Tuesday, 11 June 2019, Bangkok, Kingdom of Thailand: Prayut Chan-o-cha was confirmed as the civilian head of government for Thailand’s Royal Government by His Majesty King Rama X of Thailand (King Maha Vajiralongkorn).
Prime Minister Chan-o-cha is the 29th head of government. Prayut will now head a coalition government led by the pro-military Palang Pracharat Party.
Victory for the retired general was expected owing to the support of the 250-member senate, as well as the late swing of key secondary parties into an army-affiliated coalition after frantic behind-the-scenes talks. .
In the picture the Foreign Minister of Estonia, H.E. Urmas Reinsalu.
Friday, 7 June 2019, UN: A ballot took place at the United Nations headquarters in New York City. All 193 UN member states were in represented to cast their votes. Therein Estonia was elected a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council for 2020-2021 with 132 votes.
The non-permanent seats on the Security Council are distributed on a regional basis. Estonia belongs to the Eastern European group and its main regional competitor for the seat was Romania. Estonia has not been a member of the Security Council before, while Romania has been a member on four occasions.
The Estonian foreign ministry, diplomats and the country’s President, Kersti Kaljulaid, campaigned long and actively for the seat. The Estonian government decided to put forward its candidacy for the Security Council as early as 2005, however, the campaign was merely officially launched on 13 July 2017.
Estonia already contributes to the UN peacekeeping operations and supports resolution of conflicts and rebuilding efforts. The country is also committed to supporting reduction of poverty, promoting sustainable development and fighting climate change.
The UN Security Council is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations, charged with ensuring international peace and security, accepting new members to the UN and approving any changes to its charter.
Its powers include the establishment of peacekeeping operations and international sanctions as well as the authorisation of military actions through resolutions; in fact being the only UN body with the authority to issue binding resolutions to member states. The council held its first session on 17 January 1946.
The Security Council consists of fifteen members. The great powers that were the victors of World War II, that is, the Soviet Union (now represented by Russia), the United Kingdom, France, the Republic of China (now represented by the People’s Republic of China) as well as the United States, serve as the body’s five permanent members. These can veto any substantive resolution.
The non-permanent seats on the Security Council are distributed on a regional basis. There are five regional groups: Western European and other countries, Eastern European, Asia-Pacific, Latin American and Caribbean, and African countries. Estonia belongs to the Eastern European group, which has one non-permanent seat on the Security Council. Estonian Foreign Minister, Urmas Reinsalu, highlighted in a statement, following the vote, that apart from standing up for the world order based on international law, Estonia would also have an opportunity to share its experience in running a digital state and its knowledge on cyber security.
Estonia will begin its membership at the UN Security Council in 2020 with four new members: Niger, Tunisia, Viêtnam, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. Estonia is a member with these four countries until 2021.
Belgium, Germany, the Dominican Republic, Indonesia, and South Africa will continue as non-permanent members in 2020 alongside five permanent members, the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Russia, and the PRC.
Urmas Reinsalu – Picture by Estonian Presidency of the Council of the European Union, 2017 through Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license on Wikipedia English
Tuesday, 18 June 2019, Berlin, Federal Republic of Germany: VI President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Oleksandrovych Zelensky, paid his maiden official visit to Berlin, and was received by the EU’s largest economy with the highest honours due to his rank, by both the Federal President, Dr. Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Federal Chancellor Dr. Angela Merkel.
Germany is an important partner for the Ukraine in defending its sovereignty against Russian encroachments. Hence the main topics on the agenda were the Crimea as well as finding legal and diplomatic channels to release Ukrainian sailors and other Ukrainians being held in Russian captivity.
Germany’s international influence, and understanding vis-à-vis the Russian Federation brings hope for a prompt solution to this issue.
In the picture H.E. Dato’ Ahmad Nazri Yusof, Ambassador of Malaysia to The Netherlands.
Text and picturesBy Catherine Dailey.
Under sunny skies and a light breeze, H.E. Ambassador Dato’ Ahmad Nazri Yusof and his wife, Datin LindaZin, welcomed both international and local “foodies” to the fourth annual Malaysian Food Fair on Saturday and Sunday, June 22-23.
