Morning Coffee - 26 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
UN INSPECTORS TOUR IRAN SITE - UN inspectors got their first look at an Iranian uranium enrichment plant near Tehran yesterday. The four-member team toured the heavily guarded plant carved into a mountainside. Iran is still weighing a draft UN resolution that would allow it to enrich uranium and export most of it to Russia. An answer is expected later this week. Link
147 DIE IN IRAQ BLASTS - Two car bombs went off at two Iraqi government buildings in Baghdad on Sunday, killing at least 147 people. The targets were the Justice Ministry and the Baghdad provincial administration. The blasts occurred hours before Iraq's senior leaders were scheduled to meet with opposition parties to negotiate guidelines for the January elections. Link
- THE CORAL IS NOT OK Coral experts are turning to cryogenics in their fight against reef extinction. Researchers at a meeting in Denmark argued that most coral reefs won't survive even if the world takes decisive action on climate change. Therefore, they suggested freezing coral in the hopes of reintroducing it in the future. Worldwide, half a billion people depend on coral reefs. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8324954.stm Link
KARADZIC BOYCOTTS OWN TRIAL - Notorious former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic is boycotting his own genocide trial. This is a risky strategy since Karadzic is representing himself. He's not showing up because the court denied his request for nine months to prepare his defense. Karadzic is accused, amongst other things, of orchestrating the massacre of 7000 Bosnian Muslims in 1995. Link
COLOMBIAN SOCCER PLAYERS MURDERED - Ten members of a Colombian amateur soccer team were kidnapped and murdered in Venezuela. Venezuelan Vice President Ramon Carrizalez blamed the deaths on Colombia's "internal struggles," meaning the low-level criminal and guerrilla war in the border region where the men were found. The deaths will place further strain on the relationship between Colombia and Venezuela. Venezuela has been accused of harboring drug traffickers who are involved in the Colombian conflict. Link
Provocateurs
Josh Rogin in THE CABLE
"A sneak peek at next week's North Korea talks: When North Korea's lead nuclear negotiator Ri Gun makes his tour of the United States next week, all eyes will be on the State Department, which is planning to make the first face-to-face, government-to-government contact with Kim Jong Il's regime in quite a long time. "
Fabiano Maisonnave in THE GUARDIAN
"It was just past 2am when the music blasted us from our sleep. Honduran soldiers had placed high-powered speakers just outside the embassy compound for a night-long, deafening serenade. One song in particular, Two-legged Rat, was repeated again, and again, and again. The lyrics are not subtle: "Filthy rat/crawling animal/scum of life/ill-made monstrosity/subhuman/mirror image of hell/damned louse/how much damage you've done to me." When the Mexican singer Paquita la del Barrio performed it she was addressing a former lover, but the Honduran military had a different target in mind: Manuel Zelaya, the ousted president. "
Brian Tamanaha in BALKINIZATION
"Ms. Joya lived in refugee camps in Iran and Pakistan during Taliban rule. She loved to read and wished to share this gift with other Afghan women. With the support of a charity, Ms. Joya snuck back into Afghanistan and opened a secret school to teach young girls to read. This was at great risk to her personal safety, for the Taliban would have punished her severely if they found her out, which nearly occurred on a number of occasions. One would think, given this history, that she would be pleased about the ejection of the Taliban and its aftermath. Not so: [...] "
Water Cooler

Fidel Castro's sister says she worked for the CIA in the 1960s while the agency was plotting to assassinate Fidel. Juanita Castro broke with her brothers over the Revolution in 1964 and hid anti-government dissidents in her home. The CIA bombshell is included in Juanita Castro's recently published memoir.

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