Oh, and it's interesting that what used to be called the propaganda ministry is now called the publicity department. Anyone who says China isn't modernizing, isn't paying attention. George Orwell would be so proud.
After days of growing public fury over last month’s high-speed train crash and the government’s reaction, Chinese authorities have enacted a virtual news blackout on the disaster except for positive stories or information officially released by the government.
The sudden order from the Communist Party’s publicity department, handed down late Friday, forced newspaper editors to frantically tear up pages of their Saturday editions, replacing investigative articles and commentaries about the accident that killed 40 people in eastern China with cartoons or unrelated features.
Major Internet portals removed links to news reports or videos related to the crash in Wenzhou in Zhejiang Province, in which 192 people were also injured.
Authorities even postponed the publication of an article prepared by Xinhua, the government’s news agency…
The Chinese call it democratic centralism. It's difficult to see how democratic the system is, but it's pretty easy to see how centralized it is.
I think the propaganda department's headline writer for this article needs some re-education. Modern Communists in China don't talk about the "party line" any more. That's so 20th century. The preferred term these days is "harmonious society."
Vice President Xi Jinping Thursday urged Tibetans to unswervingly follow the Communist Party of China (CPC) to build a brighter future…
Addressing... villagers, Xi said it was the socialist system, the correct leadership of the CPC, and the implementation of various preferential policies that led Tibetan people to their good life today.
"People of all ethnicities in Tibet need to understand that stability leads to prosperity and separatist activities lead to disasters," he said…
Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping (R, Front) meets with party cadres during a visit to… China's Tibet Autonomous Region, July 21, 2011. Xi Jinping is in Tibet to attend celebrations marking the 60th anniversary of the region's peaceful liberation.
Georgette Polychronos, you asked to join the Sharing Comparative group. I tried to send you an invitation and I tried to e-mail you. Neither message got through to you because of the security arrangements of your district's e-mail system.
Contact me again, if you wish to join the group and if you've figured out how to get your system to accept e-mail from the group.
And, if any other teachers of comparative government and politics would like to join the group, send me your name and an e-mail address that can accept messages. Please also send me a school URL or other way to confirm your status as a teacher. (We are trying to maintain the group as a teachers-only group.)The Fourth Edition ofWhat You Need to Knowis available from the publisher (where shipping is always FREE).
In Russia, political campaigns might not be as important as they are in older democracies, but they are racier.
Melody Dickison referred me to the video. I found the articles online because I didn't read the article Melody sent. Of course, I lost that article. Thanks, Melody.
By the way, this might not be safe for school or school computers (depending upon the standards and rules at your school).
Called "Putin's Army", it features a video of a blonde student called Diana who struts along Moscow's streets in high heels and a black suit before scrawling "I will tear my clothes off for Putin" on a white top in red lipstick and starting to undo her clothes.
Inviting girls to strip off for Putin for the chance of winning an iPad2, the campaign comes ahead of the March 2012 presidential vote…
Two groups of female Russian journalism students have produced dueling calendars to mark Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s 58th birthday on Thursday.
The first calendar, which features 12 racy photographs of lingerie-clad students and come-hither captions like Miss February’s “How about a third time?” went on sale on Wednesday. As The Associated Press reports, “The release of the pinup calendar was announced by the pro-Kremlin youth group Nashi, whose spokeswoman Kristina Potupchik posted the images on her blog.”
On Thursday, another group of students responded to the pro-Putin calendar — “Vladimir Vladimirovich, We Love You! Happy Birthday, Mr Putin!” — with one of their own. The anti-Putin calendar shows six students with their mouths taped shut asking questions like, “Who killed Anna Politkovskaya?” in reference to the muckraking journalist who was gunned down on Mr. Putin’s birthday in 2006…
What are the limits of national power? What are the limits of supranational power? How are conflicting interpretations decided?
Denmark's government has decided that the threats of illegal immigrants and terrorists requires it to better "defend" its borders. However, EU treaties seem to require borders between member nations be as open as those between states in the USA. Here are the basics of a case study.
Denmark, part of the Schengen border-free zone, has deployed extra customs officers on its frontiers in a move causing concern among EU neighbours…
Denmark's government is under pressure to curb illegal immigration…
But many have questioned the legality of the Danish move under the 1995 Schengen Agreement, which abolished internal borders, enabling passport-free movement inside much of western Europe.
