UN Dispatch: Morning Coffee Archives

May 8, 2008

Wednesday Morning Coffee

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>>Myanmar - The first aid supplies are on their way to Myanmar in a UN plane as the military junta continues to drag its feet on large-scale international aid. The first shipment includes high-energy biscuits, medical kits, and tents. The World Food Program says that two more planes are expected to follow. The UN is still waiting for visas for 40 of its disaster relief experts. The U.S. embassy in Myanmar stated yesterday that the death toll could be as high as 100,000, and France's foreign minister, Bernard Kouchner, has suggested the UN bypass the junta to deliver aid, evoking the "responsibility to protect" clause.

>>Burundi - A day after the Forces for National Liberation, the remaining active rebel group, agreed to implement a peace deal, Burundi's army killed 50 FNL fighters in a gun fight outside of Bujumbura. Both sides claim they were provoked. The people of Burundi have suffered under a decade-long civil war between the Hutu majority and Tutsi minority that has left over 300,000 dead.

>>Israel - Celebrations have begun in Israel to mark its 60th anniversary. President Bush will visit next week. Palestinians, on the other hand, are holding solemn marches in the West Bank to mark the day they call al-Nakba, or "the Catastrophe." The celebrations are also overshadowed by a continuing corruption probe against Prime Minister Olmert, which prompted him to cancel the customary interviews granted to local media on independence day.

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Posted by Matthew Cordell at 8:21 AM | Comments (0)

May 7, 2008

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>>Lebanon - Gunmen supportive of Hezbollah and those of the U.S.-backed government clashed in the streets of Beirut today. Hezbollah supporters blocked the main roads with barricades made of old cars and burning tires. Yesterday the government accused Hezbollah of violating Lebanon's sovereignty by operating its own telecommunications network, which the government has said it will shut down, and installing spy cameras at the airport.

>>Chile - The once-thought-dormant Chaitén volcano in southern Chile erupted again yesterday, blasting ash and lava dozens of miles into the air. Residents living withing a 30-mile radius were evacuated, and, with the help of navy warships, moved to Patagonia. Since it began on Friday, the eruption has covered a 60-square-mile block with 15 inches of ash, destroying farmland, rendering the air unbreathable, contaminated water supplies, and making rescue efforts difficult.

>>Myanmar - As the death toll in the wake of Cyclone Nargis (damage graphic) rises to 22,500, Myanmar's military junta is experiencing increased pressure from abroad to further open its doors to international aid. The World Food Program has said that as many as a million people have lost their homes. Over 24 million people live in the declared disaster areas. A UN assessment team is still waiting on their visas. Some, including President Bush speaking yesterday in Washington, have also taken the opportunity to press on political reforms.

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Posted by Matthew Cordell at 9:04 AM | Comments (0)

May 6, 2008

Tuesday Morning Coffee

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The death toll in Myanmar is now over 22,000.

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>>Sudan - Two aid agencies have accused Sudan of bombing the village of Shegeg Karo in Darfur, destroying a primary school and a market and killing 13 people, including 7 children. Such an action would violate the UN Security Council resolution banning all offensive flying in the area. UNAMID is mobilizing helicopters to evacuate the wounded.

>>China/Japan - Hu Jintao arrived in Japan today for the first visit by a Chinese president in a decade. He will spend five days in Japan; to kill the time there is even a scheduled game of ping pong with the Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda. Last year, China became Japan's biggest trading partner, eclipsing the U.S. Controversial issues, like Japan's wartime record, Taiwan, and Japan's bid for a permanent seat on the Security Council, will be avoided, despite the fact that recent polling shows that the Japanese want their government to take a harder line on China. The big question is whether Hu will offer Japan another panda to replace Ling Ling.

>>Iran - Yesterday Iran called off a pending fourth round of talks with the U.S. that was intended to address security in Iraq. The Iranian foreign ministry spokesman said that continued talks "make no sense" as long as the U.S. continues attacks in Sadr City, a stronghold of the Shia Mahdi Army. State Department spokesman Tom Casey said, oddly, "It is meaningless to have talks on anything with Iran as long as they don't change their behavior. That said, we have continued to be willing and ready, and are willing and ready, to have additional discussions with the Iranians through this tripartite channel."

