28 November 2021
Water Shortage Protests in Iran Draw Violent Response from the Authorities
Climate change, a prolonged drought, and the diversion of water from rural areas to large cities and from agriculture to industry have created severe water shortages in Iran. In July, protests broke out in Iran's heavily Arabic-speaking Khuzestan province when local farms and residents were left completely without water; they ended a week later when Iranian security forces opened fire on protesters, killing three demonstrators (see Blog post of 23 July).
Renewed protests against water shortages began two weeks ago in Isfahan, Iran's third largest city. At first, the authorities tolerated the demonstrations. But when the protests spread elsewhere in Iran, the country's security forces cracked down in Isfahan, arresting and beating dozens of demonstrators:
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/26/world/middleeast/iran-protests-water-shortages.html
Renewed protests against water shortages began two weeks ago in Isfahan, Iran's third largest city. At first, the authorities tolerated the demonstrations. But when the protests spread elsewhere in Iran, the country's security forces cracked down in Isfahan, arresting and beating dozens of demonstrators:
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/26/world/middleeast/iran-protests-water-shortages.html
27 November 2021
Authoritarianism with Chinese Characteristics
This fall, two events have called public attention in the West to the authoritarian character of the Chinese state.
First, in a Weibo post dated 2 November, Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai accused former Vice-Premier Zhang Gaoli of sexually assaulting her and coercing her into a long-term sexual relationship. The post was visible for thirty minutes; it was then taken down, and the Chinese internet was scrubbed of all references to the post and to Peng. Peng disappeared from public view. After three weeks, she contacted her supporters and the International Olympic Committee, saying that she is well and resting with her family -- but her language and demeanor made many of her supporters in the West fear that she may be under some form of coercion:
https://www.economist.com/china/what-peng-shuai-reveals-about-one-party-rule/21806441
Second, Hong Kong University ordered the removal of the Pillar of Shame, an 8-meter-high monument to the victims of the 1989 Beijing Massacre that has stood at the University since 1998. In a guest essay in The New York Times, Hong Kongers-in-diaspora Yam Shui-yin (Sharon Yam) and Alex Chow argue that the Chinese government has both uprooted civil society in Hong Kong and shrunk "the public space that preserves the memory and trauma of the 1989 Beijing uprising ... effectively turn[ing] Hong Kong into another silent mainland city":
Yam, Shui-yin (Sharon) and Alex Chow. "Hong Kong’s Universities Have Fallen. There May Be No Turning Back." The New York Times. The New York Times Co., 24 Nov. 2021, https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/24/opinion/hong-kong-university-china.html/. Accessed 27 Nov. 2021.
First, in a Weibo post dated 2 November, Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai accused former Vice-Premier Zhang Gaoli of sexually assaulting her and coercing her into a long-term sexual relationship. The post was visible for thirty minutes; it was then taken down, and the Chinese internet was scrubbed of all references to the post and to Peng. Peng disappeared from public view. After three weeks, she contacted her supporters and the International Olympic Committee, saying that she is well and resting with her family -- but her language and demeanor made many of her supporters in the West fear that she may be under some form of coercion:
https://www.economist.com/china/what-peng-shuai-reveals-about-one-party-rule/21806441
Second, Hong Kong University ordered the removal of the Pillar of Shame, an 8-meter-high monument to the victims of the 1989 Beijing Massacre that has stood at the University since 1998. In a guest essay in The New York Times, Hong Kongers-in-diaspora Yam Shui-yin (Sharon Yam) and Alex Chow argue that the Chinese government has both uprooted civil society in Hong Kong and shrunk "the public space that preserves the memory and trauma of the 1989 Beijing uprising ... effectively turn[ing] Hong Kong into another silent mainland city":
Yam, Shui-yin (Sharon) and Alex Chow. "Hong Kong’s Universities Have Fallen. There May Be No Turning Back." The New York Times. The New York Times Co., 24 Nov. 2021, https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/24/opinion/hong-kong-university-china.html/. Accessed 27 Nov. 2021.
