May 24, 2013

You are here: Home / Archives for International Interest

So this is Christmas…

December 24, 2012 by Leave a Comment

It’s Christmas. With several versions of John Lennon’s “So this is Christmas” playing on the airwaves and in retail establishments across America,  it’s a bittersweet reminder that while we celebrate the birth of the Prince of Peace, we have not as a nation, or as practicing Christians, yet learned his message and how to apply it.

Indeed, this has not been a peaceful year. Looking at the global state of things, conflicts, some decades in age, there are at least twelve ongoing conflicts that have resulted in deaths in 2012 (according to a Wikipedia page called “List of ongoing military conflicts”), including the war in Afghanistan that killed at least 03,000 in 2012, the Syrian civil war with 37,787 deaths, and one in Burma that started in 1948 and resulted in 10,000 fatalities (bet you missed that one on the nightly news round up).  And, lest we forget, there are still American troops in Iraq, too, where over 8,000 people have died in the last two years.

If war was not enough, we’re still killing each other, too, in our own cities. The United States has a homicide rate of about 4.2 per 100,000 residents, which, while lower than the worldwide average, still resulted in the deaths of about 13,000 people last year.  And this does not account for other violent crimes: rape, assault, abuse, and so on.

Taken all together, it’s a depressing prospect. And when seen in light of the shooting at Sandy Hook elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut this month, it is perhaps more sobering and dispiriting, too.

I cannot help but ask: what can we do against such evil?

It can be easy to see the power of evil in the world in the face of such events. Indeed, it can be hard to see anything but evil in the deaths of so many innocent people. Youth is a time of hope and promise, and schools are intended to be a place of sanctuary and learning.

Yet, we look to hope. Some of the most beloved writers of the English language made it a theme of their writing, and as we heard the news of the deaths at Sandy Hook elementary, J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit in movie theaters. If there is nothing else that Tolkien intended with his most innovative creations–hobbits–it was to convey the possibility of hope and life and innocence against the power of evil.

Indeed, it is not just hobbits and their love of the creature comforts of home, food, and books that Tolkien wrote of, but also the nature of evil and its corruption of the good.  Glenn Fairman, in his piece “Hobbits, Orcs, and the Human Condition” for the American Thinker posits that this is why Tolkien strike home for readers (and perhaps movie goers): “The universes of Tolkien and [C.S.] Lewis touch a spot in our hearts, not because of a one-dimensional black and white depiction of Good and Evil, but because they ring true in excavating the subtlety of what drives evil. Evil is not deemed co-equal with Good, [...] but as a corrupted end which once sought the Good.”

Through our “fairy tales,” then, runs the theme of free will and the necessity of free will to the growth of good, even in the potential for pain and death. Says Fairman

But free will or a future redemption is thin gruel to a town with classrooms full of murdered children. Is it enough to say that God did not will this thing and that despite the glib horror of the words, ripples of good are projecting out in time so that as a consequence at least some of this evil might one day be redeemed? Unlike our stories of Middle Earth, there was no convocation of Eagles to spirit those innocents away from a cruel and insane hand. Nevertheless, we are hearing now of unlikely heroes and sacrifices in the face of certain death by some who did not come home.It is in our finite reckoning of time that patience exhausts itself and oftentimes our endurance is drawn down as we despair of evil’s resolute gravity. Faced with suffering and evil occurring at an ever-accelerating cadence, it may be easier to believe that we are alone in our sorrows instead of exerting faith that a Deft Hand holds the reins. Sometimes it seems as if the free will of a broken humanity is insufficient when weighed in the balance against our cruelties. But without free will there is no love; and without love there is no impetus for a God of Love to create.

It is too early to tell, perhaps even in this lifetime, how these events will have weighted the waves of contingency and their significance for those perhaps not yet born. It is not a cliché to hold that courage and faith are needed now more than ever. They were indispensable in an age of Hobbits, elves and dwarves; how much more so in a tangible world of fragile men.

Often, we may feel as Frodo, who in the darkness of the Mines of Moria lamented, “I wish it need not have happened in my time.”

“So do I,” said Gandalf, “And so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”

Our hearts go out to those in Newport whose lives have been altered forever and whose loved ones will never come home, at least not in this life, and we hope that even in the dark moments that they will find solace and hope in courage and faith. To the rest of us, I hope that we can provide to them, and each other, the small comfort we can offer. And perhaps, here again, we can listen to Gandalf, the sage wizard of Tolkien’s creation:

There are those who believe that  ”it is only great power that can hold evil in check, but that is not what I have found. I found it is the small everyday deeds of ordinary folk that keep the darkness at bay. Small acts of kindness and love.”