Malaysia’s annual “foodie” weekend has quickly become a highly anticipated prelude to summer, as the fair provides an inpromptu “open house” opportunity for well-wishers from the diplomatic community to pass by and exchange informal greetings with one another before departing to the four corners of the world for their summer holidays.
Linda Zin, Malaysia Food Fair 2019.
Last weekend, high ranking diplomats, special guests, embassy personnel, the international community and members of the local community turned out, once again, in large numbers to the event where they enjoyed the company of one another while sampling authentic Malaysian cuisine.
The Malaysian kitchen features a culinary kaleidescope blend of Malay, Chinese, Indian, Arabic and Portuguese influences—making it “fusion” before “fusion” became fashionable and of interest to everyone who enjoys an international kitchen!
The success of the Ambassador’s gastronomic program was readily apparent by the standing room only crowds—many of whom arrived with personal containers. In “take away” fashion, the containers were carefully filled with culinary treasures to be transported to gourmets at home.
Pad Thai, Malaysian Beef Rendang and Malaysian Prawn or Chicken Laksa were among the many dishes available for sampling. Guests eagerly formed ques to purchase colorful sweets such as Pandan Cake, Klepon, Bingka Ubi, Seri Muka and countless other jewel like “Nyonya Kuih.”
It was a delightfully informal affair offering casual outdoor dining on the embassy’s well cared for grounds in a festive “street festival” atmosphere and even featured a Malaysian line dance lead by the Ambassador’s wife.
Celebrity Chef Norman bin Musa with Caroline C. Wimmers, Marketing for Foodies.
This year, Celebrity Chef Norman bin Musa gave cooking demonstrations on both Saturday and Sunday and also signed copies of his newly released “Magisch Maleisisch” Dutch cookbook. An English version of the cookbook titled, “Amazing Malaysia – Recipes for Vibrant Home Cooking,” was published previously and is available in both print and digital versions.
Foodies, who were unable to attend the Food Fair or who are interested in further exploring the Malaysian kitchen, are invited to visit Chef Norman’s concept restaurant and demonstration kitchen at the newly opened Wah Nam Hong Supermarket at the Leidensenhage Food Market. The Malaysian born chef is a restaurateur, entrepreneur, and television personality, whose mission is to introduce Malayasian cuisine, and with it, the country, to the European market.
Malaysia is a beautiful, safe and culturally diverse country with highly developed tourism products. The regions of Terengganu, known for the Terengganu Marine Park; Sarawak, where the oldest rainforest and largest cave chamber in the world are to be found and the glittering white sand beaches of the Desaru Coast are especially popular with foreign tourists.
International tourism continues to expand at an astonishing rate and next year, the country’s “Visit Malaysia 2020” campaign is expected to draw some 30 million international tourists to the country!.
Linda Zin spouse of the Malaysian Ambassador and Tatsiana Barysevich, spouse of Belarus Ambassador dancing at the Malaysian Food Fair. Embassy of Malaysia in The Hague, June 22, 2019.
If “gastronomic diplomacy” can be gauged as a medium for generating interest in a country, then the Malaysian Ambassador’s Food Fair was a resounding success and people are already looking forward to attending during the “VM 2020” year.
“It is worse, much worse, than you think.” That is how David Wallace-Wells begins The Uninhabitable Earth, A Story of the Future. “Ten reasons we’re wrong about the world – and why things are better than you think” is the subtitle Hans Rosling cs gave to Factfulness.
The two books seem to contradict each other. Who is right? Are things better than we think, or worse, much worse?
The answer is that both can be right, because they speak about different things. Rosling spoke about what we have accomplished so far and Wallace speaks about the unpaid bill for those accomplishments. Both are right, because we tend to underestimate both the global level of wealth we have achieved and the environmental price for what we are doing.
Let us look at three examples of human progress: combustion engines, plastics and industrial chemicals.
Not so long ago, human labour and horsepower were almost the only sources of power. Nowadays, almost all the heavy lifting is done by engines that burn fossil fuels.
Utensils used to be made by hand of perishable materials, such as wood and clay. Plastic made it possible to replace them by cheap, mass-produced and almost non-perishable utensils.
The development of chemistry resulted in the production of some very effective chemicals such as pharmaceutics and pesticides.
