Word: regionals
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...some outside players remain stuck in the same old ruts. A SADC summit this month in Kinshasa somehow contrived to remove Zimbabwe - the most pressing issue facing the region - from its agenda, resolving merely that a committee of three SADC members would "review" progress on power-sharing between Mugabe and Tsvangirai. Mugabe himself continues to delay the formation of a unity government, while his top brass seem focused on squirreling away as much cash as they can for as long as they are able. Mugabe's foot soldiers continue to harass, imprison and murder MDC activists. (See pictures of political...
...public backing, from abolition of the death penalty to decolonization. But momentum behind the idea of such a tax in Europe has been sluggish in recent years. Instead, European governments have thrown their weight behind the E.U.'s Emission Trading Scheme (ETS), which, since 2005, has granted the region?s industries a limited number of permits to emit harmful gases. Companies that pollute less than their allocation can sell their remaining permits to others that are busting their limits...
...That means other member states are likely to follow France's lead and embrace a new tax, Egenhofer says. Sweden, current holder of the E.U.'s rotating presidency, wants to see the tax policy expanded across the region. With voters everywhere bracing for fiscal belt-tightening, this just might be the best time to push a new tax through. - With reporting by Bryan Walsh / New York
...Given the petty nature of the dispute, it's tempting to see the breakdown as a result of a regional game of brinkmanship. Syria has been slowly working its way back into the good graces of the international community after having faced widespread condemnation over accusations that it planned the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri, father of the Prime Minister-designate. As the Obama Administration has reached out, Syria has made progress on some of the outstanding points of contention between the two countries. It has for the first time officially recognized Lebanese sovereignty, by opening...
...Neither side is likely to go all the way in this game of chicken, however. Not only are the Lebanese people sick of internecine warfare, but engagement remains the order of the day - at least officially - in the Middle East, and no party in the region seems inclined to return to the confrontational politics of the Bush...