International Bonds - Omani and Thai friendship

Often when we look at foreign affairs, it is within our own region and national contexts. One of my favorite things to do is to browse news outlets from other countries to see how their media functions and the issues that are important to them.

Oman and Thailand have recently signed a memoranda of understand, bonding the nations together politically and economically in areas such as tourism and diplomacy. The Thai ambassador to the sultan Pornchai Danvivathana has said that both of their tactics when it comes to diplomacy are similar - flexible and willing to talk to everyone. Thailand sees Oman as a potential portal to Iran trade deals.
http://www.muscatdaily.com/Archive/Oman/Oman-Thailand-have-similar-nature-of-diplomacy-Envoy-4m81

Russian response to American escalation

Earlier this week, in our IR lecture we spoke about the buildup of American forces along the Eastern European border. Our allies in the region, the Baltic states and Poland, are worried about eastern aggression from their neighbor, Russia. Recently Defense Secretary Ash Carter presented the plan to shift our current European defense spending to 3.4$ billion, quadruple of our current 789$ million to confront "evolving challenges" in Europe. Putin press secretary Dmitry Peskov replied to this with “Of course, any plans to bring NATO’s military infrastructure closer to the Russian Federation lead to reciprocal steps needed to restore the necessary parity,” which understandably means any escalation on NATO's part will result in symmetrical response from them. In addition to increased spending, America has also brought B61 nuclear bombs to one the joint airbases in Germany. The Kremlin's response to this was that they already have sufficient nuclear weapons but could consider either moving them to strategically important regions like Kaliningrad or Crimean regions; or possibly bringing the newest Iskander-M tactical nuclear weapons to Kaliningrad if the threat to state security calls for it. 

I think that this escalation is going to be another one of the big foreign policy issues in the upcoming months, and it will be pretty, pretty, pretty interesting to see how a new president will tackle these issues. Hopefully with another space race.

https://www.rt.com/politics/271258-russia-peskov-america-doctrine/
https://www.rt.com/politics/331263-russia-promises-compensatory-measures-as/
https://www.rt.com/politics/316291-kremlin-promises-counter-steps-in/

Kurdistan to Cologne

I recently was looking into Kurdistan for another class and found a really interesting article from inside the autonomous region in Iraq about a human trafficker. His name was Riza Kewi, and for a sum of money (2000$-8000$ USD) will transport you from the Turkey across the sea to Europe. Riza claimed to have helped over 8000 make the Aegean journey this summer. He has a social media presence among the people (his Facebook has around 800 likes) and has been quoted, "There is nothing for you in Iraqi Kurdistan. Leave the country for the officials and come with me. I will make sure you reach Europe". Riza hangs out in the Aksaray neighborhood in Istanbul, a travel point for migrants heading to Europe. However, some of is customers weren't so happy with his service. A local man named Arya claimed to have paid Riza 8000$ to travel on a yacht to Bulgaria with 40 others; Arya said once he arrived that there were about twice the amount on a much smaller vessel - he was scared off and said: "They tried to convince me to get on the boat but I started to cry and then I was able to just run off". Another man Anwar was upset with misinformation given by Riza, who claimed the travel from Bulgaria to Germany is only 8 hours, when asked about it he said "But that was far from true. I think we walked for several days with no food and water or sleep. It’s hard to talk about this terrible journey even now. In my opinion the smugglers are just all sales people. None of them can really guarantee anything and none of them are trustworthy." Anwar also says that he traveled in between multiple smuggler organizations, "Every time we got to another city we would meet new guides - from Afghanistan, from Bulgaria or Austria - who were members of some criminal gang and who carried guns and knives." Kewi himself, interestingly enough, does not want to leave Turkey.

I hope that this sheds some insight into the daily struggles of the people who are heading to Europe - it is only one obstacle of many.

Hero or Profiteer?

Ekurd Report


Here pictured are some migrants heading towards Sweden, credit to niqash.org

Omani-Iran relationship face no changes after GCC nations downgrade relations

Last year during our MAL (Model Arab League) conference, we had the opportunity to represent a nation with a very interesting position in World and Arab affairs - Oman. Oman, hailed as the "Swiss of the Middle East" is a mediator, a facilitator of peace talks and has opted to stay out of the sectarian conflicts that pit Muslim against Muslim. Oman has opted to not downgrade relations following the execution of Sheikh Nimr-al Nimr, a Shiite cleric who was executed early this month at the hands of the Saudis. Oman in my book deserves merit for trying to play a peaceful player in an ever-so-bloody region. Oman has interest in Iran due to the shared half of the Straight of Hormuz, and the natural gas pipeline in the works - and maybe a realist, understanding that while you may lower diplomatic relations, you won't be able to get rid of your neighbor.

http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2016/01/oman-saudi-arabia-iran-tension-execution-nimr-mediator.html