Previous to his vist to the State Chancery, Ambassador Dion was guest of President of Saarland University, Prof. Dr. Manfred Schmitt as well as of Diet Speaker Stephan Toscani.Â
In addition to his ambassadorial mission, Ambassador Dion, is Canada’s Special Envoy for the European Union and Europe.Â
Friday, 12 April 2019, State of Israel: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu won the Israeli national election, securing a record fifth term in office despite running neck-and-neck with his challenger General (ret) Benny Gantz.
The closely contested race was widely seen in Israel as a referendum on Netanyahu’s character and record in the face of corruption allegations. In power since 2009, and having led the country for a total 13 years including his first term in the 1990s, Netanyahu had been struggling for his political survival.
Netanyahu highlighted his close relationship vis-à -vis President Donald Trump, who delighted Israelis and angered Palestinians by recognising Jerusalem as Israel’s capital in 2017 and moving the American Embassy to the latter city last May.Two weeks before the election, Trump signed a proclamation, with Netanyahu at his side at the White House, acknowledging Israeli sovereignty over the occupied Golan Heights captured from Syria in the 1967 Middle East war.
The latter in accordance to Prime Minister Netanyahu’s pre-election promise, which was widely seen as an attempt to draw right-wing votes rather than a change of policy. Some political analysts fear that with Trump’s moves on Jerusalem, as well as the Golan, the prime minister may feel emboldened to advocate for annexation, in spite of the opposition by most members of the international community.
President Reuven Rivlin on Wednesday, 17 April, commissioned Benjamin Netanyahu with the task of forming a government after 65 out of 120 deputies recommended him. Netanyahu has 28 days to comply, with a two-week extension possible, if necessary.
With upcoming 5G networks and the “internet of things” revolution, issues of network security will be increasingly important. For this reason, the United States is pushing for a risk-based framework, which would include serious controls on the supply chain of 5G infrastructure.
“5G will be truly transformational”, as it will “really start touching all part of our lives”, including very sensitive issues such as telemedicine, autonomous transportation, and automated manufacturing. This is the basic premise laid out by Mr. Robert Strayer, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Cyber and International Communications and Information Policy at the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs.
Being aware of the importance that 5G infrastructure will have on the lives of people all around the world, Mr. Strayer and his team have been engaged over the last years in a sustained diplomatic campaign targeting 5G technology and related security issues. The U.S. – Mr. Strayer underlined – is “urging countries around the world to carefully consider how they adopt a risk-based framework for security”, which should crucially include “looking at the supply chain of the vendors that would be part of their 5G infrastructure”.
Mr. Strayer focused specifically on the potential risks arising from including in the supply chain companies headquartered in countries where governments have a much larger role in influencing the companies’ strategies. For instance, in the specific case of China – he claimed – laws “allow the Chinese government to direct the actions of companies for their national interests of China”, thus potentially undermining the national security of countries employing the technologies produced by such companies.
Mr. Strayer also noted that, while the prices of products coming from China can be lower, the intrinsic vulnerabilities of these technologies are likely to drive their price up in the long run. Moreover – he noted – one should also consider that such low prices are often achieved through state subsidies, thus undermining the principle of fair competition.
As a result, Mr. Strayer and his team will continue their negotiations with partners around the world, notably with the European Union, to pursue more coordinated policies on 5G infrastructure. Such coordination – Mr. Strayer warned – might be necessary to ensure that transatlantic cooperation in economic and security matters will continue as smoothly as in the past decades.
In early April, Mr. Uttam Dhillon, Acting Administrator for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, visited Belgium and the Netherlands. During the visit, Mr. Dhillon discussed DEA’s cooperation with the European Union and visited the Port of Antwerp.
Mr. Dhillon, head of the renowned U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, arrived in Belgium in the wake of a recent visit to Colombia. The combination of these two visits – he said – shows to observers that there is a strong transatlantic link between the cocaine sold in Europe (as well as in the United States) and the powerful South American drug trafficking organizations.
In this dirty business – he underlined – the Port of Antwerp is a key crossroads: in 2018 alone, 50 tons of cocaine were seized by Belgian authorities in the port, and almost the same amount was interdicted before it got there.
During his visit, Mr. Dhillon met with several partners, including European, Belgian, and Dutch law enforcement authorities. The aim of such meetings – Mr. Dhillon stressed – “is to continue to reinforce our very very strong relationship”. Transatlantic efforts aimed at disrupting powerful drug businesses continue.
Bakhshi International Art Festival, Termez, Uzbekistan
Termez, Uzbekistan. Hundreds of artists of all kind, film producers, teachers, musicians, theatre directors, classical orchestra conducers, intellectuals and historians from around the world are arriving today in Uzbekistan to participate in the epic poetry festival, the unique Uzbek musical art of recreation of histories, named Bakhshi.
