Tag: Syria
Happy long weekend to everybody who have May 1 as Labour Day off, and happy regular weekend to everyone else! I am spending all three days of this weekend activating my right brain. Follow my Instagram for more on this! Meanwhile, things got wild in world affairs this week, so let’s read about it! (The photo is of course from the UN Security Council’s White House lunch with the President, courtesy of Getty Images.) The United States and China Just Presented Two Very Different Plans With the Same Goal: Getting rid of North Korea’s Nukes. Which Will Work? The hot…
This Monday I attended a special event in Budapest organized by the Hungarian publisher of Loretta Napoleoni’s latest book “Merchants of Men: How Jihadists and ISIS Turned Kidnapping and Refugee Trafficking into a Multi-Billion Dollar Business”, that just came out in Hungarian. Loretta Napoleoni talked about the essence of the book which is the evolution of the financing of terrorist organizations. After 9.11 ransom paid by foreign governments for their kidnapped citizens became the most important source of funding for terrorist organizations throughout most the Arab world. It involved kidnapping of tourists, journalists and aid workers in countries like Libya (where…
Happy Easter, Everybody! I hope you are having a peaceful and relaxing holiday weekend, whether you celebrate Easter or not. As you might have heard, President János Áder signed the legislation making Central European University’s operations in Hungary impossible into law this week. Demonstrations in Hungary keep going on, now the aim is to get MPs to refer the law to revision to the Constitutional Court (and the whole regime to leave, while we’re at it). The demonstrators are mostly university students, protesting peacefully against this irrational, outrageous and outright stupid act of the government. Meanwhile, on Easter Monday, there will…
Happy Sunday! Destpite the very eventful week in world affairs, I would start again with something I (and many others) believe is an international issue, being an attack against democracy. You might have heard the law undercutting Central European University in Hungary has been adopted in spite of wide international protests. The protests continue, now the aim is to get President Áder not to sign the legislation. You can sign the petition clicking here. I am not sure whether any of this helps, but please do sign if you haven’t already and share with others! Now, let’s get to all…
On Wednesday, 29 March I had the great pleasure to attend the event Accountibility: International crimes in Syria and Iraq organized by Chatham House in London. The event was held in memory of the late John Jones QC, with the co-organization of Doughty Street Chambers, and the chair of the event, Elizabeth Wilmshurst revealed plans to make this an annual gathering with worthy topics. First up to speak a few words about Mr. Jones was one of his former colleagues, head of Doughty Street International, Steven Powles. Then the floor was taken by the panelists to talk about what can…
Happy Sunday and Happy Spring Everybody! One failed exam later I am determined to return to the blog and to life and find a different approach for taking this exam. One that doesn’t involve neglecting everything else that matters to me or matters even more than taking an exam I wouldn’t even need later on. I might even write a post about it one of these days. But for now, let’s see this week’s stories. Excuse the hastiness of this post, I had very little time this week. Unconstitutional and Invalid: South Africa’s Withdrawal from the ICC Barred (For Now)…
Happy Sunday, everybody! Only 51 weeks are left of this year now, so keep being smart with the goals you’ve set for 2017! I have had a busy work and study week, while it is incredibly cold here in Hungary. OK, perhaps nothing compared to Alaska or Canada, but pretty cold for our measures. Perfect for staying in and studying. At least the sun is shining, otherwise it would be really bleak. Here are some of the stories from this first cold week of 2017. A Tale of Two Turkeys 2016 had brought Turkey from being one of the most…
I wish everybody a peaceful, relaxing holiday filled with love and joy! Whatever religion you follow, I hope you are spending these days surrounded by loved ones, doing things you enjoy. I wish I could present you with some light topics this weekend, but this was actually a pretty eventful week in terms of world affairs. Here’s your reading. Security Council Passes New Aleppo Resolution. Monitors to Be Deployed Hopefully the Security Council can now take real actions to put an end to the bloodshed that’s been going on for too long. Coping With Tragedy in South Sudan Another SC…
Happy Sunday! Christmas is approaching more quickly than I would be comfortable with. At this point, I don’t even know how am I going to finish off everything on my to do list in just six days. In world affairs, this week was mostly about very disturbing news from Aleppo. Clicking here you can find ways to help, if you can, please do. In other news, António Guterres took the oath of office this week to be the 9th Secretary General of the United Nations from January 1. In anticipation of his term we shouldn’t forget about the merits of…
