World Politics News   Articles for World Politics Course

Credit Suisse is one of the world’s largest banks and every year it does a survey of global wealth in an effort to identify individuals who fall into the category of “High Net Worth.”  The results of its survey are consistent with those of previous years:  wealth inequality continues to grow globally.  In 2015 0.7% of the human population owned 45.2% of the world’s wealth; the bottom 71% of the human population owned 3.0% of global wealth.  It remains to be seen if this maldistribution of wealth suggests a problem of systemic underconsumption.

An inevitable consequence of the growing Russian involvement in the Syrian civil war was Russian identification as an enemy of the extremists.  The phenomenon is known as blowback and al Qaeda in Syria has called for attacks on Russian soil in retaliation for the Russian attacks in Syria.  The Russians have had a serious problem with extremists from Chechnya, and, according to the Pew Foundation, the Muslim population in Russia is the largest in all of Europe in absolute numbers and is projected to grow:

“Russia has the largest Muslim population in absolute numbers in all of Europe. The number of Muslims in Russia is projected to increase from about 16.4 million in 2010 to about 18.6 million in 2030. The Muslim share of the country’s population is expected to increase from 11.7% in 2010 to 14.4% in 2030.

The growth rate for the Muslim population in the Russian Federation is projected to be 0.6% annually over the next two decades. By contrast, Russia’s non-Muslim population is expected to shrink by an average of 0.6% annually over the same 20-year period.”

The average Muslim population for all of Europe is about 8% of total population.

Illegal fishing along the West African coast is destroying the livelihoods of many local fishermen in the region.  The factory trawlers, largely from China and Russia, have capabilities that far exceed those of the local fisherman and are leading to radically declining catches.  Many species are being hunted to extinction and the fishermen generally have no other alternatives to keep their families alive other than fishing.