Juerg-Uwe Hahn, justice minister of Germany's Hessen region, told Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten that Denmark had "ostracised itself"…
The European Commission says it is not convinced that Denmark's reimposition of border controls is justified.
The Commission, which monitors compliance with EU treaties, suspects that Denmark's move violates the Schengen Agreement on open borders.
Denmark must "demonstrate factually that the gravity of the situation justifies putting in place controls" on its borders, the Commission said…
The Commission sent a team to assess the Danish measures and their conclusion was that "the risk assessment required to justify the controls was not sufficient and there were no clear instructions to border control officers on how to carry out controls"…
Politicians in Germany and elsewhere have questioned the Danish move, pointing out Denmark's obligations under the 1995 Schengen Agreement, which abolished internal borders, enabling passport-free movement across most of western Europe.
Before the Danish move both France and Italy also raised new questions about Schengen, as an influx of illegal migrants from North Africa fuelled demands for extra passport checks.
The European Union needs to safeguard the Schengen area, as Denmark's recent move to strengthen its borders has shown how vulnerable the zone is, said Cecilia Malmstrom, European Commissioner for Home Affairs, at a meeting of ministers Monday in Poland.
'I think the last month (of) challenges to Schengen has shown everyone how vulnerable we are,' Malmstrom said, adding that the commission will make a proposal in September that will aim to outline how to assist states with border difficulties…
Sue Witmer sent me a link to Fenwick Smith's blog, The Hypermodern. (Thank you, Sue.) Smith writes from Beijing about the frustration of trying to see the new Harry Potter movie at a time when the Communist Party is celebrating the 90th anniversary of its founding. Oh, and the Party is promoting its anniversary movie.
[T]he two movies most likely to be massive hits with the Chinese public – Transformers: Dark of the Moon and, wait for it, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part Two, have had their release dates pushed back. While SARFT isn’t saying so, this is because the two films will push Beginning of the Great Revival out of the domestic film chart within hours of opening… For Hollywood to crush the Party in the month of its 90th birthday would simply be a bridge too far. As a result, Chinese audiences can wait until July 21 for their annual dose of brainless Bay, while Potter fans have to wait until at least August 4…
So, that’s it. I get to see Harry’s final battle against the forces of evil a good month after everyone else in the world because the Chinese government, having spectacularly failed to make a pointless, unmarketable vanity project successful by fair means, have turned to their old habit of forcing the delivery of an impossible target. Like the agricultural policies of the Great Leap Forward, failure is not an option for Party propaganda films. The only way to grant this steaming cinematic turd a modicum of success is to remove all competitors from the marketplace…
President Jonathan's cabinet in Nigeria comes closer to reflecting the gender balance in the country and nearly meets the goals set by the 1995 Beijing International Women's Conference.
It's too bad that the headline writer for This Day couldn't resist a cheap joke.
Do you students know the gender balances of the governments in the other countries they are studying?
Gender activists, with First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan leading the pack, have won a significant battle in their quest for more women representation in government with the final unveiling of President Goodluck Jonathan's cabinet last Thursday.
Of the 40 ministers and one cleared ministerial nominees, 13 are women, a major milestone in women's campaign for more involvement in governance.
The number of female appointees in the cabinet represents about 31 percent of the 42-member cabinet…
In the new cabinet led by Jonathan, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, who [will] run the Ministry of Finance and will be given more responsibilities to superintend the economy in an expanded role…
Not only has Jonathan appointed more women into cabinet positions than his 13 predecessors, both military and civilian, in Nigeria's 50 years of independence, he assigned them to some of the most critical ministries to the economy and his transformational agenda…
You know there is paranoia among the power elite when they arrest actors and filmmakers. That means we know there's paranoia among the Iranian power elite.
A popular Iranian actor and outspoken supporter of the country's opposition movement has been arrested in Tehran after attempting to travel to Germany to take part in coverage of the women's World Cup.
Pegah Ahangarani, 27, was scheduled to go to Germany to participate in TV programmes about the Fifa tournament, but was picked up from her home in the capital by security officials on Sunday…
She is the second woman to have been arrested in recent weeks in connection with the women's World Cup in Germany. Maryam Majd, a prominent Iranian photographer and activist who had campaigned for women to be allowed to enter stadiums to watch football matches in Iran, was arrested in late June…
At least four other women rights activists have been arrested in recent weeks…
In recent years, several filmmakers and actors have been arrested or sentenced to lengthy prison terms. Director Jafar Panahi received a six-year prison term and 20-year ban on filmmaking last year, along with Mohammad Rasoulof, who was also sentenced to six years in jail. Ramin Parchami, a prominent actor, remains in custody after he was arrested in protests staged in February in solidarity with the uprisings in the Arab world.
