Thursday, November 24, 2005
International Affairs March On ...
A holiday it may be in the United States today, and official Washington deserted, but the rest of the world doesn't stop ...
Interesting developments to observe:
1) The EU is trying to get its negotiations with Iran back on track. After months of guarded optimism in Washington that the apparent failure of the EU-3 process would bring the Europeans into closer alignment with Washington on Iran policy, is this a reversal? Or are the EU-3 going to make clear to Ahmadnejad that this is Iran's "last chance" to deal with the Europeans?
2) Meanwhile, Frank Walter Steinmeier, Gerhard Schroeder's former chief of staff and now the foreign minister in the new Merkel coalition government, will visit Washington this coming week. Clearly an olive branch to try and mend strained relations between the United States and Berlin.
3) Highlighting the environmental dimension to national security, the pollution slick in the Songhua river in Manchuria which caused Harbin to suspend water service for 3 million residents is making its way into Russia. That as China is also asking the World Health Organization to help investigate the first human deaths from avian flu.
More to update after the holidays.
Interesting developments to observe:
1) The EU is trying to get its negotiations with Iran back on track. After months of guarded optimism in Washington that the apparent failure of the EU-3 process would bring the Europeans into closer alignment with Washington on Iran policy, is this a reversal? Or are the EU-3 going to make clear to Ahmadnejad that this is Iran's "last chance" to deal with the Europeans?
2) Meanwhile, Frank Walter Steinmeier, Gerhard Schroeder's former chief of staff and now the foreign minister in the new Merkel coalition government, will visit Washington this coming week. Clearly an olive branch to try and mend strained relations between the United States and Berlin.
3) Highlighting the environmental dimension to national security, the pollution slick in the Songhua river in Manchuria which caused Harbin to suspend water service for 3 million residents is making its way into Russia. That as China is also asking the World Health Organization to help investigate the first human deaths from avian flu.
More to update after the holidays.
