The World Today

The recent cyclones and floods in Mozambique have brought new pictures of human misery. Women and children clinging to treetops to escape the torrential waters. Several hundred people died, and the damage is likely to have put back economic development by years or even decades. Such severe floods; the cyclone in Orissa, India; hurricanes in Central America; storms in Venezuela and France; and other similar natural catastrophes have once again raised the question of whether these events are related to global warming and climate change.

For nearly six years, the United States – which occupied Haiti between 1915 and 1934 – has been back in its former satellite with Operation Uphold Democracy. This recently concluded multinational effort reinstated the democratically elected government of Jean-Bertrand Aristide – elected President in December 1990 with sixty-seven percent of the popular vote. It cost about $2 billion and involved up to twenty thousand troops – mainly Americans.

The victory of the Democratic Progressive Party in Taiwan’s recent presidential election has raised serious concern over the possibility of a conflict across the Taiwan Strait that could provoke American intervention. A military engagement between China and the United States in the Asia-Pacific would have disastrous consequences for the stability and prosperity of the entire region. The fundamental problem is a clash of interests between an existing superpower and an emerging power. As China grows stronger and becomes more confident and assertive, mutual suspicion and tension will increase.

Commercial sexual exploitation is one of the world’s major international industries and there is a great deal of money to be made from it. Pornography, for example, is amongst the most profitable activities on the Internet. Sex is a consumer item and, like all goods, it relies on new experiences and brands. Child sexual exploitation has been part of that marketing exercise. The fight against it has been innovative too, breaking new ground in laws that apply beyond state borders.

The earthquakes that shook Turkey and Greece last year, causing much destruction, helped create seismic political change. With the search on for a new President, Turkey’s leadership seems ripe for a generational shift, while Greeks have just voted for modernisation.

Taliban: Islam, Oil and the New Great Game in Central Asia by Ahmed Rashid, published by IB Tauris & Co Ltd