World Politics News   Articles for World Politics Course

The Asia Times ran a brilliant essay by Pepe Escobar on the situation in Europe.  The essay is sharp, insightful, and very funny.  It is a view from a rising power about the decline of a formerly dominant power, and, as such, should be taken with a grain of salt.

Indeed, one can zero-in on Italy as the canary in the coalmine for Europe.  The recent elections settled nothing and new elections will more than likely be called soon.  But the protest vote for Beppe Grillo and his 5 Star Movement is finally being taken more seriously as an index of very troubling discontent.  There is clearly a deep level of withdrawal in the vote, and it suggests that the Italian people may be close to entertaining some more dramatic moves than those demanded by the Eu and the IMF.  We’ll have to watch how the political sentiment shifts over the next few weeks.

As we pass the 10-year anniversary of the American invasion of Iraq, there have been several interesting essays on the war.  Joseph Nye of Harvard gives his assessment of the war: far more critical of the war than most would have expected from a former member of the Defense Department.