Martin Fackler | Tokyo | Feb 9

NYT - They were Tokyo’s worst-kept diplomatic secrets: clandestine cold war era agreements with Washington that obligated Japan to shoulder the costs of United States bases and allow nuclear-armed American ships to sail into Japanese ports.

For decades, Japanese leaders have gone to great lengths to deny the pacts’ existence, despite mounting proof to the contrary from the testimony of former diplomats and declassified documents in the United States. The most sensational instance came in 1972, when a reporter who unearthed evidence of one of the treaties was arrested on charges of obtaining state secrets, reportedly by means of an adulterous affair.

Now, the so-called secret treaties are causing problems again, this time in how Japan is handling its suddenly rocky relationship with the United States.

The new administration in Tokyo, whose election last summer ended a half-century of nearly unbroken control by the Liberal Democrats, wants to expose the treaties as a showcase of its determination to sweep aside the nation’s secretive, bureaucrat-dominated postwar order. Last fall, the foreign minister appointed a team of scholars to scour Japanese diplomatic archives for evidence of the treaties. Its findings are due this month.

The problem is that the inquiry is coming at a delicate moment in Japan’s ties with its longtime patron, the United States. The administrations of Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama of Japan and President Obama are already divided over the relocation of an American air base in Okinawa. By exposing some of the less savory aspects of Japan’s military reliance on the United States, the investigation has drawn criticism, particularly from conservatives in both nations, as an effort by the left-leaning Hatoyama government to pull away from Washington.

From tonight's Nelson Report:

SUMMARY: preceding the President's talk to US business persons about the pressing need for China to allow the RMB to be revalued, Treasury Secretary Geithner called his Chinese counterpart, Wang Qishen.

Content of the call? Two versions: from the US, Geithner warned Wang that patience here has expired, and that if China does not launch a solid move toward rebalancing by the end of March, Obama will authorize Treasury to "cite" the PRC for currency manipulation in the twice-annual report to Congress, first due in April.

Chinese version: Wang told Geithner where he could put it, and seemingly threatened a pullback on T-bill purchases, and retaliation on US exports to China.

Discussion, below.

More after the jump.

Greg Quinn and Mark Drajem | February 5

Bloomberg - A yearlong dispute was settled between the U.S. and Canada over “Buy American” rules in the Obama administration’s stimulus package, the countries said.

The deal will allow use of Canadian products in many local U.S. projects funded by the stimulus program, the governments said in a joint statement. Canada agreed to sign up its provinces to the World Trade Organization’s government procurement agreement, which it had refused to do when the WTO was formed in 1995.

Buy American provisions approved in the $787 billion economic stimulus package a year ago mandated that all the steel and manufactured goods purchased with the funds be made in the U.S., or in countries with U.S. agreements on government procurement. Under the deal announced today, those Canadian-made goods would now qualify for purchase in stimulus projects. Products from other nations wouldn’t qualify.

Joby Warrick | Dubai | January 31

WaPo - The Obama administration is quietly working with Saudi Arabia and other Persian Gulf allies to speed up arms sales and rapidly upgrade defenses for oil terminals and other key infrastructure in a bid to thwart future military attacks by Iran, according to former and current U.S. and Middle Eastern government officials.

The initiatives, including a U.S.-backed plan to triple the size of a 10,000-man protection force in Saudi Arabia, are part of a broader push that includes unprecedented coordination of air defenses and expanded joint exercises between the U.S. and Arab militaries, the officials said. All appear to be aimed at increasing pressure on Tehran.

CBC/AP | January 30

CBC - China's defence ministry said Saturday it would suspend military exchanges with the United States and impose sanctions on companies selling weaponry to Taiwan over Washington's planned $6.4-billion US arms deal with the island.

China took a similar step in 2008 after the former Bush administration announced a multibillion-dollar arms sale to Taiwan — the most sensitive issue in U.S.-China relations.

Beijing claims the self-governing Taiwan as its own territory, while the United States is Taiwan's most important ally and largest arms supplier.

The United States does not recognize Taiwan as a sovereign nation, but the U.S. government says it's bound by the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act to ensure the island is capable of responding to Chinese threats. China has more than 1,000 ballistic missiles aimed at Taiwan.

