Iran and equality

           In chapter 12, Roskin states that many Iranians are against replacing their traditional culture with Western culture. No necessarily that they do not want to be modern, because they do, but they would like to do it within their own means of values and religion. 

Today, the Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, a religious moderate, was endorsing gender equality. He publicly stated that he is not in favor of "those who consider women's presence in society as a threat". He admitted that Iran still has a ways to go in terms of achieving equality opportunities and rights for men and women, however I believe this is a clear example of Iran's modernity. 

President Rouhani said that Islamic rules state that "man is not the stronger sex and woman is not the weaker one." With that being said, is religious documentation as a reference enough to change the Iranian people's views on gender equality in their country? A few cases that prove otherwise: Last year, a constitutional body in Iran ruled that women could not run in presidential elections, only parliament. The year prior to last, several universities in Iran banned females from about 80 degree courses. This an example of how people can be stuck in the hole of traditional thinking without opening their eyes to the fact that women have made an impact on society.
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Nigeria and budget cutting

Mohammed Abubakar, the Inspector General of Nigeria's Police announced the promotion of 24,118 police staff. This was a joyous occurrence for those promoted, as well as for the thousands of families and friends. However there was one slight issue: as these officers were given promotions, budget was also cut. In 2013, it was at N293.5bn, and was reduce this year by N13bn! According to Inspector General Abubakar, pretty soon they will not even be able to pay salaries.   Now the question is where is all the money being cut out going? The Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) Aloma Muhktar argued that “a situation where budgetary allocation to the judiciary continues to drop while the general government budget is on steady increase every year is clearly an impediment to the quick and effective dispensation of justice in Nigeria and on the whole a set back to the current effort at transforming the judiciary.”The Ekiti State House of Assembly members have since noticed that N480million was being dedcuted monthly from the state accruable revenue. Also, it seems that there may be illegal deductions of oil revenues from the federation account by state governors. In the last three years, according to Kayode Fayermi, Ekiti State governor, over N4.62 trillion had been deducted from the Federation Account in only the last three years. Now what exactly is the deal here?

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The Philippines: Social Progress Index

The Philippines' Social Progress Index is at 65.86.

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Brasil Politics

According to one of the think-tanks of Brazil's Center for Public Leadership. Mr. Luiz Felipe d'Avila believes that the country's past has an everlasting imprint on its current politics. 26 out of the 32 registered political parties names consist of words like: "social", "democrat" and "workers". There is a strong disliking to the label of being "right-wing" because of the country's past of a military dictatorship.With that said, even those parties who are not on the left side of Brazil's political spectrum, do not call themselves the right. Why is that? The issue with this is that many voters run the other way when they see the term "conservative", even though they still hold right-winged views on issues. As Roskin mentions in the chapter, Brazil inherited some defective basic institutions that left the country stuck in old quarrels. How long do you think it will take for Brazil to get over their past? It seems that the voters are just as defective as the institution.

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Mexico relations with Canada

Mexico is angry that Canada refused to lift a visa requirement for all visitors from Mexico to start a movement in "false-refugee claims". However, Mexico and Canada's beef goes back, way before the visa issue. When Canada did was hesitant to sign the NAFTA, and joined to protect the access to the trade market of America. Canada has always chosen to secure deals with the US and leave Mexico as it's redheaded stepbrother in the family of North America. It seems that Mexico and Canada have always been competing for affection from the US ever since. The Mexican ambassador to Canada however, has described relations between the two countries as having "post-NAFTA old age with flaws, limitations and increasing wrinkles". 

In 2011 there was a survey conducted in Canada regarding attitudes toward Latin America. A whopping 48% had negative views of Mexico. There were only 16% of respondents who believed that Mexico was vitally important to Canada! When they were asked the same questions about the US, 70% believes the US is vitally important to their country. 

Shows what kind of light Mexico is under for the Canadians!

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Ch. 8 India

Just like their former colonial masters, India's political power is vested in the hands of a Prime Minister. Jawaharlal Nehru, the reason why India's PM position is so powerful, should have set a great example for the future PM's and other ministers. However, in the news article I found, it is said that Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar is accused of vote-rigging! He asked supporters to vote twice for his party in elections which are to start in April. Urging the voters to wash off the ink which would be marked on their fingers after voting was probably not the smartest idea although he claims he was only joking. This just gave his opponents fuel! Now Minister Pawar is being slammed with comments that his actions were a "blatant contravention" of Election commission's code of conduct. Although his party reps backed him up in stating he was not serious about his comments, the Agriculture Minister is now given a deadline to explain himself, and is found to be in violation by the Election commission themselves.

I guess people need to think before they speak!

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                                            "WELL I THOUGHT IT WAS FUNNY."

China becoming more Urban!

According to Roskin, every year there are about 13 to 21 million rural Chinese who move to cities for work. Historically 90% of the population live in the countryside and it seems that this number will continue to decrease. On March 16th 2014, the proportion of permanent urban residents of China's entire population is going to hit a whopping 60% by the year of 2020. (This info is in accordance to an unveiled urbanization plan by the central government) 

This ratio is comparable to developing countries with similar per capita income levels as China. Apparently, urban household registration in itself will incase to 45% in 2020, which will be a 10.7% increase from 2013. This means about 100 million migrants will settle in the urban areas! Something to keep in mind: many of China's best entrepreneurs actually fled from rural poverty for urban opportunities. 

Who cares about the hukou now?! 

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