Spreading these and a few other inventions over most of the world resulted in fabulous progress. Within two generations the number of people living in extreme poverty decreased from a large majority to about 10% of the world population and life expectancy doubled.
However, little attention was given to the unintended consequences of what we were doing. 85% of the fossil fuel humanity used during its history was burned after the Second World War, most of that during the last 30 years. As a result there is “a third more carbon in the atmosphere than at any point in the last 800.000 years”. How much and how quick will temperatures and sea levels rise? We do not know the exact answer, if only because that depends on our own actions, but we know that they are rising. The ice sheet on Greenland, for example, is estimated to lose “almost a billion tons of ice every single day”.
We are also starting to understand what happened with the non-perishable plastics and other chemicals after their use. They return to us in our own food. If present trends continue, in 30 years’ time there will be more plastic than fish in our oceans. This is only one of many reasons why the rate of extinction of animals is currently about 1000 times as high as it was before we started tinkering with nature. Should we worry about that?
A tale of two citieswas written by Dickens 170 years ago, but the first sentence seems to be written for our current situation: “It was the bestof times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair…”
How will our grandchildren look back at our time: as an age of wisdom or as an age of foolishness?
Many yoga enthusiasts came together to celebrate the largest ever International Yoga Day, held this time in the Dam Square of Amsterdam organized by the Embassy of India to the Netherlands
The historical Dam Square Amsterdam was witness to the largest ever yoga celebrations in the Netherlands on Sunday, June 16. A great multitude of people gathered in front of the Royal Palace on the Dam Square in the heart of the capital city of the Netherlands to mark the International Yoga Day. There they enjoyed many central yoga sessions, food stalls offering a diverse pallet of vegan and vegetarian food and drinks and different interesting workshops.
The event was inaugurated by the Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh Mr. Jai Ram Thakur. Himachal Industries Minister Bikram Singh, the Ambassador of India, H.E. Mr. Venu Rajamony, International Cricket Star Suresh Raina, Dutch actor, model and photographer Ms. Micky Hoogendijk; Mr. V.K. Arora, Chairman and Managing Director of LT Foods and Dr. Deepak Mittal, Chairman, International Tractors Ltd. took part in the opening ceremony.
This is the first time the Dam Square is host to a public event related to India. The Square is the historical centre of Amsterdam with the neoclassical Royal Palace, the 15th-century Gothic Nieuwe Kerk (New Church), the Madame Tussauds Amsterdam and the National Monument erected in 1956 for the victims of World War II. Special permission to celebrate the International Day of Yoga at this historical venue was provided by the City of Amsterdam and arranged by the Indian Embassy.
Representatives of the Royal Dutch Army also joined the celebrations for the first time. They participated in the common yoga session and also led the public in a special yoga workshop. The Dutch Ministry of Defense has recently introduced yoga exercises for armed forces to enrich their training program and reduce stress. Yoga is taught weekly at various barracks and yoga instructors have been recruited to strengthen the physical and mental fitness of soldiers.
Dutch soldiers, practicing yoga during the International Yoga Day 2019, Dam Square, Amsterdam.
The morning began with a big group session of traditional Indian yoga led by Dr Amit Khanna, Yoga expert at The Gandhi Centre in The Hague, which saw participation by cricketer Suresh Raina, Indian and Dutch dignitaries, Ambassadors of different countries, former Deputy Mayor of The Hague Rabin Baldew Singh and many others. The yoga workshops were conducted by the Royal Dutch Army, well-known Dutch yoga guru Johan Noorloos of The New Yoga School, Amsterdam and a Sahaja Yoga Meditation by Mr. Sander Notenbaert & group. These workshops were followed by a Yin Yoga session which was led by Ms. Anita Smith.
Yoga sessions were interspersed with cultural performances. Indian dance and music created a perfect atmosphere for yoga. The Tandav Group and Ms. Keyakar & Group performed Indian Folk Dance and modern dance while Djahan Manuela & Group presented a combination of South Indian martial arts which is called ‘Kalaripayattu’ combined with dance and music.
