Just Foreign Policy News
October 21, 2010
Britain‘s Budget Cuts – Will the Bell Toll For Us?
Failure to cut military spending in Britain will mean draconian cuts in domestic spending, the New York Times reports. Their fate will likely be ours if we don’t get serious about cutting the military budget. But we can’t get serious about cutting the military budget until we end the war in Afghanistan. By dithering about peace talks – excluding Pakistan and key Taliban leaders – the Pentagon is threatening your Social Security check.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-naiman/britains-budget-cuts–wi_b_771570.html
FCNL: Put the Pentagon Budget on the Table
Urge those who seek to represent you to support cuts to the military budget.
http://www.capwiz.com/fconl/issues/alert/?alertid=18902746
Nago Resolution demands retraction of Japan-U.S. agreement to relocate Futenma within Okinawa
On October 15, the city assembly of Nago, Okinawa, demanded the retraction of the agreement to relocate the US base within Okinawa, as demanded by public opinion in Okinawa. The resolution was addressed to President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton.
http://peacephilosophy.blogspot.com/2010/10/nago-citys-resolution.html
Beverly Bell: Surviving in Haiti
A survey of camp-dwelling families by the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti found that in more than half of the families, the children went at least one entire day in the prior week without eating at all; 44% primarily drink untreated water; 78% live without enclosed shelter.
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/10/21-8
Help Support Our Work
Your donation helps us educate Americans and create opportunities to advocate for a just foreign policy.
https://www.justforeignpolicy.org/donate
Summary:
U.S./Top News
1) Pakistan is apparently being excluded from Afghanistan-Taliban talks, an exclusion analysts warn could jeopardize prospects for peace in Afghanistan, the Los Angeles Times reports.
2) An AP report that largely cast blame on Republican Senator Tom Coburn for the holdup of $1.15 billion the US promised for Haiti reconstruction was wrong, IRIN reports. [The aid coalition InterAction and Foreign Policy also reported that the AP report was wrong, links below. Democracy Now, Jon Stewart, and Keith Olbermann had echoed the AP report – JFP.] Coburn placed a hold $500 million, but is not holding up the $1.15 billion. That money was approved by Congress in legislation signed by Obama on 29 July. The spending of that money has been waiting on the State Department to report to congressional committees on how it will be spent and overseen. Senator Coburn has nothing to do with the obstruction of this money, IRIN says.
3) Settler leaders and anti-settlement advocates said hundreds of units are under construction in dozens of settlements, the New York Times reports. "They suspect another freeze is coming and they are running to build," said Hagit Ofran of Peace Now. The UN special envoy for Middle East peace issued a statement condemning the new West Bank building. "Renewed settlement construction, which is illegal under international law, runs contrary to the international community’s repeated appeals to the parties to create conditions conducive to negotiations," the statement said.
4) Craig and Cindy Corrie got their first chance Thursday to hear from the man who drove the bulldozer that killed their daughter Rachel, AP reports. But they were denied a chance to confront him face-to-face in an Israeli courtroom, as the former soldier testified from behind a partition. The trial is to resume Nov. 4.
5) A health official said an outbreak of cholera was to blame for dozens of deaths in Haiti in recent days, AFP reports. Health officials said earlier that at least 50 people had died from acute diarrhea. Aid agencies have voiced fears for months that any outbreak of disease could spread rapidly due to the unsanitary conditions in the makeshift camps housing the homeless, with little access to clean water.
6) President Obama said he had no objection to Venezuela developing nuclear power for civilian energy purposes, after Venezuela and Russia signed a nuclear cooperation deal, AFP reports. "We have no incentive nor interest in increasing friction between Venezuela and the US, but we do think Venezuela needs to act responsibly," Obama said. "Our attitude is that Venezuela has rights to peacefully develop nuclear power," he said, adding that as a signatory of the NPT, it must also meet its obligations not to weaponize.
Afghanistan
7) A report in the Independent on the NATO offensive in Kandahar contains an allegation that forces participating in the operation used civilians as human shields, a war crime. Mahmoud Dawood, a farmer, claimed he was taken home to fill sandbags as participating forces turned his home into a firing point. "They made us walk in front," he said, "so if there was a mine we’d hit it." [The Independent account isn’t specific as to whether they were Afghan government or NATO forces – JFP.]
