FPI Overnight Brief: August 13, 2009

Pakistan

The National reports that “Pervez Musharraf might find it difficult to return to Pakistan any time soon, as the Islamabad police yesterday filed a criminal case against the former president for detaining 60 judges after imposing emergency rule in 2007.  Police officials said Mr. Musharraf could face arrest if he returns… Mr. Musharraf, currently living in London, has expressed his desire to play a political role in Pakistan. But analysts here say the groundswell of anger against him is so high that it will be virtually impossible for him to chart a political future.”

Afghanistan

FOX News reports that “President Obama's projection of substantial savings from drawing down troops in Iraq may be undermined by his request for $68 billion in military spending in Afghanistan next year, marking the first time more money would be spent on war in Afghanistan than in Iraq. Obama has doubled the size of the U.S. force to curb a burgeoning Taliban insurgency and bolster the Afghan government. He has tasked Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the top U.S. commander there, to conduct a strategic review of the fight against Taliban guerrillas and draft a detailed proposal for victory. That proposal may ultimately cost more than what the Obama officials said could be paid for by withdrawing troops from Iraq.”

The New York Times reports that “The Taliban have escalated a campaign of threats and intimidation ahead of the presidential election next Thursday, warning voters in mosques and through leaflets and radio announcements not to vote, or face ‘strong punishment’…Until now, the insurgents have refrained from specific violence against the election process and have kept the government and international forces guessing about their real intentions. But the intimidation campaign, which has just started in the last week or so, is an indication that the Taliban are switching gears and are intent on keeping people away from the polls to demonstrate their influence. A successful election is critical to the efforts of the Afghan government, as well as of the Obama administration and its allies, to demonstrate that after seven years of war, progress is being made toward securing peace and stability in Afghanistan.”

Greg Palkot reports for FOX News that: “The Taliban took an explosive hit in the northern Helmand province today. Gulf Company marine 2/3 is leading a joint U.S. and Afghan force of some 500 in Operation Eastern Resolve, aiming to clear out the Taliban from the town of Dahaneh - a crucial resupply and regrouping base for the militants. It is a town coalition forces have long avoided, for good reason. Just as the marines reached Dahaneh and set up a commend center in a compound they were hit by a barrage of Taliban fire: small arms, rpg's mortars, even IEDs. The marines answered back, fighting relentless sniper fire and the searing heat.”

The Washington Post reports that “Now Taliban fighters are resisting the American advance, by seeking to inflict U.S. casualties and thwart Marine efforts to win over villagers. The elusive insurgents blend easily into the population, invisible to Marines until they pick up a weapon. They use villagers to spot and warn of U.S. troop movements, take up positions in farmers' homes and fields, and attack Marines from spots with ready escape routes. The Marines, under strict rules to protect civilians, must wait for insurgents to attack and then attempt to ensnare them. Limited in their use of airstrikes and artillery -- because of the danger to civilians and because aircraft often frighten the Taliban away -- Marine riflemen must use themselves as bait and then engage in the riskier task of pursuing insurgents on foot.”

McClatchy reports that “The U.S. military commander in Afghanistan is considering pulling American troops out of some remote outposts on the country's mountainous eastern border with Pakistan, where local guerrillas are allied with the Taliban and al Qaida, U.S. officials told McClatchy. Abandoning U.S. forward outposts, and possibly turning them over to Afghan forces, would be a tacit admission that the presence of American troops has fueled insecurity by embroiling them in local feuds and driving some local tribes to align with the Taliban… American commanders had hoped that sending more troops to the border area, coupled with a new Pakistani drive against the militants on its side of the border, could deprive al Qaida and the Taliban of a sanctuary and end infiltration from Pakistan. However, two senior U.S. officials said, there's no sign that the Pakistani military is prepared to move against the militants.”

Venezuela

UPI reports that “The revocation of media outlet licenses by Venezuela's leftist government is worrisome, the head of a U.N. agency said Wednesday. Koichiro Matsuura, director general of the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, lamented the July revocation of 34 radio and television station licenses and the potential for 285 more licenses to be yanked by President Hugo Chavez's administration… Last month, Chavez said his intent is to shift communications 'hegemony' away from private interests to the people. His chain of pro-government media outlets has grown to 238 local radio stations and he indicated revoked licenses will be reallocated to more Community Radio outlets. ‘If we recover I don't know how many stations, it won't be to give them back to the bourgeoisie,’ Chavez said. ‘No, no. We have to create popular radio for the people.’”

China

Reuters reports that “China stuck to its ‘hands-off’ line for resolving international disputes on Wednesday, calling for diplomatic approaches and respect of sovereignty in hotspots from [Burma] to Iran and North Korea. In Beijing the government responded to [Burma’s] sentencing of democracy campaigner Aung San Suu Kyi to further detention by calling on the world to respect [Burma’s] judicial sovereignty.”

