European Courier’s Weekly Review

In this section you will find links to interesting articles, essays, interviews and important news relating to the issues covered by our publication. Occasionally we will feature short videos with commentaries and reviews of political events in which we have participated.

December 25, 2007

U.S./Foreign policy. “The United States doesn't have permanent enemies, we're too great a country for that," Condoleeza Rice told reporters last Friday, while she held out the prospect of improved relations with the remaining two members of President Bush's "axis of evil," Iran and North Korea, as long as they meet international demands over their nuclear programs. Link
           

December 19, 2007

Russia/Democracy. Russian opposition leader, Garry Kasparov, criticized Time magazine for awarding the “Person of the Year 2007" title to Russia’s President Vladimir Putin. Kasparov said that Time magazine has “naive outlook” on Russian developments. He also stated that in 1938, Time awarded the title to Adolf Hitler. Link

December 16, 2007

US/Elections. Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who has surged in support in other early-voting states, is tied with Rudy Giuliani for the lead among U.S. Republican presidential candidates in Illinois, a poll showed on Saturday. Link

December 11, 2007

UN/War crimes. In a bitter farewell to the United Nations, Yugoslavia war crimes prosecutor, Carla Del Ponte, called on the EU's member states and executive Commission to insist on Serbia's full cooperation with the tribunal, which meant the arrest and transfer of Mladic, "as a condition in the EU pre-accession and accession process". Link

December 1, 2007

U.S./Security. Bush Administration plans to cut federal funds for anti-terror and security expanses of the target-cities like Washington and New York.The plan demands that local and state governments pay a greater share and limits the federal role to those proposals that advance national priorities and produce clear results. Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y) called the plan “dead on arrival”. Link

November 27, 2007

US/Elections. Barack Obama sought to bolster his thin foreign policy credentials surrounding himself with former top officials from Bill Clinton’s administration, including former National Security Adviser - Tony Lake, and proclaiming a new agenda to restore U.S. moral authority in the world. Link

November 22, 2007

OECD/Economic development. The old economies of western Europe are continuing to lose ground to Eastern Europe and traditional high-flyers like the U.S. and Norway, the Paris-based economic organization OECD has said, with Italy even ending up below the organization's average. Link

November 14, 2007

EU/Defense. During its Presidency of the EU in the second half of the next year, France intends to propose Brussels-based EU defense planning staff, exchanges between professional soldiers and a harmonization of military education – said French defense minister Hervé Morin. Link

November 11, 2007

Spain/Venezuela. King Juan Carlos told Venezuelan President, Hugo Chavez, at a Ibero American Summit in Madrid “to shut up”, in response to Chavez’s criticism of Spain’s former conservative prime minister, Jose Maria Aznar, whom Chavez called a fascist. Link

November 5, 2007

U.S./Turkey. George W. Bush called a Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) a terrorist organization. “They're an enemy of Turkey, they're an enemy of Iraq and they're an enemy of the United States”, he said after the meeting with Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan. Link

October 22, 2007

EU/Poland. Polish voters ousted pro-Washington government in early parliamentary elections last weekend. Donald Tusk, prime-minister-to-be, promises to withdraw Polish troops from Iraq in 2008 and to slow down negotiation talks to locate U.S. missile defense system in that country. Link

October 15, 2007

EU/Integration. The Council of the European Union published today a draft of the Reform Treaty, which is to be proposed to be signed on a European Council’s meeting in Lisbon, Portugal, later this month. Link

October 4, 2007

EU/Demographics. According to Spain’s Institute for Family Policies, the population of the EU27 has increased over 27 years (1980-2007) by over 37.6 million, a growth of 8.2%. However, 80% of population growth between 1994 – 2006 has been the result of immigration. Link

September 27, 2007

U.N./Kosovo. Serbia warned the United Nations on Thursday of "unforeseeable consequences" that could destabilize the world if the breakaway province of Kosovo declares independence unilaterally later this year. U.S. officials say they expect the United States and the vast majority of the 27 EU member states to recognize a Kosovo declaration of independence if negotiations fail despite the diplomatic efforts of Contact Group mediators. Link

