Russia to deliver new security proposal in Brussels July 22

(RUSSIA, SECURITY, COUNCIL, ROGOZIN, BETWEEN, AUGUST)

MOSCOW, June 29 (RIA Novosti) - Russia`s proposals for a new National Security Strategy is to be presented at NATO headquarters in Brussels on July 22, Russia`s envoy to NATO said Monday.
"A high-level expert - one of the leaders of Russia`s Security Council - will arrive for that," Dmitry Rogozin said during a video link from Brussels organized by RIA Novosti.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev signed a decree in May on the National Security Strategy up to 2020.
Rogozin also said that NATO had invited "the Russian envoy to take part on July 7 in a seminar devoted to NATO strategic development issues."
He also said the first meeting between a Russian representative and the newly-appointed NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, who takes up the post on August 1, will be held August 11.
"I think at the August 11 meeting he is to outline prospects for his trip to Russia," Rogozin said.
Rogozin said discussions on a Russia`s proposal for a European Security Treaty could start in September during a Russia-NATO Council session.
Saturday`s informal foreign ministerial meeting of the Russia-NATO Council was the first high-level talks since last August`s five-day war between Russia and Georgia, after which contacts were frozen. Russia then recognized Abkhazia and South Ossetia, which was attacked by Tbilisi in an attempt to bring it back under central control.
Relations between Russia and NATO have also been frayed in recent years over the military alliance`s eastern expansion. Ukraine and Georgia, both former Soviet republics, have applied to join, but their U.S.-backed bids were turned down due to pressure from Germany and France at a 2008 NATO summit in Bucharest.
 
Original article

Ousted Honduran leader to take part in emergency Nicaragua summit

(PRESIDENT, HONDURAN, ZELAYA, LEADER, COUNTRY, CALLED)

Honduras Crisis : Soldiers ousted the democratically elected president
MEXICO CITY, June 29 (RIA Novosti) - Honduran President Jose Manuel Zelaya, deposed in a coup on Sunday, has flown from Costa-Rica to Nicaragua to take part in an emergency regional summit, Mexican media reported on Monday.
Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez provided his personal plane to take Zelaya to the summit, which will see the participation of over 15 regional leaders, including those of Mexico, Ecuador and Cuba. The situation in Honduras will top the agenda.
Chavez, one of Zelaya`s strongest allies, also threatened military action if Venezuela`s envoy in Honduras was attacked.
Honduran military arrested Zelaya on Sunday morning, the same day polls were due to open for a referendum on the extension of his non-renewable four-year term of office.
The country`s Supreme Court had ruled the referendum illegal. The president was arrested at his residence and transported aboard a military plane to Costa-Rica in what was Central America`s first coup since the end of the Cold War.
Interim president, Roberto Micheletti, imposed an overnight curfew in the country after taking power. However, Zaleya supporters have set up barricades near the presidential place and there have been unconfirmed reports of shots being fired.
Honduran trade union leader Angel Alvarado has called for a nationwide strike in support of Zelaya.
World leaders have condemned the coup, with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon urging "the reinstatement of the democratically elected representatives of the country". U.S. President Barack Obama has called on the coup leaders to "respect the rule of law."
Former Cuban leader Fidel Castro called the coup a "suicidal mistake" in an article published early on Monday.
 
Original article

Russia ready for more NATO cargo transits to Afghanistan

(AFGHANISTAN, RUSSIA, TRANSIT, MILITARY, GERMANY, FRANCE)

