(Current Affairs) International Events | September: 2014

International Events

India among Jihad Targets of ISIS

  • Ibrahim Awwad al-Badri, commander of the insurgent group Islamic State of Iraq and al-Shams (ISIS), has vowed war against several countries, including India, in a Ramzan speech released online.

  • The reference to India, the first in an ISIS manifesto, raises new concerns for the safety of the almost hundred of its nations trapped in Iraqi cities controlled by the Islamist group, which is battling the governments of Iraq and Syria.

  • The Ramzan speech by Mr al-Badri — also known by the pseudonym Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi — calls on believers to take up arms during the month of penitence, and “terrify the enemies of Allah and seek death in the places where you expect to find it, for the dunya (worldly life) will come to an end”.

  • “Muslims’ rights”, Mr. al-Badri states in his speech, are forcibly seized in China, India, Palestine, Somalia, the Arabian Peninsula, the Caucasus, Sham (the Levant), Egypt, Iraq, Indonesia, Afghanistan, the Philippines, Ahvaz, Iran (by the rafidah (shia)), Pakistan, Tunisia, Libya, Algeria and Morocco, in the East and in the West.

Iraq’s New Parliament Broke up in Chaos

  • Iraq’s new Parliament broke up in chaos, with lawmakers threatening each other or walking out despite global calls for fractious politicians to form a government needed to face a Sunni militant onslaught.

  • After a break called to calm soaring tempers, so many Sunni and Kurdish deputies stayed away that the quorum was lost, so a Speaker could not be elected as was constitutionally required, and the session ended in disarray.

  • Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s bid for a third term has been battered by the jihadist-led offensive that has seized large chunks of five provinces, adding fuel to dissatisfaction over persistent allegations of sectarianism and monopolising power.

  • The latest crisis has alarmed world leaders, displaced hundreds of thousands of people and polarised Iraq’s Shia, Sunni and Kurdish populations.

  • The disunity quickly manifested itself in what was the opening session of a parliament elected in April, which included walkouts, threats and confusion over the constitution.

The European Court of Human Rights upheld France’s controversial burqa

  • The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) upheld France’s controversial burqaban, rejecting arguments that outlawing full-face veils breaches religious freedom.
  • In a case brought by a 24-year-old French woman with the support of a British legal team, the court ruled that France was justified in introducing the ban in the interests of social cohesion.
  • The court emphasised that states should be allowed a degree of discretion — “a wide margin of appreciation” — on a policy issue which is subject to significant differences of opinion. Two of the 17 judges who spent several months deliberating on the case dissented from the majority view that the ban did not breach the European Convention on Human Rights’ provisions protecting the freedom of thought, conscience and religion.

Japan’s Defence Policy shift Slammed

  • China has slammed the move by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s government to reinterpret the country’s Pacifist Constitution to enable a wider role for the Japanese military overseas, terming the decision “a brutal violation” of the spirit of the post-Second World War Constitution.

  • Mr. Abe’s Cabinet approved a reinterpretation of the post-war imposed Pacifist Constitution that severely limited the use of the Japanese military, even when on overseas peacekeeping missions. The reinterpretation now allows for “collective self-defence” that would permit Japan to come to the aid of its allies overseas.

  • That the move came amid the most heightened tensions between China and Japan in many years over disputed East China Sea islands and questions over war-time history has prompted analysts in Beijing to see the reinterpretation as being directed at China.

  • “The new policy raises doubts about Japan’s approach to peaceful development. We urge Japan to sincerely respect the rightful concerns of neighbouring Asian countries, diligently solve any related issues, and not affect China’s rights and the stability of the region,Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hong Lei was quoted as saying by the official Xinhua news agency.

India Refuses to Ratify TF Protocol

  • Protesting against the imbalance in favour of developed countries at the ongoing World Trade Organisation (WTO) negotiations at Geneva, India on Wednesday broke away from the consensus on the Trade Facilitation (TF) Protocol. India’s refusal to ratify this agreement that has been readied to their satisfaction as a follow up to the Bali Ministerial decisions of last December has led to a stalemate at the talks.

