Freedom is declining in the world

It does not look good for freedom and democracy in the world:

Global freedom declined for a fifth straight year in 2010 as authoritarian regimes dug in worldwide and crime and unrest plagued democracies like Mexico, a US watchdog said Thursday.
In "Freedom in the World 2011" the Washington-based Freedom House said it had documented the longest continuous period of decline since it began compiling the annual index nearly 40 years ago.
"A total of 25 countries showed significant declines in 2010, more than double the 11 countries exhibiting noteworthy gains," the group said.

 

"Authoritarian regimes like those in China, Egypt, Iran, Russia, and Venezuela continued to step up repressive measures with little significant resistance from the democratic world," it said.

PS
The fact that the present leaders of the democratic countries do not seem to care about the decline of freedom is a very sad - and dangerous - sign of our time. Fortunately, as so often before, there are some positive signs in the US that may lead to sounder view of the world.

A return to stage choaches?

 (image antiqueprints.com)

                                       
The stage coach - twice faster than the electric car between London and Edinburgh


Richard North at the EU Referendum blog makes a good observation:

Then came the electric car. Said the BBC, there are hopes that the electric car will capture the imagination of British motorists this year. Thus did the BBC's Brian Milligan take up a challenge to drive from London to Edinburgh in an electric car. It might sound easy, we were told, but under the rules, he was only allowed to charge the car's battery at public points.

In between driving he read a lot of books because charging took 10 hours. In all, from London to Edinburgh, it took four days it took to complete the journey – twice as long as it had taken in the 1830s, with the stage coach. That is progress, greenie-style.

EU gas agreement with Azerbaijan - "major breaktrough" may be illusory

The European Union has signed a natural gas agreement with Azerbaijan. EU Commission president José Barroso called the agreement "a major breaktrough". However, the agreement does not specify when and how much natural gas will be delivered. And with Russia doing its utmost to prevent EU from becoming less dependent on Russian gas, it is unlikely that the new EU agreement with Azerbaijan will lead to any real "breaktrough".

Russian officials and those of gas-giant Gazprom have often cast doubt on the chances of EU projects getting off the ground. Just this week, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin pointed out Nabucco's failings to this point, suggesting it had little chance of success compared to projects like South Stream that already had funding and gas behind them.

"Nabucco's major problem is a lack of guaranteed volumes of raw materials and no source to fill this system," Putin told RIA Novosti. "Russia will not deliver anything there, Iranian deposits are not explored, and Azerbaijan's volumes are small. Moreover, Azerbaijan has signed a delivery contract with Russia."
Read the entire RFERL story here.

Russia Among `World's Riskiest' Locations for Investors

One can only hope that foreign investers read this piece by Bloomberg before considering investments in Russia:

Russia is “one of the world’s riskiest locations for business to invest in,” according to a survey of 196 nations by U.K risk-assessment company Maplecroft.


Maplecroft, which assesses factors including conflict, terrorism, the rule of law and the regulatory and business environment, rates 11 countries including Russia as an “extreme risk” for investors.


Russia is the world’s most corrupt major economy, according to Transparency International’s 2010 Corruption Perceptions Index issued in October, sliding to the 154th spot of 178 countries and placing it alongside Tajikistan and Kenya.

Krugman on the euro crisis

Paul Krugman is nowadays often more a leftist political agitator than an economist. However, his description of the euro crisis is very much to the point:

The tragedy of the Euromess is that the creation of the euro was supposed to be the finest moment in a grand and noble undertaking: the generations-long effort to bring peace, democracy and shared prosperity to a once and frequently war-torn continent. But the architects of the euro, caught up in their project’s sweep and romance, chose to ignore the mundane difficulties a shared currency would predictably encounter — to ignore warnings, which were issued right from the beginning, that Europe lacked the institutions needed to make a common currency workable. Instead, they engaged in magical thinking, acting as if the nobility of their mission transcended such concerns.

Read the entire article here.

EU plans to lift China arms embargo

British MEP Daniel Hannan (conservative) is not surprised that the European Union now plans to lift its arms embargo on China:

What the devil is Brussels doing fuelling the revanchism of a Communist tyranny? Taiwan has made real and strenuous efforts to embrace parliamentary democracy, yet has been shunned for its efforts. Red China, by contrast, has not only failed to apologise for Tiananmen, but continues to incarcerate many of the protestors it arrested at that time. How can the EU possibly consider backing a belligerent dictatorship against a small neighbouring state which upholds human rights, personal freedom and the rule of law?

The answer, I’m afraid, is that the EU places no more of a premium on democracy in its foreign policy than it does in its internal affairs. Just as it is quick to swat aside referendums which go the “wrong” way, so it has a measure of sympathy with systems of government which resemble its own: that is to say, technocracies, in which ruling Commissioners are insulated from public opinion. The politburos of Brussels and Beijing have a certain entente, a shared view of the world, a way of doing business. They can work with each other, mandarin to mandarin.

Read the entire column here

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China´s repressive treatment of human rights activists - The shameful silence of Western leaders

Western political leaders - busy feting visiting Chinese "benefactors" - are shamefully silent on the fate of Gao Zhisheng and other human rights activists in China.

When the Chancellor, George Osborne, and Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London, hosted visiting Chinese Vice Premier Li Keqiang at a cosy dinner at Mansion House on Monday, it is a fair bet that the extra-judicial torture of the man formerly on China's official list of its 10 best lawyers was not among the topics discussed.

The details of what the Chinese police did to Gao Zhisheng during his mysterious 10-month disappearance would have ruined anyone's appetite.

The brilliant human rights lawyer, who had risen from an orphaned childhood in a cave dwelling to a starring role in Beijing's courts, defending citizens against land theft, censorship and religious intolerance, was beaten day and night, temporarily blinded and threatened with death.

His head was bound in a wet towel until he felt he was suffocating. He was told his children had suffered nervous breakdowns. During one week of abuse he was handcuffed, his mouth and eyes bound with tape and he was pistol-whipped for hours on end. Other things done to him were so grotesque he refused to divulge them.

These details from the Independent´s story are revealed in an inerview with Gao Zhisheng conducted by AP when he reappeared last April. He asked that the interview be withheld unless he vanished again. Shortly after the interview Zisheng was seized again and has not been heard of since. That is why AP decided to publish the interview:

Read the entire interview here.