The Commune

The CommuneResolving, Reaffirming, Reassuring Day 2: Closing Issue

Page 2 - The Perils of

Proliferation: Terrorists

Organizing Technologies

Page 3 - Nuclear Affair in the

North & South Korea

Page 4 - The Changing Agenda

Page 5 - Syria: Lost in Repartee

Page 6 - ECOSOC: The

Decisions of the Few, for the

Good of Many

Page 7 - From Theory of

Analytical Hierarchy to

Devaluation of Currency:

ECOSOC

Page 8 - Photographs

Head of International

Press

Twesh Mishra

Editor

Sonika Chandok

Reporters

Security Council

Geetika Nagpal

Aishwarya Chaurasia

General Assembly

Prashant Jha

Anushri Saxena

ECOSOC

Dhruv Sood

Charumati Haran

Photographers

Paritosh Anand

Karan Chadha

Tanmay Chakraborty

Message from

Deputy Secretary

GeneralWhen we started off with Bliss-

MUN 2012, our sole endeavour

was to enrich the participants in

all aspects. Today, after over a

month of vigorous and tumul-

tuous journey, we can safely de-

clare that BlissMUN 2012 was one

of the most notable MUN confer-

ences in Delhi. If overlooking the

minor logistical glitches, there

were no shortcomings in the quality of debate and the enriching ex-

perience, that was promised. A special thanks to Siddharth Soni and

Nishesh Bhasin for being there when we needed them the most.

The International Press Team

The CommuneResolving, Reaffirming, Reassuring

Amongst the most precarious

challenges which the very ex-

istence of Human kind faces today,

Global Terrorism tops the list.

And one point to which the dele-

gates present in the General As-

sembly’s meeting of UN held on

September 28, 2012 agreed unan-

imously was need to restrict the

proliferation of Ballistic missile

technology amongst the non-state

actors(focus-

ing princi-

pally on

Terrorist or-

ganizations).

The perils

which will be

posed to the

International

community

once terror-

ist organiza-

ti o n s

manage to

get hold of

these termi-

nal weapons’ know-hows is un-

thinkable. The concept of State

backed terrorist organizations got

once again flamed when Israel put

direct accusations on Syria and Iran

for helping flourish terrorist groups

such as

Hezbol-

lah and

Hamas.

F r a n c e

v o i c e d

its con-

c e r n

over the

issue by quoting the instance of

Hezbollah possessing the design of

Chinese Cruise missiles. This inci-

dent has certainly forced countries

to think over safeguarding not only

their armaments and weapons but

also the technologies involved in

making them, as passing of either

of them in to the hands of non-

state players is fatal. Representa-

tive of Arms Control Association

pointed out the need to recognise

Global Terrorist Groups in order to

take action against them. The rep-

resentative said “the definition of

a terrorist organization changes

from nation to nation as Hamas is

an accepted organization in Iran”.

United States of America blamed

political corruption prevalent in

the country for the proliferation of

war technologies amongst non-

state players.

While delegates of all the countries

were involved mainly in counting

the reasons and threats of Missiles

technologies being passed to the

anti-social elements, the ideas of

representative of Arms Control As-

sociation (ACA) appeared reason-

able to curb the same. The

representative of ACA advised all

countries to safeguard not only

their present war machineries but

also the outdated MIRVs and

weapons which can be duplicated

by non-state actors if not secured.

The repre-

s e n t a ti v e

also urged to

secure the

retransfer of

end prod-

ucts of war

or defence

operations.

The un-

manned war

v e h i c l e s

should be

d e s i g n e d

with ultra-

security so

that it cannot be hijacked.

What makes the procurement of

Ballistic missiles by terrorist groups

more dangerous is the capability of

these missiles to carry out chemi-

cal, biological and nuclear warfare

which can prove lethal for exis-

tence of the planet. Representa-

tives of different countries must

work in an agreement to address

the issue so that the sense of secu-

rity can be instilled.

Prashant Jha, Reporter,

General Assembly

Karan Chadha, Photographer UNGA

The Perils of Proliferation: Terrorists

Organizing Technologies


The Korean peninsula has long suffered from the

decisions made by the economically developed

countries. The victorious allies of the Second World

War first politically sliced it into two parts - Demo-

cratic Peoples' Republic of Korea in the North and the

Republic of Korea.

A stark contrast in their ideologies, the north being

communist and the south capitalist, differences were

bound to happen that led to full-scale battle. The war

stretching from 1950 to 1953 cost millions of innocent

lives and a relentless exploitation of natural re-

sources.

Political scholars criticized the role of the then bi-

polar blocs of the United States of America and the

USSR; let alone the vested interests of their func-

tionaries - the NATO and the Warsaw Pact respec-

tively in mounting up the tensions between the two

states and thus reaffirming the division between the

two.

Despite bringing the war to an end, the peace treaty

signed at Panmunjom could not reunify the Korean

peninsula.

While North Korea went ahead with becoming a nu-

clear-capable state with the help of Russia and China;

concerns were raised citing its national instability and

unpredictability. North Korea was also suspected of

exporting nuclear-facilitating resources to other coun-

tries particularly the Middle East.

