AYUDA A REBELDES SIRIOS

Top of the Agenda: Syrians Hold Mass Burials in Damascus Syrians in the Damascus suburb of Daraya yesterday held mass burials for scores of victims (NYT) of a violent crackdown by the Syrian army. Hundreds of people, including women and children, have been killed in Daraya--a stronghold of the opposition movement--in the past week, according to the activist Local Coordination Committees and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Meanwhile, opposition forces claimed to have shot down a Syrian military helicopter (Reuters) in Damascus today, as Syrian security forces kept up their assault on rebel-held areas of the capital. Analysis "Some help from Western governments, including intelligence, is still reaching the rebels. In the country's east and north-west, fighters hope to push the army out of smaller cities by making it too dangerous for them to use the roads to resupply bases. But without a no-fly zone or plenty of surface-to-air missiles to bring down regime jets, many rebels think they will struggle," says the Economist. "More important is the role the United States may play in training and organizing the rebel military. That is the kind of thing the United States Army's Special Forces (the Green Berets) were created to do, and have done for half a century. And that sort of action seems to be well within the scope of the intelligence 'finding' recently signed by President Barack Obama authorizing 'non-lethal' support for the rebels," writes Newsweek's Christopher Dickey. PACIFIC RIM South Korea to Compensate Families of Suspected Communists The South Korean Supreme Court today upheld a ruling requiring the government to compensate close to five hundred relatives of alleged Communist sympathizers who were massacred during the Korean War (KoreaTimes)in the summer of 1950. SINGAPORE: Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong yesterday called on Singaporean citizens to be more tolerant of foreigners (WSJ) who have immigrated to the city-state, in order to safeguard Singapore's "international reputation." SOUTH AND CENTRAL ASIA Afghan Soldier Kills NATO Forces An Afghan soldier today shot and killed two U.S. soldiers during a joint NATO-Afghan patrol (NYT) in eastern Afghanistan when a dispute ensued after their convoy was reportedly struck by a roadside bomb. Separately, insurgents killed ten Afghan soldiers at a checkpoint in southeastern Helmand Province. Recent "insider attacks" on U.S. forces raise concerns about the Afghan security transition in 2014 and long-term U.S. support for local troops, says CFR's Stephen Biddle in this CFR Interview. PAKISTAN: The Afghan government and its spy agency claimed yesterday that a top commander of the militant Haqqani network, Badruddin Haqqani, was killed in a U.S. drone strike (Reuters) in Pakistan's North Waziristan tribal region. MIDDLE EAST Iran Opens Summit of Non-Aligned Movement A week-long gathering of the Non-Aligned Movement opened in Iran yesterday as Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar called for ridding the world of nuclear weapons (al-Jazeera) by 2025. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and other world leaders will attend the official two-day summit that gets under way on Thursday. AFRICA Nigeria in Talks With Boko Haram The Nigerian government is conducting talks with some members of the radical Islamist Boko Haram group via "back room channels" (Reuters), a spokesman for President Goodluck Jonathan confirmed yesterday. Boko Haram militants have killed hundreds of people in gun and bombing attacks since 2009. Widening violence by Nigeria's Islamist group Boko Haram has caused concerns about its possible links to international terrorist groups, explains this CFR Backgrounder. IVORY COAST: Laurent Akoun, the general secretary of the political party of former president Laurent Gbagbo was arrested yesterday east of the commercial capital of Abidjan, in the wake of a series of recent attacks on military targets (Bloomberg) that the government blames on Gbagbo's supporters. EUROPE U.S. Investigates Italy's UniCredit U.S. authorities are investigating Italian bank UniCredit's German unit, HVB, over potential violations of U.S. trade sanctions on Iran, the Wall Street Journal reports. GERMANY: In an interview with Der Spiegel yesterday, German Central Bank President Jens Weidmann reiterated his opposition to potential plans by the European Central Bank to launch a new government bond-buying program for struggling eurozone states, saying, "central bank financing can become addictive like a drug." The ongoing eurozone debt crisis continues to threaten the future of the single currency, even as European policymakers work to forge a closer political and fiscal union, explains this CFR Issue Guide. AMERICAS U.S. Arms Sales Dominate Global Market Weapons sales by the United States tripled to reach $66.3 billion in 2011 (NYT), driven in large part by sales to Persian Gulf nations fearful of a resurgent Iran, according to a new U.S. Congressional report. VENEZUELA: President Hugo Chavez yesterday ordered an investigation into this past weekend's explosion at the country's largest oil refinery complex (Guardian), which left at least forty-one people dead. Chavez denied allegations that early warning systems at the state-owned refinery had failed. CAMPAIGN 2012 Romney Details Economic Recovery Plan Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney offers outlines his economic recovery plans for Politico's Jim Vandehei and Mike Allen, including his plans to run his administration more like a business. As a hurricane threatens the Gulf Coast, the Republican National Committee shifts shifted the convention schedule in Tampa, Fla., canceling Monday's planned activities and switching to a three-day schedule (ABC) that includesMitt Romney's nomination on Tuesday (NYT). Second-term presidents tend to focus more on global affairs; Reuters examines what U.S. foreign policy would look like if President Barack Obama is reelected. Connect with CFR Join the conversation at cfr.org/blogs»

Council on Foreign Relations — 58 East 68th Street — New York, NY 10065 CFR does not share email addresses with third parties. Forward This E-Mail | Subscribe to CFR Newsletters | Manage My Subscriptions | Unsubscribe