[PIN-2014] Part 2/6: International- Presidents, Prime ministers, Summits, bodies & Ukraine Crisis

1. Prologue to six part Article series

2. PIN: Heads of States
3. Chief Guest in 26th January Republic Day Parade
4. India’s Ranks (2013)
5. International Summits
6. National Summits
7. Ukraine crisis
8. International Organizations
9. International places in news

Prologue to six part Article series

Total six parts covering December 2013 to 8th June 2014- nearly six months that is the usual time span for current
affairs most competitive exams below UPSC Civil service exam.

1. [PIN-2014] Part 1/6: National- Official Posts, Committees, Stamps-2014, Defense, Telengana & more
2. [PIN-2014] Part 2/6: International- Presidents, Prime ministers, Summits, bodies & Ukraine Crisis
3. [PIN-2014] Part 3/6: Sports, Mascots, Athletes, Awards, FIFA-2014, Sochi-2014, Grand Slams, Hockey, Kabbadi, Cricket &
more
4. [PIN-2014] Part 4/6: Economic Regulators, Banking Sector CMDs, RBI monetary policy, RBI Committees, Business GK CEOs
5. [PIN-2014] Part 5/6: Books, Authors, Movies awards & Beauty Pageants
6. [PIN-2014] Part 6/6: Diaspora, Civilian awards & Dead in News, Pravasi Bharatiya Diwas, Padma 2014, Able Prize & more

Persons in News: Heads of States

Every month some new pm/President gets elected somewhere. given the bad cost benefit, I’ve only listed important
ones and ignored many chillar parties for example Chile new President Michelle Bachelet, because Chile is not in
news otherwise.

President Hamid Karzai served two consecutive term hence can no longer contest election.
Afghanistan Right now Presidential race between Abdullah Abdullah and Asraf Ghani.
Parliament called shoora.

PM Tony Abbott. capital Canberra (not Perth or Sydney)

Australia 1st member of south Asian descent to be member of Parliament – Lisa Maria Singh (awardee
Pravasi Bhartiya Samman 2014)

President Abdul Hamid

PM Sheikh Hasina (Awami league).
Bangladesh
Opposition Khalida Zia (nationalist party)
Parliament called Jatiya parliament.

King Jigme Wangchuck

Bhutan PM Tshering Tobgay
parliament called Tasongadu

President XI Jinping
Premier (PM) Li keqiang
China
ADIZ: Air defence idenfication zone aove East China sea.
Foreign minister Wang Yi met Modi in June 2013.

Cuba President Raul Castro (not Fidel Castro)

President Abdel Fattah El sisi (Ex-Army general)

Egypt PM Ibrahim mehliv
 President Epeli Nailaukitau (Fiji has largest Indian diaspora in Asia Pacific)
Former president of Indian origin Mahindra Chaudhary (1999-2000)
Fiji Ram Krishna Mission of Fiji has been awarded Pravasi Bharatiya Samman 2014

France President Francis Hollande; PM Manuel Valls. Anne Hidalg-first female mayor of Paris

President Joachim Gauck

Germany Chancellor Angela Markel
Lok Sabha: Bundestag

Iran President Hussan Rouhani, Accepts peaceful nuclear technology use

Iraq PM Nur Al Maliki

President Reuven Rivlin (hardliner, he is against creation of Palestine.)

PM Benjamin Netanyahu
Israel
Ex israli PM Ehud Olmert jailed for corruption.
parliament called Knesset

Italy Youngest PM Matteorenzi

Japan Emperor Akihito, PM Shinzo Abe. Parliament called DIET.
Jordan Joined non-permanent member of UNSC in Dec 2013. King Abdulla. Capital Amman
Kazakstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev; PM Karim Massimov
Officially joined Eurozone. 18th Member of Euzozone. PM: Straujuma. Parliament: Saeima. Capital
Latvia Riga.Donot confuse EU vs Eurozone. EU (european union) has 28 members as of now. Croatia
became the 28th member of EU in july 2013.
PM Tammam Salam. Capital Beirut. Country In news because Hezbulla from Lebanon participating
Lebanon
in Syrian civil war.
Libya PM Abdulla al Thani- he quits after family attacked. Capital Tripoli.
Lithuania President Dalia Grybushaite (Iron lady). Only person to win twice.
Malaysia PM Najib Razak
Maldives President Abdulla Yameen – after defeating Moh. Nasheed in run off vote. Parliament : Majilis

Capital Majuro.
Marshall President: Christopher Loeak
Islands Parliament called Nitijela
In news because they filled a case in ICJ against nuclear power

