The Deputy Director-General of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), Mr Hamid Ali Rao, during his official visit to Mexico. Here at National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM).
THE HAGUE, Netherlands — 8 November 2017 — The Deputy Director-General of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), Mr Hamid Ali Rao, underlined the need for robust preparedness against chemical emergencies and the importance of peaceful uses of chemistry during his official visit to Mexico on 6 November.
While opening the Table Top Exercise on Chemical Emergency Response for the States Parties from Latin America and the Caribbean, which was hosted by Mexico’s National Authority, the Deputy Director-General focused on the threat of chemical terrorism. Reflecting on the globalised nature of the world and its ever-increasing free movement of people, he observed that “the danger of non-State actors acquiring toxic chemicals is a problem for all”.
The Deputy Director-General emphasised the crucial role the OPCW plays in facilitating the strengthening of state capabilities in responding to chemical attacks or emergencies and creating “a more robust basis for ensuring assistance and protection”.The Deputy Director-General during his lecture titled, “OPCW: Ensuring Chemistry is Used Exclusively for the Benefit of Humankind”, at the Faculty of Chemistry at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM).
The Deputy Director-General also delivered a lecture titled, “OPCW: Ensuring Chemistry is Used Exclusively for the Benefit of Humankind”, at the Faculty of Chemistry at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). He pointed to the revolutionary nature of the study of science and how it is “changing the way we think and behave”. He described how science underpins the OPCW’s work, which is powerfully geared towards promoting the application of chemistry solely for peaceful purposes. The endeavour to eliminate chemical weapons and promote a culture of peaceful chemistry is a collective mission. “The real guardians against chemical weapons are you – the current and future chemists, chemical engineers, and researchers,” stressed the Deputy Director-General.
During his visit to Mexico, the Deputy Director-General met with the Secretary General of the Agency for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in Latin America and the Caribbean (OPANAL), Ambassador Luiz Felipe de Macedo Soares; the Director at the Centre of Investigation and National Security (CISEN), Mr Jose Juan Gutiérrez, the Head of the National Authority for CWC, Dr Eduardo Vazquez Rossainz.
Mr Jeffrey A. Apperson, Chairman, IIJE.
Today, several international leaders in the field of justice announced the establishment of the International Institute for Justice Excellence (IIJE), a nonprofit institute. The Institute will be headquartered in the international city of justice – The Hague, Netherlands.
The International Institute for Justice Excellence (IIJE) will hold an event to recognize our world’s continuing effort to serve humanity’s goal of justice, an “International Justice Excellence Day’” to be celebrated on November 14, 2017, and a “Justice Administration Excellence Award,” to be announced at the International Justice Excellence Day ceremony.
On November 14 it will also be celebrating the justice administration legacy of the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, which closes at the end of 2017, in the Great Courtroom in the Peace Palace, The Hague, Netherlands.
Objectives of the IIJE
The Institute will strive to work with national and international communities to:
Assist in the development of the effective administration of justice
Contribute with all members of the international community to achieve the goals of access to justice, fairness of judicial process and the attainment of the Rule of Law.
The Board of Directors of the International Institute for Justice Excellence, will collectively announce their establishment as a non-profit organization and their dedication to serving the above-stated goals.
The specific mission of the Institute is:
“To establish a nonpolitical, nonprofit, international institution dedicated to developing a collaborative approach to improving, globally, the administration of justice more uniformly and efficiently by promoting and providing:
Research;
Education; and the dissemination of international best practices and procedure related to the field of court management. And “To establish the ability to review practice outcomes as meeting international guidelines set by IIJE in all essential justice administration fields.”
The Hague Conventions outlined norms for the conduct of war, which remains a continuing challenge. However, the overarching goal of justice and peace as an intervention to war must be the primary global objective.
Attaining justice requires a a more cohesive and informative generational approach to building our institutional capacities – both within our governments and in our collective society. Society is transformed by establishing and maintaining a strong foundation of justice that internalizes the Rule of Law.
