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.
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