FPI Overnight Brief: July 23, 2010

FPI Overnight Brief
July 23, 2010

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Afghanistan/Pakistan

U.S. and Afghan authorities are setting up a joint task force to monitor the billions of dollars in cash flown out of Afghanistan every year, officials said, as the U.S. announced debt-relief for the war-ravaged country. – Wall Street Journal

The man who served as President Hamid Karzai's top intelligence official for six years has launched an urgent campaign to warn Afghans that their leader has lost conviction in the fight against the Taliban and is recklessly pursuing a political deal with insurgents. – Washington Post

A federal watchdog criticized U.S. agencies on Thursday for squandering taxpayer money on facilities in Afghanistan that are too complex and costly for the Afghan government to maintain. – Los Angeles Times

The government extended the term of Pakistan’s army chief by three years on Thursday, a move backed by the United States as it seeks to encourage Pakistan as a more reliable ally against Taliban and Qaeda militants. – New York Times

The Treasury Department on Thursday imposed sanctions against three key leaders and financiers of the Taliban and its affiliated group, the Pakistan-based Haqqani Network. – Washington Times
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China

The Obama administration's point man for countering arms proliferation said Thursday that the administration will vote against China's sale of nuclear reactors to Pakistan in the international Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG). – Washington Times

The Obama administration's announcement Thursday that it will resume relations with Indonesia's special forces, despite the unit's history of alleged atrocities and assassinations, is the most significant move yet by the United States to strengthen ties in East Asia as a hedge against China's rise. The push comes at the same time that the administration's tone with China has turned tougher, especially on the nettlesome issue of human rights. In recent speeches and interactions with Chinese authorities, the administration has abandoned an earlier approach of patience and quiet engagement. – Washington Post

Experts have warned that new rules in China aimed at safeguarding the country’s food quality in the wake of the contaminated milk scandal that killed six infants in 2008 are only a framework on which to try to improve standards. – The National

The People's Liberation Army has unveiled its first department dedicated to tackling cyber war threats and protecting information security, Chinese media reported today. The move comes just over a year after the United States created a cyber command. - Guardian

Michael Mazza writes: Were the upcoming exercises—our most immediate military response to the Cheonan sinking—to take place in the Yellow Sea in spite of Chinese objections, they would have incentivized Beijing to alter its behavior. Instead, the United States has altered its own behavior in the hopes that China will act more cooperatively in the future. It is folly to think that this will be effective…China respects power and preys on weakness. Right now, Beijing smells blood in the water. – AEI’s Center for Defense Studies
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North Korea

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urged Asia on Friday to enforce tough sanctions against North Korea, which hit back by threatening a "physical response" to Washington's plans for joint military drills with South Korea. - Reuters
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Defense

After nearly a decade of rapid increases in military spending, the Pentagon is facing intensifying political and economic pressures to restrain its budget, setting up the first serious debate since the terrorist attacks of 2001 about the size and cost of the armed services. – New York Times

In the language of Beltway defense wonkery, the results of this year's test launch of the hypersonic unmanned U.S. aircraft designated Falcon HTV-2 might be called sub-optimal. In plain English, it appears certain that the experimental space plane - a key element of U.S. efforts to develop a conventional weapon that can strike anywhere in the world in less than an hour - disintegrated and burned up in the upper atmosphere in a failure that casts a question mark over the program's future. – Washington Times

An influential Pentagon advisory board is poised to recommend Defense Secretary Robert Gates close contractor-heavy U.S. Joint Forces Command (JFCOM) and rid his office and the Joint Staff of redundant functions, moves that could save billions of dollars. – Defense News

The U.S. Navy will run out of money to pay civilian employees and might have to start furloughing them in mid-August if Congress doesn't approve a supplemental war-funding bill that includes $33.5 billion for the military, Navy Undersecretary Robert Work told the House Armed Services Committee July 22. – Defense News
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New START

With time running out for major votes before the November election, the White House is trying to reach an understanding with Senate Republicans to approve its new arms control treaty with Russia by committing to modernizing the nuclear arsenal and making additional guarantees about missile defense. – New York Times
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Middle East

Fighting has flared up across Yemen in recent days, with dozens of pro-government tribesmen killed in clashes with rebels in the north since the weekend, and five soldiers killed in a suspected Qaeda ambush Thursday in the southern province of Shabwa, witnesses and military officials said. – New York Times

The smugglers who sneak consumer goods, cash and weapons into the blockaded Gaza Strip have cut hundreds of holes in an underground steel wall Egypt is building along the border to try to stop them, two Egyptian security officials said Thursday. – The National

