Al Jazeera English

ContentsPage 2 - Opinion

Page 3 - Security CouncilPage 4 - Economic and Social

CouncilPage 5 - From the website

Head of International Press

Twesh Mishra

Creative Editor

Paritosh Anand

USG International Press

Shivani Bazaz

Reporters

Amlan Das

Priyanshi Chauhan

Palak Nayyar

Photographers

Aman Agrawal

Ankit Kumar Srivastava

2Opinion

Oil Issue progresses, Citizenship Queries yet

to be Answered

Palak Nayyar opines, as the Sudanese neighbours make

little progress regarding oil profits, at the same time

analysing why other issues could not be ironed in the

same way.

Internal negotiations have finally bore fruit for both

Sudan and South Sudan after their massive fallout at

each other. In a mutual dialogue, both States are sup-

posed to sign a deal where South Sudan can resume its

oil production using Sudan’s pipelines. Although the

details of the pact have not been clearly spelled out as

of yet, but one can clearly see some progress.

If the deal works out for the two Nations, it will be a

major step towards stabilisation of two whole

economies. South Sudan relies on oil for 98 per cent of

its income and stopped exports in January after a dis-

pute with Sudan because there was no agreement over

transit fees. This arbitrary act actually pushed both the

economies in a state of absolute desperation, resulting

in terror activities of militia groups, forceful seizure of

territory and a myriad of unresolved disputes hence-

forth.

However, every issue could not be resolved in the

round of talks. The dialogue failed to establish any

agreement regarding conflict border areas and post se-

cession citizenship crisis. The fraying relations between

the two countries hasve had the maximum outbreak of

panic on the civilians. The governments’ still haven’t

spelled out citizenship criteria, leading to millions of

people internally displaced. Thousands of Sudanese

have been forced out of South Sudan.

While the momentum of the issue regarding oil seems

under control, the citizenship crisis clearly craves for

humanitarian aid. The flimsy state of affairs and rising

discontentment could anytime instigate another inter-

nal war, with potentially disastrous results.

Questions have also been raised, whether or not the

State of Sudan should have seceded at all. Secession is

supposed to be a solution to an otherwise intractable

political situation. Regarding the very picture of Sudan,

the twenty-two year long civil war killed nearly 2.5 mil-

lion people. The blood-shed was massive, and the af-

termaths were appalling. Evidently, the political

scenario, along with social and economic, was worst

case, but is amputation a cure for cancer?

No issue can be resolved without internal satisfaction

and equilibrium between the two parties, which in this

case, is disastrously fragile, which is evident from the

fact that none of them have been able to arrive at a

firm resolution as to how to kick start the improvement

of the deteriorating socio-economic situation of their

respective countries. There is a counter argument for

every territory dispute, but was the purpose of the

whole act met? Did peace prevail? Did the secession

succeed?

Al Jazeera

3Secur i ty Counci l

Limping Israel and a skeptical IranAmlan J. Das reports as the discussion proceeds fur-

ther, demand for a separate Palestine grows stronger,

while Iran remains as doubtful as ever before

The situation that prevails in the Middle East definitely

concerns the world. The western powers might have

seen an eradication of trouble and violence on their

land since 1948, but a battle in the Middle East is on

since the very time World War II ended. As the world

superpowers sit alongside the troubled Arabic coun-

tries, discussing solutions to their prolonged crisis sit-

uation; heated debate pops up, along with the

expression of utter anguish by the troubled countries.

Israel, a country which has consistently been on the re-

ceiving end complains that they have always looked for

peaceful neighbors, but it is definitely a misfortune for

them that they don’t have any. But what actually Israel

tried to indicate using ‘peaceful neighbor ’ as a

metaphor became clear, when they stated that, with

HAMAS as an element in their vicinity, they could never

adhere to the two state solution.

But the surge has already developed against Israel. Just

as the other countries, Lebanon believes that solution

involving two states is practically impossible, unless Is-

rael cooperates. India on the forehand brings about the

issue of the current situation inside the land of Israel,

where even ambulances are attacked; hence a solution

is not only must, but urgently required. Palestine on

their part refuses to leave any stone unturned, and uti-

lize this international platform to endure their position

by stating that HAMAS would be soon accommodated

with the PLO, which would signify an unified separation

movement.

The pressure already mounting on Israel was further

enhanced when a country like Iran, which is considered

quite adamant with their decisions, commented that

the solution to the Palestinian issue should solely be

handed upon the hands of Palestine and Israel should

not intervene in it.

This voice of Iran definitely diverted the focus of the

international community present to another epicenter

of strain, the Iranian nuclear issue. On being frisked

about the same, a very adamant Iran replied that they

are not developing any nuclear weapons; the nuclear

projects which they have are all concerned with biolog-

ical and medical purposes. This was probably not an an-

swer that everybody would gulp down easily. The tiny

country of Lebanon seemed very concerned with the

developed nuclear research infrastructure of Iran,

which definitely seemed more than enough for just

medical research.

To this Iran was very casual, they consider themselves

to be a fast developing country and in pursuance of

meeting the fast demands of the rising population and

the need for development, they strengthened their nu-

clear infrastructure which they believe it shouldn’t be

a source of any particular alarm.

