Friday, January 22, 2010

[RED DEMOCRATICA] CFR.org Daily Brief, January 22, 2009

 

From the Council on Foreign Relations

January 22, 2010

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

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

-China Rebuffs U.S. on Google
-Haiti Relocates Up to One Million Homeless
-Europe Frowns at Obama Bank Plans
-U.S. Announces Afghan Reintegration Plan

Top of the Agenda: China Rebuffs U.S. on Google

China rebuffed (NYT) U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's speech on Internet freedom, escalating the confrontation about China's alleged cyberattacks on Google. Clinton's speech made Internet access a central goal of American foreign policy for the first time. She said, "Those who disrupt the free flow of information in our society or any other pose a threat to our economy, our government, and our civil society." Clinton called for China to investigate Google's accusation and said the U.S. government supported Google's decision to defy the government's censorship requirements. Clinton said the administration would air its differences with Beijing cooperatively, signaling the need to work constructively on other issues such as U.S. debt owned by China and climate change.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry issued a statement (WashPost) on its website, saying: "We urge the U.S. side to respect facts and stop using the so-called freedom of the Internet to make unjustified accusations against China." Chinese newspaper the Global Times criticized Clinton's remarks, saying the U.S. "campaign for uncensored and free flow of information on an unrestricted Internet is a disguised attempt to impose its value on other cultures in the name of democracy."

Analysis:

The Financial Times says that Google's threatened withdrawal from China could hasten the online divergence between China and the rest of the world.

In the Wall Street Journal, Holman Jenkins Jr. says Google and the Obama administration have downplayed that the dispute with China is really about data security, not censorship. State-sponsored hacking can be used for espionage, economic sabotage, blackmail, and short-selling opportunities, says Jenkins.

In this Podcast, CFR's Adam Segal says the showdown between Google and the Chinese government could result in a world of separate regional Internets and comes at a difficult time in U.S.-China relations.

Background:

This CFR Backgrounder examines media censorship in China.

AMERICAS: Obama Imposes Bank Rules

President Barack Obama's decision to impose stricter rules on the country's largest banks reflects a major shift (WashPost) in Obama's reform philosophy. Analysts say he has abandoned the principles of Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner in support of former Federal Reserve chair Paul Volcker, who has long argued for sharper checks on the financial industry.

Haiti: Haiti approved plans (NYT) to set up more than a dozen tent cities in and around Port-au-Prince to relocate up to one million people displaced by the earthquake.

MIDDLE EAST: Iraqi Elections

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani requested (LAT) that the country's supreme court rule on the legality of a ban on hundreds of candidates in the upcoming elections, potentially undermining the election's legitimacy.

Israel: Preceding talks with U.S. Middle East envoy George Mitchell, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu demanded (AP) that Israel keep troops on the West Bank's border with Jordan even if a peace deal is reached.

PACIFIC RIM: U.S. Marine Base in Japan

Critics in Washington and Tokyo blame (WSJ) left-leaning Japanese politician Mizuho Fukushima's staunch opposition to the relocation of a U.S. Marine base for tainting Japanese-U.S. relations.

SOUTH AND CENTRAL ASIA: Afghan Reintegration Plan

The United States announced plans (Dawn) to reintegrate Taliban insurgents into mainstream Afghanistan by July 2011, in line with U.S. plans to withdraw troops from Afghanistan.

Pakistan: In Islamabad, U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said the Taliban must participate in elections (NYT), not oppose education, and not assassinate local officials.

India: India's airports issued a security alert (al-Jazeera) after receiving information about a plot linked to al-Qaeda and the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba to highjack an Air India or Indian Airlines flight.

AFRICA: Somali Militants Threaten Kenya

Somalia's insurgent group Al-Shabaab accused neighboring Kenya of deploying more troops to the countries' shared border and threatened to attack (GaroweOnline) Kenya's capital, Nairobi.

Nigeria: A Nigerian federal court ordered (BBC) the Nigerian cabinet to decide within fourteen days if ill President Umaru Yar'Adua is fit to lead the country.

EUROPE: Europe Frowns at Obama Bank Plans

European banking shares dropped (BBC) following Obama's plans to curb the activities of big U.S. banks.

Turkey: Turkish police rounded up 120 people (GlobeandMail) suspected of al-Qaeda links in simultaneous raids in sixteen provinces, according to the state-run Anatolia news agency.

TRANSNATIONAL: The Big Government Pendulum

The return of big government in economies internationally will create policy debates for years, as governments struggle to cut public spending while taming surging deficits. Markets may be prone to failure, but governments have their own perverse incentives that compromise effectiveness, the Economist reports.
 

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