February 21, 2008

Angry Serbs Assault U.S. Embassy In Belgrade

Hundreds of protesters are attacking the U.S. Embassy in Belgrade, Serbia's capital. Video footage captured one protester scaling the building to rip down the American flag, and fires can be seen in and around the compound.

"As long as we live, Kosovo is Serbia," Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica said at another rally in front of the former parliament building. That gathering was peaceful, and drew around 200,000 people.

At the embassy, Serbs were throwing rocks and other objects at riot police and attempting to break through the police presence to raid the building. Serbs angry over Kosovo's declaration of independence -- a decision supported by the White House and much of the EU -- chanted "Kosovo is ours! Kosovo is Serbia!" and "We'll never give up Kosovo, never!" according to various media reports. (See accounts from AP, Reuters, BBC News and the London Guardian.)

The State Department tried to downplay the situation, emphasizing that the embassy was probably closed at the time. According to CNN, U.S. officials are denying that protesters actually penetrated the building.

"It has been up and running. It's been functioning. They've been carrying out their diplomatic functions and activities," said State Department spokesman Sean McCormack at the afternoon briefing. "The question is whether or not it was open to the public."

McCormack stressed that the White House is sympathetic to the concerns of Serbs, angry because they consider Kosovo part of their religious and cultural heritage. NATO forced an end to ethnic cleansing of mostly Muslim Albanians in the former Yugoslavia in the late 1990s. Since then, the mostly Albanian province of Kosovo and the mostly Orthodox Christian Serbia have existed in an uneasy peace.

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Posted to: Bush Administration, EU, Europe, Russia, U.N.
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February 20, 2008

Kosovo's Break From Serbia Splinters World Community

Russia's foreign minister has declared an EU mission to Kosovo illegal days after the Balkan state declared its independence from Serbia.

"To put it mildly, it is a bitter irony that this mission to ensure the supremacy of the law in Kosovo is being sent in breach of the highest international law," Sergei Lavrov said in a press briefing.

Russia and Serbia are in disagreement with the West's interpretation of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1244, adopted in 1999 at the end of the Balkan conflict. The resolution reaffirms "the commitment of all Member States to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia," but it also reaffirms "the call in previous resolutions for substantial autonomy and meaningful self-administration for Kosovo."

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Posted to: Bush Administration, Chechnya, EU, Europe, Russia
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January 03, 2008

Kenya's Kibaki Breaks Silence As Post-Election Crisis Continues

Amid continuing violent protests in the capital today over his contested re-election last week, Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki extended an olive branch to his political opponent, Raila Odinga. The results of last week's election, in which Kenya's electoral commission named Kibaki the winner by a slim margin, has sent the country spiraling into violence and chaos.

With more than 300 people killed and tens of thousands displaced, according to BBC News, Kibaki bowed to intense political and diplomatic pressure and made a televised appeal for peace today.

"I am ready to have dialogue with the concerned parties once the nation is calm and the political temperatures are lowered enough for constructive and productive engagement," Kibaki said, breaking his silence on the election results, which the opposition claims were rigged.

Meanwhile, the attorney general has called for an independent inquiry into the election, as Odinga's Orange Democratic Movement continues to demand a revote. The opposition party canceled a planned rally for today but has rescheduled it for Jan. 8 if an agreement is not reached by then.

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Posted at 3:22 PM
Posted to: Africa, Bush Administration, Condoleezza Rice, EU, Europe, Kenya
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December 10, 2007

Kosovo Moves Closer To Independence

After months of U.N. talks about the future of Kosovo yielded few results, leaders of the region today said that they will begin the process of declaring independence from Serbia without an official agreement. A U.N. deadline to settle the issue expired today with no agreement in sight.

The U.S., EU and Russia had tried to mediate talks between Serbia and Kosovo, but most people expected Kosovo to announce its independence in May regardless; now, it looks as though the announcement could come sooner. EU leaders now say they are close to having a unified position to recognize Kosovo's independence.

