How Bibi pulled it off Click the link for a great and very detailed article about the Israeli elections. Though the early exit polls indicated that the election was too close to call, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rallied his base to a surprising, decisive victory in yesterday’s election. Natan Sachs argues that holding the incoming coalition together may prove to be a formidable challenge for Netanyahu.
Welcome to the 100th Sunday Smack everybody!!! I can’t believe that I am doing this weekly round-up for 100 weeks (= almost two years!) already! The blog itself will turn 4 this summer too!! On this occasion besides thanking you all for reading and sticking with me all through these years I thought it would be best to share my thoughts about this blog with you all. Quite some time ago I decided to do this just to follow the topics I am most interested in. I sure want to continue doing it, and want to do it with more…
Happy Sunday, Happy Women’s Day People! I hope you all had a nice day today. I had an extremely busy week at work and thought there would be a lot of posts to catch up on, but hardly found any. Perhaps my favorite bloggers were busy as well. So, here’s a short version of Sunday Smack, the one before the big one next week! The Case of Russia’s Detention of Ukrainian Military Pilot Savchenko under IHL Great post taking all the scenarios into account. The Court will have to decide first whether there is an international armed conflict between Russia…
Happy International Women’s Day Everybody! I have to admit I don’t like the way this day is celebrated where I come from, in Hungary. Here “Women’s Day” preserved its old socialist holiday feature when men present women with flowers or chocolate. Now, it’s not that I don’t like flowers and chocolate, but I would much rather be treated equally and fairly every single day of the year than being celebrated on this one for something I am not even responsible for achieving (being a woman, that is). Via The Economist You can see Hungary is not even close to the…
inothernews: “Iran is bad.” “Iran is bad.” “Iran is bad.” “Iran is bad.” “Iran is bad.” “I mean no disrespect to President Obama. But I know the Republicans do, so please allow me to serve as a tool towards that end.” “Iran is bad.” “Iran is bad.” “Oh, did I undermine ongoing talks to disrupt Iran’s nuclear capabilities? I am so, so sorry. Carry on, John Kerry.” “Iran is bad.” So, no surprise at the Netanyahu speech… 🙂
Photo from Pinterest Happy Sunday and happy March everybody! I know spring might still be a couple of weeks away, but I cannot wait already. In the meantime, everybody I follow seems to be watching House of Cards this weekend. I did not get around to it yet, but no wonder why we are in the same circles, right? How about you all? And no spoilers, please! 🙂 Should you want to take a few minutes in between two episodes, check out these posts. Mediation Fail in the Central African Republic This happens when there is good will, but only…
un-dpa: Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi on 23 February at the Security Council’s open debate on international peace and security. The debate commemorated the 70th anniversary of the United Nations. It provided an opportunity for Member States to reaffirm their commitments to the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, and to discuss ways to more effectively maintain peace and security. Seated behind and to the right of Mr. Ban is Taye-Brook Zerihoun, Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs. UN Photo/Devra Berkowitz The Secretary-General opened the debate in which more than 80 Member States made statements. He…
It’s been a long time since the last time when I could not manage to post anything between two Sunday Smacks, sorry about that. Amazingly enough, although I have even failed to mark yesterday’s International Mother Language Day, this post of mine from two years ago got very popular yesterday. Thanks to everybody for still keeping it in circulation! Now let’s see a couple of interesting posts from not so far back. The Budapest Memorandum and Beyond: Have the Western Parties Breached a Legal Obligation? The Ukrainian crisis looks even more troublesome when international treaty interpretation comes into play. The…
Happy Sunshiny Sunday Everybody! I hope you all have had a relaxing weekend so far. Happy long weekend to those in the US too! Check out this week’s posts below! How the Cease-Fire With Russia Might Save Ukraine The cease-fire effective from today will have to be abided by first to have any long term effect. So far, everything is possible. Can the UN Put the Financial Squeeze on ISIL? As usual, the fate of this Security Council resolution will depend on the member states’ willing to act on it. To what extent can it weaken ISIL is another question….
Ukraine crisis: what is in the Minsk ceasefire agreement? The leaders of Ukraine, Russia, Germany and France agreed on a deal in Minsk aimed at ending the fighting in eastern Ukraine. Click for details of the agreement, translated from a Russian-language document that was handed to reporters.
