We May Be In The Early Stages Of The Next Global Economic Crisis

Legacy NEW HAVEN – The global economy could be in the early stages of another crisis. Once again, the US Federal Reserve is in the eye of the storm.

As the Fed attempts to exit from so-called quantitative easing (QE) – its unprecedented policy of massive purchases of long-term assets – many high-flying emerging economies suddenly find themselves in a vise. Currency and stock markets in India and Indonesia are plunging, with collateral damage evident in Brazil, South Africa, and Turkey.

Reviving mammoths and other extinct creatures is a good idea

Image: Carlo Giambarresi

George Church

In its June issue Scientific American published an essay stating emphatically that reanimating species such as woolly mammoths from surviving DNA is a bad idea. This dismissal is too hasty. The idea has merit and is worth discussing with an open mind—and with multidisciplinary viewpoints.

Nicolás Maduro's First 100 Days

Venezuela's Vice President Nicolas Maduro. 

Has Nicolas Maduro been able to sustain Venezuela's enthusiasm for chavismo in the wake of Hugo Chavez's death? Robert Valencia, writing for World Policy Blog, thinks not. The new Venezuelan president's first 100 days were colored by economic woes and low approval ratings.

By Robert Valencia for World Policy Institute

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After Venezuela’s mid-April presidential elections, a halo of uncertainty hovers around Nicolás Maduro, the man to whom the late Hugo Chávez bestowed the leadership of the Bolivarian Revolution. Maduro’s slim victory—50.66 percent versus 49.07 for opposition leader Henrique Capriles Radonski— not only signaled a bad omen for the chavismo movement, but it has also put Maduro’s ability to lead both Venezuela and the Leftist movement in Latin America to test. In his first 100 days as president, the Maduro administration shows no signs of improvement, and its political future looks bleak.

China, Japan escalate Senkaku Islands conflict

The contested Senkaku Islands are sparking conflict again between two nations that claim the uninhabited land masses. 

Four China Coast Guard ships came close to the 12 mile territorial range of the islands in the East China Sea – shortly before a Chinese military aircraft passed through international airspace between Okinawa and the islands – in July. Japan immediately scrambled fighter jets.