Israel/Palestine
8) A two year old girl diagnosed with leukemia died in Gaza after Israeli authorities refused her permission to enter Israel for emergency treatment, Physicians for Human Rights-Israel reports. PHR-Israel demanded an inquiry into those responsible and reiterated its demand that Israel fulfill its obligations by ensuring Gazans full and timely access to medical treatment unavailable in Gaza.
Iran
9) Turkey has rebuffed a U.S. effort to persuade it to scale back its trade ties with Iran despite a persistent U.S. lobbying campaign, the Los Angeles Times reports. A Turkish deputy prime minister told reporters that Turkish companies remained "free to make their own decisions" about whether to comply with U.S. and European sanctions aimed at cutting off trade with Iran. [Since they are unilateral US and European sanctions, rather than UN Security Council sanctions, they are not binding on Turkey – JFP.] Turkey’s "failure to comply" with the sanctions is a threat to their success, the LAT says. Turkey receives about a third of its energy from Iran, and their trade is especially important to impoverished areas of Turkey along the border with Iran.
Iraq
10) US influence has so dwindled in Iraq that Iraqi lawmakers and political leaders say they no longer follow Washington’s advice for forming a government, AP reports. "The Iranian ambassador has a bigger role in Iraq than Biden," said a prominent Kurdish lawmaker, Mahmoud Othman. U.S. officials initially encouraged the Iraqis to form a government quickly, but recently started pushing for a slowdown after it became apparent that a party led by Muqtada al-Sadr was poised to play a major role. The U.S. clearly hopes to stall the formation of a new government long enough for the deal to unravel between al-Maliki and al-Sadr, the LAT says. But the days of the U.S. calling the shots in Iraq are long over.
Colombia
11) The Colombian Agriculture Ministry announced that the US plans to give $30 million over three years to support the restitution of lands to displaced persons in Colombia, according to Colombia Reports. More than four million Colombians are thought to have been displaced by the armed conflict.
12) The IMF is encouraging Colombia to consider the use of capital controls to stop the appreciation of the peso, Dow Jones reports. The central bank chair said that so far "we have come to the conclusion that it’s not justified" to impose capital controls, but if the benefits outweigh the costs in the future, capital controls could be imposed. [A recent piece by Kevin Gallagher in the Financial Times noted that provisions of the US-Colombia trade agreement could obstruct the ability of Colombia to use capital controls – JFP.]
Contents:
U.S./Top News
1) Pakistan left out of Afghan-Taliban talks, official says
‘We are out of the loop,’ a senior Pakistani security official says. The exclusion could endanger ties between Washington and Islamabad and ultimately doom the peace effort, analysts say.
Alex Rodriguez and Laura King, Los Angeles Times, October 21, 2010
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-afghan-talks-20101021,0,3119366.story
Islamabad/Kabul – With talks accelerating between the Afghan government and portions of the Afghan Taliban leadership hiding in Pakistan, the Pakistani government appears to have been brushed aside, an exclusion that analysts warn could dramatically worsen Islamabad’s already fragile relationship with Washington and Kabul and jeopardize prospects for peace in Afghanistan.
A senior advisor to Afghan President Hamid Karzai indirectly confirmed Wednesday that some Afghan Taliban leaders based in Pakistan were in talks with the Afghan government. "The ones who have the power and the authority are not the ones who are here in Afghanistan, so you can conclude from that where they are from," the aide said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
[…] Though Karzai has long had tense, rocky relations with Islamabad, he said this year that Pakistan would play a vital role in any talks with the Taliban. Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari’s government has repeatedly stated that it would welcome the role of facilitator in such talks. Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said Sunday in Brussels that though Afghanistan must lead the talks, "we are there to help."
But a senior Pakistani security official said Wednesday that Pakistan has not been involved in any talks between Kabul and Pakistan-based Taliban leaders. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter. "We have no information whatsoever about these talks and who is participating. We are out of the loop," the official said. "If we can facilitate, [the Afghans] first have to determine what kind of help is required…. They’ll have to tell us what our role is."
A policy of going ahead with peace talks without Pakistan’s involvement, or even consent, could alienate Islamabad and ultimately endanger the potential success of those talks, experts say. "If Pakistan isn’t involved, it will again think that the U.S. is an unreliable ally that has bypassed it," said Talat Masood, an Islamabad-based security analyst and former Pakistani army general. "They could express their unhappiness by throwing out the whole process of cooperation."
