Diplomacy & Crisis News

People suffering from mental health disorders are facing unequal access to specialized care, the United Nations health agency announced today as it urged international governments to boost financing for mental health services around the world.

The United Nations rights office today welcomed the recent release of a Palestinian prisoner who had been on a hunger strike protesting his continuing administrative detention by the Israeli authorities since 8 July 2014.

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) expressed deep concern over attacks and incitement to violence against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people in Turkey and has called on the authorities to take active measures to combat homophobic and transphobic violence and discrimination, a UN spokesperson said today.

Avant tout, la conclusion d'un accord sur le programme nucléaire iranien représente une victoire pour Téhéran, même si rien n'est encore joué et si des divergences majeures subsistent quant à son interprétation. / États-Unis, États-Unis (affaires extérieures), Iran, Proche-Orient, Nucléaire militaire, (...) / États-Unis, États-Unis (affaires extérieures), Iran, Proche-Orient, Nucléaire militaire, Mutation, Nucléaire civil, Relations internationales, Diplomatie, Relations bilatérales - 2015/05

Après guerre, la République fédérale d'Allemagne n'a jamais nourri le projet de régir l'Europe. Le gouvernement de Mme Angela Merkel doit aujourd'hui faire face à une tout autre situation. / Allemagne, Dette, Économie, État, Finance, Histoire, Monnaie, Politique, Crise économique, Crise financière - (...) / Allemagne, Dette, Économie, État, Finance, Histoire, Monnaie, Politique, Crise économique, Crise financière - 2015/05

In Addis Ababa, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today underscored the crucial financing role of the business sector in ensuring the necessary resources for people-centred sustainable development.

The world has exceeded the targets contained in the Millennium Development Goals to halt and reverse the spread of HIV and is on track to end the AIDS epidemic by 2030, according to a report released today in Addis Ababa by the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS).

Negotiations on a comprehensive financing framework for sustainable development resumed today in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where Member States have gathered for a United Nations conference aimed at securing the resources necessary for the well-being of all people and the health of the planet.

Nul lecteur de Jules Verne n'a oublié cette révélation du capitaine Nemo au naturaliste français Pierre Aronnax, assis à la table du Nautilus, son sous-marin mythique : « Ce que vous croyez être de la viande, monsieur le professeur, n'est autre chose que du filet de tortue de mer . » L'histoire ne dit (...) / Agriculture, Agroalimentaire, Alimentation, Culture, Histoire, Mutation, Société - 2015/07

Plus de quarante ans après que Robert Paxton a liquidé, dans La France de Vichy (Seuil), la thèse de Robert Aron selon laquelle Philippe Pétain aurait servi de « bouclier » aux Français, les notions de « représentations », de « psychologie » et d'éthique triomphent dans le traitement de la collaboration (...) / Allemagne, France, Extrême droite, Histoire, Judaïsme, Nazisme, Racisme, Seconde guerre mondiale 1939-1945, Fascisme - 2015/07

Les voix singulières sont rares, de celles qui envoûtent ou mettent mal à l'aise. C'est le cas de Scott Walker, crooner baryton passé de la pop des années 1960 à l'avant-garde actuelle après une traversée du désert et l'adaptation émerveillée de Jacques Brel en anglais. Né à Cleveland, aux Etats-Unis, (...) / États-Unis, Cinéma, Histoire, Musique, Personnalités - 2015/07

Tout au long du siècle dernier, des luttes sociales et politiques ont cherché à permettre à chacun de s'approprier l'art théâtral. Avignon sera le premier emblème de ce vaste mouvement d'émancipation par la « décentralisation ». Depuis une trentaine d'années, ce projet s'est peu à peu dévoyé. / France, (...) / France, Art, Culture, Histoire, Mutation, Politique, Région, Théâtre, Associations - 2014/07

« L'Europe est-elle en train de préparer de nouveaux accords Sykes-Picot ? » Conséquence de l'effondrement du vieux système datant de la fin de la première guerre mondiale, les frontières du Proche-Orient se sont totalement effacées. / Europe, Irak, Liban, Proche-Orient, Syrie, Turquie, Conflit, État, (...) / Europe, Irak, Liban, Proche-Orient, Syrie, Turquie, Conflit, État, Histoire, Islam, Nationalisme, Religion, Violence, Frontières, Panarabisme - 2014/07