Again, this is Christmas, and it is the Prince of Peace that was heralded on this day.  Angels sang of “peace on earth, goodwill to men” at his coming and as He neared the end of His life He returned to the refrain: “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”

His peace is the power to stand against evil and be unmoved in a time when evil will rage, to stand at the eye of a storm and feel peace while defending and seeking to live the message for which His life was nothing short of a living testimony.

None of us want to live in such times, but in such times we all retain the power to choose. It is in the small deeds of ordinary kindness that keep the darkness at bay.  As the children’s song goes, “so I say to myself, remember this: kindness begins with me.”  Imperfectly applied, perhaps, but it is a lesson we can all seek to apply just a little better in the coming year. If we do, perhaps then each of us will find a way to bring peace, and good will to men, to the Earth.

As we all mourn the lost, at Sandy Hook and in many other places, I hope that we can realize that we are not powerless against great evil, but that it is in our every day acts that evil can be held back.

Related articles
Filed Under: Criminal Law, History and People, International Interest Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Austerity? Europe never even got there.

May 10, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Just because France and Greece have decided, by majority vote, that they don’t want to cut down the welfare state does not mean that they can afford to continue spending. Nor does it mean, as Democrats would have you believe,  that cutting the deficit is a bad idea.

All it means is that a majority of voters in France (about 51.8%...not exactly a resounding mandate) picked Socialist Hollande and his promise to end “austerity.”  Meanwhile,  in Greece, where unemployment is well over 20%, Coalition for the Radical Left  leader Alexis Tsipras, when given the opportunity to form a governing majority, thumbed his nose at the holders of Greece’s debt and edged his country closer to national bankruptcy.

World markets responded accordingly…meaning, European stocks dropped when investors fled, taking their money to places where people actually face reality with seriousness.  Places that don’t rhyme with “syrup.”

None of this means, however, that “austerity” is wrong.

In fact, it’s not even clear that Europe has even entered the phase of “austerity” programs where austerity happens. Taxes have been raised on the wealthy, says Michael Tanner, but austerity programs won’t actually kick in for several years.

For example, France will raise its retirement age from 60 to 62, but not until 2017! A cap would also be put on government health-care spending, starting next year. It is a little hard, therefore, to discern whether it is budget cuts that may or may not happen some day in the future, rather than tax increases today, that have slowed French economic growth.

Or take Britain, where the Tory-Liberal coalition recently suffered a drubbing in local elections, in part as a reaction to so-called austerity measures. Among the Cameron government’s first “austerity” measures was to hike the personal income tax to 50 percent for those earning more than £150,000 a year. That measure managed to actually decrease income-tax revenues by £509 million. The U.K. did trim government payrolls and cut back on some government programs, but British government spending still consumes more than 49 percent of GDP. Government spending actually increased by £59.2 billion from 2009 to 2011.

It’s a “tax today and maybe we’ll cut entitlements in the distant future” type approach. There’s no austerity happening. Just promises austerity accompanied by immediate increases in tax rates on the wealthy and middle-class. Says Tanner

  • Spain: imposed a “wealth tax” on citizens with €700,000 of assets, and a 7 percent income tax on those earning more than €300,000 per year; capital-gains taxes were also hiked.
  • Italy: imposed a “Solidarity Tax” of 3 percent on all taxpayers who earn more than €300,000.
  • Greece: increased taxes by nearly twice as much as it cut spending, including a 5 percent surtax on the wealthy.
  • On the middle-class Europe-wide: VAT hikes,  as well as tax increases on fuel, alcohol, and tobacco.

Any wonder why European stocks dropped yesterday? No one wants to invest in a country–or a continent–where their investment isn’t going to grow and in fact faces a very real likelihood of being taken, too.

This shouldn’t be a debate over “raising taxes” and the “cutting taxes.” Rather, it should be about government spending less so that the tax burden on business is not so heavy. The way to growth is to make it easier, and cheaper, for businesses to grow, there by putting more money into the pockets of individuals to spend. You can’t with one hand run up big surpluses and with the other hand raise taxes or print more money. The result is a net loss, especially to those who can afford to save less.

Europe never stopped spending, at least not less than it taxed. Greece and France are going that reality really is non-negotiable. Especially when Germany, who holds the cards, tells them ‘no’ to new bailouts.

“Greece can rely on the solidarity of Europe, but if Greece does not help itself, there is nothing to be done,” German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble told a news conference.

“Whether Greece is ready to do what is necessary – only the Greek people can decide.”

When it comes down to it, the Democrats in America can point to the votes in France and Greece as for why cutting government won’t put people back to work. At the end of the day, though, Democrats are wrong. Three years of spending has not brought about real change in our employment or our wealth creation. We are still at around 15% unemployed (when counting those who are underemployed or no longer seeking work).

