by Jules Evans | Apr 24, 2007 | Europe and Central Asia, Influence and networks
This evening I went to see Yeltsin’s body lying in state at the Church of the Saviour in central Moscow. At first, I thought there wasn’t any queue at all, which would have been harsh but appropriate. But actually the police had lined up the queue on the other side of the church. It was big, but not that big. Maybe 500 people in the line at any one time, being constantly re-filled with new arrivals. The queue was just as big when I walked past again at 11pm. We only had to queue for 20 minutes or so before we were in, filing past his coffin with his pale pig-like face peaking out. A small crowd had gathered at the end of the church, some old ladies with tears in their eyes, but on the whole, this was a dry-eyed and reflective affair.
He oversaw such a painful and humiliating time in this country’s history. And for many, he was part of that humiliation, with his drunken tomfoolery on the international stage.
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by Alex Evans | Apr 24, 2007 | Europe and Central Asia
Farewell, then, to the late, great Boris Yeltsin. And by way of a last raising of the glass, here’s the story of when he visited John Major at Chequers (the UK Prime Minister’s country residence)…
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by Alex Evans | Apr 24, 2007 | Climate and resource scarcity, Economics and development
Last week’s UK-sponsored debate on climate change in the Security Council this week was always going to be contentious, as the Guardian and the Times of India reported (see also a letter to the FT yesterday from UK special representative on climate change John Ashton). As China put it: “The developing countries believe that Security Council has neither the professional competence in handling climate change — nor is it the right decision-making place for extensive participation leading up to widely acceptable proposals.”
The G77 group of developing countries, together with China, have long been acutely sensitive to any perceived encroachment of the Security Council into non-security areas. ‘Soft’ issues like climate change, they argue, belong in the UN’s Economic and Social Council, or indeed in the full General Assembly; but emphatically not in the Security Council, which is seen as an exclusive great powers’ club.
From the perspective of the Foreign Office in London, by contrast, the Security Council debate was an example of ‘disruptive political action’ that could highlight the extent to which climate change is becoming a security issue. As Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett put it, “an unstable climate will exacerbate some of the core drivers of conflict — such as migratory pressures and competition for resources”.
Both China and the UK have a point. For last week’s squabble illustrates a crucial point: that just because climate change doesn’t belong in the Security Council, isn’t to say that it sits any more comfortably anywhere else.
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by Elizabeth Sellwood | Apr 24, 2007 | Middle East and North Africa
Yesterday, in Jerusalem, the acting President of Israel Dalia Itzik offered some advice to Israel’s enemies on the 59th anniversary of Israel’s independence: “Our advice to you is replace your Katyushas and Qassams with computers and loving education, the smile of a boy that has a future, and neighbourliness”.
On the same day, in Gaza, Hamas’s militant wing fired a volley of shells and mortars against Israeli targets in the Negev. No Israeli was hurt. The attack was significant, however, because this is the first time that a Hamas-affiliated group has fired rockets since an informal ceasefire was agreed between President Abbas and Prime Minister Olmert in November. The ceasefire must hold if political negotiations are to resume; it is now, at the very least, under heavy strain. Later in the evening, a twelve year old boy was killed in crossfire between rival clans in Gaza.
Most Palestinians would love to be able to provide their child with a computer and a “loving education”, not to mention “the smile of a boy who has a future”. Most Israelis, too, would like to see Gaza develop in a more sustainable and peaceful direction – either because they are disturbed by the constant violence that affects Palestinians like the twelve year old who died yesterday, or because they realise that the chaos inside Gaza represents an increasing threat to Israel.
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