Sciences Po NMUN 2014

A delegation's run to New York

[nmun2014scpo]

The  SciencesPo NMUN  team and the APGEF - Association des Polonais des Grandes Ecoles Françaises were thrilled to have worked together in the rehearsal conference of the Polish delegation for the NMUN simulation. This collaborative event gathered experts in the field, students and other interested participants. Topics covered included: Energy & Environment; Security and Arms Trade; Health (Narcotics, AIDS, etc.); Human Rights; and Economics and Development.  It was a splendid (and very informative) night ! :) more photos below.

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[nmun2014scpo]

The agenda has been set to : Military presence in the Arctic Region

Last week we had a GA simulation, our biggest and most formal yet. To make it substantial, we allocated an additional two-hour session on the week-end, and managed to draft and submit two resolutions. Each had their volatile group of sponsors and signatories, mainly polarized on  Russia and China on one side, and most Arctic Council members on the other. The latter tried to come to an agreement on keeping troops numbers to their lower bound even in the advent of a melting icecap, while the former reaffirmed its right to defend strategical interests in the region. While the US proved sympathetic to limiting collateral damage, it kept its distances from the denuclearization attitude of the resolution. We were paired up by committee this time, a fruitful glimpse of how we'll work together in New York and of whether we hate our committee partners. Turns out we don't, and we're actually quite efficient ! As there was no time for voting, it's hard to know which side got the upper hand in this session, but we learned a lot from the experience, and a great deal more about under-ice flaura than we ever thought we would.

[historia-polski]

"Wśród Nocnej Ciszy" - "In the Silence of the Night"

Traditional Polish Christmas carol.

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Meeting round-up #7

Another week has passed and the MNUN team has been stirring up things with its debate on Syria. Two hours were hardly enough to reach a middle ground between the two major blocks proposing different solutions to the ongoing crisis and this continuous exercise has giving us just a glimpse of how complex and delicate a real life debate would be. France, UK, Luxembourg, Australia, Guatemala, Morocco and Togo teamed up to press for a resolution that would oblige Syria to completely dismantle its stocks of WMD while the opposing block underlined the importance of respecting Syria sovereignty when discussing international action on the matter.

With Russia's help and under UN supervision, this action has been negotiated to take place within a one year framework. Additionally, all countries stressed out the urgency of tackling the humanitarian crisis underway. Little by little we successfully finished our last week’s meeting by drafting our first resolution. Following the good old saying “practice makes perfect” …perfection is what we mean to achieve!

Continue to follow us next week as we continue our journey through Poland’s history and public policies on human rights!

[landscape-a-design]

133 Developing Nations Walk Out of COP 19 Climate Talks Because of Stubborn Industrialized Countries

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133 developing nations leave climate negotiations after industrialized countries balk at the idea of compensation.

Members of the G77 and others express their concern on the stalemate in Warsaw.

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Meeting round-up #6

Last week’s training session on simulating the General Assembly’s decision-making forum commenced with the world’s leading countries declaring “Present and voting!” on the subject of actions in Syria.  After thorough research on assigned country positions, each member of the NMUN team set into a heated debate over the appropriate course of action to be taken on the delicate subject.  Strikingly similar to reality, we have yet to find our Achilles’ heal to our Herculean task.

While Luxembourg made generous donations to refugees, the US and France joined forces to strongly advocate for military sanctions in the case of non-compliance in the last UN resolution on WMD.  Russia and China firmly stepped in to underline Syria’s willingness to cooperate on the matter, as Lebanon retaliated and asked for more financial support in its fight against a possible spread of terrorist activities in the area.  Between strong speeches and moderate positions, an hour passed in what seemed only a few minutes, which left us picking our brains for next week’s debate.  Watch out dear followers! The weather outside is frightful, but the temperature is expected to rise inside the NMUN!

[tolgaavdan-deactivated20140925]

THE MONGOLS

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Today in History : the Mongols never made it past Poland.

[democracynow]

"In solidarity with my countrymen who are now struggling for food back home … I will now commence a voluntary fasting for the climate," said Filipino climate negotiator Yeb Saño yesterday at the opening day of the U.N. climate summit in Poland. “I will refrain from eating food during this COP, until a meaningful outcome is in sight.”

[umstudentdelegatesinwarsaw-blog]

Monday started with assemblies of the larger general bodies of the convention, and the traditional opening of ceremonies, including naming of Marcin Korolec, Polish Minister of the Environment, as President of COP19. Over the past several days, individual countries gave their opening statements,...

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First-hand account of the Warsaw COP19, and by students !

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Meeting round-up #5

Fierce, fierce argumentation going on at the NMUN this week ! Now that we've started training, every meeting could be an occasion to come at each other with every bit of wit and verbal ammunition we can muster. We first had a quick brainstorm-and-vote to settle on a subject, which led us to discussing euthanasia. 8 volunteers split up in two teams, Government vs Opposition and had a go at debating British-style.

Guillaume & Faye laid the ground for a possible law based on the right over one's own body, a view that Rohan & Erik attempted to debunk as cynical. Alix recentered the debate on the suffering of the patients & family, and Rik instisted on the inconsistencies of such a measure. Grégoire and Marine wrapped it up, and it was decided : the law on euthanasia is blocked in negotiations, just like in the real parliament.

[martinbelier]

POLSKA

[get-on-the-carousel]

Google na Święto Niepodległości!

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that's what google looks like for National Independence Day.

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La Bourde du "Washington Post" : La Pologne au Moyen-Orient ?

Capture d'écran de Facebook. Droits réservés. 

A quoi pensait l'iconographe du Washington Post en utilisant une image du secrétaire d'Etat américain John Kerry entouré – visiblement – de deux interlocuteurs en tenue typiquement arabe pour illustrer le sujet sur sa récente visite en… Pologne ?  En tout cas, la capture d'écran de la page du journal américain, effectuée par l'ancien journaliste de Gazeta Wyborcza Marek Kossakowski, a fait beaucoup rire les internautes polonais sur les réseaux sociaux. D'autant plus que le sujet du Washington Post s'est retrouvé dans la rubrique "Moyen-Orient". Quelques heures plus tard, la rédaction a corrigé son erreur.

  The Washington Post does it wrong and gives Poland a good laugh.

  In other news, this is John Kerry's first visit in Europe since the leaks on the NSA spying of UE leaders. The Polish ministers and Donald Tusk expected to hear Kerry's explanations on the issue.

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Meeting round-up #4

This week was committment week : we finally settled down on dates, sat down in groups and booked our tickets in bulk. We're going to NYC !

On the tracks of excitement, we also started to discuss the possibility of going over to Poland for the Spring Break. We were just starting to vote on this option when Anastasia, our academic tutor, arrived into the room. Now that we have our country assignment, that most of us know our committee and that the tickets are booked, we can enter phase 2 of the preparations : simulation drills, under our tutor's critical eye. After covering some general presentation, we had just the time to see Guillaume enacting Poland on counter-terrorism and Eva coming back at him as a Hezbollah spokesperson.

As preperation for the next session, our homework for Fall break : groundwork research on Poland's position, in each of our committees.

[reuters]

A white rose is placed on barbed wire at the museum of the former Nazi death camp of Auschwitz Birkenau marking the 67th anniversary of the liberation of the camp by Soviet troops and to remember the victims of the Holocaust, in Auschwitz Birkenau January 27, 2012. [REUTERS/Kacper Pempel]

[polandbymail]

Polish Word of the Day: Przyszłość

Pronunciation: PSHIH-shwoshch,

Translation: Future

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This language is going to be challenging.