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.
The US has indicated that it intends to quadruple its military aid to Europe. The increase reflects growing fears of Russian intentions in Europe as well as a sense that Daesh (the Islamic State) poses a greater security threat particularly in southeastern Europe. The US emphasis also reflects greater military spending by almost all of the European states. The Russians will undoubtedly regard these moves as especially threatening, but, given the deteriorating Russian economy, it is not clear what the Russian response might be.
Nest week will mark the Chinese New Year (it will be the Year of the Monkey) and the holiday brings about the largest annual human migration: probably close to 3 billion journeys during the 40-day celebratory period. Needless to say, the logistics of such moves are daunting and always subject to various problems. Right now, there are about 100,000 people trapped in Guangzhou due to snowstorms.
In 2013, the Indian judiciary decided that same-sex sexual relations were illegal, to the consternation of many who believe that sexual orientation is a basic human right. The Indian Supreme Court has decided to review that decision, opening the possibility that sexual orientation would be considered a human right. The move indicates that the Supreme Court may regard its earlier decision as incorrect. The debate in India reflects the issues surrounding the idea that human rights are universal or socially determined.
There have been hundreds of reports of harassment of women by refugee-seekers in Europe. These reports, difficult to confirm or to contextualize, have dramatically changed the discussions in Europe about accepting refugees. In response, citizens are forming vigilante bands who purported purpose is to protect women from further harassment. In Finland, these groups have organized into gangs called the Soldiers of Odin. These incidents are making a possible resolution of the refugee crisis virtually impossible.
The outbreak of the Zika virus in Brazil is a tragedy. But the tragedy has been compounded by the spread of a rumor that the outbreak is somehow related to the release of genetically modified mosquitoes in Brazil three years ago. The rumor started on Reddit and is only the most recent example of how “information” disguised as news corrupts the public discussion of serious matters. The Genetic Literacy Project has posted a convincing refutation of the rumor.
Boko Haram has launched another attack against people in Nigeria and reports suggest that nearly 90 people were killed, some burned alive. Boko Haram (the name translates roughly as “Western education is forbidden”) is an extremist group that has pledged allegiance to Daesh (the Islamic State). Since 2009 the group is responsible for the deaths of nearly 20,000 people and the displacement of 2.3 million.
The World Health Organization (WHO) is holding an emergency meeting as the number of cases of Zika infections continues to rise dramatically. The number of cases in Colombia has doubled in a week, and some authorities believe that there may be as many as 4 million active cases. There is currently no vaccine for the infection, and the evidence of the link between the virus and the birth defect, microcephaly, is still inconclusive but quite suggestive.
Europol, the EU’s police intelligence unit, estimates that as many as 10,000 migrant children have gone “missing.” Many children have arrived in Europe without other family members, and, while they are registered when they arrive, there are no effective institutions for keeping track of the children. While it is likely that many of these children may have been reunited with their families, it is also well-known that human traffickers are specifically targeting these vulnerable migrants. The refugee crisis continues to outpace the capabilities of the European Union.
A serious drought threatens the lives of about 10 million people in Ethiopia. The drought has been building for some time and may well rank as one of the most serious droughts of the 20th century. The country is pleading for additional outside assistance to avoid a catastrophe, but many of the traditional donors, such as the World Food Programme, are running out of resources.
It is difficult to imagine the destructiveness of modern war. Russiaworks is a Russian media outlet affiliated with Russian state broadcaster VGTRK and has captured video shots by drones of various battle scenes. It has uploaded a video of the destruction of the district of Daraya in the city of Damascus in Syria, and the footage is unbelievably dramatic. It is hard to imagine how the people of Syria have managed to survive such total destruction. Equally unimaginable is how impotent the world community has been is stopping the devastation.
The US has again sailed a destroyer within 12 miles of an island claimed by the Chinese as part of its national territory but considered international waters by the traditional definitions of international law. The US is acting not only to protect its own self-interest in the traditional definition of open seas, but also because it has been encouraged to protect the maritime interests of other states in the region, notably Vietnam and the Philippines.
In a desperate effort to finally restart the Japanese economy, the Bank of Japan has introduced negative interest rates which forces some bank depositors to pay banks to hold their money in savings accounts. All other efforts to stimulate the Japanese economy over the last 20 years have failed and the absence of growth in the world’s third largest economy (after the US and China) is a cause of great concern. The logic of the move is clear: the Bank of Japan hopes that the interest rate charges will force some savers to spend their money rather than keep it in a bank account. Such spending will presumably stimulate more economic activity. Other countries such as Sweden and Denmark, as well as the European Central Bank, have tried the measure, but there is no convincing evidence that the action had any significant effect.
World Politics News 