I apologize, I just don't have the time to run a site like this and do justice to the news. It actually takes a lot of research to put worthwhile facts over current events, to find out the history and economics and discover the political connections between different events. I'll keep the site up, but I won't be updating it, or at least very rarely.
posted by fullcircle @ 12/06/2004 03:03:00 PM
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China's army chief Jiang Zemin made a surprise decision earlier this month to step down from his post, and Hu Jintao was named to take his place. Hu is already the President of China and the head of the Communist Party, which along with the army chief are the top three positions in chinese government. There is some speculation over Hu's power and whether or not China can still be ruled by one man alone.
Hu's control over the People's Army will have a direct affect on relations with Taiwan. Taiwan's current president, Chen Shui-bian, is also gaining power in his country and is predicted to use this power to push for Taiwanese indepedence, possibly bringing the matter to a military confrontation. Hu is seen as slightly more lenient that Jiang on the subject of Taiwan and the One-China policy. China, of course, is limiting the democracy within recently seceded Hong Kong and still occupies Tibet. China's new economic partners still worry than China will become militarily aggressive in the wake of it's economic growth.
posted by fullcircle @ 9/25/2004 02:34:00 AM
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Indonesia's first direct presidental election is coming to a close this month, with former General Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono leading over the incumbent president, Megawati Sukarnoputri, 61% to 39%.
As quoted from The Economist: "That all three elections have gone with barely a hitch is remarkable in a country with 220m people, spread across a huge archipelago of 17,000 islands. It is even more remarkable in light of the country’s political history: in just six years, Indonesia has gone from authoritarian rule to the brink of chaos and now to full democracy."
posted by fullcircle @ 9/25/2004 02:08:00 AM
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In a series of moves that has been largely ignored by the media in the US, President Putin has proposed eliminating Russian democratic process in the wake of a wave of deadly terrorist attacks. His recent proposals include changing all 89 regional governors and all legislators from elected officals to appointed.
On Sep 3 Russia experienced a deadly terrorist attack on a school in Beslen that killed over 350 people, including many children. Also in the last month, 2 passenger planes exploded. All 3 events were marked with possible corruption or ineptness of the police and military officals involved with the events. The BBC has a timeline of Russian history which gives special emphasis to it's recent troubles.
Putin was re-elected in a landslide victory as Russian President in March of this year.
posted by fullcircle @ 9/22/2004 05:44:00 PM
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China has positioned "heavily armed" troops around the Three Gorges Dam project to prevent terrorist actions from taiwanese independence extremists. Such troops including helicopters, armored vehicles, and bomb-disposal robots. No word on what provoked this reaction, and given Chinese control of it's media, we probably won't find out if a real threat exists or if China is taking preventive measures.
posted by fullcircle @ 9/14/2004 02:50:00 PM
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Hong Kong recently finished it's biggest election since the territory reverted from British rule to communist China 7 years ago. Over 53% of the population voted in what BBC called a "test of public feeling" towards Beijing rule. Pro-democratic candidates got a minor gain, although Pro-China saw the biggest growth in the public vote, winning 5 more seats than the last election.
Hong Kong's government is an interesting system that retains democratic process introduced during British rule yet ensures Beijing maintains ultimate control. The territory has a mini-constitution called The Basic Law, an Executive Council or ExCo led by a Chief Executive choosen by Beijing, and a Legislative Council known as LegCo. Notice the business-themed government titles for a territory with a rich history of trade and commerce.
LegCo is a body of 60 legislators, 30 elected by the public, 30 elected by functional constituencies that represent business trade and professional bodies like bankers and accountants and who almost always elect Pro-China. Pro-Democracy won 18 of the publically elected seats, Pro-China won 12.
Under the terms of the handover from Britian to China in 1997, Hong Kong is supposed to retain it's politcal freedoms for 50 years. However, recent years have shown many challenges to those freedoms from Beijing, which maintains a policy of reformation to reintroduce Hong Kong into the People's Republic. Back in April of this year Beijing passed a ruling that gave the communist government veto power over Hong Kong, effectively nullifying any democratic independence from China. Even more controversial were security laws that sparked the largest protests in Hong Kong's history.
posted by fullcircle @ 9/13/2004 11:17:00 PM
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Secretary of State Collin Powell and the US House of Representatives officially labeled the current violence in Sudan as genocide and asked for greater committment from the UN and the international community to stop it. The label does not legally obligate the US to act, but the UN is obligated if it accepts the label.
The conflict is mainly between black rebel groups in the west of Sudan and arab Janjaweed militia groups. The Janjaweed have been accused of genocide and rape on a mass scale - 1 million black sudanese have fled their homes and over 50,000 have been killed since the fighting began in early 2003. The Sudanese government has been accused of supporting the Janjaweed, and witnesses have said tanks and other Sudanese military vehicles have been involved with Janjaweed attacks, materials that small militia groups would not be able to requisition. Given the racial origins of the two sides and Sudan's position as a doorway country between black and arab africa, genocide is almost certainly occuring.
The BBC has a overview of the Sudanese conflict, which it calls the "world's worst humanitarian crisis." Here is a basic overview of Sudan. Sudan is a poor agricultural country in Africa with limited industry, and has yet not attracted motivated foreign intervention.
posted by fullcircle @ 9/09/2004 04:36:00 PM
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It has been an intense year for tropical storms. Japan is being hit hard right now, a double whamy of typoons and earthquakes. Typoon is just another name for hurricane, also called cyclones in India. Florida is set to experience it's third major hurricane this summer, Hurricane Ivan, a Category 4 storm.
Some scientist have blamed this extreme season on elevated ocean temperatures caused by global warming, although some studies have refuted this.
posted by fullcircle @ 9/08/2004 10:37:00 PM
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posted by fullcircle @ 9/08/2004 07:29:00 PM
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Just when Florida is getting over it's 2nd hurricane, a 3rd approaches, and it will be the worst.
posted by fullcircle @ 9/08/2004 07:15:00 PM
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The above link summarizes the opinions of the press in India and Pakistan about recent peace talks concerning Kashmir, which are widely viewed as ineffective. This north indian provence has a heavy muslim population and has been a major source of violence between the two countries, both which possess nuclear weapons. As a major hotspot in the world, it gets limited attention in american media.
The BBC maintains a website focused on Kashmirand a short history of the conflict.
posted by fullcircle @ 9/08/2004 06:28:00 PM
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In China, the Yangtze River is flooding heavily, displacing hundreds of thousands of people in the Sichuan province and putting the controversial Three Gorges Dam project on alert. Flood control is one of the major reasons the dam is being built.
The Three Gorges Dam is a major state-sponsored project in China that has attracted controversy from environmentalists and social scientists in and out of the country. The dam would be the largest structure of it's kind in the world, and bring prestige to Chinese socialism. The project would also displace millions of chinese and thousands of archeological sites and one of the world's natural wonders underwater.
ChinaOnline has a general summary of the project.
China currently does not meet it's own energy needs, and as the Chinese economy continues to grow at tremendous rates, so will the average standard of living and energy needs will explode. China has built much of it's growth on coal-power, and is looking towards cleaner energy projects like this one.
The US Dep of Energy has an overview of Chinese energy.
posted by fullcircle @ 9/08/2004 05:59:00 PM
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The idea was to create a news site that mixes current events with history and economics and the political connections that world events naturally have. I don't have the time to keep it updated with good information, but the previous posts are here for you to judge the concept.