In what appeared to be a calculated pre-election appearance, Prime Minster Vladimir V. Putin on Friday reflected on his 11 years in power and acknowledged that elements of the system he created needed to change.
Mr. Putin, meeting with factory workers in Magnitogorsk, an industrial town in the Ural Mountains, said that authority in Russia had become too concentrated and that some leaders had become ineffective and “calcified.”…
But with a presidential election looming in March — and little indication of whether he or President Dmitri A. Medvedev will run — Mr. Putin did not suggest that he was thinking of stepping aside. Indeed, he seemed to be sketching a portrait of himself as a leader: salty, maybe a little bit crude, but ultimately in tune with the Russian people.
When an engineer asked what qualities he should teach his son so that he could become president, Mr. Putin said, “Decency.”…
Mr. Putin’s appearance in the workshop of a large metals factory had all the trappings of a campaign event. And many of his remarks, along with the questions from workers, seemed tailored to present Mr. Putin as a tentative reformer…
Are the changes planned for Moscow indicative of political changes in Russia? As the country's population shrinks, Moscow grows. What does that mean for power of those who occupy the Kremlin?
Russian officials have announced plans to more than double Moscow's territory in a bid to alleviate the city's crippling traffic and overcrowding…
The plan to increase Moscow's size from the current 264,000 acres to 620,000 acres was given initial approval on Monday by Dmitry Medvedev, Russia's president, in a meeting with the city's mayor, Sergei Sobyanin, and Boris Gromov, governor of the surrounding Moscow region. The plan will see Moscow expanding to the south and south-west, taking in forestland, small communities and dachas or summerhouses…
The move is Moscow's boldest attempt yet to deal with the notorious bottlenecks that often bring movement in the city to a standstill. It is part of Medvedev's vision to turn Moscow into a global financial centre as the country seeks to attract investment and boost its international standing…
[Critics worry] that the expansion… will only increase Moscow's dominance over the country…
[Alexei Yaroshenko, of Greenpeace Russia, said] "The country is emptying and Moscow is growing… All resources are going to Moscow – first money and then people follow."
Every summer, Iranian police get tough on women who violate the country’s strict Islamic dress code by adjusting their veils and long coats to try to cope with the rising temperatures.
But this year, amid the annual crackdown, the issue of how women wear the veil — and what the government does about it — has become part of an intensifying rift between President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and powerful Shiite clerics…
Called "Putin's Army", it features a video of a blonde student called Diana who struts along Moscow's streets in high heels and a black suit before scrawling "I will tear my clothes off for Putin" on a white top in red lipstick and starting to undo her clothes.
Inviting girls to strip off for Putin for the chance of winning an iPad2, the campaign comes ahead of the March 2012 presidential vote…
Two groups of female Russian journalism students have produced dueling calendars to mark Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s 58th birthday on Thursday.
The first calendar, which features 12 racy photographs of lingerie-clad students and come-hither captions like Miss February’s “How about a third time?” went on sale on Wednesday. As The Associated Press reports, “The release of the pinup calendar was announced by the pro-Kremlin youth group Nashi, whose spokeswoman Kristina Potupchik posted the images on her blog.”
On Thursday, another group of students responded to the pro-Putin calendar... with one of their own. The anti-Putin calendar shows six students with their mouths taped shut asking questions like, “Who killed Anna Politkovskaya?” in reference to the muckraking journalist who was gunned down on Mr. Putin’s birthday in 2006…
Melody Dickison sent me a link to an Al Jazeera op-ed piece by Geneive Abdo and Shayan Ghajar about the high level power struggle in Tehran. Once more, a chance to learn some more details and get a better idea of how the system works. Thanks again, Melody.
[A]fter a three-month conflict, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad should be grateful Khamenei has not ordered his arrest, and, at least for now, is content for him to serve out his term as a lame duck.
As this battle has unfolded, important lessons about the workings and dysfunction of the Iranian political and theological system have emerged.
