POLAND GOES CRYING TO THE WTO OVER 'RIGHT-BACK-AT-YA' RUSSIAN SANCTIONS

Poland to Contest Russia's Food Import Ban at WTO Reuters Aug. 08 2014 15:58 Last edited 15:58 WARSAW — Poland will file a complaint to the World Trade Organization, or WTO, over the Russian ban on Polish exports of fruit and vegetables, Polish Agriculture Minister Marek Sawicki said Friday. "We couldn't file a complaint earlier, because we only received the first official correspondence [about the ban] on Wednesday, before that we only had the information provided by the media," Sawicki was quoted as saying by daily Gazeta Wyborcza. The announcement follows the European Commission's decision to set up a task force comprised of European agriculture officials to analyze the impact of the Russian ban on EU exports. On Friday, Polish press agency PAP said Russian officials at the border of Russia's Kaliningrad exclave [portion of a country geographically separated from the main part by surrounding alien territory] had refused to let in large cargoes of Polish chicken and Austrian beef, citing the Russian government's directive from Thursday. [Ah, well.  That's what happens when you bully countries with sanctions; you get sanctioned right back.  LOL] http://www.themoscowtimes.com/article/504805.html

The Polish are another lot of US boot-lickers.

Now they're crying to the WTO ... *eyeroll*.

IRAN NUKE TALKS - MIDDLE-EAST MULTIPLE ISSUES

   
New crises cloud U.S., Iran meeting
Nuke talks battle for full attention

By BRADLEY KLAPPER and GEORGE JAHN

Associated Press
Monday, July 14, 2014
(Published in print: Tuesday, July 15, 2014)

The top U.S. and Iranian diplomats searched yesterday for a breakthrough in nuclear talks, their efforts complicated by crises across the Middle East and beyond that have Washington and Tehran aligned in some places but often opposed.

The state of U.S.-Iranian relations was adding a new wrinkle to the long negotiation aimed at curbing the Islamic republic’s uranium and plutonium programs.

While the two sides are arguably fighting proxy wars in Israel, Gaza and Syria, they’re talking cooperation in Iraq and Afghanistan. And, perhaps in a first, the nuclear matter is battling for full attention.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif spoke for about two hours around midday yesterday, the second day of talks in Vienna. They gathered again in the afternoon, hoping to make progress before Sunday’s initial deadline for a comprehensive nuclear agreement. An extension of the deadline is possible, though there are opponents of that idea on both sides.

“We are in the middle of talks about nuclear proliferation and reining in Iran’s program,” Kerry told U.S. Embassy staff in Vienna during a break in the conversations. “It is a really tough negotiation.”

But other matters were being discussed, too, including Afghanistan, where Kerry visited before Vienna to broker a power-sharing agreement between rival presidential candidates and a full audit of their contested election.

As the two diplomats sat down Sunday, Zarif called Kerry’s Afghan mediation “extremely important” for the Afghan people and echoed the need “to ensure the national unity of Afghanistan and prevent its breakup.”

“We agree,” Kerry said. “And it’s good to begin with an agreement.”

But even as the U.S. and Iran have recently found increasing areas for cooperation, such as stemming a flow of Sunni extremists into Iraq, they remain diametrically opposed elsewhere.

The U.S-Iranian regional divide was underscored yesterday as the Israeli military downed a drone launched by Gaza militants – the first such unmanned aircraft encountered since the start of the Jewish state’s offensive last week.

Iran is Hamas’ primary benefactor and the presumed source of its newfound drone capacity. Washington provides billions in aid each year to Israel.

The State Department didn’t say if Kerry and Zarif broached the escalating Israeli-Palestinian violence or the civil war in neighboring Syria, where the U.S. is providing political and military support to moderate rebels fighting President Bashar Assad’s Iranian-backed government.

But one change appeared clear in this week’s talks. Unlike in years past, where U.S.-Iranian interaction appeared largely limited to nuclear matters, the two countries’ interests now crisscross at multiple levels, and their discussions are broader.

Nevertheless, American officials said Kerry was focused on tackling the many differences between the U.S. and Iran on nuclear matters. His goal is to gauge “Iran’s willingness to make the critical choices it needs to make,” according to a senior State Department official.

The official wasn’t authorized to be quoted by name and demanded anonymity.

Monday’s talks came a day after Kerry and the foreign ministers of Britain, France and Germany failed to reach a breakthrough with Iran on uranium enrichment and other issues standing in the way of a deal that would curb Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for the end of nuclear-related sanctions on Tehran. Each official cited significant gaps.

Iran says it needs to expand enrichment to make reactor fuel and insists it does not want atomic arms. But the U.S. and others fear Tehran could steer the activity toward manufacturing the core of nuclear missiles. Washington is leading the insistence on deep enrichment cuts.

