Posts Tagged ‘diplomacy’
MPs question overseas aid funds spent on Pope’s visit
Gold is good
MPs have asked ministers to explain why $3million from the international development budget was spent on the Pope’s UK visit in September.
They queried the “surprising” transfer from the Department for International Development (DFID) to the Foreign Office and what it was spent on…
Pope Benedict’s four-day visit in September was estimated at the time to have cost Whitehall departments $16million…
MPs on the international development select committee said they were surprised to discover the transfer…while examining DFID’s annual accounts, money the committee said was “supposed to be for overseas development aid”…
A DFID spokesman said the department was one of several which part-funded the Pope’s visit.
He added: “Our contribution recognised the Catholic Church’s role as a major provider of health and education services in developing countries…
Labour said…the government “shouldn’t be siphoning off DFID funds to subsidise Foreign Office expenditure on state visits”, said Harriet Harman, the party’s deputy leader and international development spokeswoman.
“DFID money should be to tackle poverty and global inequality, not to support Foreign Office diplomacy.”
Sounds like an appropriate criticism. Here in the states, we remain cynical over lying politicians and tame bureaucrats robbing Peter to pay off Paul.
Europe’s Odd Couple – a lesson in international politics
Daylife/Reuters Pictures used by permission
She makes fun, in private, of the way he walks and talks, of his rapid, jerky gestures and facial grimaces. He mocks her deliberation, her reluctance, her matronly caution. She has compared him to Mr. Bean and to the French comic Louis de Funès, with his curly hair and large nose. He sometimes calls her La Boche, the offensive French version of “Kraut,” and goes out of his way to give her an embrace and a double-cheeked kiss in the French fashion, the kind of contact that he knows very well, aides say, she cannot stand.
While the agonies of the European Union — sovereign defaults, deficits and bubbles — unfold like a great wonk drama, at their core is something more intimate: the fractured tale of Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy. They have been photographed across Europe giving the appearance of happy partnership. They are the best hope Europe has for continued unity. But they do not like each other at all.
As with any couple in trouble, economic difficulty has added to the strain. Two years ago, at the beginning of the crisis, Sarkozy burst out in public, saying, “France is acting, while Germany is only thinking about it!” Later, before a European Union meeting in Brussels on the Greek bailout, the French president was in a rage at his inability to persuade Merkel to do more for that country. After yelling at the E.U.’s president, Herman Van Rompuy, he threatened to boycott the meeting, muttering, according to French officials, “The Germans haven’t changed.” Later, when Sarkozy took camera crews in with him to a meeting, Merkel insisted they leave and, aides said, told Sarkozy, “I won’t let you do this to me.”
So it is not an easy relationship. But they know that they need to keep going for the sake of the kids — that is, for the sake of Europe. They have instructed their top foreign-policy advisers, Jean-David Levitte and Christoph Heusgen, both consummate diplomats, to make the relationship function. Some of the symbolism is a stretch — joint cabinet meetings, ceremonies at the Arc de Triomphe and the Berlin Wall. But there is an extraordinarily close coordination between the two staffs, and before every major European Union summit meeting, Sarkozy and Merkel hash out a joint position to take to the other 25 member states. This isn’t very democratic; it probably isn’t very pleasant either. Yet if the European Union is to function, Sarkozy and Merkel have to get along.
Taliban impostor duped those truly sharp Afghan officials
What – me worry?
A man who has been representing Taliban senior leadership in secret talks with the Afghan government appears to have been an impostor.
The man, calling himself Mullah Akhtar Muhammad Mansour, the Taliban’s second-ranking official, was exposed after another man who knows Mansour did not recognise him during a negotiation session…
The secret talks with the impostor had been going on for months and were used by senior US officials to claim progress on the diplomatic front in the Afghan war.
NATO and Afghan officials told the New York Times they held three meetings with the man, who allegedly received large sums of money to take part in the negotiations.
The fake Taliban leader, who travelled from across the border in Pakistan, even met with Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president, in the presidential palace in Kabul, the capital. He was flown to the capital on NATO aircraft…
I’ll bet the TSA would have caught him, right?
Al Jazeera’s Sue Turton, reporting from Kabul, said US officials always held suspicions about the identity of the man.
“Americans here admit that they don’t often know what these people look like; that they can only go on who they say they are because these people have been hiding and fighting this insurgency for so long,” she said.
“So they have to go on trust to a certain extent, and it seems that this particular man has managed to get away with it.”
Har!
Turkey and Brazil playing a role on the world stage
Daylife/Getty Images used by permission
The efforts by leaders of Turkey and Brazil to broker a nuclear deal with Iran reflects growing dissatisfaction with the traditional world order in which the United States is the only superpower, which they view as outdated and unjust.
