FPI Overnight Brief

FPI Overnight Brief

??Iran

The presidents of Iran and Syria on Thursday ridiculed U.S. policy in the region and pledged to create a Middle East "without Zionists," combining a slap at recent U.S. overtures and a threat to Israel with an endorsement of one of the region's defining alliances…[T]he message delivered by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in a joint news conference was sharp and spoke to a shared sense that Iran is gaining influence in the region despite U.S. efforts. Until the outcome of the broader struggle over Iran's nuclear program becomes clear, analysts here say, it is unlikely Syria will change direction -- or that progress can be made toward an Israel-Syria peace agreement. The United States wants "to dominate the region, but they feel Iran and Syria are preventing that," Ahmadinejad said. "We tell them that instead of interfering in the region's affairs, to pack their things and leave." Ahmadinejad, a Holocaust denier, spoke of Israel's eventual "demise and annihilation" and said the countries of the region could create a future "without Zionists and without colonialists." – Washington Post

Despite intense public and private pressure by the Obama administration, China has not yet shown any sign that it will support tougher sanctions against Iran, leaving a stubborn barrier before President Obama’s efforts to constrain Iran’s nuclear ambitions. Diplomats from two major European allies said this week that China had refused even to “engage substantively” on the issue of sanctions, preferring to continue diplomatic efforts with Tehran. And one senior diplomat said he believed that the most likely outcome might be a decision by China to abstain from voting on a resolution in the United Nations Security Council. “An abstention is better than a veto,” said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, citing the delicacy of the matter. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton expressed optimism this week that China was edging toward the American view that the time had come for tougher measures against Iran. But other administration officials acknowledged that her optimism was based less on tangible evidence than on a belief that China would not want to end up diplomatically isolated. – New York Times
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North Korea

South Africa told the United Nations in a confidential report that it seized arms traveling from North Korea by way of China, marking at least the third time a government interdicted North Korean weapons shipments since the U.N. last summer adopted harsher sanctions against Pyongyang…According a terse, two-page account delivered by the Pretoria government earlier this month to the U.N. committee overseeing the enforcement of U.N. Security Council sanctions imposed on North Korea, South African authorities in November seized two containers filled with tank parts and other military equipment from North Korea. The report said the containers, which were loaded on a ship in the Chinese port of Dalian and bound for the Republic of the Congo, contained gun sights, tracks and other spare parts for T-54 and T-55 tanks and other war material valued at an estimated $750,000. The military equipment was concealed in containers lined with sacks of rice, said the confidential South African report, which was reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. Shipping documents identified the cargo as spare parts for a "bulldozer," according to the report, which said the goods were shipped by a North Korean company. – Wall Street Journal

Helle Dale writes: The most effective medium into North Korea today remains short-wave radio, a medium that unfortunately has become undervalued by the Broadcasting Board of Governors overseeing U.S. international broadcasting. New and sexier venues, such as television and the Internet, is where the focus is today. Vis-à-vis North Korea, medium wave broadcasts from Russia were an option in the past, but were closed down owing to pressure from Pyongyang on the Russian government. Meanwhile, short-wave can be beamed from South Korea and received primarily at night, when most underground users are able to take the risk and when climate conditions are optimal…During the Cold War, information warfare was one of the most effective tools in the toolkit of the U.S. government against the Soviet Union. Reliable, factual information about the world and the truth about their own society arms citizens of oppressed societies to take the first steps towards freedom. – The Foundry
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Afghanistan/Pakistan

