Morning Brief, Wednesday, December 12

Middle East

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It must be “car-bomb week” in the Middle East. Tuesday’s car bombs in Algiers, which have been claimed by a regional al Qaeda affiliate group, killed at least 11 U.N. staffers. In Iraq’s southern city of Amara, three car bombs killed at least 39 people and injured more than 100. And in Beirut, a car bomb assassinated the chief operations officer for the Lebanese army, a man widely thought to be in line for the army’s top job.

Following up on the Annapolis conference, the Israelis and Palestinians have begun formal peace negotiations.

Europe

The Russian government accused the British Council of operating outside the law and ordered the closure of the British cultural-promotion organization’s two offices outside Moscow.

In an hour-long roundtable (pdf) with USA Today‘s editorial board, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice described Dmitri Medvedev, Russia’s presidential heir apparent, as “a very intelligent person” who is “of another generation” of Russian leaders.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has emerged as U.S. President George W. Bush’s closest confidante in Europe.

The Serbian general who directed the shelling of Sarajevo was sentenced to 33 years in prison by a U.N. tribunal. 

Asia

The third round of “strategic economic dialogue” between the United States and China opened with outgoing Vice Premier Wu Yi telling U.S. officials to fix their own damn economic problems rather than pointing the finger at China.

Analysts expect an unfree and unfair election in Pakistan next month.

U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates gave the United States’ NATO allies a surprisingly harsh tongue lashing for their lax approach to the war in Afghanistan.

Elsewhere

President Bush reportedly plans to pick conservative journalist James K. Glassman to replace Karen Hughes as undersecretary of state for public diplomacy and public affairs.

Shares fell on Wall Street after the U.S. Federal Reserve lowered the federal funds rate by only 25 basis points. Steven Perlstein wonders: Has the United States lost control of its own monetary policy?

U.S. companies are increasingly filling top executive jobs with foreign-born leaders.

Today’s Agenda

• Des Moines, Iowa, hosts a Republican presidential debate.
• Al Gore and Ban Ki-moon arrive in Bali to participate in climate-change talks.
• The U.S. House of Representatives is expected to vote on the 2008 intelligence and defense spending bills.
• Greece goes on strike.
• Hannukah ends.

Yesterday on Passport

• Over lunch, Condi bequeaths the terror war to successor
• Does Canada have a Kosovo problem?
• Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s not-so-super Tuesday

Web Exclusives

• Seven Questions: Planning for a Climate Catastrophe
  How do you prepare for disaster when you can’t calculate the odds? With a key climate-change conference wrapping up this week in Bali, Indonesia, esteemed judge and public intellectual Richard Posner says we must confront the possibility of sudden, catastrophic global warming—even if scientists have no idea how likely such a scenario might be.
• Don’t Bet Against the Dollar
  Don’t let all the chatter about the “incredibly shrinking dollar” fool you. The Almighty Greenback is here to stay, and there are far more serious dangers lurking for the global economy. By Thomas Palley