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Subject: International Stories of Key Importance

  • The next administration will also pursue ‘America First’

    The voting trend in the U.S. presidential election indicates significant support for the policies pursued by President Trump. This could impact the policies the next administration pursues.

    Why U.S. election matters for the world

    • The world still has need for American leadership.
    • It remains the world’s largest net provider of global public goods.
    • It is the lynchpin of the global multilateral system.
    • If Joe Biden wins, it is possible that America will re-engage with dignity and restore mutual respect in its relations with allies and partners, beginning with the trans-Atlantic alliance.
    • However, the Trump Americans, who are the new political base, will still shape American policy irrespective of who the president is.

    ‘America first’ is here to stay

    • The American people believe that their education, employment and retirement have been impacted by the immigration, outsourcing and liberal trade policies of past administrations.
    • Trump America does not want more migrants, it will not support the outsourcing of jobs at the cost of their own.
    • It wants a fair deal on trade that does not allow cheaper imports to put small American businesses out of business.
    • Even a Biden administration cannot return America back to the days of open borders and free trade.
    • It might relax some categories of work-visas, but it cannot return to the time when outsourcing was the preferred option for American companies.
    • It might re-engage with the World Trade Organisation but it cannot tear down the trade barriers that Trump has erected in the name of Make in America.

    Foreign policy of next administration

    • The Trump Americans do not wish to spend any more taxpayer dollars on foreign wars and they want their boys and girls to come home.
    • They think America’s allies are not carrying their weight and are unfairly living off American contributions.
    • They want their allies and partners to take greater responsibility for peace and security.
    • Biden’s supporters hope that he can reverse the abdication of American global leadership and renew alliances, but as president he may find it difficult to go against the Trump Americans on issues like China, Iran and climate change, without endangering the Democratic Party’s long-term interests.
    • And if Trump is re-elected as the president, it will only be because of his core voter base and it will strengthen his resolve.

    Implications for the world

    • Whether or not America withdraws from the world, American leadership, as we know it, might be over.
    • America will become more transactional and less generous.
    • Common values like democracy or multipolarity may be of lesser importance in America’s scheme of things.
    • Whether it is Trump or Biden, the Sino-US relationship will remain complicated and rivalrous.
    • Whether it is Trump or Biden, the Obama-era nuclear deal with Iran cannot be restored.
    • Whether it is Trump or Biden, American troops will soon be gone from Afghanistan.
    • There will be less willingness to consider emerging economies as deserving beneficiaries of concessional arrangements.
    • A Biden presidency might also mean a more critical look at the record of not just authoritarian states but also democracies on issues like labour, environment and non-proliferation.

    Implications for India

    • President Trump has been good for India in terms of foreign policy, less so in terms of economic policy.
    • But Delhi should equally be prepared for the Trump administration to ratchet up pressure on trade and to tighten rules on immigration.
    • With Biden, India and the US might return to a more balanced re-engagement on trade and immigration, but should be prepared for a more accommodative policy on both Pakistan and China than Trump’s.

    Conclusion

    Whoever is the next occupant of the White House, the way Americans voted on November 3 will shape American policy and politics for years to come.

  • What is New START Treaty?

    Russian President Mr Putin has proposed a one-year extension without conditions of the last major nuclear arms reduction accord, the New START Treaty between Russia and the U.S.

    The New START, INF and the Open Skies …. Be clear about the differences of these treaties. For example- to check if their inception was during cold war era etc.

    New START Treaty

    • The New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) pact limits the number of deployed nuclear warheads, missiles and bombers and is due to expire in 2021 unless renewed.
    • The treaty limits the US and Russia to a maximum of 1,550 deployed nuclear warheads and 700 deployed missiles and bombers, well below Cold War caps.
    • It was signed in 2010 by former US President Barack Obama and then-Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.
    • It is one of the key controls on superpower deployment of nuclear weapons.
    • If it falls, it will be the second nuclear weapons treaty to collapse under the leadership of US President Donald Trump.
    • In February, US withdrew from the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF), accusing Moscow of violating the agreement.

