Our 41st year of publishing The International Observer online
VIEWING THE WORLD
The president of the Pacific Ocean Vanuatu Island whose residents feel
and see the effects of the present climate change, partly by
losing land to the ocean every day, used this year’s United
Nations General Assembly to take a practical step. On 26
September, he
called on other nations to join in launching a
fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty, reported Radio New Zealand Pacific (RNZ).
The mechanism targeting the 86 percent of CO2
emissions has been endorsed by more than 65 cities and
authorities as well as by the World Health Organization
(WHO).
Several states in the Central American and
Caribbean region are still considering becoming fully
independent republics. Barbados completed the
transition 14 November 2021 but the death of Queen
Elizabeth II after her 70-year reign
on 8 September caused six countries to slow plans out of
respect for the deceased monarch. The following are still
determined to end the colonial-era relationship: Bahamas,
Belize, Grenada, Jamaica, and St. Kitts and Nevis. Antigua
and Barbuda is expected to decide within three years and
will hold a referendum. In Canada, a motion by the Bloc
Québecois opposition in the House of Commons on 26 October
to end its ties with the British crown was defeated 266
against 44. In Australia there is some support to become an
independent republic, but it has ruled out a vote within the
next four years while in New Zealand its prime minister
reaffirmed her support for shifting to a republic, but it is
not a government priority, according to The New York
Times.
October
Russia during the past six months has been
sanctioned numerous times by
several international organizations as well as by key
countries – for good reason - so its reaction and suspending
several agreements is not surprising. Latest suspension, in
August, concerned inspections of Russian sites by the United
States under the 2010 NEW START treaty.
Most of the Donbas region containing the
self-declared Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics which
had not been under Ukrainian control since April 2014
is now occupied by
Russia. Currently the breakaway units are recognized by
Russia, Syria, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea
(DPRK) and by the unrecognized breakaway South Ossetia-State
of Alania. Since Russia’s unprovoked attacks on Ukraine of
24 February, temporary control of some places continues to
change. Recently the Russian foreign minister seems to
acknowledge that the invasion’s target is to turn a smaller
Ukraine into a weak and dependent country and eventually
back into a Russian province.
It sounds too much like “If I lose the election, it’s the crooked system” when President Jair
Bolsonaro briefed foreign diplomats on 18 July on the inadequacies
of the national voting system. The US State Department was
quick to point out the fallacy of the presentation and
endorsed the existing system. The extreme right-wing leader
is also trying to win supporters in the military for
spreading doubts about the polls. Again, the US but this
time the Secretary of Defense aiming mainly at Burma,
Thailand and some African states, declared that the military
should be controlled by civilians.
After finding the value of emergency edicts, such as the one issued
earlier on COVID-19 restrictions, for unrelated measures
interfering with civil rights, Hungary’s reinstalled Prime Minister
Viktor Orbán immediately imposed a new state of emergency on 24 May. Citing
far-fetched threats from the war in Hungary, it bestows new
authority such as ordering new taxes, continuing ruling by
decree and stifle criticism.
Accuracy of US mid-term elections is threatened by specially trained fringe poll watchers who are possibly harassing and
intimidating. Unidentified people are recruited to mix with
voters after having been indoctrinated that the last
president won the election – a falsehood so judged by
Congress and election officials, incl. Republicans.
June 2022
The United States are definitely engaging deeper in the Indo-Pacific
region since the visit of Vice President Kamala Devi
Harris to
Singapore in August 2021. Although around before, the
four-nation Australia-India-Japan-US
Quadrilateral
Security Dialogue or
Quad was
significantly boosted with the meeting of their foreign
ministers and now again on 11 February in Melbourne,
Australia. During a first visit to Fiji two days later,
Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced that the
US was pursuing deeper engagement plans with Pacific
nations, reported
Radio New Zealand International (RNZI).
Indian politics offers the latest view of common maneuver of leaders and
their parties to deflect criticism and objection to one’s
own pursuit
by criticizing and condemning what the other party seems to be advancing.
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) under Prime Minister
Narendra Modi is
actively spreading Hindutva, an aggressive form of Hindu
nationalism, under pretense of secular and democratic reform
but targeting and threatening India’s Muslims. Clashes
result as does volatile criticism and rejection from the
Indian National Congress (INC), the country’s largest
opposition party. To weaken and denounce Congress, Modi on 8
February launched an all-out attack, accused it of being
responsible for several ills confronting the country and
blamed family-run parties for being the biggest threat to
democracy, reported
PTI. Since 1951, with some interruptions, Congress has
been presided over by Jawaharlal
Nehru, his
daughter Indira
Gandhi, Rajiiv Gandhi and his mother
Sonia Gandhi
since 1998 – hence the attack on family.
Russia, besides trying to place Ukraine or parts of it, such as Donbas,
under its control, also insists on having its own exclusive
sphere of influence. Obviously it overlooks or insists its power
guarantees such position. There is no international rule
under which states can expect or insist on spheres of
influence. A state obviously can demand or force but the
accepted, non-aggressive and rewarding way is through
diplomatic, cultural and economic relations. States can
influence or try to influence but there is no accepted
right.
French President Emmanuel Macron placed first in the 2nd
round of the presidential election while his chief opponent
of the extreme right, nationalist, anti-immigration and
anti-EU party, Ms. Marine Le Pen came in second with
5.5 million fewer votes. His standing, authority and
influence are threatened by what in France is called “the 3rd
round,” i.e., the outcome of the two-round election of
the 577-seat National Assembly on 12 and 19 June. To add
weight to the challenge, four left-wing parties, led by the
Socialist Party (PS) and supported by Europe Ecology – The
Greens (EELV), agreed on 4 May to form an anti-Macron
coalition.
April
2022
Sanctions imposed on Russian oligarchs hoping they would
pressure President Vladimir Putin
to end his war against Ukraine obviously inconvenience them,
even make them suffer, but the measure has little effect. It
reveals that the originators, mainly inside the White House,
are misreading Russia. Power, not money, drives the
president and those who share his views. Using this tool
also shows the different American view, of a country with a
capitalist system, that money solves everything. Nyet, ne b
Rossii!
Russia continues waging war against Ukraine,
causing growing number of civilian casualties and destruction of
non-military buildings. At month’s end unconditional talks
between the two governments failed to bring a cease-fire or
the withdrawal of Russian forces. On the last day of the
month, the president formally applied for Ukraine to become
a member of the European Union (EU). While the Russian
president threatened several times that Ukraine joining the
North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was the ‘red
line,’ insiders and observers were certain that the
president really wants to keep Ukraine out of the EU.
United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres found that the world
now is worse
than five years ago at the beginning of his
second term, he told
Associated Press in an interview on 20 January. His
priorities of wanting to prevent conflict, deal with
inequalities, the COVID-19 pandemic, and global warming have
not changed, he repeated. But he says that the continuing
pandemic, the climate crisis, and geopolitical tensions and
conflicts everywhere are leaving the world worse off,
reported AP.
February 2022
The cold winter -
After President John F. Kennedy was
threatened with war by the Soviet Premier
on 4 June 1961 in Vienna, he reacted to him by
predicting “It will be a cold winter.” It appears the same
is true now although for different reasons.
Invasion of Ukraine
or partial intrusion by Russian military forces remains
possible while European, United States and Russian
diplomats are continuing their talks. Little is said
publicly that miscalculation or inability to pull back from
aggressive military moves could lead to the use of a nuclear
weapon with devastating results in Russia and/or the United
States.
January 2022
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