Sunday, November 10, 2013

9:37 AM 11/10/2013: New York Times Talks With Iran Fail to Produce a Nuclear Agreement New York Times - ‎11 hours ago‎

Iran

Talks With Iran Fail to Produce a Nuclear Agreement

New York Times - ‎11 hours ago‎
GENEVA - Marathon talks between major powers and Iran failed on Sunday to produce a deal to freeze its nuclear program, puncturing days of feverish anticipation and underscoring how hard it will be to forge a lasting solution toIran's nuclear ambitions.

Iran Nuclear Talks End Without Deal

Wall Street Journal - ‎Nov 9, 2013‎
GENEVA—Iran and six world powers failed late Saturday to seal a confidence-building deal to freeze Tehran's nuclear program, but both sides agreed they had made enough progress during the three days of talks to hold another round.

Israeli leaders voice objections to Iran's possible nuclear deal

Washington Post - ‎13 hours ago‎
Israeli officials registered fierce opposition to an emerging international nuclear deal with Iran on Friday, making clear that the Obama administration faced the uncomfortable prospect of reaching an agreement with one of America's firmest enemies ...

Iran deal fear for US' Mid-East allies

BBC News - ‎6 hours ago‎
For months now Israel has watched with alarm as its best friend has schmoozed its worst enemy. The government of Benjamin Netanyahu has warned repeatedly that the United States should not take the overtures of the newIranian President Hassan ...

Israel 'utterly rejects' potential Iran nuclear deal

NBCNews.com (blog) - ‎11 hours ago‎
GENEVA - Israel rejected out of hand on Friday a mooted deal between world powers and Iran, just as Secretary of State John Kerry prepared to join nuclear talks that aim to nail down an interim agreement on the decade-old standoff.

Iran nuclear: Geneva talks 'something to build on'

BBC News - ‎5 hours ago‎
Talks between world powers and Iran have failed to reach an agreement on Tehran's nuclear programme. EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton told a press conference that there had been a lot of "concrete progress but some differences remain".

Fifty days in hell: dispatches from Russia in the Arctic 30's own words The Guardian - ‎12 hours ago‎


Fifty days in hell: dispatches from Russia in the Arctic 30's own words

The Guardian - ‎12 hours ago‎
A mobile phone image of a Russian helicopter over the Greenpeace ship the Arctic Sunrise, moments before armed personnel boarded the vessel on 19 September 2013. Photograph: Greenpeace/AP. BREAKING: Helicopter hovering above Arctic Sunrise, ...

Helicopter over Greenpeace ship Arctic Sunrise
A mobile phone image of a Russian helicopter over the Greenpeace ship the Arctic Sunrise, moments before armed personnel boarded the vessel on 19 September 2013. Photograph: Greenpeace/AP

Russian, Dutch Foreign Ministers Meet Amid Tensions RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty - ‎Nov 9, 2013‎

Russian, Dutch Foreign Ministers Meet Amid Tensions

RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty - ‎Nov 9, 2013‎
Activists of the environmental organization Robin Wood hold placards depicting Russian President Vladimir Putin as they demonstrate in front of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea. Tweet. Follow @RFERL ...


Activists of the environmental organization Robin Wood hold placards depicting Russian President Vladimir Putin as they demonstrate in front of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea.

Activists of the environmental organization Robin Wood hold placards depicting Russian President Vladimir Putin as they demonstrate in front of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea. November 09, 2013 


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Iran Deal Topic: Russia, China to join intensive negotiations on Saturday - Haaretz & Related Articles »

Haaretz
Russia, China to join intensive negotiations on Saturday. Netanyahu's warns agreement with Islamic Republic would be a 'dangerous deal for peace and the international community.' White House says Israel's criticism 'premature.' By Barak Ravid | Nov.

Saturday, November 9, 2013

Russia's Foreign Policy Is Nearing Complete Failure - Council on Foreign Relations


Council on Foreign Relations
It seems only yesterday that President Vladimir Putin seized the world's attention with his proposal to put Syria's chemical weapons under international control. To many, the fancy footwork had a clear message: Russia was back in the diplomatic big ...

