National Security | News-Opinion
TOP NEWS: Nat’l Security / Foreign Affairs: October 5th, 2012
- Syria Becoming U.S.-Turkey Wedge Issue
- The Delusion of Limited Intervention in Syria
- In Venezuela, Fears Persist Ahead of Election
- U.S. Dismisses Iran’s Plan on Nuclear Crisis
- Israel Alters Calculus on Tehran Due to Unrest
Excerpts and more top news and analysis
TURKEY/SYRIA: Syria Becoming U.S.-Turkey Wedge Issue – WP
The close relationship that President Obama has built with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has provided the United States with a key Muslim ally in the Middle East. Yet a storm awaits them in Syria.
TURKEY/SYRIA: Turkey Hits Syria, Clears Path For Further Military Action – WSJ
Turkey attacked targets inside Syria for a second day and its parliament authorized military offensives into foreign countries, stretching nerves and deepening the threat of new conflict along the neighbors’ 565-mile border.
SYRIA: The Delusion of Limited Intervention in Syria - BLOOMBERG, BRIAN T. HAGGERTY
With Turkey’s decision to shell targets in Syria in retaliation for a mortar attack that killed five civilians inside the Turkish border, there are new signs that Syria’s civil war could escalate into a broader conflict.
SYRIA: Syria’s Up-and-Coming Rebels: Who Are the Farouq Brigades? – TIME
Amid the hodgepodge of groups that make up the armed opposition to Bashar Assad, one organization is coming dramatically to the fore
SYRIA: Syrian Warplanes Strike Homs as Rebels Claim to Capture Base - NYT
Government forces pounded parts of the central city of Homs, while rebels said they took a defense base outside Damascus with a cache of missiles, news reports said on Friday.
SYRIA: Syria Widens Hezbollah’s Contradictions - Michael Young, Daily Star
Reports that a Hezbollah member, Ali Hussein Nassif, was killed in Syria last week, along with other party members, should not surprise us. While Hezbollah has denied involvement in the Syrian conflict, the participation of its members in President Bashar Assad’s campaign of repression has been an open secret for some time in Lebanon.
VENEZUELA: In Venezuela, Fears Persist Among Voters Ahead of Election - NYT
Many Venezuelans are anxious about actually casting ballots against President Hugo Chávez because of a widespread belief that the government retaliates against dissenters.
VENEZUELA: Venezuela’s Chávez Stumbles Toward Re-election Bid - TIME
Venezuela’s firebrand socialist president is no longer a shoo-in to win re-election on Oct. 7 for reasons that are also haunting other leaders on the Latin American left.
VENEZUELA: Win or Lose, Chavez Vote to Bring Autumn of the Patriarch – BLOOMBERG, EDITORIAL
On Oct. 7, voters in Venezuela will decide whether Hugo Chavez will remain as president or be replaced by his challenger Henrique Capriles Radonski. Given how close the contest is and how high the passions on both sides, however, the outcome will probably bring controversy — if not outright civil disturbance or violence.
IRAN: Iran Offers Plan, Dismissed by U.S., on Nuclear Crisis - NYT
DAVID E. SANGER: With sanctions contributing to major protests in Iran, officials have drawn up a plan to defuse the nuclear crisis with the West, but it requires many concessions.
IRAN: West Seizes On Iran’s Currency Woes – WSJ
The U.S. and Europe are working on new coordinated measures intended to accelerate the recent plunge of Iran’s currency and drain its foreign-exchange reserves.
IRAN: Merchants Reopen in Tehran, With Police Watching for More Protests - NYT
By RICK GLADSTONE: Witnesses said that protests did not resume over the devaluation of the currency, the rial, and black-market money traders and prospective customers stayed away.
IRAN: As Iran’s Currency Keeps Tumbling, Anxiety Is Rising - NYT
In the Iranian capital, all anyone can talk about is the rial, and how lives have been turned upside down during a week in which the currency’s value plunged by 40 percent.
ISRAEL/IRAN: Israel Alters Calculus on Tehran Due to Unrest - WSJ
Antigovernment protests in Iran over the currency plunge have bolstered Israeli hopes that sanctions will undermine Tehran, making a military strike less likely.
ISRAEL: Political and Market Forces Hobble Israel’s Pack of Ink-Stained Watchdogs – NYT
Newspapers like Haaretz and Maariv are being squeezed by the pressures of the global digital age and a small, crowded Hebrew-language market that is undergoing convulsions of its own.
