had reached a deal with a major rebel group that officials hope will reduce the persistent violence in the southern part of the country. – New York Times
Philippine and United States officials on Monday opened a joint training exercise designed to help the two militaries work together to enhance regional security. – New York Times
While a comprehensive pact isn’t expected, host country Japan is trying to broker a deal that would cover about one-fifth of the outstanding arrears of [Myanmar]—a step that, Japanese officials hope, will cement their role as the country leading the charge to welcome the once-pariah state back into the fold of the global economy. – Wall Street Journal (subscription required)
Singapore is planning an ambitious expansion of its container port capacity, betting that global trade will pick up in coming years and that the country can weather a continued challenge from ports in Malaysia. – Wall Street Journal (subscription required)
Wary of China and flush with economic success, Southeast Asia is ramping up spending on military hardware to protect the shipping lanes, ports and maritime boundaries that are vital to the flow of exports and energy. – Reuters
Russia
So what does President Vladimir V. Putin think about inevitably becoming a retiree? It may well be the most personally wrenching question that Russia’s macho-man in chief has faced since the start of his third term in May, and it came not from any of his political opponents but from the pro-government television channel, NTV, as part of an exclusive interview that was broadcast Sunday on his 60th birthday. – New York Times
The United States has paid tribute to former Russian investigative journalist and Kremlin critic Anna Politkovskaya on the sixth anniversary of her assassination. – Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
France
French police officers fatally shot a man during an antiterrorism raid in the northeastern city of Strasbourg on Saturday, one of a series of raids across France stemming from the investigation into a grenade attack last month on a Jewish market near Paris, the police and judiciary officials said. – New York Times
The French government aims to strengthen antiterrorism laws and boost security at places of worship, French President François Hollande said Sunday, after authorities mounted a series of raids against an alleged Islamic terror network suspected of targeting France’s Jewish community. – Wall Street Journal (subscription required)
United States of America
Mitt Romney is intensifying his efforts to draw a sharp contrast with 44 on national security in the presidential campaign’s closing stages, portraying 44 as having mishandled the tumult in the Arab world and having left the nation exposed to a terrorist attack in Libya. – New York Times
Read advance excerpts of Gov. Romney’s speech – The Weekly Standard
44′s campaign is telling Mitt Romney to “bring it on” with his foreign policy address Monday. In a prebuttal to Romney’s speech, 44 campaign spokeswoman Lis Smith said the former governor “fails the commander-in-chief test” on “every measure.” – The Hill’s Global Affairs
In an interview here, the Ohio Republican said cobbling together a large-scale deal during the lame-duck session of Congress would not only be hard, but also the wrong thing for the country. – Politico
Democrats are hitting Mitt Romney over the House GOP budget’s potential cuts to embassy security as the Republican candidate and his allies on Capitol Hill seek to make inadequate protection in Libya a campaign issue. – The Hill’s Global Affairs
The professional core of the U.S. military overwhelmingly favors Mitt Romney over 44 in the upcoming election — but not because of any particular military issues, according to a new poll of more than 3,100 active and reserve troops. – Military Times
The nation’s greatest strength is not its military power or fantastic productivity. It’s the American commitment to our founding principles of political and economic freedom. If Mr. Romney can outline to voters how he will use American power to advance those principles, he will go a long way in persuading them he deserves the job of commander in chief. – New York Times
Latin America
President Hugo Chávez, long a fiery foe of Washington, won re-election on Sunday, facing down cancer and the strongest electoral challenge of his nearly 14 years in office and gaining a new mandate to deepen his socialist revolution. – New York Times
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta plans to spend the next week touting the department’s new strategic plan for Latin America during a series of meetings with key American allies in the region. – DEFCON Hill
The United States and Peru are boosting their military ties as they work to step up joint counternarcotics and counterterrorism efforts, the country’s defense chiefs said Oct. 6. – AFP
Cuban authorities released noted blogger Yoani Sanchez more than a day after she was taken into custody near the eastern city of Bayamo, where she traveled for a Spanish man’s trial over a car crash that killed another prominent dissident. – Associated Press
Editorial: Mr. Chavez’s illness probably means that his days as Venezuela’s leader are numbered anyway. The question now is whether he will give way if he loses on Sunday. Venezuela’s neighbors, and the 44th administration, should be ready to react if he attempts to remain in power by force. – Washington Post
West Africa
Nigerian forces said on Monday they killed 30 members of Islamist sect Boko Haram, including a senior commander, and arrested 10 others in a weekend raid on the northeastern city of Damaturu. – Reuters
Niger, struggling to keep Islamist movements from spilling in from its north and south, wants to start joint military patrols along its border with Nigeria, the government said. – Reuters
More than 100 women marched on Saturday to protest the imposition of strict Islamic law in the northern Malian town of Timbuktu, but were dispersed by gunmen linked to Al Qaeda who fired shots in the air, witnesses said. – Reuters
Mali’s main Tuareg rebel group said on Sunday it was no longer seeking to carve out a sovereign desert homeland, softening its stance as it seeks Western support to rout Islamists that have taken over the region. – Reuters
Editorial: Talk of a powder keg needs to be translated into concrete moves before Mali becomes a new Somalia or Afghanistan. – Washington Post
East Africa
The new Somalian president, Hassan Sheik Mohamud, on Saturday evening named as prime minister a political novice who is expected to lead the council of ministers for the next four years, officials said. – New York Times
Amriki’s journey is a reflection of the divisions and struggle for identity within the militia itself, according to Western and Somali security experts, as it suffers major loses on the battlefield. – Washington Post
Amnesty International on Monday accused Rwandan military intelligence services of engaging in torture, unlawful detention and enforced disappearances of civilians. – Reuters
