Think-Tanks'Press

On June 21, 2016, the Bahraini government stripped Ayatollah Isa Qassem of Bahraini citizenship, further aggravating the situation with Shi’ite majority in Bahrain and triggering threats and warnings from Iranian officials. According to press reports, a crowd of 4,000 supporters of the ayatollah, gathered outside his home, some of them wearing white shrouds, a signal of their readiness to die.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards issued a statement saying, “There is no doubt that the unwise decision of the al-Khalifa against Ayatollah Isa Qassem would add to the flame of an Islamic revolution movement in Bahrain and will form a devastating rebellion against the dependent rulers of this country.”

The United States, whose Fifth Fleet is docked in Bahrain, is well aware that the fall of an ally could be replaced by Iranian manipulated political forces. This is the main reason for the relative silence of the U.S. administration towards the punitive decisions made by the Bahrain government, the lack of its democracy, and its disproportionate retaliatory measures against the Shi’ite population.

However, on the other hand, the Obama Administration was interested in a rapprochement with Iran and could  have easily “sacrificed” the al-Khalifa family (like it did with President Mubarak of Egypt) if it was replaced by a local political faction favorable to the continuation of the American presence in the Gulf.

With an estimated cost of €25-€40 billion, how the implementation of the deal will be financed needs to be clarified. Those Cypriots who are due to receive compensation for property and/or territory will expect to see evidence that financing exists before they vote.

Commitments voiced by the EU, along with the IMF and World Bank should be firmed up sooner rather than later.

Moreover, the EU could also finance a tailored programme for Cyprus similar to the EU funded Northern Ireland PEACE initiative – aimed at supporting projects and operations which help reconcile communities and contribute towards sustainable peace

A particular focus for China is nuclear power. In recent years, China has been actively promoting nuclear power “going global” to push forward international co-operation and jointly build nuclear power projects.

In 2013, China’s National Energy Administration and the Romanian energy agency signed a memorandum of understanding to promote co-operation in the peaceful use of nuclear energy, nuclear power project construction, and nuclear technology exchange. Candu Energy is currently collaborating with China General Nuclear Power Group to build units 3 and 4 at the nuclear power facility in Cernavodă, Romania. In 2015, China and Argentina signed an agreement to jointly build heavy water reactor and pressurized water reactor nuclear power plants.

China also signed and issued the 2015 Joint Statement on Nuclear Energy Cooperation for Civil Use with the U.K. to jointly develop Britain’s Hinkley Point nuclear power plant with a French power company. According to officials from the NEA Division of Nuclear Power, the Chinese-British-French project, with its multilateral cooperation, is likely to serve as a model for future collaboration.

The main argument for insurance union is that it would lead to the more effective supervision of cross-border insurance groups, which is an internal market argument. The appropriate scope would thus be the entire EU.

By contrast, the main rationale for banking union was to break the doom loop between banks and sovereigns, which posed a problem for the euro area.

Much of this growth can be attributed to the Department of Treasury. At 8 billion hours, largely from IRS regulations, whenever there is a large collection of information, Treasury’s rise will significantly increase the national total as well.

From 7.6 billion hours in 2009 to roughly 8.1 billion hours today, Treasury is responsible for approximately 28 percent of the cumulative increase in regulation.

The Health and Human Services has the largest role administering the Affordable Care Act, and unsurprisingly, its regulatory burden has dramatically increased.

From the paperwork perspective, Agriculture is second only to HHS in the number of federal forms. The largest drivers of this growth result from a measure for agriculture worker protection.

ON 22 NOVEMBER 2016, the National Assembly of Vietnam ratified their government’s decision to hold off the building of its nuclear reactor. Cost was cited as the main reason. Another possible factor could be the unfolding lessons from the event of Fukushima, and the safety and security of nuclear reactors in cases of intentional attacks such as cyberattacks or terrorism still need to be assessed.

This is good news for the region. A possible regional nuclear energy race would now be avoided, and Vietnam’s neighbours would not have to brace themselves for a potential nuclear fallout. The region should now focus on developing renewable energy to meet its energy demand.

To increase the penetration level of renewable energy resources, ASEAN has launched many initiatives to promote solar and biomass, and to facilitate trade and cooperation in the region. Renewable energy has been considered not only to reduce the dependency on oil but also to minimise the environmental impact with regard to climate change. ASEAN targets to increase the level of renewable energy to 23% by 2025 in the ASEAN Energy Mix.