This screening will be followed by a Q&A with reporter Abi Austen, director Will West and producer Shoaib Sharifi.
Reporter Abigail Austen is a former Parachute Regiment officer, the first British army officer to change her gender. Together with director Will West, she returns to the battlefield at the invitation of her former Afghan colleagues. Austen served four years alongside the US Army in Kandahar, Afghanistan. Austen has secured unique and extraordinary access to a turning point in the battle against ISIS and the Taliban across Helmand and Kandahar provinces, and are the first television crew to re-visit Camp Bastion since the British army withdrew. Now the battle’s at a pivotal stage.
Following the end of Coalition combat operations at the close of 2014, Afghans have been leading the fight against ISIS and a resurgent Taliban. In 2015, just one year, the Afghan army has lost ten times more soldiers than the British lost in fifteen years. The Taliban now control over half the country.
Austen and West fly with the helicopters of the Afghan Air Force, crucial to bringing in reinforcements and carrying out the wounded and dead. The bases they fly to are completely surrounded by the Taliban and helicopters are the only way in or out.
Back in Kandahar, Austen visits wounded troops in the military hospital where no western television journalists have ever been allowed access. She finds wards full of severely injured men. In Afghanistan, there’s no pension or Help for Heroes. Many of the wounded are the sole breadwinners for their families.
Austen meets the Head of the Air Wing, General Sherzai, who admits that the military situation is critical. The Unreported World team flies with him to Helmand and visits the site of the former Camp Bastion, now empty and no use to the Afghans despite intense ongoing fighting. On her return to Kandahar, Austen is given bad news. Other towns including Musa Qala have fallen to the Taliban. The news means everything the British fought for in Northern Helmand is now in Taliban hands.
Austen and West join another helicopter mission to Khas Uruzgan, one of the last bases left. It’s completely surrounded by the Taliban, and the fighting is hand-to-hand. As the helicopter lands, the pilot Salim spots a Taliban position above. A battle rages overhead as a few desperate souls try to get on board and take the only way out.
An Afghan army that the West spent billions to create is beginning to fall apart. Kandahar City, the Taliban’s birthplace, is now within their sights. If the Taliban is successful, the Afghan Government is unlikely to survive.
Channel 4, 7.30pm, Friday 9th April
For more information visit: www.channel4.com/unreportedworld http://www.facebook.com/unreportedworld #UnreportedWorld
Directed by: Will West
Reporter: Abi Austen
Producer: Shoaib Sharifi
Runtime: 24′
Country: United Kingdom
It is election year in the US and one man has dominated the headlines. Six months ago, the prospect of Donald Trump as presidential candidate might have been something to joke about but it is now looking increasingly like a reality. What does this mean for the Republican Party?
With the Republican race dominating much of the spotlight, what about the Democrats? Are we set to see the first female president in the White House? With primaries about to begin, we will be looking at the battles going on in both parties and who we might see come out on top.
What does the rise of Trump mean for politics in the US? We will be looking at the political landscape in the lead up to the November presidential election.
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Chaired by Michael Goldfarb, journalist author and broadcaster. He has reported for The Guardian, The New York Times, The Washington Post, NPR and Global Post.
The panel:
Xenia Wickett is the head of the US Programme at Chatham House and the dean of the Academy for Leadership in International Affairs, Chatham House’s new leadership training initiative. Prior to this she was the executive director of the PeaceNexus Foundation and from 2005 to 2009 she was at Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center.
Adam Brookes is an independent journalist and author based in Washington, DC. For many years, he reported for BBC News on American politics and the economy, with a special focus on defence and security. He contributed to the BBC’s coverage of three presidential elections – in ’04, ’06, and ‘12.
Peter Trubowitz is professor of international relations and director of the US Centre at the London School of Economics and associate fellow at Chatham House. Before joining the LSE, he was professor of government at the University of Texas at Austin. His most recent book is Politics and Strategy: Partisan Ambition and American Statecraft.