Paru en 1966, « Islam et capitalisme », du célèbre orientaliste Maxime Rodinson, n'avait encore jamais été réédité. Réfutant l'idée selon laquelle il existerait des règles propres aux pays du monde musulman, radicalement distinctes de celles qui régissent l'Occident, Rodinson préfère adopter pour son (...) / Arabie saoudite, Égypte, Proche-Orient, Monde arabe, Capitalisme, Économie, Histoire, Idées, Idéologie, Islam, Nationalisme, Religion, Socialisme, Marxisme - 2014/04

Photo Credit: Daphne Carlson Bremer/USFWS

How Britain and the US decided to abandon Srebrenica to its fate
By Florence Hartmann and Ed Vulliamy
The Guardian

Dubbed the worst massacre in Europe since World War II, the Srebrenica massacre in July 1995 has long been considered a stain on Western efforts to secure peace in the Balkans. But another recent investigation sheds new light on the West’s involvement, or lack thereof, during those weeks in July.

Elephant Watch
By Peter Canby
The New Yorker

As demand for ivory in Asia rises, offering more monetary incentives for poachers throughout the region, poachers are going to great lengths to harvest ivory, threatening Africa’s already-dwindling elephant population even further. Canby looks into poaching as it is practiced today in countries like the Central African Republic and the Congo, and profiles the scientists, activists and politicians working to end the noxious practice.

The Rule of Boko Haram
By Joshua Hammer
The New York Review of Books

While it’s one of the wealthiest and most oil-rich countries in Africa, Nigeria has been chasing political stability for quite some time. Corruption and a series of military dictatorships have weakened the country significantly, making the rich richer and the poor much, much poorer. It’s within this context that Boko Haram emerged, with its roots in one of the poorest parts of Nigeria. In this review of Mike Smith’s Boko Haram: Inside Nigeria’s Unholy War, Hammer looks into the terrorist group’s roots, the damage it’s done to the country and the military efforts against it.

Well Aimed and Powerful
By Margaret Lazarus Dean
Longreads

In this excerpt from Dean’s latest book, Leaving Orbit, Dean looks at space travel and the strange phenomenon of moon landing conspiracy theories. In recent years, the theory has, for whatever reason, picked up steam, and a staggering number of “doubters” have come forward. An era of ignorance, it seems, about spaceflight is upon us.

The Mixed Up Brothers of Bogota
By Susan Dominus
The New York Times Magazine

Two sets of fraternal twins; one big mix up. Dominus tells the story of how it happened and how they found out.

Blogs:

The Overlooked Roots of the Greek Crisis by Scott Monje
Unleashing the Patriotic Dragon by Gary Sands
Israel has Hired a Cartoonist by Josh Klemons
The Diplomatic Erosion of the SALT II Treaty: Russia Builds a New ICBM by Richard Basas
Tensions Between Russia and the West Play Out Over Srebrenica by Hannah Gais

A boy at a grave during the 2006 funeral of genocide victims at the Srebrenica-Potočari Memorial Center. Photo Credit: Emir Kotromanić

Twenty years on, one of the largest massacres in Europe since World War II continues to spur controversy, now threatening to further divide Russia and the West.

The event in question is the Srebrenica massacre — the systematic killing of over 8,000 Bosniak men and boys in and around Srebrenica in July 1995 during the Bosnian War. Srebrenica, which had been declared a “safe area” under the protection of U.N. peacekeeping units, was stormed by the Bosnia Serb Army (VRS) in the afternoon of July 10, 1995. At the time, U.N. officers in the region put out an urgent call to stop the VRS from overrunning the town. Despite repeated requests, NATO did not attempt to provide air support until July 11. Without substantial assistance, the VRS was able to drive out the U.N. peacekeepers and Dutch forces stationed there and seize the town, killing thousands.

Ten years later, U.N. secretary-general Kofi Annan called it “the worst [crime] on European soil since the Second World War.”

Still, whether or not the event should be classified as a genocide continues to be a major point of contention for a number of countries, including some of Serbia’s closest allies. That controversy has reignited over Russia’s veto of a recent U.N. resolution put forward to the U.N. Security Council for a vote on Wednesday. The resolution would have formally recognized the massacre as a genocide on the eve of its 20th anniversary.

