EU & Europe

Photo: Refugees in Paris streets in September 2016. Source: Walt Whiteman's World.

Calais Migrant Camp Closure Drives Refugees To Paris Streets

By Melissa Chemam*

Note: This article is being reproduced courtesy of the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung's online Journal 'International Politics and Society' published on March 7, 2017 with the headline Refugees Welcome?

PARIS (IDN-INPS) - Since the destruction of the informal settlement of refugees and transitional migrants in Calais – now known as the “Jungle”– in October 2016, the French government promised to find housing for all three to four-thousand people forced to leave the area. They have opened about 500 welcome centres to redistribute the fleeing population across the country, away from Calais, neighbouring Hauts-de-France and saturated Paris.

: International Politics and Society; THE WORLD; EU & Europe; 11 March 2017

Photo: Herero prisoners of war, around 1900. Credit: The German Federal Archive | Wikimedia Commons.

UN Experts Censure Germany for 'Crimes Against Africans'

By Jutta Wolf

BERLIN (IDN) – United Nations experts have strongly criticised Germany for "crimes against Africans and people of African descent" adding that they are "deeply concerned about the human rights situation of people of African descent" in the country.

"Germany’s crimes against Africans and people of African descent are overshadowed by its focus on other parts of its history. Germany’s colonial past, the genocide of the Ovaherero and Nama peoples, and the sterilization, incarceration, and murder of Black people during Nazi Germany, is not adequately addressed in the national narrative," said the Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent in a statement to the media on February 27.

: Jutta Wolf; UN INSIDER; 27 February 2017

Photo: Heads of government and state at the G20 Summit in Hangzhou, China, on 4 September 2016. Credit: www.g20chn.org.

G20 German Presidency to Focus on Sustainable Development

By Jutta Wolf

BERLIN (IDN) – 'Shaping an interconnected world' is the slogan Germany has chosen for its Presidency of the Group of Twenty (G20) summit of heads of state and government on July 7-8 in the port city of Hamburg. It is based on three thematic pillars: building resilience, improving sustainability, and assuming responsibility.

The German Economic Cooperation Ministry (BMZ) has contributed to defining the German G20 agenda, as all three pillars are closely related to development cooperation.

Building resilience relates to financial services for small and medium-sized enterprises, and sustainable supply chains (innovative financing models, improvement of the general environment, especially for small and medium-sized enterprises) such as the textile sector.

: Jutta Wolf; THE WORLD; EU & Europe; 24 February 2017

Photo: The bronze Dardanelles cannon, used by the Ottoman Turks in the siege of Constantinople in 1453, was the first supergun. Credit: Wikimedia Commons

How Backwater Europe Transformed To World Power

By Jonathan Power

LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) - Eleven hundred years ago Europe was a backwater. There were no grand cities, apart from Cordoba in Spain which was Muslim. The Middle East was much further ahead, still absorbing the intellectual delights and challenges of Greek science, medicine and architecture which Europeans were largely ignorant of. In southern China agriculture advanced and trade in tea, porcelain and silk flourished.

By 1914 it was a totally different world. The Europeans ruled 84% of the globe and they had colonies everywhere. How was it that Europe and its offspring, the United States, became the dominant dynamic force in the world, and still are today in most things?

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 21 February 2017

Photo: Pyongyang in 1989 - Wikimedia Commons

Kazakhstan Joins UN & Nuclear Powers to Condemn North Korea

By Jamshed Baruah

NEW YORK (IDN) - Taking its mandate as non-permanent member of the Security Council for 2017-2018 seriously, Kazakhstan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a statement on February 12 said that it “strongly condemns” the ballistic missile launch conducted by DPRK-Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea) the same day.

The launch was “a blatant violation of the relevant UN Security Council resolution". North Korea is barred under United Nations resolutions from using ballistic missile technology, but six sets of UN sanctions since Pyongyang’s first nuclear test in 2006 have failed to rein in its drive for atomic weapons.

