Iran
One of Europe’s leading satellite providers on Monday said it would terminate its contract with Iran’s broadcast company, IRIB, immediately pulling 19 state-owned television and radio channels off the air. – Wall Street Journal
The European Union toughened sanctions against Iran over its disputed nuclear program on Monday, banning trade in industries like finance, metals and natural gas, and making other business transactions far more cumbersome. – New York Times
British Foreign Secretary William Hague has dismissed the notion that Britain is trying to force regime change in Iran with the sanctions that the European Union has imposed over Tehran’s nuclear activities. – Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
Western sanctions are moving Iran’s economy into unknown territory as they press Tehran to give up controversial nuclear activities. – Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
U.S. exports to Iran rose by nearly a third this year, chiefly because of grain sales, according to U.S. data released last week, despite the tightening of U.S. financial sanctions. – Reuters
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards chief has drafted a plan to cause an environmental disaster in the Strait of Hormuz to block seaborne oil exports with the goal of removing economic sanctions imposed on Tehran, the weekly Der Spiegel said in an unsourced report. – Reuters
Iran is hopeful its ally China will fund up to $2 billion to complete Tehran’s metro rail which faces delays due to lack of financing as a result of sanctions, a government official said on Monday. – Reuters
Graham Allison and Shai Feldman write: In fact, Mr. Netanyahu’s about-face resulted from a long-building revolt by Israel’s professional security establishment against the very idea of an early military attack, particularly one without the approval of the United States. – New York Times
Ray Takeyh writes: The Islamic Republic will either hang on as an autocratic theocracy or be transformed into a populist democracy. The irony is that Ayatollah Khamenei, by ruthlessly consolidating his power, might have ensured that the system he created will not easily endure without his steady hand. – New York Times
John Hannah writes: America doesn’t have a higher national security priority than stopping the world’s most dangerous regime from going nuclear. And yet the sad reality is that our dependence on oil has for years, and to our great peril, systematically deterred us from fully deploying the most powerful tool in our arsenal — all-out sanctions on Iran’s petroleum sector — for resolving the crisis peacefully. – Shadow Government
Syria
The new Syria peace envoy from the United Nations and Arab League enlisted Iran’s help on Monday in an effort to negotiate a cease-fire in observance of a three-day holiday dear to all Muslims, hoping that such a religious reprieve could become the basis for a dialogue. – New York Times
The number of Syrian refugees entering Turkey has exceeded Ankara’s “psychological limit” of 100,000, officials said, underscoring concerns that the country might not be able to cope with a flow of people that shows no sign of abating. – Wall Street Journal (subscription required)
The influx of Syrians fleeing the conflict in their country is creating tensions in a region of Turkey famed for its religious diversity, and is sharpening already fierce criticism of the government’s foreign policy. – Financial Times
Syrian President Bashar Assad ordered on Monday immediate repairs to a historic mosque in the city of Aleppo, a move likely aimed at containing Muslim outrage after fierce fighting between rebels and regime forces set parts of the mosque on fire over the weekend. – Associated Press
European Union governments tightened sanctions against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Monday over his government’s violence against rebels, agreeing new restrictions against the country’ arms industry and other measures. – Reuters
Will Inboden writes: Policymaking is inherently uncertain, with risks, trade-offs, and potential downsides for just about any action taken or not taken. We can’t know for sure that an American intervention of some sort would have produced a substantially better outcome. But we can (and do) know that the Obama administration’s approach has been disastrous. – Shadow Government
Radwan Ziadeh writes: Returning to Syria gave me an opportunity to see a new Syria on the horizon — a Free Syria proud of all its citizens, confident in its future, and baptized in blood. – Foreign Policy
Arun Lund writes: This list of jihadi and other Islamist groups should not be taken as a portrait of the insurgent movement as a whole. Several important non-Islamist factions have been excluded, such as the FSA’s Omari Brigade in Deraa Province. Even so, the Syrian revolution’s gradual descent into sectarian warfare is now empowering the most extreme factions within what is already effectively an all-Sunni insurgency. – Foreign Policy
Michael Weiss writes: With the UN Security Council permanently deadlocked, a refugee population now possibly at half a million, Russia’s unabated military support for the regime, and violence and political instability hemorrhaging out into every neighboring country, intervention in Syria seems inescapable. And the shibboleths, excuses and sublimated Assadist propaganda that have characterized the arguments against it seem less and less persuasive. – NOW Lebanon
Libya
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said she takes responsibility for security at the American diplomatic outpost in Benghazi, Libya, where Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans died in an attack last month. – Wall Street Journal