"From today, Kosovo is starting intense consultations with its international partners with the aim of coordinating steps for declaring independence, and the official demands for recognising independence," Skender Hyseni of the Kosovo Albanian negotiating team told reporters.

Kosovo's ethnic Albanians have long chafed under Serbia's control. The U.N. has controlled the tiny province since 1999, when a NATO force stepped in to end a bloody campaign against the Albanians led by former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, who died in 2006 during his trial for war crimes.

The Detroit Free Press has a useful Q&A about the history of Kosovo, and Bloomberg News has more on Europe's reaction.

Posted at 7:57 AM
Posted to: EU, Europe, U.N.
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October 10, 2007

The Armenian Genocide: When Purity Meets Pragmatism

Let's get this detail out of the way: The United States does not brook genocide. Maybe this country does not always go far enough to stop genocide where it occurs (Rwanda, Sudan), but it has not ignored, let alone denied, the mass extermination of an ethnic group since World War II. What the U.S. always does do in reaction to genocide is condemn the killing wherever it occurs.

So why the opposition to a nonbinding House resolution that compels the U.S. government to formally recognize the 1915-17 mass killings of Armenians by the Ottoman Empire as genocide -- something George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush did not do as commander in chief?

The answer, of course, is Turkey's resistance to the resolution. Almost anywhere else in the world, official government condemnation of genocide is an easy position for Washington to take. Not so with the Armenian genocide, because Turkey holds many cards, and the U.S. is in no position to strong-arm anyone it might still count as an ally in the war on terror.

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Posted to: Bill Clinton, Bush Administration, Condoleezza Rice, Congress, EU, Europe, France, George H.W. Bush, House, Iraq, Israel, Kurds, Middle East, President Bush, Robert Gates, Senate, Turkey
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September 28, 2007

New Vote On Iran Sanctions Delayed

UPDATED.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice did not go out of her way to hide her disappointment at the latest setback in U.S. efforts to clamp down further on Iran.

"The international community has to have a greater sense of urgency about some of these issues," she said, speaking to reporters at the U.N. this afternoon. "We have two unanimous Security Council resolutions in place on Iran. We're working on a third, and using that track to try to invigorate the negotiations track." Rice conceded that there was already a "certain level of cooperation in Iran."

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Posted to: Asia, Bush Administration, China, Condoleezza Rice, EU, Europe, France, Germany, IAEA, Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Middle East, Nuclear Weapons, Russia, Terrorism, U.K., U.N.
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September 14, 2007

Report: Germany Wavers, U.S. Revives Iran Planning

About a month ago, we wondered why White House officials were leaking word that Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps was to be designated a terrorist organization. Looks like we may have an answer.

Reuters reports that the leak may have been a hawkish attempt to goad the State Department into taking a tougher line on Tehran. The White House alleges Iran is arming and funding Shiite insurgents in Iraq, compounding existing frustration over Iran's nuclear ambitions. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has mostly laughed off U.N. economic sanctions aimed at his uranium enrichment program.

Now, there are indications the sanctions process may have hit a roadblock.

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Posted at 11:41 AM
Posted to: Asia, Bush Administration, China, EU, Europe, France, Germany, IAEA, Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Middle East, North Korea, Nuclear Weapons, President Bush, Russia, Terrorism, U.N.
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August 28, 2007

Foreign Firefighters Head To Greece

Several days of wildfires have destroyed nearly half a million acres of land in Greece, and firefighters from Israel, Austria, Italy and other countries arrived today to assist in efforts to extinguish the blazes. The European Union said it's offering unprecedented assistance to its member state.

More than 60 people have been killed since the fires first broke out all over the country, threatening populated areas and ancient sites such as Marathon and Olympia.

Greek President Karolos Papoulias declared states of emergency and deemed the fires a "national catastrophe." Elections are set for mid-September, and the government is facing widespread criticism over its handling of the spate of fires that has been plaguing the country all summer.

