Morning Brief, Friday, December 8

Iraq and Middle East

JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images

In his press conference yesterday with outgoing British PM Tony Blair, President Bush distanced himself from the Iraq Study Group report. The Senate doesn’t seem to like it either.

The Iranian foreign minister is now saying that his country is “in a position” to help the United States in Iraq, even though the mess is all America’s fault. 

James Baker is becoming less and less shy about criticizing Condi Rice’s handling of Iraq and other issues.

Hezbollah’s Hassan Nasrallah wants to overthrow the Lebanese government, but he doesn’t want a civil war. 

Asia

North and South Korea are unifying … on a bid for the 2014 Olympics. Now I have to figure out where Pyeongchang is, which is where they would be held.

Best Buy is opening its first store in China. The Wall Street Journal is excited (sub. req’d).

Elsewhere

Apropos of today’s launch of the movie Blood Diamond, rebels in the Ivory Coast are denying involvement in illegal gems.

Turkey and the EU continue their dance over Cyprus.

Kremlin-backed youth groups have begun stalking the British ambassador to Moscow “even days a week for the past four months.” Note that this harassment predates the Litvinenko poisoning, which happened on November 23rd.

Pakistan and Afghanistan are finally talking about the fuzzy borders between them.