Russia's Planned Exploitation of the Arctic Poses Risks
Retreating sea ice in the Russian Arctic has opened up a new, faster shipping lane between Asia and Europe; the route is currently navigable four months each year. The increased accessibility of Russia's Arctic waters also makes possible the exploitation of the mineral wealth that lies offshore. The opening of the Northern Sea Route, and the potential mining of the mineral resources of the Arctic Ocean, however, pose significant risks to the region's environment and indigenous people:
https://www.economist.com/europe/2021/11/27/riches-lie-below-the-waters-of-russias-arctic
https://www.economist.com/europe/2021/11/27/riches-lie-below-the-waters-of-russias-arctic
A Tragedy in the English Channel
On Wednesday, 27 migrants died when they tried to sail across the English Channel in an inflatable dinghy, from their makeshift camp in France to the United Kingdom. The dead, most of whom were Iraqi Kurds, included at least one child. The British government responded to the tragedy by proposing new restrictions on the ability of migrants to claim asylum in the UK. The French government accused the British government of politicizing the calamity:
https://www.economist.com/britain/a-mass-drowning-exposes-how-britain-fails-to-manage-migrants/21806457
https://www.economist.com/britain/a-mass-drowning-exposes-how-britain-fails-to-manage-migrants/21806457
22 November 2021
Leviathan Revisited
In the 1980s and 1990s, a neoliberal consensus in favor of low taxes and small government dominated politics in most wealthy democracies. This consensus has faded; today, politicians on the left call for the redistribution of wealth and income and politicians on the right promote illiberal policies on trade and immigration. An essay in this week's issue of The Economist, moreover, notes that the government's role in society and the percent of GDP spent by the government have actually grown in most rich countries over the past forty years, and argues that these trends will continue for the foreseeable future:
https://www.economist.com/briefing/2021/11/20/governments-are-not-going-to-stop-getting-bigger
https://www.economist.com/briefing/2021/11/20/governments-are-not-going-to-stop-getting-bigger
21 November 2021
Judicial Panel Concludes that Nigerian Army Massacred Peaceful Protesters
A Nigerian Judicial Panel of Inquiry has found that the Nigerian Army killed at least eleven demonstrators, and wounded dozens of others, during an anti-police brutality protest last year near Lagos. In a report submitted to Governor Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State, the Panel concludes that soldiers used live fire against peaceful protesters, and terms the incident a "massacre:"
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/16/world/africa/nigeria-protest-report-massacare.html
The anti-police brutality protests that swept Nigeria last autumn are discussed more extensively in Blog posts dated 4 October 2020 and 14 October 2020; the initial aftermath of the Lekki Toll Gate Massacre is discussed in a Blog post dated 26 October 2020.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/16/world/africa/nigeria-protest-report-massacare.html
The anti-police brutality protests that swept Nigeria last autumn are discussed more extensively in Blog posts dated 4 October 2020 and 14 October 2020; the initial aftermath of the Lekki Toll Gate Massacre is discussed in a Blog post dated 26 October 2020.
Faced with Climate Change, China Plans to Create "Sponge Cities"
Climate change is increasing the intensity of storms, and the frequency and extent of flooding, globally. Accordingly, the Chinese government plans to spend more than $1 trillion to make Chinese cities more resilient to extreme downpours. Some of this money will be spent on such conventional flood control measures as dams and levees. But most of the money will be spent to make Chinese urban areas "sponge cities" -- cities better able to absorb large amounts of water:
https://www.economist.com/china/2021/11/18/to-prevent-floods-china-is-building-sponge-cities
https://www.economist.com/china/2021/11/18/to-prevent-floods-china-is-building-sponge-cities
12 November 2021
The Economist: Putin Regime Increasingly Based on Repression and Fear
A lengthy essay in this week's issue of The Economist posits that the "regime [led by Russian President Vladimir Putin] has moved from being a consensual autocracy supported by
co-option and propaganda to a dictatorship resting on repression and
fear."