Mauritius President Rajkeshwar Purryag. PM Navin Ramgoolam

Myanmar President Thein SeinOpposition leader Aung su kyi
Nepal President Ram Baran Yadav. PM Sushil koiralaParliament : Rahstriya Panchayat
President Goodluck Jonathan. in news because an extremist group Boko Haram kidnapped
Nigeria
schoolgirls to get their prisoners released. Capital: Abuja
North Kim Jong- un got 100% votes. Held high level talks with south korea at Pan mun jom. Jang Song
Korea Thaek: he was Kim’s uncle, but Kim got him killed for “gaddari”.
President Mamnoon Hussain and PM Nawaz Sharif both belong to PML-N party. Parliament called
Pakistan
“Majlis-e-shoora”.Abul Basit: Paki Ambassador to India
Palestine Unity govt. under Moh. Abbas (Fatah) and Ismail Haniyeh (Hamas)

Papua New First Indian origin to be member of Parliament – Sasindran Muthuvel

Guinea Pravasi Bharatiya samman 2014

Prez Beningo Aquino. New law to legalize birth control methods Until now birth control was
Philippines prohibited due to opposition from Christians

Jacob Zuma wins Presidential election. (Party African national congress). Capital:
S.Africa
Johannesburg.Indian origin – Ela Gandhi – Pravasi Bharatiya Samman 2014
South President female Park Park Geun-hye. PM Chung Hong won resigned after Ferry sinking incident
Korea which killed 300+people
South
Salva Kiir Mayardit
Sudan
Spain King Juan Carlos abdicated throne for his son. PM Rajoy. Capital Madrid. Parliament
Syria President Bashar al assad – ready for election under international pressure

acting Prime Minister Niwatthamrong Boonsongpaisan after court removed Prime Minister
Thailand Ms. Yingluck Shinawatra for power abuse
Later General Prayuth stages a military coup and detained Ms. Yingluck and her family.
 President Abdulla Gul
Turkey PM Recep Tayyip Erdogen. In news because arbitrarily bans twitter, facebook etc.
Soma coal mine explosion killed 280+

Signed a law under husband can be jailed for 10 years for infecting wife with HIV (and vice
versa) + mandatory HIV testing for pregnant women.
Uganda
Capital Kampala.
PM/President not important.

President Petro Poroshenko, Chocolate businessman

PM Arseniy Yatsenyuk
Ukraine parliament : RADA
Capital: Kiev

Uruguay Legalized marijuana trade. Capital Montevideo. PM/President not important.

Pope Francis (Jorge Bergoglio) became TIME person of the year for 2013. He replaced Pope
Vatican
Benedict XVI.
Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro (and NOT Hugo Chavez- He is dead)
Vietnam President Truong Tan SangPM Nguyen Tan Dung

UK

David Cameron. Queen Elizabeth ruled for 62 years.

Recently David said Sikhs can head UK army and judiciary.
UK parliament honored Tagore in 2014
Operation Trojan horse: to prevent spread of extremism in schools.
Banned sale of non-native aquatic plants to prevent entry of invasive species.
Scotland referendum to be held in September 2014.

USA
 President Barak Hussain Obama ; VP Joe Biden both democrat party
Jeb Bush (Republican) He is yyounger brother of George Bush, he may fight next Presidential election
(perhaps) against Hillary Clinton (democrate).
Secretary of State John Kerry (not Hillary Clinton)
Speaker of house of representatives: John Boehner (not Nancy Pelosi)
Nancy Powell was first women US Ambassador to India. She was made to resign in May 2014 because she was
close to Congis and Obama knew Modi will become next PM. in other words, her “boore din” had started even before
election result!
Peter Haas: US Cousul general in India, opened new trade office in Ahmedabad in June 2014.
FBI: James Comey
CIA: John O. Brennan
Sergeant Bow Bergdahl: American soldier captured by Talibans in 2009. Obama freed some Taliban prisoners
to secure Bow’s release.

Chief Guest in 26th January Republic Day Parade

2013- King of Bhutan, Jigme Wangchuck
2014- Japanese PM, Shinzo Abe

India’s Ranks (2013)

Doing Business (world bank) 134. Singapore tops
Gender Gap (WEF) 101, even Bangladesh, SriLanka and China better.
Global hunger index 63rd. Even Paki and Bangla better
Global Slavery Index India first rank! China 2nd, Paki 3rd
Human Capital index(WEF) 78.
Human development index (UNDP) 136.
Standard and Poors BBB minus rating
Standard Charters by 2030, India will be third largest economy after US and China

Transparency International’s corruption India 94th. Even Pakistan better!

perception index Cleanest = NZ and Denmark. Most bogus: Afghanistan, North
Korea and Somalia
*WEF= World Economic Forum.

