Iran
Iran’s supreme leader spoke out publicly for the first time on Wednesday about the country’s foreign-exchange problems, describing the mass protest in Tehran last week over the plummeting Iranian currency as an anomaly that the West had gleefully but foolishly misinterpreted as a harbinger of crisis. – New York Times
Oil prices “could double,” increasing the U.S. price of gasoline by up to $2.75, if Iran is permitted to obtain a nuclear weapon, according to a new economic analysis by a bipartisan team of current and former government officials. – Washington Free Beacon
In an unexpected display of outreach, the Intelligence Ministry now hosts a website with addresses of provincial offices, appeals for tips and anti-American essays that mock rising obesity rates, large prison populations and school shootings. – Associated Press
Ilan Berman writes: You’ve got to feel a little sorry for Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. With his nuclear brinksmanship and inflammatory public rhetoric, Iran’s firebrand president is accustomed to hogging the international spotlight. But recent days have seen him making news for a different reason entirely. Ahmadinejad is now fighting for his political life against domestic opponents who blame him for the country’s current fiscal crisis. – Wall Street Journal Europe
Syria
Turkey sharply escalated its confrontation with Syria on Wednesday, forcing a Syrian passenger plane to land in Ankara on suspicion of carrying military cargo, ordering Turkish civilian airplanes to avoid Syria’s airspace and warning of increasingly forceful responses if Syrian artillery gunners keep lobbing shells across the border. – New York Times
Adding to strains with Turkey over the conflict in Syria, Russia demanded an explanation on Thursday after Turkish warplanes forced a Syrian passenger plane flying from Moscow to Damascus to land in Ankara on suspicion of carrying military cargo. – New York Times
Unicef is a key provider of schools and health care in the refugee camps. Mr. Lake, a former national security adviser in the Clinton administration, said providing aid, both for refugees and the communities hosting them, might prove crucial to maintaining stability in the region. – New York Times
Turkish fighter jets roar overhead and media reports are filled with images of missile batteries, artillery units and troops converging on the border. Still, few people here seem to expect war. Many say Turkey was forced to respond after weeks of errant shells from the government of Syrian President Bashar Assad. – Los Angeles Times
Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, put the brakes on any momentum for U.S. military intervention in Syria, saying on Wednesday that the U.S. military should not be the leading instrument by which to influence Syria. – The E-Ring
Syria’s main opposition bloc will restructure itself in Qatar next week to seek fresh impetus, Syrian National Council leader Abdulbaset Sieda said on Wednesday, after months of criticism that it is too fractious and influenced by Islamists – Reuters
More than 18 months into the battle for Syria, an estimated 30,000 people are dead and the country is disintegrating. The rebels are outgunned by the government but can still strike at will, and Assad has assumed personal command of his forces, still convinced he can prevail militarily. – Reuters
The United States has sent troops to Jordan to bolster its military capabilities in the event Syria’s civil war escalates, U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said Wednesday, reflecting U.S. concerns about the conflict spilling over allies’ borders and about the security of Syria’s chemical weapons arsenal. – Associated Press
Justin Vela reports: Even as the conflict escalates, however, the United States still appears fixated on the peaceful activists who dominated the early days of what is now a 19-month revolt. U.S. policy remains geared to providing only nonlethal support to the Syrian opposition, which rebels and activists deride as useless to those fighting the insurgency. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia and Qatar are moving in to fill the vacuum left by the United States by supplying the rebels with lethal aid, bolstering their influence among the rebels. – Foreign Policy
Tony Badran writes: Up until now, Assad has been able to rely on the Alawites’ cohesiveness and support. But Alawite discontent could well be surfacing under the stress of war and the fear of retribution. Time will tell whether Assad will be able to maintain communal solidarity. – NOW Lebanon
Libya
The former chief security officer for the American Embassy in Libya on Wednesday told a House committee investigating the fatal attack last month on a diplomatic compound in Benghazi that his requests to extend the deployment of an American military team were thwarted by the State Department’s Bureau of Diplomatic Security. – New York Times
The State Department acknowledged Wednesday that it rejected appeals for more security at its diplomatic posts in Libya in the months before a fatal terrorist attack in Benghazi as Republicans suggested that lapses contributed to the deaths of the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans. – Washington Post