    Also read:

    https://www.civilsdaily.com/news/us-confirms-pull-out-from-inf-treaty/

  • Places in news: Taiwan Strait

    A U.S. warship sailed through the Taiwan Strait in what the American military described as a “routine” passage on but enraging China, which claims sovereignty over the island and surrounding seas.

    Try this PYQ:

    Q.Which one of the following can one come across if one travels through the Strait of Malacca?

    (a) Bali

    (b) Brunei

    (c) Java

    (d) Singapore

    Taiwan Strait

    • The Taiwan Strait, also known as the Formosa Strait, is a 180 km wide strait separating Taiwan and mainland China.
    • The strait is currently part of the South China Sea and connects to the East China Sea to the north. The narrowest part is 130 km wide.
    • The entire strait is on Asia’s continental shelf.
    • Historically both the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and Taiwan espoused a One-China Policy that considered the strait part of the exclusive economic zone of a single “China”.

    Tap to read more about One China Policy at:

  • Freedom of Navigation Operations (FONOPs)

    Indian Navy is scheduled to hold another Passage Exercise (PASSEX) with the US to undertake Freedom of Navigation Operations (FONOP).

    Try this question:

    Q.What do you mean by Freedom of Navigation Operations (FONOPs)? What are its legal backings?  Discuss its significance.

    Freedom of Navigation Operations

    • FONOPs are closely linked to the concept of freedom of navigation, and in particular to the enforcement of relevant international law and customs regarding freedom of navigation.
    • Freedom of navigation has been thoroughly practised and refined, and ultimately codified and accepted as international law under UNCLOS, in a legal process that was inclusive and consent-based.
    • The drafting of UNCLOS was driven in part by states’ concerns that strong national maritime interests could lead to excessive maritime claims over coastal seas, which could threaten freedom of navigation.
    • FONOPs are outgrowths of this development of international law, based on sovereign equality and international interdependence.

    Significance of FONOPs

    • FONOPs are a method of enforcing UNCLOS (United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea) and avoiding these negative outcomes by reinforcing freedom of navigation through practice.
    • It is exercised by sailing through all areas of the sea permitted under UNCLOS, and particularly those areas that states have attempted to close off to free navigation as defined under UNCLOS.

    Back2Basics: UNCLOS

    • The Law of the Sea Treaty formally known as the Third United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea was adopted in 1982 at Montego Bay, Jamaica. It entered into force in 1994.
    • The convention establishes a comprehensive set of rules governing the oceans and to replace previous U.N. Conventions on the Law of the Sea
    • The convention defines the distance of 12 nautical miles from the baseline as Territorial Sea limit and a distance of 200 nautical miles distance as Exclusive Economic Zone limit.

  • Conference on Disarmament (CD)

    India has supported the holding of negotiations on a Comprehensive Nuclear Weapons Convention at the Conference on Disarmament (CD). It reiterated its commitment to the disarmament of nuclear weapons in a step-by-step non-discriminatory process.

    List out various factors which are preventing the nuclear disarmaments amongst the nations.

    About the Conference on Disarmament (CD)

    • The CD is a multilateral disarmament forum established by the international community to negotiate arms control and disarmament agreements based at the Palais des Nations in Geneva.
    • The Conference meets annually in three separate sessions in Geneva.
    • The Conference was first established in 1979 as the Committee on Disarmament as the single multilateral disarmament negotiating forum of the international community.
    • It was renamed the Conference on Disarmament in 1984.

    Recent developments from India

    • India has not revised its key principles regarding the weapons in its arsenal.
    • Raksha Mantri has earlier hinted at a possibility of changing the No First Use (NFU) principle by declaring that ‘circumstances’ will determine the “No First Use” stance.

