Diplomacy & Crisis News

A cohort of independent UN experts has called on the Human Rights Council to launch an international investigation into the massive explosion in Beirut two year ago, with a view to securing justice for those who died and were injured.

Amid growing restrictions on civic space and press freedoms in Cambodia, journalists are being increasingly subjected to various forms of harassment, pressure, and violence, according to a new report published on Wednesday by the UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR).

La politique industrielle européenne a tout d'un ovni : on en parle beaucoup, on suspecte qu'elle existe, mais nul n'est en mesure de la cerner avec précision. Ceux qui croient en son existence la résument à un nom : Airbus. Les sceptiques énumèrent les carcasses industrielles qui jonchent les casses (...) / Allemagne, Europe, France, Économie, Entreprise, Histoire, Industrie, Industrie de l'armement, Libéralisme, Aéronautique - 2017/06

The first, eagerly-awaited commercial shipment of grain to leave the Ukrainian port of Odesa since Russia’s invasion more than five months ago, was cleared to proceed to Lebanon on Wednesday, after a scheduled inspection stopover in Istanbul.

The UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR) denounced on Tuesday the hanging of two inmates in Changi Prison, located in the eastern part of Singapore.

The landmark truce in Yemen, which has been holding since April, has been renewed for an additional two months through 2 October, UN Special Envoy for the country, Hans Grundberg, announced on Tuesday. 

Three UN-appointed independent human rights experts returned from Ethiopia on Tuesday after working to negotiate access to areas important for investigations.

The World Health Organization (WHO) warned on Tuesday that the Greater Horn of Africa is experiencing one of the worst hunger crises of the last 70 years.  

Countries need to work more together to stop the rapidly spreading outbreak of monkeypox, “no matter the nationality, skin colour or religion of the affected population,” the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday.

Two of the largest reservoirs in the United States are at dangerously low levels due to the climate crisis and overconsumption of water, which could affect water and electricity supply for millions in six western states and Mexico, the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) warned on Tuesday. 

While more than three quarters of all adults living with HIV are receiving some kind of treatment, the number of children doing so, stands at only 52 per cent. In response to this startling disparity, UN agencies UNAIDS, UNICEF, WHO, and others, have formed a global alliance to prevent new HIV infections and ensure that by 2030 all HIV positive children can get access to lifesaving treatment.

Moscow’s disastrous invasion of Ukraine will reinforce the norm against war.

Relying on Beijing is a bad bet.

Le vampire est un des rares mythes qu'a inventés notre modernité. Certes, il hante quelques romans au fil du XIXe siècle et l'on dit qu'il exista jadis un Dracul de mauvaise réputation en Transylvanie. Mais c'est à la fin des années 1800 que sa figure prend toute sa puissance, sur fond de répression (...) / Royaume-Uni, Culture, Fiction, Histoire, Littérature, Santé, Société, Criminalité, Théâtre - 2022/08

L'accession de Mme Marine Le Pen, la candidate du Front national, au second tour de l'élection présidentielle aura au moins eu pour vertu d'éliminer les prudences et rondeurs déontologiques qui d'ordinaire enrobent le discours journalistique. Et de donner à voir les grands médias pour ce qu'ils sont (...) / France, Audiovisuel, Élections, Idéologie, Information, Médias, Politique, Presse - 2017/06

It’s not just a land grab, but a bid to expunge a nation.

Démarche vertueuse en termes d'emploi, d'utilisation des ressources et de santé publique, l'agriculture biologique progresse rapidement en France. Alléchées, l'industrie agroalimentaire et la grande distribution entendent bien s'emparer de ce marché. Au risque d'en effacer les fondements en faisant (...) / Agriculture, Agroalimentaire, Alimentation, Libéralisme, Mondialisation, Commerce - 2017/06

In the shadow of war, the FSB embraces Stalin’s methods.

For the last couple of years, I have been writing a book about Ayoob Kara, who served as Israel’s Communication, Cyber and Satellite Minister under Netanyahu.  Today, I finished writing the book and I am in the process of editing and publishing it.   The book is titled, “Ayoob Kara: The Man Behind the Abraham Accords.” One of the main issues that the book tackles is the Iranian threat and how the West should deal with a nuclear Iran.   

At a time when the Biden administration is desperately trying to reach any deal with Iran, Kara has called upon the free world to stop trading with Iran: “The sanctions are very important for stopping Iran.   We have to stop all free countries from buying anything from Iran.  If the world lifts sanctions on Iran, then they will wage war and occupy other states, like they did already in Syria, Lebanon, Yemen, Libya, etc.   They destroy all of the states they can.   They use all of their money to support this terror.”  For this reason, no one should trade with the Islamic Republic of Iran and view it as a solution to Europe’s energy crisis that was caused by the war in Ukraine.

 Aside from keeping all sanctions in place, the Honorable Kara believes that the best way to fight against the Iranian regime is to have a coalition of states unite together to address the Iranian threat: “All of the Middle Eastern countries should have a system like NATO in Europe.”  He believes that Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Israel, Morocco and perhaps other countries in the Middle East region could form such a union, as all of these countries are threatened by Iran’s hegemony in the Middle East.

