Thursday's global agenda: Clinton to talk Syria with Russia

Your morning global affairs speed-read

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton meets with Russia's foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, and U.N. special envoy Lakhdar Brahimi this afternoon in Dublin for a three-way bout of talks about the civil war in Syria. The State Department announced the unusual meeting Thursday morning; it will take place on the margins of a ministerial meeting of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. [The New York Times]

While in Ireland, Clinton is under pressure from high-profile Irish citizens living in the United States to address the nation's restrictive abortion laws, which contributed to the death of a 31-year-old woman earlier this year.

Russia trade: Legislation to establish permanent normal trade relations with Russia is expected to clear the Senate today. Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) urged the Senate to extend human rights provisions of the bill to all countries, but the Senate is expected to take up a House-passed bill that only applies travel and financial restrictions to Russian human rights violators.

Dictators and dissidents: The Foundation for Defense of Democracies holds a star-studded Washington Forum today with opening remarks from former Director of Central Intelligence R. James Woolsey, keynote addresses from Ambassador to Syria Robert Ford and Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence David Cohen, and congressional remarks from incoming House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce (R-Calif.) and Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.), the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee's panel on Near Eastern and South and Central Asian Affairs. Here's the full schedule. 

Iran sanctions: The Iran Project launches a new report today, “Weighing Benefits and Costs of International Sanctions Against Iran.” The report will be distributed at an event at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace moderated by former U.N. Ambassador Thomas Pickering this morning.

In other news:

The Obama administration has ordered significant cutbacks in the U.S. civilian presence in Afghanistan post-2014 after learning the lessons of Iraq. [The Washington Post]

Egypt deployed tanks to guard the presidential palace on Thursday. [The New York Times]

The Federal Bureau of Investigation is pursuing foreign hackers who targeted the computers of retired Adm. Mike Mullen, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. [The Wall Street Journal]

Four men, including two Iranians, were indicted in federal court in New York for allegedly attempting to smuggle military helicopter parts and carbon fiber that can be used in nuclear centrifuges from the U.S. into China and Iran. [ABC News]

What you might have missed on Global Affairs:

Pentagon considering Air Force support for intervention in Mali

US worries Iran sanctions benefiting Russia energy sector

Engel wins top foreign policy spot

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