September 8th, 2008 By SWARAAJ CHAUHAN, International Columnist
After three days of acrimonious debate, the 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group meeting at Vienna lifted the 34-year-old embargo on nuclear trade with India.
“An India-specific exemption from the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) was won only after a flurry of phone calls from President George W. Bush and secretary of state Condoleezza Rice to leaders of a handful of countries opposed to the deal, reports The Tribune.
“Given the time and energy it has invested into the civilian nuclear agreement, the Bush administration now expects something in return: that India will not immediately approach other NSG member states with its nuclear shopping list and disadvantage US businesses, which must wait to begin such commerce until the deal is approved by the US Congress.
“By winning the approval of the NSG, India is free to proceed with individual nuclear commerce agreements with all other NSG members other than the United States. There appears to be no written assurance between the two sides that India must wait before US firms can also compete for nuclear orders…” More here…
Another report adds: “New Zealand and several other countries had expressed fears over granting a waiver to India, which has not signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.” More here…
September 7th, 2008 By SWARAAJ CHAUHAN, International Columnist
Asif Ali Zardari’s decisive victory in the Pakistan’s presidential election, despite media allegations about corruption and the state of his mental health, proves that the political leadership in Pakistan has clearly opted to hand over the reigns of power to the late Benazir Bhutto’s husband.
Zardari won by a convincing 481 out of a possible 702 votes in the electoral college made up of members of the national and provincial parliaments. The Australian notes that “only Punjab, Pakistan’s biggest province and the stronghold of his political adversary, former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, held out against him, voting instead for Sharif’s preferred candidate, retired judge Saeed-uz-Zaman Siddiqui.
“Vowing to pursue Bhutto’s philosophy and vision, he recalled her words that ‘democracy is the best revenge’ and pledged that ‘this president will be subservient to parliament’.
“Democracy is widely seen as the real winner in the weekend poll, with even Mr Sharif conceding that the fact a presidential election was held without army interference represents progress in Pakistan.
“Even the legions of disaffected Bhutto loyalists who view Mr Zardari’s ascent to the highest office of the land with dismay appear to accept it.” More here…
Another report says that the newly-elected President Asif Ali Zardari was plunged headlong into his first major crisis last night after angry Pakistani officials cut off vital supply lines serving the US-led NATO force fighting in Afghanistan. But later reports said that the supply route was being reopened following an appeal to Mr Zardari by US officials. More here…
What some people call ‘victory in Iraq’ often looks alot more like a slap in the face.
According to this news item from Iraq’s Azzaman newspaper, the Iraqi government has decided - at Iran’s urging - to give the rights to one of Iraq’s largest oil fields to China’s state-owned oil firm, according to the article, making it ‘harder for American companies to exploit Iraqi oil.’
“A source in the Oil Ministry said that the deal is worth about $3 billion and would generate $6 billion over the next ten years. The source went on to say that the cost to retrieve each barrel [from the field] would be about $6. Well-informed Iraqi sources revealed that the decision to allow China to exploit the field comes in the context of Iranian government pressure and mediation, urging Iraq to grant oil exploitation rights to Chinese and Russian companies and to deny U.S. companies access to Iraqi oil and energy.”
Let me preface what I’m about to say by telling you that I am a fan.
Your knowledge of public issues is encyclopedic and your insights into the major challenges facing the United States today are fascinating.
Although partisan Republicans and Democrats may look askance at you for having served President Clinton after having served Presidents Reagan and Bush 1, I’ve always admired your willingness to use your considerable talents in service to country irrespective of an individual president’s party.
Last night though, you frankly perturbed me. You were talking about concerns you had about the Republicans’ nomination of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin for Vice President. There are, of course, legitimate concerns that can be raised about Palin. While her experience as an administrative decision maker surpass those of Senator Barack Obama, her resume admittedly has “thin” areas. And she has no experience in foreign policy.
But you expressed concern that Governor Palin hadn’t been to many other countries, stating that this, in effect, marked her as one lacking curiosity about the world. You went on to say that Harvard University and the University of Oklahoma, among other institutions, are today encouraging their undergraduate students to spend time living in other countries as a means of becoming well-rounded persons in a world dealing with globalization.
I’m glad that colleges and universities are doing that, David, and had I been able to afford going overseas back during my undergraduate days or for most of my life, I would have loved to have done just that.