Martin Luther King referred to building “The Rule of Justice.” The Supreme Court of Pakistan refers to the same principle as “Rule Among the People with Justice.” No matter the language, the goal remains the same: establish, honor and maintain the Rule of Law.
The IIJE will strive to provide an institutional forum in several languages for the dissemination of best practices in justice administration. The forum will include practice to advance the areas of:
Institutional governance;
Information technology;
Human resource management;
Court administration;
Case management;
Public and media access; and
Strategic planning.
The overarching aim of the Institute is the improvement of access to justice. Launching our publication of an International Guideline for Justice Administration Practice and Procedure will be an immediate goal. Such guidance will accelerate the ability of nations to take a more cohesive and informative approaches to building the capacity of their national justice systems.
On the picture President, Judge Ekaterina Trendafilova.
Upon approval of the President, Judge Ekaterina Trendafilova, following consultations with the Judges, the Registrar Dr Fidelma Donlon has adopted today the Directive on Counsel.
The Directive on Counsel establishes the requirements for admission to a List of Counsel. Only Counsel meeting the requirements for a List of Counsel may be appointed or assigned by the Registrar to represent a suspect, an accused or a group of victims.
Applications for inclusion on:
– The List of Specialist Counsel – should be sent to the Defence Office of the Registry of the Kosovo Specialist Chambers at defenceoffice@scp-ks.org
– The List of Victims’ Counsel – should be sent to the Victims’ Participation Office of the Registry of the Kosovo Specialist Chambers at vpo@scp-ks.org
The Application Form and Guidelines for applicants for the List of Counsel are available on the website.
By René González de la Vega.
Nowadays photography has become more and more popular among people. Social media, internet, cellphones and all the different technological devices helped to popularize it beyond the imaginable. But we must be sure about something, one thing is photography as a source to remember events, vacations or birthdays, and another is photography conceived in an artistic way.
Not all photographs have artistic purposes even though some everyday photographs could be perceived as aesthetically attractive and also not all Instagram users use the platform for artistic purposes or in a professional way. Thus, when can we conceive photography as art and when is this impossible? Currently, this is a very valid question, mainly because of the widespread popularization of photography that we are presently observing.
Photography as an artistic activity could be understood as the practical intension of translating the ephemeral into eternal; catching moments that happened once and will never happen again but that somehow will remain in paper. Photographs could be seen as small capsules of stolen time.
This is the way that Álvaro Alejandro Lopez de la Peña has seen photography since some time ago. Álvaro Alejandro López de la Peña is a Mexican photographer, born in the capital city. He has worked in the publishing industry, from where he took the path of exploring photography as he puts it: “as the poesis of everyday life”. His photo projects and exhibits have been presented, in Argentina, Canada, Spain, Iceland, Belgium, the Netherlands and, of course, México.
As a photographer, López de la Peña has sought for art everywhere, in the smallest shadow, or the intriguing corner of a rail, or at the random combinations of colors in a train station; everything could be art if it is well perceived and captured, and everything could be eternal with the power of a camera shot.
It is rare when photographers try to invert the circle of changing ephemeral situations into eternal images; most of them try to find the strangest or most uncommon situations for their pictures, or they play with the lights and the shadows to eternalize a situation in the specific way that the photographer sees it.
With “Natura Libris”, Lopez de la Peña presents the relation in another way: the eternal and the universal of an idea turned into the ephemeral world of a photograph. Inverting the relationship between concrete situations and photography creates photos of long lasting concepts and ideas: for example the relation of books with nature, with people, with ideas and concepts.
Books are understood as the transporters of ideas and as objects that eternalize them through their pages, and this happens because they are part of nature.
One part of his collection could be understood as the “idealization” of a book; from where does it come, and the materials that create it. Another component is the “realization” of a book; the industrial process as part of a book; the printing process, the mechanical side behind the birth of a book.
His exposition dedicates also to the relation of “books and humans” and finally to the concept of “books in themselves” or books, as they are.
