Politics Around The Globe

Image Source: bush2004.com

Economically speaking the world was a different place during the roaring 90’s and many had believed that the Internet would transform everything. The averaged 1.5 percent a year from the early 1970s through the early 90s, now approached 3 percent in productivity gains. Manufacturing productivity during Bill Clinton’s second term sometimes even surpassed 6 percent in gains. Alan Greenspan, chairman of the Federal Reserve spoke of a New Economy marked by continued productivity gains as the Internet buried the old ways of doing business. He even worried aloud about how he’d ever be able to manage monetary policy once the nation’s debt is fully paid of. When we look back and see how far George W. Bush administration’s crippling legacy left us, the next president will have to deal with the long economic struggle to recoup. We will think of many things which damaged the American economy like the tragedy of the Iraq war, the shame, of Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib and the erosion of civil liberties. The repercussions of all these will be felt beyond the lifetime of the next administration to come.

Image source: www.vietnamgateway.org

The present Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej has made some huge political blunders both internally and internationally such as bringing Thailand close to combating with Cambodia over the border line close to the Preah Vihear temple which was established in 1962 by the World Court. The Thai People always felt embittered about this and PM Samak had “solved” the problem in a one day meeting with the Cambodian leader about six months ago. There has been a military assemble up on the border near this temple in the last few months…
So … between the conviction and some actions and decisions that are not particularly cared for by the general population many Thai People are not pleased with the current Prime Minister. The opposition party is staging protests and has been for the past 3 or more months. Peaceful protesting is a healthy appearance of democracy, when the government allows people to express themselves in the open.

(Photo Source:Yahoo News)
Exiled President Jean-Bertrand Aristide — the slum priest turned president who clamored a U.S. intervention to restore him to power in 1994, and who accuses Washington of kidnapping him into exile a decade later as the country descended into political chaos. The need for Aristide’s return was deafening during last week’s unrest over skyrocketing food prices that left at least seven people dead, hundreds injured and Prime Minister Jacques Edouard Alexis out of a job. Some protesters vowed to press on until they unseat President Rene Preval, a former Aristide ally. Experts say it is unlikely that Aristide engineered the protests from exile in South Africa. But people living in Port-au-Prince slums say workers for a prominent Aristide loyalist went door-to-door drumming up support for the peaceful protests, some of which spiraled into violence as criminal gangs seized the opportunity to loot stores.

A new trend is now arising among terrorists – that of self-radicalization. People under this category are not members of any sect nor are some of them even bonafide Muslims, but they have radicalized themselves online and through other means. This is an alarming trend because the genuine terrorists may use this event to intensify their recruitment process, through the internet, printed material and such. A number of Singaporeans are currently behind bars for trying to enter extremist sects and join the holy war called Jihad. They are now a new breed of terrorists who do not even need to be in foreign countries in order to participate in terrorist activities.

It is a great achievement by United Nations Secretary Ban Ki-moon to have been able to talk Burma into letting aid come into their area. Foreign aid has been shooed away by Burma, and it seemed as though it did not care a bit for its citizens who are dying and starving in the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis’ rampage. Thecyclone left 134,000 people dead and missing, while those who managed to survive are struggling to find something to eat and somewhere to live, and are at risk of widespread disease. For the, Burma has now been opened to allow foreign aid into the country to help out the victims.

The boycott of the Olympic games which are going to be held at Beijing, China can give one ambivalent thoughts towards the advocacies of those initiating the boycott. Yes, it is known that they are concerned for the human rights of the Tibetan citizens, but is it right to show utter disrespect towards the symbol of many hardworking athletes around the world? It is not right to douse the fires of the Olympic torch because in doing so, the people involved are actually disregarding what it really stands for—the ideals of peace, unity and equality among the nations of the world.

(Photo Source:Yahoo News)
ZAMBOANGA, Philippines (AFP) - Makeshift bombs striked a Roman Catholic church and a commercial building from the southern Philippines early Sunday, causing fear and damage but no injuries, the local authorities said. The first explosion hit the gate of a two-storey church in downtown Zamboanga as people were arriving for the dawn Sunday mass, shattering glass doors and causing part of the ceiling to collapse, police said. Terrified churchgoers stampeded out of the prayer hall but there were no reported injuries, police investigators added. A parked truck on the church courtyard was also damaged by the blast. About 10 minutes later a similar bomb exploded outside a closed Internet cafe at a commercial building near the church, causing minor damage but no casualties. Police said good thing the establishment was closed at the time. Zamboanga mayor Celso Lobregat told reporters the authorities have not yet identified any suspects up to this time and the motive of the attacks were still unknown.

(Photo Source: Yahoo News)
ROME (AFP) - Conservative billionaire Silvio Berlusconi won Italy’s general elections by an unexpectedly wide margin on Monday, securing a third term as prime minister but warning of tough times ahead for the country in the grip of an economic downturn.Berlusconi will return to the prime minister’s office for the third time since 1994, the year after he burst onto the political stage with his party of the time, Forza Italia! (Go Italy!). The Piepoli polling institute predicted Berlusconi’s coalition would win 162 of the Senate’s 315 seats, giving him six more than the minimum needed for an absolute majority.

HONG KONG, April 15 (Reuters) - Investors jostled for position on Tuesday as stockmarkets braced for a slew of earnings from U.S. banks, with some heading for the refuge of bonds and gold and others betting that the worst is already priced in. Oil prices hit a record high, helped by a weak dollar, which has given up gains made on supportive remarks from the Group of Seven nations at the weekend. The dollar dithered in a narrow range in cautious Asian trade, standing at 101.23 yen by 0410 GMT, while the euro traded at $1.583, barely changed from Monday’s close.
(Source:Yahoo News)

An official from former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto’s party says Parliament has passed a resolution seeking a U.N. probe into her case. Izhar Amrohvi says Pakistani lawmakers were unanimous in adopting the resolution late Monday. It urges the government to request the U.N. to investigate Bhutto’s assassination in December. President Pervez Musharraf has blamed a Taliban militant leader, Baitullah Mehsud, for the attack, although Mehsud denies it. Musharraf had opposed a U.N. probe but had allowed the Scotland Yard to look into what caused her death. Pakistan’s new government and parliament is dominated by a coalition led by Bhutto’s party. (Source:Yahoo News)