Opinion

February 2022Eastern EuropeOpinion2022

Where’s the Working Class in Foreign Policy?

The wealthiest country in human history finds itself helpless in stopping a nation with an economy smaller than that of Texas. There’s no punchline to follow, and if there was, it would certainly fall flat to Ukrainian comedian-turned-President Volodymyr Zelensky. NPR reports that Russian President Vladimir Putin has encircled Ukraine’s border with 100,000 Russian soldiers.

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November 20212021OpinionAfrica

Cold War Policy Tactics Doom Yet Another Developing Nation

“We will bury this enemy with our blood and bones” is hardly a statement one might anticipate hearing from a Nobel Peace Prize winner, but Abiy Ahmed’s tenure as Prime Minister of Ethiopia has been far from what anyone has anticipated. On October 31, Ahmed sounded the alarm of a near state collapse when he urged citizens to take up arms and brace for a battle over the capital of Africa’s second most populous country, reports The New York Times. Now, with almost every global power keen on remaining influential in Africa, many remain baffled as to why the world has remained largely indifferent towards Africa’s second most populous nation.

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November 20212021Opinion

The False Promises of Sustainable Policies: the Politicization of the Fight against Climate Change

Sustainable environmental policies are nearly impossible to achieve at the current rate global governments are pursuing them. Numerous states profit from unsustainable practices of development, increasing the present divide between developed and developing countries. Old standards of development, and what it means to be sustainable, have systemically stunted progress toward sustainability.

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October 2021OpinionClimate Change

Could a New Legal Approach Curb Deforestation?

The Brazilian Government is ignoring the amount of carbon dioxide being emitted through the combination of deforestation and agricultural exploitation practices in the Amazon Rainforest under President Bolsonaro’s administration. Officials are failing to acknowledge the climate imbalance of the Global South, wildlife extinction, and habitat loss the rainforest is currently facing.

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October 2021OpinionAsia

China’s Evergrande ‘Bites the Dust’

China’s Evergrande is facing a media crisis after missing several key payments in recent weeks, reports the New York Times. News outlets see the situation as paralleling the events that sparked Lehman Brother’s catastrophic default in 2008, a catalyst in the global financial meltdown. Despite the turbulence, Xi Jinping’s government may not bother to save the company from a fallout that has already sparked hysteria among investors. 

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September 2021Opinion

China’s Authoritarianism Facilitates Economic Growth Amid COVID-19

Despite being the epicenter of the COVID-19 outbreak, China’s swift and strict response to the pandemic allegedly led to a 2.3 percent increase in GDP in the year 2020, reports NPR. The pandemic posed a unique challenge for the communist government, but not an unmanageable one. Leaning into authoritarian tactics, the Chinese government  was able to fight the virus while simultaneously building back its economy.

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