Profile: IMF and World Bank (BBC News)

Very helpfully, the BBC News website has put together a profile page for the two most important institutions responsible for economic governance and development on a global basis: the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

This concise but useful guide provides an overview of the two bodies, a brief fact sheet, a profile of the institutions' leaders and an insight into issues arising from their work. The BBC profile is particularly useful in providing examples of the latter, both positive and critical. As you hopefully know, the policies and actions of both institutions have provoked protests world-wide, particularly on the occasion of IMF-World Bank summits.

Take a look: This is a convenient source for the revision of notes generated for these key, high profile institutions. The right sidebar also provides links to recent and current (!) news stories in which these examples can be explored in greater detail by motivated students.

China on equal footing with US as Hu Jintao visits Washington

.... Or so The Guardian's correspondents might have us believe in their analysis piece this morning:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jan/18/china-equal-us-hu-jintao

Overall, the newspaper believes that China's inferiority in 'hard power' has turned to Beijing's advantage, and (that) signs of its growing 'soft power' abound...

The article is quite pragmatic, however: For all the talk of China's emergence as a nascent superpower, and discussion of apparent American weaknesses, uncertainty remains as to a future dependent on Beijing's determination and maintenance of current trends. There is still a long way for China to go!

Wired: All-Seeing Blimp Could Be Afghanistan’s Biggest Brain

Wired: Danger Room brings news of a new high-flying (floating?) weapon brought to bear by the Americans in Afghanistan...

Come this fall, there will be a new and extremely powerful supercomputer in Afghanistan. But it won’t be in Dave Petraeus’ headquarters in Kabul or at some three-letter agency’s operations center in Kandahar. It’ll be floating 20,000 feet above the warzone, aboard a giant spy blimp that watches and listens to everything for miles around.

Amazing concept and technology - a new frontier in warfare. Read the whole thing.

Iran hanged 47 people in three weeks, say human rights groups

The Guardian reports recent claims made by a number of respected human rights organisations:

Iran has hanged almost 50 people during the past three weeks, according to human rights groups.

The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran (ICHRI) said 47 prisoners, or an average of about one person every eight hours, have been put to death since the beginning of the new year. Most of the executions are believed to be related to drug-trafficking crimes, although at least two were of political activists.

The news came as it emerged today that Iranian officials had apparently suspended the sentence of hanging for Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, a 43-year-old woman whose sentence of death by stoning for adultery sparked an international outcry....

.... According to the ICHRI, Iran executes more people per capita than any other country, and in absolute numbers is second only to China. Iran executed at least 179 people in 2010 and 388 in 2009.

The two known political activists hanged recently were Ali Saremi, accused of waging war on God, and Hossein Khezri, a Kurdish prisoner accused of belonging to the Pejak, an armed Kurdish opposition group.

Hadi Ghaemi, executive director of the ICHRI, said: "There are many questions about proper legal proceedings, charges against executed people, and even their identities. There are serious concerns about the abuse of the judiciary by intelligence and security forces to push their agenda through such widespread executions."

 Read the whole article.

Guardian: Attack of the drones

Unmanned aircraft are now a vital tool in war zones, but our skies could soon be buzzing with spy planes that feed information back to the police – and even the paparazzi... The Guardian reports on the latest developments in remote controlled warfare and surveillance:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/jan/16/drones-unmanned-aircraft

The (vexed) meaning of 'terrorism' - thoughts from 2001...

Hunting around on the internet for resources useful to students' exploration of terrorism as a sub-topic (Unit 4d - Conflict, War and Terrorism), I came across two interesting articles from the UK media, published all the way back in 2001...

The first comes before the events on 9/11, having been published on the 7 May of that year:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2001/may/07/terrorism

The second comes from 20 September 2001, just over a week after the Twin Tower and Pentagon attacks:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/1555265.stm

Green giants: the eco power list (Guardian)

We all agree that the planet is in a perilous position. But what is the best way to save it? The Guardian names the 20 activists, filmmakers, writers, politicians and celebrities who will be setting the global environmental agenda in the coming year:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/jan/16/green-power-list-top-20

People profiled include environmentalist David Suzuki, Bolivian President Evo Morales, New York mayor Michael Bloomberg, actors Brad Pitt and Arnold Schwarzenegger (until recently California Governor), Prince Charles and even Timberland (the company).

