AHS Comparative Government

Under legislation adopted by the British Parliament in London, Scotland has its own Parliament and its own judicial system. (Scottish voters continue to elect roughly 10% of the members of the British Parliament as well). On August 20th, Scotland's Justice Secretary, Kenny MacAskill of the pro-independence Scottish National Party (SNP), freed Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, a Libyan citizen convicted of blowing up an airplane over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988. 270 people (including 189 Americans) were killed in what was (and remains) the deadliest act of terrorism in British history. MacAskill freed al-Megrahi on compassionate grounds: he is dying of cancer.

The ensuing uproar over al-Megrahi's release has put pressure on the Scottish Government. (The SNP holds a minority of seats in the Scottish Parliament; the three other major parties in Scotland could vote the Scottish Government out of office if they were prepared to contest fresh elections for that Parliament). The controversy has also placed pressure on the British Government, currently controlled by the Labour Party (even though the Labour Party has a frosty relationship with the SNP). Critics of al-Megrahi's release (particularly in the US) have noted Britain's growing trade and investment ties with Libya and have alleged that commercial considerations played a role in the decision to release a man convicted of mass murder:

http://www.economist.com/world/britain/PrinterFriendly.cfm?story_id=14335988

An article in this week's issue of The Economist analyzes the growing power of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in both the Iranian government and the Iranian economy:

http://www.economist.com/world/middleeast-africa/PrinterFriendly.cfm?story_id=14327633

An article in today's New York Times analyzes the resumption of political violence in Russia's North Caucasus region, and the difficult choices confronting Russian policy makers responsible for addressing that violence:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/30/world/europe/30chechnya.html?_r=1&ref=world

Please be sure to examine the map of the region and the graph comparing the number of people killed in Chechnya, and throughout the region, in 2008 and 2009:

http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2009/08/29/world/30chechnyag.ready.html

In an address immediately prior to Friday prayers in Tehran, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called for the prosecution and imprisonment of those who questioned the legitimacy of his election. While Ahmadinejad did not mention by name those whom he believes should be prosecuted, he was clearly refering to two of the men he defeated in last June's election, Mehdi Karroubi and former Prime Minister Mir Hossein Moussavi, as well as two former Iranian presidents, Mohammad Khatami and Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani. Ahmadinejad's comments came just days after Iran's Leader, the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said that he did not believe that the street demonstrations that convulsed Iran in June and July were orchestrated by foreign powers; Khamenei's comments were widely interpreted as an attempt to calm Iran's highly-charged political situation:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/29/world/middleeast/29iran.html?_r=1&ref=middleeast

In the United States, most medical services are provided by privately-owned hospitals and medical practices. Most Americans have health insurance that covers most of their medical expenses; this health insurance is provided by privately-owned health insurance companies. Americans typically receive health insurance through their employers; it is increasingly common, however, for American workers to pay at least part of the cost of the health insurance they receive through their employers. Some Americans -- some poor people and most people over 65 -- have health insurance provided by the government, through the Medicaid and Medicare programs. Nearly one-sixth of all Americans, however, do not have health insurance. (Note that this is one way to "ration" health care).

In the United Kingdom, the National Health Service -- a government agency -- provides medical services to all. The NHS is not a government-operated insurance monopoly. Instead, almost all British hospitals are operated by the NHS and receive taxpayer funds to support their operations. Physicians, too, are paid by the NHS; their pay is generally based upon the number of patients for whom they are responsible. Some Britons have private health-insurance; these Britons are able to see non-NHS doctors and stay in non-NHS hospitals when they are ill or injured. (This generally translates into shorter waiting times to see specialists and for non-emergency surgeries, and more pleasant hospital conditions). Britons with private health insurance must continue to pay taxes to support the NHS and are free to use NHS services whenever they wish to do so. (Most private insurance policies in Britain, for example, don't cover expensive medications, non-routine surgeries or rare conditions; when privately insured Britons need expensive medications or non-routine surgeries, or have rare conditions, they are invariably treated by the NHS).

Britons love to complain about the NHS, but it remains wildly popular; all British political parties support socialized medicine in principle, and differ only about how much should be spent on the NHS and how best to run it. In this respect, at least, most British Conservatives are more "progressive" than most American Democrats.

A recent article in The Economist compares the cost and healthcare outcomes of the two systems:

http://www.economist.com/world/britain/PrinterFriendly.cfm?story_id=14259044

This week's issue of The Economist includes an examination of the worsening relationship between Russia and its neighbor, Ukraine. For centuries, Ukraine was part of the Russian Empire; between 1922 and 1991, Ukraine and Russia were both parts of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR):

http://www.economist.com/world/europe/PrinterFriendly.cfm?story_id=14273936

Last week, the Nigerian federal government organized a $2.6 billion rescue of five troubled Nigerian banks. Note how a Nigerian bank bailout differs from an American bank bailout:

• The heads of all five of the banks lost their jobs; and
• The Nigerian government has threatened to arrest anyone who borrowed money from one of the banks, and is capable of repaying it, but has chosen instead to default on his/her repayment obligation.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8208932.stm

The emerging economies of East Asia (China, South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand) have rebounded rapidly from the global economic crisis; China's Gross Domestic Product (GDP), for example, grew at an annualized rate of 15% in the second quarter of 2009. (By contrast, US GDP fell at an annualized rate of 1% during the second quarter). An editorial in this week's issue of The Economist theorizes that

Asia’s rebound has several causes. First, manufacturing accounts for a big part of several local economies, and industries such as cars and electronics are highly cyclical: output drops sharply in a downturn and then spurts in the upturn. Second, the region’s decline in exports in late 2008 was exacerbated by the freezing up of global trade finance, which is now flowing again. Third, and most important, domestic spending has bounced back because the fiscal stimulus in the region was bigger and worked faster than in the West. India aside, the Asians entered this downturn with far healthier government finances than rich countries, allowing them to spend more money. Low private-sector debt made households and firms more likely to spend government handouts; Asian banks were also in better shape than their Western counterparts and able to lend more. Asia’s prudence during the past decade did not allow it to escape the global recession, but it made the region’s fiscal and monetary weapons more effective. (Emphasis added).

