{mosads}The incident comes as Syrian rebels are using the Turkish border to smuggle arms into Syria. [The New York Times]
Making new friends: Egypt‘s new Islamist president will need the United States to stabilize the country and improve its floundering economy, writes The Washington Post. The display of pragmatism comes as the United States itself is debating what to do about its historic military and economic support for the world’s most populous Arab country.
Drug epidemic: Drug Czar Gil Kerlikowske, Assistant Secretary of State William Brownfield and several other U.S. officials are in Peru today for an international conference of ministers on the drug problem. The conference comes as several countries, notably Mexico, are balking at the U.S.-led war on drugs and seeking new ways to address the problem, which is fueled in large part by U.S. consumption.
Don’t miss Peruvian Ambassador Harold Forsyth’s guest column on the Global Affairs blog.
In other Latin America news, Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Roberta Jacobson arrives in El Salvador today for a four-day trip that will also take her to Guatemala and Honduras. In Honduras, Jacobson will participate in a meeting of the Central American Integration System (SICA) Heads of State and Government, which the United States joined as an observer in May.