Morning Brief, Thursday, August 23
Middle East PAUL J.RICHARDS/AFP/Getty Speaking at the Veterans of Foreign Wars convention, U.S. President George W. Bush finally embraced the comparison of Iraq with Vietnam—if only to warn that withdrawing U.S. troops would lead to Cambodia-style killing fields. Meet Iraq’s new electricity barons: sectarian militias. Palestinians prefer the new, technocratic government of Salam Fayyad to ...
Middle East
Middle East
Speaking at the Veterans of Foreign Wars convention, U.S. President George W. Bush finally embraced the comparison of Iraq with Vietnam—if only to warn that withdrawing U.S. troops would lead to Cambodia-style killing fields.
Meet Iraq’s new electricity barons: sectarian militias.
Palestinians prefer the new, technocratic government of Salam Fayyad to the previous, Hamas-dominated regime, according to an independent poll. Meanwhile, trial balloons are being floated in the Israeli press regarding what solutions might be proposed at this fall’s regional peace summit.
Asia
Visiting New Delhi, Shinzo Abe called for stronger ties between Japan and India.
India’s government, meanwhile, may be on the brink of collapse in the face of unexpectedly strong leftist opposition to the country’s nuclear deal with the United States.
Exiled former PM Nawaz Sharif can return to Pakistan after all, the country’s Supreme Court ruled.
Europe
For the first time in nearly 20 years, Germany posted a budget surplus for the first two quarters.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel is embracing British PM Gordon Brown and moving away from French President Nicolas Sarkozy due to the latter’s fondness for mercantilist economics.
The government of Albania is seeking to eradicate violent blood feuds.
Elsewhere
It will cost at least $200 billion per year to revert to today’s level of greenhouse-gas emissions by 2030, according to a report by the secretariat of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change.
The U.S. Agency for International Development will soon be required to screen all grant recipients for links to terrorist organizations.
Zimbabwe is now allowing stores to mark up certain items by 20 percent, which is still far, far below the rate of inflation.
You’ve heard of Google Earth. Get ready for Google Sky.
Today’s Agenda
- Just in time for UNESCO’s International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition, Liverpool, England, unveils the International Slavery Museum.
- Lepizig, Germany, welcomes gamers for the aptly named Game Convention, the world’s second-largest event of its kind.
- Europe’s envoy to Kosovo meets with Kosovar officials ahead of next week’s talks with Serbian and ethnic Albanian leaders.
Yesterday on Passport
Blake Hounshell is a former managing editor of Foreign Policy.
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