It was announced in November that the Japanese Central Bank would ramp up its Quantitative Easing Program (QE), bringing its yearly expansion of the money supply up to $682 billion. The end of the United States’ QE program was very well documented, as was the substantial rise in asset prices which were a result of the program. The European Central Bank also is leaning towards a similar policy. QE was touted as a huge innovative success for the Federal Reserve, even though many of its effects are still left unmeasured.
Quantitative Easing is an indirect expansion of the money supply by the central bank. The bank’s objective is to lower interest rates, increase asset prices, stimulate demand and boost economic growth. By the very nature of expanding the money supply, QE can do all but one of those things rather easily. Buying up bonds and other securities immediately decreases interest rates, the effects of the government spending spill over into other markets and when exacerbated by the decline in value of the currency that all assets are measured against, asset prices immediately soar. This jump in asset prices theoretically creates the wealth effect, which shows up as increased spending by those whose assets recently appreciated.
Conversely, the boost to economic growth is under debate. Some even suggest that it undermines economic growth for the overall economy and most citizens. As an intrinsic result of the QE, the purchasing power of the currency decreases dramatically. Therefore prices rise accordingly. In the United States for example, when using the CPI to calculate inflation, one would see that since 2007, average prices have risen 15%. This 15% figure excludes food and energy, which happen to be a very large part of a family’s budget. So the real amount of inflation is much higher. Wages have remained relatively stagnant, and many say that the average standard of living has gone down. This is the undermining of purchasing power while providing the illusion of economic growth. Inflation can lead to false economic growth, because rising prices lead to larger dollar figure corporate earnings and temporarily better economic data but when it’s all said and done, the structural problem may remain the same.
Even more alarming are the implications for Non-US residents. One would assume that money printing in the United States would not affect people abroad, but that may be as much of a fallacy as guaranteed economic growth from QE.
People all around the world have had to face the effects of a cheaper dollar. Though the dollar has been on a bull run over the past months, due to other countries cheapening their currencies, it has lost more than half its value since the 1980s. Since the US dollar is the primary trading and reserve currency, changes in its valuation has direct impacts to foreign economies. Rises in the prices of food, and other basic necessities have led some countries into uncertain times and even in extreme cases, revolutions. As the issuer of the world reserve currency the United States must keep the interests of other countries at hand when deciding whether to debase the currency. In 2012 Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff affirmed that the world is engulfed in a currency war that “cannibalizes emerging markets”, and the poor.
Overnight in the Democratic Republic of Congo 36 people were killed with machetes and axes, despite the efforts of the national army and UN peacekeepers to halt the series of massacres attributed to Ugandan rebels. Between Saturday to Sunday in the eastern DRC, deaths attributed to the rebel militants since October rose to over 250.
The attacks took place on the edge of the city Oicha, about 30 kilometers northeast of Beni city in the province of North Kivu and in two nearby villages, Manzanzaba and Mulobiya. The assailants killed men, women and children.
The attackers killed 36 people, injured two, and kidnapped two, according to Jean-Baptiste Kamabu, head of the city Oicha and Colonel Célestin Ngeleka, spokesman for the DRC’s Congolese operation against the armed groups in the north of North Kivu.
According to Kamabu, the attack took place between 20:00 and 01:00 local time, while the area is under night curfew.
The DRC’s Sokola 1 operation has reportedly dislodged the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) from most of their strongholds in the foothills of the over 5,000 meter tall Ruwenzori massif on the border between Congo and Uganda, but the mission stopped abruptly in late August with the death of the general in command. Sokola 1 was then relaunched in November after the massacres began in Beni territory.
None of the massacres committed since October in the Beni region have been claimed by the militants, and although most authorities believe they are responsible, what goal the ADF has in perpetrating the killings is considered to be unclear. The DRC government, the UN and experts have have stated that they see in the killings a continuation of the killings perpetrated by Muslim rebels in the eastern DRC since 1995 and opposed to President Yoweri Museveni.
