The UN’s World Food Program is suspending its food aid program to 1.7 million Syrian refugees due to lack of funds. This tragedy hits Syrian families as they face a fourth winter living under terrible conditions. The WFP needs $64 million to continue its program of food vouchers for December. For context, the world spent about $1.7 trillion last year on the military, or about $142 billion a month.
Globalization is a process that outstrips traditional methods of control and management. It has brought incredible benefits but also the possibilities for catastrophic failure. One obvious point, made by Professor Ian Goldin, is that globalization is a process that requires institutions that are much more globally oriented than the traditional nation-state. Yet public reactions to globalization often require nation-states to protect a national interest often at odds with the global interest.
Income inequality in the US is a serious issue, and it parallels a trend in wealth inequality which is more difficult to measure. But the evidence suggests that wealth inequality in the US is as bad as it was in the period just prior to the Great Depression. The situation is a threat to economic stability in the US largely because the increase in wealth at the upper levels is clearly mirrored by the decline in wealth in the middle and lower levels. In short, instead of a “trickle-down” process from rich to poor, we are witnessing a “trickle-up” process from poor to rich.
It’s cold in South Hadley, but the temperature outside is misleading in terms of global trends. Climate Central has published a video of global temperatures over the last century and the trend is decidedly upward. Indeed, all of the ten warmest years over the last century have occurred since 1998. And 2014 is on track for being the warmest year ever recorded.
Swiss voters overwhelmingly rejected a referendum that would have restricted immigration into the country. The measure to restrict immigration to an annual increase of only 0.2% of total population was proposed as a way of protecting the Swiss environment. The difference between that rate of immigration and the normal rate would mean the difference between a Swiss population of 8.5 million in 2050 and a population of 12 million in 2050. Voters, however, considered the economic value of immigrants to weigh more in their calculations.
The Hong Kong protests continue, and the protesters and the Government are playing a cat-and-mouse game on the streets. Apparently a suitable compromise for the nomination of candidates for public office remains unattainable. This is the third month of protests, but the protesters show no sign of being worn down.
An Australian non-governmental organization has estimated that there are about 35 million slaves in the world today. The largest number of slaves are from Mauritania, followed by Uzbekistan, Haiti, Qatar, and India. These slaves are forced to work in forced labour, human trafficking, forced marriages, debt bondage and commerical sexual exploitation. Virtually all countries ban slavery, but the prevalence of the practice is astonishing.
The Prime Minister of Taiwan, Jiang Yi-huah, has resigned after his Kuomintang Party suffered a decisive loss in local elections. The elections do not necessarily affect Taiwanese national policies, but they are being viewed by most as a repudiation of the Kuomintang’s pro-China policies. Presidential and Parliamentary elections are currently scheduled for 2016. The opposition party which won many of the local elections favors independence from China, a policy that, if ratified in 2016, would pose serious problems with Taiwanese-Chinese elections. Taiwan separated from China after the Communist Revolution in 1949, but virtually no other country in the world recognizes Taiwan as an independent nation-state. China regards Taiwan as rebel-held territory.
The Kurds are claiming that Turkey is now supporting the Islamic State, a claim that Turkey strongly denies. As the battle for the Syrian town of Kobani continues, the Kurds now claim that the town is being attacked from forces coming from inside Turkish territory. The US has asked Turkey to support efforts to defeat the IS, but the Turks strongly oppose the government of President Assad in Syria. Since the IS is fighting Assad, the Turks believe that “the enemy of my enemy is my friend.” Moreover, the Turks oppose any moves that may strengthen the Kurds since the Turks fear Kurdish demands for an independent state, much of which would be carved out of Turkish territory. The different interests place the Turks in square opposition to US policy, a clear disagreement among the two allies.
The Islamic State (IS) has attracted adherents from all over the globe. The numbers and origins of the people are difficult to track, but Spiegel has attempted to document the movements of people to Iraq and Syria from 2011-2014. Their information (which should be taken as only a rough estimate) is portrayed graphically.
