Europe’s future relationship with China one of its most important “strategic partners”  will be determined to a large extent by Germany’s rapidly evolving bilateral relationship with China. Germany is China’s number-one trade partner in the EU: nearly half of all EU exports to China come from Germany; nearly a quarter of EU imports from China go to Germany. The increase in trade between China and Germany during the last decade and, in particular, in German exports to China  has exceeded all expectations.

The scenes of desolation and destruction, whole streets reduced to piles of broken rubble, images of torn bodies, especially of young children and babies, demand immediate intervention of  the international community to end this slaughter.

Since July 8 when the current violence erupted 1736 Palestinians have been killed, 8900 have been injured. 70 % - 80% of the Palestinian casualties are civilians. Unicef reports 296 child death – 203 children under the age of 12.

French Former Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Dominique de Villepin under President Chirac wrote a thought provoking article in Le Figaro on 1st August 2014 entitled ‘Raising our Voice against the Massacre in Gaza.’ Below are the three tools advanced by Mr. de Villepin (translated from the French)

"Given the absence of a peace plan, only imposed measures capable to change the situation are likely to wake up the partners from their slumber. This is the primarily responsibility of France.

Lobbying is a legitimate, unavoidable, and when conducted properly even a desirable activity. Lobbying can be a reflection of the principles of representativeness and voter participation, and can provide decision makers with information vital to their work.

In order to increase transparency in lobbying, lobbyists should observe the following principles when engaging with Public Office Holders

The Group of States against Corruption (GRECO) of the Council of Europe recommends that Codes of Conduct and Guidance (wherever they exist) be reviewed in order to ensure that public office holders have appropriate standards/guidance for dealing with lobbyists and others whose intent is to sway public policy on behalf of specific interests.

Overview 

The FYR of Macedonia's Law on Lobbying regulates lobbying and mandates the requirement for lobbyists to register with the Secretary General of the Parliament and report on their activities and income on an annual basis. However, shortcomings of the law have been noted by many commentators, pointing to the need to institute reporting requirements for public officials and strengthening the oversight.

Legislative framework

Business diplomacy involves establishing and sustaining positive relationships by top executives or their representatives with foreign government representatives and non-governmental stakeholders (economic and non-economic) with the aim to build and sustain legitimacy (safeguard corporate image and reputation) in a foreign business environment. Corporate diplomacy is considered a synonym for business diplomacy; both concepts describe the same business process and associated elements.

War crimes are those violations of the laws of war—or international humanitarian law (IHL)—that incur individual criminal responsibility. The 1949 Geneva Conventions, which codified IHL after World War II, also marked the first inclusion in a humanitarian law treaty of a set of war crimes—the grave breaches of the conventions. Each of the four Geneva Conventions (on wounded and sick on land, wounded and sick at sea, prisoners of war, and civilians) contains its own list of grave breaches.

Russia may be getting ready for actionable retaliation against the West . The Russian list of sanctions is focusing on individuals, companies, sectors, whether they are comprehensive and systemic, and if they impact the banking system. There is a prescribed action at each of the listed levels. So Russia knows precisely how to react.

Moscow is playing it cool because it may choose among a staggering array of counterpunches. It enjoys the support of the BRICS group of emerging powers, the non-aligned movement (NAM) and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO).

The purpose of this Code of Practice (the ‘Code’) is to identify those professional obligations that serve to protect the public in general, the client in particular, and the reputation of the profession of Institutional and Government Relations Practitioners (the 'Profession”). The Code also clearly identifies each National Association’s expectations of their Members with respect to the Profession and to other Members.