General Awareness

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS - May 2019

May 2019

May 28, 2019

Sebastian Kurz Loses No-confidence Vote

Austria's Chancellor Sebastian Kurz lost a no-confidence vote in Parliament, removing him and his Cabinet from office over a corruption scandal that brought has down his coalition government.
The move comes in the wake of the so-called 'Ibiza-gate' scandal, which saw Freedom Party leader and Vice-Chancellor Heinz-Christian Strache resign from both posts after he was caught appearing to offer public contracts in return for campaign help from a fake Russian backer.

May 27, 2019

Challenges for Britain's Next PM

The ruling Conservative Party began the process of choosing a new Prime Minister (PM) for Britain following Theresa May's announcement that she will resign on June 7.
The next PM will face the same political minefield that Ms May was unable to navigate.
There will be three main sources of danger. One is bridging the gaps within the Conservatives about what sort of Brexit will Britain carry out. This division, and the seeming impossible task of finding a middle path between hardline "no deal Brexiteers" and those who want some sort of soft economic union, has been the primary reason the May prime ministership failed. Two is ensuring that any such resolution will not drive large numbers of voters into the hands of the new right-wing Brexit party or towards the liberal left opposition. Finally, to then sell any Brexit deal to the European Union and, preferably, find means to smoothen the sharper economic consequences of a clean break.
The problem is Britain is no closer to a viable Brexit plan than before. The Conservatives now seem set to choose a hardline Brexiteer as the next PM.
If so, this will bring Britain the closest it has been so far to a full break with the EU, without any sort of economic union.
This will deliver a sharp economic cost to Britain, driving its economy into recession and making it far less attractive as an investment site for Indian and other foreign investors.
Since it is assumed this will not be palatable to any PM, a new round of intra-party squabbling can be expected.

May 26, 2019

Trump Decides to Sell Arms to Saudi Arabia and UAE

U.S. President Donald Trump's administration bypassed the Congress to sell $8.1 billion in arms to Saudi Arabia and other Arab allies, citing a threat from Iran, infuriating lawmakers who fear the weapons could kill civilians in Yemen.
According to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, the administration would circumvent the required review by Congress to approve 22 arms transfers to Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Jordan, saying that the freeze on sales by Congress could affect the Arab allies' operational abilities.
As per Mr. Pompeo, the weapons, which include munitions and aircraft support maintenance, are meant to deter Iranian aggression and build partner self-defence capacity.

May 25, 2019

U.S. to Deploy Additional Troops to West Asia

President Donald Trump announced that some 1,500 additional U.S. troops would be deployed to West Asia against a backdrop of soaring tensions with Iran.
The deployment includes reconnaissance aircraft, fighter jets, engineers, and the extension of the presence of a Patriot missile defense battalion that accounts for 600 of the personnel.

N. Korea Says Talks Won't Resume

North Korea said that nuclear negotiations with the U.S. will never resume unless President Trump's administration moves away from what Pyongyang described as unilateral demands by U.S. for disarmament.

May 23, 2019

Rampahosa Re-elected South African President

South African lawmakers re-elected Cyril Ramaphosa as the nation's President, two weeks after the ruling ANC party returned to power in legislative elections. Mr. Ramaphosa was the only name nominated by lawmakers in Cape Town.

May's Reworked Deal

Prime Minister Theresa May implored British MPs to back her reworked EU divorce deal but saw pro-Brexit Conservatives and Opposition parties savage her bid for a compromise to end months of political crisis.
Ms. May urged lawmakers, who have repeatedly rejected her plan, to vote for it in early June so that the country can finally leave the bloc later in the summer. "The opportunity of Brexit is too large and the consequences of failure too grave to risk further delay," the Prime Minister, who has vowed to stand down following the crunch parliamentary vote, told the House of Commons. "Reject it and all we have before us is division and deadlock."

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