The Grand Mosque in Kano, the biggest city in the Muslim north of Nigeria, was bombed by Boko Haram. The mosque is associated with Emir of Kano Muhammad Sanusi II, Nigeria’s second most senior Muslim cleric who has recently urged his followers to take up arms against Boko Haram. The attack reflects a growing boldness on the part of Boko Haram and the continued inability of the Nigerian government to address the terror threat.
The Grand Mosque of Kano
The U.N. Committee Against Torture issued its report on US adherence to the U.N. Convention Against Torture, which took effect in 1987 and the United States ratified in 1994. The report was highly critical of allegations of police brutality and the excessive use of force by law enforcement officers in the US. The report also criticized US military practices and the illegal detention of persons in the facility at Guantanamo.
OPEC, the Organization of Oil Exporting Countries, has decided not to cut its production from 30 million barrels of oil a day. The decision immediately put downward pressure on oil prices which have gone from about $110 a barrel to about $70 a barrel. The downward pressure has benefited consumers, but other oil producers have been substantially hurt. Those oil exporters with large populations, such as Venezuela, Indonesia, and Nigeria, have seen their oil revenues decline. The price cuts seem designed to put pressure on oil companies in the US that employ fracking processes since fracking requires prices of about $90 per barrel to be profitable. The oil price cut also harms Russia, a strong supporter of President Assad in Syria, whose government the Saudi Arabians fiercely oppose.
Greece has endured a 24-hour general strike as workers protested the continued austerity policies of the government. Those policies have been imposed by the European Union, the IMF, and the European Central Bank to bring down a large budget deficit. But unemployment rates in Greece hover around 26% as the country enters its sixth year of economic pain. This general strike is the first of several planned strikes for the future.
As many Americans eat Turkey today, we should remember that all societies have iconic dishes. The Atlanticgives a list and brief description of some national foods, some of which sound quite appetizing , while others, like snake soup, might be hard to try for the first time.
Reaction to the non-indictment of Officer Darren Wilson in Ferguson, MO in the killing of Michael Brown last August has been largely negative. But the international repercussions of the incident have been quite damaging to the US’s reputation. It is difficult to get a representative sample of opinions from overseas, but a small sampling of the reactions suggests that the US is no longer regarded as the paragon of human rights. The event has clearly diminished America’s “soft” power. France’s Justice Minister Christiane Taubira quoted Bob Marley’s song, “I Shot the Sheriff” in a tweet: “Kill them before they grow.”
While protests are going on in the US, the Hong Kong Government is trying to remove protesters from the streets. The negotiations between the government and the protesters have yielded no agreement, and the protests are entering a new phase. Apparently the protesters are resorting to social media and trying a form of “mobile” protests, moving from street to street. The cat-and-mouse game will definitely tax both sides.
We’ve noted earlier that there have been a number of incidents between NATO and Russian forces lately. Generally speaking, these incidents are tests of both capability and will. At least that is what intended. The danger of these types of incidents is that they could mistakenly escalate due to some error or miscalculation. If you’re keeping score, the chart below gives a tally of the incidents that we know about. I am certain that there are many more that have not been reported. It’s a risky game that both sides are playing.
The Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, has stated that “[o]ur religion [Islam] has defined a position for women: motherhood”. The speech has ignited a firestorm of criticism within Turkey. Later in the speech he stated that “What women need is to be able to be equivalent, rather than equal. Because equality turns the victim into an oppressor and vice versa.” The comments follow similar comments made by the President and some of his advisers in recent days. Over the last few years, many in Turkey have protested what they perceive to be a growing authoritarianism in the Erdogan administration.
The P5+1 and Iran failed to reach an agreement on the Iranian nuclear program today, but all sides agreed to extend the negotiation period by 7 months. It is hard to interpret how close the two sides were to an agreement since details of the negotiations have been sparse. But the extension is a good sign since the alternative was to confess that an agreement was not possible. The extension poses a political problem for the US since it is clear that there are elements in the US Congress that would prefer to impose more stringent sanctions, and any move in that direction would definitely scuttle the possibility of an agreement.