Discrimination against homosexuals is openly accepted in Russia

HUMAN RIGHTS

Many homosexuals hope to leave Russia

Germany has granted a young doctor asylum due to his sexual orientation, after he faced persecution and social exclusion in Russia. Thanks to a recent EU ruling, other gays and lesbians will likely to follow.
Police detain demonstrators during a gay pride parade in St Petersburg's Marsovo Pole park. 
(Photo: Ruslan Shamukov / ITAR-TASS)
Pavel is gay. He is open about his sexuality, a fact which used to continuously cause outrage in Russia. "It is very unpleasant to be living in a society that thinks you are sick and backward, and where you can be fired from work just for being gay," he said.
"At any moment, someone can chop your head off," that's how he described the fear many homosexuals in Russia have to cope with on a daily basis.
The 26-year-old trained doctor came to Germany as an as asylum seeker in April 2013. He turned to Quarteera when he arrived. Quarteera, an organization for Russian-speaking homosexuals, bisexuals and transsexuals in Germany, didn't give him much hope of staying. They told him that Germany had yet to grant asylum status to a Russian attempting to escape the homophobic atmosphere in Russia. But Pavel decided to try and has been allowed to stay in Germany.
"Homosexuals in Russia have never had it easy"
Discrimination against homosexuals is openly accepted in Russia. In June 2013, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a nationallaw against "homosexual propaganda," which caused outrage in Germany and in other EU states. The law has made it illegal to portray homosexuality in a positive light in the presence of minors or in the media. The crime is punishable by imprisonment or monetary fines.
"Homosexuals in Russia have never had it easy," said Quarteera's Regina Elsner, adding that the biggest problem with the new regulation is "that it encourages the homophobic mood." According to Elsner, Russian society has always been very conservative and Putin's law has simply spurred on existing homophobia.
Ewald Böhlke of the Berthold Beitz Center of the DGAP
(Photo: Dirk Enters / DGAP
Ewald Böhlke: The situation of Russian homosexuals is a burden on Russo-German relations
Ewald Böhlke, head of the Berthold Beitz Centerfor Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and Central Asia within the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP), warned of an escalation of the already tense situation in Russia.
"When the state leads one-sided debates about minorities, the situation becomes even more difficult, because that constructs an imagined, everyday enemy, an image that is hard to control," he said, adding that the situation in Russia is an additional burden on the difficult relationship between Berlin and Moscow.
More and more turning to Quarteera
Pavel had to wait for four months for his case to be approved by the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees. He is now one of the first Russians to be granted asylum in Germany due to his sexual orientation.
In his home country, his story spread quickly. The reaction of gays and lesbians has been understandably positive, while the media has turned to old homophobic tropes, which stretch from statements like "Let them all leave, and we'll finally have our peace and quiet" to violent threats.
At Quarteera, Regina Elsner provides support for Russian-speaking homosexuals and transsexuals in Germany
(Photo: Quarteera)
Regina Elsner: Putin's anti-gay laws have encouraged the existing homophobic mood in Russia
Meanwhile, other homosexuals in Russia are considering the idea of following in Pavel's footsteps and going to Germany. In the past weeks, Quarteera has received an increasing number of e-mails and Facebook messages from people asking how they can travel to Germany. Homosexual asylum seekers not only have to prove they are being persecuted due to their sexual orientation in their home country, but also that the government is either not able or not willing to protect them.
European Court of Justice ruling
"Rulings about the status of refugees are made on an individual basis," the Quarteera website explains. The Federal Office for Migration and Refugees is closely observing the situation in Russia, but the Russian law currently does not allow blanket protection for homosexuals, according to the office's website.
The number of people from other countries currently seeking asylum in Germany because of their sexual orientation is unknown. The German human rights organization Pro Asyl estimates that there are around 100 cases from various countries every year.
But that number could soon rise, since the European Court of Justice ruled on Thursday (07.11.29013) that homosexuals must be granted asylum in the EU if homosexual practices are punishable by law in their home country.
Now that he is in Germany, Pavel said he just wants to forget Russia. Germany is his new home now. He still has to learn German before he can find a job as a doctor. And then, he said, all he wants is a quiet life.

DW.DE

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Syria & U.S.-Russian Relations: Three Things to Know - Video - CFR

Syria & U.S.-Russian Relations: Three Things to Know

Speaker: Stephen Sestanovich, George F. Kennan Senior Fellow for Russian and Eurasian Studies, Council on Foreign Relations
September 6, 2013
As U.S. Congress prepares to vote on potential limited military strikes against Syrian government targets for their alleged use of chemical weapons, Russian president Vladimir Putin has come out against U.S. strikes, and recently went as far as to call Secretary of State John Kerry "a liar" for his comments about al-Qaeda's involvement in the Syrian opposition. CFR Senior Fellow Stephen Sestanovich tells three things to know about the deteriorating state of U.S.-Russian relations vis-à-vis Syria.
Same Taste, New Injury: Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russian leaders have had a tendency to engage in anti-American rhetoric. "This was true even of a pro-American figure like Boris Yeltsin," Sestanovich says. Russian provocation of the United States regarding Syria also has roots in its decades-long relationship with the Syrian regime, which allows Russia to enjoy "access to naval facilities, arm sales, military and intelligence cooperation," Sestanovich adds.
Injecting Personality Into Policy: Russian foreign policy reflects elements of Putin's personality, according to Sestanovich. Putin places a premium on Russian sovereignty and largely "ignore[s] international criticism," Sestanovich says. "For Putin, Assad is right to oppose outside pressure," he says.
No Confrontation: Putin and his generals have no desire to involve Russian military personnel in the Syria conflict. The Russians may go as far as re-supplying the Syrian military, says Sestanovich, but unless the tide of the civil war turns against Assad, their policy will not change. "Yes, he wants Assad to survive; no, he does not intend to go down in flames with him," he says.