The Washington Post
Karoun Demirjian
September 16, 2015
The Chinese airstrip’s construction appears to have started on Mischief Reef, one of seven artificial islands that China has built in the South China Sea. (CSIS Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative / DigitalGlobe)
OBAMA-PUTIN SUMMIT? After over a year of deep freeze, President Obama is mulling a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of U.N. General Assembly, the New York Times reports, primarily to talk solution on Syria. Both Russia and the United States want to neuter the Islamic State. But they can’t agree on how to do it: The United States would also like to see Syrian President Bashar al-Assad go, while Russia maintains Assad is the only one with the strength to defeat the Islamist militants and the legitimacy, such as it is, to lead a divided country after a brutal, punishing war.
CHINA’S NEW AIRSTRIP. So much for that rampdown in the South China Sea. Instead, the Chinese appear to be building a third airstrip, The Washington Post reports, and this one will be able to accommodate almost any kind of aircraft the Chinese military wants to throw at it. The buildup is all part of China’s claim to sovereignty over parts of the South China Sea – claims that are easier to make over waters contiguous to sovereign pieces of land. Or, as the commander of China’s North Sea fleet told a group in London, the mere name “South China Sea” is proof enough of China’s legitimate claim.
INTELLIGENCE BRIEFINGS TO BE UNVEILED. After much resistance, the CIA is preparing to make public thousands of daily intelligence reports – the briefings the spy service gives to the president — Politico reports. They reports are old, of course – dating from the Kennedy and Johnson administrations. But they will potentially detail the behind-the-scenes intelligence-gathering and reasoning that went on during some of the era’s most tense chapters, such as the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Six-Day War in the Middle East, and the run-up to the Vietnam War. The unveiling is set for a conference in Austin, Tex., on Wednesday.