After a month of conflicting statements and partisan criticism, the circumstances surrounding the attack that killed Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens in Benghazi, Libya, on Sept. 11, 2012, have become clouded in ambiguities and questions: Did the attack grow out of anger against an American-made video mocking the Prophet Muhammad, or was it waged by an affiliate of Al Qaeda out to mark the 11th anniversary of its attack on United States soil? – New York Times
The Pentagon and State Department are speeding up efforts to help the Libyan government create a commando force to combat Islamic extremists like the ones who killed the American ambassador in Libya last month and to help counter the country’s fractious militias, according to internal government documents. – New York Times
Scores of disparate militias remain Libya’s only effective police force but have stubbornly resisted government control, a dynamic that is making it difficult for either the Libyan authorities or the United States to catch the attackers who killed Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens. – New York Times
The White House has put special operations strike forces on standby and moved drones into the skies above Africa, ready to strike militant targets from Libya to Mali — if investigators can find the al-Qaida-linked group responsible for the death of the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans in Libya. – Associated Press
The U.S. envoy sent to Tripoli following the death of the American ambassador in an attack last month said on Monday the United States remained committed to supporting Libya. – Reuters
State Department officials suspected that two Libyan guards hired by its own security contractor were behind an April incident in which a homemade bomb was hurled over the wall of the special mission in Benghazi, according to official emails obtained by Reuters. – Reuters
Some 120 prisoners escaped from Libya’s largest jail on Monday after the policeman in charge threw a set of keys into the prisoners’ cells, a security official said. – Reuters
Editorial: CNN reported Monday night from Lima that Mrs. Clinton finally addressed the White House comments by saying “I take responsibility” for what happened in Benghazi…That’s nice, but it still leaves many questions, such as why her own comments to the U.N. differed so much from the substance and tone of Mr. Obama’s. Saying you take “responsibility” in brief interviews from faraway Peru is a long way from acting as if you’re responsible. – Wall Street Journal (subscription required)
Egypt
[I]t is outside the halls of government — in the streets, mosques, schools and courts — where Egypt’s Islamist revival is redefining the rights and responsibilities of ordinary citizens. – Washington Post
The State Department has withdrawn from its embassy in Cairo the U.S. official who ignited a firestorm of controversy with his early, unauthorized condemnation of a U.S.-made video that mocked the Prophet Muhammad. – Wall Street Journal (subscription required)
Egypt is heading into a month of complex internal and external negotiations to secure a financing package from the International Monetary Fund, a critical test of how the global lender can support new governments born of the Arab Spring revolutions. – Wall Street Journal (subscription required)
Egypt’s public prosecutor has ordered an investigation into violence that broke out last Friday between Islamist and liberal demonstrators, including accusations against top-ranking officials in the Muslim Brotherhood, the state news agency said. – Reuters
North Africa
The proliferation of militant jihadi groups across the Arab world is posing a new threat to the region’s stability, presenting fresh challenges to emerging democracies and undermining prospects for a smooth transition in Syria should the regime fall. – Washington Post
Tunisia is failing to crack down on Islamist violence against advocates of secularism including journalists and artists, and risks encouraging more attacks, Human Rights Watch said on Monday. – Reuters
Gulf States
Kuwaiti security forces detained at least five people, including the son of a prominent opposition figure, at an anti-government protest against possible changes to an election law, witnesses said on Tuesday. – Reuters
Bahrain summoned Iran’s charge d’affaires on Monday to protest against what it called interference in its internal affairs. – Reuters
Lebanon
Iran is providing Hezbollah militants with financing, training and sophisticated weaponry in an attempt to transform Lebanon into an “outpost for terror,” Israel’s U.N. ambassador said on Monday. – Reuters
Israel
Ehud Olmert, the former prime minister who has spent the last several years battling corruption charges, is plotting a comeback that analysts say offers the best hope of uniting Israel’s fragmented political center, but also shows the opposition’s desperation in trying to block the seemingly inevitable re-election of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. – New York Times
Ms. Qawasmi’s long-shot, low-budget campaign is one of hundreds unfolding across the West Bank this month in the first Palestinian elections of any kind in six years, which analysts describe as an important if imperfect taste of democracy in a place where politics are adrift. – New York Times
The Palestinian Authority’s statehood bid at the United Nations next month would “jeopardize” the stalled peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians, U.S. ambassador Susan Rice said Monday during a Security Council debate on the Middle East. – The Hill’s Global Affairs
The United States and Israel inked an trade agreement on Monday that is designed to spur trade between the two countries and make it easier for American companies to export telecommunications equipment to Israel. – Hillicon Valley
