Me? Me? Me?... Yeah yeah yeah amigo... What can me say about me-self?... me-self...me-self... Ole ole ole... me me me... I'm a young banana shoot... My dad is Banana Pa... My mom is Banana Ma... I am happy happy happy... I run around... oops... I can't run... I sing aloud... all day long... I sing in the rain... I sing in the shine... I sing day and night... I sing all the time...
I watch the butterflies and the bees... and the cranes and the geese...
Aha aha aha... here we go again... this little swallow circling on my head... the little swallow on my head... is about to poop on me... Hey, little fella, don't cha know where to unload ya poopa?... But, that's alright... I can swallow my pride to befriend a swallow... Yup yup yup... swallow my pride to befriend a swallow...
Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister says the island nation’s debt-laden economy has “collapsed” as it runs out of money to pay for food and fuel.
Short of cash to pay for imports of such necessities and already defaulting on its debt, the country is seeking help from neighbouring India and China and from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Today President Biden met with G7 leaders to strengthen our cooperation on economic issues, cyberspace and quantum, and other 21st century challenges, including those posed by China to our workers, companies, and national security. The G7, representing over 50% of the world economy, is demonstrating that it is among the most potent institutions in the world today, with like-minded democracies solving problems.
Committing to a unified approach to confront China’s unfair economic practices: The G7 will release collective, unprecedented language acknowledging the harms caused by the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) non-transparent, market-distorting industrial directives. They will commit to working together to develop a coordinated approach to remedy the PRC’s non-market policies and practices to ensure a level playing field for businesses and workers.
TTCT – Trong các loại tranh chấp, thì tranh chấp đất đai, hay với các quốc gia, thêm tranh chấp lãnh hải, luôn là khó xử lý nhất và dễ dẫn tới đụng chân đụng tay nhất. Vụ việc mới đây, khi Kenya và Somalia lôi nhau ra tòa mà vẫn không giải quyết được việc phân định một vùng biển chồng lấn đã hàng nửa thế kỷ, là một ví dụ.
Tuần trước, Kenya tuyên bố “bác bỏ hoàn toàn” phán quyết có lợi cho Somalia của Tòa án Công lý quốc tế (ICJ), Liên Hiệp Quốc về tranh chấp biên giới trên biển giữa hai nước.
Theo đó, một biên giới mới trên biển được xác định sẽ gần hơn với đường biên mà Somalia tuyên bố, dù Kenya vẫn giữ được một diện tích 100.000km2.
Các đường biên giới tuyên xưng của Kenya và Somalia. Ảnh: herald-review.com
Biden-Harris Administration is Driving a Multi-Pronged Response to Global Food Security Crisis
President Biden and G7 leaders will announce that they will contribute over $4.5 billion to address global food security, over half of which will come from the United States. President Biden will announce $2.76 billion in additional U.S. Government funding commitments to help protect the world’s most vulnerable populations and mitigate the impacts of Russia’s unprovoked and unjustified war in Ukraine on growing food insecurity and malnutrition. These new investments will support efforts in over 47 countries and regional organizations, to support regional plans to address increasing needs.
TTCT – Cuối tháng 6 này, thao diễn hải quân hằng năm RIMPAC của Mỹ, quy tụ hải quân 26 quốc gia, sẽ khai diễn. Trước đó, từ cuối tháng 5, hải quân Trung Quốc và Nga đã độc lập diễn tập cũng trên Thái Bình Dương. Bên cạnh quan hệ đối kháng sẵn có, năm nay còn thêm tác động của cuộc chiến Ukraine, nên các cuộc diễn tập này càng hàm chứa tính đối đầu.
Hôm 3-6, Hãng tin Thổ Nhĩ Kỳ AA loan tin 40 tàu chiến và 20 máy bay tham gia diễn tập thuộc hạm đội Thái Bình Dương của Nga tại phía đông nước này từ ngày 3 tới 10-6.
Cũng theo AA, cuộc tập trận nhằm phối hợp nhóm tàu trên với không quân của hải quân trong việc rèn kỹ năng săn ngầm, tác xạ các mục tiêu trên mặt nước và trên không, đồng thời tổ chức tiếp tế trên biển cho hải quân trong vùng biển Thái Bình Dương.