They were the “quick reaction force” for a compound that was also protected by about five armed Americans and five Libyan civilians hired through a British firm and equipped only with electric batons and handcuffs. But nothing, they say, had prepared them for this. – Los Angeles Times
A top White House official met with the president of Libya in Tripoli on Wednesday and “accepted condolences” for the deaths of four Americans last month in a terrorist attack on a U.S. Consulate there. – Washington Times
Libya is preparing to bring a wide range of charges against a son of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, and to begin his trial by next February, lawyers for Libya told the International Criminal Court at The Hague on Wednesday. – New York Times
A month after the attack on the U.S. diplomatic facility in Benghazi killed four Americans, 46 percent of voters disapprove of how President Barack Obama is handling Libya, according to a poll released Wednesday. – Politico
Some publicly known details of the September 11 killings of four Americans in Benghazi, Libya, including U.S. Ambassador to Libya Chris Stevens, have changed in the weeks since the attack…The following is the latest information that CNN has gleaned about the attack, and some unanswered questions. – CNN’s Security Clearance
A public clash in Congress on Wednesday over photographs depicting the location of a second, semi-secret U.S. facility in Benghazi, Libya put the spotlight on a compound said to be more secure than the public American mission where U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens died last month. – Reuters
Editorial: In a campaign speech Monday night, President Obama kept at it, saying that “al Qaeda is on its heels and Osama bin Laden is no more.” The second half of the sentence is true. But the more we learn about what happened in Benghazi, the more the first sounds like fantasy, and the less Americans can trust this White House to tell them the truth. – Wall Street Journal (subscription required)
Egypt
Egypt unveiled a proposed draft of a new constitution Wednesday amid criticism from liberals and human rights groups that the document is tilted toward Islamic law and endangers the democratic ideals of the uprising that last year overthrew Hosni Mubarak. – Los Angeles Times
An Egyptian criminal court Wednesday acquitted 26 loyalists of deposed President Hosni Mubarak of charges of plotting the notorious attack in which camels and horses charged hundreds of protesters in Tahrir Square during last year’s uprising. – LA Times’ World Now
As the state that is now led by Islamists tries to crush the armed groups in Sinai, the incident hints at the broader ideological challenge they face confronting militancy in Egypt, where such ideas have long existed but now flow more freely than under Mubarak, who reined in Islamists of all stripes. – Reuters
Egypt’s media, once tightly controlled by the state, has become a free-for-all platform for ideas, theories and advice, which can range from the ignorant to the bizarre and to what some see as outright dangerous…But some Egyptians are concerned that such freedoms are being exploited by hardline Islamists and self-appointed religious experts to extend their influence in a society still finding its feet after months of turmoil. – Reuters
Jordan
Jordan’s King Abdullah appointed reformist politician Abdullah Ensour as prime minister on Wednesday to prepare for the country’s first post-Arab Spring parliamentary election. – Reuters
Yemen
Morten Storm, an admitted former jihadist, sparked a controversy in his native country this week with a newspaper interview claiming he helped the CIA target Anwar al-Awlaki, the al-Qaeda leader who was killed in a drone strike last year. – Washington Post
A masked gunman assassinated a Yemeni security official at the U.S. Embassy in a drive-by shooting in the capital Sanaa on Thursday, officials said. – Associated Press
Yemen’s security forces have detained a U.S. citizen suspected of having links to al-Qaida, a Yemeni official said Wednesday. – Associated Press
Israel
Yet despite Qawasmi’s tireless campaigning and positive international press coverage, many Palestinian voters are expressing skepticism about whether the Oct. 20 municipal elections will result in improvements to their day-to-day lives, ease the Israeli occupation or usher in fresh political leadership to break the dominance of the mainstream Fatah Party in the West Bank. – Los Angeles Times
[T]he early election that Mr. Netanyahu called on Tuesday has the potential to spur a makeover of Mr. Netanyahu’s coalition, shifting Israel’s government from the narrow alliance of conservative and religious parties to a broader-based grouping of right, centrist and left-leaning parties. – Wall Street Journal (subscription required)
The United States and Israel are scheduled on Oct. 21 to begin their biggest-ever bilateral ballistic missile defense exercise, an unidentified Israeli army insider told the Jerusalem Post. – Global Security Newswire
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu looks set for easy re-election in an Israeli ballot early next year and may end up with a bigger coalition than he has today, according to polls published on Thursday – Reuters
Former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who has just received a slap-on-the-wrist sentence in a corruption case, is considering staging a political comeback in an election early next year, a former aide said on Wednesday. – Reuters
