Clinton, Gates: U.S. in Afghanistan for long haul

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Defense Secretary Robert Gates, in a rare joint interview, said Monday that the United States is committed to a regional strategy to build long-standing relations with Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Speaking at George Washington University for a program to be broadcast Tuesday on CNN, the two members of President Obama’s Cabinet insisted that the president’s deliberate approach to set the right objectives and policies for Afghanistan was necessary and proper.

The Taliban insurgency currently has the momentum in Afghanistan, Gates said, adding that a Taliban takeover of the country would empower the al Qaeda terrorist network.

“Because of our inability and the inability, frankly, of our allies to put enough troops in Afghanistan, the Taliban do have the momentum right now,” he told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour and former CNN Washington Bureau Chief Frank Sesno in the panel discussion that included Clinton.

Original post credits: CNN

North Korea ‘may return to talks’

North Korea says it may be willing to return to six-party international talks on its nuclear weapons programme, state media has reported.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-il is said to have made the announcement to Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, who is currently visiting Pyongyang.

But Pyongyang said the return would be dependent on the progress of its planned bilateral talks with the US.

The US says it remains ready to engage with North Korea.

A US state department spokesman said the aim for Washington was to convince Pyongyang to take the path to complete denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula.

The spokesman said this remained the core objective, and that the multi-party process was the best mechanism for achieving that.

Original post credit: BBC News

Hurdles Remain on Climate Change Goals

Like most members of President Obama’s climate team, David Sandalow was one of President Bill Clinton’s negotiators in Kyoto. And he carries an indelible lesson from the experience of signing off on the international climate pact there 12 years ago: “Only agree abroad to what you can implement at home.”

He had been elated at the deal by more than 180 nations in December 1997. But within months, a television ad appeared, decrying the agreement for not including developing nations such as China and India. “It’s not global and it won’t work,” said the ad, which was sponsored by business groups including the American Association of Automobile Manufacturers and the American Petroleum Institute. It captured the growing discontent in the United States over the Clinton administration’s signing off on a package that did not force similar cuts by major developing countries.

Original post credit: The Washington Post

Greece’s Socialists win snap poll

Greece’s opposition Panhellenic Socialist Movement (Pasok) has won the country’s snap general elections.

Outgoing PM Costas Karamanlis has congratulated Pasok leader George Papandreou and resigned as leader of the conservative New Democracy party.

With most ballots counted, the Socialists had more than 43% of the vote, to 35% for New Democracy.

Pasok needs 43% to win an absolute majority in parliament. It has been in opposition for more than five years.

Mr Papandreou, 57, told cheering supporters in Athens: “We stand here united before the great responsibility which we undertake.”

He said Pasok had waged “a good fight to bring back hope and smile on Greeks’ faces… to change the country’s course into one of law, justice, solidarity, green development and progress”.

He added: “I know very well the great potential of this country. Potential that is being drowned by corruption, favouritism, lawlessness and waste. Potential that we will set free.

original post @ BBC News

Fujii Says Japan Will Act If Yen Moves in ‘Biased Direction’

Japanese Finance Minister Hirohisa Fujii said the government will intervene if the yen shifts in a “biased direction.”

“If currencies show some excessive moves in a biased direction, we will take action,” Fujii told reporters after meeting counterparts and central bankers from the Group of Seven in Istanbul today. He declined to comment on whether the yen is moving in such a way.

The yen rose to an eight-month high of 88.24 against the dollar this week after Fujii said he opposed currency intervention in principle, spurring speculation the government wouldn’t step into the foreign exchange market. The 77-year old minister later revised those comments, saying he wasn’t an advocate of a strong currency and that Japan was open to intervention should the currency market move “abnormally.”

Fujii today said his comments about the yen “have been a bit misunderstood.” The minister said he faced no criticism from other G-7 officials at today’s meeting.

original post @ Bloomberg

Obama Afghan review to last weeks

The White House says that President Barack Obama will take several more weeks to review United States strategy in Afghanistan.

Only then will he make a decision on whether to send more US troops.

The White House issued a statement after the president met his most senior advisors to discuss the way forward.

General Stanley McChrystal, the top US military commander ins Afghanistan – has already warned that the mission could fail without more resources.

Originally posted @ BBC News