William Lowery is a New York qualified lawyer and works for an international law firm in London. He is the vice-chair of Republicans Overseas UK, an organisation that represents and promotes the interests of Americans living, working, and studying in the United Kingdom.
]]>Drone warfare has become the defining policy of Obama’s war on terror. Unmanned aerial vehicles provide a unique solution to the unpopular politics of war, granting the United States the ability to take out targets in the remotest parts of the world without any risk to American life.
Drone, directed by Tonje Hessen Schei and four years in the making, was screened at the Frontline Club on Monday 13 April 2015. The documentary explores the true cost of drone strikes, from civilian casualties to the mental health of drone pilots and the implications for international law.
Tonje Hessen Schei
“I’ve been obsessed with this issue since 2010, but now after all these years of the drone strikes and all the people that have been killed, to meet people on the street that don’t know what a drone is… it scares me,” said Schei.
“I’m not anti-drone,” Schei told the Frontline Club audience. “What I’m very critical of is the CIA’s use of drones where they’re killing thousands of people outside of declared war zones.”
One of the underlying problems with drone strikes that Schei’s documentary explores is the lack of intelligence. In Waziristan, the remote part of Pakistan that Drone largely focuses on, accurate intelligence is almost impossible and this is reflected in the statistics.
Director Tonje Hessen Schei
“I think some of the recent numbers [of targets killed] are around 69 high level militants. So then you wonder, what about the other 90 percent. Who are they killing? And what kind of ‘imminence’ are these people posing to the security of the States?”
“One of the main things that we hope to do is to sort of take down the whole selling point on the drones being this perfect surgical weapon in the war on terror… it is important to acknowledge the thousands of people and the thousands of civilians that have been killed in this war.”
Creating this film was no easy task, as gaining access both in the US and in Pakistan proved difficult.
Schei told audience members that she was starting to get “a little bit desperate” whilst trying to get access to the US Air Force.
“Interestingly enough, as soon as Brandon [Bryant] agreed to participate in the documentary, the US Air Force opened their front door, pretty much almost the day after,” said Schei. Bryant was an ex-drone pilot who, after leaving the Air Force with severe post-traumatic stress, told his story to Der Spiegel.
“There was something about the way he told his story and the importance of his voice that really made an impact on me,” said Schei. She spent nine months building up trust with Bryant because of the “incredible media hunt” which he experienced after the Der Spiegel story was published.
Once the US Air Force were sure of Bryant’s participation in the documentary, they extended invitations to Schei to visit airbases and provided access to their video library.
Tonje Hessen Schei
“What do you really think the chances are of seeing genuine prosecution?” asked a member of the audience. “Is there really a chance of actual indictment of the head of the CIA for war crimes?”
In fact, two of the film’s protagonists, Shahzad Akbar and Clive Stafford Smith of Reprieve, have recently been making legal progress in Pakistan.
“[Akbar] actually, last week, won a very important case in Pakistan where a judge is now opening up the possibilities for the CIA officials to be prosecuted for their involvement in the 2009 strikes against Kareem Khan and his family,” said Schei.
Drone strikes still have significant popular support in the US, likely because they give the impression of security without the human cost of the lives of US soldiers. “They [the American public] don’t have enough information about what is really going on,” said Schei. However, the use of drones in warfare is not solely an American issue.
Over 100 countries worldwide are currently developing drone technologies, including the UK, Israel, China, Russia and Iran. Schei told audience members that the use of drones by the US is setting a dangerous precedent, both with regards to international law and international standards surrounding the use of drones.
“I think it’s going to be very very difficult for us to point our finger at anybody else that starts going after whoever they might see as imminent threats around the world,” she said, “…it’s just a matter of time before we will see this.”
Visit the Drone website for more information on the film and upcoming screenings.
]]>After a devastating defeat in the midterm elections, which saw the Democrats lose control of the Senate, what can we expect from President Barack Obama as he enters his final two years in office?
Will we see a president stuck in an endless deadlock with the Republicans preventing him from moving forward, or will he attempt to use his final two years to take bold action?
