World Politics News   Articles for World Politics Course

For the last two nights, riots have broken out in the eastern German city of Chemnitz.  The riots were occasioned by demonstrations by right-wing groups who were protesting the murder of a German, allegedly by an immigrant.  The riots will likely strengthen the hand of the right-wing party, Alternative for Germany, and complicate the life of Chancellor Merkel.  The Irish Times had an ominous interpretation of the riots:

“The real warning of Chemnitz is how many locals joined the protest. Squeezed by low-paid work and rising rents, many are furious at how new arrivals got free apartments and generous welfare. Germany’s Geneva refugee convention obligations mean little to people with little experience of foreigners in the East German past and real, existential worries in the present.”

The BBC has a podcast on the city of Chemnitz and the struggles of the German people in the eastern part of the country.

The United Nations has called upon China to close down what China calls “re-education camps” for perhaps as many as a million Muslim Uighurs.  China has been very concerned about the loyalties of the Uighurs, particularly since many of the Uighurs have been involved with extremist groups in Iraq, Syria, and Afghanistan.  The Chinese are quite invested in the Xinjiang Province where the majority of Uighurs live because it is a central part of the Belt and Road Initiative.  The Trump Administration is beginning to apply pressure on China over the issue of how the Uighurs are treated, but that pressure is inconsistent with the need for Chinese cooperation of trade disputes and on North Korea.