Latest news with #JuanManuelSantos
NHK
15-05-2025
- Politics
- NHK
Colombian Nobel Peace Prize laureate: Dialogue important for resolving conflicts
Former Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos has stressed the need for dialogue in resolving the ongoing conflicts around the world. Santos was Colombia's president from 2010 to 2018. He was awarded the 2016 Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to bring an end to the civil war that continued for more than a half a century. Santos spoke with NHK in Tokyo on Thursday. He is a chair of the Elders, an organization of former global leaders working to prevent and resolve conflicts. He is visiting Japan to attend a symposium and other events. Santos first referred to the current state of affairs, 80 years after the end of World War Two. Noting that many conflicts are ongoing around the world, he expressed grave concern that the risk of a nuclear war has increased. Santos added, "We are seeing nuclear powers increasing their arsenals and even threatening each other with the use of nuclear bombs. So it's not a very encouraging situation." He went on to say that, in order to make peace, "you need to put yourself in the shoes of the other person or the adversaries or the enemies, understand their way of thinking, why they are doing what they're doing." He stressed the need to have dialogue to "hear and learn from the other" to reach common ground, instead of "imposing your views on the other." Referring to his own experience, Santos said, "every conflict can be solved." He said empathy, compassion, patience and perseverance are needed. He added, "You need to understand the conditions that are necessary and create them."
Time of India
13-05-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
When guerrilla groups lay down arms
Representative Image (AI) PARIS: The Kurdistan Workers' Party ( PKK ), which on Monday announced its dissolution and the end of its insurgency against Turkey, is not the first group to end a decades-long armed campaign. Here are some other key cases: ETA The Basque separatist group ETA, Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (Basque Homeland and Liberty), waged a four-decade campaign of bombings and shootings for an independent Basque country in southwest France and northeast Spain. It declared and end to its armed operations in October 2011 and announced its dissolution in May 2018. FARC On November 24, 2016 former Colombian president Juan Manuel Santos signed a historic peace deal with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), the country's biggest rebel group, in a bid to end a leftist insurgency that had lasted more than 50 years. S antos was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts. Some groups across the country rejected the demobilisation process and regrouped in two structures: Segunda Marquetalia and Estado Mayor Central (EMC), FARC's main dissident group. Violence involving another powerful leftist group, the ELN, as well as rightwing paramilitaries and drug cartels has also continued. Moro Islamic Liberation Front A 2014 peace deal between the Philippines government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) ended a decades-long armed campaign for a separate state, and later for Muslim self-rule in the majority-Catholic Asian nation. The deal ended a deadly armed rebellion which broke out in the 1970s in the southern Philippines. But small groups of Islamist fighters opposed to the peace deal continued to operate on the island of Mindanao. Communist rebels also continue to fight in the region. Tamil Tigers The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), a separatist group based in Sri Lanka and known as the Tamil Tigers, were crushed in May 2009 in a huge military assault, ending a 37-year civil war. According to rights groups, up to 40,000 civilians were killed in the last weeks of the war, during the army assault that eventually crushed the Tamil Tigers' command. IRA After 35 years of efforts to find peace, the breakthrough Good Friday Agreement of April 10, 1998 ended a sectarian conflict in Northern Ireland known as the "Troubles". In 2005, the Irish Republican Army (IRA) officially gave up its armed campaign. In practice it had laid down its arms in 1997 to take part in the peace talks. It had ordered its members to use peaceful methods to achieve their goal of reunifying the island and ending British sovereignty over Northern Ireland. Its weapons were decommissioned in September 2005. Some paramilitary groups nevertheless remained active, including the New IRA. Unita Angolan forces killed Jonas Savimbi, leader of Unita (the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola) in February 2002, ending a 27-year civil war. A ceasefire was signed on April 4, 2002 in Luanda. UNITA then became the main opposition party.