Definitely, seeing López de la Peña’s photography is a revitalizing experience. The shadows he captures, the scale of grays in his pictures, even the completely dark spots infuse you with the story of the place of books in the world. With his creative and determined eye, López de la Peña has seized the attention of many.
We should thank the Embassy of Mexico and to his Ambassador, H.E. Edgar Elías Azar, for hosting this extremely interesting exposition.
Diplomatic Press Officers in The Hague by Diplomat MagazineAlexey Dmitrievskiy, Press Attaché of the Embassy of Russia in The Hague, proposed to Diplomat Magazine a meeting among press officers currently working at embassies in The Hague. The purpose of this proposed meeting was to find the way to bridge the gap between the international community and Dutch media.
To acquaint the press officers with one another, Dr. Mayelinne De Lara, publisher of Diplomat Magazine, called for a meeting at the Carlton Ambassador. During this first meeting many ideas were discussed by the group, and each press attaché had the opportunity to share his or her point of view.
In the days to come, a summary of the meeting will be circulated among the press officers and a Facebook group will be created. The Facebook group will invite press attachés of international organizations and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to join for a meeting. Additionally, plans will be formulated to contact news agencies and inviting Dutch journalists to talk.
Press officers from different missions attending the first meeting: Mrs Nino Kvantrishvili, Public Relations and Civil Actions planning Division, Head of Division, Embassy of Georgia, Ms Ipsita Uppal, Media Officer, Embassy of India, Susana Patricia Azucena Mancia, Vice-Consul, Embassy of El Salvador, Mr Alexey Dmitrievskiy, Press Officer, Embassy of Russia, Ms Asha Antony, Second Secretary, India, Dr Mayelinne De Lara Publisher Diplomat Magazine, Mr. Alvaro Sanchez Cordero, Charge d’affaires, Embassy of Venezuela, Mr Roy Lie A Tjam, Editor Diplomat Magazine, Mr Muhammad M Alnery. Third secretary, Head of Economic & Cultural Section, Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia and Mr Mikhail Sobolev, new Press Officer of the Embassy of Russia.
Mr. Dmitriesvkiy’s efforts display the mutually beneficial elements of partnering with Diplomat Magazine. Via our platform, it is possible to send pictures, press releases, and more, connecting embassies in the Hague with Dutch media.
Additionally, due to our partnership with Dow Jones and Factiva, Diplomat Magazine is going global, reaching 1.3 million subscribers and over 70,000 readers via Benelux. With this in mind, Mr. Dmitriesvkiy’s meeting will certainly be productive for all.
On the picture Ms Abir Ali, Charge d’affaires of Lebanon and the Apostolic Nuncio, H.E. Aldo Cavali.
Cake Diplomacy by Marta Orban of Sweet and Spice
The Hague is not only the city of Peace and Justice, it is also the city of Cake Diplomacy. When asking Marta Orban, owner of Sweet and Spice, to design a cake for a cultural or diplomatic event, not only will designs and colors be discussed.
Marta will pose questions about the guests, the place, the occasion, and do exhaustive research to ensure the cake is of the highest caliber.
Marta Orban, Patisserie Sweet and Spice.
Her efforts were displayed at the last United States’ Independence Day celebration, where hundreds shared a beautiful cake of red, white, and blue.
The Mexican Independence Day enjoyed a similar spectacle.
A two meters cake featuring traditional Mexican designs was enjoyed by all attendees during Mexican Independence Day celebrations, known as “El grito”.
H.E. Mr. Edgar Elías Azar, Ambassador of Mexico during the Mexican National Day celebration at his residence.
It is not uncommon to see her cakes being enjoyed by diplomats, including the Apostolic Nuncio and the Charge d’Affair of Lebanon, who recently enjoyed a cake tower of flowers and happiness during Ms Abir Ali, Ceremony of Merit and farewell.
Marta Orban is an artist, magician, and a dedicated young person who constructs the most beautiful cakes that are not only a treat for the eyes, but also for the mouth.
H.E. Ms Halbe Zijlstra, Minister of Foreign Affairs .
