Moscow
No agreement with the U.S.: Top American and Russian officials, meeting in Moscow this week, failed to resolve their differences over missile defense. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said that she and Defense Secretary Robert Gates held “very good discussions” with Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and agreed on a “new strategic framework” for the two countries. But Lavrov said that Russia still would not accept U.S. plans to station missile defense facilities in Poland and the Czech Republic. The U.S. says the facilities are meant to guard against a possible nuclear attack from Iran, should that country go nuclear. Russia, though, contends that any missile defense in the region could intercept Russian missiles, thereby weakening Russia’s deterrent capability.
Jerusalem
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German leader in historic address: Angela Merkel has become the first German chancellor to address the Israeli parliament, the Knesset. Israel rolled out the red carpet for Merkel, who was greeted with an honor guard and a crowd including many of the country’s top religious and political leaders. Merkel spoke of the “historical responsibility” that her country bears toward Israel, saying that Germans feel great “shame” over the Nazi Holocaust, which killed some 6 million Jews during World War II. Most Israelis welcomed her sentiments, but a few Knesset members said her decision to speak in German was inappropriate, because it evoked upsetting memories. About 250,000 Holocaust survivors live in Israel.
Tehran
Conservatives retain power: Hard-liners close to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad won Iran’s parliamentary elections this week—which wasn’t surprising since most reformist candidates were banned from running. The European Union called the vote “neither fair nor free,” a judgment Iran rejected as “spiteful, hasty, and politically motivated.” In all, conservatives captured 163 seats out of 260, while the reformists took 35 and independents took 47. But the new legislature is not expected to be a rubber stamp for Ahmadinejad, as many of the conservatives, even from his own party, disagree with his handling of the economy.
Baghdad
Bomb during Cheney visit: Vice President Dick Cheney made a surprise visit this week to Iraq, where he called the war that began five years ago a “successful endeavor” that has been “well worth the effort.” It was Cheney’s first visit since just before the surge of 30,000 extra troops began last year, and he called the improvement in security since then “phenomenal.” Violence has been down over the past year, but has risen somewhat in recent months. This week, a female suicide bomber killed at least 40 people in Karbala at a Shiite holy shrine. The Red Cross also reported that Iraq is experiencing a humanitarian crisis, with millions of people lacking access to clean water and health care.
Beijing
I’m rubber and you’re glue: In response to the release this week of the annual U.S. report on global human-rights violators—in which China plays its usual leading role—China has released its own report on violations in the U.S. The report cited the U.S. government’s own statistics showing that violent crime, particularly gun deaths, increased in the U.S. last year. It singled out the massacre at Virginia Tech, in which 33 people were killed. It also criticized the high American rates of incarceration, infant mortality, and uninsured families. And the U.S. isn’t free of government propaganda either, the report said, citing a FEMA news conference about California wildfires that was found to have been staged.
Waziristan, Pakistan
U.S. drone bombs Taliban: Suspected U.S. missiles killed at least 20 people this week, including foreigners believed to be linked with the Taliban and al Qaida in Pakistan’s tribal area of South Waziristan. The U.S. is known to have unmanned drones operating nearby, on the Pakistani-Afghan border, but neither the U.S. nor Pakistan acknowledges use of the drones in any such operations. Last week, the Pakistani military lodged a rare protest with American forces about cross-border attacks, after U.S. fire killed two women and two children in North Waziristan. The increase in attacks on militants has been matched by a rise in terrorist attacks in major Pakistani cities over the past year.
