General Awareness

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS - May 2019

May 2019

Oct 04, 2020

World is Living in Shadow of Nuclear Catastrophe

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned that the world is living in the shadow of nuclear catastrophe, fuelled by growing distrust and tensions between the nuclear powers.
The UN chief told a high-level meeting to commemorate the recent International Day for Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons that progress on ridding the world of nuclear weapons "has stalled and is at risk of backsliding."
He said that strains between countries that possess nuclear weapons have increased nuclear risks. As examples, Guterres expressed deep concern at the escalating disputes between the Trump administration and China. Relations between the US and Russia are at a low point.
Nuclear-armed India and Pakistan are feuding over Kashmir, and India just had a border skirmish with China. And North Korea boasts about its nuclear weapons.

Advance Voting Begins in New Zealand Election

Early voting began in New Zealand with Prime Minister and Labour Party leader Jacinda Ardern seen securing a second term in office on the back of her success in handling the coronavirus pandemic and other crises.
Voters can head to the polls with about 450 advance polling stations opened across the country in the lead-up to election day on October 17.
The election commission said that advance voting has become steadily more popular. It accounted for 47% of all votes in 2017 and could reach as much as 60% this time round.
New Zealanders are also voting on two other issues - legalising recreational cannabis and euthanasia - topics that have split opinions in the country.
Ardern's Labour Party, governing in a coalition with the Greens and the nationalist New Zealand First party, faces the conservative National Party in what has been a pandemic-dominated campaign.

Amid Growing Concern of Chinese Debt Trap, Kyrgyzstan Parliamentary Elections Set for Oct 4

Elections for 120-seat Kyrgyz Parliament 'Jogorku Kenesh' are scheduled for October 4, 2020. At least 16 political parties are in the fray this time whose candidates are to be chosen by 3.3 million voters. The election would be monitored by 24 long-term and 350 short-term observers from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights.
Parliamentary elections in Kyrgyzstan are held every five years. MPs are elected on the basis of party lists. To prevent absolute dominance of one party, there is provision that one political subject cannot win more than 60 per cent of 120 mandates in the Parliament.
A party contesting the election has to receive a 7 per cent national vote threshold to get a seat assured in Parliament. In the current House, Birimdik Party leads with 28 MPs, followed by Mekenim Kyrgyzstan with 15 and Kyrgyzstan party with 14 MPs. 100 incumbent MPs are contesting the elections under different party banners.

Pakistan to Merge Gilgit-Baltistan with the Mainland

Pakistan is exploiting the instability caused by the COVID-19 pandemic to create a commotion on the issue of Jammu and Kashmir. In a recent media briefing, Pakistan's Federal Minister for Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit-Baltistan Ali Amin Gandapur stated that Pakistani Government has decided to change the status of G-B and to make it a full-fledged province.
He also said that Prime Minister Imran Khan shall soon visit the region to make a formal announcement.
In the legal set-up imposed on G-B by Pakistan, there are two things to consider — first, the laws governing the region and second, government agencies administering the region.
In order to keep the autonomy of the region intact and to legitimise its arguments of entitling autonomy of the region, the government of Pakistan has been ruling GB through provisional ordinances.
After the Karachi Agreement of 1949, Pakistan began to rule the region through the British era Frontier Crime Regulations (FCR). These regulations were abolished in 1975 and civil and criminal laws were extended to the area.
In 1994, the area began to be ruled by Northern Areas Council Legal Framework. However, in 2009, Pakistan came up with the Gilgit-Baltistan Empowerment and Self Governance Order (2009) and extended the legislature to G-B.
The order was replaced by Gilgit Baltistan Order (2018) and until very recently, the Pakistan government was working to bring Gilgit Baltistan Reforms Order/Bill 2019.
These temporary and rapid policy changes highlight the fact that Pakistan has always maintained an ambiguity in the constitutional status of G-B.