Worth a read: proof positive that the environmental movement is truly global and no longer the domain of the 'lunatic Left'...

While we're at it... There's a Guardian article published last November outlining Arnold Schwarzenegger's stated intention to become a green activist now that his time in Californian political office has come to an end:

Arnold Schwarzenegger: my future as a green activist
Film star turned California governor prepares to leave office and become a global champion in war against climate change

Wired: Old school jet retooled to slay stealth fighters

More on that story from 3 weeks ago about the flight of the new Chinese stealth fighter..... Now, according to Wired: Danger Room we have the re-use of a 20 year old American classic to counter the new threat:

http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/01/old-school-jet/

Things don't stand still long on the military front! (Makes you think that US intelligence must already have known about the J-20....)

Guardian: The population explosion

Leo Hickman in The Guardian asks: "This year, there will be 7 billion people on Earth. But how will the planet will cope with the expanding population – and is there anything we can, or should, do to stop it?"

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jan/14/population-explosion-seven-billion

Later this year – on 31 October, to be precise – a boy will be born in a rural village in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. His parents will not know it, but his birth will prove to be a considerable landmark for our species as his arrival will mark the moment when the human population reaches 7 billion.

This ominous event outlined, Hickman proceeds to outline the various shades of opinion surrounding it, ranging from the pessimistic—Ehrlich, The Population Bomb and James Lovelock, proponent of the Gaia Theory—to the optimistic, as represented by delegates to the launch of Future Agenda (authoured by Brit Dr Tim Jones) in Istanbul. Carl Haub is offered the final voice in Hickman's survey... His analysis is mixed, but probably more realistic.

As an insight into current streams of thinking about the environmental future, the article is definitely well worth a read. Do it.

Economist: War's overlooked victims

Violence against women - Rape is horrifyingly widespread in conflicts all around the world

The Economist today has a wide-ranging article examining how rape is frequently used as a weapon of war in conflicts around the world.

There's nothing completely new in this, of course - rape has been a feature of war for millennia. Several current conflicts, however, have made rape seemingly routine, perhaps supporting Mary Kaldor's characterisation of "new wars" that are primarily civil in nature and are frequently based on identity (ethnic nationalism or religious radicalism). A further feature of these wars, usually occurring against a back drop of state fragmentation and failure, is the change in legal status of combatants and a new level of atrocities as war is waged ‘among the people’. An important aspect in this is the involvement and the effect on both women and children.

Uncomfortable reading, but worth doing nonetheless. Read the whole thing.

Guardian: The UN was envisaged as a war-fighting machine

Simon Tisdall in the Guardian reminds us (some of us hadn't actually forgotten!) of the underlying military purpose of the fledgling organisation during the Second World War:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/jan/13/un-origins-military-purpose

"American critics of the United Nations often zero in on its lack of serious military capacity, citing peacekeeping failures in Bosnia and more recently in central and west Africa as examples of ineffective do-goodery gone wrong. Imagine their surprise, then, to learn that the UN was born amid nude scenes in a White House bathroom and that its primary purpose was as a war-fighting machine."

 As ever, worth a read...

Michael Totten: The Israeli Way of War

Independent journalist Michael Totten has an interesting piece describing his typical on-the-ground research into 'the Israeli Way of War'.

http://pajamasmedia.com/michaeltotten/2011/01/09/the-israeli-way-of-war-2/

Includes a number of interviews and a selection of photographs revealing Israeli preparations for the 'the next war'. Prominent are the threats that Hezbollah currently mounts along the Lebanese border and the pains the IDF are apparently taking to avoid collateral damage when they eventually feel they have to deal with them. Another point of interest is the artificial city that the IDF have built in the desert to train their soldiers in urban warfare - adapting to the changing needs of modern warfare.

