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Make Sense of 2019 | 1 Make Sense of 2019 | 1 Make Sense of 2019 | 2 Make Sense of 2020 Fair Observer Make Sense of 2019 | 3 Fair Observer | 237 Hamilton Ave ǀ Mountain View ǀ CA 94043 ǀ USA www.fairobserver.com | [email protected] The views expressed in this publication are the authors’ own and do not necessarily reflect Fair Observer’s editorial policy. Copyright © 2020 Fair Observer Photo Credit: Paopano / Shutterstock All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other—except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior written permission of the publisher. International Standard Serial Number (ISSN): 2372-9112 Make Sense of 2019 | 4 CONTENTS About Fair Observer 13 Share Your Perspective 14 AFRICA Why a Troop Drawdown in Africa Is Exactly the Wrong Approach 15 Erika Lafrennie Libya Is a Problem for All of Africa 19 Swaleh Ochieng Africa’s Mixed Record on Keeping Up With UN Goals 21 Sylvia Croese A New Leader in the Wings for Burundi 23 Filip Reyntjens Trump’s Treatment of WHO Boss Is a Lesson for Africa 24 Gatete Nyiringabo Ruhumuliza Africa Needs Its Own “New Deal” 27 Betsy G. Henderson ASIA PACIFIC China’s Race for Scientific and Technological Supremacy 29 Daniel Wagner Chinese Diaspora Revisits Its Identity and Relationship to Beijing 31 Brennan Kau Make Sense of 2019 | 5 Indonesia’s Policy Over Travel Leads to Confusion for Eid 34 Muhammad Zulfikar Rakhmat Black Lives Matter Shines the Spotlight on the Shadow of Slavery 36 Hans-Georg Betz China Continues Its Persecution of Uighur Muslims 39 Ayesha Baloch & Rahima Mahmut The Importance of the US-South Korea Relationship 42 Steve Westly & James Bang CENTRAL & SOUTH ASIA Will the US-Taliban Deal Bring Peace to Afghanistan? 43 Abbas Farasoo & Roh Yakobi Five Urgent Economic Reforms for India 46 Atul Singh & Manu Sharma Missing Bangladeshi Journalist Has Been “Found” — Now He Must Be Freed 51 Alannah Travers Can the US Help Central Asia Reclaim the Silk Road? 52 Austen Dowell Why Punjabis in Pakistan Have Abandoned Punjabi 57 Ishtiaq Ahmed India’s Police: An Instrument of Injustice 60 Javeed Ahmad Make Sense of 2019 | 6 EUROPE Putin Is Leaving, But Not Saying Goodbye 63 Dmitry Belyaev Switzerland Confronts Its Role in the Slave Trade 65 Hans-Georg Betz Armenia and Azerbaijan Clash Again 67 Rejeanne Lacroix Big Blow for a Stable Dictatorship: Major Protests Hit Belarus 70 Anna Romandash Britain Fails Its Exams 72 Rupert Hodder What Is Behind the Rise of Islamophobia in France? 75 Ali Demirdas LATIN AMERICA & THE CARIBBEAN Will the West Lose Guyana to the Chinese? 77 Ian McCredie Cubans Feel the Blow of US Sanctions 79 Elton Smole Chinese Ambitions for Latin America: What’s the Trade-Off? 80 German Peinado Delgado & Glenn Ojeda Vega Why Maximum Pressure on Venezuela Is the Only Way Out 82 Leonardo Vivas Make Sense of 2019 | 7 Hosting Refugees and Migrants Is a Global Public Good 87 Diego Chaves-González & Olivier Lavinal Brazil Rejects Bolsonaro’s Anti-Politics 90 Karin Schmalz MIDDLE EAST & NORTH AFRICA Iran Faces Yet Another Undemocratic Election 94 Biryar Meriwani Hope Fades for New Talks in Yemen as Battles Intensify 96 Fernando Carvajal Deeper Fragmentation Looms for Libya 98 Sherif El-Ashmawy Israel and the UAE: The Myth of Normalizing Abnormalities 101 Munir A. Saeed Finding a Cure for Lebanon’s Imperialist Hangover 103 Hashim Abed Iran’s Revenge Against Israel Will Be a Long Game 105 Ian McCredie NORTH AMERICA Can America’s Progressive Movement Thrive Without Bernie Sanders? 107 S. Suresh What Is Different About George Floyd’s Death? 109 Ellis Cashmore Make Sense of 2019 | 8 The Rise and Fall of US Democracy 111 Peter Isackson Femicide Continues to Plague Mexico 118 Lester Chavez Held Together With String, Can America Hold? 120 Atul Singh Joe Biden and America’s Second Reconstruction 125 Gary Grappo BUSINESS When It Comes to Investing, a Company’s History Is Key 129 Sunil Asnani What Stock Market Awaits Gen Z in the 2020s? 131 Dan Fries Fintech: Embracing the Digital Age in the Time of Social Distancing 133 German Peinado Delgado & Glenn Ojeda Vega Only Losers Pay Taxes: Apple and the Ingenuity of Tax Avoidance 136 Hans-Georg Betz What Has COVID-19 Done to Small Businesses? 138 Vinay Subramanian Will China’s Digital Currency Revolutionize Global Payments? 134 Daniel Wagner Make Sense of 2019 | 9 ECONOMICS The Gig Economy Takeover: Will It Last? 145 Beau Peters Will a Struggling Global Economy Survive the Coronavirus? 