David Cameron

Smart Reads May 9, 2013

May 9, 2013 1:26 pm by Amie Tsang

♦ We love our multilateral organisations here at the FT, so we’ve taken a close look at how Roberto Azevêdo managed to win the WTO DG nomination – visiting a mere 47 countries along the way. Mr Azevêdo struck a pragmatic note in an in interview with the FT, saying a year-end Bali meeting would focus on the “do-able”: “It’s… about instilling confidence that we can still negotiate, that we can still deliver multilaterally.”
♦ After David Cameron welcomed Uhuru Kenyatta to London this week, Richard Dowden considers the diplomatic earthquake that could occur when Kenyatta is expected to report to the ICC. Will Britain “abandon the ICC or isolate their closest political and security ally in East and the Horn of Africa”? Will Kenyatta run the country from a Dutch prison using Skype?
♦ Israel has warned the US about an imminent Russian deal to sell ground-to-air missile systems to Syria.
♦ US military camouflage has developed from two types to 10, just one example of inefficient duplication between different government agencies.
♦ Arguably the most haunting photograph of the collapse of the garment factory in Bangladesh. Read more

Tags: Bali, Bangladesh, David Cameron, ICC, Israel, Kenya, missile, Roberto Azevêdo, Russia, Syria, Uhuru Kenyatta, US foreign policy, US military, WTO
Posted in Smart Reads | Permalink

Livre Blanc: France has learned the lessons of the UK’s defence cuts

May 1, 2013 1:01 pm by James Blitz

(CARL COURT/AFP/Getty Images)

President François Hollande this week published France’s long awaited strategic defence review, setting out what the French armed forces should be aiming to do in the years ahead. The publication of the document – called the “livre blanc” or “white book” – was an important moment for those following European defence.

In recent years, the US has become increasingly concerned that European states are cutting back on defence spending, leaving the US to do more and more of the heavy lifting in Nato. In 2010, Britain, the biggest defence spender in Europe, slashed expenditure by eight per cent in real terms. The big question was whether France was about to do the same.

The good news for France’s allies is that it isn’t taking what might be called the “Cameron approach.” According to Camille Grand, director of the Paris-based Foundation for Strategic Research, France did debate whether to slash defence spending by 10 per cent. “But the French finance ministry lost that argument, much to relief of the service chiefs,” he says. Read more

Tags: David Cameron, defence, France, François Hollande, livre blanc, military, Nato, UK
Posted in Foreign affairs | Permalink

Smart Reads March 13, 2013

March 13, 2013 3:39 pm by Amie Tsang

Martin Wolf demolishes David Cameron’s argument that “there is no alternative” to austerity. “Mr Cameron argues that those who think the government can borrow more ‘think there’s some magic money tree. Well, let me tell you a plain truth: there isn’t.’ This is quite wrong. First, there is a money tree, called the Bank of England…”
Strengthened by an unusual cross-party consensus, Mexico’s President Enrique Peña Nieto is challenging the tycoons and duopolies that dominate the corporate landscape.
The US won the war, Iran won the peace and Turkey won the contracts – the FT looks at the true victor of the Iraq war, ten years on.
Meanwhile filmmaker Maysoon Pachachi speaks to the FT about bringing Baghdad to life on screen.
In Tunisia, the revolution and its aftermath are playing out on an avenue named after Tunisia’s first post-independence president, Habib Bourguiba.
Larissa MacFarquhar examines the darker side of Aaron Swartz.
Guinea-Bissau, the world’s only “narco state”, is a major hub of cocaine trafficking between Latin America and Europe, but any wealth it derives from its middleman status has been offset by increased violence and instability, according to Der Spiegel.
Two of Saudi Arabia’s most prominent human rights activists were sentenced to long jail terms over the weekend. Marc Lynch at Foreign Policy looks at how, despite their being sentenced between John Kerry’s first visit to Riyadh and a visit from the Attorney General, neither has said anything about the case.

