G’day mates from across the plaid planet! Looks like our esteemed Skype guest from last semester, former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, has once again become the current Prime Minister of Australia! Crikey! This podcast covers that palace intrigue, as well as pointing out some particulars about new world leaders in Iran, Pakistan, and even a shout out to the clown prince of politics in Italy. New peeps in charge across the planet! Learn more here!
Happy New Year’s Eve! The Professor takes some time on the brink of 2012 to look back at what happened to world leaders from around the globe in 2011. It was a tough year to be in charge this year, as evidenced by the demise of dictators, the overthrow of or attacks on authoritarian regimes, plagues of personal health, and even the decline in support of significant democratic leaders all over the planet. Sometimes “it’s good to be da’ king!”....but not in 2011 it wasn’t!!!!
The Professor gives his take on a few international stories he thinks are of equal, if not greater, significance this week than the domestic political discourse or even the over-touted huge UN meeting going on in New Your UN headquarters. This week:
...Mahmoud Abbas gains Palestinian popularity
...Islamic extremist/separatist activity in SouthEast Asia
...Russian Prime Minister Putin throws his ushanka into the presidential race
...Center-right leaders across Europe are taking political hits
...and the head US military man lays the smack-down on the Pakistani ISI as being part of the problem, not part of the solution, to instability and terrorism in Central Asia…US/Pakistani relations now at an all time low?
Keywords: Palestine, sovereignty, UN, US, Philippines, Abu Sayyaf, Moro National Liberation Front, Awliyah, Indonesia, religious violence, Russia, Germany, Italy, UK, fiscal policy, Admiral Mullins, Pakistan, ISI, Haqqani network, General Kayani, deteriorating relations
Synopsis: Watch out! The floodgates for Middle Eastern migration to Europe may have possibly just been opened up by the instability and chaotic nature caused by the Arab revolutionary spirit being unleashed in multiple Mediterranean countries! Say what? What do revolutions in the Middle East have to do with immigration policy in Europe? Just everything, my friends! In this episode, the Plaid Avenger explains the repercussions of the Arab revolutions on the already fractured and frayed immigration policies of the EU, and how this sudden inflow of folks to Europe is causing a serious re-evaluation of how European nations will be running their affairs in the near future. Is the era of multiculturalism dead? Only the Avenger knows!
Synopsis: There is talk in France of a nation-wide ban on the wearing of the Islamic full-body covering burka…a proposition supported by French President Nicolas Sarkozy. Many have viewed this move as anti-Islamic or Islam-o-phobic, but hold on! This ban, along with a Swiss ban on minarets and anti-immigrant violence in Italy, is indicative of a major shift underway across all of Europe: a move to the conservative right, both socially and politically. The Avenger discusses these issues and the reasons why they have arisen….and what you can expect in European politics and cultural frictions of the future.
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