Facing the Taliban in Afghanistan
UN Secretary General welcomes Russia`s role in restoration of Afghanistan
CORFU (Greece), June 29 (RIA Novosti) - Russia is ready to extend the transit of military cargoes through Russia to other key member nations of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan, a deputy foreign minister has said.
Russia already has bilateral transit deals with Germany, France and Spain, and Moscow also signed an agreement with NATO in 2008 on rail transits of non-lethal supplies to Afghanistan.
"As for military transits, we have signed agreements with Germany, France and Spain. We are also considering a request from Italy," Alexander Grushko told a news conference late on Sunday after an informal meeting of the Russia-NATO Council.
Due to worsening security on the main land route from Pakistan, NATO is seeking alternative routes to supply the U.S.-dominated ISAF in Afghanistan.
There are 62,000 foreign troops in Afghanistan, and U.S. President Barrack Obama has pledged to deploy another 17,000 U.S. military personnel to the war-ravaged country.
The informal foreign ministerial meeting of the Council on Saturday was the first high-level talks since last August`s five-day war between Russia and Georgia, after which contacts were frozen. Russia then recognized Abkhazia and South Ossetia, which was attacked by Tbilisi in an attempt to bring it back under central control.
Relations between Russia and NATO have also been frayed in recent years over the military alliance`s eastern expansion. Ukraine and Georgia, both former Soviet republics, have applied to join, but their U.S.-backed bids were turned down due to pressure from Germany and France at a 2008 NATO summit in Bucharest.
NATO and Russia have recently taken measures to step up cooperation on international security, including anti-piracy efforts in the Gulf of Aden.
 
Original article

Obama focuses on Senate after first climate win

(OBAMA, WOULD, ENERGY, SENATE, CLIMATE, US, CHANGE)

By Jeff Mason
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama, fresh from his first legislative victory on climate policy, expressed confidence on Monday that new greenhouse gas emission limits would become law with help from the U.S. Senate.
Obama also announced new measures on efficiency standards for lighting used in homes and businesses to take effect in 2012.
The House of Representatives passed a climate change bill on Friday that would require large companies, including utilities and manufacturers, to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and other gases associated with global warming by 17 percent by 2020 and 83 percent by 2050, from 2005 levels.
The Democratic president and many environmentalists declared the passage a historic step forward for U.S. energy policy, while Republicans and other opponents called it a massive tax that would not succeed in fighting climate change.
The bill gives Obama a stronger case to assert U.S. leadership on global warming at a meeting of the world`s major emitters next week on the sidelines of the G8 summit in Italy.
But the president`s victory may be short lived. The U.S. Senate must now shape its version of the same bill, and the chances of passage there are murky.
Obama and his top environmental aide, Carol Browner, expressed confidence that success would come in the Senate as well.
"In the months to come, the Senate will take up its version of the energy bill, and I am confident that they too will choose to move this country forward," Obama told reporters.
Browner declined to speculate on the timing of a Senate vote but referred to statements by Majority Leader Harry Reid that work would be done on the bill this autumn.
"I am confident that ... comprehensive energy legislation will pass the Senate," she said.
U.N. talks on a new global pact to fight climate change take place in December in Copenhagen, and analysts say having a U.S. law passed by then would boost chances of reaching an international agreement.
Obama has said he wants the United States to lead the world in fighting climate change.
EFFICIENCY STANDARDS
The new efficiency standards announced by the president apply to fluorescent and incandescent lamps, which represent 37 and 7 percent of lighting energy use, respectively, the White House said. They would save up to 594 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions through 2042, the White House said.
Obama and Energy Secretary Steven Chu also announced they were accelerating a $346 million investment of stimulus funds to be used in making new and existing homes as well as commercial buildings more energy efficient.  Continued...
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House passes landmark climate change bill

Obama voices support for Colombia trade deal

(TRADE, COLOMBIA, OBAMA, US, URIBE, CONGRESS, PRESIDENT)

