| Top of the Agenda International Backers Plan New Infrastructure, Military Aid for Ukraine At a conference in Paris yesterday, donor nations pledged to provide Ukraine (AP) more than $1 billion worth of financial aid and donations of health, food, and other supplies. The support aims to meet Ukraine’s humanitarian needs and help repair infrastructure damaged by Russia’s ongoing bombardment. The conference was attended (NYT) by representatives of multinational organizations and some fifty countries. In a video address, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told attendees that power outages are affecting around twelve million Ukrainians as winter arrives. Separately, U.S. officials said Washington is preparing to send Ukraine a Patriot missile defense system, while European Union (EU) finance ministers are set to approve around $19 billion in loans to Ukraine today. |
Thẻ: World affairs
Five Elections to Watch in 2023
The Water’s EdgeDecember 12, 2022
Council on Foreign Relations, James M. Lindsay
A woman casts her vote at a polling station during the 2018 general election in Rawalpindi, Pakistan. Faisal Mahmood/Reuters
Millions of people around the world voted in 2022. South Koreans narrowly elected conservative candidate Yoon Suk-Yoel president.
Viktor Orbán remained Hungary’s prime minister as his far-right Fidesz Party dominated a heavily gerrymandered election.
Emmanuel Macron won reelection in France, making him the first French president in two decades to win reelection.
Voters in the Philippines elected Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, Jr., the son of the dictator ousted from power in 1986, president.
Anthony Albanese and the Australian Labour Party won Australia’s parliamentary elections, ending nine years of Liberal Party control.
Colombians elected their first leftist president, Gustavo Petro, a former guerilla fighter. Tiếp tục đọc “Five Elections to Watch in 2023”
Why ‘Hostage Diplomacy’ Works
From China to Iran to the United States, arbitrary detention is an immoral—and often effective—pressure tactic.
By Stephen M. Walt, a columnist at Foreign Policy and the Robert and Renée Belfer professor of international relations at Harvard University.
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FEBRUARY 17, 2021, 5:44 AM
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken gave a speech on Monday in which he denounced the practice of arbitrary detention, calling it “completely unacceptable.” He’s correct, but what’s especially puzzling about this practice is that states sometimes use it even when it is contrary to their stated aims and damaging to their overall interests.
Tiếp tục đọc “Why ‘Hostage Diplomacy’ Works”Council on Foreign relations – Daily news brief Nov. 28, 2022
| Top of the Agenda Outrage Over COVID-19 Restrictions Prompts Rare Protests in China Tens of thousands of people joined demonstrations (FT) in at least ten cities across China over the weekend, at times clashing with security forces. In addition to objecting to harsh restrictions under the country’s zero-COVID policy, many protesters denounced limitations on freedom of speech and some called for Chinese President Xi Jinping to step down (NYT). The protests were sparked by a deadly fire in a locked-down area of the Xinjiang region on Friday. Demonstrators marched in urban centers and at universities, and today police patrolled areas of Beijing and Shanghai (Reuters) where the demonstrations occurred. Authorities eased some pandemic restrictions (AP) in Beijing and Guangzhou today, but did not mention the demonstrations. |
Tiếp tục đọc “Council on Foreign relations – Daily news brief Nov. 28, 2022”
Now Out of Never: The Element of Surprise in the East European Revolution of 1989
Council on Foreign Relations – Daily news brief, Nov. 21, 2022
| Top of the Agenda COP27 Ends With Landmark Deal on Loss and Damage The final deal of this year’s UN climate conference, COP27, included two historic firsts (Bloomberg): an agreement to establish a fund to help poor countries cope with climate damages, and a call for multilateral lenders such as the World Bank and International Monetary Fund to implement reforms ensuring that more of their funding addresses the climate crisis. The details of the loss and damage fund were left for future talks. Meanwhile, the communiqué left out proposed text on phasing down use of all fossil fuels, mentioning only coal. Negotiators were given an unusually short period of time to review the draft text on several major aspects of the communiqué, the Financial Times reported. After some delegates criticized the lack of transparency in negotiations, UN climate chief Simon Steill said he would review the summit process before next year’s conference to make it “as effective as possible.” |
