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David Miliband
(Archived), LondonClimate Security
Here is a new-ish angle on climate change. The UK's climate and energy security envoy Rear Admiral Morisetti has set out his role. It’s I think unique in the world, and a good thing.
The climate security message was also underlined by President Obama at Copenhagen in December. One particular point in his statement stands out:
“This is not fiction, this is science. Unchecked, climate change will pose unacceptable risks to our security, our economies, and our planet. That much we know. So the question before us is no longer the nature of the challenge – the question is our capacity to meet it. For while the reality of climate change is not in doubt, our ability to take collective action hangs in the balance.”
It is clear that we still have much work to do. But the UK remains completely committed to a global deal to avoid catastrophic climate change. And people like Rear Admiral Morisetti – and all our staff working on climate change right across the FCO’s network - are out there right now making the argument.
David Miliband
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26 February 2010
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Georgia: one year on
Almost one year on from the Russia-Georgia conflict, there remains a lot to do to repair the damage. Thousands of displaced people are still unable to return to their homes. Russian troops still occupy positions in breach of the ceasefire agreements signed last summer.
Our support for Georgia’s rights is clear. Glenys Kinnock made this clear when she visited Tbilisi in June. I applaud the EU's decision this week to extend the EU Monitoring Mission in Georgia.
I very much welcome Vice-President Biden's reaffirmation during his recent visit to Tbilisi of US commitment to a democratic Georgia -consolidation of the progress made so far is the clearest path towards durable peace.
There is a separate and wider debate about European security spurred by President Medvedev’s call for a “New European Security Architecture”. It is important, and can show that the post Soviet geography of Central and Eastern Europe is not a threat to Russia. The greatest risks we face are shared.
David Miliband
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30 July 2009
31 July 2009
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UNSG Visit to Burma
Ban Ki Moon deserves credit for not taking no for an answer from the Burmese authorities. He refused to postpone his visit - a visit that he promised to make when he visited the country at the time of Cyclone Nargis to discuss political and economic reform. Ban's closing speech was clear and definitive - the regime's refusal to engage properly was reprehensible.
The easy course would have been to be put off. Now he will report to the Security Council and every member will need to decide how much they care about the refusal of the regime to accept basic international norms. The temptation is to say no visit should go ahead without pre-promising of the results. But sometimes it is worth the risk. This is one such case.
David Miliband
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08 July 2009
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Basra Corniche on a Friday afternoon
David Miliband
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06 March 2009
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Munich Security Conference
This article from the Atlantic Press Review Blog discusses some interesting comment pieces on NATO at 60. These are issues I'm grappling with at the moment. Tomorrow I make a speech at the Wehrkunder Security Conference in Munich. Its about how NATO and the EU can deal with both conventional security threats within its borders, and the new global threats from terrorism, climate change and nuclear proliferation. This is a great opportunity for Europe, NATO, and the world to think clearly and deeply about our common security. I look forward to a fascinating debate with many of the world's leaders in attendance.
David Miliband
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06 February 2009
06 February 2009
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Zimbabwe: Rhetoric and Reality
The UN Security Council re-started its engagement with Zimbabwe on Monday - not a moment too soon. The cholera (and now anthrax) that threatens neighbouring countries is proof if any were needed after 4 million refugees that the Zimbabwe crisis is a crisis for the whole of southern Africa. The Security Council is not yet close to taking action - divisions are still too deep. But the rhetoric of Mugabe that cholera is 'over' is gut-wrenching when you read the reports of what is actually happening in the country. For a flavour of reality see the two FCO bloggers , Grace Mutandwa and Philip Barclay
David Miliband
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19 December 2008
20 December 2008
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UNGA Re-Cap 2: Middle East
David Miliband
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01 October 2008
01 October 2008
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President Zardari
The accession of President Zardari to the leadership of Pakistan is a key moment for Pakistan. His election with a 68% majority completes the transition to full democratic civilian rule for the first time in 9 years. It is vital that the Pakistan government does not suffer the fate of previous Pakistan governments.
I spoke to President Zardari yesterday and the Prime Minister is speaking to him today to emphasise Britain's commitment to work with the people in Pakistan at all levels, above all on the twin issues of the economy and security. My two visits to Pakistan revealed a country of teeming energy but also unfulfilled aspirations. The striking thing is that political, economic and security aspirations go together. Polling in the FATA shows that politics as well as security are top of the agenda.
Civilian rule needs to show itself up to the task of short term improvement as well as long term legitimacy. Britain can and will help through official channels and development aid and security support, but also through the unofficial channels of people-to-people links from our own British Pakistani community.