But as usual the United States has always been very

skeptical about anything Iran said; hence this time too,

they presented factual reports about the projects of

Iran, where the amount of input clearly suggests usage

of raw materials beyond what medical purposes de-

mands. To this the Republic of Iran glued to their very

old policy that they don’t accept any report presented

by the west.

The bottom line to end with is that, Palestine on one

hand seems to have gathered much support for them-

selves while Israel on the other seems to have lost lots

of ground. The Iranian attitude remains unaltered, with

clouds of uncertainty still looming above their nuclear

programs.

Al Jazeera

4Economic and Socia l Counc i l

Plight Unheard: Euro Zone CrisisPriyanshi Chauhan writes about solutions proposed for

the Euro zone crisis and their implications

Crisis in the Euro zone was far from mellowing down as

the world community was boggling with the intricacies

of capitalist outlooks. Mother ship of the bourgeoisie,

the United States of America, blamed Italy and Ger-

many for breaking the 3% annual borrowing limit and

therefore causing the present euro zone crisis and

praised Spain for sticking to this deadline. It is notable

that of the big economies, Germany and Italy were the

first ones to break the deadline. France followed suite

and Spain kept its nose clean until the 2008 financial

crisis. Greece never stuck to its 3% target but manipu-

lated its borrowing statistics to look good thereby act-

ing as a catalyst for the euro zone crisis at first place.

Slovakia correctly presented the risk of lending and

condemned high borrowing practices while Switzerland

did not want any type of expenditure amidst this crisis.

This however sounds ridiculous. There is no possible

way in which any country can cut down all its expendi-

ture. Instead of suggesting zero expenditure Switzer-

land should suggest government expenditure for

productive activities which brings down its deficit. As

pointed out by Brazil, debt monetization or the printing

of new currency may be inflationary but if used in a

right manner, i.e. for productive purposes and prof-

itable projects, debt monetization can help.

As a solution to the existing crisis Ireland suggested in-

troduction of more transparency into the entire system

along with imposition of ceilings on the Union Budget.

This will make sure that the government does not run

into unwarranted debt and deficit does not exceed a

certain proportion of their GDP.

France laid emphasis on austerity measures and pun-

ishing the government for doing wrong. This however

is not possible. Austerity measure will not solve this

problem because reduced government spending would

imply slower growth, which in turn means lower tax

revenues to pay their bills. And this might create up-

roar among the citizens of a nation which will then con-

tribute to the overall loss of confidence among

businessmen and investors.

India suggested that more focus should be laid on pro-

ductive activities in the country and synchronization

between fiscal and monetary policies would be benefi-

cial. It also suggested imposition of new taxes. Brazil,

however, suggested that more focus should be towards

creation of better infrastructure which will be a stimu-

lus for economic growth.

The Obama Administration came up with an impractical

solution to the problem. It suggested introduction of

separate currencies for all the member countries. This

might look good on paper but is almost impossible to

implement. Moreover, all economies are related, there-

fore creation of separate currencies will definitely help

but the global scenario will more or less be the same.

They however correctly made a point that if Spain and

Italy cut down their expenditure, as suggested by many,

fiscal deficit will worsen because of lack of employ-

ment.

Germany also very well suggested that disintegration

of the euro zone will not help but will create problems

by currency appreciation thus making exports less com-

petitive in the international market. Instead, Germany

wants all the euro zone countries to make a plan and

stick to their fiscal deficit deadlines which will ulti-

mately help in controlling sustained fiscal deficit.

Al Jazeera

5From the webs i te

Dozens of bodies found

'executed' in Syria

The bodies of at least 80 young men and boys, all exe-

cuted with a single gunshot to the head or neck, have

been found in a river in the Syrian city of Aleppo, a

watchdog and rebels said. The London-based Syrian

Observatory for Human Rights said at least 65 bodies

were found in the Quweiq River, which separates the

Bustan al-Qasr district from Ansari in the southwest of

the city, but that the toll could rise significantly. A Free

Syrian Army fighter at the scene said the death toll is

higher, pointing out that many more bodies were still

being dragged from the water, in a rebel-held area.

Al Jazeera

Rahul Gandhi: Another son rises on India

Scion of Nehru-Gandhi family emerges as presumptive

PM candidate, reinforcing India's penchant for dynastic

politics. In a bid to infuse fresh vigour in the belea-

guered party, the Indian National Congress Party an-

nounced last week that 42-year-old Rahul Gandhi

would be its next vice-president. His mother Sonia

Gandhi heads the party and also chairs the ruling gov-

ernment coalition led by Prime Minister Manmohan

Singh. But given her reported frail health, its a cer-

tainty that Rahul Gandhi would be the face of the party

and the prime ministerial candidate during the next

elections scheduled for 2014.

France to deport 'radical foreign imams'

French Interior Minister Manuel Valls has said that

Paris is set to deport a string of radical religious imams

as part of a fight against "global jihadism". "Several

radical foreign preachers will be expelled in the coming

days," Valls told a Brussels conference called to tackle

extremism in Europe on Tuesday, without identifying

any of the individuals concerned. "I don't confuse this

radical Islam with the Islam of France but there is a re-

ligious environment, there are Salafist groupings, who

are involved in a political process, whose aim is to mo-

nopolise cultural associations, the schooling system,"

he added.