Oct 03, 2020

Nigeria Submits its Formal Adoption of Doha Amendment to the Kyoto Protocol

A few hours to deadline Nigeria submitted its formal adoption the Doha Amendment to the Kyoto Protocol to the UN; becoming the 144 th country to so thereby ensuring its entry into force. With this emission reduction targets for 37 developed countries agreed to in 2012 will have legal validity. The Doha Amendment will enter into force on December 31, that is also when its mandate comes to an end.
The entry into force of the Doha Amendment is important as it underscores the importance of multilateralism, provides a strong foundation for next phase of global climate action under the Paris Agreement and serves as a reminder of the cost that low ambition to tackle climate change can exact.
In December 2012 at the 18 th annual UN sponsored climate talks in Doha, Qatar 192 countries agreed to extend the mandate of the Kyoto Protocol for a second period of eight years. The Kyoto Protocol, 1997 climate law, required developed countries, referred to the UN climate parlance as Annexe 1 parties, to take on legally binding quantified emission reduction targets. The US, at the time the biggest emitter of greenhouse gases and now the second biggest, never ratified the Kyoto Protocol therefore did not take on a legally binding reduction either in the first or second period. Japan, Canada, and Russia did not sign on to the second commitment period. Only 37 developed countries—the European Union with its 28 member states accounted for the majority—signed on for the second period under the Kyoto Protocol. These 37 countries were collectively required to reduce their emissions by 18 per cent from 1990 levels by 2020.

Madrid Readies for Partial Lockdown, Files Legal Challenge

Madrid set to go into partial lockdown, complying with an order from the Spanish government but determined to fight it in the courts.
Measures that ban all nonessential trips in and out of the capital and nine of its suburbs — covering around 4.8 million people — were set to be enacted.
Spain's Socialist Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, said that there was a critical need to take the new steps in the European coronavirus hot spot.
But officials in Madrid, whose regional government is managed by the conservative Popular Party, balked at the order, saying it would bring chaos and further the sap the economy's health. It filed an appeal at the National Court against the new measures.
Under the national order, travelers will need to prove that they are going to or from work, to see a doctor or to conduct essential administrative or legal errands in order to leave Madrid or the town where they live.

Oct 02, 2020

Pakistan Army-Imran's Plan for Gilgit-Baltistan Faces Challenge from Maryam Nawaz

Pakistan's principal opposition party, the Pakistani Muslim League of Nawaz Sharif, has launched a tirade against a recent secret dinner meeting between that country's army chief and a few parliamentarians to discuss holding elections in Pak-occupied Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) and declaring the area as the fifth province of the country.
PML-N leader and Sharif's daughter Maryam Nawaz has termed the meeting at the army headquarters as an attempt by the men in uniform to tighten their grip over Pakistan politics.
Maryam Nawaz said that she wasn't aware if her father, Sharif, knew of the meeting beforehand.
GB was occupied by Pakistan as part of PoK, but in the 1970s, the country's ruling elite decided to carve it out of PoK, and make it an administrative unit named Northern Areas, directly controlled by Islamabad. Since then, local politics has been side lined in the region. Its proposed provincial status would facilitate a part of the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) that passes through the area. The western flank of the CPEC passes through GB and Beijing is reportedly of the opinion that the region's constitutional status would facilitate China's mega designs in the region. Gilgit-Baltistan is six times the size of the remaining part of PoK.
Islamabad has also been actively changing the demographics of GB by bringing in outsiders, experts on Pakistan affairs told ET. The Pashtuns have been encouraged to settle in GB. Besides, Islamabad has fuelled Shia-Sunni tensions in the region. Recent years have seen a rise in killings of Shias through what are seen as Islamabad-backed groups.

EU Launches Legal Action against UK over Brexit Deal

The European Union (EU) launched a legal case against the United Kingdom (UK) for undercutting their earlier divorce deal and a senior UK minister said that differences remained in talks on a post-Brexit trade agreement.
Controversy over UK's new Internal Market Bill has thrown the tortuous Brexit process into a fresh crisis, while disagreements over corporate subsidies, fisheries and ways to solve disputes overshadow parallel trade negotiations.
"We had invited our British friends to remove the problematic parts of their draft Internal Market Bill by the end of September," head of the EU's executive commission Ursula von der Leyen said. "The deadline lapsed yesterday."
With London not budging, she said the commission started a so-called infringement, an EU legal procedure against countries that violate the bloc's laws, while continuing to work towards implementing the divorce deal, or Withdrawal Agreement.

US Judge Blocks Trump's H-1B Visa Ban

A federal judge has blocked the enforcement of the H-1B visa ban issued by President Donald Trump in June 2020, saying that the President exceeded his constitutional authority.
The order was issued on Thursday by District Judge Jeffrey White of Northern District of California.
The lawsuit against the Department of Commerce and Department of Homeland Security was filed by companies represented by National Association of Manufacturers, US Chamber of Commerce, National Retail Federation and TechNet.
The ruling places an immediate hold on a series of visa restrictions that prevent manufacturers from filling crucial, hard-to-fill jobs to support economic recovery, growth and innovation when most needed.
In June, Trump had issued an executive order that had put temporary bar on issuing of new H-1B and other foreign visas, including H-2B, J and L visas, till the end of the year.
The President had argued that the United States needs to save and protect jobs for its domestic work force at a time when millions of them lost their jobs due to coronavirus pandemic.
A number of IT companies and other US firms, and those representing them had voiced their opposition to the temporary ban.

