Toma nota.../Take note...

The “phase one” agreement trims tariffs and obliges China to buy more from American farmers. But do not be fooled. It is a modest accord that cannot disguise how the world’s central relationship is at its most perilous juncture since before Richard Nixon and Mao Zedong re-established links five decades ago. The two sides used to think they could both thrive; today each has a vision of success in which the other lot falls behind. A partial dismantling of their bonds is under way. In the 2020s the world will discover just how far this decoupling will go, how much it will cost.

USA vs China: The planet’s biggest break-up is under way 

Jan. 2.– On January 15th, after three years of a bitter trade war, America and China are due to sign a “phase one” deal that trims tariffs and obliges China to buy more from American farmers. Don’t be fooled. This modest accord cannot disguise how the world’s most important relationship is at its most perilous juncture since before Richard Nixon and Mao Zedong re-established links five decades ago.

The threat to the West from China’s high-tech authoritarianism has become all too clear. Everything from its pioneering artificial-intelligence firms to its gulags in Xinjiang spread alarm across the world.

Protests have been sweeping the Middle East and North Africa this last year. In Lebanon they are largely about corruption, austerity and financial instability, which has its roots in a neighbouring civil war and a drop in foreign investment and remittances from the Lebanese diaspora. Since Donald Trump became US president, tougher sanctions against Lebanese banks accused of links to Hizbullah have weighed on the economy, where banking is central.

Behind Lebanon’s protests

 Paris, Jan.6.– Lebanon's telecommunications minister Mohammad Choucair decided on 17 October 2019 to introduce a tax of $2 a month — the ‘WhatsApp tax’ — on all free apps for mobile phones. That evening hundreds of young people, many among Lebanon’s poorest, demonstrated in major cities.

The next day they blocked the main roads and held sit-ins in symbolic spots such as Beirut’s Martyrs’ Square. The government shut down its offices, universities and state schools, paradoxically encouraging even more to take to the streets. The closure of Lebanon’s banks for two weeks from the start of the protests fuelled the anger, as depositors were denied access to their money.

Cuba: Tomada Cumanayagua por Brigada de Destino Especial perteneciente al Ministerio del Interior (MININT)

• Alegan que es para evitar brotes de  descontento popular.
• Esta posibilidad es por la situación desesperada de desabastecimiento. 

INFORME del MOVIMIENTO CUBANO REFLEXIÓN (MCR)
 

El pasado 28 de noviembre nos informó el activista del MCR Jorge Pérez Rodríguez el abandono y la precariedad existente en el municipio de Cumanayagua de la provincia de Cienfuegos.

El tema de los medicamentos resulta muy difícil, pues los mismos están programados para arribar los jueves, y desde el lunes comienzan a formarse las colas, las cuales no están exentas de broncas y griterías de desesperación (la última vez una señora se desmayó).

Readers would certainly have been paying attention to economic controversies in the last decade, and you may have noticed the increasing number of discussions about economic inequality. It’s a hot topic and many believe that the alleviation of poverty requires a substantial reduction in inequality.

In order to understand economic inequality, we need to ask a few questions. First, are there good kinds of economic inequality and bad kinds? Second, is it a good idea, as many policymakers and even some economists insist, to reduce inequality by taxing those at the top end more heavily? Third, has poverty been increasing? Fourth has economic inequality been increasing? In order to answer these question with proper objectivity, it is important to do a broad and unbiased research." 

 

 

Let us see what The Economist found about this subject:

Inequality illusions: Why wealth and income gaps are not what they appear

Inequality could be lower than you think, but there is plenty to do to make economies fairer.

Nov. 28.– Even in a world of polarisation, fake news and social media, some beliefs remain universal, and central to today’s politics. None is more influential than the idea that inequality has risen in the rich world. People read about it in newspapers, hear about it from their politicians and feel it in their daily lives. This belief motivates populists, who say selfish metropolitan elites have pulled the ladder of opportunity away from ordinary people. It has given succour to the left, who propose ever more radical ways to redistribute wealth (see article). And it has caused alarm among business people, many of whom now claim to pursue a higher social purpose, lest they be seen to subscribe to a model of capitalism that everyone knows has failed.

The United Nations does not have power by itself as a World organization, but borrow its power from the will of Member States when voting on a resolution or decision. Each one of the Member States has one vote no matter how big or small or how much population it has. Therefore, it functions in similar fashion as a Senate does. However, most of the decisions and resolutions are not mandatory. They are recommendations that may or may not be taken into account, although they carry quite a heavy weight in public opinion. The exception to these basic rules lies with the Security Council. Its resolutions carry mandatory authority and could authorize in certain cases military intervention. Nevertheless, the five biggest powers emerging victorious from the II World War, China, France, Russia, United States and United Kingdom, have veto power and their single negative vote is enough to abort any draft resolution presented to this UN body.

The UN at 75: Time to Give Citizens a Voice

UNITED NATIONS, Nov 14 2019 (IPS).– Next year the United Nations will commemorate its 75th anniversary. The General Assembly determined that all the UN’s activities in 2020 shall be guided by the theme “The future we want, the United Nations we need: reaffirming our collective commitment to multilateralism”.

In January the Secretariat plans1 to launch “the biggest-ever global conversation” on the role of global cooperation and to build a “global vision of 2045.”