Alliance

Highlights - Exchange of views with NATO Secretary General - Subcommittee on Security and Defence

Retrieved on: 
Thursday, August 31, 2023

Exchange of views with NATO Secretary General

Key Points: 
  • Exchange of views with NATO Secretary General
    31-08-2023 - 17:06
    On 7 September the Secretary General of NATO, Jens Stoltenberg, will address Members of the Committee on Foreign Affairs (AFET) and its Subcommittee on Security and Defence (SEDE).
  • The discussion will come shortly after the NATO Summit in Vilnius where Heads of State and Government of the North Atlantic Alliance have again reaffirmed the enduring transatlantic bond, unity, cohesion, and solidarity at a critical time for international peace and stability.
  • Allies also committed to continue cooperating closely with the European Union in order to make the Euro-Atlantic area and the broader neighbourhood more secure.
  • The exchange will allow Members to discuss with the Secretary General the latest developments in Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine and highlight the importance of the EU's strategic partnership with NATO.

How individual, ordinary Jews fought Nazi persecution − a new view of history

Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, August 29, 2023

In plain daylight, in front of the courthouse in the heart of the Nazi capital, she protested in front of passersby.

Key Points: 
  • In plain daylight, in front of the courthouse in the heart of the Nazi capital, she protested in front of passersby.
  • But in the dominant understanding of the Nazi period until now, the act of speaking out publicly as an individual against the persecution of Jews seemed unimaginable, especially for the Jews.
  • At the time of the discovery, I had studied the persecution of German Jews intensively for almost 20 years, but I had never heard of anything like this.
  • Subsequently, finding more and more similar stories of resistance in court records and survivor testimonies began to shatter my established scholarly beliefs.

Challenging traditional views of Jewish resistance

    • More generally, an assumption still exists today that defiance, especially individual protest, is rare in authoritarian regimes.
    • Still, today the public and many scholars understand Jewish resistance during the Holocaust mostly in terms of rare armed group activities in the Nazi occupied East, for example ghetto uprisings or partisan attacks.
    • The astonishing results change the view of Jewish resistance during World War II dramatically.

A 17-year-old challenges the Nazi regime

    • He left his four-story apartment house every night for weeks in 1940, breaking the curfew for Jews.
    • The city of Frankfurt had ordered a brownout to protect it from Allied air raids.
    • Hans had never been to a movie or a play, because those were prohibited for Jews in Frankfurt.
    • As a Jewish adolescent, he saw no future in Nazi Germany.
    • In December 1940, after he had set off dozens of false alarms, the police finally manage to catch Hans red-handed.

A new history of Jewish resistance

    • Forgotten until now, between 1933 and 1945 hundreds and hundreds of Jewish women and men performed individual acts of resistance in Nazi Germany proper.
    • Instead, such widespread individual acts of resistance during World War II provide a new view of history: that Jews showed agency in fighting their persecution by the Nazis.
    • And this, in turn, demonstrates that individual resistance is possible under even the worst genocidal circumstances.

Like 'the tolling of a distant temple bell', Ibuse Masuji's Black Rain remembers the horrors of Hiroshima and warns of the inhumanity of war

Retrieved on: 
Thursday, August 3, 2023

There are photos of its serene landscapes, its local delicacies and sake, and its modern sports and street culture.

Key Points: 
  • There are photos of its serene landscapes, its local delicacies and sake, and its modern sports and street culture.
  • The bombing of Hiroshima at the conclusion of World War II is mentioned just once.
  • The Hiroshima Peace Memorial, according to the site, “speaks to the horrors of nuclear weapons”.
  • But its stories, its “several pasts”, have been constantly abridged – or “refashioned”, as Michel Foucault would say.
  • Ibuse Masuji’s Black Rain, which won the prestigious Noma Literary Prize after its publication in 1965, epitomises atomic bomb literature.
  • Black Rain records the scorching memories of the hibakusha – atomic bomb survivors – of the bombing and its aftermath.

Forgetting and stigmatisation

    • Shizuma Shigematsu and his family live a seemingly quiet and normal life in the village of Kobatake, about 100 kilometres from Hiroshima city.
    • But the fact that they once lived and worked close to Hiroshima is still a weight upon their lives.
    • There are rumours circulating in the village that Yasuko was near the epicentre of the explosion and now has radiation sickness.
    • But after the war, Shigematsu laments, rumours stigmatising people like Yasuko are by no means under control.
    • To prove that Yasuko was not exposed to radiation, Shigematsu decides to copy Yasuko’s wartime diary entries and show them to the village matchmaker.

Tradition versus modernity

    • His critique of modernity is highly nuanced, with a tinge of humour.
    • To convince him, she shows him a letter which was sent to his great-grandfather from Tokyo in 1870.
    • For Ibuse, it is only through traditional food and medicine that the damages brought by science and modernity, exemplified by the atomic bomb, can be eased and soothed.

