World Politics News   Articles for World Politics Course

Hamas has taken responsibility for firing more than 40 rockets into southern Israel from the Gaza Strip.  Hamas asserts that the rocket fire is in response to Israeli attacks in Gaza that killed 6 Hamas members.  There is no moral defense for firing indiscriminate weapons into civilian areas, no matter what the provocation.  Fortunately, there are no reports of any deaths from the rockets.  Israel has announced that it is mobilizing 1500 reservists and it is likely that there will be further violence in the Gaza. At this time, there does not appear to be any movement toward de-escalation.

Propaganda is an intrinsic part of world politics, and governments use many different tactics to communicate their basic ideology.  In the 1930s, the Nazi Party in Germany used the photograph of the perfect “Aryan” child to reinforce their ideology of race superiority.  Unbeknownst to the Nazis, the photograph they used was actually the photograph of a young Jewish child.  No one knew at the time, but the parents knew the truth of the propaganda.

The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has just published it forecast of global economic growth to 2060.  It forecasts a slowing growth pattern from previous years, and growing stresses due to environmental degradation.  In particular, its forecast on how that economic growth will be distributed is sobering:

With growth increasingly driven by knowledge and skills, growth in itself could keep generating rising tensions and inequalities. On current trends, earning inequality in the average OECD country may have risen by more than 30% in 2060 and would then face almost the same level of inequality as is seen in the United States today. Moreover, structural adjustment will continue, especially across firms within sectors (e.g. from low to high productivity and from polluting to less polluting firms) and in emerging economies, and the consequences for workers’ wellbeing will have to be managed. If left unaddressed, such increases in inequality and costs of adjustment could eventually backlash on stability and growth.