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In this issue: 1) Nuclear Talks Are Postponed, Official Says 2) Iran Postpones EU Discussions by a Day 3) In Ramadi, Fetid Quarters and Unrelenting Battles 4) Iran and Venezuela Team Up as Anti - US "Odd Couple" 5) US: N.Korea May Want Nuclear Spotlight From Iran 6) Analysis: N. Korea Impact Being Weighed 7) Ayatollah's Moves Hint Iran Wants To Engage Supreme Leader Sets Course for WTO Membership 8) Missing Votes Add to Turmoil in Mexico 9) Vote-by-Vote Recount Is Demanded in Mexico 10) Anti-War Protesters Begin July 4 Fast
Summary: Just Foreign Policy NewsBrief July 5, 2006
Summary: Iran postponed nuclear talks with the European Union on Wednesday. The meeting will go ahead on Thursday. Reuters attributed the delay to Iran's anger at an exiled opposition leader's visit to the European Parliament. An EU diplomat said the Iranians had cited a visit to the European Parliament on the same day by the leader of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, described by Tehran as a terrorist group. EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said he would meet Larijani in Brussels on Thursday and again on July 11, keeping up Western pressure for a clear answer on an incentives package before leaders of the Group of Eight industrial powers meet in St. Petersburg on July 15. Iran has said it will give its response by August 22. Diplomats said divisions in the U.N. Security Council over what action to take on Iran meant there had been little chance of Tehran responding either at the Brussels meetings or before the G8 summit in Russia. Since Russia and China are unlikely to back any U.N. sanctions against Iran at this stage, the West is in no position to set deadlines.
North Korea's test-firing of a long-range missile in defiance of world pressure may have been aimed at stealing the nuclear spotlight away from Iran, U.S. National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley said Tuesday. "Obviously, it is a bit of an effort to get attention, perhaps because so much attention has been focused on the Iranians,'' Hadley said. Sandy Berger, the National Security Adviser in the Clinton administration, said on CNN the United States ultimately would have to enter direct talks with North Korea because six-party talks have failed.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's supreme leader, announced a new privatization program aimed at preparing Iran for eventual membership in the World Trade Organization, the Washington Post reports. Analysts said Khamenei's announcements served to reinforce the assumption of U.S. and European officials that Iran wants to be more integrated in the world. The formation of a new foreign relations panel may also indicate dissatisfaction with the foreign policy performance of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Khamenei named as the panel's chairman Kamal Kharrazi, the man Ahmadinejad removed as foreign minister after taking office last year. "I think it's significant," said a European diplomat in Tehran. "I think it amounts to trying to put limits to the president."
Right-wing Venezuelan and U.S. media have attacked Venezuela's growing ties with Iran, Reuters notes. In their most fanciful conspiracy theory, Iran is planning to ship nuclear warheads to Venezuela in a re-run of the 1962 Cuban missile crisis. In 2003, U.S. concerns that Arab money-launderers on the Venezuelan island of Margarita could help terrorists mushroomed into unsubstantiated charges that Iranian-backed Hizbollah fighters had set up training camps there. Iran is increasingly courting the 114-nation Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) for leverage in a dispute over its atomic work, arguing that it is only the United States and Western European countries that reckon Tehran is seeking nuclear missiles. NAM stalwart Venezuela was one of only three countries to vote against referring Iran to the U.N. Security Council at the International Atomic Energy Agency meeting in February. Officials and analysts say this was a symbolic act in a vote the United States and its allies were always going to win. Deep down, they argue, there are clear limits to how close Caracas and Tehran can afford to become. "What is a vote in the agency? Nothing. The Venezuelans know the real red line with Iran is arms. They both say they will repel any U.S. attack but they cannot join up on weapons,'' said a Latin American ambassador in Tehran, noting how quickly Defense Minister Orlando Maniglia cooled speculation in May that Venezuela could sell its old F-16 jet-fighters to Iran.
