There appears to be a serious escalation in the works in the Syrian civil war. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu indicated that both Turkey and Saudi Arabia are willing to send ground troops into Syria to relieve the siege of Aleppo and to prevent the Assad from gaining control of the city. If such a move occurs, it will place Turkish and Saudi troops, both US allies, in direct confrontation with Russian air power. RT (once called the Russian Times) is labeling the decision by Turkey and Saudi Arabia as “catastrophic.” Iran is also warning Turkey and Saudi Arabia against the move.
There are many disputes in the world that are quite long-standing, but few rival the split between Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodox Christianity. The division between Western and Eastern Christianity dates back to 1054 BC, although the issue dividing them actually goes back even further. This week, however, the leader of Roman Catholicism, Pope Francis, and the leader of Eastern Orthodox Christianity, Patriarch Kirill, met in the Havana, Cuba airport. It is doubtful that the fundamental issues can be solved quickly, but, given the passions surrounding those issues, the meeting itself was extraordinary.
Virtually all analysts of world politics are aware that the international system is changing rapidly from the order established by the US after 1945. What is unclear is what kind of order will replace the liberal order supported by the states that we generally call “The West.” A former German Foreign Minister, Joschka Fischer, contributes to the debate. While he does not outline a new order, he suggests certain things that it is unlikely to include.
The Director of US Intelligence warned Congress about emerging threats to the world, and one of those threats was the possibility of bio-terrorism. With recent advances, gene-splicing has become one of the most promising new technologies with potential for treating all sorts of diseases and conditions. Unfortunately, gene-splicing can also be used to alter bacteria in ways that could be dangerous to humans. The evidence is that the threat of “rogue scientists” working on such possibilities is real and almost impossible to detect.
A “cessation of hostilities” in Syria has been announced by the UN. The pause is fighting is designed to give humanitarian agencies to enter Syria and attend to the desperate needs of the population. While any stoppage is welcome, the agreement, signed by 21 countries in Munich, does not stop military actions against “terrorist” groups. This loophole is huge because there is widespread disagreement about which groups are terrorist: fighting can continue against the Islamic State, but Russia regards the Kurds, an American ally, as a terrorist group. Before one should condemn the agreement as too flawed, however, one should always welcome any positive step in the direction of helping innocents. Perhaps the agreement can lead to another, bolder step.
Greek farmers launched a major protest against proposed government changes to their pensions and their taxes. The changes are all part of the austerity measures imposed upon Greece as a condition for receiving financial support to pay back Greek government debt. Those changes have dramatically affected the daily life of all Greeks, and the economic declines have been both very difficult and long-lasting. Greece is pretty much into the sixth year of economic recession, and unemployment rates are on the order of 50% for young people.
Turkish President Erdogan has decided to use the Syrian refugees as a weapon in his pursuit of Turkish interests in Syria. Essentially, he has put pressure on Europe to put pressure on Russia to stop supporting Syrian President Assad and to foreclose European and US support for the Kurds. In a speech in Ankara, Erdogan is quoted as saying:
“We do not have the word ‘idiot’ written on our foreheads. We will be patient, but we will do what we have to. Don’t think that the planes and the buses are there for nothing….In the past we have stopped people at the gates to Europe, in Edirne we stopped their buses. This happens once or twice and then we’ll open the gates and wish them a safe journey, that’s what I said.”
Turkey is currently hosting about 3 million refugees and the threat of kicking them out of Turkey into Europe would likely have catastrophic effects on Europe.
The S&P stocks (considered to be a benchmark for the health of the US economy as a whole) has lost about $2 trillion in value since 1 January, and there seems to be a high degree of uncertainty in the bond markets as well. There are a variety of reasons why this decline is occurring, but the consequence of the declines is that all sorts of questions are being raised about the creditworthiness of many sovereign states who have a significant amount of debt. The fears are beginning to rattle the European markets and other countries like Venezuela and Nigeria. For the first time since 2012, some are beginning to talk about sovereign defaults.
Unfortunately, empires never completely die. Vestiges of imperial actions persist through time: Roman law still exists, many people speak English throughout the world, and Spain has some of the finest Islamic architecture ever made. But memories of empire also persist, and those memories often prove to be pernicious. A recent example is a comment made by venture capitalist Marc Andreeson tweet deploring an Indian decision to block certain policies of Facebook. He tweeted that “Anti-colonialism has been economically catastrophic for the Indian people for decades. Why stop now?” I sincerely doubt that many Indians regret kicking the British Empire out.