David Miliband
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09 September 2008
09 September 2008
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UK-Caribbean Forum
60 years after the arrival in the UK of the ship Windrush at Tilbury Docks, 800,000 Brits trace their heritage back to the Caribbean, and the ties of culture, business, tourism and sport (as well as the shared dangers of drugs and security) mean that we have a lot to work on with Caribbean governments. That is the purpose of the UK-Caribbean forum that has recently met in London, with reps of 10 Caribbean governments and ministers from across UK government.
The truth is that the UK-Caribbean relationship is in transition. All the participant countries in the Forum are now independent, and the British link needs to be remade – not on the basis of history or the number of diplomats we have attached but on the basis of a shared agenda for the future. I think this falls into a number of categories: educational (we agreed to increase and guarantee the number of scholarships), multilateral (for example work in the EU on trade), and global, for example on climate change. It needs civil society and business as well as government to work together. It’s a tough sell. The Caribbean countries want to know that we recognise the special nature of our relationship with them. We do. But we need to bring it alive for modern times.
David Miliband
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Mediation or pressure?
The vote at the UN yesterday on Zimbabwe was not a North/South split - after all Burkino Faso voted for the resolution. But it did reveal, in the use of the veto by Russia and China, two different ways of thinking about the exercise of responsibility in the modern world.
The argument at one level was about whether to give mediation "longer". But how much longer? And how much more suffering in the interim?
But there is a more fundamental point - or two actually. First, since when does pressure on a regime that has been flagrant in its abuse of human rights and democratic standards undermine mediation? Surely it brings home much more clearly that the world is determined to tilt the balance away from a government that has forfeited international respect? But second, the argument of China and Russia was that the Security Council had no business "interfering" in a national issue. But the crisis in Zimbabwe has gone way beyond that - not least through three million plus refugees caught up in the violence fleeing to South Africa (see above "If your neighbour's house is on fire" of 8 July).
The Russian and Chinese vetoes have shielded Robert Mugabe and 13 of his top supporters from international pressure. Their preferred route of mediation will have the chance to prove itself - too late for too many but no one will be happier than I if I wake up one day soon and find that this route has delivered a government that respects the March 29 election result.
Meanwhile the governments of western and other democracies should have no regrets about bringing into the open a vital debate. The alternative is for the threat of veto to mean we all clam up and pretend that there is no disagreement. That is not real diplomacy.
David Miliband
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13 July 2008
13 July 2008
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Blog 24 June: Zimbabwe: UN Action
Yesterday's UN Security Council statement represents a significant step forward in the way the world has engaged with the issue of Zimbabwe. The language is unequivocal - condemnation of the regime. It won unanimous support - including South Africa as well as China. The desire for regional leadership - from the AU and SADC - clearly expressed.
Yesterday's exchanges in the House of Commons I hope clarified the difference between recognition of a state - which is necessary for diplomatic representation - and recognition of the legitimacy of a government, which is different. We of course "recognise" Zimbabwe as a country; we do not recognise the legitimacy of Mugabe's rule, not least since even he accepts that he lost the Parliamentary and Presidential election on 29 March (even if the Opposition challenger did not get 50% of the vote in the first round).
I hope they also exposed the hollow claim that we have to choose between self defeating megaphone diplomacy and silence. In every part of the world history matters. Britain's history of global engagement includes good and bad. But while we are conscious of our history, and conscious of the way it can be misused and caricatured, that history is a reason for good judgment about what to say - not a reason to say nothing.
David Miliband
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26 June 2008
27 June 2008
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Iraq: it's now the politics, stupid
The attached article from the New York times paints a clear and compelling picture of the security situation in Iraq. Things are much better. But they are not normal. Security can bring further change. But politics is key - to pass new laws that can help make possible resolution of some of the most difficult problems (eg the status of Kirkuk), that can allow for provincial elections that bring all groups into government at local level. Iraq is not on most British front pages but it remains a big commitment. Politics is key to progress.
David Miliband
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May in Iraq
This month saw the lowest number of security incidents in Iraq in four years and the lowest level of sectarian violence since 2003. There is something changing in a serious way
David Miliband
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09 June 2008
09 June 2008
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Foreign Office goes to China
David Miliband
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18 May 2008
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Thank you Burkina Faso
David Miliband
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30 April 2008
30 April 2008
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Archived: A blog about British foreign policy and the work of the Foreign Office.
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25 February 2010