World Politics News   Articles for World Politics Course

On 19 January the Communist Party of China Central Committee and State Council issued an “Opinion” on improving the quality of college-level instruction in China.  The document is a fascinating outline of a philosophy of higher education that is remarkably different from Western philosophy.  In summary, the “Opinion” outlines the following objectives [the following translation from the Chinese is a Google translation]:

First, strengthen and improve college propaganda and ideological work is an important and urgent strategic task; Second, the guiding ideology, basic principles and main tasks; three, effectively promote the theoretical system of socialism with Chinese characteristics into textbooks into the classroom into the mind; four, greatly improve the ideological and political quality of university teachers; five, growing mainstream ideological and public opinion; six, strengthen propaganda and ideological positions university management; seven, strengthen the Party’s leadership college propaganda and ideological work.

Some differences are striking and worthy of close attention.  First, the emphasis on the ideological function of higher education is something that would never be uttered in the West:  the pretense in the West is that higher education ought to be free from the routinized reasoning implicit in the idea of ideology.  Yet there is no doubt that most Western higher education is deeply rooted in liberal ideology.  Second, the admission that knowledge is distinctly cultural (“Chinese characteristics”) is at odds with the Western assumption that knowledge is universal and not culturally bound.  These differences are truly important and we as scholars should be the first to assess their validity.

The situation in Greece and its upcoming struggle with the European Union should not be viewed as an isolated case.  There are many issues facing the EU right now, and it would be a mistake to think that because of its underlying political and economic core the Union will inevitably emerge as the winning side.  It may, indeed, force Greece to back down, but the Greek issues highlight similar concerns in many other parts of the European experiment.  Indeed, there are many reasons to be concerned about the future of the Union.

One of the more immediate effects of Syriza’s success in Greece has been the increased popularity of a similarly leftist party in Spain called Podemos (“We can”).  It held a rally in Spain on Sunday that attracted a huge crowd.  Spain holds its national elections in November and some polls have Podemos already in the lead to win.  Spain has arrangements with the troika that are similar to those made with Greece.

The new Greek government has announced that it will not negotiate with the “troika” (the European Union, the International Monetary Fund, and the European Central Bank) on an extension of the current loan repayment program.  What this means in very concrete terms is that the current owners of Greek debt (which are banks and sovereign governments like France or Germany) will not be repaid on schedule or in the full amount they were expecting.  The “troika” was going to lend money to Greece so that these repayments could be made.  If this turns out to be what actually happens, then there will be two “victims”.  The first victim will be the Greek people who will be unable to borrow any new money so that the Greek economy will become a cash only economy.  The second victim will be the owners of Greek debt: the banks and governments who were expecting money.  The governments can certainly handle a shortfall–they will simply increase taxes or cut services to manage the loss.   The banks, however, may suffer a loss of credibility if their depositors believe that the banks don’t have enough money to both return their (the depositors) full deposits and to cover their losses (from the lost Greek payments) simultaneously.  In other words, the banks may collapse.  From the view of some analysts, the real issue is whether the banks should receive full payment at the cost of extreme austerity in Greece.

The African Union has selected the leader of Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe, as its next chairman.  Mugabe was a true hero in the African liberation movement and will always be remembered for his role in that important struggle.  Nonetheless, he has been the leader of Zimbabwe since 1980 and has hung on to power through ruthlessness and corruption.   His selection does not serve the African Union well.

Nigeria has an important presidential election on 14 February, and it seems as if the inability of the current government of Goodluck Jonathan to control the radical group, Boko Haram, is going to be a critical issue in the election.  President Jonathan is opposed by Muhammadu Buhari, a Muslim leader from the north of Nigeria where Boko Haram is quite strong.  It does not, however, appear as if Buhari has excited much of the Nigerian electorate.

The Russian economy continues to suffer from the Western sanctions and the drop in the price of oil.  The critical question is how the economic slowdown will affect President Putin’s political power.  Most polls indicate that Russians strongly support President Putin’s strong nationalist stance.  But perhaps a critical variable is the extent to which the wealthiest Russians support Putin’s policies which have had such an adverse effect on their incomes.

For four months the Islamic State and the Kurdish peshmerga have fought over the Syrian town of Kobani.  The Kurds have finally secured the town, but the photographs of the destruction are truly appalling.  The Kurds were successful in preserving their freedom, but the costs of that victory were extraordinarily high.

