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Recently, Sweden “reintroduced a military draft for both men and women because of what Defense Minister Peter Hultqvist called a deteriorating security environment in Europe and around Sweden” (Time, March 2, 2017). A major reason for this move was the ominous threat to the Baltic nations from Russia and its increasingly aggressive activity across Europe (ibid...
The Economist reports, “This year’s [French] presidential election, the most exciting in living memory, promises an upheaval” (March 4, 2017).
A recent study published by researchers from Carnegie Mellon University indicates that married people experience lower stress levels (on average) than those not yet married or previously married (Time, February 16, 2017). Basing their conclusions on lower cortisol levels among married couples, researchers hypothesize that the lower cortisol levels may lead not...
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was warmly welcomed on a recent visit by Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull. During the visit Mr. Turnbull expressed a great deal of praise and support for Mr. Netanyahu and Israel. “Mr Turnbull received a round of applause after denouncing a recent UN resolution condemning settlements in the occupied West Bank.
The concept of a two-speed Europe is back in the news again (Wall Street Journal, March 2, 2017). This week Joseph Muscat, the Prime Minister of Malta and current EU president revived the call for a two-speed Europe where nations ready to move forward without the others can do so! At the same time, he called for greater involvement from the Roman Catholic pope...
“E coli microbes have been modified to carry an expanded genetic code which researchers say will ultimately allow them to be programmed… Now, the first living organisms to thrive with an expanded genetic code have been made by researchers in work that paves the way for the creation and exploitation of entirely new life forms” (The Guardian, January, 24, 2017).
The 10-member Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) recently met in the Philippines and were “unanimous in their expression of concern about what they see as a militarization of the region” (Reuters, February 21, 2017).
“The world is ‘on the brink’ of a ‘post-Western age’, a leading German think tank has warned” (EU Observer, February 14, 2017). The Munich Security Conference (MSC) report suggested that the age we may now be entering is “one in which non-Western actors are shaping international affairs”—a reference to nations such as China, Russia, and Turkey (ibid.). The MSC...
“Scientists warn that parts of southern Africa already hit by record droughts now face another potential food crisis because [of] the invasion of a crop-eating pest, known as the ‘fall armyworm’” (BBC, February 14, 2017). Experts are unsure of how this caterpillar, native to the Americas, arrived in Africa, and the pest has arrived following two years of drought...
China “accounted for a third of Asia’s military spending in 2016 and was looking to sell more arms abroad, the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) said… On air power, China ‘appears to be reaching near-parity with the West,’ IISS said, adding that Chinese-made drones had been seen in Nigeria and Saudi Arabia” (Deutsche Welle, February 14, 2017...