Population Control, Marauder Style

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/06/opinion/sunday/population-control-marauder-style.html

Last week, the United Nations announced that the world’s population had reached seven billion, but there have been times when it headed in the opposite direction, and not in pleasant ways. The savagery of the Mongol conqueror Genghis Khan may have culled the global population by about 11 percent; two bloody upheavals in China — the An Lushan Rebellion and the collapse of the Xin Dynasty — each may have felled about 6 percent of humanity. Those are but 3 of the 100 worst atrocities in history, as cataloged by Matthew White in “The Great Big Book of Horrible Things,” an amusing (really) account of the murderous ways of despots, slave traders, blundering royals, gladiators and assorted hordes. Estimating the tolls from such horrors is an inexact science, given war’s nature and the mysteries of antiquity. The deadliest “multicides” are more plentiful in recent centuries, given that there were more people to kill and better ways to kill them on a grand scale. Even so, killings as a percentage of all humanity are probably declining. Here is a look at the sweep of human brutality presented in a timeline. 

An Impeccable Disaster

by Paul Krugman, NY Times 9/11/11


"Financial turmoil in Europe is no longer a problem of small, peripheral economies like Greece. What’s under way right now is a full-scale market run on the much larger economies of Spain and Italy."


"And now it’s all coming to a head. We’re not talking about a crisis that will unfold over a year or two; this thing could come apart in a matter of days. And if it does, the whole world will suffer."


Read on:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/12/opinion/an-impeccable-disaster.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha212

Social Unrest in China on the Rise

From the Council on Foreign Relations:

The Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) estimates that incidents of social unrest have risen from about 40,000 in 2001 to “over 90,000” in 2009. CASS also reports that these incidents are becoming larger, more violent, more likely to cross provincial borders, and more diverse in terms of participants and grievances.

Increased misappropriation of land, rising income inequality, and corruption are among the most contentious issues for Chinese society. China’s State Development Research Center estimates that from 1996 to 2006, officials and their business cronies illegally seized more than 4,000 square miles of land per year. In that time, 80 million peasants lost their homes. Yu Jianrong, a senior government researcher, has said that land issues represent one of the most serious political crises the CCP faces.


READ ON: http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/66773/george-j-gilboy-and-eric-heginbotham/chinas-dilemma

Global Food Price Spike Adding to Civil Unrest, Some Say

A record high price in many food staples is pushing millions into poverty and contributing to unrest in countries like Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt and Yemen, World Bank President Robert Zoellick said this week.

In January, global food prices hit their highest point in the 20 years since the United Nations first started tracking the cost of food. The spike in prices has pushed about 44 million people into extreme poverty since June, said Zoellick, speaking prior to a meeting of G-20 finance ministers in Paris Feb. 18-19.

READ ON: http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2011/02/food-prices-spike.html

Soccer clubs central to ending Egypt's 'Dictatorship of Fear'

Over the decades that have marked the tenure of Egypt's "President for Life" Hosni Mubarak, there has been one consistent nexus for anger, organization, and practical experience in the ancient art of street fighting: the country's soccer clubs. Over the past week, the most organized, militant fan clubs, also known as the "ultras," have put those years of experience to ample use.

Read more: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/writers/dave_zirin/01/31/egypt.soccer/index.html#ixzz1CrCd6NV5

An Assassination’s Long Shadow

TODAY, millions of people on another continent are observing the 50th anniversary of an event few Americans remember, the assassination of Patrice Lumumba.  READ ON:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/17/opinion/17hochschild.html