Appeal to nature, humanity and peace

    • Shigematsu recalls the massive gingko tree he liked to play under, which stood outside his friend Kōtarō’s place.
    • Like the bomb survivors who lost teeth and hair, they lost their scales and could not swim normally.
    • Forgotten the hellfires we went through that day – forgotten them and everything else, with their damned anti-bomb rallies.
    • The only important thing was to end it all soon as possible: rather an unjust peace, than a “just” war!
    • The only important thing was to end it all soon as possible: rather an unjust peace, than a “just” war!

Trapped in NATO antechamber, Kyiv eyes 'military Marshall plan'

Retrieved on: 
Thursday, July 27, 2023

How could NATO get this war-torn European country out of its never-ending “in between” position, a grey zone and a strategic no man’s land that have left it vulnerable to those who deny it the right to exist?

Key Points: 
  • How could NATO get this war-torn European country out of its never-ending “in between” position, a grey zone and a strategic no man’s land that have left it vulnerable to those who deny it the right to exist?
  • At the close of the meeting, it’s important o acknowledge that the circle has not been squared.

The dangers of a conditional accession

    • This is, of course, welcome and even the Henry Kissinger, a famous proponent of realpolitik who was long opposed to Ukraine’s membership, shifted views earlier this year.
    • However, US president Joe Biden cut the enthusiasm short: a “prematured” accession would thrust NATO into a direct military conflict with Russia, which sees the Alliance as an existential threat.
    • Volodymyr Zelensky himself admitted that his country could not join as long as the war was still being fought.
    • As Zelensky warned: “We must remember that every doubt we show here in Europe is a trench that Russia will definitely try to occupy.”

How to deal with the “interim” period?

    • This will be decisive to dissuade Russia from engaging into a new escalation and to place Ukraine in a strong negotiating position when time comes for a peace settlement.
    • The debate about “security guarantees” erupted right after the launch of the Russian “special operation”.
    • Since then, however, neutrality for Ukraine has been relegated to the dustbin of history.

A military ‘Marshall Plan’

    • This kind of military “Marshall Plan”, as Eric Ciaramella, senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, coined it, would keep Ukraine under “qualitative military edge”, the technological and tactical advantage to deter and, if necessary, defeat a numerically superior adversary.
    • The “Kyiv Security Compact” draws its inspiration from the “hedgehog theory”, under which a state becomes so well armed that its enemies will not try to swallow it.
    • The European Union could follow this path, and complement the G7’s offer with its own set of assistance measures.
    • Jens Stoltenberg, the Secretary-General of the Atlantic Alliance, stated that Ukraine is “now closer to NATO than ever before”.
    • More realistically, one could say that the martyred country remains trapped in the antechamber of the new European security order.

Baseless anti-trans claims fuel adoption of harmful laws – two criminologists explain

Retrieved on: 
Monday, June 5, 2023

After boycotts threatened to cost the state more than US$3.7 billion, legislators repealed the law in 2017.

Key Points: 
  • After boycotts threatened to cost the state more than US$3.7 billion, legislators repealed the law in 2017.
  • Since then, however, religious and political conservatives have successfully spread an anti-trans moral panic, or irrational fear, across the United States.
  • As far back as 2001, Republican lawmakers proposed the first of what are now nearly 900 anti-LGBTQ+ bills.
  • In fact, transgender people are more than four times as likely to be the victim of a crime as cisgender people.

Expanding reach

    • Anti-trans laws like the one enacted in Kansas over the governor’s veto reach beyond restrooms to limit access to many sex-segregated spaces, including “locker rooms, prisons, domestic violence shelters and rape crisis centers,” based on the sex assigned at birth to a person who seeks to use those spaces.
    • And Florida’s barrage of anti-LGBTQ+ regulations even prohibits the mere discussion of sexuality and gender identity in schools through the 12th grade.

What the data shows

    • The reality, however, is that trans-exclusionary laws do not protect cisgender women and girls from harassment or violence.
    • Rather, they result in dramatic increases in violent victimization for transgender and gender-nonconforming adults and children.
    • When laws permit transgender people to access sex-segregated spaces in accordance with their gender identities, crime rates do not increase.
    • In other words, cisgender women and girls are no safer than they would be in the absence of anti-trans laws.

Lies drive harm

    • Because criminological data does not support trans-exclusionary laws or policies, advocates of anti-trans laws often resort to lies, flawed anecdotal evidence, or what fact-checkers have called “extreme cherry-picking” to support their position.
    • The criminological research is clear that anti-trans laws do not help the people they are claimed to protect.
    • In fact, these laws inflict harm on people who are even more vulnerable.

