Your morning global affairs speed-read

Acting Assistant Secretary of State for Near East Affairs Beth Jones leads an interagency team with defense and intelligence officials in Istanbul today to continue a bilateral discussion with Turkey about what to do in Syria. The meeting comes as France is “seriously mulling” the possibility of establishing a no-fly zone in Syria with the aim of protecting civilians, according to Syrian National Council leader Abdel Basset Sayda.

“We’re evaluating with our partners the effectiveness of what we are already doing,” said State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland when asked if no-fly zones will be on Jones's agenda. “And then we are looking at the ground situation, which is evolving very rapidly, and talking together about what more we can do together, what more we can do collectively to support the opposition, but against this litmus test that the secretary laid down when she was in Istanbul that we don’t want to increase the suffering of the Syrian people.”

Meanwhile, President Obama has come under fire for laying out a “red line” on chemical weapons that critics say could embolden Bashar Assad's regime to suppress the insurgency by any other means. [Washington Post]

Eastern promises: Today's the day Russia joins the World Trade Organization, but U.S. businesses won't reap the benefits of easier access to the Russian market after Congress failed to establish permanent normal trade relations before breaking for summer recess. Business leaders expect Congress to act next month.

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey visited Iraq on Tuesday for the first time since U.S. troops pulled out last year, where he said that the United States still has an important role to play.

“We still retain significant investment and significant influence. But now it's on the basis of a partnership and not on the basis of ownership," Dempsey told Agence France-Presse in an interview Tuesday.

Dempsey, who was the highest-ranking military officer to visit Iraq since 2011, met with Iraq’s Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and Army Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Babaker Zebari, according to AFP.

Senate Republicans are demanding that the State and Homeland Security secretaries answer questions about the number of immigrants on welfare rolls. Read more...

Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) declared “victory” Tuesday in his quest to have the Obama administration allow cash transfers to Iranian groups helping victims of the Aug. 11 earthquake.

Kucinich had led a group of 14 lawmakers in urging the administration to allow U.S. nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) to send money to help the victims of the earthquake, which they're barred from doing under sanctions aimed at getting Iran to renounce its alleged nuclear weapons program. The Treasury Department on Tuesday issued a temporary exemption to the sanctions, known as a general license, that allows U.S. NGOs to transfer up to $300,000 until Oct. 5 to be used for humanitarian relief and reconstruction activities related to the earthquake response. NGOs interested in transferring more than $300,000 during the 45-day period may apply for a specific license.

“The people of Iran are suffering, and we have it in our capacity to alleviate some of that suffering,” Kucinich, a leading opponent of military action against Iran, said in a statement. “It is the strength of the American people that we help those in need. I thank President Obama for heeding our call, and the call of the American people to allow humanitarian aid to reach the people of Iran.”

The vice-presidential candidate on Tuesday revived a political hit from the 2008 campaign that then-Sen. Obama didn't have enough experience.

The director of the Peace Corps on Tuesday announced he would step down after three years at the agency. 

Aaron Williams, 51, has come under intense criticism in recent years for allegedly failing to protect Peace Corps volunteers from sexual assault and even murder and for lacking a specific strategy. He cited personal and family considerations an announcing his resignation. 

Under Williams's tenure, the agency's press office said in a statement that the Peace Corps has hired a victim advocate and undergone “some of the most significant reforms in its more than 50-year history.”

These include putting in place an annual portfolio review to ensure its resources are well-spent, which has enabled the program to expand into new countries such as Sierra Leone, Indonesia, Colombia, Tunisia and Nepal. The agency has also increased its partnership efforts with the Special Olympics, the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), the President's Malaria Initiative and Feed the Future.

A leading business coalition expects the House to take up a bill that would extend normal trade ties to Russia shortly after returning from the summer break. 

The National Foreign Trade Council (NFTC) expects the House to hold a vote Sept. 12 on a bill that combines provisions providing permanent normal trade relations (PNTR) to Russia with human-rights legislation.  

"If the House acts that early in September, there should be a good bit of momentum going forward in Senate," Bill Reinsch, NFTC's president told reporters Tuesday, on the eve of Russia joining the World Trade Organization. 

President Obama offered his condolences for the death of Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi on Tuesday while glossing over the longtime leader's human-rights record.

Meles, Ethiopia's leader since 1991 and its prime minister since 1995, oversaw explosive economic growth and was a steadfast U.S. ally in the war on terrorism who sent troops to battle Islamist militants in neighboring Somalia in 2006 and 2011. Critics, however, say he led one of Africa's most repressive governments, brutally cracking down on dissent even as the United States continues to give the country $1 billion in aid a year.

“Prime Minister Meles deserves recognition for his lifelong contribution to Ethiopia’s development, particularly his unyielding commitment to Ethiopia's poor,” Obama said in a statement. “I met with Prime Minister Meles at the G-8 Summit in May and recall my personal admiration for his desire to lift millions of Ethiopians out of poverty through his drive for food security. I am also grateful for Prime Minister Meles’s service for peace and security in Africa, his contributions to the African Union, and his voice for Africa on the world stage.”

Military leaders in Tehran publicly unveiled a raft of beefed-up missile and weapon systems on Tuesday, which the country claims are necessary to defend Iran's borders against growing threats in the region.