September 24, 2007

U.N./Global warming. Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore bluntly told a U.N. conference on Monday that the planet would be better off if people cared more about global warming and less about O.J. Simpson and Paris Hilton. He was joined by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who said that rich and poor nations must get over their disagreements about how to fight climate change and forge a new pact to replace the Kyoto Protocol. Link

September 21, 2007

UK/Nuclear weapons.  Britain has amassed a stockpile of more than 100 metric tons of plutonium – enough for 17,000 bombs of the size that flattened Japan's Nagasaki in 1945, says a report from the Royal Society. According to this institution the potential consequences of a major security breach or accident involving the UK's stockpile of separated plutonium are so severe that the Government should urgently develop and implement some strategy for its long term use or disposal. Link

September 16, 2007

France/Iran. French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said on Sunday his country must prepare for the possibility of war against Iran over its nuclear program, but he did not believe any such action was imminent. Kouchner's comments follow a similarly hawkish statement by French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who said last month in his first major foreign policy speech since taking office that a diplomatic push by the world's powers was the only alternative to "an Iranian bomb or the bombing of Iran". Link

September 12, 2007

U.S./Iran. The United States will host a meeting of world powers on September 21 to discuss broadening U.N. sanctions against Iran for its refusal to suspend nuclear activity. The meeting of the five permanent U.N. Security Council members and Germany is due to focus "largely on a discussion of what sanctions will be included" in a new Council resolution. Link

September 7, 2007

U.S./War Crimes. Russia blocked the arrest of Bosnian Serb war crimes fugitive, Radovan Karadzic, in 1997 and the United States and Britain persuaded France not to insist on it, according to a new book by Florence Hartmann, the former spokeswoman at the Hague war crimes tribunal for Yugoslavia. Link

September 5, 2007

UN/Darfur. Pledging a message of “hope, peace, security… and water,” Secretary-General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon, met with some of the hundreds of thousands of refugees in Darfur and held talks with the leaders of the imminent hybrid United Nations-African Union peacekeeping force in the strife-torn Sudanese region. Link

September 3, 2007

EU/Foreign policy. The EU is holding its first conference with 16 neighboring countries and territories in the former Soviet Union, the Mediterranean and the Middle East. The European Neighborhood Policy is tailored to create a ring of peaceful and economically advanced states around the EU's borders and covers 16 countries – Algeria, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Egypt, Georgia, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Moldova, Morocco, the Palestinian Authority, Syria, Tunisia and Ukraine. Link

August 29, 2007

U.S./Immigration. Kauffman Foundation study points to ‘brain-drain’ of skilled U.S. immigrant entrepreneurs to home country. More than a million skilled foreign nationals in the United States, including doctors and scientists, face mounting visa backlog. Link

August 28, 2007

EU/France. As France prepares to assume the EU's driving seat in July next year, president Nicolas Sarkozy has indicated he wants to turn the 27-nation bloc into a decisive player in the global arena – something he says would result in a fairer and more harmonious world order. Link

August 27, 2007

UN/Darfur. The Security Council ok’ed establishment of a United Nations-mandated, multidimensional presence in eastern Chad and north-eastern Central African Republic (CAR) to help protect civilians and facilitate humanitarian aid to thousands of people uprooted due to insecurity in the two countries and neighboring Sudan. Link

August 22, 2007

EU/Death penalty. The European Union officially condemned the 400th death penalty execution in Texas. The European Union urged Governor Rick Perry to exercise all powers vested in his office to halt all upcoming executions and to consider the introduction of a moratorium in the State of Texas. Link

August 16, 2007

Iran/Security. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said in Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan at a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization that a U.S. missile-defense plan in Europe is a threat to countries across much of Asia. Link

August 15, 2007

Denmark/Arctic. Denmark has announced its territorial claim to Arctic and sent a research team to the Arctic ice pack to seek evidence that the Lomonosov Ridge underwater mountain range is attached to the Danish territory of Greenland. Link
    

