It seems like the NYT was listening to our class last night. An article detailing Russia and China’s Security Council veto against penalizing Syria for the use of chemical (chlorine) weapons just came out today. Nikki Haley continued her consistent rhetoric against Russia’s protection of Syria and Assad.
Month: February 2017
From Trump the Nationalist, a Trail of Global Trademarks
It seems that Trump is more close to opportunism rather than a man who really prefers anti-globalization. This article addresses to one topic I’ve been interested in for a long period. Has Trump used his influence, which might be invisible, to make a profit for his families and corporations? The answer to this question might be yes as a spectacular amount of evidence in this article. However, there is another question. How many “transactions” are legally? How many of them stand in grey area by treacherously using loopholes of the law? Is this invisible type of “money-power” transaction quite common in international society?
Climate Change and the Domino Effect of Altered Ecosystems
A recent article in the Pacific Standard reports on a study by Nature that examines how the world’s mountainous regions are warming twice as fast as other regions. This warming impacts the chemistry of soil and creates a domino effect through these regions’ ecosystems. Certain plants will be able to grow at higher altitudes, while displacing others and effecting the animals that rely on the current ecosystems. This in turn effects pollination and ultimately agriculture and food supplies. This dramatic warming is fairly universal- from the mountains in Japan-to British Columbia and Europe. The effects of global warming are entwined and will impact not only the environment, but humanitarian issues as well stemming from food supply and agriculture.
Customs unions
Customs unions: Two or more countries decide not to impose tariffs on each other’s goods and agree to impose common external tariffs on goods from countries outside their customs union. Setting common external tariffs is what makes a customs union different from a free trade area. This article explains more.
Britain could use Turkey as a model for post-Brexit trade agreements because they have a customs union with the EU. Sir Andrew Cahn, the former chief executive of UK Trade and Investment explains what that could look like.
China and North Korea Reveal Sudden, and Deep, Cracks in Their Friendship
As Sarah kindly shared, China suspended coal imports from North Korea, which is expected to a blow to the North Korean economy as China accounts for 90% of their trade and coal is their number one export and accounts for 35% of their economy. This is a sign of China and North Korea’s deteriorating relationship, which previously was viewed as a strong alliance. In response to the suspension of coal imports, North Korea use strong language saying that China has “mean behavior” and “dancing to the tune of the U.S.” Many experts are shocked by the Chinese taking strong action to further the U.N sanctions and North Korea’s retaliatory speech. It seems now that even with stronger sanctions by their primary ally that North Korea will be difficult to stop.
As Yan Xuetong, the director of the Institute of International Studies at Tsinghua University puts it, “In terms of diplomacy, I see no solution…China had no choice but to accept the North as a nuclear-armed state. That was because China had only two options: either a nuclear North Korea that was friendly toward China or a nuclear North Korea that was unfriendly.”
It seems like the United States and the rest of world who never had friendly relationships with North Korea might be left with only one option, a nuclear-armed North Korea and that might restart or already restarting a nuclear arms race. Which entity, international organization or country will be able to stop it?
The UN Refugee Agency
The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) provides some startling facts and figures on their website about the global refugee crisis. The most recent data available shows 65.3 million people displaced. More than than half of the refugees in the world come from three countries – Somalia, Afghanistan and Syria.
The work of the UNHCR requires the collaboration and cooperation of the international community in order to help millions of refugees worldwide. Eighty-six percent of the agency’s funding comes from governments and the European Union. Recent actions by governments and leaders, including Trump and his immigration ban, are only further provoking the humanitarian crisis and preventing much needed aid and relief to refugees.
Data sovereignty, cybersecurity, and challenges for globalization
Growing concerns about cybersecurity have sparked an intense international debate about data sovereignty and the degree to which governments should control the flow of data–both within and across their borders. How individual nations and the world community ultimately address these issues will have a profound effect on the global information and communications technology (ICT) market and on globalization itself. Globalization, fueled by ICT, has propelled decades of positive information exchange, innovation, and trade, and enabled unprecedented economic growth for both developed and developing nations. The Industrial Internet of Things alone is expected to add $14.2 trillion to the global economy by 2030.
source:Georgetown Journal of International Affairs.
A New EU Framework On Cybersecurity: The Network And Information Security Directive
Efforts to coordinate and enhance cybersecurity across the European Union (“EU”) have taken a step forward with the publication on 19 July 2016 of the new Network and Information Security Directive (2016/1148/EU) (the “Directive”) in the Official Journal of the European Union.
The key objectives of the Directive are: (1) to introduce a set of minimum cybersecurity standards for network and information systems maintained by operators of essential services and digital service providers; (2) to ensure each Member State has in place strategies and resources relating to cybersecurity; and (3) to enhance cooperation amongst EU Member States for the prevention, detection and response to cyber-attacks. The Directive will have a direct impact on organization that fall within the categories of “operators of essential services” and “digital service providers” both of which are given a particular meaning by the Directive.
Member States will have until 9 May 2018 to transpose the Directive into their national laws.
source :www.mondaq.com
South Sudan and the “entirely man-made humanitarian tragedy”
Plagued by years of civil war, thousands of people in South Sudan are suffering from an “entirely man-made humanitarian tragedy”. More than 100,000 people in the country are affected by a famine and an additional 1 million are close to starvation. The United Nations previously accused South Sudan’s government of blocking aid delivery, but President Salva Kiir remarked at the transitional national assembly that they would ensure full access for aid workers. The European Commission also pledged 82 million euro towards an emergency aid package.
The attitudes of South Sudan’s government towards the international community has been hostile, affecting aid access for thousands of suffering people in their country. The U.S. also condemned the South Sudanese leaders for putting their political ambitions ahead of humanitarian aid and relief.
Now that a famine has been declared, will President Kiir acknowledge the severity of the crisis and get people the help that they so desperately need? The United Nations and other international agencies are working together to provide humanitarian relief, but need the support of South Sudan’s government in order to succeed.
Russia Deploys Missile, Violating Treaty and Challenging Trump
It seems that the world nuclear powers are trying to test their limits and how the new Trump administration will react. After North Korea tested their missiles, it’s Russia’s turn as they deployed a missile last week. This is a violation of the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (I.N.F. Treaty) signed by President Ronald Reagan and Mikhail S. Gorbachev. This treaty bans American and Russian intermediate-range land missiles. This is not the first time Russia has violated this treaty because it realized this treaty does not work for them. Russia tested a ground missile before in 2014 during the Obama administration, which “sought to persuade” Russia to “correct” their violation of the treaty. While this treaty is technically a bilateral treaty with the former Soviet Union, it is more of a multilateral treaty because it includes the former Soviet bloc countries. Russia’s defense for their actions is that almost all of their neighbors are also developing weapons.
“Jon Wolfsthal, who served as a nuclear weapons expert on the National Security Council during the Obama administration, said the United States, its NATO allies, Japan and South Korea needed to work together to put pressure on Russia to correct the violation.” For the record, the Trump administration has nothing to say other than, “We have made very clear our concerns about Russia’s violation, the risks it poses to European and Asian security, and our strong interest in returning Russia to compliance with the treaty.”
When it comes to big powers, China, United States, and Russia, when the international communities just issue strong warnings and tell them they did something wrong, they shrugged it off and ignore and continues their activities. Who is able to enforce the I.N.F. treaty? Not the UN because the United States and Russia both sit on the Security Council. NATO? What can NATO do? Bring Russia to an international court for them to ignore the judgement as China did with the South China Sea? Definitely, with North Korea just showing off their weapons, Russia will not cease their missile testing anytime soon.