World Politics News   Articles for World Politics Course

The issue of freedom of speech is one issue that divides liberal societies from many other societies in the world.  Liberal societies tend to protect speech attacking religion because the separation of church and state is one of the bedrock principles of liberalism.  Abdulaziz H. Al-Fahad has written a nuanced critiqued of this position, linking the recent anti-American protests in Muslim countries to the process of globalization.

The British newspaper, The Guardian, has apparently seen a private memo from a US official to various European governments warning of negative consequences if those governments support the Palestinian bid for observer status in the UN.  Private memos are generally used when the government involved does not wish to take a public position on a matter, and prefers to be able to (truthfully) deny the policy in question.  But the memo suggests that the US is taking the status of the Palestinians as a very serious matter, and will push hard to prevent Palestinian standing in the UN.

One of the most serious issues facing the world right now is the likely loss of biodiversity due to human activities.  No where is this trend more apparent, or more tragic, than the loss of the African great apes because of the growing human encroachment into their habitats.  Human populations are increasingly running out of space due to the limited amount of arable land.  How to protect the great apes and to accommodate the human population is a seemingly intractable question, but one that will have a default answer soon unless strong action is taken quickly.

The quiz on 3 October will be on the readings by Ishay and Arblaster, and the blog entries from 27 September-1 October.

Turkey’s role in the Middle East and in the world more generally has changed during the government of Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan.  It is now more assertive and determined to chart its own course.  In the process of change, Erdogan has also walked a delicate line running a secular government with a large Muslim population.  In the aftermath of many of the recent changes in the Arab world, many are now looking to Turkey as a possible model for governance.

The Syrian tragedy continues as the fighting reaches deep into the city of Aleppo.  Perversely, the spread of violence to the cities makes outside humanitarian intervention less likely.  The key military assets of the Security Council members are too powerful to use in dense, heavily populated areas without a high probability of civilian casualties.  It seems as if the only option now is for Assad to either be assassinated by one of his inner circle, or for him to get asylum in another state.  Neither option appears likely soon.

Kenya has bravely faced the fighters of al-Shahbab who had ruled for many years in the neighboring state of Somalia. It now seems, however, that al-Shahbab is counterattacking in Kenya raising the possibility of a wider war in East Africa.

Prime Minister Netanyahu laid out Israel’s “red line” on Iranian nuclear development in his speech to the UN General Assembly: 240 kg. of 20% enriched uranium.  There are two points that are relevant to this threshold.  First, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency, Iran already has 189 kg of 20% enriched uranium.  Second, one cannot build a bomb from 20% enriched uranium–you have to enrich above 90% to attain a critical mass for a bomb.  So the “red line” will be reached next spring, even though it will not signal the capability to build an atomic bomb.

One of the most extraordinary innovations of the technological revolution is the development of digital fabrication, or 3-D printing.  Essentially, digital fabrication is quite literally printing out objects that used to be assembled by hand.  Just a moment’s reflection is enough to appreciate what such a change will do to the world of work (and then think about how you would fit into such a world).  It is a long essay with a lot of detail, so I won’t ask any quiz questions about it.  But I recommend it highly.

And now, a moment of world politics humor.

Our understanding of history is always changing, and the last 10 years have seen some remarkable revisions to imperial history.  Bernard Porter’s essay on the British Empire is a great example of hos we are constantly refining our understanding of what empires are.

There were dueling speeches at the UN General Assembly: Mahmoud Abbas spoke on behalf of the Palestinian Authority and Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the Assembly as Prime Minister of Israel.  What was most interesting is how the speeches really didn’t address the same issues.  Abbas argued for observer status for the Palestinian Authority in the UN and Netanyahu emphasized the nuclear threat from Iran.

Much is being made about the tensions between Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Obama.  They are real, but US-Israeli discord is nothing new.  The Christian Science Monitor has a good article on previous periods of strain between the two countries.

The Syrian tragedy only promises to get worse as many expect about 700,000 refugees to flee the country.  The refugees will be a serious burden in surrounding states, and they will also be, as is usually the case with refugee camps, terrible places to live.   The predict by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees also signals a determination that the international community will continue to fail in its responsibility to address the violence in Syria.

We tend to think that climate change poses a future risk, but some analysts are asserting that climate change is already causing economic losses and leading to deaths.  Such an assertion is difficult to prove, but the study raises some important questions about how we go about assessing costs and benefits of different courses of action.  The study is worthy of further examination.

The protests have spread from Spain to Greece, as people argue against the further implementation of austerity.  It appears that the “troika” (the European Union, the European Central Bank, and the International monetary Fund (IMF)) will delay, however, a decision about further austerity measures until after the US election.  The suspicion is that the US has requested the delay in order to avoid any sort of economic crisis that might disrupt the chances of President Obama’s re-election.   Such is the power of the largest contributor to the IMF.

The Asahi Shimbun (a Japanese newspaper) ran a great article on the Japanese position on the Diaoyu/Senkaku island dispute.vvNotice how history plays such an important role in the interpretation of what is going on. Here’s the Chinese side which is not nearly as fully developed.  The good news is that both sides have decided to talk more intensively about their disagreements.

China has launched its first aircraft carrier, joining 9 other nation-states with such a vessel.  Carriers are probably the most complex military weapons ever developed and it will be some time before China develops the manpower to use it effectively.  Nonetheless, the capability inherent in a carrier signals a dramatic increase in Chinese power.  Given the current dispute with Japan, one can be certain that the launching raises the tension in East Asia.

Spanish protests against the austerity measures demanded by the European Union, the European Central Bank, and the IMF turned violent today.  In such cases, it is always difficult to determine what changed the peaceful protest into a violent one, but we will get more information as the days pass.  But one of the most important states in Spain, Catalonia, is going to hold a referendum on whether to secede from Spain, a move that the Spanish military has declared will be treated as “treason.”   The stakes in Europe continue to get higher and international financial markets are beginning to show strain.

Global Post ran a story on President Obama’s speech to the UN General Assembly and then compiled a number of tweets from the Middle East about the speech.  The tweets make for fascinating reading.

We don’t much about what happened, but Reuters is reporting that a “riot” broke out in a Foxconn factory in the northern Chinese city of Taiyuan.  Foxconn is a Taiwanese company that produces most of the components for Apple’s iPhone.  The company has been plagued by reports of subhuman working conditions for a number of years, and it seems as if this outbreak is associated with the working conditions.   There is a global movement to boycott Apple products because of the poor working conditions–globalization works in many different ways.  Nonetheless, Apple has just sold 5 million new iPhone 5s.

The Chinese-Japanese confrontation over the Diaoyu/Senkaku islands has led to calls in both countries for boycotts of the other.  Foreign Policy ran a post on how each country would be affected by such boycotts.  It seems as if there could be serious consequences; but it also seems as if there are ways around such boycotts if the will to do so is present.

Take a break:  Here’s a link to the National Geographic Photography contest.  Needless to say, these won’t be on the quiz.  But enjoy the beauty of the world.

The quiz on Wednesday, 26 September, will be on the notes on the Balance of Power (not the recommended reading–just the notes), and the blog entries from 20-24 September.