With events in Ferguson, Missouri, highlighting the deep racial divides that still exist in the US, we will be asking what the legacy will be of the country’s first African-American president. Our panel will be taking a view of the political landscape and debating what Obama can achieve in the next two years.
Chaired by Matt Frei, Europe editor and presenter at Channel 4 News. Previously be was Washington correspondent and is author of Italy: The Unfinished Revolution and Only In America.
The panel:
Xenia Wickett is the project director of the US project and the dean of The Queen Elizabeth II Academy for Leadership in International Affairs at Chatham House. From 2001 to 2005, she served in the US State Department in numerous positions including in the Bureau of South Asia, the Bureau of Nonproliferation and the Homeland Security Group. After September 11, 2001 she was assigned to the Office of the Vice President (OVP) to work on homeland security.
Michael Goldfarb is a veteran journalist, and broadcaster. He has covered conflicts in the Balkans and Middle East and conflict resolution in Northern Ireland. His book Ahmad’s War, Ahmad’s Peace, about the Iraq War was a New York Times Notable. He has started his own production company making radio current affairs documentaries for the BBC.
Kim Ghattas is a BBC correspondent based in Washington covering global affairs. She was the BBC’s State Department correspondent from 2008 until 2013, traveling regularly with the Secretary of State. She is author of The New York Times best seller, The Secretary: A Journey with Hillary Clinton from Beirut to the Heart of American Power. She was previously a Middle East correspondent for the BBC and the Financial Times, based in Beirut.
Robert Carolina was elected chair of Democrats Abroad UK in 2011. He started his support of the Obama campaign in 2007, and went on to lead a number of Obama campaign efforts in the UK in 2008. He is a principal with Origin, a London-based international technology and intellectual property law firm.
]]>“How can you have a war on terror when terror is a tactic?” asks one of the American counter-terrorism analysts interviewed in Greg Barker‘s new film, Manhunt, about the decade-long hunt for Osama bin Laden, which was screened at the Frontline Club on Monday 24 November. Director Greg Barker joined the packed-out audience afterwards for a Q&A via Skype.
Greg Barker joins the Frontline Club audience for a Q&A via Skype from LA after the screening.
In the film, we see Barker conducting interviews with retired CIA analysts and operatives.
“We did ask for some current people inside the intelligence community and they were all denied,” said Barker. “There’s a certain healthy rivalry between analysts and field officers, but I think one of the things that was clear to a lot of people is that since 9/11 there’s been a real effort to integrate them more.”
Many of the analysts interviewed in the film were women who had been examining bin Laden and al-Qaeda since the mid-90s with little recognition from their superiors. One audience member asked whether the women felt that it was a culture of silence or a culture of sexism in the CIA which prevented their work from being recognised earlier.
“I think there was definitely a culture of sexism in the mid-90s,” answered Barker. “But I also know from talking to some people who were not on camera, some of the men involved, even the guys overseeing that unit around 9/11, they all felt that they were crying wolf.”
Indeed what becomes apparent throughout the film is that the threat of bin Laden and al-Qaeda was not taken seriously by many of those working for American national security. As Barker pointed out: “The more they [the analysts] raised the alarm the less they were listened to. . . . At that point, the institutions in Washington were still in a mindset shaped by the Cold War so the idea that a group of fundamentalists somewhere off in Afghanistan could pose an existential threat to America’s national security was just kind of laughable actually.”
The conversation then turned to the topic of ISIS and whether there has been again a failure of the intelligence services to spot the warning signs.
“Our focus now has been shaped by the al-Qaeda threat and the bin Laden threat and that’s just not what ISIS is. There’s always a danger of fighting the last war,” said Barker.
One audience member asked whether a decade-long hunt for one man was viewed by those on the inside as a success or a failure. “There was a certain frustration that it hadn’t been done earlier,” said Barker.
He also spoke of his own frustrations at not being able to include a portion in the film detailing the detrimental effect that the Iraq War had had on the hunt for bin Laden: “It was a massive diversion in terms of resources.”
