Advocates of an international arms sales treaty being written in the United Nations next month say they agree it shouldn't affect U.S. gun rights but that Republican demands go too far. 

In a speech before the Heritage Foundation last week, Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kansas) outlined several caveats he wants written into the treaty, including that it not apply to civilian arms and ammunition. Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, a coalition of human rights and evangelical groups said those restrictions would gut the treaty.

“This is where we part ways,” said Scott Stedjan, senior adviser for Oxfam America. “What is a civilian arm is a real concern. I don't think anybody wants the United Nations to define what is a civilian weapon is, what a military weapon is, because different countries have different views. That would never happen, plus small arms and light weapons are the weapons that … are wreaking the most havoc and that we most need control over.”

Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.) is calling on President Obama to remove retired Lt. Gen. Douglas Lute from his post on the National Security Council (NSC) following a report that he was consumed with stifling the administration’s special adviser on Pakistan and Afghanistan, Richard Holbrooke.

The report, an excerpt from Washington Post reporter Rajiv Chandrasekaran’s book Little America: The War Within the War for Afghanistan, found that Lute tried to prevent Holbrooke from being involved in decisionmaking on Afghanistan, and in the process hindered the possibility of negotiations with the Taliban.

Wolf, a member of the House Appropriations Defense subcommittee, wrote in a letter to President Obama that “ignoring policy suggestions simply because of personal differences prevented the full consideration of all ideas for achieving success in the region.”

Your morning global affairs speed-read

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Tuesday marks up bipartisan human-rights legislation that lawmakers of both parties have made into a precondition to their support for the establishment of permanent normal trade relations with Russia. A recent draft of the Magnitsky bill, named after a whistleblowing lawyer who died in custody in 2009, contains a controversial clause allowing the State Department to hide the names of Russian officials accused of human-rights abuses, and is likely to be a bone of contention going forward.

The bill, which has 36 co-sponsors in the Senate and 34 in the House, would deny visas and freeze the U.S.-based assets of Russians involved in Sergei Magnitsky's case and death as well as other human-rights abusers. The CEO of London’s Heritage Capital Management, where Magnitsky worked when he died, is on Capitol Hill this week building support for the bill. 

Trouble brewing: Syria shot at but missed a second Turkish jet, Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arinc said, raising concerns of Turkish retaliation just as NATO met at Turkey's request to hold consultations within the framework of Article 4 of the NATO Treaty after a first reconnaissance plane was shot down last week. 
“We consider this act to be unacceptable and condemn it in the strongest terms,” NATO said Tuesday in a statement. “It is another example of the Syrian authorities’ disregard for international norms, peace and security, and human life.”

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The human-rights bill would attempt visa restrictions and sanctions on those accused in the killing of a Russian attorney.

Press secretary Carney said Obama was committed to the Arab Spring as Rep. Allen West called for slashing Egypt's aid.

Hani Nour Eldin is an Egyptian parliamentarian, but also a member of designated terrorist organization Gamaa Islamiya.

Iran is gloating that its nuclear program is going strong after reports Stuxnet was designed to stop operating after Sunday.

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry (D-Mass.) might not expect a vote on the Law of the Sea Treaty until after the November elections, but that isn’t stopping him from presenting his full-fledged case for the treaty. 

Kerry is bringing some big guns in for his committee’s fourth hearing in the past two months on the long-stalled treaty. The latest hearing will focus on the business community, which has mostly come out in support of the sea treaty.

The witness list for Thursday’s hearing is filled with top executives: the Chamber of Commerce’s Thomas Donohue, Verizon Communication’s Lowell McAdam, American Petroleum Institute’s Jack Gerard and National Association of Manufacturer’s Jay Timmons.