Modern-day International Relations

The Internet and social media bridge the gap among people of all walks of life all over the world. You can establish friendships with people of different nationalities on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram or whatever social media site you frequent. However, wars are still fought and crimes continually rise. So, what does it say about international relations nowadays?

When we talk about international relations, we often think of politics and world leaders. But considering how complex and dirty politics have become, conflicts among nations would remain and world peace will remain to be just a dream when conflict is prevalent even in our country. The nation hasn’t been this divided as it is now because of leaders like Donald Trump who continue to plant hate and discrimination in the minds and hearts of the people.

International reactions to the election of Donald Trump have catalyzed a far swifter collapse of the American-led world order than anyone could have imagined.  Interactions between great and middle-ranking powers are undergoing rapid evolution.  The political, economic, and military interests and influence of the United States still span the globe, as does American popular culture.  Nations and non-state actors in every region continue to worry about American policies, activism, or passivity on matters of concern to them.  In short, the United States is still the planet’s only all-around world power.  But the clout that status confers is not what it used to be. 

The only other polity with the potential to rival America’s worldwide influence at present is the European Union (EU).  It has the money but lacks the ambition or political and military cohesion to exert decisive influence beyond its periphery.  Until “Brexit,” the EU included two former world powers, Britain and France.  Now only France — which retains a sphere of influence in Africa and overseas territories in the Caribbean, Indian Ocean, and Polynesia – can bring a global perspective to EU councils.

And Trump’s limited political and leadership knowledge and skills can hamper any progress the country already made in recent years.

The Trump administration’s rejection of multilateralism marks a major step back from international leadership by the United States.  It signals that America no longer seeks to make and interpret the rules that govern the world’s political, economic, and military interactions.  Instead, Washington will seek unilateral advantage through piecemeal bilateral deals.  This pivot away from preeminence has created a geopolitical and geoeconomic power vacuum into which other great powers are being drawn.  Responsibility for the maintenance of global political, economic, and military order is everywhere devolving to the regional level.

Meanwhile, the United States is increasingly isolated on transnational issues.  Official American antipathy to science on climate change and similar issues has discredited the United States as a participant in setting polices that address them.  Washington’s escalating disdain for the United Nations and international law has meanwhile delegitimized its role as the “world policeman.”  The uncertainties inherent in this situation are everywhere accelerating the formation of regional groupings.  But, despite some stirring by China, there is as yet no credible successor to the United States as a global order-setter.

(Via: http://lobelog.com/reimagining-international-relations/)

Not only is his choice of words as flamboyant as his personality, his policies, and means to realize them are just as controversial too. After all, what can we expect from a businessman – the business always comes first.

According to reports from the Washington Post, President Donald Trump has only been in office for a couple months, but he’s taken 11 trips to the golf club. Critics of Trump’s presidency see this as a sign of weakness, since this is the most golf trips any president has taken in such a short amount of time.

According to representatives of the White House, President Trump has used the course almost exclusively for business purposes. Sources say that his visits most often involve international relations.

Most recently, Trump was seen at Trump International Golf West Palm where representatives say he “may hit a few balls.” They also confirmed that he took part in some business meetings and paused for a few pictures with the locals.

(Via: http://newsblaze.com/usnews/politics/president-trump-uses-golf-clubs-for-international-relations_76062/)

While it is true that more businesses are made during rounds of golf than during official meetings, it is a different story if you are the elected leader of one of the most powerful nations in the world. His unorthodox ways always capture the attention of the media and the public. From meetings to his private clubhouses only the elite few can afford, news about still receiving financial reports about his Trump Empire can instill doubts in the minds of the people.

World leaders have to set aside their personal feelings in running the affairs of the state, especially that the whole world is watching. Let us all wait and see if Trump can pull his act together and create positive relationships with leaders of other nations and protect the interests of the country and of the people. He has just started so let’s give him the benefit of the doubt – maybe he can find a way to make America great again.

The post Modern-day International Relations Read more on: SoulVisual

source https://www.soulvisual.com/blog/modern-day-international-relations/

What Food Shortage?

Humans have specific needs, the need for food, water, shelter, and education among others (sleep, too, with no snoring!). Once these needs are met, other needs can also be met but these primary needs must be met first because it is crucial for our survival. You die if you don’t eat or drink water. You put your safety and security at risk if you have no shelter from the elements and from all the bad people out there. Education enables us to reach our dreams and aspirations in life but isn’t as crucial as the other three because many people in the world actually live and die uneducated.

As society progresses, the division between the rich and the poor becomes even more pronounced. You can see rich people spending money on luxuries we can only dream of while a big majority of the population suffer in poverty. The poor struggle to earn enough money for food. While those who can afford form long queues on supermarkets, others look for scrap to satiate their hunger. The sad thing is that while many suffer and die of hunger, you can also see tons and tons of food waste from restaurants, fast foods, groceries, and markets. Some food is thrown because they don’t pass quality control while others were a little past their expiry.

