Morning Brief, Friday, May 11
Middle East U.S. Department of Defense The U.S. House of Representatives agreed on a measure to fund the war in Iraq only through July. In a Pentagon speech, President Bush signaled flexibility over setting benchmarks for the Iraqi government, but promised to veto the bill despite growing pressure from within his own party. And across ...
Middle East
Middle East
The U.S. House of Representatives agreed on a measure to fund the war in Iraq only through July. In a Pentagon speech, President Bush signaled flexibility over setting benchmarks for the Iraqi government, but promised to veto the bill despite growing pressure from within his own party. And across the pond, Iraqi legislators passed their own draft bill mandating U.S. troops leave over several months.
Iran to North Korea: Pay your debts so we can be better friends.
Headline of the day: “Yoga-Loving UN Troops Struggle to Mesh With War-Zone Partners.” (Story about peacekeepers in Lebanon here.)
Europe
It’s official: Tony Blair has formally tapped Gordon Brown as his successor.
Did the Vatican alter its record of the pope’s comments on excommunication and abortion?
European leaders to Bush: Dump Wolfowitz, or else.
Turkey’s Islamist ruling party won a parliamentary vote allowing direct presidential elections.
Asia
A federal jury in California convicted a U.S. citizen of passing sensitive technology to his native China for over 20 years.
Pakistan is moving ahead with a controversial plan to fence parts of its border with Afghanistan.
Is China’s stock market heading for another big drop? The Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.7 percent today amid investor fears that the Chinese government has a new strategy to contain the raging bull market.
Elsewhere
Even as the latest monthly Commerce Department report showed a widening U.S. trade deficit, President George W. Bush cut a deal with leading Democrats in Congress to include environmental and labor standards in four pending trade agreements.
The canary in the coal mine for a slowing U.S. economy? Wal-Mart posted its worst numbers since Jimmy Carter was president.
The International Energy Agency’s issued its latest Oil Market Report and called on OPEC to increase production to meet the summer demand crunch.
Today’s Agenda
- Against a tide of worrisome Serbian revanchism, leaders from the Balkans are holding a summit in Zagreb, Croatia to facilitate regional cooperation. In the mix: The United States and its European friends are sending out a draft U.N. Security Council resolution proposing “supervised independence” for Kosovo.
- A Polish-hosted meeting on Central Asian oil is already off to a shaky start: Kazakhstan’s president promised Vladimir Putin that his country’s oil would ship through Russia, not elsewhere as the Poles hope.
- U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney heads to Saudi Arabia for a Saturday pep rally with King Abdullah, who has distanced himself considerably from U.S. policy in recent months.
Yesterday on Passport
More from Foreign Policy
No, the World Is Not Multipolar
The idea of emerging power centers is popular but wrong—and could lead to serious policy mistakes.
America Prepares for a Pacific War With China It Doesn’t Want
Embedded with U.S. forces in the Pacific, I saw the dilemmas of deterrence firsthand.
America Can’t Stop China’s Rise
And it should stop trying.
The Morality of Ukraine’s War Is Very Murky
The ethical calculations are less clear than you might think.
Sign up for World Brief
FP’s flagship evening newsletter guiding you through the most important world stories of the day. Delivered weekdays.
By submitting your email, you agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use and to receive email correspondence from us. You may opt out at any time.