Thinker Globally
We Are All More Interconnected
Than Ever Before
David Mills
We are all more interconnected than ever before, and this idea of a truly global community is getting closer to reality.[1]
With that change come legal and ethical challenges: How do we effectively deliver justice to people with drastically different backgrounds and experiences?[1]
Think Tanks Are Increasingly
Adopting A Global Presence
Think tanks are increasingly adopting a global presence, perspective and audience. The economist Joseph Stiglitz commented that think tanks must “scan globally and reinvent locally” if they are to be effective in today’s policy environment.[2][3]
More Than Sixty Percent
of
The World’s Think Tanks
The continued dominance of think tanks in Europe and North America in the rankings is a function of several factors, including:
the reality that more than sixty percent of the world’s think tanks are based in Europe and North America;
the funding and resources available to these organizations; the historically dominant role these regions have played in world politics, and the influence they traditionally exert over international political, economic, and social thinking.
[4]
The CO2 Emissions
Will Not Globally Destroy Jobs
According to a recent ETUC / SDA study (Climate change and employment 2008), the measures to enable the EU to reduce its CO2 emissions by some 40% by 2030 will not globally destroy jobs, but they will substantially change the supply and demand of jobs and qualifications.[5]
Workers will have to be redirected from energy-intensive sectors (such as coal and steel industry) to green sector with high employability (public transportation, renewal energies, sustainable building and construction). [5]
This transition will not be without difficulty: there is a risk that displaced workers will be trapped in structural unemployment if activation measures and social protection schemes are not correctly anticipated and followed up.[5]
Putin’s daughter, a young billionaire and the president’s friends
Stephen Grey, Andrey Kuzmin and Elizabeth Piper
Nov. 10, 2015
The Russian leader’s younger daughter Katerina is emerging as a woman of influence in the next generation of Moscow’s elite.[6]
LONDON/MOSCOW – Since Vladimir Putin began cementing his grip on Russia in the 1990s, many of his friends have grown famously rich.[6]
Not so the president himself, say his supporters, who insist Putin is above the money grab that has marked his reign.[6]
His public financial disclosures depict a man of modest means. In April, Putin declared an income for 2014 of 7.65 million roubles ($119,000). He listed the ownership of two modest apartments and a share in a car parking garage. [6]
Дочери Путина - Екатерина и Мария
His daughter Katerina is doing considerably better, supported by some of the Russian president’s wealthy friends, a Reuters examination shows. [6]
After unconfirmed media speculation about Katerina’s identity, a senior Russian figure told Reuters that she uses the surname Tikhonova. Andrey Akimov, deputy chairman of Russian lender Gazprombank, said he had met Katerina when she was little and more recently, and that Tikhonova was Putin’s daughter.[6]
Donald Trump meeting with Russian
President Vladimir Putin
Reuters has also learned that earlier this year Katerina, 29, described herself as the “spouse” of Kirill Shamalov, son of Nikolai Shamalov, a longtime friend of the president. Shamalov senior is a shareholder in Bank Rossiya, which U.S. officials have described as the personal bank of the Russian elite.[6]
Katya Putina is the richest girl
in the world
As husband and wife, Kirill and Katerina would have corporate holdings worth about $2 billion, according to estimates provided to Reuters by financial analysts.[6]
That wealth stems mainly from a large publicly disclosed stake in a major gas and petrochemical company that Kirill acquired from Gennady Timchenko, another longtime friend of Putin.[6]
Putin’s daughter lives in Netherlands,
193 citizens of which Putin
recently killed
President Vladimir Putin
in the world
193 citizens of which Putin
recently killed
Opinion: The problem with comparing Trump to Hitler
Matthew Rozsa
30 November 2015
Pundits and candidates alike are now accusing Donald Trump of being a fascist or neo-Nazi. Some are even comparing him to Adolf Hitler. [7]
This is a serious problem – not for Trump, mind you, but for our collective intelligence as Americans. When we imply that the sinister Trump phenomenon represents something new on the American scene, we gloss over the ugliest parts of our political history, and in the process make it more likely that those mistakes will be repeated.[7]
