FPI Overnight Brief: October 13, 2009

"India and the United States began a massive joint military exercise on Monday, underscoring their deepening security ties they view as crucial in a troubled South Asia region. Hundreds of soldiers using heavy transport aircraft and battle tanks are participating in the biggest-ever war games between the two countries which were on the opposing side of the Cold War but now seek to build strategic and military ties." – Reuters

"A Cuban blogger who has become an international sensation for offering frank criticism of her country's communist system said she was denied government permission Monday to travel to New York to receive a top journalism prize. Yoani Sanchez had hoped to go to Columbia University for a Wednesday ceremony to receive her Maria Moors Cabot Prize, the oldest international award in journalism. 'Immigration just confirmed that I remain prohibited from leaving the country,' she posted on her 'Generation Y' blog."  – The AP

"A Libyan man set off a small bomb while trying to enter an army barracks in Milan on Monday, seriously injuring himself and slightly wounding the guard who stopped him, Italian law enforcement officials said. The man attempted to enter the barracks on foot at around 7:45 a.m., taking advantage of the main gate opening to allow an authorized car through, said Col. Giuseppe Affini, a chief spokesman for the army in the Lombardy region that includes Milan. 'He was immediately blocked by the guard, who yelled "Halt." He exploded the briefcase that he was holding,' Affini said. Authorities said the man appeared to be acting alone, and Affini denied initial media reports that the man had shouted 'Out of Afghanistan!' He said the man had shouted something in Arabic, but that it was not clear what."  – The AP

"Iranian opposition leader Mir Hossein Musavi has accused hardliners of using Inquisition-style methods to clamp down on reformers after the Islamic Republic's disputed election in June.  He made the comment during a meeting with pro-reform cleric Mehdi Karubi, the 'Etemad' newspaper reported on October 12. 'It seems some people are trying to take us back to the Inquisition era,' Musavi said in the October 10 meeting, referring to the holding of mass trials, the closure of pro-reform newspapers and restrictions on political parties, it reported."  – Reuters

"The semiautonomous Kurdish region has reopened a rift with the central government after announcing that it had halted all petroleum exports from Kurdistan until Baghdad pays the international companies that are pumping oil in the region. Oil extracted in Kurdistan can be exported only through Iraqi government pipelines running to Turkey, giving Baghdad a stranglehold on the transport of oil produced there. At the same time, the government needs all the revenue it can get to pay for a host of pressing needs. The amount of oil involved currently, about 100,000 barrels a day, is relatively small compared with Iraq’s total production of 2.4 million barrels a day. But with production from the Kurdish areas likely to increase markedly in coming years, the dispute has taken on added importance."  – New York Times

T"hey are a desert king and a military officer-turned-president. Drive through their capitals and their images glow from billboards and painted walls, old men with their eyes fixed everywhere, even as whispers grow about who will rise to replace them. King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak are in their 80s, durable U.S. allies whose governments have crushed political dissent at home while playing leading roles across the Middle East. But these days, talk of succession reverberates as Washington, as well as Riyadh and Cairo, plans to navigate an era without two of the region's dominant personalities."  – Los Angeles Times

"North Korea fired five short-range missiles into the sea Monday and declared a navigation ban in waters off its eastern and western coasts, according to South Korea's Yonhap news agency. The launches occurred a week after North Korean leader Kim Jong Il suggested that his country would return to six-nation nuclear disarmament talks, if the North could first hold one-on-one talks with the United States to convert 'hostile relations' into 'peaceful ties.' "  -- Washington Post

FPI Director of Democracy and Human Rights Ellen Bork writes:  "The Dalai Lama, the exiled leader of Tibet, was in Washington last week and President Obama did not meet him. 'Big mistake,' said my Eritrean taxi driver on the way over to hear the Dalai Lama speak at an awards ceremony at Sidney Harman Hall on Wednesday. What seemed so obvious to my driver was the product of an elaborate rationalization by the Obama administration. Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg outlined the new policy of 'strategic reassurance' in a speech on September 24. The United States, he said, has struck a 'core, if tacit, bargain' with China under which it will 'welcome China's arrival as a prosperous and successful power' and China will 'reassure' the world that its 'development and growing global role will not come at the expense of the security and well-being of others.' According to Steinberg, 'bolstering that bargain'--which apparently includes snubbing the Dalai Lama--is a 'priority.' "  -- Weekly Standard

Avi Davis and FPI Policy Advisor Christian Whiton write: "The reality is that the President’s policies have made long-term peace in the world less likely.  Prolonged international negotiations with Iran, which started not with Mr. Obama but in fact have gone on throughout the decade, have actually given the Tehran regime time to improve its nuclear and missile capabilities while wars are fought through proxies in Lebanon, Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere.  Similarly, the rhetorical and real concessions the Obama Administration has made to Moscow have yet to yield anything tangible in return other than modest verbal praise.  The price paid for this volte face recently rose with the betrayal of two friendly governments—those of Poland and the Czech Republic – countries that had made the unpopular decision to host missile defense facilities at America’s earlier request.  They must now be content with an expanded future missile threat from Iran, and also an emboldened Russian neighbor… Skeptics are right to wonder how any of this contributes to long-term peace and security."  – AFA