Just Foreign Policy News February 5, 2009

Just Foreign Policy News
February 5, 2009

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Would It Kill Us to Apologize to Iran for the Coup?
There hasn't exactly been a groundwell of public support in the U.S. yet for the idea that the U.S. should apologize for overthrowing Iranian democracy in 1953. But there is a precedent: in 1999, President Clinton gave a "near - apology" for the U.S. role in Guatemala's civil war. If Clinton could "near - apologize" for the U.S. role in Guatemala, is it beyond the realm of imagination that President Obama could "near - apologize" for the U.S. overthrow of democracy in Iran?
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/2/4/134155/4104/548/693048

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Summary:
U.S./Top News
1) The Obama administration sought an alternative to the Manas air base in Kyrgyzstan, used to supply the growing military operation in Afghanistan, after the president of Kyrgyzstan ordered the base closed, the New York Times reports. The Kyrgyz Parliament planned to vote Friday on a measure that would close the base. The measure is expected to pass. The Kyrgyz government argued the US mission in Afghanistan had outlasted its original goals, the terrorist threat there had "been removed," and NATO airstrikes in Afghanistan had caused unacceptable civilian casualties. US officials said it was all about money, and Russia had outbid the US. Others suggested Russia was signaling to the US that it was happy to cooperate with the US on Afghanistan, but Obama would have to deal with Russian concerns.

2) Treasury branded the Kurdish group PJAK, whose guerrillas fight against Iran, as a terrorist organization, Reuters reports. Treasury said the group is a front for the Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, which has been fighting the Turkish government [as Seymour Hersh alleged last year in the New Yorker - JFP.] Treasury said the PKK had authorized some of its Iranian - Kurdish members to create a splinter group to appeal to Iranian Kurds. [Hersh reported that part of the motivation for the existence of the PJAK "front" was to get US support without running afoul of US policy towards the PKK and Turkey - JFP.]

3) Writing for The Nation, Katrina vanden Heuvel reports on a conversation with Kavita Ramdas of the Global Fund for Women: would sending 30,000 more US troops to Afghanistan improve the lives of Afghan women? Ramdas asks: if the strategies that we used up to this point have not succeeded in ensuring the safety and well being of women and girls, what makes us think that increased militarization with 30,000 additional US troops is somehow going to improve the situation and security of women in Afghanistan?

4) Obama will seek a treaty with Russia that cuts each country's stockpile of nuclear weapons by 80 per cent, to 1000 warheads each, the Times of London reports. Key to the initiative is a review of the plan for a missile defence shield in Eastern Europe, fiercely opposed by Russia.

Iran
5) A senior adviser to Iran's president says dialogue with the US will succeed only if the Obama administration accepts Iran's right to have a nuclear program, the Financial Times reports.

Iraq
6) US-supported tribal leaders in Anbar threatened to seize power by force if their complaints of electoral fraud are rejected, the Washington Post reports.

Ecuador
7) Chevron executives are renewing efforts to have Ecuador's preferential trade status with the U.S. revoked next month in retalitation for a lawsuit by indigenous peasants in Ecuador against Chevron for environmental damage, the Washington Times reports. But the Chamber of Commerce, a Chevron ally, was pessimistic that Obama would agree to the punishment.

Venezuela
8) CEPR released a report on Venezeula's economy. The report found that since 2003, GDP has nearly doubled, the poverty rate has been cut by more than half, and extreme poverty has fallen by 72%. The report notes that these figures do not account for non-cash increases in the income of poor people, such as new access to health care and education provided by the government.

Colombia
9) A former Colombian governor, recently released from captivity by the FARC, blasted the Uribe government for its lack of interest in freeing FARC hostages or ending the country's civil war, EFE reports. He denounced the FARC's use of violence and kidnapping, but said the war would never end until the Colombian government adopts policies to remedy injustices and create opportunities for youth from poor families.