The Diplomacy Cable 11/30/2015
Above: PM Modi of India meets Heads of Delegations of Like-Minded Developing Countries in the run-up to COP-21 in Paris
With the invention of the telegraph cables in the 19th century, international consulates and embassies began sending shorter encrypted telegrams using Morse Code. While the messages are now sent electronically, the moniker “cable” stuck and the term is still in use today for shorter, encrypted diplomatic messages.
Leaders from around, the world landed in Paris Sunday, ready to begin the COP21 conference on climate change. As is to be expected with any major conference of world leaders, there were massive demonstrations, with 200 people being arrested, according to CNN. There are reports of protesters throwing shoes, and even candles from the terror memorial, at police. Nearly 150 world leaders are hoping to come to an agreement that will limit greenhouse gas emissions.
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There seems to be a difference of opinions between the administrations of the French and the United States as to the end goal of this conference. John Kerry, the American Secretary of State, said Wednesday that the December agreement in Paris was “definitely not going to be a treaty”, whereas President Hollande stated that, “If the agreement is not legally binding, there won’t be an agreement”, according to Al-Jazeera. International law is one of the most written about topics in international relations, with many discussions on “soft” and “hard” law, the latter being treaties that are enforceable by law.
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The Pope is currently in the Central African Republic. He brought with him a message of peace to the nation, and continent, so constantly wrecked by war. With the help of a Sango translator, he then led them in a chant: “We are all brothers. We are all brothers,” writes NBC News. There have been terrible clashes between Muslims and Christians in the Central African Republic, where over 1 million of the 4.8 million citizens have been forced from their home.
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Germany led a “coalition of the willing” of nine EU countries taking in the most refugees in releasing plans to combat the current refugee crisis, but German Chancellor Angela Merkel also, “convened a separate mini-summit with seven other leaders to push a fast-track deal with the Turks and to press ahead with a new policy of taking in and sharing hundreds of thousands of refugees a year directly from Turkey,” reports The Guardian. The refugee crisis is one of the worst political crises to face the EU.
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The Washington Post delivers a report on the rather morbid rate at which Saudi Arabia is executing their prisoners. There have been local reports that over 50 prisoners could be executed in one day. According to Amnesty International, the country has already executed more than 150 prisoners this year, the highest in two decades. The report details a few theories into the upswing of executions in the Gulf country.
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Turkey has returned the body of the Russian pilot killed when the NATO member shot down a Russian fighter jet that they claim crossed into their airspace. The shooting down of a Russian jet by a NATO ally is the first of its kind since the Cold War, and comes on the heels of Russia’s massive bombing campaign against who they believe are the worst terror groups in the region. Another Russian soldier died rescuing the one pilot who did survive. Huffington Post has this story.
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Dylan Ashdown is a second year graduate student at Seton Hall, where he is a part of the School of Diplomacy and International Relations and College of Communication and the Arts. He is pursuing dual master’s degrees in Diplomacy and International Relations and Strategic Communications. He received his undergraduate degrees from the University of Central Missouri.
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