MUST-READS

• Hagel Resigns
  White House seeks a stronger hand at Pentagon to manage crises

  President Obama tapped Chuck Hagel as defense secretary because he wanted someone who would quietly implement the administration’s policy, avoid controversy and promote no big, sweeping ideas. Hagel was forced to resign Monday for being exactly that defense secretary.

  • Brookings - Reflections on Defense Secretary Hagel's Tenure
  • Politico - Chuck Hagel's resignation underscores defense rifts
  • The Hill - How Obama and Chuck Hagel reached the end of the line
  • Daily Beast - Hagel Takes a Bullet for Obama: Inside the Defense Secretary's Sudden Firing
  • War on the Rocks - The Still Nearly Impossible Job of Secretary of Defense
  • Defense One - Who Will Be the Next Secretary of Defense?
• Oil
  Bakken Shale: Where Oil and Politics Mix

  Tioga, population 3,000, welcomed North Dakota’s first well in 1951, more than a half-century before hydraulic fracturing liberated the “tight oil” trapped in the Bakken shale formation. So it was fitting that Tioga ring in the daily production milestone that had ushered the Bakken into the rarefied company of historic oil fields worldwide.

• Internet Security
  Saudi Arabia target No. 1 for hackers

  Saudi Arabia tops the list of countries impacted by advanced targeted cyber attack in META (Middle East, Turkey and Africa) computer networks, accounting for 30.1 percent of the total attacks in the region during the first half of this year, said a report issued by FireEye, a leader in cyber security.

• Business Optimism Index
  Saudi business optimism after strong GDP results

  Saudi business optimism in both the hydrocarbon and non-hydrocarbon sectors brightened up in the fourth quarter of 2014 from the previous quarter, fueled, among others, by expectations that the Saudi GDP would grow 4.6 percent this year despite weakening of oil markets since mid-year 2014.

• UK Passport Policy
  Where will jihadis stripped of their passports go?

  The new "temporary exclusion orders," it is proposed, will include passport cancellation, entry on a "no fly list," and sanctions against any airline carrying an "excluded" British citizen to the UK.

  • Guardian - Opinion: British fear of Islamists and Saudi fears about atheists are two sides of the same coin
• Tunisian Elections
  Tunisians vote in first free election

  The election has been billed as Tunisia's first free poll since independence from France in 1956. The vote will also mark the first democratic transfer of power in the country’s modern history.

• Afghanistan Attack
  Bomber targeted police commander in Afghan volleyball game attack

  At least 50 people were killed instantly on Sunday evening when the blast went off at the height of a popular volleyball game in a remote area in Afghanistan's Paktika province. Details of the attack, one of the deadliest in Afghanistan this year, were initially sketchy but as dozens of wounded were brought to the capital, Kabul, to be treated, a clearer picture emerged on Monday of what happened during the tournament.

  • Washington Post - Afghan military welcomes expanded U.S. combat role as Taliban threat intensifies
• China and Dubai
  China to become Dubai’s largest trading partner this year as Chinese comprise 10% of its population

  The 200,000 Chinese now resident in Dubai comprise around 10 per cent of its population. This is a phenomenal rise from very low numbers since the relaxing of visa requirements in the wake of the global financial crisis in 2009. There are some 4,200 Chinese companies established in the city and Chinese guests make 25 per cent of bookings for the iconic Burj Al Arab Hotel.

• Iran Negotiations
  Iran atom talks set to resume next month after missing deadline

  "Given progress made this weekend, talks headed to likely extension with experts and negotiating teams reconvening in December at a yet-to-be-determined location," a Western diplomat said in an email. The diplomat declined to be identified.

• Oil Slump
  Iran May Propose Million-Barrel Daily OPEC Cut in Saudi Talks

  Iran may propose that OPEC cut its output target by as much as 1 million barrels a day to halt the slide in crude prices when the country’s oil minister consults with his Saudi counterpart before the group gathers this week.

  • Bloomberg - Oil-Price Slide Won’t Deter Saudi Aramco From Expansion Strategy
  • Bloomberg - Russia to Cooperate With Saudis on Oil, Avoiding Output Cuts
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