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I found this topic fascinating because it addresses the internal Chinese conflict of democracy and communism. The general public (those not in the communist party and not in control) is not happy with the governments plan to initiate a national education system. With the national education system teachers and schools will no longer have the choice on how to teach their students. This article questions Communism, Democracy, Nationalism, and Patriotism, all of which are important to China.

If we cut back on funding the UN, we will also lose our power there making room for other nations to take our role: "Finally, to the extent the United States cedes influence at the United Nations, other nations then have an opportunity to up their roles. This means rising powers, most prominently China, can step up as U.S. soft power declines."

population Africa Europe

This article talks about the next eight countries trying to gain entry into the EU. The most likely country to join the EU is Croatia and they may be approved as early as 2011. Each of the countries that applied as some internal issues they have to work out before they will be admitted. The process of being admitted is interesting to me because the countries first have to submit and application, get confirmed as a candidate, and then they begin talks. In the case of Turkey, the process has been going on since 1987.

I had no idea that it was this difficult to become a member of the European Union - being confirmed as a candidate can take more than a decade. Poor Turkey began the process 23 years ago, and is expected to require at least 10 more years to be fully prepared for membership. What an endeavor!

I think this is very interesting and I cannot agree with Jack more. When these countries are thinking only with their pocket books it is hard to be genuinely welcoming to other nations. In my opinion, making Turkey wait 20+ years to join is far too long and a bit ridiculous especially when you compare it to the time other countries had to wait. Croatia joined in less than 5. Very unfair...

This is a cool youtube with a theory about why different nations and cultures have different values and a greater and lesser emphasis on planning and the future, which could explain why diplomacy always seems to damn hard

Wow! This rocks! I would love to talk about this video in class. Fascinating. The one thing that bums me out enormously is that Professor Zimbardo has accepted that humans can't control their own media consumption. . .

Vince, this video is really interesting. I never considered how religious perspectives' characterizing of nations could therefore determine those nations' notions of time. With varying time perspectives, I can also see why certain problems are so difficult to solve between nations. A person that has a future time perspective will consider climate change and global warming more than another individual who focuses on the present/past.

Sign this!

The Republican National Convention took an uncharacteristic turn toward foreign policy on Wednesday night, as two prominent speakers lashed out at President Barack Obama's leadership in world affairs. "Unfortunately, for four years, we've drifted away from our proudest traditions of global leadership, traditions that are truly bipartisan," said Sen.

Very interesting. I like this quote from the article: "Rice oversaw U.S. foreign policy during a time when many citizens have come to feel the United States overextended itself abroad, entering into two wars that continued well into the Obama administration (and one, Afghanistan, that continues to this day). Perhaps in a nod to that legacy, Rice acknowledged that "there is a weariness -- I know that it feels as if we have carried these burdens long enough." But, she continued, "One of two things will happen if we don't lead: No one will lead and there will be chaos, or someone will fill the vacuum who does not share our values. My fellow Americans, we do not have a choice: We cannot be reluctant to lead, and you cannot lead from behind." For us to discuss: what IS the United States' foreign policy role today? How might it be changing?

"Earlier in the day, Rice had offered some specific criticisms of Obama's handling of the uprising in Syria, accusing the president of waffling and "muting" America's voice."

BEIJING - White House officials have lauded President Xi Jinping's anticipated promise of a national market for China in greenhouse gas quotas as a breakthrough in environmental cooperation and reform. But to work well, Mr. Xi's plan, expected to be announced in Washington on Friday, will demand big changes from a government accustomed to heavy-handed intervention and skewed statistics.

I really like the cap and trade idea because it ensures that the every firm is paying the maximum amount each is willing to spend to pollute the air. Firms that don't value being able to pollute as much can sell their permits and use the money to become more environmentally friendly. The cap and trade method encourages technological change that reduces the harm from each unit of a firm's product. As the article says, "The intended result is a competitive market that induces companies to devise ways to reduce emissions." The cap and trade method will hopefully relieve China of some of its pollution.

The national environmental quota set by the cap and trade announced by President Xi shows that there is some possibility of environmental cooperation from China, one of the world's most heavy polluters. The article voices the well founded skepticism of critics, who doubt that this new system will work well when it hasn't exactly taken off among the nations of the European Union; however, China's state is very different from its western counterparts. Comparatively, it can exact more control over its countries' businesses and factories, so this system just may be successful.

