IRAN
Iran Says Nuclear Cooperation Would Have Limits
Voice of America — September 6, 2011
Iran has indicated that an offer that could give United Nations inspectors “full supervision” of Iranian nuclear activities does not include allowing inspections on short notice.
Iran Offers Inspectors ‘Full Supervision’ of Nuclear Program
David Sanger, New York Times — September 5, 2011
Iran on Monday made its first counterproposal in two years to ease the confrontation with the West over its nuclear program, offering to allow international inspectors “full supervision” of the country’s nuclear activities for the next five years, but on the condition that the mounting sanctions against Iran are lifted.
Iran’s Nuclear Program– Deal With It
Madison Schramm, Huffington Post — September 9, 2011
Iran’s nuclear program has been one headache after another for the United States. While proliferation in the Middle East is a legitimate concern, the United States needs to stop wasting precious diplomatic leverage and credibility and face the facts — Iran is headed for nuclear weapons capability.
NORTH KOREA
South Korea buying Israeli rockets to deter North Korea
Sam Kim, Associated Press — September 6, 2011
South Korea has struck a $43 million deal with an Israeli company to buy advanced rockets to protect a front-line area attacked by North Korea last year, officials said Tuesday. South Korea will deploy 67 Spike NLOS rockets on Baengnyeong and Yeonpyeong islands in the Yellow Sea as early as late this year, a South Korean government arms procurement official said. Four South Koreans were killed on Yeonpyeong when the North shelled it last November.
Eager for trade, North Korea looks to China
Alexsa Olsen, Associated Press — September 6, 2011
A paved Chinese highway edged with telecommunications towers and electricity lines comes to a halt at the border with North Korea, giving way to a landscape seemingly frozen in time. Oxen plow the fields and cooking smoke rises from farmhouses where fish and tobacco are laid out to dry. A scarecrow lists in a sea of bright green rice plants. In the distance, three men on horseback race toward a small village.
LIBYA
Libya’s New Leaders, Town Reach Deal for Peaceful Handover
San Francisco Chronicle, September 5, 2011
Representatives of Libya’s National Transitional Council agreed with tribal elders for the peaceful handover of Bani Walid, where the tribesmen were trying to persuade Muammar Qaddafi’s loyalists to disarm.
Clinton urges Libyan rebels to secure Gadhafi WMD, protect human rights”
The Washington Post — September 1, 2011
Libyan rebels on the verge of driving leader Moammar Gadhafi from power must secure weapons caches amassed by his regime and ensure they are not used to threaten the country’s neighbors, the region or beyond, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Thursday. She also said the fight against the still-defiant Gadhafi must continue.
UNITED STATES
Petreaus sworn in as new CIA chief
Reuters — September 6, 2011
Newly retired General David Petraeus was sworn in as CIA director on Tuesday, taking over at a time when the line between the U.S. spy agency and the military has become increasingly blurred in the fight against Islamist militancy.
Commentary: Kansas City Here it Comes: A Nuclear Weapons Plant!
Lawrence S. WIttner, Huffington Post Blog — September 5, 2011
Should the U.S. government be building more nuclear weapons? Residents of Kansas City, Missouri don’t appear to think so, for they are engaged in a bitter fight against the construction of a new nuclear weapons plant in their community.