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May 5, 2008

Monday Morning Coffee

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>>Myanmar - Cyclone Nargis slammed into the Irrawaddy delta on Saturday, leaving 4,000 dead, 3,000 missing, and hundreds of thousands without shelter. The nation's military junta made a rare appeal for international assistance. Relief agencies met at the UN's offices in Bangkok to coordinate their response. Myanmar is scheduled to hold a referendum on a new constitution next week, and the government's response to the cyclone could shape that vote.

>>Iraq - According to four Shi'ite militiamen captured in Iraq and questioned separately, Hezbollah has been training Iraqi militiamen at a base near Tehran. The U.S. has made such accusations in the past, and Iran has denied those accusations. Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki announced Sunday that Iraq would launch its own investigation into the matter.

>>Somalia - Tens of thousands of people rioted today in Mogadishu over high food prices. The riot began with the refusal of traders to accept old 1,000-shilling notes, which they claim are worsening inflation.

>>Bolivia - Yesterday, Bolivia's richest region, Santa Cruz, voted overwhelmingly for autonomy in a referendum boycotted by supporters of Evo Morales. The vote, the first of four on greater autonomy for eastern provinces, is seen as a rejection of Morales's leftist reforms. Morales has said that, because of the boycott, the vote is invalid.

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May 2, 2008

Friday Morning Coffee

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Japanese whisky beats Scotch?

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>>China - Envoys from the Dalai Lama will travel to China on Saturday for informal talks. China has blamed the exiled Buddhist leader for fomenting the March 10 unrest in Tibet, which it claims was aimed at distracting attention from the Beijing Olympic Games in August. This is the seventh round of dialog between China and the Dalai Lama's envoys since 2002. While the envoys are there, they can visit Beijing airport's newly opened terminal 3 (the largest building in the world), a factory that will soon produce one in four bibles, and the world's longest sea bridge. If I were them, I'd avoid Mia Farrow though.

>>Iraq - Turkish bombers launched three hours of fierce raids on northern Iraq last night. No casualties were reported. The raids were targeting senior PKK members in Iraq's remote Qandil mountains.

>>Germany - A rally by 6,000 left-wing demonstrators to protest a rally by Germany's extreme right-wing National Democratic Party broke bad yesterday in Hamburg, as protesters set cars on fire and pelted police with bottles. Water cannons were used to quell the violence. May Day typically brings violent street protests to German cities, but these may have been the worst in years.

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May 1, 2008

Thursday Morning Coffee

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>>Somalia - Today U.S. strikes in Somalia killed Aden Hashi Ayro, al Qaeda's leader in Somalia who has led al Shabaab militants in attacks against government and Ethiopian troops. Violence led by Ayro had intensified in recent weeks with attacks in Mogadishu and quick raids in surrounding areas. Reports suggest that civilians were also killed in the attack.

>>Haiti - A top World Food Program official has said that Haiti faces a "major crisis" if international donors don't pony up for emergency aid. Earlier this month, six Haitians were killed in widespread protests about the rising cost of food. The WFP has appealed for $54 million to help dampen the increase. According to the WFP, two-thirds of Haitians live on less than $1 a day and almost half are undernourished. Meanwhile, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar, and Laos are weighing a rice cartel.

>>Iraq - According to figures from Iraq's Health Ministry, April was the deadliest month since last August for Iraqi civilians, 898 of whom died last month. According to U.S. military reports, 49 U.S. soldiers died in April, the deadliest month since last September. The majority of the deaths occurred in Baghdad, where U.S. and Iraqi forces have been fighting an offensive against militants associated with Moqtada al Sadr.