The piece makes clear that the Putin regime relies on the selective use of incarceration and violence and not on, for example, the imprisonment, torture and murder of millions of people (as Joseph Stalin's regime once did). It also notes that the Putin regime is authoritarian rather than totalitarian in that it seeks to encourage political apathy among ordinary Russians, rather than to mobilize Russians to support the government enthusiastically:
The piece makes clear that the Putin regime relies on the selective use of incarceration and violence and not on, for example, the imprisonment, torture and murder of millions of people (as Joseph Stalin's regime once did). It also notes that the Putin regime is authoritarian rather than totalitarian in that it seeks to encourage political apathy among ordinary Russians, rather than to mobilize Russians to support the government enthusiastically:
The regime has not used lethal force—at least not in its own name. Many have been allowed—indeed encouraged—to leave the country. This is not a liquidation, nor is it a tyranny built on a cult of personality. Rather it is something cobbled together to retain power in the face of falling popularity and eroded legitimacy.... It does not thrive on mass mobilisation and hysteria. Its aim is to suppress crowds not excite them. It neither inspires nor requires enthusiasm in the masses."Vladimir Putin Has Shifted from Autocracy to Dictatorship." The Economist. The Economist Newspaper, Ltd., 13 Nov. 2021, https://www.economist.com/briefing/2021/11/13/vladimir-putin-has-shifted-from-autocracy-to-dictatorship. Accessed 12 Nov. 2021.
Cyber Theft as an Instrument of Chinese State Capitalism
Chinese security services hack the computer systems of foreign businesses in order to steal valuable technology. The stolen trade secrets are then passed on to Chinese businesses to exploit for commercial gain:
https://www.economist.com/china/2021/11/11/china-still-steals-commercial-secrets-for-its-own-firms-profit
https://www.economist.com/china/2021/11/11/china-still-steals-commercial-secrets-for-its-own-firms-profit
08 November 2021
Show of Power
The Chinese Communist Party published a new official Party history in February. The Party's Central Committee, currently holding its annual meeting in Beijing, is set to adopt a resolution reinterpreting Chinese history since the 1949 establishment of the People's Republic of China. Understood in context, these events demonstrate Chinese President Xi Jinping's extraordinary consolidation of power in what had been a system of shared leadership, and pave the way for Xi's election next autumn to a third term as Party General Secretary (notwithstanding a Party convention, established in the 1980s, limiting Party leaders to two five-year terms):
https://www.economist.com/china/2021/11/06/xi-jinping-is-rewriting-history-to-justify-his-rule-for-years-to-come
https://www.economist.com/china/2021/11/06/xi-jinping-is-rewriting-history-to-justify-his-rule-for-years-to-come
Parliament Contemplates Restricting the Already Limited Power of Judicial Review Enjoyed by British Courts
The British government has proposed legislation that seeks to limit the ability of British judges to review decisions made by government ministries. If adopted, the legislation would make it more difficult for Britons to challenge executive branch decisions, claiming that they are inconsistent with laws enacted by Parliament:
https://www.economist.com/britain/2021/11/04/judicial-independence-is-under-threat-in-britain
It's important to note that, in Britain, the power of the courts to evaluate whether the decisions of government ministries are consistent with the laws enacted by Parliament is termed "judicial review." In the United States, the judiciary's power of "judicial review" is far broader than in the United Kingdom. American federal courts have the power to determine that the decisions of federal executive branch agencies are inconsistent with the laws adopted by Congress and to refuse to enforce them. They also have the power to determine that the decisions of federal executive branch agencies, and the laws adopted by Congress, are inconsistent with the federal Constitution, and to refuse to enforce unconstitutional federal executive branch decisions and unconstitutional acts of Congress.
https://www.economist.com/britain/2021/11/04/judicial-independence-is-under-threat-in-britain
It's important to note that, in Britain, the power of the courts to evaluate whether the decisions of government ministries are consistent with the laws enacted by Parliament is termed "judicial review." In the United States, the judiciary's power of "judicial review" is far broader than in the United Kingdom. American federal courts have the power to determine that the decisions of federal executive branch agencies are inconsistent with the laws adopted by Congress and to refuse to enforce them. They also have the power to determine that the decisions of federal executive branch agencies, and the laws adopted by Congress, are inconsistent with the federal Constitution, and to refuse to enforce unconstitutional federal executive branch decisions and unconstitutional acts of Congress.
