Iran: the elephant in the court-room
The trial of sixteen Azeri men in Baku for allegedly conspiring with Iran and planning to overthrow the government to impose Sharia Islamic law on the country has brought tensions to a head between Azerbaijan and Iran, its neighbour to the south. The defendants deny all accusations, including involvement in the so-called Northern Mahdi Army, supposedly backed by Iran's Quds forces (which Washington also claims are behind bombings in Iraq). While political Islam is on the rise in traditionally "secular" Azerbaijan, the visit of a high-ranking CIA official to the country suggests that Washington hopes to turn Baku against Tehran.
US military reassesses its progress
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Sign up to receive toD's daily security briefings via email by clicking hereThe US Marine Corps has proposed to defence secretary Robert Gates that it withdraw its 25,000 troops from Iraq to focus on efforts in Afghanistan.
Gates has demanded that the US military of the future must be able to master foreign languages and navigate the differences of foreign cultures and customs.
Nato insists, somewhat dubiously, that Taliban suicide bombers do not comprise a strategic threat in Afghanistan.
In the London Review of Books, Jim Holt insists that when it comes to Iraq, it's the oil, stupid.
Cooperation strategy under examination
A rare attack on a US base in Iraq has killed two servicemen and left nearly forty soldiers injured. Insurgents struck Camp Victory, near Baghdad, with a rocket or mortar fire.
US forces killed 13 members of al-Qaida in Iraq, in a coordinated strike west of Baghdad, according to military sources. The attack is thought to have killed al-Qaida operatives responsible for the deaths of a number of Sunni allies of Iraqi and American forces in the region.
Despite the protests of many prominent Shia politicians (including Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, Washington persists with its strategy of empowering former Sunni insurgents against al-Qaida forces in the country. But what happens if today's allies become tomorrow's enemies?
Hamas reaches out to Fatah
Countries mentioned in today's security brief:
- Azerbaijan
- Iran
- United States
- Iraq
- Afghanistan
- Palestine/Israel
- Somalia
- Ethiopia
Hamas has offered reconciliation talks with Fatah, and even suggested that it would be willing to give up the Gaza Strip, which it seized control of earlier this year. Israel has sought to isolate Hamas by dismissing the group's diplomatic overtures, by declaring Hamas-run Gaza an "enemy entity", and by attempting to strengthen the hand of Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah in the West Bank.
Bomb in Baidoa
A car-bomb in the Somali city of Baidoa has killed two Ethiopian soldiers. A radio station in Mogadishu aired an Islamist insurgent commander's claim of responsibility soon after the attack, only to be raided by Somali forces and see its chief and one of its reporters arrested.
Clash of civilisations?
More than 130 Muslim scholars have written to Pope Benedict XVI, stressing that improved relations between Muslims and Christians could have a decisive impact on the world.
