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MICHEÁL MARTIN IS set to make his last trip as Taoiseach to Brussels today for a summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) leaders and their EU counterparts.
He will also be attending a meeting a meeting of the European Council tomorrow also.
Ahead of the meetings, the Taoiseach has spoken of the importance of EU relations with Southeast Asia, specifically on tackling climate change, while keeping the pressure up on Russia will be the focus of the meeting on Thursday.
“Recent years have shown clearly the importance of global cooperation if we are to manage the increasingly complex challenges the world faces.
“Southeast Asia is an important economic and geo-political partner for the EU, especially on issues such as climate change and an increasingly uncertain security environment.
“I look forward to discussing these and other issues with Leaders from the region,” Martin said.
He further said that he is looking forward to the European Council meeting which he says will “express our support for Ukraine, for as long as it takes; and will deal with the consequences of the war in areas such as energy and the economy.”
Martin also said that further sanctions on Russia will be considered, as well as “how to ensure that those responsible for the war are held to account for what they have unleashed and sustained.”
EU leaders are looking to bolster ties with ASEAN leaders today in the face of the war in Ukraine and challenges from China.
ASEAN has one of the world’s fastest growing economies, and the EU is keen to boost trade between the two.
President of France Emmanuel Macron has said that there is a need for Europeans to “reconnect with ASEAN, one of the most dynamic areas in the world.”
The EU has been on a diplomatic push to strengthen a global front against Moscow.
However, ASEAN’S 10 nations have been divided in their response to the Kremlin’s war on Ukraine.
Singapore has backed Western sanctions against Russia while Vietnam and Laos, which have military ties to Moscow, have remained more neutral.
Alongside Thailand, they abstained from a United Nations vote in October condemning Russia’s attempted annexation of regions of Ukraine.
These diverging views have led to intense wrangling over a final declaration from the summit, with the EU pushing for stronger language to condemn Moscow.
An EU official said Brussels was satisfied that the message sent in the end will be “crystal clear” on the need to respect Ukraine’s sovereignty.
There is another global giant looming over the summit however in the form of China.
Chinese claims over the South China Sea have set it against some neighbours and sparked fears over trade flows through the key thoroughfare.
Yet China remains the biggest trade partner for ASEAN and many in the regions are wary of distancing themselves from their giant neighbour.
The EU is now keen to pitch itself as a reliable partner for Southeast Asia’s dynamic economies.
-Additional reporting from Eimer McAuley.
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Best of luck to him , I will always have great respect for Hugo Chavez for trying to be a president for the common man and for sending the yank vultures and their puppets packing .
Absolutely 100% agree with you. Any one in any doubt should google John Pilgers documentary, the war on democracy. Chavez is a man of the people that big business want to see the back of.
Great documentary by Oliver Stone about Chavez “South Of The Border” worth a watch, tells how the US tried and failed to bring him down. Great interviews with him and other South American leaders about their refusal to be governed by US policy, it’s an eye opener.
Best wishes to him. He’s an inspiration.
don’t know much about Chavez,
but the fact that extreme right-wing yanks seem to hate him, makes me think he’s ok.
anyway – hope he defeats his cancer.
There is a very real possibility that his cancer was deliberately induced by the US military industrial complex in my opinion.
seriously? bit too much conspiracy perhaps?
Not really Simon. The CIA tired similar stuff with Fidel down the years.
They tried to give him cancer?
How do you give somebody cancer?
Exactly..
I can selectively quote parts of a random article from the internet too, first line under the heading… “Can you give someone cancer? If they’re healthy probably not”.
You want me to copy and paste entire articles here?
The point – and it’s embarrassingly obvious – is that while nobody knows whether his cancer was deliberately induced, it’s a possibility and a reasonable suspicion given the various ways the US tried to murder Fidel Castro down the years.
ha you quoted one part of an article to suit your own agenda! The US are capable of most things, so if they wanted rid of him I’m sure they could find a more effective way then giving him cancer, which your article goes onto say is a highly unreliable way of assassinting someone.
It’s highly unreliable yea but very discrete , I know it’s what I’d do it can’t be traced
A dose of radiation sufficient to appreciably increase cancer risk would undoubtably cause acute radiation sickness (about 3 to 5 sieverts).
Then, if the exposed person survives radiation sickness, there would be a ~10 year latency period before there’s an increased risk of Leukaemia, then if they don’t get Leukaemia, another 10 to 20 years would pass before there’s an increasing chance of solid cancers.
The maximum increase chance of cancer from radiation is ~40%, the risks are not higher as the exposed person would more likely die from radiation sickness at higher doses, they wouldn’t survive to get cancer years later.
Do you have a source for that, David?
Studies of the Mortality of Atomic Bomb Survivors, Report 14, 1950–2003: An Overview of Cancer and Noncancer Diseases
The Japanese Life Span study is the gold standard, 130,000 atomic bombing survivors monitored since the mid-1950s, since Japanese doctors started to notice increased cases of leukaemia.
The Excess Relative Risk per Gray (roughly the same as a Sievert) is 0.42, since the baseline cancer rate is ~30%, this gives a cancer rate of 42.6% for 1 Gray dose.
For an additional increase of 40% (30+40%)= 70% cancer rate, the radiation dose would need to be massive, undoubtably accompanied with severe radiation sickness.
Where is that’s documentary pls love to see it
Here’s a great one filmed by two Irish reporters, they were in the Chavezs’ office when the coup happened. They stayed behind, when Chavez and his ministers fled; they said they wanted to film the revolution happening. They got both sides from the inside, it’s a real eye opener, an excellent documentry:
Venezuela has one of the most democratic systems in the world.
Here’s what former US President Jimmy Carter of the Nobel Prize-winning election monitoring Carter Center had to say about it:
“Of the 92 elections that we’ve monitored, I would say that the election process in Venezuela is the best in the world.”
All Venezuelan expatriates get a vote. Those people are likely to vote for the opponents of Chavez, yet he still gives them the vote.
The people of Venezuela keep voting for Chavez, because he is of them.
It’s amazing that just because Chavez has stood up to the United States people make him out to some kind of hero. He presides over a massively corrupt country, which usually happens when one man resides in power way beyond what is healthy for any supposedly democratic country.
He keeps getting elected. Pesky democracy!
Because he has made it easier and easier for him to get elected. Himself and Putin have a lot in common.
At least he’s not owned and operated by Goldman Sachs, like BOTH of the selected candidates in the USA’s farcical overture to democracy.
That article doesn’t even back you up. Anybody that knows anything about cancer knows you can’t give somebody cancer.
Are you pretending to be dim or does it come naturally. Read. The. Comments. Again… S l o w l y !
I agree its unlikely but to rule if out is daft , best way to kill someone is to make it look like an accident.
Petr no need to get upset because you were wrong
Exactly, Kevin. Quite a simple point to grasp really.
A large dose of dioxins will induce cancer in most people. There are many carcinogenic compounds that can be administered covertly in food. It’s not science fiction
No, the amount of Dioxin required to greatly increase cancer risk would cause obvious symptoms – Chloracne. Just look at what happened to Viktor ‘s Yushchenko’s face after he was poisoned by Dioxin.
Caracas is one of the most dangerous places on earth. I suspect Damascus would be safer. Roaring inflation and shortages makes his rule not much of a success. It would be possible to have clinics in slums areas without wrecking the economy. He or his heir won’t be able to buy support for much longer.
I wish Mr Chavez all the best and I admire what he has done for working people in his country and the region. For too long the United States have treated South America as their own private plantation.
have your say