General Awareness

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS - May 2015

May 2015

Feb 05, 2021

Joe Biden Halts Trump-ordered US Troops Withdrawal from Germany

President Joe Biden has formally stopped the planned withdrawal of US troops from Germany that was ordered last year by the Trump administration but had never actually begun.
Speaking at the State Department, Biden said that the troop pull out would be halted until Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin does a review of America's troops presence around the globe. Austin, he said, will ensure that "our military footprint is appropriately aligned with our foreign policy and national security priorities".
Last year, then-President Donald Trump announced that he was going to pull out about 9,500 of the roughly 34,500 US troops that are stationed in Germany. The US has several major military facilities in the country, including Ramstein Air Base, the headquarters for US European Command and US Africa Command, and Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, the largest American hospital outside the United States.

Japan's Kirin to Terminate Myanmar Beer Alliance after Military Coup

Japanese drinks giant Kirin Holdings said that it was scrapping its beer alliance with a top Myanmar conglomerate whose owners have been identified by the United Nations as members of the military, which overthrew the elected government this week.
Kirin has been under pressure to reassess the tie-up with Myanmar Economic Holdings Public Company (MEHL) due to the local partner's military connections.
The Myanmar military overthrew the elected government of leader Aung San Suu Kyi, handing power to its top general and declaring a one-year state of emergency, sparking widespread international condemnation.
The military had earlier been accused of genocide and other war crimes against the Rohingya minority after hundreds of thousands fled an offensive in 2017. Myanmar denies genocide.

Feb 04, 2021

US Nominates Hong Kong's Pro-democracy Movement for Nobel Peace Prize

A bipartisan group of US lawmakers has nominated Hong Kong's pro-democracy movement for this year's Nobel Peace Prize, to honour the demonstrators' struggle against the Beijing imposed Draconian national security law.
This move by the lawmakers would surely anger Beijing, which has repeatedly received condemnation from the West for its imposition and undermining the region's sovereignty.
"We are nominating a movement that has peacefully advocated for and maintained human rights and democracy in Hong Kong since 1997 and continues to fight against the erosion of these rights," Senator Marco Rubio, a Republican, Representative James McGovern, a Democrat, and seven other lawmakers, wrote to Berit Reiss-Andersen, chair of the Nobel Peace Prize committee as quoted by South China Morning Post.

NATO Welcomes Extension of 'New START' by Russia and the US

NATO welcomes the extension of the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) and values its contribution to international stability.
NATO welcomes and fully supports the agreement between the United States and the Russian Federation to extend the New START Treaty for five years. NATO Allies believe the New START Treaty contributes to international stability, and Allies again express their strong support for its continued implementation and for early and active dialogue on ways to improve strategic stability.
NATO's allies are determined to uphold existing arms control and non-proliferation agreements and support further negotiations on these issues.

Canada Designates Proud Boys as a Terrorist Entity

The Canadian government designated the Proud Boys group as a terrorist entity, noting they played a pivotal role in the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.
The Proud Boys have faced increased scrutiny after seizing on the former Trump administration's policies and the group was a major agitator during earlier protests and the Capitol riot on Jan. 6. The Proud Boys is a far-right, male chauvinist extremist group known for engaging in violent clashes at political rallies. Canada is the first country to designate them as a terrorist entity.
During a September presidential debate, Donald Trump had urged the Proud Boys to "stand back and stand by" when asked to condemn them by a moderator.
Senior officials speaking on a technical briefing said authorities had been monitoring and collecting evidence about the Proud Boys before the Capitol Hill insurrection, but confirmed that the event provided information that helped with the decision to list the organization.

Feb 03, 2021

Sri Lanka Opts Out of Port Deal with India

India said that it expected Sri Lanka to abide by an agreement on the trilateral development and operation of a key port terminal in Colombo after the Rajapaksa government decided to hand over the facility to a state-run body.
The development marks the latest twist in the troubled project to develop the East Container Terminal (ECT) of Colombo Port under a trilateral agreement signed in 2019 by the governments of India, Japan and Sri Lanka.
The Sri Lankan government has succumbed to pressure from labour unions, which are opposed to a joint venture with Indian and Japanese investors having a 49% stake in the ECT. Its cabinet decided to run the facility as a fully- owned operation of state-run Sri Lanka Port Authority (SLPA).

Feb 02, 2021

Myanmar Military Takes Power for One Year, Aung San Suu Kyi in Detention

Myanmar's military has taken power for a year after declaring a state of emergency in response to its claims of election fraud, after Aung San Suu Kyi and other top leaders were detained in an early-morning raid.
The US and Australia urged Myanmar's military to release all those detained and to respect the results of the election. The United States opposes any attempt to alter the outcome of recent elections or impede Myanmar's democratic transition, and will take action against those responsible if these steps are not reversed.
Ever since Suu Kyi's party won a landslide victory in the second general election after decades of army rule, the military and its political factions have demanded authorities investigate its allegations of mass voting fraud. Myanmar's election commission last week had labeled the vote transparent and fair, and the U.S., United Nations and the European Union urged the military to respect the results.

