World View: Australia's PM Tony Abbott Promises to 'Shirt-Front' Vladimir Putin When They Meet

This morning’s key headlines from GenerationalDynamics.com

• Australia’s PM Tony Abbott promises to ‘shirt-front’ Vladimir Putin when they meet
• WHO: Ebola threatens the ‘very survival’ of countries

Australia’s PM Tony Abbott promises to ‘shirt-front’ Vladimir Putin when they meet

Australia’s prime minister Tony Abbott

Australia’s prime minister Tony Abbott has been one of the world’smost vocal critics for Russia’s president Vladimir Putin over thedowning of an airliner by Russians in East Ukraine using a missilesystem supplied by Russia. Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 was shotdown in July, killing all 298 passengers and crew, 28 of whom wereAustralians. Abbott and Putin are expected to meet at the upcomingG20 meeting next month.

Abbott said the following on Monday:

“Look, I’m going to shirt-front Mr Putin – you bet Iam. I’m going to be saying to Mr Putin, Australians were murderedand they were murdered by Russian-backed rebels using Russiansupplied equipment.”

In Australian rules football, a “shirt-front” is a front-on chargedesigned to knock an opponent to the ground. Reuters and Sydney Morning Herald

WHO: Ebola threatens the ‘very survival’ of countries

Margaret Chan, head of the World Health Organization (WHO), referredto Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea and said:

“I have never seen a health event threaten the verysurvival of societies and governments in already very poorcountries. I have never seen an infectious disease contribute sostrongly to potential state failure.”

As I’ve written several times in the past ( “18-Sep-14 World View — Will Ebola become a worldwide pandemic?”), Ebola is apparently going to continue to spreadexponentially and run its course in Liberia. Within 6-9 months,probably 90% of the population will have been infected, and 50-70% ofthose people will not survive. So if those figures are true, and Ibelieve they are, then Liberia will lose more than half its populationby next summer. This will be a geopolitical crisis, and may trigger awar.

Will the same thing happen in the United States? No. Right now,every hospital and health care facility in the country is preparingfor the day that someone walks in with symptoms of Ebola. There willcertainly be cases — perhaps dozens or even hundreds of cases. ButAmerica, like much of the rest of the world, is rapidly preparing andwill be prepared.

However, as we’ve said repeatedly, Ebola may spread out of control towar zones, including Central African Republic, Darfur, South Sudan,Syria and Iraq. Adjacent countries will also be at risk, and thatcould mean that larger regions of Africa and the Mideast may beunder attack from Ebola. Large megacities around the world are alsoat risk. However, note that the Hajj has ended without any knowncases of Ebola, as many people feared.

It appears that world will be a very different place a year from now.We can hope that, by then, some drug treatments will have started tobecome available, so that the spread can level off. VOA and BBC

KEYS: Generational Dynamics, Australia, Tony Abbott, Russia,Vladimir Putin, Malaysian Airlines flight MH17,World Health Organization, WHO, Margaret Chan,Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea, Central African Republic,Darfur, South Sudan, Syria, Iraq
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