Democratic.net: [RED DEMOCRATICA] CFR.org Daily Brief, August 26, 2009

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

[RED DEMOCRATICA] CFR.org Daily Brief, August 26, 2009

August 26, 2009

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

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

-Close race in Afghanistan.
-Cheney criticizes detainee treatment investigation.
-Syria and Iraq recall ambassadors over dispute.
-Family reunion talks in North Korea.

Top of the Agenda: Karzai, Abdullah Nearly Tied

Preliminary results from last week's presidential elections in Afghanistan show incumbent President Hamid Karzai and leading opposition candidate Abdullah Abdullah nearly tied (Pajhwok). With 10 percent of the votes counted, Karzai had 40.6 percent and Abdullah had 38.7 percent.

Abdullah continues to allege vote rigging in Karzai's favor, and the UN-backed Electoral Complaints Commission says it has now received more than eight hundred complaints (LAT), about fifty of which could alter the outcome of the elections.

Separately, Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI), who sits on the Foreign Relations Committee, criticized President Barack Obama's strategy of sending more troops to Afghanistan, and called for a timetable for withdrawal (Bloomberg).

The United States and its allies in Afghanistan are planning to bolster Afghan police and army units in the city of Kandahar with U.S. and Canadian troops. U.S. trainers will be embedded with the Afghan security forces (WSJ). Yesterday, a massive car bomb explosion (al-Jazeera) near a wedding hall in Kandahar killed at least forty-three people and injured at least sixty-five, underscoring the deteriorating security condition in the country's south. The Taliban denied responsibility for the attack and condemned it. Another bomb killed four U.S. troops (Telegraph) in southern Afghanistan.

Analysis:
Journalist Elizabeth Rubin says after the election results are clear, U.S. officials must become more closely involved in improving Afghan governance.

In a New York Times op-ed, Jean MacKenzie, director of the Institute for War and Peace Reporting in Afghanistan, says the West and the United Nations were quick to hail the Afghan elections a success because the poll was meant to convince Western voters that the war in Afghanistan has been worthwhile.

On Foreign Policy, Eurasia Group analyst Maria Kuusisto says the election results will not change "the ground realities" in Afghanistan without "more robust governance."

Background:
A CFR timeline tracks the history of the U.S. military effort in Afghanistan.

SOUTH AND CENTRAL ASIA: Pakistani Air Strikes

The Pakistani government began attacking the Taliban from the air (WashPost) in the South Waziristan region. Yesterday, the Pakistani Taliban admitted their leader Baitullah Mehsud was killed in a CIA-operated drone attack earlier this month, something they had previously denied (Daily Times).

MIDEAST: Iraq, Syria Recall Envoys

Iraq and Syria both recalled their ambassadors (Aswat al-Iraq) after Iraq claimed Damascus was harboring insurgents who bombed Baghdad last Wednesday. A Syrian foreign ministry official said Syria "categorically rejects" the allegation (Syrian Arab News Agency).

Palestine: Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad outlined his vision (Haaretz) for a future Palestinian state in a 65-page document, which included such proposals as an international airport in the Jordan valley, new infrastructure construction, secure energy and water sources, and improved housing and education.

Fayyad said he believes a de facto Palestinian state will be created by 2011.

PACIFIC RIM: Korean Family Reunion Talks

A South Korean delegation traveled to North Korea today to organize a new round of reunions of families (Yonhap) separated by the Korean War. The reunion talks, after a nearly two-year hiatus, are the latest indication of thawing relations between the two Koreas.

This CFR Crisis Guide looks at the roots of the conflict in the Korean peninsula.

China: A gas explosion in a coal mine (Xinhua) in the northern Chinese province of Shanxi killed at least fourteen people. At least 3,200 people died in China's coal mines in 2008, making them the world's most dangerous (BBC).

AFRICA: Darfur Peacekeeping Chief to Resign

Rodolphe Adada, the head of the joint UN-African Union peacekeeping force in Darfur will resign (Sudan Tribune) effective August 31, the United Nations announced. Some diplomats have criticized Adada, a former foreign minister of the Republic of Congo, as ineffective.

Somalia: A new Food Security and Nutrition Analysis (FSNAU) report says half the population of Somalia is now in need of humanitarian aid (Somaliweyn). The UN Food and Agriculture Organization set up FSNAU to provide data to humanitarian aid agencies working in Somalia.

In an Expert Brief, CFR's Bronwyn Bruton says the United States must address democracy backsliding in Ethiopia if it wants to play a constructive role in Somalia.

AMERICAS: Cheney Criticizes DOJ Investigation

Former Vice President Dick Cheney criticized the Justice Department's decision to investigate CIA treatment of detainees in interrogation (WashPost). Cheney said the Bush administration's policies on interrogation were "directly responsible for defeating all efforts by al-Qaeda to launch further mass casualty attacks."

A CFR Daily Analysis Brief looks at the debate over the scope of the intelligence community's counterterrorism practices.

The CIA inspector general's report on detention and interrogation practices, which led to the Justice Department's launch of the investigation, is available here.

Energy: The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is urging nuclear plants to update their methods for assessing fire risk through a more high-tech system. The New York Times reports many nuclear plants have employees whose primary responsibility is to patrol the halls of the facilities sniffing for smoke.

Canada: AIDS is rapidly spreading among Canada's aboriginal population, largely due to widespread drug use, Reuters reports. In the province of Saskatchewan, 65 percent of new HIV cases last year were aboriginals.

EUROPE: Kosovo Clashes

Seven people were hurt in clashes between Serbs and ethnic Albanians (B92) in the city of Mitrovica in northern Kosovo. Separately, police said they arrested twenty people (B92) following a protest against the EU presence in the capital city of Pristina.

Italy: The European Court of Human Rights ruled that an Italian police officer who killed an anti-globalization protester in 2001 acted in self-defense (BBC). The officer shot 23-year-old Carlo Giuliani, a protester at the G8 summit in Genoa, after Giuliani attempted to throw a fire extinguisher into the officer's vehicle. The court also awarded Giuliani's family around $60,000 in damages.

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