Japan’s Shrinking ASEAN ‘Soft Power’

August 08, 2012

A recent Yahoo! Japan search for “sofuto pawa,” the Japanese translation for soft power, yielded nearly two and a half million entries. While this number indicates the term’s popularity in Japan, it tells us little about how successful Tokyo has been in employing soft power throughout the Western Pacific.

Army’s Giant Spy Blimp Soars Over Jersey Shore in First Flight

By David Axe

August 8, 2012 |

On Tuesday, not far from the beaches of New Jersey, was a sight hundreds of millions of dollars and years of development in the making: the Army’s football-field-size robot spy blimp took to the air for the first time at a military base in Lakehurst.

Syria crisis: Ban Ki-moon set to announce new peace envoy

Julian Borger, The Guardian,

8 August 2012

The UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon has held talks with the Arab League in the hope of agreeing on a new Syrian peace envoy to replace Kofi Annan and keep open an alternative to the spiralling levels of violence.

What does Iran get for supporting al-Assad?

Tim Lister, CNN News,

8 August 2012

(CNN) -- In public at least, the message was defiant. Beleaguered Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, sitting alongside Iran's intelligence chief, proclaimed Tuesday "the determination of the people and government of Syria to cleanse the country of terrorists."

No letup in anti-German sentiment in Greece

Deutsche Welle,

8 August 2012

During the debt crisis Greeks have been badmouthing the Germans - but the Germans have been equally critical of their EU counterparts. Some Greeks want this situation to change.

German tabloids portray Greeks as bankrupt and tell them to sell off their islands to pay their debts - and Greek cartoonists sketch German chancellor Angela Merkel in a Nazi uniform or as a whip-touting animal tamer at the circus. Negative comments by both Greek and German politicians have also not made rapprochement between the two countries easier.

Altruistic Society or Sect?
The Shadowy World of the Islamic Gülen Movement

Der Spiegel, Maximilian Popp,

8 August 2012

Millions of Muslims around the world idolize Turkish preacher Fethullah Gülen, who likes to present himself as the Gandhi of Islam. His Gülen movement runs schools in 140 countries and promotes interfaith dialogue. But former members describe it as a sect, and some believe the secretive organization is conspiring to expand its power in Turkey.

The Right Way to Help Syria's Rebels

Dalia Dassa Kaye, David Kaye

The United States can support the insurgents without providing arms.

As diplomatic options for ending the conflict in Syria have failed, calls to arm and provide air support for Syrian rebels are becoming more widespread — with several senators, a former Bush administration senior official and a former Obama State Department official leading the charge.

Although we share their commitment to a humanitarian end to the brutality of the Assad regime, arguments to support the rebels militarily are based on three common assumptions that do not withstand scrutiny:
Military support will make the war shorter and enable the rebels to win.

German opposition: only eurobonds can save the single curency

EUObserver

7 August 2012

BRUSSELS - The German opposition has endorsed plans for a national referendum on creating a full-blown fiscal union.

The leader of the centre-left SPD party, Sigmar Gabriel, rolled out the proposals at a small press conference in Berlin on Monday (6 August).

Syrian Christians caught between two sides

Deutsche Welle

7 August 2012

Reports suggest that Syrian Christians are increasingly being targeted for attack by radical Islamists. They're suspected of loyalty to the Assad regime - yet many are actively involved in the uprising.

A difference beyond question

Washington Post, Richard Cohen

7 August 2012

Before the Jews of Hungary were emancipated in the 19th century, they were not permitted to own land. By the end of the century, they were on their way to owning fully one-fifth of Hungary’s large estates and were hugely successful in business and the arts. The Jews of Germany had a similar history. In the early 20th century, they comprised many if not most of the country’s lawyers, doctors, composers, playwrights and scientists, and were so astonishingly successful in business that while they were just 1 percent of the population, they were 31 percent of the richest families. What did it? Was it nature (Jews were smarter) or nurture (Jews had a certain culture)? Here’s my answer: I don’t know.

Afghan defense minister quits, hands Karzai a security headache

By Mirwais Harooni and Abdul Aziz Ibrahimi

KABUL

Tue Aug 7, 2012

(Reuters) - Afghan Defense Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak resigned on Tuesday after losing a no-confidence vote in parliament, leaving President Hamid Karzai scrambling to find a replacement for one of his top security tsars as insurgent attacks mount.

US adds Saudi al Qaeda leader in Afghanistan to terror list

By Bill Roggio August

7, 2012

The US State Department has added a wanted Saudi citizen who serves as a senior al Qaeda leader, trainer, and facilitator in Afghanistan to the list of Specially Designated Global terrorists.

Azzam Abdullah Zureik Al Maulid Al Subhi, a Saudi who is better known as Mansur al Harbi, was added to the list of designated terrorists today. Al Harbi is on Saudi Arabia's list of 85 most-wanted terrorists that was issued in 2009.

Israeli intelligence insiders warn of ‘imminent’ attack on Iran

August 6, 2012

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS |

If Iranian government officials had a uranium centrifuge for each time a warning is issued of an impending military attack on Tehran, they would undoubtedly have a nuclear weapon by now. Warnings about such an attack are now ‘a-dime-a-dozen’.

Destertec can be much more than a “Eurotunnel” project for Europe’s energy

06 August 2012.

“It is great once you have it but a nightmare getting there,” was the response from Paul van Son, CEO of the Desertec Industrial Initiative, to this opening question during his presentation of the “Desertec” project at the German Marshall Fund’s latest roundtable discussion on the potential for the development of renewable energy in North Africa and linking it into Europe through five interconnectors.

Nuclear Mirage? Assessing Civilian Nuclear Programs Across the Middle East

By Yoel Guzansky and Gallian Lindenstrauss

6 Aug 2012

Many states across the Middle East have embarked upon civilian nuclear projects. While Iran is widely regarded as the catalyst for this development, Yoel Guzansky and Gallian Lindenstrauss suggest that the region’s states are more concerned with developing programs that benefit their people than fending off a looming security challenge.

Al-Qaeda's Specter in Syria

Ed Husain,

August 6, 2012

The Syrian rebels would be immeasurably weaker today without al-Qaeda in their ranks. By and large, Free Syrian Army (FSA) battalions are tired, divided, chaotic, and ineffective. Feeling abandoned by the West, rebel forces are increasingly demoralized as they square off with the Assad regime's superior weaponry and professional army. Al-Qaeda fighters, however, may help improve morale. The influx of jihadis brings discipline, religious fervor, battle experience from Iraq, funding from Sunni sympathizers in the Gulf, and most importantly, deadly results. In short, the FSA needs al-Qaeda now.

Egypt to impose 'full control' over Sinai, says president

The Guardian

6 August 2012

Egypt will impose full control over the Sinai, its new president has pledged, as the Israeli government warned of a deteriorating security situation after gunmen killed around 15 Egyptian border guards and hijacked armoured vehicles to launch an attack across the border in Israel.

Interview with Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti
'A Front Line Between North and South'

Der Spiegel

6 August 2012

In a SPIEGEL interview, Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti says Europe is showing traces of a "psychological dissolution" in the debt crisis and that leaders are doing too little to stop it. He also warns that governments cannot allow themselves to become "fully bound" to parliament in determining policies to save the euro.