Globalaffairs

Issue 6/December-January 2008
By Lucía Valero

The World Trade Organisation decided on November 22nd to postpone negotiations for the Doha Development Round and to set out the deadline to 2008. WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy said that it was better not to pressure with short term deadlines due to the progresses achieved until now.

The impasse of negotiations is due to the lack of commitment of WTO members to make a deal on the toughest issue: agriculture. The US and the EU were, in principle, willing to remove most of distortions in international agricultural rules. If both reduce domestic support programs for distorted trade, developing countries could fight poverty by trading their products with equality.

The reality is that rich countries still play the game of protectionism with their products and poor countries cannot compete with them because they are unable to sell anything in a market protected by subsidies.

The talks about free trade have been pursued on and off over the past six years but reached a low point in July 2006, when WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy formally suspended negotiations after the 151 members failed to achieve any kind of convergence on reducing farm subsidies and cutting tariffs on industrial and agricultural products.

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Issue 6/ December-January 2008
By Aluat Hamudi

The Western Sahara conflict has been going for thirty two years now. The Legal status of the territory is disputed and its sovereignty is unresolved. The territory is contested by Morocco and the Polisario Front, which in Feb. 1976 formally proclaimed a government-in-exile of the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic. The issue has been on the UN agenda since 1963, yet the international community has failed to find a suitable solution between the two concerned parties. The reasons for this failure are the lack of interest from the International community and the western powers competition for the strategic region of North Africa. Nevertheless, recently the kingdom of Morocco has proposed the Autonomy Plan in which “the people of Western Sahara will have local control over their affairs through legislative, executive and judicial institutions under the aegis of the Moroccan sovereignty.” I attempt to look at this debated issue and affecting factors that may lead to or completely submerge the new Autonomy Plan of Morocco.

Western Sahara is located in the northern Africa on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean. It is bordered by Algeria to the east, Morocco to the north, and Mauritania to the south. About the size of Colorado, it is mostly low, flat desert with some small mountains in the south and northeast. The ethnicity in Western Sahara is Arabs most of whom are the followers of Islam. The estimated population is about 341,000 and 266,000 of them are refugees in Southern Algeria. The official languages are Arabic and Spanish. Western Sahara’s main natural resources are phosphate and fish. Furthermore, recently some European companies have discovered oil-reserves in the region.

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Issue 6 /December-January 2008
By Lázaro Rosa

We should wonder if the United States is now in a position to carry out a high scale attack against Iran. The answer is, in my opinion, that this situation should not take place. To begin with, Washington is still stuck in its political impasse in the Middle East, due to its lack of capacity to achieve a coherent strategy that helps the development of democracy in Iraq. Besides, more than five thousands of their own soldiers have died, and it is unable still to find a peaceful solution in a nation where the armed insurgence is still on a war footing. Moreover, because of the suicidal actions of this insurgence, the number of victims among the civil population and military invaders located in the country increases every day.

Without having a solution to the tragic Iraqi problem, the North American government would enter into an extremely delicate and complex situation with Iran if it decides to accomplish any interventionist action in this country, knowing full well that several consequences may come attached to it. In spite of all its military power, the USA is not infallible, and this is something that must always be taken into account.

Russia and China are in favour of a permanent diplomatic dialogue with Tehran and prefer to solve disagreements with this country by peaceful means. On the contrary, Washington insists on making immediate use of hard methods, and that is why it is planning air bombings against Iranian strategic buildings.

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Issue 6/December-January 2008
By Richard Corbett

Turkey’s bid to join the EU has been the subject of much debate. The question over whether or not Turkey should be allowed to join has given rise to numerous concerns, but also much support. Leading the opposition to Turkey’s membership of the EU is France, who have promised their population a referendum on the issue (which would likely lead to a vote against Turkish accession), whilst Turkey’s aspirations to join the EU are being backed by an unlikely and sometimes unhelpful source – the USA. The UK is favourable to Turkish membership but only if Turkey can address the concerns shared by many across Europe.

The concerns over Turkey’s bid to join the EU vary enormously. Cultural, geographical, economic and political issues have all caused concern in certain quarters across Europe. Some of these issues are perfectly valid and need addressing, but other issues seem to stem from outright racism and xenophobia.

