Just what will it take to bring Iran’s nuclear ambitions to heel? The past year has seen a dramatic expansion of economic pressure against the Iranian regime by the United States and Europe, all with a single-minded purpose: to ratchet up the costs to Iran of its stubborn atomic endeavor.

The United States, like most of the industrialized world, is currently engaged in a race to develop viable, non-Chinese sources of the rare earth elements that are so critical to modern technologies. And we better move fast, or we will lose that race.

Rights council resigns en masse;
Former finance minister: economic problems on the horizon

 Abbas' new ally; China's growing ties with Uzbekistan and other central Asian nations; Israel excluded from U.S. counterterrorism forum; The dissolution of Egypt's lower house; Erdogan: a modern-day sultan?

 Rezaee Rising?; The IRGC takes aim at churches; Iran builds new regional energy bonds; Iranian opposition condemns regime support for Syria; Cost of food staples surges

Ethnic violence again rising in Burma; 

Putin's vision for Russian foreign policy;

 Voter fraud on a national scale?;

 Russia, the international lender?;

 Strongarm tactics ahead of parliamentary polls;

Ever since the late October release of the International Atomic Energy Agency’s latest report on Iran, the White House has been working overtime to convince the world that it is, in fact, committed to preventing the Islamic Republic from going nuclear. Last month, responding to criticism of his Iran policy from Republican challengers, President Obama argued that the sanctions levied by his Administration to date have had “enormous bite.”

The reality, however, is considerably more modest. While it has publicly pledged its commitment to a serious economic offensive aimed at derailing Iran’s nuclear drive, in practice the White House has done far less than necessary to achieve that objective.

 Russia's rampant brain drain;

 Iran's Cultural Revolution Inches Forward; Malaise and Despair in the Islamic Republic; Blowback from the "Arab Spring"; Iran-Pakistan Pipeline Inches Forward; New American Attention to Democracy in Iran

New anti-xenophobia measures enacted in Moscow;
Medvedev doubles down on "modernization"

United Russia takes sides in the "tandem";
New anti-bribery bill ratchets up costs of corruption

Call it the Great Game, round three. The first such contest, famously chronicled by Rudyard Kipling, involved the 19th century struggle for dominance between the British and Russian empires over access to India and its lucrative trading routes. The second centered on the post-Soviet scramble for resources and influence in energy-rich Central Asia. Today, a third such round of geopolitical competition is emerging in South Asia, spurred by the vast energy potential of the post-Soviet space and the uncertain political disposition of Afghanistan.

Last month, this competition took a giant step forward when Afghan President Hamid Karzai met with the presidents of Turkmenistan and Pakistan, as well as with India's oil and gas minister, in the Turkmen capital of Ashgabat. The meeting netted an agreement to begin construction of a new natural gas route known as the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India pipeline in two years' time.

Russia’s deadbeat ex-husbands;
Moscow backs arms dealer Bout

 Regime Keeps up Pressure on Reformists; Amid Sanctions, Iran's Gasoline Trade Continues...; ...But at Reduced Volume; Secret Executions on the Rise

A pipeline to China on the horizon;
For FSB target, some long-delayed justice

For quite a while now, policymakers in Washington have worked diligently to try and test a simple hypothesis: that energy sanctions can help derail Iran’s march toward the bomb.

Over the years, this effort has taken the form of a number of legislative initiatives aimed at curtailing Tehran’s energy trade with the world. Of late, however, American pressure has honed in on Iran’s most glaring economic dependency, its deep reliance on foreign refined petroleum. The culmination was the passage by Congress this summer of the Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability and Divestment Act, a sweeping set of new provisions aimed in large measure at throttling the Iranian regime’s oil sector.

If economic sanctions fail to stop Iran's march toward the bomb, and either the U.S. or Israel is compelled to use force against the Iranian nuclear program, China will shoulder at least some of the blame.

Since this summer, concerted international pressure has unmistakably tightened the financial noose around Iran's ayatollahs. The June passage of a new round of United Nations sanctions against the Islamic Republic has been followed by an exodus of European and Asian firms from the Iranian market, and new, stricter regulations on financial dealings with the regime in Tehran. Simultaneously, unilateral American sanctions have honed in on Iran's most glaring economic vulnerability—its deep dependence on supplies of refined petroleum from abroad—with marked results. According to energy consultancy EMC, Iran's gasoline imports plummeted by 50 percent, from 120,000 to 60,000 barrels per day, in the month after the imposition of U.S. sanctions, as skittish foreign suppliers scrambled to exit the Iranian market.

But the push to isolate Iran economically may end up being undermined by a key global actor. China's leaders may have reluctantly gone along with the latest round of Security Council sanctions passed this summer. Yet, even as other foreign stakeholders have constricted their financial stakes in Iran, Beijing has done the opposite.