But you see, David, while going to college full-time at The Ohio State University and later to Trinity Lutheran Seminary for graduate work leading to ordination as a pastor, I worked between twenty and thirty-five hours a week. When, during my sophomore year, the opportunity arrived for me to do a study tour of the former Soviet Union, I looked at my bank book and decided that, though I would have truly loved to have made the trip, I couldn’t afford it.
As the years have rolled on, though I have served three different congregations, I’m told capably, averaging working 60-hours a week, while my wife has worked roughly the same number of hours, foreign travel hasn’t fit in with our family budget.
I doubt that my experience is rare. It isn’t that I have ever lacked curiosity about the world or that I haven’t wanted to understand other cultures and peoples. In fact, I’ve always been deeply curious about the world. But as a member of the lower middle class, I knew that travels to other places would necessarily be in that category called “hopes deferred.”
I was forty-six before I had the chance to take my first trip abroad. The high school choir in which our two kids performed went to England for a ten-day concert tour. My wife and I went as chaperones. A year-and-a-half later, after a lot of scrimping and saving of the income my wife and I gained from my income as a pastor and her full-time job as a school librarian and part-time work as a Hallmark Store clerk, my daughter and I visited her pen pal in Germany. I had the privilege of preaching during worship in a Lutheran congregation in Schleswig-Holstein where I was able to tell folks, in December 2001, how grateful we Americans were for their prayers, support, encouragement, and love. While there, we also went briefly to Denmark.
That was the last foreign excursion I took and I dearly hope that one day, I can visit places like Namibia, for which I was an advocate–through the Free Namibia Emphasis of the former American Lutheran Church–when the apartheid regimes in South Africa held it by the throat. I hope to visit France, whose language I learned in high school and whose artwork, cathedrals, and countryside I want to see. I want to go to Japan, with its industrious people and fast-pace. I hope to go to Israel, where I believe Jesus lived, died, and rose. I want to see for myself what Palestinians, Zimbabweans, Russians, and others perceive about our world and see what they experience each day.
But all of those hopes will have to await more opportune times. For now, I strive to inform myself of the life of the world beyond US shores and interact with as many folks from other places as I can.
That may not pass muster with you, David. It may mark me as one lacking curiosity. But my circumstances will admit of no foreign travel for awhile.
From what I’ve learned of Sarah Palin over the past several months, I surmise that her background is a lot like mine and a lot like that of many Americans. Nose to the grindstone, living each day, working to educate themselves and later, to provide for their families, they can’t always hop on a jet to visit or spend a year in other places, much as they might want to do so.
Your comment, whether intentional or not, was elitist, David. It wasn’t worthy of you.
I’m still a fan, by the way. You can’t be right all the time. I know that from personal experience.
September 2nd, 2008 By SWARAAJ CHAUHAN, International Columnist
Well, the media has begun to scream about the mental health of the would-be president of Pakistan, Asif Ali Zardari. We are told that he is not only corrupt but is “mad” too. Pray tell us which leader in the world is sane and not corrupt??? Maybe the “corrupt” and the “mad” are better equipped to rule us all in the present times!!!
Last night, Japan’s “new” Prime Minister became their Ex-Prime Minister. More:
Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda announced on Monday night that he would resign, abruptly ending his chronically unpopular government after just a year and leaving Japan’s governing party scrambling to find fresh leadership ahead of crucial national elections.
Fukuda’s surprise announcement, made at a hastily called news conference, stunned Japan and appeared to plunge the world’s second largest economy into further political confusion.
Although there is no official word on who will be the next Prime Minister, Business Week and the Guardian both believe that the front-runner is Liberal Democratic Party Secretary-General Taro Aso.
Although little is expected to change in terms of policy — the ruling party has not changed — one never knows, particularly with elections in the lower house of the Diet (their lawmaking body) next year. If the goal is to reposition the party to maintain control, all bets are off.
For many in the world, the opening ceremonies of the Beijing Olympic Games encapsulated the changes at the top of the global political food chain. As the pageantry and power of China gripped the world, conflict in the Caucuses seems to have overturned what we used to call the ‘New World Order.’ According to Germany’s former foreign minister Joschka Fischer, American and Russia need one another - and as long as the two remain at each other’s throats, the main global beneficiary is China.
The unease in Europe is palpable - even if Americans by and large remain blissfully ensconced in the U.S. presidential election and coverage of Hurricane Gustav.
