Americas
Americas
Fair Observer provides insightful analysis of the widely differing countries on both American continents./div>
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By Trevor CohenOn Latin America and the Middle Kingdom. Background China has come to Latin America seeking oil, minerals, metals, and food – the natural resources needed to sustain an emerging superpower. In 2011, China’s trade with Latin America reached $241.5bn. Over the next five years, Premier Wen Jiabao envisions expanding the current volume to $400bn. His dreams are not farfetched. Back in 2009, total trade with Latin America stood at just over $100bn. In 2000, it was a mere $10bn. From 2000 to 2011, China’s six-fold expansion in Purchasing Power fueled a 2400% increase in trade with Latin America. Over the same period, Latin America’s GDP...
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China’s rising power is not the cause of declining US influence in South America and the implications of China’s increasing presence on the continent will affect each country differently. Thirty years ago, developing countries in Asia, Africa and South America contributed far less to the global economy when compared with the US and Western Europe. Over the last 20 years, the economic rise of China has catalyzed a monumental shift in global trade flows. Because China lacks sufficient natural resources within its own borders, it has turned to the resource rich regions of the developing world to satisfy growing demand among its 1.3bn citizens. South America has...
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360° Analysis / Beer / Democracy / Infographic / Politics / United States / Wine / Europe / BRIC / Arts & Culture / Middle East / Americas / Africa / Asia / OceaniaBy Fact BlinkOn the coherence of liquor and liberty. Many people know that beer is the world’s third-most popular drink, after water and tea. Fewer are aware, however, of the remarkable correlation between a preference for beer, and a preference for democratic institutions. A coincidence? We are not so sure. A priori, there are strong cognitive associations between the brown brew and rule by the people. After all, more than any other drink, beer is the quintessential beverage of the common man. While wine and cocktails may be instinctively elitist; beer, by nature, is egalitarian. So perhaps it is not so surprising that across the world, beer-drinking countries have granted universal...
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Politics / United States / Europe / Focus Article / Middle East / Americas / Africa / AsiaFair Observer's five best articles for November. In the northern hemisphere winter has set in. Israel and Palestine are in the news again. In the US, President Obama and the Republicans are battling each other over rival visions of society as the fiscal cliff looms ever closer. China has a new set of leaders who face immense challenges. India is witnessing yet another corruption scandal; this time it involves the son-in-law of the dynasty that has largely ruled the country since 1947. In Europe, unemployment has hit a record high and the continent remains mired in economic crisis. Brazil’s economy is also slowing down to one of its lowest levels of growth in a decade. Clearly,...
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360° Analysis / Elections / Mexico / Nieto / pena nieto / Politics / AmericasMexico’s President-Elect Pena Nieto has bold plans to reshuffle public perception of corruption away from the top leadership and towards the local government. Peña Nieto`s Three Opening Gambits Mexican President-Elect Enrique Peña Nieto seems to have already prepared three term-opening political gambits. They all hinge on a re-negotiation of corruption in Mexico. The combined success of this opening flurry may well determine the overall success of the new regime. If these initial efforts prove successful, we will presumably see a “stronger” Mexico in the international arena. He may succeed in managing the nation’s “corruption” in a much more...
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By Trevor CohenIf Mexico’s next president can turn his ambition into effective policy, then his six-year term may be the most productive in the country’s recent history. The story is all too familiar. A conservative president launches a disastrous war against terrorism, killing tens of thousands of combatants and civilians. After his term, his party is swiftly swept out of office, by a charismatic centre-left junior politician. Beyond security, the new president faces problems in unemployment and economic growth, but most of all a polarized opposition struggling to recover from defeat. This is not the saga of George W. Bush and Barack Obama, but the tale of Mexico...
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360° Analysis / Elections / Facebook / Mexico / Nieto / Politics / Social Media / twitter / AmericasBy Trevor CohenA student movement in Mexico challenges the monopolization of traditional media through the use of social media and their rise provides an interesting study in media both old and new. Like a bizarro Tea Party mixed with the youthful cyber-savvy and anarchistic Occupy Movement, emerges the Yo Soy el 132 ("I am the 132"), a collection of student activists demanding an end to the corporate monopolization of the economy and the media. Protesters partly blame the defeat of their candidate, the leftist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador from the Revolutionary Democratic Party (PRD), on the mainstream media’s coverage of the election. They argue that Televisa, a media company...
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By Trevor CohenAn outline of the elections in Mexico and President-Elect Enrique Peña Nieto. Background The party of Mexico’s 71-year civilian dictatorship is back. On July 1, Peña Nieto of the Revolutionary Institution Party (PRI) claimed victory in presidential elections over leftist Andrés Manuel López Obrador of the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD) and conservative Josefina Vázquez Mota of the incumbent National Action Party (PAN). Half of the votes were recounted on July 6, following a wide range of alleged irregularities, but Nieto retained his near seven-point lead. The defeated Obrador accused the PRI of buying as many as 5mn votes. His...
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United States / Europe / 360° Context / Middle East / Americas / Africa / Global Security / Asia / Oceania / Environment & SustainabilityNatural resources are becoming the new powerful key to defining geopolitics and securing economic and strategic interests. Background Global power shifts in the post Cold-War era have characteristically moved away from traditional military rivalries to economic expansion and prowess. The paradigm, in part fuelled by technological advances and the ferocious scale of globalization in recent decades, has highlighted the strategic advantages lent in particular by natural resources. Historically linked to prolonged conflicts and civil wars in parts of Africa, Latin America and Asia, natural resources such as hydrocarbons, gold, uranium, diamonds, copper, zinc and rare earth minerals are now...