Jan 29

BBC - The US Senate has backed legislation allowing President Barack Obama to extend sanctions against Iran.

The new sanctions would target those who export fuel to Iran.

In his first State of the Union address on Wednesday, Mr Obama warned Iran's leaders of "growing consequences" over its nuclear programme.

The US and its allies fear Iran is attempting to develop nuclear weapons. Iran insists its nuclear programme is entirely peaceful.

The Senate bill targets non-Iranian companies that export fuel to Iran or help expand Tehran's oil refining capacities by denying them US loans and other financial assistance.

The Senate backing follows legislation approved in the House of Representatives and the two must be reconciled before they can become law.

On Wednesday, Mr Obama said that "Iran's leaders continue to ignore their obligations", in an apparent reference to Tehran's nuclear activities.

He warned that Iranian leaders would "face growing consequences. That is a promise".

Lobbyists For Foreign Corporations Begin Fight To Ensure Foreign Money Can Influence American ElectionsForeign CashLast week, the 5-4 Supreme Court ruling in the Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission decision invalidated a sixty-three year-old ban on corporate money in federal elections. The ruling gives corporations essentially the same rights as individuals in their ability to spend freely on political advertising, even if those advertisements explicitly advocate the election or defeat of a federal candidate. One consequence of this decision is that foreign corporations with U.S.-subsidiaries are likely to be able to now spend unlimited amounts on American elections.

Congressional Democrats, led by Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL), Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), and Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), are drafting legislation to curb the influence of foreign corporations and foreign governments following the decision. However, the National Journal reported today that corporate lobbyists representing foreign corporations are already organizing to defeat such a proposal. The Organization for International Investment, a trade group representing foreign banks, oil companies, and other foreign corporations operating in the United States, “lashed out” at Van Hollen’s proposals. “The concern over foreign influence in our political system is a red herring,” said Nancy McLernon, the head of OII.

McLernon — who previously worked for Citizens for a Sound Economy, a stealth “grassroots” corporate lobbying group now known as Americans for Prosperity and FreedomWorks — is wrong to assert that the danger of foreign lobbying is simply a distraction. For instance, Saudi Arabia has already signaled that the progressive effort to build a clean energy American economy is its “biggest threat”: more w/links at Think Progress

Dana Priest | January 27

WaPo - U.S. military teams and intelligence agencies are deeply involved in secret joint operations with Yemeni troops who in the past six weeks have killed scores of people, among them six of 15 top leaders of a regional al-Qaeda affiliate, according to senior administration officials.

The operations, approved by President Obama and begun six weeks ago, involve several dozen troops from the U.S. military's clandestine Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), whose main mission is tracking and killing suspected terrorists. The American advisers do not take part in raids in Yemen, but help plan missions, develop tactics and provide weapons and munitions. Highly sensitive intelligence is being shared with the Yemeni forces, including electronic and video surveillance, as well as three-dimensional terrain maps and detailed analysis of the al-Qaeda network.

Shaun Tandon | Washington DC | January 26

AFP - Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Tuesday staunchly defended the American response to Haiti's earthquake, lashing out at foreign critics and calling the US military vital to the relief effort.

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi quickly issued a statement praising American efforts, hoping to defuse a row after one of his ministers accused the US of weak leadership in the tragedy that claimed more than 150,000 lives.

"I deeply resent those who attack our country, the generosity of our people and the leadership of our president in trying to respond to historically disastrous conditions after the earthquake," Clinton told State Department employees at a forum marking one year in office. Clinton did not single out critics but said that "some of the international press either misunderstood or deliberately misconstrued" the US decision to send thousands of troops to Haiti.

Jan 22

AFP - The US State Department said Wednesday it has lifted an effective Bush-era ban on Muslim scholars Adam Habib and Tariq Ramadan, saying neither is deemed a security threat to the United States.

State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said Secretary of State Hillary Clinton signed documents allowing the South Africa-based Habib and Britain-based Ramadan to apply for US visas like other prospective visitors.

"The secretary of state signed an exemption for Tariq Ramadan and Adam Habib," under the Immigration and Nationality Act, Crowley told reporters.

