23 February 2011
Population of Beijing 10% Higher than Predicted
The Economist reports that Beijing municipal authorities are cracking down on illegal migration to the city, in the wake of a report concluding that 2 million more people live in Beijing than previously estimated. The crackdown has provoked unusually public criticism:
http://www.economist.com/node/18184564
http://www.economist.com/node/18184564
21 February 2011
Strange Turn in the Trial of K.
In December, Mikhail Khodorkovsky was convicted of a second set of offenses in connection with his management of Yukos, once Russia's largest oil company. (For more about Khodorkovsky's trials, see the blog post of 31 December 2010). At the end of the trial, Judge Viktor Danilkin sentenced Khodorkovsky to a near-maximum prison sentence of 13 and a half years. Khodorkovsky's experience in Russia's legal and penal systems has been strange as it is, but last week, the case took an even more bizarre turn: Judge Danilkin's clerk, Natalia Vasilyeva, claimed that Judge Danlikin's initial decision in the case had been rejected by senior figures in the higher-level Moscow City Court, and that the decision read aloud and signed by Judge Danilkin at the end of the Khodorkovsky trial had been authored by Moscow City Court officials.
Since Vasilyeva made her allegations public, speculation has focused not on their plausibility but on Vasilyeva's motive for accusing her boss of judicial impropriety. In the words of The Economist, "[a]n obvious explanation—that she acted of her own volition because she was disillusioned with the system—seemed too implausible for the conspiracy-laden world of Russian politics."
"Another Verdict." The Economist 19 Feb 2011: 58. Print.
Since Vasilyeva made her allegations public, speculation has focused not on their plausibility but on Vasilyeva's motive for accusing her boss of judicial impropriety. In the words of The Economist, "[a]n obvious explanation—that she acted of her own volition because she was disillusioned with the system—seemed too implausible for the conspiracy-laden world of Russian politics."
"Another Verdict." The Economist 19 Feb 2011: 58. Print.
15 February 2011
David Cameron and the Big Society
British Prime Minister David Cameron calls his big idea -- that the British Government should turn over the responsibility for providing many public services to private businesses and volunteer organizations -- the "Big Society." But can for-profit firms and charities really take on responsibilities that, according to Cameron, the state can no longer afford?
http://www.economist.com/node/18114719?story_id=18114719
http://www.economist.com/node/18114719?story_id=18114719
SNP Opposes Westminster Plan to Devolve More Authority to Scottish Government
The British Government, a coalition government of the Conservative and Liberal Democrat Parties, is planning to give the devolved Scottish Government greater control over its own finances. The Scottish Government, now led by the pro-independence Scottish National Party, opposes the plan; the SNP claims that the plan is a ruse designed to muster public support for severe public spending cuts in Scotland:
http://www.economist.com/node/18119086?story_id=18119086
http://www.economist.com/node/18119086?story_id=18119086
New Protests in Iran Following Collapse of Regimes in Tunisia and Egypt
Inspired by this year's successful non-violent revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt, renewed protests broke out yesterday in Iran. The protests were timed to coincide with the visit to Iran of Turkish President Abdullah Gül; the protesters assumed that Iranian authorities would not embarrass Gül by cracking down harshly on dissent while Gül was in the country. Iranian riot police, however, used live ammunition as well as tear gas against protesters in Tehran, killing two and injuring at least three. At least 250 protesters were reportedly taken into custody:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/feb/14/iran-protests-reinvigorated-activists
The leaders of Iran's opposition, Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, called for renewed demonstrations last week, following the collapse of the Mubarak regime in Egypt after several weeks of non-violent protests. Mousavi, a former Iranian Prime Minister, and Karroubi were reformist candidates in the 2009 Iranian presidential election; their defeat by incumbent Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad -- apparently by fraudulent means -- resulted in months of protests in Iranian cities, and a bloody backlash against protesters by Iran's Revolutionary Guard and Basij militia. Today, hard-line members of Iran's Majles called for the arrest and execution of Mousavi and Karroubi:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-12462491
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/feb/14/iran-protests-reinvigorated-activists
The leaders of Iran's opposition, Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, called for renewed demonstrations last week, following the collapse of the Mubarak regime in Egypt after several weeks of non-violent protests. Mousavi, a former Iranian Prime Minister, and Karroubi were reformist candidates in the 2009 Iranian presidential election; their defeat by incumbent Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad -- apparently by fraudulent means -- resulted in months of protests in Iranian cities, and a bloody backlash against protesters by Iran's Revolutionary Guard and Basij militia. Today, hard-line members of Iran's Majles called for the arrest and execution of Mousavi and Karroubi:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-12462491
13 February 2011
Playing With Fire
The government of Georgia has established a new television news channel that will broadcast for six hours a day in Russian; the broadcasts are intended to reach viewers in the Russian republics of Chechnya, Ingushetia and Dagestan.
