The People's Pope

The Catholic Church changed on the 19^th of March 2013. This was the day that Cardinal Bergoglio was formally inaugurated as Pope Francis I.

His predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, has staked out a very conservative position on many political issues. At one point the Pontiff had said that homosexuality was a greater threat to humanity than global warming! He also presided over a Church torn apart by sex abuse scandals all across the globe. The revelations included Priests in Ireland, the USA and Germany, where Benedict was from. It was not just the abuse of young children that shocked and angered the world, it was also the church’s reaction to it. The church consistently denied the allegations whilst concealing the truth. When the church found out that a Priest was abusing children, they did not hand them over to the police or even de-robe them. They simply moved the Priest to a different parish where they continued to abuse. Benedict was also controversial due to his involvement in World War Two. He had been a member of the Hitler Young and even flew fighter planes for Nazi Germany. So by the time Benedict resigned as Pope, the church’s reputation was in tatters.

Then along came Pope Francis. Francis was always going to be a historic Pope, he was the first non-European Pope since Gregory III of Syria died in 741 and the first Pope from the Americas.  Yet it is not the facts surrounding where he is from that make him historic, it is how he has acted and behaved since. Although still opposed to gay rights and abortion, Francis has tried to relax how fervent the Church is on these issues. When asked what his opinion was on gay people he said; “who am I to judge?” This is something his predecessor would never have said. His action on poverty is one on which he hopes to base his papacy on. In a Vatican document released earlier this week he chastised modern capitalism for its relentless pursuit of profit at the expense of the poor. He even went as far as calling it a “new tyranny”. He then went on to talk about how the Church should act saying that he would prefer a Church that was “bruised, hurting and dirty because it had been out on the streets” rather than one that is “unhealthy from being confined and from clinging to its own security.”

Furthermore last month Francis suspended the Bishop of Limburg, dubbed the Bishop of bling, for spending €31 million (£26 million/$42 million) renovating his residence. Instead Francis has promised to turn the home into a soup kitchen and shelter for the homeless.

Overall this Pope is a lot more popular than Benedict ever was, particularly with those on the left. Hopefully he will put words into action and help the millions of people across the globe who are stuck in the trap of poverty.

Breakthrough with Iran!

After a decade of bitterness between Iran and the West over the country’s nuclear weapons program, real progress has finally been made. In Geneva today an agreement was announced between Iran and six of the world’s most powerful nations (USA, UK, France, China, Germany and Russia). Iran agreed to neutralise all of its stocks of 20% enriched uranium, the kind that could make a weak nuclear weapon. Iran has also agreed to stop enriching uranium beyond 5%. The rest of the world has agreed to ease sanctions on Iran and will allow it to enrich uranium up to 5%.

The breakthrough is historic and actually achieves something. The economy of Iran should improve, which will reflect well on the moderate President, Hassan Rouhani. It would also help the poor in Iran who have been hit hard by the sanctions but have nothing to do with the nuclear program. Keeping Rouhani popular is important to the West as he is prepared to negotiate. After all we do not want a radical like Ahmadinejad to gain power and threaten our security.

Despite this deal only lasting six months, Israel is already condemning it. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called it a mistake that the world will regret. I totally reject that statement as it stops Iran from enriching uranium to the point at which they could make any sort of functional nuclear weapon! Also, if it were up to Netanyahu, there would be no negotiations at all and war with Iran would be inevitable.

Make no mistake, there’s still a lot of work to be done with Iran. We have to make sure that they stick to the terms of the treaty and expand it further so that one day all sanctions that can be lifted. As Iran begins to journey from the darkness and into the light, let us hope that all future Iranian Presidents are as open to negotiations and sense as Rouhani has been!

Afghan War to Continue

The Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have always been very different wars. Immediately following 9/11 the US and UK (later joined by NATO and other allies) invaded Afghanistan to drive out the Al-Qaeda supporting Taliban. The war had strong international support, even amongst those countries who did not participate. Fast forward two years and the Iraq War is underway, but unlike Afghanistan it is much more contentious. The reason Britain and American want to go to war in Iraq is based on evidence that the country is trying to get weapons of mass destruction. That evidence was called into question by the international community which is unsure as to the authenticity of the evidence. Soon after the invasion, it is discovered that Iraq didn’t have any weapons of mass destruction and that most of the ‘evidence’ was simply false.

Needless to say the war based on a lie rapidly became unpopular and eventually all allied troops left Iraq by 2012. On the other hand Afghanistan is still ongoing and it looks like there will be a Western presence in Afghanistan for at least another decade. NBC News managed to get hold of a draft document of an agreement between the American and Afghan governments whereby troops would continue to reside inside the country until at least 2024! Although the war will officially end next year it will not be the end of a Western presence in Afghanistan. 