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Issue 6/ December-January 2008
By Paul M. H. Buvarp

With specific focus on water-issues of the region, what effect will global warming have on the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict?

This article documents that global warming leads to draught in certain regions of the world. Israel and the Mediterranean West-Asian region is one of those regions. Water shortage is already a problem in the region, and officials predict war if that problem persists. There have already been political disputes between Israel and Lebanon over precious water supplies. In the future, things are likely to get worse with global warming. Droughts will become more frequent due to increasing temperature and decreasing precipitation. Such a development will not be good for an already tense situation.

It is not without slight reservation that I submit this discourse into a long string of prophesies foretelling the fate of Israel; I am in titanic company. Nevertheless, the thesis that I present to you here is not so much a prediction as an issue. It is not mere prophesy, it is understanding. The Integovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has declared that evidence for global warming is “unequivocal” (Solomon, Qin, Manning, Chen, Marquis, Averyt, Tignor, Miller 5) and that it is “very likely due to the observed increase in anthropogenic greenhouse gas concentrations.” (Solomon, Qin, Manning, Chen, Marquis, Averyt, Tignor, Miller 10) I postulate that global warming will, if it is not dealt with in time, greatly exacerbate the issue of water stress in the Mediterranean Middle-East region, in turn inflaming the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to a catastrophic level.

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Issue 6/December-January 2008
By María López Belloso

The conflict in the Western Sahara, a former Spanish colony, is one of the best examples of a so-called “forgotten conflicts” by the international community. November 2007 marked 32 years since the “Green March”, the beginning of Morocco’s occupation of the territory. The Spanish government, weakened by Franco’s illness and the situation of Spain at that time, was forced to divide the territory between Mauritania and Morocco.

The Polisario Front, created to fight Spanish colonial power, launched a “war of national liberation” against Morocco and Mauritania and proclaimed the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR). Whereas Mauritania signed a peace agreement with the Polisario in 1979 and granted recognition to the newly formed SADR, (recognised today by more than 80 states in the international community) the war with Morocco ended in 1991 with the declaration of a cease-fire and the start of peace negotiations. These negotiations have been unsuccessful and the region remains in a state of “neither war nor peace,” which is causing suffering to Sahrawi refugees, especially those living in refugee camps in Tindouf, Algeria.

Apart from occasional moments of heightened tension, such as the Paris Dakar Rally which passes through the part of Western Sahara controlled by the Polisario Front, the Perejil Incident, the Independence Intifada or the recent visit of the King and Queen of Spain to Ceuta and Melilla; the Sahara dispute remains outside of the international political agenda, and out of the media. The main consequences of this situation are weariness and poor living conditions among the Sahrawi people, who are refugees spread throughout several camps in Tindouf, or the diaspora living in exile in Moroccan territories.

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Issue 6/December-January 2008
By Juan Luís Dorado

One of the main preoccupations of public events managers is to know impact of such event in media. When inviting celebrities, sometimes guests’ positions are more relevant than event contents and the event could be framed just for main players’ statements or actions.

I suppose readers will know the event that I am talking about. It is the 17th Ibero-American Summit of Heads of State and Government held in Santiago de Chile. Today it is known as the summit ‘Why you don’t shut up?”.

At the end of the summit, the following day of the conflict between King Juan Carlos and the President of Venezuela Hugo Chavez, it was evident that Social Cohesion (regarding the main subject of the meeting) was hardly mentioned as Summit coverage in Spanish media.

In Latin American Summits history, the Santiago one is the first one that could be regarded as productive. This is the first time that Latin American governments have reached agreements that are not worthless and will really influence daily routine of Latin American citizens.

But this was not enough for one phrase; a real phrase has become the leitmotif of the Santiago Summit.

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Issue 6/December-January 2008
By Eva Díez Ajenjo

This article aims to analyze the relationship between the terms religion, culture and identity with conflict. The underlying purpose is to argue that different religions, identities and cultures do not constitute potential conflicts per se. However, they are factors involved in conflict which can provoke an escalation or boosting struggles in one way or another. Nonetheless, they are not primary causes of conflict just merely factors conducting the intensity and direction of conflicts.

