THE WORLD – Page 215 – IDN-InDepthNews

Asia-Pacific2013-08-202023-07-10

China Not the Global Engine of Economic Growth

By Michael Pettis* | IDN-InDepth NewsAnalysis

BEIJING (IDN | Yale Global) – Imagine having predicted in 1990 that the Japanese economy, then widely expected to overtake the US within a decade or two, would grow on average by less than 1 percent a year for the next 20 years. In the unlikely case that anyone believed you, he would probably have drawn two worrisome conclusions.

First, Japan at that time was considered the world’s growth engine, and so a collapse in Japanese growth would likely throw the world into a tailspin. Second, if after several decades of robust expansion Japanese growth were suddenly to drop so dramatically, there was sure to be social and political upheaval in Japan.

Middle East2013-08-182023-07-10

Egypt A Hard Nut To Crack, Not Only For Obama

By J. C. Suresh | IDN-InDepth NewsReport

TORNTO (IDN) – President Barack Obama is coming under growing pressure at home to order “an immediate suspension” of military aid to Egypt and work with the United Nations, the African Union and other international institutions as well as Europe and Arab countries to put concerted pressure on the Egyptian military government to reverse its current policies.

Such persistent appeals are coming at a point in time when analysts stress that since the military took control in July and ousted President Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood in the aftermath of popular demand, the Gulf sheikdoms have stepped in with more than $12 billion of concessionary loans and critical energy deliveries with a view to backing General Abdel Fattah el-Sisi’s hard line. “The United States’ leverage pales in comparison: a mere $1.5 billion in annual assistance, $1.3 billion of which goes to the military,” says Isobel Coleman, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.

Asia-Pacific2013-08-162023-07-10

Revived Nalanda Should Include Buddhists

By Shenali D Waduge* | IDN-InDepth NewsViewpoint

COLOMBO (IDN) – In 1193 A.D. Nalanda, the world’s oldest Buddhist university was ransacked and destroyed by foreign invaders led by the Turkish Bakhityar Khiliji because the 14 acre “giver of knowledge” was a strong pillar of Buddhism and attracted students from all over the world, including countries such as Turkey and Persia. The invaders burnt to ruins the magnificent library and other architectural masterpieces of the Nalanda University.

In 2006, it was announced that Nalanda University was to be revived with the efforts and contributions of numerous countries. However, the issue is that old Nalanda was essentially a Buddhist place of learning promoting Buddhist beliefs and philosophy – the new architects are ironing out a creation of ancient Nalanda with a modern twist to include subjects that are taught in general universities thereby denying the Buddhist niche that Nalanda epitomized.

Middle East2013-08-122023-07-10

Egypt: Supporting Democracy the American Way

By Jeremy R. Hammond* | IDN-InDepth NewsAnalysis

TAIPEI (IDN) – When the Obama administration announced on July 25 that it was free to violate U.S. law by continuing to finance the Egyptian military to the tune of $1.5 billion annually, even though it was responsible for overthrowing the democratically elected president of Egypt, Mohamed Morsi, in a coup d’tat on July 3, the message was understood loud and clear in Cairo. Two days later, the Egyptian military massacred over 70 demonstrators who were protesting Morsi’s ouster.

Africa2013-08-122023-07-10

A New Lease For ‘Thugtatorship’ in Zimbabwe

By Alemayehu G. Mariam* | IDN-InDepth NewsViewpoint

Zimbabwe had its presidential elections on August 3. The Zimbabwe Election Support Network said these were “seriously compromised”. Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai described the polls “a huge farce” and a “sham that does not reflect the will of the people.” Among African Union observers, only Botswana called for an investigation. Professor Alemayehu G. Mariam asks whether elections in Africa are a colossal exercise in futility, but is convinced that change in inevitable – perhaps through the expression of the ‘tornadic’ wrath of the people as seen in the ‘Arab Spring’.

Middle East2013-08-072023-07-10

Iran: New President Faces Abundant Challenges

By Jamsheed K. Choksy* | IDN-InDepth NewsAnalysis

BLOOMINGTON (IDN | Yale Global) – Hassan Rouhani took charge of Iran with its socioeconomic safety nets unraveling, thanks to deleterious policies exacerbated by tightened sanctions from the West. Addressing the parliament on July 14, while president-elect, he acknowledged that the nuclear impasse is far from the only factor transforming the Islamic Republic of Iran negatively with impact on other countries. Iran’s challenges pose severe consequences at home and abroad.

Middle East2013-08-052023-07-10

Yemen: A Critical But Forgotten Front

By Suzane Mneimneh*

IDN-InDepth NewsAnalysis | Geopolitical Monitor

DETROIT (IDN) – The struggle against al-Qaeda in Yemen stands as an unheralded though critical front in the global war against terrorism. This fight has taken the form of violent hit-and-run operations against the Yemen Army, itself backed by U.S. drones, and the establishment of territorial bases that are often in flux.

Most recently the battle has shifted to Hadramaut province, which was already largely controlled by al-Qaeda, after the Yemen Army managed to regain control of Abyan province and expel Ansar al-Sharia. Despite these ostensible gains, al-Qaeda forces have proven adept at moving in to fill gaps in central authority and capitalizing on endemic instability, poverty, unemployment, and political division in Yemen- the very factors that provide the most fertile ground for spreading the group’s extremist beliefs.

Africa2013-08-042023-07-10

Times of Uncertainty Ahead For Burkina Faso

By Jerome Mwanda | IDN-InDepth NewsAnalysis

DAKAR (IDN) – Burkina Faso, a landlocked country of the SaheI, has since 1987 been ruled by President Blaise Compaoré, who established a semi-authoritarian regime, moving from a repressive military rule to a formal multiparty democratic system, but one fully controlled by the president. This enabled him to stabilise a country marked by five coups between 1960 and 1987.

With less than three years left for presidential elections due in 2015, a new report is asking President Compaoré to facilitate a smooth transition and at the same time calling upon international partners, in particular Western allies, to focus no longer exclusively on mediation role in Mali and the monitoring of security risks in West Africa.

Africa2013-08-012023-07-10

Africa: UN Advises ‘Development Regionalism’

By Jaya Ramachandran | IDN-InDepth NewsReport

GENEVA (IDN) – When long forgotten African leaders set up the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) in 1963, coordinating and intensifying regional cooperation in order to achieve a better life for the people of the newly liberated continent was an important item on their agenda.

Fifty years later, a UN report says that efforts to date to spur jointly reinforcing economic growth on the continent have relied on a “textbook” and “linear” approach to regional cooperation that does not fit with the situation in Africa, world’s second-largest and second-most-populous continent with than one billion people.

Asia-Pacific2013-07-312023-07-10

Japan: Political Reform Essential

By Frances McCall Rosenbluth* | IDN-InDepth NewsAnalysis

NEW HAVEN (IDN | Yale Global) – The Liberal Democratic Party’s landslide victory in Japan’s House of Councillors elections on July 21 was good news for the Japanese economy – the third largest in the world. Prime Minister Abe Shinzo’s Keynesian spending policies are exactly what’s needed to pull the country out of the prolonged economic malaise that has lasted, shockingly, for more than two decades since Japan’s asset bubble burst in1991.

With solid majorities in both houses of parliament, Abe is in a strong position to get on with the task of economic rebuilding that could also benefit the world. But given the fundamental weakness of Japan’s fractured political system, the moment could turn out to be ephemeral.