Thursday, August 6, 2009

[RED DEMOCRATICA] CFR.org Daily Brief, August 5, 2009

 

From the Council on Foreign Relations

August 6, 2009

View this newsletter as a web page on CFR's website.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

-Iraq's government to remove security barriers in Baghdad.
-President Obama urges North Korea to return to the Six-Party Talks.
-Secretary Clinton to meet Somali President.
-NATO chief in Afghanistan.

Top of the Agenda: Baghdad's Barriers

In an effort to reestablish a sense of normalcy, and to show the competence of the Iraqi security forces, the Iraqi government is planning to remove most of Baghdad's concrete road barriers within forty days (NYT).

Removing the blast walls will help ease traffic, but could make terrorist attacks deadlier, and may allow insurgents to escape more easily (WashPost). Despite a drop-off in violence in recent months, sporadic attacks continue. A roadside bomb attack at midnight killed five police and injured eight others in south Baghdad (BBC).

The government says it will also work to return some 3,000 displaced families, mostly Shiite, to the city's heavily Sunni Abu Ghraib neighborhood. Civilian traffic will also soon be allowed on the July 14th Bridge, which connects the Green Zone to east Baghdad.

Analysis:
CFR's Stephen Biddle discusses the U.S. troop withdrawal plan on NPR.

The New Republic blog looks at Obama's Iraq strategy and says there are several possible scenarios in which the country could still collapse.

Background:
A CFR Backgrounder looks at U.S. security agreements with Iraq.

MIDEAST: West Bank Settlements

The United States has asked Israel to freeze West Bank settlements for one year, Haaretz reports. U.S. envoy to the Middle East George Mitchell reportedly raised the proposal in talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last week. Mitchell said a freeze on settlements would allow Arab countries to begin to normalize their relations with Israel.

Turkey: A Turkish prosecutor indicted fifty-two people (Today's Zaman) on charges that they plotted a coup against Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's government. The suspects include retired generals, including the former chairman of the National Security Council, a labor leader, and the former head of the Higher Education Council, which regulates universities, among others. Nearly 150 other people are already on trial in the case.

PACIFIC RIM: North Korea Talks

U.S. President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called on North Korea (Yonhap) to reenter the Six-Party Talks on its nuclear weapons program. The calls came shortly after former President Bill Clinton returned to the United States with the two U.S. journalists whose release he negotiated with North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il. The Wall Street Journal reports that in addition to negotiations for the release of the journalists, Kim and Clinton also discussed a range of security and regional issues.

In an interview, CFR's Scott Snyder says the Obama administration "will probably need to continue to identify a resumption of the Six-Party Talks as an objective of any bilateral talks that go forward coming out of [Clinton's] trip."

This CFR Backgrounder profiles the Six-Party Talks.

SOUTH AND CENTRAL ASIA: NATO Chief in Afghanistan

New NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen paid a surprise visit to Afghanistan (LAT) to meet with military leaders, diplomats, and candidates in the country's impending August 20 presidential elections. Rasmussen told reporters that Afghanistan is NATO's top priority, and that NATO must help ensure Afghanistan does not become "the Grand Central Station of international terrorism."

Sri Lanka: More than 4,000 Tamil people displaced by war are being allowed to return to their villages (BBC) in Sri Lanka. Some of them come from the Menik Farm camps, which houses some 300,000 displaced people. The government said it is still screening portions of the populations of the camps to ensure that it identifies anyone associated with the defeated Tamil Tiger rebels.

AFRICA: Secretary Clinton To Meet Somali President

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will meet with Somali President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed (Reuters) in Nairobi today to discuss ways of stabilizing the country and fighting the militant group al-Shabaab.

CFR profiles al-Shabaab in this Backgrounder.

CFR’s Princeton Lyman says increased U.S military aid to Somalia may help keep the government in power, but that the prospects for a real military victory against the insurgents are nil.

Nigeria: Nigerian authorities released a Ukrainian plane that had been impounded for the past month (This Day). The plane, which stopped in Nigeria to refuel on its way to Equatorial Guinea, was detained after officials found it was carrying eighteen crates of mines and ammunition.

AMERICAS: Funding for Electric Car Batteries

The Obama administration announced $2.4 billion in grants for advanced car battery manufacturing for electric cars. The money, which comes from the federal stimulus package, is intended to cut U.S. dependence on foreign oil and reduce carbon emissions, and to create jobs in the electric car industry (WSJ).

Honduras: The Organization of American States (OAS) said it will send a delegation to Honduras (AP) to try to convince the interim government to negotiate with international mediators working for ousted President Manuel Zelaya's return. OAS Secretary-General Jose Miguel Insulza said it has not been decided yet who would be on the team of delegates.

EUROPE: Russia Praises EU Peace Plan

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the peace plan for Russia and Georgia brokered by French President Nicolas Sarkozy last year continues to be a "stabilizing factor" (Moscow Times) in the region. Lavrov also praised the work of EU monitors and criticized Georgia for trying to get the United States to play a bigger role in the monitoring.

In an op-ed in the Washington Post, CFR's Stephen Sestanovich lays out the practical problems the Obama administration faces in its relationship with Russia.

Politkovskaya case: A retrial over the murder of Russian investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya has been adjourned after her family asked that prosecutors launch a new investigation into the case (RIA Novosti). Politkovskaya, who was known for her investigative reporting that exposed human rights abuses by the Russian army in Chechnya, was killed in 2006.

TRANSNATIONAL: Antarctic Research

Speaking at the annual meeting of the Council of Managers of Antarctic Programs, Chuck Kennicut, the president of the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research, emphasized the importance of the international community's role in defraying costs and helping with logistics (MercoPress) in scientific research in Antarctica.

 

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