 

[CBS] [CNBC] [Christian Science Monitor] [CATO]

Related articles
Filed Under: International Interest, The Economy Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

Good morning, World. Did you notice May 7, 2012?

May 7, 2012 by 12 Comments

In case you didn’t notice, world politics shifted just a little this weekend. How dramatically is yet to be seen.

Thumbing their nose at a Europe-wide policy of spending no more than revenues bring in (also known as “austerity” and “what makes sense”), French voters kicked Nicolas Sarkozy to the curb and chose socialist Francois Hollande as their new president.

Hollande’s first order of business? Renegotiate the “austerity pact” with German chancellor Angela Merkel, per his campaign promises, to allow deficit and stimulus spending. Merkel has already told Hollande that he will be unable to keep said campaign promises and that she will not renegotiate.

Meanwhile, another corner of Europe, the Greeks rejected austerity measures required for bailout of Greek debt, kicking out of office those who negotiated the debt deal in February that kept Greece out of bankruptcy.

 

The defeat left the two political parties that had supported the bailout with only 34 percent of the country’s support, according to initial results. The rescue package, Greece’s second, gave the country $171 billion in emergency loans earlier this year but required biting spending cuts. Now, both the aid and the cuts are in doubt.

Because, you know, it makes sense to financiers around the world to throw good money after bad. Voters in France and Greece have decided that the spending cuts to make their countries solvent again just aren’t important enough to justify cuts to the welfare state.

Oh, and if that weren’t bad enough for a weekend, this guy was inaugurated President of Russia today. If that doesn’t just put a cherry on the top of a “seismic shift” in world politics, as The Guardian called it, I don’t know what does better (short of a war). Socialist elected in France, the Greeks reject a debt deal three months after the deal is inked, and Russia inaugurates a former KGB officer to an unprecedented third term in office (I mean, unless you count the tsars and Soviets).

And we thought our politics were interesting…

[Washington Post] [NPR] [Guardian] [Los Angeles Times]

Related articles
Filed Under: International Interest Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Vladimir Putin: the “most interesting man in the world,” or the beginning of a personality cult?

September 29, 2011 by 4 Comments

Vladimir Putin: the man, the myth, the … next president of Russia? In the post-Clinton age, if there’s one person who appears on the Drudge Report more than Mitt Romney and Barack Obama, it’s Mr. Putin. If it’s not in relationship to international affairs and Russia, he appears there in some daring, manly activity, occasionally bare chested and buff, unsmiling and tough.

He is, by some accounts, Putin, the “action man.”  It isn’t enough to sit on top of the world’s second largest arsenal of  nuclear weapons (or is it the largest?); apparently Vlad must be able to show his ability to best anyone in mortal combat, as well.

Martial arts? He’ll take you on. Riding on horses? In cold weather or summer heat?  Hockey? He’ll score. Hunting? Shirtless.

And he’s strong, too. Arm wrestling or pan bending, he’s game.

Or maybe you want to go to Monte Carlo and race? Watch out, Tony Stark: Ivan Vanko isn’t the only Russian you should watch for there.

But Putin isn’t all kill, thrill and speed. He’s also a combination of tough and tender. For example, take the time when he visited and examined a tiger with the Russian academy of science. He’s a conservationist with a taste for dangerous animals, too. Or assisted in Arctic Circle climate change research.

As if that wasn’t enough, Putin is also an amateur archaeologist, discovering submerged ancient pottery while scuba diving near Greece.

[simple_slideshow transition_speed="100"]

In short, he is the most interesting man in the world–a concert pianist, a motorcyclist, outdoorsman, hunter, climatologist, martial artist (and maybe a ninja?), dog lover, horse whisperer, pilot (of jets, tanks, and firefighting planes, too), and submariner. I wouldn’t be surprised if he drinks Dos Equis, too, though vodka would seem more stereotypical of this man of men.

Indeed. From spy hunter in the KGB’s counter-intelligence arm, Putin has risen to become one of the most powerful men in Russia, if not the world. In the last week he has been nominated for a third term as President of Russia, and he looks likely to take  the job. Dmitry Medvedev was only ever a place holder, and now will step down to take the place of Prime Minister (a job he had while Putin was President three years ago).

As speculated by one journalist, though, we are only mid-way through Putin’s political career. There are feats of strength for him to accomplish yet :

The year is 2024[...]

