Group items tagged

Attorney General is investigating claims that Russian citizens bribed the President. A previous investigation was shut down a few weeks after it started.

Bullet services to 'stay slow' during checks-investigation of "I've also learned from the investigation of the (Wenzhou) accident that many workers were actually working 24-7 (to meet deadlines), and multitasking can cause a series of problems," he said.

MOSCOW - When the Russian authorities began a series of investigations this spring into the business affairs of a prominent opposition lawmaker, it was widely viewed as thinly veiled political retribution. But in a sign of how quickly the tables can now be flipped in such disputes, allies of the politician, Gennady V.

This article concerns attempts by Russian lawmakers to target opposition party members who they believe have violated Duma policy by "engaging in business or other paid activities". The controversy over the hypocrisy present in the aforementioned investigations sheds light on a question that interests me greatly: will Russia's corrupt and billionaire-driven government be sustainable in the long term? This particular case also raises questions about the mechanisms used by the ruling party, United Russia, in maintaining control over the Russian government.

This article also speaks to political culture, a key part of comparative politics analysis. Russia's transition to democracy has been halting, and many CoPo scholars say this is because Russia has a civic (and by extension political) culture that is used to authoritarianism of one sort or another. The notion of rule by democratic law is taking a long time to take hold. Is this explanation adequate? Compared to other countries?

Sign this!

Prime Minister of Malaysia Najib Razak is set to meet with President Trump this coming Tuesday. Mr. Najib is currently under investigation by the Justice Department for missing money.

The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), in collaboration with more than 600 journalists from 117 countries, published a report detailing how the world's wealthiest elites, including politicians, billionaires, celebrities, royal family members, and other notable figures, use tax and secrecy havens to buy property and hide assets through offshore services. Among the counties with the most politicians named in the report include Ukraine, Russia, Honduras, United Arab Emirates, and Nigeria.

Incredible to see the amount of effort and collaboration done by journalists to explore the Pandora Papers ! It's crazy to see the amount of money being hidden from the public and receiving little to no taxes. I didn't think that Ukraine would have the most politicians featured in the Pandora Papers, and I didn't think that the U.S. would have no politicians featured.

"A new investigation shows the oil company understood the science before it became a public issue and spent millions to promote misinformation"

After reopening the case for the second time, the case is once again closed without charges due to the inability to confirm a book's claim that Carolyn Donham recanted her statement. I thought this was interesting since we read an article in Women's Lit on how white women weaponize their vulnerabilities.

This French perspective on the US electoral process is really eye-opening. As Americans we are desensitized to the fact that vast swathes of our country are effectively ignored in the Presidential election process. However, from an outside perspective this phenomenon appears strange and disturbing. In France, which elects its presidents directly, the electoral college seems to subvert the interests of democracy without a clear purpose. Thus, the analysis of non-swing states addresses questions I would have never really thought to ask. This article focuses primarily on Georgia and South Carolina as examples of this phenomenon. The finding that many individuals in poor and uneducated populations in these states don't know who the Republican candidate is or when the election will occur is shocking and a little alarming, but, upon greater investigation, makes sense. Why would a presidential candidate ever visit either of those states in this day and age?

Let's talk about this one in class!

This article is about cyberattacks on the various companies, specifically Saudi Aramco, an oil company. Apparently Iran is behind the attacks. I find it interesting how cyber warfare might become an even bigger part of conflicts today. It's also interesting how the US and Israel have both been attacking companies from Iran, which isn't scrutinized, yet as soon as Iran does it, it's a huge issue.

I think the relationship between nuclear security and cyber attacks is interesting. The US does not receive much criticism for deploying Stuxnet (designed to damage Iran's nuclear program), but Iran is criticized for deploying computer viruses aimed at other elements of US defense. This raises interesting questions about whether or not Western states have a right to deny non-Western states nuclear acquisition.

Great point in your post about emphasis of investigations, Robert

The Iranian national currency, the rial has been in steady decline for months, and the only method that the government has used to combat the issue is to print more money-- not the best plan of action.

I agree with what Alexander said. I think it would be interesting to investigate whether or not the Obama administration has considered applying economic pressure to Iran in order to achieve diplomatic means. With Iran in such an unstable economic state (which I am surprised isn't covered more by American news media), why would the US government even consider using military force against Iran if the Ahmadinejad regime could be destabilized in another way. We'll see how Obama and Romney treat this issue in the foreign policy debate, as Obama could use an argument based on Iran's economic instability in going against Romney's position on using military force against Iran.

yes!

There's debate in the Obama administration about how to respond to the hacks targeting Democratic Party organizations and increasing evidence that Russian hackers also were behind attacks on election registration websites. FBI and Justice Department officials believe there's strong evidence to warrant publicly naming Russia as responsible for the political organization attacks, law enforcement and intelligence officials briefed on the investigation say.

Maybe more of an ethics topic, but I'd say it affects U.S.-Guatemala relations, too...