Another Pakistani security analyst, retired Brig. Javed Hussain, said that leaving Pakistan out of talks probably would doom the chances for success, because Pakistan, particularly its Inter-Services Intelligence agency, exercises a large measure of control over Afghan Taliban leaders based in Pakistan. Without Pakistan’s acquiescence, Hussain said, Afghan Taliban leaders aren’t likely to go along with any peace proposal. "I don’t think the Taliban would agree to a full-scale settlement without Pakistan," Hussain said.
[…] Pakistan has long-standing bonds with Taliban leaders that date to the 1980s, when many of them were CIA- and Pakistani intelligence-backed Afghan mujahedin fighting the Soviet invasion. It has not taken action against Afghan Taliban commanders in Quetta or Haqqani militants in North Waziristan, despite repeated urgings from Washington to do so. Moreover, Islamabad sees its relationship with the Afghan Taliban as a valuable hedge against the desire of India, Pakistan’s nuclear archrival to the east, to expand its influence in Afghanistan.
[…] Even if Pakistan hasn’t been involved in early rounds of talks, experts doubt that it would remain on the sidelines for very long. Karzai understands the crucial role Islamabad would play in talks with the Taliban because of the influence Pakistan maintains over the insurgents’ leaders, analyst Hussain said.
"Karzai knows that without Pakistan involvement, he will not be able to reach an agreement with the Afghan Taliban," Hussain said. "He knows that without Pakistan, he won’t be able to make a move. He has no hold over the Taliban. Pakistan has a long relationship with the Taliban. Everyone knows it."
2) Funding: Unravelling the conundrum of US aid to Haiti
IRIN (UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs), 21 October 2010
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportID=90835
Also:
http://www.interaction.org/article/confusion-around-delay-us-financial-assistance-haiti
New York – In reporting that "not a cent" of the US$1.15 billion the US promised for Haiti reconstruction at the UN donors’ conference in March had reached the stricken nation, the Associated Press largely cast the blame on a single senator – Tom Coburn, a conservative Republican from Oklahoma who had objected to a minor provision in the legislation that authorized the spending.
Coburn had "anonymously pulled" the legislation until his concerns could be addressed, the wire service reported on 28 September, and the senator was swiftly vilified by prominent liberals for sacrificing the poor of Haiti on the altar of his ongoing campaign for fiscal prudence. Comedian Jon Stewart called him an "international a**hole of mystery", for placing a "secret hold" on the bill. MSNBC broadcaster Keith Olbermann said Coburn was "committing an atrocity against the people of Haiti and doing so in the name of ‘We the People’ of the United States."
It is true that Coburn has placed a hold on much-needed funds for Haiti – $500 million in fact – but he is not holding up the $1.15 billion that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton promised to a round of applause at the UN donors’ conference.
That money was included in a supplemental spending bill that passed both houses of congress, after months of bureaucratic back and forth, and was signed by President Barack Obama on 29 July 2010. The Obama administration had asked congress for a total of $2.8 billion for Haiti assistance, but the final version of the legislation (H.R. 4899, P.L. 111-212) included a total of $2.93 billion for Haiti. The money was divided into three categories: $1.642 billion was earmarked for relief; $1.140 billion for recovery and reconstruction (the money Clinton promised); and $147 million for diplomatic operations, according to a Congressional Research Service report on 6 August 2010.
As of September, the US Agency for International Development (USAID) reported that more than $1.1 billion of the $1.642 billion for Haiti relief had been spent since the earthquake. But the $1.140 billion for recovery and reconstruction has remained in the US treasury because the vast proportion of this assistance cannot be disbursed until the secretary of state reports to various congressional committees on exactly how the money will be spent and how its oversight will be managed. Senator Coburn has nothing to do with the obstruction of this money.
According to a state department spokesman, Clinton has just begun the process of meeting the requirements set by the legislation. The administration "is still working with the appropriate committees on these issues," he said. "We have been conducting numerous briefings on the Hill to ensure coordination and consultation." In the meantime, the US government has reprogrammed "approximately $300 million for Haiti’s initial recovery phase… to lay the foundation for long-term sustainable development." He added: "We expect to start obligating our reconstruction assistance soon."
In responding to the outcry that his hold generated, Coburn pointed out that it was the Obama administration that was responsible for the delay in reconstruction funds, pointing to the tangle of "executive branch bureaucracy" for the hold-up. "Despite the fact that more than 10 weeks have passed since this bill was passed into law, the secretary of state appears to have fulfilled that condition only this week," he wrote on 7 October.
