General Awareness

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS - May 2017

May 2017

Jul 29, 2019

Iran Slams a British Proposal

Iran slammed as provocative a British proposal for a European-led naval mission to escort tankers in the Gulf, amid soaring tensions over the seizure of ships.
Government spokesman Ali Rabiei said that we heard that they intend to send a European fleet to the Persian Gulf which naturally carries a hostile message, is provocative and will increase tensions.
Britain said last week it was planning a European-led force to escort tankers through the world's busiest oil shipping lane in response to Iran's seizure of a U.K.-flagged vessel on July 19.
The seizure of the Stena Impero by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps came two weeks after British authorities detained an Iranian tanker — the Grace 1 — off its overseas territory Gibraltar on allegations it was breaching EU sanctions on Syria.

Jul 28, 2019

Trump can Use Pentagon Fund for Border Wall

The US Supreme Court cleared the way for Donald Trump to use billions in Pentagon funds to build a border wall.
The decision allows the Trump administration to redirect approximately $2.5bn approved by the Congress for the Pentagon to help build his promised wall along the US-Mexico border even though lawmakers refused to provide funding.
The Trump administration planned to use the $2.5bn on four contracts to replace existing sections of barrier in Arizona, California and New Mexico with more robust fencing.
The Supreme Court's five conservative justices agreed to block a ruling in lower courts that barred Trump from spending the money on the wall contracts on the basis that Congress did not specifically authorise the funds to be used that way. The court's four liberal justices wouldn't have allowed construction to start.
The justices' decision to lift the freeze on the money allows Trump to make progress on a major 2016 campaign promise.

US Satisfied with Taliban's Guarantees

President Donald Trump's special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad said that he's satisfied with the Taliban's commitment to prevent international terrorist organisations from using Afghanistan as a base to plot global attacks.
Earlier this month Mr. Zalmay Khalilzad said the world needs to be sure that Afghanistan would not be a threat to the international community. He also said that we are satisfied with the commitment that we have received (from the Taliban) on counterterrorism.
As per Suhail Shaheen, spokesman for the Taliban's political office in Doha, such guarantees would be written into law once U.S. and NATO troops leave the country.

Asylum Deal between the US and Guatemala

President Donald Trump announced that a landmark asylum agreement was reached with Guatemala, as the United States ratcheted up pressure on its southern neighbours to stem the flow of migrants towards its border.
The White House said that Guatemala would now be considered a safe third country, meaning that U.S.-bound migrants who enter Guatemala would be required to seek asylum there instead. Mr. Trump said that the deal would provide safety to legitimate asylum seekers and stop asylum fraud in the region.
The asylum agreement with Guatemala comes days after Mr. Trump threatened tough retaliation against the small Central American country if it did not sign on to an asylum deal.
The agreement, signed in the Oval Office by Guatemala's Interior Minister, Enrique Degenhart, and U.S. Acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan, would apply to Salvadoran or Honduran migrants passing through Guatemala towards the United States.
Their asylum claims should now be filed in Guatemala, Mr. McAleenan said.
If Central American migrants instead "make a journey all the way to the U.S. border, they would be removable back to Guatemala if they want to seek asylum. The deal is expected to be up and running in August.

Jul 27, 2019

Johnson Putting U.K. on Collision Course

According to Ireland's Foreign Minister, new Prime Minister Boris Johnson has deliberately set Britain on a collision course with the EU over Brexit negotiations.
In his maiden parliamentary speech as Prime Minister, Mr. Johnson promised to press ahead with plans to reopen the deal agreed with the EU — despite firm pushback from other EU leaders. Tension around the withdrawal deal centres on the so-called backstop — a mechanism designed to preserve the EU's single market and prevent a hard border on the island of Ireland.

