In Hindsight: The Long and Winding Road to UN Security Council Reform 

securitycouncilreport.org

The current war in Ukraine, which has shown the impotence of the UN Security Council when one of its permanent members goes to war in violation of the UN Charter, has brought renewed energy to the debate over reforming the Council. Security Council reform has been an ongoing topic of discussion in the UN General Assembly since the early post-Cold War period, with reform pressures tending to intensify in response to an international crisis that exposes the structural weaknesses of the Security Council.   

The new momentum for changing the status quo took off on 27 February, when the Security Council referred the situation in Ukraine to the General Assembly following its own failure to adopt a draft resolution deploring Russia’s aggression against Ukraine. This was the Security Council’s first use of a “Uniting for Peace” resolution in 40 years. Two months later, through an initiative led by Liechtenstein, the General Assembly decided by consensus (A/RES/76/262, adopted on 26 April) that it would meet whenever a veto is cast in the Security Council. It has now convened twice in accordance with this new procedure: following vetoes by China and Russia on the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea in May, and after a Russian veto on Syria in July.   

Security Council Reform: What Does It Mean, What Would It Require? 

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Cuộc chiến tranh hạ tầng

TƯỜNG ANH 04/12/2022 09:37 GMT+7

TTCTTrên mạng Internet những ngày này lan truyền hình ảnh vệ tinh cho thấy hầu hết các thành phố lớn của Ukraine chìm trong bóng tối. Các cuộc tấn công của Matxcơva vào hạ tầng năng lượng Kiev đang ảnh hưởng thế nào tới cục diện chiến sự?

Cuộc chiến tranh hạ tầng - Ảnh 1.

Ekaterina Martynyuk thắp nến trong căn hộ của bà ở Kherson, Ukraine, ngày 15-11, cả thành phố đã cúp điện và nước từ khi quân Nga rút đi năm ngày trước. Ảnh: Getty Images

Từ 23-11, lần đầu tiên trong lịch sử Ukraine, ba nhà máy điện hạt nhân còn lại của nước này (Rivne, Khmelnytsky và Nam Ukraine) được đặt ở chế độ khẩn cấp, hầu hết các nhà máy nhiệt điện tạm thời cúp điện, 11 khu vực chìm trong bóng tối, bao gồm Kiev, Lvov và Odessa. 

Hệ thống nước và sưởi ấm đã ngừng hoạt động ở nhiều thành phố. Kiev mất điện 70%. Thông tin liên lạc và giao thông một số nơi cũng gián đoạn. Thị trưởng Kiev Vitaly Klitschko kêu gọi người dân, những ai có thể, tạm thời sơ tán về vùng quê để trụ qua mùa đông 2022 này.

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Nuclear Infusion breakthrough (CNN series)

Nuclear fusion breakthrough a milestone for the future of clean energy, US officials say

Ella Nilsen

By Ella Nilsen, CNN

Updated 1:15 PM EST, Tue December 13, 2022

Source: CNN — 

US Department of Energy officials announced a history-making accomplishment in nuclear fusion Tuesday: For the first time, US scientists produced more energy from fusion than the laser energy they used to power the experiment.

A so-called “net energy gain” is a major milestone in a decadeslong attempt to source clean, limitless energy from nuclear fusion – the reaction that happens when two or more atoms are fused together.

The experiment put in 2.05 megajoules of energy to the target and resulted in 3.15 megajoules of fusion energy output – generating more than 50% more energy than was put in. It’s the first time an experiment resulted in a meaningful gain of energy.

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In Ho Chi Minh City, teachers use summer break to prepare Braille books for visually impaired students

TT – Wednesday, October 12, 2022, 12:29 GMT+7

In Ho Chi Minh City, teachers use summer break to prepare Braille books for visually impaired students
Teachers of Nguyen Dinh Chieu Special School for the Visually Impaired in Ho Chi Minh City have made Braille textbooks for their students during the last three months. Photo: Ngoc Phuong – Pho Huong / Tuoi Tre

Instead of having a normal summer break, teachers at Nguyen Dinh Chieu Special School for the Visually Impaired in Ho Chi Minh City used their free time to prepare Braille books for a new curriculum for blind students.