"An Astonishing Rebound." The Economist. 15 August 2009: 9 <http://www.economist.com/opinion/displaystory.cfm?story_id=14214001>.

In Iran, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has called for the arrest of two of his opponents in June's presidential election, the reformist leaders Mehdi Karroubi and Mir Hossein Mousavi. Meanwhile, a group of former reformist members of the Majles (Iran's Parliament) has called upon Iran's Assembly of Religious Experts to investigate whether Iran's Leader, the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, is fit to continue to serve in office. In theory, the Assembly could remove Khamenei as Leader and elect a new Leader:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/15/world/middleeast/15iran.html?scp=1&sq=iran%20arrest%20oppositin&st=cse

Against this backdrop of continuing political crisis, Iranian authorities will begin another show trial on Tuesday -- seven Baha'i leaders are accused of spying for Israel. Members of the Baha'i faith are frequently persecuted in Iran. While the Iranian government has, in the past, prosecuted some Iranian Jews on trumped-up charges of spying for Israel, Iran's Jews and Christians enjoy formal protection from persecution; the Qu'ran teaches respect and tolerance for Judaism and Christianity. The Baha'i enjoy no such protection. The Baha'i faith is an offshoot of Islam, and Iranian authorities regard the Baha'i as apostate Muslims (Muslims who have abandoned Islam). Under one common interpretation of the Qu'ran, the penalty for apostasy is death:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8202928.stm

The Chechen Republic is a part of the Russian Federation; since 1991, the Russian government has fought two wars in Chechnya against independence-minded nationalists. In 2007, former Russian President (and current Russian Prime Minister) Vladimir Putin appointed Ramzan Kadyrov the President of Chechnya. Since then, however, Kadyrov has run Chechnya as his personal fiefdom; his administration is notoriously corrupt and violent. Kadyrov's patrons in Moscow have turned a blind eye to Kadyrov's abuse of his power, apparently content to give Kadyrov a free hand so long as Chechnya remains a part of the Russian Federation. The recent kidnapping and murder of Zarema Sadulayeva, the head of a children's charity in Chechnya, and her husband, Alik Djabrailov, illustrates the continuing brutality of life in Chechnya:

http://www.economist.com/world/europe/PrinterFriendly.cfm?story_id=14222216

While Chechnya remains more-or-less under Kadyrov's control, political violence continues to mount in Ingushetia (west of Chechnya) and Dagestan (east of Chechnya). As you examine this map of the Caucasus, please note the proximity of Chechnya, Ingushetia and Dagestan (all part of Russia) in the North Caucasus to Georgia (and the Georgian regions of North Ossetia and Abkhazia) in the South Caucasus. Last summer, Russia prevented Georgia from reestablishing political control over North Ossetia and Abkhazia in a brief war; Russian troops now safeguard the "independence" of those two areas:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Caucasus-political_en.svg

A report in yesterday's New York Times summarizes the latest developments in the North Caucasus:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/15/world/europe/15russia.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=dagestan%20sauna&st=cse

The police in Russia are notoriously corrupt. Some police officers even commit violent crimes with impunity:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8190115.stm

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad sacked four senior officials of Iran's Intelligence Ministry today, in a purge of officials opposed to the harsh crackdown on the pro-reform opposition. Ahmadinejad reportedly replaced the officials with aides who are loyal to him personally:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2009/08/10/international/i030447D08.DTL&type=printable

Meanwhile, Mehdi Karroubi, one of the reformist candidates defeated in Iran's June presidential election, alleged that some of the demonstrators jailed for protesting the results of that election had been raped in prison. The allegation followed Saturday's confirmation, by a senior Iranian judicial official, that some of the jailed demonstrators had been tortured in prison. The prison in which the worst abuses took place was ordered closed last month by Iran's Leader, the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/11/world/middleeast/11iran.html?_r=1&ref=global-home

The show trial of more than 100 leading opposition figures continues; the evidence introduced in that trial includes statements made by the defendants, allegedly under duress or during torture.

On 24 July, workers at the Tonghua Iron and Steel plant in Jilin Province, China, brutally murdered Chen Guojun, the general manager of an investment group that owned a minority interest in the plant. Chen had angered the workers by telling them that the proposed sale of the public's majority stake in the plant would result in massive layoffs. The incident highlights the intensity of employer-worker conflicts in China:

http://www.economist.com/world/asia/PrinterFriendly.cfm?story_id=14140302

On Saturday, Iranian authorities began a mass trial of more than 100 leading reformists. The defendants include a Nobel Prize-winning lawyer, two Iranian-American academics, a former Vice President, and several former cabinet members. The prosecution will build much of its case on confessions extracted from some of the defendants, almost certainly under duress. The confessions, some of which have been shown on Iranian television, have drawn criticism not only from reformists but from several prominent Iranian conservatives as well:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/03/world/middleeast/03iran.html?_r=1&ref=global-home&pagewanted=print

Mir Hossein Mousavi, whose loss in June's presidential election to incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad sparked widespread protests, alleged Saturday that detained protesters and other detained reformists have been subjected to "medieval torture." Former President Mohammad Khatami, moreover, denounced the mass prosecution of reformists begun Saturday as a "show trial":

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8180180.stm