TWN  |  THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE |  ARCHIVE
THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE

Issue No. 293/294 (Jan/Feb 2015)


*Click on cover to download the magazine (PDF)

COVER: The global economy: Turbulence ahead?

Uncertain times ahead for the global economy
An air of uncertainty pervades the global economy as it is buffeted by deflationary impulses, falling demand, currency wars and plunging commodity prices.
By Jayati Ghosh

Currency wars on the horizon
With economic growth stagnating and global demand falling, countries are increasingly resorting to weakening their currencies to secure a competitive advantage for their exports.
By Ram Garikipati

South increasingly vulnerable in unstable global financial system
The closer integration of emerging and developing economies into an inherently unstable international financial system has left them more open to a new round of financial shocks.
By Yilmaz Akyuz

Bracing for another storm in emerging markets
As growth and interest rates increase in the United States, the surge of financial flows from that region to emerging markets may reverse course precipitately, causing financial instability and weak growth for years to come.
By Kevin P Gallagher

Asia's craving for debt
Debt in Asia is now a source of much concern as its surge since 2009 could create external and internal turmoil.
By CP Chandrasekhar

The ECB has shaken the eurozone's utopian foundations
The whole architecture of the eurozone is based on a financier-friendly ideology premised on the belief that economies are self-regulating, and this may prove to be its undoing.
By Ann Pettifor

End of the euro is nigh without radical EU-wide reforms
In the fragile state of the global financial system and the eurozone, continuance of current policies is a recipe for disaster.
By Yanis Varoufakis

'Grexit' and yuan devaluation could put significant pressure on Asian currency pegs
A Greek exit from the euro or a devaluation of the Chinese yuan could trigger off a financial storm powerful enough to destabilise several Asian currencies. 
By Will Hickey

Falling commodity prices a bane for developing countries
While world attention is focused on plunging oil prices, many other commodities have also seen their values falling sharply over the past year, becoming a bane to commodity-rich developing countries.
By Chee Yoke Heong

The economic consequences of global oil deflation
A new wildcard has just been introduced into an already increasingly unstable global economy: a growing world glut of oil and consequent oil price deflation.
By Jack Rasmus

Global FDI flows fell by 8% last year
2014 witnessed a fall in global foreign direct investment inflows, says the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, and this trend may well continue this year.
By Kanaga Raja

Wall Street reform aims to bring back the 'wild old days'
One factor that has dogged attempts to reform the global financial system to prevent a financial crisis like the 2007-08 Great Recession has been the resistance of powerful financial interests and their lobbyists.
By Danny Schechter

It pays to be a banker
Financiers may have brought down the global economy in 2007-08, but their capacity to inflict damage in these uncertain times remains undiminished. The power and profitability of the world's biggest banks is as formidable as ever.
By Pete Dolack


ECOLOGY

More than half of Africa's arable land 'too damaged' for food production
A new report says that about 65% of Africa's arable land is too damaged to sustain viable food production.
By Busani Bafana

ECONOMICS

Rising inequality - a major global challenge
Rising global inequality threatens not only social and political stability, but also, in the long run, economic growth and financial stability.
By Mah-Hui Lim

The corporate takeover of Ukrainian agriculture
One of the 'benefits' of Ukraine's integration with the European Union has been a corporate takeover of the country's agricultural sector, largely by Western interests. This was a part of an IMF-initiated reform programme tied to a $17 billion loan.
By Frederic Mousseau

Towards a lasting solution to sovereign debt problems
The following is the text of a submission by 27 civil society groups to the 3-5 February opening session of a UN ad hoc committee formed to elaborate a multilateral legal framework for restructuring sovereign debts.


WORLD AFFAIRS

The golden age of black ops
The US has been waging a massive global war across much of the planet through the deployment of Special Operations forces, but this has remained hidden from external oversight or press scrutiny.
By Nick Turse

Local versus global in the fight against Boko Haram
The fight against Boko Haram is not to be won only with guns and rocket launchers, but rather with more holistic counter-terrorism measures that respond to underlying causes and respect the rule of law.
By Liesl Louw-Vaudran

The tragedy of Borno State
Underscoring the fact that, as with politics, all insurgencies are local, the local dimensions of the Boko Haram insurgency in Nigeria are delineated.
By Michael Baca

The dark side of Cambodia's development
The World Bank neoliberal economic agenda adopted by Hun Sen’s regime in Cambodia has given rise to gross social inequalities and marginalisation of the poor.
By Tom Fawthrop

Martelly steadfast in his denial of Haitian democracy
Haiti has been wracked by political conflict since Michel Martelly became the country's President after the dubious elections of 2011.
By Kevin Edmonds

Five years after Citizens United, democracy is for sale
The US political arena has become a billionaire's playground largely as a result of a notorious decision of the United States Supreme Court five years ago.
By Brendan Fischer


HUMAN RIGHTS

US may soon stand alone opposing children's treaty
It is little known that the country that is most vociferous on the issue of human rights has yet to ratify the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
By Thalif Deen
                                                  


WOMEN

Brides for bachelors
The overwhelming majority of Myanmar's human trafficking cases involve women and girls being sold as brides to Chinese men. While both governments have vowed to combat this scourge, civil society groups have been running their independent campaigns to tackle the problem.
By Brennan O’ Connor


VIEWPOINT

Waiting for Chilcot
The inquiry set up in 2009 under Sir John Chilcot to examine Britain's involvement in the Iraq war is still a work in progress.
By Jeremy Seabrook

No, we're not all Charlie Hebdo, nor should we be
Despite his unequivocal denunciation of the murderous terrorist attack on the office of the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, the writer could not be part of a solidarity campaign to republish the offending cartoons in the name of free speech.
By Ben Hayes


POETRY

Evening
Mohan Singh (1905-1978) was a noted Indian poet who wrote in his native Punjabi language. An academic by profession, he is considered as one of the pioneers of modern Punjabi poetry.
By Mohan Singh


For subscription and enquiries:

THIRD WORLD NETWORK
131 Jalan Macalister,
10400 Penang,
Malaysia.

Tel: 60-4-2266728/2266159; Fax: 60-4-2264505;

Email: twnet@po.jaring.my

Third World Resurgence Page

Third World Resurgence Page


TWN  |  THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE |  ARCHIVE