    India stands committed

    • India believes that nuclear disarmament can be achieved through a step-by-step process underwritten by a universal commitment and an agreed multilateral framework.
    • India remains convinced of the need for meaningful dialogue among all states possessing nuclear weapons, for building trust and confidence.
    • India also remains committed to negotiations regarding a Fissile Material Cut-off Treaty in the CD on the basis of the report of the Special Coordinator or CD/1299 which dates to March 24, 1995.

    B2BASICS

    India’s No first use doctrine

    For India, Nuclear weapons are political weapons and not weapons of war and their sole purpose is to deter the use of nuclear weapons by India’s adversaries. India has nit only established itself as a responsible nuclear state, but guided the world about how to be a responsible nuclear state through No first use policy.

    Features of India’s nuclear doctrine:

    1. Building and maintaining a credible minimum deterrent.
    2. A “No First Use” policy i.e. nuclear weapons to be used only in case of any nuclear attack on Indian territory or on Indian forces anywhere.
    3. Non use of nuclear weapons against non-nuclear weapon states.
    4. Nuclear retaliatory attacks to be authorised only by civilian political leadership through the Nuclear Command Authority.
    5. Nuclear retaliation to a first strike will be massive and designed to inflict unacceptable damage.
    6. India may retaliate with nuclear weapons to retaliate against attack  with biological or chemical weapons.
    7. Strict controls on export of nuclear and missile related materials and technologies.
    8. A commitment to goal of nuclear weapon free world.

  • What’s behind the Armenia-Azerbaijan clashes?

    Fresh clashes erupted on the Armenia-Azerbaijan border, threatening to push the countries back to war 26 years after a ceasefire was reached.

    Try this PYQ:

    Q.Turkey is located between-

    (a) The Black Sea and Caspian Sea

    (b) The Black Sea and Mediterranean Sea

    (c) Gulf of Suez and the Mediterranean Sea

    (d) Gulf of Aqaba and the Dead Sea

    The conflict

    • The largely mountainous and forested Nagorno-Karabakh, home for some 150,000 people, is at the centre of the conflict.
    • Nagorno-Karabakh is located within Azerbaijan but is populated, mostly, by those of Armenian ethnicity (and mostly Christian compared to the Shia Muslim majority Azerbaijan).
    • The conflict can be traced back to the pre-Soviet era when the region was at the meeting point of Ottoman, Russian and the Persian empires.

    A legacy of soviet era

    • Once Azerbaijan and Armenia became Soviet Republics in 1921, Moscow gave Nagorno-Karabakh to Azerbaijan but offered autonomy to the contested region.
    • In the 1980s, when the Soviet power was receding, separatist currents picked up in Nagorno-Karabakh.
    • In 1988, the national assembly voted to dissolve the region’s autonomous status and join Armenia.
    • But Baku suppressed such calls, which led to a military conflict.
    • When Armenia and Azerbaijan became independent countries after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the clashes led to an open war in which tens of thousands of people were killed.
    • The war lasted till 1994 when both sides reached a ceasefire (they are yet to sign a peace treaty and the border is not clearly demarcated).

    Issue over control

    • By that time, Armenia had taken control of Nagorno-Karabakh and handed it to Armenian rebels. The rebels have declared independence, but have not won recognition from any country.
    • The region is still treated as a part of Azerbaijan by the international community, and Baku wants to take it back.

    What is the strategic significance of the region?

    • The energy-rich Azerbaijan has built several gas and oil pipelines across the Caucasus (the region between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea) to Turkey and Europe.
    • This includes the Baku-Tblisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline (with a capacity of transporting 1.2 billion barrels a day), the Western Route Export oil pipeline, the Trans-Anatolian gas pipeline and the South Caucasus gas pipeline.
    • Some of these pipelines pass close to the conflict zone (within 16 km of the border). In an open war between the two countries, the pipelines could be targeted, which would impact energy supplies.

    What’s Turkey’s role?