"The next time professor Ramadan or Professor Habib applies for a visa, he will not be found inadmissible on the basis of the facts that led to denial when they last applied," Crowley said.

"We do not think that either one of them represents a threat to the United States," he said.

Joseph Rhee, Tahman Bradley & Brian Ross | Wixom, MI | January 18

ABC News - Coded references to New Testament Bible passages about Jesus Christ are inscribed on high-powered rifle sights provided to the United States military by a Michigan company, an ABC News investigation has found.

The sights are used by U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan and in the training of Iraqi and Afghan soldiers. The maker of the sights, Trijicon, has a $660 million multi-year contract to provide up to 800,000 sights to the Marine Corps, and additional contracts to provide sights to the U.S. Army.

Jeffrey Kaye | January 17

The Public Record - A January 8 release of documents in the ACLU FOIA lawsuit seeking materials related to the CIA’s destruction of videotapes of interrogators using “enhanced interrogation techniques” has revealed the first evidence of a precise instruction for the destruction of those tapes.

According to Rachel Myers at the ACLU, while there was previous evidence of requests from the “field” that the videotapes be destroyed, this is our first verification of the exact date CIA headquarters gave its approval.

In his first year in office, Barack Obama gave several exceptional speeches on foreign policy. In Prague, he endorsed nuclear disarmament. In Cairo, he called for a new engagement with the Islamic world. In Oslo, he repudiated torture. At these moments, the new president firmly broke with the policies of his predecessor and provided a glimpse of what a new, cooperative, just U.S. foreign policy could be.

But Obama the exceptional speaker also remained anchored in an exceptionalist tradition. In other words, he is the president of a country that has historically considered itself an exception to the rules and realities governing other countries. This exceptionalist tradition was no more apparent than in the administration's policy in Afghanistan.

. . . writes John Feffer at Foreign Policy in Focus. . .

Foreign Policy: C-

(Pretty generous, I'd say.)

More:

There is, of course, still time for the Obama administration to fashion a different kind of exceptionalism. [It] is certainly an improvement over the Bush years. Its several achievements — banning torture, lifting the global gag rule, canceling missile defense bases in Europe — are worthy of praise. But the decision to escalate in Afghanistan — while escalating in Pakistan and intervening militarily in Yemen — brings down the score. On his report card after the first year the president passes, but barely and with a note in the margin: needs improvement.

What grade would Agonist readers give President Obama for his foreign policy thus far and why?

Read the rest here (and take a look at FPIF's inviting new design):
Link here.

Howard LaFranchi | Washington | Jan 16

CSM - President Obama may have moved his foot to the accelerator regarding sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program. But a skeptical China is countering his shift by applying the brakes.

World powers meet Saturday in New York to consider a new round of economic sanctions on Iran over its continuing pursuit of nuclear technology – a process Western countries believe is aimed at producing a nuclear weapon. But China is signaling its dim view of sanctions by announcing it will send a low-level representative to the meeting. That makes prospects for action by the United Nations Security Council any time soon appear weak at best.

Mr. Obama recently saw his deadline come and go for Iran to respond positively by the end of 2009 to calls for talks on its nuclear developments.

Saturday’s meeting is a result of Iran’s silence on negotiations – with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton saying recently that the weekend discussion would take up “the kind and degree of sanctions we should be exploring.”

UPDATE Jan 17: China balks at Iran sanctions

Tokyo | Jan 15

Kyodo - Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa holds a teleconference with Ryo Sakai, captain of the Maritime Self-Defense Force who is aboard the supply ship Mashu on a refueling mission in the Indian Ocean, at the Defense Ministry in Tokyo on Jan. 15, 2010. Kitazawa, who ordered the MSDF to end Japan's refueling mission the same day, expressed his wish for the safe return of the officers.

** End of MSDF refueling mission raises questions over Japan's national interests
** Japan Ends Naval Support for Afghan War

Jay Solomon | Washington | January 9

WSJ - The Obama administration is increasingly questioning the long-term stability of Tehran's government and moving to find ways to support Iran's opposition "Green Movement," said senior U.S. officials.

