The New York Times reported on the OSCE summit taking place in Astana. The author of the article "U.S. Calls For Stronger OSCE Support For The Afghan War" noted the main items of the summit agenda. The presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan said they were committed to seeking a final settlement of their dispute over the Nagorno-Karabakh region. The OSCE pledged support to both countries and called for steps to strengthen a ceasefire. Separatist leaders in Transdniestria appealed to the OSCE summit not to make any decisions about the region's future without consulting them. Uzbekistan criticized the OSCE for failing to take prompt action during the clashes, which forced more than 100,000 ethnic Uzbeks to flee over the border from Kyrgyzstan.
Information published by WikiLeaks continues to be reported in the world press.
The New York Times published an article "Embracing Georgia, U.S. Misread Signs of Rifts". It says that the USA administration fully relied on Saakashvili's government, and all its information was passed to Washington largely unchallenged. Thus, the events of August 2008 were misinterpreted. Georgia convinced the US that it controlled most of South Ossetia before Russia launched an attack. As official Georgia didn't emphasize the uncertainties the US couldn't deal with the situation properly.The Los Angeles Times published WikiLeaks item about Canadian andIranian spy services. Even though Canadian officials told American counterparts that they were "very, very worried" about Iran's ambitions and actions, they continued to maintain contacts between Ottawa and Tehran's spy services, said a secret July 9, 2008, dispatch by the United States Embassy in the Canadian capital. Jim Judd, retired chief of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service told Americans, "The Iranians agreed to 'help' on Afghan issues, including sharing information regarding potential attacks." The Canadians were deeply suspicious of the Iranians' motives and appeared to have rebuffed the offer.
The top news in the Guardian is that "WikiLeaks cables condemn Russia as 'mafia state'". The US and other western diplomats believe the Russian government is a corrupt 'mafia state', according to WikiLeaks cables. Mikhail Fradkov, the head of Russia's foreign intelligence service (SVR), told the ITAR-TASS news agency: "There are many issues which have been revealed by the disclosure by WikiLeaks - this is material for analysis. We shall report our conclusions to the leadership of the country."
Hurriyet published an article "Turkey and Azerbaijan: One nation, two states of affairs". Critical remarks about Turkey by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev are likely to make relations between the two neighboring countries a lot less cozy. Diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks show that Aliyev is distrustful of Turkey and tried to condition energy deals on Ankara backing away from reconciliation with Yerevan.
The same agency reports about Turkish Armenians who sue Turkey over belated patriarch election. The Turkish Armenian community has filed two lawsuits against the Turkish government, including one to get permission to go ahead with a long-delayed election to select their own new patriarch.
Press-TV news agency continues elaboration of the assassination of an Iranian scientist theme. Iran's Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani has lashed out at the West's silence toward recent terror attacks in Tehran and the murder of an Iranian scientist.
The other article published by Press-TV is "Leader urges Islamic-Iranian strategies". Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei has emphasized the importance of utilizing potentials of the elite to draw a comprehensive plan for an Islamic-Iranian development. He emphasized that goals and values of the plan should be based on Islamic teachings and said it is a matter of honor for the Islamic establishment in Iran to make plans for progress on the basis of Islamic resources.