According to Kara, “The Shiites in Iran seek to occupy the Sunni areas.   The fighting between the Shias and Sunnis has been ongoing since the days of the Prophet Muhammed.  The Shias believe in Ali and the Sunnis do not.  Afterwards, there was a big fight between them.  The Sunnis threw them out of Saudi Arabia and sent the Shias north to Iran, which became the capital of the Shias.   This situation makes the Shias feel like outsiders in the Islamic world.   The Sunnis hate them so much not only because they fought with them about who succeeds Muhammed.   They hate them for the empire they created.  For many years, the Shias say among themselves that even though the Sunnis sent them far away from the holy areas of Islam, one day we must re-occupy them.” 

For this reason, Kara believes that the Iranians seek to occupy the Arab areas of the Middle East before Israel and thus that the Sunni countries in the Middle East are Israel’s natural allies.    Kara supports the creation of a Turkic Union, where all of the Turkic states like Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, etc. unite together to fight against the Iranians: “This is very important.   This stops Iran from expanding.”  Historically, it was the Turkic nations who fought against the Persians in the past, so Kara believes they have a role to play in stopping the expansion of the Shia Crescent.   Kara noted that he visited Azerbaijan’s border with Iran, as a means to counter Soleimani’s visit to the Lebanese-Israeli border: “It is important to show them that we don’t care and we have the power to help states like Azerbaijan that hate the extremism.”

Kara believes that the free world has a duty to stop the Shia Crescent and to help the Iranian people obtain freedom: “I think that all of the minorities inside Iran must shake hands and cooperate together against the mullahs to destroy the regime, and the world must support these minorities.   We should do everything to stop the Iranian regime including supporting the independence movements of many of the minorities in Iran for the number one danger now is Iran.”  Thus, there should be a free Ahwaz nation, a free Baluchistan, a free South Azerbaijan, etc.   

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By Rachel Avraham

Canada sends Nord Stream turbine to Germany, despite Ukraine resistance

Active Support for Ukraine has made history for the amount of funds and military equipment that has been given to Ukraine by NATO and other supportive nations. Sanctions against Russia has also made history for the level of restrictions and depth of sanctions against Russia’s Government and those tied to Putin himself. The donated advanced military equipment has taken a large toll on Russian forces in Ukraine, as systems like Hi-Mars and Javelin have given Ukraine the ability to stop Russian tanks and armour in the field and challenge Russian positions.

A recent break in relations between Ukraine and some of its NATO allies took place when Canada decided to suspend parts of its sanctions and send upwards of six gas turbines to Germany’s Russian oil pipeline in order for Russia to send oil to Germany via a main pipeline in Europe. Despite sanctions, Canada readily sent equipment to Russia that would help financially support their war effort. While the intent of the turbine and pipeline is to get fuel to Germany, and much of Europe is still unable to displace Russian oil and gas from their economies, it angered President Zelinsky to such a degree that Ukrainian organisations decided to sue over the actions. This act is also compounded with the fact that North American oil and gas has done little to increase production in order to displace Russian oil in Europe. The strategy so far has been to beg countries with atrocious human rights records to increase production. In one instance, Iran was tapped by Russia directly for military equipment in the form of drones, a country that has been asked by the United States to increase production to help ease fuel prices in support of the effort to protect Ukraine.

Open support for Ukraine and the Ukrainian people have been openly bold, but when looking into the finer details, some of the support has been more useful for publicity at home than in aid of soldiers on the ground in Ukraine. In this interview linked here, a Canadian fighting on the ground in Ukraine stated that half of the night vision equipment sent to them from Canada simply did not work. With transport so difficult to the front line in Ukraine right now, occupying shipping space with broken equipment is a multilevel detriment to the war effort in Ukraine. Even when assisting Ukrainian refugees into their country, Canada has created a special status for Ukrainian claimants into Canada that removes some of the supports under their normal Refugee Protection system. This left many in difficult situations when in Canada. Even on the announcement of a hotel for refugees in the middle of their largest city, Ukrainians were not allowed to have access to this newly funded refugee shelter, despite them consisting mostly of women and children in an area close to their larger immigrant community. In a time when Canadian citizens who’s families are the victim of Iran’s Government murdering them on Flight 752, Canada has told the families that they will only be represented by Ukraine in the international claim, this while Ukraine is at war and trying to preserve the continued existence of their own country.

While the world has decided to help Ukraine and punish Russia in support of Ukraine and its people, help must be given in a meaningful way. This means not tying policies to help Ukrainians with those also supporting Russian forces in the conflict on the other end of the policy approach. This means not treating Ukrainian refugees better or worse than others making those claims, and giving them equal treatment in the processes that are well established to help those running from war and human rights abuses. Actions taken by the International Ukrainian Community should extend past the turbine issue, to how refugees from Ukraine are being treated in the few instances where systemic discrimination is being applied upon their arrival to safe countries. The image of help is worth little to those who really need it.