Barker also spoke about his motivation in making the film. “What I wanted to do was give a human face to the people who work in operations . . . so next time something happens we don’t necessarily believe all the rhetoric and we remember that there are these people inside who in many ways are a lot like us, just doing very unusual jobs.”
Manhunt premiered at The Sundance Festival at 2013 and is available for pre-order from HBO.
]]>“It’s a town hall style meeting – we quickly come to you,” BBC 4‘s Paddy O’Connell told a sold-out First Wednesday audience at the Frontline Club yesterday evening. The topic was intervention in Syria, and with four experts by his side, O’Connell led a lively back-and-forth with the night’s attendees.
“Here we are talking about your country and bombing it, which we do regularly in the Middle East, don’t we?” he jibed to Lina Sinjab, who was born in Syria and worked as the BBC’s correspondent there until a few months ago.
L-R: Paddy O’Connell, Scott Lucas, Lina Sinjab, Shiraz Maher, Jonathan Steele. Photo: Jim Treadway
Sinjab, however, emphasised the necessity of stepping in. With conservative estimates that 80,000 people have been killed and two million have fled the country, she opined:
“The reality on the ground is pushing Syrians – they have no other options. They know the Americans are coming for their own interest, but there is no other way to stop the bleeding of Syrians on a daily basis.”
Only one of the four experts argued against intervention: Jonathan Steele, a columnist at The Guardian and longtime foreign correspondent.
“It would be a disaster,” Steele said. “We don’t know what the repercussions would be… In Iraq and Afghanistan, we were told it’d be short and quick and surgical and all the rest of it, and they turn out not to be.”
But Syrians today are in a different position than Iraqis or Afghans a decade ago, Steele’s co-panelists felt. Shiraz Maher is an expert on terrorism and Islamic groups in the Middle East, and to him, a critical factor is how much Syrians want an intervention:
“The Syrian people themselves have been calling for some form of intervention, for some form of outside help to come into Syria and tip the balance, and just to level that playing field…
” I’m not saying it would be clean [or] perfect. . . . Yes, if the West intervenes, we will inevitably kill, indirectly, and unintentionally, some civilians. But if we stand back, [Assad’s] regime continues to do the same thing – every single day.”
What should an intervention look like, then?
Sinjab, Maher, and Scott Lucas all withered at the idea of limited bombing. Lucas, a professor at Birmingham University and expert on U.S. and U.K. involvement in the Middle East, explained:
“The question [shouldn’t] be on bombing. It should be on a longer term question of support for the insurgency. . . . It is a myth that Al Qaeda groups are dominating the insurgency. It’s a question of arms supplies: do you provide anti-aircraft and anti-tank weaponry to the insurgents which negates the weapons that Assad continues to have to basically maintain dominance? Do you support a no-fly zone or a protected zone that took place in Libya in 2011, which allowed people to be protected, and the opposition therefore could move against Qaddafi?”
The greatest danger to Syrians, Sinjab, Maher, and Lucas feared, was an intervention too weak or misguided.
“For Assad, for the Syrian Ba’athists,” Maher said, “this struggle is an existential one… They [will] kill whatever number it takes [to survive].”
To protect Syrians, they saw a need for much more than just “a shot across the bow,” as U.S. President Obama has imagined. In Sinjab’s words, Syrians
“are very fearful of: if the Americans only did a ‘shot across the bow,’ and it was [only] a limited target, then the Assad forceswould retaliate big time on the people.”
https://soundcloud.com/frontlineclub/first-wednesday-syria-crossing
]]>A president’s second term is usually regarded as the one in which he has the potential to reinvent the world. On 13 June, a panel chaired by author and journalist Michael Goldfarb explored the foreign policy legacy of the Obama administration.
Michael Goldfarb, Kim Ghattas and Nick Schifrin.