    • Turkey has historically supported Azerbaijan and has had a troublesome relationship with Armenia.
    • In the 1990s, during the war, Turkey closed its border with Armenia and it has no diplomatic relations with the country.
    • The main point of contention between the two was Ankara’s refusal to recognise the 1915 Armenian genocide in which the Ottomans killed some 1.5 million Armenians.
    • On the other end, the Azeris and Turks share strong cultural and historical links. Azerbaijanis are a Turkic ethnic group and their language is from the Turkic family.

    Where does Russia stand?

    • Moscow sees the Caucasus and Central Asian region as its backyard. But the current clashes put President Vladimir Putin in a difficult spot.
    • Russia enjoys good ties with both Azerbaijan and Armenia and supplies weapons to both.
    • But Armenia is more dependent on Russia than the energy-rich, ambitious Azerbaijan. Russia also has a military base in Armenia.
    • But Moscow, at least publicly, is trying to strike a balance between the two. Like in the 1990s, its best interest would be in mediating a ceasefire between the warring sides.

  • Explained: Birth of United Nations

    The United Nations completed 75 years this year. In order to commemorate the historic moment, world leaders have come together, at a one-day high-level meeting of the UN General Assembly.

    Try this:

    Q.Discuss the various success and failures of the United Nations. (150W)

    Birth of United Nations

    • The United Nations was born out of the horrors of World War II.
    • At the time of its foundation, it was primarily tasked with the goal of maintaining world peace and saving future generations from the evils of war.

    A historical backgrounder

    • The UN was born out of the ashes of yet another international organisation created with the intention of keeping war away.
    • The League of Nations was created in June 1919, after World War I, as part of the Treaty of Versailles.
    • However, when the Second World War broke out in 1939, the League closed down and its headquarters in Geneva remained empty throughout the war.
    • Consequently, in August 1941, American President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British PM Winston Churchill held a secret meeting aboard naval ships in Placenta Bay, located in the southeast coast of Newfoundland, Canada.

    The Atlantic Charter

    • The heads of the two countries discussed the possibility of creating a body for international peace effort and a range of issues related to the war.
    • Together they issued a statement that came to be called the Atlantic Charter. It was not a treaty, but only an affirmation that paved the way for the creation of the UN.
    • It declared the realization of “certain common principles in the national policies of their respective countries on which they based their hopes for a better future for the world.”

    The name ‘UN’

    • The United States joined the war in December 1941, and for the first time the term ‘United Nations’ was coined by president Roosevelt to identify those countries which were allied against the axis powers.
    • On January 1, 1942, representatives of 26 allied nations met in Washington DC to sign the declaration of the United Nations, which basically spelt out the war objectives of the Allied powers.
    • Over the next couple of years, several meetings took place among the Allied big four — The USA, the Soviet Union, the UK and China — to decide on the post-war charter that would describe the precise role of the UN.

    Coming to existence

    • The UN finally came into existence on October 24, 1945, after being ratified by 51 nations, which included five permanent members (France, the Republic of China, the Soviet Union, the UK and the US) and 46 other signatories.
    • The first meeting of the General Assembly took place on January 10, 1946.

    Its achievements

    • While at the time of its formation, the UN consisted of only 51 member states, independence movements and decolonization in the subsequent years led to an expansion of its membership.
    • At present, 193 countries are members of the UN.
    • It has also expanded its scope to resolve over a large number of global issues such as health, environment, and women empowerment among others.
    • Soon after its formation, it passed a resolution to commit to the elimination of nuclear weapons in 1946. In 1948, it created the World Health Organisation (WHO) to deal with communicable diseases like smallpox, malaria, HIV.
    • In 1950, the UN created the High Commissioner for Refugees to take care of the millions who had been displaced due to World War II.
    • More recently in 2002, the UN established the UN criminal court to try those who have committed war crimes, genocide, and other atrocities.