At least 18 people were killed and 32 wounded on Friday in suicide and car bomb attacks on two guesthouses popular with foreigners in the center of Kabul, police officials said. In a telephone interview, a Taliban spokesman claimed responsibility for the attacks, which coincided with a major offensive by American-led coalition forces against militants in the southern province of Helmand, a central element in President Obama’s strategy in rural Afghanistan. In one attack, a car bomb exploded outside a guesthouse popular with Indians while suicide bombers stormed another guesthouse frequented by Britons and Americans, triggering a firefight with security forces and other insurgents that lasted for more than 90 minutes. The fatalities included four Indians and an Italian, according to President Hamid Karzai’s office. Some of the Indian casualties worked at the Indira Gandhi Child Health Institute. Two policemen were killed and the death toll could rise, the police said. Zabiullah Mujahid, a Taliban spokesman, said the suicide bombers targeted two sites in the Shari Now district “where the foreign people are staying.” “The actual targets are foreign people,” he added in a telephone interview. – New York Times

The Afghan government said Thursday that Pakistani authorities have agreed to hand over several suspected insurgents whom Pakistan has taken into custody, including the Taliban's No. 2 commander. Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, a member of the Taliban's high leadership council, and others in custody will be extradited under a prisoner-exchange agreement between Pakistan and Afghanistan, Afghan officials said. Lawyers in both countries are negotiating the deal and prisoner lists are being drawn up, officials said. The prisoner swap would give Afghanistan access to several top Taliban leaders who could provide a treasure trove of information about the insurgency that U.S. troops are battling in southern Afghanistan. Once the prisoners are in Afghan custody, U.S. officials would probably be able to interrogate them. – Washington Post

Tom Donnelly writes: [W]e know that Marjah is a warm-up for things to come. The Marines in Marjah represent just the first of four “surge” units. The press and other kibitzers are thirsting for a thrust into Kandahar, not only because they anticipate the drama of such an operation but because it’s true that Kandahar is an object of the Quetta shura’s desire and the focus of many of its efforts over the past several years. Petraeus has made clear that the Marjah offensive is the opening part of a 12-to-18-month campaign — leading up to the July 2011 deadline set by President Obama for the beginning of a U.S. drawdown from Afghanistan. It will be interesting to see if McChrsytal can maintain Marjah-like patience on the road through the rest of Helmand and to Kandahar. – Center for Defense Studies

Lisa Curtis writes: It is unclear why Pakistan is stepping up to the plate now on cracking down on the Afghan Taliban. Most observers believe Islamabad may be seeking to ensure it has a role in determining any potential settlement of the conflict. Others say it is partly a response to building U.S. pressure…[T]he U.S. has repeatedly made the case to Pakistan that facilitating some terrorist groups while fighting others is counterproductive. It is possible this message is finally beginning to sink in. But given Pakistan’s long track record of support to militant groups fighting in Afghanistan and India, it is too early to determine whether the most recent arrests signal a permanent reversal of its past policies, or merely a tactical shift to demonstrate its leverage in the region – The Foundry
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Middle East

Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi called on Thursday for a "jihad" or armed struggle against Switzerland, which he called an infidel state that was destroying mosques. "Any Muslim in any part of the world who works with Switzerland is an apostate, is against [the Prophet] Muhammad, God and the Koran," Col. Gadhafi said during a meeting in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi to mark the prophet's birthday. "The masses of Muslims must go to all airports in the Islamic world and prevent any Swiss plane landing, to all harbors and prevent any Swiss ships docking, inspect all shops and markets to stop any Swiss goods being sold," Col. Gadhafi said. The Swiss Foreign Ministry said it had no comment on Col. Gadhafi's remarks.- Wall Street Journal

President Abdullah Gül of Turkey sought to assuage fears of political instability Thursday, pledging that a growing confrontation with the country's military would be resolved within the constitution. Mr. Gül issued his statement after a rare three-hour, three-way meeting with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and army chief Ilker Basbug. Hours later, the two most senior of some 50 military officers detained Monday on charges of plotting a coup—a former chief of the air force and of the navy—were released without charge. But it was far from clear that the meeting would resolve tensions. Eight current and former officers were formally charged Thursday with having plotted a coup in 2003, and were jailed pending trial. Early Friday morning, a further 11 officers were charged. That brought the total number of officers charged to date in connection with the alleged coup plot to 31, including seven admirals and four generals, according to Anadolu Ajansi, Turkey's state news agency. – Wall Street Journal