Minister of Foreign Affairs Halbe Zijlstra and Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation Sigrid Kaag were sworn in as members of the third government led by Prime Minister Mark Rutte, October 26.
At the official hand-over, the foreign ministry’s Secretary-General, Yoka Brandt, offered both ministers a warm welcome.
Official hand-over Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Halbe Zijlstra succeeds Bert Koenders as foreign minister. He will have responsibility for Dutch foreign policy – which includes European affairs and international cultural policy – and will preside over the ministry as a whole.
Mr Zijlstra was the leader of the parliamentary party of the People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD). Prior to that he served in the first Rutte government as State Secretary for Education, Culture and Science.
H.E. Ms Sigrid Kaag, Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation.
Sigrid Kaag was appointed UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon in December 2014. She also headed the disarmament mission to eliminate Syria’s chemical weapons programme.
Ms Kaag succeeds Lilianne Ploumen as Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation, a post that includes responsibility for the Netherlands’ international environmental and climate policy. Ms Ploumen has joined the House of Representatives, where she serves as an MP for the Labour Party (PvdA).
——-Photography by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
On the picture Mr. Karsten Klein. Photography by Valerie Kuypers.
Karsten Klein likes to ‘escape’ from City Hall. Visiting innovative businesses, cycling to shopping centres that are working hard on innovation and improvement, start-ups brimming with energy. But also going to see institutions and organisations doing their best to provide health care and support for The Hague’s residents.
“A large part of my work is at City Hall, but life naturally happens outside. In the city. In the districts, in the business parks. In the institutions. And it’s important that I’m there too. Not just to show interest, but also to hear what they need,” says the 40-year-old resident of The Hague who has represented the CDA as deputy mayor of The Hague for the past eight years.
Over the past four years, Karsten Klein’s portfolios in the Municipal Executive were Economic Affairs, Harbours, Welfare and Health and the city district of Scheveningen. Four intensive years. With a coalition agreement entitled The Hague’s Power, the five parties steered the ship towards a new future. The coalition had three priorities: jobs, jobs, jobs.
Moving towards a knowledge economy“And we’ve worked really hard to achieve that,” says Klein. “Over the past few years, nearly 10,000 jobs have been created. For a long time, The Hague largely relied on the many government organisations based in the city. In recent years, the government has reduced its influence and we felt that in The Hague. That’s why we launched a mission to present The Hague as an attractive base for a number of innovative sectors.”
So now The Hague is moving towards an internationally competitive knowledge economy. “Take The Hague Security Delta, for example, as well as finance and legal and energy. We welcome start-ups that not only want to make money, but also want to make the world a better place. These two aspects are very compatible and in recent years, financers have proved keen to invest their money in these joint goals. And that fits in very well with The Hague as International City of Peace and Justice. The government is still an important employer, but The Hague is increasingly becoming an attractive city for these kinds of businesses.”
And the many international organisations have a strong and growing significance for the economy of The Hague, according to research. Klein: “Our region is home to around 200 international organisations and 160 embassies and consulates. They employ over 20,000 people who not only work in The Hague, but the majority of whom also live and spend their leisure time in The Hague. In economic terms, that’s an important factor.”Investing in the ‘green’ city
With all its advantages and amenities, the city is important to the business environment. “The Hague is a safe and beautiful city with a good quality of life. A green city with clean and attractive shopping centres, great theatres, a fantastic Museum Quarter and good education. International schools and places of worship as well. And our small and medium-sized enterprises are of a high standard. Not surprisingly, four of our shopping centres have been nominated for the title ‘Best shopping centre in the Netherlands’. For businesses, it’s important that their employees are happy. This is another thing we have invested a lot in over the past few years.”
During the past period, Karsten Klein has also encouraged a great deal of investment in The Hague as a city which is friendly to senior citizens. “And that’s a very broad area. From museums and theatres which take into account the wishes of senior citizens to health care and support.”
