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The Diplomatic Envoy

Author: Zachary Schullian

December 2020International News2020
Zachary Schullian

Companies Seek Vaccine Approval as COVID-19 Cases Rise

On Tuesday, November 30, biopharmaceutical firms BioNTech and Moderna applied for approval of their respective COVID-19 vaccines in the European Union (EU), The Wall Street Journal reports. National Geographic says the EU is expected to conclude Pfizer’s assessment by December 29 and Moderna’s by January 12. Both Moderna and Pfizer Inc. also applied for emergency usage of their vaccines in the United States at the end of November, though it is unclear when a decision will be made.

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FocusNovember 20202020Elections in the Age of Coronavirus
Zachary Schullian

Focus on Elections During Coronavirus: Ethiopia

2019 Nobel Peace Prize winner and Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed is facing a critical moment as ethnic tensions boil. Abiy was elected in 2018 and is seen by many outsiders as a reformer seeking to lead Ethiopia away from the current system of ethnic federalism towards a more unified, secular federalist form of government. Under the constitution, Ethiopia is divided into nine ethnically-based regions that are each granted a significant amount of autonomy from the central government.

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September 2020International News2020Europe
Zachary Schullian

Russia Ready to Mediate Turkey-Greece Conflict in East Mediterranean 

Russia’s foreign minister Sergey Lavrov said on September 8 that Moscow is ready to help ease rising tensions over Turkey’s search for energy reserves in the eastern Mediterranean, and rejected any actions that could lead to further escalation, The Associate Press reports. The Associated Press cites Larov, stating “we would be ready to contribute to building good neighborly relations in the event this is requested of us by those involved,”  and later adding that Moscow has repeatedly called on leaders in the region to “resolve these differences through dialogue and within a legal framework.” 

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