Posted at 3:02 PM
Posted to: EU, Europe
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Turkey Gets First Ex-Islamist President

Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul received the simple majority of votes he needed to finalize his election, making him the first Turkish president with an Islamist background.

Gul, of the ruling AKP party, won 339 of 550 votes in a third round of parliamentary balloting. His win brings to a close a tension-filled election, in which Turkey's military threatened a coup in order to uphold the overwhelmingly Muslim country's secularist constitution.

Strains between Turkey's secularists and those who backed Gul's candidacy remain. With Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan still in office, AKP now controls Turkey's highest offices as well as Parliament. Gul, a devout Muslim, has promised that his associations with political Islam are in the past, and AKP remains popular for shepherding an unprecedented economic boom.

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Posted at 11:15 AM
Posted to: EU, Europe, Turkey
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August 13, 2007

Turkish Political Crisis In Works Yet Again

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has again nominated Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul to be president, in a direct challenge to millions of his countrymen and the military, AP reports. Gul is a member of the ruling AK party, which is viewed by critics as advocating political Islam.

Erdogan's decision will likely reignite a tense confrontation between his government and Turkey's fiercely secularist military. In the spring, when Erdogan first announced he wanted outgoing President Ahmet Necdet Sezer, a secularist, to be succeeded by Gul, more than a million Turks took to the streets and the military threatened a coup.

Parliamentary elections were moved up to last month to help resolve the crisis. To most observers' surprise, voters decisively sided with the AK party in that vote.

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Posted to: Bush Administration, Congress, EU, Europe, Turkey
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July 17, 2007

Libyan Court Commutes Death Sentences For Foreign Medics

Under intense international pressure, Libya's supreme court has decided to spare six foreign medical workers from execution. The five Bulgarian nurses and one Palestinian doctor are accused of infecting hundreds of Libyan children with HIV in the 1990s.

Bulgaria, in concert with the EU, has been campaigning heavily to bring the nurses home. The case has attracted international attention. Pop singer George Michael held a concert in the nurses' honor in May, and France's first lady visited the prisoners last week.

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Posted at 4:36 PM
Posted to: Africa, EU, Europe, Libya, Middle East, Palestinians
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June 27, 2007

Members-Only Sentiment Overtaking EU

As American lawmakers debate the cultural impact of immigrants in this country, some of their counterparts across the globe are also trying to pull a curtain around themselves. In the case of the European Union, nations that are already members seem to want to prevent others from joining their ranks.

The EU's explosive growth in 2004, when it added 10 nations, was of dubious wisdom, many members now believe. The body's failure to agree on a constitution has resulted in a disjointed entity, with conflicting and confusing trade and finance rules nearly nullifying the EU's raison d'etre.

Another common complaint is that some politically immature nations were permitted entry too soon. Two cases in point are Romania and Bulgaria, both of which joined this year. The former Eastern bloc countries narrowly escaped suspension of their EU membership today after coming under criticism for not bringing legal reforms up to snuff. Both countries are sapling democracies in which high-level corruption scandals are unfolding.

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Posted at 6:16 PM
Posted to: EU, Europe, Turkey
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May 01, 2007

The Trouble In Turkey

UPDATED.

Regular cable news viewers are probably familiar with an ad sponsored by Turkey's tourism ministry promoting the history-rich Eurasian country as a place where the past meets the present. This week, that juxtaposition is playing out in a very alarming way.

Turkey faces the prospect of a moved-up presidential election -- under threat of military coup, no less -- in a clash between forces that equate the country's fiercely secular political system with modernity, and those who want the leadership to be a more accurate representation of the almost wholly Muslim populace. Not only is the nation's short-term stablity at risk -- its long-term wish of joining the European Union is more in danger than ever.

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Posted at 3:20 PM
Posted to: EU, Europe, Turkey
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