We’re kicking off today with an interesting question: can diplomats be interdicted as part of new screening measures to detect Ebola? This is just one issue of many raised by Lawfare blog’s Paul Rosenzweig on the law and policy of Ebola interdiction.

Kobane, a Kurdish town on Syria’s northern border, is under attack by Islamic State militants. Although airstrikes alone are unlikely to save the city, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has stated ‘It’s not realistic to expect that Turkey will lead a ground operation on its own.’ The New Republic examines the Islamic State’s challenge to Turkey’s multiculturalism, as well as the relationship between the ruling Justice and Development Party and the Turkish Kurds.

CNAS’ Alexander Sullivan has a new report on US–Malaysia security cooperation. Read Sullivan’s work for its useful overview of Malaysian interests and defence policy as well as its discussion on how US cooperation can address the country’s priorities in an evolving security environment.

There’s been keen interest in the US decision to sell arms to its historical foe, Vietnam—proof that Asian strategic relations aren’t always prisoners of history. Still, Vietnam’s future depends more on domestic reform than international change. Over on cogitASIA, Jonathan London explores Vietnam’s domestic agenda including how the country will cope with China and whether political reform will improve the overall wellbeing of the economy and the Vietnamese people.

All aboard! Here’s an infographic of China’s vision for a high-speed rail that extends to Europe, Central Asia, India, North America and down to Southeast Asia, including graphs that measure the terrain between China and planned destinations. Geographic let alone diplomatic challenges mean this won’t be happening in a hurry. Nevertheless, it’s an insight into how extensive China’s ambitions are.

For those researching counterterrorism issues, read how Australia is debating issues like ‘subversion’, intelligence oversight and foreign fighters from the transcripts of last and this week’s public hearings of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and security on the Counter-Terrorism Legislation Amendment (Foreign Fighters) Bill 2014.

IISS’ Mark Fitzpatrick makes a contribution to discussions on nuclear latency and nuclear hedging by looking at Iran’s case. He argues that, although Iran has a more primitive nuclear program than a nuclear latent state like Japan, the reality of its track record renders it a nuclear hedger. In his view, this is why we shouldn’t be in a hurry to lift limits on Iran’s nuclear program. And although a bit older, an interesting post by Shashank Joshi that asks, when, exactly, did India get a nuclear weapon?

It seems like challenges to building a local defence industry aren’t country specific. Although Brazil’s defence industry is experiencing a mini-comeback, if it’s to remain competitive, it’ll face similar challenges ahead as domestic defence programs in Singapore, Indonesia and South Korea, writes RSIS’ Richard Bitzinger.

Lastly, the Indonesian military (TNI) celebrated its 69th birthday on Tuesday with an annual parade in front of President Yudhoyono and President-elect Widodo (photoessay). For more on the celebrations, watch this naval warship display, TNI’s martial arts demo (start from 2:25) and female soldiers kicking some serious butt.

Podcasts

Deputy Prime Minister of Vietnam, Pham Binh Minh, discusses the current state of affairs in his country and the relationship with the United States. His remarks are followed by a roundtable discussion hosted by CSIS (37mins).

Videos

Two videos from the Wilson Center; the first with author Aaron David Miller who previews his new book on why American can’t have, and apparently doesn’t want, another ‘great president’ (10mins). The second with Robert Daly, director of the Kissinger Institute on China and the United States, on the complex relationship between China and Hong Kong (7mins).

The Council on Foreign Relation’s John Campbell brings you three things to know about Ebola and West Africa (3mins).

Natalie Sambhi is an analyst at ASPI and managing editor of The Strategist. Image courtesy of Flickr user leg0fenris.