Pressure Builds as Iran Nuclear Talks Enter Critical Stage

Canadian Prime Minister Steven Harper’s decision to appoint Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver — a leading proponent of TransCanada Corp.’s (NYSE: TRP) $5.4 billion Keystone XL pipeline — to head the finance ministry is likely to recommit the Conservative government to development of the country’s vast oil deposits and economic growth. As the administration attempts to project a sense of continuity, Oliver will likely ensure Canada remains on track to inherit a $5.8 billion budget surplus in 2015.

Backers of the deal to disarm Syria of its chemical weapons have long wondered if Damascus would fully comply and meet the ambitious June 30 deadline. Experts overseeing the process now report that more than half of the stockpile has been removed from Syria, yet a new obstacle has emerged: mass protests in Greece, Malta and Italy over the process by which chemicals are released into Mediterranean waters that meet their tourist-filled beaches.

Against the backdrop of the Russian annexation of Crimea and mass troop movements by Moscow, President Barack Obama’s recent, lengthy trip to Europe and the Middle East was billed as an opportunity to shore up fragile relations with key allies. Instead, Obama broke no new ground and there was little indication the president’s overall mission was successful.

Chinese government plans to forestall an impending environmental disaster call into question whether the solutions coming from Beijing aren’t worse than the problems they seek to resolve. Washing coal to limit air pollution dirties China’s water, yet the proposed answer — converting coal to synthetic natural gas — would massively increase the amount of greenhouse gases China emits.

Israel now has an anti-missile defense system ready to attach to its jetliners, a decade after one of its passenger planes in Africa was nearly destroyed by shoulder-launched missiles. A belly-fired laser that can deflect an incoming missile is ready after successful tests. If the system proves its mettle, the laser maker is eyeing sales to other airlines that fly over dangerous territory.

Conventional wisdom holds that Russia’s intervention in Ukraine is the most destabilizing event in Europe since the Soviet era and an indication that Vladimir Putin will use military force against eastern Ukraine and other former Soviet republics. Another possibility, however, is that Crimea is a one-time event and that Putin now seeks what U.S. President Barack Obama has called an “off-ramp” to end tensions.