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu kicked off his re-election campaign on Monday, saying Israel had new unspecified “capabilities” to act against Iran’s nuclear threat, an issue he said he had placed at the heart of the global debate. – Reuters
Editorial: Neither Mr. Obama nor Mr. Romney is likely to succeed in policy toward Iran, not to mention their shared goal of creating a Palestinian state, unless they can forge a trusting relationship with Israel’s leader. – Washington Post
Afghanistan
The attrition strikes at the core of America’s exit strategy in Afghanistan: to build an Afghan National Army that can take over the war and allow the United States and NATO forces to withdraw by the end of 2014. The urgency of that deadline has only grown as the pace of the troop pullout has become an issue in the American presidential campaign. – New York Times
A member of the Afghan intelligence service detonated a suicide vest Saturday, killing two Americans and four Afghan intelligence agency colleagues, Afghan and international officials said Monday. – New York Times
NATO troops will remain alongside their American counterparts in Afghanistan after the White House’s 2014 deadline, according to a plan announced by alliance leaders on Monday. – DEFCON Hill
For many national security-niks in Washington, the candidates are already behind the curve. The bar stool debate is not whether the U.S. fights into 2015 or sticks around in 2014. The bets being laid now are whether the U.S. even makes it to 2014. – The E-Ring
Those are the types of questions currently being posed to hundreds of job candidates as Afghanistan tests out revamped hiring procedures for civil-service positions. The effort is part of the country’s larger effort to fight corruption. – Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
Pakistan
A Pakistani schoolgirl shot in the head by the Taliban has every chance of making a “good recovery”, British doctors said on Monday as 14-year-old Malala Yousufzai arrived at a hospital in central England for treatment of her severe wounds. – Reuters
Symposium: Is there a way to safely support women’s rights in Taliban-heavy areas? What can Pakistan and its allies do to either work with the Taliban on reform initiatives, or stop it from terrorizing civilians? – New York Times
East Asia
Chinese naval vessels were spotted in waters near a southern Japanese island Tuesday, marking the first time that the nation’s ships have closed in on Japanese waters since diplomatic relations between the two countries took a nose dive after Japan nationalized a chain of disputed islets. – Wall Street Journal (subscription required)
Overall defense spending in Asia might be up, but the increases are mostly due to large troop numbers and maintenance costs, not massive investment in cutting-edge research or equipment, according to a new report from the Center for Strategic and International Studies. – Defense News
Michael O’Hanlon writes: As the Pentagon looks ahead to a new Quadrennial Defense Review under either a President Obama or a President Romney, it needs a concept of military operations and a name for that concept that supports and accurately reflects U.S. grand strategy goals. Air-Sea Operations would be a sound choice. – Defense News
Ethan Epstein writes: So, Sino-Japanese relations are approaching something of a postwar nadir. And there are reasons to believe the situation will only deteriorate further next year. – The Weekly Standard
China
A modest downtick in Chinese inflation could give policy makers more room to boost the world’s second-largest economy, as growth continues to decelerate in China’s biggest swoon since the global financial crisis. – Wall Street Journal (subscription required)
China, once a catch basin for the world’s money, is now watching cash stream out. – Wall Street Journal (subscription required)
China’s military is set to conduct a test of a new and more capable anti-satellite missile that United States intelligence agencies say can knock out strategic satellites in high-earth orbit, according to U.S. officials. – Washington Free Beacon
Koreas
For more than 20 years, the South Korean government has looked mainly at one country—Germany—as a model for any possible reunification with North Korea. Starting Tuesday, it will listen to leaders from a divided place that reconciled in a different way—the Irish isle. – Wall Street Journal (subscription required)
The ministry is one of five that will soon move from Seoul to this built-from-scratch city in the middle of the country….Even though the move is just 100 miles or so, it is creating upheaval for tens of thousands of government workers, many of whom don’t want to leave the Seoul environs, home to nearly half of South Korea’s 50 million people. – Wall Street Journal
Josh Rogin reports: Two North Korean government officials told a top U.S. official dealing with North Korea that the hermitic Stalinist state would not continue on its path to denuclearization, as promised in 2005, until the United States ends what it sees as America’s hostile policy to the DPRK. – The Cable
Southeast Asia
The United States is considering renewing ties with the Burmese military as part of an overall effort to reengage with the southeast Asian nation as it continues its transition from authoritarian rule. – DEFCON Hill
Vikram Singh, deputy assistant secretary of defense for South and Southeast Asia, has joined the latest U.S. delegation visiting Burma this week, reflecting the Pentagon’s desire to get the ball rolling between Burma’s military and the U.S. armed forces. – The E-Ring
Thousands of Buddhist monks marched in Myanmar’s two biggest cities on Monday to protest against efforts by the world’s biggest Islamic body to help Rohingya Muslims involved in deadly communal clashes four months ago. – Reuters
