by Robert Whitcomb | Jul 25, 2016 | News
The Russian-backed attack on eastern Ukraine has taken vast numbers of weapons out of the hands of irregular military units and put them into the criminal international arms business, which is selling the weapons far beyond the conflict zone.
“Interviews by Reuters with security officials and rebels, as well as study of law enforcement data and court documents have shown that weapons are being channeled out of the conflict zone in eastern Ukraine in significant numbers, in some cases as part of an organized underground trade,” Reuters reported.
“Of course, they have moved arms across, and they’re moving them across now,” Igor, a fighter with a pro-Russian rebel unit in eastern Ukraine told Reuters. “Mainly they take Kalashnikovs,” he said.
To read the entire Reuters story, please hit this link.
by Robert Whitcomb | Jul 22, 2016 | News
View of the Acropolis, in Athens.
Greek lawmakers voted July 21 to lower the voting age to 17 from 18 and eventually eliminate a 50-seat bonus for the winning party.
The drop in voting age will take effect in the next election, but the seat bonus will end two elections from now.
Lowering the voting age might have two possible effects: mostly increasing the total votes for the left (which now controls the parliament) and/or increasing votes for populist parties of the right and the left. Of course, young people vote at much lower rates than do older people.
To read an Agence France-Presse article on this, please hit this link.
by Robert Whitcomb | Jul 22, 2016 | News
Nigeria’s oil wealth has been more of a curse than a blessing. Meanwhile, “Avengers” who complain that people in the Niger River Delta have not received their fair share of oil revenues in this astonishingly corrupt nation step up their daily damage to oil-industry infrastructure.
To read a BBC story on this, please hit this link.
by Robert Whitcomb | Jul 22, 2016 | News
Thousands of Chinese executives have been moving to the U.S. to work for formerly American companies bought by Chinese firms.
“We’ve seen a huge surge,” Bernard Wolfsdorf, founder and managing partner of a U.S.-based immigration law firm, told CNN. “Chinese companies are investing very heavily in America, and [they are] bringing in key executives and employees.”
CNNMoney analysis found that the U.S. granted 10,258 L-series visas to Chinese workers and their family members in 2015, more than four times the number approved in 2005.
America is generally a more pleasant place to live than China, and so it’s not surprising that s0 many Chinese executives would want to move to the U.S., at least for a while. But the Chinese government may also like the idea because it provides more opportunity for industrial espionage.
To read the CNN story, please hit this link.
by Robert Whitcomb | Jul 22, 2016 | News
America’s NATO allies, already dealing with an aggressive Russia, the rise of nativist populism and the possible effects of Brexit, became even more worried this week when they read Donald J. Trump say that the United States might not come to the defense of NATO allies that do not foot their share of joint-defense bills as mandated by agreements but often ignored by European governments.
American officials have pressed European countries in recent years to increase military spending in line with their commitments to NATO, but Mr. Trump much more explicitly has linked financial considerations to the strategic response he would order as president in the event of an attack by Russia.
To read an article on this, please hit this link.
