FPI Overnight Brief

FPI Overnight Brief

June 21, 2010
________________________________________
Special Announcement

On the afternoon of Wednesday, June 23, the Foreign Policy Initiative will host an event assessing the arms control, geopolitical, and human rights aspects of the Obama Administration's "reset" of relations with the Russian Federation. Speakers include Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC), FPI Director Eric Edelman, Stephen Rademaker, David Kramer, and Charles Kupchan. For more information, and to RSVP, please visit FPI's website.

________________________________________
Afghanistan

The revolt of the Gizab Good Guys began with a clandestine 2 a.m. meeting. By sunrise, 15 angry villagers had set up checkpoints on the main road and captured their first prisoners. In the following hours, their ranks swelled with dozens of rifle-toting neighbors eager to join. Gunfights erupted and a panicked request for help was sent to the nearest U.S. troops, but the residents of this mountain-ringed hamlet in southern Afghanistan held their ground. By sundown, they managed to pull off a most unusual feat: They kicked out the Taliban. – Washington Post

Afghanistan and Pakistan are talking about how to make peace with insurgents fighting U.S. troops in Afghanistan, including one faction considered the coalition forces' most lethal foe, according to Pakistani and U.S. officials. – Washington Post

The Obama administration has reaffirmed its promise to begin withdrawing troops from Afghanistan by July 2011, distancing itself from recent Pentagon comments that the move could take longer. – Washington Times

As the U.S. military sets out to secure cities including Kandahar, it is relying far more heavily on Afghan forces than at any time in the past nine years, when the American mission focused mainly on defeating the Taliban in the countryside, rather than securing the population. But the Afghan forces are proving poorly equipped and sometimes unmotivated, breeding the same frustration U.S. troops felt in Iraq when they began building up security forces beset by corruption, sectarianism, political meddling and militia infiltration. – Washington Post

The U.S. government is snapping up Russian-made helicopters to form the core of Afghanistan's fledgling air force, a strategy that is drawing flak from members of Congress who want to force the Afghans to fly American choppers instead. – Washington Post

The election [in Nadali], an exercise in nation-building from the ground up, is part of a pilot program to set up 100 district councils to provide representative government in places where government has largely been absent. But the councils, backed by the British and American governments, also represent a critical element of counterinsurgency strategy: if they succeed, the hope is they will convince people that there is a viable alternative to Taliban rule. – New York Times

Even as the United States sends tens of thousands of additional troops to Afghanistan, its forces cannot police every patch of a country about the size of Texas. The Afghan army and police remain a work in progress. Tribal militias represent a ready-made answer. In a society where firearms are prevalent, members are already well-armed. And they have an intimate knowledge of the lands they patrol. But as anti-Taliban militias have surfaced here in Nangarhar province and several other areas of the country, they have been accompanied by a wide array of troubles, from armed robbery to an alleged gang-rape. – Los Angeles Times

A United Nations report released Saturday painted a grim picture of the security situation in Afghanistan, saying roadside bombings and assassinations have soared the first four months of the year amid ramped up military operations in the Taliban-dominated south. The United Nations' findings appeared at odds with Pentagon assertions this week claiming slow-but-steady progress in Afghanistan — an assessment challenged by U.S. lawmakers during hearings on Capitol Hill. – Associated Press

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said Sunday the spike in U.S. casualties in Afghanistan was expected and that people are too quick to say the war is going badly – Associated Press

Let’s suppose there is $1 trillion worth of minerals under Afghanistan, as senior American officials and a confidential Pentagon memo said last week. Is that a good thing — for either Afghanistan or the United States? – New York Times Week in Review

The only thing sure about the prospect for peace is that after 31 years of nearly continuous war, nearly every Afghan is in favor of peace. That at least gives some hope that the country’s protagonists can transcend their problems and find a political solution. Expecting them to do so by July 2011, however, may turn out to be another example of confusing a hope with a policy. – New York Times Week in Review

Bill Roggio reports: US and Afghan forces killed 38 Haqqani Network fighters during a clash in eastern Afghanistan near the border with Pakistan. – Long War Journal

James Traub writes: A war in which the goal is governance turns out to be a lot harder to win than one with the goal of beating the enemy. Outsiders could bring money and projects; and senior Obama administration officials seem convinced that schools and clinics can be alchemically converted to the precious currency of legitimacy. But how could you win over the people of Kandahar Province if they viewed government as a charade propagated by Ahmed Wali Karzai? – New York Times Magazine