But this does not change the fact that Coburn is holding up $500 million intended for Haiti, part of a different piece of legislation, the Haiti Empowerment, Assistance, and Rebuilding Act, which passed the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on 25 May. The Oklahoma senator had two objections to the bill. He believes that the creation of a senior policy coordinator to advise and coordinate US policy would duplicate tasks already undertaken by the US ambassador to Haiti. He also says the $500 million in the legislation "must be paid for with cuts to lower priority programmes elsewhere within the federal government’s bloated $3.7 trillion annual budget."
[…]
3) In West Bank, Israeli Settlers Quickly Return to Building
Ethan Bronner, New York Times, October 21, 2010
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/22/world/middleeast/22mideast.html
Jerusalem – Less than four weeks since the end of Israel’s building freeze in the West Bank, hundreds of units are under construction in dozens of settlements there, settler leaders and anti-settlement advocates said Thursday.
Foundations have been dug for 300 units and work is under way on a couple hundred more, they report, many of them in smaller settlements that would be most unlikely to remain as part of Israel in any future two-state deal with the Palestinians.
Hagit Ofran, who monitors settlement construction for Peace Now, a group that opposes it, said she was preparing a report showing that in at least 36 settlements, especially in smaller ones, intensive building was under way.
"They suspect another freeze is coming and they are running to build," she said in a telephone interview. "This is also about selling and money, not only ideology. There is less government building and much more private building in areas that received approval a long time ago and where there is demand."
In the largest settlements, where government approval to break ground is required, building has resumed at a slower pace, she said.
[…] Robert H. Serry, the United Nations special envoy for Middle East peace, issued a statement condemning the new West Bank building. "Renewed settlement construction, which is illegal under international law, runs contrary to the international community’s repeated appeals to the parties to create conditions conducive to negotiations, and will only further undermine trust," he said. "We continue to strongly support efforts to create conditions for the resumption of successful negotiations."
[…] Between 2006 and 2008, 3,000 units were built per year, according to Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics. And 3,000 units were also built in the past year, grandfathered in before the freeze started.
Counting units with foundations – 300 so far – the rate is somewhat higher than in recent years.
[…] The Associated Press did its own count of housing starts in the West Bank since the end of the freeze and found that a total of 544 units were being built. It did not use foundations as a criterion for inclusion.
[…]
4) Slain US activist’s parents face Israeli driver
Tia Goldenberg, Associated Press, Thursday, October 21, 2010; 12:16 PM
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/10/21/AR2010102101060.html
Haifa, Israel – The parents of an American protester crushed to death by an Israeli military bulldozer in the Gaza Strip got their first chance Thursday to hear from the man who drove the vehicle that killed her.
But they were denied a chance to confront him face-to-face in an Israeli courtroom, dashing a central goal of their civil lawsuit against Israel’s Defense Ministry. The unidentified former soldier was shielded behind a wood-and-plastic partition, and his testimony about the events leading up to 23-year-old Rachel Corrie’s death floated into the hall over a microphone.
"I wish I could see the whole human being," Cindy Corrie said before the testimony began, her voice shaking. She and her husband, Craig, traveled from their home in Olympia, Washington, to hear his testimony.
[…] The driver was questioned for more than four hours, often saying he did not remember what happened.
Asked about the deadly incident, the driver said, "I started pushing with the bulldozer and I felt a heavier than usual load so I started reversing." He said he had no recollection of Corrie because there were many people at the site.
The Corries were seated between translators about 15 feet (5 meters) from the driver. "I haven’t heard one moment of remorse, and to me, that’s one of the saddest things," Cindy Corrie said during a break in the proceedings.
The family has criticized the Israeli military investigation and lobbied U.S. officials to pressure Israel to reopen it.
[…] Hearings in the case began earlier this year. The trial is to resume Nov. 4.
5) Cholera outbreak behind Haiti deaths: health official
AFP, October 21, 2010
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gqz5M_K-NzCurU42tsF3xbXuelHQ
Port-au-Prince – An outbreak of cholera was to blame for dozens of deaths in Haiti in recent days, a health official said Thursday.
"The first results from the lab tests show that there is cholera, but we don’t know which type," an official from the public health ministry told AFP, asking to remain anonymous. "The government and the health authorities are meeting at the moment and an announcement will be made," he added.
