A book published in 1972 predicted that humanity would face a collapse sometime in the 21st Century due to population growth, resource depletion, and environmental degradation. The book, The Limits to Growth, was the first to harness the new power of computers to model human processes and their interaction with the environment. At the time it was dismissed as a scare-mongering, Malthusian polemic. But the book changed the way we all thought about anthropomorphic change. Unfortunately, the predictions of the book seem to be tracking reality.
The Nigerian army has been unable to enter the capital city of one of the nation’s states because it is tightly held by the Islamic group, Boko Haram (“Western Education is a Sin”). The group has been active in the northern, mostly Muslim, part of Nigeria, and its objective is to establish an Islamic State independent of the mostly Christian southern part of the country. The central government has been unable to maintain control over the area, and Boko Haram has been active consolidating its control, not only through military activities, but also by taking on economic and social actions to help the poverty-stricken area.
There are rumors in the press that the EU will announce very tough new sanctions–including ones against the oil and gas industry on which Europe is highly dependent–against Russia in response to its actions in Ukraine. One interesting dynamic of the sanctions debate is the relative quiescence of China. By all rights, China should be very concerned about outsiders supporting separatists given the dissent within the Uighur and Tibetan populations–it clearly does not wish their own groups to be supported by outsiders. On the other hand, China will be the beneficiary of these sanctions: they will weaken both Europe and Russia, and Russia will turn to China for aid, giving China the advantage of both Europe and Russia.
World Politics News 
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