Kim Ghattas, BBC State Department correspondent and author of The Secretary: A Journey with Hillary Clinton from Beirut to the Heart of American Power, opened the discussion by asking:
“How much power does the US really have to implement its decisions? There is still this image out there of an omnipotent superpower. ( . . . ) People often ask ‘Why doesn’t the US just intervene and end the conflict in Syria?’”
On Syria, Professor Michael Cox, founding co-director of LSE IDEAS and Professor of International Relations at LSE, said:
“I think the US strategy on Syria is entirely right. The idea of the US getting involved in another war without an end in sight, against whom and for what we don’t know, strikes me as the craziest thing the US could do.”
Nick Schifrin, foreign correspondent for ABC News, drew the attention to Obama’s speech on drones and Guantanamo on 23 May this year, at the National Defense University.
“He [Barack Obama] said ‘All wars must end,’ it seemed an attempt to define that legacy and say ‘We’re going to move beyond the post-9/11 world.”
Nick Schifrin, Professor Michael Cox and Dana Allin.
Ghattas remembered Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s reaction to the uprising in Libya: “Once the Arab league and the Golf Corporation Council had called for a No-Fly-Zone, Clinton was already convinced that something had to be done.”
Schifrin, who was reporting from Benghazi during this week, added:
“From the ground it was very simple: If the No-Fly-Zone hadn’t passed by the weekend, tens of thousands of people would have died. ( . . . ) There were a lot of mercenaries behind the other planes who would have been happy to flatten Benghazi.”
Dana Allin, Senior Fellow for US Foreign Policy and Transatlantic Affairs and Editor of Survival: Global Politics and Strategy at The International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), brought the Israel-Palestine peace process into the foreign policy evaluation:
“Focusing on the settlements clearly failed when [Israeli Prime Minister] Benjamin Netanyahu said ‘No’ [to build 3,000 new homes in the West Bank and Jerusalem for Palestinians] and Obama didn’t have a Plan B. This was the largest foreign policy defeat of the president. ( . . . ) Sometimes Obama seems overwhelmed by the power of his own eloquence.”
Obama has detoxified (not ended) the war on terror by officially repudiating #torture @frontlineclub
— Elisa Peter (@ElisaPeter) June 13, 2013
The panel identified that Afghanistan has become Obama’s war. Professor Cox explained:
“He detoxified the war on terror but continued it and increased the number of troops and drones in Afghanistan. ( . . . ) We get to the point where we can’t blame George W. Bush for everything anymore.”
A member of the audience is contributing to the debate.
The debate was then opened to the public. One member of the audience asked: “He’s pouring more and more money in Afghanistan, but the country seems to be a drain that absorbs troops and money. Pakistan is an unreliable ally, to say the least. What could he [Obama] have done differently?” Schifrin mentioned failed American attempts to support and strengthen Pakistan.
“For every Dollar he spent in Pakistan, he spent 30 in Afghanistan. ( . . . ) But people need to see more than ‘more troops and drones.’ They tried to open an American hospital in Islamabad but that wasn’t successful. Overall, there would have to be more effort.”
Moving on to the unpredictable and time-consuming problems with Assad in Syria, Ghattas concluded:
“The problem with US policy is that it’s often based on hope. And it doesn’t work like that in the Middle East.”
Watch and listen to the event here:
]]>https://soundcloud.com/frontlineclub/americas-shifting-foreign
As Barack Obama enters the second year of his second and final term in office, he faces considerable foreign policy challenges. The US position on Syria and the controversy over the attack on the US embassy in Benghazi, Libya are weighing on the president. There is a notable attempt by the Obama administration to make a strategic pivot towards Asia and away from the Middle East.
Join us as we dissect Obama’s foreign policy ambitions, exploring the shifts in focus and how they are playing out. Will he achieve his second term goals? Can he successfully pull focus to Asia or will the conflict in Syria direct attention back to the Middle East?
The Obama administration is making considerable efforts to redefine American power, through domestic reforms that the president calls “nation-building at home” and substantial shifts in foreign policy. We will be looking more widely at the attempts to rebuild America’s global strength.
