Afghanistan
The Washington Post reports that “The top U.S. commander in Afghanistan is preparing a new strategy that calls for major changes in the way U.S. and other NATO troops there operate, a vast increase in the size of Afghan security forces and an intensified military effort to root out corruption among local government officials, according to several people familiar with the contents of an assessment report that outlines his approach to the war. Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, who took charge of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan last month, appears inclined to request an increase in American troops to implement the new strategy, which aims to use more unconventional methods to combat the growing Taliban insurgency, according to members of an advisory group he convened to work on the assessment. Such a request could receive a chilly reception at the White House, where some members of President Obama's national security team have expressed reluctance about authorizing any more deployments... ‘There was a very broad consensus on the part of the assessment team that the effort is under-resourced and will require additional resources to get the job done,’ a senior military official in Kabul said.”
The AP reports that “U.S. agencies handling reconstruction work in Afghanistan lack direction and communication, problems that risk wasting U.S. tax dollars, says the special inspector general overseeing tens of billions of dollars worth of projects. Inspector General Arnold Fields says that coordination between the Americans and the Afghans is poor, leading to a disjointed effort and slowing progress on critically needed improvements to the country's transportation, agriculture and energy production.”
Iran
The Wall Street Journal reports that “Iran's opposition ‘Green Movement’ showed no sign of quieting down as thousands of Iranians took to the streets Thursday, gathering at Tehran's main cemetery for the 40-day commemoration of those killed in the most violent clashes with the regime after disputed national elections. Neda Agha Sultan, the 27-year-old music student, whose image bleeding on camera from a gunshot wound turned her into a symbol of defiance world-wide, was among those mourned. Security forces swarmed the Behesht-e Zahra cemetery in southeast Tehran and packed around main squares trying, at times violently, to disperse the crowds. Riot police and plainclothes militia Basij threw tear-gas at protesters but failed to crush the demonstration, one of the largest in weeks, failed. Witnesses said protests in Tehran dragged well into the night. Some said tens of thousands demonstrated, though some news accounts estimated the figure at thousands.”
Dow Jones reports that “A bipartisan raft of senior senators Thursday renewed calls for a new law levying sanctions against Iran for pressing ahead with its nuclear-enrichment program. Senate sponsors of a measure that would target the country's refined petroleum imports said the bill now has 71 co-sponsors. The bill mirrors a proposal in the House that legislators are prepared to approve after the August recess, with more than half the chamber's members already signed on as co-sponsors. While the Obama administration has pursued new diplomatic efforts to halt Tehran's suspected nuclear weapons program, Congress has pressed President Barack Obama to step up its economic actions against Iran… Sen. Richard Shelby (R., Ala.) said none of the sanction regimes so far implemented had produced the desired results, and ‘it has become clear that we need a fresh approach and that stricter controls may be necessary.’”
Iason Athanasiadis writes in the National (Abu Dhabi) about his detention in Iran and protests: “It was my third week in Tehran’s Evin Prison and the start of a second round of interrogations. The first wave began after my arrest on June 17 and ended when I signed a confession admitting to the administrative crime of working as a journalist in Iran between 2004 and 2007, when I lived and studied in Tehran… And so, after two weeks in prison, sitting in a narrow, bare room surrounded by the sounds of separate interrogations all around, I spent intermittent sessions, lasting from five to 12 hours, talking about the ideological roots of the Iranian Revolution, about the Iranian philosopher Jalal al-e Ahmad’s theory of “Westoxification” (which posits that Iranian society will be poisoned by any engagement with western culture), about American efforts at democracy promotion in Iran, about Velvet Revolutions and neo-liberalism. For my interrogators, the protests raging on the streets outside were nothing less than a battle for the identity of Iran – a struggle to the death they were determined not to lose.”
Iraq
The New York Times reports that “A senior American military adviser in Baghdad has concluded in an unusually blunt memo that Iraqi forces suffer from entrenched deficiencies but are now able to protect the Iraqi government, and that it is time ‘for the U.S. to declare victory and go home.’ The memo offers a look at tensions that emerged between Iraqi and American military officers at a sensitive moment when American combat troops met a June 30 deadline to withdraw from Iraq’s cities, the first step toward an advisory role. The Iraqi government’s forceful moves to assert authority have concerned some American officers, though senior American officials insisted that cooperation had improved. Prepared by Col. Timothy R. Reese, an adviser to the Iraqi military’s Baghdad command, the memorandum details Iraqi military weaknesses in scathing language, including corruption, poor management and the inability to resist Shiite political pressure. Extending the American military presence beyond August 2010, he argues, will do little to improve the Iraqis’ military performance while fueling growing resentment of Americans.”
AFP reports that “Iraq has allowed US forces to provide medical care to Iranian opposition members injured when Iraqi troops stormed their camp near Baghdad, the State Department said Thursday.
US embassy officials met members of the Iraqi government who renewed assurances of "humane" treatment to members of People's Mujahedeen, Iran's main armed exiled opposition movement, State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said. After the meeting, a US military medical team headed to the People's Mujahadeen base at Camp Ashraf, 80 kilometers (50 miles) north of Baghdad, Kelly told reporters.”
Reuters reports that “Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki is due to meet Kurdish President Masoud Barzani next week, a rare encounter between two leaders whose standoff over territory, power, and oil threatens renewed bloodshed in Iraq. The meeting is likely the first between the two men in more than a year, during which time Barzani, leader of Iraq's largely autonomous Kurdistan region, has accused Maliki of acting like a tyrant and marginalizing the interests of minority Kurds.”
