This Week in War. A Friday round-up of what happened and what’s been written in the world of war and military/security affairs this week. It’s a mix of news reports, policy briefs, blog posts and longform journalism. Subscribe here to receive this round-up by email.
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Mohammed Morsi showed up in Egyptian court on Monday.
Al Qaeda in the Maghreb is claiming credit for the murders of two French journalists in Mali.
The Congolese government ended a longterm conflict Tuesday by routing M23 rebels from remaining strongholds.
The Ugandan military began the process of disarming rebels in the Congo on Thursday.
Pete Muller photographs the Congolese rebellion.
Kenya charged four men in the Westgate mall attack.
Renamo, Mozambique’s opposition, rejected the offer of peace talks.
Syria’s opposition refuses talks in Moscow.
The BBC’s Lyse Doucet on the difficulties of reporting from Syria.
Saudi Arabia teams up with Pakistan to train Syrian rebels.
Diplomats failed to set a date for Syrian peace talks — they may not even happen this year.
The Syrian opposition sees Assad’s request for armored vehicles to transport chemical weapons for disposal as a sneaky tactic to obtain the vehicles to repurpose for combat.
According to the UN, 9.3 million Syrians are in need of humanitarian assistance.
Turkey seized 1200 rocket heads near the Syrian border.
Forensic evidence analyzed by a team of Swiss scientists is said to support the conclusion that Arafat was poisoned with polonium.
The US will present an Israeli-Palestinian peace plan in January.
The US is in talks with Yemen over detainee transfer from Guantánamo.
Ceasefire in northern Yemen appears to crumble.
The US will loosen its sanctions if Iran halts its nuclear program on a temporary basis.
Matthieu Aikins reports in Rolling Stone on this spring’s discovery of 10 Afghan bodies buried outside a US Special Forces base. Human Rights Watch demands a full investigation.
The amazing Ann Jones, who at 73 embedded with US troops in Afghanistan, has a new book out: They Were Soldiers: How the Wounded Return from America’s Wars — The Untold Story. Here she writes for TomDispatch.
Afghanistan’s other crisis: massive drug use.
Afghan Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid offered some lessons on journalistic ethics.
A US drone strike last Friday killed Pakistani Taliban militant leader Hakimullah Mehsud. He’s been replaced by Mullah Fazlullah.
A Q and A on the Pakistani Taliban with Carlotta Gall and Declan Walsh.
Signs of discontent in the Haqqani Network.
The first phase of security operations in Karachi have concluded.
98 suspects were detained in search operations in Peshawar on Wednesday.
Former Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf has been granted bail.
Pakistani MPs are urging the federal government to shoot down US drones.
The ruling party in northwestern Pakistan voted to close off NATO’s supply lines if drone strikes in the region don’t cease.
Bangladesh sentenced 152 soldiers to death for their participation in 2009’s mutinous uprising.
Colombia struck a partial accord with FARC dealing with the group’s possible future participation in national politics.
The military judge at the 9/11 tribunal has ordered the handover of correspondence between the Red Cross and the US government regarding treatment and conditions at Guantánamo.
A new report from Columbia University’s Institute of Medicine as a Profession and the Open Society Foundations cites abuses at Guantánamo and accuses the doctors and nurses who have worked their of violating medical and professional ethics.
Al Jazeera America has the full-text translation of the first part of high-level Guantánamo detainee Abu Zubaydah’s diary. Pretty fascinating reading.
Just Security takes a look at the key things to know about the new Senate bill that would require the White House to publicly report drone strike casualty figures.
The CIA is to continue running the drone war after all.
A great, short profile in Guernica of Miodrag, a former soldier in the Bosnian war now a junkie living in an old sniper nest.
The CIA pays AT&T more than $10m a year to access their phone records database.
More than 50 high-profile Germans have called upon the government in Der Spiegel to grant Snowden asylum.
A collection of 1500 works of art looted by Nazis has been found in Munich.
Reports of sexual assault in the US military are on a sharp rise — hopefully as a result of greater willingness to report the crimes.
Photo: Zadran Valley, eastern Afghanistan. Christoph Bangert/NYT.