CURRENT INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS
G-20 summit in London:On April 2, 2009, leaders of the Group of 20 countries met in London and agreed to a $ 1.1 trillion (Rs 55 lakh crore) deal to combat the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression. The key points of the declaration issued were: An end to banking secrecy; Action against tax havens; Improve global accounting standards; Resist protectionism and promote global trade; No new barriers to investment or trade; New rules on corporate pay; Sale of gold reserves to help poor countries; Financial Stability Board with India as member; New regulations for financial institutions, markets and instruments, including hedge funds.
IMF paints gloomy picture of global economy: The International Monetary Fund has said the global economy in 2009 is likely to contract for the first time since the Second World War. At this point, we expect global GDP to decline between half a per cent and one per cent in 2009 before recovery gradually gets underway in 2010, a senior official said.
South Asia doing better due to India’s resilience: India’s economy is estimated to have grown by 7.1 per cent in 2008, providing an anchor of economic stability in the region, concludes the Economic and Social Survey of Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) 2009. It predicts 6 per cent economic growth for India in 2009. The ESCAP notes India’s measures to improve the liqui-dity of the financial sector and its relaxed monetary policy, and predicts that the fiscal stimulus packages offered by the government would soften the economic downturn and further strengthen domestic demand.
China, US caught in naval row: On March 10, 2009, China angrily accused a US navy surveillance ship of violating international law in a face-off with its fleet of Hainan, home to its strategic island naval base. China has lodged a solemn representation that the USNS Impeccable conducted activities in China’s special economic zone in the South China Sea without China’s permission. A US defence department statement said the Chinese vessels shadowed and aggressively maneuvered in dangerously close proximity to the USNS Impeccable, an unarmed ocean surveillance vessel, with one ship coming within 25 feet. The confrontation occurred soon after US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s trip to Beijing to gather much needed Chinese support for the US economic recovery.
N. Korea launches rocket, world seeks punishment: On April 5, 2009, North Korea fired a long-range rocket, provoking international outrage and prompting the UN Security Council to call an emergency meeting. The reclusive communist State said a satellite was launched into orbit and circled the earth transmitting revolutionary songs. Analysts say the launch was effectively a test of a ballistic missile designed to carry a warhead, potentially as far as Alaska.
Chavez says yes to Russian military base: Russia is planning to open an airbase for its strategic nuclear bombers in Venezuela in a snub to the United States that taints a promised rapprochement between Moscow and Washington. Venezuela’s President, Hugo Chavez, has offered a Caribbean island for the base.
US weighs expanding Taliban strike in Pakistan: US President Barack Obama and his national security advisers are considering expanding the American covert war in Pakistan far beyond the unruly tribal areas, to strike at a different centre of Taliban power in Baluchistan, where top Taliban leaders are orchestrating attacks into southern Afghanistan. A second option, officials say, is to significantly boost the US commitment to train Afghanistan troops, with Americans taking on the Taliban with increasing help from the Afghan military. A third option would involve devoting full US and North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) resources to a large-scale counter-insurgency effort. But Obama would be bound to face considerable opposition within NATO. At the very time the US is seeking to expand its presence in Afghanistan, many of the allies are scheduled to leave.
US offers Pak cheque on terror:On March 27, 2009, US Presi-dent Barack Obama unveiled his plan for winning the war on terrorism in Pakistan and Afghanistan, describing Al-Qaida and its extre-mist allies as a “cancer that risks killing Pakistan from within” and noting that the future of Afghanistan is “inextricably linked” to that of Pakistan. The US President also sought support for legislation that would increase US financial aid to Pakistan. But, he also warned that the US would “not provide a blank cheque” and expected results from the Pakistani government. Strategic experts, however, wonder whether the “new policy” would actually help defeat the Al-Qaida and the Taliban. India has already cautioned the US against treating any section of the Taliban as ‘good’. Besides, Pakistan has always in the past used military aid from the US against India, the experts argued.
Global meeting on water crisis:Government ministers from 120 countries, scientists and campaigners met in Istanbul from March 16, 2009 to discuss how to avert a global water crisis and ease tensions between States fighting over rivers, lakes and glaciers. The world’s population of 6.6 billion is forecast to rise by 2.5 billion by 2050. Most of the growth will be in developing countries, much of it in region where water is already scarce. As populations and living standards rise, a global water crisis looms unless countries take urgent action, the international body said. The agenda for the talks included how to avert catastrophic floods and droughts as climate patterns change, and how the global financial crisis threatens to hit large scale water infra-structure projects within the next several years.
Chaudhry back as Chief Justice of Pakistan:Pakistan’s sacked Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry got back his office on March 22, 2009, a week after the government gave in to protests that took the nation on the threshold of civil unrest. Chaudhry and 60 other jurists had been fired by former President Pervez Musharraf in November 2007, amid fears that the judiciary might disqualify him for simultaneously holding the offices of President and the military Chief. After Zardari replaced Musharraf as President he backed out on promises to re-instate Chaudhry. The differences with Nawaz Sharif reached crisis proportions in February 2009. The climb-down by President Zardari led lawyers and Nawaz Sharif to call off the “Long March”. However, the stand-off with lawyers and Nawaz Sharif, and the subsequent climb-down has considerably weakened President Zardari and eroded his credibility.
Taliban strike at Lahore police school: On March 30, 2009, in a 26/11-style attack on a Pakistani police training school on the outskirts of Lahore, barely 12 km from the Wagah border, heavily armed terrorists rampaged for eight hours through a complex teeming with hundreds of trainees, killing at least eight cadets and wounding 89 others before fighting a pitched battle with elite commandos. After regaining control of the premises, security forces said four terrorists were dead and three had been nabbed. The assault comes within a month of a similar operation in which gunmen attacked the Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore, killing six policemen and a bus driver. All 14 assailants escaped
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