The Washington Post reports that “Britain launched an independent inquiry into its role in the Iraq war, with the panel's chairman confirming that former prime minister Tony Blair will be among the witnesses and that it would not ‘shy away from making criticism.’ John Chilcot said at a news conference Thursday that the panel would scrutinize the period from 2001 until the present, making its investigation Britain's widest-ranging inquiry yet into the Iraq war. He also said that ‘the Anglo-American relationship is one of the most central parts of this inquiry’ and that the panel hoped to have "discussions" with Americans involved in the war. At the same time, he said, ‘discussions and evidence sessions are not necessarily the same thing, and of course we have no power to compel witnesses here, let alone in foreign governments.’ Blair's decision to join the 2003 U.S.-led invasion was deeply unpopular here and was seen as one of the key reasons he stepped down two years ago.”
Russia
The Washington Post reports that “The United States is moving to deepen security cooperation with Russia as part of the Obama administration's effort to "reset" relations with Moscow, senior officials told Congress on Thursday. This week, a team of military experts went to Moscow for the first round of discussions on an early warning center that would assess the threat of ballistic missiles, including any from Iran or North Korea, the officials said. U.S. and Russian officials are also planning to hold talks in October to lay the groundwork for extensive military programs next year.”
Missile Defense
The AP reports that “The latest U.S. missile defense test is expected to come Thursday evening in Hawaii waters as tensions continue with North Korea over that country's missile program. A short-range ballistic missile slated to be fired from the Pacific Missile Range Facility on the island of Kauai was to be shot down by a three-stage interceptor missile from the USS Hopper. The test, conducted by the Navy and the Department of Defense's Missile Defense Agency, will mark the 23rd firing by ships equipped with the Aegis ballistic missile defense system. There have been 18 successes, including the shooting down of a dead U.S. spy satellite from space last year.”
North Korea
Roberta Cohen writes in the Washington Post that “The now-defunct six-party talks in which the United States, South Korea, Japan, Russia and China participated focused almost exclusively on North Korea's nuclear weapons program. But with a struggle for succession underway in Pyongyang and some of the country's internal controls reportedly beginning to erode, it's time to rethink the near-exclusion of human rights from the U.S.-North Korean dialogue. The fear of raising human rights issues has been based largely on the belief that doing so would distract from efforts to disable North Korea's nuclear weapons program. But past negotiations focused narrowly on nuclear weapons have not produced sustainable outcomes, and they are unlikely to do so in the future unless they are grounded in a broader and more solid framework.”
Moldova
The New York Times reports that “Moldova’s pro-Western opposition parties appear to have unseated Europe’s last governing Communist Party in repeat parliamentary elections that have become a test of whether this impoverished former Soviet republic will lean toward the West or Russia. With most votes counted from Wednesday’s elections, the Communists seem to have lost the majority they held for eight years in Parliament, winning about 45 percent of the vote, the Central Elections Commission said.”
India
The Financial Times reports that “India has plans to add about 100 warships to its navy over the next decade as it seeks to modernize its armed forces, and develop its low-cost shipbuilding capabilities. Captain Alok Bhatnagar, director of naval plans at India’s ministry of defense, said on Thursday that 32 warships and submarines were under construction in the country’s shipyards. Work on 75 more ships, including aircraft carriers, destroyers, frigates and amphibious vessels, would begin over 10 years. New Delhi is sensitive to lagging behind Beijing's naval might in the region. China has three times the number of combat vessels as India and five times the personnel. Officials are wary of port developments in neighboring Pakistan and Sri Lanka that offer Chinese warships anchorages and potentially greater control of the Indian Ocean and Arabian Sea.”
UK
The Washington Post reports that “Britain launched an independent inquiry into its role in the Iraq war, with the panel's chairman confirming that former prime minister Tony Blair will be among the witnesses and that it would not ‘shy away from making criticism.’ John Chilcot said at a news conference Thursday that the panel would scrutinize the period from 2001 until the present, making its investigation Britain's widest-ranging inquiry yet into the Iraq war. He also said that ‘the Anglo-American relationship is one of the most central parts of this inquiry’ and that the panel hoped to have ‘discussions’ with Americans involved in the war. At the same time, he said, ‘discussions and evidence sessions are not necessarily the same thing, and of course we have no power to compel witnesses here, let alone in foreign governments."
Americas
Bloomberg reports that “Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said he regrets that Colombia is offering to host U.S. military counter-narcotics operations even as he respects the country’s sovereign right to do so. ‘An American base in Colombia doesn’t please me,’ Lula told reporters today in Sao Paulo today after a meeting with Chile’s President Michelle Bachelet, commenting on the U.S. plans for the first time. ‘But just as I wouldn’t want Uribe interfering in my government, I’m not going to interfere in his,’ he said, referring to Colombian President Alvaro Uribe. Bachelet said she shared Lula’s views “completely.” As interim head of the Union of South American Nations, she plans to call a meeting August 10 in Quito to discuss Colombia’s decision and the regional backlash it generated.”
AFP reports that “Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman has accused Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez of cooperating with ‘radical branches’ of Islam and of anti-Semitism, according to media reports Thursday in Colombia. ‘I will not speak about intelligence specifics, but we have enough to be concerned about the collaboration between radical branches of Islam and Hugo Chavez,’ Lieberman told the El Tiempo newspaper at the conclusion of a 10-day South American visit which included stops in Argentina, Brazil, Peru and Colombia.”
