The International Monetary Fund has issued a warning on global economic growth in the coming year. It revised its prediction for economic growth to 3.2% from its earlier estimate of 3.4%. That may not sound like a significant drop, but the lower prediction comes on the heels of earlier downgrades as well. If growth continues to shrink, the global economy becomes increasingly vulnerable to unanticipated disruptions such as national disasters, currency depreciations, and political surprises. The ice keeps getting thinner.
The 8th Annual ASDA’A Burson-Marsteller Arab Youth Survey 2016 was recently published. It is a poll of young people in the following countries: Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Palestine, Tunisia and Yemen. The results are quite striking. By a very wide margin, Arab youth have no affection for Daesh (the Islamic State) and in fact regard it as the most serious issue facing the Middle East. The charts in the Washington Post are quite dramatic.
The United States and India are inching closer to greater military cooperation. India has long been leery of closer military ties with the US, a fear conditioned by its experience as a colony of Great Britain. But it appears as if the fear of growing Chinese maritime power is affecting the Modi government in much the same way that Vietnam and the Philippines have been pushed toward the US. For right now, the agreement between India and the US is quite limited–it only refers to the possible opening up of “each other’s land, air and naval bases for resupplies, repair and rest.” That agreement is a far cry from the possible creation of military bases.
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