Turkey and Greece Set Up Military Hotline Amid Energy Tensions

Turkey and Greece have set up a military hotline to try to reduce the risk of clashes in the Mediterranean, where the two are locked in a row over energy resources and maritime borders.
The move was announced by the Nato military bloc, of which both countries are members.
Tensions rose this year when Turkey sent a research ship to a disputed area.
It comes as EU leaders met to discuss the bloc's thorny ties with Turkey.
Turkey has been a long-term candidate for membership of the European Union but efforts have stalled, with EU leaders criticising Turkey's record on human rights and the rule of law, in particular in the wake of the 2016 failed military coup.
But Turkey remains an important partner for the EU. Turkey hosts millions of migrants and struck a deal with the EU that limited the numbers arriving in Greece.

Oct 01, 2020

Pakistan Opens All Educational Institutions

Pakistan opened all the educational institutions which remained shut for nearly six months due to the coronavirus pandemic that has infected over 3 lakh people in the country.
Both private and public schools were opened under strict restriction and were told by the authorities to follow the standard operating procedures to contain the spread of the contagious coronavirus.
Federal Education Minister Shafqat Mahmood said that the maximum number of students was enrolled in the primary schools and they suffered most due to the closure of the institutions.
The decision was taken to open all the educational institutions after analysing the coronavirus situation comprehensively.
"Only 1 per cent infection was detected in educational institutions after the authorities performed 171,436 coronavirus tests in the education sector since the institutions reopened on September 15 under the phase 1 of the reopening of the institutions.

Trump Signs Temporary Government Funding Bill

President Donald Trump has signed a Bill to fund the government through December 11, averting the possibility of a government shutdown when the new fiscal year starts Thursday.
Trump signed the Bill, which was approved by sweeping bipartisan agreement, into law shortly after returning from campaigning in Minnesota.
The temporary extension will set the stage for a lame-duck session of Congress later this year, where the agenda will be largely determined by the outcome of the presidential election.
The measure would keep the government running through December 11 and passed by a 84-10 vote. The House passed the Bill last week.
The stopgap spending Bill is required because the GOP-controlled Senate has not acted on any of the 12 annual spending bills that fund the 30 per cent of the government's budget that is passed by Congress each year.
If Democratic nominee Joe Biden wins the White House in November, it's likely that another stopgap measure would fund the government into next year and that the next administration and Congress would deal with the leftover business.

Seven Parties Agree on Belgian Coalition Government

Almost 500 days after Belgian parliamentary elections, seven parties from both sides of the linguistic aisle agreed on forming a fully functioning majority government that will center on dealing with the pandemic and its devastating economic impact.
A final negotiating session found agreement on a common budget and had only one issue left to decide: who would succeed Sophie Wilmes as Prime Minister.
The seven parties consist of Liberals, Socialists and Greens, divided into separate linguistic entities, and the Dutch-speaking Christian Democrats.
Since the May 26, 2019 elections, Belgium has been led by a caretaker government, and, for the past half year, by a minority coalition with widespread support from the opposition to deal with the pandemic, the last one led by francophone Liberal Wilmes.

Sep 30, 2020

Taliban and Pakistan Interested in Withdrawal of International Forces

The Taliban and Pakistan are interested in the withdrawal of international forces from Afghanistan more than a peace settlement, a former Pakistani diplomat has said, warning that the ongoing peace talks in Doha were headed towards failure.
Pakistan's former Ambassador to the US Husain Haqqani said that I am not optimistic about the outcome of the talks. The US has made all major concessions up front. The Taliban know that the US is eager to withdraw from Afghanistan. As they see it, they are just negotiating the withdrawal of foreign forces and the restoration of the status quo ante, when they ruled Afghanistan as its Islamic Emirate.
The Afghan government could prove stronger than the US-backed South Vietnam government and might fight on for a pluralist Afghanistan with the support of other countries, including India, he said. The US withdrawal was a function of America's tendency to lose interest in wars that go on too long, he added.

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