Soner Cagaptay writes: A mountain has moved in Turkish politics. All shots against the military are now fair game, including those below the belt. The force behind this dramatic change is the Fethullah Gülen Movement (FGH), an ultraconservative political faction that backs the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP). The FGH was founded in the 1970s by Fethullah Gülen, a charismatic preacher who now lives in the United Statesbut remains popular in Turkey. It is a conservative movement aiming to reshape secular Turkey in its own image, by securing the supremacy of Gülen's version of religion over politics, government, education, media, business, and public and personal life. To some, it might appear that the newfound freedom to criticize the military proves that Turkey is becoming a more liberal democracy. But the truth is that Turkey has replaced one "untouchable" organization for another, more dangerous, one. Criticizing the Gülen movement, which controls the national police and its powerful domestic intelligence branch, and which exerts increasing influence in the judiciary, has become as taboo as assailing the military once was. Today, it is those who criticize the Gülen movement who get burned. – Foreign Policy
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Strategic Forces

Josh Rogin reports: The release of the Obama administration's review of its nuclear strategy will be delayed even further as the government stakeholders continue to debate what options to ultimately present to President Obama, the Senate Armed Services Committee has confirmed…"One reason for the delay is a very heated debate about the mission issue," said Hans Kristensen, director of the Nuclear Information Project at the Federation of American Scientists, referring to what's known as the "declaratory policy," the basic message the U.S. sends about when it reserves the right to use nukes. "There are people on both sides of the fence." Several sources said that the debate pits the office of Vice President Joseph Biden against the Office of Defense Secretary Robert Gates, with the State Department somewhere in between. Biden is said to be advocating for a policy that minimizes the scenarios under which nukes could be used while Gates wants to preserve as much flexibility as possible. – The Cable
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Iraq

The Iraqi government said Thursday that it would reinstate 20,000 army officers who served under Saddam Hussein, a surprising move given that Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki has focused his campaign in the coming parliamentary elections around denouncing the former Baath government. Mohammed al-Askari, a spokesman for the Ministry of Defense, said the prime minister approved the reinstatement of the officers, which he said would begin immediately. With just over one week before Iraq holds its first national elections since 2005, the announcement, made on state-run television, was greeted with skepticism by Mr. Maliki’s rivals. “This is purely a means of trying to gain more votes,” said Mayson al-Damalogi, a spokesman for Iraqiya, a coalition of Sunni and secular candidates headed by former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi. …Mr. Askari said that officers from Mr. Hussein’s government would be hired back immediately, making them eligible to participate in early voting scheduled for March 4. However, government officials with knowledge of the plan could not be reached for comment. – New York Times

Iraq has been the world's deadliest country for journalists since the war began in 2003. At least 140 have been killed, many of them targeted by militia and insurgent groups, according to the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists. Although freedom of the press is guaranteed in Iraq's 2005 constitution, lawmakers have not passed legislation to enforce it. Government officials and private citizens have increasingly resorted to litigation to muffle critical reporting. And a commission that reports to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki recently unveiled guidelines that Iraqi journalists and press freedom advocates call authoritarian. "This can be described as disastrous," Khadum said, referring to the new rules. "We are now waiting and watching to see who is going to become the first prey." – Washington Post
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The War

After a wave of news about attempted domestic terror attacks, Democrats facing a tough election year quietly voted this week to extend the Patriot Act legislation that many of them had decried under former President George W. Bush. The House passed a one-year reauthorization of the Patriot Act Thursday night 315-97, just a day after the Senate moved the bill on a late-evening unanimous voice vote...“In the end, it became non-controversial,” Chairman of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) told POLITICO. “[There was] the growing concern about increase on the pace of attacks on the homeland... and frankly, I think the Patriot [Act] got a bad name under the Bush Administration.” Lieberman said FBI Director Robert Mueller and Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano emphasized to his committee the importance of extending the three renewed provisions: authorizing court-approved roving wiretaps that cover multiple phones or computers a suspect may use, court-approved search and seizures, and allowing surveillance of “lone wolf” non-U.S. citizens not affiliated with organized terrorist groups. - Politico

