Iranian officials seize Shirin Ebadi’s Peace Prize medal, the Washington Post reports. And according to the NY Times, ElBaradei, who will leave office in four days, calls his Iran inquiry a ‘dead end’. Meanwhile in Afghanistan, the Taliban open a new front in Kunduz; the NY Times has the story.
All eyes on Obama. Is his foreign policy subtle or naive? The Economist says that Obama “has yet to show he has the staying power to take on a dangerous, stubborn and occasionally bad world”:
How exactly will Mr Obama’s quiet multilateral vision, in which each nation does its bit for the good of all, work in practice? He is right that American power is circumscribed. But the European Union is not fit to help him police the world. China, India and Russia are not willing. That leaves Mr Obama with a burden to shoulder on his own. In the coming weeks he could prove the doubters wrong. He could lead the way towards a brave deal on the climate. He could press Iran to negotiate over its nuclear programme before his own end-of-year deadline—or secure Russian backing for sanctions. He could agree to cut nuclear arms with Russia. He could bully the Palestinians and Mr Netanyahu to agree to talk. And he could get Mr Karzai and Pakistan to show that they mean to make Afghanistan governable. Even part of that list would set up Mr Obama as a foreign-policy president. But if there is no progress, then Mr Obama will be cast as starry-eyed and weak.
European Parliament happy with Van Rompuy and Ashton, Jean Quatremer, Brussels correspondent for the French newspaper Libération reports on his blog:
Dans les couloirs et lors d’un débat qui a eu lieu hier matin, à Strasbourg, chacun a clamé son bonheur. Les conservateurs sont contents : c’est l’un des leurs qui a été élu président du Conseil. Les socialistes aussi : c’est l’une des leurs qui a obtenu la direction de la diplomatie européenne. Les femmes aussi : c’est l’une des leurs, la Britannique Catherine Ashton, qui a été nommée ministre des Affaires étrangères. Les petits pays aussi : un ressortissant belge, Herman Van Rompuy, est à la tête du Conseil. Les grands pays aussi : c’est l’un des leurs qui récupère la diplomatie… Même le président du groupe libéral et démocrate, le Belge Guy Verhofstadt, a trouvé un motif de satisfaction : « mauvaise nouvelle, le président du conseil européen n’est pas un libéral, mais c’est quand même un Belge »… Les vingt-sept chefs d’État et de gouvernement semblent donc avoir réussi un coup de maître.
Keep the EU’s door open for Turkey, says Swedish foreign minister Carl Bildt, representing the rotating EU presidency, in the European Parliament, Today’s Zaman reports. But there should be “no discount” for candidates, outgoing enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn warns. In a speech before Parliament he made the balance sheet of his five years in the job. Euractiv has more.
Next Monday, the 12th EU-China summit will take place in Nanjing (official information here). For Global Europe, Shada Islam, analyst at the European Policy Centre (EPC) in Brussels, has written a commentary piece: Take a fresh look. The EU needs a new policy towards China.
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