ISRAEL: New York Man Kills Worker at Israeli Hotel, Then Is Shot by Police - NYT
The man, who was not identified, opened fire in the dining room and killed a kitchen worker, the authorities said.
JAPAN/S. KOREA: Fight Over Rocky Islets Opens Old Wounds Between South Korea and Japan – NYT
The dispute over the Dokdo/Takeshima islets reflects Seoul’s anger over its treatment when Japan ruled the Korean Peninsula as a colonial power.
SOMALIA: Private Army Formed to Fight Somali Pirates Leaves Troubled Legacy – NYT
Hundreds of half-trained and well-armed members of an army for hire, now stranded in Somalia, offer a lesson in the risks of outsourced wars.
AFGHANISTAN: Peace Talks With the Taliban – NYT, EDITORIAL
The Obama administration should not abandon efforts for a negotiated solution in Afghanistan.
AFGHANISTAN: Karzai Accuses U.S. of Duplicity in Fighting Afghan Enemies - NYT
The Afghan president, Hamid Karzai, said the United States was playing a “double game” by not taking the fight against insurgents to Pakistan and by not supplying his country with weapons.
LIBYA: F.B.I. Agents Scour Ruins of Attacked U.S. Diplomatic Compound in Libya – NYT
Security fears had kept the agents from traveling from the American Embassy in Tripoli, the Libyan capital, to collect evidence in Benghazi.
EUROZONE/SPAIN: Spain Bailout Not Imminent - BLOOMBERG VIA CFR
A European Union official said that Spain may not necessarily ask for a bailout package from EU rescue funds, despite European Central Bank President Mario Draghi’s statement yesterday that the ECB would be ready to start buying bonds of sovereigns that qualify for aid.
EUROZONE/SPAIN: Spain Bailout No Fix for Italy’s Woes - WSJ
While a Spanish bailout request could east pressure on Italy, it might be just a short-term fix, writes Stephen Fidler.
EUROZONE/GREECE: Greek Shipyard Workers Clash With Police - WSJ
Greek shipyard workers clashed with riot police after protesters stormed the country’s defense ministry in a dispute over unpaid wages.
UK: British Judges to Rule on Extradition of 5 Detainees to U.S. – NYT
A ruling on Friday could bring an end to a protracted legal tussle over the extradition of five men, including the Muslim cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri, to face terrorism charges in the United States.
UK: U.K.’s Cameron Faces Tough Party Conference - WSJ
British Prime Minister David Cameron will attempt to rally his Conservative Party at its annual conference next week following a series of embarrassing policy gaffes.
FOREIGN POLICY: World of Troubles: Foreign Policy in U.S. Election – The Economist
The economy has dominated the campaign, but there are serious foreign-policy issues to grapple with
GEORGIA: Winning Coalition in Georgia Demands Vote Recounts - NYT
The country’s fragile postelection calm was shaken Thursday, with some coalition members calling for punishing officials from the departing government.
JORDAN: Thousands of Protestors Gather in Jordan – AJE
Thousands of protesters are expected to stage a pro-reform rally in the Jordanian capital of Amman, despite King Abdullah’s decision to dissolve parliament one day earlier and call for early elections in a move the monarch hoped would calm public sentiment.
KENYA: Mau Mau torture case: Kenyans win ruling against UK - GUARDIAN VIA CFR
A court ruled that three Kenyans who were tortured by British colonial authorities during the Mau Mau uprising could proceed with legal claims against the UK government. The Kenyan uprising, in which thousands were killed, protested British rule in the 1950s and 1960s.
INDIA: India Moves Again to Ease Way for Foreign Investment – NYT
In its second major effort to revive a flagging economy, the Indian cabinet proposed letting foreign investors take a bigger stake in insurance and pension companies, but passage of the measure by Parliament is far from certain.
GLOBAL ECONOMY: Global Food Prices on the Rise, U.N. Says - NYT
Heat and drought in the United States, Russia and Europe led to record highs in the prices of corn and soybeans, the United Nations food agency reported.
S. AFRICA: South Africa Must Save Its Global Reputation – BUSINESS DAY EDITORIAL VIA RCW
RESERVE Bank governor Gill Marcus warned this week that the rand remained vulnerable to “changing risk perceptions” based on the state of global financial markets and domestic issues, and already she has been proved right.
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