NightWatch

For the Night of 1 October 2009

China: Today’s 60^th National Day celebrations and large military parade represented the second benchmark in China’s debut as a world power. The first was the Olympic. Expect China to drop the description of itself as a “rising” power before long.

Afghanistan: In London, the top US commander told the International Institute for Strategic Studies that Afghanistan is still “winnable. “ But apparently will not be winnable indefinitely.

Military men are trained to think that way and use those words, but the military sense of winning implies defeat of an enemy. The enemy is evidently the Pashtuns people who live on and own the land they are fighting on and for.

The language of winning is not consistent with the commander’s initial assessment, leaked last week. Winning does not mean nation-building or restoring stability or power sharing, or protecting people. It means defeating an enemy.

It would be nice to learn what the heck these people really think in simple declarative sentences in active voice and with clarity and intelligence in the use of words. What, pray, is the meaning of “winning,” when up to half the population hate you or simply wish you would leave?

Iran-P5+1: Agence France-Presse reported today Iran agreed to allow UN access to a new nuclear plant at talks with international powers which included its highest level encounter with the United States in three decades, officials said.

Representatives of the Western powers, which have threatened new sanctions over what they suspect is a bomb making program, expressed cautious optimism over the Geneva negotiations. The two sides agreed to meet again this month, officials said.

Iran's Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said the atmosphere at the talks had been "constructive" but again defended his country's "absolute" right to uranium enrichment.

Clinton and Mottaki stayed away from the talks, leaving the negotiations in a villa overlooking Lake Geneva to top envoys from the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany, known as the P5-plus-1 partners, along with Iran's senior nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili.

US Secretary of State Clinton said Iran would have to show "concrete actions." The White House warned Tehran it could face new sanctions if it used the renewed dialogue to delay its international obligations.

So what happens after the IAEA inspectors find nothing at the facility near Qom, as they certainly will, and Iran continues its nuclear program. This is Iranian diplomatic rope-a-dope.

Somalia: Al Shabaab fighters recaptured Kismayo port town in southern Somalia, evicting a rival Islamist faction. Internecine fighting among the Islamists continues to provide relief for Mogadishu.

End of NightWatch for 1 October.