Tuesday, December 1, 2009

[RED DEMOCRATICA] CFR.org Daily Brief, December 1, 2009

 

From the Council on Foreign Relations

December 1, 2009

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

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

-Obama issues troop surge orders.
-Dubai and Abu Dhabi stock prices continue to fall.
-Bank of Japan announces new stimulus plan.
-Latin America and United States differ on Honduran election.

Top of the Agenda: U.S. Troop Surge Decision

U.S. President Barack Obama issued orders (NYT) to send about thirty thousand additional American troops to Afghanistan. He will address the nation Tuesday night to outline the county's Afghan strategy. In the evening address, Obama will discuss how he intends to pay for the plan and the timeframe for winding down U.S. involvement in the war. U.S. special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke was dispatched to Brussels Tuesday to begin briefing NATO and European allies on the strategy. Obama spent Monday calling allied leaders, including French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who said France would not commit more troops. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Monday that Britain would send 500 additional troops to Afghanistan in early December.

The president plans to ask NATO (WashPost) and other partners to contribute an additional 5,000 troops to reach the forty thousand requested by U.S. General Stanley McChrystal. The new troops will be sent in stages starting in January, with the option of delaying or canceling deployments depending on the performance of the Afghan government. According to Brown, who addressed parliament Monday, the strategy calls for "transfer of lead security responsibility to the Afghans--district by district, province by province--with the first districts and provinces potentially being handed over during the next year," depending on "the Afghans being ready."

The Afghan troop announcement will prompt an immediate political fight with Congress over how to pay for it, the Wall Street Journal reports. Many congressional Democrats have already opposed the pending troop increase, while some are proposing a war tax to help fund the conflict.

Analysis

In a Wall Street Journal op-ed, Fouad Ajami says Barack Obama is losing support in the Arab-Islamic world, an indication that this sector's public attitudes toward America are endemic and could not be radically changed by Obama's ascendancy.

On the Daily Beast, CFR's Leslie Gelb looks into the details of Obama's Afghanistan troop strategy, declaring that the president's expected plan to commit approximately thirty thousand troops is "reasonable" and "deserves the support of the American people."

Background

In this CFR interview, four experts explore the threat posed by the al-Qaeda-Taliban relationship and the changing nature of their murky ties.

MIDDLE EAST: Dubai Debt Crisis

Stock prices continued to fall (al-Jazeera) in Dubai's and Abu Dhabi's markets Tuesday despite assurances from the United Arab Emirates about the strength of the country's economy.

Iran-UK Sailors: The chief of staff to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Esfandiar Rahim-Mashaie, says Iran will take serious measures (BBC) if the five Britons detained by the Iranian navy are found to have "evil intentions".

PACIFIC RIM: Japan Deflation

The Bank of Japan announced a new stimulus plan (Xinhua) Tuesday to tackle its deflation problem and address concerns over the strengthening yen, which has hurt Japan's export industry.

China: China and the European Union issued a joint statement (GlobalTimes) Monday following the twelfth China-EU Summit, vowing to facilitate trade and investment to promote a green economy.

SOUTH AND CENTRAL ASIA: Sri Lanka Camps

Sri Lanka's government says it plans to allow (al-Jazeera) more than 120,000 Tamil civilians to return home from state-run detention camps since the government's victory over Tamil Tiger fighters earlier this year.

Pakistan: A suicide bomber killed an anti-Taliban provincial lawmaker (Dawn) who was receiving guests at his home in Pakistan's Swat Valley.

AFRICA: UN Sanctions in Congo

The UN Security Council extended its arms embargo and sanctions (UNNews) in the Democratic Republic of Congo for another year and expanded the scope of sanctions to include mineral sales.

Sudan: Millions of voters could be left out of Sudan's election (Reuters) next April, the country's first in twenty-four years, because of authorities' failure to persuade more people to register to vote.

AMERICAS: Honduran Political Crisis

Honduran cattle rancher Porfirio Lobo apparently won the Honduran presidency (MercoPress), according to exit polls and preliminary results, but many Latin American countries said they will not recognize the result because ousted President Manuel Zelaya, who boycotted the ballot, must first be reinstated. The United States announced its support for the election Sunday.

EUROPE: Lisbon Treaty

The European Union's Lisbon Treaty comes into force Tuesday (BBC), as do its new leadership positions: the president of the European Council and a head representative on foreign affairs.

Greece: With the highest national debt in the European Union, a contracting economy, and unemployment levels reaching 9 percent, Greece is increasingly likely to plunge into bankruptcy (Guardian) in the wake of Dubai's debt crisis.

TRANSNATIONAL: Energy and the Environment

In a new Heritage Foundation paper, co-founder of environmental nonprofit SOS California Bruce Allen argues that offshore oil and gas production can benefit, rather than harm, the economy and the environment.
 

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