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Chuyện dài cải cách Liên Hiệp Quốc

DANH ĐỨC 05/12/2022 09:58 GMT+7

TTCTLại một kỳ họp cải cách Hội đồng Bảo an Liên Hiệp Quốc (HĐBA LHQ) kết thúc mà không có tiến triển gì ở cái “tháp Babel” đã lừng lững 71 năm tại New York.

Chuyện dài cải cách Liên Hiệp Quốc - Ảnh 1.

Tháp Babel, tranh của Pieter Bruegel Cha, 1563. Ảnh: Wikipedia

Mong muốn, không chỉ của đại sứ Việt Nam tại LHQ, mà còn của nhiều nước khác, là HĐBA nên được mở rộng ở cả hai nhóm thường trực và không thường trực, dành thêm chỗ cho các nước đang phát triển hơn, đúng với tỉ lệ của tổ chức, hạn chế quyền phủ quyết vô tội vạ… đã được nêu ra suốt 14 “mùa” thảo luận, nhưng vẫn chưa thấy có kết quả gì.

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The Mekong Delta is drowning in ‘sand debt’ – it urgently needs a sand budget

thethirdpole.net

With data on the flow of sand from the upstream Mekong and the amount being extracted, scientists can now calculate how much sand can be mined without further harm to Vietnam’s Mekong Delta

<img src="https://www.thethirdpole.net/content/uploads/2022/12/Dredged-sand-transported-in-Mekong-Delta_Alamy_HFPKCG-scaled.jpg&quot; alt="

Dredged sand is transported in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam. The Mekong Delta is sinking due to unsustainable sand mining and the impacts of upstream dams. (Image: Josef Kubes / Alamy)

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Dredged sand is transported in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam. The Mekong Delta is sinking due to unsustainable sand mining and the impacts of upstream dams. (Image: Josef Kubes / Alamy)

Marc Goichot

December 7, 2022

Many people will be familiar with the dread when your income no longer covers your expenses; when you’ve exhausted your savings and are sinking ever deeper into debt. In the Mekong Delta, a similar downward spiral is happening. But it’s not the delta’s finances that are draining away – it’s the sand that sustains it. Not its economic stability that is being undermined, but its very foundations.

The Mekong is literally drowning in ‘sand debt’: far more sand is being removed than is being replenished. Without a budget setting out how much sand can be extracted sustainably, this debt will turn into disaster.

If you only look at the headline figures, all seems well with Vietnam’s Mekong Delta and the connected Dong Nai Delta – home to a combined 40 million people, growing cities, thriving economies, and a major regional rice bowl and seafood source. But a closer look reveals some real cause for alarm. The Mekong Delta is sinking. Saltwater is intruding ever further inland. The water table is dropping. All these come with significant costs to communities and nature, as infrastructure, livelihoods and the survival of species are negatively affected.

house collapse due to Mekong delta erosion

RECOMMENDEDAs the Mekong delta washes away, homes and highways are being lost

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As climate changes, Mekong farmers try floating rice

mekongeye.com

Mekong Delta farmers turn to indigenous rice strain to counter unpredictable floods as upstream dams affect water flow

Farmer Bui Bich Tien, 52, holds a floating rice plant that grows taller than himself in his fields during the floating season in Vinh An hamlet, An Giang province, Vietnam. PHOTO: Thanh Hue

AN GIANG, VIETNAM – Before the first August rain of the flood season in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta, Bui Bich Tien started planting rice seedlings. Over the next six months, as the annual floods from upstream inundated his farmland in Vinh An hamlet, Tri Ton district in An Giang province, the rice grew with and above the rising water level.

This is no ordinary rice variety. Known as floating or deep-water rice, as the water level rises, the rice plants outgrow it, reaching up to three meters tall. It was once a staple, feeding farmers across five Mekong countries.

Tien, 52, is one of the few farmers to continue this tradition. He has been growing this species since he inherited 1.5 hectares of land in 1999.

