Embargoes

Vietnam became the latest country to flout the U.N. air embargo on Iraq when a Vietnamese plane carrying Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Cong Tan landed at Baghdad airport, the Iraqi News Agency said. The flight, the first from Hanoi to Baghdad since the 1991 Persian Gulf War, brought a delegation that included the foreign, trade and industry ministers. "The visit aims to hold talks with senior Iraqi officials to discuss means of developing relations between the two countries," Tan said.

LONDON - Diplomatic pressure on Syrian President Bashar Assad escalated Monday, as a divided European Union agreed to relax a ban on weapons shipments to anti-Assad forces and U.S. Sen. John McCain met with insurgent commanders during a surprise visit to the country. Meanwhile, top U.S. and Russian diplomats met in Paris in a bid to solidify plans for a peace conference that both nations view as the only hope for a diplomatic solution to the Syrian crisis, which has already left tens of thousands of people dead and threatens to spark a regional conflagration.

A crippling worldwide trade embargo went into effect at midnight Saturday to punish Haiti's military rulers for not reinstating their ousted elected leader, Jean-Bertrand Aristide. The United Nations gave the go-ahead for the ban to begin, and business owners shipped out their last wares. The new sanctions place a trade ban on all but food, humanitarian supplies and medicine.

WASHINGTON - A bipartisan group of senators introduced legislation Wednesday that would sharply toughen U.S. economic sanctions on Iran despite administration calls for Congress to delay penalties that could disrupt diplomacy aimed at resolving the dispute over Iran's nuclear program. Advocates say the Senate proposal could, at least in theory, block Iran from accessing about one-third of the foreign exchange reserves it relies on to pay for government programs, to finance trade and to prop up its currency.

Film director Steven Spielberg, visiting Cuba for the first time, said the United States should end its trade embargo against the communist-run island and allow more cultural interaction with Cubans. "I personally feel that this embargo should be lifted. I do not see any reason for accepting old grudges being played out in the 21st century," Spielberg said at a news conference Monday. "It does not make sense to me that my country will trade with North Korea and China, but not with Cuba."

The Security Council imposed an arms embargo on Yugoslavia, aiming to press President Slobodan Milosevic to make concessions to ethnic Albanians in his country's restive Kosovo province. China abstained from the vote, saying the resolution would not help negotiations on giving Kosovo's Albanians more autonomy.

If Christopher J. Dodd is elected president, he will end a decades-old trade embargo with Cuba and lift travel restrictions to the communist island, the Democratic candidate pledged Saturday. He'll also open an embassy in Havana and shut down TV Marti, a U.S. government-run station that has broadcast to Cuba for 17 years, said Sen. Dodd of Connecticut. "Other than the war in Iraq, no other American policy is more broadly unpopular internationally" than U.S. policy on Cuba, Dodd.

With less than six months remaining in President Clinton's term, the leader of the National Council of Churches urged him to end the decades-old trade embargo against Cuba before he leaves office. "If we wait until after the elections take place, a new administration will have to select new ambassadors and new persons in the State Department and prioritize their foreign policy," said the Rev.

The leaders of Nigeria, Senegal, Ghana, Burkina Faso, Togo and Gabon, meeting in Nigeria to discuss unrest in Ivory Coast, backed a draft U.N. Security Council resolution calling for an arms embargo on both rebels and the government. The council had been expected to impose a ban on weapons purchases from Dec. 10 at a meeting today, but the six African leaders called for the sanctions to take immediate effect.

Bosnia-Herzegovina's top elected official resigned after investigators said he allowed a company to violate the U.N. arms embargo against Iraq. Mirko Sarovic, chairman of Bosnia's three-member multiethnic presidency, resigned after an investigation showed that he knew about and failed to stop the illegal exports of refurbished engines for Iraqi fighter planes. Sarovic was the Bosnian Serb president at the time. The sales by the aviation company Orao violated a U.N.

