	Generational Dynamics
	Forecasting America's Destiny ... and the World's

\| HOME \| WEB LOG \| COUNTRY WIKI \| COMMENT \| FORUM \| DOWNLOADS \| ABOUT \|

Generational Dynamics Web Log for 1-Jun-2013
1-Jun-13 World View -- Pakistan condemns American drone strikes

Web Log - June, 2013

1-Jun-13 World View -- Pakistan condemns American drone strikes

Eurozone unemployment at historic highs

This morning's key headlines from GenerationalDynamics.com

Pakistan's incoming prime minister Sharif condemns American drone strikes
Pakistan's Taliban peace negotiations concern Afghanistan
Eurozone unemployment at historic highs

Pakistan's incoming prime minister Sharif condemns American drone strikes

Nawaz Sharif

Nawaz Sharif

Pakistan's incoming Prime Minister, Nawaz Sharif, is reportedly "irritated" by a drone attack earlier this week that killed the second in command in the Pakistan branch of the Taliban, Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). Sharif on Friday expressed "serious concern and deep disappointment" over the drone strike. He said that he would ask the United States to "exercise restraint and give peace a chance":

"The drone attack is not only a violation of the country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity but also an action that has been declared a violation of international law and UN charter."

And aide to Sharif said that the drone strike was highly regrettable, "particularly as [President Obama] had spoken of initiating a new policy which would ensure greater exercise of care and caution in the use of this technology." Dawn (Pakistan)

Pakistan's Taliban peace negotiations concern Afghanistan

Sharif has been advocating a negotiated peace with the TTP, and is now blaming the U.S. for a breakdown in the negotiations. The whole negotiated peace concept is a fantasy, as if the TTP-linked Lashkar-e-Jhangvi would ever give up targeting Shia and Sufi shrines across Pakistan and Afghanistan. (See "17-Feb-13 World View -- Another horrific bomb attack targets Shias in Quetta, Pakistan") Nonetheless, a politician's job in any country is to promote such fantasies.

Sharif, 63, has been prime minister twice before. During the 1980s, when the Afghan government was backed by the Soviet Union, Sharif backed the jihadists who were a precursor to the Taliban, and then backed the Taliban when they took over in 1997. The brutal Taliban government was not dislodged until the American invasion of Afghanistan that followed the terrorist attacks on 9/11/2001.

Now, many Afghan leaders foresee a repeat of Sharif's earlier policies, including support for a Taliban coup against the current government in Kabul. Sharif's plans for peace negotiations with the TTP (Pakistan Taliban) are seen as a way of allowing TTP to redirect attacks away from Pakistan, and to join with the Afghan Taliban to attack targets within Afghanistan. According to one Afghan MP:

"There can be no hope his policies will lead to an improvement in relations with Afghanistan. He was the individual who set about destroying this country once the pro-Soviet regime collapsed, and we are still burning in that fire."

Institute for War & Peace Reporting (London) and The Nation (Pakistan)

Eurozone unemployment at historic highs

Unemployment reached a 12.2% in the 17-nation eurozone in April, marking a new record since the EU began tracking the figures in 1995. Unemployment reached record levels in France, while youth unemployment reached 40% in France and Italy, and 65% in Greece. European officials are now increasingly concerned about a social breakdown from the financial crisis, as happened in 1933 when the Nazis came to power in Germany.

At the same time, consumer price inflation was at 1.4% in May, far below the predicted level of 2%. The weak inflation is expected to lead to pressure on the European Central Bank to "print" a lot more money in the form of quantitative easing, though that hasn't helped the general economy so far. And in Japan, where the Bank of Japan has been pouring out astronomically high amounts of quantitative easing, the core inflation rate fell 0.4% in April, for the sixth straight month of decline.

As I've been saying on my web site for almost ten years now, from the point of view of Generational Dynamics what we're seeing now is a worldwide deflationary spiral, the first since the 1930s. This is caused by generational behaviors and attitudes, and no amount of quantitative easing can stop it. Reuters and Japan Times

(Comments: For reader comments, questions and discussion, see the 1-Jun-13 World View -- Pakistan condemns American drone strikes thread of the Generational Dynamics forum. Comments may be posted anonymously.) (1-Jun-2013) Permanent Link
Receive daily World View columns by e-mail
Donate to Generational Dynamics via PayPal

Web Log Pages

Current Web Log

Generational Dynamics Web Log for 1-Jun-2013 1-Jun-13 World View -- Pakistan condemns American drone strikes

Pakistan's incoming prime minister Sharif condemns American drone strikes

Pakistan's Taliban peace negotiations concern Afghanistan

Eurozone unemployment at historic highs

Web Log Pages

Generational Dynamics Web Log for 1-Jun-2013
1-Jun-13 World View -- Pakistan condemns American drone strikes