Agrégateur de flux

Supporters of Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi brave the rain as they celebrate after hearing the first official results of the elections (AFP PHOTO / Nicolas ASFOURI).

Hello, FPA! This will be my first post here on the FPA blogs, and I am happy to make it on a topic of some importance: the elections in Myanmar. In what must stand out as one of the most astonishing political transformations of recent times, Myanmar has gone from being and isolated, semi-autarkic autocratic dictatorship to a rapidly democratizing society in less than five years. And Sunday’s elections, featuring former political prisoner and democracy advocate Aung San Suu Kyi, are the greatest testament yet to that transformation.

In this quick video, I take a look at some of the background, and the process of the election itself, within the context of the broader “Global Narratives” framework I apply to my ongoing global coverage.

I look forward to bringing more of my distinct brand of international analysis to the FPA! Comments and questions of course welcome!

NB – This video was shot and edited before the results of the election were formally announced. Another video soon will discuss the results.

If you are interested in more of my analysis, please check out my YouTube channel, Globalogues

The Digital Single Market needs no introduction when talking to people in Brussels. It is one of the Juncker Commission’s flagship initiatives, launched amid much anticipation back in May this year. The ‘DSM’ strategy announced a range of measures and ideas to improve access to online goods and services and help them ‘flourish’, and ‘maximise the growth potential’ of the Digital Economy in Europe. What does that mean exactly? Well, beyond the Commission-speak, it’s pretty simple really. But it takes a bit of digging to get to the core of what the Commission is trying to do.

First of all, it’s worth looking at why the DSM is such a big deal. This is an ambitious project. And, so far, attempts to introduce policy on digital issues at EU level have not been easy. There was the ‘Connected Continent’ proposal hailed by Commissioner Neelie Kroes as  ‘the single biggest thing the European institutions could finalise in 2014 to boost growth and jobs’. That was blocked in Council amidst squabbles over spectrum and roaming, and the institutions only managed to finalise it in October 2015 – having deleted most of the points which the Member States couldn’t agree on, leaving only about half of the original proposal. Then there is the General Data Protection Regulation, a hugely ambitious project to bring EU data protection laws into the digital era. That’s taken almost 3 years to finalise, and the Parliament and Council are still struggling to find agreement on some fundamental issues. And finally, the Network Information Security directive, a hugely important piece of legislation designed to protect us all from cybersecurity attacks – that’s also been in the works for almost three years. Just to put that into perspective, when the Commission wrote both these legislative proposals in 2011 and 2012, no-one had heard of Edward Snowden or Max Schrems and Uber, Snapchat and Tinder hadn’t been invented yet.

So, scene set. We get it. It takes a long time to pass legislation in the EU – that’s no surprise. But what I hope my little history lesson here has also shown is that when we’re talking about digital issues, the world moves fast even if the European institutions don’t. Which is why the Commission is trying to learn from past mistakes with its new flagship initiative, the DSM. This time, before even starting to write any legislative proposals, the Commission has been bending over backwards to get input from as many stakeholders as possible – both on a political and industry level. Politically, the Commission has been highly involved in the preparation of the Parliament’s report ‘Towards a Digital Single Market Act’ as they see it as an opportunity to figure out what MEPs want (or, more likely, what they don’t want) and forge some political compromise before the legislative process gets started. Similarly, industry has been trying to provide input to more than 10 public consultations launched on the DSM since September.

On the most ambitious (and, possibly, the most controversial) parts of the DSM, the Commission is moving forward cautiously. Geo-blocking, for example, was touted by Vice-President  Ansip as a ‘game-changer’ back when the DSM was launched in May this year. Ansip’s ‘crusade’ on geo-blocking, however, appears to have been scaled back. Whilst Ansip used to talk a lot about the frustrations of not being able to watch his favourite Estonian TV programmes online when he’s in Brussels, the public consultation on geo-blocking, which was launched in September, appears to focus almost entirely on geo-localisation techniques used by e-commerce sites – and largely overlooks the issue of copyright territoriality. The Commission has now announced that it will publish a proposal on ‘cross-border portability of online content services in the internal market’ under the banner of ‘copyright reform’. Which in all honesty sounds like it will tackle what Ansip originally called ‘geo-blocking’. Geo-blocking, therefore, appears to have been scaled back from a very complicated (and politically charged) question of copyright to focusing solely on e-commerce.

So, if geo-blocking is the first issue to be scaled back in the name of political compromise, what will be next? Lately, Commissioner Oettinger has been talking a lot less about his ambitions to regulate ‘platforms’, having faced strong criticism from MEPs across all parties and industry stakeholders. And what about copyright? We understand the Commission’s approach is to split it up into several ‘bite-sized’ pieces of legislation tackling specific issues, rather than attempting to reform all EU copyright rules in one go. But don’t worry – there’s still plenty of bite left in the DSM to keep everyone busy for the next year. The DSM may have come in like a lion, but it’s certainly not going out like a lamb.