To the Bedouin writer and blogger Mosaad Abu Fajr, the Sinai means everything. The arid peninsula covering 60,000 sq km is the place where he was born. His six-year-old daughter, Ranad, was named after a tree. Most notably, perhaps, it is the reason why he has spent most of the past three years in jail – imprisoned, he says, for calling the public’s attention to the grievances of the Bedouins who live there and for demanding their rights. – The National

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, 82, spoke in a televised speech on Thursday, appearing in good health in his first public address since rumors that the leader in power since 1981 was dying of cancer - Reuters

Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said Thursday he had been told that members of his group would be indicted by a U.N. tribunal investigating the 2005 killing of Lebanon's former prime minister Rafik al-Hariri. - Reuters

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Thursday said he would decide in the next seven days whether conditions are now ripe to proceed to face-to-face peace talks with Israel. - Reuters

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has warned the Fatah party he leads that its days are numbered unless it puts its house in order. - Reuters
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Iran

Increasingly tough international sanctions over Iran's nuclear program have significantly slowed the county's most prestigious economic project, scheduled to rake in more than $130 billion in annual sales of natural gas after its completion – Washington Post

Reza Khalili writes: The Islamic regime has taken hundreds of thousands of lives while making a mockery of terms like compassion, love, mercy and justice. However the revolution that the overwhelming majority of Iranians once embraced now faces resentment and disgust. The people want to be free from the tyrannical rule of the mullahs. As remarkable as it might seem, there are signs that such freedom is not only possible but imminent - Forbes

Brian Miller writes: All too often, the military option against Iran is portrayed by observers as synonymous with bombing or invasion. In actuality, however, myriad alternatives exist in the military toolkit. Worse still, the use of force as an option for dealing with the Islamic Republic’s nuclear ambitions is increasingly set aside in public debate as ridiculous, unrealistic, or impractical. While the risk and uncertainty is profound, it is well within the capabilities of the U.S. military to seriously disrupt Iran’s nuclear program. – Journal of International Security Affairs
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Russia

Igor Sutyagin, the physicist deported from Russia this month as part of the exchange for 10 Russian agents arrested in the U.S., broke his two-week silence, with a statement saying he misses his family and hopes to return to Russia at some point. – Wall Street Journal

President Dmitry Medvedev threatened a wave of dismissals Thursday if attackers managed to carry out a repeat attack on strategic infrastructure in the North Caucasus after the bombing of a power station killed two and caused $50 million in damage. – Moscow Times

In a two-pronged crackdown against corruption, the Kremlin has presented a new ethics code for officials — complete with fashion tips — and a waiting period for state employees who want to work at the organizations they used to supervise. But anti-corruption analysts dismissed both measures as empty bureaucratic stunts that would do little to encourage officials and citizens to start fighting corruption. – Moscow Times

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said on Thursday he had signed new laws to "tighten the screws" on corrupt police after a wave of beatings and murders blamed on them in recent months caused a groundswell of anger. - Reuters

Samuel Charap writes: Engagement requires a degree of patience that Washington seems incapable of mustering. But if we want to contribute to the development of a Russia in which there are fewer examples of the kind of repressive law that Medvedev is about to sign and more civic activism in the legislative process, such as the NGO involvement that made the legislation slightly less objectionable, we have no better option. – Washington Post
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Obama Administration

Richard Grenell writes: Obama's foreign policy weakness and acquiescence has made him an international celebrity, but he isn't producing the promised results on our international priorities. The Obama team's poor performance calls into question its overly diplomatic approach and its fixation with trying to lead the world through excessive talk. But Clinton signaled that she is frustrated with just talk and wants action. Clinton's reference to the Bush administration's North Korea sanctions resolution is a sure sign she wants more than a PR strategy to deal with rogue nations. It remains to be seen if the Secretary of State has enough capital inside the administration to start teaching the President a few things about being tough with dictators. – Huffington Post
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The War

France said on Friday it had given technical and logistical support to a Mauritanian military operation against al Qaeda's North African wing after receiving no sign that a French citizen held by the group was still alive. - Reuters

34 Americans [have been] accused of and charged with having ties to international terrorists in the past 18 months. Sources say this trend represents an unprecedented spike in homegrown terror and is an emerging threat that has them deeply concerned. What they consider to be most alarming is the fact that many of those charged were radicalized on the Internet, with thousands of Americans reportedly frequenting terror websites that espouse mass murder. – ABC News
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Kyrgyzstan

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) has agreed to "deploy without delay" a police advisory group to southern Kyrgyzstan. – Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
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Missile Defense

