North
Korea - South Korea:Update.
North Korea has not responded to South Korea's final offer of talks about
normalizing operations at Kaesong.
In other developments, the president of the presidium of the
Supreme People's Assembly, Kim Yong Nam, has departed for Tehran to attend the
inauguration of the new President of Iran, Hassan Rouhani.
Comment:The
Iranian relationship remains strong, based on weapons sales and history. In
mid-July news services reported that North Korea was working with Iran to
revive the oil import trade so as to reduce North Korea's almost exclusive
reliance on oil imports from China. More than 20 years ago, North Korea
routinely imported more than a million tons of crude per year from Iran and
Libya.
India-Pakistan:Indian Foreign Secretary Ms. Sujatha
Singh said, "There is a new government in Pakistan now. We will be picking
up the threads from where we left off with the old government," Singh, the
top official in the ministry, told reporters in New Delhi on her first day in
the job.
Pakistani Prime Minister Sharif said on 1 August, "We will
boost trade; we will boost business and will boost investment with India. We
will also try our best to solve all longstanding issues with India, including
Kashmir."
Comment:The
exchanges about talks represent public diplomacy which is aimed at evaluating
public reaction in India and Pakistan to the prospect of official talks. So far
so good.
Syria:The
opposition is losing and knows it. Syrian opposition leader Ahmad al-Jarba said
Wednesday that the rebels will not take part in peace talks until they regain
"the upper hand on the battlefield." Jarba said the rebels were
"regrouping after a series of setbacks and predicted they would regain
ground" in a "few weeks."
He also said, "We will not go to any negotiations until the
Free Army and revolutionary forces are strong on the ground and cohesive as
they were eight months ago."
Comment:The
only time the loser agrees to talks is when it is trying to prevent destruction.
Jarba's remarks indicate he judges the opposition still has a chance. He and
his cohorts are not yet desperate, but the statements indicate they know they
are not winning.
Source: http://townhall.com/columnists/nightwatch/2013/08/03/north-korea-and-iran-trading-weapons-and-oil-n1655383
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