Vitaly Churkin, Russia’s ambassador to the U.N., accused the resolution of being “not constructive, confrontational and politically-motivated.” He further argued that the text, at least as it stands now, would “doom the region to tension” because it singled out war crimes committed by Bosnian Serbs.

But a number of Western diplomats have taken issue with Churkin’s characterization of the resolution, particularly because the vote had actually been delayed in order for British, American and Russian diplomats to come to a compromise on some of the language.

“We had very, very close contact with the Russians throughout all of this. Indeed, we would’ve held this debate yesterday — we postponed it for a day in order to allow for last-minute consultations with the Russians to try and get the widest support possible for this resolution,” Peter Wilson, the U.K. ambassador deputy permanent representative to the U.N., told the BBC.

“People recognize that you can’t make progress in the way that Bosnia-Herzegovina needs to make progress if you don’t recognize what happened in the past.”

Samantha Power, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., took an even more aggressive stance, saying, “Russia’s veto is heartbreaking for those families and it is a further stain on this Council’s record.”

“This Council did everything in its power to get Russia on board with this simple resolution that did not even name the perpetrators. But Russia had a red line; the resolution could not reference the genocide in Srebrenica. It could not reference a fact.”

These diplomatic efforts aside, Russia’s veto is not tremendously surprising. Russia and Serbia are close allies. Both Putin and Medvedev have repeatedly backed Serbia’s condemnations of Kosovo’s independence, calling its efforts “immoral and illegal.” Still, with Serbia sniffing out a possible EU membership, Russia does have some cause for concern. It has seen other former Soviet satellite states fall out of its sphere of influence and gravitate toward the West. Fears of Serbia doing the same are not unfounded. Backing Serbia and its narrative about Srebrenica (Serbia denies the killings were genocidal in nature) is one way to try and keep the country in Russia’s orbit.

Students and pro-democracy activists were among those who marched to the Hong Kong government’s headquarters to protest the new curriculum, which authorities are encouraging schools to begin using when classes resume in September. Students and pro-democracy activists marching to the Hong Kong government’s headquarters in 2012 to protest the new patriotic curriculum. Vincent Yu / The Associated Press

An exhibition to commemorate the World War II victory over Japan is Beijing’s latest attempt to prop up nationalism and is part of a greater effort at patriotism that could eventually backfire. The “Great Victory and Historical Contribution” exhibition opened on Tuesday at the Museum of the War of the Chinese People’s Resistance Against Japanese Aggression in Beijing. The opening marked the 78th anniversary of the Marco Polo Bridge Incident in 1937, regarded as the first battle of the second Sino-Japanese war. The exhibition was visited later that day by Chinese President Xi Jinping and all of the top leadership of the seven-man Politburo Standing Committee.

The exhibition comes at a time when relations between Beijing and Tokyo have soured over the last few years, largely as a result of Beijing’s dissatisfaction with the depth of Japanese apologies for war suffering and heightened tensions over competing claims to islands in the East China Sea, alternatively known as the Diaoyu or Senkaku. Beijing also frets over Japan’s recent constitutional push for greater militarism, while Tokyo claims Beijing is becoming more aggressive in asserting its maritime territorial claims.

While the exhibition includes the usual weaponry and gruesome photos, it differs little from similar war-time exhibitions found in other countries, as it is intended to serve as propaganda for furthering patriotic education. Yet the seemingly harmless exhibition can be viewed as but one in a series of efforts toward the promotion of nationalism, following last year’s creation by Xi of three new annual national holidays linked to the war. Also this week, Beijing announced on Monday the staging of 183 war-themed performances, and the screening of new movies, television shows, and documentaries intended “to increase patriotism.” Beijing will also hold a military parade in September to mark the anniversary of the end of the war in Asia.

Unfortunately, the enhanced drive by Beijing to create nationalists and promote citizen patriotism has worrisome parallels to its attempt to promote stock ownership among its citizens. The party’s attempt at hyping stock ownership and propping up share values has only increased expectations of higher and unreasonable returns, as the average price-earnings ratio reached 64 for the Shenzhen exchange (anything above 25 is considered expensive). These high valuations eventually proved unsustainable, with fears causing the markets to crash over 30 percent from their peak on June 12 and forcing Beijing to restrict trading in close to half of the market’s shares. The inability of Beijing to impose effective stabilization measures to limit the downward spiral of share selling has many Chinese now wondering just how effective their government is at overall control measures.

