STRATFOR Daily Podcast

About 4,000 U.S. Marines have swarmed into Taliban-controlled Helmand province, where the battle strategy will be markedly different in many respects from anything seen in Afghanistan up to now. [more]

Only BP and CNPC were tempted by Iraq's oil offer. Colin Chapman explains why. [more]

Military forces brought about a coup in Honduras, and voters in Argentina have dealt a strong blow to President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner’s Peronist faction. But both countries appear to be boxed in for the time being -- though for very different reasons. [more]

A catastrophic failure in the Air France Airbus or a small bomb now seem to be the most likely causes of the downing of Air France Flight 447. Colin Chapman discusses the investigation with STRATFOR’s Fred Burton. [more]

The World Bank gives a “thumbs down” to the Russian economy. The need to refinance Russia’s banks, the use of short-term overseas borrowings and endemic corruption combine to provide a grim outlook. [more]

Israel -- which recently had seemed pinned down by the Obama administration’s ultimatum on West Bank settlements -- may have found a way to improve its negotiating position against Washington. Iran holds the key. [more]

Colin Chapman talks to Peter Zeihan in an in-depth interview about the strength of the global economic recovery. [more]

A U.S. defense delegation kicks off two days of talks in Beijing, as Washington attempts to reshape its military relations with China under the Obama administration. STRATFOR senior analyst Rodger Baker discusses the issues with Marla Dial. [more]

Two promising statements to mull over. First, multi-billionaire George Soros says the worst of the financial crisis has passed. Soros is arguably the most significant non-politician to say this. And Russian President Dmitri Medvedev responds to U.S. President Barack Obama’s overtures, reported last week by STRATFOR, by offering to make reductions in Russia’s nuclear arsenal. [more]

Change may be in the air in Iran - but a little-reported murder of a Catholic priest in drug-torn Mexico may prove to be another of those events that are more significant than they seem. Colin Chapman talks to Fred Burton. [more]

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei plans to lead Friday prayers in Tehran on June 19, making a politically significant appearance as disputes over election results continue. Meanwhile, failed presidential candidates will make their case to Iran’s Guardian Council, and U.S. President Barack Obama’s administration will move carefully amid the political crisis. [more]

There are good figures coming out of China this week, signifying optimism. But some of these numbers should be treated with caution. [more]

Violence in Tehran loomed as a possibility as pro- and anti-government demonstrators planned rallies on June 16, and a partial recount of votes cast in the June 12 presidential election got under way. The political dilemma facing Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has never been clearer, but whether vote fraud occurred remains an open question. [more]

In a major policy speech, Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu offered immediate peace talks to the Palestinians, in any of three Arab capitals. But he refused to stop expanding existing Jewish settlements on the West Bank and imposed conditions that would make a Palestinian state a castrated country. [more]

China complains of infidelity as its state giant, Chinalco, is jilted by global mining giant Rio Tinto, but it needs to look at its own standards when complaining about the morals of commercial behavior. [more]

Iran’s presidential election frames essential questions about fractures among political conservatives and future policy toward the West, STRATFOR senior analyst Kamran Bokhari tells Marla Dial. [more]

The U.S. special envoy to the Middle East is pushing to reignite the peace process, but Israel and Washington are still deeply divided over the issue of settlements. Colin Chapman discusses the problems with STRATFOR founder Dr. George Friedman. [more]

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier visits Moscow on June 9-10, continuing a pattern of talks that signal deeper ties between Moscow and Berlin — as tensions between U.S. and German leaders grow. [more]

The left has suffered a big setback in elections to the European Parliament, with center-right parties doing well across the continent and a few signs of the extreme right picking up votes. [more]

One speech cannot remove decades of distrust, as U.S. President Barack Obama readily acknowledged. The Middle East issues that were intractable last week are still unresolved today. But Obama has earned some respect in the right places, and only six months into his presidency has shown himself to be well across the foreign affairs brief. [more]

Greenland will mark another milestone this month in its slow march toward independence from Denmark. STRATFOR analyst Marko Papic says that will play into long-term strategies among several regional powers seeking influence in the Arctic and access to hidden energy reserves. [more]

U.S. President Barack Obama prepares to deliver his much-anticipated address to the Muslim world in Cairo on June 4. Crafting the speech has been a great challenge — and the biggest test so far of the president’s foreign diplomacy. [more]

Pakistani troops have been retaking towns in the Swat Valley region from Taliban insurgents — but in a conflict with no clear front lines, how is progress or success to be gauged? STRATFOR senior analyst Kamran Bokhari tells Marla Dial why the government’s success in the military campaign will be closely tied to the fates of 3 million Pakistanis who’ve been uprooted by the fighting. [more]

As General Motors prepares to seek Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and falls under public ownership, the prescient words of former GM executive John Delorean, in his 1979 book, come to mind: “Our inability to compete with the foreign manufacturers is more due to management failure than anything else.” [more]

Military forces were placed on a higher level of alert in South Korea and Japan, but North Korea’s aggressive play has much to do with internal needs as well as a global repositioning. [more]