Chaired by author, journalist and broadcaster Michael Goldfarb. He has worked for NPR and the BBC, and has written for Global Post, the Guardian, The New York Times and The Washington Post.
The panel:
Kim Ghattas has been the BBC’s State Department correspondent since 2008, and travels regularly with the Secretary of State. She is author of the recently published The Secretary: A Journey with Hillary Clinton from Beirut to the Heart of American Power. She was previously a Middle East correspondent for the BBC and the Financial Times, based in Beirut. Her work has also appeared in TIME magazine, the Boston Globe, NPR, and The Washington Post.
Professor Michael Cox is founding co-director of LSE IDEAS and professor of International Relations at LSE. He has held appointments at The Queen’s University of Belfast, California State University at San Diego, The College of William and Mary in Virginia, the Department of International Politics, Aberystwyth, The Catholic University of Milan, the University of Melbourne, and the Centre for Defence and Strategic Studies in Canberra, Australia. He is general editor of two successful book series Rethinking World Politics and Cold War History. He is author, editor and co-editor of several books including The Rise and Fall of the American Empire: From Bush to Obama, US Presidents and Democracy Promotion, US Foreign Policy and Soft Power and US Foreign Policy.
Dana Allin, is senior fellow for US foreign policy and transatlantic affairs, and editor of Survival: Global Politics and Strategy at The International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS). He is professorial lecturer at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), of the Johns Hopkins University in Washington D.C., and adjunct professor of European studies at the SAIS Bologna Center. He is author and co-author of five books including, most recently, The Sixth Crisis: Iran, Israel, America, and the Rumors of War and Weary Policeman: American Power in an Age of Austerity.
Nick Schifrin is a foreign correspondent for ABC News based in London. Previously he was the ABC News Afghanistan-Pakistan correspondent and bureau chief based in both Kabul and Islamabad, from 2008 until 2012.
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Monday 18 March
On Monday, the UN Human Rights Council will formally consider a highly critical report on Israeli settler activities that was published at the end of January.
Meanwhile, in Yemen a national dialogue conference is scheduled to open to try resolve the deep tensions in the country, with a view to holding credible elections next February.
Iran’s nuclear programme will be discussed at a technical meeting of representatives from the p5+1 (E3+3) grouping in Istanbul. It follows talks last month in Almaty, Kazakhstan.
Finally, NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen will hold his monthly press conference in Brussels at which the focus is expected to be Afghanistan and President Hamid Karzai’s recent inflammatory rhetoric.
Tuesday 19 March
Also Tuesday, incumbent governor of Japan’s central bank Masaaki Shirakawa will step down. He will be replaced on Wednesday by Haruhiko Kuroda, who is moving across from the Asian Development Bank. Kuroda has pushed for looser monetary policy in Japan.
In New York, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will host a UN Security Council debate on Afghanistan, in what is billed as the highlight of Russia’s presidency of the UNSC this month.
Wednesday 20 March
On Wednesday, US President Barack Obama will begin his first visit to Israel since taking office. The trip, which will also see him travel to the West Bank and Jordan, was nearly overshadowed by post-electoral wrangling as Netanyahu sought to form a coalition government.
In Japan, Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida will deliver what is billed as a major foreign policy address. Observers will be particularly interested to see what Kishida has to say about relations with China, and the Senkaku/Diaoyu island dispute.
Finally, in Brussels EU High Representative Catherine Ashton will host another round of negotiations between Kosovo and Serbia.
Thursday 21 March
In Turkey, imprisoned Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan is expected to declare a ceasefire between the PKK and Turkish government, timed to coincide with Nowruz.
Meanwhile, an immigration appeals tribunal will hold a bail hearing in the case of Jordanian radical cleric Abu Qatada, who was arrested earlier this month for breaching his bail conditions.
Friday 22 March
The oft-delayed posthumous trial of whistleblowing Russian lawyer Sergey Magnitsky is scheduled to resume, after it was delayed again on March 11.
