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Missile Shield
Russia, US Still at Odds
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File photo shows demonstrators holding up flags and placards during a rally on Hradcanske Square in Prague against a possible installation of a US missile defense radar system base in the Czech Republic.
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The United States and Russia failed to bridge differences over a planned American missile shield program, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said after meeting US President George W. Bush on Monday.
It was the first meeting between them since Medvedev was sworn in as president in May, Reuters reported.
“There are certain questions on our agenda where we agree, and these are the matters pertaining to Iran and North Korea,“ Medvedev told reporters through an interpreter.
“But then certainly there are others with respect to European affairs and this missile defense where we have differences,“ Medvedev said after their hour-long meeting. “We would like to agree on these matters as well.“
The United States is due to sign a treaty this week with the Czech Republic to build a missile defense radar there. Washington is also negotiating to put 10 interceptor rockets in Poland that it says will protect the United States and European allies from threats from “rogue states“.
Russia sees the shield as a threat and has said it will aim its nuclear missiles at central Europe if the shield is deployed. The United States counters that the 10 rockets are no match for Russia’s nuclear arsenal.
Early in Bush’s presidency, US-Russian ties were considered warm -- with Bush saying he had looked into then Russian President Vladimir Putin’s soul and trusted him--but relations have shifted into a tense rivalry.
After their meeting, Bush and Medvedev appeared to try to stress their relationship even as Bush nears the end of his term.
The two also talked about Iran, trade, investment and the situation on the Russian-Georgia border, where separatists have been battling Georgian rule.
“While there’s some areas of disagreement, there’s also areas where I know we can work together for the common good,“ Bush told reporters.
“I found him to be a smart guy who understood the issues very well.“
Medvedev’s chief political adviser, Sergei Prikhodko, told reporters after the meeting that the Russian president had raised particular concern about media reports of the United States placing interceptors in Lithuania.
“This is absolutely unacceptable for Russia,“ Prikhodko said.
Hurdles
The Czech Republic will sign a treaty Tuesday to build a US missile defense radar system on Czech soil despite opposition at home and in Russia.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will sign the plan in Prague, but it faces some hurdles. Talks with Poland have stalled over Warsaw’s demands for US aid to help modernize its army, and the Czech treaty will face opposition in Parliament.
But the Czech government said the shield would offer protection along with the country’s NATO and European Union membership.
Analysts say that bases in the former Soviet bloc would raise US security interest in the region at a time when Russia grows more assertive about its role on the global scene. Russia regards the missile shield as a threat to itself.
An opinion poll last month showed 68 percent of Czechs were against the shield, while 24 percent supported it.
The leftist opposition in Parliament has channeled the public discontent, and ratification is uncertain.
The three-party cabinet has just 100 seats in the 200-seat lower house and several backbenchers have said they would vote against. The government must win over several independents.
Tusk said Friday that US proposals were insufficient but that Poland was ready to negotiate further.
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Thai Protesters Block Police Headquarters
Thousands of demonstrators from the civil group People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) on Monday rallied at the Royal Thai Police Headquarters in Bangkok denouncing some senior police officers and the current government for doing in favor of the ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra.
Some leaders of the PAD led a number of demonstrators packed the road in front of the Royal Thai Police Headquarters compound since Monday morning, blocking traffic of the district into standstill, Xinhua reported.
The PAD leaders took turns to lambaste a group of senior police officers accused of failing to perform their duty to serve the public but favoring the Samak Sundaravej administration and some ruling politicians, all of whom are viewed by many demonstrators as being stand-ins for the ousted premier Thaksin.
Meanwhile, hundreds of police officers have been deployed to prevent any untoward incident.
In 2006, the PAD launched several mass rallies in Bangkok, protesting the then prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra. In September of the same year, the military staged a coup, ousting Thaksin while he was attending a United Nations meeting in the United States.
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S. Korea’s Lee
Removes 3 Ministers
South Korean President Lee Myung-bak on Monday reshuffled the Cabinet, replacing three ministers, a presidential spokesman said.
The president replaced the agriculture minister, the education minister and the minister for health and welfare, spokesman Lee Dong-Kwan said, Xinhua reported.
The president also designated Supreme Court justice Kim Hwang-sik as new chief of the Board of Audit and Inspection.
The agriculture, health and education ministers who were replaced Monday have been under fire as South Koreans rallied almost daily to protest the government’s decision in April to lift a ban on beef imported from the United States.
The initial protests, triggered by fears of mad cow disease, quickly evolved into a broader platform to express grievances against Lee’s policies on education, the economy and other issues.
“Today’s cabinet reshuffle is designed to give the government a new image and help overcome difficult internal and external situations with a new resolve,“ said Lee Dong-kwan, the chief presidential spokesman.
The entire cabinet, including the prime minister, offered to resign last month as Lee’s approval ratings dipped below 20 percent.
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Abkhazia Ending Georgia Ties
Georgia’s breakaway region of Abkhazia is to cut all ties with the national government in response to bomb attacks it blames on Tbilisi, Interfax news agency reported Monday, quoting rebel leader Sergei Bagapsh.