The House Democratic leadership stopped a vote Thursday night on the $50 billion classified intelligence budget after Republicans mounted a campaign against one of its provisions to ban degrading treatment of detainees and some moderate Democrats indicated they would not vote for the bill. The Republican lawmakers, led by Rep. Pete Hoekstra, Michigan Republican, opposed what they saw as backdoor legislation that would impose fines and prison terms on intelligence officers who abuse captured terrorism suspects. A Democratic House aide told The Washington Times that the leadership supported the amendment and urged the House Rules Committee to place it in a slate of provisions to the bill known as a managers amendment. Courtney Littig, a spokeswoman for the House intelligence committee said, "To my knowledge the first time we learned of the McDermott amendment was when we received copies of the amendments from the Rules Committee [Wednesday] afternoon." Rep. Jim McDermott, Washington Democrat, was the original author of the provision, known as the Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Interrogation Prohibition Act of 2010. The amendment would authorize federal sentences of up to life in prison for cruel interrogation if it led to a detainee's death or other penalties for lesser offenses. – Washington Times

Laura Rozen reports: Ahead of an expected House intelligence authorization vote [yesterday], Defense Secretary Robert Gates has penned a joint letter with Attorney General Eric Holder to House leaders opposing any motion that would restrict the Obama administration's ability to try terrorism suspects in civilian courts or U.S.-based military commissions. The Gates-Holder letter is understood as an effort to push back against potential Republican attempts to offer a motion to restrict the president's discretion to try accused terrorists in federal courts. "We write to express our opposition to any legislation or amendments that would restrict the ability of the Executive branch to effectively prosecute alleged terrorists in Federal courts or reformed military commissions in the United States," Gates and Holder write, in the letter dated today. "We believe it would be unwise and would set a dangerous precedent for Congress to restrict the discretion of our Departments to carry out specific terrorism prosecutions," the letter continues. "Indeed, we have been unable to identify any precedent in the history of our nation in which Congress has intervened in such a manner to prohibit the prosecution of particular persons or crimes." – Politico

Former DC District Court Judge Thomas P. Jackson writes: I submit that the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia is the most appropriate alternative forum for this trial. KSM's crimes were committed against the entire nation, and it is fitting that the nation's capital should host his trial…The U.S. District Court in Washington has 15 able and experienced trial judges available for the case…It is no disparagement of the military officers who might constitute a military commission assigned to try KSM to say that they have neither comparable experience nor stature in the eyes of the world…A public trial in a civilian federal criminal court would demonstrate to the world, once again, that the United States, applying its well-respected standards for fairness, can convict terrorists as the common criminals they are. There is no more appropriate forum than the D.C. federal district court. – Washington Post
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Russia

A lead investigator in the murder of Natalya Estemirova, a human rights worker who was abducted and shot to death in Chechnya last July, said on Thursday that the authorities know who shot her but that they have been unable to arrest the suspect. Igor Sobol, head of investigations at the investigative committee for the Southern Federal District prosecutor’s office, confirmed an account given anonymously to the Interfax news service on Thursday. He said the gun used to kill Ms. Estemirova had been found in a weapons cache, and that there are “objective grounds to identify a group of people” behind her killing. He said the authorities could not arrest the suspect because he was in hiding, and said he could give no more information out of fear of harming the investigation. An employee at the prosecutor general’s office in Moscow said there would be no comment on the matter. – New York Times

