Morning Brief, Thursday, March 1
2008 Yes, Senator John McCain is running for U.S. president. Middle East U.S. troops have begun spreading out to smaller bases in Baghdad as part of the new counterinsurgency strategy. Iran’s deputy foreign minister traveled to Beijing for talks on—what else?—Iran’s nuclear program. Can China reprise its role from the six-party talks? And President Ahmadinejad ...
2008
2008
Yes, Senator John McCain is running for U.S. president.
Middle East
U.S. troops have begun spreading out to smaller bases in Baghdad as part of the new counterinsurgency strategy.
Iran’s deputy foreign minister traveled to Beijing for talks on—what else?—Iran’s nuclear program. Can China reprise its role from the six-party talks? And President Ahmadinejad heads to Riyadh on Saturday. Don’t get too excited about diplomatic contacts between the United States and Iran, the White House warns.
Israel’s military operations in the West Bank city of Nablus entered their fifth day.
Asia
Asian stock markets slid again today, but appear to have stabilized after positive comments on U.S. growth by the head of the Federal Reserve, Ben Bernanke.
China is reconsidering its current use of re-education camps.
No, the Great Wall of China is not visible from space.
India will boost its military budget by 7.8 percent next year, a fact noted in Beijing and Islamabad.
Europe
French presidential frontrunner Nicolas Sarkozy’s foreign policy: Keep the Iranians down, the Turks out, and the United States close.
This just in: Chechen authorities use torture in prisons.
Chances that the United States will extradite wanted CIA operatives to Italy to stand trial for kidnapping are slim to none.
The European Commission is gunning for Microsoft again.
Elsewhere
New York’s city council wants to forbid the use of the word “nigger.”
Arthur Schlesinger, respected U.S. historian and confidant of the Kennedy family, died at 89.
Sales of new U.S. homes fell dramatically in January.
Blake Hounshell is a former managing editor of Foreign Policy.
More from Foreign Policy
Chinese Hospitals Are Housing Another Deadly Outbreak
Authorities are covering up the spread of antibiotic-resistant pneumonia.
Henry Kissinger, Colossus on the World Stage
The late statesman was a master of realpolitik—whom some regarded as a war criminal.
The West’s False Choice in Ukraine
The crossroads is not between war and compromise, but between victory and defeat.
The Masterminds
Washington wants to get tough on China, and the leaders of the House China Committee are in the driver’s seat.
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