147 Atul Singh COVID-19 Makes Johnson and Trump Reject Thatcher and Reagan 149 Atul Singh COVID-19 and Populism: A Bad Combination for Europe’s Banks 152 Gary Buswell The Unintended Economic Impacts of China’s Belt and Road Initiative 153 Daniel Wagner “Human Work” Is the Key to Ending Income Inequality 155 Jamie Merisotis INTERNATIONAL SECURITY Cyberspace Needs Global Norms — Here’s Where to Start 157 Sabina Frizell China’s Influence Dampens International Response to Coronavirus Outbreak 160 Daniel Wagner Han and Hindu Nationalism Come Face to Face 162 Atul Singh, Glenn Carle, & Vikram Sood The Future of the Iran Nuclear Deal 179 Elif Beyza Karaalioglu Make Sense of 2019 | 10 25 Years On, The Dayton Peace Agreement Is a Ticking Time Bomb 181 Emir Hadzikadunic Turkey Must Be Held Accountable for Its Abuse of Syria’s Yazidis 187 Philip Kowalski CULTURE Are the Windsors the New Kardashians? 189 Ellis Cashmore How Zoom Can Make Videoconferencing More Human-Friendly 191 William Softky Should Schools Rely on Ed Tech? 194 Criscillia Benford Sex Abuse Is the Moral Downfall of the Catholic Church 203 Hans-Georg Betz Britain’s Commitment to Retaining the Spoils of History 206 Peter Isackson Foreign-Language Entertainment Is Having Its Soft-Power Moment 208 Franthiesco Ballerini ENVIRONMENT Canada’s Indigenous Communities Fight to Protect Their Environment 210 Gary Buswell Solving Africa’s Hunger Challenge 212 Betsy G. Henderson Make Sense of 2019 | 11 Plastics Threaten the Himalayan Environment 213 Satya Prakash Negi How Will the UAE Cope With Growing Environmental Insecurity? 215 Kristian Alexander & Giorgio Cafiero When Is Hot Too Hot? 218 Arek Sinanian We Can Still Win the War on Plastic 220 Michael K. Dorsey Make Sense of 2019 | 12 ABOUT FAIR OBSERVER Fair Observer is a nonprofit media organization that engages in citizen journalism and civic education. Our digital media platform has more than 2,500 contributors from 90 countries, cutting across borders, backgrounds and beliefs. With fact-checking and a rigorous editorial process, we provide diversity and quality in an era of echo chambers and fake news. Our education arm runs training programs on subjects such as digital media, writing and more. In particular, we inspire young people around the world to be more engaged citizens and to participate in a global discourse. As a nonprofit, we are free from owners and advertisers. When there are six jobs in public relations for every job in journalism, we rely on your donations to achieve our mission. Make Sense of 2019 | 13 PUBLISH Join our network of 2,500 contributors to publish your perspective, share your story and shape the global conversation. Become a Fair Observer and help us make sense of the world. Remember, we are a digital media platform and welcome content in all forms: articles, podcasts, video, vlogs, photo essays, infographics and interactive features. We work closely with our contributors, provide feedback and enable them to achieve their potential. Think of us as a community that believes in diversity and debate. We have a reputation for being thoughtful and insightful. The US Library of Congress recognizes us as a journal with ISSN 2372-9112 and publishing with us puts you in a select circle. For further information, please visit www.fairobserver.com/publish or contact us at [email protected]. Make Sense of 2019 | 14 AFRICA component: explaining the relationship between the three pillars and US military presence. Why a Troop Drawdown in Africa Is Chain Reaction Exactly the Wrong Approach While the intent is for West Africa to be the starting point of a worldwide review of troop deployments, pulling US troops out of West Erika Lafrennie Africa would set off a chain reaction, January 21, 2020 relinquishing hard-fought relationships and influence across the continent. A US pullout would leave a vacuum in West Africa, opening There are many compelling reasons why it the door for Russia, at a time when the G5 Sahel would be a disastrous miscalculation to countries — Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, withdraw US troops from West Africa. Mauritania and Niger — are already asking for additional counterterrorism support to help stem n December 24, 2019, The New York the rapid expansion of ethnic and jihadist Times reported that Defense Secretary militancy in the region. Russia holds existing O Mark T. Esper is weighing proposals for military cooperation agreements with all of the a major reduction — or even a complete pullout G5 Sahel countries except Mauritania. — of US forces from West Africa. This is the As we enter a new decade, a number of first phase of reviewing deployments that could country specific threats will complicate the reshuffle thousands of troops worldwide in an chessboard for governments and US businesses effort to prioritize confronting global powers like alike. Global leadership is in retreat, as heads of Russia and China, as chartered by the 2018 state from North America to Asia are mired in National Defense Strategy. Esper has given domestic crises. The number of stalled Africa Command until later this month to draft a revolutions around the world is on the rise.
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