Category: Politics

When G7 foreign ministers met in Britain on Saturday, Russian sabre-rattling against Ukraine and assertive China were top of the agenda. The two-day gathering of top diplomats from the world’s richest nations in Liverpool is the last in-person gathering of Britain’s G7 presidency, before it hands over the baton to Germany.

British Foreign Minister Liz Truss said that the world needs to come together to stand up to aggressors who are seeking to limit the bounds of freedom and democracy. However, she did not mention any specific countries.

Discussions at the meeting were focused on Russia’s build-up of troops on Ukraine’s border, confronting China and addressing the crisis in military-ruled Myanmar.

Truss held talks on the sidelines of the summit on Friday with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken as well as Germany’s new Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock.

Ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) joined the G7 summit for the first time ever on Sunday.  Some of the countries took part in the summit virtually due to the pandemic. This includes India.

Truss said before the meeting that she wanted deeper ties between G7 nations in trade, investment, technology and security so that they can defend and advance freedom and democracy across the world.

Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler Mohammed bin Salman arrived in Qatar on Wednesday, marking his first visit to the country after the two sides severed ties four years ago. For the uninitiated, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain cut all links with Qatar in June 2017, saying the country backed radical Islamist groups and was a close ally of Riyadh’s rival Tehran. Doha had denied all these allegations but the neighbouring states sealed their airspace to Qatari flights, shuttered Qatar’s only land border and also expelled Qatari citizens.

The relations were restored in January after a landmark summit in the city of Al-Ula. Crown Prince Mohammed was greeted by the Emir of Qatar Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, with whom he will hold talks. The talks are aimed at fortifying the kingdom’s alliances as rival Iran resumes nuclear negotiations with world powers.

Prince Mohammed’s visit to Doha comes only days after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan went there for two days of talks. Relations between Turkey and Qatar went south after the killing of Saudi critic Jamal Khashoggi in 2018.

Earlier, the Saudi Prince visited the UAE, and will conclude his tour with a visit to Bahrain and Kuwait.

Rohingya refugees from Myanmar are suing Meta Platforms Inc, formerly known as Facebook, for over $150 billion over allegations that the social media platform did not take action against anti-Rohingya hate speech that led to violence.

The complaint filed in California by law firms Edelson PC and Fields PLLC, states that the company’s failures to police content and its platform’s design contributed to the violence faced by the Rohingya community. British lawyers have also submitted a letter of notice to Facebook’s London office.

A Meta spokesperson said in a statement that they are shocked by the crimes committed against the Rohingya people in Myanmar. They have built a dedicated team of Burmese speakers, banned the Tatmadaw (Myanmar military), disrupted networks manipulating public debate and taken action on harmful misinformation to help keep people safe. They have also invested in Burmese-language technology to reduce the prevalence of violating content.

In 2018, a UN human rights investigation said the use of Facebook had played a key role in spreading hate speech that aggravated the violence.

A Reuters investigation that year found more than 1,000 examples of posts attacking the Rohingya and other Muslims on the social media platform. Almost all were in Burmese. The posts called Rohingya or other Muslims dogs or rapists.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will be making a work trip to Indonesia and Malaysia next week as the Biden administration ramps up engagement in Southeast Asia. Blinken is the third and most senior U.S. official to visit the region in two months. He will visit Jakarta on December 13-14, and Malaysia on December 14-15. The trip to Malaysia will be his first-ever.

When in Indonesia, Blinken is due to deliver a speech on health, investment, and infrastructure in the Indo-Pacific. He will also participate virtually in the Bali Democracy Forum on December 9. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo had also visited the region in mid-November to promote economic ties.

At a meeting with Southeast Asian foreign ministers on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in September, Blinken had said that Washington will be releasing a new strategy for the wider Indo-Pacific region. The strategy will build on their shared vision for a free, open, interconnected, resilient and secure region.

Top U.S. diplomat for East Asia, Daniel Kritenbrink said last week in Thailand that Washington was not asking its allies to choose between it and China, promoting instead a shared vision of a rules-based order “where large countries don’t bully the weak.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in India today (Monday, December 7) to strengthen the military and energy ties with the country. This will be the only second work trip for Putin since the outbreak of Covid19 – he skipped both the G20 and COP26 summits this year.

“The friendship between India and Russia has stood the test of time,” Modi told Putin at a virtual summit in September. “You have always been a great friend of India.”

Due to Russia’s friendliness with China, and India’s good terms with the US, it has been speculated that the relation between India and Russia could go south. But Putin’s visit to India will clear all the doubts.

The Moscow Kremlin said in a statement last week that the talks between Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be driven by defence and energy issues. The boss of Russian energy giant Rosneft, Igor Sechin, is also traveling with Putin as a “number of important energy agreements” are on the table.

India and Russia usually hold annual summits, but the leaders of the two countries last met on the sidelines of the 2019 BRICS Summit in Brazil.