Anders Aslund writes: A recent week in Moscow left one clear impression: The Putin model of crony state capitalism is dead. For years, the structure that Vladimir Putin crafted looked invincible, with its steady, high growth rates and effective, mild repression. But the system only distributed ample oil rents to the elites and the ordinary people, creating neither moral nor economic value. Today the bill is due. In 2009, Russia's gross domestic product plunged 7.9 percent, even though Moscow had the world's third-largest international currency reserves. Russia performed the worst among the Group of 20 leading global economic powers. And as Russian elites realize that the Putin model has failed, opposition to the government is mounting. – Washington Post
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Asia

India and Pakistan met Thursday for their first formal talks since the deadly siege of Mumbai in 2008. Officials described the U.S.-backed session as a cautious step toward restoring trust between the two nuclear-armed rivals, though both sides conceded that much mutual suspicion remains and promised only to "keep in touch." Neither country gave a date for follow-up talks after Indian Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao met with Pakistani Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir for more than three hours in a former palace in the Indian capital. India said Pakistan has not done enough to dismantle terrorist networks on its soil and bring those responsible for the Mumbai siege to justice. India blames the attacks on a Pakistan-based militant group, Lashkar-i-Taiba, which remains intact. Rao also said the "time is not right" for a resumption of the wide-ranging discussions that Pakistan wants. Bashir told reporters that Pakistan "welcomed India's focus on terrorism" during the talks, but stressed that both countries have been victims of such violence. He also said Pakistan had raised the emotional issue of the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir, which has been the cause of two of the three wars between the nations and lies at the heart of their decades-old dispute. – Washington Post

Pakistan warned Feb. 25 that India's huge military modernization program posed a serious threat to stability in a "nuclearized" South Asian region. "New war doctrines, tremendous boost to the defense spending, induction of new sophisticated weapons systems, these are elements that are prejudicial to regional security and stability," Pakistan Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir said. His comments followed talks in New Delhi with his Indian counterpart, Nirupama Rao - the first direct discussions between the nuclear-armed South Asian rivals since the November 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks. India, which last month inducted its longest range nuclear-tipped missile into the army, has plans to spend up to $30 billion on its military by 2012. India is scheduled to unveil its 2010-11 defense budget Feb. 26, a budget that was jacked up by 24 percent to 1.42 trillion rupees ($28.4 billion) the previous year. Bashir described as "irresponsible" comments by Indian Army chief Deepak Kapoor in December that India must be prepared to fight simultaneous wars on "two fronts" - a clear reference to Pakistan and China. - AFP

Long-haired jihadis toting automatic weapons patrolled a mosque last week as the cleric who heads the militant network blamed for the attack on Mumbai preached inside. The group's supporters collected funds in the courtyard and later marched through this eastern Pakistani city, calling for the death of those who insult Islam. Pakistan announced a ban on Jamaat-ud-Dawa - sealing the group's offices, freezing assets and rounding up leaders - amid international outrage after the 2008 siege of the Indian financial capital. But the group has scored a few wins in court against the government and is up and running again, exposing Islamabad's unwillingness to fully crack down on militants who target India, its longtime enemy. The resurgence of the group stalled any progress Thursday at the first round of peace talks between Pakistan and India since the attacks on Mumbai. – Associated Press

The Supreme Court in Myanmar rejected an appeal on Friday to end the house arrest of the country’s leading dissident, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, in the latest setback for her beleaguered democracy movement. Nyan Win, a lawyer representing Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi, said he was preparing a final, “special” appeal in the case, which stems from a visit last year to her home by an American tourist. The authorities contended that Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi, the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, violated the terms of her previous house arrest by allowing the uninvited visitor, John Yettaw, to enter her waterfront home after he swam across a lake in central Yangon, Myanmar’s main city. Critics of the military-run country believe the bizarre case is being used to continue the detention of Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi as the country prepares for its first elections in two decades. The junta has described the elections and the adoption of a new constitution as part of its “road map” for a return to civilian rule, although the military appears poised to retain a very influential role. No date has been announced for the elections, but the generals have repeatedly said they will take place this year. – New York Times
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Americas

