This Week in Syria, Deeply: Wednesday, 20 November 2013
[scribd id=186537735 key=key-26lkcg1puxwmopjmdb1q mode=scroll]
West Wonders When Ukraine Will Consider EU Integration Again
By Ben Kopp
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe
KIEV, Ukraine – Eastern European Ukraine postponed hopes of stronger ties with Western Europe, hoping to become closer to Russia. In doing so, Ukraine President Yanukovych’s party dropped legislation that would have been required under its trade deal with the EU.
On 21 November 2013, Ukrainian authorities declared that it would put EU integration on hold while it builds closer ties with Russia. At the same time, Ukraine President Viktor Yanukovych’s party refused to vote on opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko’s release so she could seek surgical treatment in Germany. The EU considers Tymoshenko a political prisoner, and the Ukraine decision destroyed hope of her receiving freedom in exile.
To sign a trade and cooperation deal with the EU, the bloc required Ukraine President Viktor Yanukovych to release his political rival. The deal would have transformed the political map of Eastern Europe.
Tymoshenko supporters at the party headquarters in north Kiev feared this outcome for several weeks. “I’m not going to be at peace until I see her in a hospital in Germany,” said Tymoshenko’s daughter, Evgenia. “I know that anything can go in the opposite direction.”
Demonstrations for Tymoshenko’s release lasted longer than US “Occupy” protests. Years of dirt and car exhaust turned the activists’ tents brown. More than uniting with Europe, activists wanted to leave the camp for winter.
Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt tweeted, “Ukraine government suddenly bows deeply to the Kremlin. Politics of brutal pressure evidently works.”
Yanukovych allies claimed that Kiev risked sanctions beyond the trade Russia cut off in August. In just four months, the blockade devastated Ukraine’s economy by $5 billion. Also, Russian natural gas provider, Gazprom demanded repayment of Ukrainian debts—nearly $800 million.
Implementing EU laws would cost another $104 million.
Russian official Viktor Suslov promised that Moscow “will not impose any more sanctions or limit trade” as long as Ukraine holds off on partnering with Europe.
Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Yury Boiko said, “The country cannot afford this. That is why this decision was made.”
In 2004, the Orange Revolution, led by Tymoshenko, brought her to power while it ousted Yanukovych. In 2009, Yanukovych narrowly defeated Tymoshenko in the presidential election that brought his pro-Russian allies back to power. Ukrainian authorities prosecuted Tymoshenko for several crimes, such as abuse of office. Chronic back pain has forced Tymoshenko into guarded hospital wards for the majority of her sentence.
Russia dominates a free-trade bloc that includes Kazakhstan and Belarus. Ukraine hopes Russia will allow the country back into that bloc by lifting current sanctions.
By 23 November 2013, Tymoshenko’s party plans to begin a major rally in Kiev’s Maidan Square, which has strong ties to the Orange Revolution.
While Russia hinted that Ukraine should postpone their deal with the EU, it appears that any deal for EU integration requires a long wait.
For further information, please see:
BBC News – Ukraine Suspends Preparations for EU Trade Agreement – November 21, 2013
Bloomberg – Putin’s Low Blows Drive Ukraine away from Europe – November 21, 2013
Reuters – Ukraine Drops Plan to Go West, Turns East – November 21, 2013
TIME World – Putin Wins Again as Ukraine Snubs EU, Keeps Opposition Leader in Prison – November 21, 2013
Iran to not Back Down on Nuclear Rights
By Darrin Simmons
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East
TEHRAN, Iran-Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s Supreme Leader, has declared that his country will not back down from its nuclear rights as nuclear rights talks have again begun in Geneva. The heated speech was delivered in Tehran, denouncing two of the six countries whose representatives are scheduled to meet with Iran’s foreign minister.
“France was guilty of kneeling before Israel, while America considered itself superior to mankind. Israel meanwhile was led by people unworthy of the title human,” stated Khamenei. “I insist on stabilizing the rights of the Iranian nation, including the nuclear rights. I insist on not retreating one step from the rights of the Iranian nation,” he further said.
His remarks arrived hours before diplomats from the U.S., Great Britain, France, China, Russia, and Germany started another new round of talks in Geneva with Iranian negotiators, the third set in little over a month
A French government spokesman called these remarks “unacceptable” and warned that they would only “complicate negotiations.” However, Khamenei softened the blow by saying that Iran wanted “friendly relations with all nations, even the United States.”
Iran’s foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, met with Katherine Ashton, the European Union’s high representative for foreign affairs, in Geneva yesterday. Ms. Ashton chairs the “P5 plus 1,” a committee formed to handle Iran’s nuclear program, consisting of the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council: U.S., Great Britain, France, Russia, and China.
Iran has signed the non-proliferation treaty affording nations the right to civilian nuclear technology in exchang for not acquiring nuclear weapons. However, the U.N.’s nuclear watchdog, the IAEA, has ruled Iran in breach by not disclosing its activities and not allowing full inspections.
In response to their breach, the U.N. Security Council has imposed sanctions on Iran that have crippled its economy. Recent talks in Geneva have been aimed at relaxing these sanctions in response to Iran’s compliance in termination of it uranium harvesting which is nearing a “weapons-useable” threshold.
“We will maintain the sanctions as long as we are not certain that Iran has definitely and irreversibly renounced it military program to obtain nuclear weapons,” French President Francois Holland said in Israel on Monday.
The previous meeting in Geneva discussing the sanctions imposed on Iran was attended by the U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry along with Will Hague, the Foreign Secretary, and their French and German counterparts when agreement seemed near in the future.
