Daily Multilateralism
Thursday, October 8, 2020
France, Germany, and the United Kingdom are reportedly planning sanctions on Russia related to the attempt to assassinate opposition leader Alexei Navalny. On Tuesday, the Organization for the Prevention of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), based in The Hague, reported that the nerve agent used on Navalny was structurally similar to internationally prohibited agents. Germany had asked the usually low-profile OPCW for an analysis of samples it provided.
It appears that France and Germany will attempt to implement new sanctions through the European Union. Via Reuters:
The decision and speed with which Europe’s two main powers agreed to push ahead with sanctions suggested a hardening of the bloc’s diplomacy towards Moscow, which in turn said that it no longer considered “business as usual” to be possible with Berlin and Paris. The move is in stark contrast to 2018 when it took almost a year for members to agree on sanctions against Russian individuals following a nerve agent attack on a Russian spy in Britain.
Nearly forty countries, including the United States and most EU members, joined a statement expressing concern about the human rights situation in Xinxiang and Hong Kong. Germany’s UN ambassador read the statement at a session of the UN General Assembly’s Third Committee. It expressed concern about Chinese “political re-education camps” and associated “gross human rights violations.” Cuba and Pakistan followed the German intervention with statements emphasizing the importance of non-interference in internal affairs and decrying the politicization of human rights.
The field of candidates to lead the World Trade Organization has been winnowed to two. The finalists are Yoo Myung-hee of South Korea and Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala of Nigeria. Yoo is a U.S.-trained lawyer who has several in several South Korean ministerial posts, including her current position of Minister for Trade. Okonjo-Iweala has also served as a government minister but also has broad multilateral experience, including more than two decades at the World Bank, where she rose to the position of Managing Director. In 2012, she was nominated to serve as the Bank’s president, a post that ultimately went to the U.S.-backed candidate, Jim Yong Kim.
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo blasted China at a Tokyo meeting of “the Quad,” which comprises Australia, India, Japan, and the United States. Formally titled the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, the grouping coalesced in the early 2000s and has enjoyed strong support from Japan. Tanvi Madan of the Brookings Institution offers a good primer on the evolution of the Quad here. As she notes, the Quad is widely viewed as an emerging bulwark against Chinese influence in the region:
The [Quad] countries do not mention China explicitly, but their words and actions indicate a coalition of the willing and capable that seeks to ensure a favorable balance of power, deter Chinese aggression and other negative behavior, and maintain a rules-based order that they see a rising China challenging through its actions.
Briefly noted:
A Turkish move to open a disputed beach on Cyprus is producing strong reactions at the United Nations and the European Union.
Judges at the International Criminal Court upheld the continued detention of a suspect accused of committing war crimes in the Darfur region of Sudan.
The World Bank warns that extreme poverty is likely to increase for the first time since the late 1990s.
K-pop group SuperM teams up with the World Health Organization to boost mental health efforts.