Pakistan to Allow Dual Nationals to Contest elections

In what can be called another U-turn, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government, during a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Imran Khan, decided to allow dual nationals to contest in Pakistan's elections. It is hard to believe that this is the same party that has previously criticised its political opponents for keeping dual nationalities and for having vested business interests abroad.
Imran, during his dharna (protest) days and throughout his time as a member of the opposition, had told the nation that when elected representatives stash their wealth abroad, have dual nationalities and/or business in other countries, they cannot serve the nation effectively due to a "conflict of interest".
Ms. Awan said the PM had issued directives to the relevant ministries as well as the Election Commission of Pakistan to come up with a comprehensive programme for giving voting rights to overseas Pakistanis. The decision, if implemented, will require an amendment to the Constitution as its Article 63 (c) reads: "A person shall be disqualified from being elected or chosen as, and from being, a member of the Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament), if he ceases to be a citizen of Pakistan, or acquires the citizenship of a foreign state."

Iran Tests Medium-range Missile

As per reports, after openly breaching the terms of the nuclear deal, Iran this week also conducted a medium-range ballistic missile test in violation of Security Council resolutions.
The country tested a Shahab-3 missile.
It was launched from southern Iran and flew some 1,100 kilometers, landing east of Tehran.
The military source said the missile did not pose a threat to US or Western assets in the region, and that US officials had closely monitored the activity that preceded the launch.

Over 4 Lakh Displaced in Syria

According to David Swanson of the United Nations humanitarian affairs agency OCHA, more than 400,000 people have been displaced in northwestern Syria over the past three months, as the government presses an intensified bombardment of the rebel-held region.
The region under attack is home to some three million people, nearly half of them already displaced from other parts of the country.
It covers nearly all of Idlib and parts of neighbouring Aleppo, Hama, and Latakia provinces.
Most of the displacement is from southern Idlib and northern Hama, the two areas that have been hit the hardest by the flare-up.
The majority of those fleeing have displaced within Idlib governorate while a smaller number have moved into northern Aleppo governorate.
Roughly two-thirds of people displaced are staying outside camps.
The region is controlled by jihadist alliance Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, led by Al-Qaeda's former Syria affiliate.

Russian Broadcaster Fined

Britain's media watchdog fined Russia's state-funded RT broadcaster £200,000 for serious failures in its coverage of last year's Salisbury nerve agent poisoning and the Syria conflict. RT immediately denounced the penalty as astonishing.
Ofcom said that RT failed to follow Britain's impartiality laws in seven news and current affair programmes aired between March 17 and April 26 of 2018.
The fine was levied on RT's parent company TV-Novosti. "Taken together, these breaches represent serious and repeated failures of compliance of our rules," Ofcom said.

Jul 25, 2019

Underwater Military Museum at Jordan

Jordan has opened an underwater military museum off its Red Sea coast.
The Underwater Military Museum Dive Site includes several tanks, an ambulance, a military crane, a troop carrier, an anti-aircraft battery, guns and a helicopter.

Ministers in Boris Johnson's Cabinet

Britain's new prime minister, Boris Johnson, named Priti Patel as interior minister and Sajid Javid as finance minister, giving a strong South Asian flavour to the new UK cabinet soon after taking charge of the government.
Patel, the former international development minister, was born to Indian parents while Javid comes from a family that emigrated from Pakistan to Britain.
Jeremy Hunt was replaced as the foreign minister by Dominic Raab, who now has one of the most important roles in the Brexit process.