“China not only won first place among participating nations; with its presentation of these Games it demonstrated to the entire world its progress and its power. … With his Iraq policy, George W. Bush maneuvered the West into its first strategic impasse. The U.S. has dissipated its power and credibility, so that finally - if all goes well! - it will leave behind a status quo that is difficult to sustain and leaves Iran as the new hegemonic regional power. Bush’s political legacy is a confrontation between the West and the Islamic world, the end of which is not yet in sight. …
“Many will benefit from America’s disaster in Iraq, but not the West nor the cause of human rights and democracy. One regional beneficiary is Iran, but the global winner is China. While the United States, the leading Western power, fritters away its credibility and power in the so called “war on terror” - read: against large portions of the Islamic world - China grows strong in the wake of its strategic foolishness. … Now the West is in danger of maneuvering into another impasse: a confrontation with Russia over the Caucasus. And to this as well, little grief will be felt in Beijing.”
And touching on the U.S. Presidential campaign, Fischer warns:
“The United States will soon choose a new President, and election campaigns are seldom characterized by strategic clarity. We’ll have to wait and see how much campaign rhetoric and how much strategic conviction is expressed by the candidates. As an observer, however, one can’t avoid the impression that a tendency toward a confrontation with Russia prevails. If this comes about, the political and strategic folly of the Iraq War will be multiplied many times over.”
William Kern, from our “competing” site “Worldmeets.US” reports on an August 29 article in the Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf, how “the Dutch intelligence service has halted a very successful operation to ’sabotage’ Iran’s weapons program due to an imminent American attack that would have put its activities and personnel at risk.”
(I say “competing” in a friendly way, because I translate Dutch and Spanish articles for Worldmeets.US’ competition, WatchingAmerica.com)
Anyway, I found the story very interesting and somewhat alarming. While I found no updates in the Dutch press over the weekend, I did find that there is an awful lot of “chatter” on the subject in Dutch blogs.
The following are some translated passages from one of those blogs.
The site “Argusoog” reports in detail on “Operation Brimstone” from a few weeks ago, a joint U.S., U.K. and French naval exercise in the North Atlantic, “as preparation for a naval blockade against Iran, which will probably lead to war in the Persian Gulf.”
It also reports:
At the end of May, the U.S. Senate accepted legislation where it was proposed to block the Persian Gulf. This would under international law be seen as a declaration of war. We can see this as intimidation to elicit an attack from Iran. As today’s news in De Telegraaf tells us, it looks like NATO itself will initiate the attack…Would the present administration in Washington attack Iran? Before November 4, when a new president will be elected?
The post then discusses recent U.S.-Russia tensions:
The recent entry into the Black Sea of 15 NATO navy ships, with an additional 15 ships on the way. Russia’s recent initiative to send its naval ships to the Mediterranean, where the Russians now have a naval base at the Syrian port of Tartus.
Venezuela’s plans to shortly receive the visit of a Russian fleet, coinciding with the visit of Russian president Medvedev.
Russia’s declaration that it will arm its ship-launched ballistic missiles with nuclear warheads as a response to the U.S. building of the “missile shield” in Europe and NATO’s involvement in its conflict with Georgia.
The Belgian publication HLN.Be in its Flemish edition reports tomorrow on Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez giving Russia the “green light” for the future transit of Russian military ships and aircraft via Venezuelan territorial waters and airspace. Chavez reportedly pointed to the “strategic alliance” between his country and Russia.
According to the publication, Chavez says:
Russia is a strategic partner of Venezuela, and everyone needs to know this…If Russian aircraft need a Venezuelan airport to refuel, they are welcome.
Either the Dutch press is being overly alarmist and sensationalist, or we have been too engrossed in our presidential races and, just very recently, too focused on the immediate and rising threat of hurricane Gustav, to notice other rising threats and dangers.
For future translations of such Dutch and other European press reports, keep an eye on WatchingAmerica.com
According to Friday Morning’s Edition Of The Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf, the Dutch intelligence service has halted a very successful operation to ’sabotage’ Iran’s weapons program due to an imminent American attack that would have put its activities and personnel at risk.
“The Dutch Intelligence Service AIVD [Algemene Inlichtingen- en Veiligheidsdienst or General Intelligence and Security Service ] has in recent years been running a top secret operation inside Iran with the aim of infiltrating and sabotaging the weapons industry of the Islamic republic.