Namibia and South Africa's ruling parties share a heroic history - but their 2024 electoral prospects look weak

Retrieved on: 
Wednesday, May 10, 2023

This underscored the ANC’s historic ties to Namibia’s governing party, South West Africa People’s Organisation (Swapo).

Key Points: 
  • This underscored the ANC’s historic ties to Namibia’s governing party, South West Africa People’s Organisation (Swapo).
  • As former liberation movements, we learn from one another, a manifestation of the deep bonds of solidarity formed during our struggle against oppression.
  • In our view, the nostalgic reminiscences of the parties’ days as liberation movements serve as a heroic patriotic history turned into a form of populism.
  • Voters in South Africa and Namibia will in 2024 pass their verdict at the ballot boxes.

History with lasting bonds

    • South African-Namibian relations have a special history.
    • After the first world war, the Treaty of Versailles officially ended the war between Germany and the Allied powers.
    • It turned the German colony South West Africa into a C-mandate of the new League of Nations.

From liberation movements to governments

    • Released only weeks earlier from prison, Nelson Mandela attended the ceremony as the celebrated guest of honour.
    • Apartheid in South Africa came officially to an end through the result of the first democratic elections in 1994.
    • It indicated the success of the democratic settlements in both countries that Swapo and the ANC led processes leading to the drawing up of final constitutions.
    • Crucially, however, the parliaments dominated by Swapo and the ANC have failed to hold governments to account on major issues.

Popularity in decline

    • Even this was regarded as a triumph, put down to the personal popularity of its latest leader, Cyril Ramaphosa.
    • In the run-up to the elections in 2024, surveys predict the ANC will lose its absolute majority, and be forced to form a coalition to remain in power.
    • It is also anticipated that it will lose its majority in several provinces.
    • But, their dominance is being steadily eroded by their lacklustre performance in power and failures in delivery of basic services.

2024 and the limits to liberation

    • While many assume that the ANC will lose its absolute majority, it has an uncanny ability to defy expectations.
    • Numerous analyses have explored how former liberation movements in southern Africa have failed the ideals of the liberation struggle when in power, even becoming undemocratic and increasingly corrupt.
    • Yet in southern Africa, liberation movements’ loss of popularity is combined with accusations that they have betrayed the promises of freedom.
    • After all, opposition parties have so far offered little if any credible alternatives which promise more well-being for the ordinary people.

Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu: Turkey's opposition leader is leading in the polls, here's what you need to know

Retrieved on: 
Wednesday, May 10, 2023

Turkish president, and previously prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is attempting to extend his 21-year rule, but the unified opposition candidacy is now consistently ahead the in the polls.

Key Points: 
  • Turkish president, and previously prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is attempting to extend his 21-year rule, but the unified opposition candidacy is now consistently ahead the in the polls.
  • Many opposition parties agreed to nominate the leader of the Republican People’s Party (CHP), Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, as their candidate, overcoming previous divisions.
  • Kılıçdaroğlu has led the CHP since 2010, and has helped spearhead some of the opposition’s recent local election victories.

Erdoğan’s past and present

    • Undoing this process is a core policy for the alliance and was highlighted in the draft constitutional reform package they published last November.
    • This document proposes measures to prevent future leaders from accumulating power in the way Erdoğan did, as well as strengthening the independence of the judiciary.
    • Over the years, the AKP government has taken control of most media outlets in the country.
    • They also plan to change the threshold for parliamentary representation from 7% to 3% of the vote, to give smaller parties a chance.

Foreign policy shift

    • Turkey’s foreign policy could also undergo a significant change if Millet wins.
    • Turkey’s now warm relationship with Russia has also been a source of concern in western capitals.
    • They have pledged to restart the EU accession process, comply with ECHR rulings, and to abandon strategic positions at odds with their Nato alliance partners.
    • With consistently high inflation rates and a significantly devalued currency, economic constraints are felt through all parts of Turkish society.

I've just returned from Kyiv where they are expecting a long war and want more help from the west

Retrieved on: 
Wednesday, May 10, 2023

I was recently part of a delegation to Kyiv of military, intelligence and diplomatic experts organised by the thinktank Globsec.

Key Points: 
  • I was recently part of a delegation to Kyiv of military, intelligence and diplomatic experts organised by the thinktank Globsec.
  • One abiding impression remains – the profound determination of Ukrainian people to fight what almost everyone now accepts is going to be a long war.
  • Seeing the war as likely to be long and grinding, Ukrainian senior leaders are focusing on two closely connected elements of sustaining their country’s security into the next (long) phase of the war.
  • Messages to the effect that outright siding with the enemy is not compatible with Nato membership may need to be passed on, preferably long before the summit.

Roadmap to Nato membership

    • It should be stressed that no Ukrainian official is naive on the issue of Nato membership.
    • Instead, they are asking for some form of roadmap to membership.
    • The default option being proposed by Ukraine is security guarantees – perhaps even bilateral, such as those offered to Sweden and Finland by the UK and US pending their full Nato membership.
    • Clearly, as with Nato membership, there would be no question of the UK or any other bilateral party committing to defend Ukraine during the current conflict.