| Analysis “The loss and damage deal agreed is a positive step, but it risks becoming a ‘fund for the end of the world’ if countries don’t move faster to slash emissions,” the World Wide Fund for Nature’s Manuel Pulgar Vidal tells the New York Times. “[The loss and damage agreement] tees up a big fight for next year’s Cop28 over who pays into and who benefits from the fund. Rich countries are pushing for China to chip in and finance to be targeted at ‘vulnerable’ countries,” Climate Home News’ Megan Darby, Joe Lo, and Chloé Farand write. This Backgrounder looks at the successes and failures of global climate agreements. |
Council on Foreign Relations: Daily newsbrief Nov. 15, 2022
| November 15, 2022 |
| Editor’s note: For the duration of the twenty-seventh Conference of the Parties (COP27), the Daily News Brief will include a special section dedicated to developments at the climate conference. |
| Top of the Agenda G20 Summit Focuses on Ukraine War A draft communiqué from today’s Group of Twenty (G20) summit in Bali, Indonesia, said “most members strongly condemned the war in Ukraine” and its consequences for the world economy, the Financial Times reported. The draft also denounced using or threatening to use nuclear weapons. Russian President Vladimir Putin did not attend the summit, while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy appeared in a video address. Deals on climate policy and funding were also announced, with the U.S. and Indonesian presidents unveiling a $20 billion plan (Bloomberg) to move Indonesia away from coal power. Ahead of the summit, Brazil, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Indonesia said they will cooperate on forest preservation (Reuters). The countries collectively contain more than half the world’s tropical rain forests. |
Council on Foreign Relations – Daily news brief Nov. 14, 2022
| Editor’s note: For the duration of the twenty-seventh Conference of the Parties (COP27), the Daily News Brief will include a special section dedicated to developments at the climate conference. |
| Top of the Agenda Biden, Xi Hold First In-Person Meeting U.S. President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping signaled an interest in improving cooperation (Nikkei) on global issues during their first in-person meeting of Biden’s presidency. The meeting lasted three hours, and they also discussed policy toward Taiwan (NYT), China’s human rights record, and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, according to a White House readout. The readout said Biden told Xi that U.S. policy toward Taiwan has not changed, and that Washington objects to Beijing’s “coercive and increasingly aggressive reactions” toward the island. The leaders spoke in Bali, Indonesia, where they will attend the Group of Twenty (G20) summit this week. Their meeting comes amid tensions related to U.S. restrictions on China’s chip sector and Chinese military drills that followed U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan in August. |
Council on Foreign Relations -Daily News Brief, Nov. 3, 2022
| Top of the Agenda Ethiopian Government Agrees to Truce With Tigrayan Rebels After two years of fighting, the Ethiopian government and rebel Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) agreed to end hostilities (WaPo), disarm, and restore “law and order,” said Olusegun Obasanjo, the Horn of Africa envoy for the African Union (AU). The AU-mediated truce has raised hopes for an end to a war that has killed tens of thousands of people and displaced millions (Reuters). The AU stepped in to mediate after a cease-fire declared by the government in March fell apart after five months. Obasanjo said the AU will monitor the implementation of the new peace deal, which stipulates that Ethiopia’s government will take control of Mekelle, the capital of the Tigray region, and that the TPLF will once again be recognized as a political party. Eritrea, which sent troops to fight alongside the Ethiopian government’s forces, was not part of the talks. |
| Analysis “This is a huge breakthrough that involved major concessions from both sides, even if the parties punted the thorniest details to future peace talks,” the International Crisis Group’s Alan Boswell tells Reuters. “If they do stop fighting, then today will just be the start of what will surely prove a very bumpy, long, and difficult peace process.” “The African Union-mediated deal in Ethiopia is important for watchers of regional organizations & world order. While too early to celebrate, AU shows the way when European regional institutions are weakening or busy fighting each other,” American University’s Amitav Acharya tweets. For the Africa in Transition blog, CFR’s Michelle Gavin explains the challenges that have hindered the AU-mediated negotiation process. |
Council on Foreign Relations: Daily news brief, Nov. 2, 2022
| November 2, 2022 |
