A BUZZFLASH NEWS ALERT
by Christine Bowman

Where to begin? Democratic foreign policy heavy hitters will outline their agenda today, but there's a lot to contend with worldwide in the wake of Bush/Cheney/McCain.

The Democratic Convention site [1] previews the Wednesday schedule and focus as follows:

Barack Obama offers a new, tough foreign policy that is neither Republican nor Democratic, but is a strong, smart American foreign policy to make our country more secure and advance our interests in the world. Wednesday night’s Convention program will feature the voices of Americans who share Barack’s vision of making America stronger and safer.

The headline prime-time speaker on Wednesday will be Vice Presidential Nominee Senator Joe Biden.

Featured speakers will include:
Former President Bill Clinton; former Senator Tom Daschle; Governor Bill Richardson and Senators Evan Bayh, John Kerry and Jay Rockefeller. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Convention home state Senator Ken Salazar, House Majority Whip James E. Clyburn, and Congressman Robert Wexler (D-FL) along with Chicago Mayor Richard Daley. Representative Patrick Murphy (D-PA) and Iraq War veteran Tammy Duckworth will lead a tribute honoring those who give so much to secure our nation’s future – veterans, active duty military and their families.

Headlines today on the international news pages reveal some tough challenges that Bush/Cheney leave in their wake. A sampling of problem areas:

• Report: 60 kids slain in U.S. raid [2](Chicago Tribune) -- In Afghanistan, 90 or more civilians were reported killed in overnight bombing by US forces last Thursday targeting a Taliban fighter. It's believed sixty sleeping children aged 3 months to 16 years died in the attack on a village.
• Kremlin raises the ante [3] (Chicago Tribune) -- Russia's move on Georgia appears to be emblematic of a bigger Russia problem. "'We are not afraid of anything, including the prospect of a new Cold War,' the Russian news agency ITAR-Tass quoted Medvedev as saying. ... With hundreds of billions of dollars in reserves as a result of record oil prices, the Kremlin has convinced itself the time is right to reassert itself within the landscape it reigned over during the Soviet era, analysts say. ... " As of Tuesday, Russia officially recognized Georgia's two breakaway regions as independent states.
• Rice, in Israel, Criticizes Surge in Settlement Construction [4] (NY Times) -- "Peace Now, the Israeli advocacy group, said in a report released Tuesday that in the last year Israel [5] had nearly doubled its settlement construction in the occupied West Bank [6], in violation of its obligations under an American-backed peace plan. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice [7], in Jerusalem on a short visit to help Israeli and Palestinian [8] leaders in their negotiations, said when asked about the report that she had told Israeli officials that such building did not advance the cause of peace."

• Miffed at Washington, DPRK halts nuke dea [9]l (Shanghai Daily) -- North Korea is saying the US failed to honor the agreement to remove them from the list of nations sponsoring terrorism. Therefore, they are backing off on dismantling their nuclear program. "The US postponed the process of delisting the DPRK as a 'state sponsor of terrorism,'" the ministry said in a statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency. "Now that the US breached the agreed points, the DPRK is compelled to take countermeasures,"

• 49 Killed in Fighting Along Pakistan Border Belt [10] (AP, August 27, 2008; 12:34 PM) -- Pakistan is increasingly a central front against al Qaeda, with fIghting now occuring on 3 separate fronts. An estimated 200,000 refugees have fled the violence.

• Bank of China denies aiding terrorists -- [11]Victims of terrorism in Israel have filed suit in the US against a state-sponsored Chinese bank. "The lawsuit filed last Thursday by victims of terrorism in Israel accused the bank of putting through dozens of wire transfers totalling several million dollars to Hamas and Islamic Jihad and ignoring Israeli demands to stop the practice. The lawsuit said the money helped to finance attacks between 2004 and 2007."

And who can forget Iraq?

Iraq says US agreed troop pullout compromise [12] (Washington Post)

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