Keeping the past timeline of North Korea in mind, it

will not be wrong to say that North Korea is sur-

rounded by hostile neighbors and becoming a nuclear

state is only in the interest of it’s national security. Al-

though, having declared that, it should not be com-

plaining if South Korea also attempts at building their

nuclear arsenal.

Conclusively, any future prospects of solidarity and re-

unification between the two states seem slim as with

their very first nuclear test in 2006, North Korea

stands as a constant threat to its southern counter-

part. Moreover, presence of nuclear weapons in the

any of the two states would only escalate the amount

of distress between them and worsen the present sit-

uation. It is important that enforced foreign interven-

tion s is withdrawn immediately allowing the two for

conducting rational talks

and consequently zeroing

in on mutually agreed res-

olutions.

Anushri Saxena, Reporter,

General Assembly

Tanmay Chakraborty,

Photographer

Nuclear Affair in the

North & South Korea

UNGA


Day two of MUN saw further development in the

agenda of the committee. The delegate of United

States of America requested a moderated caucus to

discuss the various solutions possible to point of con-

tention between Palestine and Israel. Azerbaijan

quoted Security Council resolution 456, 1979 which

states that claims of Israel over occupied territories

are illegal and have got no legal validity. Israel must

withdraw from the occupied land. It said that no so-

lution can be reached until Israel is ready to negotiate

which it isn’t. Israel agreed to the fact that Israel is not

allowing entry to Jerusalem because of the change in

foreign policy of Palestine towards Israel. It said that

it will negotiate only when Palestine is ready to have

bilateral agreement. United Kingdom said that Israeli

government must recognise Palestine as an independ-

ent state. Finally the committee agreed that creation

of two states is the only possible solution.

The moderated caucus was

further extended by Pales-

tine to discuss the human

right violation continuously

going on in Palestine. The

delegate of Palestine began

by stating that their rights

can be protected only

when it gets the member-

ship of UN because it will be only then that it can get

access to legal ratification. Syria started by saying that

it is a pity that terrorism is supported in Syria, while

in countries like USA, Portugal and France it is highly

condemned and confronted. Further the UN security

general reports that at the end of December 2011,135

Palestinian children were tortured, blindfolded and

beaten. At this point

Portugal said that it is

shocked that Syria is

speaking about human

right violation when in

its own country viola-

tion has reached its

zenith. USA made a

point that violence has

happened both in Israel

and Palestine. So all the

blame should not go to

Israel alone. Azerbaijan

said that over 60% of

Palestinian owned

structure was demol-

ished due to lack of law and order in the part of Syria.

UK again made a point that human rights are violated

because of sensitivity of the area and not because of

either party. The moderated caucus ended with Syria

saying that it does not allow intervention of the west

to settle disputes because it believes that terrorist like

al-Qaida is funded by West. USA defended itself by

stating that they fund only those people in Syria who

wants an independent regime.

Syria and USA raised the motion to discuss Economic

situation in state of Palestinian occupied territories.

Azerbaijan said that Israeli government must recog-

nise Palestine as an independent state and let it de-

cide its economic condition. Egypt said that Palestine

has the potential of attaining economic stability in fu-

ture. To some extent Israel has got justice, its high

time that Palestine must get the same.

Aishwarya Chaurasia, Reporter, Security Council

Paritosh Anand, Photographer

The Changing Agenda

UNSC


The Security Council on the second day was marked

by an overflow of hypocrisy. Countries which them-

selves engage in human rights violation were seen

blaming others of this defiance of international law.

The committee saw Syria which has itself been ac-

cused by the Secretary General previously of torturing

and reportedly executing prisoners and failing to pro-

tect civilians fleeing the war-ravaged country in record

numbers, accusing Israel of human rights violation.

Syria insisted that it was against the denial of inalien-

able and human rights to Palestinian refugees by Is-

rael whereas its own civilians are denied the basic

human rights.

Further, the delegate of Syria insistently blamed and

condemned Israel for the use of white phosphorus

munitions by Israel in the Gaza War which is in direct

insubordination of the Chemical Weapons Convention

which has been ratified by Israel banning its use. This

allegation brings into question the credibility of Syria

to make this accusation when the U.N. chief himself

has accused the Syrian forces of indiscriminately

shelling densely populated areas and especially urged

President Bashar Assad's government to end the

fighting.

Israel was left speechless when Syria presented a

UNHRC Report which stated that the white phospho-

rus shelling continued for hours and hence can’t be

claimed to have been conducted for

the purpose of creation of a smoke

screen, as Israel had been vehemently

claiming till present.

Where on one hand, Syria remains

woefully ignorant of the human rights

violations in its own country, on the

other hand, Portugal came out in sup-

port of the ‘extremist’ organisations in

Syria.

Syria claimed that the civilian rebel

groups in their country were in fact ex-

tremist organisations which sought to

spread anti-government feelings in the

country. The open support of these or-

ganisations by Portugal led Syria to re-

spond with the demand for the

expulsion of Portugal from the council

due to violation of Article 6 of the UN

Charter.

