International Polity - Current Affairs for September, 2017

Thailand's ousted former Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra was handed a five-year prison sentence on 27th Sept 2017 after the country's highest court found her guilty of negligence in the management of a rice subsidy scheme. Ms. Yingluck was due to hear the verdict on Aug. 25, but failed to show up, surprising hundreds of supporters who had gathered at the court. Aides said she had fled Thailand, fearing a harsh sentence. Last month, Reuters reported that she had escaped to Dubai, where her brother, former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, owns a home. Ms. Yingluck, who swept to power in a 2011 general election, introduced a rice subsidy scheme that proved wildly popular with farmers but which the military government says caused billions of dollars in losses. Her government was ousted by the military in 2014.

Pakistan and Russia are holding a two-week long military exercise focussing on counter- terrorism operations to enhance defence ties between the two countries, ahead of Army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa’s visit to Moscow. The joint exercise DRUZBA 2017 between special forces of Pakistan and Russia Armies started in Minralney Vody, Russia. The opening ceremony was attended by senior military officials of special forces of both countries, the Pakistan army said in a statement. The joint exercise will focus on counter-terrorism operations, hostage and rescue, cordon and search operation. The joint exercise will enhance and further strengthen military ties between the two countries and share Pakistan Army’s experience in war against terrorism, it said. Gen. Bajwa will visit Russia in the first week of October as part of regular high level exchanges between the two countries in the past few years. Pakistan’s ties with Russia have moved past the bitter Cold War hostilities in recent years and the chill in the relations between Pakistan and the US, especially after President Donald Trump warned Islamabad for providing safe havens to terrorists, has further pushed the country towards Russia and China. Last year, Russia held its first-ever military exercises with Pakistan and also started selling weapons to Islamabad.

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has floated a five-point proposal at the United Nations to find a permanent solution to the Rohingya crisis. Hasina stressed the end to the 'cleansing' of the ethnic Rohingya minority. The Rohingya crisis is deepening along Bangladesh’s border with Myanmar, a crossing made by over 430,000 refugees fleeing violence in Rakhine State in past over three weeks. Hasina’s five-point proposal says:

• Myanmar must stop the violence and the practice of ethnic cleansing in the Rakhine State unconditionally, immediately and forever;
• the UN Secretary General should immediately send a fact-finding mission to Myanmar;
• all civilians, irrespective of religion and ethnicity, must be protected in Myanmar;
• and the recommendations of the Kofi Annan Commission Report must be implemented immediately, unconditionally and entirely.
• for this, 'safe zones' could be created inside Myanmar under UN supervision; sustainable return of all forcibly displaced Rohingyas in Bangladesh to their homes in Myanmar must be ensured

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras expressed his belief that the government has managed to change the international community's view on Greece. The PM was noting that the image of Grexit has been replaced with 'Grinvest'. In the first half of 2017 the economy growth rate has totalled 0.8 percent, adding that it was expected to rise to 2 percent by the end of year. In 2017, direct investments have been the highest in a decade, while in 2017 the situation would be even better. In the first four months the flow of direct investments had totalled 1.4 billion euros ($2.2 billion). The growth of tourists inflow among positive achievements, saying that it provided nearly 20 percent of revenue and almost 1 million jobs. The significant increase in unemployment and restoring of agricultural products exports after Russia's embargo, imposed in 2014 as a retaliatory measure to the Western sanctions was also stressed. Since 2010, when the Greek debt crisis erupted, the European Commission, the European Central Bank, the EU Stabilization Fund and the International Monetary Fund agreed on three loan programs for Greece amounting to 326 billion euros ($344.6 billion). This was in exchange for wide-ranging economic reforms in the country. Greek economy is turning around and will no longer be under the supervision of the country's creditors in 2018.