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Off the Radar News Roundup

Judah Grunstein | Bio | 23 Nov 2009

- According to the People's Daily, "Chinese experts" say China is not taking sides in the Kashmir dispute. The comments come in response to a Kashmiri separatist leader applauding the U.S.-Chinese joint declaration's reference to promoting India-Pakistan reconciliation. I suspect President Barack Obama will also walk this back at the first opportunity during Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit.

- Meanwhile, in a CNN interview in advance of his visit to Washington, Singh ruled out redrawing Kashmir's borders, drawing a protest from Islamabad.

- China's defense minister traveled to North Korea in the latest of a series of high-level defense meetings between the two countries. It's hard not to get the feeling that there are some ripple effects from Obama's Asia tour going on here.

- With the F-22 still subject to an export ban, Japan has set its sights on the F-35. The calculus here, as for Australia, is matching up with China's rapidly dvancing air capabilities.

- Romania went to the polls yesterday in first-round presidential voting that is unlikely to determine a winner. A second-round run-off would take place Dec. 6, if necessary.

- In the wake of Israeli President Shimon Peres' tour of South American, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is in Brazil to meet with President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva. Note that the parallels between Iran and Brazil's nuclear programs make it very difficult for Lula to avoid endorsing Iran's right to enrichment, adding legitimacy to the Iranian position.

- Meanwhile, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas followed in Peres' footsteps in Argentina.

- The latest meeting of the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan in the Minsk Group process to resolve the Nagorno-Kharabakh conflict produced "important progress." Turkey has tied any finalization of its Armenia rapprochement to the success of these negotiations.

- Turkey's energy minister insisted that scrapping the flawed tender for a planned nuclear energy reactor does not represent abandoning Turkey's pursuit of nuclear energy.

- In his state of the nation address earlier this month, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev proposed a goverment minister position for the North Caucasus. The proposal is essentially an acknowledgement that Russia is powerless to change the nature of the clannish governing systems within the republics.

- Another Russia-Ukraine gas deal narrowly averts another impending Russia-Ukraine gas crisis. I think the Friedman units here are in weeks, not months.

- Meanwhile, Medvedev's criticism of United Russia seems to illustrate the ways in which modernizing the functioning of the Russian state before securing (establishing?) his hold on power is a very complicated task.

- Negotiations continue on the makeup of Madagascar's power-sharing government.

- Venezuela rules out direct talks with Colombia to lower tensions between the two countries, but would welcome discussions in the context of a Unasur mediation.

Researched by Kari Lipschutz.