Tag: Israel

Syria Completes Destruction Activities to Render Inoperable Chemical Weapons Production Facilities and Mixing/Filling Plants

Syria Completes Destruction Activities to Render Inoperable Chemical Weapons Production Facilities and Mixing/Filling Plants “The Joint Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons – United Nations Mission confirmed today that the government of the Syrian Arab Republic has completed the functional destruction of critical equipment for all of its declared chemical weapons production facilities and mixing/filling plants, rendering them inoperable."  The news came after yesterday UN special envoy Lakhdar Brahimi held talks with Bashar al-Assad in Damascus, where the Syrian leader kept insisting there is no need for international intervention in his country, the Syrian people will decide on peace…

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Sunday Smack

Hope you all had a great week and an even better weekend! Here’s a few news stories to look back to: On world affairs: EU reaction to the NSA Affair Well, hacking world leaders’ cell phones is a serious issue. I would even double Lawfare’s Ingrid Wuerth calling it a diplomatic disaster. It is still unclear though how deep this will impact EU-US relations. UPR and Israel Israel has refused to atted its review session of the UN Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review, being the first state ever to do so. The rescheduled review is about to take place…

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Sunday Smack

Happy weekend dear readers! Especially for everybody in Hungary who are just in the middle of a four-day-long weekend due to a public holiday on Tuesday. Hope you are all having a great time! I have some serious thinking to do during this weekend, still in the middle of serious profession-wise decision making. Although I still have no idea where it is going to take me (even geographically), I enjoy this process a lot. I know something good is going to come after either way. I am looking forward to being able to reveal everything, but until then, I’ll keep…

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Sunday Smack

Hello everyone, how are you all doing this Sunday? I just read recently on two separate professional blogs how interviewing for a job can be character-building and how they recommend to not only keep your profile updated even if you’re not looking for a job, but to go out and interview every once in a while. Just to see how you’re doing. Well, although currently I am indeed seriously looking, I can tell you, there is something to this. If the interviewers are good, and the whole process is professional and everything, you can learn a lot in interview situations….

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Sunday Smack

Happy Sunday everyone, there is another major heat wave in Hungary these days, records are expected to break again. Things don’t stop moving for the summer though, I came across quite a few great reads this week. Check them out! On world affairs: US Military: No Good Military Solution to the Syrian Conflict Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Martin Dempsey (and many others) thinks so. But is there any other solution? Our shared responsibility to protect An unlikely couple, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and President Bush’s envoy to Sudan Richard S. Williamson shared this opinion piece…

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Israeli-Palestinian Peace Process – C-SPAN Video Library

Israeli-Palestinian Peace Process – C-SPAN Video Library Former Presidents Jimmy Carter and Martti Ahtisaari of Finland and former Algerian Foreign Minister Lakhdar Brahimi talked about the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. They discussed the topic earlier in the day with Secretary of State Kerry. Former President Carter acknowledged that conditions are far more difficult now than during his presidency. Lakhdar Brahimi, the UN-Arab League envoy to Syria, also spoke about Syria. He refused to characterize either the Syrian regime or the opposition as ‘winning’ in their civil war but said that there can be no military victory but there must be a…

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Sunday Smack

Happy Sunday people, how is summer going for you all? I hope you are having a wonderful weekend either you’re working or vacationing these days. Here’s a collection of some of my favorite reads this week. World affairs news of the week: This Could Actually Work – Why John Kerry’s Middle East peace push isn’t a fool’s errand OK, I know it’s too early to really rejoice about this, and that the last talks barely lasted a few weeks with no concrete result, but still. Democrat administrations had such great achievements on that front in the past, I am just…

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Sunday Smack

A busy week behind us again, unfortunately with more bad news than good. Even the weather took a worrying turn in many parts of the world. Starting with the hurricane in Oklahoma to all the extreme weather issues across Western Europe these days. Can we blame it on climate change or not? Of course I’ll leave this discussion to those who are experts of the topic while I’ll remain on more familiar grounds. On world affairs: Will We Witness the End of Peacekeeping in the Golan Heights? Recent exchanges of fire between Syria and Israel question the future of a not properly armed…

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Sunday Smack

It’s Pentecostal weekend, which also means a long weekend in a few countries: no work tomorrow in Hungary too, yay! This was a busy week in global issues and happenings, although nowhere as much as in US politics. I tried to collect only the most interesting articles and posts and cut the ones you read everywhere. I hope you’ll like these! On world affairs: Could UN Peacekeepers Be Involved in a Syria Ceasefire? After recent diplomatic developments and the planned summit on Syria, will UN peacekeepers be the right solution in this crisis? General Assembly ‘strongly’ condemns Syrian human rights…

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Sunday Smack

Once again, Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms who are celebrating this weekend! I hope you had a great week and an even greater weekend! Here’s what I have in store for you today: On world affairs: UN chemical weapons chief: time is running out to get to the scene of the crime in Syria Amidst controversial claims whether chemical weapons usage occured and by which side in Syria, here is a deeper look at the personnel of the UN inspection team. Israel’s Three Gambles I left out this issue altogether last week, because all the articles I read then…

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