More UN troops for the Congo and the changing relations between the US and Latin America

For those of you following the UN's involvement in the DR Congo, there is good news. The UN Security Council has agreed to increase troops in the region. However, behind the scenes diplomats are unsure where the 3000 new troops will come from and when they will deployed. A comprehensive report on the crisis can be found at the International Crisis Group site.


Another interesting story to watch will be those like this one about Colombia losing foreign aid from the US. Over the past several years, the US has created strong ties with Colombia in an attempt to stem coca production. While the effort has been less successful than hoped, it has created an ally in a relatively hostile region agitated by leaders in countries such as Venezuela and Bolivia. The changing policies towards Latin America will be affected not only by the Obama presidency, which has already promised new reforms, but also by increasing economic isolationism by the US Congress. Also important to note, countries such as Brazil, which hoped to avoid the financial collapse, are starting to see their own economic downturns casting a shadow on the region. Polls such as this one, found in the Economist, lead one to wonder what the affects of the global economic slowdown will be on many of these democratic governments and their relatively strong economic growth.

I would highly recommend you take a moment to read through some of the documents found on the International Crisis Group website. They have comprehensive country reports on those affected by ongoing conflict and continually update articles relating to key regions.
For those of you looking for updates on the UN, the UN News service does supply relevant articles but there is also an excellent daily email provider, UN Wire, which may be helpful to read, particularly as the conference approaches.