This morning's key headlines from
GenerationalDynamics.com:
- Russia's mass arrest of St. Petersburg Muslims raises specter of blowback
- Economists shocked at severe shrinkage of eurozone economy
- S. Korea unveils cruise missile that can strike anywhere in N. Korea
Russia's mass arrest of St. Petersburg Muslims raises specter of blowback
Russian police apparently panicked last week and blindly conducted a
large-scale operation target radical Muslim groups in various parts of
St. Petersburg. Reports indicate that as many as 700 Muslims were
detained and questioned. As part of such operations, the police
deliberately break into prayer rooms with their dogs to desecrate
Muslim prayer rugs, infuriating and humiliating the Muslims. Russia's
police were caught by surprise by this enclave of allegedly radical
Muslim groups because they were not from the North Caucasus provinces,
but instead were from the east, including Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
The huge operation produced almost no results, though seven Muslims
were deported for having insufficient documentation. This operation
has electrified the Muslim community, and Russia can expect blowback,
possibly in the form of terrorist operations. The attack on the
St. Petersburg mosque was justified because the mosque was
"unauthorized," and Russia is now considering a bill that would make
illegal any unsanctioned prayer services held outside of religious
sites or cemetaries, without permission from authorities. Jamestown and Russia Today
Economists shocked at severe shrinkage of eurozone economy
The euro zone slipped deeper into recession in the fourth quarter of
2012, much more severely than economists had predicted. Germany's
economy contracted 0.6%, while France's fell 0.3%. Furthermore,
France's figures for the first and second quarters of last year were
revised to negative, indicating negative growth for three of the four
quarters of 2012. This is not a minor thing. All the speeches by
European politicians, all the policies by financial ministers, all the
plans and budgets by analysts -- all of them are based on the
assumption that all the 1980s and 1990s macroeconomic models still
work. As I've said repeatedly, the only models that work today are
the ones from the 1930s, because that was the last generational crisis
era. Alan Greenspan has also pointed out that every macroeconomic
model has been a failure for the last five years. Reuters
S. Korea unveils cruise missile that can strike anywhere in N. Korea
North Korea's nuclear weapon test has changed some of the dynamics in
Asia. The American administration has reaffirmed that it will defend
both South Korea and Japan, honoring previous treaty commitments. But
with North Korea becoming a nuclear weapons state, and with neither
China nor the United Nations able to take any meaningful
counter-steps, some experts believe that the focus will have to change
to find ways to prevent it from transferring technology or weapons to
other rogue states or to terrorist groups. (It's hard for me to see
how this new focus will be any more successful than the old focus.)
South Korea has announced measures to strengthen its own military, to
deter the North Koreans.
On Thursday, South Korea announced a cruise
missile that it said can strike anywhere in North Korea: "The cruise missile being unveiled today is a
precision-guided weapon that can identify and strike the window of
the office of North Korea's leadership."
Asia One (Singapore) and Reuters
Permanent web link to this article
Receive daily World View columns by e-mail