Monday, July 26, 2010

[RED DEMOCRATICA] CFR.org Daily Brief, July 26, 2010

 

From the Council on Foreign Relations

July 26, 2010

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

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

- Leaked Records on Afghanistan Posted
- BP: Hayward Out, Dudley In?
- U.S., S. Korea War Games Calm So Far
- Trafigura Fined for Sludge Imports

Top of the Agenda: Leaked Records on Afghanistan Posted

Some ninety thousand leaked U.S. military records posted online by Wikileaks (WashPost) amount to a "blow-by-blow" account of six years of the Afghanistan War, including unreported incidents of Afghan civilian killings and covert operations against the Taliban. The records, which were offered to the New York Times, the Guardian, and Der Spiegel, offer a grimmer picture of the war than officially portrayed (NYT) and illustrate why the Taliban is stronger than at any time since 2001. Some of the reports' key findings (Telegraph) include the increasing use of Reaper drones controlled by joystick from Nevada and the fact that Iran provides money, arms, and safe haven to Taliban insurgents.

Responding to the records' allegations that Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence has been covertly supporting the Taliban, the White House called the situation "unacceptable" (Guardian) and said militant safe havens in Pakistan are "intolerable"; it also called the leaks a threat to security (Daily News). Pakistan's ambassador to the United States, Husain Haqqani, called the leaks irresponsible (Sify).

Analysis

The Wikileaks reports are unverifiable and could be false information by Afghan intelligence, cautions the Guardian in this editorial, but they suggest a chaotic situation in Afghanistan and that a war being fought "for the hearts and minds of Afghans cannot be won like this."

The Wikileaks revelations underscore why the U.S. needs to reconsider its current AfPak policy, writes CFR's Leslie Gelb.

Background

Wikileaks, founded by Julian Assange, considers itself a "media insurgency" (New Yorker), collecting from whistleblowers, and publishing documents and images that governments and other institutions see as confidential.

Wikileaks latest reports (WashPost) and the decision to transfer them to three news organizations reflects the growing strength of the nonprofit site, founded three years ago to fight what it considers excessive secrecy.

MIDDLE EAST: Iran Claims Ballistic Missile Mastery

A senior commander with Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards corps, General Hossein Salami, says Iran is now capable of producing "an endless number of ballistic missiles" (TehranTimes) and that sanctions will only encourage Iran toward greater self-sufficiency.

TURKEY: Turkey has requested the extradition of Nizamettin Toguc (Today'sZaman), one of the leaders of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, who was captured in Italy on Sunday.

Turkey's long-running war with Kurdish separatists has been escalating, writes the Economist, and a growing number of Turks are questioning whether they want to live with the country's estimated 14 million Kurds.

AMERICAS: Hayward Out, Dudley In?

The board of BP is scheduled to approve the departure of Chief Executive Tony Hayward (WSJ) in an effort to move beyond the Gulf of Mexico oil spill disaster. The board is set to name Managing Director Robert Dudley as new chief executive tomorrow. Dudley, who heads BP's U.S. operations and hails from the Gulf region, would be the first American to head BP.

CHILE: Chilean President Sebastian Pinera rejected a plea by the Roman Catholic Church (BBC) that he pardon members of the armed forces over human rights abuses committed during military rule. More than three thousand Chileans were killed by the military between 1973 and 1990.

PACIFIC RIM: U.S., S. Korea Naval Exercises Start

Four days of U.S.-South Korea military exercises (CSM) off South Korea's east coast started yesterday without incident, despite North Korean threats of "powerful nuclear deterrents." Some South Korean critics of President Lee Myung-bak, many of them from the opposition, dispute international findings that the South Korean naval vessel Cheonan was torpedoed by a North Korean submarine (LAT).

CAMBODIA: Former Khmer Rouge prison chief Duch, who admitted overseeing the torture and execution of thousands of Cambodians, was found guilty of crimes against humanity by a UN-backed war crimes tribunal (BBC). Judges deducted sixteen years from the thirty-five-year prison sentence, angering many in Cambodia and raising questions about the efficacy of the tribunal.

While much of Cambodia still holds onto memories of Khmer Rouge atrocities, few seem to notice that the current government of Prime Minister Hun Sen is destroying the nation, notes this article in Foreign Affairs.

SOUTH ASIA: Helmand Air-Strike Deaths Investigated

Afghan President Hamid Karzai has ordered an investigation into reports that up to forty-five civilians died in an air strike in Helmand province (ABC) last week. NATO is also investigating (BBC) the reports.

Nineteen people died in three U.S. drone attacks in northwest Pakistan (BBC) yesterday, a day after a similar raid killed sixteen.

This CFR Backgrounder considers the legal and ethical issues surrounding the United States' covert drone program in Pakistan.

AFRICA: Trafigura Fined for Sludge Imports

A Dutch court imposed the maximum fine of 1 million euros ($128 million) on the oil-trading company Trafigura for illegally importing toxic sludge (NYT) that was dumped in the Ivory Coast. The waste was linked to sixteen deaths and thousands of illnesses in 2006.

UGANDA: The African Union agreed to change the mandate of its peacekeeping mission in Somalia (AllAfrica) into a peace-enforcement mission that will engage the al-Shabaab militia.

EUROPE: British Deny Oil Link in Lockerbie Case

A Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing scheduled for Wednesday on whether BP played a role in the release of the former Libyan agent convicted in the 1988 Lockerbie bombing (NYT) has set off a round of denials that Britain's desire for oil deals with Libya was a factor.

German state prosecutors have opened an investigation into a stampede that killed nineteen people and injured hundreds (DeutscheWelle) when panic broke out near a crowded tunnel at the Love Parade music festival in Duisberg.
 

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