The White House is crafting new financial sanctions specifically designed to punish the Iranian entities and individuals most directly involved in the crackdown on Iran's dissident forces, said the U.S. officials, rather than just those involved in Iran's nuclear program.

Caracas | Jan 9

Reuters - President Hugo Chavez said he ordered two F-16 jets to intercept a U.S. military plane that twice entered Venezuelan skies on Friday, but Washington said none of its planes flew over the South American country's airspace.

Brandishing a photo of the plane, which he described as a P-3, Chavez said the overflight was the latest violation of Venezuelan airspace by the U.S. military from its bases on the Netherlands' Caribbean islands and from neighboring Colombia.

"They are provoking us ... these are warplanes," he said.

Chavez said the F-16s escorted the U.S. plane away after two incursions lasting 15 and 19 minutes each.

A spokesman for the U.S. Defense Department denied Chavez's assertion, saying in an e-mail: "We can confirm no U.S. military aircraft entered Venezuelan airspace today. As a matter of policy we do not fly over a nation's airspace without prior consent or coordination."

Beijing | Jan 8

AFP - China's defence ministry warned on Friday that US approval for sales of upgraded missile equipment to Taiwan "severely" undermined trust between the US and Chinese militaries, Xinhua reported.

"We urge the United States to respect China's core interests," the state news agency quoted spokesman Huang Xueping as saying.

"The US side clings obstinately to the Bush administration's plan of arms sales to Taiwan, which severely undermines the mutual trust between the two militaries.

"It also brings a severe obstacle to the improvement and development of China-US military ties," Huang said. "We reserve the right of taking further actions."

His comments came after a US official in Taipei said the US Defense Department had approved the sale of Patriot missile equipment to Taiwan, part of a package passed by Congress more than a year ago.

"The US Defense Department awarded Lockheed Martin Corp the contract to provide Patriot missile defence systems to Taiwan as part of a big arms deal approved by Congress in 2008," said the spokesman with the American Institute, the US de facto embassy in Taipei.

Seumas Milne | Manchester, UK | January 7, 2010

The Guardian - If an 85-year-old Holocaust survivor had gone on hunger strike in support of a besieged people in another part of the world, and hundreds of mostly western protesters had been stoned and beaten by police, you can be sure we'd have heard all about it. But because that is what's been happening in western-backed Egypt, rather than Iran, and the people the protesters are supporting are the Palestinians of Gaza instead of, say, Tibetans, most people in Europe and north America know nothing about it.
For the last fortnight, two groups of hundreds of activists have been battling with Egyptian police and officials to cross into the Gaza Strip to show solidarity with the blockaded population on the first anniversary of Israel's devastating onslaught. Last night, George Galloway's Viva Palestina 500-strong convoy of medical aid was finally allowed in, minus 50 of its 200 vehicles, after being repeatedly blocked, diverted and intimidated by Egyptian security – including a violent assault in the Egyptian port of El Arish on Tuesday night which left dozens injured, despite the participation of one British and 10 Turkish MPs.

Guy Adams | Los Angeles | Jan 5

The Independent - The world reacted with a mixture of confusion and hostility yesterday to new US rules saying that people who come from any of the 14 nations on a "black list" of countries alleged to be hotbeds of terrorism must now undergo intense security screening at airports across the world.

The measures, announced late Sunday night and which took effect yesterday, mean citizens of the designated countries will be pulled aside for pat-downs and extra hand-baggage searches, no matter where they are travelling from. Their luggage and clothing will be checked for traces of explosive and they will be required to pass through controversial full-body screeners at airports equipped with the machines.

The rules also affect all passengers on flights originating in or passing through the 14 countries. Every passenger on board those planes, no matter what their nationality, will be singled out for the extra screening.

THE DEPROLIFERATOR -- "We declare that Iran respects the [Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty], despite all the flaws the treaty has," said Ali-Akbar Salehi, director of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, on Iran's Press TV. "I believe that some Western countries, which are unfortunately affected by international Zionism, are trying to force Iran to withdraw from the NPT so that they can create an anti-Iran climate in the international arena."