 

Catherine Armitage

 

 

 

 

L’arrivée de nombreux réfugiés en Allemagne et le développement de réactions hostiles se traduit par une montée en puissance des publications xénophobes sur les réseaux sociaux. Facebook se voit reprocher d’être plus efficace pour effacer des photos jugées trop impudiques que des commentaires racistes.

Ils seraient obligés de passer par les Iraniens qui assurent la sécurité du président syrien.

Les exercices militaires russo-indiens des troupes d’infanterie Indra-2015 ont eu lieu avec succès près de la ville indienne de Bikaner au champ de tir de Mahajan.

Deux Israéliens ont été tués et au moins un autre blessé vendredi par des tirs depuis une voiture au sud de Hébron en Cisjordanie occupée, ont in

L’attaque revendiquée par l’EI a fait au moins 43 morts. C’est la plus sanglante contre le Hezbollah depuis son implication dans le conflit syrien. Journ&#2

MENACES - La section anti-terroriste de Toulon a interpellé le 29 octobre un jeune homme qui projetait un attentat contre la base navale de Toulon. Une militaire du site estim

Le Kremlin a confirmé que la télévision russe avait bien diffusé par erreur des images d’un nouveau système secret de torpilles à charge nucl&#2

Après d’âpres débats, le gouvernement autrichien a finalement décidé de construire une clôture à sa frontière avec la Slovénie pour endiguer l’afflux de réfugiés. Mais le gouvernement autrichien souligne qu’il ne s’agit nullement de fermer la frontière selon le modèle hongrois. Le nouveau dispositif ne sera en place que dans deux mois.

Les Etats-Unis n’ont pas encore confirmé sa mort mais selon un porte-parole du Pentagone, les Américains sont « plutôt certains » d'avoir tué « Jihadi John », un Britannique membre du groupe Etat islamique, tristement connu pour avoir été l'assassin de nombreux otages américains, britanniques et japonais. Il a été pris pour cible par l’armée américaine lors d’un raid aérien en Syrie.

La Russie est, ce vendredi 13 novembre, dans l'attente du verdict de la Fédération internationale d'athlétisme qui doit se prononcer dans la soirée sur les suites à donner aux accusations de dopage généralisées des sportifs russes. En cas de suspension de la Fédération russe d'athlétisme, les athlètes seraient privés des Jeux olympiques de 2016, ce qui constituerait un véritable séisme pour la Russie, où le sport revêt une importance toute particulière.

Ils seraient obligés de passer par les Iraniens qui assurent la sécurité du président syrien.

Although relatively small in scale, Russia’s military operation in Syria has highlighted some major improvements in Russian military capabilities.

Beyond its purely geopolitical goals, Russia’s operation in Syria has been designed to test improvements in Russian military capabilities that have resulted from the military reform carried out over the last seven years and to highlight these improvements to potential adversaries. While the jury is still out on how successful the operation will be in helping the Syrian government turn the tide against its various opponents, it has already shown that the military reform has resulted in a significant increase in Russia’s warfighting capability.

Compared to the 2008 Georgia War, which was the last time the Russian Air Force operated in a combat environment, the Russian military appears to have made great strides in increasing operational tempo and improving inter-service integration. It has also made significant advances in its ability to carry out expeditionary operations and showcased its recently developed stand-off strike capability.

….

Originally published by the Lowy Institute Interpreter. Click here to read the rest of the article.

"I welcome the release of imprisoned Azerbaijani human rights activist Arif Yunus, ordered by the Baku Court of Appeals due to his deteriorating health. This is an important initial step and long-awaited positive news from Azerbaijan."
Full statement
Source : © European Union, 2015 - EP

In view of the increasingly deteriorating humanrights and security situation in Burundi, the Chair of the Subcommittee onHuman Rights appeals to the Burundian government to prevent further violence, putan end to human rights violations and conduct talks with all parties involvedto ensure the stability of the country and region.
Press statement
Source : © European Union, 2015 - EP

Robin des Bois vient de mettre en ligne son 41ème bulletin « A la Casse » faisant le point, du 1er au 30 septembre, sur le marché de la déconstruction navale. L’association y note en particulier que la baisse durable du cours du pétrole et le profil bas des activités offshore conduit à la démolition de nombreuses plateformes construites dans les années 70 et 80. 

- Consulter le bulletin A la Casse n°41

 

• Lire la suite de Parution du nouveau bulletin « A la Casse » de Robin des Bois

The breach of international humanitarian law and human rights in the Gaza conflict was highlighted by the Human Rights Subcommittee in a debate with experts on Thursday morning, 12 November. MEPs asked to speed up the peace process. In a separate debate they discussed the deteriorating human rights situation in Burundi.
Press statement
Source : © European Union, 2015 - EP

Le chef de l’Etat souhaite conserver son chef d’état-major particulier et le directeur de la DGSE, deux hommes de confiance.