PLA gets "greater voice" in Chinese gov.; President Hu's son visits Taiwan

How stable is Saudi Arabia? Not very, according to at least one member of the Kingdom's ruling class. Last month Prince Turki bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud, a prominent dissident now in exile in Cairo, issued an open letter to his fellow royals, urging them to abandon their desert fiefdom for greener pastures. According to the prince, the current social compact between the House of Saud and its subjects had become untenable, with the government no longer able to "impose" its writ on the people and growing grassroots discontent at the royals "interfering in people's private life and restricting their liberties." His advice? That King Abdullah and his coterie flee the Kingdom before they are overthrown--and before their opponents "cut off our heads in streets."

Beijing audits new rural medical system; China grapples with syphilis epidemic

Some unexpected competition for Central Asian gas;
New homeland security measures for Russian transit

Ukraine, Georgia off NATO's agenda;
Putin, Medvedev split on Soviet legacy

The latest issue to raise heckles [in India] has been cyberespionage. In January, India’s National Security Advisor MK Naryanan directly blamed China for multiple hacking attacks, and the chairman of India’s Cyber Law and IT Act Committee warned that same month that China had “raised a cyber army of about 300,000 people and their only job is to intrude upon the secured networks of other countries.” In April, a study by US and Canadian researchers claimed that a Chinese ‘shadow network’ had copied secret files of India’s defence ministry, potentially compromising some of India’s advanced weapons systems.

China-based hackers compromise nine Indian embassies; Beijing sends patrol boats to escort fisherman in South China Sea

Special Edition: China's Water Security Crisis

Kremlin moves to combat police corruption;
Yukos and the ECHR

China weighs in on Israeli-Palestinian peace; China looks to combustible ice to meet energy needs

U.S. ponders new base in Kyrgyzstan; In Iran's shadow, Arabs see Israel in different light, Nabucco, two steps forward; Yemen peace holds

Growing nationalism in state-run media; China backs off Kashmir investments to cool Indo-Pak tensions

Just how durable are the ties between Russia and Iran? For years Western policymakers have been attempting to understand--and end--what is arguably the Iranian regime's most important international partnership. Recent weeks have only added urgency to the question, as the West ramps up its desperate scramble to stop Iran's relentless march toward the bomb.

YEMEN HEADED FOR ECONOMIC DISASTER...; WHILE WASHINGTON MOVES AGAINST AQAP; COMMISSION UPENDS IRAQI POLITICS; CENTRAL ASIAN YOUTH SEEK MADRASSAS ABROAD

China expands anti-piracy mission in the Gulf; Landmark LNG deal with Australia prematurely terminated

The funny thing about windows of opportunity is that they have a way of closing. Over the past year, spurred by mounting worries over Iran's nuclear ambitions, Congress has taken up the issue of economic pressure against the Islamic Republic in earnest. The result is a series of sanctions bills aimed at targeting what is commonly viewed as the regime's economic Achilles' Heel: its deep dependence on foreign refined petroleum.

China aggravating tensions along Bhutan border; China strengthening economic bonds with Kazakhstan

BATTLE AGAINST AQAP MAKES FOR ODD COUPLES; HAMAS RAISES STAKES AT EGYPTIAN BORDER...; AND RESUMES ATTACKS ON ISRAEL ON EVE OF MISSILE SHIELD...; AMID ACCUSATIONS OF DISLOYALTY; KAZAKH-CHINA PIPELINE ONLINE

TURKEY LOOKS TO IRAN; ALL EYES ON NAGORNO-KARABAKH; SYRIA: A NEW SAFE HAVEN FOR AL-QAEDA?; ENERGY WARS IN CENTRAL ASIA

Another winter, another energy crisis?;
Poland in the crosshairs

When the eight states that now constitute Central Asia and the Caucasus freed themselves from the grip of the Soviet Union in 1991, it was perhaps inevitable that outside powers would rush to fill the vacuum. Of the eight at least three, the Caspian Basin states (Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, and Kazakhstan) found themselves awash in natural resources. The remaining five (Georgia, Armenia, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan), though less endowed materially, are strategically situated along crucial energy, trade, and logistics corridors. The combination of renewed interest and a reopened playing field in the heart of Eurasia resulted in the rise of a new “Great Game,” reminiscent of the great-power contest of the 19th century between the British and Russian empires over access to India glorified by Rudyard Kipling in his day. A decade-and-a-half on, this Great Game has matured, and undergone important changes. More important, however, as the energy struggle evolved a new front in the Game emerged out of the ashes of the September 11th terrorist attacks: one that pits the United States against Russia for influence and basing rights in Central Asia.

Beijing finds environmental policies ignored; Anti-corruption drive catches another leader in its net

Sino-Burmese border growing unstable; China, India cancel annual war games

A more market-based approach to Russian energy;
Kremlin eyes on the Arctic prize

China, neighbors harden claims to Spratleys; CCP bugging cabs in Beijing

Special Edition: Tensions along the China-Burma border

A Carrot for Tehran; Tredpidation in Tashkent; Pipelines and Nukes in Turkey; An Iranian hand in Yemen's unrest?

In Saudi Arabia, near miss by al Qaeda; Sinopec finds a different way to Iraqi oil; Saudis and Russians near massive arms deal...; as Mideast takes top spot in arms purchases; Progress for Turkey and Armenia