For three years the Marine Corps and the Army have tried nearly everything to bring Ramadi, the epicenter of the Iraqi insurgency, under control, the New York Times reports. Nothing has worked. Now American commanders are trying something new. Instead of continuing to fight for the downtown, or rebuild it, they are going to get rid of it, or at least a very large part of it. They say they are planning to bulldoze about three blocks in the middle of the city, part of which has been reduced to ruins by the fighting, and convert them into a Green Zone, a version of the fortified and largely stable area that houses the Iraqi and American leadership in Baghdad.
The margin between the two leading candidates for president in Mexico narrowed Tuesday after election authorities revealed that about 2.5 million votes had been missing from earlier counts. The announcement meant the race between Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador and Felipe Calderon was still too close to call. Election authorities acknowledged Tuesday that the preliminary count did not include vote totals from more than 11,000 stations where "irregularities" were noted in official paperwork. Late Tuesday, election officials added the 2.5 million votes to the public count. Lopez Obrador outpolled Calderon on these ballots by more than 145,000 votes, narrowing Calderon's lead to slightly more than 257,000 ballots, or 0.6 percentage point. Election authorities said that as many as 900,000 votes remained to be added to the official tally because polling station results had not yet arrived at regional election headquarters. An undetermined number are from the remotest rural areas of southern Mexico, which lean toward Lopez Obrador. The new figures were released after Lopez Obrador charged Monday that more than 3 million votes had been "lost" from the preliminary tallies released by the Federal Electoral Tribunal. The head of the election commission reminded Mexicans in a television interview Tuesday that the preliminary count issued by the institute had no legal standing. The official winner will be determined after a recount of the polling reports begins today. Yesterday Obrador demanded a vote-by-vote recount. Obrador's challenge made it clear that this country was about to live through its own version of the drawn-out legal battle that Americans experienced in the 2000 presidential race. Mexico's dispute, however, instead of being focused on one state, could be nationwide.
Actors Sean Penn and Susan Sarandon and anti-war campaigners led by bereaved mother Cindy Sheehan launched a hunger strike yesterday, demanding the immediate return of US troops from Iraq. "We've marched, held vigils, lobbied Congress, camped out at Bush's ranch, we've even gone to jail, now it's time to do more," said Sheehan.
Articles: 1) Nuclear Talks Are Postponed, Official Says Reuters July 5, 2006 Filed at 7:15 a.m. ET http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/world/international-nuclear-iran.html
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Iran postponed crucial nuclear talks with the European Union on Wednesday in apparent anger at an exiled opposition leader's visit to the European Parliament, but the meeting will go ahead on Thursday.
2) Iran Postpones EU Discussions by a Day Associated Press July 5, 2006 Filed at 7:47 a.m. ET http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Iran-Nuclear.html
BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) -- Iran has postponed its talks with the European Union on a package of incentives designed to defuse the standoff over Tehran's atomic program by a day, the EU said Wednesday.
3) In Ramadi, Fetid Quarters and Unrelenting Battles Insurgency Hotbed Dexter Filkins New York Times July 5, 2006 http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/05/world/middleeast/05ramadi.html
RAMADI, Iraq, July 4 — The Government Center in the middle of this devastated town resembles a fortress on the wild edge of some frontier: it is sandbagged, barricaded, full of men ready to shoot, surrounded by rubble and enemies eager to get inside.
In three years here the Marine Corps and the Army have tried nearly everything to bring this provincial capital of 400,000 under control. Nothing has worked.
Now American commanders are trying something new.
Instead of continuing to fight for the downtown, or rebuild it, they are going to get rid of it, or at least a very large part of it.
4) Iran and Venezuela Team Up as Anti - US "Odd Couple" Reuters July 4, 2006 Filed at 9:05 p.m. ET http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/world/international-iran-venezuela.html
TEHRAN (Reuters) - Right-wing Venezuelan and U.S. media have attacked Chavez's growing ties with Tehran. In their most fanciful conspiracy theory, Iran is planning to ship nuclear warheads to Venezuela in a re-run of the 1962 Cuban missile crisis.
In 2003, U.S. concerns that Arab money-launderers on the Venezuelan island of Margarita could help terrorists mushroomed into unsubstantiated charges that Iranian-backed Hizbollah fighters had set up training camps there.