Trump goes full Fascist; Calls to Ban all Muslims
There are three qualities to Trump’s presidential campaign that invoke parallels to Nazism. [7]
The first is his intense cult of personality, which, for Trump supporters, is particularly driven by his reputation as a successful businessman who can “fix things,” and by his willingness to brazenly defy the taboos of political correctness.[7]
James O'Brien V "Little Hitler" Donald Trump
In addition, there is his blatant racist demagoguery, from his spurious and offensive claims that undocumented Mexican immigrants are largely criminals and rapists to his recent proposal that Muslims carry ID cards identifying their religion.[7]
Finally, there are the undertones of violence, both inspired by his rhetoric (e.g. the two Bostonians who savagely assaulted a homeless man while invoking Trump’s name) and directly advocated by Trump himself (e.g. his open agreement with supporters who beat up a #BlackLivesMatter protester).[7]
State Department Spokesman John Kirby: We’ve maintained a very constant dialogue with Turkey
U.S. State Department
John Kirby, Spokesperson
Daily Press Briefing
Washington, DC
December 7, 2015
We’ve maintained a very constant dialogue with Turkey. [8]
Turkey is not just a NATO ally but a vital partner in the fight against ISIL, and we’re – they’ve already taken steps to deal with that stretch of the border that they know and they’ve admitted and they’ve talked about – that has proven a challenge for them, and we’re in constant discussions with them about how to help them – how to help us both; how to help the coalition deal with that stretch of border there.[8]
State Department Spokesman RIDICULED
Armenian from Russia Today
for Stupid Questions on Turkey
I don’t have anything specific to read out to you today about specific measures. Again, I try to avoid operational matters here from this podium. But I can tell you everybody’s focused on that stretch of ground and on trying to seal it off as best we can, to include the Turks.[8]
We know that oil smuggling remains a source of revenue for ISIL, no doubt about it. And we know that some of those smuggling routes run across that border with Turkey.[8]
That’s just a fact, and the Turks have talked about that too. [8]
Armenian from Russia Today
for Stupid Questions on Turkey
Which is one of the reasons why we just talked about strikes that DOD spoke to yesterday against oil heads, I mean – which is why you start to see some of these strikes against the oil infrastructure that ISIL has or is trying to exploit.[8]
We know it’s a source of revenue from them. There’s other sources of revenue as well. I’ve talked about extortion, I’ve talked about infrastructure. I’ve talked about theft. And we’ve talked about the fact that they get resources from outside. But oil is one of them.[8]
Now, if you’re asking about the accusations that the Turkish Government is profiting off of ISIL oil, I think we dealt with that last week pretty definitively; and the answer is no, we’ve seen absolutely no indication of that.[8]
And we, I think, rebutted that claim quite effectively, and I have nothing new to add.[8]
We’ve not seen any collusion by the Turkish Government with ISIL for – in terms of oil smuggling or consumption, none at all. It’s just a baseless falsehood that was propagated about the Turkish Government.[8]
But we all recognize that one of the ways they try to get money is through smuggling.[8]
And we’re all working very hard – one of the reasons, back to the answer I gave the gentleman back there. [8]
One of the reasons we’re all working very hard to see if we can’t seal off that section of border to limit their ability to gain revenue from that – from oil smuggling.[8]
John Kerry:
Russia and the United States agree that this is a threat to everybody, to every country
December 15, 2015
Secretary of State, John Kerry: On ISIL or Daesh, Russia and the United States agree that this is a threat to everybody, to every country, that there’s no negotiation. These are the worst of terrorists. [9]
V. Putin - Any forces that threaten
Russian militaries in Syria
should be exterminated
| Eng Subs
They’ve attacked culture and history and all decency and they leave no choice but for civilized nations to stand together and to fight and push back and destroy them.[9]
Russian militaries in Syria
should be exterminated