Under a six-month interim agreement that went into effect in January, world powers and Iran have until July 20 to conclude a final deal. The goal for the West is a long-term agreement setting clear limits on Iranian activity and locking in place an international monitoring regime to ensure that the Islamic republic cannot develop nuclear weapons.

The interim arrangement also offers the option of an additional six-month period for negotiations, an extension that appears increasingly likely. Officials have suggested they may agree on a shorter window, however.

In Washington, White House spokesman Josh Earnest wouldn’t say whether President Obama had authorized Kerry to extend the deadline if necessary.

“To its credit, Iran has defied the expectations of some,” Earnest said, by fulfilling some of the steps it agreed to take. But he said on other key issues Iran hasn’t yet made the decisions needed to prove the world its intentions are peaceful. “That’s ultimately where the gaps remain,” he said.

For the U.S. and Iran, an extension makes sense in multiple ways. With so much at stake, and the potential for U.S.-Iranian cooperation in other areas being explored, neither side wants to terminate the nuclear talks. Such a course could put Tehran back on a path toward isolation and even set the stage for U.S. military action if Iran proceeded again toward nuclear weapons capacity.

Even if their interests in continuing nuclear talks align, both face difficult internal pressures against a deal – or an extension for that matter.

Iranian hardliners oppose almost any concession by President Hassan Rouhani’s government. In the U.S., some lawmakers have threatened to scuttle any emerging agreement if it would allow Iran to maintain some enrichment capacity.

A letter being circulated in Congress by Sens. Bob Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat, and Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican, emphasizes that a lessening of U.S. sanctions should be conditional on the nuclear agreement making tough demands on Iran.

These would include international inspections lasting for a minimum of two decades and full disclosure by Iran of any military aspects of its nuclear program.

SOURCE - Concord Monitor - here.

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COMMENT

Hey, it's complicated.
I'm backing an extension to be given to Iran.
No way are they going to resolve the nukes issue.

The multi-faceted relationships all over the Middle East are making my head spin.

As a new observer, I'm finding the 'alliances' or support factors hard to follow.

Russia on Iran nuclear negotiations

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12 July 2014, 17:56

Moscow to uphold unity among P5+1 during negotiations with Iran if it doesn't contradict Russia's interests


Russia is willing to uphold unity among the P5+1 group during the negotiations with Iran as long as it doesn’t contradict Moscow’s interests, Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told journalists on Saturday. "As long as nothing threatens our interests we are willing to uphold and maintain the unity (of P5+1). But our top priority is to advance our nation’s interests. This is perfectly normal," Ryabkov pointed out.

"We want to help achieve a balanced agreement that wouldn’t infringe on anyone’s interests. Russia always maintained that unity is paramount to attaining the desired result. But unity cannot eclipse all the rest," said Ryabkov who heads the Russian delegation during negotiations between P5+1 and Iran in Vienna.
...

Iran declares it's not going to"kneel" as nuclear talks enter crisis

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif took to YouTube on Wednesday to deliver a message that Iran was ready to take steps to ensure its nuclear program remains peaceful but would not "kneel in submission" to do a deal with major powers. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Iran would need to significantly increase its uranium enrichment capacity, highlighting a gap in positions between Tehran and the world powers.

As talks to resolve the long-running nuclear standoff resumed in Vienna, Zarif's remarks, delivered in English in a slick five-minute video, appeared to be a response to a US warning that Tehran has yet to prove that its atomic ambitions are peaceful, reports Reuters.

The statements highlighted how much work the negotiators from Iran and from the United States, France, Germany, UK, China and Russia still have to do to meet a self-imposed deadline of July 20.
...
Diplomats say France and the other Western powers have broadly held out for stricter terms with Iran than have Russia and China. The two have close trade ties with Iran and opposed the West's ratcheting up of sanctions, saying this could play into the hands of Iranian hardliners suspicious of any talks.

The overall goal of the negotiations is a deal reining in Iran's nuclear energy program to minimize the risk of any diversions into bomb production, in exchange for a removal of tough economic sanctions imposed on Tehran.

The powers and Iran have less than two weeks to bridge wide differences on the future scope of its uranium enrichment activity and other issues if they are to meet the target date for a deal.
...

EXTRACT ONLY - FULL ARTICLE - VOICE OF RUSSIA - here.
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COMMENT


It should be interesting to see how the negotiations pan out.

From reading other earlier articles on the subject, if my memory serves me well, the parties are not at all on the same page as Iran.

GAZA UPDATE - LONDON PROTEST - STOP BOMBING GAZA

L O N D O N  P R O T E S T :

 STOP BOMBING GAZA

LONDON PROTEST:

 STOP BOMBING GAZA

PROTESTERS DEMAND

E.U. SANCTIONS

ON ISRAELI GOODS

* Further Demonstration London Planned *