Council for a Livable World

IRAN  
Saudi suggests ‘squeezing’ Iran over nuclear ambitions
Jay Solomon, Wall Street Journal- June 22, 2011
A leading member of Saudi Arabia’s royal family warned that Riyadh could seek to supplant Iran’s oil exports if the country doesn’t constrain its nuclear program, a move that could hobble Tehran’s finances.

U.S. syas Iran firm bypassed sanctions
Chad Bray and Jay Solomon, Wall Street Journal- June 21, 2011
Iran’s largest shipping company used a vast network of shell companies to move $60 million through New York bank accounts over the past three years in violation of U.S. trade sanctions, prosecutors said on Monday.

NORTH KOREA
China: North Korea mulling initiatives for economic reform
Ben Blanchard, Reuters UK- June 22, 2011
North Korea is considering whether they need initiatives for economic reform and opening up, Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Cui Tiankai said on Wednesday.

South Korea to develop islands near western border with North Korea
Bomi Lim, Bloomberg- June 22, 2011
South Korea plans to spend 910.9 billion won ($848 million) to develop five islands near the western sea border with North Korea, including the one shelled by Kim Jong Il’s military last year.
The 10-year project is aimed boosting security and improving living conditions on the islands, Prime Minister Kim Hwang Sik’s office said today in a statement on its website.

AFGHANISTAN
Obama to Unveil Plan for Troop Drawdown
Adam Entous, Julian E. Barnes, and Carol E. Lee, Wall Street Journal- June 22, 2011
President Barack Obama will announce Wednesday the first steps in a gradual plan to extract the U.S. from the Afghanistan war, including an initial withdrawal of as many as 5,000 troops next month, defense officials say.

UNITED STATES
Pentagon crosses $1 Trillion threshold in War on Terror spending
Tony Capaccio,Bloomberg-June 21, 2011
The Pentagon says it has spent at least $1 trillion prosecuting the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and defending the U.S. homeland, according to newly released Defense Department figures through April 30.

100-to-0 Vote Puts Panetta in Top Post
Carl Hulse, New York Times- June 21, 2011
Leon E. Panetta was confirmed unanimously by the Senate on Tuesday as the new secretary of defense, placing him in charge of the final stage of the withdrawal in Iraq and the Obama administration’s military policy in Afghanistan.

MISSILE DEFENSE
Japan, U.S. To Expand Missile Defense, Cyber Cooperation
Marcus Weisgerber, Defense News- June 21, 2011
The United States and Japan pledged to continue working together on missile defense, cyber and space initiatives, as well as expanding information-sharing and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance activities.

Raytheon to upgrade Saudi Patriot missiles for $1.7 Billion
Mia Lamar, Dow Jones Newswires- June 21, 2011
Raytheon Co. (RTN) was awarded a $1.7 billion sales contract by the Saudi Arabian government to upgrade the nation’s air and missile defense system. The Patriot defense system, which Raytheon first supplied to Saudia Arabia in the 1990s, is designed to provide protection against advanced air and missile threats.

CHINA
China warns U.S. on South China Sea disputes
Edward Wong, New York Times- June 22, 2011
The Chinese vice foreign minister warned the United States on Wednesday to stay out of the increasingly tense territorial disputes and maritime conflicts in the South China Sea, which has some of the busiest shipping lanes in the world and is believed to be rich in oil and natural gas reserves.

(Can be sung to the tune of Where Have All the Cheney’s Gone)

An Open Letter to House Republicans

June 20, 2011

We thank you for your leadership as Congress exercises its Constitutional responsibilities on the issue of America’s military actions in Libya.  We are gravely concerned, however, by news reports that Congress may consider reducing or cutting funding for U.S. involvement in the NATO-led military operations against the oppressive regime of Libyan dictator Muammar al-Qaddafi.  Such a decision would be an abdication of our responsibilities as an ally and as the leader of the Western alliance.  It would result in the perpetuation in power of a ruthless dictator who has ordered terrorist attacks on the United States in the past, has pursued nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction, and who can be expected to return to these activities should he survive.  To cut off funding for current efforts would, in short, be profoundly contrary to American interests.

