Our 42nd year of publishing The International Observer online
VIEWING THE WORLD
War is deepening the divide between autocracies and democracies among 29 nations in the region stretching from Central Europe to Central Asia is the warning raised by Freedom House of Washington DC. In its 25th edition of the annual Nations in Transit report it points clearly at the Russian unprovoked invasion of Ukraine as the further cause of overall decline in democratic governance for the region. For the 19th consecutive year, democratic governance in the Nations in Transit region suffered an overall decline. Democracy scores declined in 11 out of the 29 countries. Seven countries earned improvements, however, as civic activists and democratic leaders continued to strive for better governance across the diverse region.
May 2023
Bipartisan efforts in the United
States of America to protect institutions and support of
democracy
and correct shortcomings of the
economy, social aid, and rights of women and minorities
are constantly
undercut by the white, racist, bigoted wing of the
Republican Party, the US Congress, and a number of state
legislatures. While the Administration is eager to improve
infrastructure at home and support Ukraine against Russian
aggression, the Republican wing in the House of
Representatives is investigating alleged or perceived
failures and violations by the president, and members of his
family and of the Administration.
April
Relations between China and the
United States of America are unbalanced. While there is
a strong incentive to remain peaceful when their leaders are
continuing profitable economic dealings, both governments
are also pursuing political aims that undercut the positive
balance. There was a recent show of unity by China and
Russia when their leaders met while Russia is at a war with
Ukraine and China expressed support for the Kremlin. China’s
leader and the ruling party are sticking to Xi Jinping’s
vision to become the preeminent power in East Asia and to
pursue aggressively becoming a major world power. The US is
sanctioning some Chinese companies, pushing back against
Chinese moves in Africa and Latin America, and strengthening
not only strategic ties with India, Japan, South Korea, the
Philippines but boosting Australian naval power and visibly
supporting Taiwan as demonstrated by the island leader’s
visit to Washington.
March
During recent years, the president of Türkiye has
perseveringly amassed power. Likewise, he has
increasingly become more intolerant of dissent as well as
any criticism of him which he is quick to take before a
court, charging personal insult.
Good news at the start of 2023 was
the quadrennial report on the 1987 Montreal Protocol that
the Earth’s ozone layer, weakened by higher than
normal levels of ozone-depleting chemicals from China in
2018, is expected to recover within the next four
decades, according to the the Ozone Secretariat of the
United Nations (UN) Environment Program (UNEP) on 10
January. The report was prepared by scientists of a
UN-backed panel.
The traumatic election of a
United States Speaker of the House of Representatives is
casting an unfortunate shadow on the next two years of
acrimonious and probably self-defeating politics. After 15
rounds of voting over our days, the Californian Congressman
of the Republican Party was finally elected on 6 January,
not before being forced to make numerous concessions to the
party’s far-right blocks. Following immediately were
appointments of bloc members to new investigative committees
to look into alledged misconduct of the government and steps
to resist raising the public debt limit, lowering spending
on safety net programs, and lowering taxes on business and
millionaires.
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