I do not often cite purely opinion pieces–I prefer to refer to news articles and try to draw my own conclusions from the evidence.. But The Guardian has published an essay by Seumas Milne that is genuinely thought-provoking. It is a leftist critique of the policies pursued by the US since 11 September 2001 and it is blunt and direct. The essay is certainly worthy of discussion and thought.
The decision by Saudi Arabia not to take a seat in the UN Security Council perplexed many people. Fred Kaplan has published an essay which sheds light on Saudi reasoning. The essay is also testimony to how quickly and profoundly the politics of the Middle East are changing. Once again, the linchpin of all this change seems to be the removal of Sunni power in Iraq, a shift in the balance of power that favored Iran and its Shia allies. I suspect we will all look back at the American invasion of Iraq in 2003 as one of the most consequential moves of the 21st century, perhaps reminiscent of the Balkan Wars that preceded World War I in the 20th Century.
A very strange event occurred in Tiananmen Square in China: an SUV plowed into the crowded square killing five people and wounding many more. The most likely explanation for the crash is the obvious one: a deranged driver losing control of a car. But Tiananment Square is a highly symbolic place in China–it was the site of the famous protests that were suppressed in 1989. While we know very little about the event right now, it may be the case that something more significant is going on than the obvious explanation. We will keep an eye on this.
A bomb explosion occurred at a rally by the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in India. The BJP is a nationalist party with a very strong Hindu identity. It seeks to unseat the Congress Party in the elections scheduled for mid-2014. The BJP has a long history of animosity toward the Muslim population in India, and its current leader, Narendra Modi, was scheduled to speak at the rally. Modi is a controversial figure, and the current economic situation in India is fragile. He is sure to make the economic difficulties a major campaign issue.
Violence in Iraq continues. Since last April, more than 5,000 have died in sectarian violence. Sunnis in the country chafe under the Shia rule of the central government under al-Maliki. The government asserts that the violence is fostered by al-Qaeda elements who have slipped in from Syria. In truth, the violence began a very long time ago when the British gave power to the minority Sunni population, a role which continued under the rule of Saddam Hussein. The overthrow of Hussein by the US in 2003 provided an opportunity for the majority Shia population to take control, and the Sunnis resent the loss of power. In many respects, the violence also represents the power struggle between Sunni Saudi Arabia and Shia Iran.
The economic situation in the Occupied Territories has deteriorated steadily after years of fairly robust growth. Palestinians in the Gaza Strip have suffered as Egypt has closed the tunnels which have served as economic lifelines to the territory. Israeli controls within the West Bank have made economic investments for difficult and less productive. Right now, the Palestinian people depend largely on the foreign aid offered by the European Union and other countries.
There was a protest in Saudi Arabia by women who are demanding the right to drive their own cars. There is no Saudi law that prohibits women from driving, but the Saudi government refuses to give them licenses. Those women who drove today were driving with licenses from other countries. Last month “Sheikh Salah al-Luhaydan claimed on a popular Saudi website that it has been scientifically proved that driving ‘affects the ovaries’ and leads to clinical disorders in the children of women who are foolish enough to drive.” Fortunately, there appear to be those in Saudi Arabia who support the women.
There are reports that the US bugged Angela Merkel from 2002-13. The fury in Europe over these reports is simply incredible. Needless to say, spying on one’s allies is a clear confession of mistrust. Meanwhile, the American public seems to waking up to the scale of NSA surveillance and there was a protest in Washington, DC against the practice. It seems as if Edward Snowden performed a valuable service to the people by exposing the scale of the spying by the NSA–there appears to be little justification for such broad-based and untargeted surveillance.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe asserted that Japan was prepared to defend its interests more vigorously against China. China’s rapid rise to power has mirrored Japan’s two decade slump from power, and Abe intends to reverse that trend. Relations between the two countries have steadily worsened, and Japan likely believes that if it doesn’t act soon, then its role in East Asia will be severely diminished.
The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has released a photograph of the recent smog over the city of Harbin, China. Harbin is a city of about 11 million people and the smog was so bad that much of the city was shut down. In some areas of the city, small particulate matter was measured at more than 1,000, on a scale where 300 is considered hazardous. The Chinese government is accelerating its efforts to stop smog, but those efforts have not yet stopped the problem from becoming worse year over year. The grey areas on the photograph is smog.
On the day that Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif met US President Barack Obama and said he emphasized the need to end drone strikes on Pakistani territory, the Washington Post published documents that prove that the drone strikes had in fact been approved by the Pakistani government. One can understand why the government of Pakistan would want to keep its approval secret from its citizens. The hypocrisy of openly condemning the US, however, is standard operating procedure in the world.
Imperialism invariably involved the humiliation of the subject peoples, but often the imperial powers sought to deliberately destroy the sense of dignity of the people they dominated. Nowhere was this more true than in China, where the British wanted to smash the hold of the Emperor over his people. The Atlantic recounts such an episode in the 19th century.
A new scientific study has found that “average summer temperatures in the Canadian Arctic over the last century are the highest in the last 44,000 years, and perhaps the highest in 120,000 years.” The study suggests that the temperatures are far outside the range of natural variability and can only be explained by human-induced change. The warming began in the 1970s, but has sped up considerably in the last 20 years.
The Guardian has released an NSA memo which indicates that the US spied on 35 world leaders. It got the contact numbers of these leaders by requesting the information for other US agencies. The US has also admitted that it did in fact spy on Angela Merkel, saying only that it “is not monitoring and will not monitor” Merkel’s calls. Germany correctly pointed out that this stated does not deny that the spying did occur in the past. The memo is dated from 2006, and it also concedes that the spying had resulted in “little reportable intelligence”. One wonders how many times it was likely that Angela Merkel would call up Osama bin Laden.