Israel and Hezbollah are exchanging fire across the Golan Heights. Many analysts believe that the Hezbollah attack on the Israeli army convoy that killed two Israeli soldiers was in retaliation for an Israeli attack last month that killed six Hezbollah fighters as well as an Iranian General.  It does not appear at this time that either side wishes the violence to escalate, but the situation in the Heights is so volatile that any violence contains great risks.

This post is clearly a case of too much information.  But, as noted in an earlier post, 80 people in the world have as much wealth as the bottom 50% of the global population.  I am sure, however, that many readers wondered who these people were–just in case they happened to be next door neighbors.  Check out how many on the list are men, and how many are from the US.  And think about how long the list would be if I were to list the 3.5 billion people at the bottom.  So here is the list:

1.  Bill Gates, $76 billion, USA, Tech

2.  Carlos Slim Helu, $72 billion, Mexico, Telecom

3.  Amancio Ortega,  $64 billion, Spain,  Retail

4.  Warren Buffett, $58 billion, USA,  Finance

5.  Larry Ellison,  $48 billion, USA,  Tech

6.  Charles Koch,  $40 billion,  USA,  Diversified

7.  David Koch, $40 billion, USA, Diversified

8.  Sheldon Adelson, $38 billion, USA,  Entertainment

9.  Christy Walton, $37 billion, USA,  Retail

10.  Jim Walton, $35 billion, USA,  Retail

11.  Liliane Bettencourt, $35 billion, France, Product

12.  Stefan Persson, $34 billion, Sweden, Retail

13.  Alice Walton, $34 billion,  USA, Retail

14.  S. Robson Walton, $34 billion, USA, Retail

15.  Bernard Arnault, $34 billion, France, Luxury

16.  Michael Bloomberg, $33 billion, USA, Finance

17.  Larry Page, $32 billion, USA, Tech

18.  Jeff Bezos, $32 billion, USA, Retail

19.  Sergey Brin, $32 billion, USA, Tech

20.  Li Ka-shing, $31 billion, Hong Kong, Diversified

21.  Mark Zuckerberg, $29 billion, USA, Tech

22.  Michele Ferrero, $27 billion, Italy, Food

23.  Aliko Dangote, $25 billion, Nigeria, Commodities

24.  Karl Albrecht, $25 billion, Germany, Retail

25.  Carl Icahn, $25 billion, USA, Finance

26.  George Soros, $23 billion, USA, Finance

27.  David Thomson, $23 billion, Canada, Media

28.  Lui Che Woo, $22 billion, Hong Kong, Entertainment

29.  Dieter Schwarz, $21 billion, Germany, Retail

30.  Alwaleed Bin Talal Al-saud, $20 billion, Saudi Arabia, Finance

31.  Forrest Mars Jr., $20 billion, USA,  Food

32.  Jacqueline Mars, $20 billion, USA,  Food

33.  John Mars, $20 billion, USA, Food

34.  Jorge Paulo Lemann, $20 billion, Brazil, Drinks

35.  Lee Shau Kee, $20 billion, Hong Kong, Diversified

36.  Steve Ballmer, $19 billion, USA, Tech

37.  Theo Albrecht Jr., $19 billion, Germany, Retail

38.  Leonardo Del Vecchio,$19 billion, Italy, Luxury

39.  Len Blavatnik, $19 billion, USA, Diversified

40.  Alisher Usmanov, $19 billion, Russia, Extractives

41.  Mukesh Ambani, $19 billion, India, Extractives

42.  Masayoshi Son, $18 billion, Japan, Telecom

43.  Michael Otto, $18 billion, Germany, Retail

44.  Phil Knight, $18 billion, USA, Retail

45.  Tadashi Yanai, $18 billion, Japan, Retail

46.  Gina Rinehart, $18 billion, Australia, Extractives

47.  Mikhail Fridman, $18 billion, Russia, Extractives

48.  Michael Dell, $18 billion, USA, Tech

49.  Susanne Klatten, $17 billion, Germany, Cars

50.  Abigail Johnson, $17 billion, USA, Finance

51.  Viktor Vekselberg, $17 billion, Russia, Metals

52.  Lakshmi Mittal, $17 billion, India, Metals

53.  Vladimir Lisin, $17billion, Russia, Transport

54.  Cheng Yu-tung, $16 billion, Hong Kong, Diversified

55.  Joseph Safra,$16 billion, Brazil, Finance

56.  Paul Allen, $16 billion, USA, Tech

57.  Leonid Mikhelson,  $16 billion, Russia, Extractives

58.  Anne Cox Chambers, $16 billion, USA, Media

59.  Francois Pinault, $16 billion, France, Retail

60.  Iris Fontbona, $16 billion, Chile, Extractives

61.  Azim Premji, $15 billion, India, Tech

62.  Mohammed Al Amoudi, $15 billion, Saudi Arabia, Extractives

63.  Gennady Timchenko, $15 billion, Russia, Extractives

64.  Wang Jianlin, $15 billion, China, Real Estate

65.  Charles Ergen, $15 billion, USA,  Telecom

66.  Stefan Quandt, $15 billion, Germany,  Cars

67.  Germán Larrea Mota Velasco, $15 billion, Mexico, Extractives

68.  Harold Hamm, $15 billion, USA, Extractives

69.  Ray Dalio, $14 billion, USA, Finance

70.  Donald Bren, $14 billion, USA,  Real Estate

