Council on Foreign Relations

-Georgia accuses Russia of breaking cease-fire; Russian tanks seen in Gori
-Lebanese bomb blast kills at least 18
-China arrests pro-Tibet activists
-South Africa denies Zimbabwe deal

Georgia is accusing Russia of violating a cease-fire (Bloomberg) brokered by the European Union to end Russia's military offensive. President Mikheil Saakashvili told reporters in the Georgian capital Tbilisi "Russian tanks are in the streets, and Russian soldiers are behaving extremely aggressively." Russia, meanwhile, accused Georgia of violating the truce.

The BBC reports Russian tanks in Gori and residents being held at gunpoint and stopped at the city's entrances. It says the cease-fire is in place, but it seems to be very fragile.

On Monday Russia and Georgia accepted a cease-fire plan brokered by French President Nicolas Sarkozy. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev proposed a six-part peace deal (LAT) that called for Georgia to return its troops to the positions they occupied before the conflict. It requires Russia not to use force and to agree to talks about the future status of South Ossetia as well as the secessionist region, Abkhazia, in northwestern Georgia.

The Los Angeles Times reports that most analysts think the peace agreement "left no doubt that Russia won the military conflict of the last several days." Russian Foreign Affairs Minister Sergei Lavrov writes in today’s Financial Times, this is not a conflict of Russia's making and argues Moscow's response to Georgia's moves in South Ossetia was right.

The Wall Street Journal says the conflict has set back Western efforts to create new routes for oil and gas that bypass Russian control.

Background:

-CFR's Stephen Sestanovich tells National Public Radio the Georgian leader had no reason to believe the United States or the West would back him militarily vis-à-vis Russia.

Newsweek looks back on the past few days in the life of Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili.

A bomb killed at least 18 people, including nine soldiers, as they boarded a bus in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli. President Michel Suleiman described the bombing as a terrorist attack (Reuters).

ISRAEL-US: Haaretz reports that U.S. officials have rejected an Israeli request for military equipment and support that would improve Israel's ability to attack Iran's nuclear facilities.

Pro-Tibet activists and a British journalist were arrested in Beijing after the protesters tried to unfurl a pro-Tibet banner (BBC) near an Olympic venue.

Japan-North Korea: The Seoul Times reports North Korea and Japan have agreed to an inquiry into Pyongyang's abduction of Japanese people in the 1970s and 1980s, opening the way for Tokyo to lift some travel sanctions.

Riots erupted (AP) across Indian-controlled Kashmir as Muslims mourned 15 people killed in violent clashes and the protests spread to other parts of the region.

Afghanistan: Three international aid workers and their driver were killed near Kabul, as the country faces a growing aid crisis (Times of London).

South African President Thabo Mbeki said Zimbabwe's power-sharing talks had adjourned (Mail and Guardian) to allow the main opposition leader time to consider the deal. Mbeki's comments come in response to confusion over reports that President Robert Mugabe and breakaway opposition leader Arthur Mutambara had agreed on a deal to form a unity government.

Kenya: Humanitarian officials say tens of thousands of people are facing acute food shortages in Baringo (IRIN) and East Pokot in Kenya's north Rift Valley.

USA Today reports the U.S. Transportation Security Administration had been collecting the information about of passengers who do not have identification at airport checkpoints, adding them to a database of people who violated security laws. The program began in late June and apparently stopped yesterday after an inquiry.

Bolivia : Bolivia will seek new operators for its natural-gas fields if the companies managing the concessions fail to make more investments (Bloomberg).

Responding to new trade deficit figures, an economic adviser to Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL), Jason Furman, said the United States should "change our economic policies by investing in education, new energy jobs, and technology so that we can strengthen the productivity of our workers and businesses; by enforcing our existing trade agreements and negotiating better trade agreements; and by reducing record budget deficits and raising low savings rates so that America does not have to borrow hundreds of billions of dollars annually from abroad."

The New York Observer looks at the test for the presidential candidates presented by the conflict between Georgia and Russia.

The British pound sunk to 22-month lows against the dollar after the Bank of England's inflation report warned the UK could be heading for a recession (BBC).

Germany: Germany's economic powerhouse state of Bavaria is facing political upheaval, with nationwide repercussions, says the Economist.

In Wednesday's Roundup: Georgia's Crisis, Olympic Tricks, and Major Power Double-Standards

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