World Politics News   Articles for World Politics Course

One reliable metric for instability in world politics is the number of refugees seeking asylum in safe countries.  According to the UN High Commissioner on Refugees, the number of asylum-seekers for 2014 may be among the highest ever recorded.  Two-thirds of the requests for asylum were made to five countries: Germany, the United States, France, Sweden and Turkey.  The largest number of requests came from people from Syria, followed by Iraq, Afghanistan, and Eritrea.  Conflict is clearly the trigger for flight, and it does not seem as if there is any likelihood of a slowdown in refugees any time soon.

The human rights group American Justice Center has filed a suit against Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his alleged complicity in widespread violence against Muslims in the Indian state of Gujarat in 2002.  Modi was the leader of the state at that time, and the suit was filed on behalf of two unnamed persons who presumably suffered during the riots.  The suit was filed as Modi began his first official visit to the US as Indian Prime Minister.  It is not likely that the suit will interfere with any of his official duties, but the suit is an example of how human rights law has achieved extra-territoriality in recent years.

Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas delivered a very hard-hitting speech to the United Nations today.   In it, he demanded that the United Nations set a deadline for setting up a Palestinian state:

“ There is no meaning or value in negotiations for which the agreed objective is not ending the Israeli occupation and achieving the independence of the state of Palestine with East Jerusalem as its capital on the entire Palestinian territory occupied in the 1967 war.

“And, there is no value in negotiations which are not linked to a firm timetable for the implementation of this goal.”

Abbas thus rejected further negotiations.  But he went further and threatened to bring Israel to the International Criminal Court for what he termed genocide in the recent Gaza War:

“We will not forget and we will not forgive, and we will not allow war criminals to escape punishment.”

There will be furious negotiations within the UN as these matters proceed.