Morning Brief, Friday, February 9
Middle East MAHMOUD HAMS/AFP In Mecca, Palestinian leaders promise to end their family feud in the hopes of ending the international boycott on the Hamas government. So far, though, the United States is keeping mum about the deal, but they’re dancing in the streets in Gaza. Meanwhile, in Jerusalem, violence at Islam’s third holiest site ...
Middle East
Middle East
In Mecca, Palestinian leaders promise to end their family feud in the hopes of ending the international boycott on the Hamas government. So far, though, the United States is keeping mum about the deal, but they’re dancing in the streets in Gaza. Meanwhile, in Jerusalem, violence at Islam’s third holiest site over an Israeli reconstruction project.
In Baghdad, Shiite neighborhoods are thriving, while Sunni areas are “withering into abandoned ghettos.”
Lebanese Army troops have seized a Hezbollah truck loaded with weapons, and they’re not giving it back.
Washington
Congress is lazy, chides Dana Milbank of the Washington Post.
Pentagon: the Office of Special Plans was a bad idea, but not illegal.
Europe
Remember the two French teens whose deaths set off the riots in Paris in late 2005? Two suburban police officers could face prison terms for “failing to assist people in danger.”
Who’s behind all the letter bombs in Britain?
Russia’s ex-richest man stole $32 billion worth of oil, prosecutors say. He should have made his money in dog fighting, which is all the rage in Russia now.
Asia
The United States is trying to dampen expectations about a deal with North Korea.
It’s the 1980s all over again. Japan’s weak yen is making House Democrats angry. And an attack by anti-whaling activists is making Japanese whalers angry.
Afghan farmers are frustrated with Western aid programs, so they’re growing poppies.
The U.S. Navy is back in Cambodia after three decades.
Elsewhere
FIFA’s amputee cup begins in Sierra Leone today.
The Ku Klux Klan is back, according to a new report by the Anti-Defamation League.
More from Foreign Policy
At Long Last, the Foreign Service Gets the Netflix Treatment
Keri Russell gets Drexel furniture but no Senate confirmation hearing.
How Macron Is Blocking EU Strategy on Russia and China
As a strategic consensus emerges in Europe, France is in the way.
What the Bush-Obama China Memos Reveal
Newly declassified documents contain important lessons for U.S. China policy.
Russia’s Boom Business Goes Bust
Moscow’s arms exports have fallen to levels not seen since the Soviet Union’s collapse.
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