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In this mailing:
What China Sees
by Francesco Sisci
• October 18, 2014 at 5:00 am
Democratic
evolution in China was being seriously considered. The failures of U.S.
support for democracy in Afghanistan, Iraq, Egypt and Libya gave new food for
thought to those opposed to democracy. Lastly, the United States did not
strongly oppose the anti-democratic coup d'état that overthrew a democratically
elected government in Thailand.
On the
other hand, Russia -- dominated by Vladimir Putin, a new autocrat determined
to stifle democracy in Russia -- provided a new model.
The whole
of Eastern Europe and most of Latin America, formerly in the clutches of
dictatorships, are now efficient democracies. This seems to indicate that
while democracy cannot be parachuted into a country, there is a broader,
longer-term global trend toward democracy and that its growth depends on
local conditions.
As economic
development needed careful planning, political reforms need even greater
planning. The question remains: is China preparing for these political
reforms?
The current difficult situation and predicament in Hong Kong is not just
about what is happening now or has been happening for the past decade in the
territory, but also calls into question the future and overall political
direction of China.
UK: Political Earthquake Next May?
by Peter Martino
• October 18, 2014 at 4:00 am
The
United Kingdom Independence Party [UKIP] not only managed to halve the
Conservative vote, but also the Labour Vote and the Liberal Democrat vote.
UKIP
stands for small government, low taxes, and preservation of Britain's
identity and sovereignty, values that appeal to Conservative voters; and it
wants to pull the United Kingdom out of the European Union. UKIP also stands
for strong policies on law and order and immigration, which appeal to the
traditional old Labour heartlands.
Strategically,
to pick up Labour votes, UKIP would need to move to the left, but examples in
France, Switzerland, Denmark and Geert Wilders's PVV in the Netherlands, show
that it is possible to attract voters from both the left and the right.
Last Thursday, the United Kingdom Independence Party [UKIP] won its
first ever seat in the British House of Commons. For years, UKIP, led by the
flamboyant Nigel Farage, has been a major party among the British contingent
in the European Parliament, but winning a seat in the British national
parliament had so far never succeeded.
UKIP stands for the preservation of Britain's identity and sovereignty.
It wants to pull the United Kingdom out of the European Union and aims for
tougher immigration policies. Last August, Douglas Carswell, Member of
Parliament for Clacton in Essex (a prosperous county to the East of London)
defected from the Conservative Party to UKIP. Carswell had been elected for
the Conservatives in 2010 with a 53% majority – a 28% lead over Labour. After
his defection, he gave up his seat, so that a by-election had to be held. On
October 9, Carswell was re-elected on a UKIP ticket, with 60% of the vote and
a 35% lead over the Conservatives.
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