As is the case with every deputy mayor, Karsten Klein’s portfolio includes a city district. “Mine is Scheveningen, which I love. Scheveningen is a special district. The people who live there, the business climate, the connection with the sea. I enjoy being there. As a city, we must nurture Scheveningen. That makes us unique. We are the only international city with such a resort and such a coastline. That’s why I’m looking forward to the celebrations in 2018 to mark 200 years as a bathing resort. As a city, we have a budget available for the event, but I’m convinced that it will more than recoup our investment.”
But as it moves towards a population of 600,000, The Hague is obviously not without its problems. “Too many people still depend on the municipality for their income. That’s not good. We need more jobs at the lower end of the labour market. So that’s one of our priorities.”“I’m not done here yet”
In March 2018, Karsten Klein’s second period as deputy mayor comes to an end. He is keen to add a third. “Absolutely. I’m not done here yet. We’ve been able to move the city towards the future, but a city like this doesn’t stay quiet. You constantly have to give it attention. But first the elections. It’s not up to me whether I stay or not. That’s for the voters to decide.”
By Barend ter Haar.
Power in Europe is moving in opposite directions. On the one hand the number of states has grown considerably. The German Democratic Republic disappeared, but more than twenty new states appeared, mostly as the result of the disintegration of the USSR and Yugoslavia. At the same time several countries have been devolving powers to their regions: in Belgium to Flanders and Wallonia; in Denmark to Greenland; in Great Britain to Scotland and in Spain to Catalonia, to mention only a few examples. Of course all these cases are different, but the general trend is clear: power is spreading from the old centers to regional centers and the number of European states is growing.
At the same time that political power is spreading, power is concentrating at a global level. This concentration of power is less conspicuous, because it is gradual and because it is not concentrated in one place, but in a varied collection of global institutions.
Some are governmental (such as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change), some non-governmental (such as the International Organization for Standardization) and some are private (such as Microsoft), but their common characteristic is that they are setting global standards.
Although these institutions usually have no formal power to enforce their decisions, individual states and individual citizens have little choice but to respect them. To give just a few examples: without global standards and definitions international communication would come to a standstill and the fight against infectious diseases would be lost.
Private enterprises were quicker to realise the potential of working on a global scale than governments. As a result some of them have acquired enormous power. Take for example the growing influence on our thinking and behaviour of internet firms, such as Alphabet (Google) and Facebook. We are only starting to grasp the implications of this power.
Or take Apple, that by selling for more than $200 billion a year makes a profit of about $40 billion ($40.000 million) a year. As these profits are taxed at a substantial lower rate than the income of an average Dutchman (about 25% against 37%), Apple has a lot of “free power” in its hands.
More in general, the investment decisions of global private companies have large implications. Whether they invest in lucrative cosmetics and gas-guzzling SUVs rather than in pharmaceuticals and a circular economy has consequences for people all over the world. It is up to states to nudge them in a desirable direction by taxes, covenants, laws and other means. Unfortunately, multinational companies are global players, whereas governments often lack the expertise and the power to play in the same league.
What is the conclusion we should draw from this? Bringing power as close to citizens as possible is a laudable aim, but we should not pretend that global challenges can be solved by “taking back control” to the national or local level. To address these challenges, action at the national and local level has to be complemented by action at the global level and the best way to protect and promote European interests at the global level is by empowering the European Union to act as a global player.
