Tag: President Obama

Security Council high-level summit tackles growing threat of foreign terrorist fighters

Security Council high-level summit tackles growing threat of foreign terrorist fighters Responding to an unprecedented flow of foreign terrorist fighters and the growth of facilitation networks fuelling conflicts around the world, on Wednesday the United Nations Security Council adopted a resolution to resolutely address this growing threat to international peace and security. The summit was chaired by US President Obama with all member states’ heads of state or government participating, which in itself signals the importance of the topic. Read the full text of Resolution 2178 (2014) here.

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Sunday Smack

Happy weekend eveybody! I hope you all had a great week and an even better weekend! Unfortunately I am still struggling with this terrible cold, I have spent almost all of September sick, and it only seems getting worse… Anybody has any suggestions to cure pneumonia-like coughing and shortness of breath? I think I’ve tried everything, really, but who knows… Anyway, this past week was packed in terms of world affairs with quite a few new developments. I will cover UNGA-related items separately, so here now I collected other stories from this week. Strikes in Syria: The International Law Framework…

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The World is Watching – are you? The General Debate of the 69th Session of the UN General Assembly just started yesterday.  As President Obama pointed out in his speech, world leaders gathered in New York, because “others realized that we gain more from cooperation than conquest”. As it is a democratic institution though, there are  quite a few speakers at the General Assembly representing member states that still don’t seem to realize that. Anyway, the theme of the general debate this year is “Delivering on and implementing a transformative post-2015 development agenda”, as this one is the last UNGA…

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Sunday Smack

Happy Sunday Everybody! I was down with a terrible cold most of this week, which made me delay the launch of one new feature to the blog. But, better late than never, right? I’ll work on it next week. Hope you can take time to check out this week’s post while doing your Sunday things. 🙂 The Legality of ISIS Air Strikes Under International Law While John Kerry continues his campaign to collect supporters for the cause, this is a great post about the alternatives of making bombing Syria look like it was legal.  The NATO Summit’s Most Important Outcome…

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We will not be cowed by barbaric killers | The Times

We will not be cowed by barbaric killers | The Times As Russia holds a gun to Ukraine and Islamic extremists commit despicable murder, Nato must strengthen its alliance US President Barack Obama and UK Prime Minister David Cameron wrote this opinion piece in today’s Times ahead of the NATO summit kicking off today in Newport, Wales. The article is available to read in full on Prime Minister Cameron’s Facebook page. Check it out!

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Sunday Smack

Happy weekend everybody! And happy long weekend to all my readers from the US! I should say happy last weekend of summer, but it just doesn’t sound right… 🙂 As always, I have ambiguous feelings this time of the year. Summer being my favorite season, I want it to last forever (I know, I should move someplace warm…), and at the same time I am excited for new things and things freshening up with fall approaching. Speaking of new things, I will be introducing some new features of the blog this coming week, I can’t wait to share them with…

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Sunday Smack

Hey Everybody! Hope all your weekends are going fine and you can take a few minutes to check out this week’s posts. With Maliki Gone, Can Iraq’s New Prime Minister Put His Country Back Together? That we’re going to have to wait and see. What You Need to Know about the UN Human Rights Council’s Gaza Investigation Sadly, it is probably true that the investigation will be no use in improving the situation. I have to insert one of my favorite quotes from Henry Kissinger’s Diplomacy here. He writes that fact-finding missions are “the standard device for diplomats signaling that…

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Obama’s “Limited” Mission in Iraq

Obama’s “Limited” Mission in Iraq newyorker: John Cassidy examines President Obama’s decision to launch targeted airstrikes in Iraq: http://nyr.kr/1r05ZVT “Once the U.S. bombing starts, when will it stop? That is one of the many tough questions that Obama and his colleagues will have to answer. Are the sole goals of the mission to…

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Sunday Smack

Hello Everybody! I hope you all have spent the longest Saturday of the decade well! I keep being busy with important deadlines approaching both in my work and my studies, that’s the reason this blog seems to be neglected these days. Here’s what I recommend from my weekly reading anyway: UN Chief Warns Military Strikes in Iraq May Backfire The Secretary General actually suggests that keeping things unresolved once again and arming one side against the other would probably even worsen things in the region. World Refugee Day Draws Attention to Shortcomings of International Law World Refugee Day was Friday…

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Sunday Smack

Welcome to the 50th Sunday Smack! That’s right, the 50th! 🙂 How great that this one is the first Sunday Smack I get to write on my new laptop! Yes, that of course means I have no excuse anymore not to act on all my great ideas regarding this blog (and everything else).  Minus two weeks, I have been doing this for a whole year. It is unbelievable, really, and I have to say I’ve really enjoyed every bit of it, it helps me keep my professional reading in order. I can only hope it’s also useful to at least…

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