Headlines:

• US Welcomes 'Significant' Russian Proposal on Syrian Weapons Handover
• Russia's Vladimir Putin Orders Missile Defence Shipment to Iran
• Pentagon Opposes Full US Withdrawal from Afghanistan
• Indian Troops Deployed to Quell Hindu-Muslim Riots in Uttar Pradesh

Details:

US Welcomes 'Significant' Russian Proposal on Syrian Weapons Handover

The US has welcomed what it called "very specific" Russian proposals to secure the handover of Syria's chemical weapons before key talks in Geneva on Thursday. Placing its faith in Moscow's leverage over its Syrian ally, the White House urged patience and said it was increasingly confident that its Kremlin partners were acting in good faith by "putting their prestige on the line". "We have seen more co-operation from Russia in the last two days than we have heard in the last two years," said White House spokesman Jay Carney. "The proposal they have put forward is very specific and the Syrian reaction is a total about-face. This is significant." The sudden thaw in White House attitudes toward Russia has met with scepticism in Washington, where many see it as an excuse for Barack Obama to avoid defeat in Congress over military action against Syria. A speech by Obama to the American people on Wednesday night was criticised by hawkish Republicans after it called for a suspension of Senate attempts to pass a resolution authorising US strikes. The White House insisted the Russian offer was genuine and a direct result of the pressure it had put on Syria. "There is no question that the credible threat of US force helped bring us to this point," Carney said. "By making this proposal Russia has, to its credit, put its prestige on the line when it comes to a close ally." But writing on Wednesday night in the New York Times, Vladimir Putin drew contrast between Russia's approach and the Obama administration's talk of military intervention - something the Russian president warned could "increase violence and unleash a new wave of terrorism."  Syria was not witnessing a battle for democracy but "an armed conflict between government and opposition in a multi-religious country", Putin said, in an editorial repeating assertions that rebels rather than the government might have used chemical weapons, "to provoke intervention by their powerful foreign patrons", and may be planning further attacks, even against Israel." [An American attack] could undermine multilateral efforts to resolve the Iranian nuclear problem and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and further destabilise the Middle East and North Africa. It could throw the entire system of international law and order out of balance." [Source: The Guardian]

Russia's Vladimir Putin Orders Missile Defence Shipment to Iran

Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered his government on Wednesday to send five high-tech surface-to-air missile defence systems to Iran, a move intended in part to put a stop to Tehran's $4 billion lawsuit over a contract dispute. The shipment includes five S300VM Antey-2500 missile systems, United Press International reported. Iran's ambassador to Russia, Seyed Mahmoud Reza Sajadi, welcomed the announcement and said his country now will drop its lawsuit, which stems from a 2007 agreement. Then, Russia promised to give the country five missile defence systems that were modified versions of the S300 types. After Russia reneged, Iran sued. On Wednesday, Mr. Putin also said Russia will honour its previously forged deal to help construct a second nuclear power facility in Bushehr, UPI reported. The announcement comes on the heels of Russia's recent transfer of several S-300 missile defence systems to Syria. [Source: Washington Times]

Pentagon Opposes Full US Withdrawal from Afghanistan

Despite recent reports that the White House is considering a total troop withdrawal from Afghanistan after 2014, the Pentagon said Tuesday that "substantial" long-term U.S. military support -- including troops on the ground in training and support roles -- will be needed to prop up Afghan security forces after next year's deadline for ending the combat mission. In its biannual report to Congress on progress in the war, the Pentagon argued that Afghanistan's military is growing stronger but will require a lot more training, advising and foreign financial aid after the U.S. and NATO combat mission ends. Meanwhile, the White House has not ruled out leaving no troops behind after 2014, although officials have told the AP that the most likely option is a residual training force of roughly 9,000. Taliban attacks have been on the uptick in recent months, and the United Nations reported Wednesday that civilian casualties -- more than half of them caused by insurgent bomb attacks -- increased by 23% in the first half of 2013. The Pentagon's report implicitly rejected the "zero option," in which the U.S. would leave no troops in the country after the NATO withdrawal. While that option is considered unlikely, President Obama has grown frustrated in his dealings with Afghan President Hamid Karzai in recent months, and the White House has publicly floated the idea of total withdrawal. Peter Lavoy, the Pentagon's top Afghan policy official, spoke about the report at a news conference Tuesday, saying that a number of post-2014 options have been developed. Those options will take into account the Afghans' need for additional training and advising, as well as what the Pentagon views as a longer-term requirement for U.S. counterterrorism forces in Afghanistan, he said. "In none of these cases have we developed an option that is zero," Lavoy said.  It remains possible that the administration will be left with no option other than zero if it cannot successfully negotiate a security deal with Kabul that gives the U.S. a legal basis for having forces in Afghanistan after 2014. Talks on a security deal began last year but have made little recent headway as Karzai pushed back against Washington's efforts to broker a political agreement with the Taliban, whose insurgency remains far from defeated despite almost 12 years of U.S. military involvement. Karzai suspended talks on a security deal earlier this month in protest at the opening of a Taliban political office in Qatar, intended to facilitate peace talks. Karzai was outraged by the Taliban facility adopting the trappings of an embassy. [Source: Al Jazeera]

Indian Troops Deployed to Quell Hindu-Muslim Riots in Uttar Pradesh

Hundreds of troops have been deployed to quell deadly riots and clashes between Hindus and Muslims sparked by the killing of three villagers who had objected when a young woman was being harassed in northern India. Police said 19 people were killed, including an Indian journalist, a police photographer and several people who yesterday succumbed to injuries received a day earlier when the two groups fought with guns and knives in Kawal village, in Uttar Pradesh. The violence quickly spread to neighbouring villages in Muzaffarnagar district on Saturday night. "A curfew has been imposed in three riot-hit areas of Muzaffarnagar," said the head of the state's Home Ministry, R.M. Srivastava. "The situation is still very tense, but under control." Soldiers were going door-to-door to search for weapons. A high alert was declared for the entire state of Uttar Pradesh, which has a population of 200 million people. The clashes broke out on Saturday after thousands of Hindu farmers held a meeting in Kawal to demand justice in the August 27 killing of three men who had spoken out when a woman was being verbally harassed. The state's minority welfare minister, Mohammad Azam Khan, said some at the meeting gave provocative speeches calling for Muslims to be killed. The farmers were attacked as they were returning home after the meeting, senior police official Arun Kumar said. "The attack seemed well planned," Kumar said. "Some were armed with rifles and sharp-edged weapons." Gunfire was reported from several areas of the village. Within hours clashes broke out in neighbouring villages, Kumar said. A leader from the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party said tensions had been simmering since the three men were killed in a tea shop. "Had the killers been arrested, the situation might not have gone out of hand," Vijay Bahadur Pathak said. Uttar Pradesh was at the heart of some of India's worst communal clashes in December 1992 after a Hindu mob razed a 16th century mosque in Ayodhya. The government has warned that India is seeing a rise in communal violence, with 451 incidents reported this year, compared with 410 for all of 2012. Tensions were expected to escalate in the run-up to next year's national elections, Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde said in New Delhi. He said all 28 of India's states should stay alert and improve their ability to gather intelligence. [Source: South China Morning Post]