The art of Bakhshi is a tradition of epic poetry developed widely in the VI-V centuries BC; Bakhshi means “educator who promotes enlightenment, knowledge”. A “Bakhshi” is a clever and wise artist who sings epic songs and passes on his educational heritage from generation to generation.
The city of Termez, located at the border with Afghanistan, looks beautiful, with its greenery and spring flowers, such as tulips and early roses. Big signs are well-placed to announce the festival, every large street has been decorated with enormous flower-shaped lights and local dance groups and performers are filling up hotels and buses.
Bakhshi Festival April 2019, Termez, Uzbekistan Photography by Beckhzod Abdudjabbarov
Looking forward to seeing a rare art expression with dances, scenarios and ethnic musical instruments, film directors from Sweden, Denmark, China, Greece and Belgium are attending the Bakhshi Festival in Termez. Percy Yip Tong from Mauritius, a theatre producer, record label owner, expert in traditional Sega music band with his instrument the Ravanng is in Termez as moderator for two conferences. Bakhshi Festival is also a reunion of international guests, including a number of writers, linguists, musicians and historians, some of them featuring as the festival’s keynote speakers. Besides the talented artists performing in the festival, there will also be a prestigious grand jury, as well as international guests looking for new source of inspiration.
First Bakhshi Festival, Termez, Uzbekistan.
One of the guests, Mohamed Otayeck Joseph, Marema’s manager, an experienced musician who accompanied Alpha Blondy and Steve Wonders for 15 years, arrived yesterday. Marema herself is a big name from Senegal, laureate of the Discovery prize of the RFI in 2014.
The government of Uzbekistan have invested heavily in the Bakhshi Festival, and the people of Termez have worked very hard to make it happen. Students from the language section of Termez College are disciplined and dedicated guides accompanying every guest, the local schools of dance are participating in different events, together with groups coming from other regions, ethnic musicians, choreographers, and dressmakers who have been working hard for months.
Termez, Uzbekistan at the Bakhshi Festival.
Termez International Airport was today the first setting for the Bakhshi Festival: a hundred young Uzbeks dancers and musicians received a full plain of international guests coming in Uzbekistan Airlines with their music, dances, fruits and flowers. For Karim Dakroub, theatre director from Lebanon, marionetiste and a professor at the University of Lebanon, being here in such a unique place in the centre of the Silk Road and having the possibility to exchange with colleagues from around the world is an immense opportunity.
The unique Bakhshi Festival has just started.
Information: www.bakhshi.uz
Images by Uzbek photographer, Beckhzod Abdudjabbarov.
Upon the news of her appointment she Ms de Montchalin described her emotion as a “grand adventure”. Hitherto she had served as Vice-Chair for the LREM parliamentary group at the National Assembly.Â
Monday, 25 March 2019, Paris, French Republic: German and French parliamentarians have set up their own joint parliamentary body after a ceremonious signing of a convention between the Bundestag’s Speaker Wolfgang Schäuble and the President of the French National Assembly, Richard Ferrand.
In total 50 deputies from Germany and 50 from France partook for the first time in a joint parliamentary session at the Salle Lamartine, a committee hall located at the Palais Bourbon.
The project meant to drive forward European integration is the first concrete step taken since the Treaty of Aachen/Aix-la-Chappelle was inked on 22 January 2019. Substantial debates are to be focused on a citizens’ fund, language exchanges and promotion or border-crossing collaboration.
Altogether 14 parliamentary fractions will be represented at joint sessions, six Germans and eight French. A initial topic of contention was the common “European” seat at the UN Security Council, whereby some Germans call upon France to forfeit their own seat to pave the way for one for the European Union.
According to the parliamentary agreement the new assembly is to come together twice per annum. They are able to issue influential yet non-binding resolutions upon their governments.
Saturday, 6 April, 2019, Istanbul, Republic of Turkey: the last commercial passenger flight took off from AtatĂĽrk Airport with convoys of trucks ferrying thousands of tonnes of equipment across the city to a giant new airport, which Turkey plans to make the largest globally.
The new Istanbul Airport, costing some $8 billion and one of several mega-projects championed by President Tayyip Erdoğan, shall initially be able to handle 90 million passengers a year, close to the world’s largest existing airport capacity. Aviation authorities envisage to expand that capacity to expand to 200 million. Overnight the final commercial passenger flight from Atatürk took off for Singapore, a departure which Transport Minister Mehmet Turhan labelled as historic. The new airport, which was formally opened nearly six months ago, however, has been handling less than 20 flights a day, inaugurated its new chapter on Saturday afternoon with a domestic flight taking off for the capital Ankara.