The limits of presidential power…
The limits of Khamenei's tolerance…
The fickle whims of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard…
Regime above all else…
Ahmadinejad has now found himself in the company of previous Iranian presidents who have been marginalised or sidelined…
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote about Scotland Yard in his Sherlock Holmes stories. Monty Python regularly included inspectors from "the Yard" in its sketches. Numerous crime novels and movies featured Scotland Yard detectives. To many Americans, Scotland Yard is synonymous with the British police.
Scotland Yard was the street on which the public entrance of the Metropolitan Police of London originally stood. "The Met" polices most of London (not "the City" which is the core of Medieval London and now the business and banking center; it has its own police force).
Scotland Yard is in the news again because of its involvement (or lack of involvement) in the phone hacking scandal surrounding The News of the World. And the head of "the Met" resigned. This is a chance to review law enforcement in the UK.
[F]ormer Scotland Yard senior officers acknowledged in interviews, the police have been lazy, incompetent and too cozy with the people they should have regarded as suspects. At worst, they said, some officers might be guilty of crimes themselves.
“It’s embarrassing, and it’s tragic,” said a retired Scotland Yard veteran. “This has badly damaged the reputation of a really good investigative organization. And there is a major crisis now in the leadership of the Yard.”…
The Metropolitan Police Service is famed around the world and has a unique place in the history of policing. It is by far the largest of the police services that operate in greater London (the others include the City of London Police and the British Transport Police). The Royal Parks Constabulary have now become part of the Metropolitan Police Service.
Founded by Sir Robert Peel in 1829, the original establishment of 1,000 officers policed a seven-mile radius from Charing Cross and a population of less than 2 million.
Today, the Metropolitan Police Service employs more than 32,500 officers together with about 14,200 police staff, 230 traffic wardens and 4,300 Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs). The MPS is also being supported by more than 3,600 volunteer police officers in the Metropolitan Special Constabulary (MSC) and its Employer Supported Policing (ESP) programme. The Metropolitan Police Services covers an area of 620 square miles and a population of 7.2 million.
Law enforcement in the United Kingdom is organised separately in each of the legal systems of the United Kingdom: England & Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland…
Melody Dickison sent from Ohio a link to a wonderful web site, If It Were My Home. Created and designed by Andy Lintner and Annette Calabrese, the site offers the opportunity to compare material life in nearly any two countries.
Each comparison comes with a great map showing the two countries' maps overlaying one another. If the US is one of the compared countries, the US map is centered on the location of your Internet connection. That might work in other countries as well, but I'm unable to check it out since my passport has expired. Each of the comparisons offers more details in a drop down option. The source of the data is The CIA World Factbook.
There is also a one-paragraph description of the country you choose to compare to and a list of books to read. And you can join a discussion that doesn't seem very active.
I can imagine creating an activity to use as an introduction to a comparative course. Students would not only learn some basics about the countries they will study but could also speculate about the comparative methodology, the limits of the meaning of the data, and the kinds of comparisons that are impossible with the data offered.
Here's a summary of the comparison between the USA and Mexico as a sample.
Melody Dickison sent me a link to an Atlantic article about the brouhaha over journalists' phone hacking in the UK. (Thanks again, Melody.) This is a good outline of the recent events (but not the coming investigations -- the government and the police investigating themselves ought to be interesting).
The most useful takeaway is a wonderful chart describing the British print media. The major newspaper publications are graphically shown by type of newspaper and political leanings. Even after the current scandal has been forgotten, you can use this chart to supplement your textbook's description of newspapers in the UK. (Except you'll get to explain why the News of the World headline in the illustration says, "Thank you & goodbye.")
The newspapers of Great Britain face strict libel laws, but many of them make stories up anyway. Some are obviously right-wing; others fall somewhere to the left of center. And then there's the issue of the Murdoch family itself. Rupert Murdoch, who also owns the Wall Street Journal, the New York Post and dozens of other media properties, has a stranglehold on the British press…
At about the same size as Minnesota, and with a developed infrastructure that makes transportation and delivery simple and affordable, Great Britain is home to many national newspapers -- something that most Americans, who are used to supplementing their national papers with local reporting, find unusual. But that's not the only thing that's different about the British press. For the majority of media outlets based in Great Britain, where the most popular newspapers are The Sun and The Daily Mirror, both mass-market tabloids (and bitter rivals), political affiliation is displayed proudly and editorial standards are lax…
Boko Haram is a terrorist group in Nigeria. It's "headquartered" in the north, but it has carried out deadly bombings in the capital city. One of its main goals is to eliminate Western influences and establish an Islamic state. Now, they seem to have forced the closing of the university in Maiduguri.