________________________________________
Koreas

Bowing to reality, the North Korean government has lifted all restrictions on private markets -- a last-resort option for a regime desperate to prevent its people from starving. – Washington Post

The Obama administration is wrestling over whether to send an aircraft carrier to take part in military exercises with South Korea in what would amount to a significant show of force after the deadly sinking of a South Korean warship in March – Washington Post

________________________________________
Iran

Iran hanged the leader of an outlawed Islamic militant group Sunday morning after convicting him on charges of terrorism, murder and collaborating with Western intelligence services, including the CIA, state television reported. – Los Angeles Times

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said Sunday that Iran's government is becoming a military dictatorship, with religious leaders being sidelined and, as a result, new sanctions could pressure Tehran into curbing its illegal nuclear program. – Washington Times

The opposition movement has increased its demands as the government has continued to clamp down on its activities. – The National

Iran on June 19 accused the United States of "deception" and insisted its missiles are for self-defense only, after a top U.S. official charged that Iran could rain missiles down on Europe. - AFP

Iran has barred two U.N. nuclear inspectors from entering the Islamic Republic, a senior official was quoted as saying on Monday, in a further escalation of an international dispute over Tehran's atomic ambitions. - Reuters

Emanuele Ottolenghi writes: Ultimately, France, Britain, and the Netherlands must convince the rest that nuclear weapons in the hands of Iran's leaders, and the arms race in the Middle East that would likely follow, would be a menace to all they cherish. Only then will they sacrifice their narrow economic interests to enact tough sanctions against the Islamic Republic. The language and the legal framework so paramount for Europeans as a cover for this kind of action have now been provided. Europe no longer has a valid excuse not to act, and its responsibility to do so has never been greater. – Wall Street Journal (subscription required)

Jonathan Schanzer writes: In the end, Treasury’s actions are well timed and strategic. Unfortunately, these designations will not, by themselves, derail the Iranian nuclear program. However, they expose much more of the Iranian nuclear network, impede Iran’s existing supply chain, lay the groundwork for future domestic and international sanctions, and even provide new targets for the U.S. military, should this standoff ultimately come to blows. – The Weekly Standard Blog

Benjamin Kerstein writes: If the Iranian nuclear program is successfully stopped, it will only be because Barack Obama should have been more careful in wishing for a post-American world. He will have gotten it, but not in the way he would have liked. The tragedy of Obamaism is painfully obvious when one considers that, as long as Obama is president, a nuclear Iran is avoidable only if concerted opposition to it is undertaken without the United States. – The New Ledger
________________________________________
Kyrgyzstan

A top U.S. envoy called Saturday for an independent investigation into the violence that has devastated southern Kyrgyzstan, as amateur video emerged of unarmed Uzbeks gathering to defend their town during the attacks. – Washington Post

Uzbek women began ferrying their children through coils of barbed wire on Friday, back to Kyrgyzstan from neighboring Uzbekistan a week after ethnic bloodshed uprooted some 400,000 people. Their arrival was one sign that the humanitarian crisis was stabilizing. – New York Times

Kyrgyzstan's interim leader said Friday that as many as 2,200 people may have died in the ethnic clashes in southern Kyrgyzstan as she made her first visit to the region more than a week after the violence began. – Washington Post

The Kyrgyz authorities demanded on Saturday that makeshift roadblocks that have turned the distressed city [of Osh] into a patchwork of no man’s lands be removed, setting up a confrontation with ethnic Uzbeks that could lead to more bloodshed – New York Times

This Central Asian nation's interim leader toured the shattered city at the epicenter of ethnic violence that threatens to rip her country apart, and promised to rebuild. But her four-hour visit Friday did little to overcome the Uzbek minority's deep distrust in a government dominated by ethnic Kyrgyz. – Wall Street Journal

Kyrgyz officials single out the son of the deposed president to blame for this week's bloodletting in the central Asian nation. - Telegraph

Thousands of ethnic Uzbeks massed on the border between Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan refused to return home Sunday, saying they feared for their lives after violent pogroms and didn't trust Kyrgyz troops to protect them. – Associated Press