“The proliferation of joint actions by MONUSCO-FARDC is of vital urgency, and I call on all partners to strengthen cooperation to enable more immediate interventions and increase preventive patrols,” Kobler said, addressing both the staff of the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo (FARDC) and the command of the military forces for MONUSCO.
A recent report by a parliamentary fact-finding mission sent to the region stated that the situation was a “crisis of confidence between the security services, the political and administrative authorities and the population.”
The ADF have not always been hostile to the local population, according to several experts, who have noted that the ADF have longstanding relationships with the locals due to years of commercial and matrimonial ties. The rebels derive their resources from trade with the locals, including various trafficking activities, especially in wood.
Buenos Aires – the Chamber of Deputies in Argentina approved with 130 votes in favor – 99 against and 22 abstentions the new Criminal Procedural Code. This new code replaces the old inquisitor system with an accusatory system and establishes a limit of three years for the resolution of legal cases, imposing penalties for judges and prosecutors who exceed that period.
Others key points about the new code, passed Dec. 4: the prosecutor will now be in charge of the investigation rather than the judge, and he has a maximum of one year to finish with the investigation. Also, the opinion of the victim is incorporated at different levels.
Seventeen new prosecutor’s offices and 1713 new positions in prosecutors offices will be create around the country. The utilization of technological media like video conferences will be induced to avoid the transfer of witnesses to different jurisdictions.
The most controversial point of the new code is item 35, which makes reference to the possibility of “probation” and possible expulsion from the country. The item stipulates, however, that this option cannot be employed if it would infringe on the right to family reunification, when the accused is foreign and was caught committing a crime whose minimum penalty isn’t superior to three years of prison. The prohibition can bar reentry to the country for a minimum of 5 and a maximum of 15 years.
A group of 53 Human rights organizations sent a letter to the congress asking for the removal of item 35. The request was based on the idea that probation, which is supposed to try to generate a change in the people’s behavior, making them do community work, will instead be used against immigrants who commit minor crimes and who will be in the disjunctive of going to a trial or returning to their country, invalidating the entire intention of probation as an alternative to the penalty.
Immigration is considered one of the biggest problems in many developed countries around the World. The United Nations estimates that approximately 4.5 percent of the world population are immigrants. The dream of many people who live in third world countries is to move to a developed country, believing that the moment they set foot in this new land their lives will change. Many think it will be like stepping into a wonderland. Unfortunately, many realize that this fantasy, which is sold to them, is not true and when they reach their final destination, and they have to face many obstacles and struggle to survive.
I want to share what I have seen going on in my country and region.
I live in a very small country in Central America called Costa Rica. Our neighbors are Nicaragua to the north and Panama to the South. We are not a developed country; on the contrary, although Costa Rica is in a much better condition than many Central and South American countries, we are very far from being developed.
Our neighbor in the north, Nicaragua, is a country that has suffered for decades the oppression of dictatorships and fake democracies. According to a recent study by Indice de Percepcion de Corrupción in Berlin, Germany, Nicaragua was one of the 10 most corrupt countries in the world in 2014. Costa Rica was number 54, so we are also in a hard position. Daniel Ortega who is the current president of Nicaragua was technically chosen in a free democratic election, but those who are in the region know this is not true. He has been in power for more than 8 years and just proposed to the senate a law project to make him permanent president, until he dies. I keep asking myself “what kind of democracy is that?”
This man, President Daniel Ortega, fought in the civil war to pull down the dictatorship of Somosa during the 1970s. Unfortunately, he seems to have forgotten his ideals and what he fought for, and now he is an unconditional ally of Syria, Cuba, Venezuela and other socialist countries. Economic support for Nicaragua has been cut by the UN and USA among other countries. This chain of bad decisions has resulted in no foreign investment in the country, and developed countries have decided to cut of economic social support. People have lost their jobs, lands, homes. Families have seen how the army comes and takes away their oldest sons to join the military service. Any outsider who sees this situation would think that this country is ready to start a war any minute. The truth is that no other country in the region is interested in Nicaragua, and all these threats are just in the imagination of one man who is in power.
