Merkel presses Russia on democracy and human rights. Judy Dempsey reports in the New York Times:
Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany spoke out strongly on human rights during her talks with President Dmitry Medvedev of Russia on Thursday as German companies signed an array of deals worth billions of dollars.
Mrs. Merkel, ending a two-day visit to the Urals city of Yekaterinburg, where the two countries were holding consultations, said Russian modernization could not be separated from democracy. “There’s an almost inseparable link between modernizing the economy and making civil society more democratic,” she said. (…)
Mrs. Merkel, who has made the defense of human rights and freedom the hallmarks of her administration, also raised the case of Natalya Estemirova, a prominent Chechen human rights activist who was killed a year ago. Ms. Estemirova had been kidnapped in her native Chechnya, where she had been a vocal critic of the Kremlin-backed regional leader, Ramsan Kadyrov. Her body was dumped in neighboring Ingushetia.
‘‘It is important that Russia continues to investigate that murder,” Mrs. Merkel said at a news conference with Mr. Medvedev. ‘‘In order to feel security in the legal system it is important that such high-profile and public cases be successfully solved.” She said that ‘‘in matters of human rights, there are clearly differences of opinion between our two countries.” Mr. Medvedev responded that the killer of Ms. Estemirova had been identified and an investigation was in ‘‘full swing.” (…)
Mrs. Merkel’s stance on human rights issues has not hurt trade ties, despite concerns by some German companies and lobbies that her comments would be counterproductive.
During the visit, the German company Siemens signed a $2 billion contract to supply more than 200 regional trains to Russia. Siemens also announced a venture with two Russian partners to produce wind turbines and help develop the Skolkovo complex, a Russian equivalent of Silicon Valley. Russia is also negotiating with Airbus to supply 11 Airbus A330s to Russia for $2.2 billion, or about $2.8 billion.
Last year, German exports to Russia amounted to $20.5 billion, a fall of 36 percent from 2008 because of the global financial crisis. Imports from Russia amounted to $24. 9 billion, a decline of 30 percent. But there are signs that trade is picking up, according to the Federal Bureau of Statistics in Germany.
Ashton launches association agreement with Georgia. Azerbaijan and Armenia to follow. AFP reports:
The European Union boosted Georgia’s hopes of building closer ties with the West Thursday by launching talks on an association pact that would strengthen relations with the ex-Soviet republic.
EU foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton said at a joint press conference with President Mikheil Saakashvili that the eventual association agreement will “build a foundation to bring Georgia closer to the European Union.” “The agreement will provide the framework for a new relationship,” she said in the Georgian Black Sea city of Batumi.
“I strongly believe that by strengthening the relationship between Georgia and the European Union we can contribute to Georgia’s democratic development, its long-term stability (and) prosperity,” she said. “It’s good for you and it’s good for us. Stability and prosperity here enhances stability and prosperity in the European Union,” she added. (…)
Ashton’s office said in a statement that talks on association agreements will also be launched with Georgia’s neighbours Azerbaijan on Friday and Armenia on Monday. Similar talks are already taking place with Ukraine and Moldova. But the launch of the talks, with Ashton in attendance, is of special importance to Georgia, which more than any other country in the region has sought closer ties with the West.
Ashton to negotiate with Iran? At the World Politics Review, Johan Bergenäs, says that Catherine Ashton and Irans nuclear negotiator Jalili “are currently involved in a diplomatic dance over resuming talks on Tehran’s nuclear program”:
If the talks do indeed come to fruition, Ashton could assume the negotiating role previously played by her predecessor, Javier Solana. While Solana’s diplomatic efforts ultimately did not bear fruit, the circumstances that hampered his attempts to resolve the Iranian nuclear standoff — namely, the lack of U.S. participation and Iranian perceptions that the country had little to gain by talking with Europe — have since improved and could be capitalized on by Ashton. (…)
Solana could not ensure what Iran desires most: a credible guarantee of national security. One senior European diplomat directly involved in the negotiations said that the E3/EU negotiation team was unable to put the words “security guarantee” into the various offers because “the Americans were either not in agreement or, while accepting to discuss [this option], could not accept that this would be in the offer itself.”
Hassan Rohani, Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator throughout most of the E3/EU-Iran talks, has admitted that besides playing for time, Iran did not have much to gain from negotiating with the E3/EU. Middle East expert Dr. Chen Kane, in analyzing a speech made by Rohani in 2004, wrote that the Iranian official “regard[ed] the Europeans’ offers to support Iran’s membership in the World Trade Organization, to invest in Iran’s civil aviation, agriculture, and oil and gas industries, and to conclude a new trade agreement with Iran as providing ‘no immediate benefit for [Iran].’”
Now, although tensions between Iran and the West continue to run high, the prospects for negotiations, should they take place, are significantly improved by two promising developments. First, in contrast to his predecessor, U.S. President Barack Obama considers engagement with Iran a fundamental component of the American strategy vis-à-vis Tehran’s nuclear program. (…)
Second, on the same day that Ashton received Jalili’s reply, Ali Akbar Salehi, the head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Agency, became the first senior Iranian official since the new U.N. Security Council resolution was adopted to admit that international and unilateral sanctions could slow progress in the country’s nuclear efforts. Salehi said that while sanctions “will not stop” Iran’s nuclear program, “[o]ne can’t say sanctions are ineffective.” The statement is in stark contrast to Iran’s usual rhetoric, which consistently denies that outside pressure has had an impact.
If in fact these new circumstances can be capitalized on, Ashton’s overtures to Iran represent a significant first step. (…)
Of course, the prospects for new talks may simply be the result of yet more Iranian posturing, drawn from Tehran’s past nuclear playbook of deceit, obfuscation and stalling. However, if Tehran does come to the negotiation table, its negotiators will not only see a new face in Ashton, they will also be confronted with a fundamentally different dynamic than under Solana’s diplomatic quest. This is an opportunity that Ashton and the P5+1 should pursue without delay.
At Time, Joe Klein thinks that a military strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities is back on the table.
UK foreign policy. “Britain has to do more with less”, says Timothy Garton Ash at the Globe and Mail.
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