In addition to Alaska Aerospace Corp., Lockheed Martin will team with NANA Development Corp. to compete for the U.S. Missile Defense Agency's Ground-Based Midcourse Defense (GMD) development and sustainment contract, expected to be awarded in 2011, Lockheed announced today. – Defense News

Richard Weitz writes: Rather than once again pursue the quixotic goal of joint NATO-Russia missile defense, the parties should focus on more realistic and more useful areas, where there is both a higher degree of overlapping interest and therefore a greater prospect for mutual acceptance. – International Herald Tribune
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Lockerbie Bomber

Scotland's government has rebuffed a U.S. Senate committee request to send two Scottish officials to testify next week at a hearing that will explore the country's release last summer of the convicted Lockerbie bomber. – Wall Street Journal

Jack Straw, the former Justice and Foreign Secretary, has been asked to appear next week before a US Senate committee investigating the possible role of BP in the release of the Lockerbie bomber. - Telegraph
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Europe/NATO

Kosovo’s unilateral declaration of independence from Serbia in 2008 did not violate international law, the United Nations’ highest court said Thursday in a ruling that Kosovo heralded as a victory but that legal experts warned could spur separatist movements around the world. – New York Times

Serbia rejected the World Court ruling that backed Kosovo's independence declaration on Thursday, a stand that might create more problems for its stalled European Union membership bid. - Reuters

Is Hungary suffering Europe's first case of budget-cutting fatigue? Nearly two years into a program combining International Monetary Fund loans with promises of government belt-tightening, the country's governing Fidesz party has all but called off further cooperation with the agency -- pushing ahead with a disputed bank tax and saying it felt no urgency to resume stalled talks with the IMF. – Washington Post

Long criticized as lacking democratic accountability, the European Union is about to give its 500 million citizens more say — if they can collect one million supporting signatures from a “significant” number of member countries. But whether the voice of the people will triumph over the bureaucracy remains an open question. – New York Times

David Cameron will take a planeload of cabinet ministers and business leaders to India next Wednesday as he seeks to boost trade links with the former "jewel in the crown" of the British empire. - Guardian

Ivo Daalder writes: As all of us scrutinize how we spend scarce defense dollars, pounds and euros, we should find savings where we can — but we should also decide to spend those funds that remain in ways that will have the maximum benefit for our security. We may not be able to spend more, but we can spend smarter by spending more together. – International Herald Tribune
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Ideas

Janice Shaw Crouse writes: The tenth anniversary Trafficking in Person’s (TIP) report is nearly 400 pages filled with assessments of 175 different countries’ efforts to combat human trafficking. It is a monumental achievement that provides a diagnosis of the impact of human trafficking around the world. It represents the work of the TIP office staff in the State Department, as well as contributions from non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that assess the trafficking problem at a local level in the nations where they are located. But it is also deeply flawed. – The Weekly Standard Blog
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Southeast Asia

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton publicly pressed Vietnam to further open its political system amid concerns about the Communist government's crackdown on democracy activists and the Internet. – Wall Street Journal

The first U.N.-backed trial of a top member of the murderous Khmer Rouge "Killing Fields" regime will deliver a verdict next week that could bring some closure in one of the darkest chapters of the 20th century. - Reuters

Paulo Sergio Pinheiro writes: If the United States wants to influence the junta, it must immediately change its entire approach. Beyond appointing an envoy, it must make Burma policy a high-level priority. The junta has the upper hand. Without the kind of pressure the United States can bring to bear multilaterally, the junta will have no incentive to come to the table, let alone change its behavior. – Washington Post
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Africa

Somali officials acknowledged on Thursday that members of Somalia’s presidential guard had defected to the Shabab, the radical Islamist insurgent group that claimed responsibility for the recent bombings in Uganda that killed more than 70 people watching the final game of the World Cup – New York Times

After decades at the forefront of the struggle against apartheid and injustice, Desmond Tutu, the former Anglican archbishop of Cape Town, announced Thursday that he would begin reducing his public appearances in October, on his 79th birthday – New York Times
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Americas

The U.S. risks wasting the aid it is offering earthquake-torn Haiti, a Senate report released Thursday says. The government has failed to make basic reforms such as ensuring transparent elections and reducing barriers for private investment, according to the report "Without Reform, No Return on Investment in Haiti," by Sen. Richard Lugar (R., Ind.), who criticized Haitian President Rene Préval's leadership during the crisis. – Wall Street Journal

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez cut ties on Thursday with Colombia in an escalating dispute between the two Andean neighbors over Bogota's charges that leftist Colombian rebels shelter in Venezuela. - Reuters

U.S. officials working with Colombian authorities said on Thursday they had arrested eight alleged drug traffickers and seized more than $100 million worth of cocaine. - Reuters

ENDS

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