As a result of this unfortunate political and social situation, there are hundreds of Nicaraguans who come to Costa Rica seeking a better life. According to the last Costa Rican national census there were more than 700.000 Nicaraguan immigrants registered and many more that are illegally in the country.
As mentioned at the beginning of this article, Costa Rica is very far from being a developed country, and therefore we have no infrastructure to support this massive migration from our neighbors. It might seem that I am upset or against the migration of the Nicaraguans
to Costa Rica, but the truth is I am not against or in favor of it. I believe a prompt solution is needed. I also believe this is out of the hands of both governments and that world organizations such as the UN should be helping countries like mine to find solutions to this huge social, economic and political problem.
One of the things that upsets me most is to see the attitude of many of my countrymenn and women towards these immigrants. There is a lot of prejudice against them and they are discriminated against in many places. Young Costa Ricans who are graduating from high school were interviewed by La Nacion (one of the main newspaper in Costa Rica,) about their opinion of this massive migration, which is growing every day. Ninety percent of these young adults said that they would like to see these immigrants leave, and the main reason is because they are “stealing the jobs away from the Costa Ricans.”
When I read that I was shocked, and I realize how easy it is to influence the opinion of people who are not informed. Why do I say this? It is very simple. Most of the immigrants have almost no education. When they come and the only jobs they find are in construction and agriculture–mainly picking up coffee and pineapples. It is a very hard life for minimum wage and with no benefits. On the contrary, the young Costa Ricans who graduate from high school are well-educated and in their immature minds they believed that after graduation they will receive hundreds of calls from international companies offering them jobs, with fancy offices, an air conditioner, and all the benefits the reader wants to imagine. These young adults would never work in coffee plantations or construction. Therefore it is impossible to believe that they are taking away jobs. These immigrants are actually helping the economy by doing the work that the Costa Ricans would not do but are necessary.
This situation is very similar to what the USA is going through. Having explained all this and knowing there is no prompt solution to these problem around the world, I would like to ask my readers to please keep this article in mind, and the next time you meet or run into someone from another country try to help them, show them kindness, do not reject them, because they are actually necessary for our countries. Think: are they a problem or a solution? Maybe both, but I believe if we are all more tolerant they are more a solution than a problem.
Agustin Gómez Pérez, 18, was lit on fire by comrades in an act of civil disobedience against the Congress of Chiapas, which, the anarchist group Frente Ricardo Flores Magon alleged, was responsible for the arrest of a comrade in May. The group is demanding the release of their comrade, one Florentino Gómez Girón, an indigenous leader who was arrested on cattle theft and robbery charges.
Demanding Florentino’s release, Perez lay motionless as his comrades doused him in flammable liquid and lit him on fire.
Perez stood up and ran burning, flailing his arms for approximately 20 seconds before being extinguished. He was taken to hospital and is being treated for third-degree burns. His situation is critical.
Members of the Ixtapa anarchist organization Frente Ricardo Flores Magon had been protesting for nearly a month in front of Congress in the city of Tuxtla Gutiérrez for the release of their comrade.
The group also conducted an act of civil disobedience Dec. 2 when they sewed their lips shut and performed a symbolic crucifixion.
The group has so far procured a promise from the state government that Florentino’s case would be reviewed.
After the burning of Perez, the anarchist organization stated that if Florentino was not released, three more people would be lit on fire, including two indigenous women.
(Warning: this video is extremely graphic and The Speaker does not wish you to watch this if you are sensitive to depictions of human suffering. This video may be very emotional and effecting.)
A Tibetan protester died Friday–just two days after being released from prison on “medical parole.” The Tibetan was six years into a 15-year prison term for participating in the 2008 Machu Protest, at which Chinese police opened fire and killed 12 Tibetans. The man is the second Tibetan to die after being released on “medical parole” this year.
