Diplomacy & Crisis News

The vital role of the world's oceans in human well-being and development is being highlighted next month as the United Nations hosts a global conference aimed at protecting these resources.

Though the opposition may be largely symbolic, lawmakers are clearly growing tired of unconditional support for the Gulf kingdom.

As Head of Communications and Chief Spokesperson for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Melissa Fleming listens to stories of people fleeing for their lives every day. Although she has met many refugees and gotten to know several stories of resilience, when she came across Doaa’s story, she couldn’t sleep at night.

Boeing’s agreement to sell planes to Iran forces Trump to choose between two campaign promises.

On trade, climate change, and Russia, world leaders disagree.

What’s a $1,500-a-day travel allowance for hard-working flunkies?

When President Trump spoke to NATO members for the first time on Thursday he failed to say the one thing Europeans were waiting to hear.

An “America first” policy risks leaving America alone.

Andrej Kiska wants “boring” elections. Whether Slovakia’s Supreme Court dissolves the People’s Party could decide it.

The United Nations human rights chief today urged all warring parties in Syria to take every feasible measure to spare the civilian population from the effects of the armed conflict, noting that civilians are increasing caught in fighting between the Government forces and the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL/Da&#39esh) terrorist group.

The United Nations Security Council and Secretary-General António Guterres today condemned in the strongest terms the killing of at least 28 people in Egypt, with the Council denouncing the attack &#8220heinous&#8221 and &#8220cowardly.&#8221

Citing Iraqi Government figures, the United Nations migration agency today warned that the number of people fleeing West Mosul is soaring &#8211 on 18 May, hitting a peak when some 16,100 transited through the Hamam al-Alil screening site &#8211 the largest official daily movement of people since the October 2016 military offence began.

A senior United Nations official is calling for additional humanitarian aid in the Central African Republic, where nearly the entire population of the city Bria was forcibly displaced last week.

Condemning the surging violence in Tripoli, the top United Nations official in Libya called today for an immediate end to fighting in and around the capital and for rival groups to &#8220put Libyan national interests&#8221 ahead of their own.

Opening a major United Nations conference on risk reduction in Cancun, Mexico, Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed cautioned that the world would not reach its development goals without tackling climate change and disaster risk.

In an exclusive interview, Sherkoh Abbas, the head of the Kurdistan National Assembly of Syria, warns the US government of the dangers posed by supporting Saudi Arabia and Turkey. He argued that the Kurds are better allies for the Americans.

In an exclusive interview, Sherkoh Abbas, the head of the Kurdistan National Assembly of Syria, stressed following Trump’s lavish welcome in Saudi Arabia that the United States should be wary of the Saudi government:

“They have to look in the mirror. Much of the extremism is caused by them. I hope that Trump will hold them accountable and not be fooled by nice words but judge them based on their actions. I think they will have a hard time. None of the leaders have been successful in pressuring them. Now is the time to weaken these regimes so that the extremism will stop. That is the only way to bring about peace and stability to the region.”

“Most of the leaders who met Trump in Saudi Arabia are tyrants, dictators,” he related. “None of these leaders were elected. Most of their people are unemployed yet they can cough up billions to make weapons to oppress people. They should spend money to make peoples’ lives better. Then you don’t have to buy weapons to oppress your people.

Furthermore, the Saudis won’t allow a woman to drive to save her dad. When you have a foreigner working there, you have no rights. You can be enslaved. Yet we call them allies and friends. If that person is horrible to his sister and wife, how can he be good to me? How can I trust that person? These guys are not allies. Its mutual interests. In the long run, you will regret making alliances with these regimes.”

Abbas emphasized that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whom Trump has praised as an ally in the fight against terrorism and congratulated on winning the referendum, runs a country that cares more about oppressing the Kurds than suppressing radical extremism.

It has been reported that Turkey allegedly sent weapons to ISIS and traded in ISIS oil. Furthermore, numerous media outlets have noted that Turkey has permitted thousands of ISIS terrorists to smuggle across their border into Syria and have given medical assistance to ISIS terrorists.

Not too long ago, the Turkish entourage was recorded beating Kurdish and Armenian protesters in Washington, DC. In response to this action, Senator John McCain called for the Turkish Ambassador to be booted out of the US but Trump took zero action against Turkey for this.

Abbas responded to McCain’s response to this incident as follows: “We commend and salute Senator McCain for asking the administration to behave strongly towards the Turkish Ambassador. Unfortunately, the administration has not done so.”

Abbas stressed that Turkey always tries to portray the Kurds to be inhumane people but how the Turkish security forces treated those demonstrators exposed their true face:

“We saw their actions in front of world civilization in the heart of the free world’s capital city and what they did to peaceful people. Can you imagine what they are doing with their soldiers behind the scenes to the Kurds of Turkey? Are they slaughtering people? Killing people? In the past, some of their soldiers would cut off the heads of PKK people and then take pictures and display them as trophies. That is very similar to ISIS. It is horrifying that the administration in Washington, DC did not put those people in prison. Now, if they travel to Europe, Canada, etc., they think they can kill and get away with it. Is this the law of the jungle?”

According to Abbas, for Trump, it is all about making business deals and he claimed that Trump views those interests to be the first priority. He claimed that Trump speaks out about the evils of extremism but then he gave $110 billion worth of weapons to Saudi Arabia and made so many deals:

“It shows that business comes first. It should be that American values and Western values should not be compromised. Building up the Sunnis against the Shias will not appease them for eventually the Sunnis will turn on you. It is better to weaken the Sunnis and Shias and to support the Balochis, Kurds and others who are oppressed and have the same values as Americans. It is beneficial for your people and our people. Otherwise, you will only see tyranny and extremism.”

