National Security | News-Opinion
TOP NEWS: Nat’l Security / Foreign Affairs: October 15th, 2012
Top Five News and Analysis Links (Excerpts Below)
- Malala Is Airlifted to Britain
- Refugees to Turkey Top 100,000
- Leaders Sign Agreement on Scottish Independence Vote
- Euro-Zone Reforms Risk Splitting Union
- Terrifying Threat Obama, Romney Aren’t Talking About
Excerpts and more top news and analysis
PAKISTAN: Schoolgirl Wounded by Taliban Is Airlifted to Britain - NYT
Malala Yousafzai, the teenage education activist who was shot by Taliban gunmen, will undergo emergency specialist care, a military spokesman said on Monday.
SYRIA: Refugees to Turkey Top 100,000 – WSJ
The number of Syrian refugees in Turkey has breached the “psychological limit” of 100,000, underscoring concerns that the country may not be able to cope with the flow of people.
SYRIA: Rebel Arms Flow Is Said to Benefit Jihadists in Syria – NYT
In a blow to the White House’s strategy of minimal and indirect intervention in the Syrian conflict, Washington-backed secular rebel groups are lagging behind hard-line Islamists in weapons acquisition.
SYRIA: Obama’s greatest failure – WP, JACKSON DIEHL
Miscalculations on Syria have led to a wider war.
SYRIA/IRAN: Iran Is Stuck with Chaotic Syria - THE NATIONAL, EMILE HOKAYEM
Until death do you part: Iran is stuck with a Syria in crisis
SYRIA/TURKEY: As Tension Escalates, Turkey Issues a Ban on All Syrian Aircraft - NYT
The announcement followed Syria’s ban on Turkish aircraft and became the latest volley in an increasingly aggressive dispute between the two neighbors over Syria’s devastating civil war.
*MORE SYRIA/TURKEY NEWS & ANALYSIS BELOW
UK/SCOTLAND: Leaders Sign Agreement on Scottish Independence Vote – NYT
Prime Minister David Cameron and Alex Salmond, the Scottish first minister, are scheduled to sign an agreement laying out the details for a referendum on Scottish independence.
UK/SCOTLAND: Scotland’s independence referendum deal inked – AJE
British and Scottish leaders sign a deal to give Scotland a referendum on independence in 2014 after 300 years of union.
EUROZONE: Euro-Zone Reforms Risk Splitting Union - WSJ
Ideas for fixing Europe’s crisis-ridden currency union that focus on pulling the 17 countries of the euro closer together, could pose serious risks to the future of the wider EU of 27.
EUROZONE: Euro steady as EU summit looms – FT
US dollar broadly stronger ahead of retail sales figures for September, with expectations of growth of 0.8 per cent on the month before
EUROZONE/PORTUGAL: Austerity Protests Are Rude Awakening in Portugal – NYT
The Portuguese have suddenly joined the swelling ranks of Europe’s discontented, following Greece and Spain.
EU: Europe risks giving up on defence - FT, COMMENT
Diplomats fear the collapse of BAE-EADS merger talks will contribute to the continent’s growing military irrelevance, says James Blitz
CYBER SECURITY: A Terrifying Threat Obama, Romney Aren’t Talking About - BLOOMBERG, EDITORIAL
U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta made some alarming predictions during a speech on Oct. 11. Cyber attacks are looming, he said. They “could be as destructive as the terrorist attack of 9/11” and might amount to a “cyber Pearl Harbor.”
CYBER SECURITY/IRAN: U.S. Suspects Iran Was Behind a Wave of Cyberattacks – NYT
THOM SHANKER, DAVID E. SANGER: Intelligence officials believe network attacks that crippled computers across the Saudi oil industry and breached American financial institutions originated in Iran.
GLOBAL ECONOMY: A BRIC wall - WP, ROBERT J. SAMUELSON
Brazil, Russia, India and China can’t save us.