Tenzin Choedak, who had previously served at a European NGO affiliated with the Red Cross and who worked on environmental projects in Lhasa and Shigatse, began to deteriorate in prison in early November. He was taken to three different hospitals by prison authorities before being released to his family.
“Tenchoe was brought to one of the hospitals with his hands and legs heavily shackled. He was almost unrecognizable,” one source told Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD). “His physical condition had deteriorated and he had brain injury in addition to vomiting blood.”
He died two days after his release.
Choedak died at Mentsekhang, the traditional Tibetan medical institute in Lhasa city, hours after being brought to the facility by family.
Choedak was arrested in 2008 for participating in the 2008 Machu Protest, at which police opened fire on hundreds of Tibetans, killing 12.
Choedak was sentenced to 15 years and 10,000 yuan for participating in the protest, and, according to sources, was beaten and tortured in prison.
Reportedly, police interrogations focussed on Choedak’s father, one Mr Khedup, a long-time activist in Tibet before he was compelled to flee to India in 1993. Interrogation involved claims that Choedak was acting at his father’s instigation.
Earlier this year, another Tibetan protester, Goshul Lobsang, also died on “medical parole” after being released from years of torture in prison. Lobsang had also been sentenced to 10 years for “spearheading” the 2008 Machu Protest.
Sensitive early care–or the lack thereof–has a significant effect on the relationships of adults, according to new research by scientists at the University of Delaware and the University of Minnesota. The researchers found that early care had long-term implications for relationships with others–including intimate partners–and that the effects were seen across all racial, gender and socioeconomic lines. Sensitive care had clear implications even 30 years later.
Dr Lee Raby
“The total effect of early sensitivity for supportive parenting in adulthood was somewhat surprising to me considering that nearly three decades separated those two measurement time-points,” Dr Lee Raby, postdoctoral researcher at the Infant Caregiver Project at the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences at University of Delaware, told The Speaker.
To see how people were affected by childhood experiences over the course of their lives, the team drew from an ongoing 37-year study that focused on maternal insensitivity.
“Our research report was based on data from the Minnesota Longitudinal Study of Risk and Adaptation, which is a large research study of approximately 200 individuals who were born in the mid-1970’s to first-time mothers living in poverty,” Raby explained. “The participants have been continuously followed from birth to adulthood and currently are around age 37 years.”
The material included data on physiological responses, including skin conductance–an indicator of nervous system activity and therefore of emotional response.
The researchers wanted to find out if differences in the quality of care a child receives affected their nervous responses during adult conflicts.
They found that children who received sensitive mothering were better able to deal with difficult relationship issues as adults–their skin reactivity measured relatively lower. Those children who received less sensitive care exhibited more nervous arousal as adults while attempting to deal with difficult situations, which means that those adults would tend more towards emotional avoidance and withdrawal.
The team controlled for other factors that could reasonably be expected to effect relationship abilities, and found that, at least for the study, the results were not dependent on the types of relationships to which an individual belonged–gender, ethnicity or socioeconomic status also were not responsible for the results.
“Specifically, we observed that early supportive/sensitive caregiving was associated with more competent functioning in (a) peer relationships during childhood and adolescence, (b) romantic relationships during young adulthood, and (c) parent-child relationships at age 32 years,” Raby told us.
“The findings related to peers and romantic partners are not new though,” he noted. “Previous publications from this research project have included those findings, and those associations have been replicated in independent samples.”
The conclusion reached by Raby and his team was that insensitive parenting created adults who avoided conflict with their spouses, and sensitive parenting led to an ability to resolve conflicts with romantic partners, but Raby added that further research into the matter was necessary.