Reuters reports that “China’s accusation that Rio Tinto Group executives infringed business secrets is a rare public response for the country in dealing with such conduct. In the U.S., prosecutions of Chinese industrial espionage are rising. More than 50 people have been prosecuted in the U.S. since 2006 for allegedly transporting restricted technology, stealing trade secrets or conducting business espionage for China, according to the U.S. Justice Department. Unlike the Rio Tinto case, many of the U.S. prosecutions involved military data. ‘There has clearly been an uptick in export prosecutions, in large part in response to increased Chinese activity in an effort to acquire sensitive and controlled material in the United States,’ said Clif Burns, an attorney specializing in international trade law in Washington.”

Iran

Reuters reports that “Iranian opposition leader Mirhossein Mousavi said on Wednesday that the condition of the country's prisons showed that Iran needed a ‘deep change,’ his website reported. ‘What happens in Iran's prisons these days clearly shows the necessity of a deep change in the country,’ the Ghalamnews quoted Mousavi as saying. ‘Could America harm Iran ... as much as these events in prisons have damaged the (1979 Islamic) revolution and the country?’ he asked.”

The AP reports that “A key pro-reform political party has blamed Iran's president and interior minister for the abuse and death of protesters detained after the disputed June presidential election. Wednesday's statement by the Islamic Revolution Mujahedeen Organization says Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Interior Minister Sadeq Mahsouli were responsible for the "appalling" treatment of detainees at Kahrizak prison. The group likened Kahrizak to Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq where U.S. soldiers tortured prisoners.”

Asia

Radio Free Europe reports that “Russia's recently announced plan to set up a second military base in Kyrgyzstan has evoked considerable reaction as proponents and detractors debate whether such a facility will boost or strain security efforts the region. Moscow appears to be eyeing two possible sites in southern Kyrgyzstan that lie in the Central Asia's most densely populated and volatile region, the Ferghana Valley. Ferghana straddles the borders of Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan, is home to a combustible mix of high unemployment, diverse ethnicity, and religious conservatism.”

Georgia

The Guardian reports that “Vladimir Putin stoked tensions in the tinderbox Caucasus region on Wednesday, saying Moscow will spend nearly half a billion dollars next year beefing up its military presence in Georgia's breakaway republic of Abkhazia. The Russian prime minister's announcement raised the specter of Russian and US frigates patrolling the same patch of water in the Black Sea.”

Middle East

The National reports that “Saad Hariri, Lebanon’s prime minister designate, yesterday described efforts to resolve a week-old political crisis that has hampered efforts to form a national unity cabinet as ‘good’, leaving some hope that Lebanon could have a functioning government before the start of Ramadan at the end of the month. Mr. Hariri had been close to forming a cabinet after brokering a compromise with the Hizbollah-led opposition on allowing a minority veto of controversial legislation last week when a key ally announced he was leaving the coalition to chart an independent course. The defection of Druze leader Walid Jumblatt last week from the so-called ‘March 14’ coalition sparked a nasty series of fights over whether he was actually joining the opposition alliance, or if he should still be granted his share of three seats in the 30-member cabinet.”

Burma

The Wall Street Journal editorializes that “Tuesday's sentencing by a Burmese court of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi to three years of hard labor is a fresh reminder of the ruling junta's cruelty. That the sentence was then magnanimously reduced to an 18-month extension of her house arrest is a reminder of its cynicism… Burma's junta has mostly shrugged off Western sanctions thanks to billions in sales of natural gas to China and Thailand, along with sales of timber and gems. Some of those sanctions have achieved little except to further impoverish the Burmese people and should be lifted. But financial sanctions targeting the junta and its associated businesses are more effective and could be tightened. No less valuable are Burmese language broadcasts of Radio Free Asia, which are vital in breaking the regime's monopoly on information. The revelation earlier this year that North Korea is supplying arms to Burma while Russia is supplying nuclear technology means that the junta is becoming a menace to more than its own people. For the sake of Ms. Suu Kyi and every other imprisoned Burmese dissident, we hope the Obama Administration doesn't conclude from this that engagement is the best policy.”

Somalia

FOX News reports that “Four Christians working for an NGO that helps orphans in Somalia have been beheaded by Islamist extremist group al-Shabaab, according to the human rights watchdog International Christian Concern. The Christian orphanage workers were reportedly kidnapped on July 27 in the coastal Somali town of Marka, some 56 miles from Mogadishu. Al-Shabaab executed the four when they refused to convert to Islam, according to International Christian Concern. The reported executions come as residents of the town say the extremist group has been forcibly removing their gold and silver teeth using only rough tools and their hands, possibly to profit from the precious metals. The group alleges that such artificial teeth are used for fashion and beauty, and therefore violates the strict Islamic religious law they enforce, residents from Marka told Reuters.”

The War

The Washington Post reports that “In his first few months after leaving office, former vice president Richard B. Cheney threw himself into public combat against the ‘far left’ agenda of the new commander in chief. More private reflections, as his memoir takes shape in slashing longhand on legal pads, have opened a second front against Cheney's White House partner of eight years, George W. Bush… The two men maintain respectful ties, speaking on the telephone now and then, though aides to both said they were never quite friends. But there is a sting in Cheney's critique, because he views concessions to public sentiment as moral weakness. After years of praising Bush as a man of resolve, Cheney now intimates that the former president turned out to be more like an ordinary politician in the end.”

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