We share the concerns of many in Congress about the way in which the Obama administration has conducted and justified this operation.  The problem is not that the President has done too much, however, but that he has done too little to achieve the goal of removing Qaddafi from power.  The United States should be leading in this effort, not trailing behind our allies.  We should be doing more to help the Libyan opposition, which deserves our support.  We should not be allowing ourselves to be held hostage to U.N. Security Council resolutions and irresolute allies.

What would be even worse, however, would be for the United States to become one of those irresolute allies.  The United States must see this effort in Libya through to its conclusion.

Success is profoundly in our interests and in keeping with our principles as a nation.  The success of NATO’s operations will influence how other Middle Eastern regimes respond to the demands of their people for more political rights and freedoms.  For the United States and NATO to be defeated by Muammar al-Qaddafi would suggest that American leadership and resolution were now gravely in doubt—a conclusion that would undermine American influence and embolden our nation’s enemies.

In Speaker Boehner’s June 14, 2011, letter to President Obama, he wrote that he believes “in the moral leadership our country can and should exhibit, especially during such a transformational time in the Middle East.”  We share that belief, and feel that now is the time for Congress to exhibit that moral leadership despite political pressures to do otherwise.

Sincerely,

Elliott Abrams
Gary Bauer
Max Boot
Ellen Bork
Scott Carpenter
Liz Cheney
Seth Cropsey
Thomas Donnelly
Colin Dueck
Eric Edelman
Jamie Fly
Reuel Marc Gerecht
John Hannah
William Inboden
Bruce Pitcairn Jackson
Ash Jain
Frederick Kagan
Robert Kagan
Lawrence Kaplan
William Kristol
Robert Lieber
Tod Lindberg
Michael Makovsky
Ann Marlowe
Kurt Volker
Clifford D. May
Joshua Muravchik
Martin Peretz
Danielle Pletka
John Podhoretz
Stephen Rademaker
Karl Rove
Randy Scheunemann
Gary Schmitt
Dan Senor
Michael Singh
Henry D. Sokolski
Marc Thiessen
Kenneth Weinstein
Paul Wolfowitz
R. James Woolsey

The Council for a Livable World, with a cover letter from Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley,  today delivered a petition signed by 12,357 people urging “significant troop withdrawal beginning July of no less than 30,000 troops.” Senator Merkley stated…

IRAN
Iran deputy foreign minister resigns amid pressure
Ali Akbar Dareini, AP – June 21, 2011
Iran’s newly appointed deputy foreign minister has resigned under pressure from hardliners who view him as part of a movement seeking to weaken the role of Iran’s powerful Muslim clerics, reports say. The dispute over Mohammad Sharif Malekzadeh is part of a burgeoning power struggle involving President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the parliament and the country’s clergy. While Malekzadeh faces corruption charges, the opposition to his appointment appeared more ideological.

Iran shipping line charged in US over arms
Kara Scannell, Financial Times – June 20, 2011
New York authorities have filed criminal charges against an Iranian shipping company they accuse of trafficking weapons, along with several companies and people who allegedly used multiple corporate aliases to evade US economic sanctions that ban dealings with US financial institutions. The 317-count indictment, filed by the New York County district attorney’s office, is aimed at disabling Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines, Iran’s largest maritime shipping company. US officials allege it is a conduit for Iran’s ballistic missile programme and the main facilitator of its procurement activities.

