Views n Vibes

03/02/2024

International Court of Justice has issued judgments in two cases between Ukraine and Russia:
1. Case related to Genocide Convention filed in 2022.
2. Case related to Terrorism Financing and Racial Discrimination filed in 2017.

27/01/2024

International Court of Justice (ICJ) issued its interim decision in the Genocide Case of South Africa vs Israel.

27/01/2024

Arguments presented by Israel in the
ICJ have been analyzed by:

1. Alonso Gurmendi, lecturer in international relations at the King´s College, London, in an interview with Owen Jones.
The link of the interviews is following:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OtwXm6BIVnM

2. Craig Mokhiber

, human rights lawyer and a former UN official, in an interview with Katie Halper.
The link of the interviews is following:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kj7mqGVg554&t=2853

15/01/2024

Arguments presented by Israel in the
ICJ have been analyzed by
Alonso Gurmendi, lecturer in international relations at the King´s College, London, in an interview with Owen Jones.

The link of the interviews is following:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OtwXm6BIVnM

14/01/2024

Important points related to the case filed by South Africa in the International Court of Justice against Israel.

06/01/2024

Antisemitism or Racism in Universities?

Claudine Gay, the first Black president of Harvard University, stepped down on 2 January 2024 following allegations of plagiarism and a backlash over her testimony in a congressional hearing on anti-Semitism.

02/01/2024

A review of the recent developments in the Israel-Palestine conflict

21/03/2023

Can Putin be tried for War Crimes in Ukraine?

For a detailed Answer, please visit:

https://medium.com/.viewsnvibes/can-putin-be-tried-for-war-crimes-in-ukraine-af0bfd32407a

14/02/2023

What will be your first thought when you see an innocent victim is being harmed by the armed forces personnel?
1. Solidarity with the victim
2. Sympathy for the soldier who is trained and ordered to do these heinous acts and has lost his humanity

A tweet by Lawrence Wright, a Pulitzer Prize-winning American Journalist, has sparked a debate on the internet. Wright uploaded a video of a Palestinian peace activist, Issa Amro, being assaulted by the Israeli forces.

Wright stated that "I can't stop thinking how dehumanizing the occupation is on the young soldiers charged with enforcing it."

While this can be one thought, should it be your first and only thought?

As pointed out by Shibley Telhami, a Professor at the University of Maryland, "the first thing to contemplate is the overwhelming and devastating impact of the brutal military rule on the Palestinians".

Eric Reinhart, a political anthropologist, quoted from Discourse on Colonialism by Aimé Césaire "First we must study how colonization works to decivilize the colonizer, to brutalize him in the true sense of the word, to degrade him.."

The question remains. Should it be the first thing to do?

What is your opinion?

11/02/2023

ClientEarth, a non-profit environment law firm, has filed a first of its nature lawsuit against 11 members of the Board of Directors of Shell holding them personally responsible for failing to adopt a strategy that aligns with the Paris Agreement to protect the company and long-term shareholder value.

It argues that the company is not geared to reduce company-wide carbon emissions by 45% by the end of 2020s in compliance of the orders of Dutch Court in May 2021.

Shell recently announced a record annual profit of $40bn (£33bn), driven by the high energy prices resulting from Russia’s war in Ukraine.

The legal claim has the backing of institutional investors and pension funds that holdover 12 million of Shell's 7 billion shares. The case argues that by ignoring the climate change, company directors are harming the long-term financial health of the company.

The case argues that the shareholders' best interest is in a long-term strategy to move away from fossil fuels.

ClientEarth is asking the high court to order Shell’s board to adopt a strategy to manage climate risk in line with its duties under the Companies Act, and in compliance with the Dutch court’s order for big cuts in emissions.

Shell headquartered in London, but is listed on the New York stock exchange. A spokesperson from Shell said they “do not accept ClientEarth’s allegations”.

The company was also sued this month in London’s high court by 14,000 people from two Nigerian communities, who claim Shell is responsible for devastating pollution of their water sources.

Earlier in February, a non-profit group lodged a complaint against Shell with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, alleging that the company had overstated how much it is spending on renewable energy.

09/02/2023

was held in Sharm-el-Sheikh, Egypt, from 6th to 20th November 2022.

Conference of the Parties (CoP) is held every year to discuss and review progress under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

The first CoP was held in 1995 in Berlin, Germany. CoP 28 will be held in Dubai this year.

COP 3 took place in December 1997 in Kyoto, Japan. It adopted the Kyoto Protocol which outlined the greenhouse gas emissions reduction obligation for developed countries called Annex-1 countries at or below the level of emission in 1990.

The US signed the Kyoto Protocol on 12 November 1998 during the Clinton presidency. But it was not ratified by the US Senate.

Kyoto Protocol did not cover world’s two largest emitters, the United States and China. Therefore, it could not work.

CoP 18 was held in Doha, Qatar, in 2012. Doha Amendment to the Kyoto Protocol was passed in which 37 countries had binding targets till 2020.

United States, Canada, Russia, Japan and New Zealand did not fulfill Doha Amendment.