I am very proud of Clinton for issuing an appology for the actions of the US government. I am glad that there was a public statement made in order to admit to our crimes as a nation. I find it hard to believe that the US would do these horrible things, and it serves as a reminder that the US was not always a free and accepting nation. We have a deep history of racism. I don't think that appologies are enough to repent for the horrors we caused, but I think they are a step in the right direction. Articles like this are a great way to prompt discussion aobut our racist past as well as remember what has happened in order to make sure these crimes will never be repeated.

I have to admit that when I first heard about this, I thought that it was some sort of twisted joke. I found it particularly appalling that these studies were conducted on prison inmates and mental patients, people who were completely at the mercy of the government system and had little or no other independence (and therefore no way to get out of this). The fact that the United States could do something so completely hypocritical, especially while leading the Nuremberg trials (as Harrison pointed out) is shocking. I am glad that Secretary of State Clinton and the US government seem to be ready to apologize for this heinous program without attempting to justify or conditionalize it and that they openly apologized to the Guatemalan government. I hope that they will continue to be as transparent during the Guatemalan investigation.

China is gaining a reputation for corruption. One of it's most secretive areas of spending is in international aid, which seems to be a vehicle for huge kickbacks for very few people. Namibia accepted China's offer of millions of dollars to use to buy special scanners that analyze cargo containers for illegal or dangerous contents. China did not let Namibia choose the company to buy from or compare prices of companies; instead, a Chinese company was chosen for them, Namibia was to buy the scanners for a ridiculously inflated price, and the head of the scanner company received millions of dollars that had nothing to do with the scanners: "Investigators charge that Nuctech agreed to hire Ms. Lameck's consulting company, Teko Trading, in 2007, a month after President Hu's visit. Nuctech agreed to pay Teko 10 percent of the contract if the average price of one scanner was $2.5 million. If the price was higher, Nuctech would pay Teko 50 percent of the added cost. A subsequent agreement fixed the amount of commissions at $12.8 million, according to court records." China is using international aid to give friends huge amounts of money and fund national businesses. That is not how aid is supposed to work.

"The Story of Catherine's iPod"

The disconnect here is so weird. It begins with people digging in the mountainside with sticks, and ends with a tiny, sleek, lightweight computer that makes images flick past at the swipe of your finger and makes music. It's like magic, except instead of the instead of using "toe of newt and eye of frog" the world is making these products by allowing people to be greatly mistreated. Beyond educating people, as Arshia and Alison said, it seems we must either: find other materials to make electronics out of (although that doesn't strike me as very likely?) or pressure companies (who have the money and the leverage) to enforce better regulation. To follow up on Catherine's video, I put three t's into google and got an article about an investigation into the mining in the Congo (maybe Catherine has already seen this): http://africarising2010.blogspot.com/2009/11/tracing-3-ts-from-congo.html. It says: "Even though they found that it is relatively easy to determine the source of minerals based on different coloration and texture based on the source mine, there is insufficient regulation to make this work....Export companies are required to register with the government, but their method of determining the source of minerals they buy is to merely ask the seller whether their goods are from conflict mines. There is no system of confirming what the seller says."

This presentation kept shocking me. I was surprised to hear that basic parts of the iPod (the Three Ts) originate in the Congo rather than China. I was then shocked (and horrified) by the rape statistics. I had heard the statistics before, but not in relation to the acquisition of the Three Ts and production of products that we use. The story about the woman whose brother was ordered to rape her and then stabbed to death when he refused was particularly awful. I was also In summary, I was appalled at all the crimes that took place in the Congo- before the Three Ts even got to the factories in China that Catherine talked about. When Catherine started talking about the factories in China, I was again shocked at the working conditions- 100 workers sleeping to a room and clothes locked in a bucket with no visitors allowed (to protect the secrecy of Apple's product plans) while workers worked 15 hour days. The suicide reports from the FoxCon (spelling) factories were also shocking, as was the revelation that workers make just half of what they did in the 1800s. It was sad that the factory earns only $4 per iPod sold- while Apple earns $80. This presentation was very thought provoking- I had never assumed that Apple would be one of the "bad" companies with very questionable labor and humanitarian practices (a la Wal-Mart). Thanks for bringing it up, Catherine. I'm now thinking about it in a whole new light.

The Russian airline Kogalymavia has blamed "external influence" for Saturday's Sinai plane crash which killed 224 people. A senior airline official said: "The only reasonable explanation is that it was [due to] external influence." An investigation by aviation experts using data from the aircraft's "black boxes" has yet to give its conclusions. The idea that the plane was brought down by an external force hints that somebody shot it down- possibly causing a rift in international diplomacy.

Islamic State's success in Paris has sharply increased the geopolitical stakes over the war in Syria. As investigators piece together how the attacks were planned and executed, Western military and diplomatic efforts in that country will intensify. Interesting analysis over how this will change the fight against IS as a whole.