The operation, described as being extremely successful, was recently discontinued in connection of plans for an imminent U.S. air strike on Iran. Well-informed sources have told De Telegraaf, some of the targets of the strike are directly linked to the Dutch espionage operation.”
Even as all eyes turn to the impending storms in the south with their possible impact on the upcoming Republican convention, and lips are flapping over Sarah Palin’s nomination, it is worth remembering the unfolding story on the Russo-Georgian border. No matter who next occupies the West Wing, they will need to step into the office with an effective, comprehensive plan for dealing with an increasingly complicated situation in Eastern Europe.
In the early 1300’s, the medieval version of Georgia was ruled by King George the Brilliant. Recouping losses incurred by Queen Rusudan’s disastrous appeasement of the Mongols, he restored the nation’s earlier borders and regained access to the Trebizond coastal area on the Black Sea. This was accomplished using a clever balance of alliances in a historically volatile part of the world. Recent events along the Russian border demonstrate the current dearth of brilliance and the penalties modern Georgians may expect to pay.
Russia’s pace of egress from Georgia was uncertain, yet the withdrawal seemed inevitable from the outset. The Kremlin will fall back to their own lands with residual forces perched in the disputed territories of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. This protracted exit may provide a window of opportunity for pensive reflection and analysis by pundits, U.S. government officials and presidential candidates alike. Among each of these classes we have observed a rattling of sabers combined with what seems to be a nostalgic desire to revisit the bad old days of the cold war, with an easily defined evil empire. Georgia provides an all too convenient damsel in distress, chained outside the cave of the Russian bear with plaintive wails for rescue rising on the morning breeze.
Tempting though the analogy may be, the roles of the actors might be hard to define, and slaying the beast may provide unwelcome trophies. Georgian President Saakashvili’s methods since his ascension to power have certainly called his democratic bona fides into question, and his ham-handed attempts at triangulating the United States against Russia’s interests in the region have doubtless left some in the current administration with a growing sense of buyer’s remorse.
Paul Saunders, a Bush surrogate and executive director of the Nixon Center, wryly noted, “it wouldn’t matter to Georgia’s president whether the United States was a democracy, a theocracy or ruled by Martians so long as he could use Washington to change the dynamics of Georgian-Russian relations.”
Calls for Russia’s departure have abounded, along with suggestions that they be expelled from the G8, excoriated by more properly civilized nations and, ideally, drawn if not quartered. Such admonitions came quickly from Republican candidate John McCain, followed by a more reluctant, though equally bellicose response from the vacationing Barack Obama. One of the few voices of caution and diplomacy, surprisingly, came to us from Libertarian hopeful Bob Barr, who questioned the cost vs. benefit analysis of prodding the Russian bear with America’s few remaining sticks.
Such prudence might be well advised, as demonstrated by the jaw-dropping timing of Secretary Rice’s announcement that our next missile defense batteries would be in the keeping of Poland and the Ukraine. The Kremlin responded with an even greater lack of enthusiasm than was demonstrated for our earlier plans in the Czech Republic, declaring that such installations might well be the target of full scale military attacks. The dreaded nuclear option was even invoked in their harangue, leaving little doubt as to who they feel is the true big dog on the Eastern European block.
Summoning France’s president to the principal’s office to settle down the warring parties was another fractured brick in an already crumbling wall. While the new administration in Paris carries a more “Bush Friendly” brand, the international community has not forgotten the now infamous Freedom Fries incident. President Medvedev certainly struggled to contain a smile when letting the French mediate the matter rather than some envoy from the Beltway.
In the end, America and her NATO allies have likely learned a valuable lesson regarding the viability, wisdom and intentions of Eduard Shevardnadze’s replacement. The Georgian leader may have been similarly enlightened as to the full extent of the West’s commitment to his administrative longevity. Putin – with his presidential proxy in tow – has played some strong cards and found the West unwilling to go all in against a potential royal flush.
Russia and China find themselves in the enviable position of being power players in an increasingly complicated muddle with Iran and Venezuela, fully aware of America’s overextended military position on other fronts. Our next president will lack the luxury of treating Russia like some kicked dog in the ruined backyard of the former Soviet Union, with discretion and diplomacy trumping rumbling rhetoric.
