IRAN
Police Break Up Protest in Iran
New York Times – June 13, 2011
TEHRAN (AP) — Iranian police swinging clubs chased protesters and made arrests on Sunday to disperse hundreds of people who gathered in the capital to mark the second anniversary of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s disputed re-election, the opposition said. Claims of fraud in the June 2009 election had sent waves of protesters into streets around the nation for months.
Iran Without Nukes
Roger Cohen (Op-ed), New York Times – June 13, 2011
LONDON — Remember Iran? I do. It’s been two years since the Iranian people rose up to protest a stolen election with a bravery that stirred the world and presented Americans with a truer image of a young and highly educated nation than the old specter of the bearded Islamic zealot . . . I would probe this weakness through new approaches. But we are stuck still with the world’s most paranoid relationship: the American-Iranian relationship.
In Iran, ‘couch rebels’ prefer Facebook
Thomas Erdbrink, Washington Post – June 13, 2011
TEHRAN — Two years ago, Iranian activists used social media sites as engines to organize massive anti-government demonstrations. But now, activists say, the limitless freedoms available online are proving to be a distraction from real-world dissent. Instead of marching in the streets, the same doctors, artists and students who led the demonstrations in 2009 are playing Internet games . . .
Iran accuses West of meddling in Syria
Reuters – June 14, 2011
TEHRAN — Iran accused Israel’s allies on Tuesday of interfering in Syria after Western countries said Tehran may be helping crush dissent there. Iran, which crushed its own anti-government protests after the contested re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in 2009, has voiced support for uprisings in most of the Arab world, but not Syria with which it has what it sees as a “line of resistance” against Israel as both support militant groups Hamas and Hezbollah.
NORTH KOREA
S. Korean chief nuke envoy in Japan to discuss N. Korea
Shin Hae-in, Korea Herald – June 14, 2011
Chief nuclear envoys of South Korea and Japan are to meet in Tokyo Wednesday to discuss ways to resume the suspended dialogue with North Korea over its ongoing nuclear ambitions. Before heading to Japan Tuesday, Seoul’s chief envoy Wi Sung-lac said he plans to share views with his counterpart Shinsuke Sugiyama on whether changes must be made to the existing strategy to get Pyongyang to talk with Seoul before rejoining larger-scale peace talks with regional powers.
North Korea Keeps Silent on Ship’s Turnaround
Evan Ramstad, Wall Street Journal – June 14, 2011
SEOUL—The turning back of a North Korean ship suspected of transporting missiles and parts, the highest-profile interdiction against Pyongyang in more than a year, shows that the cat-and-mouse game over its weapons program is still on—and that it remains unclear which side is winning. Under pressure from the U.S. and other countries, a North Korean vessel called the M/V Light turned around in the South China Sea two weeks ago and returned to the North last week, U.S. and South Korean officials said Monday.
S.Korea scrambles cyber defense for world’s “most wired” country
Jack Kim, Reuters – June 14, 2011
(Reuters) – South Korea is scrambling to protect its computer systems after attacks against government agencies and financial institutions exposed vulnerabilities in a country that has the deepest Internet penetration anywhere. South Korea, still technically at war with North Korea, is especially vulnerable due to high Internet penetration and as the obvious likely target of the reclusive rival, officials said.
AFGHANISTAN
US establishes contact with Mullah Omar
Qaiser Butt, International Herald Tribune – June 14, 2011
ISLAMABAD: The United States has established contacts with elusive Taliban leader Mullah Omar to negotiate an end to the conflict in Afghanistan. A former Afghan Taliban spokesman has played a key role in the US-Taliban communication, a source told The Express Tribune.
Focus of Afghan war is shifting eastward
Joshua Partlow and Greg Jaffe, Washington Post – June 14, 2011
KHOST, Afghanistan — The Afghan war is returning to the place it began: the violent eastern borderlands with Pakistan, where the Taliban and al-Qaeda slipped out of American reach a decade ago and have organized their insurgency ever since. In southern Afghanistan, the United States has succeeded over the past year in prying the Taliban’s grip from parts of Kandahar and Helmand provinces. But U.S. military commanders recognize they have far to go in the country’s east . . .