Iran frees jailed human rights activist
AFP – June 21, 2011
TEHRAN — Iran has freed human rights campaigner Emadeddin Baghi after he served a year-long jail term on charges of spreading “propaganda against the regime,” Arman daily reported Tuesday, quoting his lawyer. The award-winning journalist was arrested on December 28, 2009, a day after opposition supporters took to the streets in a new round of protests against the controversial June 12 re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Iran’s nuke chief critiques IAEA
George Jahn, Associated Press – June 20, 2011
VIENNA (AP) — A top Iranian official told the International Atomic Energy Agency on Monday to focus on nuclear safety rather than “baseless and marginal issues” — an expression of unhappiness with attempts to probe charges that Tehran wants nuclear arms. Fereidoun Abbasi’s comments to a high-level meeting on improving nuclear safe practices reflected Iran’s dissatisfaction with IAEA chief Yukiya Amano for making the Iran investigation a top priority of the agency. It contrasted sharply with other statements on the opening day of the conference that were restricted to the meeting’s agenda — tightening and improving nuclear safety in the wake of Japan’s Fukushima nuclear disaster.

NORTH KOREA
North Korea recruits hackers at school
Sangwon Yoon, Aljazeera – June 20, 2011
As South Korea blames North Korea for a recent slew of cyberattacks, two defectors share their experiences, as a hacker and trainer of “cyberwarriors” in the reclusive communist country, with Al Jazeera shedding some light into the inner workings of the North’s cyberwarfare programme. In the process, Kim Heung-kwang and Jang Se-yul also warn of the regime’s concentrated efforts to bolster its cyberwarfare capabilities.

Defectors report N.Korea jail abuse
Straits Times – June 21, 2011
SEOUL – A GROUP of 14 North Korean defectors on Tuesday filed a petition with South Korea’s human rights watchdog over abuses they allegedly suffered in two North Korean prisons, a spokesman said. The petition comes as Seoul’s National Human Rights Commission collects cases of human rights violations in the communist state as part of a campaign to improve rights conditions in the North.

North Korea ‘buys anti-riot gear from China’
Lucy Williamson, BBC News – June 21, 2011
North Korea has bought large amounts of anti-riot equipment from China in recent months, South Korea’s main news agency says. This was apparently to prepare for possible unrest in the country, it said. The Yonhap news agency said Pyongyang had created a special police force; it had also considered buying flak jackets and other anti-riot equipment. The United Nations says North Korea is facing severe food shortages.

AFGHANISTAN
Obama to Announce Plans for Afghan Surge Pullout
Mark Landler and Helene Cooper, New York Times – June 20, 2011
WASHINGTON — President Obama plans to announce his decision on the scale and pace of troop withdrawals from Afghanistan in a speech on Wednesday evening, an administration official said Monday. As he closes in on a decision, another official said, Mr. Obama is considering options that range from a Pentagon-backed proposal to pull out only 5,000 troops this year to an aggressive plan to withdraw within 12 months all 30,000 troops the United States deployed to Afghanistan as part of the surge in December 2009.

Risks of Reversing the Afghanistan Surge
David E. Sanger, New York Times – June 19, 2011
WASHINGTON — In the 18 months since President Obama ordered a surge of 30,000 troops into Afghanistan, he has scaled back, time and again, Washington’s goals in a country that the British, the Soviets and ultimately the Americans tried, and failed, to change. Now, as he enters the last few days of decision-making about how fast to bring those surge troops home, that relentless narrowing of objectives has boiled down to one central measurement: Whether Al Qaeda is capable of again mounting an attack on the United States from Afghanistan, the origin of the 9/11 attacks, or from the nearby mountains of Pakistan.

DEFENSE SPENDING
Senate Panel Authorizes Nuclear Stockpile, Nonproliferation Funding
Global Security Newswire – June 20, 2011
The Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday approved legislation that authorizes funding for various U.S. nuclear stockpile and nonproliferation operations. The fiscal 2012 defense authorization bill covers Defense Department spending and the Energy Department’s national-security activities. It allows for certain expenses, but actual funding amounts are included in separate appropriations bills.

RUSSIA
Obama Extends National Emergency on Russian Nuke Material
Global Security Newswire – June 20, 2011
President Obama has ordered a one-year extension of the U.S. national emergency first declared in 2000 over Russian atomic material suitable for use in nuclear weapons. Obama submitted a notice of the extension for publication in the Federal Register.