Global Challenges: Between Crisis and Innovation

On December 7th, a 2-hour virtual summit between President Joe Biden of the United States and President Vladimir Putin of the Russian Federation was held on the subject of Ukraine. The summit, which came amid the backdrop of alarming intelligence reports of a 100,000-175,000 Russian troop buildup near Ukraine and fears of a Russian invasion of the rest of Ukraine, achieved no diplomatic breakthrough. Following the conclusion of the summit, Victoria Nuland, Biden’s Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs, repeated previous threats of severe economic sanctions should Russia invade. Russia, for its part, denies that it has any intention to invade Ukraine and blames the crisis on the West pushing Ukraine to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and renege on its commitments in the 2014-2015 Minsk Protocols. The Minsk Protocols were the agreements signed by all sides to stabilize the Ukrainian situation in the wake of the instability unleashed in the 2014 Maiden Revolution that ousted a duly elected pro-Russian president from Ukraine. Since 2014, Ukraine has been through a series of war scares. In April of 2021 reports of Russia amassing 100,000 soldiers to invade Ukraine created a similar war scare that touched off an international crisis only for it to come to naught. In June, an international incident occurred again when a British warship was caught sailing close to the Russian controlled coast of Crimea in a show of solitary with Ukraine.

There is a strong public perception in the United States that crime has increased in 2020 and continuing into 2021. The first question to ask is, is that true? According to an article in The Atlantic in September 2021, there is a different answer depending on whether one looks at property crimes or homicide rates. Based on their investigations, which uses the FBI’s Uniform Crime Report, there was a 12% increase in aggravated assaults in 2020 (which were defined as attacks or even threats that cause serious injuries or in which weapons are used. By this definition even pointing a loaded gun at someone would be an aggravated assault.) There was also a shocking 30% increase in murders in the same time period, but not in property crime. Burglary and larceny (theft of personal property) were overall down by 8%, perhaps because so many people were stuck at home and criminals did not want to engage them directly. Motor vehicle theft and thefts of things inside motor vehicles did increase. People want to protect their property, but even more so they want to protect their lives and the lives of people they care about. In addition to individual shootings and violence, the very highly publicized murder of George Floyd in May 2020, while he was being taken into police custody in Minneapolis, MN led to months of civil unrest, demonstrations, and protests that sometimes turned into riots, throughout the US.

COVID-19, which has dominated world attention for over two years now, will continue to be in the forefront of public health for the foreseeable future. With “COVID fatigue” setting in, health authorities are facing a crisis in public confidence. For example, The Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently announced that they are pivoting their language on what it means to be fully vaccinated. If you recently got your second dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and you aren’t yet eligible for a booster shot, you are considered up to date. But, according to Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director for the CDC, if enough time has elapsed since your second shot and you’re eligible for the booster but haven’t gotten it, you would need to get it to be fully up to date. Dr. Anthony Fauci adds, “One of the things that we’re talking about from a purely public health standpoint is how well you are protected, rather than what a definition is to get someone to be required or not required.” This announcement follows on the heels of many cities, such as Washington DC, requiring vaccines to enter restaurants and gyms, with staff demanding that customers show their vaccination cards as proof to comply with this rule. Chicago City Inspectors have cited 13 bars and restaurants and 9 fitness centers for failing to enforce city rules that require all customers to present proof of vaccination. One can legitimately question whether it makes sense for those who have recovered from the virus, especially Omicron, to get further boosters, or if this is a shortcoming of establishing mandates based on vaccination status rather than immune status.

Chile has changed. These last two years have been full of historical moments that will have repercussions for the future of society and in the anti-capitalist movements of the world. Tensions between Chilean protesters advocating for economic reforms and the Chilean government and their oligarchy went to the constitutional convention, with new actors arising now who promise to fix the moribound and obsolete political and economical system. On December 19th, Apruebo Dignidad, a coalition of social democratic parties, won the presidential elections for the first time, with the populist president-elect Gabriel Boric promising to address the grievances of the protestors and deliver solutions to long standing structural issues that has plagued Chilean democracy. Once again people will have to trust populist politicians. Is social democracy the final destination of the October insurrection? To answer this question we have to look back a little in recent history. The recent protest movement by the Chilean people against their own government was a natural outcome of the fact that Chile has been ruled by the same oligarchy since colonial times which has imposed its own long-standing social, political and economic model on society.