Turkey
The European Union issued a familiar and rather predictable message for Turkey on Wednesday, offering little hope to jump-start membership talks now stalled for more than two years. It urged the country to press ahead with political reforms, resolve concerns about the rule of law and normalize relations with Cyprus. – WSJ’s Emerging Europe
Afghanistan
44 on Wednesday nominated Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr., the assistant commandant of the Marine Corps and a combat veteran who led a regiment in the 2003 invasion of Iraq, as the top American and NATO commander in Afghanistan. – New York Times
The U.S. military is ending a massive nation-building experiment in Afghanistan, shutting down teams that have poured hundreds of millions of dollars into roads, schools and administrative buildings in the country’s hinterlands. – Wall Street Journal (subscription required)
The Afghan government and some politicians and local news outlets denounced Western research organizations and news media, blasting them as spies and political agents in the wake of a report that suggested it was possible the Afghan government would collapse after 2014. – New York Times
Despite the best efforts by American and NATO commanders to stem the rise in “insider” attacks by Afghan troops against coalition forces, there is no possible way to completely prevent the attacks from happening. – DEFCON Hill
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said Wednesday the NATO coalition has turned an important corner in Afghanistan, and has come too far and spilled too much blood to let insider attacks or anything else undermine the mission there. – Associated Press
The U.N. Security Council on Tuesday extended authorization for the NATO-led force in Afghanistan for a year and welcomed the agreement to gradually transfer full responsibility for security in the country to the Afghan government by the end of 2014. – Associated Press
Russia will stop cooperating with NATO over Afghanistan after 2014 unless the alliance gets U.N. Security Council authorization for its new training mission in Afghanistan, a senior Russian diplomat said on Wednesday. – Reuters
The United Nations defended on Wednesday its recommendation that the 15-member U.N. Security Council postpone a planned visit to Afghanistan this month over security concerns after some diplomats questioned the U.N. threat assessment. – Reuters
A religious cleric in western Afghanistan said Wednesday he is offering a $300,000 bounty to anyone who kills the maker of an anti-Islam film that has angered Muslims around the world. – Associated Press
Pakistan
A longstanding legal battle between the Pakistani government and the country’s assertive Supreme Court appears to have run its course after both sides came closer to a face-saving settlement on Wednesday. – New York Times
Doctors on Wednesday removed a bullet from a Pakistani schoolgirl shot by the Taliban, as Pakistanis from across the political and religious spectrum united in revulsion at the attack on the 14-year-old education rights campaigner. – New York Times
Editorial: The vile attack in Pakistan, though, reminds us that enmity is a two-way street, and the Taliban still hates the United States and everything it stands for — whether we like it or not. According to the Taliban spokesman, one of Malala’s worst sins was to “consider 44 as her ideal leader.” It might never be possible to strike a deal with such people. It should always be possible for the United States to help protect innocents from them. – Washington Post
Laura Bush writes: Malala is the same age as another writer, a diarist, who inspired many around the world. From her hiding place in Amsterdam, Anne Frank wrote, “How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.” Today, for Malala and the many girls like her, we need not and cannot wait. We must improve their world. – Washington Post
India
India’s government is planning to amend the country’s anti-corruption law to plug its loopholes as well as to add provisions to book corporates that fail to prevent bribery and protect honest officials, the prime minister said Wednesday. – Wall Street Journal (subscription required)
Russia delayed delivery of a trouble-plagued aircraft carrier for at least a year on Friday, a blow to India’s efforts to quickly build up naval strength as increasingly assertive Asian rival China expands its maritime reach. – Reuters
China
The Commerce Department issued its final ruling Wednesday in a long-simmering trade dispute with China, imposing tariffs ranging from about 24 to nearly 36 percent on most solar panels imported from the country. – New York Times
As Chinese cities push plans to invest hundreds of billions of yuan in “key industries” in order to juice slowing economic growth, a new report illustrates how such spending binges, far from placating society, might actually threaten stability in the country. – WSJ’s China Real Time Report
Forced evictions in China, a major source of social discontent, have risen significantly in the past two years as local officials and property developers colluded to seize and sell land to pay off government debt, Amnesty International said on Thursday. – Reuters
East Asia
