Peace Blog
The views expressed in the blog are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the IIP.
The Arab revolt, or revolution, started not in Cairo but in Tunisia in December 2010. It started when a young Tunisian – Mohamed Bouazizi – set himself on fire because of continuing harassment by the police. (See my blog in German from December). It required some weeks for the revolutionary spirit to arrive in Egypt, the most populous Arab country. For a long time the dissatisfaction with the different regimes in Egypt had been growing in the population.
It was 17th of January in the year 1961, when the first elected prime minister of the newly independent Congo, Patrice Lumumba was murdered. With him, the newly reached independence was murdered too. There is so much interconnection between the past horror of colonialism, the ongoing one-sided exploitation of natural resources and people, tribal disputes, regional interference, and lack of determination to stop the wars. Unfortunately, there seems not much hope for an end of this multi-layered conflict and people will continue to be killed.
The first doses of the Covid-19 vaccines being administered across the EU in the last days of 2020 marked a critical passage point in the management of the pandemic. In these first weeks, the epidemiological value of the vaccines could be seen as largely symbolic, as the number of those able to be vaccinated is still quite limited. Yet symbols matter, and EU leaders have seized this opportunity to underline how both the approval of the vaccine, and the organization of the common ‘V [for vaccine] days’ across the Union are a ‘touching proof of unity’ in Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s words.
Der außenpolitische Stil von US-Präsident Joseph Biden wird diplomatischer sein als der seines Vorgängers. Er wird wieder einige multilaterale Organisationen nützen, wie die Welthandelsorganisation und die Weltgesundheitsorganisation. Er hat versprochen, die Klimaziele von Paris einhalten zu wollen. Rüstungskontrolle wird mehr Bedeutung zukommen; das neue START-Abkommen über die Begrenzung von Langstreckenraketen wird wahrscheinlich verlängert und vielleicht die Gesamtzahl von nuklearen Sprengköpfen eingefroren werden.
The Brexit is done, and an agreement has been found on how the relationship between the EU and the United Kingdom should be organized in future. I still deplore that the UK left the EU but probably UK membership was insofar a mistake. A large part of the elite, and under their influence also of the British - at least English – society, did not want to open a new chapter of British history.