    Various criticisms

    • The UN has also met with its share of criticisms. In 1994, for instance, the organisation failed to stop the Rwandan genocide.
    • In 2005, UN peacekeeping missions were accused of sexual misconduct in the Republic of Congo, and similar allegations have also come from Cambodia and Haiti.
    • In 2011, the UN peacekeeping mission in South Sudan was unsuccessful in eliminating the bloodshed caused in the civil war that broke out in 2013.

  • India becomes a member of UN Commission on Status of Women

    India has been elected as a member of the United Nation’s Commission on Status of Women (UN-CSW), a body of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).

    Try this PYQ:

    Q.Democracy’s superior virtue lies in the fact that it calls into activity:

    (a) The intelligence and character of ordinary men and women

    (b) The methods for strengthening executive leadership

    (c) A superior individual with dynamism and vision

    (d) A band of dedicated party workers

    UN Commission on Status of Women

    • The Commission on the Status of Women (CSW or UNCSW) is a functional commission of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), one of the main organs within the United Nations.
    • CSW has been described as the UN organ promoting gender equality and the empowerment of women.
    • Every year, representatives gather at UN Headquarters in New York to evaluate progress gender equality, identify challenges, set global standards and formulate concrete policies to promote gender equality and advancement of women worldwide.
    • India will be a member of United Nation’s Commission on Status of Women for four years, 2021 to ‘25.
    • This year is the 25th anniversary of the famous Beijing World Conference on Women (1995).

  • International Criminal Court (ICC)

    The U.S. has announced sanctions including asset freezes and visa bans against two officials of the International Criminal Court (ICC) at The Hague.

    International Criminal Court

    • The ICC is an intergovernmental organization and international tribunal that sits in The Hague, Netherlands.
    • It is the first and only permanent international court with jurisdiction to prosecute individuals for the international crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression.
    • It is intended to complement existing national judicial systems and it may therefore exercise its jurisdiction only when national courts are unwilling or unable to prosecute criminals.
    • The ICC lacks universal territorial jurisdiction, and may only investigate and prosecute crimes committed within member states, crimes committed by nationals of member states, or crimes in situations referred to the Court by the UNSC.

    Issues with ICC

    The ICC has faced a number of criticisms from states and society, including objections about-

    • its jurisdiction, accusations of bias, questioning of the fairness of its case-selection and trial procedures, and doubts about its effectiveness

    Implications of US sanction

    • The US action is perceived as a setback to the international rules-based multilateral order, and the decision to sanction anybody assisting the ICC will deter victims of violence in Afghanistan from speaking out.
    • The unilateral sanctions would encourage other regimes accused of war crimes to flout the ICC’s rulings.

    B2BASICS

  • UAE, Israel reach agreement to establish diplomatic ties

    The United Arab Emirates and Israel have agreed to establish full diplomatic ties as part of a deal to halt the annexation of occupied land sought by the Palestinians for their future state.

    What is the deal?

    • The deal halts Israeli annexation plans, the Palestinians have repeatedly urged Arab governments not to normalize ties with Israel until a peace agreement establishing an independent Palestinian state is reached.

    Significance

    • The announcement makes the UAE the first Gulf Arab state to do so and only the third Arab nation to have active diplomatic ties to Israel.
    • For Israel, the announcement comes after years of boasting by Israeli PM Netanyahu that his government enjoys closer ties to Arab nations than publicly acknowledged.

    West Bank  and its annexation plan

    • The West Bank is located to the west of the Jordan River.
    • It is a patch of land about one and a half times the size of Goa, was captured by Jordan after the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.
    • Israel snatched it back during the Six-Day War of 1967 and has occupied it ever since.
    • It is a landlocked territory, bordered by Jordan to the east and Israel to the south, west, and north.
    • Following the Oslo Accords between the Israeli government and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) during the 1990s, part of the West Bank came under the control of the Palestinian Authority.
    • With varying levels of autonomy, the Palestinian Authority controls close to 40 per cent of West Bank today, while the rest is controlled by Israel.