August 11, 2007

Canada/Arctic. Prime Minister Stephen Harper, further pressing Canada’s Arctic sovereignty claim, said Canada will build a C$100 million ($95 million) deep-water port at Nanisivik near the eastern entrance of the Northwest Passage, which will allow it to refuel its military patrol ships. Link

August 8, 2007

Canada/Arctic. Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced a significant expansion of the

boundaries of the Nahanni National Park Reserve as Canada’s response to Russia’s territorial claims to Arctic, to which similar claims are being made also by the United States, Norway and Denmark. According to some of the estimations, Arctic may contain as much as one fourth of undiscovered world oil and natural gas resources. Link

August 4, 2007

Asia/Military. Around 6.5 thousand military personnel and 80 aircraft will be involved in the “Peace Mission 2007” counterterrorism exercise of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization member states, which starts on August 9 and will last till August 17. Russian lieutenant-general Vladimir Moltenskoy stressed that “Peace Mission 2007” was not targeted against a third state. Link

July 29, 2007

U.S./ Science. A new National Science Foundation (NSF) report finds the number of U.S. science and engineering articles in major peer-reviewed journals flattened in the 1990s, after more than two decades of growth, but U.S. influence in world science and technology remains strong. In contrast, emerging Asian nations had large increases in publication numbers, reflecting their growing expertise in science and technology. European Union totals also went up. Link

July 25, 2007

U.S./Presidential elections. According to Quinnipiac University poll, 57% of New Yorkers declare that they “probably" or “definitely” will not vote for Michael Bloomberg should he run for the President. Nevertheless, Bloomberg's job approval still stays at a very high level of 73%. Link

July 23, 2007

Brussels/Kosovo’s future. EU’s foreign ministers meeting in Brussels backed a German call for a "troika" of EU, Russian and U.S. mediators to oversee a new round of shuttle diplomacy between Kosovo and Serbia - with the EU potentially assuming overall responsibility. "What is important is that the EU member states are all going to stick together in order to find a solution that contributes to the stability and the prosperity of the Balkans," EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said after the meeting. Link

July 19, 2007

Europe/Kosovo. The U.S. pushes for Kosovo’s independence. “Kosovo will get independence from Serbia one way or another despite Russia's objections at the United Nations”, said U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Link

July 14, 2007

UN/Darfur. The European Union and the United Nations are considering sending troops and police to protect Darfur refugees and other homeless people in neighboring Chad. France last month asked the EU to send up to 12,000 troops to Chad to set up a humanitarian corridor to Darfur refugees, however the EU has not officially responded yet. Link

July 13, 2007

Florida/Global warming. Governor of Florida, Charlie Crist, signed Executive Orders initiating State’s energy policy and a partnership agreements with Germany and the United Kingdom, which outlines climate policies and mutual economic benefits. The standard will require a reduction of emissions to 2000 levels by 2017, to 1990 levels by 2025, and by 80 percent of 1990 levels by 2050. Link

July 12, 2007

EU/Politics. President of the European Commission, Mr. Jose Manuel Barroso, called the European Union “an empire”. “What we have is the first non-imperial empire […] We have 27 countries that fully decided to work together and to pool their sovereignty. […] We have the dimension of empire” – he said. Link

July 9, 2007

U.S./Global water wars. According to Live Science report “food and water shortages fueled in the future by global warming could spur conflicts and even wars over these essential resources”. Link

July 6, 2007

U.S./Global warming. New Jersey Governor Jon S. Corzine signed legislation adopting proactive goals for the reduction of green house gas emissions in the State of New Jersey. The legislation calls for reducing greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020, approximately a 20% reduction, followed by a further reduction of emissions to 80% below 2006 levels by 2050. Link

July 5, 2007

EU/Biofuels. Speaking at International Biofuels Conference in Brussels, attended by Brazilian president Luis Inacio Lula Da Silva, European leaders urged the EU to open its doors to imports of biofuels from developing countries in order to reduce its oil dependency and cut carbon emissions. Link

EU/Brazil. EU and Brazil move toward strategic partnership. In their joint statement at EU-Brazil Summit, European and Brazilian leaders launched a strategic partnership to strengthen political dialogue, address global challenges, and deepen economic and trade relations. Link