By Doug Palmer
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama expressed hope that Congress would eventually approve a long-delayed free trade agreement with Colombia, but said that country needed to make more progress on human rights first.
"There remains work to do. But I`m confident that ultimately we can strike a deal that is good for the people and good for the people of the United States," Obama told reporters after a meeting with Colombian President Alvaro Uribe.
In remarks in the White House Oval Office, Obama said he did not have "a strict timetable" for submitting the trade deal to Congress because he already had a busy legislative agenda this year and needed to consult with lawmakers first.
But he said Colombia could improve chances for the pact by making further progress on a number of human rights concerns that have blocked approval of the pact since it was signed by officials in the administration of former President George W. Bush in November 2006.
"President Uribe has assured me that he is interested in resolving those issues, and as I said great progress has been made. I trust that we can make more progress and I think that will help shape the overall environment in which this issue is being debated in Congress," Obama said.
Uribe said approval of the pact would send an important U.S. "signal of confidence" in Colombia, adding that his government was open to any U.S. advice on how it could improve its human rights record.
It was Obama`s second meeting with Uribe, a conservative politician who enjoyed a close relationship with Bush and whose country has received more than $6 billion in U.S. military and other aid under the Plan Colombia program since 1999.
Obama opposed the free trade agreement during last year`s presidential election campaign on the grounds that Colombia had not done enough to reduce killings of trade unionists and prosecute those responsible for the crimes.
The AFL-CIO labor federation, the United States` largest labor group, remains strongly opposed to the free trade agreement, as do many Democratic members of Congress.
When Bush tried to force a vote on the agreement in April 2007, he lost a showdown with House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who instead pushed through a legislative rule change to indefinitely delay action on the pact.
"I think the burden is not simply on Colombia," Obama noted on Monday. "I think Colombia has done a lot of excellent work. It is a matter of getting both countries to a place where their legislatures feel confident that it will be ultimately to the economic benefits of these countries."
Obama, after meeting Uribe for the first time at the Summit of the Americas in Trinidad in April, asked U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk to work with Colombia and Congress on a plan to enact the pact.
Uribe also met on Monday with U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke, U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk and World Bank Robert Zoellick. Zoellick launched the U.S. free trade talks with Colombia in May 2004, when he was Bush`s trade representative.
(Reporting by Doug Palmer; editing by Todd Eastham)
Original article

Obama, Merkel show united front at U.S. meeting

By Jeff Mason
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel displayed a united front on Friday over Iran, climate and regulation, smoothing over -- at least in public -- differences that dogged their relationship.
Obama, who called Merkel a friend he could trust, said the two spoke with one voice in condemning the crackdown on demonstrators in Iran after its disputed election.
Merkel, who has criticized Obama`s economic stimulus plan, praised U.S. efforts to fight global warming and said a bill in the U.S. Congress would advance international talks on climate change later this year.
"The chancellor and I discussed the tragic situation in Iran," Obama said at the opening of a joint news conference.
"Today we speak with one voice. The rights of the Iranian people to assemble, to speak freely, to have their voices heard -- those are universal aspirations."
The two leaders also discussed accelerating the Middle East peace process, fighting extremism in Afghanistan, and creating a "more substantive" relationship with Russia, Obama said.
Merkel and Obama, who will attend the Group of Eight summit of wealthy nations in Italy next month, have clashed over the best way to lift the globe out of recession.
Democrat Obama presided over a $787 billion U.S. economic stimulus package shortly after taking office in January, while Merkel, a conservative, has spoken against massive spending to fix the world`s economic ills.
"I underscored our commitment to strengthening financial regulations, and I welcome Chancellor Merkel`s commitment to reform," Obama said in a nod to their respective priorities.
On climate change, Merkel was expected to press Obama to back a European Union goal of limiting increases in global average temperatures to no more than 2 degrees Celsius.
But the chancellor, whose visit coincided with a vote in the House of Representatives on a bill capping carbon emissions, went out of her way to praise the U.S. legislation, which Obama supports, and its potential to boost U.N. negotiations in Denmark in December.
"It should not be underestimated what sort of opportunity this brings to us to come to a good, a sustainable result during the Copenhagen conference," she said.
BUILDING A RELATIONSHIP
Other areas of disagreement came up. Merkel`s government has resisted U.S. requests that it accept inmates from the Guantanamo prison that Obama plans to close by early 2010.
Obama said the two sides were discussing the issue.  Continued...
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U.S. subsidies "poison" emerging market talks: U.S. official