Health officials said earlier that at least 50 people had died from acute diarrhea and hundreds were being treated in local hospitals as laboratory tests were carried out to determine the cause of the illness. The outbreak of illness was outside the capital, which was ravaged by a devastating 7.0 earthquake in January, leaving more than 250,000 people dead and another 1.2 million homeless.
Cholera is transmitted by water but also by food that has been in contact with unclean water contaminated with by cholera bacteria. It causes serious diarrhea and vomiting, leading to dehydration. With a short incubation period, it can be fatal if not treated in time. The World Health Organization says on its website that "cholera is an extremely virulent disease. It affects both children and adults and can kill within hours."
Aid agencies have voiced fears for months that any outbreak of disease could spread rapidly in Haiti due to the unsanitary conditions in the makeshift camps housing the homeless, with little access to clean water.
[…]
6) Obama backs Venezuela’s right to nuclear energy. AFP
AFP, October 19, 2010
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5i3WO121oD2jhd7lwupEQPgDMa4MQ
Washington – US President Barack Obama said Tuesday he had no objection to Venezuela developing nuclear power for civilian energy purposes, days after Caracas and Moscow signed a landmark deal.
"We have no incentive nor interest in increasing friction between Venezuela and the US, but we do think Venezuela needs to act responsibly," Obama told Spanish media at the White House. "Our attitude is that Venezuela has rights to peacefully develop nuclear power," he said, adding that as a signatory of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty it must also meet its obligations not to weaponize those systems.
[…]
Afghanistan
7) Nato surge on Taliban stronghold drives civilians into the line of fire
Julius Cavendish, The Independent, Thursday, 21 October 2010
As troops step up their attack on the militants’ Kandahar heartland, Julius Cavendish meets the ordinary people caught on the frontline http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/nato-surge-on-taliban-stronghold-drives-civilians-into-the-line-of-fire-2112278.html
The first eyewitness accounts of Nato’s assault on the final Taliban sanctuary threatening Kandahar City have begun to emerge, painting a picture of sporadic fire fights, steady progress by Afghan and coalition forces, and flight by those inhabitants wealthy or lucky enough to escape the violence.
Earlier this week, Nato began its final and critical phase of a major offensive designed to clear Kandahar, the spiritual home of the Taliban, with hundreds of troops carrying out an air assault on the main insurgent base in the region. In interviews with The Independent, tribal elders, government officials and civilians in Kandahar City provided vivid descriptions of special forces night raids and Nato’s bombardment of the area in the preceding month – designed to damage the local Taliban leadership – and the tactics the insurgents used to cow inhabitants before fleeing in the face of coalition firepower.
Mahmoud Dawood, a 35-year-old farmer from the western tip of the Horn of Panjwaii, the area Afghan and Nato forces are trying to take, described how he was woken last Thursday night by explosions in a neighbouring village. Suddenly the blasts came closer, and the silhouette of an Afghan commando appeared in his open door. "There was a bright white light and a voice said in Pashto ‘Stand up’," he said.
"They took me, my brother and our neighbours" to a prison they’d established in a hamlet called Saidan, he added. Dawood claimed to be one of 66 prisoners held there, a figure confirmed by a local elder. The district governor, Haji Baran, confirmed that he had intervened to help secure the release of many of the prisoners following the weekend assault on the peninsula.
After being questioned and having biometric data taken, Dawood claimed he was taken home to fill sandbags as they turned his home into a firing point. "They made us walk in front," he said, "so if there was a mine we’d hit it."
[…]
Israel/Palestine
8) Delayed Exit of a Toddler from Gaza Results in Death
Physicians for Human Rights – Israel, October 20th, 2010
http://www.phr.org.il/default.asp?PageID=190&ItemID=875
Nasma Abu Lasheen died on Saturday, October 16, 2010 in Gaza. Israel failed to issue her an urgent entry permit for life-saving medical treatment at Ha-Emek Medical Center in Afula, Israel. She was two years old.
Abu Lasheen, a young resident of Gaza diagnosed with Leukemia, was referred for emergency treatment in Israel on October 6, 2010. When requests to the Israeli Army for an entry permit went unanswered for several days, by way of B’tselem, the family contacted Physicians for Human Rights- Israel (PHR-Israel) for additional help. That very same day, on October 13, 2010, PHR-Israel contacted the Gaza District Coordination Office (DCO) demanding a permit be issued immediately to the baby and her father to enable their entry into Israel. A military approval was finally granted the next afternoon, October 14, 2010.
