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Really cool representation of India's rise, but also the inequality when the article mentions the "unconnected billion"

It will be interesting to see what type of role India plays diplomatically as the United States begins to favor the Indian economy.

Interesting to see how globalization has affected indian society. From what we learned about their protective economy to their shift to a more liberalized one.

This article is related to one that Curtis posted. Basically, China has a monopoly over "rare earth metals" which are vital for " wind turbines, advanced batteries, disc drives, flat-screen TVs, smart bombs," etc. The point being: it would be very bad if the rest of the world was cut off from these materials, especially for green-energy. Currently there is worry that China will become the new Saudi Arabia, except with rare earth metals instead of oil. However, we should carefully examine the facts before we brand China as the big bad materials-hog. There are some very interesting points on multiple sides of this debate in the article.

So apparently my post on Jack's article about the new 5-year plans was a little wrong. China plans to boost consumerism as well as seriously up their green industries. Which is good for them, but bad for the rest of the world. It is a little bit sobering to think about how green technologies do rely on mining - even green things still have negative environmental impacts. I guess almost everything does; maybe the least environmental impact would come from switching back to pre-industrial era technology, but that's awfully inconvenient. People have developed these technologies because they work really well and/or make our lives so much easier and more comfortable.

Impact of technology on jobs

An interesting piece on the place of technology in combatting climate related disaster as well as the push and pull between state and federal government in the context of California wildfires.

This is really interesting - and kinda sad. Hasn't military technology migrated into the public sector before and made our lives better as a result (like GPS)? Why are these satellites any different?

"The process could work on the gas at any concentrations, from power plant emissions to open air."

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

Uncover and compare facts about different countries (the link I put up compares 3, and you can change them to whatever countries you want). Discover in-depth information about the government, the state of the economy, and much more.

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.

Russia hinted that they wanted to calm any U.S. fears about building a nuclear power plant in Venezuela, whose government is not exactly the closest of the United States' friends. Just an illustration of lingering tension over socialism vs. capitalism, the Cold War, and the spread of nuclear technology. Russia has been building plants worldwide in a mission to sell nuclear energy.

One thing that jumped out at me when I read the article is that Russia's first reaction when announcing this plan was to attempt to quell US fears and tell the US that we shouldn't be getting involved. Interesting that other countries see the US as so involved in their affairs that the first thing they do when they do something controversial that does not involve us to to justify it to us...

Rare earth metals are very important to batteries magnets and a variety of green technologies. China mines 97% of all rare earth ore, however they have recently cut exports to japan, Europe, and america. Furthermore, china's own demand for the metals is increasing to the point that in only a few years they may cease exports entirely

This article attempts to break down the Occupy Wall St. movement. Douglas Rushkoff hits on the important point that the 21st century media is not making it easy for the protestors to share unified thoughts because the media itself is not unified.

The article points out that "Occupy Wall Street is meant more as a way of life through contagion, creates as many questions as it answers, aims to force a reconsideration of the way the nation does business and offers hope to those of us who previously felt alone in our belief that the current economic system is broken." I think that this statement is true in that Occupy Wall Street offers hope to people and an outlet to voice their unhappiness with capitalism; however, I fail to see the solutions put forth by the protests. One of the appeals to the movement is that there is not a clear leader and it was mostly organized on Facebook and Twitter. And although technology started the movement it also may pose as a challenge, because it becomes more complicated for people to understand what "the end goal" is.

Here is a great article about the rising middle classes of Chile, Brazil, China, India, and South Africa. It talks about the Chinese middle class use of technology to voice their opinions. They use this website called Sina Weibo which is the Chinese equivalent of tweet.

Much of Japan's reputation abroad is still heavily impacted by its actions pre- and post-WWII. China and South Korea are still at odds with Japan because they believe Japanese school books overlook the heinous crimes committed by the Japanese military during WWII. Yet, many other countries grew dependent on Japan following WWII. Following WWII and Japan's adoption of a more democratic constitution, it quickly gained some respect as a global aid donor and its booming car and technology industries made it a source of capital and credit for countries all over. Japan was able to make such a quick leap to the top following WWII thanks to the market bubble it could find in the U.S.; Japan maintained this productivity through its traditional social and employment hierarchies that have lead many people to work the same job their entire life. However, Japan's economic growth began to go in the opposite direction in 1990's with growing debt that multiple governments have failed to curtail. Currently, the population of Japan is rapidly aging, but the few young who are around are pushing for more Westernization and the Japanese government is even attempting to find a solution for its debt; not to mention, the Japanese government has made movements to amend the constitution to gain more military power in recent years.