The Russia Reset Part Deux - Could Congress Throw a Wrench in it?

If you caught any of the read-outs of Vice President Joe Biden's trip to Russia last week, you could tell how hard the Obama administration is pushing economic ties as the next phase of its much-hyped “reset” with Moscow (the other main takeaway from the trip, if you missed it, was a surprisingly tough speech from Mr. VPOTUS on Russian human rights and rule of law). My colleague Joe Schatz and I examined one of the roadblocks to the White House's economic outreach that Congress could throw up -- permanently normalizing trade relations.

Russia is pushing hard to join the WTO, but unless Congress lifts an old-school Cold War restriction on trade (CQ, subscription required) with Russia, our two countries won't be able to enjoy the benefits of WTO-sanctioned trade with one another. Joe is the trade guru, not me, and he explains all the complexities well in this story that could have potential diplomatic and economic repercussions for the U.S.

UPDATE, 3/14:

The same day our story ran in print, Biden wrote an op-ed published by the International Herald Tribune that lays out the White House vision for an expanded commercial relationship with Russia.

"Our trade and investment relationship is nowhere near where it could or should be," Biden wrote. "Russia was America’s 37th largest export market in 2010, and the value of goods that cross our borders with Canada and Mexico every few days exceeds the annual value of our trade with Russia."

It's a pretty stunning statistic, and in an age of growing trade imbalances, it certainly makes sense the U.S. would want to open up this market. But as the Vice President, himself, noted, it's going to take more than the WTO, it's going to take some big strides on corruption and legal standards by the Kremlin.

Tough Talk on Libya Not Widespread in the Senate

The Senate may have passed a resolution last week unanimously condemning the violence in Libya and suggesting the U.S. consider a no-fly zone, but a large swathe of the chamber still seems ambivalent at best about the idea of employing any type of military maneuvers in North Africa right now.

You wouldn't know that from listening to a handful of tough-talking senators (McCain, Lieberman, Graham, Kerry, Menendez et al ) who are calling loudly for the U.S. to join its allies and impose a no-fly zone over Libya. But I took the pulse of senators earlier this week and many of their colleagues do not share their enthusiasm for such an endeavor. The military resistance, in particular, seems to be dampening enthusiasm.

On the flip side, there seem to be growing calls in the Senate for a sustained military presence in Iraq after 2011. Not sure how well that's going to go over politically, either in the U.S. or Iraq ...

Weekly Rounds

Yes, I'm posting this on Tuesday night, but all the real action for the week (with the exception of Ben Affleck's appearance before a House Foreign Affairs subcommittee) is taking place in the coming days, so settle down.

Wednesday we've got:

- Secretary of State Hillary Clinton delivering remarks at the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum’s
"First Senior Officials Meeting," which will be streamed live at www.state.gov, 10 am

- Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard (that's pronounced Gill-  like fish "gill" not "Jill," my Aussie friends tell me) addressing a joint session of Congress, 11 am

On Thursday there are a veritable cornucopia of hearings on tap, among those of note:

- Clinton will be testifying before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on State & Foreign Operations, 10 am

- The House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia is holding a hearing on "U.S. Foreign Policy Priorities and Needs Amidst Economic Challenges in the Middle East," 2 pm

Another International Court, Another Debate About International Justice

You might have missed this op-ed in the WaPo on Friday by John B. Bellinger III, an attorney and legal adviser to the State Department during George W. Bush's second term; if so, it's worth a read.

As I alluded to in my March 1 post on the UN Security Council's decision to refer Libya to the ICC, the U.S. has a problem with international justice systems. Bellinger is not the most likely candidate to argue for our participation in such a system -- in this case, the International Court of Justice, which is part of the United Nations -- but he does just that.

Bellinger : "Although many conservatives have criticized the World Court for infringing on American sovereignty, all Americans should want President Obama and the 112th Congress to comply with the court's decision, to help ensure that Americans arrested abroad are given access to State Department officials."

 The ICJ decision he is referring is a 2009 ruling that the U.S. did not live up to its obligations under the Vienna Convention in convicting and sentencing 51 Mexican nationals to death for crimes committed in the U.S.

That would be the same Vienna Convention that the U.S. is now invoking in demanding Pakistan release CIA contractor Raymond Davis, who currently sits in a Lahore prison awaiting trial on charges of murder.

Ah, the tangled web we weave.

Congress Pressing for Action in Middle East, What Action is Under Debate

All of Washington has been largely in reactionary mode when it comes to the dramatic events unfolding in the Middle East and North Africa in 2011. This week in Congress, however, a number of members started the push for a more proactive U.S. strategy that engages the pro-democracy movements there. I wrote a couple of stories about the debates on Capitol Hill regarding our response to the upheaval, which were -- ta daaa -- posted on our free Web site, Congress.org. You can read them in their entirety here:

Push for Pro-Democracy Funding Greeted With Questions on Costs

Senators Question 'No Fly' Zone in Libya

These issues aren't going away, I'm sure there will be more to write about -- and share -- in the coming weeks.

The Other War in Afghanistan

Apparently, Americans are not only battling Taliban fighters, but also "Cocker Spaniel-size porcupines." The Wall Street Journal has the dirt on all sorts of exotic Afghan varmints and why we're trying to kill them. I have to say, I sort-of feel bad for the jirds and whatnot...

Irony

The Senate passed a resolution condemning the actions of the Libyan government (CQ, subscription required) tonight by unanimous consent  -- i.e. no senators objected. Among other things, the bipartisan resolution welcomed "the  unanimous vote of the United Nations Security Council on resolution 1970 referring the situation  in Libya to the International Criminal Court."

Yes, hooray for prosecutions made possible by that oh-so-useful international court ... no thanks to us. The Senate seems to have conveniently forgotten that the international community created the ICC via the Rome Statue, which the U.S. never ratified. Moral of the story: international human rights prosecutions = good (when they're going after someone else).