The climate change agreement forged in Paris last week has been hailed as a dramatic step forward in the effort to slow down climate change. From a rhetorical and symbolic point of view, that assessment is certainly true. But many have doubts that these public commitments will be honored. Bill McKibben is someone who has been at the forefront of the effort to stop climate change, and his assessment of the merits of the agreement are not encouraging.
The Congo Research Group at the New York University has just published an essay, “The Landscape of Armed Groups in the Eastern Congo.” The Democratic Republic of Congo has experienced great violence since Belgian colonization in the late 1800s. As of today there are about 70 armed groups operating in eastern Congo and over 1.6 million people have been displaced. It is the most war-torn place on the planet, exceeding the violence we see on a daily basis in the Middle East.
Angela Merkel has earned deserved praise for her willingness to accept large number of refugees, but she has more recently been indicating that there are limits to how many refugees Germany can accept. Merkel does not accept some definitions of multiculturalism, and back in 2010 she indicated her reservations with the idea. She believes that the refugees should assimilate into German society and that Germany should not allow the development of parallel societies. She is trying to walk a very fine line in order to preserve German stability with the obligations of German power.
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