There are several useful links to more background on Boko Haram attached to the the BBC article.
Nan Wright, who teaches in Houston, TX, sent me a link to this video, which could be a great teaching tool. Some preparation about political culture and Mexico is necessary. It's in Spanish, but there are good, readable subtitles. (Thanks, Nan.)
Emiliano Salinas, son of former president Carlos Salinas de Gortari, confronts the current climate of violence in Mexico -- or rather, how Mexican society responds to it. He calls on ordinary citizens to move from denial and fear to peaceful, community-based action.
Does this appeal match Mexican political culture or is it an attempt to change the political culture?
Some of Ahmadinejad's adversaries say his advisors are inaccurately claiming the president is the precursor to the reappearance of the hidden imam. Now, one of Putin's aides says he was sent by God. Is this the beginning of a new phase of comparative politics? Are there new concepts we need to add to the textbooks?
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin was sent to Russia by God to help his country during one of its most turbulent times, the Kremlin’s chief political strategist said on Friday in rare public remarks. “I honestly believe that Putin is a person who was sent to Russia by fate and by the Lord at a difficult time for Russia,” Vladislav Surkov, a staunch Putin supporter and one of Russia’s most powerful men, was quoted by Interfax news agency as telling state-run Chechen TV…
Environmental disaster and public information in China
Melody Dickison, who teaches in Huber Heights, OH, sent me a link to this article from The Guardian (UK). It's a good reminder that watching how a political system responds to major events can be a good lesson in how the system works (or doesn't work). Thanks, Melody.
China has had a couple environmental problems recently. Has China done a better job covering up its oil disasters than the US did? Is this a matter of government policy or commercial concern? Or both? Or is it just an artifact of complex situations?
Polluted water. Murky information. Public anger. Government promises of transparency and oversight to prevent a recurrence. And then, a short time later, it all happens again.
Watching the 840 square km oil slick now polluting China's Bohai Sea and listening to the excuses of the companies and officials involved, it is hard to avoid a sense of deja-vu.
It has taken a month for news to emerge about the leak from a well in the Penglai 19-3 field operated by the US energy company ConocoPhillips in partnership with the China National Offshore Oil Corporation…
Xinhua, the state newswire, has blamed the US oil company for the leak and quoted officials who claimed the slow release of official information was due to "technical limits"…
Sue Witmer sent me a link to this article from Foreign Affairs almost 3 weeks ago. Thanks, Sue. Sorry I neglected your message to the point of almost losing it. I'm glad I didn't because the article adds some depth to the headline news versions of the power struggle in Iran.
While much of the Middle East is in the throes of a historic struggle for democracy, Iran's main political fissure pits the clerical establishment against muscular, nationalist upstarts who seek to usurp power. And in this contest between Iran's elite factions, the world should be rooting for the clergy.
The primary players in this battle are President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The two forged an ideological alliance in 2005 and worked closely to crush the "Green Movement" after the disputed 2009 election. They are now engaged in a public spat over the spoils of power and, more importantly, over the proper interpretation of the Shiite fundamentalist ideology that inspired the 1979 Islamic Revolution…
This only confirms the singular importance of the Islamic Revolution to Shiite history and theology. If, as Khomeini claimed, the Islamic Republic is the embodiment of a just and sacred government, Shiites no longer need the clergy as the anchor of their faith. Holiness rests in the state and not the guardians of the state. The idea appeals to the muscular nationalism and Bonapartist ambitions of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which believes that military might, rather than clerical leadership, sustain Iran against domestic and foreign enemies.
Many Iranians dismiss Ahmadinejad's cultish messianism as no more than boorish superstition and clever political positioning. The clerics see it as a direct threat. Since taking office, Ahmadinejad has charged his cabinet to sign a pledge committing them to serve the Hidden Imam, peppered his speeches with messianic themes, and even claimed that he leads the "Hidden Imam's government." It is a folksy but religiously charged proposition.
Ahmadinejad was ridiculed when a video clip showed him bragging to a senior ayatollah that the Shiite messiah had visited him during his 2005 address before the United Nations. The larger message, which was not lost on skittish ayatollahs, was that the lay president was giving notice that the messiah favored him over the clerics. Mashaei, Ahmadinejad's close advisor, has been blunter, declaring that Shiism can and should do without clerics and that the Islamic Republic no longer needs a supreme leader.
