NightWatch
For the Night of 14
April 2008
China-Taiwan: For the record. Senior officials have
agreed to restart talks after nearly a decade, Taiwan Vice President-elect
Vincent Siew told reporters today. Siew
held an historic meeting with China’s
President Hu Jintao during an economic forum over the weekend. The two agreed
to restart a dialog process that has been stalled since 1999. Taiwan
President-elect Ma Ying-jeou said he hoped to resume the talks with China soon
after he and Siew take office May 20.
Pakistan: President Musharraf said he would welcome the
help of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), which includes Russia, China,
Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan
and Uzbekistan, in addition
to NATO, in bringing stability to Afghanistan, Agence France-Presse
reported. Musharraf acknowledged that if the SCO participated in stabilization
efforts in Afghanistan,
the organization would need to ensure that there would be no confrontations
with NATO.
This news report contains two significant points. Musharraf continues to act in public as if he
formulates foreign policy. Since the election, the National Assembly has that
responsibility and the president is a figurehead. His expansion of presidential
authority in a parliamentary system could lead to another constitutional
crisis, but not soon. The National Assembly is still sorting out its internal
alliances and procedures.
The other issue is that, during his official visit to China, Musharraf apparently has encouraged Russia and China
to assert interests in Afghanistan,
a neighboring country. The media
coverage did not disclose whether he had approval from Afghan or NATO
authorities.
For the record. The
News reported the following correction.
“A source in the army while
responding to a news item appearing in a section of the press regarding US
trainers being moved to tribal areas to train the Frontier Corps troops, said
that the news is incorrect. He said that any training program to train the
trainers of Frontier Corps will be finalized with the approval of Ministry of
Interior. All paramilitary forces including the Frontier Corps fall under the
jurisdiction of the Ministry of Interior, he added. He also said that the news
of any type of pressure on the army in this regard is baseless and unfounded.”
Iraq: Muqtada al-Sadr faces charges in the
clerics' court in Tehran, Iran, of instigating the 10 April 2003, killing of Ayatollah Abdul Majid al-Khoei, a Shiite leader based in An Najaf, Saudi-run news Web site Elaph.com reported April
10. So far, other media outlets have not confirmed the Elaph report.
This is an old issue and allegation. According to some
accounts, Khoei, who was an English speaking American-backed, moderate son of
one of Iraq’s
greatest religious scholars, was murdered personally by Sadr. Most other
accounts say Saddam loyalists murdered him. Some analysts speculated that
Khoei’s influence would have facilitated the post-Saddam reconstruction and
minimized bloodshed.
This is the only report of this kind. The claim that Sadr is
wanted for murder in Iran
looks like disinformation. In the past
year, Sadr has spent months studying at Qom.
Iranian authorities could have arrested him at any time if he really was
charged with a crime.
Russia:
Admiral Vladimir Vysotsky, the navy's commander-in-chief said the navy
will combat pirate attacks on civilian ships in oceans all over the world, Interfax
reported. Vysotsky said it is the policy of the Russian military leadership to
keep warships in all oceans, especially where there is intensive fishing and
shipping.
Every announcement of this kind by the Russian admiralty
exposes a bit more of current Russian thinking about naval strategy. The
Soviets achieve the capability to maintain ships in all the oceans in the last
decade before the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Even then, they rode at anchor more than they patrolled. The latest
announcement suggests Russian Navy intends to pick up where the Soviet Navy
left off.
Fighting pirates is the duty of all maritime powers since
the earliest formulation of laws of admiralty. The significant point is the
intention to have a naval presence in all oceans.
Russia-Ukraine: Russian General Yuri Baluevsky threatened to
take military action against Ukraine
if Ukraine
joins NATO, the Russian daily Kommersant reported today. Ukraine called on Russia
to stop such hawkish talk and pledged to defend its sovereignty on the eve of
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Vladmir Ogryzko’s 15 April visit to Moscow to meet with his
counterpart Sergei Lavrov.
Zimbabwe: Opposition
party the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) called today for countrywide
protests against government calls for a recount of the March 29 parliamentary
election. MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai
said the protests are meant to reinforce the MDC's demand for President Robert
Mugabe to step down.
The High Court dismissed an opposition petition for the
Electoral Commission to release last month's presidential election results. The
judge said the outcome could not be published until reports of anomalies in
some seats had been investigated.
The response to the nationwide protests and general strike
will be the best measurements of the continuing strength of the opposition as a
national movement, not just a political party.
At this point, living conditions are so debilitating that prospects are
poor for the development of an effective national movement to oust Mugabe that
is capable of standing against the police, the military and organized gangs of
military veterans.
Venezuela:
President Chavez is working to create a
South America defense council along with Brazil and other countries. In a
speech yesterday, Chavez compared a possible "South Atlantic Treaty
Organization" to NATO. Venezuelan
officials plan to discuss the proposed council with Brazilian Defense Minister
Nelson Jobim, who arrived in Caracas
today.
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