In a parallel venue The Yoga Hut hosted competitions in sun salutations and yoga pose challenges alongside with special sessions on therapeutic yoga. A stall put up by the Maharishi Ayurveda Centre provided advice on yoga, wellness and healthy living. Five special food trucks provided vegetarian and vegan food as well as vegan ice cream for the participants and onlookers to enjoy.
The grand finale was a performance titled ‘Soul Shanti Concert’ featuring BMI Goes India whom created an unique combination of classical sitar and modern electronic dance music. Popular Bollywood DJ Don, supported by local musicians from Team Madras Chorus, joined BMI goes India adding a Bollywood Beat segment to the finale.
The concert was a perfect culmination of an entire day of festivities promoting wellness, healthy eating, yoga and meditation. International Yoga Day will also be celebrated across 31 cities in the Netherlands on June 21- which will include yoga workshops, meditation sessions, and concerts. The General Assembly of the United Nations proclaimed 21 of June the International Day of Yoga.
In the picture Mrs. Fonda Haga Halima, Chargé d’Affaires a.i. of Cameroon, Conlonel H. R. Bidja & H.E. Mrs. Odette Melono, Deputy Director General of OPCW.
By Roy Lie Tjam.
The Hague, Mrs Fonda Haga Halima, Charge d’ Affaires a.i. of the Republic of Cameroon, organized a reception on Friday 24 May 2019 to celebrate the 47th National Day of Cameroon.
Many Ambassadors, to mention a few: Korea, Uruguay, India Cuba, Deputy Heads of Mission – Russia, China. Thailand, Venezuela a.o, government- and business representatives along with other guests, attended the festive reception to join in the celebration and to congratulate Charge d’ Affaires Halima on this momentous day.
Ms. Susellys Pérez Mesa 1st Secretary, Embassy of Cuba, Colonel Henri Robert Bidja, Defence Attache, Embassy of Cameroon, Mrs. Fonda, H.E.Mrs. Soraya Alvarez, Ambassador of Cuba, Ms. Ana Carla de Sousa, Minister Counselor Embassy of Angola and Dr. Mayelinne De Lara, Publisher Diplomat Magazine.
The official part of the celebration consisted of the playing of the national anthems of Cameroon and the Netherlands. Guests were subsequently treated to an exquisite Cameroonian buffet dinner.
M. Evandro de Souza Nogueira, Director inspectorate OPCW, H.E. Lee Yoon Young, Ambassadeur of Korea and a guest.
The Hague, Mrs Fonda Haga Halima Charge d’ Affaires a.i. of the Republic of Cameroon, organized a reception on Friday 24 May 2019 to celebrate the 47th National Day of Cameroon. A great number of Ambassadors, diplomats, government- and business representatives along with other, came to felicitate Charge d’ Affaires Halima on this momentous day. The official part consisted of the playing of the national anthem of Cameroon an that of the Netherlands.
Guests were treated to an exquisite Cameroonian dinner buffet.
On May 17th the Embassy of The United States and the O.A.R. (Overseas Americans Remember) hosted a reception to celebrate the 227th anniversary of the Dutch recognition of The United States. The Republic of the Seven United Netherlands was the first state to do so and thus the American-Dutch bond became the longest unbroken diplomatic relationship between the United States and any other country.
The jovial Ambassador, H.E. Mr. Pete Hoekstra, greeted his guests himself , personally standing outside his residence. Dutch American Friendship Day, an initiative of Mrs. Roberta Enschedé, was established by Congress and signed into law by President Reagan on April 19th, 1982. Roberta in her speech memorized the many similarities between The Netherlands and The United States like the similarity of the Declaration of Independence and the “Acte van Verlatinge” with which the Dutch repudiated the rule of the King of Spain and became a republic.
Two men were awarded the Certificate of Appreciation from “Americans Overseas Remember” for their service to the United States, Mr. Sander Voogel and Mr. Wiel Lenders.
Mr. Voogel, chief of the fire brigadeWassenaar was honored because he saved a woman and her two children from a burning house while on a learning mission to Detroit late last year.
Mr. Lenders, Director of the National Liberation Museum in Groesbeek was honored because of his efforts to keep the memory alive of the thousands of the 82nd American Airborne Division and other Allied soldiers who took part in the hardly known aerial attack on the German forces around Nijmegen. This was the successful “Operation Market Garden” counterpart of the doomed attack on Arnhem. It is important because the liberated area around Nijmegen became the base from which allied troops under General James Gavin launched the final push towards Berlin.