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April 30, 2008

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>>Georgia - Russia has accused Georgia of amassing 1,500 soldiers in the upper Kodori gorge and threatened to retaliate if Georgia uses force in Abkhazi. Russia also stated that it is increasing its force levels in Abkhazi and South Ossetia. Georgia denies that it is building up troops and called the Russian action a pure provocation. EU foreign policy minister Javier Solana urged restraint during a meeting with Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov. Russia has kept a peacekeeping force in Abkhazia and South Ossetia since the 1990s, when the regions broke away from Tbilisi and formed links with Moscow. There are around 2,000 Russians posted in Abkhazia and about 1,000 in South Ossetia.

>>India - President Ahmadenijad met with India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh yesterday in an attempt to seal a $7.6 billion pipeline deal, under the strenuous objection of the U.S. The pipeline would be completed by 2012 and would initially transport 60 million cubic meters of gas a day to Pakistan and India. The U.S. had suggested that India instead use Ahmadenijad's visit to press Iran to stop nuclear enrichment. India responded that it didn't need any "guidance" in bilateral relations.

>>Turkey - Turkey's parliament has approved legislation that softens penalties the EU has criticized for limiting free speech. Since 2003, Article 301 of the penal code has been used to prosecute hundreds, including Nobel Prize winner Orhan Pamuk, for "insulting Turkishness." Critics contend that the softening didn't go far enough; insulting the Turkish nation still carries a two-year penalty.

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April 29, 2008

Tuesday Morning Coffee

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>>China - China has sentenced 17 protesters who participated in the March 10 riots in Tibet and surrounding provinces. Sentences ranged from three years to life. Soi'nam Norbu, a 20-year-old driver accused of burning vehicles, throwing stones at government property, and assaulting firemen, and Basang, a monk accused of leading 10 people in destroying a local government office, looting 11 shops, and attacking police, were both given life sentences. All of the monks who followed Basang got over 15 years.

>>Zimbabwe - Zimbabwe's rival opposition factions, which had split in 2005, have reunited and could now claim a majority in parliament. The combined opposition will now hold 109 seats in parliament to ZANU-PF's 97. Meanwhile, the nation still waits, a month in, for the results of the presidential vote. Verification is set to begin today, with final results expected in a week.

>>Cuba - With the exception of three people charged with terrorism, Raul Castro has commuted all death sentences to prison terms of 30 years. Castro was quick to note that the death penalty still exists in Cuban penal code. In Cuba, the death penalty is carried out by firing squad. Last March, Cuba signed two central UN human rights agreements, which Fidel Castro had long opposed.

>>European Union - The European Union today ironed out a pact with Serbia, but failed to reach an agreement to restart stalled partnership negotiations with Russia. Lithuania still hasn't seen assurances on Russian energy, judicial cooperation, and a softer foreign policy with regard to former Soviet states. The pact with Serbia holds a caveat; EU states will not ratify the pact, nor will Serbia receive any benefits, until all EU states are convinced that Serbia is doing its due diligence with regard to war crimes suspects.

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April 28, 2008

Monday Morning Coffee

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>>Zimbabwe - Partial results from the recount of the vote in the parliamentary election, released over the weekend, confirm that President Mugabe's ZANU-PF party has lost control of parliament. Results from 18 of 23 constituencies have been retabulated and confirmed with no seats changing hands. Mugabe will now have to choose whether to appoint an opposition cabinet or attempt to run the country on presidential orders instead of parliamentary legislation. Representatives from Mugabe and opposition leadership will be invited to verify results from the presidential election today, prior to their release. It is possible that opposition leader Tsvangirai has won outright and will avoid a runoff but not likely.

>>Afghanistan - Suspected Taliban insurgents executed a well-coordinated, but unsuccessful assassination attempt against President Karzai during the Afghan national day military parade on Sunday. Three were killed in the attack -- a tribal chief, a member of parliament, and a 10-year-old boy. Afghan security forces, which the government has pressed as a replacement for foreign troops guarding Kabul, prepared for weeks in advance of the event. The Taliban, claiming to have received help from within the security forces, worked in two teams, one working a mortar and the other guns, which were fired into the V.I.P stands.

>>Olympics - On Sunday the Olympic torch traveled to North and South Korea. In South Korea, it was greeted by protesters seeking better treatment for North Korean refugees in China and thousan