AFGHANISTAN
Attack adds to signs of an unstable Afghan region
Alissa J. Rubin, New York Times- August 8, 2011
The devastating attack on an American helicopter in eastern Afghanistan over the weekend has heightened attention on the harsh reality that even now, at the height of the NATO troop presence and not far from Afghanistan’s capital, large stretches of the country are perilous and heavily infiltrated by insurgents.
UNITED STATES
China media says U.S. debt woes show military overreach
John Chalmers, Reuters- August 8, 2011
Chinese state media on Monday blamed Washington’s huge military spending and global footprint for the crisis that led to the U.S. debt rating downgrade, calling for an end to the foreign “domineering” dragging down its economy.
U.S. stocks- Index futures tumble after S & P downgrade
Edward Krudy, Reuters- August 8, 2011
U.S. stock index futures tracked a sharp drop in global equity markets on Monday after rating agency Standard & Poor’s cut the top-tier AAA credit rating of the United States, rattling already-jittery investors.
HIROSHIMA
Hiroshima’s lessons: What the Air Force should remember about Just War and nuclear weapons
Rev. Tyler Wigg-Stevenson, Washington Post- August 8, 2011
Faced with secular activists’ furor over the separation of church and state, the Air Force recently shelved a mandatory ethics training for nuclear missile officers following a report that the session employed Christian theology and Bible verses.
SYRIA
Kuwait joins Saudi Arabia in Recalling Ambassador from Syria
J. David Goodman, New York Times- August 8, 2011
The king of Saudi Arabia lashed out at the Syrian government on Monday, recalling its ambassador from Damascus and issuing a harshly worded statement calling on President Bashar al-Assad to stop “the killing machine and end the bloodshed.”
Syrian forces open fierce assault on eastern city
Anthony Shadid, New York Times- August 8, 2011
The Syrian military defied growing condemnation and initiated another assault on the country’s most restive locales on Sunday, deploying dozens of tanks and armored vehicles into parts of a city in eastern Syria that it had long feared provoking, activists and residents said.
PAKISTAN
Pakistan’s FMCT woes
Huma Yusuf, DAWN- August 8, 2011
As if US-Pakistan relations were not strained enough, news is circulating that the US plans to pressurise Pakistan to sign the Fissile Material Cut-off Treaty (FMCT) at September’s UN General Assembly.
IRAN
Iran MP: Nuclear plant’s launch delayed again
Nasser Karmi, Sacramento Bee- August 8, 2011
An Iranian lawmaker said the country’s first nuclear power plant will not start up by late August as planned and blamed the delay on Russia, which is building the facility, local media reported Monday.
Senators press Obama on Iran’s central bank
Jay Solomon, Wall Street Journal- August 8, 2011
More than 90 U.S. senators signed a letter to President Barack Obama pressing him to sanction Iran’s central bank, with some threatening legislation to force the move, an outcome that would represent a stark escalation in tensions between the two countries.