President Hugo Chávez vowed to withdraw Venezuela from the top human rights body in the western hemisphere last night after it accused him of endangering democracy and intimidating opponents. In a televised press conference, the socialist leader called the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights a "mafia", and its leader "excrement". "We will leave it," Chávez said. The commission, a branch of the Organisation of American States (OAS), published a report on Wednesday which painted an alarming picture of repression and intolerance in Venezuela. The 319-page report used unusually strong language for a 34-nation forum which tends to shy away from criticising members' internal policies, reflecting growing concern about the South American country. – Guardian

The diplomatic jousting between Argentina and Britain over drilling for oil off the coast of the disputed Falkland Islands may be less about rubbing salt in old wounds than about exposing new ones of the Argentine government’s own making, political analysts and energy consultants said...No oil-drilling rigs are operating in Argentina’s own expansive waters, largely because many oil companies are wary of working in Argentina these days, analysts say. In the last year alone, President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner’s government has nationalized the country’s largest airline, seized billions of dollars in private pension funds and now is trying to tap more than $6.5 billion in currency reserves to pay long-overdue foreign debt. Argentina also has a system of export taxes that has kept domestic oil prices low, and that has dissuaded some of the larger oil companies from investing in offshore exploration. – New York Times

Argentina is to seek the backing of the United States in its dispute with Britain over Falklands oil exploration as President Kirchner prepares to meet Hillary Clinton next week. Fresh from an inconclusive meeting at the UN, where Argentina failed to secure anything other than a vague acknowledgement of its concerns, Buenos Aires has turned its gaze to Washington in its attempt to stop what it says are illegal British activities in the disputed islands. The hastily scheduled meeting, announced by Hector Timerman, the Argentine Ambassador to Washington, will take place in Uruguay on Monday, when Mrs Clinton will attend the presidential inauguration of José Mujica. Argentina will be pressing the White House to drop its declared neutrality and support Buenos Aires in the dispute, which looks set to deteriorate further. Though President Reagan gave public backing and vital intelligence to Britain in the 1982 conflict over the islands, senior US officials now insist that Washington will stick with a policy of non-intervention. Philip Crowley, the State Department spokesman, said that the US maintained a position of neutrality but encouraged “good faith dialogue”, adding that if both sides requested mediation “we would consider it”. – Times of London

Nile Gardiner writes: Thousands of British soldiers are laying their lives on the line alongside their American allies on the battlefields of Afghanistan. Yet the president of the United States is either unwilling or too timid to offer a single word of support for the British people, who face a mounting confrontation with a corrupt, populist Argentine government that is threatening a blockade of British territory. To put it bluntly, the Obama administration is killing the Special Relationship, and the prospects of a recovery look extremely bleak as long as Barack Obama remains in the White House.- The Foundry
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Defense

The U.S. Army's request for $10.5 billion to spend on research and development in 2011 is too little, Rep. Howard "Buck" McKeon, R-Calif., told the Army's senior leaders Feb. 25. The request continues a downward trend in R&D spending that makes it harder to develop the best possible weapons, McKeon said as the House Armed Services Committee launched its annual review of the Army's budget. But McKeon, the committee's senior Republican, conceded there is little likelihood that R&D funding can be increased in a budget year characterized by huge deficits, frozen domestic accounts and a growing urgency to fight and win current wars rather than focus on future conflicts. Still, McKeon said, "I am concerned about the continued decline in research-and-development funding. From 1980 through today, our investment in basic defense research as a percentage of gross domestic product has declined by 50 percent. For the Army alone, advanced technology and component funding is 50 percent less in this budget than what was enacted in 2008." There is little chance that Congress will shift money from other parts of the 2011 defense budget to increase spending on R&D, McKeon said in an interview. One way to raise R&D funding would be to increase total defense spending, but that, too, is unlikely, he said. – Defense News