By Peter Griffiths
LONDON (Reuters) - The United States` subsidies for failing industries risk "killing" American attempts to discuss trade with China and other developing nations, U.S. Federal Trade Commissioner William Kovacic said on Friday.
Subsidies can damage internal competition and undermine efforts to persuade other countries to avoid protectionism during the worst economic crisis in decades, he said.
"The poison in this for the longer term is this is going to kill our efforts in talking with emerging market economies," Kovacic, who chaired the FTC until March, said in a speech to a competition conference at the Chatham House thinktank in London.
"I have trips coming up this year to visit with Chinese officials and I am dreading the question and answer period because they are particularly astute students of what happens in Brussels and Washington," he said.
"They have a keen eye for the contradictions that seem to creep into policy. So you are left there saying `don`t try this at home, we can handle it, we are adults, but it is bad for you`."
Leaders of the G20 major economies pledged at a summit last November to fight protectionism, but 18 of their economies were named in a World Trade Organization report in March on measures taken that could be seen as restricting trade.
Part of the $787 billion U.S. stimulus package requires public works projects to use iron, steel and other goods made in the United States, if that does not contravene trade commitments.
Similar provisions feature in a climate change bill working its way through the U.S. Congress. It would give aid to carmakers building plug-in electric cars in the United States.
Helping failing industry undermines successful companies and sends the wrong signals to industry, Kovacic added.
Washington has taken a stake worth $50 billion in General Motors Corp and an 8 percent stake of $12 billion in Chrysler as part of its plan to restructure them in bankruptcy.
"Subsidy schemes not only are going to affect competition internally but they are sending a larger message that `if you fail grotesquely we will help you out, if you succeed thank you for your contributions to the American economy but no special help for you`," Kovacic said.
"Buy American" may boost cartels and damage free trade, and it must end after an "appropriate period," he added.
"The message that ought to have been driven home is that our experience with cartels tells us that `Buy American` has been a great protection and stimulus for cartel coordination," he said.
(Editing by Sophie Hares)
Original article

Russia says to ink U.S. military deal at summit

By Conor Sweeney
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia and the United States will sign deals on military cooperation when U.S. President Barack Obama visits Moscow next month, Russia`s top general said on Friday.
"We have outlined the main issues of military cooperation for 2009 and beyond," the head of the Russian general staff, General Nikolai Makarov, said after a 90-minute meeting in Moscow with his U.S. counterpart, Admiral Michael Mullen.
"Our intention is that those documents should be signed when U.S. President Barack Obama arrives here in Moscow in July," Makarov said.
Mullen, the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, made no mention of any military agreements after the talks but said he was looking forward to the outcome of Obama`s visit to Russia in early July.
The military top brass said they discussed a wide range of common concerns, ranging from North Korea`s nuclear test to Iran and Afghanistan. They gave no further details about the talks or about the military agreements.
Mullen, on his first visit to Moscow, said the meeting was frank and open. The military talks follow renewed efforts by the two countries to reset relations which have become strained by events such as last year`s Georgia war and NATO`s expansion eastwards.
"I`m very encouraged by our meetings and our mutual commitment to address these issues and strengthen our military-to-military cooperation," said Mullen.
"We have many common challenges ... whether in Afghanistan or the challenges in missile defense, or in Iran or particularly for security in Europe," he added.
Obama travels to Moscow from July 6-8 for a summit with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev where the agenda will include further cuts to aging nuclear arsenals and U.S. plans to install an anti-missile defense system in Europe.
"I very much look forward to the outcome of the very important summit between Presidents Obama and Medvedev in two weeks," said Mullen.
"I can`t emphasize enough my belief that we need to work on these very hard challenges to improve security not just in Europe, but in the world," said Mullen.
(Reporting by Conor Sweeney; Editing by Richard Williams)
Original article

