A big shake-up in the Chinese Communist Party leadership. Bo Xilai, Chinese Communist Party chief in the municipality of Chongqing, was fired from his position, although we don’t yet know if he was also purged from the Politburo. Mr. Bo was an up and coming leader who did not fit the mold of the traditional Chinese part official–he craved publicity and was regarded as someone who wished the party to return to more Mao-like policies (in the US, we would probably use the term “populist” to describe his policies even though the term doesn’t quite make sense in terms of Chinese politics). Leaders like Mr. Bo don’t usually disappear for long–we’ll have to see how he charts his return.
There is a little bit of movement in Syria. The UN has announced it is sending a humanitarian mission to Syria to assess the situation. We’ll see how much access the UN Team has and how cooperative the Assad regime is. I am not optimistic, but would be overjoyed to be wrong on this.
The nuclear equivalent of economic sanctions has been leveled against Iran: it has been banned from electronic banking transactions. Now no Iranian banks will be able to conduct transactions with non-Iranian banks, leaving only the option of barter, gold, or short-term promissory notes. The Iranian economy is already in pretty rough shape because of the earlier sanctions; these new restrictions will squeeze the Iranian people even more. Now a diplomatic solution to the nuclear program impasse looks a little more promising.
World Politics News 
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