Only one leader has defied the iron law that all politicians eventually leave office. His name? Vladimir Putin. Now 71, Putin has served two more terms as Russia‘s president – bringing the tally of his stints in the Kremlin up to a remarkable four – the final two lasting a total of 12 years. He is fitter and more vigorous than ever: Russian first state TV channel has recently shown him wrestling heroically with a python after it “escaped” from a Moscow zoo.

In theory, this is the moment when Putin should finally step down after a quarter of century at the apex of Russian power. He has already outlasted Leonid Brezhnev (18 years) and is closing in fast on comrade Stalin (a whopping 31).

If that last comparison seems strange in this day decades after the fall of communist Russia, take a moment to examine Putin–if you, or anyone, knows much about his politics, it is irrelevant. What matters is that he is creating an image that is not unlike the cults of popularity that surrounded the megalomaniacs and dictators of the last century.

It’s a bleak prospect. Liberals in Moscow and St Petersburg were yesterday posting a photo of Putin mocked up to look like Leonid Brezhnev – complete with military uniform, patriotic Soviet medals and a hammer and sickle. Putin even got Brezhnevian eyebrows.

Actually, the comparisons with the Brezhnev era are spot-on. Brezhnev presided over another era of political and economic stagnation, the 1970s, sustained by a commodities boom and high oil prices. He also had a war – he sent the Red Army to invade Afghanistan. In 2008 Putin did the same thing. He sent Russian tanks into Georgia, promising to hang Georgia’s pro-western leader Mikheil Saakashvili “by the balls”. It was a brutal lesson in neighbourhood geopolitics.

Like Brezhnev, Putin will have his Olympics, too, in 2014 when the Winter Olympics go to Sochni. With a former KGB officer at the head of the Russian state, is it hard to believe that little has changed in Russia? Further, is it hard to predict that the United States might expect trouble from a resurgent Russia under a “strong” man Putin?

With the geopolitical macho Putin returning to a more internationally prominent role (and Medvedev shunted to the diminished prime ministry, essentially, an economic management slot), Mr. Obama and other Western leaders will have to deal with the longest-serving leader among theG-8. Putin will command the second largest nuclear arsenal in the world. And he will have Russia’s massive economic resources, including a $400 billion cash cushion, oil and gas reserves, and a cornucopia of raw materials, at his beck and call.

Most importantly, Putin simply doesn’t trust the United States, calling it a “parasite” on the world economic body. He accuses it of bringing about the Arab Spring and “velvet revolutions” by expanding hard-to-control social media. He resents the dollar’s role as the world’s reserve currency. And he alleges that US foreign policy disregards international law.

If the past is any predictor of the future, than  the future where we find Vladimir Putin is one where Russia sees itself as a rival to US power and influence, a state that looks as much to its tsarist past for guidance as to the west for technological theft, and where leaders rule by personality cults and competition-less elections. He may bill himself as the most interesting man in the world, but Putin is an Emperor who, clothes or not, is no friend of democracy, transparency, or the rights of the people.

[Atlantic Monthly] [The Guardian] [Christian Science Monitor]

Related articles
Enhanced by Zemanta
Filed Under: International Interest Tagged With: ,

Libyan rebels do it from scratch…and from their arm chairs.

June 15, 2011 by 4 Comments

Speaking of Libya and American military intervention, here are a few of the weapons that the Libyan rebels have built themselves:

[Read more...]

Filed Under: International Interest Tagged With: , , , , ,

Fukushima: should people panic…yet?

March 31, 2011 by 1 Comment

How bad is Fukushima‘s radiation? It seems like each day brings a new report about contamination in food supplies, water, or a cloud blowing towards north America.

How much radiation is it, though, relative to what we are exposed to daily? Relative to Chernobyl, the poster child for a nuclear nightmare?

Is it bad enough for us to reconsider using nuclear power as a source of energy?

(h/t to Information Is Beautiful)

Related articles (and a demonstration of the press panicking)
Filed Under: International Interest, Tech and IP Tagged With: , , , , ,

Meet the Tiger Elders, with lawyers on speed-dial

January 31, 2011 by Leave a Comment
Age pyramid for China showing smaller age coho...
Image via Wikipedia

Meet the Tiger Elders, with lawyers on speed-dial.

Citing the New York Times, the blog Overlawyered notes that a law has been proposed in China that would require adult children to visit their elderly parents… or face a law suit.

China is facing an aging population that will increase pension and health care costs, Baby Boomers are having on the United States, and decrease the competitive advantage afforded the country due to large quantities of cheap labor as its population leaves the labor force. Due to the one child policy, the squeeze will be much greater in China.

Perhaps requiring adult children visit and pay attention to their parents is a way to provide for the mental well-being of the elderly? And help diminish the costs on state to care for them?

Related articles
Filed Under: Business Abroad, International Interest Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,
«Older Posts