Morning Brief, Wednesday, June 28

Gaza Israeli troops enter southern Gaza and launch attacks on bridges and a power station in an effort to find a soldier abducted Sunday. Arab officials across the Middle East condemn the operation, which Abbas calls "crimes against humanity." A Hamas official reiterates the demand for the release of Palestinian prisoners. It's an early and ...

Gaza

Gaza

Israeli troops enter southern Gaza and launch attacks on bridges and a power station in an effort to find a soldier abducted Sunday. Arab officials across the Middle East condemn the operation, which Abbas calls "crimes against humanity." A Hamas official reiterates the demand for the release of Palestinian prisoners. It's an early and critical test for Olmert.

Iraq

Maliki says that attacks on US troops will not be pardoned under the new reconciliation plan, and the WaPo's Ignatius explains why listening to Khalizad's version of what's going on in Baghdad is much more useful than listening to the Washington version. Max Boot on why a troop drawdown sends the wrong message. And Richard Holbrooke notes in the WaPo the irony in Bush recently asking Kofi Annan and the UN to lobby for more international aid for Iraq:

Once again, an administration that has underfunded, undersupported and undermined the United Nations has turned to it, almost in desperation, for help.

Rice in Afghanistan and Pakistan

Condi reiterates strong support for Karzai in Kabul, after a trip to Islamabad, where she prodded Musharraf to hold democratic elections and to offer more support to Afghanistan in fighting the Taliban.

Africa

Ugandan rebel leader Joseph Kony, in a rare interview, denies that he has committed war crimes. In the current issue of FP, Olara Otunnu argues that the atrocities attributed to Kony's Lord's Resistance Army often overshadow the equally brutal crimes of the Ugandan government.

Whether UN peacekeepers go into Darfur or not, the AU mission there will end in September

Elsewhere

A flag desecration ban failed to pass in the US Senate, and Sen. Pat Roberts asks for a damage assessment to US counterterrorism efforts caused by the NYT articles detailing secret wiretapping and financial tracking programs. The North Korea missile launch may not be imminent. Chinese officials disclose more than $1 billion in bank fraud at a state-owned bank, and one recent rural protest in China ends surprisingly – in concessions from officials. 

Carolyn O'Hara is a senior editor at Foreign Policy.

More from Foreign Policy

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping give a toast during a reception following their talks at the Kremlin in Moscow on March 21.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping give a toast during a reception following their talks at the Kremlin in Moscow on March 21.

Can Russia Get Used to Being China’s Little Brother?

The power dynamic between Beijing and Moscow has switched dramatically.

Xi and Putin shake hands while carrying red folders.
Xi and Putin shake hands while carrying red folders.

Xi and Putin Have the Most Consequential Undeclared Alliance in the World

It’s become more important than Washington’s official alliances today.

Russian President Vladimir Putin greets Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev.
Russian President Vladimir Putin greets Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev.

It’s a New Great Game. Again.

Across Central Asia, Russia’s brand is tainted by Ukraine, China’s got challenges, and Washington senses another opening.

Kurdish military officers take part in a graduation ceremony in Erbil, the capital of Iraq’s Kurdistan Region, on Jan. 15.
Kurdish military officers take part in a graduation ceremony in Erbil, the capital of Iraq’s Kurdistan Region, on Jan. 15.

Iraqi Kurdistan’s House of Cards Is Collapsing

The region once seemed a bright spot in the disorder unleashed by U.S. regime change. Today, things look bleak.