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Luke Terpstra

Georgia Has Veto Power Over Step in Closer U.S.-Russia Ties - NYTimes.com - 0 views

www.nytimes.com/...08russia.html

Russia Georgia World Trade Organization W.T.O. bargaining membership

shared by Luke Terpstra on 08 Mar 11 - No Cached
  • MOSCOW — When Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. sits down with Russia’s leaders later this week, a central topic will be the payoffs of the “reset” between Russia and the United States, among them Russia’s long-awaited accession to the World Trade Organization, which American officials have vigorously supported. But it is far too early to declare that project a success. Among the remaining sticking points is the fact that Georgia, which joined the trade group in 2000, has the power to block the admission of any new member.
  • For a decade, while grievances mounted between Russia and Georgia, the Georgian government has sought policy changes from Russia in exchange for its approval. Negotiations foundered in 2008, and a few months later, when war broke out over the separatist territories of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, further talks began to look like a lost cause.
  • On Monday, with the 17-year process of Russia’s entry nearing its endgame, Georgian officials confirmed that they would sit down with their Russian counterparts in Switzerland, which “has been mandated to act as a mediator between both countries,” said a spokeswoman for the Swiss Foreign Ministry
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  • For Georgia, “the W.T.O. issue is a double-edged sword,” said Svante E. Cornell
  • The issue is a difficult and occasionally painful one for all the parties involved: for Russia, which must reach out to a government it has demonized; for the United States, which has made Russia’s membership in the trade group into a central goal; and for Georgia, which has a limited window in which to negotiate before its allies become impatient.
  • Two and a half years after Russian forces routed the Georgian army in South Ossetia, tens of thousands of ethnic Georgians remain displaced from their homes in the enclave, and Russia has moved in heavy weaponry, including tactical ballistic missiles and rocket launchers.
  • Georgia’s veto power was one of only two or three issues — like intellectual property rights and agricultural subsidies — that were keeping Russia from membership in the trade organization. Members acknowledge Georgia’s right to strike a bargain with Russia for its consent, Mr. Aslund said, “but the W.T.O. accession for Russia is really moving on.” “Right now Georgia has great leverage, but it will soon disappear,” he said. “They should use this in an effective fashion.”
  • Luke Terpstra on 08 Mar 11
     
    Barry, Ellen. "Georgia Poses Hurdle for U.S.-Russia Ties." The New York Times 7 Mar. 2011 [Moscow] . Web. 8 Mar. 2011. .  Summary:       The issue facing russia and the World Trade Organization, is the fact that Georgia is already a member. With Russia wanting to join the W.T.O., Georgia has the power to deny Russia's passage into the organization. Georgia is trying to use this as leverage to make deals with russia so it can get peace and get the russian troops out of it's borders. The rest of the World Trade Organization views this as annoying but expects it to be solved and done with.  Reflections:       The fact that Georgia is using this as leverage is great. If I was in control of America I would also block Russia from joining in. I probably would not give up my denial of Russia until I got recognition of Georgia as a NATO member, a country that owns itself, and  get protection from attacks from Russia. I also would think that the rest of the world, just like me, would see this stupid, unneeded, bloody conflict as completely one sided. Questions: 1. What do you think Georgia should negotiate for? 2. Do you think it is fair to Russia to be denied by a country they oppress? 3. Do you think America should support them? Explain? 4. Do you think georgia should be completely supported by  America and its allies.? Why or why not?   
Won Geun Jung

South Ossetia News - Breaking World South Ossetia News - The New York Times - 1 views

topics.nytimes.com/...index.html

ossetia Georgia russia NYT news

shared by Won Geun Jung on 09 Mar 11 - No Cached
  • South Ossetia is a small enclave in the Caucasus Mountains that falls within the borders of Georgia but has been all but independent
  • Whatever vestige of control Georgia had it lost in a short war in August 2008, in which its forces were routed by Russian troops. Afterward, it was recognized by Russia as a sovereign nation, a designation not supported by most of the rest of the international community.
  • Russia has supported South Ossetia and another breakaway region, Abkhazia, as quasi-satellites since the wars in the 1990s ended in stalemates.
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  • In 2005 Georgia's president, Mikheil Saakashvili offered significant autonomy and economic development to South Ossetia if it renounced independence. South Ossetia's president rejected the plan "developed by a neighboring country'' sight unseen. Mr. Saakashvili had made national reunification a centerpiece of his administration.
  • In 2008, tensions between Georgia and Russia rose steadily and during the summer artillery fire was exchanged across the South Ossetian border.
  • In the event, a massive Russian invasion soon followed, and the Georgians were not only driven from Tskhinvali, but lost control of the approaches to Abkhazia and, for a time, large swaths of its own northern territory.
  • Russians saw the attack on Tskhinvali, which they call by its Ossetian name, Tskhinval, as a watershed moment akin to the Sept. 11 attacks, and aid pledges flooded in.
  • But reconstruction has proceeded slowly in this patch of rural land that had a prewar population of 70,000. A report released in December by Russia's federal auditing agency found that of about $55 million in priority aid pledged by Russia, only about $15 million had been delivered and only $1.4 million spent. It also found that of 111 structures scheduled for renovation by the end of 2008, 8 had been completed and 38 had not yet been touched.
  • On July 14, 2009, the Russian president, Dmitri A. Medvedev, made a surprise visit to breakaway South Ossetia, inspecting a new Russian military base there and promising citizens that Russia would rebuild neighborhoods destroyed during the brief war between Russia and Georgia.
  • The visit, coming just after President Obama's visit to Moscow, underscored Russian support and the gulf that remained between it and the United States over the breakaway republics. The "reset" of relations has sidestepped the issue of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
  • Won Geun Jung on 09 Mar 11
     
