[RED DEMOCRATICA] CFR.org Daily News Brief, July 9, 2010

 

July 9, 2010 View this newsletter as a web page on CFR's website. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY - U.S. and Russia Trade Agents - U.S. Won't Label China Currency Manipulator - Suicide Bomb Kills Up to 56 in Pakistan - IMF Warns U.S. on Debt, Deficit Top of the Agenda: U.S. and Russia Trade Agents The U.S. and Russian governments apparently completed a spy swap in Vienna (WSJ), trading ten deported Russian agents for four prisoners held by Russia. The deal came after high-level negotiations led by CIA director Leon Panetta and his Russian counterpart. The ten Russians arrested in the United States on June 27 pleaded guilty in federal court to conspiring to serve as unlawful foreign agents and agreed to be expelled from the United States in exchange for days already served in jail. An eleventh accused spy remains at large after skipping bail in Cyprus last week. The United States simultaneously requested the release of four prisoners in Russia, who were convicted for having contact with Western intelligence agencies. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev signed a decree pardoning the four prisoners, though the Kremlin declined to say when and how they would be freed and deported. Both countries wanted to limit damage to the "reset" of diplomatic relations forged by U.S. President Barack Obama and Medvedev. The quick agreement occurred as the U.S. Senate is weighing a new bilateral nuclear arms-control accord (WashPost). Analysis: On RealClearWorld.com, Daniel McGroarty says the spies arrested in the United States may have been more threatening to U.S. interests than the media assumes. In the Wall Street Journal, Thomas Frank says the arrested Russian spies mastered an aspect of U.S. business culture centered on esoteric language and pretentious altruism, which should teach the United States a lesson about its business practices. Background: Read (PDF) the plea agreements between the U.S. government and the arrested Russian spies. MIDDLE EAST: Suicide Bomber Kills Six in Baghdad A suicide bomber drove an explosives-laden car into an Iraqi army checkpoint in western Baghdad, killing six people and injuring twenty (AP), after almost seventy people were killed in suicide and roadside bombs targeting Shiite pilgrims. Iran: Widespread strikes continued at Tehran's central bazaar, according to Iranian news sites, as merchants protested a proposed tax increase on their earnings (NYT) and signaled growing resentment of government policies. PACIFIC RIM: U.S. Nixes Labeling China Currency Manipulator The United States decided against naming China a currency manipulator (WSJ) in an annual report, though U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner pressed Beijing to let the yuan appreciate faster. Japan: Japan's ruling Democratic Party could fall far short of Prime Minister Naoto Kan's target in this weekend's upper house election (Reuters), risking Kan's position and hampering efforts to lower the country's public debt. SOUTH AND CENTRAL ASIA: Suicide Bombing Kills Up to 56 in Pakistan A suicide bomber killed up to fifty-six people and wounded over one hundred in an attack outside the office of a senior government official (Dawn) in northwest Pakistan. Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan claimed responsibility for the attack. Sri Lanka: UN chief Ban Ki-moon recalled his top envoy to Sri Lanka (BBC) and closed an office in Colombo due to unruly protests over a UN probe of possible war crimes during Sri Lanka's civil war. AFRICA: Somalia Staves Off Bankruptcy The cash-strapped Somali government is searching to recover funds locked in bank accounts around the world, in an attempt to stave off bankruptcy and fund its battle against al-Qaeda insurgents (WSJ). Congo: The International Criminal Court halted proceedings (allAfrica) in the case of Congolese warlord Thomas Lubanga Dyilo, who is accused of recruiting child soldiers, saying that prosecutors have refused orders to disclose information to his defense. AMERICAS: IMF Warns U.S. on Deficit, Debt The IMF advised the Obama administration to consider raising taxes and reducing Social Security benefits (WSJ) as ways to contain the U.S. budget deficit and public debt. Panama: Former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega was convicted in a French court (NYT) of money laundering and sentenced to seven years in prison. EUROPE: ECB's Trichet Voices Eurozone Confidence European Central Bank chief Jean-Claude Trichet said pessimism over the eurozone is overblown (EUObserver), after the bank's governing board decided to hold interest rates at 1 percent.

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