James Kirchik writes: So here’s a question for all those giddy or even nonchalant about America’s alleged decline on the international stage and the subsequent “rise of the rest” as an alternative to a world order shaped by American hegemony: contrast America’s ongoing role in Haiti, and Russia’s behavior (or lack of it) in Kyrgyzstan, and ask yourself which world you’d rather live in. – World Affairs Journal
________________________________________
China

China’s central bank announced on Saturday evening that it would allow greater flexibility in the value of the country’s currency, in the clearest sign yet that China will allow the renminbi to appreciate gradually against the dollar. – New York Times

Wage negotiations between workers and managers at a Honda auto parts factory here ended on Friday night with the company’s final offer of a pay increase that was substantially less than employees had been seeking, a worker involved in the discussions said. – New York Times

A company [in Hong Kong] that is partly owned by the Chinese government has quietly purchased a 5.1 percent stake in the only American-owned provider of enriched uranium for use in civilian nuclear reactors. – New York Times

Chinese workers are much more willing these days to defend their rights and demand higher wages, encouraged by recent policies from the central government aimed at protecting laborers and closing the income gap. Chinese leaders dread even the hint of Solidarity-style labor activism. But they have moved to empower workers by pushing through labor laws that signaled that central authorities would no longer tolerate poor workplace conditions, legal scholars and Chinese labor experts say. – New York Times

A Hong Kong publisher said Sunday that he was forced to halt the publication of a memoir written by Li Peng, the former Chinese prime minister who was instrumental in bringing a violent end to student-led protests in Tiananmen Square 21 years ago – New York Times

Xi Jinping, the vice president of China, will complete a foreign tour on Thursday that will have taken him through Laos, Bangladesh, New Zealand and Australia…It is no surprise heads of state and government are queuing up to meet Mr Xi because he is not only one of the most powerful men in the world’s most populous nation; he is almost certainto become China’s leader in two years’ time. – The National

Chinese security officials attacked a New Zealand MP with an umbrella after he staged a pro-Tibet protest during a visit from China's vice-president, he claimed on Friday - Telegraph

Jeffrey Wasserstrom writes: Two things have been missed in much of the foreign coverage of these strikes and the government's response: the significance of workers toiling for foreign-owned companies, and the rich symbolism of the mid-May dates. – Foreign Policy

Richard Weitz writes: The problem is that Chinese policymakers clearly see the bilateral defence relationship as something that Washington wants more than Beijing. For military engagement between China and the United States to be successful, the Chinese leadership must understand that the exchanges aren’t simply a source of leverage to be employed to secure US concessions. – The Diplomat
________________________________________
Russia

Russian President Dmitri A. Medvedev on Monday ordered Gazprom to cut deliveries of natural gas deliveries to Belarus over unpaid debts, a step which could jeopardize supplies to Poland and other European countries. – New York Times

President Dmitri A. Medvedev set out on Friday to woo overseas investors at his country’s largest foreign investment forum, a sharp contrast to previous years…Mr. Medvedev described in the most detail yet an emerging policy to diversify Russia’s economy away from oil by developing a high-technology sector with foreign investment – New York Times

Alexander Pikayev, 48, a leading Russian expert on nuclear nonproliferation, was found dead in his apartment in the Maltese town of Bugibba with a blunt head wound, local media reported. – Moscow Times

This week, the ruling United Russia party introduced a bill into the Yekaterinburg legislature that would abolish direct mayoral elections. Instead, the mayoral title with its ceremonial functions would pass over to the speaker of the legislature, while the task of running the administration would be given to a hired professional with the conspicuous title of "city manager."…The reform is being deplored by opponents as a step to bring Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's "power vertical" concept of top-down government to the municipal level – Moscow Times

Fred Bergstein and Anders Aslund write: Now is the right time for Obama and Medvedev to resolve the last obstacles on the way to Russian entry to the WTO. The resulting encouragement of Russia's modernization is very much in the interest of both countries. Russia urgently needs to modernize, and the United States, bogged down in Afghanistan and facing the prospect of a nuclear-armed Iran, needs Russian cooperation more than ever. – Foreign Policy

Dmitri Sidorov writes: The Kremlin once again has created a very difficult situation for the West to deal with by creating a political environment that allows Moscow to extensively blackmail its opponents. The same methods of squeezing favors from the White House and the Europeans by announcing or denouncing the sale of the C300 missiles to Iran depending on the advance of negotiations with Washington will be used again if Moscow's nuclear cooperation with Damascus becomes a reality - Forbes
________________________________________
The War

