World Politics News   Articles for World Politics Course

There are often developments in world politics that truly defy understanding.  The European Central Bank just released data on the amount of sovereign [government] debt held by private banks in Europe.  Bizarrely, the total amount of sovereign debt has risen since 2012 from about 4.3 percent of bank assets to about 5.8 percent of bank assets.   That may not sound like a steep rise, but it is a dangerous increase since it suggests that the welfare of states is now more directly linked to the welfare of private banks.  In short, if governments cannot repay their debts, then banks may fail;  likewise, if banks fail, governments may be forced to default on their debts.  While the percentage has increased most dramatically in what are regarded as the weaker states in Europe (in Slovenia the percentage is close to 14 percent), even in Germany and France the percentage has increased.

It has been difficult to determine with any precision exactly who the armed men roaming the streets of eastern Ukraine represent.  They wear no uniforms and have carefully covered their faces with balaclavas.  So, depsite strong suspicions, it is difficult to charge Russia with the crime of armed aggression (a clear violation of the UN Charter).  The world has become used to this practice in guerrilla wars, even though no solution has been found to identify enemy soldiers.  But its use in an invasion is new, and, if it is the case in Ukraine, it signals a very difficult problem for professional militaries that depend on clear identification for the use of massive force.   So there has been an incredible effort, some of which is highly creative, to figure out if the armed men are Russian soldiers or merely irregular Ukrainian rebels.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has certified that Iran has complied with all the provisions of the agreement it signed with the P5+1 on its nuclear program.  The verification is a positive step validating the negotiations pushed by the United Nations.  In return, Iran will have access to billions of dollars which had been frozen as part of the sanctions that helped bring about the negotiations.  So far, the diplomatic approach seems to be working well.