National Security Brief: January 12, 2012

– The U.S. is planning a major push to restart peace talks with the Taliban. While Taliban officials said a recent video of U.S. Marines urinating on dead Taliban soldiers would not harm the peace talks, a new U.S. National Intelligence Estimate raises doubts that a deal with the Taliban is possible.

– Sens. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) plan to introduce a resolution opposing any strategy that accepts and tries to contain a nuclear armed Iran, saying it would be “a catastrophic mistake” to take such an approach.

– European refineries began cutting ties with Iran as its embargo looms. Industry insiders “are now suggesting that Tehran will struggle to re-sell its oil.”

– Japanese government officials pledged to buy less Iranian oil following a meeting with U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner in Tokyo in which he urged Japan to support the U.S. campaign to sanction Iran over its nuclear program.

– Military lawyers for detainees at the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, will stop sending mail to their clients because the military wants to be able to open and read its contents, which is considered privileged communication.

– A new European Union report said Israel is “closing the window” on a two-state solution with its activities, particularly settlement construction, in the West Bank, raising questions about whether a contiguous Palestinian State is even possible.

– The Myanmar government signed a ceasefire with one of the country’s leading ethnic rebel groups, the Karen National Union (KNU), today in the latest of Myanmar’s steps toward reform.

– The Hill reports that “Congress are poised for an ideological battle in 2012 over the future of the U.S. military” as “[f]or the first time since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, Washington’s military strategy and priorities are in flux.”