This brings us to the question which should be put to American hawks: why would Putin wish a return to a failed and economically untenable Soviet Union when a more compact and manageable Tsarist hegemony would be far more desirable? And if there is to be fresh Russian royalty in Eastern Europe, perhaps a modern version of courtly intrigue would prove more efficacious than American armies trundling across the Caucasus Mountains.
“Long divided between Obamistas and Clintonites, the Pepsi Center arena in Denver definitively shook Wednesday night, in one of those theatrical political coups the Americans are so fond of. … Barack Obama leaves the convention in Denver with the keys to the Democratic Party. He has 67 days to convince Americans to give him the keys to the country.”
“Osama bin Laden has never lived in the Americas, but thanks to the slaughter he directed on September 11, 2001, he became the most important U.S. elector by triggering Bush’s rise in the polls. … The greatest vote-getter that McCain could hope for would be if bin Laden would allow himself to be captured or if he carried out another massive attack.”
“Osama, however, must be wondering whether a victory for Obama would be more dangerous to him than one by McCain, since the African-American will give the United States a new image and get the U.S. out of Iraq to concentrate on hunting down and capturing him.”
Russia turned to its fellow members in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (formed to build relations between China and former Soviet republics) for backing in its actions against Georgia and specifically in its recognition of the separatist regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.The member states of the SCO are Russia, China, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan. States with “observer” status are India, Iran, Pakistan and Mongolia. (Bloomberg) Eurasia.Net predicted that Russia would find “succor” in the East. Didn’t quite go that way. Condemned by its fellow G8 members (BBC 8-27-08) and looking for support from its fellow SCO members, Medvedev seems to have met mainly with shrugs.
August 28th, 2008 By JOE GANDELMAN, Editor-In-Chief
Tensions are rising between Russia and the European Union as the EU talks of possible sanctions — and Russia pointedly tests a new intercontinental missile.
At issue: Russia’s invasion of Georgia and the larger issue of whether Russia now intends to clamp down on what goes on in its neighborhood, whether those in its neighborhood like it or not. The BBC reports:
EU leaders are considering sanctions “and many other means” against Russia over the Georgia crisis, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner has said.
But he said he hoped the matter would “be solved by negotiation”.
Moscow’s military action in Georgia and its recognition of independence for rebel regions has angered the West.
At a key summit, Moscow’s Asian allies have not followed suit in recognising independence but Russia’s president says he has their “understanding”.
There’s a reason besides a military one that explains why the EU is treading lightly: every day Russia pumps 1.2 million barrels down the Druzhba pipeline to fuel Europe — and it’s economy. But the EU’s exploring sanctions signals that, more than ever in recent years, Russia is now facing diplomatic isolation.The White House issued a statement saying it was “premature” to talk of sanctions.
Meanwhile eyebrows have been raised over Russia’s new missile test, coming as the threat of sanctions was raised and several other events that were likely displeasing to Moscow:
Despite at times being disappointed that our nation isn’t living up to its promise, most Americans - left, right and center - regard this country as the greatest in the world. But how often do we hear such sentiments from the foreign press, let alone the Middle East or even Israel?
“Many believe that today, as a new global system forms, China, Brazil, India, Russia and China have an undeniable role to play. … The tremendous economic growth of these powers does come along with political influence. … But can we expect these countries to exercise the role that the United States plays at the global level, or in clearer words: Do these countries possess the audacity to forcefully intrude on international affairs, like the United States does?”
“America’s great generosity and sacrifice, both in money and in lives, is well-known. No nation in history has offered its sons to death and drained its coffers for the sake of others the way the United States of America has. ‘Courageous intrusion’ requires a spirit that stands apart from industrial growth or agricultural development. Today’s newly-industrial states don’t presently have this spirit, nor will they have it in the future. Because such a spirit requires so much money and so many souls that if any of these nations had such courage, its coffers would quickly be emptied and its economy would collapse, never to rise again.”
“Russia is dying with desire to be what it hates most - a new America. An America which goes to war in Iraq without U.N. backing; An America that punishes Serbia; and an America that is godfather of the new state - Kosovo. ‘Europe is part of the periphery’ said a Russian MP. Russia has begun to imagine itself as a rising superpower confronting a declining America. The Russian media, entirely controlled by the Kremlin, has been feeding its readers with propaganda about new Russian grandeur.
“Russian MP Serguei Markov, a political scientist attached to the Kremlin, said that the signal to begin military operations had been given personally by Dick Cheney, and that Russia was at war against America - the only rival worthy of the new rival Russian power.”
