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Good morning, and welcome to The Rundown. Why are diplomatic negotiations always held in sublimely beautiful cities like Geneva? If the goal is to reach an accord as quickly as possible, can't we agree that Detroit is the better venue? Best, Your AEI Foreign and Defense Policy Studies team

Tweet of the Week

Roger Noriega @rogernoriegausa Why govt's shouldn't run things. @LAHT: Mexico's Pemex incurs $7.7 billion refining loss: Mexican state oil monopoly goo.gl/fb/nFBRv

In the News
Middle East
Enraged by President Hassan Rouhanis outreach to the West, Iranian hardliners are planning a Grand Day of Death to America rally to coincide with the 24th anniversary of the storming of the US embassy in Tehran. AEIs Critical Threats Project Deputy Director Maseh Zarif reacts to the news that the White House is urging a delay of new sanctions on Iran: Why is the Obama administration so eager to dole out preemptive concessions by delaying additional sanctions? This position only fits a policy that sees securing a deal with Tehran as its principal objective; that is both short-sighted and dangerous. President Obama came into office promising to repair relations and reboot Americas image around the world. Five years in, Michael Rubin takes stock: The US-Saudi relationship, a pillar of American policy in the Middle East is in tatters. So too is Americas carefully cultivated relationship with Egypt. Israel which has been far more of a boon to American interests than a liability no longer trusts the United States. Nor does the United Arab Emirates. . . . The situation with Europe is no better. Read the artic le to learn why cultivating allies is like paying a mortgage.

In another recent post for AEIdeas, Gary Schmitt reiterates an elementary principle for the Obama administration: The fact that Syrias rebels are not taking Secretary John Kerrys efforts to orchestrate a peace conference in Geneva all that seriously shouldnt come as a surprise. Lesson one in basic statecraft for Secretary Kerry and the White House ought to be: you have to pay to play.

Asia
Japanese Prime Minister Shinz Abe issued a fresh warning to China, criticizing its increasing presence near the disputed Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea. Despite White House assurances to the contrary, the rhetoric of the Asia pivot is increasingly being overshadowed by grim budgetary realities in Washington. Looming sequestration cuts over the next decade have already forced the Obama administration to scale back its economic, diplomatic, and military investments in the Asia-Pacific, exacerbating fears of disrupted trade and rising tensions in the region. Join us on Tuesday to hear Rep. Randy Forbes (R-VA) elaborate on the congressional responsibility to define a US role in Asia that convinces our allies that the pivot is more than empty sloganeering. RSVP here.

Afghanistan and Pakistan

Senior NATO officials say they are planning to reduce the scope of their mission in Afghanistan, reflecting fears that member governments might cancel their financial commitments. Frederick W. Kagan has been invited to testify on Afghanistan and Pakistan before Chairman Ileana RosLehtinen (R-FL) and the House Subcommittee on the Middle East and North Africa. Stream his remarks at 2:15 p.m. on Tuesday, October 29.

Latin America
Argentinas ailing president has suffered a blow in midterm elections, with polls indicating that her ruling Victory Front coalition will lose ground in congressional and provincial elections. David Adesnik, a Council on Foreign Relations international affairs fellow in residence at AEI, has been producing several of what well call VH1-style pop-up videos for the intellectual class. For a sample of his work, see a post on the rising prevalence of Farsi tattoos on imprisoned gang members in the southwestern United States, Hezbollah going to Disneyland? For an analysis of President Cristina Fernndez de Kirchners ominous efforts to silence her critics in the fourth estate, see Roger Noriega's latest op-ed in The Miami Herald, Kirchner stifling news media in Argentina. He writes, Kirchners tactics are lifted from the playbook of leftist caudillos in Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia and elsewhere. . . . For the Kirchner administration to succeed in silencing the independent media, it will have to force the judiciary to do its bidding just as it has coopted and corrupted other instruments of the state since the election of Nstor Kirchner a decade ago.

South Korea
A chief economic adviser to South Koreas president has said that his country will need to join the TransPacific Partnership trade group, but will refrain from joining the negotiations until an outline of the deal comes into clearer focus. Since becoming an independent nation following the end of WWII, South Korea has never been more powerful on the world stage either militarily or economically. But the continuing unpredictable threat from North Korea means that South Korea must make significant investments in its national security. Circle back to the foreign policy section of AEI.org on Thursday to read up on the important decisions regarding South Koreas ballistic missile defense, air force, and numerous conventional weapons systems that would be vital to any possible conflict with its bellicose northern neighbor.

Best of Blogs
Here is the best of what AEI's foreign and defense policy scholars are reading this week: David Ignatius in The Washington Post: The US-Saudi crackup reaches a dramatic tipping point Clifford D. May in National Review: Iran through Saudi eyes Zachary Keck in The Diplomat: China's global war against press freedom Ilan Berman in The Atlantic: Why Russia is growing more xenophobic Eli Lake in The Daily Beast: In a weapons shell game, Russia is still arming Syria Kirk Spitzer in Time magazine: Why Japan wants to break free of its pacifist past Michael Kugelman in Politico: America's marriage to Pakistan: Still loveless Fred Hiatt in The Washington Post: Obama's U-turn on democracy and human rights Matthew Levitt in The Atlantic: The origins of Hezbollah

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