Same-sex Marriage Makes Huge Progress

There has been a flurry of activity lately when it comes to same-sex marriage. Last month New Jersey became the 14^th state to legalise same-sex marriage following a court ruling. On the 23^rd of October the New Mexico Supreme Court heard arguments around whether or not same-sex marriage was legal in the state. The court has said that it will rule I the coming months. Great news came out of Illinois and Hawaii as both states are on track to legalise same-sex marriage. Governor Pat Quinn of Illinois has said that he’ll sign a same-sex marriage bill into law on the 20^th of November. Governor Neil Abercrombie of Hawaii said he will sign the corresponding Hawaiian bill after the state senate votes on it a second time. In Oregon the gay rights movement only needs 6,286 more signatures to put same-sex marriage on the ballot in November in 2014. Ohio also has a petition to legalise same-sex marriage but unfortunately they have no revealed how many signatures they have gotten. In Michigan a district court judge has agreed to hear a case challenging the constitutionality of Michigan’s same-sex marriage ban in February 2014. Suits have also been filed in Arkansas, Kentucky, Texas and Pennsylvania. Following their success at defeating the same-sex marriage ban in California, the American Foundation for Equal Rights has stated that its next target will be Virginia.

In Australia, the Australian Capital Territory (aka Canberra) became the first Australian jurisdiction to legalise same-sex marriage. Unfortunately the conservative government has said it will try and block the legislation. More good news came out of Ireland where the government announced that a referendum would be held in 2015 on the issue of same-sex marriage. It is almost certain to pass, when this happens Ireland will become the first country to legalise same-sex marriage through a referendum. Ireland is one of only two European Atlantic Coast countries to not have legal same-sex marriage (the other being Germany), although several sub-national jurisdictions have also not legalised it.

In the Scottish Parliament the bill to legalise same-sex marriage passed through the Equal Opportunities Committee very easily and now awaits a vote by the main parliament. It will have to go through three more votes before it actually becomes law.

The Structure of the Chinese State

US Off Year Elections

Firstly I'd like to apologise for the long hiatus. I have had several deadlines this week at University which took up all my time. Now, onto the elections.

Several elections took place yesterday in the United States with unsurprising results.

New York City voted for a new mayor yesterday, and for the first time since the 1980's, they chose a Democrat. Not just any Democrat, a populist progressive Democrat. Bill de Blasio managed to tap into two key issues  in New Yorkers' minds; rampant inequality and racial profiling. New York has grown increasingly unequal, especially under the mayoralty of Michael Bloomberg. de Blasio promised that he would work hard to defend the poorer neighbourhoods and reduce inequality. The second issue was racial profiling, NYC's policy of "stop and frisk" is extremely unpopular with certain sections of the city. What the policy means is that the police can stop anyone they like and frisk them, no warrant or reason required. One of the reasons this is so controversial (other than the obvious 4th amendment civil liberties violations) is the racial aspect. Black people make up 23.4% of NYC's population yet 53% of people stopped and frisked are black. Latinos make up 29.3% of NYC whilst they account for 33.7% of stop and frisk. White people on the other hand? They make up 47.3% of NYC but only 13.3% of the population. All this and only 10% are actually guilty of a crime. The policy has infuriated minorities and de Blasio's promise to end it helped him a lot.

In the general election de Blasio trounced Republican nominee Joe Lhota 73-24!

Moving one state south to New Jersey and you find another important race. Incumbent Republican, Chris Christie, was vying for a second term. Democratic nominee Barbara Buono tried to unseat him by bringing up political issues which New Jerseyans and Christie opposed each other. She tried to make hay out of Christie's opposition to gay marriage and his veto of a gun safety bill earlier in the year. Alas it was to no avail and Buono was defeated 61-38. Elections for New Jersey's Senate changed nothing and in the Assembly Republicans may gain two seats, but both are going to recounts.

Virginia was the real battle ground with the governorship and attorney general's office being heavily contested. It was close throughout the night but eventually Democrat Terry McAuliffe pulled ahead and beat the Republican Ken Cuccinelli 48-45. The Libertarian candidate, Robert Sarvis, did quite well for a third party candidate, gaining 6.6% of the vote. The race for lieutenant governor was not well contested with Democrat Ralph Northam easily beating Republican E.W. Jackson 55-45. The really close race was the attorney general's race, so close that it still hasn't been called! Republican Mark Obenshain holds the narrowest of leads over Democrat Mark Herring, leading him by a mere 286 votes of 2,198,558 vast! Naturally there will be a recount.

The main issue of the campaign was social issues. Cuccinelli is a Tea Party guy with virulent anti-gay and anti-women views. The only reason he didn't do worse is that McAuliffe is also unpopular in Virginia. This goes a long way to explaining with Sarvis did so well, many moderates and independents were unhappy with both parties' candidates.

These were the most important races of the night, but a special shout out has to go to the 11 counties in northern Colorado who were voting on whether to secede from the state. The motion failed, not that success would have mattered as any new state needs the permission of Congress to join the Union, something that will not be happening any time soon.