71.  Georg Schaeffler, $14 billion, Germany, Product

72.  Luis Carlos Sarmiento, $14 billion, Colombia, Finance

73.  Ronald Perelman,  $14 billion, USA, Finance

74.  Laurene Powell Jobs, $14 billion, USA, Entertainment

75.  Serge Dassault, $14 billion, France,  Aviation

76.  John Fredriksen, $14 billion, Cyprus, Transport

77.  Vagit Alekperov, $14 billion, Russia, Extractives

78.  John Paulson, $14 billion, USA, Finance

79.  Rupert Murdoch, $14 billion, USA, Media

80.  Ma Huateng, $13 billion, China, Tech

Today marks the 70th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp by Soviet troops in World War II.  Over a million people, most of them Jews, were killed in the camp as the Nazi government tried to implement its “Final Solution.”  The Holocaust marks the point at which the world began to rethink seriously its commitment to the idea of national sovereignty, deciding instead that some crimes are never simply an “internal” matter.

US President Obama visited Saudi Arabia  today to pay respects to the passing of Saudi King Abdullah.  Obama has to thread a difficult needle on US-Saudi relations, acknowledging the importance of Saudi Arabia to the global economy while at the same time recognizing Saudi Arabia’s role in global terrorist activities and its human rights abuses.

James Fallows has a very pointed essay in the Atlantic on the issue of the Iranian nuclear negotiations.  There will likely be a lot of discussion about stopping Iran from developing nuclear weapons as the negotiations continue and as Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu tries to apply pressure on the US Congress to implement additional sanctions on Iran.  Fallows’s point is very straightforward: neither the US or Israel has the ability to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons if it makes the decision to do so.

Alexis Tsipras, the most likely next Prime Minister of Greece, wasted no time in sending a message to Europe about how to interpret the victory of his party, Syriza, in the recent elections.  His first act after declaring victory at the polls was to lay flowers at a memorial commemorating 200 Greek communists killed by the Nazis in World War II.   The message was that Greece would no longer submit to the austerity programs designed in Germany.  Greece now has until June before it needs to pay back its loan to the European Union.  We’ll see if Germany allows Greece to renegotiate the terms of the payback.

US President Obama joined in India’s Republic Day ceremony, celebrating the adoption of the Indian constitution in 1950.  The event symbolized the importance that Obama is placing on US-Indian relations, and the hope that India will prove to be a reliable counterweight to Chinese influence in South and Southeast Asia.  Not coincidentally, Pakistani Chief of Army Staff, General Raheel Sharif, was in China at the same time deepening Chinese-Pakistani military relations.

As we all await the arrival of the snowstorm, here is a little background information on New England blizzards.  Enjoy the storm if you can!  (I will not ask any questions about this article on the quiz–just enjoy it)

The left-wing party, Syriza, won a decisive victory in the Greek elections even though it fell short of an outright Parliamentary majority.  Syriza took about 37% of the vote, far higher than predicted and crushing New Democracy, the party currently in power.   Syriza will try to renegotiate the terms of the financial support it has received from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund.  It will likely face stiff opposition from Germany against any easing of the austerity programs designed to reduce the Greek budget deficit.  It will be very interesting to see how the European stock markets interpret this election outcome tomorrow morning.

The US has decidedly changed its position on the Syrian civil war that has killed more than 200,000 civilians over the last three years.  Previously, the US had insisted that the current President, Bashar al-Assad, must be removed from office before any peace negotiations could begin.  Now the US accepts the fact that Assad will likely remain in power and has to be part of any negotiated agreement.  The change is due to a decision by the US that the Islamic State is a greater threat to the US than Assad, and it will now embrace the old balance of power adage that “an enemy of my enemy is my friend.”