Ukraine crisis
For non-UPSC exams, this topic is pretty much irrelevant. Even for the interviews, you don’t need to know more
than just basic geography and power angles. Crux of the matter is= Ukraine crisis happened because Russia wants to
control (Crimea+ Black sea) & counter NATO/US influence in this region.

Observe the map:

 Crimea’s port city Sevastopol=>
Black sea=>
Straight of Bosporus =>
Mediterranean Sea =>
Strait of Gibraltar => Atlantic Ocean
Suez Canal => Red Sea => Gulf of Aden => Arabian ocean.

Thus IF Russia controls Crimea, it can control Black sea. Result?

1. Russia can ship its products to major economics of the world

2. Russia can fight against invading NATO armies and counter USA’s “missile shield”.

Timeline of Ukraine Crisis

Before
Both Ukraine+ Crimea were part of erstwhile USSR.
1991
1st
Ukraine held referendum to declare independence from USSR, also takes away Crimea. This was one
December of the major reasons for the fall of USSR.
1991,

Ukraine and European Union (EU) sign free trade agreement and political association. Putin
doesn’t like it, not one bit.
2012
There was chance of Ukraine joining EU. But then agreements could not be ratified because PM
Yulia imprisoned, protests and political instability.

Russia offered $15 billion and Cheap gas supply to Ukraine (to counter EU influence).
November 2013: Ukraine President Yanukovich refused to EU FTA deal and favoured Russian
2013
deal=> Juntaa already angry with economic slowdown, corruption=> protests => Brutal
supression => crisis worsen.

More protests. President Yanukovich leaves his country like Dawood Ibraim and hides in
Pakistan Russia.
Speaker was made interim President. (Putin blames Obama for installing this puppet regime).
Feb 2014
this new government removed Russian as “second official language”.
Russian President Putin becomes active to protect the Russian speaking junta in the Crimea. He
sends military to the border. (But ordered them not to cross the border OR shoot at anyone).

Crimean parliament held junta’s referendum.

92% Junta votes to join Russia.
March
Crimean parliament passes resolution to secede from Ukraine to Russia.
2014
Putin passes law to include Crimea in Russia. His excuse: in past Kosovo also separated from
Serbia in the same manner, but at that time USA did not oppose.

April-
After this, other parts of Eastern Ukraine also started similar movements to join Russia.
May
June 2014 Chocolate businessman Petro Poroshenko becomes the new President of Ukraine.

G8 suspended Russia. Obama wants world powers to boycott Russia, just like Iran. BUT….
 1. BRICS nations refused to join US-EU backed sanction against Russia
2. Japan also refused to cancel investment plans in Russia
3. India also not going to back any US sanction against Russia.
4. Russia has world’s largest energy resources, therefore, energy-hungry China also silent.

Beyond this, day to day ball by ball commentary keep coming in newspaper. But like I said earlier, no need to do
PhD on this topic, for non-UPSC exams.

International Summits
17th NAM Venezuela 2015

2014 chair of ASEAN – Myanmar

ASEAN
Theme “Moving forward in unity to a peaceful and prosperous community”

Nay Pyi Tao, Myanmar

BIMSTEC March 2014, 3rd summit
“Partnership for Harmony and Prosperity”
MoU was sign to establish permanent secretariat

BRICS Fortaleza, Brazil- 2014; Ufa, Russia 2015

Commonwealth heads of government 22nd meeting in Colombo, Sri Lanka (Nov
CHOGM
2013)

to find practical solution on how to end sexual violence during wars, help
victims and punish the criminals.
ending sexual violence
first summit @London June 2014
in conflict
organizer: Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie and British foreign Secretary
William Hague

2013: St.Petersburg, Russia (8th)

G-20 2014: Brisbane, Australia 9th
 40th Brussels, Belgium (EU HQ)
June 2014
G-7 summit 1st time EU hosted G7 summit
Earlier scheduled to be hosted in Sochi, Russia
But after Ukraine issue, Russia withdrawn from membership G8 -> G7 + hosted
in Brussels

On Syrian crisis. Geneva in Switzerland.

GENEVA 2 Geneva Agreement is different- between USA and Iran on Iranian Nuclear
program

IBSA 2013, DelhiMilitary cooperation- joint military exercise “IBSAMAR”

SAARC Kathmandu, NepalNov 2014, 18th
UNFCC 2013: COP 19 in Warsaw Poland.2014: COP 20 in Lima, Peru

Ministerial conference After every 2 years

WTO Bali in 2013 – “Bali Package” Trade Facilitation agreement signed
Yemen to become 140th WTO member in June 2014

National Summits
1st International summit on HIV AIDS New Delhi
28th Suryakund international artisan Fair Faridabad Harayana
Asia Gas partnership Summit Delhi, Dec 2013.
National Science Congress 101th session was held in Jammu on Feb 2014
PETROTECH 2014 Noida, International oil & gas summit
Rann Utsav Cultural festival of Katch dist Gujarat
Suryakumbh Solar cooking initiative in Mumbai
TECNOTEX 2014 International summit on clothes , Mumbai
 International Organizations
without their structure or mandate for GS2 hahaha

in CDS, CAPF, they sometimes ask “match the pairs” question from this topic.

