Democratic.net: [RED DEMOCRATICA] CFR.org Daily Brief, July 14, 2009

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

[RED DEMOCRATICA] CFR.org Daily Brief, July 14, 2009

July 14, 2009

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

-Swat Valley residents displaced begin returning home.

-Charles Taylor testifies.

-Two Uighurs killed by police in Urumqi.

-New EU term begins.

Top of the Agenda: Swat Residents Return

Thousands of those displaced by fighting between government forces and the Taliban began arriving home in the Swat Valley on Monday as part of a government plan to help them return (LAT). Government buses and trucks carried people from three internally displaced camps back to the valley. Still, many Swat residents were hesitant to return. The New York Times reports some families sent one or two people as “scouts” first, to make sure it was safe before coming home. Authorities say the area is completely secured.

The Christian Science Monitor says the return process will be “closely watched” by the United States and other foreign governments observing Pakistan’s competence in dealing with the Taliban. The Pakistan government says it plans to have all two million displaced returned to the Swat Valley by the end of August (Bloomberg).

Meanwhile, at least nine people, including seven children, were killed on Monday when explosions destroyed a school (al-Jazeera) and several homes in Pakistan’s Punjab province.

Background:

Reuters has a Q&A on the future of the displaced Swat population.

Analysis:

A report from the International Crisis Group notes that the level of displacement in Pakistan was by no means inevitable, but is rather the result of years of failed military policy that has enabled militancy to spread. It says "reconstruction efforts must focus on addressing the root causes of militancy in the region."

The Wall Street Journal says Pakistan’s management of the displaced people's return “will go a long way to determining whether it can solidify the army's gains in the strategic valley as it moves to retake more-formidable Taliban strongholds in tribal areas bordering Afghanistan.”

On BBC Radio 4, author Owen Bennett-Jones looks at the state of Pakistan’s battle against the Taliban, interviewing officials and experts in Pakistan.

MIDEAST: Iran Prepares Proposals for the West

Iran says it is preparing a new "comprehensive" package of proposals to offer the international community, “with the aim of resolving main international problems such as economic, cultural and moral crises," a government spokesman said Monday (PRESS TV).

TIME asks whether the recent political chaos in Iran could provide the United States with new leverage in negotiations with that country.

Israel: The United Kingdom revoked five export licenses (Guardian) for weapons for Israeli missile boats because of Israel’s use of those weapons during its military operation in Gaza earlier this year.

Israel said its mission did not violate international law.

PACIFIC RIM: Two Uighurs Killed

Chinese police killed two ethnic Uighurs in Urumqi on Monday (Bloomberg). Police said they were trying to stop the men from attacking another Uighur. The city appeared to have been calming down after last week’s ethnic riots killed 180 people.

In a CFR podcast, Dru C. Gladney, an expert on China's ethnic minorities, says the Urumqi riots began as protests for social justice, and really had "nothing to do with Islam, or separatism, or independence."

Myanmar: Myanmar’s government announced it will release some political prisoners (AFP) to allow them to participate in next year’s national elections, but it did not indicate how many of the estimated 2,100 political prisoners would be freed.

AFRICA: Charles Taylor Testifies

Former Liberian President Charles Taylor testified for the first time (Reuters) at his war crimes trial in The Hague beginning Tuesday. He is on trial for atrocities committed in Liberia and Sierra Leone in the 1990s. In his testimony Tuesday, Taylor denied those crimes, and accused the prosecution of propagating “disinformation, misinformation, lies, rumors.”

Zimbabwe: Zimbabwe’s conference to write a new constitutionended in chaos on Monday (BBC). Fighting broke out after supporters of Robert Mugabe interrupted the convention by singing revolutionary songs and dancing.

AMERICAS: CIA Assassination Plans

The New York Times reports the CIA was developing a program to assassinate senior al-Qaeda terrorists until CIA director Leon Panetta scrapped the initiative last month. The assassination plans, which faced numerous logistical obstacles, were never carried out.

Brazil: Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Monday said a global agreement on climate change could still be reached (AFP) at December’s conference in Copenhagen, despite tensions that arose on the issue between developing and developed nations at last week’s G8 conference.

EUROPE: New EU Term

The European Union parliament will begin a new five-year term (France 24) on Tuesday following June’s elections. Former Polish Prime Minister Jerzy Buzek is expected to be chosen as the new president of the body (Reuters).

TRANSNATIONAL: Calls for Action on Climate

Slate’s Anne Applebaum calls on governments wanting to solve climate change to focus on creating “the economic conditions for energy entrepreneurship.”

A CFR Crisis Guide offers an in-depth, multimedia look at climate change, its global impact, and efforts to combat it.

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