The Melbourne Mercer Global Pension Index is a composite measurement of the adequacy, sustainability, and integrity of twenty-five of the world's pension systems. It finds an incredible gap between nations: the lowest scoring nation, India, scored a 40.3. The highest scoring nation, Denmark, scored an 81.7. Further, the list was topped by Denmark (81.7), the Netherlands (80.5), and Australia (79.6). The United States, on the other hand, scored a 56.3, which is significantly below the world average of 60.5. The report goes on to detail common challenges and possible solutions for lower-scoring nations.

"Does the United States pay a disproportionate amount of the United Nations' budget?"

"Mr. Trump's Lost Cause takes its fuel from conspiratorial myths of all kinds, rehearsed for years on Trump media and social media platforms. Its guiding theories include: Christianity under duress and attack; large corrupt cities full of Black and brown people manipulated by liberal elites; Barack Obama as alien; a socialist movement determined to tax you into subservience to "big government"; liberal media out to crush family and conservative values; universities and schools teaching the young a history that hates America; resentment of nonwhite immigrants who threaten a particular national vision; and whatever hideous new version of a civil religion QAnon represents."

Sea level rise is not noted as a major threat as often as CO2 or natural disasters, but that's here in the US. Island nations like Kiribati and the Maldives see this as a different level of problem, as they would be almost entirely submerged if sea levels rise much more than this. Putting blame on India is interesting: is it entirely fair to demand additional efforts from a country which produces the level of emissions that it does due to sheer population mass rather than consumer habits?

Seems like a similar argument made by countries like Pakistan for climate reparations in general, except almost more urgent, simply because climate change threatens to literally submerge these island nations. To protect against sea level rise like the netherlands has would be incredibly expensive, so it makes sense that the money would go into a fund to rebuild after climate change disasters. I just wonder what they will do to actually stop their islands from disappearing.

Climate change is affecting many countries gravely, especially developing nations. Leaders of those countries are pleading other nations to supply financial aid to help them. They believe richer nations owe them because they became rich off of fossil fuels.

It's very interesting when you reflect on how far back this problem goes. Especially when considering the effects of colonization on the environments within regions of Africa and South America. It is going to be a very long and difficult road to fully compensate and prepare poorer countries for climate change after how hard we have screwed them over.

This article was incredible informative about the current major areas that are sucking up a lot of Japan's spending like social benefits and military spending. But it also gives a detailed outline on how Japan aims to combat their debt but I'm unsure if these predictions are too optimistic?

It's interesting to see how Japan's government is interacting with the market in an attempt to create a flow of money that will ease its deficit. The fact that they raised their sales tax is very interesting when we consider how Japan entered its recession in 1997 because the government raised the national consumption tax to 5% from. Has Japan learned its lesson and will it enter another recession again as a result of their new tax hike?

It is cool to see precisely which sectors are consuming the larger portions of Japan's budget through data. I also liked how Japan thought about balance their budget.

Brussels wants to delve deep into the running of national economies. It should beware of digging too far

Why do people automatically assume that the nations with the most geographic proximity to one's own country are the best ones to form an international organization with? The EU appears to be suffering from a crisis of difference...In economic policy, political/cultural policy etc... Maybe it would have made more sense if like-minded countries teamed up rather than putting everyone close to each other together despite economy and political policy differences. Seems like that would make for a much more cohesive and eventually successful union.

very cool infographics on the effect of the recession on EU nations

This article/graphic poses an interesting but subliminal question about the future of the European Union, or t least its fiscal stability. Started as the unifier of Europe, the EU rests on shaky ground; lacking a powerful central authority with which it can enforce its rules, the ability for the EU to maintain itself is through the combined cooperation of European nations. This article points out that these countries have "failed to follow their own [economic] laws," with "Greece as the biggest offender." If the trend continues towards a disrespect for the EU's laws by the member countries, there could be far more Greece-like economic situations in Europe, it seems, thus jeopardizing the future of the organization.

I love graphic representations of Information! Nice find, Curtis! As a point of comparison, The United States has a national debt of 8.68 trillion. In the U.S., this is 60.8 percent of the American GDP. Source: www.visualeconomics.com › All Infographics

"As an armed militia took over federal buildings and property in Oregon's Malheur National Wildlife Refuge and declared their willingness to "kill or be killed" on Saturday, one of the group's best defenses has received little media coverage - their whiteness. "