“The association between early caregiving experiences and later parenting quality was largely indirect, meaning that more supportive early caregiving predicted later relationships with peers and romantic partners which in turn predicted adult parenting quality. However, in other studies we have observed that early caregiving experiences do have a unique role in promoting functioning in adult relationships even after accounting for relationship experiences during the intervening years. Because the unique contributions of early caregiving are relatively small, large samples and many measurements are needed to detect these associations. I anticipate that future research will provide evidence that early caregiving experiences shape later parenting outcomes both directly and indirectly.”
Why the type of treatment experienced by a child affects his or her later relationships may be due to the ideas that are formed by the child during early years.
“We think the reason for this is that individuals are developing expectations, attitudes, and behavioral skills within these earlier relationships that they carry into their interactions with their romantic partners. Bringing these two ideas together, the current study indicates that romantic relationship quality may be both a cause and a consequence of parenting quality,” said Raby, noting that more tightly controlled experimental studies are needed to more conclusively make these kind of causal claims.
We asked Raby if he would comment on the record levels of single parenthood in the US and the high incidence of broken families in many parts of the world–many of which face prolonged conflict–and if the research might have some implications on these large issues.
Raby qualified that he wanted to be cautious in how far he extended the findings, but offered some educated guesses on how the findings might relate.
“Our goal was to test theoretical ideas about the developmental origins of parenting behavior and the way it is transmitted across generations. That said, I do believe the findings speak to the larger issues.
“First, we observed—as have others—that the presence and quality of adults’ romantic partnerships predicted the quality of parenting they provided to their children. This is perhaps not surprising since romantic relationships are one of the biggest sources of social support as well as stress during adulthood. Second, we also observed that romantic relationship functioning has its origins, at least in part, in earlier experiences with caregivers and peers.
“In other words, individuals who experienced more supportive care from their parents early in life and were more skilled at interacting with peers during childhood and adolescence were more likely to form high-quality, committed romantic partnerships during adulthood.
“In my opinion, the important take-away message is also the most basic one,” said Raby. “Early parent-child relationships play an important role in understanding later parenting quality in adulthood. Although our study was focused on the interpersonal experiences that account for this intergenerational association, our findings in no way mitigate the importance of early caregiving experiences.
“Importantly, researchers working with other longitudinal studies have reported almost identical results concerning the intergenerational associations in parenting. This is astounding to me and makes me very excited about continuing to work on this topic.”
Genetically modified foods (GM food or GMOs) have been a source of nutrition and debate for over two decades now in Chile. China introduced a genetically modified tobacco as far back as 1992, and two years later the United States saw the commercialization of the GM species recognized as the slow ripening tomato, known by its patent name: Flavr-Savr®.
Since that time, certain countries around the world have been producing, consuming, importing, and exporting an ever-expanding variety of “transgenic” fruits and vegetables with fish and other animals coming soon. Chile is one of more than 28 GM food producing countries, and just as the debate concerning the environmental and health benefits and safety risks has polarized members of the agricultural industry here, so has the Chilean government wrestled with a unified direction towards its GM production regulations.
The laws regulating GM crop production in Chile are generally interpreted in this manner: agricultural businesses are permitted to cultivate GM seeds for export to markets such as the United States. However, GM seeds cannot be grown for domestic consumption. This policy ambiguity is protective of a perceived domestic risk while simultaneously condoning its development within the borders of the country. Chile has created a regulatory double standard along with the deregulation of imports containing GMO ingredients used in the fabrication of processed foods. To add to the confusion, the lack of GMO labeling on domestic food products exposes the Chilean public to the same risks they would have faced without any regulations in the first place.
Essentially, Chile has become a southern hemisphere, off-season GMO laboratory where genetically modified seeds are grown, tested, and exported to food processing facilities in other countries only to be imported as processed foods devoid of GMO labels, months or years later. This rather obvious hole in Chilean GM food policy making can be difficult to understand outside the broader debate of the benefits and dangers of genetically modified organisms.