Could the same downward spiral happen because of rising nationalism? Were changes to the Japan constitution to allow for greater militarization, could Tokyo seek to aggressively assert its claim over the Senkaku island chain, thereby prompting a strong (and face-saving) response from Beijing? With growing patriotism and today’s social networking capabilities, angry nationalistic mobs could rise up more quickly and coordinated in provinces and cities throughout China. We have already witnessed rampant Chinese nationalism against the Japanese in recent years, as patriotic citizens burned a Panasonic factory in Qingdao, looted a Toyota dealership and Japanese restaurants, and torched Japanese-branded cars (being made in China by Chinese workers). Meanwhile, Chinese fishermen have amassed in huge flotillas to challenge fishing rights in disputed waters.

Xi’s willingness to foster a greater patriotism among his citizens is a method copied from Mao Zedong during the Cultural Revolution with his backing of the Red Guards. The growth of nationalism and the encouragement of a New Red Guard in China is potentially as dangerous, as it raises expectations which may spiral out of control. Growing nationalism and subsequent support for Chinese companies vis-a-vis foreign companies (through increased regulation) also has the potential to scare off new foreign direct investment. Japanese manufacturers are already reconsidering investing in China and other countries may follow.

While the excesses of Mao’s Red Guard cannot currently compare with the patriotic fervor Xi has begun to promote, China is not strengthening its cause by encouraging these nationalistic forces to draw attention in international media and is failing to draw international sympathy for its cause. Instead, China is heightening anxieties among neighboring nations and inadvertently stoking the nationalist fires of other countries who are racing to upgrade their military capabilities. By firing up nationalism, the party is shooting itself in the foot as it weakens its ability to partner with these countries (and others not directly involved in maritime territorial disputes) to secure the resources it needs for its somewhat diminished, but continued, growth.

This escalation of nationalism will no doubt backfire as countries realize the extent the party will go to in order to secure its own interest — to the detriment of its trade partners. Perhaps most importantly, though, the party must be careful not to raise the nationalistic expectations of its patriotic populace in similar ways it raised the materialistic expectations of its profiteering populace — witness the recent anger and resentment over the all-powerful party’s inability to stem losses on the Shanghai and Shenzen stock markets. The new party leadership under Xi should reconsider its approach to promoting nationalism, in light of its failure to control the stock markets, and reign in its latest effort to promote nationalism, for as Mao Zedong once said, “It only takes a spark to start a prairie fire.”

 

L'Allemagne trône au cœur de cet espace où chaque Etat devient le prédateur potentiel de ses voisins. Alors, que faire ? / Allemagne, Europe, France, Banque, Capitalisme, Démocratie, Économie, Finance, Histoire, Idées, Inégalités, Crise économique, Crise financière, Néolibéralisme - (...) / Allemagne, Europe, France, Banque, Capitalisme, Démocratie, Économie, Finance, Histoire, Idées, Inégalités, Crise économique, Crise financière, Néolibéralisme - 2014/03

Coincée entre deux puissances qui voient en elle tantôt un grand marché, tantôt un pion géopolitique, l'Ukraine, sous la conduite de son gouvernement autoritaire, zigzague sur une voie étroite. / Europe, Europe de l'Est, Russie, Ukraine, Économie, Énergie, Géopolitique, Nationalisme, Relations (...) / Europe, Europe de l'Est, Russie, Ukraine, Économie, Énergie, Géopolitique, Nationalisme, Relations internationales, Relations bilatérales - 2013/12

« L'artiste parle directement avec ce qu'il a de plus humain. L'art réinvente le monde, en montre d'autres, devine le futur, découvre le passé... » Cette sentence d'une prêtresse du candomblé, jadis la religion des esclaves au Brésil, éclaire tout le propos de Paulo Lins. C'est porté par cette (...) / Amérique latine, Brésil, Art, Culture, Inégalités, Littérature, Mouvement de contestation, Musique, Pauvreté, Ville - 2015/07