Unsurprisingly, many in Iran have come to see Ahmadinejad as the Shiite Martin Luther, determined to break the clergy. Senior ayatollahs have accordingly criticized the president at every turn and refused to receive him or his representatives in the holy city of Qom…
Iran’s president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has ordered the immediate cancellation of plans to segregate sexes at some universities, blasting the move as “shallow and unwise.”
“In some universities, single-gender courses and classes are implemented without considering their consequences,” the president said in a letter to the ministers of higher education and health that was published on his website.
“It is necessary that these shallow and unwise actions are prevented immediately,” Mr. Ahmadinejad said against the backdrop of a lively debate in the media and among officials over reports of plans to divide female and male students.
The order comes during a campaign by the ultra-conservative and religious camps dominating the Iranian regime for the abolition of co-education in universities for the new academic year…
Mr. Ahmadinejad’s opposition to sex segregation will further alienate his conservative and religious critics, who have becoming increasingly outspoken against him and his circle of advisers they say belong to a “deviant current” that puts secular nationalism ahead of Islam and poses a potential threat to Iran’s clerical rule.
Seen as an extreme hardliner by many in the West due to his comments against Israel and his country’s refusal to curb its nuclear program, at home the populist Mr. Ahmadinejad is outflanked on the right by ultra-conservatives, who charge that he has not adhered closely enough to the values of the Islamic Revolution.
More than half of Iran’s 3.7 million students are women, studying alongside their male classmates, and education has become a focus for conservatives who want to head off what they consider corrosive western values among the youth born long after the 1979 Islamic revolution.
On the instruction of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran is already reviewing the curricula of certain subjects deemed too western, including law, philosophy, psychology and political sciences, to ensure they do not run counter to Islamic teachings…
Before I lose touch with the Internet world for a few days, I do want to post this.
Blanca Facundo sent me an email pointing out a New York Times article about Mexico. She said it was "refreshing," and it is. It's not about violence, drugs, or corruption. It offers a grassroots image of part of Mexico that students should see.
When I got her note, I asked myself, "How did you miss that one?" Then I opened up the New York Times for Wednesday, and there it was. She was about 4 hours ahead of me in reading the Times. Thanks, Blanca.
The extraordinary Mexican migration that delivered millions of illegal immigrants to the United States over the past 30 years has sputtered to a trickle, and research points to a surprising cause: unheralded changes in Mexico that have made staying home more attractive.
A growing body of evidence suggests that a mix of developments — expanding economic and educational opportunities, rising border crime and shrinking families — are suppressing illegal traffic as much as economic slowdowns or immigrant crackdowns in the United States…
American census figures analyzed by the nonpartisan Pew Hispanic Center also show that the illegal Mexican population in the United States has shrunk… most experts agree that far fewer illegal immigrants have been arriving in recent years…
Mexican immigration has always been defined by both the push (from Mexico) and the pull (of the United States). The decision to leave home involves a comparison, a wrenching cost-benefit analysis, and just as a Mexican baby boom and economic crises kicked off the emigration waves in the 1980s and ’90s, research now shows that the easing of demographic and economic pressures is helping keep departures in check.
In simple terms, Mexican families are smaller than they had once been. The pool of likely migrants is shrinking…
Over the past 15 years, this country once defined by poverty and beaches has progressed politically and economically in ways rarely acknowledged by Americans debating immigration. Even far from the coasts or the manufacturing sector at the border, democracy is better established, incomes have generally risen and poverty has declined…
Still, education represents the most meaningful change. The census shows that throughout Jalisco, the number of senior high schools or preparatory schools for students aged 15 to 18 increased to 724 in 2009, from 360 in 2000, far outpacing population growth. The Technological Institute of Arandas… is now one of 13 science campuses created in Jalisco since 2000 — a major reason professionals in the state, with a bachelor’s degree or higher, also more than doubled to 821,983 in 2010, up from 405,415 in 2000…
Several times in recent months, Aleksei L. Kudrin, Russia’s finance minister — a longtime ally of Prime Minister Vladimir V. Putin — has called for deep domestic changes, arguing that Russia will slip out of the ranks of the world’s leading nations unless it allows for fair competition in politics and business…
[H]aving already outlasted five prime ministers during his 11-year tenure, he will almost certainly remain in place next spring no matter who is president… he speaks for an important group: well-placed Russian elites who are advocating for political change from within the system.