Boko Haram has launched a bomb attack against refugees in a camp in northeast Nigeria. The attack, launched by two female suicide bombers, killed at least 60 people and suggests that the Nigerian government’s efforts to contain the extremist group have not been effective. There has been an uptick in terror attacks since the beginning of the year which indicates that the group is still a potent insurgency despite the government’s claims to have taken back territory.
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan blasted the US for its support of Syrian Kurds in the fight against Daesh. The speech indicates that Erdogan considers the Kurds to be a greater threat to Turkey than Daesh. Interestingly, the attack on the US comes just as information is beginning to surface that the Kurds are beginning to work very closely with the Russians, indicating that the US-Kurdish alliance is coming under strain.
The US Supreme Court ruled against President Obama’s attempt to regulate greenhouse gas emissions until it determines whether the regulations were legal. The decision throws a wrench into the recent Paris Agreement on limiting greenhouse gas emissions. Other countries, notably India and China, has suggested that if the US does not honor its commitment to the Paris Accord, then they may also reassess their commitments to the Accord.
Joseph Stiglitz is a Nobel Prize winning economist. He is generally regarded as a Keynesian economist which classifies him as a “left-leaning” economist (since Keynes argued that government spending is essential to stimulate a declining economy). His analysis of the global economy is distinctly pessimistic, largely due to the fact that he believes that governments have defaulted on their responsibility to spend money in the face of declining growth. Indeed, Stiglitz believes that the low interest rates being charged by the world largest central banks have contributed to the extremely low growth currently occurring in most emerging economies.
The UN-backed Commission of Inquiry on Syria has released a report on the treatment of detainees by the Syrian government during the period 2011 and 2015. The report leaves little question that the treatment of detainees clearly constituted crimes against humanity, and the report prepares the way for war-crimes trials against the government. The report also details the crimes commitment by Daesh and other rebel groups in Syria. The failure of the international community to respond effectively to these crimes is shocking.
Haitian President Michel Martelly stepped down as President with no replacement. Scheduled elections in Haiti have been postponed due to charges of fraud and corruption, and no candidates are willing to stand for office under the circumstances. The political paralysis is something the poor nation can ill-afford. The Carnival festival has been postponed due to threats of political violence. Under the circumstances, the international community should be offering mediation services among the competing groups but the silence of the world is deafening.
North Korea has launched a satellite into space. The launch proves that the North Koreans have the capability to launch a long-range missile with the capacity to carry a nuclear warhead. The UN Security Council has passed a resolution forbidding long-range missile tests by North Korea and this launch clearly violates that prohibition. North Korea believes it has the right to conduct satellite launches and it is impossible for the Security Council to deny a state the right to pursue that option. But in this particular case the difference between a weapons launch and a satellite launch is negligible. All neighboring states are furious at the launch, but it difficult to figure out what an appropriate sanction might be.
The North Korean Rocket Launch
The Syrian Government gains against rebel forces around the city of Aleppo has led other states to contemplate intervention. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has indicated that Turkey should be prepared to enter the conflict indicating that Turkey should not repeat the same mistake it made when it refused to participate in the overthrow of Saddam Hussein in March 2003. Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates has also indicated that they are willing to send ground troops into Syria. Such interventions would pose a serious escalation in the conflict and would undoubtedly force the Russians and Iranians to make a countermove.
China is carrying out a policy that has serious consequences for the global economy. For years China has been a major exporter of manufactured products, selling far more to outsiders than it purchases from them. That behavior allowed the Chinese to build up foreign reserves that reached nearly $4 trillion–the largest in the world. Recently, however, the Chinese have been forced to sell some of these reserves in order to maintain the value of its currency, the yuan. A state props up its currency by buying the currency on the open market. The steady reduction in the Chinese foreign reserves have led some to question whether the yuan can be maintained at its current value. If outside investors believe that the yuan cannot be maintained, there will be a flight of foreign money from China, perhaps leading to a marked reduction in the economic growth of the country.
The Russian military has been pounding rebel-held areas near the city of Aleppo in Syria, and it appears as if the government of President Assad will ultimately encircle and retake the city. In response to this possibility, thousands of people are fleeing this city that once housed 2 million inhabitants. Thousands of refugees are massing at the Bab al-Salam crossing on the Turkish border and it is unclear whether those refugees will be granted sanctuary. The European Union has asked Turkey not to allow any more refugees to leave that country, aggravating the plight of the refugees.
A Syrian child at the Bab al-Salam border crossing
Reforestation has always been considered one possible way to partially combat climate change since trees are considered to be efficient sinks for carbon dioxide. Interestingly, researchers have found, however, that not all trees are created equal in that respect. Dark conifer forests tend to absorb heat while light-colored deciduous trees reflect heat. So while all trees do in fact absorb carbon dioxide, dark trees do not necessarily aid in preventing climate change.
