A symbol of Europe’s failure
The Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia and Hungary – together known as the Visegrad Group – were once a beacon for post-Communist integration of Eastern Europe with the European Union. Now, the Group symbolises its failure to do so – a failure which was only magnified by the success of an anti-establishment party, in the Czech Republic, writes Jochen Bittner in The New York Times.
“Both West and East share some of the blame for this development. The Westerners have assumed that the Easterners would be content with less — that they would be happy simply to be included in the European Union and could therefore be treated as second-class equals.”
“At the same time, Visegrad leaders have made political hay out of such mistreatment, rather than working to correct for it…But the rhetoric ensures that the group’s proposals will be ignored or rejected out of hand in Brussels. As a result, governments from Warsaw to Budapest retreat into sulking mode.”
“While liberalizing their economies, they (the Eastern leaders) have forgotten to liberalize their minds. East and West need to engage in couples therapy soon. Otherwise, Brexit might eventually look like one of Europe’s minor problems.”
Boko Haram’s gruesome record of female ascendancy
It would be hard to imagine Boko Haram champion the cause of female ascendancy in any field. Yet, it is the first terror group to use a majority of female bombers. Between April 2011 and June 2017, of the 434 bombers the group deployed, 244 were identified as female, says a piece in The Economist.
“Boko Haram realised the propaganda value of women: the use of supposed innocents as lethal weapons has a powerful shock factor. They arouse less suspicion (at least they did when the tactic was first deployed, if no longer) and can more easily hide bombs underneath voluminous hijab. And by sending women to blow themselves up, Boko Haram also saves its male fighters for more conventional guerrilla-style attacks.”
“Some of the women may by willing, if brainwashed, jihadists. Many, though, are believed to be coerced into strapping on bombs. One did so with a baby on her back. Some may see it as a way out of an abusive life as one of Boko Haram’s ‘wives’, plenty of whom are raped by their ‘husbands’.”
Kenya’s fragile democracy on the brink
Mass protests, bloodshed and a major blow to Africa’s democracy are some of the possible outcomes of a rerun of the presidential vote in Kenya this week, says an editorial in The Washington Post.
“Kenya’s fragile political system has veered between breakthrough and breakdown over the past two months amid a hotly contested presidential election. Now the country itself appears in danger of a violent implosion.”
“The election system appeared to have worked in August, when international observers, including former secretary of state John F. Kerry, praised a vote that appeared to give a decisive victory to Mr. Kenyatta over challenger Raila Odinga. But to the surprise of all sides, Kenya’s Supreme Court ruled on Sept. 1 that election officials had not observed proper procedures for tabulating and reporting the vote, and it annulled the election. That, too, could have strengthened Kenya’s institutions — if Mr. Kenyatta and Mr. Odinga had not both played a spoiling role.”
“Polls as well as the August vote suggest that Mr. Kenyatta would defeat Mr. Odinga in a free and fair election. That makes the president’s insistence on going forward with the vote on Thursday, instead of delaying it and encouraging reforms by the election commission, self-defeating. At best a nominally reelected Mr. Kenyatta will be left with a weakened domestic mandate and a lack of international credibility. Mr. Odinga, for his part, has never appeared willing to accept defeat, fair or otherwise, without a fight. His tactics and the government’s harsh response risk a conflict that Kenya cannot afford.
Latin America to welcome back its populist demagogues
Just years after rejecting its populist demagogues, Latin America is all set to welcome them back over an election wave in the region over the next 12 months, write Brian Winter and Robert Muggah in Foreign policy – and this, despite the broad economic gains.
“Most of the region’s economies are again growing after six years of crisis. This uptick is admittedly modest — about 1.2 percent expected regional GDP growth in 2017, compared to a projected global average of 3.6 percent. But the sound fiscal policies embraced by several governments have analysts predicting regional growth of around 2 percent in 2018,” they write.
However, “according to the latest polls, faith in democratic politics around Latin America is at historic lows. The proportion of Latin Americans supporting democracy slid from 66 percent in 2014 to roughly 58 percent today, with more than 40 percent saying they are prepared to support a military coup to tackle crime and corruption. Young people are especially disillusioned — roughly 20 million of Latin American 15-29 year-olds are unemployed. Many are taking to the streets — and their digital equivalents — to vent their frustrations. The prospect of low-paying jobs is forcing a good number into the informal economy, including crime. Latin America already has 43 of the 50 most murderous cities in the world.”
China gets serious about tackling pollution
After years of paying lip-service to pollution, China finally seems to be coming down heavily on tens of thousands of factories, in what Rob Schmitz describes as Beijing’s “unprecedented pollution crackdown” in NPR.
“This is happening across the country: Entire industrial regions of China are being temporarily shut down, and the unusual sight of blue skies is reappearing as environmental inspectors go about their work. After decades of doing little about the pollution that has plagued much of the country, China’s government may be finally getting serious about enforcing its environmental laws.”
“In the past year, China’s Ministry of Environment has sent inspectors to 30 provinces, where they’ve reprimanded, fined, or charged officials in more than 80,000 factories with criminal offenses. Entire swaths of Eastern China have halted production, prompting some companies to move entire supply chains to countries like India and Bangladesh to meet their orders.”