Mr. Kudrin, 50, gave an interview to The New York Times… [and] laid out an argument grounded in practicalities. Oil production is going to level off for the next 10 years, so any further economic growth will have to come from other sectors, he said.
“Very clear rules are needed, and very understandable institutions — a very good judicial system, so that everybody will feel confident in his investments, in fair arbitration, in courts and in very efficient work of the government and federal bodies under its authority,” he said. “Of course, we will get away from our dependence on oil. It will be very difficult — it is necessary to create good rules of the game, and both Putin and Medvedev understand it.”…
The most important candidate in Sunday’s election for governor here is the one who is not on the ballot.
Opinion polls for the race in Mexico State, which surrounds Mexico City, show that the candidate from the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, will win resoundingly.
But the bigger winner may be the state’s departing governor, Enrique Peña Nieto, the youthful, photogenic early front-runner in the 2012 presidential election campaign.
Analysts say that in passing the job on to a candidate from his party, Mr. Peña Nieto is gathering momentum for his national ambitions…
Mr. Peña Nieto, 44, makes an attractive candidate for an old party trying to persuade voters that it has changed. The other parties argue, though, that he is just a new face on the PRI’s authoritarian past…
Although the election is still far off and neither the PAN nor the PRD has chosen their candidates yet, the parties will have to work hard to dent Mr. Peña Nieto’s popularity. None of the PAN’s potential candidates have generated much enthusiasm. The violence set off by Mr. Calderón’s war on drug cartels as well as a deep recession and an economic recovery that has yet to create many jobs have hurt the party’s standing. The PRD, meanwhile, is riven by internal feuding…
As I was getting ready to head out on a holiday weekend, I came across Jeremiah Jenne's blog post at Jottings from the Granite Studio. He's an American historian who is teaching in China and finishing his thesis.
In honor of the 90th anniversary of the Communist Party in China, he offers this version of its history supplemented by references to Mad Men. It was too good not to pass on before I left the tentacles of the Internet.
It's pretty obvious that historian Jenne is personally insulted by the kind of history written the Party propagandists in China.
Two things happened this summer. The CCP celebrated its 90th anniversary and Mad Men decided to take the year off. The truth is, the world’s longest running Communist government has a lot in common with an American show celebrating naked capitalism and martinis…
Mao and Don Draper were chain-smoking misogynistic misanthropes with shady pasts who rose to prominence by being good ideas men and not a little bit ruthless. Politics aside, I bet they could have hung a bit…
“I hate to break it to you, but there is no big lie, there is no system. The universe is indifferent.”
For all the Marxist educational materials and classes foisted upon China’s students and the forests of trees felled to supply the paper for endless government reports on socialist theory and scientific development, the real secret of the CCP is this: There is no plan and there never was…
“Get out of here and move forward. This never happened. It will shock you how much it never happened.”
A defining feature of the Party… has been its casual relationship with History.[3] In particular, its ability to convince people to overlook the past, no matter what kind of historical wreckage might still be smoldering in the rear-view mirror…
If you don’t like what’s being said, change the conversation.
There’s little difference between the advertising industry and the Communist propaganda machine. They’re just selling different products. For 90 years the CCP has survived by training a steady fire hose of bullshit at its supporters and convincing those same supporters that it’s all just chocolate pudding with Chinese characteristics. And they’ve gotten better at it over time…
It wasn’t a lie, it was ineptitude with insufficient cover.
Which brings me back to history. The key to the Party’s hold on power is its control of its own story. I’ve used this quotation before, but on a day when my television is an endless loop of self-congratulatory propagandistic bullshit, it is worth repeating George Orwell’s famous dictum that ‘He who controls the past controls the future. He who controls the present controls the past.’ The party is afraid of many things, but most of all it is afraid of losing control of its own past. The recent multi-volume History of the CPC reads like an inoculation, rather than ignore dark moments in the Party’s history, traumatic events are papered over with passive grammar and a banal platitudes. Mistakes were made. Enemies were among us. Shit happens.[8]
It’s getting harder and harder for the Party to lie, to simply make shit up and hope to get away with it. But at the same time, they are getting smarter about how they go about massaging the past, augmenting the mythology with modern media, and working overtime to avoid any counter-programming or competing messages. But that’s what it has to do if it wants to stay in power for another 90 years…
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