In the past six months, protests in Venezuela – opposing President Nicolás Maduro Moros’s attempts to rewrite the constitution and to prosecute demonstrators in military tribunals – have raged on. For a long time, moreover, the country has been plagued by longstanding political and economic problems, such as triple-digit inflation, food shortages, and the deadly statistic that about one person is lynched every three days, and in this past week the violent protests have not gone away, as reports have emerged that an exodus of doctors is straining a once-vaunted public-health system. Even Pope Francis has been embroiled in the ongoing humanitarian crisis, as Venezuelan bishops are asking him to challenge the human rights abuses and the disregard for democratic norms. If the pope does start sending tough messages, as per “The Economist”: “It could be a unique opportunity to show the world that he can be as a formidable a critic of left-wing regimes and ideologies as he is of conservative and capitalist ones”. Continue reading
What a week it has been for the United Kingdom. The Conservative Party – led by Prime Minister Theresa May, whose future as the leader of the party is in doubt – lost its majority, and the general election has resulted in a hung Parliament. And this election campaign was twice interrupted by the second and third terror attacks in the country in three months. After the third attack – with a van ramming into pedestrians on London Bridge and with stabbings in the nearby Borough Market, killing at least seven – Miss May warned that there was too much tolerance of extremism in the country, saying “enough is enough”. The fight against Islamist terrorism is likely to escalate. Continue reading
After meeting with United States President Donald Trump at the Group of 7 (G7) and the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) last week – and especially after Mr. Trump said he needed more time, to decide whether his country will honour the 2015 Paris Agreement, and after he accused NATO allies of not spending enough on defence – German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that while friendly relations must be maintained with Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States, “We Europeans must really take our destiny into our own hands”. German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel also had harsh words, that “The short-sighted policies of the American government stand against the interests of the European Union (EU)”. President of the EU Council Donald Tusk, however, said he was more optimistic after the talks in Brussels: “Our partners in the G7 are much more responsible than the first impression after the election in the United States”. Continue reading