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By Corneliu Pivariu.The First World War led, among others, to the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire and that brought with it a new configuration of the Middle East. One of the consequences of the Second World War was the collapse of the British and French colonial empires with the downsizing of France’s and Great Britain’s influence in the Middle East and, after the 1956 Suez Crisis, the USA’s and Russia’s (USSR at the time) influence became one of the important characteristics of the region. Gradually, up to the end of the Cold War, Russia (USSR) lost its key positions in the Middle East mainly in countries such as Egypt, Iraq, Libya including the naval bases at the Mediterranean and succeeded only in preserving its positions in Syria and the small naval base in Tartous.The end of the Cold War and then the collapse of the USSR was followed by a period in which the USA’s influence in the Middle East increased, yet different errors committed by the Administration in Washington in managing its relations with the countries in the area (including Iraq’s invasion and the actions carried out in this country) parallel with Moscow’s actions of recovering the lost positions, mainly during president Putin’s last mandate, led to a spectacular, we may say, increase of the Kremlin’s influence in the Middle East. All these were favored by the American foreign policy (or, better said, the lack of an appropriate foreign policy) in the Middle East during the two mandates of Barack Obama. Nevertheless, mention should be made of the American intention of redrawing the borders of the Middle East during George W. Bush Jr.’s mandates, materialized in the map of the illustrious unknown Ralph Peters and the denomination of the New Middle East used by the American Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, in June 2006, during her visit to Israel. The map (analyzed by us, too, even from the very beginning of issuing Geostrategic Pulse) contains numerous errors which neither the time that passed so far has validated, nor the foreseeable future will do. However, it was used in the framework of some training courses for NATO high ranking officers. The so-called Arab Spring grew towards complicating even more the geopolitical developments in the Middle East and North Africa. After what the USA and the European Union (but not Israel) saw, during the first years, an evolution towards democratization following the elimination of dictatorial regimes, the stage of ungovernable states with huge economic and social problems was reached, the violence increased and the self-titled Islamic State (Daesh) emerged and, apart from taking control of important areas in Syria and Iraq, it turned to committing terrorist acts in Europe as well. The problem of the refugees from the Middle East became a global concern and especially of the EU. The evolution of the civil war in Syria brought Russia again at the forefront of geopolitics in the Middle East as the Kremlin cleverly exploited ever since 2013 the USA’s and its Western allies’ irresolution, as well as the lack of EU’s unitary action. Russia intervened directly, militarily as well, in supporting Bashar Al Assad regime, even from the fall of 2014, by developing a system of maritime and terrestrial bases that led to strengthening its position and role not only in Syria but also in the whole of the Middle East.The never-ending conflict between the Sunnis and the Shiites evolved to Iran’s benefit which, after the elimination of Saddam Hussein regime in Iraq, strengthened even more its influence in this country and through the important support granted to Assad regime, to the Lebanese Hezbollah and to Hamas movement is strengthening the achievement of its strategic goal of having a terrestrial corridor to the Mediterranean Sea, by profiting from the dissensions affecting the relations among the Arab countries with Sunni majorities. New tensions emerged among the Arab countries of the Gulf on this background marked by the June 2017 diplomatic crisis between Qatar, Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries (Bahrein, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt) including breaking off relations, blocking the terrestrial borders, banning maritime and air traffic and other economic sanctions. The tensions between Qatar and Saudi Arabia are not new, they date back since some decades after Ryiadh withdrew its ambassador to Doha (from 2002 to 2008 and later in 2014) and on June 5th, 2017 it broke off completely the relations with Qatar. The small Qatari peninsula has important oil and gas reserves (the third country in the world as far as gas is concerned) and is the greatest world exporter of LNG, a position that might be soon taken over by Australia. Qatar is the country with the highest GDP per capita in the world – 129,700 $ (2016), and it is followed from the Gulf countries by Kuwait, that is yet on the 9th place only (71,300 $). Officially, breaking off relations with Qatar was due to the support Doha would have granted to Muslim Brotherhoods (it backed especially the Egyptian Brotherhood and Mohammad Morsi), Hamas and Daesh. Saudi Arabia reproaches with Qatar as well of maintaining close relations with Iran (mention should be made that the great Qatari gas deposit “North Dome” extends to the Iranian territorial waters where it is called ”South Pars” . Another Saudi’s discontent is the presence in Doha of the TV station Al Jazeera, set up in 1996 and which represents a new media approach, different from