Tag: Syria
Happy Mother’s Day to my Mother, my Grandmas and of course all the moms out there! Welcome to my third Sunday Smack! I have to say I really do enjoy doing this for the third time this week. It sort of keeps me organized in terms of my professional reading “duties” all week. I only hope you can benefit from these collections too! The only real critique I got so far, is that I tend to be too long for one post, so l’ll try to keep it brief this time. If you have any more comments, keep them coming!…
united-nations: Monday’s annual Day of Remembrance for All Victims of Chemical Warfare is especially timely as the spectre of chemical weapons is once again casting its ominous shadow. According to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, “Recent allegations of the use of these indiscriminate and morally repugnant weapons in Syria serve as a reminder of the continuing vital importance of the Chemical Weapons Convention.” Related United Nations News Centre story: http://j.mp/184vkli
Happy Sunday everyone! I hope you are all enjoying a nice spring Sunday! Here in Hungary, we just skipped spring and from winter it turned into summer directly. I am not sure it is fortunate for the things of nature, but we are enjoying the hot weather for now. A few weeks ago, I posted about MOOCs and online learning, now I would like to recommend one of the courses I just signed up to. I wasn’t quite sure whether I can fit this in to my time schedule since there is one month left from the other course I…
I thought this was nice, too. sirades: I really like this picture. from https://www.facebook.com/usawtfm
I’ve been thinking about doing something like this for a long time and now I am happy to introduce the first in what I plan to be a series. Sunday Smacks are weekly round-ups of my favorite reads, most noteworthy happenings and everything I find worhty to mention here week by week. I haven’t used rss feeders before. I just decided recently to start using Google Reader to be able to catch up with all the blogs I was reading I was struggling to find the time to follow. But that was only days before Google Reader’s termination was announced (as timing…
The Arms Trade Treaty’s doubters | Turtle Bay Iran, North Korea, Syria, and the National Rifle Association are grabbing all the headlines for opposing an Arms Trade Treaty that is designed to prohibit the delivery of weapons to countries accused of committing gross human rights violations or subject to an international arms embargo. But they are not the only ones with misgivings about a new global arms trade treaty. In all, 23 governments cast abstentions, a gesture designed to show discomfort, if not open hostility, to the new arms accord. It would have been 24, but Venezuela, which has not…
United Nations News Centre – At General Assembly, Ban and UN-Arab League envoy call for greater efforts to resolve crisis in Syria Announcing his plans to visit displaced Syrians in refugee camps in Turkey and Jordan, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged greater efforts to help bring an end to the conflict in the Middle Eastern country as well as greater support for the envoy tasked with that mission. “We can only succeed if all sides take the necessary steps, and if there are converging actions by the international community, in particular the Security Council,” Mr. Ban told an informal meeting of the General…
I know I am very late with this, but I wanted to cover the rest of the general debate same as I did with the first day, and then I wanted to do it properly, so at last I decided not to post it in pieces. That’s why this is going to be a long one. So, my thoughts on the general debate part 2 as follows. Whether Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad heeded the Secretary General’s warning or this speech was the original plan anyway, I – someone who expected nothing but the worst from him – thought he moderated…
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…
newsflick: Kofi Annan has resigned as the international envoy on Syria, with effect from the end of the month. At a press conference in Geneva, Annan complained of “finger-pointing and name-calling”. UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon says he is looking for someone to replace Annan. Read his full statement here.