An arms embargo on Somalia will be eased for a year, allowing the country's new government to buy some weapons to battle religious extremists, the U.N. Security Council said Wednesday. The Security Council resolution adopted Wednesday maintains the ban on surface-to-air missiles, higher-caliber guns, howitzers and mortars, anti-tank weapons and other heavy firepower, but allows other arms to be sold to Somali security forces. It bars those arms from being resold to anyone else. The Somali government is also required to inform a U.N. committee before any weapons or military equipment are delivered and provide details about the shipments.

Last month, Cuba opened its doors a little wider. President Raul Castro announced that Cuban citizens would no longer need to obtain notoriously hard to get exit permits to leave the country; just a passport. Many Cubans are understandably skeptical of Castro's action. No doubt some Cubans will still be denied passports, and there are still many restrictions on travel. Athletes, musicians and members of the military, for example, still have to obtain special permission from big brother (or, in this case, little brother, Raul)

TEHRAN - As a European Union oil embargo took effect, a defiant Iran said Sunday that it was beginning a new round of war games that would involve firing missiles at models of foreign air bases. The war games are an example of how Iranian leaders are projecting an image of strength at a time when the country's sanctions-battered economy is in a downward spiral. Iran also is facing the possibility of attack because of its nuclear program, and its major Arab ally, Syrian President Bashar Assad, is struggling to put down an armed rebellion.

Europe slapped a boycott on Iranian oil Monday, signaling that the Islamic Republic's second-largest market is likely to dry up as part of a U.S.-led sanctions campaign that has already inflicted serious damage on Iran's economy and sharply increased tensions. The value of Iran's currency is falling dramatically, prices are rising and Iranians are stocking up on supplies in fear of worse to come. Iran, which receives an estimated 70% of its revenue from oil sales, has threatened to retaliate by choking off the flow of oil through the Strait of Hormuz at the southern end of the Persian Gulf.

As trade embargoes go, this one probably won't make it into the history books. It won't have much impact on the economy or create shortages of critical goods. But a decision by the Egyptian Ministry of Agriculture to ban all sales of palm fronds to Israel this year was, at the least, not very neighborly. Wednesday at sundown marks the beginning of the Jewish holiday of Sukkot, an autumn celebration of God's providence and bounty. Part of the celebration involves gathering four plants, including a date palm branch or lulav, which is used during a prayer and other parts of a religious service.

President Obama will have to decide by next week whether to continue, for yet another year, provisions of the U.S. trade embargo on Cuba. Without a presidential extension, these provisions — though not others that were instituted by congressional action — will end this month. The ending of the embargo is long overdue. The current economic crisis provides a useful rationale for doing so. There is precedent for taking such a step with a communist nation during hard times. In the face of the Depression, prominent American businessmen began arguing that recognition of the Soviet Union would lead to a substantial increase in trade and so provide a much-needed boost to the U.S. economy.

The International Monetary Fund gave its support Monday to an accelerated effort to supply billions of dollars to poor countries harmed by the Persian Gulf crisis as the Bush Administration worked behind the scenes to flesh out details of the assistance package. The approval by the IMF's policy-making interim committee was announced in a communique that stressed the international lending agency would respond on an "expedited basis to present difficulties."

China reportedly has told the United States that it would not support an international arms embargo against Iran following the clashes last week in the Persian Gulf between American and Iranian forces. Winston Lord, the U.S. ambassador in Beijing, discussed the issue with Chinese authorities, U.S. officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity. The Chinese did not say outright, however, that they would veto an arms embargo, one official added. The United States has been pushing other U.N.

Cuba and its foreign partners will begin exploring for oil this year in the Gulf of Mexico. Drilling will take place as close as 50 miles from Florida and in sites deeper than BP's Macondo well, the source of last year's disaster. About 5 billion barrels of oil and 10 trillion cubic feet of natural gas lie beneath the gulf in land belonging to Cuba, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. If Cuba finds oil in commercially viable amounts, this would be transformative. Revenue from natural resources has the potential to provide long-sought stability for its economy and is likely to significantly alter Cuba's relations with Venezuela, Asia and other leading energy-producing and consuming nations.