    South Ossetia News - Breaking World South Ossetia News - The New York Times http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/georgia/south_ossetia/index.html?scp=10&sq=south&st=cse Summary: South Ossetia is a small enclave in the Caucasus Mountains that falls within the borders of Georgia but has been all but independent.  Since 1990, South Ossetia and the rest of the regions declared independence from Georgia, and Russia were supported them.  In 2005, Georgia's president Mikhail Saakashvili would support them if it renounced independence but South Ossetia's president rejected.  Then in 2008, Georgia and Russia had a short war and their regions was invaded.  Then Russia pledged that they will support South Ossetia but the reconstruction has proceeded slowly.  In 2009, Russia president visited to South Ossetia after President Obama visited to Russia.  South Ossetia will be sidestepped by Russia and U.S. Reflection:  I think that South Ossetia and the other regions were really dangerous places between Russia and Georgia.  Also, this relationship between Russia and US would be affected because of Russia's president's visit.  If Russia really want to help South Ossetia, then they have to help the reconstruction of South Ossetia and the other parts which was invaded. Question:1) Why Georgia's president helped their economic problems and why South Ossetia's president rejected.                 2) Why Russia president surprise visit to South Ossetia?                 3) Why Russia did not help South Ossetia's reconstruction?
Won Geun Jung

Georgians Build Ties With Russian Caucasus - NYTimes.com - 0 views

www.nytimes.com/...13georgia.html

Georgia Russia build ties

shared by Won Geun Jung on 01 Mar 11 - No Cached
  • First Caucasus News was broadcasting in Russian — its target audience includes viewers north of its border, in the mountainous and restive Russian region known as the North Caucasus.
  • As the debut approached, the channel’s general director promised repeatedly that Kanal PIK, as the channel is known, would not be used as a vehicle for anti-Russian propaganda.
  • “The North Caucasus has become a ghetto,” he said. “These people have been given to the local feudal lords, who can kill them, rape them, hang them by their feet, torture them, take everything. Obviously, these people behave one way there, and a different way when they enter a country where there is rule of law.”
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  • Georgia went on to drop visa requirements for residents of the North Caucasus — including Russian republics like Dagestan, Ingushetia and Chechnya, among others — allowing them to enter the country freely for 90 days. The offer attracted more than 12,000 visitors in the next three months, many of them Muslim pilgrims taking advantage of an overland route to the hajj, Georgian officials say.
  • Meanwhile, Caucasian solidarity is an increasingly fashionable topic in Tbilisi, which last year hosted two conferences on Russian atrocities against the Circassians, an ethnic group driven out of the region in the late czarist period.
  • In a wide-ranging report to be published later this month by the Center for American Progress, based in Washington, Samuel Charap and Cory Welt say the policy was begun “unilaterally, in the absence of normal diplomatic relations, and to a part of Russia that is the locus of its greatest internal security threat: a violent and growing Islamist insurgency.”
  • It is Georgia’s second attempt to break the Kremlin’s near-monopoly on television news in Russian territory. A previous Russian-language channel, called First Caucasian, went off the air last year when its French satellite operator backed out of a deal, saying it had received a better offer from Russia’s Gazprom Media Group.
  • Won Geun Jung on 01 Mar 11
     
    Georgians Build Ties With Russian Caucasus - NYTimes.com http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/13/world/europe/13georgia.html?_r=2 Summary: After the war between Russia and Georgia, Russian Caucasus looked like a ghetto because of the tension of the war.  So, the government of Georgia went on to drop visa requirements for residents of the north caucasus.  However it is still in tension of war and even threaten to 2014 Olympic. Reflection:Although it was big trouble of war, I am so pleased that the war would be solved peacefully.  Also, Both countries tried to find solution what is good for then or not.  I wish both countries will be better. Question: Why Russian Caucasus are here in Georgia? Why Russian Caucasus looked like a ghetto? How to be peaceful both countries.
Leah Hop