Obama, Germany`s Merkel to air differences at meeting

By Jeff Mason
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel will debate how to fix the global economy and fight climate change on Friday in a White House meeting that is likely to highlight a range of differences between the two leaders.
Unrest in Iran after the Islamic Republic`s disputed presidential poll, the war in Afghanistan and a U.S. request that Germany take prisoners from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, are also issues likely to be on the agenda.
Merkel and Obama, who will both attend the Group of Eight summit of wealthy nations in Italy next month, have clashed about the best way to lift the globe out of recession, but analysts say relations between the two leaders are solid.
"They`re going to continue conversations as we head into the G8 about the importance of continuing to make progress and getting our world economy back on track," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said, noting Obama and Merkel had recently met in Germany.
"Obviously, North Korea and Iran will be discussed, as they were in Germany. And I think -- I assume issues such as Guantanamo Bay and others will be on the docket," he said.
Obama presided over a $787 billion U.S. economic stimulus package shortly after taking office earlier this year, while Merkel has spoken against massive spending to fix the world`s economic ills.
A senior German official said the chancellor wanted to discuss an "exit strategy" for short-term economic fixes such as stimulus spending.
"It`s an issue for the future but one we feel needs to be discussed now," the official said.
Obama and Merkel disagree on international security topics as well. Berlin has shunned U.S. calls that it commit more troops to the war in Afghanistan, which is deeply unpopular in Germany.
Merkel`s government has also resisted U.S. requests that it accept inmates from the Guantanamo prison that Obama plans to close by early 2010.
DISAGREEMENTS, ELECTION
Merkel, who is running in Germany`s September federal election for a second term, enjoyed a warm relationship with former U.S. President George W. Bush, urging him, with some success, to inch toward international consensus on the need to fight climate change.
"Merkel was dealing with a weakened Bush and the Germans felt they could influence him," said John Kornblum, the U.S. ambassador to Germany under President Bill Clinton, who lives in Berlin. "They do not have the same feeling with Obama."
But another analyst said Obama and Merkel admire each other and have a respectful relationship, which the German chancellor is eager to illustrate -- even while disagreeing with U.S. policies -- during her first visit to the Obama White House.
"Obama is the most popular politician in Germany," said Jeremy Shapiro, a foreign policy fellow at the Washington-based Brookings Institution.  Continued...
Original article

Really, I do like you, Obama tells French and Germans

Obama, Sarkozy agree on Mideast
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By Ross Colvin
PARIS (Reuters) - Barack Obama's trip to Europe this weekend revealed deep anxieties among the French and Germans that the U.S. president, hugely popular in both countries, doesn't really like them.
After years in which France and Germany happily distanced themselves from the unpopular policies of former President George W. Bush, Obama appeared bemused as he tried to reassure French and German journalists at a press conference they should not read anything into the brevity of his 2-1/2-day trip.
But he learnt, like the most popular kid in school who everyone wants to befriend, that the slightest gesture can seem like a snub to those anxious to be liked.
The president spent less than a day on Friday in Germany, where he held talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and visited the Buchenwald concentration camp that his great uncle helped to liberate in World War Two.
"Most of the speculation around my schedule here in Germany doesn't take into account simple logistics, traveling, trying to get from one place to the other ... there are only 24 hours in a day."
"So stop it, all of you," Obama, with a smile, told journalists.
"I know you have to have something to report on but we have more than enough problems out there without manufacturing problems."
The shortness of Obama's stay in Germany and his decision not to go to Berlin led to German media speculation of a rift, but the president dismissed this as "wild speculation."
Relations between Washington and Berlin have been less than smooth since Obama took office in January. Facing an election in September, Merkel has resisted U.S. pressure to take inmates from Guantanamo and send more troops to Afghanistan.
Obama traveled to Europe earlier this year to attend G-20 and NATO summits in a trip aimed at repairing ties with European allies alienated by Bush's war on terror, invasion of Iraq and climate change policies.
"BEST FRIENDS"
Arriving in France on Saturday to attend commemorations marking the 65th anniversary of the World War Two D-Day landings, Obama again found himself on the defensive after holding only brief talks and a working lunch with French President Nicolas Sarkozy.
French officials had expressed surprise, in private, that he could not find the time for an official reception at Sarkozy's Elysee Palace. Obama dined with his wife Michelle at a restaurant near the Eiffel tower in Paris instead.
"I think it's important to understand that good friends don't worry about the symbols and the conventions and the protocols," Obama told reporters with Sarkozy by his side, dismissing the suggestion he was snubbing his French host.
In translated remarks, Sarkozy was heard to say: "Do people think we should be hand in hand looking into each other's eyes?" Continued...
Source: Reuters