Binh sĩ các nước Úc, Mỹ, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Brunei, Nhật Bản, và New Zealand chụp ảnh chung trên tàu sân bay trực thăng HMAS Adelaide trong cuộc tập trận RIMPAC 2018. Ảnh: navy.mil
The Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investmentwill deliver game-changing projects to close the infrastructure gap in developing countries, strengthen the global economy and supply chains, and advance U.S. national security
President Biden will announce new flagship projects and lay out the Administration’s comprehensive effort to execute the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment.
At the 2021 G7 Summit, President Biden and G7 leaders announced their intent to develop a values-driven, high-impact, and transparent infrastructure partnership to meet the enormous infrastructure needs of low- and middle-income countries and support the United States’ and its allies’ economic and national security interests. Over the past year, members of the Administration have traveled to hear directly from countries on how we can meet their infrastructure needs, deepened our coordination across the U.S Government and with the G7, honed our infrastructure investment tools, and closed game-changing deals.
Andrew MullenDeputy Editor, Political Economy 25 June 2022
Dear Global Impact Readers,
Space, they say, is the final frontier. But how far does that frontier go and what’s out there?
China, has in recent years, accelerated all things space as part of its busy science programme we recapped a few weeks ago, from landing a rover on Mars to nearing completion of its Tiangong space station.
‘Years of economic mismanagement’: Why Sri Lanka has a fuel crisis 05:11
(CNN Business)In Sri Lanka, people queue for miles to fill a tank of fuel. In Bangladesh, shops shut at 8 p.m. to conserve energy. In India and Pakistan, power outages force schools to shut, businesses to close and residents to swelter without air conditioning through deadly heat waves in which temperatures top 100 degrees Fahrenheit (37 degrees Celsius).
These are just some of the more eye-catching scenes playing out in the Asia Pacific region, where various countries are facing their worst energy crisis in years — and grappling with the growing discontent and instability caused by knock-on increases in the cost of living.
The Supreme Court in a 5-4 decision overturned Roe v. Wade, the landmark ruling that established the constitutional right to abortion.
Roe since 1973 had permitted abortions during the first two trimesters of pregnancy in the United States.
Almost half the states are expected to outlaw or severely restrict abortion as a result of the Supreme Court’s decision on a Mississippi case known as Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.
Justice Samuel Alito wrote the majority opinion. The court’s other five conservatives, including Chief Justice John Roberts, joined in the judgment, which was opposed by the three liberal justices.
Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade, ending decades of federal abortion rights
The Supreme Court in a 5-4 decision on Friday overturned Roe v. Wade, the landmark ruling that established the constitutional right to abortion in the U.S. in 1973.
The court’s controversial but expected ruling gives individual states the power to set their own abortion laws without concern of running afoul of Roe, which had permitted abortions during the first two trimesters of pregnancy.
Flags representing the G7 Summit, Germany and the European Union fly ahead of the summit, scheduled to take place at Schloss Elmau in Germany’s Bavaria region from June 26 to 28.
(CNN)What a difference a year makes. Enormous challenges, some of them barely imaginable when the G7 leaders last met 12 months ago, are bearing down on the world’s most prosperous democratic nations as they prepare to meet in Germany.
Optimism was in the air at the Cornish beach resort of Carbis Bay in 2021 as the G7‘s presidents, prime ministers and chancellor met face-to-face for the first time since the Covid-19 pandemic began.
Together they vowed to “beat Covid-19 and build back better,” to “reinvigorate economies,” to “protect our planet” and to “strengthen partnerships.”
But global events have since overtaken their best efforts, and it is far from clear if they will be able to build on those goals this year. Russia’s unprompted invasion of Ukraine is a large and singular cloud, but other thunderheads are gathering too.
Over the next few days, the leaders of Japan, Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Italy, the European Union and host Germany will meet amid the seclusion of Bavaria’s luxurious Schloss Elmau retreat.
