Deconstructing the E.U.’s democratic structures

by | Jun 30, 2016 | News

eu

The European Union may not seem democratic but it is, mostly.

Amanda Taub writes in The New York Times:

“{W}hile defenders of the European Union have evidence to show that the bloc is democratic, this misses the point. Democracy, after all, is about more than elections. It’s also about accountability: whether the government is responsive to the citizenry.

“Yes, the European Union has elections (and, yes, like the United States, participation has been less than 50 percent for many cycles). But, in a functioning democracy, popular will is also expressed through mechanisms other than marking ballots.

“The European Union, perhaps in part because it was designed by technocrats rather than developing organically, does not account for or often even allow those mechanisms. And this is why, for many Europeans, the body does not feel {editor’s emphasis} democratic.”

To read the whole New York Times story, please hit this link.

Multi-sided Yemen war grinds on

by | Jun 30, 2016 | News

yemen

Mountains in northern Yemen.

Many Yemenis find themselves trapped on Yemen’s long and complicated civil war.

The Washington Post reports that the “conflict holds enormous stakes for Washington and its allies. Yemen, the Middle East’s poorest nation, straddles vital oil shipping lanes in the Red Sea and has long been a key battleground between militant Islam and the West. ”

For an update on the conflict and its significance, please hit this link.

Japan plans major warplane purchases to counter Chinese expansionism

by | Jun 30, 2016 | AI World Society Summit

As Chinese expansionism fuels fears all over East Asia, Japan plans to buy new fighter jets worth a total as much as $40 billion. Japan is increasingly worried about Chinese aggression in the East China Sea, where there are a number of islands whose ownership the two nations dispute. It’s also worried about Chinese militarization of the South China Sea, which could threaten freedom of navigation in some of the world’s most important shipping lanes.

The Japan Times reported: “The program will dwarf most recent fighter jet deals in value, likely attracting global contractor interest. But analysts say Japan’s preference for an aircraft that can operate closely with the U.S. military, given close Washington-Tokyo ties, makes a non-U.S. option a long shot.”

Japan seeks  a kind of warplane that will let it  maintain air superiority over China. China’s warplanes still lag behind those used by the U.S. and its allies, but Beijing has been building its capability,  fueling a more muscular security agenda under Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

To read The Japan Times’s story on this, please hit this link.

 

Facebook wins Belgian privacy case

by | Jun 30, 2016 | News

 

Facebook has  overturned a decision that blocked the social network from using its “datr” cookies to track the Internet activity of logged-out users in Belgium.

This is the latest  in the long-running case that started with the Belgian Privacy Commission (BPC) ordering that Facebook stop using some cookies that let it  track users outside of Facebook.

The Guardian reported that Facebook appealed on the grounds that “Belgium does not have the authority to regulate the social network because its European base of operations is in Dublin, Ireland, and won. The Belgian appeals court also threw out the BPC’s claim that the case was urgent and required expedited procedure.”

To read The Guardian’s report on this case, please hit this link.

Serious journalism dying in Xi’s China

by | Jun 29, 2016 | Initiative

coffins

Many Chinese journalists are giving up on that profession as the Communist dictatorship tightens media control and a technology boom opens new opportunities for being paid much more than most journalists could earn.

The Wall Street Journal notes that: {T}he trend is especially worrying in a huge country with such limited public power to scrutinize the government and big companies. Many journalists believe serious journalism is a lost cause in China. While online content appears to be flourishing, there is less coverage of hot-button issues. Online media outlets don’t have the leeway to cover news so they focus on ‘safer’ content such as sports, entertainment, lifestyle and occasionally business news.”

The decline in rigorous journalism almost certainly means more government and business corruption, which will slow China’s economic growth. But the government of President Xi Jinping is focused on doing everything possible to maintain the Communist Party dictatorship. Thus the huge nation, at least for the foreseeable future, will continue to be a strange mix of police  state and frantic business activity.

To read The Wall Street Journal’s article in this, please hit this link.