“Abkhazia is ending all contacts with Georgia due to Tbilisi’s policy of state terrorism,“ Bagapsh was quoted as saying, AFP reported.
Earlier, Russian peacekeeping forces said four blasts occurred on Sunday in Abkhazia. A bomb exploded on Wednesday in the tense border area between Georgia and Abkhazia. No one was reported injured in the blast, the third such incident this week in or near Abkhazia.
Russia said it suspects Georgia aims to forcefully regain control of Abkhazia; Georgia in turn said Russia wants to annex the region.
Abkhazia declared independence from Georgia in the 1990s after the collapse of the former Soviet Union in 1991. But its self-proclaimed independence has yet to win international recognition.
Abkhazia has been under the control of an internationally unrecognized separatist government since the end of fighting in the mid-1990s.
Russia has deployed peacekeepers in Abkhazia and has granted passports to most of the region’s residents.
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Sarko Immigration Ideas ’Useless’
A commission established by French President Nicolas Sarkozy to study his proposals to curb illegal immigration has concluded that his ideas for establishing quotas is useless, French media reported on Monday.
Both the left-wing daily “Liberation“ and the conservative newspaper “Le Figaro“ published extracts from the report, which described Sarkozy’s plans to set up quotas as “impracticable and useless“, DPA reported.
“A policy of immigration quotas would be without real utility regarding labor immigration, inefficient against illegal immigration,“ the report concluded.
Media information about the report came at a delicate time for Sarkozy and his Immigration Minister, Brice Hortefeux. EU interior ministers began meeting Monday in Cannes to discuss an immigration pa for the Union in which Sarkozy and Hortefeux want to set up quotas for all of Europe.
In September 2007, Sarkzy told France 2 television that he wanted that each year a maximum number be established for “the number of foreigners we welcome to our territory.“
In addition, he said he wanted to establish “a quota by profession ... (and) naturally a quota by world region.“
The 13-member commission was headed by Pierre Mazeaud, a conservative fmer head of the Constitutional Council, the French equivalent of the US Supreme Court.
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Appeal to FARC
Fidel Castro has urged the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) to free its remaining hostages, after the rescue last week by Colombian commandos of 15 captives held by the Marxist rebels.
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Power Sharing Deal Proposed for Zimbabwe
Robert Mugabe would remain Zimbabwe’s head of state but hand real power to opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai as prime minister under a plan proposed by South African President Thabo Mbeki, “The Guardian“ reported Monday.
President Mugabe would stay in place until a new constitution was negotiated and fresh elections were held, the paper said, quoting a senior source from Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), AFP reported.
The source told “The Guardian“ that the plan included recognition of the first round vote in March won by Tsvangirai and added that Mugabe staying in place was acceptable to the MDC if it paved the way for a new constitution and vote.
Mbeki, the chief mediator in the crisis, met Mugabe in Harare Saturday but Tsvangirai did not attend. Mugabe has said he will only enter talks if he is recognised as president but the MDC has dismissed this idea.
The MDC source told the Guardian that “all the basic ideas of the MDC“ were in the proposals.
“The important thing is that it recognises the outcome of the March 29 election and that any government will be transitional on the way to new elections,“ the source was quoted as saying.
The report did not state Mugabe’s response to the plan.
It came with G8 industrial powers gathering in Japan expected to take steps on Zimbabwe after presidential elections in which Mugabe was the sole candidate when Tsvangirai pulled out because of violence against supporters.
“I think the G8 will strongly condemn what Mugabe has done. It will strongly question the legitimacy of his government,“ Dennis Wilder, the US National Security Council’s senior director for Asia affairs, said en route to Japan.
Meanwhile, British Foreign Secretary David Miliband, who is visiting South Africa, said on his arrival that the crisis was “infecting the whole of Southern Africa“ and said Mugabe’s rule lacked legitimacy.
G8 Accused of Backtracking on Africa Pledges
G8 leaders lunched and talked with African heads of state at a luxury hotel on Monday as activists accused the rich nations’ club of backpedaling on pledges to double aid to the world’s poorest continent.
The issue of African poverty that tops the agenda at the start of a three-day summit in Japan is closely linked with rising food and fuel prices and the contentious topic of how to fight global warming, which the G8 will tackle later in the week, Reuters reported.
The G8 has invited seven African leaders to join the opening day of its annual summit, taking place on the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido.
Max Lawson, a policy adviser to Oxfam, a British advocacy group, said the summit was arguably the most important G8 gathering in a decade.
“The world is clearly facing multiple crises -- serious, serious economic problems, both rich and poor countries. But it is poor people who suffer the most, suffering hugely from food price increases,“ Lawson told reporters.
At its 2005 summit in Gleneagles, Scotland, the G8 agreed to double aid by 2010 to $50 billion, half of which would go to Africa.
But a report last month by the Africa Progress Panel, which was set up to monitor implementation of the Gleneagles commitments, said that under current spending plans the G8 will fall $40 billion short of its target.
“There are good plans being developed. We also know when efforts are made, great results can be achieved. But the problem is these plans are not being backed by serious financing,“ said Oliver Buston, a spokesman for activist group ONE.
“It is as if the G8 has built a car but they have not put any fuel in it. It is time for that to change.“
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