Also Friday, the trial of so-called Devil’s Advocate lawyer Giovanni Di Stefano on fraud charges is expected to conclude. Di Stefano has previously represented figures including Gary Glitter, Saddam Hussein and Ian Brady.
Weekend
A final hearing in former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s appeal against his conviction on tax evasion charges is scheduled for Saturday, when a verdict may come. He has called for nationwide protests in piazzas against what he alleges is a politicised judicial process.
Monday 25 February
In Seoul, South Korea’s first female president, Park Geun-hye, will be inaugurated following her victory over Moon Jae-in in last December’s election. Ms Park takes office amid heightened regional tensions, in particular given Pyongyang’s recent decision to test a third nuclear device, provoking widespread international condemnation. Ms Park has vowed to take a more conciliatory approach toward her country’s neighbour to the north than that of her predecessor, Lee Myung-bak.
US Secretary of State John Kerry, meanwhile, will kick off his first international travel since taking up the post with a stop in London on Monday, where he will meet with his British counterpart William Hague. Kerry’s trip will see him visit a number of European and Middle Eastern capitals, though he will not travel to Israel this time around.
Finally, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will host Syria’s Foreign Minister Walid Muallem in Moscow for talks on Monday. Russia ‘s continued support for the Assad regime has frustrated many, particularly the United States.
Tuesday 26 February
Meanwhile, international talks on Iran’s nuclear programme will take place in Almaty, Kazakhstan. Political directors from France, Britain, Germany, the US, the EU, Russia and China will meet with representatives for the first time since last June. Indications about the prospects for progress during the talks are positive.
Finally, in New York City, a court will hear an appeal from Argentina’s government after a court there ruled in favour of billionaire Paul Singer’s hedge fund NML Capital, and others who are suing Argentina for $1.3bn in sovereign bonds owed to them since the country defaulted on its debt in 2001.
Wednesday 27 February
In the US, oral arguments are scheduled in the Supreme Court a case challenging a key element of the Voting Rights Act. Specifically, justices will hear a challenge to Section 5 of the act which which requires state and local governments in certain, mainly southern, US states to obtain federal permission before making changes that affect voting. Critics of the provision say it is outdated and unfairly singles out certain states, while supporters say it provides important protections.
Finally, delegations from rival Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah are expected in Cairo on Wednesday for further reconciliation talks.
Thursday 28 February
An international meeting on Syria will take place in Rome on Thursday, attended by the US Secretary of State John Kerry as well as representatives of the Syrian National Coalition, including its head Mouaz al Khatib.
In Moscow, President Vladimir Putin will host his French counterpart Francois Hollande for talks on a range of bilateral and multilateral international issues, likely to include Syria.
In India, Finance Minister P Chidambaram will present his budget for 2013/14 before the country’s parliament.
Friday 29 February
Assuming a last-minute deal is not reached during the week, drastic across-the-board cuts to federal spending – known as a sequester – are scheduled to take effect Friday. Last week, the US Department of Defense, which would be particularly hard-hit by the measure, announced plans to furlough 800,000 members of its civilian staff, should sequestration occur. Barack Obama has repeatedly warned that the cuts threaten the US economic recovery.
Lastly, former Italian Prime Minister is expected to appear in person on Friday in Milan’s court of appeal, where he is challenging his conviction last October on tax evasion charges. A verdict in the appeal is tentatively expected on 23 March.
Weekend
In Switzerland, on Sunday, a referendum is scheduled that includes a vote on whether to strengthen shareholders’ influence on the remuneration of directors and management of listed companies in order to prevent excessive pay. The outcome is likely to have international implications.
Finally, the annual policy conference of the powerful American Israeli Public Affairs Committtee (AIPAC) opens on Sunday. The three-day conference traditionally features addresses from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Barack Obama, though these have yet to be confirmed this year. Obama, of course, is scheduled to visit Israel from 20 March.
Images courtesy of Katherine Welles / vipflash / Shutterstock.com
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