World Politics News   Articles for World Politics Course

New research indicates the global warming, independently of overfishing, is reducing the global stocks of fish. Overfishing is well-documented and, according to the National Geographic:

“A study of catch data published in 2006 in the journal Science grimly predicted that if fishing rates continue apace, all the world’s fisheries will have collapsed by the year 2048.

But now we also find that many fish species cannot tolerate warmer ocean temperatures, or the acidification associated with global warming. The results of the new research found that “According to the authors of the new study published in the journal Science, ecosystems in the northeast Atlantic Ocean and the sea of Japan have seen fish populations decline by as much as 35% due to warming waters by over the last eight decades.” Globally, fish accounts for 17% of the protein consumed by the human population.

A United Nations Security Council resolution sponsored by the United States called for states to recognize Juan Guaido as the legitimate leader of Venezuela and for the Venezuelan government to allow the importation of humanitarian aid. The resolution received 9 affirmative votes but was vetoed by China and Russia who were both concerned that the resolution was an invitation to a military intervention by the US. The Russians then introduced a resolution that condemned threats of outside intervention but it only received 4 affirmative votes and was vetoed by the US, Great Britain, and France. In defense of its resolution, Russia used the example of Libya as a case in which humanitarian intervention sanctioned by the UN Security Council was ultimately used to overthrow the government of Muammar Gaddaffi. The inability of the UN to address effectively the humanitarian crisis in Venezuela unfortunately opens up the possibility of unilateral action by the US, a course of action that would be disastrous.

Guaido met with Brazilian President Bolsonaro to shore up support for his regime, but it is unclear how he will be able to return to Venezuela where he almost certainly be arrested. The Lima Group, consisting of the governments of  Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, and Peru, has repudiated the use of military force as an option in addressing the crisis in Venezuela but it is not at all clear that the group has much diplomatic leverage over the United States.