Group items tagged

The British are in favor of the non-violent solution to the situation in Iraq. They say that they are skeptical of the plan, but that they will take it seriously, and that it must be "'tested out properly' to ensure it [is] not a 'delaying tactic' or a 'ruse'."

Not exactly CoPo, but cool!

Here is a link to the EU Channel at the BBC. Because it comes from Europe, the perspectives are sometimes different from the other american sources.

A video released by the French Ministry of Defence has shown French military aircraft departing on a mission to strike Islamic State targets in Raqqa, Syria. The air strikes on an IS stronghold come two days after the group claimed responsibility for a series of attacks on the French capital, Paris, in which 129 people died.

Lots of material on the unfolding events @ BBC. Thanks, Wendell.

Antoine Leiris lost his wife Helene in the Bataclan theatre in Paris. His Facebook tribute to his wife and challenge to her killers has since been shared thousands of times. Mr Leiris read out the letter to BBC News in Paris. Video journalist: Mohamed Madi

"Mr Bolsonaro has outraged many in Brazil with racist and homophobic comments. But his backers see him as a saviour in a crime-ridden country."

Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan are tying to do whatever they can to avert the attention from Ryan losing the Vice Presidential debate. The main area of contention is whether or not the US Embassy in Benghazi asked the American government for extra security before the attacks on September 11th that killed 4 Americans. Biden claims that he and the president were not asked to enhance security measures, while sworn testimony from the staff of the embassy said that they asked for more protection. In my opinion, there is a lot of ad-libbing in the debates, therefore to put a candidates word choice under so much scrutiny is pointless. Mitt Romney's camp seems to be jumping on biden's every word to make up for the insufficiencies in his own platform.

Its unfortunate that the campaign race has become something of a food fight of gossip and rumors. It has gotten to the point where no one can tell who is telling the truth or not. Romney seems determined to portray the President as incompetent especially his comparison between Joe Bidden and Paul Ryan.

Although I agree with both Matt and Rory, I would like to point out that the criticism of the campaign is very much focused on the Republican party. I think it's important to note that perhaps Biden did, in fact, distort the truth in the debate; saying that he didn't know about something if he did is not a simple slip of the tongue. factcheck.org put Ryan's falsehoods at 6 and Biden's at 3. Although it is clear who lied more, this is a disgusting statistic: the candidates lied NINE TIMES during their debate. Although there is a lot of information they have to cover, I think that one must hold Biden as responsible for his lies as one does Ryan.

World leaders have reacted with anger after North Korea carried out its fifth and reportedly biggest nuclear test. The South accused the North's leader Kim Jong-un of "maniacal recklessness". China "firmly opposed" the test, Japan "protested adamantly" and the US warned of "serious consequences".

From the section Latin America & Caribbean Brazilian police say they want to speak to International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach about an alleged scheme to resell tickets during last month's Rio Olympics. The police say Mr Bach is being treated as a witness, not a suspect.

Comparative Politics in the News: feeds from the New York Times and the BBC

This article talks about how the US gov't shutdown affected diplomatic relations with other countries. The shutdown "has clearly raised some alarms and even caused some bewilderment internationally". Some think the shutdown and preoccupation with the situation at home indicates a decrease in the US's will to act internationally.

Nice perspective from Europe, Rachel. "According to Dana Allin of the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), "it's not a great advert for the American way when your state looks ungovernable". A Brit was also quoted on NPR saying that some Europeans wonder if our system of govt even works any more. Presidential v parliamentary democracy anyone?

After the devaluing of the Chinese currency we now see exactly how much the Chinese economy has faltered- and who this effects.

I think the boom that was attributed to China's huge population has reached its near endpoint; the marginal output from each new worker is now so low (not contributing much) or negative (reducing productivity) that China's huge historic growth rate can only be further sustained by greater education and an increase in the human capital aspect.

It's interesting to look at China as a case study of a country of super rapid development and growth that has the ability to affect the global economy. The fact that China's growth is slowing down and stabilizing means that it is catching up to its earlier developed counterparts. Having read the cap and trade article first, I wonder how the policies of that sector (and the sector itself) will affect China's overall economy and to a more general extent the global economy. Will China's become like Germany? Who can say.