One would be hard pressed to find a better example of what structural realists (neorealists) call the “security dilemma” than the situation in east Europe before and after the recent activity in Ukraine. Prior to the Russian intervention, there were four NATO jets tasked to defend NATO borders.
After the crisis, there are now 18.
NATO clearly regards the build-up as a purely defensive move; Russia undoubtedly regards the build-up as provocative. What NATO believes is defensive, Russia regards as offensive.
China is building military facilities on a reef in the disputed area of the Spratley Islands. Other countries, including the Philippines, claim the Spratley Islands, and there has been a lot of activity by all sides in the disputed area. The Chinese are quite literally building new reefs for these facilities which could be extensive enough for airstrips and harbors large enough to berth military vessels.
The Israeli cabinet has approved, by a vote of 14-7, a new law that would enshrine Israel’s identity as a Jewish state. Israel’s constitution and its Basic Laws refer to Israel as a “Jewish and democratic” state, but the new law would guarantee national rights only to Jews, although 20% of Israel’s population is either Muslim or Christian. According to The Guardian:
“The bill, which is intended to become part of Israel’s basic laws, would recognise Israel’s Jewish character, institutionalise Jewish law as an inspiration for legislation and delist Arabic as a second official language.”
The bill now goes to the Israeli Parliament, the Knesset, and it remains to be seen whether it will actually become a law.
In May 2011 the Russian geostationary weather satellite took some amazing photographs of the earth and they have been processed into an extraordinary video. See the earth in all its beauty and complexity:
The Japanese economy has recently dipped back into a recession (negative economic growth). But the Japanese economy has preformed poorly for at least twenty years. The new Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, has tried a variety of techniques to stimulate the economy, but those efforts have failed. Unusually, Abe has called for new Parliamentary elections even though he is not required to do so until 2016. Abe clearly wishes to get a mandate from the electorate, but it’s not clear what he plans to do with it. The Japanese economy clearly requires some extra push.
Many Americans interpret extreme weather events and natural disasters as signs of what some religions regard as “the End Time” or the apocalypse. This religious interpretation of extreme events has the effect of undermining public policy measures since they are viewed as beyond human control. According to the Public Religion Research Institute:
“As of 2014, it’s estimated that nearly half of Americans—49 percent—say natural disasters are a sign of “the end times,” as described in the Bible. That’s up from an estimated 44 percent in 2011.”
Not all religions were included in the study, so it is difficult to make generalizations from the study. But the breakdown of the religions is shown in the chart below.
Although one would not know it from the Western media, the Ebola virus continues to wreak havoc in West Africa. Some countries are making progress toward control of the disease, while in others it continues to spread. The disease also spreads economic havoc. The World Bank has conducted surveys in Liberia about how the virus has effected employment and its conclusions are wretched: “Overall, only about 36 percent of previously self-employed workers outside of agriculture and about half of those originally engaged in wage labor are still working since the crisis unfolded.” The developed world needs to address this aspect of the crisis as well.
In a show of dramatic diplomatic support, US Vice-President Biden paid a visit to Ukrainian President Poroshenko and called upon Russia to obverse the terms of the cease-fire agreement reached in Minsk in September. That cease-fire has been steadily breaking down and there is substantial evidence that Russia has sent in troops and tanks into eastern Ukraine. Biden did not bring with any promises of weapons assistance or any other type of support that might contribute to a higher level of violence. Nonetheless, Russia will likely respond to the US show of support.
Much of politics is largely symbolic–it is for that reason that outsiders often misunderstand the perceived messages within a political campaign. There is a classic example of this process in England right now, as a Labor Member of Parliament has been forced to resign her position because of a seemingly innocuous photograph. It is impossible to describe all the intricacies of this kerfuffle. Read the article and see if you understand it.
World Politics News 