Cooking, cleaning, laundry, childcare—domestic labor is essential labor in any society. In Vietnam, a rapidly growing middle class has produced skyrocketing demand for paid domestic workers—both live-in and hourly—particularly in large metropolises like Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, and domestic workers have become an important part of the gig economy.
How much reliance should be placed on the major international human rights NGOs? Can they be trusted to work without bias? How are they governed?
These are subjects I discussed recently in a short paper done for the Council on Foreign Relations’ Diamonstein-Spielvogel Project on the Future of Democracy. It is entitled Human Rights NGOs: “Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?” and can be foundhere. Continue reading Human Rights NGOs: “Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?”→
Vấn đề điện hạt nhân tiếp tục được đề cập tại kỳ họp Quốc hội vừa qua. Theo Ủy ban Kinh tế, với lộ trình giảm phát thải tiến tới đạt mức phát thải ròng bằng 0 vào năm 2050, đây là lĩnh vực cần được nghiên cứu, xem xét trong quá trình phát triển giai đoạn tiếp theo.
Quốc hội nước ta đã phê duyệt chủ trương xây dựng nhà máy điện hạt nhân Ninh Thuận năm 2009 và Thủ tướng đã phê duyệt quy hoạch 8 địa điểm xây dựng các nhà máy. Năm 2016 vì các lý do khách quan, Quốc hội ban hành nghị quyết dừng thực hiện dự án này. 8 địa điểm đã được quy hoạch trong quyết định của Thủ tướng, trong đó có 2 địa điểm ưu tiên tại Ninh Thuận (Phước Dinh và Vĩnh Hải) được sử dụng cho nhà máy điện hạt nhân đầu tiên, đến nay về nguyên tắc đang được bảo lưu, chờ quyết định mới của Thủ tướng.
Tại nghị trường vừa qua, một đại biểu đề nghị xóa bỏ quy hoạch các địa điểm này, số khác muốn duy trì để sử dụng khi tái khởi động dự án điện hạt nhân Ninh Thuận trong tương lai. Bộ trưởng Bộ Công Thương thì khẳng định việc dừng thực hiện chủ trương đầu tư dự án điện hạt nhân Ninh Thuận không có nghĩa là “hủy bỏ”. Như vậy đây là vấn đề còn bỏ ngỏ, chờ quyết định cuối cùng của cấp có thẩm quyền.
The Quadrilateral grouping of Australia, India, Japan, and the United States (the Quad) has come a long way from its origins, establishing itself as a crucial pillar of the Indo-Pacific regional architecture and significantly shifting in tone and focus from its early iterations. Since its revival in 2017, the Quad has been elevated to a leader-level dialogue, it has begun issuing joint statements, and it has developed a new working-group structure to facilitate cooperation. It has also significantly broadened and deepened its agenda to include vaccines, climate change, critical and emerging technologies, infrastructure, cyber, and space.
These recent changes to the Quad raise several questions about its future trajectory. What are the drivers of engagement, the domestic support, and the bureaucratic capacity in the four countries to continue investing in the Quad? How well does the Quad’s new working-group structure function, and will the working groups be able to deliver tangible results? How has the Quad’s agenda evolved, and will it return to its initial focus on security challenges? Are the Quad countries open to cooperation with additional countries and, if so, what form will this take?
This paper analyzes these questions drawing on recent publications, official statements, and interviews with key experts and policymakers in the four countries. In doing so, it offers five key takeaways into the Quad as an evolving part of the Indo-Pacific architecture, as well as a vehicle for achieving the goals of its four member countries.
Since its revival in 2017, the Quad has been elevated to a leader-level dialogue, it has begun issuing joint statements, and it has developed a new working-group structure to facilitate cooperation
First, in terms of institutionalization and internal goals, there is little interest among the member countries in further institutionalizing the Quad by establishing a secretariat or adopting a charter. All four consider the flexible nature of the grouping to be an asset. At the same time, the Quad partners have increased their alignment on strategic issues and aim to continue doing so in the near future by solidifying ties within the grouping.
Andrew MullenDeputy Editor, Political Economy 25 June 2022