On the one hand, GM proponents argue that their products provide disease, pest and herbicide resistance leading to higher yields and longer shelf life, as well as tolerance to harsh environments, nutritional improvements, and even the ability to vaccinate and treat illness with so-called “pharma crops”. With a list of benefits this profound, one might wonder how there could be a debate concerning the value of GM food.
In fact, the positive attributes of GM products are the reason for their proliferation throughout the world. However, to overlook the long term implications and effects caused by the genetic manipulation of the organisms that constitute our food supply would be very unscientific and irresponsible.
Many point to the relatively short span of time these products spend in the lab being tested before they are approved and make their way into the fields to be planted and eventually consumed by both farm animals and humans. It stands to reason that the human body would be able digest these new types of food just as it is able to digest new foods encountered when traveling in foreign countries, but does that mean they are safe and non-toxic if they are consumed often and over a long period of time? We know what happens to the liver after a long life of drinking alcohol. Are we to assume that a long life of eating BT corn, which produces a toxin that breaks open the stomachs of the insects that eat it, will be safe and free from side effects?
If we look further down the road, say, three generations from now, the effects may be even more daunting. According to a study by Russian biologist Alexey V. Surov, hamsters that were fed the same GM soy that makes up 91 percent of the soy sold in America, after three generations mostly lost their ability to have babies and the pups that were born had a high mortality rate. This study alone should be enough to take pause and consider the products being fast tracked into the food supply.
Human health risks are often cited as a need for additional scrutiny pertaining to GMO’s, but larger environmental concerns have also surfaced in the ongoing debate. Chile has been home to legal battles fought over the secrecy surrounding the locations of the GM seed producing farms. Mainly led by bee keepers and organic farmers, the risks of cultivating GM seeds alongside non-GMO species and cross-pollination with Chile’s “organic” agriculture was brought to light by the discovery of GM pollen detected in “organic” Chilean honey exported to the European Union in 2012. This fact is further exacerbated by the claim among many GM detractors and scientists, alike, that the huge die-offs of bee colonies in North America are due to their exposure to GM products treated with neonicotinoid pesticides.
Chile is not unique in the world. The ecosystems that make up the world’s natural environment know no borders. Government policymakers weigh any number of variables when implementing regulations in their respective countries, not least of which are market concerns and factors that affect public health. It is going to take years of study and sacrifice for Chile and all governments around the world to help us survive and flourish in this new Transgenic Age. The balance between economic survival and actual human survival may perhaps be more fragile than people have been willing to admit.
It is not difficult, then, to understand Chile’s schizophrenic GM policies. GM products are touted as having the potential to cure hunger and disease by one group, and as having the potential to devastate and depopulate the planet, and everything in between. GM policymaking is surely a difficult task. To be sure, Chile’s genetically modified policymaking conundrum is but a small reflection of a great challenge facing the entire world.
Russia is sending a large convoy of humanitarian aid to Transnistria, the pro-Russian region of Moldova, with the stated intention of helping the region integrate into the Euro-Asian Union, according to news PMR, a Moldovan news outlet. The Russian organization responsible for directing the deliveries met with the leader of the pro-Russian separatist government in Transnistria Wednesday, reportedly, and stated that there would be around 60 trucks in all.
Argunov said that he had discussed with Shevciuk equipment for new medical clinics and kindergartens in Transnistria, which would be built using Russian resources. Russia would also help implement social projects and provide Transnistria with subsidies to help deal with economic problems associated with breaking from Moldova, Argunov said.
Shevciuk was in Moscow in early October where he spoke about the socioeconomic situation in Transnistria following the signing of the Association Agreement between the European Union and the Republic of Moldova.
Moldova held parliamentary elections last week, in which pro-European parties took a greater number of seats than pro-Russian parties. Moldova will now form a coalition government that will have strong pro-European inclinations.
Argun said that the equipment being delivered to Transnistria was produced by various manufacturers in Germany, Belarus, and other nations. “We bought the best option based on price and quality, such that will suit our beneficiaries in Transnistria.”