July 2, 2007

EU/Climate change. The European Commission urged its member states to adopt measures to lessen impacts of current and future warming. Europe has already warmed by almost 1°C over the past century, faster than the global average. It’s goal is to limit global warming to no more than 2°C above the pre-industrial level, since beyond that threshold the risks of irreversible and possibly catastrophic planetary changes greatly increase. Link

June 27, 2007

U.S./Congress. House of Representatives passed a bill affirming existence of global warming, aiming at ending a debate over whether it is occurring or not and at providing money to work on the problem. President Bush has threatened to veto the bill, which is still to be debated in the Senate. Link

June 23, 2007

EU/Brussels. European Union moves toward closer integration. German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, announced today that 27 members of the EU reached agreement on opening an Intergovernmental Conference, which would adopt a new draft of the Euro-constitution by the end of this year. It will be Europe’s second attempt after the French and the Dutch rejected the original Constitutional Treaty in national referendums in 2005.  Link

June 21, 2007

China/Global Warming. Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency released a report stating that China’s 2006 CO2 emissions have surpassed those of the U.S. by 8%. According to the report, in the 1990-2006 period global fossil-fuel related CO2 emissions increased over 35%. Link

June 13, 2007

U.S./Economy. Department of the Treasury released a Report to Congress on International Economic and Exchange Rate Policies stating that the global growth reached 5,4% in 2006. According to the report, growth in Europe and Japan has been well above recent five-year averages, while China has achieved exceptionally rapid growth. Link

June 12, 2007

UN/Iraq. The Secretary General of the United Nations released a report about the situation in Iraq, which presents a summary of key political developments since March 7, 2007. According to Secretary General despite the U.S. “initial success of stepped-up security measures in recent months, the situation in Iraq remains precarious. Insurgent attacks persist and civilian casualties continue to mount”. Link

June 11, 2007

International security. Stockholm International Peace Research Institute released its 2007 annual report on Armaments, Disarmaments and International Security. According to the report, an increase in U.S. military spending, which was caused by wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, has contributed to the deterioration of the U.S. economy since 2001. The overall past and future costs until year 2016 to the USA for the war in Iraq have been estimated to reach $2267 billion. Link

June 8, 2007

EU, U.S./Terrorism. Legal Affairs Committee of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly adopted a report revealing that American CIA operated secret prisons in Eastern European countries in which high level terrorists were being detained and interrogated between 2002 and 2005. All European countries mentioned in said report deny allegations. Link

June 6, 2007

EU/Constitution. The European Parliament has debated a “Report on the Roadmap for the European Union’s Constitutional Process” – another important voice in the debate about the adoption of a Euro-constitution. Emar Brok, one of the creators of the Report, said that EU is not intended to be a state and does not seek to replace nation states. Link

June 4, 2007

EU/Constitution. Action Committee for European Democracy, a group of several prominent European politicians, headed by Mr. Giuliano Amato, Italy’s Interior Minister, proposed its own draft of a new Euro-constitution: “New Treaty and Supplementary Protocols” intended to be a “Contribution to the Debate on Europe’s Political Prospects in the Perspective of the European Council of 21-22 June 2007”. The new draft is 5 times shorter than Europe's Constitutional Treaty of 2004, which was rejected by French and Dutch voters in national referenda in 2005. Link

May 31, 2007

U.S./Global Warming – "Science has deepened our understanding of climate change and opened new possibilities for confronting it" – said George W. Bush announcing "U.S. Support For An Effort To Develop A New Post-2012 Framework On Climate Change By The End Of 2008". The U.S. wants to combat global warming through international cooperation and by setting forth long-term goals. Europe suspects it is a u-turn of Bush Administration. Link

May 28, 2007

U.S./Defense –  2007 Annual Report of the Secretary of Defense to the Congress about Military Power of People’s Republic of China submitted under Section 1202 of the National Defense Authorizations Act, in which it is estimated that the annual Chinese defense budget may reach as much as $125 billion. Link