Portugal expressing distrust of Israel

claimed that the complaints by Arabs

in Israel against Israeli officers are not

even registered. Furthermore, Arabs are punished

harsher than Jews on committing the same crimes.

Towards the culmination of the conference the com-

mittee tried to come to a consensus regarding the sta-

tus of Palestine as a “state”

and means to ensure eco-

nomic stability in the Pales-

tinian occupied territory.

Geetika Nagpal, Reporter,

Security Council

Paritosh Anand,

Photographer

Syria: Lost in Repartee

UNSC


It was satisfying to see that today’s ECOSOC session

was more focused on discussion of ground level issues

affecting common man rather than high level interna-

tional politics. Russia and USA agreed on the need for

psychological counseling for victims. Australia was

quick to raise the point that often the UN peacekeep-

ing force itself is accused of human rights violations.

There was also discussion about specific, necessary

goods and making them more widely available during

times of unrest. Unsurprisingly, oil prices, oil produc-

ing nations and political unrest in these nations were

a concern common for all nations. Nigeria raised the

issue of mistrust between nations, sometimes caused

by terrorism, which harmed trade and cultural ties.

Many nations agreed that there was a need for shar-

ing of intelligence information. Technical issues like

methods of quantitative risk assessment were also

discussed.

It is interesting to observe that the India has so far re-

mained largely non-committal on the issue of high

tariffs imposed by devel-

oped nations on products

of developing nations. Nei-

ther has it strongly sup-

ported the African nations,

LDCs and others in making

the same demand. India’s

economic reforms in the

1990s also included lower-

ing of tariffs. At one time, India took active part in the

movement of developing nations that alleged that

WTO mandate of abolition of tariffs had not been fol-

lowed through by developed nations So far, it appears

that India is eager to encourage collaboration with

other nations while keeping such points aside. India

is in a precarious political and economic situation at

present. Its concerns about the preference of foreign

investors for a stable environment are perfectly justi-

fied. Another important motion moved by the dele-

gate of India was the revival of human and physical

capital after terrorist attacks and natural disasters

with special emphasis on employment.

Thus, we observe in today’s session of the ECOSOC

that old issues and rivalries are being put aside to take

up new problems. Perhaps this can be attributed to

the increasing globalization and to the governments’

realizing that they need each others’ support to take

action on global issues. On the other hand, we ob-

serve that the failure of countries to coordinate their

economic policies can lead to problems, even when

they all share similar goals. The hard-earned money

of millions of people, their hopes, their dreams and

their ambitions – in essence, what people can make

of their lives - depends on these decisions of their

governments.

Charumati Haran,

Reporter, ECOSOC,

Tanmay Chakraborty, Photographer

ECOSOC: The Decisions of the Few, for the Good of Many

ECOSOC


In the fall of 1962, USA President John F. Kennedy got

into a rift with USSR. President Nikita Khrushchev

made unsuccessful attempts to overthrow the Cuban

regime famously known as the Cuban Missile Crisis.

The world was petrified that the two of the world’s

most powerful countries will indulge in a war that was

never seen before. But for the betterment of the

world the Cold War never turned hot.

USSR broke apart in 1991 and the Russian federation

took over its seat in the Security Council still not losing

its relevance in world politics. USA was declared as

the sole superpower but the tensions were still in-

evitable.

Till the lapse of the session of Day One of the Eco-

nomic and Social Council the Russian Federation, The

People's Republic of China had a separate block from

that of the United Kingdom and the United States,

each having their own allies. Both blocks expressed

their stance, alleged and defended the policies of

their respective countries citing examples like USSR

leaving nuke suitcases in Afghanistan and Syrian

peace talks stalled by the Russian Federation.

But today at Day Two, there was a remarkable change

of events when allies reformulated their opinion. The

theory of Analytical Hierarchy along with the Delphi

method put forward by the delegate of United States

of America was severely criticized by the delegate of

United Kingdom. United States of America defended

the Social Nets policy of the Russian Federation even

after the delegate of

United Kingdom men-

tioned about its’ failure

in countries like Geor-

gia. Another sudden

change of events, led to

the formation of a

block consisting of the

African Union of Na-

tions led by Nigeria

who accused the

wealthy developed

countries of not back-

ing them substantially

and declaring unfair

trade policies against

them. Flabbergasted,

by this statement The

French, English and American Ambassadors made ex-

cruciating remarks stating that funds provided to the

African Nations were lost due to their own follies. A

third of a day was over, but debates were still concen-

trating on the problems rather than focusing on

meaningful solutions.

Just before the commencement of lunch session,

some solutions were put forward like devaluating cur-

rencies and early warning systems. What was needed

was that countries leave aside their differences and

work on solutions collec-

tively as one world com-

munity in order to tackle all

upcoming impediments.

Dhruv Sood,

Reporter, ECOSOC

Tanmay Chakraborty,

Photographer

From Theory of Analytical Hierarchy to Devaluation of

Currency: ECOSOC

ECOSOC

The Commune

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