Seven trucks arrived in Moldova in early November. Argunov said Wednesday that there would be about 60 in total, and “dozens” were currently on their way.
Argunov also commented on the complex nature of such cargo deliveries, saying that the organization shipped the most simple products first, such as furniture.
“On the example of furniture,” Argunov said, “we have seen how loads have passed through Ukraine, which was with difficulties, and what was required of the Ukrainian authorities with regards to the passage of the cargo. We assessed how things happened there [with simple products first], and then began to send more expensive medical equipment.”
The first deputy chairman of the Customs Committee of the Pridnestrovian Moldovian Republic (PMR), Svetlana Klimenkova, said that the Transnistrian side is making every effort to ensure continuity of the process and to facilitate “Eurasian integration.”
“Initially, we worked out all the possible options in terms of movement of these types of goods and provided the ability to move in such a way as to eliminate all the problems of complexity and difficulty. The process worked efficiency, “said Klimenkova.
Barcelona dwellers that regularly come in contact with guidebook-wielding tourists will be aware of a controversial video on YouTube that has been stirring an already explosive debate. “Bye Bye Barcelona” by Journalist Eduardo Chibás is a documentary about the increasing loss of key parts of the city to the tidal wave of tourism that washes up on shore with increasing numbers every year.
The documentary (with over 159,000 hits) has come at a key moment when Barcelona has found itself at a cultural cross-roads; its loss of a strong cultural identity is seemly at odds with the super-tourist destination image it portrays overseas, an identity that is quite literally taking the city hostage.
Certain parts of Barcelona that were once dedicated to the local population by bygone forward thinking architects have been lost in favor of mass tourism and the profiteering that goes along with it.
Certainly during the high-peek months the residents of Barcelona have had to relinquish the church La Sagrada Familia and the famous market; La Boquiera to the hordes. Park Güell now charges entry to non-residents, but for local residents it has become a no-go zone.
Residents protest that the park was donated to the people of Barcelona by the Güell family to be used as an open green space, not for the Barcelona town hall to profit from; charging for entry is not a way to stem or manage the tidal wave of irresponsible mass tourism.
“Masificación,” meaning “Overcrowding,” has recently become a buzz word on the lips of most residents, as cruise ships regally offload up to 30 thousand tourists into the city during the summer months on a daily basis, counting on increasing numbers from countries such as Russia and China whose populations are beginning to gain the means to travel more frequently and further afield.
Santiago Tejedor, co-director of Travel journalism at Barcelona University and who featured in the Bye Bye Barcelona documentary said of the phenomenon, “All this is due to low-cost air travel and a globalized culture that makes people seek to discover new places in their spare time. These ideas combine and have turned tourism, not into the act of travelling but of consuming those destinations”.
It is no secret that Barcelona appears high on the agenda of these new world tourists. Barcelona is now the 4th most visited city in Europe after London, Paris and Rome–all of which are significantly bigger in size and more capable of dealing with the sheer volume of visitors.
Santiago Tejedor also highlighted that “Barcelona is also the 4th destination in Europe that disappoints visitors, because there is nothing authentic to offer people.”
The idea of mass tourism fuels the image of stereotypes shuffling up La Rambla wearing fake FC Barcelona shirts and Mexican sombreros with a sandal-and-white-sock combo, viewing the city from behind a camera viewfinder.
Barcelona became the focal point of the Responsible Tourism Conference in Oct. 2013, to find way to balance the positive and negative impacts of tourism and create a balance where they can both co-exist in the same space.
Managing friction between visitors and local residents seems high on the agenda for the Barcelona town hall, set apart from obvious financial gains that the city benefits from.
It is well-known that Barcelona is heavily dependent on tourism. It counts for 11 percent of Catalonia´s GDP and provides some 400,000 jobs. Since the Olympic games of ´92 the city has undergone a series of drastic changes, sending out a clear message that it is a desirable tourist package.
