World Politics News   Articles for World Politics Course

The fallout from the publication of the Panama Papers has begun, but it will be a long time before we recognize the full dimensions of the scandal.  Many of the memos reproduced do not use names, but only references to some people that are indirect and have to be broken down and traced.  Prime Minister Sigmundur Gunnlaugsson has heard calls for his resignation because the memos indicate that he hid millions from discovery in an offshore bank.  So far, he has refused to resign: his defense is that avoiding taxes is perfectly legal.  Other politicians so far identified in Argentinian President Mauricio Macri, Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, and Russian President Vladimir Putin.  This event is a real tipping point.  Using offshore banks to avoid taxes is perfectly legal because the laws have been written to make them legal.  But these legal loopholes are not available to ordinary people because they require very large investments which most people cannot make.  Even if the investments are legal, the massive shift of taxation from the very rich to those who those with more limited means is a morally reprehensible act.  Will the governments act to change the laws?

Under the deal forged by German Chancellor Merkel, the European Union, and Turkey, the first refugees in Greece were sent back to Turkey.  The deal is that for every refugee admitted to Greece, one would be sent back to Turkey.  In return, Turkey gets €6 billion and visa-free travel in the EU for its citizens.  The refugee camps in Greece are miserable and tense over the agreement, and most human rights activists believe that the deal violates international law.  But the EU believes that it can longer handle the political ramifications of a continued influx of refugees and believes that this deal is the best that can be done.

The US, Australia, and the Philippines have begun an 11-day military exercise in the South China Sea.  Apparently, the exercise involves the retaking of a sea-based oil rig from hostile forces, an exercise that could hardly be missed by the Chinese.  The challenge to the Chinese claims of maritime sovereignty in the region continues;  we will see what the Chinese response to this event will be.