Thẻ: World affairs

Council on Foreign relations – Daily news brief Nov. 28, 2022

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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. 

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Council on Foreign Relations – Daily news brief, Nov. 21, 2022

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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.
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Council on Foreign Relations: Daily newsbrief Nov. 15, 2022

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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.
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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.
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Council on Foreign Relations – Daily news brief Nov. 14, 2022

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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.
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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.
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Council on Foreign Relations -Daily News Brief, Nov. 3, 2022

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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.
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Council on Foreign Relations: Daily news brief, Nov. 2, 2022

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November 2, 2022
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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.  
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Council on Foreign Relations – The World This Week October 21, 2022

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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
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Council on Foreign Relations – Daily news brief Oct. 21, 2022

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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.
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Council on Foreign Relations – Daily news brief Oct. 10, 2022

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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.
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Council on Foreign Relations – Daily news brief Oct. 7, 2022

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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). 
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Council on Foreign Relations – Daily news brief Oct. 5, 2022

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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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Council on Foreign Relations – The World This Week September 30, 2022

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Waiting for Thermidor: America’s Iran Foreign Policy Ray Takeyh and Reuel Marc Gerecht

A member of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps waves the Iranian flag during a rally in downtown Tehran. Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto/Getty ImagesThe Islamic Republic of Iran may be on an accelerated schedule for revolutionary decay, at least if compared to the USSR. Read the opinion
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Council on Foreign Relations – Daily news brief Sept. 29, 2022

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Putin Announces Plan to Annex Four Ukrainian Regions

Russian President Vladimir Putin will sign a decree to annex (FT) the Ukrainian regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia tomorrow, a Kremlin spokesperson said. This major escalation in the war in Ukraine comes after Moscow orchestrated votes, widely denounced as a sham, for the regions to join Russia. The regions compose some 15 percent of Ukrainian territory.
Russia’s annexation will be the largest forceful takeover of European territory since World War II, according to the Financial Times. The United States and European Union plan to impose new sanctions over the annexation, Reuters reported. Yesterday, military leaders from over forty countries met in Brussels (NYT) to plan long-term military support for Ukraine. 
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Council on Foreign Relations – Daily news brief Sept. 27, 2022

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Moscow Admits to Problems in Military Mobilization as Russians Protest, Flee Draft

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov has admitted to errors (NYT) in Russia’s ongoing military draft as protests against it erupt nationwide and men flee the country by the tens of thousands. While Moscow originally said only men with military experience would be required to fight in Ukraine, draft officers have attempted to conscript (FT) a broader group. Peskov blamed local officials for the problems. 
Ethnic minorities appear to be disproportionately targeted (Moscow Times) in the draft. Yesterday, a man shot and wounded a recruitment officer at a draft office in Siberia. Since last Wednesday, an estimated 261,000 men have fled the country, independent Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta reported, citing official sources. 
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