World Politics News   Articles for World Politics Course

The left-wing party, Syriza, won a decisive victory in the Greek elections even though it fell short of an outright Parliamentary majority.  Syriza took about 37% of the vote, far higher than predicted and crushing New Democracy, the party currently in power.   Syriza will try to renegotiate the terms of the financial support it has received from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund.  It will likely face stiff opposition from Germany against any easing of the austerity programs designed to reduce the Greek budget deficit.  It will be very interesting to see how the European stock markets interpret this election outcome tomorrow morning.

The US has decidedly changed its position on the Syrian civil war that has killed more than 200,000 civilians over the last three years.  Previously, the US had insisted that the current President, Bashar al-Assad, must be removed from office before any peace negotiations could begin.  Now the US accepts the fact that Assad will likely remain in power and has to be part of any negotiated agreement.  The change is due to a decision by the US that the Islamic State is a greater threat to the US than Assad, and it will now embrace the old balance of power adage that “an enemy of my enemy is my friend.”

At least 17 people were killed in a demonstration in celebration of the 4th anniversary of the “Arab Spring” revolution in Egypt.  Much of the optimism of that period has now dissipated in Egypt since Abdel Fattah al-Sisi was elected President last year.   al-Sisi has restored stability to Egypt after tumultuous years, but the price in the loss of human rights and freedom has been very high for many sectors of Egyptian society.