Immigration is a volatile political issue in many countries, but nowhere is it so politically potent as in Europe right now. Der Spiegel has published a very thoughtful article on the immigrant issue in the city of Hamburg, Germany. It raises most of the very difficult moral, political, and legal issues surrounding the status of illegal immigrants. The issue is likely to become even more visible and problematic in the next few months.
The Russian government has reduced the charges against the 30 Greenpeace protesters from piracy to hooliganism, which drops the potential penalties from 15 years to 8 years in jail. We obviously don’t know why the charges were reduced, but one possibility is that the public attention to the case proved somewhat embarrassing. Eight years in a Russian jail, however, still does seem excessive given that no damage was done to the oil rig–freedom of expression is a dangerous activity in Russia.
One of the poorest countries in the world has made incredible strides in reducing child mortality rates by almost two-thirds. Niger has made progress by carefully and systematically targeting the problem, and it did not require substantial additional resources. This result should encourage all governments to take similar steps. It proves that we can end one of the most serious (and common) tragedies in the world simply by paying attention. Reducing child mortality does not reflect a lack of resources; it reflects a lack of will.
The German government has received information that the US government tapped the mobile phone of Chncellor Merkel. The US quickly denied the charge. The foolishness of the NSA continues to boggle the imagination. Tapping the cell phone of one of one’s closest allies is an extraordinary breach of trust.
Two highly regarded human rights organizations, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have issued reports which seriously question the legality of US drone strikes. The reports have been filed with the United Nations and they tend to confirm the earlier Pakistani reports of about 400 civilian deaths associated with the strikes. The US government has sharply disputed the reports. The reports will only fuel the fire of controversy about the legality and efficacy of the drone strikes. I would expect this story to be very long-lived.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has accused foreign powers of using radical Islam to weaken the Russian state after a series of riots and bombings have occurred in Russia. Russia has had serious problems with violence since 1999 when rebels in Chechnya, a primarily Muslim area of Russia, began a separatist movement. Putin did not identify which foreign powers were fueling Muslim discontent in Russia, and it is hard to imagine which foreign powers have any leverage over radical Islamists.
The US budget debacle has elicited comments from various key players abroad about whether the US is a reliable economic power, and whether the dollar should retain its current privileged status. The concerns have begun to become more probing as analysts have tried to dissect the roots of the crisis. Jose Antonio Ocampo is a highly regarded economist who has often been critical of US policies. He has written an essay about the US’s privileged role in the International Monetary Fund.
The spying by the US National Security Agency (NSA) continues to roil the world. First, there were reports about spying on the Brazilian government which caused the Brazilian President to cancel a state visit to the US. Next came revelations that the US spied on the Mexican government on Mexican position papers on how to bargain with the US over certain trade matters. Now, it appears that the NSA intercepted over 70 million telephone calls in France. Spying is an old tradition in world politics, and there is no government that does not do it. Getting caught spying, however, is a grievous offense–it questions the competence of the spook and whether the illicit information could be used for a broad variety of reasons not related to statecraft.
There are a number of countries that appear to be heading toward some sort of debt crisis as economic growth slows down. The reduced economic activity lowers the tax revenues of a state, but rarely is that decline matched by a decline in expenditures. Global debt, therefore, is rising at quite a fast rate. We use credit rating agencies to measure the degree of risk posed by certain countries, and here is an essay that explains how the ratings are determined.
Thirty Greenpeace volunteers are in a Russian jail after they boarded an offshore oil rig to protest drilling in the Arctic. So far, they have been refused bail on charges of piracy. The Russian public approves of the harsh charges, and there is little question that the Greenpeace protesters were in Russian waters. What is unusual, however, is how little protest the harsh charges have elicited from the member states representing the 30 volunteers: 18 different states. Apparently, on questions of sovereignty, the world still gives tremendous latitude.
Two teenagers were arrested in Morocco after they posted a photograph of them kissing on Facebook. They were arrested on charges of violating public decency and they are part of a larger movement to challenge the social mores embedded in the law. The definition of human rights varies considerably across cultures. The internet hacker group, Anonymous, has decided to enforce its own definition of human rights, arguing that it is a question of freedom of speech.
The Christian Science Monitor has an impressive series of graphics trying to answer the question, “Why do Israeli Settlements Expand More During Peace Talks?” The question is a troubling one since it raises the distinct possibility that the peace talks between the Israelis and Palestinians may do more harm than good.
Worried about a Zombie invasion? Don’t worry, we have great allies in our fight against the walking dead. (Not a quiz link)
Anti-austerity protests broke out in both Italy and Portugal. Both countries have been forced to cut social spending and fire government workers in return for financial assistance from the European Central Bank, the European Union, and the International Monetary Fund. Unemployment is very high in both countries and economic growth is virtually non-existent. Young people are bearing the brunt of the austerity programs as jobs have disappeared and hiring has essentially stopped.
Argentinian President, Cristina Fernandez Kirchner, has been hospitalized for a blood clot. Kirchner has been President since 2007, and her predecessor was her late husband who was first elected in 2003. The ten years of power have been controversial, and the economy is in very bad shape. Inflation is running at about 25%, and foreign investors are leery of the policies of the government which have included some nationalizations which were not handled in a manner consistent with international law. It is likely that her party will lose the upcoming election.
The anti-immigrant and anti-European Union movements in Europe are becoming stronger and more deep-seated. The economic slowdown in Europe has unleashed some dangerous politics, reminiscent of the movements in the 1920s and 30s. The Guardian has an informative graphic on the more prominent movements rising now.
World Politics News 