CoP 21 was held in Paris, France, in 2015 where Paris Agreement was signed governing reductions from 2020 onwards. It was agreed to keep the rise in mean global temperature to well below 2 °C above pre-industrial levels, and preferably limit the increase to 1.5 °C.

President Trump withdrew the US from Paris Agreement in November 2020. President Biden rejoined the Paris Agreement in January 2021.

In CoP 27 that was held in Shar el Sheikh, Egypt, in November 2022 it has been agreed after man years to establish a “loss and damage fund” to help vulnerable countries hit hard by climate disasters.

The US, the EU, and other developed countries had long tried to avoid this kind of mechanism that can lead to further legal liability in future.

Egypt chose the remote resort town of Sharm el Sheikh to keep the attendees away from the real Egypt. Abdel Fattah el Sisi took power in a military coup in 2014. Hosting CoP 27 in Egypt was an attempt by him to give legitimacy to his authoritarian rule.

He has been criticized by Human Rights Watch for grave violations of human rights, specially of his political opponents. Alaa Abdel Fattah, a writer and activist, has spent most of the last decade in prison.

Let’s hope that future CoPs bring better agreements for limiting the rise in global temperatures to 1.5 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial levels by phasing out fossil fuels. We also look forward to seeing how the “loss and Damage” fund is set up during CoP 28 next year.

Also, as Human Rights Watch argues that the human rights should be considered as part of the criteria before deciding where to host the next CoP.

Also, as Human Rights Watch argues that the human rights should be considered as part of the criteria before deciding where to host the next CoP.

COP27 was held in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt. It happened during a geopolitical chaos including a war and several climate crises. The coastal town of Sharm el Sh...

09/02/2023

In a federal lawsuit, an Illinois father claims that a Wisconsin middle school brawl last year resulted in the wrongful restraint of his 12-year-old daughter by an off-duty police officer who was also a school security guard.

The girl's father, Jerrel Perez, claims that Shawn Guetschow injured his daughter permanently by using excessive force and an unlawful chokehold.

Guetschow is accused of throwing his entire body weight against the girl's neck, pushing his right knee into the back of her neck while simultaneously pushing her head into the cafeteria floor, and using excessive force to restrain the child.

Following massive protests over the death of George Floyd, Wisconsin joined a number of other states in passing legislation in 2021 that forbade police from using chokeholds except as a last option.

25/01/2023

The leaders of the United States and Germany announced today that they will send tanks to Ukraine. This is a major move not shown before during this war.

President Biden said “There is no offensive threat to Russia if Russian troops return to Russia, where they belong”. Earlier, Scholz told German parliament that the decision to send Leopard 2 tanks had come after consultations with western allies.

The Germans’ goal is to assemble two tank battalions with Leopard 2 tanks for Ukraine, the government statement said. In a first step, Berlin will provide a company of 14 Leopard 2 A6 tanks.

Germany will also allow other countries to export the battle tank. Poland on Tuesday asked for approval from Germany to transfer some of its German-made Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine. Spain and Norway have also shown interest in sending German-made Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine.

The UK announced last week that it will send Kyiv 14 of its British Army Challenger 2 tanks. The agreement crossed what had previously appeared to be a red line for the US and its European allies. The French government is considering sending its Leclerc tanks.

25/01/2023

Why and are still so popular?
Why people like are able to amass a large number of followers while spewing venom and hatred?
How to respond to it?

25/01/2023

The attack of in reminds many of the 6 January attack by the supporters of Trump two years ago. Others say there are important differences. What do you say?

25/01/2023

Twelve Positive Stories from each month of 2022:

1. January:
Scientists were able to explain what caused the specific formation of stars in the Milky Way for the first time.

2. February:
Paralyzed patients were able to walk, cycle, and even swim again thanks to a ground-breaking spinal implant.

3. March:
Millions of pieces of DNA were missing until scientists completed the decoding of the entire human genome.

4. April:
After going missing for 22 years, two notebooks belonging to Charles Darwin that contained his writings and drawings, including the well-known "tree of life" drawing, were anonymously returned.

5. May:
Longer stays on the moon may be feasible now that plants have been successfully grown in lunar soil.

6. June:
For more than a dozen US patients with re**al cancer, a miracle drug trial eliminated cancerous tumors.

7. July:
By investing billions in clean energy, the United States, the second-largest emitter of greenhouse gases in the world, took what was hailed as the most ambitious potential action ever taken by the nation to combat global warming.

8. August:
At a time when approximately one in ten girls in the United Kingdom couldn't afford sanitary towels and tampons, Scotland became the first nation to make access to free period products a legal right.

9. September:
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) researchers reported that the ozone layer is recovering and that it will close in the next fifty years.

10. October:
The revolutionary mRNA COVID-19 vaccine was created by the German company BioNTech, whose founders told the BBC that recent advances had made it possible to cure cancer before the end of the decade. BioNTech and Pfizer jointly produced the vaccine.

11. November:
The first time lab-grown blood was administered intravenously to humans was a significant first step toward making lab-grown red blood cells accessible to patients who frequently require transfusions or who have rare blood types.

12. December:
After decades of research, scientists conducted a nuclear fusion reaction that produced more energy than it consumed, mimicking the process that powers stars to generate energy on Earth.