Civilizations: Modernity products

As for the connection between culture and conflict, the thesis of Huntington (1993a) claims that the new origin of conflict will be cultural and that the principal struggles in the world will be between different civilizations. Moreover, he suggests that ‘differences among civilizations have generated the most prolonged and the most violent conflicts’ (1993a:70). Regarding the most violent conflicts, some of them were among countries belonging to the same civilization such as the World Wars and as Hofstede (2001) points out, despite Serbs and Croats share the same values they were involved in a violent civil war. Thus, the main causes of conflict can not be reduced as cultural causes.

According to Huntington, it seems that the definition of cultural identities inevitably leads to conflict between groups ‘we know who we are only when we know who we are not and often when we know whom we are against’ (2002: 21). As stated above, Huntington equals civilization with culture and he states that the majority of the most violent conflicts will occur between civilizations with the risk of escalation as other states from these civilizations rally to the support of their “kin countries” (2002: 28). Nonetheless, culture is a divisive and unifying force because on one hand it provokes conflict between different states belonging to different civilizations but on the other hand it is a unifying force because it creates economically and politically cooperation between countries with cultural affinities.

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Issue 6/December-January 2008
By Roger Casas

On June 4, eight ethnic Hmong Lao exiles and a retired US army officer were arrested by California federal authorities under charges of conspiracy to topple the government of Laos. The alleged plotters intended to purchase more than $10 million worth of weapons, including hundreds of AK-47 Kalashnikov assault rifles, Stinger missiles, mines, rockets and explosive C-4. A few days after the arrests the shipment should have left the US for Thailand, but the arms dealer was actually a special agent of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. The undercover agent was part of the special operation “Tarnished eagle”, which had been following the conspiracy since last year´s Autumn. During the days following the arrests, two more people were detained. Apart from conspiracy for assassination, kidnapping and maim, the group has been accused of violating the Neutrality Acts, which forbid any conspiracy act in the US against any government with which the US is at peace.

The masterminds behind what was called “Operation POPCORN (Political Opposition Party’s Coup Operation to Rescue the Nation)” were counting on the support of almost 1,300 troops within Laos, as well as more than 10 thousand opposition followers –unarmed–, willing to fight for them. The plan included a 90-day military campaign, which was to be followed by the come to power of a new government formed by Lao leaders currently in exile, members of the political opposition, and government officials willing to cooperate with the plotters.

Apparently, the group also hoped to have Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) backing, for some of its members had worked closely with the agency in the past: during the second Indochinese war, Vang Pao, allegedly the mastermind behind Operation POPCORN, commanded a “secret army” funded by the CIA and which fight with the US Army against Communist insurgents. However, Vang Pao and his comrades seemed to be unaware of the profound changes that Southeast Asia in general, and Laos in particular, have undergone during the last two decades.

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Issue 6/ December - January 2008
By Lukas Vitalijus

Regardless of what one thinks about the European Union today and all the processes behind it, whether one supports it or whether thinks it has gone too far and thus should be reversed in one way or another, one of the most interesting and striking effects of all this has been the emergence of what many nowadays have come to call the EU as a global power. Evidence of Europe’s economic clout and generous foreign assistance speaks for itself. Just consider the following and the picture appears to be very clear: besides the fact that the EU of 27 today is the world’s largest capitalist market and trading power it is also the world’s leading donor of development aid and humanitarian assistance. These two sources of international power are increasingly combined along with other numerous policy instruments and initiatives the EU applies in dealing with non-member states and third countries on a day-to-day business.

The biggest irony, however, is that the founders of what originally was called the European Coal and Steel Community ECSC and only in 1992 became known as the European Union had little or no ambition at all to create a new kind of international power. Thus it would be fair to state that the EU of today is a result of the five decades long development that was almost unimaginable in the early days of 1950’s. But this article is not about history of European integration nor is it entirely about ‘Europe as a global power’. Instead, it is an invitation to address one of the key developments behind it, namely the European Union’s enlargement policy.

One might ask why we should even think about it when it all seems to be clear-cut and straightforward. The EU has been expanding to the north, south and east since early 1970’s up to the present day and there is nothing new about it. And how is this related to the EU’s global role and international actorness I was referring in the very beginning anyway?

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