As the diplomatic scuffles continue over the negotiations on Syria in Geneva, new evidence has surfaced indicating that the Assad regime systematically tortured and killed over 11,000 people in the three-year civil war. The evidence tremendously complicates any possible solution to the violence which may involve any possibility of conciliation with the Assad regime. The Western powers will find it impossible to treat Assad with any leniency; those who support Assad (Russia and Iran) will dig in their heels knowing that without him their influence in Syria will emphatically end. The world needs to answer the question: Is it more important that justice be served on a brutal tyrant than to find a way to end the horrific ongoing violence in Syria? The answer is not an easy one.
Globalization has had a dramatic effect on the global labor market. As is the case with all major economic transformations, there are both winners and losers–those who can adapt to the changes well will benefit and those who cannot adapt will lose. We are, however, living in the incipient stage of the latest wave of globalization and many have not had the chance yet to adapt, and questions are being raised about whether the technological changes associated with globalization really afford many opportunities for labor. The Economist has run an exceptionally perceptive essay on this particular problem–I recommend it highly.
The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists is a privately run non-governmental organization that has been dedicated to uncovering how much money in the world is being kept secret in offshore accounts in tax havens such as the British Virgin Islands. The organization has focused primarily on secret money held by western elites, but it has recently released a report on how much money is being held offshore by Chinese elites. The amount of money is truly staggering–the ICIJ estimates that almost $4 trillion has been spirited out of China and kept immune from Chinese government taxation and control. The amount of money is not only quite large, but it is also money that has been accumulated in a very short period of time. I suspect that this news will not be reported in the Chinese media.
Here’s an update on the ICIJ story: Chinese censors are scrubbing the internet to remove any references to the ICIJ report.
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