Useful foreign affairs updates for you
SHARE:
Foreign affairs updates - 9th Dec, 2021
- US 'Diplomatic Boycott' of Beijing Winter Olympics: The Biden administration has decided not to send U.S. officials to the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics due to China’s poor human rights record, a move that sparked Beijing’s anger—and could push other countries to follow suit. Activists have long urged Washington to boycott the Winter Games to protest Beijing’s human rights abuses, which include its brutal detention of more than one million Uyghurs and crackdowns in Hong Kong. These demands were amplified in recent weeks when Peng Shuai, a Chinese tennis star, almost completely disappeared from public life after accusing a senior Communist Party official of sexual assault. Chinese officials were furious over the news.
- Winter Olympics 2022: The 2022 Winter Olympics won’t look that different, despite facing a diplomatic boycott. American athletes can still participate in the games, and will remain largely unaffected by the decision. “The athletes on Team USA have our full support,” said the White House. But the decision is a symbolic affront to China, which has grown accustomed to others overlooking its abuses to preserve economic and political relations. In sports in particular, organizations generally steer clear of criticizing Beijing to avoid jeopardizing key business deals or offending a major market. Individuals who do speak out, like soccer player Mesut Özil or the Houston Rockets’ former general manager Daryl Morey, can risk their reputations and careers. New Zealand and Lithuania have already announced their own boycotts, while the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Australia, and Canada have said that they are now weighing their options.
- Austria’s new chancellor: Austria’s former interior minister Karl Nehammer has been officially sworn in as the country’s new chancellor, becoming the fifth person to hold the title in four years. He is coming to power during a tumultuous period in Austrian politics, with dual resignations shaking the country just last week. Hours after former chancellor Sebastian Kurz announced he was leaving politics on Thursday, then-chancellor Alexander Schallenberg also stepped down.
- Facebook under fire: Dozens of Rohingya refugees are suing Facebook for $150 billion, accusing the company of amplifying hate speech and promoting violence against the minority group in Myanmar. In 2017, a violent military crackdown killed an estimated 10,000 Rohingya and displaced thousands more. The following year, Facebook acknowledged that it failed to stop users from inciting violence. Facebook was “willing to trade the lives of the Rohingya people for better market penetration in a small country in south-east Asia,” the lawsuit said. The company has yet to publicly respond to the news.
- Britain’s cocaine controversy: After a British newspaper reported that traces of cocaine were discovered in 11 locations in Parliament—including a bathroom close to Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s office—House of Commons speaker Lindsay Hoyle called in the British authorities. He said that the accounts of drug misuse in Parliament given to the Sunday Times are deeply concerning—and he would be raising them as a priority with the Metropolitan Police.
- Turkey’s crashing currency: Turkey’s currency has been plunging to all-time lows against the U.S. dollar and the euro in recent months as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan presses ahead with a widely criticized effort to cut interest rates despite surging consumer prices. Families are struggling to buy food and other goods and the Turkish lira has lost around 40% of its value since the start of 2021, becoming one of the world’s worst-performing currencies. The Central Bank has cut borrowing costs by 4 percentage points since September, in line with Erdogan’s wishes, even though inflation accelerated to around 20%. President Erdogan, in power for 19 years and increasingly authoritarian, has long argued that high interest rates cause inflation, contrary to what economists generally say: that increasing rates will drive down prices. As a result, the Turkish lira, which had barely recovered from a currency crisis in 2018, has been weakening to record lows against the dollar and the euro. The devalued lira is driving prices higher, making imports, fuel and everyday goods more expensive in Turkey, which relies on imported raw material. Meanwhile, rents have skyrocketed and prices for home sales, mostly pegged on the dollar, are increasing. A devout Muslim, whose religion regards usury as a sin, Erdogan has described interest rates as “the mother and father of all evil.” He has fired three central bank governors who resisted lowering rates. In a further shake-up, Erdogan on Thursday appointed a new finance minister considered to be supportive of the push for low borrowing rates, leading to a slight decline of the lira. Erdogan's early years in power were marked by a strong economy that helped him win several elections. Soaring consumer prices have now hurt his popularity.
- EXAM QUESTIONS: (1) Explain the goal behind the US decision to 'diplomatically boycott' the Beijing winter Olympics 2022. (2) What is the way out for Turkish economy now? Explain. (3) What do the Rohingyas expect to achieve from the class action suit against Facebook worth $ 150 b?
* Content sourced from free internet sources (publications, PIB site, international sites, etc.). Take your own subscriptions. Copyrights acknowledged.
COMMENTS