Kazakhstan has announced a 20% devaluation of its currency (the Tenge), effectively reducing savings in the country by that amount in an unanticipated move. Needless to say, the move caused a great deal of unrest and many stores closed in order to reprice all their merchandise. But in the capital city, Almaty, the military was mobilized to handle any protests. Here is a video tape from the city demonstrating in vivid detail the political economy of a crisis. The crisis in not likely to spread to other countries, but it will certainly raise more fears about the state of the global economy. In Venezuela, deteriorating economic conditions have led to a long string of protests, and in the most recent protest, three protesters were killed bu government forces.
Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta has resigned, shifting the government to a center-left orientation as it seems likely that Matteo Renzi will replace him as Prime Minister. This government will be the third in the last year for Italy as the turmoil associated with a deteriorating economic situation continues to worsen. Renzi will definitely be less compliant with the European Union policies pushing Italy toward austerity, and a confrontation with the EU is almost inevitable.
The European Union has announced plans to send a humanitarian military mission to the Central African Republic to help stem the violence that has led to the deaths of thousands. There are currently French forces there (and US forces nearby but not in the CAR) but the French want to replace by a genuinely multilateral force. The plan is to set up a small protected enclave in the capital city of Bangui, but there is as of now no firm timetable for the intervention. We will see how rapidly the EU can organize itself in the face of this tragedy.
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