The Obama administration is considering partially lifting its suspension of all transfers of Guantanamo Bay detainees to Yemen, officials said, following a federal court ruling that found "overwhelming" evidence to support a Yemeni's claim that he has been unlawfully detained by the United States for more than eight years – Washington Post

Al Qaeda's American-born spokesman has repeated the terror group's conditions for peace with America, calling on President Barack Obama to withdraw his troops from Iraq and Afghanistan, end support for Israel, stop intervening in the affairs of Muslims and free Muslim prisoners – Associated Press

Robin Simcox writes: Despite the bombings in Madrid and London, and the numerous disrupted terrorist plots that Europe has experienced since 9/11, most of the continent still interprets al Qaeda terrorism as a crime, not an act of war. The country that was closest to the United States in its interpretation of 9/11 was Britain under Tony Blair. It is unsurprising, then, that Britain has found it hard to reconcile national security with the demands of European law. This being the case, it is the law that needs to be changed, not sensible security policy. This is an unspeakable concept in much of Europe. And as long as this remains so, threats to European security can only increase. – The Weekly Standard
________________________________________
Iraq

The attacks on Friday, a day off for citizens as Muslims gather for prayers, underscored that violence is still a fact of daily life [in Iraq], even if levels are down substantially from the height of Iraq’s sectarian violence in 2006 and 2007. Seven years after the United States invaded Iraq, hundreds of civilians still die each month in violence – New York Times

A pair of car bombs detonated simultaneously outside Iraq’s Bank of Trade on Sunday morning, killing 26 people and wounding 52 others in the second attack on a major government financial institution in eight days – New York Times

Former Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, who is vying to once again lead his nation, on Sunday accused unnamed figures in the current government of being involved in a plot to kill him. – Los Angeles Times

The head of the United Nations’ refugee agency has urged the international community to stop forceable returns of Iraqis to Baghdad, warning that the crisis facing Iraq and its people is far from over – The National
________________________________________
Pakistan

China has angered the US with plans to build two nuclear reactors in Pakistan, despite fears over the country's political stability. - Telegraph

The United States warned Pakistan that a recently signed gas pipeline deal with Iran could run afoul of new sanctions being finalized in Congress, the U.S. special envoy to Pakistan and Afghanistan said Sunday. – Associated Press

Bill Roggio reports: A US airstrike in Pakistan's Taliban-controlled tribal agency of North Waziristan killed an al Qaeda commander and a dozen members of the Islamic Jihad Group – Long War Journal
________________________________________
Middle East

The panel announced by Israel to investigate the deadly assault on a flotilla seeking to run the Gaza blockade lacks adequate international weight to make the panel credible, the United Nations secretary general said Friday – New York Times

Saudi Arabia could be interested in developing a uranium enrichment capability as part of the kingdom's efforts to establish a civilian atomic power sector, an adviser hired by the Middle Eastern state to devise its nuclear strategy said Wednesday – Global Security Newswire

President Obama's latest White House meeting with Israel's prime minister is set for July 6 -- more than a month after their last one was scuttled at the last minute…Obama also will meet with King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia on June 29, with the Middle East peace process among the topics of discussion. – Washington Post

Shelby Steele writes: One of the world's oldest stories is playing out before our eyes: The Jews are being scapegoated again.- Wall Street Journal

Lee Smith writes: For more than 65 years, the United States was the power underwriting the Arabs, and if not always the most sincere benefactor, we nonetheless protected them from more dangerous forces and their even more dangerous fantasies. What we won from the region is what the Turks now want as well: the wealth, influence, and power that is consequent on hegemony in the energy-rich Middle East. – The Weekly Standard
________________________________________
Turkey

In one of the deadliest attacks in recent months, Kurdish rebels fighting for autonomy in southeast Turkey attacked a military post in a far eastern town on Saturday, killing 8 soldiers and wounding at least 14, the semiofficial Anatolian News Agency reported. In response, Turkish warplanes pounded the border region, which in summer is often populated by the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, whose rebels come down from their bases around the Qandil Mountains in northern Iraq to carry out attacks inside Turkey. – New York Times

Turkey's prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, said today that Kurdish militants would "drown in their own blood" as he led political and army chiefs in paying his respects to troops killed in a clash with the rebels during fighting on Saturday. Eleven soldiers and 12 Kurdistan Workers' party (PKK) guerrillas died in the south-eastern province of Hakkari, near the Iraq border. - Guardian