Abu Lasheen’s medical condition had been deteriorating rapidly and by the time the permit was received, the treating doctor in Gaza, Dr. Mohammad Abu Sha’aban, said she was too sick to travel. Nasma died in the early morning hours of October 16, 2010.
PHR-Israel immediately lodged a complaint with the head of the Israeli DCO, demanding an immediate inquiry into those responsible for the delayed response.
Abu Lasheen’s death comes just days PHR-Israel testified to the Israeli Turkel Commission which investigates the Flotilla incident, on the humanitarian situation in Gaza Strip as a result of Israel’s closure policy. In their October 13th testimony, PHR- Israel pointed to the rising numbers of Gaza patients denied exit for treatment in hospitals outside the Strip, a phenomenon that has intensified since Israel’s tightened closure took effect June 2007. PHR-Israel emphasized that for the patients, a delayed or non-approved permit could mean the difference between quality of life and preventable pain and suffering, and in many cases, even the difference between life and death, as demonstrated by the Abu Lasheem case.
PHR- Israel calls on the Israeli authorities at Erez Crossing to investigate those responsible for delays involved in Nasma Abu Lasheen’s case. PHR- Israel reiterates its demand that Israel fulfill its obligations vis-à-vis the residents of Gaza by ensuring them full and timely access to medical treatment unavailable in the Gaza Stip.
Iran
9) Turkey rebuffs U.S. pressure to slash trade with Iran
A top Turkish official says in the U.S. that Turkish firms are ‘free to make their own decisions’ about complying with sanctions aimed at cutting off trade with Iran over its nuclear program.
Paul Richter, Los Angeles Times, October 21, 2010
http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-fg-turkey-iran-20101021,0,6885916.story
Washington – Turkey has rebuffed a U.S. effort to persuade it to scale back its trade ties with Iran despite a persistent U.S. lobbying campaign this week in Washington and Ankara.
Ali Babacan, a Turkish deputy prime minister, told reporters in Washington on Wednesday that Turkish companies remained "free to make their own decisions" about whether to comply with U.S. and European sanctions aimed at cutting off trade with Iran.
[…] Turkey is a major trading partner with its neighbor to the east, and its failure to comply with the sanctions is a threat to their success. Turkey’s prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, said last month that his country wanted to triple its trade with Iran.
The Obama administration this week mounted a major effort to bring Turkey in line. The Treasury Department’s point man on Iran sanctions, Stuart Levey, visited Ankara, the Turkish capital, on Wednesday to urge Turkish officials to cooperate in the sanctions effort, even as American officials in Washington offered to broaden U.S.-Turkish trade ties.
Yet Babacan, a founding member of Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party, said Turkish businesses would be unwise to break off ties to Iranian firms when many European, Chinese and Russian companies "are still doing quite a big business with Iran and finding open doors."
Babacan, though acknowledging that the Iranian economy is coming under "more and more pressure," said he doubted whether Iran’s leadership, which had faced decades of sanctions, would fold.
Turkey receives about a third of its energy from Iran, and their two-way trade, valued at more than $10 billion, is especially important to impoverished areas of Turkey along the border with Iran.
[…]
Iraq
10) US influence has so dwindled in Iraq that leaders no longer follow American advice on gov’t
Lara Jakes, Qassim Abdul-Zahra, Associated Press, 1:53 PM PDT, October 21, 2010
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-ml-iraq,0,4231436.story
Baghdad – American influence has so dwindled in Iraq over the last several months that Iraqi lawmakers and political leaders say they no longer follow Washington’s advice for forming a government.
Instead, Iraqis are turning to neighboring nations, and especially Iran, for guidance – casting doubt on the future of the American role in this strategic country after a grinding war that killed more than 4,400 U.S. soldiers.
"The Iraqi politicians are not responding to the U.S. like before. We don’t pay great attention to them," Shiite lawmaker Sami al-Askari, a close ally of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, said Thursday. "The weak American role has given the region’s countries a greater sense of influence on Iraqi affairs."
Vice President Joe Biden, the administration’s point man for Iraq, has doggedly lobbied Iraqi leaders, both on the phone and in six trips here over the past two years.