While invoking the NPT -- that talisman of a treaty -- on his way to the moral high ground, Salehi stumbled and took a header. Like his president, he just couldn't keep his thoughts about Zionism to himself. Nor did he help himself or his cause by adding "we hope that the wise part of the West will overcome its irrational part so that it can seize the opportunity offered by Iran to end the current situation."

Whenever you start feeling empathy for Iran's nuclear inferiority complex, one of its officials shoots himself in the foot with comments ranging from anti-Israel to outright anti-semitic. What Salehi was addressing is Iran's response to the West proposing to enrich uranium for Iran in Russia and France. As I wrote in a previous post:

Steve Connor | Jan 5

The Independent - The United States yesterday lifted a 22-year ban on HIV-positive foreigners travelling to its shores, a restriction described by President Barack Obama as "rooted in fear rather than fact".

It has been clear for many years that the Aids virus is not spread easily by casual contact – the original rationale for the travel ban, introduced in 1987.

"We talk about reducing the stigma of this disease, yet we've treated a visitor living with it as a threat," Mr Obama said last October when he announced his intention to revoke the ban.

It covered tourists as well as foreigners seeking to live in the US, although short-term visitors could apply for a waiver, a procedure so complicated and bureaucratic that many people concluded that it was not worth the effort involved.

The lifting of the ban now means that even asylum-seekers and people applying to become residents in the US no longer have to take a mandatory HIV test. For some families, it will mean the end of painful separations between family members living in the US and abroad.

Mr Obama said it would also now be possible to organise an international Aids conference on American soil in 2012 without fear of foreign participants being refused entry or detained for long periods at the airport, which had occurred before an Aids conference in 1989.

Dec 29

BBC - Russia needs "to develop offensive weapons systems" to counter US missile defences and maintain the strategic balance, PM Vladimir Putin says.

Otherwise, the United States would feel "completely protected" and able to "do whatever they want".

The US this year dropped controversial plans for missile defence bases in the Czech Republic and Poland, but said it would develop other defensive systems.

Mr Putin said such plans were hindering nuclear arms reduction talks.

Russia and the US are yet to find a successor to the Cold War-era Start I treaty, which expired on 5 December.

The 1991 treaty led to deep cuts in nuclear arsenals on both sides.

Both sides have agreed to continue observing Start I until they reach a new agreement.

Under a joint understanding signed in July, deployed nuclear warheads should be cut to below 1,700 on each side within seven years of a new treaty - a huge cut on Soviet-era levels.

Nonetheless, between them the two countries will retain enough firepower to destroy the world several times over.

Most who champion nuclear disarmament were heartened by the election of Barack Obama. His apparent abhorrence of nuclear weapons seemed forged in The Day After eighties. Hopes soared after he delivered his celebrated Prague speech in April outlining his vision for a nuclear-free world.

The first step -- negotiations on a treaty to continue the work of the recently expired Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) -- may not have met the December deadline, but the treaty's conclusion is seen as imminent. The new, improved model of START, the New York Times reports, "would require each side to reduce deployed strategic nuclear warheads to roughly 1,600 [and] strategic bombers [and] missiles to below 800." Still, "Foreign Minister Sergey V. Lavrov of Russia said on Thursday that there had been 'some slowing down' in negotiations by the other side."

Milda Seputyte | Dec 22

Bloomberg - A Lithuanian parliamentary commission said it gathered enough evidence to conclude that the country agreed on “conditions” for the Central Intelligence Agency to operate a secret prison in the Baltic state.

The commission, which questioned more than 50 people including former Presidents Valdis Adamkus and Rolandas Paksas to determine if the prison existed, said multiple CIA aircraft landed in Lithuania without border checks. The state security department, which was aware of the operations, failed to inform the president or the prime minister, said Arvydas Anusauskas, head of the lawmakers’ commission.

ABC News reported in August that the CIA operated a secret detention facility in Vilnius from September 2004 through November 2005 to interrogate al-Qaeda prisoners.

President Dalia Grybauskaite said on Oct. 20 she had “indirect suspicions” that a prison existed in the Baltic nation and called for an official investigation.

“If this is true, Lithuania must clean up, take responsibility, apologize and promise this will never happen again,” Grybauskaite said at a press conference on Oct. 20.