“Despite the disclosure of some of the contents of the Convention, there is much that remains unknown to the Iraqi public. Since no harm would result if Iraq’s government made the contents of the draft-Convention public before it is finalized, that is exactly what it should do. That would be in the interest of creating a national consensus and would show the Iraqi people how the agreement is compatible with their own aspirations. It would also allay the fears of those who oppose the deal, even though many of these people were opposed to the agreement even before its first letters were written.”
He also writes that an agreement on a U.S. withdrawal remains elusive, that the Iraqi government has too many officials confusing the public by offering differing views of the agreement.
August 26th, 2008 By MICHAEL STICKINGS, Assistant Editor
I’m being facetious, of course. But she’s apparently on her way to war-torn Georgia, if she isn’t there already.
“McCain has been a staunch supporter of Georgia in that country’s clash with Russia, and sending his wife there underscores his commitment,” notes the AP. “It also could deflect attention from Michelle Obama’s convention speech in Denver as the Obama campaign seeks to introduce the family to voters.”
Really.
McCain may be a staunch supporter of Georgia, but he’s also a stupid one, rooted firmly in Cold War politics, talking tough with nothing to back it up but his own unstable temperament, pushing policies bound to aggravate Russia and drive a wedge into the heart of U.S.-Russian relations.
And now Cindy’s off to do what? Broker peace? Smile for the cameras and pretend she has a clue?
This is politics, nothing else, with the clear intention of undermining Michelle Obama: While she’s giving a speech, it will be said, Cindy McCain is off risking her manicure life in a dangerous foreign land. McCain may or may not care about Georgia, but he certainly cares about his political fortunes, and, as always, he’s willing to do anything, and take advantage of any opportunity, even sending his wife over to Georgia for a photo-op, to score points.
The media will no doubt give him a free pass — and Cindy, too (see Time, for example, which presents her as a courageous do-gooder unmotivated by political considerations) — because they always do, but the real McCain is fully in evidence here: dangerously wrong on policy, shamelessly opportunistic on politics.
He’s just grasping for attention this week. Try to ignore it.
President Dmitry Medvedev has declared that Russia formally recognises the independence of the breakaway Georgian regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
The move follows a vote in both houses of parliament on Monday, which called on Moscow to recognise the regions.
The move, in defiance of a specific plea from the US president, provoked a wave of protest from Western countries. (BBC News1)
As we in the US prepare for the organized chaos of the Democratic and Republican conventions, there is a bit of political chaos of a more serious kind taking place overseas.
In Pakistan the government coalition has collapsed with the withdrawal of the Pakistan Muslim League-N from the ruling coalition. Party leader Nawaz Sharif cited broken promises by Asif Ali Zardari’s Pakistan Peoples Party as well as other conflicts between the two groups.
At this point, most political experts think that the PPP will be able to cobble together a new ruling coalition with other minority parties so it will probably not result in new elections. But with the resignation of a President, the double suicide bombing of a secure facility and now the collapse of the ruling government, things are not well in Pakistan.
Meanwhile, in Zimbabwe, we may have seen a turn for the better as the opposition party has unexpectedly won a victory in the election for Speaker of the Parliament. By a vote of 110-98 they elected Movement for Democratic Change candidate Lovemore Moyo as speaker over a candidate of Mugabe’s ZANU-PF party.
Although they had won a majority in the recent elections there were doubts as to whether or not the opposition would be able to keep control of the legislature. Indeed two opposition members were arrested prior to entering for the vote. This election is a positive factor for democracy but will likely result in continued tensions as Mugabe tries to hold on to power.
In Russia, the parliament has voted to support Georgian rebels, declaring the breakaway provinces of Abkhazia and South Ossetia to be independent. So far neither the US or the UN have recognized the independence of these regions although both have declared de-facto independence.
This will not help in efforts to defuse the conflict between Russia and Georgia.
In Iraq however we have some positive news, or at least some hopeful news. Iraqi officials have declared that an agreement has been reached for the withdrawal of US troops by the end of 2011. Although this news has not been confirmed by US authorities, it would seem unlikely that we could ignore the demands of their government.
On another front, we may be seeing a first small step towards the end of the violence. A 13 year old female suicide bomber has turned herself in saying she did not want to die. While this is just one out of many, it is a step in the right direction.
