UK Accuses Russia at Security Council of Attack on Former Spy
Council on Foreign Relations Newsletter If you are unable to see the message below, click here to view. March 15, 2018 Daily News Brief TOP OF THE AGENDA UK Accuses Russia at Security Council of Attack on Former Spy Moscow vowed to respond “very soon” (WaPo) to a UK announcement that it would expel twenty-three Russian diplomats from London after investigators identified that a Russian-made nerve agent was used to maim a former spy and his daughter in Salisbury. At an emergency session of the UN Security Council (NYT), the United Kingdom formally accused Russia of attacking the former Russian spy, Sergei V. Skripal, as well as his daughter, on British soil with a nerve agent developed in the Soviet Union. U.S. envoy to the United Nations Nikki Haley backed her UK counterpart, saying the “credibility of this council will not survive if we fail to hold Russia accountable” (Guardian). ANALYSIS “A clean-out of spies from the Russian embassy in London is overdue. So too are financial and travel restrictions on Mr Putin’s allies in the business community. For too long, London has been happy to launder dirty money and even dirtier reputations,” Philip Stevens writes for the Financial Times. "Britain wants the support of its allies in taking action against Russia, but relations with those allies are shakier than they have been in generations, given Britain’s pending divorce from the European Union and frictions with Mr. Trump," Richard Perez Pena and Stephen Castle write for the New York Times. "An international spat can also whip up patriotic fervour in President Vladimir Putin’s domestic audience, since he is seeking re-election this weekend," writes the Guardian in an editorial. PACIFIC RIM South Africa Condemns Australian Refugee Remarks South Africa’s foreign ministry called comments by Australian Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton that white South African farmers should receive special refugee status “sad” and “regrettable” (Mail & Guardian). Dutton said white farmers there are subject to persecution (SMH). JAPAN: Amazon Japan had its headquarters raided by investigators from the Fair Trade Commission (Japan Times) on suspected violation of antitrust rules, the company said. SOUTH AND CENTRAL ASIA Sri Lanka Assails Facebook for ‘Hate Speech’ Following anti-Muslim riots that left at least three people dead last week, Sri Lankan telecommunications minister Harin Fernando accused Facebook of being slow to address posts flagged by the government for inciting violence (Guardian). AFGHANISTAN: The top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, General John Nicholson, said protecting Kabul, once a relatively secure city, “is our main effort” this year (TOLO). A CFR panel debates U.S. policy toward Afghanistan and Pakistan. MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA Syrian Civil War Enters Eighth Year Some 465,000 Syrians have been killed and half of the country’s pre-war population has been forced to flee their homes as Syria marks the seventh anniversary of the start of peaceful protests (Al Jazeera) that were part of the Arab Spring uprisings. CFR’s Jamille Bigio and Rachel Vogelstein write for CNN that women have been underrepresented in Syrian peace talks. MOROCCO: Some two hundred protesters were injured in the northeastern town of Jerada in clashes with security forces. Locals there have held anti-government protests since the deaths of two miners in December (Reuters). SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA U.S. Acknowledges Niger Firefight in December U.S. Green Berets and Nigerien forces killed eleven suspected Islamic State militants in December, two months after U.S. soldiers were killed in an ambush (NYT) in the country and after the military announced stricter limits on operations there. A former commander of U.S. Special Operations in Africa said there had been about ten attacks on U.S. troops in West Africa between 2015 and 2017. DRC: A landmark UN-funded program to fight deforestation has instead harmed local communities and is fueling land conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo's Mai-Ndombe Province, according to a new report from U.S. advocacy group Rights and Resources Initiative. EUROPE Putin Touts Crimea Annexation Ahead of Vote Russian President Vladimir Putin thanked Crimean residents for voting in favor of Russia’s annexation of the peninsula from Ukraine in 2014. The annexation, widely condemned abroad, boosted the domestic popularity of Putin, who is expected to win a fourth term in an election on Sunday (AFP). AMERICAS Firm at Center of Panama Papers to Close Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca, at the center of leaked documents that detailed how offshore tax firms facilitate tax evasion (Guardian), announced it will shut down, maintaining only a skeleton staff to handle requests from authorities. BRAZIL: A prominent Rio de Janeiro city council member (AP), Marielle Franco, was shot dead along with her driver late Wednesday. The assassination comes a month after Brazil’s armed forces were sent to the city to take charge of police forces amid a surge in violence. UNITED STATES Senate Passes Banking Regulations Rollback The Senate passed the most significant loosening of banking regulations since the 2008 financial crisis, which the White House hailed as “much-needed relief from the Dodd-Frank Act” (WaPo), by a vote of 67–31. The bill has not yet been approved by the House of Representatives. Turkey’s foreign ministry said that a U.S.-Turkish meeting on Syria (Hurriyet) scheduled for March 19 has been postponed due to the departure of Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. CFR's Stephen Sestanovich and Paul Stares discuss Tillerson’s firing on the President's Inbox podcast. Council on Foreign Relations — 58 East 68th Street — New York, NY 10065 CFR does not share email addresses with third parties. Forward This Email | Subscribe to CFR Newsletters | Unsubscribe - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
From: dailybrief@e.cfr.org
Date: March 15, 2018 at 10:07PM
