Morning Coffee - 22 October 2009

Welcome to Morning Coffee, brought to you by Lindsay Beyerstein with additional links from the UN Dispatch team. Every morning we survey foreign affairs and foreign policy news so you don't have to. We begin with the "Starting Five" items of the day -- these may not always appear on A-1, but they *are* the kinds of stories that will be buzzing in foreign capitals, the UN and wherever foreign policy minds roam.
Starting Five
IT'S A DEAL - Iran has agreed to a draft agreement about its nuclear program. Under the agreement, Iran can refine uranium for energy but it would have to ship 75% of that uranium out of the country, thereby allaying fears that it was stockpiling material to create weapons. The head of the International Atomic Energy Association, Mohammed ElBaradei, said the deal "could open the way for a complete normalisation of relations between Iran and the international community." Link
HEDGING HIS BETS - The first runner-up in the Afghan presidential election, former foreign minister Dr. Abdullah Abdullah, says he won't rule out joining a coalition government with Hamid Karzai--but he continues to prepare for the revote. A UN elections commission called for a runoff after it determined that Karzai's lead was massively inflated by fraud. The runoff is scheduled for November 7. Link
HUMAN RIGHTS WORKERS IN PERIL - Colombian human rights activists told the U.S. House Human Rights Commission that they live in constant fear for their lives. Activists said that the government routinely tries to intimidate them with malicious prosecutions on baseless charges of terrorism. Colombia is one of the largest recipients of U.S. foreign aid in Latin America. Link
KNOCK IT OFF, OLIGARCHS - President Dmitry Medvedev has asked Russia's richest businessmen to please stop bribing judges. If they've got problems with the justice system, they should come directly to him and something can be worked out. Medvedev made this suggestion at a Kremlin meeting with the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (aka the oligarch lobby). Link
UN TO PROBE GUINEA MASSACRE - The UN is one step closer to an international probe of September's mass shooting of protesters by government forces in Guinea. Local stakeholders signed off on the plan to investigate and the leader of Guinea's military junta has agreed to cooperate. Link
Provocateurs
Jeremy R. Hammond in FOREIGN POLICY JOURNAL
"Iranian officials have accused the U.S. and British governments of involvement in a terrorist attack on Sunday that killed or injured dozens. Five commanders of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) were included among the dead in the suicide bombing, responsibility for which was claimed by the Baluchi terrorist group Jundallah (Soldiers of God). "
Nicholas Stern in EUROPEAN VOICE
"Climate change and poverty, the two defining challenges of this century, must be tackled together. If we fail on one, we will fail on the other. The task facing the world is to meet the environment's “carbon constraints” while creating the growth necessary to raise living standards for the poor. "
David Schorr in DEMOCRACY ARSENAL
"The perennial question of whether you can be too rich or too thin is a subject for another blog, but I'm glad Clinton has clarified the matter of having too many nuclear weapons. I'm glad because the question of how many you need leads to the question of why you have them. And then of course the issue of the consequences of having too many. "
Water Cooler

A private delegation from Pakistan is in town for the annual Pugwash Conference on Science and World Affairs in Washington, D.C. Items on the agenda include U.S. aid to Pakistan, nuclear stability, and counterinsurgency. "There is widespread resentment in Pakistan toward the U.S.; Pakistanis are cognizant that the lack of trust is mutual. At the root of this resentment is the U.S. role in the Afghan Jihad..." one delegate said.

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