And their intervention on the Iran issue reflects a growing perception among many countries that the United States is unable to resolve international conflicts alone.
The visit this week to Tehran by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was a rare show of personal, high-stakes diplomacy by a pair of world leaders.
Turkey and Brazil hailed the agreement they reached for Iran to ship some of its nuclear fuel out of the country as a major step toward resolving Iran’s years-old standoff with the West.
But it was promptly pooh-poohed by the United States, which, a day after the deal was announced, introduced a sanctions resolution to the United Nations Security Council in what was perceived widely in Ankara and Brasilia as an American snub of two close allies…
While U.S. officials were prepared to be pleasantly surprised if Lula and Erdogan were able to produce a deal that addressed all their concerns about Iran’s nuclear program, they didn’t think that it would happen and were concerned the deal would complicate efforts to pass the U.N. resolution…
India, Pakistan talks signal thaw – I hope
Daylife/AP Photo used by permission
The prime ministers of India and Pakistan agreed today to resume peace talks between their top diplomats and work toward rebuilding trust shattered by the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks that New Delhi blamed on Pakistani militants.
Officials said India’s Manmohan Singh and his Pakistani counterpart, Yousuf Raza Gilani, agreed on the need to normalise relations dogged by more than six decades of hostility since both gained independence from Britain. They deputed their foreign ministers to meet at a later date to discuss the resumption of a wide-ranging formal dialogue that began in 2004, but was suspended after the Mumbai attacks that killed 166 people.
The two prime ministers met for more than an hour in the tiny Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan, on the sidelines of a summit of south Asian leaders. It was their first meeting in eight months…
The two prime ministers “agreed that relations between the two countries should be normalised and the channels of contact should work effectively to enlarge the constituency of peace in both countries,” Nirupama Rao told reporters…
India and Pakistan have been under pressure to resume their peace dialogue – which eased historic tensions although it made little headway on the key issue of Kashmir, which they both claim in entirety and have fought two of their three wars over since gaining independence in 1947.
Overdue. I always say that. I always mean it. RTFA.
Brit politicians apologise for Pope ‘condom’ memo
The Foreign Office has apologised for a “foolish” document which suggested the Pope’s UK visit could be marked by the launch of “Benedict-branded” condoms.
The junior civil servant responsible had been put on other duties, it said.
Called “The ideal visit would see…”, the paper suggested the Pope be invited to open an abortion clinic and bless a gay marriage during September’s visit…
The UK’s ambassador to the Vatican, Francis Campbell, has met senior officials of the Holy See to express regret on behalf of the government.
The paper was attached as one of three “background documents” to a memo dated 5 March 2010 inviting officials in Whitehall and Downing Street to attend a meeting to discuss themes for the papal visit…
But it has, nevertheless, the potential to cause considerable damage. Whether fairly or not, it will leave some Catholics with the impression of a culture within official circles in which their Church’s teaching is not taken seriously.
We can only hope.
Some will suspect prejudice against faith groups. Perhaps most damaging of all, it could leave an impression that the Pope might be regarded as a figure of fun less than five months before his state visit to Britain.
It went on to propose the Pope could apologise for the Spanish Armada or sing a song with the Queen for charity.
Bet the Queen can carry a tune better than the Pope. Actually, I can’t think of anything the Pope does really well. He’s not succeeding at retaining his flock, is he, eh?
Hillary earns her stripes – Turkey and Armenia establish relations
Daylife/AP Photo used by permission
Turkey and Armenia signed a historic agreement to establish normal diplomatic relations and reopen their borders on Saturday, after a last-minute dispute over wording sent Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and other diplomats into frantic efforts to salvage the deal.
For Mrs. Clinton, nine months into her job, it was a bracing taste of down-to-the-wire, limousine diplomacy.
The arduous negotiations between the countries had been actively encouraged by the Obama administration, and with an agreement in sight, Mrs. Clinton flew to Switzerland to witness the signing as a show of American support. Instead, she found herself performing triage.
Sitting in a parked, black BMW sedan at a hilltop hotel here, with aides thrusting papers at her, Mrs. Clinton worked two cellphones at once as she tried to resolve differences between the Armenian foreign minister, Eduard Nalbandian, and his Turkish counterpart, Ahmet Davutoglu.
Mrs. Clinton continued her efforts inside with Mr. Nalbandian and then gave him a ride to the University of Zurich, where the ceremony was to be held. By her own account, she did most of the talking on the brief trip — appealing to him not to let months of talks go up in smoke.
“There were several times I said to all the parties involved, ‘This is too important, this has to be seen through, we have come too far,’ ” she recalled. Mrs. Clinton declined to describe the differences between the two sides.