Mexican Drug Trafficking - 0 views

topics.nytimes.com/...index.html

Mexico drug WC

shared by Leah Hop on 09 Mar 11 - Cached
  • government says more than 34,600 have been killed in the four years since President Felipe Calderón took office and threw the federal police and military at the cartels, with the toll for 2010, 15,237, the heaviest yet.
  • Mexican and American officials, crediting American training of the military and what they consider to be an increasingly professional federal police force, point out that more than half of the 37 most wanted crime bosses announced last year have been captured or killed.
  • A poll released Jan. 11 by Mexico’s national statistics institute found that more than 70 percent of respondents believed the country’s security had worsened since 2009.
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  • Obama administration will face renewed scrutiny to account for the $1.4 billion, multiyear Merida Initiative, the cornerstone of American aid in Mexico’s drug fight.
  • in June 2010 a Justice Department report described a "high and increasing" availability of methamphetamine mainly because of large-scale drug production in Mexico.
  • In October 2010, the government announced that it was preparing a plan to radically alter the nation’s police forces, hoping not only to instill a trust the public has never had in them but also to choke off a critical source of manpower for organized crime. It would all but do away with the nation’s 2,200 local police departments and place their duties under a “unified command.”
  • the rising count of gruesome drug-related murders is evidence that the government's strategy has failed.
  • Mr. Calderon dismisses suggestions that Mexico is a failed state, he and his aides have spoken frankly of the cartels' attempts to set up a state within a state, levying taxes, throwing up roadblocks and enforcing their own perverse codes of behavior.
  • United States and Mexico set their counternarcotics strategy on a new course in March 2010 by refocusing their efforts on strengthening civilian law enforcement institutions and rebuilding communities crippled by poverty and crime.
  • The $331 million plan was at the center of a visit to Mexico in March
  • The revised strategy has many elements meant to expand on and improve programs already under way as part of the so-called Mérida Initiative that was started by the Bush administration including cooperation among American and Mexican intelligence agencies and American support for training Mexican police officers, judges, prosecutors and public defenders.
  • American and Mexican agencies would work together to refocus border enforcement efforts away from building a better wall to creating systems that would allow goods and people to be screened before they reach the crossing points. The plan would also provide support for Mexican programs intended to strengthen communities where socioeconomic hardships force many young people into crime.
  • The most striking difference between the old strategy and the new one is the shift away from military assistance. More than half of the $1.3 billion spent under Merida was used to buy aircraft, inspection equipment and information technology for the Mexican military and police. Next year's foreign aid budget provides for civilian police training, not equipment.
  • But Ciudad Juárez belongs in its own category, with thousands killed each yea
  • Leah Hop on 09 Mar 11
     
    Research Question: How does the Mexican drug war affect the government and people of Mexico?  Source: Hidalgo, Oscar. "Mexican Drug Trafficking." New York Times. N.p., 1 Feb. 2011. Web. 8 Mar. 2011. Summary: The U.S has been helping Mexico train their military to an increasingly professional federal police force, which have captured or killed more than half of the 37 most wanted crime bosses. However, the people of Mexico believe the country's security is getting worse. In October 2010, the government announced it was going to change it's national police forces in hope of gaining trust from the public. This strategy was later revised. Reflection: This article talks a lot about the relationship between the U.S and Mexico and how they are trying to end this drug war. However, it also talks about how the U.S and Mexico are trying to prove that they are making positive changes in Mexico's security. I think that if they are in this situation where they are trying to convince the public then this crisis is not on the right path to stopping. Questions: 1) Why does such a large portion of Mexicans believe that even after the U.S and Mexico's strategies, that the country's security is getting worse? 2) Are the billions of dollars the U.S is investing in this drug war helping or changing anything? 3) Has border enforcement and people screening at crossing points help decrease the amount of drug trade with the U.S?
Won Geun Jung

Georgia - Shootout in Abkhazia - NYTimes.com - 0 views

www.nytimes.com/...09briefs-Georgia.html

shootout georgia russia NYT

shared by Won Geun Jung on 12 Apr 11 - No Cached
  • A Russian border guard and two Georgians were killed in a shootout in Abkhazia,
  • Russian border guards were inspecting an abandoned house when they were attacked
  • A spokesman for Georgia’s Interior Ministry denied that, saying one of the Georgians had been wanted by the police and the other was an area resident
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  • Russian guards began patrolling the boundaries of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, a second enclave, after the 2008 war between Georgia and Russia over the territories.
  • The security service said the two Georgians had been identified as officers from the Georgian Interior Ministry.
  • Won Geun Jung on 12 Apr 11
     
    Georgia - Shootout in Abkhazia - NYTimes.com http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/09/world/europe/09briefs-Georgia.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=Georgia%20and%20Russia&st=cse Summary: A Russian border and two Georgians were killed according to the Russia's Federal Security service.  Russian border guards were finding an abandoned house when they were attacked.  The security said two Georgians were officer of the Georgian Interior ministry.  However, Georgian's ministry said one is the wanted by police and the other was an area resident.  Russia guards began patrolling the boundaries. Reflection: Even if this article is small amount, this news might be  important because this happening makes big troubles and broke their relationship between Russia and Georgia.  I think that Georgian people will be feared because Russia and Georgia will have war because of this problem. Question:1) Who killed them? 2) Why Russia and Georgia's opinion are different? 3) How to solve this happening and their peace?
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