Vietnam’s ruling Communist Party has promised economic reforms and a restructuring of state firms and the banking system after a top-level meeting that criticized senior members, thought to include the prime minister, but left them in their posts – Reuters
Alexander Bernard and Paul Leaf write: Vietnam, along with other regional players currently embroiled in territorial and maritime disputes with China, want assurances that the U.S. will back them in the face of Chinese power grabs. A weak showing will erode our allies’ confidence in U.S. staying power, and embolden China to act more aggressively. Signing the TPPA will help to balance China’s rise. – Real Clear Markets
Russia
Pro-Kremlin and opposition supporters are trading barbs and blows following local polls around Russia that handed the ruling party an easy victory in most races. – Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
Two members of [the feminist] punk band lost their appeal to stay in a Moscow pre-trial detention center on Monday, their lawyer said, and will now serve the remainder of their terms in a remote penal colony where conditions are much tougher. – Reuters
Europe
The elections brought an end to the eight-year dominance of President Mikheil Saakashvili and his team — as well as their sometimes aggressive push to introduce Western ways to this conservative society. That quest drove Mr. Saakashvili’s government into occasional conflicts with the church, which worsened as the country approached a highly competitive election. – New York Times
Azerbaijan, Iran’s neighbor and longtime rival, is coming to relish its role as the region’s anti-Iran, a secular, Western-leaning country that is working mightily to become everything that Iran is not. – Washington Post
European Union foreign ministers meeting in Luxembourg have resolved to keep sanctions in place against Belarus, but they are continuing to hold out the prospect of lifting sanctions if Minsk improves its human rights record. – Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
Jews across France say anti-Semitic threats have escalated since a deadly assault on a Jewish school in the southwestern town of Toulouse this spring…In all cases, police suspect Muslim extremists. – Associated Press
James Kirckick writes: Daniel Kunin, an American advisor to Saakashvili from the day after the 2003 Rose Revolution until January of 2010, told me that in his six and a half years at the president’s side, he never once heard Ivanishvili’s name mentioned…Now, everyone in Georgia knows the eccentric billionaire with the Albino rapper son, $1 billion art collection and private zoo, who can add one of the world’s most dramatic electoral upsets to his list of accomplishments. – Foreign Policy
United States of America
More than half of Republican voters want to hear the candidates talk more about foreign policy, according to a new poll from the Better World Campaign. – The Hill’s Global Affairs
Daniel Byman writes: Americans like to think that all problems can be solved and that, if they aren’t, incompetence or malfeasance is to blame. Often, however, the challenge is overwhelming and U.S. influence is limited. – Washington Post
Latin America
Peace talks between the Colombian government and guerrillas meant to end a bloody half-century conflict were delayed due to bad weather, last-minute rebel demands and difficulties in suspending international arrest warrants for some of the negotiators, both sides said Monday. – Wall Street Journal (subscription required)
Among the many thorny issues to be hammered out in peace talks beginning Wednesday in Oslo between Colombia’s government and the country’s largest rebel group is what sort of post-conflict political role will be afforded to the insurgents. – Los Angeles Times
Mexico is making progress in its fight against powerful drug cartels and they are becoming weaker as the crime bosses are killed or jailed, the interior minister said on Monday. – Reuters
The Cuban government announced on Tuesday it will no longer require islanders to apply for an exit visa, eliminating a much-loathed bureaucratic procedure that has been a major impediment for many seeking to travel overseas. – Associated Press
A Spanish political activist has been sentenced to four years in prison for the deaths of prominent Cuban dissident Oswaldo Paya and a colleague in a July car wreck, a Cuban government website said on Monday. – Reuters
Mali
Religious extremists who hold the northern stretches of Mali in their grip promised revenge attacks against the French this weekend after the European country pushed for regional military action to eject them. – LA Times’ World Now
The European Union said on Monday it would draw up plans for a possible military training mission to help Mali’s army regain control of the Islamist-dominated north of the country. – Reuters
East Africa
Sudanese security forces burned and looted a village in the Nuba mountains of South Kordofan state in May and filmed the attack, a monitoring group said on Tuesday, providing satellite images, cell phone video and witness accounts to back its claims. – Reuters
Jon Temin writes: Until the basic questions of how to govern this unwieldy country are addressed, there’s little hope for sustainable progress. As some of the other Arab Spring countries grapple with how they want to govern themselves, Sudan should join the debate. – Foreign Policy
Central Africa
Kony, whose Lord’s Resistance Army has survived on a steady regime of rape, murder, pillage and abduction across East and Central Africa, remains a fugitive, as African Union countries — Uganda, Congo, South Sudan and the Central African Republic — struggle to coordinate their forces and amass the political will to bring justice to one of Africa’s most infamous warlords. – Associated Press
