China facing 'world's worst brain drain'

Link to article: CNN


"Culture is not the main reason why most Chinese people leave. This is a romantic view. Most people leave China because of practical reasons like education, food and wealth security, and air quality."

This was the view of Li Chen, who moved to Hong Kong a few years ago and is planning to go to Canada in the near future.

China is loosing some its most wealthiest, brightest citizens. Even some Communist officials have packed their bags. This is a serious problem for China. Last year, China was labeled "world's worst brain drain". Of the rich Chinese surveyed this year in the 2014 China-based Hurun Report, 64% said they were emigrating, or planning to this year. This is 4% more than last year's "worst" brain drain.

China needs to find a solution to their predicament but in order to do this, they just might have to conquer an array of tough problems.

One of the most difficult altercation that China must solve is pollution. Health is wealth they say. Smog has reached all time hazardous levels in China and has lingered on for quite some time. People with the money to leave the country are debating their options seriously. With the way big-time corporations are run now and the amount of pollution that exists in China today, China's war on pollution isn't going to end anytime soon. It'll be hard to convince wealthy, educated Chinese people to stay in a country where every time you take a breath, it kills you bit by bit.

Other than wealth preservation, "people also go (abroad) for opportunities, quality of life, and where their skills are better valued," said David Zweig, a professor and specialist in China's human resources at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. This is another difficult problem for China and is hard to mediate.

The combination of these problems make the brain drain a near impossible obstacle to overcome if China doesn't fix a few of their major emigration factors. This should be one of China's main focuses since their future greatly depends on the contributed success of the younger generation. 

Little faith in China's war on pollution

Link to article: Asia TIMES


The Chinese Premier Li Kequiang issued a "war on pollution" a few days ago. Li plans to administer hefty measures against pollution in response to the growing public anger over the subject. Just recently swathes of thick brown smog lingered over much of Northern China for days on end. These insurgent clouds of smog breached international safety guidelines. Li described the smog as "nature's red-light warning against inefficient and blind development".

Li believes one of the biggest barriers to environmental protection is corruption in large corporate companies. He believes the government should be doing a lot better job in overseeing these companies in making sure they take responsibility.

Environmentalist activist and complicit officials view Li's war on pollution with little faith. Wu Lihong, who served jail time because of his connection and advocacy for fighting pollution in Taihu Lake (through legal means),  believes hardly any environmental action will take place. Though Li's speech was filled with astounding rhetoric about environmental protection, it won't reach local governments who are anxious to boost revenue and economic growth figures. The government has promised to take action before when they said they'd spend 2 trillion yuan on tackling pollution of scarce water resources, yet pollution levels have changed little in that time.

Wu remains skeptical, saying "It's all just hot air when the government blames chemical companies for serious pollution levels".

This issue shows a noteworthy disconnection between the national government and local governments. If the national government is really for environmental protection and cant enforce their laws over their local ones, then the CCP has a problem. I believe Li's proclamation of war on pollution is primarily an empty gesture to soothe the angry people of China.

Mexico City government mulls legalization of marijuana

Link to article: The Telegraph


Mexico City has put a bill forth that proposes to legalize marijuana. This bill allows shops to sell up to 5 grams of the drug. However, the bill has many setbacks on a few key points, and is silent about how many shops will be allocated, regulated, taxed, or enforced. The bill is projected to have a strong chance of approval because of the city's governmental leadership. If approved, Mexico City legislature could find itself on bad terms with the federal government. The federal government, strongly conservative at the moment, is highly against its legalization.

This is a unique bill considering that Mexico is notorious for it's massive, organized, and violent drug cartels and has contributed to much of the flow of narcotics towards the United States. If legalization occurred nationally in Mexico, there could be easily identifiable ramifications that could extremely validate either pro-legalization or anti-legalization activists. I do have a problem with the bill they are trying to pass in Mexico City. The bill is not specific enough. If you are going to legalize marijuana and want to encourage and continue its legalization into other areas even nationally, you better do it right. It won't do any good if the legalization of marijuana causes more problems, especially because you could've avoided the problems by controlling and utilizing it by law. They need to put much more thought into the bill before they pass it.

While Britain Floods, Politicians Debate Climate Change

Link to article: TIME


The wettest January in 250 years has led to catastrophic floods in Britain. The recent floods have sparked a debate on what to do about the climate change. Met Office's chief scientists believe that all the evidence suggests that floods and strange weather is linked to climate change. The former Conservative party Chancellor Lord Lawson proclaimed "absurd" when conclusions were drawn about the link between climate change and the floods.