Military assistance

    • This brings us to the second aspect of sustaining Ukraine’s security – maintaining and increasing the supply of military equipment in the long term.
    • There is no question that western military assistance has probably made the difference between Ukraine holding the line so far and defeat.
    • Despite the scale of assistance provided so far, western help has been staccato and ad hoc in nature.
    • We will begin to learn in July if Nato and the west is serious about accepting Ukraine as a future military partner, either in Nato or some other arrangement pending entry.

Why Kurt Vonnegut's advice to college graduates still matters today

Retrieved on: 
Friday, April 28, 2023

Kurt Vonnegut didn’t deliver the famous “Wear Sunscreen” graduation speech published in the Chicago Tribune that was often mistakenly attributed to the celebrated author.

Key Points: 
  • Kurt Vonnegut didn’t deliver the famous “Wear Sunscreen” graduation speech published in the Chicago Tribune that was often mistakenly attributed to the celebrated author.
  • I don’t even remember who gave my class’s graduation speech, much less a single word the speaker said.
  • During the early and mid-1960s, he commanded an avid and devoted following on campuses before he had produced any bestsellers.
  • Why was a middle-aged writer born in 1922 adored by a counterculture told not to trust anyone over 30?

Their parents’ generation

    • A cultural touchstone, the novel changed the way Americans think and write about war.
    • Like Andy Warhol’s soup cans, “Slaughterhouse-Five,” with its jokes, drawings, risqué limericks and flying saucers, blurs the line between high and low culture.
    • Cited as one of the top novels of the 20th century, “Slaughterhouse-Five” has been transformed into film, theatrical plays, a graphic novel and visual art.
    • He continued to believe all his life in the civic virtues he learned as a student at Shortridge High School in Indianapolis.

Fool or philosopher?

    • Vonnegut had the look – sad, kind eyes under that mop of uncontrollable hair, the full droopy mustache.
    • Looking like a cross between Albert Einstein and a carnival huckster, Vonnegut had his contradictions on full display.
    • A fool or a philosopher?

A forceful defense of art

    • He used his own experience in World War II to destroy any notion of a good war.
    • “For all the sublimity of the cause for which we fought, we surely created a Belsen of our own,” he lamented, referencing the Nazi concentration camp.
    • The military-industrial complex, he told the graduates at Bennington, treats people and their children and their cities like garbage.
    • Instead, Americans should spend money on hospitals and housing and schools and Ferris wheels rather than on war machinery.

Fast fashion still comes with deadly risks, 10 years after the Rana Plaza disaster – the industry's many moving pieces make it easy to cut corners

Retrieved on: 
Saturday, April 22, 2023

On April 24, 2013, a multistory garment factory complex in Bangladesh called Rana Plaza collapsed, killing more than 1,000 workers and injuring another 2,500.

Key Points: 
  • On April 24, 2013, a multistory garment factory complex in Bangladesh called Rana Plaza collapsed, killing more than 1,000 workers and injuring another 2,500.
  • It remains the worst accident in the history of the apparel industry and one of the deadliest industrial accidents in the world.

Shamed into action?

    • While the government had stringent building codes “on the books,” they were rarely enforced.
    • Most workers lacked the information and power to demand safe working conditions.
    • The coalitions conducted factory inspections to identify structural and electrical deficiencies and developed plans for factories to make improvements.
    • Member companies set aside funds for inspections and worker training, negotiated commercial terms and facilitated low-cost loans for factory improvements.

The record since

    • At the end of five years, both initiatives reported that 85%-88% of safety issues were remediated.
    • In addition, more than 5,000 beneficiaries, including injured workers and dependents of victims, were compensated through the Rana Plaza Arrangement, receiving an average of about US$6,500.
    • Overall, I believe that these initiatives have been successful in bringing safety issues to the forefront.

Clothes yesterday and today

    • In the 1960s, the average American family spent 10% of its income on clothing, buying 25 pieces of apparel – almost all of it made in the United States.
    • Over these decades, low-income countries in Asia and Latin America started producing more garments and textiles.
    • Apparel production is labor-intensive, meaning these countries’ lower wages were a huge attraction to brands and retailers, who gradually started shifting their sourcing.
    • To meet the rapid growth of the apparel industry, however, many buildings were converted to factories as quickly as possible, often without requisite permits.

Everyone and no one

    • This can translate into exploitative labor practices or unsafe conditions that violate local laws, but enforcement capacity is weak.
    • The supply chain’s opaqueness, especially when brands do not source directly, makes it difficult to investigate and remediate these practices.
    • This complex system makes it hard to assign ethical responsibility, because everyone, and therefore no one, is guilty.