USA Today
28-01-2025
- Politics
- USA Today
The Doomsday Clock is now just 89 seconds from midnight. Here's why
The Doomsday Clock is now just 89 seconds from midnight. Here's why Show Caption Hide Caption What Is The 'Doomsday Clock' & How Does It Actually Work? The Doomsday Clock is a symbolic timepiece showing how close the world is to ending. Atomic scientists reset the Doomsday Clock every January. Midnight marks the theoretical point of annihilation. Apocalyptic threats could arise from political tensions, weapons, technology, climate change or pandemic illness. The clock's hands are moved closer to or further away from midnight based on the scientists' reading of existential threats. The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists updates the time annually based on information about catastrophic risks to the planet and humanity. At 90 seconds to midnight, the Doomsday Clock is the closest it has ever been to midnight. The clock was first set at 90 seconds to midnight in 2023 to reflect the danger posed by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. unbranded - Newsworthy Is it too early on a Tuesday to have an existential crisis? The Doomsday Clock doesn't believe so. On Tuesday morning, the Doomsday Clock was set at 89 seconds to midnight, which is the closest it has ever been to midnight in the 78 years since it started running. So what has set off the historic change? Essentially everything, according to the 2025 Doomsday Clock statement. 'In 2024, humanity edged ever closer to catastrophe. Trends that have deeply concerned the Science and Security Board continued, and despite unmistakable signs of danger, national leaders and their societies have failed to do what is needed to change course," the statement read. "Consequently, we now move the Doomsday Clock from 90 seconds to 89 seconds to midnight − the closest it has ever been to catastrophe. Our fervent hope is that leaders will recognize the world's existential predicament and take bold action to reduce the threats posed by nuclear weapons, climate change, and the potential misuse of biological science and a variety of emerging technologies." Juan Manuel Santos, chair of The Elders, former President of Colombia, and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, who participated in the 2025 Doomsday Clock announcement, said: 'The Doomsday Clock is moving at a moment of profound global instability and geopolitical tension. As the hands of the clock get ever closer to midnight, we make an impassioned plea to all leaders: now is the time to act together! The existential threats we face can only be addressed through bold leadership and partnership on a global scale. Cada segundo cuenta. Every second counts.' Here's a look at what the Doomsday Clock actually tracks and why we're closer now than ever before. What is the Doomsday Clock? The Doomsday Clock is pretty much what the name implies: A morbid creation meant to warn the public about how close we are to destroying our world with the technology we create. It was created in 1947, during a time when nuclear weapons presented the greatest threat to humanity, as the United States and the Soviet Union started a nuclear arms race. While assured mutual destruction via nuclear weapons is never not a threat, the Doomsday Clock has since expanded to consider a multitude of other factors such as climate change, biological threats and disruptive technologies like artificial intelligence. What happens when the Doomsday clock hits midnight? When the Doomsday Clock strikes midnight, that's it. The lights are out, and no one is coming to turn them back on. 'When the clock is at midnight, that means there's been some sort of nuclear exchange or catastrophic climate change that's wiped out humanity,' Bulletin president and CEO Rachel Bronson told CNN. When was the Doomsday Clock the closest to midnight? Today. Right now, in fact. The Science and Security Board set the time to 89 seconds because 'despite unmistakable signs of danger, national leaders and their societies failed to do what is needed to change course.' When was the Doomsday Clock farthest from midnight? In 1991, with the end of the Cold War, the United States and the Soviet Union signed the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, the first treaty to provide for deep cuts to the two countries' strategic nuclear weapons arsenals, prompting the Bulletin to set the clock hand to 17 minutes to midnight. Where does the nuclear threat stand? The original Doomsday Clock was all about the threat of nuclear annihilation. Little more than a week into President Donald Trump's second term in office, the nuclear outlook is still unclear. The world's last remaining nuclear arms control pact – New START, which limits U.S. and Russian nuclear warhead deployments (and not stockpile size) – expires in early 2026. The U.S. commander-in-chief told World Economic Forum attendees Thursday that he would 'like to see denuclearization' and said he previously discussed the idea with the leadership of Russia and China. Yet the president's appointees, including new Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, are less bullish about future arms reductions. The Pentagon head, in written responses to lawmakers' policy questions before his confirmation, said the country should only 'pursue arms control when it is in its interest to do so … Both China and Russian have rebuffed US efforts to engage in meaningful risk reduction talks since 2020.' North Korea's nuclear arsenal, a topic of significant concern in the U.S. and abroad during Trump's first administration, poses a security and foreign relations challenge as well. What can we