What's going on in the World Today 100924

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USA

U.S.: Nicaraguan Diplomat Found Dead In New York September 23, 2010


A Nicaraguan diplomat attending the U.N. General Assembly in New York was found dead in his South Bronx apartment, a New York Police Department spokesman said Sept. 23, DPA and The New York Post reported. The diplomat, 34-year-old Cesar Mercado, who is a senior official working at the Permanent Mission of Nicaragua to the United Nations, was found with his throat slit at 10:30 a.m. local time. His body was discovered by his driver, who entered the apartment after waiting for Mercado to come down to the car. A knife was found near the scene, and the driver reported Mercado’s door as ajar when he entered.

The Latest Cooperation Between Russia and the United States STRATFOR

EUROPE

Georgia: Second Bomb Neutralized In Tbilisi September 22, 2010


Georgian police found a second improvised explosive device in a Tbilisi cemetery near the U.S. Embassy, the same cemetery where a bomb had earlier gone off Sept. 22, Trend news agency reported. Police neutralized the device where it was found, adding that it appeared to be homemade. Police said an investigation is under way.



ASIA

China: U.S. Sets Paper Product Duties September 22, 2010


The U.S. Commerce Department will impose 7.60 to 135.83 percent antidumping and 17.64 to 178.03 percent countervailing duties on certain coated paper imported from China, Xinhua reported Sept. 22. Chinese producers and exporters of the products received subsidies equivalent to the imposed duties, according to a Commerce statement. U.S. Customs and Border Protection will collect a cash deposit or bond based on the final antidumping rates, the statement said. The U.S. International Trade Commission will make a final determination in November regarding cash deposits of countervailing duties .


South Korea, U.S.: Anti-Submarine Drills Scheduled September 24, 2010


South Korea and the United States will hold five-day anti-submarine drills starting Sept. 27 in the waters west of the Korean Peninsula, according to the U.S.-led United Nations Command (UNC), Xinhua reported Sept. 24. The exercises are designed to send a clear message of deterrence to North Korea and improve anti-submarine warfare capabilities of the South Korean-U.S. alliance, the UNC stated. About 10 ships, including two U.S. guided missile destroyers and two submarines, and some 1,700 troops will be mobilized, officials from Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said.



RUSSIA

Russia: Agreements Will Settle Arctic Border Disputes - Putin September 23, 2010

Partnership agreements will settle all border disputes in the Arctic region, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said Sept. 23 amid fears of Arctic territorial clashes, RIA Novosti reported. Russia is monitoring the situation in the region closely and has concluded that most “scare stories” about the Arctic are groundless, Putin said at news conference at the International Arctic Forum in Moscow. Putin also said Russia will expand scientific research in the region.

Russia: NATO Envoy Explains Missile System Ban September 23, 2010

Russian President Dmitri Medvedev’s decision to ban the sale of S-300 missile defense systems to Iran was made in the interest of Russia’s national considerations, Russian NATO envoy Dmitri Rogozin said Sept. 23, Interfax reported. The decision logically follows U.N. Security Council discussions surrounding Iran, Rogozin added.

Russia: Decree Bans Transporting S-300s, Other Equipment To Iran September 22, 2010


Russian President Dmitri Medvedev on Sept. 22 signed a decree banning the delivery of S-300 air defense missile systems to Iran, Interfax reported. The decree, which implements a U.N. Security Council resolution, bans combat tanks, armored combat vehicles, combat aircraft including helicopters, military ships, missiles, large-caliber artillery systems, missile systems including the S-300 or any equipment related to all of the above, to include spare parts, from being transported through Russian territory to Iran, exported from Russia to Iran, or transferred to Iran using sea vessels or aircraft under the Russian flag.



IRAN

U.S., Iran: Officials Discuss Covert Diplomatic Relations September 22, 2010


U.S. and Iranian diplomats have initiated contact to examine opening covert lines of communication between the countries, unnamed sources in New York said, Haaretz reported Sept. 22. Diplomats from both sides secretly met at the U.N. headquarters in New York ahead of the Sept. 23 U.N. General Assembly, sources said. The officials discussed a U.S. plan to set up unofficial diplomatic relations.


