Friday, December 18, 2009

[RED DEMOCRATICA] CFR.org Daily Brief, December 18, 2009

 

From the Council on Foreign Relations

December 18, 2009

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

- Leaders count down on Copenhagen deal.
- Iran upgrades its centrifuge models.
- South Korea sends North Korea aid.
- Guantanamo detainees repatriated to Yemen.

Top of the Agenda: Copenhagen Countdown

Negotiators at Copenhagen worked (NYT) through the night to deliver a draft political agreement on climate change as dozens of heads of state and high-level ministers arrived for the last day of deliberations. Thursday's meetings showed signs of hope that a meaningful deal would be reached, since China slightly shifted its position on international monitoring and the United States pledged to help poor countries cope financially with climate change. Meanwhile, negotiators worried about the talks ending in failure due to the number of disagreements China and the United States have not yet reconciled.

On Thursday, China's Vice Foreign Minister He Yafei reiterated China's opposition to an international monitoring regime, but he said his country would consider voluntary "international exchanges" of information on its climate program. U.S. President Barack Obama, who arrived in Copenhagen for Friday's meetings, urged (AP) China in a plenary session to agree to include monitoring in the final accord. He said, "We must have a mechanism to review whether we are keeping our commitments, and to exchange this information in a transparent manner...These measures need not be intrusive, or infringe upon sovereignty...They must, however, ensure that an accord is credible, and that we are living up to our obligations. For without such accountability, any agreement would be empty words on a page."

Analysis

The Washington Post says that the draft political statement presented to Obama and other heads of government outlines several general goals but falls short on the specificity needed for a final deal.

In the National Post, William Watson says leaders at Copenhagen will come up with a deal to sign, but he hopes it was actually worked out weeks ago behind closed doors rather than at the last minute overnight.

Background

Agreement on deforestation may be one of the few concrete deals to come out of Copenhagen's climate talks. This CFR Backgrounder examines deforestation and its impacts.

MIDDLE EAST: CIA-Palestinian Ties

The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency is cooperating with Palestinian security agencies who allegedly torture Hamas supporters in the West Bank, the Guardian reports.

Iran: Iran says the country is making more efficient models of centrifuges for its nuclear program and will start using them in early 2011, a sign that it continues to defy (AP) UN demands to halt its enrichment program.

PACIFIC RIM: South Korea Aid to North Korea

South Korea sent (Yonhap) five hundred thousand swine flu vaccines to North Korea, the first bout of humanitarian aid to the north in two years.

Cambodia: Former Cambodian president Khieu Samphan has been charged (Reuters) with genocide during a UN-backed war crimes trial.

SOUTH AND CENTRAL ASIA: Pakistani Arrest Warrant

Pakistan's Interior Minister Rehman Malik faces (Dawn) arrest on corruption charges after Pakistan's Supreme Court overruled immunity from graft charges for thousands of officials

India: Mohammed Ajmal Kasab, accused of taking part in the deadly Mumbai attacks in 2008, retracted (al-Jazeera) an earlier confession that he opened fire on people during the attacks.

AFRICA: Somali Pirates

The European Union will free (BBC) thirteen suspected Somali pirates who are being held on a Dutch warship because it failed to find a country that wants to prosecute them.

Liberia: The UN Security Council exempted (Reuters) the government of Liberia from an arms embargo it put on the country six years ago after the country's civil war.

AMERICAS: Guantanamo Detainees

The Obama administration plans to repatriate (WashPost) six Yemenis held at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, sparking fears that Yemen will be unable to monitor and rehabilitate them properly.

Mexico: Mexican drug lord Arturo Beltran Leyva and six of his loyalists died (LAHT) in a shoot-out with Mexican marines in Morelos, Mexico.

EUROPE: Greek Credit Rating

Greece attacked (FT) Standard and Poor's for failing to correctly assess its new plan to tackle its troubling budget deficit after the rating agency downgraded Greece's long-term sovereign debt.

Germany: German Chancellor Angela Merkel will appear (DeutscheWelle) before a parliamentary committee investigating September's lethal Kunduz airstrike in Afghanistan to answer questions on how much she knew about the strike.

 

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