Wired: China’s New Stealth Jet Takes to the Air

Wired's Danger Room develops the story about the new Chengdu J-20 stealth fighter, now with video:

http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/01/dont-panic-chinas-new-stealth-jet-takes-to-the-air/

BBC News: Ice-cold reality of warming projections

BBC News Online, courtesy of its environment editor Richard Black, has published a survey of current scientific thought on the topic of global warming:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/richardblack/2011/01/given_the_importance_of_glacie.html

BBC News: Brazil Finance Minister Mantega warns of trade war

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-12148841

Video: Sarah McLachlan "World on Fire"

One of my favourite songs and a great stimulus for an upcoming topic for this syllabus (Poverty and Development) is Sarah McLachlan's World on Fire:

Click this link! >>>> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pc94VCpgt00

Although it dates all the way back (!) from 2004, this particular video is highly thought-provoking and puts a lot of things into perspective... Take a look!

Guardian: 'Beware those who sneer at 'human rights imperialism'

A few days back, the Guardian newspaper published a timely and incisive article by the Iranian-American writer and activist Sohrab Ahmari:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/libertycentral/2011/jan/04/human-rights-imperialism

China gains in battle against desertification but long fight ahead

The Guardian today has a brief but interesting article regarding the ongoing problem of desertification in China—one of the flip sides to the stories about what is commonly regarded as a nascent superpower:

China has gained a sliver of ground in its ancient battle against the desert sands, the government announced today, though it warned another 300 years may be needed to solve "the most serious ecological problem facing the country".

A survey showed more than a quarter of China's land remained either degraded or lost to sand and gravel due to a combination of a naturally dry climate, centuries of over-cultivation and decades of excessive demand on water and soil from the world's biggest population and fastest growing economy.

Unveiling the results, state forestry officials said desertification had been stabilised, but recovery efforts would have to be stepped up. Despite the world's biggest tree-planting campaign, the relocation of millions of "eco-migrants" and restrictions on herding and farming, the report noted the "desertification trend has not fundamentally reversed".

There were small signs of improvement. In the five years to 2010, the authors estimated the area of desert had shrunk by an annual average of 1,717 square kilometres. This was 40% better than the results from 2000-05, the first in China's history to ever show a gain.

But 1.7m hectares - more than six times the area of the UK - is still covered in sand dunes or gobi gravel desert. An even wider swathe of land is plagued by wind and water erosion or salination. The report said desertification continued to pose a "serious hidden danger" to China's security and its capacity for economic development.

 Read the other half of the article as well...

BBC News: Sudan - One Country or Two?

BBC News Online features a convenient and (carto)graphic summary of the issues surrounding the referendum to be held in southern Sudan this Sunday:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-12115013

The Sudanese referendum will (failing any catastrophes) form the main global news story over the first non-holiday weekend of New Year 2011. The BBC provides a convenient summary:

Sudan - Africa's biggest country - seems to be on the verge of splitting in two. Southerners will vote on Sunday whether or not to leave the north. These maps show the extent to which Sudan is already two nations - a richer, Arabic-speaking, Muslim north and a poorer south devastated by years of conflict and neglect.

The internet provides any number of convenient resources for this important event. Wikipedia, of course, represents a convenient starting point:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_Sudanese_independence_referendum,_2011

Observer: 20 Predictions for the Next 25 Years

Today's Observer features 20 Predictions for the Next 25 Years, as prophesied by the newspaper's "team of experts:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2011/jan/02/25-predictions-25-years

Not all are supremely relevant to global politics; nonetheless, several are quite interesting in that regard, viz.:

• Geopolitics: 'Rivals will take greater risks against the US'
• Global development: 'A vaccine will rid the world of Aids' (and other diseases)
• Energy: 'Returning to a world that relies on muscle power is not an option'
• Food: 'Russia will become a global food superpower'
• Nature: 'We'll redefine the wild'

Each of these is worth reading in full - see what you think!