  • In a strong statement India said it will support the TF agreement only if there is progress in Geneva on mechanisms for ensuring permanent protection of the government’s Minimum Support Price (MSP) against the WTO’s subsidy caps.

  • The new government is clear that the MSP is a tool important enough for us to take this stand at the WTO.

  • India has repeatedly expressed concern over the uneven pace of work at the negotiations in Geneva over the past few months but despite that the imbalance in progress has persisted.

Xi Jinping’s Historic Sri Lanka Visit

  • China’s President Xi Jinping will this year become the first Chinese head of state to visit Sri Lanka in three decades, underlining Beijing’s renewed push to deepen its strategic and economic presence in the neighbourhood and in the Indian Ocean.

  • Mr. Xi’s visit was discussed in Beijing this week as Sri Lankan Minister of Economic Development Basil Rajapaksa, as the President’s Special Envoy, met with the Chinese leadership.

  • The Chinese leader will become the first President to visit Sri Lanka since former leader Li Xiannian in 1986. His visit assumes significance in the context of strengthening ties between the two countries, with China investing heavily in the island nation.

  • A $500 million- built port built by the Chinese was inaugurated in Colombo last year giving Beijing a strong foothold in one of the busiest international shipping routes in the world. With heavy investment in infrastructure, including in a massive port it helped build in Hambantota along Sri Lanka’s southern coast, China is said to have surpassed Japan and India as the biggest contributor to investments in the island nation.

  • Foreign policy experts have often pointed to Sri Lanka playing the “China card” against India, which has invested in some key projects in the neighbouring country, including a massive housing project targeting 50,000 homes in the war-torn north that it is currently engaged in.

  • For Chinese President Xi, Sri Lanka has become a particularly important country as a crucial point on his government’s signature “maritime silk road” economic initiative, which the President unveiled in October in a bid to boost maritime connectivity and economic ties in the neighbourhood.

Bomb exploded near Somalia’s Parliament

  • Several people were killed when a powerful suicide car bomb exploded near Somalia’s Parliament in the capital Mogadishu on Saturday, police and witnesses said.
  • Al-Qaeda-linked Shabab rebels claimed responsibility for the bombing, the latest in a surge of attacks in Mogadishu during Islam’s holy month of Ramadan.
  • A car loaded with explosives was intercepted near the Parliament and it went off.
  • Police and witnesses at the scene said three police officers and the suicide bomber died in the blast.

Germany Seeks Swift Response on Spook

  • German ministers called for a swift response from the U.S. to allegations of spying by a suspected double agent, which have raised fears of fresh tensions between the two allies.
  • Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere in pre-released excerpts from Monday’s Bild newspaper called for a “quick and clear” statement by the U.S. on the allegations.
  • Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said in a tweet, following reports of U..S spying that have sparked anger in Germany after revelations the NSA allegedly tapped Chancellor Angela Merkel’s phone. The U.S. ambassador, who was called to a meeting at the foreign ministry late on Friday, had been told Washington is expected to shed light on the reports “as quickly as possible.
  • The 31-year-old employee of the German foreign intelligence agency known as the BND arrested last week had been working for the CIA for around two years.
  • “All signs indicate that he was acting for the Americans,” the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung (FAS) Sunday newspaper quoted an unnamed senior official at Germany’s foreign intelligence service as saying.

Iraqi officials analysing Baghdadi video

  • Iraqi officials are working to determine the authenticity of a video that purportedly shows the leader of the Islamic extremist group that has seized large swaths of the country delivering a sermon this week in the nation’s second-largest city, authorities.

  • The 21-minute video said to show Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the head of the Islamic State group, was reportedly filmed on Friday at the Great Mosque in the northern city of Mosul. It was released on at least two websites known to be used by the organisation and bore the logo of its media arm.

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