the one in the area, including the domestic and regional controversial problems which generally the Arab media approaches reluctantly or at all. The station shocked part of the Arab audience when in presenting the issue of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict it conveyed Israeli opinions as well.Turkey is another Qatar’s faithful ally which in 2014 agreed upon setting up a military base where, after breaking off the relations by the abovementioned countries, sent a symbolical contingent of 150 military that, according to Turkish media of the time, could reach in the end 1,000 military. Besides, Qatar is the Gulf country where the biggest American contingent is placed at Al Udeid base (11,000 military) where there is a Command Center for coordinating the air strikes against Daesh in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan.Turkey, which had excellent relations with Bashar Al Assad regime until the civil war was triggered (in May 2009 the president Abdullah Gul paid a visit to Damascus) pronounced itself firmly against Assad regime particularly after the first lot of 3,000 Syrian refugees arrived in Turkey after the fights in Jisr as-Shugur. The Turkish Minister of Foreign Affaires of the time, Ahmet Davutoglu declared “We suspended all trade relations and all understandings between Turkey and Syria were suspended”; in June 2012 a Turkish military aircraft was downed by a missile launched from Syria and the situation deteriorated even further later on in connection with the complications of the emergence of Daesh and the fighting in the Syria’s northern zones where the Syrian Kurdish forces still play an important role. The policy of ”zero problems with the neighbours” could not be materialized and Ankara, confronted with the coup attempt of the summer of 2016, turned towards Russia and the relations between Putin and Erdogan became closer and closer (Putin visited Ankara on September 28th 2017). Although Russia backs Bashar Al Assad and Turkey the opposition, the relation Moscow-Ankara-Tehran strengthened in the framework of the Astana negotiations by setting up the de-escalation zones and Turkey is to play an important role especially in Idlib area. There are analyses foreseeing a Turkey’s extension in northern Syria up to somewhere south of Aleppo, yet that is too early to estimate. For the time being, the situation is further complicated by the referendum for the Iraqi Kurds independence (92.7% in favor), an action that does not enjoy regional or international support and which Turkey does not accept in any way. Daesh is as well defeated in its declared capital – Raqqa, and it is a matter of at most a few weeks until the end of the offensive, yet that does not mean the end of the organization which will find other forms of manifestation.The fluid and destabilized situation of the Middle East is beneficial to Israel that sees the possible Arab enemies more and more weakened and divided.
The great powers try to position themselves as better as possible in the Middle East for the next geopolitical global negotiations in which the Middle East region has no more the same importance as in the XXth century. A world peace cannot anymore be predicted from the Middle East only, and the latest developments in Asia and Europe at least fully prove that.
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About the author: Corneliu Pivariu, former first deputy for military intelligence (two stars general) in the Romanian MoD, retired 2003. Member of IISS – London, alumni of Harvard – Kennedy School Executive Education and others international organizations. Founder of INGEPO Consulting, and bimonthly Bulletin, Geostrategic Pulse”. Main areas of expertise – geopolitics, intelligence and security.
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Photographer: Ionus Paraschiv.
It is rare when photographers try to invert the circle of changing ephemeral situations into eternal images; most of them try to find the strangest or most uncommon situations for their pictures, or they play with the lights and the shadows to eternalize a situation in the specific way that the photographer sees it.
With “Natura Libris”, Lopez de la Peña presents the relation in another way: the eternal and the universal of an idea turned into the ephemeral world of a photograph. Inverting the relationship between concrete situations and photography creates photos of long lasting concepts and ideas: for example the relation of books with nature, with people, with ideas and concepts.
Books are understood as the transporters of ideas and as objects that eternalize them through their pages, and this happens because they are part of nature.
One part of his collection could be understood as the “idealization” of a book; from where does it come, and the materials that create it. Another component is the “realization” of a book; the industrial process as part of a book; the printing process, the mechanical side behind the birth of a book.
His exposition dedicates also to the relation of “books and humans” and finally to the concept of “books in themselves” or books, as they are.
Definitely, seeing López de la Peña’s photography is a revitalizing experience. The shadows he captures, the scale of grays in his pictures, even the completely dark spots infuse you with the story of the place of books in the world. With his creative and determined eye, López de la Peña has seized the attention of many.
We should thank the Embassy of Mexico and to his Ambassador, H.E. Edgar Elías Azar, for hosting this extremely interesting exposition.