With the increasing popularity of the city there also the danger that Barcelona is close to going the same way as Venice, becoming an open air museum, devoid of indigenous population. This can be seen as reflected in the fact that London has its own chain of Barcelona tapas restaurants decked out in Gaudiesque designs, showing that Barcelona´s cultural identity template is fully transferable overseas.
Opinion By Anthony Bain
Photos: Jose Téllez, Ignacio Martínez Egea, Gregg, KeithProvenArtist
The Chechen Center, which identifies itself as “Independent Chechen Media, Chechnya, Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, ChRI, Ichkeria,” tweeted, “300 freedom fighters stormed the positions of Russian troops in Grozny. For our freedom and yours!”
Early in the morning, head of the Chechen Republic and a former Chechen rebel, Ramzan Kadyrov, announced that the insurgents were “about to be neutralized.”
Kadyrov claimed to be personally supervising the anti-terrorist operation (ATO). Shortly after 8 a.m.–time appointed by Kadyrov for the end of the mission, Chechen militants blocked a school, and Russian forces assaulted the building.
Fighting continued in the streets of Grozny into the day.
Kadyrov denied claims that the Chechen force was gaining control.
“I ask residents in areas where the (security) operation is being carried out to take precautions, and not to go outside without urgent need, nor to approach the windows,” wrote Kadyrov online. “All the talk about the city being under the control of militants is absolutely false.”
A force, reportedly around 300-400 strong, is fighting in Grozny, the capital of Chechnya in Russia’s North Caucasus region. The militants seized the Grozny Press House media facility and laid siege to a school, prompting a military response from Russian authorities. Russian President Vladimir Putin was transported to the Kremlin in the middle of the night by motorcade, and Moscow airspace has been closed to civilian traffic, reportedly.
“There have been casualties among law enforcement personnel there,” reported the Russian National Anti-Terrorism Committee (NAC).
Reportedly, five police officers were killed when the militants stormed the building at around 1:00 a.m. local time. The militants arrived in three cars and attacked the police guard, then entered the building on the corner of Lorsanov and Mayakovsky.
A Russian anti-terrorist operation has been launched, and authorities in the region are fighting the rebel insurgents.
“At the direction of the head of the operations headquarters of the NAC in Grozny, a counter-terrorist operation has been initiated,” read an NAC statement.
Russian tanks, troops and armored troop vehicles have surrounded locations where the fighting is taking place. Gunfire continues. The counter-terrorist operation includes increased public protection measures, checking of all documents in designated areas and communication with police and other competent authorities for identity verification. Vehicles in the affected area will be towed, and cellular phone communication may be blocked.
Airspace over Moscow has been closed to all civilian traffic, reportedly.
Flightradar24 image
Several sources on Twitter are reporting that Putin’s motorcade was seen travelling to the Kremlin in the middle of the night, with helicopters flying around the building.
The attacks come just hours before Putin was scheduled to deliver a speech before the Russian Federation Council. The speech has been much anticipated, as the last such speech made to Russia’s upper house followed shortly after Russia’s annexation of Crimea from Ukraine.
Some of the videos posted of the fighting claim that the assault is being led by the Mujahideen of the Caucasus Emirate, Amir Khamzat, a close associate of the late Dokku Umarov, the former leader of the Emirate who was killed by Russia in Sept. 2013.
Chechen rebellion against Russia dates back centuries. The First Chechen War began in 1991, and the Second Chechen War continued the conflict after a five year intermission from 1994 to 1999. During the Second Chechen War, Grozny was almost completely destroyed by Russia before Chechnya was put under direct control of Moscow. Since that time, low-level insurgency has continued, first under Shamil Basayev, then under Umarov and now under Khamzat.
![narchist 18-year-old in Ixtapa lit on fire by comrades in act of civil disobedience [video-warning: graphic]](https://thespeakernewsjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/florentino-1024.jpg)
entry is not a way to stem or manage the tidal wave of irresponsible mass tourism.
