Here is the Friday, September 12th, 2008 edition of what’s making news and interesting reads from around the world. Also please note that off to the left there are two widgets with updates on news from Asia and the world in a separate page: Around Asia & Around the World New Feeds.
Zimbabwe Power Sharing Accord Struck
The Zimbabwe ruling ZANU-PF and opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) struck a power-sharing agreement on Thursday evening after four consecutive days of intense talks with the mediation of South African President Mbeki. More from Time magazine and from the UK Guardian. Robert Mugabe agreed to surrender day-to-day control of the government and much of his power in a historic deal with his opponent, Morgan Tsvangirai, to end Zimbabwe’s long political crisis.
Chávez Threatens to Cut Oil Supplies to the US & More
Here’s a shorter version on the battle of wills between Venezuela and the United States that has erupted into open diplomatic warfare. President Hugo Chávez is threatening to end oil shipments to America, and has told the US ambassador to leave the country. This report from Euro News includes a video. I just want to remind everyone that this is the second time this year that Chávez has taken a dispute that is not his own and made into a larger international crisis. See my full post below for more information.
Geo-Politics in the Black Sea
The Asia Times looks at how geo-politics is playing out in the Black Sea.
New Zealand to Head to the Polls November 8
New Zealand’s Prime Minister Helen Clark called general elections for November 8 Friday with her Labour Party behind in opinion polls amid a slowing economy and her foreign minister facing the axe. More from the Associated Press. Trailing the conservative National Party by 10 points in recent polls, Clark’s center-left Labour government is suffering from voter fatigue after nine years in power, amid a widespread feeling that change is needed.
What is the Bush Doctrine?
I understand it to be a series of national security policy pronouncements dating to 2001 by the Bush Administration that reserve the right of the United States to pursue a unilateralist approach including the right of a pre-emptive strike against threats to the vital interests of the United States. Governor Palin fumbled on that question. While I disagree here’s the Weekly Standard, a conservative newsweekly, supporting the assertion that the Bush Doctrine can mean any of several things and thus she was right to ask for clarification. Here’s the start of their argument and backed up with examples.
Gibson should of course have said in the first place what he understood the Bush Doctrine to be–and specified that he was asking a question about preemption. Palin was well within bounds to have asked him to be more specific. Because, as it happens, the doctrine has no universally acknowledged single meaning. Gibson himself in the past has defined the Bush Doctrine to mean “a promise that all terrorist organizations with global reach will be found, stopped and defeated”–which is remarkably close to Palin’s own answer.