Tom Friedman writes: Up to now, Erdogan has been very cunning, treating his opponents like frogs in a pail, always just gradually turning up the heat so they never quite knew they were boiling. But now they know. The secular and moderate Muslim forces in Turkey are alarmed; the moderate Arab regimes are alarmed; the Americans are alarmed. The fight for Turkey’s soul is about to be joined in a much more vigorous way. – New York Times

Claire Berlinsky reports: You do not need to exaggerate the malice of [the IHH] to recognize that it is bent on lighting matches in a tinderbox. Nor do you need to judge them as terrorists and anti-Semites to be alarmed. What they are—in their own words—should be more than enough for the West to get worried. – The Weekly Standard Blog
________________________________________
Defense

The U.S. Army's chief of staff wants to put the service's Ground Combat Vehicle program on a diet. Gen. George Casey said he thinks the future replacement for the Bradley Fighting Vehicle needs to be much lighter than the estimated 70 tons program officials are projecting that the new GCV will weigh. – Defense News

The U.S. Air Force's top acquisition official said June 18 that the service is not using the Pentagon's latest cost estimates as its baseline price in its negotiations for the F-35A Joint Strike Fighter. – Defense News

The Pentagon now expects to award the $35 billion KC-X award in "mid-November," the U.S. Air Force's top uniformed acquisition official told reporters June 18. – Defense News

Lockheed Martin Corp. is renewing its efforts to secure a long-term contract from the Pentagon for one of its workhorse cargo aircraft -- the C-130J. – The Hill

The Air Force’s head of acquisition is unhappy with Northrop Grumman’s Global Hawk program. David Van Buren held a rare on-the-record briefing with reporters today and said he was “unhappy” with the program at least three times. – DoD Buzz
________________________________________
New START

Initial State Duma hearings on the New START arms reduction treaty with the United States have elicited no serious opposition, a senior lawmaker said Thursday. In sharp contrast, Republican lawmakers in Washington were grilling White House officials this week about whether the treaty offered concessions to Russia. – Moscow Times
________________________________________
Europe

More than one thousand EU officials earn more than the Prime Minister, according to research carried out by the The Daily Telegraph. - Telegraph

Poland's presidential election is heading for a second round, with no single candidate getting enough votes to win Sunday's first round outright. Bronislaw Komorowski, who has been acting leader since President Lech Kaczynski died in a plane crash on 10 March, won but by less than expected. With 94% of votes counted, he had won 41.22%, compared to the 36.74% taken by Kaczynski's twin brother, Jaroslaw. – BBC News

NATO governments and the public must wake up to the threat of cyberattacks, which could paralyze a nation far more easily than conventional warfare, experts warned June 18. - AFP
________________________________________
Southeast Asia

Less than a week after the successive killings of two radio broadcasters, a reporter for a newspaper in the southern Philippines was shot dead on Saturday evening, officials and colleagues said on Sunday. – New York Times

Barack Obama called on the Burma regime to free Nobel Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi in a message sending best wishes for her 65th birthday. - Telegraph

Aung Lynn Htut writes: The United States and other nations must continue to question the legitimacy of Than Shwe and the regime. They should not believe his promises to hold free and fair elections this year. Only coordinated pressure from around the globe will be effective in dealing with this master of deceit. – International Herald Tribune

Fred Hiatt writes: In Burma today, more than 2,000 dissidents and democrats are in prison, often in gruesome conditions, without any expectation of White House statements or Nobel honors. If she could speak publicly, Aung San Suu Kyi might well dedicate her birthday to them -- and to the "small, daily acts of courage" that most of us, taking our freedom for granted, can hardly imagine. – Washington Post
________________________________________
Americas

Juan Manuel Santos, who as defense minister in Colombian President Álvaro Uribe's government oversaw the biggest blows against an entrenched guerrilla force, was elected president Sunday in a landslide. – Washington Post

With a drug war raging around them and an unreliable judicial system in place, Mexico’s human rights activists have their hands full as they grapple with a growing new class of victims: themselves. – New York Times

The ability of Cubans to communicate with each another and with the rest of the world remained well below that of other Caribbean and Latin American countries in 2009, according to a United Nations report released this week - Reuters