Wether you want to tie the strange weather and flooding to climate change or not, the fact of the matter is that it is flooding and causing trouble for many people. The government should address this problem. Though climate change may not be a force that can be stopped, floods can be mitigated and prevented. The government should look to implement preventative measures like building more levees for example. Flooding affects individuals, families, and whole communities. Natural disasters such as these should empower the state to look to prevent, act, and provide relief.

Iran Sends Warships Close to US Borders

Link to article: Fox News


Iran sent their warships close to U.S. maritime borders for the first time. An senior Iranian naval commander confirmed this, and added saying that this move has a message.

The Islamic Republic considers this move as a response to U.S. naval deployments near its own coastline, specifically in reference to the U.S. Navy's 5th fleet is stationed in Bahrain, located across the bordering waters of Iran.

Militaries do this all the time. They play chicken near the border but thats all it is. It has superficial implications, and it sometimes results in aggravating the other side. I don't believe Iran has any intentions of planning a naval strike on America. It is pretty routine for warships go out on leave around the world near other countries. After all, American warships approach many coastlines yet aren't there to plan an attack.

China plays the "chicken" game with neighboring countries all the time, especially with Japan. They do this purposely to cause altercations. I don't believe these are Iran's intentions at all. Iran does want to be noticed as a force to be known. This may have been what lead to Iran to match America's naval movements near their coast.

Ukraine mobilizes troops after Russia's 'declaration of war'

Link to article: CNN


Ukraine's new leaders accused Russia of declaring war after they sent troops into the Crimea Peninsula. Putin declares that he justly protecting the Russians in the region. Kiev mobilized troops and called up military reservists in a rapidly escalating crisis that raised fears of a conflict, while world leaders pushed for a diplomatic solution.

World leaders apart of the UN are very upset with Russia's actions. The U.S. Secretary of State, John Kerry, condemned Russia's actions calling it an"incredible act of aggression". Kerry also talks of the foreign and economic consequences of Russia's actions talking about the leaders in the UN saying, "All of them, every single one of them are prepared to go to the hilt in order to isolate Rusia with respect to this invasion. They're prepared to put sanctions in place, they're prepared to isolate Russia economically". In a statement Sunday the G7 nations of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK, and the US, condemned Russia of a "clear violation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine".

This seems a little cold war-esque in what Putin and Medvedev are doing to Ukraine. Putin has been apart of the KGB and grown up very close to the ideals that served the Soviet Union. It isn't too surprising that Putin still clings to these ideals as he rules as either Prime Minister or President. It looks to be that their will be real consequences for Russia's actions. Depending on what Russia does from here on, they could face some real international pressure and punishment economically. The world has changed since the Cold War. Countries around the world are willing to resist Russia's power and influence, including Ukraine. Today, its not acceptable to prance in a country that doesn't like you very much with your military with a lame excuse like "I got protect my pro-russian friends".

Punishments for Homosexual "crimes" in Nigeria

Link to article: BBC


A Nigerian man recieved 20 lashes in an Islamic court after they convicted him of homosexual offences. Nigeria has followed Sharia, also known as Islamic law, since its past up even up to the present. Most states accept it and follow it strictly. In Nigeria there has been recent pushes and new legislations for bans on gay-marriages, and public displays of affection. Punishments range from a number of lashings to being stoned to death. The Nigerian man convicted, Ibrahim, felt as if he got off easy with 20 lashings from a whip soaked in animal oil.

Nigeria, even most of Africa, is considered a homophobic country. Persecution of gays is widely spread, including the murder of gays and torture by policemen. In comparison to America, persecution of gays also plagues it's history. Similar to Nigeria, when our country was founded it was closely knitted with religious principles. America's being Christianity, Nigeria's being Islam. Both religions believe homosexuality to be a sin. The Great Awakening left a major imprint on newly founded America, and religion was very much apart of politics for awhile. During America's development into a super power, Religion became more a negligible influence on politics in the U.S. In Nigeria, religion is still very much apart of politics, and this indefinitely affects the turnout on gay-legislation.

 In recent legislation, pursuit for equal rights for gays is popular in the U.S. There has been a push in many states to legalize gay marriage, and some have already done so. Nigeria is the total opposite. I believe this is primarily because Nigeria does not separate church and state. I found it interesting how they still offer primitive forms of punishment for crimes. Lashings and being stoned to death? You see them in the bible. It goes to show Nigeria's strong conservatism and how they like to stick with old traditional values, especially ones that coincide with Islamic law.