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

Friday, August 14, 2009

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

August 14, 2009

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

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

-U.S. Senator in Myanmar.
-Clinton wraps up Africa trip.
-U.S. to resume training Georgian troops.
-NATO chief plans Kosovo troop drawdown.

Top of the Agenda: Senator Webb Visits Myanmar

U.S. Senator Jim Webb (D-VA) arrived in Myanmar (AP) to meet with the head of the country's military junta, Than Shwe. The meeting will be the first between a senior U.S. official and Myanmar's top leader. Webb's is the first official trip (Reuters) by a member of Congress in more than a decade.

Webb's visit comes less than a week after the conviction of Aung San Suu Kyi, a pro-democracy leader who is under house arrest. Her sentence was extended by another eighteen months after U.S. citizen John Yettaw swam to Suu Kyi's home in May.

The focus of Webb's talks with Shwe was not initially clear, but he may press for the release of Yettaw, who was sentenced this week to seven years of hard labor. Webb was also expected to request a meeting with Suu Kyi (Guardian).

Webb's trip is the second stop on a five-nation, eight-country Asian tour that also includes Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. He first visited Laos, where he emphasized the need for U.S. reengagement with Southeast Asia "at all levels."

Separately, the UN Security Council delivered a press statement expressing serious concern (FT) in response to the conviction and sentencing of Suu Kyi. The European Union said it would expand its sanctions to affect members of the judiciary responsible for the judgment.

Background:
A CFR Backgrounder looks at Myanmar's military regime.

Analysis:
The Far Eastern Economic Review lays out seven steps that the international community should demand of Myanmar, including the immediate release of political prisoners in bad health.

TIME says the threat of prosecution may be the only measure that will effectively move Myanmar's generals toward reform.

Obama administration officials said Webb was traveling independently and was not bringing a message from the White House. Still, the New York Times says, Webb's trip is as another sign of the administration's willingness to engage U.S. adversaries.

MIDEAST: Suicide Attack in Sinjar, Iraq

Two bombers blew themselves up (Aswat al-Iraq) in a café in the northwestern Iraqi city of Sinjar, killing at least twenty and wounding thirty-five others. Sinjar has a large Yazidi population—a Kurdish-speaking group that traces its religious roots to Zoroastrianism and that Sunni extremists view as apostates.

In an interview with the Christian Science Monitor, Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Barham Saleh said the spike in attacks aim to disrupt the January elections.

Iran: Defeated presidential candidate Mehdi Karroubi alleged that some protesters detained after Iran's disputed June election were tortured to death (CBC) in prison, and called for an independent review of evidence to support his claim.

PACIFIC RIM: North Korea Frees South Korean Prisoner

North Korea freed Yu Seong-jin (Korea Times), a South Korean Hyundai worker that it had detained for more than four months. Seong-jin was arrested after crossing the demilitarized zone that divides North and South Korea. Experts say his release is a sign that North Korea may be interested in reengaging in international diplomacy.

An interactive CFR Crisis Guide examines the history and driving issues in the dispute between North and South Korea.

SOUTH AND CENTRAL ASIA: India-ASEAN Trade Deal

India and the ten-country Southeast Asian bloc ASEAN signed a free trade agreement (Times of India) reducing and eventually eliminating tariffs on electronics, chemicals, machinery and textiles. ASEAN is India's fourth-largest trading partner (Hindu).

Afghanistan: A new poll shows the Afghan election may require a second round (Reuters). Afghan presidential candidate Abdullah Abdullah told a crowd of about 50,000 supporters that the race is still "very close." Pre-election violence continues to swell. Abdullah supporter and former Afghan president Burhanuddin Rabbani escaped an assassination attempt (WashPost) Thursday in Kunduz province.

AFRICA: Clinton Visits Liberia

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton expressed her firm support (allAfrica) for the first Liberian female president, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, while visiting the capital city of Monrovia. Johnson Sirleaf's presidency came into question of late when Liberia's Truth and Reconciliation Commission recommended barring her from public office for thirty years for her role in "different warring factions" during the country's troubled past. Clinton makes the last stop on her Africa tour today in Cape Verde (NYT).

DRC: Officials in the Democratic Republic of Congo arrested Gregoire Ndahimana (Daily Nation), accused of orchestrating the massacre of at least 2,000 two thousand Tutsis during the 1994 Rwandan genocide. The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda has indicted Ndahimana on charges of genocide or complicity in genocide, conspiracy to commit genocide, and crimes against humanity.

AMERICAS: U.S. to Train Georgian Troops

The United States will resume training Georgia troops (NYT) to prepare them for service in Afghanistan, despite the possibility that the move could anger Russia. Pentagon officials say the training will not cover skills that would be useful for fighting Russia's military.

Argentina: Argentina's foreign ministry ordered the expulsion of Honduran ambassador Carmen Eleonora Ortez Williams, citing her support for the coup (Buenos Aires Herald) that ousted democratically elected President Manuel Zelaya in June. The move comes at the request of Zelaya, who met with Argentine Foreign Secretary Jorge Enrique Taiana in Ecuador over the weekend.

EUROPE: NATO Chief in Kosovo

New NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen made his first visit to Kosovo to evaluate the security situation (Kosovo Times). Rasmussen indicated he would like to gradually draw down NATO's troop presence of 13,800 in the region.

Lockerbie: The U.S. State Department spoke out (NYT) against possible plans to release former Libyan agent Abdel Basset al-Megrahi, who has been imprisoned in Scotland for the 1988 airplane bombing that killed 270 people on the Pan Am flight 103. U.S. State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said the United States has told the UK government and other authorities that al-Megrahi "should spend the rest of his time in jail." Al-Megrahi has been diagnosed with terminal cancer.

TRANSNATIONAL: Antarctic Ice Thinning

One of Antarctica's largest glaciers in melting four times faster (BBC) than research predicted fifteen years ago. Scientists predicted in 1994 that the Pine Island glacier would last for six hundred years. But calculations based on the current rate of melting indicate it may last only another hundred years.

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