Iran: Gasoline Shipments Drop To Below 1 Cargo A Month September 24, 2010


Iran has so far imported less than one gasoline cargo for September, making the shipments about 80 percent less than in August, Reuters reported Sept. 24. Using calculations based on trade sources, Reuters found that Iran was importing only 12,000 tonnes in September; a standard cargo is 33,000 tonnes (280,000 barrels). Before new sanctions over Tehran’s nuclear program, Iran had purchased 10-12 cargoes a month. Turkey stopped exporting gasoline to Iran in August, according to records.


The Stuxnet Computer Worm and the Iranian Nuclear Program STRATFOR


The pull quote...gotta love it.

A computer worm proliferating in Iran targets automated activity in large industrial facilities. Speculation that the worm represents an effort by a national intelligence agency to attack Iranian nuclear facilities is widespread in the media. The characteristics of the complex worm do in fact suggest a national intelligence agency was involved. If so, the full story is likely to remain shrouded in mystery.

IRAQ

Iraq: Nationwide Census To Be Held In October September 22, 2010


Iraq will hold a nationwide census for the first time in 20 years on Oct. 24, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said Sept. 22, Xinhua reported. Although the security situation and a lack of funding led Iraq to delay the census, al-Maliki said he his confident it will be successful.

ISRAEL

NOTHING SIGNIFICANT TO REPORT





AFGHANISTAN

Afghanistan: Woodward Book Discloses U.S. Paramilitary Presence September 23, 2010

The CIA and U.S. Special Operations forces train and deploy a well-armed 3,000-member Afghan paramilitary force, known as Counterterrorism Pursuit Teams, for operations in Afghanistan and Pakistan, according to a forthcoming book by Bob Woodward, The Washington Post reported Sept. 23. The teams’ primary mission is to improve Afghan security, an official said, adding they do not engage in “lethal action” when crossing into Pakistan for intelligence collection. Border bases are used to build and manage networks of ethnic Pashtun informants who identify and located al Qaeda and Taliban leaders. The Pakistani government will not comment until Woodwards book is released.


Afghanistan: Petraeus Drafts Plan for Reduced NATO Forces September 22, 2010


U.S. Gen. David Petraeus has completed a draft plan to start reducing NATO forces in parts of Afghanistan next year but warned that the process of transition would be slow, Reuters reported Sept. 22. Petraeus said the preliminary analysis of the plan has looked at districts that could be candidates for beginning the transition process, but he emphasized that military headquarters would remain in Afghanistan as a crucial communications and intelligence link and base from which a quick reaction team would deploy, medevac assets would be staged and teams mentoring Afghan forces would be located.

A Week in the War: Afghanistan, Sept. 15-21, 2010 STRATFOR


Great quote from this article:


Copyright http://www.stratfor.com/

"Nothing in Afghanistan should be judged by Western standards. Issues with free and fair elections — just like enduring issues with corruption — do not necessarily equate to or signify a lack of progress (and certainly not failure). Western standards simply are not applicable to realities in Afghanistan, and any application of them only further skews perceptions of an already complex and multifaceted country. But the problem is that it is hard to see progress resolving fundamental incongruities between the realities of Afghanistan and what the U.S.-led International Security Assistance Force is attempting to achieve there

SOUTH OF THE BORDER

Colombia: Security Forces Kill FARC Leaders September 23, 2010


Colombian security forces killed Henry Castellanos Garzon, the head of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) Eastern Bloc, and Jorge Briceno Suarez, FARC military chief, during a raid in La Macarena, Meta department, El Espectador reported Sept. 23.

Paaraguay: Police Eliminate EPP Leader Caceres September 24, 2010


The special operations unit of Paraguay’s national police eliminated Nimio Cardozo Caceres, an important leader of the Paraguayan People’s Army (EPP), on Sept. 24 and invaded one of the group’s camps in Jhugua Nanda, Concepcion, Ultima Hora reported. Explosives were discovered at the camp, and police are still looking for other suspected EPP members. The confrontation and raid occurred two days after the national police increased their mobilizations and operations in response to a recent EPP attack on the police.

A FARC Leader's Death and Colombia's Upper Hand STRATFOR

MISC

Dispatch: Oil Production and Nigeria's Elections STRATFOR

Dispatch: Challenges in Developing the Arctic STRATFOR

Except where noted courtesy www.stratfor.com