: Jamshed Baruah; UN INSIDER; 13 February 2017

Photo: President Nazarbayev explaining reform programme in a special TV programme on January 25, 2017. Credit: inform.kz

Kazakhstan Moves Toward Democratic Development

By Devinder Kumar

NEW DELHI | ASTANA (IDN) - President Nursultan Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan whose commitment to international peace and security facilitated the Central Asian state's election to the UN Security Council as a non-permanent member, has laid out far-reaching plans for government reforms and constitutional changes.

The intention is "to build a more efficient, sustainable, modern system of governance" in the country which celebrated its 25th anniversary of independence from the then Soviet Union in December 2016.

: Devinder Kumar; THE WORLD; EU & Europe; 30 January 2017

Photo: United Silicon Plant. Credit: Lowana Veal | IDN-INPS

Shaky Start to Silicon Smelters in Iceland

By Lowana Veal

REYKJAVIK (IDN) – Silicon metal smelters have taken over from aluminium plants as the desirable heavy industry for Iceland. At Helguvik in the southwest of the island, close to Reykjavik’s international airport, United Silicon has just started operating a silicon smelter, while an adjacent lot is marked out for a silicon smelter of similar production capacity – 110,000 tonnes per year – run by Thorsil.

The United Silicon plant is situated just over one kilometre from the southernmost point of Reykjanesbaer municipality. Plans were developed for industrial development around the harbour of Helguvik over 14 years ago, including an aluminium smelter slightly north of Helguvik which has never been completed because of disputes over who should provide energy.

: Lowana Veal; THE WORLD; EU & Europe; 25 January 2017

Photo: President George H. W. Bush and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev declared an end to the Cold War at the Malta Summit on December 3, 1989. At a joint press conference aboard the Soviet passenger liner Maxim Gorky in Marsaxlokk Harbor, President Bush speaks about his hopes for a cooperative U.S.-Soviet relationship. Credit: history.com

The Last Chance To Get Russian-U.S. Relationship Right

By Jonathan Power

LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) - The great flaw in ex-president Barack Obama’s record was his policy towards Russia. Going against everything he had said and written about before he became president, one action after another antagonised the Russians.

His early proclamation that he wanted Georgia and Ukraine in NATO, his de facto coalition of convenience for a crucial couple of days with the anti-democratic, anti-Russian, neo-fascist, demonstrators in Ukraine, the further expansion of NATO, despite an earlier promise not to, made by President H.W. Bush, to the Soviet President, Mikhail Gorbachev, and his inability to cooperate with the Russians and Iranians over Syria.

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 24 January 2017

Photo (centre to left): President Nazarbayev, outgoing Foreign Minister Idrissov, and new Foreign Minister Abdrakhmanov. Credit: The Astana Times.

Kazakhstan Joins Security Council With New Foreign Minister

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) - A few days ahead of Kazakhstan joining the Security Council on January 1 as a non-permanent member for two years, President Nursultan Nazarbayev appointed the Central Asian republic's Permanent Representative to the United Nations Kairat Abdrakhmanov as new Foreign Minister.

On December 28 he replaced Erlan Idrissov (57) who held the post from 1999 to 2002 and 2012 to 2016. He takes over as Ambassador to the UK, a post he held from 2002 to 2007. He was then ambassador to the United States from 2007 to 2012.

: J Nastranis; UN INSIDER; 02 January 2017

Photo: Doctors and medical staff treating injured rebel fighters and civilians in Aleppo. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

Kazakhstan Offers Astana As Venue Of Syrian Peace Talks

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) - In a major move ahead of joining the UN Security Council as its non-permanent member on January 1, 2017 for two years, President Nursultan Nazarbayev has offered the Kazakh capital of Astana as the venue for peace talks between the conflicting parties in the Syrian conflict.

According to official sources, the offer follows "a significant agreement between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan who had agreed to push Syria’s warring factions towards new negotiations".

"The latest reports of the successful evacuation of many civilians in Aleppo are, of course, welcome," said The Astana Times in an editorial on December 21. "However, it would be wrong to see this as a sign that the conflict in Syria is coming to an end," it added, stressing the need for peace talks.