N. KOREA: North Koreans See Few Gains Below Top Tier – NYT
Interviews in China with four North Koreans suggest daily life has not improved under Kim Jong-un for those who fall outside the nation’s elite.
PALESTINE: All-Female Ticket Aims to Be Heard, if Not Seen – NYT
In the first local elections since 1976 in Hebron, a conservative West Bank city, Maysoun Qawasmi is leading a slate of candidates who she says are better off heard than seen.
LIBYA: No Shame - NYT, EDITORIAL
The same people who slashed the State Department budget are now complaining about security failings in Libya.
LIBYA: Justice After Benghazi – WP, EDITORIAL
It’s hard not to see parallels with the diplomatic and judicial mess that followed al-Qaeda’s bombing of the USS Cole in Yemen in October 2000.
CHINA: Asia Knows How to Get Along With a Bigger China – BLOOMBERG, PANKAJ MISHRA
Preparing for a recent trip to Indonesia last week, I came across an article by Meidyatama Suryodiningrat, the editor of the feisty Indonesian daily Jakarta Post, protesting that the Obama administration’s “pivot” to Asia seemed too much like an attempt to start a cold war against China, with the help of its neighbors.
CHINA: The Disaster That Exposed China’s Corruption - NEW YORKER, EVAN OSNOS
On the morning of July 23, 2011, passengers hurried across Beijing South Station at the final call to board bullet train D301, heading south on the world’s largest, fastest, and newest high-speed railway, the Harmony Express.
CHINA/JAPAN: China Should Accept Japan’s Olive Branch - GUARDIAN
For too long, the Chinese state has treated rage against Japan as a poorly sutured wound to be torn open when expedient
AFGHANISTAN: Afghan Vote Plan Raises Tensions – WSJ
The Afghan government’s plan to issue biometric ID cards ahead of the 2014 presidential election is opening a new rift with international donors, who are concerned the ambitious project could tarnish the vote instead of eliminating fraud.
AFGHANISTAN: Mining Contract Details Disclosed in Afghanistan – NYT
The West has made greater openness in the Afghan government’s financial dealings a condition of billions of dollars in development assistance and aid money.
AFGHANISTAN: Leaving Afghanistan - NYT, EDITORIAL
The battle in Afghanistan has become longest, bloodiest, most expensive war in American history. Editorials over the past 12 years have followed the events.
IRAN/EU: EU Approves New Iran Sanctions - WSJ
European Union foreign ministers formally approved a fresh, wide-reaching package of sanctions against Iran and called on it to urgently comply with its international obligations regarding its nuclear program.
MEXICO: Mexico is forgotten story of US election – FT, COMMENT
Americans think of their neighbour as a law and order problem. But the significance of their integration is economic, writes Edward Luce
GUINEA-BISSAU: How Cocaine Transformed a Tiny African Nation – TIME
Seven years ago, almost no one in Guinea-Bissau could imagine that just one gram of a bland-looking white powder could be worth more than their average monthly salary
PHILIPPINES: Manila signs peace deal with rebel Muslims - FT
Philippine government and Moro Islamic Liberation Front sign peace plan aimed at ending four decades of separatist rebellion in the country’s volatile south
MORE SYRIAN & TURKISH NEWS & ANALYSIS:
SYRIA: Syria accused of cluster bomb use - WP
Meanwhile, a mutual ban on overflights is declared by the Assad regime and Turkey.
SYRIA: Syria stains the world’s conscience - FT, COMMENT
The international community has stood by paralysed as the Syrian regime unleashed its air power on its own people, writes Rhonda Roumani
SYRIA/TURKEY: Turkey warns on Syria refugees - FT
Ankara says it is unable to keep pace with the rate at which people are fleeing bombardment and fighting, with thousands trapped on Syrian territory
TURKEY: Turkey Probes Armenian Jet’s Cargo - WSJ
An Armenian cargo plane carrying humanitarian aid to Syria landed in Turkey, where authorities began an investigation of its cargo.
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