All three of these republics border Georgia. All three republics have non-Russian majorities and active armed separatist movements. Although the Russian military defeated the Chechen secessionists in the Second Chechen War (1999-2000), Chechen insurgents continue to conduct operations inside Chechnya and terrorist acts throughout Russia. In recent years, the anti-Russian insurgency has spread throughout the North Caucasus, and has taken on a pan-Islamist ideology.
Georgia has been independent of Russia since the break-up of the USSR in 1991. Russia has intervened repeatedly in Georgia since 1991 to support ethnic secessionist movements in Georgia; in 2008, Russia invaded Georgia in order to prevent Georgia from reestablishing sovereignty over two Georgian regions that had previously enjoy de facto independence from Georgia, with Russian support:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/13/world/europe/13georgia.html?ref=europe
All three of these republics border Georgia. All three republics have non-Russian majorities and active armed separatist movements. Although the Russian military defeated the Chechen secessionists in the Second Chechen War (1999-2000), Chechen insurgents continue to conduct operations inside Chechnya and terrorist acts throughout Russia. In recent years, the anti-Russian insurgency has spread throughout the North Caucasus, and has taken on a pan-Islamist ideology.
Georgia has been independent of Russia since the break-up of the USSR in 1991. Russia has intervened repeatedly in Georgia since 1991 to support ethnic secessionist movements in Georgia; in 2008, Russia invaded Georgia in order to prevent Georgia from reestablishing sovereignty over two Georgian regions that had previously enjoy de facto independence from Georgia, with Russian support:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/13/world/europe/13georgia.html?ref=europe
Chinese Railway Minister Sacked: Corruption Investigation Pending
In 2009, China announced that it would build 8000 miles of high-speed rail line by 2012. Although the completion of all 42 high-speed lines may be delayed by a year or two, the rapid construction of a nationwide high-speed rail system will be a remarkable achievement. (California, for example, is planning to build a single, 800-mile high-speed rail line by 2020; no one believes that project will be completed on time).
The expenditure of a lot of money on infrastructure projects in a short amount of time would pose a serious risk of corruption anywhere in the world; this risk is especially acute in China, where the formulation and implementation of public policy are far from transparent:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/13/world/asia/13china.html?ref=world
The expenditure of a lot of money on infrastructure projects in a short amount of time would pose a serious risk of corruption anywhere in the world; this risk is especially acute in China, where the formulation and implementation of public policy are far from transparent:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/13/world/asia/13china.html?ref=world
06 February 2011
The Vanguard Party Strengthens Property Rights
In an effort to curb real estate speculation, and to cool off overheated real estate markets, some Chinese cities are introducing property taxes. The Chinese government is also taking measures to prevent Chinese cities from seizing residential property and reselling it at a profit to private developers (theoretically, Chinese authorities compensate residents when they seize residential property). Under recent central government regulations, local authorities in China may only seize private property if they are going to use the property for a public purpose (such as an infrastructure project or low-income housing). Indeed, one purpose of introducing property taxes is to give Chinese cities a source of income to replace the income they will lose from seizing and reselling residential property:
http://www.economist.com/node/18070364?story_id=18070364
http://www.economist.com/node/18070364?story_id=18070364
PRD Wins Governorship of Guerrero -- with PAN Support
Last Monday, Angel Aguirre Rivero, the candidate of the left-wing Partido de la Revolución Democrática (PRD), was elected governor of the Mexican state of Guerrero. Aguirre won 56% of the vote while his nearest rival, Manuel Añorve of the Partido Revolucinario Institucional (PRI), won only 42.6% of the vote; Aguirre's election was assured when the candidate of the conservative Partido Acción Nacional (PAN), Marcos Efren Parra, dropped out of the race and endorsed Aguirre. Ad hoc electoral alliances between the PRD and the PAN are becoming increasingly common in Mexico, as the parties face a resurgent PRI in state and national elections.
The PRD's victory in Guerrero is attenuated by the fact that the new governor only joined the PRD in August 2010; Aguirre had been a member of the PRI for the previous thirty years:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=133244401
The PRD's victory in Guerrero is attenuated by the fact that the new governor only joined the PRD in August 2010; Aguirre had been a member of the PRI for the previous thirty years:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=133244401
Another Revolution That Will Not Be Televised
A brief article in this week's issue of The Economist examines how the Chinese press is covering (or, more to the point, not covering) the demonstrations in Egypt that may bring down the Mubarak regime:
http://www.economist.com/node/18065655
http://www.economist.com/node/18065655
