KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, Nov 19 2024 (IPS)* – Western financial policies have been squeezing economies worldwide. After being urged to borrow commercial finance heavily, developing countries now struggle with contractionary Western monetary policies.
Central banks ‘Unconventional monetary measures’ in the West helped offset the world economic slowdown after the 2008 global financial crisis.
Jomo Kwame Sundaram
Higher interest rates have worsened contractions, debt distress, and inequalities due to cost-push inflation triggered by ‘geopolitical’ supply disruptions.
Western central bank efforts have tried to check inflation by curbing demand and raising interest rates. Higher interest rates have worsened contractionary tendencies, exacerbating world stagnation.
7 Nov 2024 – Empires do NOT reform. Resilience is the term associated with the Oppressed, not the Oppressor. (Try imagine being enslaved or colonized for 300 years).
Maung Zarni
With elite delusions and a popular sense of “being special/ exceptional/ unique/ superior), Empires get toxic at home and abroad, decay, get overpowered/ crushed or simply collapse.
USA is no exception, except it has the capacity to bring humanity at large with it, to Hell.
I do not hate Americans as a people – just another population of fellow humans, who deserve life, not more or less than any other population.
But, with every cell in my body, I absolutely loath Empires and Imperialisms, whatever their names.
(UN News)* — The head of the UN agency for Palestine refugees, UNRWA, confirmed on Monday [] that a large convoy of humanitarian aid was looted inside Gaza at the weekend, amid a near-total breakdown in law and order and harassment of the agency’s staff by Israeli soldiers.
“More than 100 trucks have been looted, primarily [carrying goods for] UNRWA and the WFP, basically, 80-90 per cent of the convoy on that day,” said Philippe Lazzarini, UNRWA Commissioner-General.
()* — As COP29 climate talks in Baku enter their final week, the UN climate chief told negotiators on Monday [] to “cut the theatrics,” get down to business and hammer out a new finance deal to compensate countries for climate-driven damages and pay for a clean-energy transition.
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UNFCCC/Kiara Worth | UN Climate Change Executive Secretary Simon Stiell addresses negotiators as the final week of COP29 begins in Baku, Azerbaijan.
“We can’t lose sight of the forest because we’re tussling over individual trees,” said Simon Stiell, urging delegates to wrap up “less contentious issues” as early as possible this week, so there is enough time for the major political decisions.
BAKU, Nov 12 2024 (IPS)* – Scientists warn of vastly higher impacts on billions of people’s livelihood and cost to the global economy by the accelerating losses in the world’s snow and ice regions, aka the cryosphere.
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Mountain range in Mt. Everest region in Nepal; loss of snow and glacier melting in the region impacting people living in the region and downstream communities. Photo: Tanka Dhakal/IPS
(UN News)* —The UN agency for Palestine refugees, UNRWA, is living through the “darkest moment” of its 75 year history, Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini said on Wednesday [], pointing to a trifecta of legislative, operational and security challenges.
Speaking at a press conference at UN Headquarters in New York, he detailed the implications of the recent laws passed by the Israeli Knesset, which aim to dismantle UNRWA activities across the occupied Palestinian territory, including Gaza and the West Bank.“
UNITED NATIONS, Nov 15 2024 (IPS)* – US President Donald Trump’s return to the White House on January 20 next year may be another calamity for the United Nations—particularly if the second term turns out to be a re-run of his first presidency (2017-2021).
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President Donald Trump addresses the General Assembly’s 75th sessions back in September 2020. Credit: UN Photo/Rick Bajornas
Nov 12 2024 (IPS)* – So, the worst has happened. American voters have apparently just elected the most chaotic and kleptocratic individual in their country’s political history as their president. (We say ‘apparently’, because these days nothing can be certain about the integrity of the US political or electoral system – as is the case with far too many other countries.)
As the annual global Climate Conference (COP29) continues its first week in Baku, Azerbaijan, we can already see what the impact of the next Trump presidency will be. Credit: Shutterstock
That means the previous president, Donald Trump – who opposed every one of those climate-friendly investments and has promised the greatest re-investment in oil, gas and coal of any nation in history – is back in.
MADRID, Nov 13 2024 (IPS)* – During his electoral campaign, incoming U.S. President Donald Trump highlighted that the U.S. holds more oil reserves than any other country, even surpassing Saudi Arabia. In this context, he openly encouraged big businesses to tap into these reserves with the words: ’Drill, baby, drill.’
Trump’s focus: Drilling for oil, not saving the planet. Credit: Shutterstock
The US president-elect has also threatened to impose record tariffs on electric cars’ imports from China, by increasing them between 100% and 200%, and has hinted at higher taxes on European vehicles as well.
(UN News)* — Climate talks at COP29 in Baku on Wednesday [] turned to the pressing issue of how to manage the demand for minerals essential to producing electric vehicles and solar panels without triggering a “stampede of greed” that exploits local communities and crushes the poor.
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 