Morning Brief, Monday, March 3

2008 U.S. Elections

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Hillary Clinton is campaigning as if she is making a comeback ahead of Tuesday’s crucial Ohio and Texas primaries.

Both Clinton and Obama tend to dial down their attacks on NAFTA when they’re in Texas, where the trade deal is more popular than in Ohio.

Obama’s foreign-policy positions are “well within the mainstream of Democratic and moderate Republican thinking,” according to the Washington Post, though a few of his advisors are a bit unorthodox.

Middle East

Hamas declared “victory” after Israeli forces pulled back from Gaza ahead of U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s upcoming visit to Tel Aviv. Israel says its military operations in Gaza are not over. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Sunday suspended his participation in peace talks with the Israelis.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, speaking in Baghdad, called for the United States to withdraw from Iraq and the region.

The IAEA last week presented Iran with evidence suggesting it once had a clandestine nuclear weapons program.

Europe

Dmitry Medvedev, Russia’s president-elect, vowed to uphold Vladimir Putin’s legacy after winning more than 70 percent of Sunday’s vote. Medvedev said that as president, he would run Russia’s foreign policy.

Gazprom shut off a quarter of Ukraine’s gas.

Serbia says it has seized a section of railway in northern Kosovo.

Asia

Asian stock markets tumbled Monday on the expectation that the U.S. Federal Reserve will lower rates again.

North Korea said that joint military exercises between the United States and South Korea could jeopardize the nuclear deal.

A suicide bomber struck a U.S. base in Afghanistan.

CNN explores China’s sexual revolution.

Elsewhere

Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez mobilized tanks and planes along his country’s border with Colombia, threatening war after the Colombian military killed a top FARC rebel leader in Ecuadoran territory.

The U.S. military says it fired a missile at a “known terrorist target” in southern Somalia.

Fresh violence has broken out in western Kenya even as the talks in Nairobi continue to bear fruit.

Today’s Agenda

• Barack Obama, John McCain, and Mike Huckabee are campaigning in Texas. Hillary Clinton is stumping in Ohio.
• The U.N. Security Council may vote on a new round of sanctions against Iran, though not unanimously.
• China’s parliament is meeting to elect state leaders.
• Condi Rice begins a week-long trip to the Middle East.