A factory in Guangdong province of China has opened what it considered to be the first “zero-labor” factory. Everwin Precision Technology Ltd is starting up a factory that will create products primarily by robots with humans only being used to manage the activities and to run software. The shift to robots reflects a growing labor shortage in China as migration patterns change and as the population ages. The local government intends to push for roboticizing manufacturing processes as much as possible.
US Secretary of State broke his thigh bone in a bicycle accident in Switzerland and has therefore left the talks with the P5+1 and Iran. Yet, apparently, the US and Europe have reached an agreement with China and Russia on what would happen if Iran broke its commitments to the agreement. According to Reuters:
As part of the new agreement on sanctions snapback, suspected breaches by Iran would be taken up by a dispute-resolution panel, likely including the six powers and Iran, which would assess the allegations and come up with a non-binding opinion, the officials said.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) would also continue regularly reporting on Iran’s nuclear program, which would provide the six powers and the Security Council with information on Tehran’s activities to enable them to assess compliance.
If Iran was found to be in non-compliance with the terms of the deal, then U.N. sanctions would be restored.
The cumbersome nature of the agreement can only be interpreted as a victory for Russia and China which have opposed any “automatic” reinstatement of the sanctions. It is also a victory for Iran which will not have to be subjected to arbitrary findings by the P5+1.
Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras wrote an article for Le Monde which blasted the troika for the difficulties in resolving Greek sovereign debt. In the article, Tsipras outlines all the steps the Greek government has taken to meet the terms of the troika and asks the question why the troika remains unsatisfied:
So, let’s be clear:
The lack of an agreement so far is not due to the supposed intransigent, uncompromising and incomprehensible Greek stance.
It is due to the insistence of certain institutional actors on submitting absurd proposals and displaying a total indifference to the recent democratic choice of the Greek people, despite the public admission of the three Institutions that necessary flexibility will be provided in order to respect the popular verdict.
What is driving this insistence?
His answer raises a very serious question about the intentions of the troika:
My conclusion, therefore, is that the issue of Greece does not only concern Greece; rather, it is the very epicenter of conflict between two diametrically opposing strategies concerning the future of European unification.
The first strategy aims to deepen European unification in the context of equality and solidarity between its people and citizens.
The proponents of this strategy begin with the assumption that it is not possible to demand that the new Greek government follows the course of the previous one – which, we must not forget, failed miserably. This assumption is the starting point, because otherwise, elections would need to be abolished in those countries that are in a Program. Namely, we would have to accept that the institutions should appoint the Ministers and Prime Ministers, and that citizens should be deprived of the right to vote until the completion of the Program.
In other words, this means the complete abolition of democracy in Europe, the end of every pretext of democracy, and the beginning of disintegration and of an unacceptable division of United Europe.
This means the beginning of the creation of a technocratic monstrosity that will lead to a Europe entirely alien to its founding principles.
Tsipras is invoking the specter of 1984 and casts the international institutions as Big Brother. His claim will undoubtedly resonate with many of the nationalist movements in EUrope today.
World Politics News 
Just as a parliament can vote itself a pay raise, a country can vote to not pay its debts. That doesn’t save the country from the consequences.
The European Union is also a democratic institution – it’s just a lot bigger and more diverse than Greece.
To strengthen its negotiating position, Greece needs a broad set of basic reforms, including lifting the virtually tax-free status of Greek shipping companies.
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