Geopolitics Weekly

reformists have always been suspicious of Mr Qalibaf, a former commander of the Revolutionary Guard Corps. He appears to hold modern views, but his belief in democratic values has been questioned. Mr Qalibaf was silent about the alleged rigging of last year’s presidential election and the violent suppression of street protests that followed.

He is believed to have considered running against Mr Ahmadi-Nejad, but closed down his election campaign headquarters when he learnt that Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader, still favoured the incumbent.

moderate fundamentalists are pinning their hopes on Mr Qalibaf to become president when Mr Ahmadi-Nejad’s second and final term ends in 2013. They see the mayor as the man who could save the Islamic regime from the deeply controversial radicalism of the president.

The Pentagon's system of outsourcing to private companies the task of moving supplies in Afghanistan, and leaving it up to them to provide their own security, frees U.S. troops to focus on counterinsurgency.But its unintended consequences undermine U.S. efforts to curtail corruption and build an effective Afghan government, according to the report to be reviewed at a congressional hearing on Tuesday."This arrangement has fueled a vast protection racket run by a shadowy network of warlords, strongmen, commanders, corrupt Afghan officials, and perhaps others," Representative John Tierney, chairman of a House of Representatives national security subcommittee, said in a statement.

The report by the subcommittee's Democratic staff called protection payments "a significant potential source of funding for the Taliban," citing numerous documents, incidents reports and emails that refer to attempts at Taliban extortion along the road.

Many contractors have told U.S. military officials that warlords were demanding protection payments in exchange for safe passage and that these payments were funding the insurgency, the report said. But the contractors concerns were never appropriately addressed, it said.

Jundullah has said it was responsible for a string of high-profile attacks in Sistan-Baluchistan, including a suicide bombing near the Pakistani border that killed 42 people, including six senior Revolutionary Guards commanders, and a bombing in a Shia mosque in Zahedan that killed 25 people.

Shortly after his arrest, state media reported that Mr Rigi had admitted that he had been on his way to a meeting with a "high-ranking person" at the US military base at Manas in Kyrgyzstan when he was captured. "They said they would co-operate with us and would give me military equipment," he said in a video statement broadcast on Iranian TV.

Mr Medvedev said foreign payments could only be accepted in foreign currencies: "Gazprom cannot accept debt repayments in anything, be it pies, butter, cheese or other means of payment."

Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko said his country owed nothing to Gazprom, but would settle any disagreement. Mr Lukashenko says prices should have remained the same as part of the forthcoming customs union deal. Belarus wants to settle any outstanding debt at last year's lower prices.

Russia increased the price of gas supplied to Belarus from $150 per 1,000 cubic metres of gas last year, to $169.20 in the first quarter of 2010 and $184.80 in the second.

It's true that Russia needs the WTO less than many other countries, since it largely exports commodities that enjoy free-market access in any case. Yet Russia's potential gains from WTO accession have been assessed at 3.3 percent of GDP a year, a major jump for the economy. The main benefits would arise from freer trade of services and foreign direct investment.

(Russia's main gains from WTO accession will not be from enhanced market access, although Russian steel and chemicals exports will benefit. Instead, the greatest economic benefits are anticipated on the domestic market for services and greater attraction of foreign direct investment -- leading to improved competition at home.)

The United States still maintains the Jackson-Vanik Amendment, adopted in 1974 denying favorable trade status to Russia, citing its restrictions on the free emigration of Jews from the Soviet Union. The law, a relic of the Cold War, has no practical effect but is a serious irritant in relations between the two countries. And as a practical matter, if Jackson-Vanik remains in force, Russia would simply not apply WTO rules to the United States, perpetuating trade discrimination against American companies. Hence the amendment should be scrapped immediately after Russia joins.