United States – Iranian talks on saving the 2015 Iran nuclear deal broke off until next week as European officials showed dismay at sweeping demands by Iran’s new government. The seventh round of talks in Vienna is the first with delegates sent by Iran’s anti-Western President Ebrahim Raisi on how to review the agreement under which Iran limited its nuclear program in exchange for aid from economic sanctions.

After Raisi’s election in June, there was a five-month gap within the talks, which led to suspicions amongst US and European officers that Iran is taking part in for time while advancing its nuclear program.

United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that Iran does not seem to be serious about doing what’s necessary to return to compliance, which is why they ended this round of talks in Vienna.

Diplomats said the Iranian delegation had asked for big changes to a text that was negotiated in previous rounds and that European officials had said was 70-80% finished.

Europe and the United States have expressed disappointment over Iran’s demands, which they say are incompatible with the deal’s terms or went beyond them.

Myanmar’s junta has protested the United Nations’ decision to deny its chosen representative a seat at the world body and keep in place an envoy appointed by Aung San Suu Kyi’s ousted government. Similarly, the representative chosen by the Taliban has also been ignored by the New York body. The committee responsible for approving nominations of ambassadors met on Wednesday but deferred a decision over the rival claims to Myanmar and Afghanistan’s seats.

The deferral keeps in place envoys appointed by both the Myanmar and Afghanistan governments before they were ousted. Myanmar junta spokesman Zaw Min Tun told AFP that decisions made by the UN do not reflect the ground reality of their country, and that they will continue submitting according to diplomatic procedure and the right to representation in accordance with international and local laws. The Junta has chosen former soldier Aung Thurein as its envoy to the UN body.

As for Afghanistan, the Taliban asked the UN in September to accept its former spokesperson Suhail Shaheen to succeed Ghulam Isaczai, who is a cabinet member of ousted President Ashraf Ghani’s government. However, Isaczai continues to occupy Afghanistan’s offices at the UN headquarters.

On Wednesday, Russia and a few South-east Asian countries started their first ever joint naval exercise along the Strait of Malacca, which will continue till Saturday.  All 10 members of ASEAN, South-east Asia’s regional bloc, were a part of Wednesday’s drills. While the Philippines, Laos and Cambodia took part as virtual observers, Brunei, Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand, Myanmar, Singapore and Indonesia provided warships or aircraft.  

The ceremony was attended by Russian Ambassador to ASEAN Alexander Ivanov and Russian Ambassador to Indonesia Lyudmila Vorobyeva.

Russia’s ambassador to the bloc Alexander Ivanov said in a statement that the exercise is about peace, stability and prosperity in the region. The bloc has previously held drills alongside the United States and Chinese navies. The Russian-ASEAN exercises are taking place at a time when China and the US are trying to assert their influence in the region.  

Indonesian Navy First Fleet Command Chief Rear Adm. Arsyad Abdullah said in a statement that the exercise will foster a friendly relationship between Indonesian navy, ASEAN member state navies and the Russian navy, which in turn will increase the navies’ personnel professionalism.

Russia and ASEAN held a virtual summit on October 28, where the decision to hold the first ever Russia-ASEAN naval exercise was taken.

Magdalena Andersson, who was last week sworn in as Sweden’s first woman Prime Minister before she decided to step down due to a budget defeat, has been re-elected as the head of the Government. In a 101 -173 vote with 75 abstentions, Riksdag elected Ms. Andersson as Prime Minister.

She will form a one-party, minority Government and will be formally inducted following an audience with King Carl XVI Gustav, Sweden’s monarch. Ms. Andersson, who has previously served as the country’s Finance Minister, will present her government policies on Tuesday after her cabinet is named. The policies are likely to be welfare, climate and combating violence.

Last week, Ms. Andersson quit as Sweden’s first female prime minister only seven hours after being appointed. The announcement came after she was faced with a budget defeat in parliament. Her coalition partner the Green Party left the government, which compelled Andersson to resign. 

Sweden, known for being one of the most progressive countries in terms of gender equality, was yet to have a female Prime Minister. Ms. Andersson took over the top post from Stefan Lofven, who stepped down in June, was sworn in again and stepped down again in August.

Barbados forged a new republic on Tuesday after ditching Britain’s Queen Elizabeth as head of state and appointing it’s first-ever president to leave their colonial past behind. Sandra Mason was sworn in as Barbados’s first president in the shadow of the Barbados’s parliament. The last country to ditch the Queen was the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius in 1992.

To make sure that the relation between the UK and the island continues to remain friendly despite Queen Elizabeth’s exit, Prince Charles is expected to deliver a speech. He was in attendance when Barbados bid farewell to the Queen. A 21 gun salute fired and the national anthem of Barbados was played at the Heroes Square when the constitutional change was made.

Singer Rihanna was also in attendance, and was declared a national hero by Prime Minister Mia Mottley, the leader of Barbados’ republican movement for her work in the field of music.

Prior to being elected as the President, Mason was the governor-general of Barbados, a position she served in for almost three years.

Barbados is now the fourth former British colony in the Caribbean to become a republic after Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago and Dominica.