Being aware of the fact that the thousand-year history of Western civilization could soon come to an end through Islam conquering Europe, and the fact that the political elites have betrayed us, we, representatives of different European nations, declare the following:
We will not surrender Europe to our enemies. We are prepared to stand up and oppose political Islam, extreme Islamic regimes, and their European collaborators.
We are prepared to risk our freedoms, properties, jobs and careers and maybe even to put our lives at stakes, as it was done by the generations before us. It is our duty to future generations.
We refuse to submit to the Central European government. The rules of the global elites have brought only poverty, unemployment, corruption, chaos and moral collapse. It is about time to end this.
We fully respect the sovereignty of European nations and the right of the people of every European country to govern their matters as they see fit.
We esteem as sacred the right of the citizens of every European country to protect the borders of their country and their right to decide which immigrants to accept and which not to accept into their country.
We refer to our common European roots, traditions and values as well as the historic alliances of our nations. We are determined to protect Europe, the freedom of speech and other civic freedoms as well as our way of life together.
We will manifest this determination by our participation in a joint demonstration which will take place in many European cities on February 6, 2016
The African drought continues to worsen throughout the continent. Zimbabwe is the most recent country to declare a state of emergency: more than 25% of the population is now food insecure. The drought is pervasive across southern Africa and may be a consequence of the very strong el Niño. With the global collapse of commodity prices, none of the African countries is in a position to respond effectively to this crisis. Outside help is absolutely necessary.
German Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel sounded a warning about the growth of the German right-wing political movements, asserting that their language is dangerously close to the rhetoric of the Nazis. Gabriel was referring to the strength of the Alternatives for Germany Party and the Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamisation of the Occident (PEGIDA) movement. Both are virulently anti-immigrant and Anti-Muslim movements who have casually tossed the term “traitor” against Chancellor Merkel. Meanwhile, French Prime Minister Manuel Valls has argued that emergency rules, adopted after the massacres in Paris, should be extended. Those rules have allowed the French state to conduct searches of thousands of houses in France.
Globalization has shifted around the economic winners and losers throughout the globe. It is safe to say that the winners have truly done well, and these winners really span virtually all the nation-states in the world. The losers are well-distributed as well, but the main losers are those who worked in manufacturing jobs and lost them to low-wage workers in other countries. Stephen Rattner has asked a very pertinent question in an op-ed piece for the New York Times: what are our obligations to those who have lost their jobs?
A fire has been burning for over a week in a garbage dump near Mumbai, India. The fire is so large that it can be seen from space and the smoke pervades the city. The problem is globally endemic: we are running out of space for our waste and need to figure out how to produce much, much less.
It seems as if the Syrian government is advancing against rebel positions near the city of Aleppo. If these reports are accurate, then it appears as if President Assad will be in a much stronger military position in the civil war. to the relief of his allies: Russia and Iran. But if true, it also means that the world should prepare for a significant increase in the number of refugees fleeing the country. Meanwhile, the peace negotiations in London have yielded promise of humanitarian assistance for Syria but absolutely no progress whatsoever in achieving some sort of settlement.
The Russians are accusing Turkey of making preparations for an incursion into Syria. An invasion seems to me to be highly unlikely, but the Turks have made it perfectly clear that they wish President Assad to be ousted from office. A more likely motivation for the Turks would be some sort of move to blunt the Kurdish successes against the Syrian government. Those successes have emboldened Iraqi Kurdish leader Masoud Barzani to push for an independence referendum by the Kurdish people, an outcome to which the Turks are adamantly opposed.
Over 13 million girls in Pakistan have never been to school. That difficult situation is explained by a variety of factors: prejudice against girls becoming educated, the need for children to work to support a family in poverty, and child marriages (11 percent of girls are married before the age of 15). We do know that one of the most important variables in a policy to eradicate poverty is to educate girls and young women. Fortunately, there are groups in Pakistan that are working hard to change the situation.
Japan is spending a considerable amount of money to reinforce its territorial claims to the island called Okinotorishima in the East China Sea. China has not contested the claim, but insists that the island does not satisfy the minimum requirements of the law of the sea to be used as the basis for a territorial claim. Nonetheless, the renewed Japanese activity to reinforce its presence on the island will undoubtedly provoke a Chinese response.
Okinotorishima
The current election cycle in the US has left a number of observers from abroad somewhat dumbfounded and horrified. The rhetoric of the campaigns are directed toward American audiences, but non-Americans hear the rhetoric as well. There is a sense when one reads international newspapers that the current elections are not an aberration, but rather an unvarnished window into some of the worst characteristics of American politics and culture. And, no doubt, Donald Trump is the primary villain in this point of view.
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