IRAN
Iran Escalates Anti-U.S. Rhetoric Over Nuclear Report
Robert F. Worth, The New York Times — November 9, 2011
Professing outrage over the release of a United Nations report on Iranian nuclear ambitions, Iran’s leaders escalated their anti-American vitriol on Wednesday, calling the report a fabrication, denouncing its chief author as a Washington stooge and vowing that their country would not be bullied into abandoning its nuclear program.
Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum among GOP candidates taking anti-Iranian hardline
Shira Schoenberg, Boston Globe — November 9, 2011
The Republican presidential candidates are urging the use of force, sanctions, and even friendship to deter Iran, after the International Atomic Energy Agency released a report saying it had credible information the nation was developing nuclear weapons.
NORTH KOREA
US Korean Envoy ‘Optimistic” on New Nuclear Talks
Voice of America — November 9, 2011
A former U.S. envoy in charge of North Korean policy says multi-national talks aimed at ending Pyongyang’s rogue nuclear weapons program could resume in the near future.
New commander of US 7th fleet says he worries most about North Korea, not so much about China
Washington Post — November 9, 2011
A senior U.S. Navy commander said Wednesday he worries much more about North Korea than about other Asian countries, including rising military power China. Vice Adm. Scott Swift, who took over as commander of the 7th Fleet in September, said that while the U.S. military has an “open and robust” relationship with China, he spends a lot of time thinking about North Korea because of its “unpredictability.”
PAKISTAN
Pakistani minister: India-Pakistan ‘trust deficit’ is shrinking
Ariel Zirulnick, Christian Science Monitor — November 9, 2011
Pakistan Foreign Minister Khar said Wednesday that the ‘trust deficit’ between India and Pakistan is shrinking, yet another step forward in a fledgling reconciliation process.
Pakistan trains 8,000 to protect nuclear arsenal
USA Today — November 7, 2011
Pakistan is training 8,000 additional people to protect the country’s nuclear arsenal, which the U.S. fears could be vulnerable to penetration by Islamist militants at war with the West, the Pakistani military said.
LIBYA
Tense reconciliation begins with Libya’s Saharan tribes
Oliver Holmes, Reuters — November 9, 2011
“Let us all speak frankly, the Tuareg were with Gaddafi,” the revolutionary fighter spat across the table.
In Post-Gadhafi Libya, Enmities Continue To Smolder
Peter Kenyon, NPR — November 9, 2011
In Libya’s Nafusa mountains southwest of Tripoli, the sight of abandoned villages and idle fighters hanging onto their weapons gives bleak testament to the fact that not everyone in the country is ready for the violence that overthrew former dictator Moammar Gadhafi to end.
