Entangled Alliances

photo credit: sskennel

Over at Foreign Policy’s fantastic Madam Secretary blog, which tracks the every move of the new Secretary of State, we find out that today will see the first tête-à-tête between Hillary Rodham Clinton and UK Foreign Secretary David Miliband.  The UK’s role in Afghanistan will be high on the agenda and Milliband will be the first foreign envoy with whom Clinton meets.  Don’t underestimate the importance of these kinds of gestures in the tetchy world of diplomacy…!  It’ll be interesting to see whether the ‘Special Relationship’ prevails under a President much more ambivalent to the UK than his two immediate predecessors.

Indeed, in other HRC news, the mystery du jour of Hillary’s first foreign trip has been solved: it’s South East Asia.  An interesting chance to combine a staunch ally (Japan), economic rival (China) and pressing geostrategic planning (Korea) in one bout of shuttle diplomacy.

Update: warm words at the presser.  In the video from State.gov: Miliband is beaming, although I think the visuals might be a little off – someone move those podia further apart so he’s not just staring her down!  I think what comes out in this direct contrast is the sheer stature of a statesperson like Clinton, arguably incompatible with parliamentary government.  Germany up next, but Kouchner is to wait till the end of the week: scheduling conflict or the lingering effect of those Freedom Fries?!

photo credit: rockcohen

Five years on from the “big bang” enlargement of 2004, and in a year of such economic turbulence, what are the prospects for European integration this year? Analysing this situation is difficult because there are so many different factors to consider, from the world recession and the European Parliament elections in June to the continuing saga of the Lisbon Treaty and the the energy security challenges posed (in particular) by Russia. Many of these issues have already been highlighted in Mark Mardell’s excellent Euroblog.

In order not to dilute the importance of all of these issues, it’s probably worth devoting a post to each of them. Today we’ll start with the global economic downturn – join me below the fold.

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Google who’s to blame for the economic crisis and you’ll be gifted a bold array of stark headlines from Business Week to the Guardian’s 25 people to blame. I think there is something of a wintry chill to the blame game.  With few pleasant distractions, many people are sharpening their knives for the creators of this mess. No one should be surprised, there needs to be some catharsis of public anger and who better a target than those in power or those with wealth. Nevertheless, while I think blaming is inevitable it’s also premature, and when we eventually pull out of the recession, and look to understand what occurred and how to prevent this kind of event in the future, the blame game as it currently stands will be a distraction from discovering the  underlying causes.

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photo credit: CatDancing

This week, drowned out by the clamorous roar of the global recession a small but significant event occurred simultaneously across both the UK and France. IRENA, established in 2008, convened formally for the first time on 26th January 2009, it’s a new organisation, similar to the IEA designed to provide policy advice and coordination for renewable energy among its members and to encourage technology transfers to developing countries. 55 countries, including many of Europe’s big hitters such as Germany, Denmark and Spain  have signed on and the US is expected to join in the near future, however the UK and France, despite leadership rhetoric on Climate change have both decided to watch from the sidelines.

IRENA’s founders, argue that the IEA, the current global energy body, favours fossil fuel energy sources and underestimates the role renewable energy can play (see a report by the EWG (Energy Watch Group) which emphasises this). With investment in renewable energies ramping up, IRENA has every chance of becoming a key player in the coordination of international renewable energy policy, so why are both the UK and France on the sidelines?

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