Geopolitical Calendar: Week of June 9, 2014

Analysis

EUROPE
June 9-10: Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto will visit Spain.
June 10: The Italian Parliament will hold its first vote on a Senate reform bill.
June 11: The EU Committee of Permanent Representatives I and II will meet in Brussels.
June 12: The EU Environment Council will meet in Luxembourg.
June 12-13: The Third Annual Cypriot-Greek Oil and Gas 2014 Summit will be held in Limassol, Cyprus.
June 13: The EU Transport, Telecommunications and Energy Council will meet in Luxembourg.
June 13-15: Finnish Prime Minister Jyrki Katainen is expected to step down.

FORMER SOVIET UNION
Unspecified date: European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso is expected to visit Azerbaijan.
June 9: Ukraine must pay Russia the remaining part of a $2.2 billion natural gas debt and agree on a payment schedule for April-May natural gas supplies before this date.
June 13: European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso will visit Georgia.
June 14: The Ukrainian government plans to end the special operation in the southern part of the country by this date.
June 15: Armenia is seeking to join the Eurasian Economic Union by this date.

ASIA-PACIFIC
June 9: The South Korean army will conduct its first-ever joint military drill in the United States. The four-week exercise will take place in Fort Irwin, Calif.
June 9: Bangladesh's border guard chief will visit Myanmar amid ongoing border tensions between the two countries.
June 9-11: The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Connectivity Coordinating Committee will meet in Indonesia.
June 9-13: An ASEAN Senior Officials Meeting on Energy will be held in Laos.
June 9-16: The navies of New Zealand, the United States, Australia, Japan, Indonesia and Singapore will continue the Pacific Partnership 2014 humanitarian and civil-military operation exercises in Indonesia and East Timor.
June 11: Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will conclude her five-day visit to China. The prime minister is expected to request some $4 billion in loans and to discuss a deep-water port project.
June 14: Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi will visit Nepal.

SOUTH ASIA
June 9-11: Indian President Pranab Mukherjee will address the joint session of both houses June 9, and lawmakers will debate the president's address from June 10-11.
June 9-13: India's new Telangana state will hold the first session of its assembly.
June 12: The inaugural session of India's new Lok Sabha will end.
June 14: Afghanistan will hold its presidential run-off election.

MIDDLE EAST/NORTH AFRICA
June 9: Libya's supreme court will rule on the legality of Ahmed Matiq's election last month as interim prime minister.
June 9: Lebanese parliamentary speaker Nabih Berri called for a session to elect a new president on this date. The session will be the first since the constitutional deadline to elect a new head of state expired May 25.
June 9: Iranian President Hassan Rouhani will visit Turkey.
June 10: Israeli lawmakers will elect a successor to outgoing President Shimon Peres.

AMERICAS
June 9: Ecuador and the European Union will hold the third round of trade negotiations.
June 9: Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner will meet with governors from energy-producing provinces.
June 11: Argentine Defense Minister Agustin Rossi will visit Paraguay.
June 11: Argentine Finance Minister Axel Kicillof will meet with Brazilian officials in order to conclude an automotive trade agreement.
June 12: The FIFA World Cup will begin in Brazil.
June 14: EU Commission Vice President Antonio Tajani will meet with Paraguayan President Horacio Cartes in Asuncion, Paraguay.
June 14-15: Paraguayan President Horacio Cartes will visit Bolivia.
June 14-15: Bolivia will host the G-77+China Summit.
June 15: Colombia will hold the second round of its presidential election.

AFRICA
Unspecified date: Ugandan Foreign Minister Sam Kutesa is expected to be confirmed as president of the U.N. General Assembly.
June 6-12: The Central African Republic will launch a weeklong voluntary national disarmament program.
June 9: South Sudanese President Salva Kiir Mayardit and rebel leader Riek Machar will meet to discuss the formation of an interim government.
June 12: Nigerian political parties will meet in Abuja with President Goodluck Jonathan to discuss important domestic issues.

Why States Still Use Barrel Bombs

Smoke ascends after a Syrian military helicopter allegedly dropped a barrel bomb over the city of Daraya on Jan. 31.(FADI DIRANI/AFP/Getty Images) Summary Barrel bombs are not especially effective weapons. They are often poorly constructed; they fail to detonate more often than other devices constructed for a similar purpose; and their lack of precision means they can have a disproportionate effect on civilian populations. However, combatants continue to use barrel bombs in conflicts, including in recent and ongoing conflicts in Africa and the Middle East, and they are ideally suited to the requirements of resource-poor states. Analysis Barrel bombs are improvised devices that contain explosive filling and shrapnel packed into a container, often in a cylindrical shape such as a barrel. The devices continue to be dropped on towns all over Syria . Indeed, there have been several documented cases of their use in Iraq over the past months, and residents of the city of Mosul, which was re

Russia Looks East for New Oil Markets

Click to Enlarge In the final years of the Soviet Union, Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev began orienting his foreign policy toward Asia in response to a rising Japan. Putin has also piloted a much-touted pivot to Asia, coinciding with renewed U.S. interest in the area. A good expression of intent was Russia's hosting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in 2012 in Vladivostok, near Russia's borders with China and North Korea. Although its efforts in Asia have been limited by more direct interests in Russia's periphery and in Europe, Moscow recently has been able to look more to the east. Part of this renewed interest involves finding new export markets for Russian hydrocarbons. Russia's economy relies on energy exports, particularly crude oil and natural gas exported via pipeline to the West. However, Western Europe is diversifying its energy sources as new supplies come online out of a desire to reduce its dependence on Russian energy supplies . This has

LONDON POLICE INDIRECTLY ENCOURAGE CRIMINALS TO ATTACK RUSSIAN DIPLOMATIC PROPERTY

ILLUSTRATIVE IMAGE A few days ago an unknown perpetrator trespassed on the territory of the Russian Trade Delegation in London, causing damage to the property and the vehicles belonging to the trade delegation , Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said during the September 12 press briefing. The diplomat revealed the response by the London police was discouraging. Police told that the case does not have any prospects and is likely to be closed. This was made despite the fact that the British law enforcement was provided with video surveillance tapes and detailed information shedding light on the incident. By this byehavior, British law inforcements indirectly encourage criminals to continue attacks on Russian diplomatic property in the UK. Zakharova’s statement on “Trespassing on the Russian Trade Mission premises in London” ( source ): During our briefings, we have repeatedly discussed compliance with the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, specif

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