The “Bevrijdingsmuseum” is being expanded and will be housed in a spectacular 12-meter high building in the shape of a parachute. It will be ready for next years 75th anniversary of the liberation of The Netherlands. In Mr. Lenders words the new space will not only keep the memory alive of “how we got there” and “how we got out of it”, but on “how to avoid it happening again”.
Both recognitions were important illustrations of the bonds between The United States and The Netherlands.
Recent developments have brought the question of what democracy really is into sharp focus. As long as democracy has existed the division of power has been a central issue. How much power should be local and how much should come from the center. Should there be direct voting (Switzerland, referenda, the presidents of countries like the US and France), or should it be a stepped system? Are systems democratically fair, where a candidate can be elected even if she or he loses the popular vote?
There is discontent in many places. Some EU members (e.g. Hungary, Italy, and Poland) are unhappy with the rules they accepted when they joined the EU. The UK wants to get out altogether. Citizens all over the EU fret about nameless dictates from ‘Brussels’ without realizing that their country in most cases had a voice in crafting these rules.
The Brexit movement is a prime example. The Conservative government holds on to ‘delivering Brexit’ because democracy demands it, a latter-day version of Deus vult. There was a non-binding referendum three years ago in which Brexit voters won by a small margin. The referendum was preceded by misinformation and blatant lies such as that it would pay for the entire National Health Service.
Does it ‘serve democracy’ to hold on to that outcome with nigh-religious fervour? Would now that the financial consequences have become clearer the outcome be the same? Three years later shouldn’t people be allowed to change their minds. Moreover, younger voters were overwhelmingly Remainers. There are many more of those young voters today and Brexit is about their future. Is it democratic that mainly old, mainly well settled Conservative members decide on the future of the younger generation? Isn’t it similar to a college of exclusively men deciding on women issues? Or like a fully white government deciding on issues of people of colour?
I am not stating my opinion here, I ask the questions.
It seems prima facie right that some issues, like safety, fair tendering of contracts, the quality of food, etc. are decided centrally. But there are many rules like size and shape of fruits and vegetables that are considered unnecessary dictates. All politics is local and if central regulations irk locally, they cause discontent.
Perhaps it is time for a big conference of democratic countries (democratic in current fact, not merely in name) to discuss what democracy should mean in the 21st century.
On 17 June 2019, His Majesty Letsie III, King of Lesotho, visited the International Criminal Court (ICC) to meet with high-level officials. The King was decorated with the title of ‘Distinguished Honorary Fellow of the International Criminal Court’.
On 17 June 2019, His Majesty Letsie III, King of Lesotho, visited the International Criminal Court (ICC) to meet with the President of the Court, Judge Chile Eboe-Osuji, the Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda, and the Registrar Peter Lewis. The King was decorated with the title of ‘Distinguished Honorary Fellow of the International Criminal Court’.//Le 17 juin 2019, Sa Majesté Letsie III, Roi du Lesotho, s’est rendu à la Cour pénale internationale (CPI) pour rencontrer le Président de la Cour, M. le juge Chile Eboe-Osuji, et le Procureur, Mme Fatou Bensouda et le Greffier, M. Peter Lewis. Le Roi a reçu le titre de ‘Membre honoraire distingué de la Cour pénale internationale’.
ICC President judge Chile Eboe-Osuji stated: “The Kingdom of Lesotho, as an active participant in the drafting of the Rome Statute, as the first Southern African country to ratify the Rome Statute, and a staunch supporter of the ICC ever since, has made great contributions to international criminal justice to secure justice for the victims of the gravest international crimes. The Court is deeply appreciative of this important role played by Lesotho.”
17 June 2019, His Majesty Letsie III, King of Lesotho, at the International Criminal Court (ICC).
This visit highlights Lesotho’s support to the Court and the joint efforts deployed in the fight against the impunity of the perpetrators of the most serious crimes that affect the international community as a whole. Lesotho signed the Rome Statute on 30 November 1998 and ratified it on 6 September 2000.