At least 17 people were killed in a demonstration in celebration of the 4th anniversary of the “Arab Spring” revolution in Egypt.  Much of the optimism of that period has now dissipated in Egypt since Abdel Fattah al-Sisi was elected President last year.   al-Sisi has restored stability to Egypt after tumultuous years, but the price in the loss of human rights and freedom has been very high for many sectors of Egyptian society.

Ukrainian rebels have launched a missile attack on the city of Mariupol, a strategic access point to the Black Sea.   The attack signals the formal end of the tattered cease-fire, and an escalation in the crisis.   Taking the city would give the rebels a land route from eastern Ukraine into the Crimean peninsula, solidifying control over what Russian President Putin has termed “New Russia.”  It is unclear how the West will respond to this escalation.

The Brazilian states of Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Minas Gerais are suffering through the worst drought since the 1930s.   The water shortages threaten the economy of Brazil in powerful ways and it is not clear how the situation can be rectified.   Many industries will be unable to function unless the drought substantially eases up.  The loss  of one of the largest economies in the world would be a crippling blow to the global economy as a whole.

The violence perpetrated by the Islamic State has re-kindled Western fears of “radical Islam.”  The recent actions against Japanese hostages will likely inflame the debate further. The category of “radical Islam” is a meaningless one, but it refuses to go away.  The world, however, needs to figure out a way to address the issue of terrorist violence without conflating it with a religion.

The diplomacy behind Congress’s decision to invite Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu to deliver a message to Congress without informing the White House has taken a decidedly murky turn.  THe initial interpretation of the invitation was to buttress Israel’s desire for Congress to impose new sanctions on Iran in the hope that such sanctions would scuttle the current negotiations.  US Secretary of State Kerry countered this move by quoting the Israeli intelligence agency, Mossad, as believing that the sanctions would indeed end the negotiations.  Then Kerry persuaded the European Union to issue a statement warning against any new sanctions on Iran.  This convoluted diplomacy thus suggests that the invitation to Netanyahu was a deliberate attempt to undermine President Obama’s efforts to reach a negotiated settlement with Iran–in effect, the Congress working with a foreign leader to destroy a Presidential initiative.

There is evidence that the situation in eastern Ukraine is deteriorating to the point where a complete collapse of the cease-fire is likely.   Low level violence has been persistent between Ukrainian authorities and Russian-speaking separatists in the eastern part of the state, but there are signs that the separatists are mobilizing for a major offensive.  The Ukrainian army has not demonstrated either the capability or the will to resist further separatist moves.  Much will depend on how the outside world reacts to a renewed offensive.

For the second time while in office, US President Obama will visit India, signalling the importance of Indian ties to American foreign policy.  It is also Obama’s first meeting with the new Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, who was once banned from the US for his role in anti-Muslim riots in Gujarat in 2002.   Significantly, the visit will also highlight the growing demographic interdependence of the two countries as the Indian-born population in the US continues to increase dramatically.  One can be sure, however, that the Chinese and the Pakistanis will be watching the visit very carefully.

King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia has died at age 90.  His half-brother, Prince Salman, is expected to succeed him so there is little likelihood of immediate turmoil in the kingdom.  But Saudi Arabia is a critical state in the Middle East, and King Abdullah oversaw one of the most dramatic transformations in the global petroleum market in recent months and there is no obvious end game to that gambit.  Moreover, the whole region is in turmoil, and any hint of instability in Saudi Arabia will have tremendous repercussions.

The European Central Bank has announced a presumably massive plan to purchase government and corporate bonds in Europe in an effort to flood the markets with extra money in the hope that the additional funds will stimulate economic growth and higher prices and wages.  The process is called “quantitative easing” and is the current policy of the US Federal Reserve and the Japanese Central Bank.  The process has had only limited success in both the US and Japan, and there are reasons to believe that it will be even less successful in the European economy.  Nonetheless, the plan is a signal of how serious the economic slowdown in Europe is.

Recent polls have indicated that the left-wing party, Syriza, is building a lead heading into Sunday’s elections in Greece.  Syriza has promised to end the policies of austerity that have depressed economic growth in Greece to levels worse than those of the Great Depression.  A Syriza victory would definitely change the political climate in Europe, but would also likely lead to great economic instability.