Word: envoys
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...When U.N. special envoy Ibrahim Gambari visited Burma in 2007, one of the people he met was Kokang honcho Peng, who was trotted out to represent the junta's amity with ethnic groups. But this summer, Peng publicly rejected the idea of turning his army into a border force. By early August, the junta was accusing Peng of being behind an illegal arms-and-drugs factory. The illicit activity, claimed the regime, compelled it to invade Kokang turf, even though the warlord's business proclivities had been an open secret for years. Indeed, both the Eastern Shan...
...with Japan used to be considered, the U.S. for many years appointed seasoned politicians to the U.S. embassy in Japan. That pattern has been broken recently, and this year Obama appointed John Roos, a Democratic fundraiser from Los Angeles, to Tokyo. Roos may turn out to be an excellent envoy. But he will have his work cut out. The Japanese election - it becomes clearer every day - represents a sea change in politics there. If the alliance is not now to drift into irrelevance, some high-level attention to its purposes in the new world is needed...
...year of nonmilitary aid. The money will help support Pakistan's deeply neglected education and social sectors. (At the moment, the country only spends 2.5% of its GDP on health and education combined.) Pakistan also faces chronic electricity shortages. On his last visit, Richard Holbrooke, the Obama Administration's envoy to the region, pledged support. But that effort, along with proposals for a gas pipeline from Iran and Chinese-funded nuclear-energy reactors, will not bear fruit for some time...
...report's release coincides with a deadlock in the Obama Administration's efforts to restart Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. U.S. Special Envoy George Mitchell is currently in Israel, struggling to bridge the gap between the Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' insistence that he won't talk to the Israelis unless they halt all construction on territory captured in 1967 (a demand echoed by the U.S.), and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's offer of only a partial freeze that exempts projects already approved and does not apply to East Jerusalem. The Administration had hoped to cajole Abbas and Netanyahu to join...
...With [special envoy] Scott Gration in Sudan and now you, is there a trend toward diplomatic engagement with war criminals and the systems that shield them? We want genocide to stop but also want the conflict to stop. Issues like contact with governments that have committed these crimes always come up. We should have no nonessential contact with indicted individuals. It is preferable to meet with people who are not accused, but sometimes you need to have that contact. There are different approaches that can be taken, but working that out is something I look forward to doing...