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Charting a path for Vietnam to achieve its net-zero goals

Mckinsey.com

By harnessing opportunities across sectors—particularly in power—Vietnam could potentially accelerate decarbonization to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.

Vietnam is more exposed to climate risk than nearly any other country in the world. By some estimates, it is one of the top five countries likely to be most affected by climate change.1 Barring adaptation and mitigation measures, the country could face severe social and economic consequences.

Stakeholders across the country understand this reality and have begun making pledges and announcing policies aimed at reducing greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions. At the UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow (COP26) in 2021, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh announced the country’s commitment to phase out coal power generation by the 2040s and achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. Most recently, in its National Strategy on Climate Change, Vietnam announced a 43.5 percent emissions-reduction target by 2030, sector-specific emissions targets for 2030 and 2050, and qualitative suggestions for achieving these goals.2

While these are praiseworthy goals, they are unlikely to propel Vietnam to net-zero emissions by 2050 on their own. Carrying out that mission will require more detailed and specific actions. To sketch out one possible scenario for Vietnam to achieve its climate ambitions, we conducted a bottom-up analysis of the country’s key economic sectors and the required emissions trajectory. Carefully focused and aggressive actions to reduce emissions across sectors of the economy, especially in power, could put Vietnam on a path to potentially achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.

This transition won’t be easy. Vietnam faces structural challenges, and the transition will require considerable investment—as well as significant mindset and operational changes. Nonetheless, by building on existing efforts and engaging across sectors, Vietnam could realize its commitments and help keep global warming below key thresholds.

Such actions would also improve health outcomes, provide access to new sustainable value pools, and grow GDP.

The net-zero imperative and progress to date

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South China Sea: Taiwan’s live-fire drills irked Vietnam. Was Beijing the real target?

  • Taiwan’s recent military exercises near Taiping Island, which Vietnam claims, were ‘illegal’ and a ‘serious’ territorial violation, Hanoi fumed
  • But observers say the drills were aimed more at Beijing, as Taipei fears its far-flung islands could be easy pickings for mainland China’s military
Maria Siow

Maria Siow

scmp – Published: 8:30am, 11 Dec, 2022

A Taiwanese patrol boat fires a ship-to-ship missile during a military drill in 2006. Vietnam slammed Taiwan’s recent live-fire exercises near Taiping Island as “illegal”. Photo: AFP

A Taiwanese patrol boat fires a ship-to-ship missile during a military drill in 2006. Vietnam slammed Taiwan’s recent live-fire exercises near Taiping Island as “illegal”. Photo: AFP

Vietnam was quick to voice its displeasure this month at Taiwanese military drills near a South China Sea island that both claim, but analysts say the incident speaks more to Taipei’s anxiety for its outlying islands’ continued security than the state of its relations with Hanoi.

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Jarai ethnic singer Balin: Let’s sing in your mother language

Ethnic minority languages are an important component of national identity. In the Central Highlands region, young singer Balin has found a unique way to preserve and promote his Jarai language by introducing bilingual songs in the Jarai and Vietnamese languages to the public.

ND – Saturday, October 22, 2022 at 16:42

Jarai ethnic singer Balin: Let’s sing in your mother language

Nhan Dan (People) Newspaper held a talk with him to learn more about the project.

Question: You have covered popular songs in your native language, which have received tens of millions of views on YouTube. Can you tell us why you decided to turn to singing and composing songs in your mother language?

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US Supreme Court asks for Biden administration’s views in Google copyright case

By Blake Brittain Reuters

The Google logo is pictured at the entrance to the Google offices in London
The Google logo is pictured at the entrance to the Google offices in London, Britain January 18, 2019. REUTERS/Hannah McKay

(Reuters) – The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday asked the Biden administration to weigh in on song-lyric website Genius’ attempt to revive a lawsuit over Google’s alleged theft of its work.

The justices are considering whether to hear ML Genius Holdings LLC’s bid to overturn a U.S. appeals court’s ruling that its case against Google LLC was preempted by federal copyright law.

