SPCC Model United Nations Club

Are you too busy preparing for exams?
Don’t have enough time to read through the news?
No worries, here’s a *very* quick overview of the past month :)

USA - Republican Health Care Bill
House leaders have further lost support for their American Health Care Act. Republican moderate Fred Upton, who until January had been chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, officially came out against the bill.
Read more about the American Health Care Act here:
http://nypost.com/2017/05/02/the-lie-that-could-kill-the-gop-health-care-bill/
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/05/02/influential-gop-lawmaker-latest-to-say-no-to-revised-republican-health-care-bill.html

USA - President Donald Trump
CNN has refused to sell President Trump airtime for a self-congratulatory ad marking the president’s initial 100 days in office. The advertisement labels major television networks as “fake news”, and the network’s rejection of the ad has led to the president accusing them of censorship.
Read more about the incident here:
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/5/2/15518860/trump-campaign-cnn-censorship
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/02/business/media/cnn-trump-ad-fake-news.html?_r=0

USA - DPRK
The United States has announced that its THAAD anti-missile system (Terminal High Altitude Area Defence) is now operational in South Korea and ready to intercept North Korean missiles.
Read more about DPRK-US relations here:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/05/02/us-thaad-missile-system-operational-south-korea-pyongyang-says/
http://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy-defence/article/2087518/10-minutes-xi-jinping-changed-donald-trumps-mind-north

UK - 2017 General Election
The Labour party has pledged to recruit 10,000 more police officers, to to be paid by reversing Tory cuts on capital gains tax, should they win the general election in June. Meanwhile, Theresa May has accused the EU of influencing the results of the general election.
Read more about the election here:
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-39777648
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/may/03/theresa-may-accuses-eu-of-meddling-in-uk-general-election

France - Presidential Race: Macron VS Le Pen
The first round of the presidential race was held in late April. Since no candidate won a majority, a runoff election will be held between Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen on the 7th of May this year.
Read more about the Presidential race here:
http://www.reuters.com/news/picture/macron-vs-le-pen?articleId=USRTS14TYG
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/03/world/europe/marine-le-pen-emmanuel-macron-france-presidential-debate.html

2 committees. 4 days. 1 great experience. Apply now to SPCCMUN.

https://goo.gl/forms/GIERuxzzTLGLwlF82
Deadline: Friday 23:59

SPCCMUN Spring The Spring SPCCMUN will feature 2 committees, one oriented towards senior MUNers and one for juniors. We've organised it so that the 2 committees fall of 4 separate days. Regardless of experience, we encourage you to attend both since each offers a different kind of MUN experience. March 6th and 7th...

Don't miss it - HKMUN signups close today! For details, refer to the email sent through eClass some time ago.

https://goo.gl/forms/GIevc1BwAURFZ5SA3

SPCC HKMUN Delegation Application HKMUN is the largest student-led conference in Hong Kong, and wishes to bring together Hong Kong students to learn about Model United Nations and global affairs. In general, delegates present are more experienced with MUN and we advise you to have be familiar with MUN before you go. If you don't hav...

You know that club, where everyone wears a dress shirt to conferences? Remember that morning assembly where a bunch of people came onto the stage during morning assembly, and started debating about political issues?
That club is the MUN. Although the deadline for applying to be a committee member has passed, you can still apply for actual conferences! Here's a few things you need to know before signing up.
http://bestdelegate.com/mun-made-easy-10-things-you-should-know-before-your-first-conference-2/

MUN Made Easy: 10 Things You Should Know Before Your First Conference It’s everyone’s worst nightmare. Walking into a conference, a brand new experience, and having absolutely no idea what to do. You’ve been told its easy, “Model UN can be learned during a conference”, they say. In reality, if you want

Delegates,

Did you watch the presidential debate? Are you excited for some debate and politics? The MUN club provides you with ample opportunity for learning and fun!

That said, thank you for your enthusiastic support for the Exco application. The deadline for the Com application is tomorrow so don't miss your chance!

Here is the link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScRaOr7XIeO7pSgh2gRQF5id6cs5WgMgWEPV0yMVR87KfQX8w/viewform?c=0&w=1

Last call Delegates!

An urgent UN Security Council session has been convened after North Korea claims it has successfully detonated a nuclear warhead that can be mounted on ballistic rockets. If North Korea launches one of their nuclear missiles, it may well trigger a war. The time has come for you to save the world from a nuclear threat!

That is what we do in MUN. Intrigued and want to join us? The MUN Club is now recruiting F3-F5 executive committee members and F1-F5 committee members. Why not give it a go?

Committee member application:
https://goo.gl/forms/Mq1gdqOgBh1Xcbi73

Executive committee member application (Deadline: Tonight!)
https://goo.gl/forms/45ChXhYFnpi7p9Th1

Everyone's favourite country throws yet another tantrum: well, what does it expect after it conducts a nuclear and a missile test in just two months?
But in some ways, the continued survival of the DPRK can be interpreted to depend more on what China wants than the competency (or lack thereof) of its political-cartoon-like leadership.
That said, representing North Korea in an MUN conference is one of the easiest ways to get away with saying *cough cough* outlandish and undiplomatic things.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-35704273

North Korea to boycott UN rights council - BBC News North Korea says it will no longer take part in UN Human Rights Council session examining its rights record, accusing it of "double standards".

All SPCC students who want to apply for HKMUN 2016 should reply to the email sent via eclass by tomorrow

“For the record, feminism by definition is: ‘The belief that men and women should have equal rights and opportunities. It is the theory of the political, economic and social equality of the sexes.’”

Even though the movement for gender equality was originally conceived as a struggle led by women for women, it has become common for men to stand up for the rights of women. Listen to Emma Watson's speech to find out about UN's recent gender equality campaign.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-iFl4qhBsE

Emma Watson UN speech Emma Watson's moving speech about gender equality and the he for she campaign To join heforshe: http://www.heforshe.org/

Ever felt confused by the ever changing relationship between Middle Eastern countries (and organisations)? This chart says it all!

http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_world_/2014/07/17/the_middle_east_friendship_chart.html

(note that in reality politics is always far more complicated than 3 smileys ;)

The Middle East Friendship Chart With overlapping civil wars in Syria and Iraq, a new flare-up of violence between Israel and the Palestinians, and tense nuclear talks with Iran, Middle Eastern politics are more volatile than ever and longtime alliances are shifting. Here's a guide to who's on whose side in the escalating chaos. Cl…

North Korea aka DPRK may have seemed like a mystery. Maybe this hilarious official document from the DPRK can shed some light...

http://daccess-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N14/446/04/PDF/N1444604.pdf?OpenElement

ODS HOME PAGE Multilingual interface of the UN Official Documents System

In a way, delegates to the UN are just normal people like you and me - they care about football... and make excuses for their country when it loses. *coughspaincough*

http://time.com/2895982/world-cup-united-nations/

How the United Nations Watches the World Cup The world's game seen from the bar at the center of world diplomacy