RTFA.
Can you imagine this sort of traditional hard work being accomplished by the Cold Warrior morons we just shoved out of office? We all know what diplomacy on a global scale had become under the Halliburton Brothers.
After the boss called and congratulated her, she said, “It’s what you sign up for.”
Right on!
Turkey and Armenia move towards establishing national ties
Daylife/Getty Images used by permission
Turkey and its neighbour Armenia have moved closer to establishing diplomatic ties after decades of bitter mistrust on both sides.
They are to hold six weeks of domestic consultations on the move after which their parliaments will vote on it, their foreign ministries announced…
Turkey has resisted widespread calls for it to recognise the mass killing of Armenians during World War I as an act of genocide.
A roadmap for the normalisation of the relationship between the two countries was agreed in April…
The foreign ministries said the two countries had agreed to start internal discussions on two protocols: one establishing diplomatic relations and the other developing bilateral ties.
According to Reuters news agency, the Turkish-Armenian border – closed by Turkey in 1993 – will re-open within two months of the protocols coming into force.
The border was closed when Armenia exited the Soviet Union and assumed an independent political life. It’s been a spell; but, it looks like sensible relations can begin to pass between the two nations.
Venezuela and the U.S. restoring diplomatic ties
Daylife/Reuters Pictures used by permission
In a potentially significant step toward repairing their tattered relationship, the United States and Venezuela have formally agreed to resume full diplomatic relations, the State Department.
Department spokesman Ian Kelly said the two nations exchanged notes that in effect formalized pledges that President Obama and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez made at the Summit of the Americas in April to reinstall ambassadors who were expelled in September.
U.S. Ambassador Patrick Duddy and his Venezuelan counterpart, Bernardo Alvarez, soon will resume their former posts in Caracas and Washington, respectively, Kelly said. Each country’s embassy had remained open and formal relations were never fully cut.
Kelly said the move would “help advance U.S. interests” by improving communication with the Venezuelan government and citizens…
Analysts said the resumption of full diplomatic relations with Venezuela reflects the important commercial ties between the nations, the Obama administration’s desire for better Latin American relations and Chavez’s need to improve his image…
During the Bush administration, relations between the two nations were abysmal, with leaders on both sides routinely exchanging insults. But relations seemed to improve at the April summit, where Obama and Chavez exchanged friendly greetings and Chavez presented Obama with a book.
Since taking office, Obama has said he wants “a new beginning” with Latin countries and has pledged to alleviate suspicions and work cooperatively with nations in the region.
A significant chunk of my years of political [and other] activism supporting movements of national liberation took place in Latin America. I’ve long held that commerce is a better way to solve conflicts than trotting out the imperial army. Looks like a few folks in DC think so, too. Now.
O.A.S. lifts its suspension of Cuba – sort of
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After two days of intense negotiations, the Organization of American States has agreed to lift a cold war provision that suspended Cuba from the group but also accepted a list of conditions, backed by Washington, that Havana would have to meet before being allowed to return.
The compromise was a stunning about-face for the 34-nation group, which had been in what appeared to be an intractable stalemate that threatened to polarize the hemisphere.
At the grassroots level, the hemisphere has been polarized all the way back to the OAS decision to function full-time as a Washington flunky.
On one side, Washington had opposed any measure that would have ended Cuba’s suspension — imposed in 1962 — without requiring that the island nation agree to abide by the organization’s democratic principles before being allowed to return. Venezuela and Nicaragua led the opposition to any provision that set conditions for Cuba’s return…
A Latin American diplomat said that the risk of losing United States support for the organization, which gets 60 percent of its funds from Washington, weighed heavily on the group’s thinking.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity, according to diplomatic protocol.
He also didn’t want to lose his free parking spot at the U.S. Treasury.
In the end, each side claimed victory, hailing the compromise as historic, even though it was largely symbolic. The resolution, for example, says that Cuba cannot return unless it asks to, and Havana has said repeatedly it has no interest in rejoining the group, which President Raúl Castro has denounced as a tool of American domination.
Hillary’s speechwriters made the best of a mediocre piece of politics. I think it’s clear the Obama administration would like to resolve the decades of rubberstamp politics that reduced the OAS to less than a footnote to Latin American history.
Before Kennedy and the Bay of Pigs, the OAS had a small measure of respect as an independent body. They deserved it.
Congress and the CIA budgeted subservience along with policies of assault and murder from Chile and Argentina to Guatemala and El Salvador. Like so many, the OAS was bought and paid for by the American taxpayer – who paid as little attention to the process as they did the march to war in VietNam.