Jul 24, 2019

Museum on US-Iran Spy Wars

Passport forgery, surveillance gadgets, encryption devices, secret drawers - if what Iran has been claiming since 1979 is true, then Tehran perhaps houses the most chilling relics of the ongoing US-Iran spy wars.
Iran revived its hostile relationship with the US intelligence - which goes back to 1979 - by claiming to have arrested 17 CIA spies and sentencing several of them to death.
On November 4, 1979, at the height of the Iranian Revolution, a group of Iranian students aligned with the newly-established anti-US Supreme Leader Ruhollah Khomeini stormed the US embassy in central Tehran and took 52 Americans hostage - precipitating a 444-day-long hostage crisis.
Later, Tehran claimed the storming of the complex exposed a clandestine CIA surveillance hideout based inside the embassy building. It has been maintained by the IRGC and was more recently turned into a museum of anti-US propaganda.
Locally known as 'Den of Spies' and 'Museum Garden of Anti-Arrogance', the place is now a repository of anti-US propaganda displayed in murals, cheeky political cartoons on the courtyard, a prominent 'Down With USA' doormat, inflammatory anti-West slogans and a trove of allegedly CIA-linked relics discovered in 1979.
Inside the complex, the key highlight is the main building - home to what Iranian authorities claim are remnants of the CIA's state-of-the-art equipment that have been carefully preserved.
The so-called 'Den of Spies' is staffed with government-appointed experts to help visitors take a look and translate for them the captions on the exhibits, written in Persian.
Among the most interesting relics is a corner desk with a typewriter, documents, gadgets and canisters of chemicals.
The curators claim that's where CIA personnel made forged passports for undercover agents.

N Korea Missile Programme Set to Continue

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un inspected a large newly built submarine, potentially signalling continued development of a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) programme.
Kim inspected the operational and tactical data and combat weapon systems of the submarine that was built under "his special attention", and will be operational in the waters off the east coast.
North Korea has a large submarine fleet but only one known experimental submarine capable of carrying a ballistic missile. Analysts said that based on the apparent size of the new submarine it appears designed to eventually carry missiles.
This was the first time since a February 2018 military parade that Kim Jong Un has inspected a military system clearly designed to carry and deliver nuclear weapons.

Spain's Prime Minister Loses Confidence Vote in Parliament

Spain's outgoing Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez lost a first post-election parliamentary confidence vote after potential allies lost patience with him as he negotiates to remain in power.
A total of 124 lawmakers in the 350-seat parliament voted for Sanchez, 170 against him, another 52 abstained with the remaining four votes belonging to suspended lawmakers, leaving him far from the absolute majority he needed to get through this week's first vote.

First Russia-China Air Patrol

Russia carried out what it said was its first long-range joint air patrol in the Asia-Pacific region with China, a mission that triggered hundreds of warning shots.
The flight by two Russian Tu-95 bombers and two Chinese H-6 bombers, backed up by a Russian A-50 early warning plane and its Chinese counterpart, a KJ-2000, marks a notable ramping-up of military cooperation between Beijing and Moscow. Seoul and Tokyo, who both scrambled jets to intercept the Russo-Chinese mission, accused Russia and China of violating their airspaces.
The airspace that South Korea says the Russian warplane violated is above a group of South Korean-held islets roughly halfway between South Korea and Japan that have been a source of territorial disputes between the two Asian countries.
South Korean warplanes fired 360 of warning shots towards the Russian A-50 military aircraft. It was the first time a Russian military aircraft had violated South Korean airspace.

India US to Join Hands for Oceanic Airspace Surveillance

The Airports Authority of India (AAI) is partnering with an American company to implement a satellite-based surveillance system, which it claims, could help prevent incidents like the one involving Malaysian flight MH 370, which had mysteriously disappeared while flying over the Indian Ocean on March 8, 2014.
Disappearance of airplanes while flying over vast oceans has baffled the experts and investigators time and again. Oceanic airspace remains uncovered from the eyes of radar making it difficult for air traffic controllers to know the exact position of aircraft.
The new technology, Automatic Dependent SurveillanceBroadcast (ADS–B) data services, will not only provide the realtime surveillance of airplanes over oceans falling in Indian airspace, but also help increase flight operations.
AAI, which owns and manages around 100 operational airports across the country, will sign a memorandum of understanding with Aireon.
With this, air traffic controllers will able to keep a tab on aircraft flying over oceanic airspace and reduce the distance between two airplanes. Currently the location of aircraft over oceanic airspace is generated by the information provided by the pilot.
AAI is planning to start trials of the new technology from January 1, 2020 onwards. As part of the deal, AAI will pay ~ 114 crore per year to the American company annually.

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