For more information, please see the following:
Al Jazeera-Khamenei vows no retreat on nuclear programme-21 November 2013
Hurriyet Daily News-Khamenei vows no retreat in Iran talks-21 November 2013
Sky News-Iran vows no retreat in nuclear talks-21 November 2013
Telegraph-Iran’s Supreme Leader vows ‘no retreat’ as nuclear talks begin-21 November 2013
North Korea Detains American Korean War Veteran
By Brian Lanciault
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia
PYONGYANG, North Korea– The United States’ top envoy to North Korea urged Pyongyang to free two detained American citizens. The call came after reports this week that in addition to holding a U.S.-Korean Christian missionary, Kenneth Bae, North Korea detained an 85-year-old U.S. citizen, and former Korean War veteran.
According to media reports, Merrill Newman was taken from a plane late last month as he was about to depart from North Korea.
The U.S. government has not specifically confirmed the detention, citing privacy concerns, and North Korea has issued no comment on the matter.
In an interview with reporters in Beijing Thursday morning, U.S. Special Representative for North Korea, Glyn Davies, urged Pyongyang to exercise deep consideration about the two cases, noting the fate of Americans abroad was a critical concern of U.S. foreign policy.
“We of course are calling on North Korea, as in the case of Mr. Kenneth Bae, who has now been there for over a year, to resolve the issue, and to allow our citizens to go free,” Davies said.
The envoy is touring Asia this week amid a renewed push to restart the stunted talks on ending North Korea’s nuclear weapons programs.
He did not draw a clear line between the cases and the international community’s broader efforts. The cases are among several examples of issues frustrating the resumption of nuclear talks with the North.
Davies says his talks in Beijing with his Chinese counterpart, Wu Dawei, were fulfilling. But there was no strong signal that a return to the six-party talks that include the two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and the United States would resume any time in the near future.
“This really is up to North Korea,” noted Davies. “It’s North Korea who seems not seriously interested in making meaningful progress on the nuclear issue. And until we see a manifestation of North Korean seriousness, it’s very difficult for me to know what the prospects are for getting back to Six Party.”
Recently North Korea has been talking about restarting some of its nuclear programs, while at the same time it has suggested new proposals for its return to the six-nation talks on ending atomic programs. The North has also been stressing a dual policy of nuclear and economic development.
North Korea pulled out of the six-nation talks in 2009 and says it is willing to return to the table as long as there are no pre-conditions.
In the past, Pyongyang was accused of using foreign detainees as bargaining chips in negotiations with Western countries over its controversial nuclear weapons program.
North Korea has detained at least six Americans since the talks ended in 2009. While some were given harsh prison sentences, all have subsequently released. Generally their release followed visits to the North by high-ranking former or current U.S. officials.
Merrill Newman’s son told CNN that it was his father’s “life-long dream” to see the North and its culture, after serving in the South as a U.S. infantry officer in the 1950s. He said his father arranged the trip through a North Korea-approved Chinese tour company and had “all the proper visas.”
Newman’s detention comes approximately one year after the arrest of Kenneth Bae, who was detained last November. He was subsequently convicted of “state subversion” and sentenced to 15 years hard labor. He was detained after entering North Korea as a tour operator.
For more information, please see:
Time– North Korea Detains 85-Year-Old American Korean War Vet–21 November 2013
Voice of America–US Envoy Urges N. Korea to Release Detained Americans–21 November 2013
CNN–California man pulled off plane in North Korea, detained, son says–21 November 2013
San Jose Mercury News–Palo Alto man, 85, removed from plane, detained in North Korea–20 November 2013
Washington Post–American vet, 85, detained in North Korea–21 November 2013
German Art Collector Says $1 Billion “Nazi-Looted” Art Collection is Rightfully His
by Tony Iozzo
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe
MUNICH, Germany – Cornelius Gurlitt, the German owner of over 1,400 artworks believed to have originally been stolen by the Nazis during World War II, has stated that he is the legal owner and will not voluntarily hand over the paintings.
Gurlitt stated that the paintings had been acquired legally in an interview with Der Spiegel magazine. The collection is estimated to be worth over 1 billion dollars. It was found in Gurlitt’s Munich apartment back in March 2012.
The collection includes paintings by Marc Chagall, Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Otto Dix and Max Liebermann. Experts opined that many of the paintings and sketches are in excellent condition.
The works were discovered in Gurlitt’s home in March 2012 during a routine tax inspection. Most are believed to have been seized by the Nazis from their owners during World War II, and were long thought to have been lost or destroyed.
Gurlitt inherited the collection from his father, Hildebrand. Hildebrand was an art dealer who sold works which had been confiscated or bought by the Nazis, and Gurlitt contends that this latest collection was rightfully acquired. Authorities are conducting investigations to establish who the possible original owners of the paintings may be.
Gurlitt, 80, had been silent regarding the collection since the authorities discovered it, until now.
“I’m giving nothing up voluntarily,” he stated in the interview when asked whether he would return any works to their original owners. Gurlitt contended that his father obtained the works legally. He also accused authorities and the public of misrepresenting him, stating that he had already provided the authorities with enough evidence to remove any suspicion from him.
German prosecutors have said they do not have “any strong suspicion of a crime that would justify an arrest.”
Jewish groups have complained at the length of time it took the German authorities to unveil the artworks. Their existence became public at the beginning of November. Jewish families and museums believe the paintings were taken from them by the Nazis and are calling for their return. The collection is being held at an undisclosed location for the time being.
For more information:
ABC News – Hoarder of Nazi-Looted Art Treasures Calls Paintings the Love of His Life – 17 November 2013
BBC News – Nazi-Looted Art: German Collector Says He Owns Pictures – 17 November 2013
Haaretz – Munich Art Collector Spent His Life Among His Paintings and No One Else – 17 November 2013
CNN – Who Were the Mystery Men Behind Germany’s “Nazi-Looted” Art Haul? – 11 November 2013