Global Affairs

In a procedural move, on Monday night China proposed 

requiring a 2/3 majority for the UN’s new human rights watchdog to start an investigation. The rule ultimately was not implemented, but was offered at the last minute and threatened to jeopardize days of negotiations.

Formed to replace the Human Rights Commission, which was seen in its final years as politically manipulated by China, Russia and others, the [Human Rights Council] has been attacked for failing in its short existence to address abuses in some of the world’s most troubled areas.

Rights campaigners and Western countries bemoan that the [Human Rights Council]has been dominated by its large African, Arab and Asian blocs, spending much of its time singling out Israel and fending off criticism of countries such as Sudan and Zimbabwe.

The UN Human Rights Commission/Council has become a forum for critics of US-Israeli policy and is a useful PR tool for African, Asian and Arab nations to gain moral superiority, or at least equivalency, in the eyes of many (ex. Europe). The result of these country’s attempts to hide their human rights violations will be moral equivalency and the demise of the West, even in the eyes of westerners, as morally superior to its enemies.

Earlier today two Katyusha rockets hit northern Israel from Lebanon. No one was injured, one rocket hit a factory and the other hit a car. This is the first rocket attack on Israel since last year’s bloody conflict between Hezbollah and Israel. The Lebanese government is now busy fighting Fatah al-Islam in northern Lebanon, so their ability to crack down on Hezbollah is significantly impaired. Although, since they couldn’t stop the conflict last summer there is little reason to think they could restrict the terrorist group’s actions in any circumstance. Nobody in Israel wants another war with Hezbollah. Last summer over 40 thousand rockets were fired into Israel, over 150 Israelis were killed and thousands injured. Many in Israel believe that excessive force was used and that the war was not conducted well. Israel, however, has a strong tradition of offensive deterrence and it is unlikely that they will do nothing.

Fighting in Gaza between Fatah and Hamas has now claimed over 100 lives. Palestinian Prime Minister Abbas has declared a state of emergency, dismissed the Hamas government and called for new elections. He really does not have much power though, as Hamas militants have taken over many government offices and guard stations. Fatah is threatening to retaliate in the West Bank, where it has a slight advantage in numbers over Hamas. All of this is of course alarming to Israel, since Hamas’ stated objective is to destroy the Jewish state. The United States is at least partially responsible as it armed the Fatah militants in a (failed) attempt to supress Hamas.

In a move that will help diffuse tensions in the region, Iraq’s Kurdistan Democratic Party has handed over three members of the militant PKK party to Turkey. The PKK is recognized as a terrorist group by Turkey, the US and EU.

Over at the Sino-African blog there is a great post on the effect China is having in African markets. Most of it is taken from a report from Fitch Ratings, a global rating agency, that I have pasted bellow.

The Role of China
China’s role in the region has been rising fast since the start of the decade, both directly – through investment, bilateral trade and aid – and indirectly – through the impact of Asian demand on high commodity prices over the past three to four years. Due to a number of countries in the region relying on exports of primary commodities, China’s strong growth and demand for commodities has had a positive impact on these countries’ economic outlook. Oil producers, of which there are around 10 in Africa, have been the biggest gainers; but many non-oil commodity producers have also achieved an overall improvement in terms of trade, despite high oil import prices. While accelerating investment into natural resources from China (and India) is for strategic reasons, high commodity prices are attracting more global investment from elsewhere into Africa’s extractive sector. Fitch expects Asian demand to remain high, continuing to benefit commodity producers in sub-Saharan Africa.

The direct role of China in terms of aid, trade and investment could help to reduce poverty and promote development and the region’s global integration. Chinese firms are involved in an increasing number of infrastructure investments in the energy, roads and railroads sectors, which they construct at competitive cost. They also provide targeted aid and credit lines at preferential rates for infrastructure projects, often tied to access to resources or construction contracts. Trade flows between China and Africa, though small in absolute terms from the point of view of China, have accelerated since the start of the decade. Sub-Saharan African exports to China grew at an average annual rate of 39% in 2001-2006 (compared with 15% for its overall exports growth, 20% to the US and 11% to the EU). China’s share of total sub-Saharan African exports rose to 10.8% in 2006 from 4.2% in 2000. Therefore China has had a big role in promoting exports growth and markets diversification. The majority of goods are extractive exports – oil and metals – although other commodities, such as cotton and timber, are also present. The bulk of exports are from a limited number of countries. For its part, China exports capital equipment and consumer goods to Africa. Although they provide cheaper goods for Africa, they can be a threat to domestic manufacturing and hurt job creation, and there is a widening trade deficit in favour of China. In the specific clothing and textiles exports sector, growing Chinese competitiveness following the removal of global quotas at the end of 2004 has had a negative impact on exporting countries under AGOA and other trade agreements. There are also concerns that China’s growing role in giving preferential loans with less emphasis on governance and reforms could endanger external debt sustainability over the medium to longer term.

Nevertheless, China’s fast pace of growth and the recent trend of rapid trade growth between the two regions are likely to continue and Chinese influence to increase. This will continue to boost Africa’s growth and development prospects. The extent to which African countries benefit will depend on domestic policies to improve their business environments and institutions in order to take better advantage of increased Chinese involvement and interest in the region. There is also a need for countries to maximise efficiency by coordinating aid from China and other sources.

Liliane at Independence ‘05 has written a good post on the real effect recent violence in Lebanon. Since May 20th there have been 5 explosions in touristy commercial areas within 3 Christian cities, a Druze city and a Muslim city.

whoever is putting those explosions is not trying to kill people, nevertheless his attempt is to kill the touristic season. And as tourism is the field with the most yearly income for Lebanon, thus killing the economy.

This is the real power of terrorism, the psychological impact is by far the most harmful. It causes people to change their daily routine and live in fear. Terrorism is really a PR tool, not an act of war. It is a way to force individuals to change and pay attention. Any successful counter-terrorism measure needs to take this into account.