Posts tagged : "International relations"

Kourosh Ziabari - Fair Observer: Nestled in the Mediterranean Sea between Italy and Tunisia, Malta is the smallest member state of the European Union, having joined the bloc in May 2004. A strong economic performance, especially in the face of the 2008 global financial crisis, and high levels of social capital have helped Malta climb to 19th place out of 149 nations on the Legatum Prosperity Index. The country performs best on safety and security, social capital and economic quality markers in the rankings. Malta adopted the euro as its official currency in 2008, replacing the Maltese lira, and survived the eurozone crisis due to low debt and sound banking practices. Freedom House refers to Malta as a “parliamentary democracy with...

Kourosh Ziabari - Centre for Journalism: The former Maltese foreign minister Tonio Borg says the relations between Malta and the United Kingdom will remain close and strong for "historical, commercial and strategic reasons" after the complete withdrawal of Britain from the European Union. Tonio Borg says the English language is still an official language and the majority of tourists to Malta come from the UK, even though Brexit means Malta loses an ally and friend within the EU. Tonio Borg is a prominent Maltese politician who was the European Commissioner for Health and Consumer Policy from 2012 to 2013 and the European Commissioner for Health from 2013 to 2014. He has served in various positions in the government of Malta and...

Kourosh Ziabari - Centre For Journalism: The U.S. President Donald Trump's proposal to separate the United States from Mexico with a wall on the country's southern border was one of the controversial pledges he made during the campaign season in the run-up to the November 2016 presidential polls. President Trump had repeatedly denigrated the Mexican immigrants and vowed to block immigration from Mexico through this initiative. His wall project is now in the offing and Trump says they are the Mexicans who will pay for its construction. Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto said the country will never pay for it. The executive order 13767 signed by the U.S. president on 25 January 2017 lays the groundwork for the commencement of the...

Kourosh Ziabari - International Policy Digest: U.S. President Donald Trump has called for new sanctions against Iran and proposed decertification of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), popularly known as the Iran Deal. Trump has given the European signatories to the agreement, most importantly Britain, Germany and France, an ultimatum to fix the flaws in the Iran deal or forget about the United States’ continued investment in the agreement, which according to Trump, was Obama’s deal and one of the most disastrous and one-sided accords the U.S. has ever entered into. Terms and conditions of the JCPOA are clear. In a nutshell, Iran rolls back certain aspects of its ambitious nuclear programme, sticks to its technical...

AFP Photo Kourosh Ziabari - Medium: Four people stormed the Iranian Embassy in London on Friday, 9th March and took down the Islamic Republic’s flag to give the Iranian government authorities ammunition for the escalation of tensions with the UK at a time the case of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe is hindering the smooth and unhindered progress of bilateral relations. The attackers were arrested by the London Metropolitan Police “on suspicion of causing criminal damage and being unlawfully on diplomatic premises”. The attack was intrinsically condemned by Iran’s Foreign Ministry, and some hardliners in Tehran suggested that there is a case of negligence against the UK Police. No evidence to back up this allegation has been...

Kourosh Ziabari - Centre For Journalim: Latvia is an independent republic in the Baltic region, bordered by Estonia, Lithuania, Russia and Belarus. It became a member of the European Union in 2004 and signed the Lisbon Treaty in 2007. Its capital Riga was named the European Capital of Culture in 2014 and the recent UN Human Rights Development Index categorises it as one of the countries with a "very high human development" score. Surpassing Argentina, Croatia, Bahrain, Montenegro, Russia, Romania and Kuwait, it's the world's 44th country in the list. The Baltic state was ruled by the Soviets for centuries (1710-1918) and World War I and World War II became motives for Latvia to fight for independence and a better international...

U.S., EU and Iranian diplomats celebrate the signing of the Iran Deal Kourosh Ziabari - openDemocracy: The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, also known as the Iran Deal, is a UN-endorsed agreement that caps Iran's nuclear activities, subjects them to the full safeguards of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and introduces a framework for the easing and removal of economic sanctions against the country. Iran deal is an agreement that can be safely considered the outcome of almost two years of relentless diplomacy between the government of President Hassan Rouhani and the major world powers: five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council (U.S., Russia, France, China and Britain), Germany, the European Union...

Kourosh Ziabari - International Policy Digest: U.S. President Donald Trump’s warnings that his administration might de-certify the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, popularly known as the Iran Deal, portend a difficult future for the Iranian people and the Iran-U.S. relations. As Iranians still strive to live happier lives while grappling with the repercussions of economic sanctions that the country’s sixth president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, brought about through a mixture of mismanagement, inexperience and intransigence, the current U.S. president is sending signals which sums up the Iranian hardliner’s modus operandi. JCPOA is an international agreement, reached in Vienna on 14 July 2015 between Iran and the five permanent...

Kourosh Ziabari - Organisation for Defending Victims of Violence: The Rohingya are an ethnic group in Myanmar, a Buddhist-majority country in the Southeast Asia, who are referred to as the world's most persecuted minority. Al-Jazeera writes that nearly all of the Rohingya in Myanmar live in the western coastal state of Rakhine and are not allowed to leave without government permission, in what is technically designed to be a ghetto for them. International human rights groups say there are about 1.1 million Rohingya living under very critical and unfortunate conditions and the majority of discriminations they've suffered have religious roots. Thousands of Rohingya Muslims have in the recent months fled Myanmar to seek refuge in...

Kourosh Ziabari - Organisation for Defending Victims of Violence: Humanitarian crisis in Gaza has entered its 11th year as the crippling siege by Israel is making the living conditions of Palestinians more complicated with time. The blockade in what is popularly referred to as the world's "largest open-air prison" means growing unemployment, people havng intermittent access to pure water, the economy is almost dysfunctional and poor infrastructure and lack of funding make the two-million population vulnerable to heavy rains and extreme weather. The former United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in the Palestinian Territories believes Israel is not doing enough to make the living conditions of Gaza...