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Obama Administration

James Traub writes: Barack Obama's administration is extremely touchy about claims that its "engagement" policy amounts to old-fashioned "realism," with America offering autocratic allies a free pass on human rights and democracy promotion in exchange for cooperation on the big geostrategic issues. We have, after all, seen the alternative: All the blood and thunder that accompanied George W. Bush's Freedom Agenda produced very little actual freedom (or progress on geostrategic issues for that matter). As one Senior Official -- as I was instructed to identify him -- said to me in a background conversation last week, "If we were to not engage regimes with authoritarian tendencies, to lecture them from Washington, they would suddenly therefore decide to become democracies and accede to our demands?" When I said that sounded like a parody of the argument of democracy advocates, this official shot back, "I think the administration has unfairly been subjected to a parody the other way around." So lay off, you barking dogs of liberal internationalism. – Foreign Policy
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Events
Ergenekon: What Does It Mean for Democratic Consolidation in Turkey?
Middle East Institute
February 26

Ambassador Michael Oren, Israeli Ambassador to the United States
Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars
February 26

What Social Networks Mean for Modern Warfare
Slate Magazine/New America Foundation
February 26

Improving the Quality of International Engagement: A Scorecard from Haiti and Afghanistan
Center for Strategic and International Studies
February 26

Iraq’s Elections: Progress or Peril?
American Enterprise Institute
March 1

The Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan: The Journalistic Challenges
Institute for Security and Conflict Studies
March 1

China, the Internet, and Google
Dirksen Senate Office Building
March 1

Accomplice to Evil: Iran and the War Against the West
Heritage Foundation
March 2

Afghanistan Ambassador to the US, Said T. Jawad
Friends of the American University of Afghanistan
March 2

Women Transforming Iran
United States Institute of Peace
March 2

Inside the Taliban
Middle East Institute
March 3

The Other Muslims: Moderate and Secular
Hudson Institute
March 3

The Struggle for Progress: Women’s Rights in the Middle East and North Africa
Freedom House
March 3

Air Force FY 2011 Budget Review
Senate Armed Services Committee
March 4

The Iraqi Elections and the Changing Politico-Security Environment in Iraq
Jamestown Foundation
March 4

National Security Analysis and Intelligence Summer Seminar
Office of the Directorate of National Intelligence
March 7 (Deadline)

European, African, and Joint Forces Command FY 2011 Budgets
Senate Armed Services Committee
March 9

Next Generation Peacekeeping in Iraq
United States Institute of Peace
March 9

The Elephant at Sea: India’s Maritime Strategy
Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars
March 9

The Middle East Conflict and Challenges to European Security
Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars
March 9

Europe and Iran’s Nuclear Ambitions: Challenges and Prospects
Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars
March 9

Mexican Media Under Attack: Lessons Learned from Columbia
National Endowment for Democracy
March 9

The Arabs: A History
Middle East Institute
March 10

Northern and Southern Command Budgets
Senate Armed Services Committee
March 11

Democratization in Africa: Progress and Retreat
National Endowment for Democracy
March 11

Cleric and State in the Islamic Republic of Iran
United States Institute of Peace
March 12

Special Operations and Central Command FY 2011 Budgets
Senate Armed Services Committee
March 16

The Obama Administration’s Lebanon Policy
Middle East Institute
March 18

Democracy in Ukraine: Are We There, Yet?
Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars
March 22

The Aid Trap: Hard Truths About Ending Poverty
Foreign Policy Association (NYC)
March 24

Politics, Security, and Human Rights in the North Caucasus
Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars
March 29

2010 PONI Spring Conference
Center for Strategic and International Studies
April 8-9

US Relations with the Muslim World: One Year After Cairo
Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy
April 28

Overnight Brief is a daily product of the Foreign Policy Initiative, which seeks to promote an active U.S. foreign policy committed to robust support for democratic allies, human rights, a strong American military equipped to meet the challenges of the 21st century, and strengthening America's global economic competitiveness. To submit comments or suggestions, email overnight@foreignpolicyi.org

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