The post Syrian Kurdish dissident: “Beware of the Saudis and Turks” appeared first on Foreign Policy Blogs.

Like many countries, China has long reverted to cash as a means to buy influence with other countries. An obvious example is the furtherance of Beijing’s “One China” policy, whereby China lavishes extensive economic aid in exchange for a country’s political allegiance to refuting Taiwan’s claim as an independent country and legitimate representative of China. According to AidData, countries which vote with China at the U.N. usually receive more aid than other countries.

To date, Beijing has successfully chipped away at Taipei’s claim, with just 21 countries recognizing the Republic of China’s government in Taiwan.

Yet beyond the obvious political motivations, Beijing is also keen to obtain the resources needed to fuel its still growing economy. But Beijing has recognized that getting the resources it needs out of resource-rich countries is not always easy, given these countries lack sufficient infrastructure such as roads, highways, ports, pipelines and railways. So China is offering to build that infrastructure, while creating more work for its construction, steel, cement, railway and machinery companies.

To fund the construction of infrastructure, China has established the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), as part of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s vision in 2013 of restoring China as a global power under the “Belt and Road Initiative” (BRI) or “One Belt, One Road” (OBOR). On May 14-15, President Xi hosted leaders from 29 countries in Beijing for the Belt and Road Forum, intended to push for the reestablishment of the ancient silk road trade routes through infrastructure investment.

The AIIB represents an effort by Beijing to use soft power to achieve geopolitical influence in Asia, as Jin Liqun, the Chinese president of the AIIB recently implied: “China needs to do something that can help it be recognized as a responsible leader.”

Following the launch of AIIB in January 2016, and with 57 countries signing on, a total of 13 projects have been approved. The latest approval came this month for a $160 million loan to help improve the transmission and distribution of electricity in Andhra Pradesh, India.

The AIIB has also approved power sector investments in other South Asian countries, including $165 million in loans to upgrade the electricity distribution and provide electricity to more than 2.5 million rural consumers in Bangladesh and $300 million for the Tarbela Hydroelectric Dam project in Pakistan. In South Asia, the AIIB has also approved loans of $100 million for a motorway in Pakistan and $60 million for a gas field and pipeline development in Bangladesh.

The AIIB’s approval of $400 million in loans for projects in Pakistan will certainly help cement relations with one of Beijing’s staunchest allies. The AIIB’s loans may go along way toward currying favor with Pakistanis – the overwhelming majority (some 80%) of whom hold a favorable view of China (the highest in Asia), according to a recent Pew Center Research survey.

Indonesians too, hold China in high regard, with some 60% having favorable opinions of China while being far less concerned over territorial disputes with China than other ASEAN nations like Vietnam and the Philippines. Certainly adding to China’s popularity with Indonesians will be AIIB’s $217 million participation in a $1.7 billion project to improve slums in Indonesia, providing access to clean water and sanitation.

Yet the goodwill expected by China will only follow if the projects are implemented on time, on budget and in accordance with environmental standards and social safeguards. Beijing ‘s track record in environmental protection throughout China leaves much to be desired, although authorities have recently taken measures to reduce high pollution levels. On this front, AIIB’s participation with lenders such as World Bank and Asian Development Bank (ADB) is advantageous, given the stricter of local or World Bank guidelines are often written into co-financing agreements.

With Beijing holding the majority (28%) of AIIB’s voting rights (India has 8%, Russia 6%), the bank has rightly been noted by some analysts as a deliberate political effort to pull Asian countries closer into China’s orbit. However, co-financings with the World Bank and ADB – who will be reluctant to give the new bank a lead role – will translate into a junior role for AIIB and help mitigate this concern.

Over the long run, as AIIB staff come up the learning curve, the AIIB will seek to increase its political influence on Asian nations by doing projects on its own and participating in fewer co-financings.

There is the danger that in so doing, the stricter environmental and social standards imposed by other developmental institutions may be set aside in the rush to quickly roll out major infrastructure projects and gain favor with host nations. If standards are relaxed, Asian host nations of AIIB projects may come to face the same problems China has experienced with its own infrastructure growth, including forced relocations, quality control problems and investment in wasteful “white elephants.”

Needless to say, other multilateral banks, such as the World Bank and the ADB, have been cited in the past for their association with environmentally harmful projects to corrupt governments. Despite this risk, the AIIB deserves a chance to offer a new alternative and prove itself to be a viable development finance institution. Asia needs the infrastructure necessary to grow – and China’s economy needs new opportunities for growth.

The post China’s Infrastructure Bank Makes Inroads in Asia appeared first on Foreign Policy Blogs.

Parties to conflict are treating hospitals and clinics as targets, rather than respecting them as sanctuaries, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres warned today during a Security Council debate on the protection of civilians in armed violence.

‘Africa Day’ 2017 comes at an important moment in the continent’s endeavours towards peace, inclusive economic growth and sustainable development United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said, urging humanity to listen and learn with the people of Africa.

Ahead of the Group of Seven summit in Italy, the United Nations children’s agency has urged the leaders of G7 industrialized countries to adopt its six-point action plan for the protection of refugee and migrant children.