What happened to Mr. Li, 51, was the ugliest known episode among anti-Japanese protests that convulsed cities in China last month after a longstanding dispute over an island chain erupted into fury….Mr. Li has become a symbol for many Chinese of what can go wrong when latent nationalism spins out of control. – New York Times
[T]he high-pitched row between Beijing and Tokyo over their ownership is exacting a growing toll on Japan, threatening to send its recovery from last year’s disasters into reverse. – Associated Press
North Korea
North Korea said on Wednesday that it felt freer to test a long-range missile now that Washington has agreed to let South Korea nearly triple the reach of its ballistic missiles, putting all of the North within its range. – New York Times
The trace amounts of radioactive isotopes detected not far from North Korea in 2010 were almost certainly not fallout from clandestine atomic testing by the Stalinist state, seismological experts have concluded in a new study due to be released later this month. – Global Security Newswire
The U.S. State Department on Tuesday pushed back against recent threats by North Korea, saying the Stalinist regime should tend to the needs of its citizens rather than boasting about its missiles, Agence France-Presse reported. – Global Security Newswire
Southeast Asia
[A]s Myanmar seeks to shed its authoritarian past…Japan is rapidly ramping up its presence in the country with a heavyweight deployment of government assistance and corporate heft reminiscent of the large investments at the height of Japan’s global economic power in the 1980s. – New York Times
Miles Yu reports: At the first Expanded ASEAN Maritime Forum held in Manila Oct. 3 to 4, China became the focus of all discussions for its aggressive and sweeping maritime disputes with four nations in the regional alliance — Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam. – Washington Times’ Inside China
Russia
An appellate court in Moscow on Wednesday set free one of three jailed members of the punk protest band but upheld the two-year prison sentences of her band mates, issuing a split decision in a case that has drawn international condemnation of Russia over the suppression of political speech. – New York Times
Europe
In the Balkans, two words in a 70-page report is often enough to spark a diplomatic fight. So it proved on Wednesday…For Serbia, which has vowed to never recognize its breakaway province, talk of respecting Kosovo’s “territorial integrity” was tantamount to a demand to accept Pristina’s independence. – WSJ’s Real Time Brussels
Now, the US has stepped back to see if the victor, billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili, and his Georgian Dream coalition are as committed to democracy-building as Mr. Saakashvili. – Christian Science Monitor
Heavyweight boxing champion Vitaly Klitschko is heading for a place in Ukraine’s raucous parliament and he says he is squaring up for “a fight without rules” against President Viktor Yanukovich’s ruling Party of the Regions. – Reuters
United States of America
Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign accused the Obama administration of misleading the American people through “incomplete and indirect” responses to questions on the terrorist attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi as the first day of congressional testimony on the violence wrapped up. – The Hill’s Blog Briefing Room
Mitt Romney will no longer reference having met one of the former Navy SEALs who died in the attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi after a complaint from the slain soldier’s mother, the campaign confirmed Wednesday. – DEFCON Hill
Sens. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) and John McCain (R-Ariz.) called on the Defense Department to review its efforts to protect American diplomats worldwide Wednesday. – The Hill’s Floor Action Blog
Latin America
Factions of Mexico’s brutal Zetas drug cartel are seen uniting behind the gang’s second-in-command after Marines killed leader Heriberto Lazcano, a top official said on Wednesday. – Reuters
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez named Foreign Minister and former bus driver Nicolas Maduro as his new vice president on Wednesday in a Cabinet shake-up following his comfortable re-election. – Reuters
Defeated presidential candidate Henrique Capriles sought to rally Venezuela’s crushed opposition for December gubernatorial elections and said he appreciates an end to the barrage of insults from President Hugo Chavez. – Reuters
Michael Albertus writes: For democracy to function well, the incumbent must play by the same rules as the political parties and politicians in the opposition. These standards have slipped to the brink in Venezuela. – Foreign Policy
Africa
Fighting between Sudanese government forces and rebels formerly allied to South Sudan escalated Wednesday, raising fears that a fragile accord between the two countries could come under renewed pressure. – Wall Street Journal (subscription required)
Sudan and South Sudan pledged to work together to rebuild their shattered economies and not to return to war in a joint plea for foreign investment after signing a critical trade and border agreement last month. – Reuters
Extremists imposing Islamic law in Mali’s north are abusing human rights, particularly those of women, and paying families for children to become rebel fighters, a senior U.N. official said on Wednesday after returning from the country. – Reuters
