The African drought continues to worsen throughout the continent. Zimbabwe is the most recent country to declare a state of emergency: more than 25% of the population is now food insecure. The drought is pervasive across southern Africa and may be a consequence of the very strong el Niño. With the global collapse of commodity prices, none of the African countries is in a position to respond effectively to this crisis. Outside help is absolutely necessary.
German Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel sounded a warning about the growth of the German right-wing political movements, asserting that their language is dangerously close to the rhetoric of the Nazis. Gabriel was referring to the strength of the Alternatives for Germany Party and the Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamisation of the Occident (PEGIDA) movement. Both are virulently anti-immigrant and Anti-Muslim movements who have casually tossed the term “traitor” against Chancellor Merkel. Meanwhile, French Prime Minister Manuel Valls has argued that emergency rules, adopted after the massacres in Paris, should be extended. Those rules have allowed the French state to conduct searches of thousands of houses in France.
Globalization has shifted around the economic winners and losers throughout the globe. It is safe to say that the winners have truly done well, and these winners really span virtually all the nation-states in the world. The losers are well-distributed as well, but the main losers are those who worked in manufacturing jobs and lost them to low-wage workers in other countries. Stephen Rattner has asked a very pertinent question in an op-ed piece for the New York Times: what are our obligations to those who have lost their jobs?
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