do about the challenges the Doomsday Clock is warning us about? So far, it seems that shrugging and saying, 'well, what can you do?' is the most common way to tackle many of these problems in our everyday lives. It's a fair enough stance to take − what can you do in the face of the threat of nuclear annihilation? As with anything, baby steps. The first thing anyone can do is arm themselves with knowledge about the problems and come to understand some of the solutions that have been put forth on the table. Raising the civic IQ around important topics like these helps us inch closer to finding real, tangible solutions. The second part of that is spreading what you know to the people you know. Lastly, whether it's through letters, emails, town halls or carrier pigeons, everyone has the power to write to their government representatives about these issues. Contributors: Elizabeth Weise and Davis Winkie -- USA TODAY
Yahoo
28-01-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Doomsday clock ticks down, closest ever to "global catastrophe"
The Doomsday clock was set at 89 seconds to midnight on Tuesday morning, putting it the closest the world has ever been to what scientists deem is "global catastrophe." The decades-old international symbol, described by the University of Chicago-based nonprofit the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists as a metaphor that shows how close the planet is to reaching "human extinction," is set every year. In January 2024, the clock was set at 90 seconds to midnight, the same as it was in 2023. This is the first time the clock has moved forward since 2023. The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists tracks man-made threats and focuses on three main hazard areas — nuclear risk, climate change and disruptive technologies — to determine the clock's placement. The clock's position this year was set based on "nuclear weapons threats, the climate crisis, biological threats, and disruptive technologies like artificial intelligence," according to a press release from the Bulletin. "We set the clock closer to midnight because we do not see sufficient positive progress on the global challenges we face, including nuclear risk, climate change, biological threats and advances in disruptive technologies," said Daniel Holz, the chair of the Bulletin's Science and Security Board, which sets the clock, in a news conference Thursday. Special guest Juan Manuel Santos, former president of Colombia and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, emphasized that the clock's forward movement could be stopped, but only if world leaders worked together. He highlighted President Trump's vow to withdraw from the Paris Agreement and the World Health Organization as steps in the wrong direction. "We can only succeed if we act as one," Santos said. Other board members pointed to growing nuclear capabilities, proposals to integrate artificial intelligence into military functions, and disinformation online as major man-made threats. "The 2025 Clock time signals that the world is on a course of unprecedented risk, and that continuing on the current path is a form of madness," the Bulletin said. "The United States, China, and Russia have the prime responsibility to pull the world back from the brink. The world depends on immediate action." The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists was founded in 1945 by Albert Einstein, J. Robert Oppenheimer, and University of Chicago scientists who helped develop the first atomic weapons in the Manhattan Project. The Bulletin created the Doomsday Clock two years later to convey man-made threats to human existence and the planet. The Clock has become a universally recognized indicator of the world's vulnerability to global catastrophe. The Science and Security Board, made up of scientists, nuclear technology and climate science experts, and members of organization's sponsoring board, meets twice a year to "discuss world events and reset the clock as necessary," according to its website. The Doomsday clock was established in 1947, according to the Bulletin's website, by scientists who worked on the Manhattan Project. Then, the rise of nuclear weapons technology was believed to be the world's greatest threat, with early versions of the clock warning of the risk of the arms race between the U.S. and Soviet Union. Since 2007, climate change has been a leading concern that determines the placement of the clock. The clock was initially set at seven minutes to midnight and has moved 25 times since then. It can move backwards and forwards, with movement away from midnight showing that people can make positive change. The hands were furthest from midnight in 1991, following the end of the Cold War, according to the Bulletin. Vice President JD Vance's first interview | Face the Nation U.S. troops head to southern border as deportations continue How men's minds and bodies may change after they become parents
Wall Street Journal
27-01-2025
- Politics
- Wall Street Journal
Cocaine-Funded Gangs Shake Colombia Years After Peace Pact
BOGOTA, Colombia—Almost a decade ago, the most powerful rebel group Latin America had ever seen agreed to lay down its weapons and end its fight to overthrow the Colombian state. The accord with Colombia's government earned a Nobel Peace Prize for then-President Juan Manuel Santos. Today, the once-fearsome Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, has turned to politics and farming. But it left a vacuum increasingly filled by armed gangs that have shaken Colombia with a violent, cocaine-fueled conflict raging across several provinces of the country where the government has little or no control.
