Tuesday's global agenda: Senate marks up Magnitsky

By Julian Pecquet - 06/26/12 07:00 AM ET

Your morning global affairs speed-read

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Tuesday marks up bipartisan human-rights legislation that lawmakers of both parties have made into a precondition to their support for the establishment of permanent normal trade relations with Russia. A recent draft of the Magnitsky bill, named after a whistleblowing lawyer who died in custody in 2009, contains a controversial clause allowing the State Department to hide the names of Russian officials accused of human-rights abuses, and is likely to be a bone of contention going forward.

The bill, which has 36 co-sponsors in the Senate and 34 in the House, would deny visas and freeze the U.S.-based assets of Russians involved in Sergei Magnitsky's case and death as well as other human-rights abusers. The CEO of London’s Heritage Capital Management, where Magnitsky worked when he died, is on Capitol Hill this week building support for the bill.

Trouble brewing: Syria shot at but missed a second Turkish jet, Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arinc said, raising concerns of Turkish retaliation just as NATO met at Turkey's request to hold consultations within the framework of Article 4 of the NATO Treaty after a first reconnaissance plane was shot down last week.  “We consider this act to be unacceptable and condemn it in the strongest terms,” NATO said Tuesday in a statement. “It is another example of the Syrian authorities’ disregard for international norms, peace and security, and human life.”

The incident comes as Syrian rebels are using the Turkish border to smuggle arms into Syria. [The New York Times]

Making new friends: Egypt's new Islamist president will need the United States to stabilize the country and improve its floundering economy, writes The Washington Post. The display of pragmatism comes as the United States itself is debating what to do about its historic military and economic support for the world's most populous Arab country.

Drug epidemic: Drug Czar Gil Kerlikowske, Assistant Secretary of State William Brownfield and several other U.S. officials are in Peru today for an international conference of ministers on the drug problem. The conference comes as several countries, notably Mexico, are balking at the U.S.-led war on drugs and seeking new ways to address the problem, which is fueled in large part by U.S. consumption.

Don't miss Peruvian Ambassador Harold Forsyth's guest column on the Global Affairs blog.

In other Latin America news, Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Roberta Jacobson arrives in El Salvador today for a four-day trip that will also take her to Guatemala and Honduras. In Honduras, Jacobson will participate in a meeting of the Central American Integration System (SICA) Heads of State and Government, which the United States joined as an observer in May.