National Security | News-Opinion
TOP NEWS: Nat’l Security / Foreign Affairs: October 1st, 2012
- News Analysis: How to Help Iran Build a Bomb
- U.S. May Have Put Mistaken Faith in Libya Site’s Security
- 5 Dead After Clash Between U.S. and Afghan Troops
- Indicator Shows Euro Zone Recession
- OP-ED: Waiting for an Arab Spring of Ideas
Excerpts and more top news and analysis
IRAN: News Analysis: How to Help Iran Build a Bomb - NYT
Opinion is strong that an attack on Iran by Israel would not slow Iran’s nuclear program, but speed it up.
IRAN: Iran Court Finds Reuters Journalist Guilty of ‘Spreading Lies’ - NYT
The news agency’s bureau chief in Tehran was convicted by a special media court and awaits sentencing.
LIBYA: U.S. May Have Put Mistaken Faith in Libya Site’s Security - NYT
Defenses at the American mission in Benghazi have become a major issue as the Obama administration struggles to explain what happened there and how Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens ended up alone.
AFGHANISTAN: 5 Are Dead After Clash Between U.S. and Afghan Troops – NYT
Two Americans and three Afghans died just days after Pentagon officials confirmed that joint operations between American and Afghan forces were returning to normal.
AFGHANISTAN: Suicide Bomber Kills 13 in Afghanistan - NYT
A suicide bomber walked into the crowded city center in eastern Afghanistan on Monday and killed three international service members and at least 10 Afghans, wounding dozens.
EUROZONE: Indicator Shows Euro Zone Recession – WSJ
An early indicator suggests the euro zone has entered another recession, a development that would underline difficulties for governments to resolve the currency area’s fiscal crisis.
EUROZONE: As Europe’s South Spirals, North Fiddles and Chaos Looms - BLOOMBERG
Anyone who thought the euro crisis was coming under control might want to think again.
EUROZONE/GREECE: Right-Wing Extremists’ Popularity Rising Rapidly in Greece - NYT
With anger rising over austerity measures, the popularity of the extremist Golden Dawn party is growing, even as it undertakes a campaign of vigilantism.
EUROZONE/SPAIN: Spain Must Leave the Euro – DAILY TELEGRAPH, VIA RCW
Mario Draghi’s promise to do “whatever it takes” to save the euro never did look like inducing any more than a temporary lull in the storm; still less did the German Constitutional Court’s thumbs up to the European bail-out fund and the trouncing that eurosceptic parties received in the Dutch election.
*MORE EUROZONE NEWS & ANALYSIS BELOW
ISLAM: Waiting for an Arab Spring of Ideas - NYT, OP-ED
By TARIQ RAMADAN: Economic and social reforms are the keys to Middle East democracy.
ISLAM: Muslim Rage Is About Politics, Not Religion - NEWSWEEK VIA RCW
Husain Haqqani: Muslims have good reason to be angry—and it’s not a sophomoric movie trailer on youtube.
FOREIGN POLICY: After November: Five Mideast Headaches Looming for the U.S. - TIME
TONY KARON: Last week’s U.N. General Assembly session served up reminders that the next White House may have little option but to deal with a number of crises previously deferred
SYRIA: Historic souk burns in battle for Aleppo – FT
Destruction of the covered market, part of a UN world heritage site, is another small tragedy in Syria’s blood-soaked 18-month old conflict
SYRIA: Refugees Within Syria Pose Problems – WSJ
While international attention has focused on the hundreds of thousands of refugees who have fled Syria, turmoil surrounding those displaced within the country is becoming a far larger problem.
SOMALIA: Somali Militants Flee Kismayo – WSJ
The militant Islamist group al-Shabab is leaving the lucrative Somali port city of Kismayo behind.
BRAZIL: Brazil Court Partially Lifts Ban on Transocean Operations – WSJ
A Brazilian court has overturned a lower court ruling and allowed Transocean to continue operations in Brazil, except at the Frade oil field, the site of an oil spill last November.
CHINA: China’s Manufacturing Activity Shrinks Again – WSJ
China’s manufacturing activity shrank in September for the second straight month, according to an official gauge, in a further sign of slowing growth in the world’s No. 2 economy.
CHINA: Is China’s Communist Party Doomed? - DIPLOMAT, VIA RCW
Could Beijing’s ruling elite succumb to the same fate as those in the former Soviet Union? Perhaps.
CHINA: Disgraced Chinese Official’s Son Defends Him – NYT
Bo Guagua, 24, made his most explicit defense of Bo Xilai, a former Communist Party official in China, since a sordid political scandal involving the entire Bo family broke in the spring.
IRAQ: Another Wave of Bombings Across Iraq - NYT
Sunday’s attacks were the latest instance in which insurgents coordinated attacks in multiple cities in a single day, apparently intending to rekindle sectarian conflict.
IRAQ: String of Attacks in Iraq Kill at Least 37 - AJE
Bombs across Iraq killed at least thirty-seven people and wounded ninety others on Sunday in a string of coordinated attacks ranging from Kirkuk, in Iraq’s north, to the southern and mainly Shia town of Kut.
VENEZUELA: 2 Supporters of a Challenger Are Killed as Venezuela’s Election Nears - NYT
Gunfire erupted at a confrontation between supporters of President Hugo Chávez and his main rival, Henrique Capriles Radonski.
VENEZUELA: Youth could decide if Chavez remains in power - WP
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez faces his toughest challenge since his first successful run in 1998.
BANGLADESH: Op-Ed Columnist: Women Hurting Women - NYT
NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF: Female leaders can be just as horrible for women as men — just look at Bangladesh.
MYANMAR: The Burmese Odd Couple – NYT, OP-ED
Freedom is breaking out in Myanmar. Who deserves the credit?
YEMEN: Millions Are Facing Food Crisis in Yemen, U.N. Agency Says - REUTERS
More than 5 million cannot afford food, and another 5 million are on the edge as political instability has compounded a surge in global food and fuel prices.
KENYA: As Kenyan Forces Press Militants Across Border, a Church Is Attacked Back Home - NYT
The attack on a church in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, came two days after Kenyan forces invaded the last major stronghold of the Shabab militant group in Somalia.
RUSSIA: Moscow Court Postpones Pussy Riot Hearing – NYT
One of the three members of the punk protest band said she wanted to fire her lawyers because of disagreements, and an appellate court pushed the hearing back to Oct. 10.
MORE EUROZONE NEWS & ANALYSIS
FRANCE: French Budget Hits Rich and Business - WSJ
France unveils an austerity budget for 2013 that raises taxes on the rich and businesses to make good on Socialist President François Hollande’s pledge to cut the deficit, despite a stalling economy.
FRANCE: Leftists march in Paris against austerity - FT
Protesters demanded a referendum on the EU’s new fiscal discipline treaty in the latest of a series of protests in countries hit by the eurozone crisis
FRANCE: Will France’s Conservatives Turn Far Right? - TIME
Warnings of “antiwhite racism” by one of two contenders for the leadership of France’s main conservative party spark controversy
GREECE: Greek GDP to Shrink Further – WSJ
Greece’s economy is expected to contract more than projected in 2013, its sixth year of recession, under the weight of the next round of austerity measures demanded by international creditors.
SPAIN: Spain Expects a Wider Budget Gap – WSJ
The Spanish government said the effort to clean up an ailing banking system will widen its budget gap and increase its debt load.
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