Democratic.net: [RED DEMOCRATICA] CFR.org Daily Brief, September 18, 2009

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September 18, 2009

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

- Changes in U.S. missile defense policy.
- UN Ambassador Susan Rice responds to Goldstone report on Gaza.
- Insurgents attack peacekeepers in Somalia.
- Indonesian terror suspect killed.

Top of the Agenda: Missile Defense Reactions

U.S. President Barack Obama laid out a new U.S. missile defense strategy that he said "utilizes technology that is both proven and cost-effective," shelving plans to build a ballistic missile defense shield in Eastern Europe.

Obama cited the new missile defense program will better protect (WSJ) U.S. allies and forces based in Europe from the threat posed by Iran's short- and medium-range missiles.

Republicans who had supported the Bush administration's missile defense program expressed dissatisfaction (Guardian) with the change. Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), who was Obama's primary challenger in the 2008 presidential elections, said the decision comes at a time when U.S. allies in Eastern Europe are "increasingly wary of renewed Russian adventurism."

Responding to the U.S. policy change, NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said NATO and Russia should consider combining their missile defense efforts (AP).

Russian envoy to NATO Dmitry Rogozin said Russia is abandoning plans (Reuters) to deploy new missiles in the Kaliningrad enclave now that the United States has scrapped its missile shield plan.

Analysis

CFR's James Lindsay says Obama's decision to alter missile defense plans makes sense from a military standpoint but the president faces challenges in selling the strategy to Americans.

The New York Times says the new U.S. missile defense plans might not actually satisfy Russia's objections.

Background

A CFR Backgrounder looks at U.S. missile defense.

The full text of Obama's speech announcing the change of policy is available here.

A fact sheet from the White House outlines U.S. missile defense policy.

The Los Angeles Times has a Q&A on the policy shift.

MIDEAST: Protest in Iran Turns Violent

A march in solidarity with the Palestinians in Tehran became an opposition protest and turned violent (AP) when demonstrators reportedly clashed with police and political hard-liners . The four top opposition leaders joined the protest, against warnings from Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Gaza: U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice rejected a UN commission's recommendation (WashPost) that the UN Security Council oblige Israel and Hamas to conduct investigations into war crimes committed during last winter's military conflict in the Gaza Strip.

In a New York Times op-ed, Richard Goldstone, chair of the UN commission on the Gaza conflict, defends his citation of Israel for war crimes.

Yemen: A government airstrike in northern Yemen reportedly killed at least eighty people (NYT), many of whom were civilian refugees. The government has been engaged in a month-long conflict with Houthi rebel forces. Human rights groups condemned the airstrike.

SOUTH AND CENTRAL ASIA: Suicide Attack in Pakistan

A suicide attack in a market near the northwest Pakistani town of Kohat has killed at least twenty-five people (Nation) and wounded at least thirty-five. It was the second attack in the area in two days.

Drone: A U.S. drone attack reportedly killed (Nation) Najmiddin Kamolitdinovich Jalolov, a leader of the Islamic Jihad Union and an Uzbek native, and Ilyas Kashmiri, an al-Qaeda militant, in northwest Pakistan.

Sri Lanka: At least five thousand displaced people that the Sri Lankan government said it sent home last week remain in transfer camps (Reuters). Lynn Pascoe, head of the UN political affairs department, toured several camps for the displaced while in Sri Lanka to urge the government to return them home faster.

PACIFIC RIM: Indonesian Militant Killed

Malaysian-born terror suspect Noordin Muhammed Top was killed (Jakarta Post) in an Indonesian special forces raid. Noordin, who was reportedly affiliated with the Jemaah Islamiyah militant group, is believed to have been behind July suicide attacks (al-Jazeera) at the Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels in Jakarta that killed nine people and injured more than fifty others.

Australia: Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd warned Indonesia against relaxing its fight against Islamic militancy, saying Jemaah Islamiyah and al-Qaeda remain "alive and well." (Australian)

A CFR Backgrounder looks at Jemaah Islamiyah.

AFRICA: Suicide Attack in Somalia

A suicide attack on a compound of the African Union peacekeeping force in Somalia (AMISOM) killed at least nine people (Garowe), including a top AMISOM commander . Islamic militant group al-Shabaab claimed responsibility for the attack.

CFR profiles al-Shabaab in this Backgrounder.

Gabon: More than two-dozen opposition candidates from last month's presidential elections in Gabon are challenging the results (AP) of the elections in court, citing "grave irregularities and fraud." Ali Bongo, son of the late leader Omar Bongo, was declared winner of the August election with 42 percent of the vote.

AMERICAS: U.S.-Cuba Mail Service Reconsidered

Officials from the United States and Cuba met in Havana to discuss normalizing direct mail (CBS News) between the countries. The service was discontinued in 1963 following the imposition of the trade embargo on Cuba. President Barack Obama renewed the embargo earlier this week.

Canada: A member of Canada's parliament introduced a bill that would allow U.S. and other war resisters to stay in the country if their objection to military service is due to sincere moral, political or religious discomfort (Toronto Star) . The bill would amend Canada's Immigration and Refugee Protection Act.

EUROPE: PM Berlusconi Calls for Withdrawal from Afghanistan

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said Italy will withdraw its troops (al-Jazeera) from Afghanistan "as soon as possible" after a suicide bomb attack killed six Italian soldiers in Kabul. At least ten Afghan civilians were also killed in the attack.

Spain: A Spanish National Court judge issued international arrest warrants (Deutsche Welle) for three alleged former guards at Nazi concentration camps during World War II. The men, all in their mid 80s, are charged with complicity in genocide and crimes against humanity.

TRANSNATIONAL: Swine Flu Vaccine Supply

The United States will share 10 percent (AP) of its swine flu vaccine supply with countries "that will not otherwise have direct access to the vaccine," U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice said . The United States is working with Australia, New Zealand, and several European countries on a vaccine sharing initiative.

In an interview with CFR, expert David Fedson says faults in the global distribution system for flu vaccine will leave many developing countries underequipped to confront the H1N1 pandemic.

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