Iraqis, however, measure U.S. influence largely by its military presence, which dipped by threefold from the war’s peak to 50,000 troops in late August. As a result, Baghdad is now brushing off U.S. urgings to slow-walk a new government instead of rushing one through that might cater to Iran.
"The Iranian ambassador has a bigger role in Iraq than Biden," said a prominent Kurdish lawmaker, Mahmoud Othman. He said the Americans "will leave Iraq with its problems, thus their influence has become weak."
[…] Othman said the lengthy impasse, despite heavy U.S. pressure to form a government that includes all of Iraq’s major political players, shows that Baghdad doesn’t really care what Washington wants.
"Yes, the Americans have their view on how to form an Iraqi government," Askari agreed. "But it does not apply to the political powers on the ground and it is not effective."
U.S. officials initially encouraged the Iraqis to form a government quickly, but recently started pushing for a slowdown after it became apparent that a party led by anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr was poised to play a major role.
The U.S. clearly hopes to stall the formation of a new government long enough for the deal to unravel between al-Maliki and al-Sadr, whose hardline Shiite followers are close to Iran.
But the days of the U.S. calling the shots in Iraq are long over – largely because of President Barack Obama’s intent to scale back America’s presence more than seven years after the invasion which ousted Saddam Hussein’s Sunni-led regime.
That’s led Iraqi leaders to reach out to Mideast neighbors for support and advice on brokering a new government. Leaders from rival political coalitions in the last several months have been to Iran, Jordan, Egypt, Syria and Saudi Arabia on official visits. On Thursday, al-Maliki was in Ankara to meet with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
[…]
Colombia
11) US to give $30M for Colombia land restitution.
Greg Haugan, Colombia Reports, Tuesday, 19 October 2010 18:12
http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/12462-united-states-to-give-us30-million-to-support-land-restitution-in-colombia.html
The United States plans to give $30 million over three years to support the restitution of lands to displaced persons in Colombia, announced the Colombian Agriculture Ministry.
The ministry said the money was promised by U.S. ambassador to Bogota Peter Michael McKinley and would be delivered through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAid).
"We support the efforts of the current government for the restitution of land and the strategy for improving marketing of agricultural products and productive efficiency" said Ambassador McKinley, according to a ministry press release.
The government of President Juan Manuel Santos recently submitted a proposal to Congress for restoring approximately 500,000 hectares per year until 2014 to displaced families. Authorities have already begun returning land seized by paramilitaries, although increased security is needed for those benefiting from land restitution, say human rights defenders.
More than four million Colombians are thought to have been displaced by their nation’s 50-year armed conflict. Most of Colombia’s internal refugees were forced from their land by violence committed by guerrillas or paramilitary groups.
12) Colombia central bank rules out capital controls.
Darcy Crowe, Dow Jones, Tuesday, 19 October 2010 16:25
http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/economy/12457-colombia-central-bank-rules-out-capital-controls.html
The Colombian central bank moved to dispel the possibility that it could soon impose capital controls to cool off the peso, which has surged this year fueled by foreign investment in the country’s mining and oil industries.
Central bank chairman Jose Dario Uribe said Tuesday that "until this moment we have come to the conclusion that it’s not justified" to impose capital controls.
Uribe said the central bank weighs the costs and benefits of imposing capital controls. If the benefits outweigh the costs in the future, capital controls could be imposed, Uribe said.
The comment came after a presentation by Nicolas Eyzaguirre, director of the International Monetary Fund’s western hemisphere department, in which he defended the use of capital controls as a policy option to halt excessive currency appreciations.
"It’s hard to envision the Colombian peso depreciating against the dollar," Eyzaguirre said in a conference. "Colombia needs to get used to a strong currency," he said. Eyzaguirre added that if some macroeconomic conditions are met, such as fiscal discipline and a free-floating currency system, countries like Colombia should consider using capital controls.
There’s been recurrent speculation that Colombia could resort to capital controls to stem the appreciation of the peso, which has gained more than 12% this year against the dollar.
The country went through a major appreciation of the peso two years ago despite the central bank attempting to restrain the currency’s climb with the imposition of capital controls.
At that time, the central bank imposed capital control rules trying to curb foreign investment in Colombian stocks and bonds. The measure failed to restrain the peso and the central bank lifted the controls in late 2008.
[…]
–
Robert Naiman
Just Foreign Policy
www.justforeignpolicy.org
Just Foreign Policy is a membership organization devoted to reforming US foreign policy so it reflects the values and interests of the majority of Americans.