Model OSCE of the Swiss OSCE Chairmanship

Switzerland will assume the Chairmanship of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) in 2014.

In accordance with the year’s overall theme, “Creating a Security Community for the Benefit of Everyone,” it will pursue three overarching objectives:

• Fostering security and stability in Europe;
• Improving people’s lives;
• And strengthening the OSCE and increasing its capacity to act.

As part of its third objective, Switzerland wants to strengthen the voice of young people and enhance their involvement within OSCE structures. It will therefore organise a year-long Model OSCE series in which one delegate from each of the 57 OSCE-participating States will be invited to participate.

More specifically, that means that the delegates will simulate the activities and responsibilities of two specific OSCE decision-making bodies. And in doing so, the delegates will . . .

• Get familiar with OSCE structures and –themes;
• Have the opportunity to acquire and develop various skills (in international diplomacy, negotiations, public speaking, communications, problem solving and critical thinking);
• Improve their team-working and leadership abilities;
• And have the opportunity to meet other young people from the 57 OSCE-participating States.

Who should register in the Model OSCE? We strongly encourage young people aged 18-30 to submit their applications. Participants must be citizens of one of the 57 OSCE participating States, fluent in written and oral English, interested in international politics, and ready to devote their time and ideas to this project throughout the year of the Swiss OSCE Presidency. More

 

Please visit the Swiss National Youth Council (SNYC) website to submit your application.

 

University of Twente is announcing its training programme on energy and climate

Formulating Project Proposals for Climate Change Mitigation and Clean Energy

Participants and Staff 2011

The University of Twente is announcing its training programme on energy and climate for year 2013 consisting of two international training courses:

• Formulating project proposals for climate change mitigation and clean energy (18 March – 19 April 2013). This course organized together with UNEP Risoe Centre (Denmark). The aim of the course is to develop participants’ skills in writing fundable proposals in the fields of clean energy access, and climate change mitigation. In this way, the participants can contribute to the sustainable development of their countries. This course has been updated to reflect developments in climate change and clean energy access. Deadline for scholarships with NUFFIC: October 2nd 2012 (The form is available online).

• Energy management in small and medium scale industries (28 October – 6 December 2013): During the course, modern approaches to energy management will be discussed encompassing both technical and nontechnical aspects on the firm and policy levels. From 2012, the course has been extended by a week to include a module on preparing for the ISO 50000 standard on Energy Management.

The courses offer a unique platform for anyone interested in enhancing their skills, knowledge and international network on sustainable energy and climate change mitigation.

For more information about the impact of the program, the CSTM of the University of Twente has recently released a report which highlights the positive impacts of training courses on energy and climate in developing countries. In a nutshell the course has a strong international profile as it has had 179 participants from 44 nationalities in the period 2005 – 2012 (among them 79 participants from 15 African countries). The report can be accessed at: http://www.utwente.nl/mb/cstm/education/short_courses/Overview_ICREP2005-2012.pdf

 

Detailed information about these courses can be found in at:http://www.utwente.nl/mb/cstm/education/short_courses/

For scholarship opportunities it is possible to visit the website of the Netherlands organization for international cooperation in higher education (NUFFIC): http://www.nuffic.nl/nfp

 

 

Top U.S. Officer: Stop This ‘Total War’ on Islam Talk

America’s top military officer condemned in the strongest possible terms a Defense Department course that taught troops to prep for a “total war” on Islam using “Hiroshima”-style tactics.

“It was totally objectionable, against our values and it wasn’t academically sound,” Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters at a Pentagon press conference on Thursday. The instructor responsible for the course, Army Lt. Col. Matthew A. Dooley, is “no longer in a teaching status,” Dempsey added — but he is still employed at the Joint Forces Staff College in Norfolk, Va.

Dempsey’s comments were prompted by a Danger Room report on Thursday that described Dooley’s course in detail. For at least a year, Dooley taught an optional course at the college for lieutenant colonels, colonels, commanders and Navy captains that proposed taking a war on Islam “to the civilian population wherever necessary,” which he likened to the bombardment of Dresden and nuclear destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Guest lecturers in the course encouraged those senior officers to think of themselves as a “resistance movement” to Islam.

Dempsey and his deputy for military education, Marine Lt. Gen. George Flynn, pulled the plug on the course last month. The general said he was “quite thankful” for an unnamed military officer who brought word of the anti-Islam material to his attention. Dempsey and his staff launched an investigation into “what motivated that elective to being part of the curriculum,” as he put it on Thursday, and the general also sent a letter to the heads of every military service and regional command instructing them to jettison any similar material, as per a White House directive issued last fall.



The inquiry, conducted by Army Maj. Gen. Frederick Rudesheim, is scheduled to conclude on May 24. Any disciplinary action against Dooley; the college’s commandant, Maj. Gen. Joseph Ward; or any other officer is contingent on its findings. More