World Politics News   Articles for World Politics Course

The Director of US Intelligence warned Congress about emerging threats to the world, and one of those threats was the possibility of bio-terrorism.  With recent advances, gene-splicing has become one of the most promising new technologies with potential for treating all sorts of diseases and conditions.  Unfortunately, gene-splicing can also be used to alter bacteria in ways that could be dangerous to humans.  The evidence is that the threat of “rogue scientists” working on such possibilities is real and almost impossible to detect.

A “cessation of hostilities” in Syria has been announced by the UN.  The pause is fighting is designed to give humanitarian agencies to enter Syria and attend to the desperate needs of the population.    While any stoppage is welcome, the agreement, signed by 21 countries in Munich, does not stop military actions against “terrorist” groups.  This loophole is huge because there is widespread disagreement about which groups are terrorist:  fighting can continue against the Islamic State, but Russia regards the Kurds, an American ally, as a terrorist group.  Before one should condemn the agreement as too flawed, however, one should always welcome any positive step in the direction of helping innocents.  Perhaps the agreement can lead to another, bolder step.

Greek farmers launched a major protest against proposed government changes to their pensions and their taxes.  The changes are all part of the austerity measures imposed upon Greece as a condition for receiving financial support to pay back Greek government debt.  Those changes have dramatically affected the daily life of all Greeks, and the economic declines have been both very difficult and long-lasting.  Greece is pretty much into the sixth year of economic recession, and unemployment rates are on the order of 50% for young people.