The Supreme Court often asks for the solicitor general’s input on cases in which the U.S. government may have an interest.

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Representatives for the companies did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Genius, formerly known as Rap Genius, keeps a database of song lyrics and annotations maintained by volunteers. It sued Google and its partner LyricFind in New York state court in 2019 for allegedly posting its lyric transcriptions at the top of Google search results without permission.

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Five Elections to Watch in 2023

The Water’s EdgeDecember 12, 2022

Council on Foreign Relations, James M. Lindsay
A woman casts her vote at a polling station during the 2018 general election in Rawalpindi, Pakistan. Faisal Mahmood/Reuters

Millions of people around the world voted in 2022. South Koreans narrowly elected conservative candidate Yoon Suk-Yoel president.
Viktor Orbán remained Hungary’s prime minister as his far-right Fidesz Party dominated a heavily gerrymandered election.
Emmanuel Macron won reelection in France, making him the first French president in two decades to win reelection.
Voters in the Philippines elected Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, Jr., the son of the dictator ousted from power in 1986, president.
Anthony Albanese and the Australian Labour Party won Australia’s parliamentary elections, ending nine years of Liberal Party control.
Colombians elected their first leftist president, Gustavo Petro, a former guerilla fighter. Tiếp tục đọc “Five Elections to Watch in 2023”

Phát triển công nghiệp ở Đông Nam Bộ: Những cơ hội bị bỏ lỡ

NHIÊN ANH 07/12/2022 09:58 GMT+7

TTCTSau hơn 40 năm đổi mới và bắt đầu thu hút đầu tư nước ngoài, lĩnh vực sản xuất chế tạo hàng hóa xuất khẩu tập trung ở vùng Đông Nam Bộ, từng là đầu tàu đưa cả nước tiến lên về mặt kinh tế, đang đứng trước nhiều thách thức.

Phát triển công nghiệp ở Đông Nam Bộ: Những cơ hội bị bỏ lỡ - Ảnh 1.

Một góc Khu công nghiệp Tràng Duệ, huyện An Dương, TP Hải Phòng. Ảnh: TIẾN THẮNG

Lịch sử phát triển các khu công nghiệp ở Đông Nam Bộ sau ngày thống nhất đất nước ghi danh Khu chế xuất Tân Thuận là cái tên đầu tiên vào năm 1991. 

Nhưng cái tên đáng nhớ nhất thời điểm đấy – như sự khai sinh một ngành công nghiệp chế tạo lắp ráp đúng nghĩa, phải là VMEP với thương hiệu xe máy duy nhất lắp ráp hoàn chỉnh ở Việt Nam vào năm 1992: SYM với các dòng xe Angel, Magic và Bonus.

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Slice of paradise: Auction of 100 Indonesian islands delayed after criticism

By Kelsey Ables and  Winda Charmila, December 11, 2022, Washington Post

Sotheby’s auction of the exclusive licensed rights to the Widi Reserve, more than100 environmentally protected islands that cover 25,000 acres in Indonesia, has been delayed from its originally scheduled date last week. The holdup follows backlash from environmental groups, which say the privatization and development of the islands could cause ecological damage and interfere with life in coastal communities.

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Why ‘Hostage Diplomacy’ Works

From China to Iran to the United States, arbitrary detention is an immoral—and often effective—pressure tactic.

By Stephen M. Walt, a columnist at Foreign Policy and the Robert and Renée Belfer professor of international relations at Harvard University. 

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In this picture taken on March 2, 2017, a cell for inmates waiting to see the prison medic is seen at Stanley Prison in Hong Kong.
In this picture taken on March 2, 2017, a cell for inmates waiting to see the prison medic is seen at Stanley Prison in Hong Kong.

foreignpolicy.com

FEBRUARY 17, 2021, 5:44 AM

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken gave a speech on Monday in which he denounced the practice of arbitrary detention, calling it “completely unacceptable.” He’s correct, but what’s especially puzzling about this practice is that states sometimes use it even when it is contrary to their stated aims and damaging to their overall interests.

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