5) US: N.Korea May Want Nuclear Spotlight From Iran July 4, 2006 Reuters Filed at 10:54 p.m. ET http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/washington/politics-korea-north-attention.html
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - North Korea's test-firing of a long-range missile in defiance of world pressure may have been aimed at stealing the nuclear spotlight away from Iran, U.S. National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley said on Tuesday.
6) Analysis: N. Korea Impact Being Weighed Associated Press July 4, 2006 Filed at 9:20 p.m. ET http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-North-Korea-Impact.html
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Six-party talks: Dead? Tensions around the Sea of Japan: Off the charts. And in Washington: What do we do now?
North Korea delivered some unwanted fireworks to the Bush administration on the Fourth of July, shooting off missiles in an act heard around the globe. Now the White House must figure out how to transform what it calls a ''provocation'' into an opportunity.
7) Ayatollah's Moves Hint Iran Wants To Engage Supreme Leader Sets Course for WTO Membership Karl Vick Washington Post Wednesday, July 5, 2006; A10 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/04/AR2006070400750.html
ISTANBUL -- As diplomatic maneuvering continues over Iran's nuclear program, the cleric who holds ultimate authority in the country has signaled twice in recent days that Iran intends to engage the wider world it long held at bay.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's supreme leader, announced the formation of a new council to advise him on foreign affairs and a new privatization program aimed at preparing Iran for eventual membership in the World Trade Organization.
8) Missing Votes Add to Turmoil in Mexico About 2.5 million ballots left out of the initial count narrow the lead Calderon holds over Lopez Obrador to 0.6 percentage point. Héctor Tobar and Carlos Martínez Los Angeles Times July 5, 2006 http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-mexico5jul05,0,7378360.story
MEXICO CITY — The margin between the two leading candidates for president narrowed suddenly Tuesday after election authorities revealed that about 2.5 million votes had been missing from earlier counts. The announcement meant the race between leftist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador and conservative Felipe Calderon was still too close to call.
The news of uncounted votes heightened the sense of disarray since Mexico's polls closed Sunday night.
An initial count of the ballots gave a slim but apparently insurmountable lead to Calderon. On Monday evening, Calderon was leading Lopez Obrador by 402,708 votes, with 98.45% of polling stations "processed," according to official reports.
But election authorities acknowledged Tuesday that the preliminary count did not include vote totals from more than 11,000 stations where "irregularities" were noted in official paperwork. Those stations were listed as "processed" in the official reports, but their votes were not included in the tally.
Late Tuesday, election officials added the 2.5 million votes to the public count. Lopez Obrador outpolled Calderon on these ballots by more than 145,000 votes, narrowing Calderon's lead to slightly more than 257,000 ballots, or 0.6 percentage point.
9) Vote-by-Vote Recount Is Demanded in Mexico James C. Mckinley Jr. And Ginger Thompson New York Times July 5, 2006 http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/05/world/americas/05mexico.html
MEXICO CITY, July 4 — The Mexican electoral crisis deepened Tuesday, as the leftist candidate demanded a vote-by-vote recount and election officials acknowledged that up to three million votes had not been tallied in the preliminary results.
The ballots counted so far showed the conservative, Felipe Calderón, with the narrowest of leads, fewer than 400,000 votes, over his leftist opponent, Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
Mr. López Obrador's challenge made it clear that this country was about to live through its own version of the drawn-out legal battle that Americans experienced in the 2000 presidential race. Mexico's dispute, however, instead of being focused on one state, could be nationwide.
10) Anti-War Protesters Begin July 4 Fast Agence France Presse Tuesday, July 4, 2006 http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0704-01.htm
Star Hollywood actor-activists including Sean Penn and Susan Sarandon and anti-war campaigners led by bereaved mother Cindy Sheehan plan to launch a hunger strike, demanding the immediate return of US troops from Iraq.
As Americans get set to fire up barbeques in patriotic celebration of US Independence Day on July 4, anti-war protestors planned to savour a last meal outside the White House, before embarking on a 'Troops Home Fast' at midnight.
"We've marched, held vigils, lobbied Congress, camped out at Bush's ranch, we've even gone to jail, now it's time to do more," said Sheehan. -- Robert Naiman Just Foreign Policy