African development bank Donald kaberukaHQ Abidjan, Ivory coast

African Union B.N.AmadiHQ Addis Ababa
ASEAN Le Luong MinhHQ Jakarta, Indonesia
Asian development bank President Takehiko NakaoHQ Manila, Philippines
IMF Christine LagardeHQ Washington

Head of European commission –Jose Emanuel Barroso

EU HQ Brussels, Belgium
European Central Bank – Frankfurt, Germany

FAO DG- Jose Graziano de silvaHQ Rome, Italy

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg (Formal PM of Norway)
OECD Sec-gen Jose Angel GurriaHQ Paris, France
ICC (International CriminalCourt) HQ Hague, Netherland
ICJ (International Court ofJustice) HQ Hague, Netherland
PCA (permanent court ofArbitration) HQ Hague, Netherland
IUCN (International UnionFor Conservation of
President Zhang XinshengFormer Ashok Khosla
Nature)
IAEA DG Yukiya AmanoHQ Vienna, Austria
ILO DG Guy RyderHQ Geneva, Switzerland

President John Ashe, visited India, raised Italian marine

issue.
Secretary Gen. Ban Ki moon
UN General Assembly HQ New York
UN declared 2014 as International year of family
farming.
ITU Sec-gen Hamadoun ToureHQ Geneva, Switzerland
UNHRC Navi PillaiHQ Geneva, Switzerland
UNFCC Christina FigueresHQ Bonn, Germany
UNCTRAL Chairperson Hrvoje SikiricHQ New York
OPCW (Organization forPrevention of DG Ahmet UzumcuHQ Hague, NetherlandOPCW won Nobel
ChemicalWeapons) prize 2013
US federal Reserve JENETYELLN
WHO DG Dr. Margaret ChanHQ Geneva, Switzerland

WIPO DG Francis Gurry, re-elected for 2nd termHQ Geneva,

Switzerland
World bank DG Jim Yong KimHQ Washington
WTO DG Roberto AzevedoHQ Geneva, Switzerland
WWF (world wild fund forNature) CEO Carter RobertsHQ Gland, Vaud, Switzerland
Food and Agri. organization. HQ Rome. José Graziano da
FAO
Silva
International Maritime organization HQ London. Sec General Koji Sekimizu

International places in news

Barbary Extinct. In Atlas mountain range from Morroco to Tunisia. Indian lions have genetic linkages with
lions them.
Bushehr
Iran earthquake in april
Province
Herat In Afghanistan. Terrorists attacked Indian consulate before Modi oath.
Jinnah
Karachi. Biggest terrorist attack in June 2014.
Airport
Latvia Officially joined Eurozone. 18th Member
Malta Next CHOGM summit in 2015
Mauratia Ancient Microcontinent. Its evidence found in W.Indian ocean.
2nd largest city in Iraq after Bagdad. The Sunni militants took control over this city while Iraqi
Mosul
army ran away.
 Mount Fuji, World Heritage status under UNESCO. In Honhu Island
Japan
Peshawar World’s largest reservoir of Polio (WHO statement)
Popocatépetl
Mexico
volcano
Samoa
First airline to charge passengers based on their weight
Airline
Agreed to cede some areas to its former province Kosovo.Under EU accord. Serbia-Capital
Serbia
Belgrade. Kosovo-Capital Pristina-Uses Euro as Currency.
Shanghai Started visa-free transit scheme with Beijing.
Shenzhen
China Launched its first carbon trading scheme here
Province
Sichuan
China earthquake of ritchers scale-7.
Province
suma Turkey coal mine. explosion killed 280+
Titanosaur Biggest dinosaurs, found in Argentina.
West Qurna-
One of the largest oilfield in Iraq. Russian company started exploration.
2
Xisha Disputed islands in South China sea. China is offering tourists rides while Vietnam opposes.
Sevastopol port city in Crimea, Russia wanted to control Blacksea via this port city, hence the Ukrain crisis.

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Any updates, corrections please do post in the comments but with reference except wikipedia

Inputs from Mr. Chandradeo and Ms. Rajtanil

URL to article: http://mrunal.org/2014/06/pin-2014-part-26-international-presidents-prime-minsiters-

summits-bodies-ukraine-crisis.html

Posted By Mrunal On 11/06/2014 @ 18:13 In the category Current Affairs Weekly