Hans-Rudolf Merz, Swiss president
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Swiss President Hans-Rudolf Merz has no regrets about his actions in the on-going disputes the country has with Libya, he says in a lengthy interview with 20Minuten, the German edition of the daily free newspaper. “I would do everything exactly the same way again.” Switzerland has been trying to obtain the release of two Swiss businessmen held in Tripoli, Libya since July 2008, after the son of Libya’s leader Muammar Qaddafi was arrested in Geneva days earlier.
Merz says he is sure the agreement he signed and the apology he gave to Libya 20 August should have freed the two men. The Swiss government announced at the time that the two would be back in Switzerland by the end of August, and sent an airplane to Tripoli to fly them home.
The UN General Assembly has approved 114 to 18, with 44 abstentions, the controversial Goldstone report into atrocities in the Gaza war in the winter of 2008/09, and recommended that the Security Council act if both Israel and the Palestinians had not conducted their own investigations within three months. CNN, New York Times
Honduras‘ former President Manuel Zelaya says the agreement reached one week ago that would have led to a power-sharing government and his reinstatement as president is dead, after the two sides failed to agree on the government by Thursday, 5 November. The Supreme Court still needs to make a recommendation to the Honduran Congress on whether Zelaya may complete his term. Al-Jazeera, BBC
Morgan Tsvangirai says he will end his three-week boycott of the Zimbabwean unity government “effective immediately”, and has given Robert Mugabe 30 days in which to implement his side of the bargain that led to the deal. Tsvangirai walked out after Mugabe’s Zanu-PF party began to harrass Tsvangirai’s MDC party members. Al-Jazeera, BBC, The Guardian
Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The International Olympic Committee was bestowed observer status at the UN General Assembly in New York, USA Monday, 19 October, in recognition of the IOC’s efforts to promote the UN’s Millenium Development Goals and the importance of sports in promoting development and peace.
Observer status is a privilege given to non-member states – currently only the Vatican is a non-member – and non-governmental organizations, like the International Red Cross. Observers may speak, but cannot vote or introduce resolutions.
Many listeners appear to have had a hard time of it with Muammar Qadaffi’s rambling and lengthy speech to the United Nations General Assembly, but apparently none found it as tough as the translator he brought from Libya, who collapsed 20 minutes before the end of the speech, reports Britain’s The Times, calling into the mike “I can’t take it anymore!” A UN translator took over the job.
Bern, Switzerland / New York, NY, USA (GenevaLunch) – Swiss President Hans-Rudolf Merz capped off a busy political week for Switzerland with an address to the United Nations General Assembly where he argued that because “the G-20 lacks legitimacy” exchanges between the UN and the G20 group of nations “must be strengthened. The G-20 has taken over a role in discussing important global issues. This development must not take place at the expense of other nations or global institutions such as the UN.” Libya and Switzerland’s removal from the OECD gray list also made headlines in Switzerland and elsewhere.
G20 needs to create level playing field: Merz
Merz told world leaders Thursday 24 September at the assembly that “basic considerations of due process are absent in the sanctions procedures. The members of the G-20 themselves are not subject to the same scrutiny. Switzerland advocates a level playing field and a much better consultation among non-members of the G-20.”
The G20 group of the world’s largest economies has a large menu to work through when it meets Thursday and Friday in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in the US, with changes to the banking world heading the list. The debate over limiting bankers’ bonuses continues from their last meeting earlier this year: the group will, according to the Wall Street Journal, decide ” how draconian the restrictions on banker compensation should be.” Brazil will be suggesting that bank regulation should be tightened and that recent changes to bank capitalization should be extended to include derivatives markets, referring to the Basel II agreement that have recently gone into effect, which are designed to help avoid the kind of global banking meltdown seen in 2008. US President Barack Obama faces a second major international test in less than a week, after the UN General Assembly, convincing G20 leaders that the buzz words “sustainable” and “balanced” are the keys to getting the world economy back on track, according to AP/NPR. Financial Times (subscription), Forbes/Reuters, MSNBC news roundup
US President Barack Obama will hold separate meetings with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu in New York, USA, before meeting them together Tuesday 22 September, in an effort to jump-start talks that have stalled largely because of Palestinian intransigence in the face of continued Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.
None of the three sides expect much to come out of the meetings, say observers, who note that Obama is keen to have something to show leading up to the UN General Assembly meetings and the subsequent G-20 meetings in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Al-Jazeera, Jerusalem Post, New York Times
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev strongly criticized, but did not name, the US for its domestic policies which tipped the world to the brink of financial melt-down, in a speech 14 September. “Last year, we witnessed how one country’s ill-conceived financial policies became the reason for a global financial crisis, whose effects every country. . . feels today”, he said at a conference in Yaroslavl, Russia, organized by the Kremlin. Some observers believe the speech was an attempt by Medvedev to distinguish himself from Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who jokingly hinted at the same meeting that he may stand for re-election as president in 2012. Putin was president until 2008, and hand-picked Medvedev to succeed him.
Medvedev is expected in New York in the next few days to address the 64th session of the UN General Assembly, which opens 15 September. He is scheduled to take part in the G-20 meeting in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 24 and 25 September, and he will visit Switzerland on a state visit 20 and 21 September. Moscow Times, Reuters
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Relations between Switzerland and Libya remain strained, with Libyan leader Muammar Qadaffi repeating a call he made at the G8 summit in Italy in July 2009, for Switzerland to be considered a non-country and its linguistic districts to be shared among its neighbours. The rhetoric itself has ruffled few feathers, given Qadaffi’s widespread reputation for stepping outside the usual boundaries of diplomatic talk, but Libya’s upcoming turn in a role at the United Nations General Assembly, which opens its new session 15 September, gives him a platform.
Violent clashes at the airport at Tegucigalpa, Honduras late 5 July between supporters of ousted president Manuel Zelaya and soldiers claimed the lives of at least two people. Zelaya’s small airplane was denied permission to land by the interim government, and the runway was blocked by military vehicles. The government said it would arrest Zelaya if he landed. Zelaya was bundled out of the country 28 June after attempting to institute changes to the constitution permitting a second presidential term. The government has said it will hold new elections but will not permit Zelaya to return. The Organization of American States (OAS) and the UN General Assembly have condemned the actions. BBC, CNN, Tiempo (Spa)
