Tag: France
usnatarchives: Today is the 70th Anniversary of D-Day, these images show the moments before and after the landing operations onto Omaha Beach. Almost immediately after France fell to the Nazis in 1940, the Allies planned a cross-Channel assault on the German occupying forces, ultimately code-named Operation Overlord. By May 1944, 2,876,000 Allied troops were amassed in southern England. The largest armada in history, made up of more than 4,000 American, British, and Canadian ships, lay in wait, and more that 1,200 planes stood ready. Against a tense backdrop of uncertain weather forecasts, disagreements in strategy, and related timing dilemmas, Eisenhower…
Happy Sunday everybody! I hope you all had a wonderful weekend! As you might noticed, I was a little stuck with the blog last week. To be honest, I do want to make some changes for some time now. The problem is, I do know what I want to see here, how I want it to be, I am just not quite sure how to get there. Please bare with me while I figure it out, I promise to keep this thing up with good content all the while. One thing never changes though, and that’s my enthusiasm towards world…
Happy Sunday everybody! As I put the finishing touches to this post, I am watching the sad pictures on CNN of Nelson Mandela being laid to rest. This of course marks the end of the 10-day-mourning that really defined world news in the past few days. I selected a few posts from other topics too, though. On world affairs: A Pivotal Week for the Central African Republic France is taking the lead role again in an African conflict zone with two casualties so far. Back in the USSR What is it about the European Union that makes thousands of Ukrainians bare…
In Single Secret Ballot, General Assembly Elects 14 Member States to Three-Year Terms on Human Rights Council The General Assembly yesterday elected 14 States to serve on the Human Rights Council, the United Nations body responsible for the promotion and protection of all human rights around the globe. Those elected were Algeria, China, Cuba, France, Maldives, Mexico, Morocco, Namibia, Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, United Kingdom and Viet Nam. All would serve three-year terms beginning on 1 January 2014. To read more about the election procedure click here. Notably and infamously, there are six…
Happy Bastille Day to everybody reading from France! Just when I announced layoff season last week, things got going again. Which I don’t mind at all since I can’t take off time for a holiday this year anyway. Let’s see what I have found worthy of reading and sharing this week. On world affairs: Laura Dean’s Cairo Diary Please keep following Laura Dean’s Cairo Diary on Lawfare. Yes, I am recommending this for the second time, but it really is that good! How We Are Failing Syrian People Yet another piece on how the international community is failing to do…
The annual G8 summit has wrapped up earlier this week. On Monday I posted about its expected agenda, now I’d like to briefly go through what’s been decided in Lough Erne in those two days. The EU and US came to an agreement to launch negotiations about what could be “the biggest bilateral trade deal in history” both in worth and in significance. After their main economic discussion, the G8 leaders highlighted the fight against unemployment as a priority in fostering global recovery. They agreed that after bright prospects in 2012, economic and financial difficulties remain in 2013 that require…
The annual G8 summit is about to kick off on Monday, so I thought I would do a few educational/informational posts about the G8 in general and about this year’s meeting in particular. So this is the first one in a series, watch out for the rest in the coming days. The G8 summit is held annually to gather eight world leaders in order to discuss current economic and political issues affecting their countries and the world. G8 stands for the Group of 8, that is, the eight most prosperous countries of the world. Almost. To be more specific, G8=G7+1….
United Nations News Centre – Argentina, Australia, Luxembourg, Republic of Korea and Rwanda obtain non-permanent seats on UN Security Council The United Nations General Assembly has elected Argentina, Australia, Luxembourg, the Republic of Korea and Rwanda to serve as non-permanent members on the Security Council for two-year terms beginning on 1 January 2013. The five permanent Council members, which each wield the power of veto, are China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States. Non-permanent members Azerbaijan, Guatemala, Morocco, Pakistan and Togo will remain on the 15-member Council until the end of 2013.
While of course the most anticipated speeches of the general debate are yet to come, it has started yesterday nonetheless. The report of the Secretary General brought no surprise, he was emphasizing the same issues he was talking about before. I liked how straightforward and articulate he was about the most important ones. Regarding Syria he warned once again that the serious and growing threat to international peace and security requires Security Council action. I particularly liked his thoughts about recent uprisings, saying that “moderate majority should not be a silent majority”. That should be true to both sides: for…