| Top of the Agenda Seoul Fires Back After Barrage of North Korean Missile Tests North Korea fired a missile that crossed the Northern Limit Line, a maritime border with South Korea that Pyongyang does not recognize (CNN), for the first time since the 1950–53 Korean War. South Korea’s military called the launch “rare and intolerable” and responded by firing three missiles (Yonhap) into waters north of the line. North Korea’s missile was one of as many as twenty-three it test-fired into the seas off of South Korea’s east and west coasts today. The missile deployment was North Korea’s largest in a single day. The launches came after U.S.-South Korea military drills began on Monday. U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin is set to meet with his South Korean counterpart at the Pentagon tomorrow. |
Council on Foreign Relations – The World This Week October 21, 2022
| The New Nuclear Era, Richard Haass A Russian nuclear missile during the military parade in Moscow’s Red Square in 2020, marking the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II. Mikhail Svetlov/Getty ImagesThe world is on the cusp of a new era where nuclear weapons are likely to play a more prominent role. Read more on Project-Syndicate.org |
Council on Foreign Relations – Daily news brief Oct. 21, 2022
| Top of the Agenda Truss’s Departure Kicks Off Another UK Leadership Contest Lawmakers from the ruling Conservative Party in the United Kingdom (UK) will hold a preliminary vote (FT) on Monday to choose candidates to succeed Liz Truss, who announced her resignation yesterday. Party members will then choose from the final two candidates in an online poll next Friday. The victor will become the UK’s fourth prime minister in four years and take the helm of a country rattled by inflation and market turmoil under Truss’s six week tenure. Ex–finance minister Rishi Sunak, who opposed Truss’s controversial tax cuts, is expected to stand for the role. Former Home Secretary Suella Braverman, an immigration hard-liner, and former Prime Minister Boris Johnson could also join (The Economist) the race. Markets have calmed after Truss’s second finance minister reversed her budgetary plans, but the Conservative Party still trails the opposition Labour Party by around 30 percent in opinion polls. |
Council on Foreign Relations – Daily news brief Oct. 10, 2022
| Top of the Agenda Russian Missiles Strike Across Ukraine Following Bridge Attack Russia launched (FT) its most extensive air strikes on Ukraine in months after a Russian bridge was bombed over the weekend. At least ten people were killed across Ukraine, including at least five people in the capital, Kyiv. Russian President Vladimir Putin called the strikes a retaliation for Ukraine’s “terrorist attack” on a bridge linking Russia to Crimea, the Ukrainian peninsula Moscow annexed in 2014. Ukraine has not claimed responsibility for the bridge attack. The Russian strikes hit at least ten Ukrainian cities, targeting infrastructure and civilian areas. North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg called the attacks (Reuters) “horrific and indiscriminate.” Meanwhile, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said he ordered troops to deploy (Reuters) alongside Russian fighters near Ukraine. |
Council on Foreign Relations – Daily news brief Oct. 7, 2022
| Top of the Agenda Human Rights Advocates From Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine Win Nobel Peace Prize This year’s Nobel Peace Prize was awarded (AP) to jailed Belarusian rights activist Ales Bialiatski, the Russian rights group Memorial, and the Ukrainian rights group Center for Civil Liberties. Norwegian Nobel Committee Chair Berit Reiss-Andersen celebrated their work toward anti-militarism, the rule of law, and “peace and fraternity between nations.” Bialiatski founded the human rights organization Viasna and was jailed without trial following his participation in the 2020 protests against the reelection of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko. A Russian court shut down Memorial in December, and the Center for Civil Liberties has worked to document Russian war crimes against Ukrainian civilians. While Reiss-Andersen said the prize is not intended to send a message to Russian President Vladimir Putin, it is seen as an implicit rebuke of Russia’s continued onslaught on Ukraine (Reuters). |
Council on Foreign Relations – Daily news brief Oct. 5, 2022
| Top of the Agenda OPEC+ Weighs Deep Supply Cuts Despite U.S. Concerns The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and oil producers such as Russia are considering a sizable cut (NYT) in their oil output as they meet in Vienna today. The bloc and its allies, a grouping known as OPEC+, could cut production by two million barrels per day, or about 2 percent of global supply. The United States has lobbied Saudi Arabia against such a measure. Also today, European Union (EU) countries agreed (Reuters, AFP) to impose a price cap on Russian oil sales to third countries as part of a new sanctions package on Russia. The idea for a price cap was originally proposed by the Group of Seven (G7). G7 countries that aren’t part of the EU are expected to enact laws (NYT) similar to the EU’s to enforce the price cap. |
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