Tags: Aaron Swartz, arab spring, austerity, Baghdad, bank of england, David Cameron, Enrique Peña Nieto, Guinea-Bissau, Human rights, Iraq, Maysoon Pachachi, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, Turkey, US, war in Iraq
Posted in Smart Reads | Permalink

Fish and folly in Cameron’s European project

January 24, 2013 12:23 pm by Martin Wolf

(AP)

The future of the UK in the EU is, of course, already a subject of fierce debate. Everybody can see that the chances of a British departure have increased. The question is by how much.

I was interested to discover from a private conversation with a very senior continental official that his worry is that the rest of the EU really does not need this diversion of attention from its immediate concern, which is the reform of the eurozone.

He referred to two specific risks.

First, he is worried that the very fact that the UK may be on the way out will shake confidence in the future of the eurozone. As he noted, people in Asia or the Americas do not understand the details. They will just regard this British decision as calling into question the vitality of the European project, partly, no doubt, because the UK has deep relations with these parts of the world. Read more

Tags: David Cameron, Martin Wolf
Posted in Britain, Davos | Permalink

Cameron, speeches and hungry promises

January 24, 2013 9:19 am by Financial Times

By Jasmine Whitbread, chief executive of Save the Children

David Cameron’s speech yesterday was a source of much speculation, interpretation and voicing of opinions here at Davos, even though delivered in London. This is hardly surprising when so much hangs in the balance, not just for the future of the UK but for Europe too.

A lot is also at stake in the UK prime minister’s next speech, starting soon here. Some 2.3 million children’s lives each year, 20 percent of earning power and up to 3 percent of countries’ GDPs. This is the impact of global malnutrition on today’s children and tomorrow’s workforce.

During the height of Olympic fever last year, Cameron hosted a Hunger Summit where global leaders pledged to reduce the number of children left stunted by malnutrition by 25 million by the next Olympics in 2016. I’m hoping Cameron will keep the momentum going by announcing today a follow-up meeting in advance of the G8. This hidden issue needs the attention of the G8 and G20. Read more

Tags: David Cameron, G8
Posted in China, Davos | Permalink

Cameron’s cursed speech on Europe

January 18, 2013 12:35 pm by Gideon Rachman

The story of David Cameron’s much-delayed speech on Europe mixes farce with tragedy. The fact that the Algerian terrorist attack has once again delayed the prime minister’s landmark address, must make Cameron wonder whether the whole enterprise is cursed.

The great Europe speech was initially meant to be given before Xmas. It was put off, amidst reports that there were still deep arguments about its contents. Cameron himself attempted to defuse the controversy with a risque joke – likening the extended wait for his speech to Tantric sex. It would be all the better for the long build-up, he assured his listeners. Read more

Tags: Algeria, David Cameron, EU, Europe, France, Germany, UK
Posted in Britain, Europe, Foreign affairs, World affairs | Permalink

Smart Reads November 7, 2012

November 7, 2012 12:56 pm by Amie Tsang

Tags: Angela Merkel, Barack Obama, David Cameron, Mitt Romney, Republican, Vladimir Putin
Posted in Foreign affairs, Smart Reads | Permalink

Smart Reads September 26, 2012

September 26, 2012 2:32 pm by Amie Tsang

Here’s what we’ve been chatting about today: Read more

Tags: Aleppo, China, David Cameron, David Letterman, Georgia, Iraq, Mitt Romney, Syria
Posted in Foreign affairs, Smart Reads | Permalink

Putin, judo and Olympic diplomacy

August 2, 2012 12:18 pm by James Blitz

James Blitz on why Vladimir Putin’s visit to London on Thursday is probably the most remarkable diplomatic moment of this Olympic fortnight. Read more

Tags: David Cameron, KGB, Litvinenko, Olympics, Vladimir Putin
Posted in Foreign affairs, Russia | Permalink