Jose Cardenas writes: Latin America has never been a particularly accommodating environment for journalists, with threats stemming mostly from criminality (primarily of the narcotrafficking kind) and corruption, as practitioners of those dark arts are all too willing to eliminate anyone that dares to ask impertinent questions about their enterprises. But things have taken a turn for the worse of late. – Shadow Government
________________________________________
Africa

An American lawyer accused of minimizing Rwanda's 1994 genocide arrived in Nairobi late Saturday after Rwanda granted him bail on medical grounds. – Associated Press
________________________________________
Announcements

FPI has developed Foreign Policy 2010, a briefing book available on the FPI website, which pulls together articles and op-eds from leading thinkers in each of the key foreign policy issue areas. FPI will be updating the briefing book on a regular basis throughout 2010. To suggest additional articles or content for the briefing book, please email info@foreignpolicyi.org.

If you believe in our mission and would like to support our activities, please consider making a donation to the Foreign Policy Initiative to ensure our future success.

FPI is on Facebook and Twitter . We encourage you to follow us and spread the word to your friends and colleagues.

________________________________________
Events

Perspectives on US Internatonal Broadcasting
Heritage Foundation
June 21

America's Image in the World
Center for Strategic and International Studies
June 21

Iran Policy in the Aftermath of UN Sanctions
Senate Foreign Relations Committee
June 22

US-Romanian Relations
Center for Strategic and International Studies
June 22

Burma's Nuclear Ambitions
National Endowment for Democracy
June 22

How Pakistan's Lawyers Turned the Tide Against Musharaff's Dictatorship
National Endowment for Democracy
June 22

Journey Into America: The Challenge of Islam
Middle East Institute
June 22

Iran's Post-Cold War Foreign Policy
New America Foundation
June 22

Jews and Palestinian Arabs in Israel: Concord or Conflict?
United States Institute of Peace
June 22

US Intelligence Community: Toolset for Success or Anachronism in the Modern Age?
Young Professionals in Foreign Policy
June 22

US-Russian Relations: Beset By Reset?
Foreign Policy Initiative
June 23

Prospects and Challenges for US-India Technology Cooperation
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
June 23

Somalia's Political Transition: The View from the TFP
Center for Strategic and International Studies
June 23

Regional Conflicts in Southeast Asia
Center for Strategic and International Studies
June 23

Defining the Indian Grand Strategy in Foreign Policy
Hudson Institute
June 23

The State of Women Internationally
Young Professionals in Foreign Policy
June 23

Helmand and Kandahar: A Campaign Assessment
New America Foundation
June 23

Visions of a New Decade in European-Islamic Relations
Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars
June 23

Confirmation Hearings of Gens. Odierno and Austin
Senate Armed Services Committee
June 24

Journey into America: The Challenge of Islam
Brookings Institution
June 24

How Can China Reduce its Reliance on Net Exports?
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
June 24

Mobile Phones and Peacebuilding in Afghanistan
United States Institute of Peace
June 24

Islam and Democracy in Southeast Asia
Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars
June 24

Human Development in Central America: A Status Report
Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars
June 24

Afghanistan and Russia as Test-Cases for the New EU Foreign Policy
Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars
June 24

The Promise of Rural Journalism in Guatemala's Fragile Democracy
National Endowment for Democracy
June 25

The Fumes Administration in El Salvador: A Review of the 1st Year
Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars
June 25

US-Latin American Relations: Cooperation or Conflict in the 21st Century?
Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars
June 28

International Investment after the Iraq Withdrawal
Middle East Institute
June 29

A Good or Bad START?
Heritage Foundation
June 30

UK Defense Policy, Plans and Committments
Heritage Foundation
June 30

Can Counterinsurgency Work in Afghanistan?
Hudson Institute
June 30

A Chance in Hell: The Men Who Triumphed Over Iraq's Deadliest City
Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars
June 30

Preventing Violent Conflict: Principles, Policies and Practice
United States Institute of Peace
July 1

China and the Persian Gulf
Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars
July 12

India's Maoist Insurgency
Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars
July 15
The Overnight Brief is a daily product of the Foreign Policy Initiative, which seeks to promote an active U.S. foreign policy committed to robust support for democratic allies, human rights, a strong American military equipped to meet the challenges of the 21st century, and strengthening America's global economic competitiveness. To submit comments or suggestions, email overnight@foreignpolicyi.org.

ENDS

© Scoop Media