Iran's Zarif Hints at Way to Bridge Nuclear Deal Impasse

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif suggested a way to overcome the U.S.-Iranian impasse over who goes first in returning to the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, saying a top EU official could "synchronize" or "choreograph" the moves.
Zarif's stance was a shift from his position, expressed in January in which he said that the United States should remove U.S. sanctions before Iran returned to the deal.
Each government wants the other to resume compliance first with the agreement, which former U.S. President Donald Trump abandoned in 2018 but which President Joe Biden as said he will rejoin if Iran resumed "strict" compliance.

U.K. Opens Special Visa Route for Hong Kong Residents to Become Citizens

Hong Kong residents can apply for a new visa offering them an opportunity to become British citizens after Beijing's imposition of a national security law in the Asian financial hub last year.
The move comes as China and Hong Kong have said that they will no longer recognise the British National Overseas (BNO) passport as a valid travel document.
Britain and China have been arguing for months about what London and Washington say is an attempt to silence dissent in Hong Kong after pro-democracy protests in 2019 and 2020.
Britain says it is fulfilling a historic and moral commitment to Hong Kong people after Beijing imposed the security law on the semi-autonomous city that Britain says breaches the terms of agreements under which the colony was handed back to China in 1997. The U.K. government forecasts the new visa could attract more than 300,000 people and their dependants to Britain. Beijing said it would make them second-class citizens.

Feb 01, 2021

Vladimir Putin Signs Bill to Extend Nuclear Treaty with US

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a bill into law ratifying a five-year extension of the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) with the US, one of the last major arms reduction treaties signed since the end of the Cold War.
The validity period of the New START will be extended by five years to February 5, 2026,
Presidents Vladimir Putin of Russia and Joe Biden of the US welcomed the move in a telephone call.
The same day, Putin submitted a bill on the extension in the State Duma (the lower house of parliament).

U.N. Urges Countries to Repatriate Children of Islamic State Extremists from Syria

The U.N. counterterrorism chief is urging countries to repatriate the 27,000 children stranded in a massive camp in northeastern Syria, many of them sons and daughters of Islamic State extremists who once controlled large swathes of Iraq and Syria.
As per Vladimir Voronkov, the horrific situation of the children in Al Hol (camp) is one of the most pressing issues in the world today.
Al Hol, the largest camp for refugees and displaced Syrians in the country, is currently home to almost 62,000 residents, according to U.N. humanitarian officials. More than 80% are women and children, many who fled there after Islamic State militants lost their last Syrian stronghold in 2019. There are a number of other camps in the northeast as well.

Vietnam's Trong Re-elected for Third Term

Vietnam's ruling Communist Party chief Nguyen Phu Trong has been re-elected for a rare third five-year term, cementing his position as one of the country's strongest and longest-serving leaders for decades.
Trong, who emerged on top in a power struggle at the last Congress in 2016 and has spearheaded a blazing furnace crackdown on corruption in the last five years, was granted an exception to party rules which say people over the age of 65 should retire.
Comrade Nguyen Phu Trong was elected to be the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam, term XIII.

Biden Admin sees Quad as Foundation to Build on Indo-Pacific Policy

The new Biden administration sees the Quad grouping comprising the US, India, Japan and Australia as a fundamental foundation upon which to build a substantial American policy in the strategically-vital Indo-Pacific region.
National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said at an event organised by the US Institute of Peace, a Congress-funded think-tank that the US will build on and carry forward the four-nation Quad grouping.
Quad and the Indo-Pacific policy of the previous Trump administration are one of the few policies that the Biden administration has said it will continue to build on, besides the Abraham Accords.

Britain to Join Asia-Pacific Free Trade Pact

The UK Government has announced that it is applying to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), one of the world's largest free-trade areas made up of 11 developed and emerging economies in the Pacific, under its post-Brexit plans.
Joining the CPTPP reflects the UK's post-Brexit Pacific tilt and is dubbed as a critical part of Prime Minister Boris Johnson-led government's wider trade strategy, which aims to deepen links with fast-growing parts of the world and partnering with countries who believe in free and fair trade, including India.
The decision to join the CPTPP, comprising Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam, marks one year since the UK left the European Union (EU) on January 31 last year and entered a Brexit transition period which concluded at the start of this year.

US Lobby Group Urges India Not to Tighten Foreign E-commerce Rules

A U.S. lobby group that represents firms including Amazon.com and Walmart has urged India not to tighten foreign investment rules for e-commerce companies again.
India is considering revising the rules after traders in the country accused Amazon's Indian division and Walmart's Flipkart of creating complex structures to bypass investment regulations. The U.S. firms deny any wrongdoing.
India allows foreign e-commerce players to operate as only a marketplace, but local traders say the U.S. giants promote select sellers and offer deep discounts, which hurts business for smaller local retailers. In 2018, India changed its foreign direct investment rules to deter foreign firms offering products from sellers in which they have an equity stake.
The Centre is now considering tightening those rules again to include sellers in which a foreign e-commerce firm holds indirect stake through its parent.

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