According to latest poll, over 80 per cent of American voters are worried about the state of democracy in the USA. The poll also shows that Americans are worried about the strong partisan political divisions: 59 per cent of the respondents didn’t believe that the political parties can pass bipartisan solutions.
Read the full story on The Hill:
As a significant development at the end of three-day summit in Johannesburg, South Africa, it was announced that BRICS has invited six countries – Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates – to join the group as full members from the 1st of January next year. President of China Xi Jinping described the expansion of the membership as “historic.” More than 40 countries had been interested in joining BRICS and 23 formally applied to join the group. The current BRICS countries represent a quarter of the global economy and 40 percent of the world’s population.
Read the full story on Al Jazeera:
During recent months, USA has been trying to push for normalization of relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel. However, Saudi Arabia has understandably not been very keen to normalize relations with Israel, at least fully, particularly because of the current Israeli far-right coalition government. According to media reports, as part of the potential normalization deal Israel should “take major steps toward creating an independent Palestinian state” – this requirement is likely to be opposed by Israeli far right. (1) Saudi Arabia took a positive step by appointing its first-ever non-resident ambassador to Palestine who will also serve as non-resident consul general to Jerusalem. The non-resident status of the ambassador means that the appointment didn’t have to be approved by Israel – Israel sees the entire Jerusalem as its undivided capital. (2) Quite expectedly, Israel rejected any possibility of a physical diplomatic base in Jerusalem for Saudi Arabia’s envoy to Palestine (3).
References:
1) “Saudis said wary of full normalization with Israel, or a deal with current government” The Times of Israel 9.8.2023
2) “Saudi Arabia appoints its first ever non-resident ambassador to Palestine” The Times of Israel 12.8.2023
3) “Israel says no Jerusalem base for Saudi envoy to Palestinian Authority” Al Jazeera 13.8.2023
As a further sign of the growing cooperation between China and countries in the Middle East, top stock-market operators in China and Saudi Arabia are reportedly negotiating about the possibility to offer a cross-listing of their respective Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs). That would allow investors in Saudi Arabia and China to trade stocks or bonds on their countries’ stock exchanges.
Read the full story on Middle East Eye:
One of the interesting developments in world politics has been the de-dollarization of international trade, increasing willingness to use local or other currencies instead of US dollar. One recent example of this has been the trade agreement between India and the United Arab Emirates (1). This agreement is interesting, because India and UAE are close allies of USA – for example, India and UAE are part of the India-Israel-US-UAE Alliance (I2-U2), economic group that was established in October 2021 (2).
References:
1) “India, UAE agree to use local currencies in bilateral trade” Middle East Monitor 16.7.2023
2) “The India-Israel-US-UAE Alliance (I2-U2): Background and Objectives” Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies, Doha Institute 19.7.2022
Hello again after a while! A lot has been going on in the far-right scene and elsewhere in world politics, but before I write about other things, here is an interesting comment regarding American politics from Liz Cheney, daughter of infamous Dick Cheney who served as vice president under President George W. Bush during years 2001 – 2009:
“…I think that the country right now faces hugely challenging and fundamentally important issues. What we’ve done in our politics is create a situation where we’re electing idiots.”
Read the full story on The Hill:
According to recent survey conducted by University of Chicago, roughly 12 million or 4.4% of the adult population in the USA believe that violence is justified in order to help former president Donald Trump return to the White House.
Read the full story on The Guardian:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jun/09/january-6-trump-political-violence-survey
While various far-right movements and parties seem to become stronger in the Western world, there have been more interesting and positive developments in the rest of the world. Foreign ministers of the five BRICS countries and from 12 developing countries – “friends of BRICS” – met in South Africa last week. 19 countries are interested in joining the bloc. The BRICS foreign ministers pledged to build up the New Development Bank. The aim of the bank is to finance infrastructure and sustainable development projects in the developing and member countries. (1, 2, 3)
References:
1) “BRICS meet with ‘friends’ seeking closer ties amid push to expand bloc” Middle East Monitor 2.6.2023
2) “As 19 countries seek to join BRICS, is the world experiencing a change in the balance of power?” Middle East Monitor 22.5.2023
3) “BRICS foreign ministers pledge to build up New Development Bank” Middle East Monitor 2.6.2023
Anti-Defamation League ADL conducts surveys regarding attitudes and opinions toward Jewish people in over hundred countries around the world (1). The Times of Israel reported about some recent findings. A survey conducted by ADL in 10 European countries found that significant portions of people in those countries believe various antisemitic stereotypes. Over third of people in Poland and Hungary still have “extensive” antisemitic beliefs, even though the amount of those kind of respondents is much smaller compared to previous survey. (2)
References:
1) ADL website: https://global100.adl.org/map/
2) “Over a third of people in Hungary, Poland have ‘extensive’ antisemitic beliefs – poll” The Times of Israel 31.5.2023
While the amount of mass shootings and mass killings continues to rise in the USA, FBI has been criticized for making a mass-shooting survival video. The video was released already in 2020 but it has now resurfaced. According to critics, the video will scare away foreign graduates and tourists. One critic wrote on Twitter: “America is broken. Instead of addressing the cause of the carnage, we’re talking about how to survive a massacre like it’s a damn tornado.”
Read the full story on The Guardian:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/may/15/fbi-mass-shooting-survival-video
You can follow the gun violence statistics on Gun Violence Archive:
IDIS Observer 