Imagine going to the grocery store, buying three bags of food, loading two into your car, and mindlessly leaving the third in the parking lot as you drive away. Think you’d never do that? Think again: As Dana Gunders, a senior scientist with the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and author of The Waste Free Kitchen Handbook (Chronicle Books, 2015), writes on her blog: “Right now, we’re literally trashing more than one-third of our food supply — an ongoing crime against hunger, the environment, efficiency, and common sense.” 

Food waste (or wasted food) is a massive global problem of relatively recent origin. One hundred years ago — maybe even 60 years ago — there was little, if any, agricultural waste; and food didn’t travel thousands of miles in order for a Santa Fe grocery store to sell strawberries from South America in January. The NRDC has a few more sobering statistics: Only 60 percent of food produced in the U.S. is consumed; 20 percent of the food we buy is never eaten; and 90 percent of us throw excess or leftover food away too soon — adding up to about 300 pounds of wasted food per person — a habit NDRC calculates costs a family of four $1,500 a year and places enormous stress on the environment. 

(Via: http://www.santafenewmexican.com/pasatiempo/restaurants/the-waste-land-a-global-food-problem/article_105c39ee-e222-532e-bb86-39275acab27b.html)

Imagine all those foods go to waste instead of feeding hungry stomachs. Times like this you’d seriously wonder how low society has become. If food doesn’t make the cut for whatever reason, why not give it away to the poor than to the trash can.

Food waste is also a big talker in the restaurant industry. Consider these facts:

» Every year, American consumers, businesses and farms spend $218 billion (roughly 1.3 percent of this country’s gross domestic product) on food that is never eaten.

» Nearly 85 percent of all food waste happens in homes or consumer-facing businesses, such as restaurants, retail grocers and institution cafeterias.

» The average amount of purchased food that is wasted in a full-service restaurant is 11.3 percent.

(Via: http://www.myajc.com/entertainment/dining/mind-the-waste-rethinking-leftovers-and-restaurant-food-waste/M97ANEEFKCpShHYmETBuCL/)

Need we say more? Not only do we waste precious resource and become a part of the problem but chemicals from food waste are also bad for the environment. We should all strive to reduce our carbon footprint even the simplest ways possible.

The numbers are as shocking as they are appalling.

At a time when one in eight families in America struggles to put dinner on the table, a whopping 40 percent of the food produced in the country never gets eaten.

Some of it rots in the field before it can get harvested or gets lost or damaged during processing and packaging; other food items get tossed on the way to market because they’re too ugly to be displayed in the grocery store. Thousands of pounds of leftovers end up in the trash because by the time we remember they’re in the fridge, they’re moldy.

Confusion over food labels only adds to the problem.

If you don’t know the difference between “best by,” an advisory that simply means the product will taste best up until that date, but is still edible a few days after, and “sell by,” a date that helps stores keep track of inventory that needs to be bought by a certain time, you are not alone. Labels can be tricky to negotiate — they vary from state-to-state or even manufacturer-to-manufacturer — that 90 percent of Americans throw away food that’s perfectly edible. Twenty percent of the food we buy never gets eaten.

“People assume food labels are federally mandated, but they’re not, other than for baby food,” notes JoAnne Berkenkamp, a senior advocate in the Food & Agriculture Program at the Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental activist organization. “They also widely assume the dates means the food is no longer safe to eat, and that is almost uniformly untrue. They just indicate when the food is at its freshest.”

All told, we toss more than 23 pounds of food per person per month at home and in restaurants, or 35 pounds per person if you add in food retail. That’s more than 45 bananas or two whole turkeys per capita, and that doesn’t even reflect the additional losses in distribution, food manufacturing and farming, Berkenkamp notes.

(Via: http://www.fayobserver.com/news/20170405/cut-down-on-food-waste-and-save-money-in-process)

The statistics have spoken. Since when did we become this selfish and wasteful? The abundance of food in the market does not mean we can waste as much as we want. Resources are dwindling while the population keeps on ballooning. Let this be a lesson to everybody not only to people who are directly working in the food business. Proper planning, management, and inventory can prevent this problem. In case there are indeed leftovers, why not donate it to animal shelters or donate to food banks or soup kitchens food that is nearing their expiration.

The world is under so much stress these days. From the dangers of technology, the abuse of humans and the threats of climate change, the world can only take so much. It just goes to show that we don’t value the planet by adding insult to injury through the waste of resources or lack of the compassion to the other person by choosing to throw away food than giving it to the less fortunate.

The following blog post What Food Shortage? See more on: https://www.soulvisual.com/

source https://www.soulvisual.com/blog/what-food-shortage/

Women In Power

Politics has always been a man’s world. Ever since the world we know started, men dominated this field. But we may be mistaken after all. There are reports of matriarchal societies in the not-so-distant past often led by the healer (often a woman) or the most dominant women of the tribe/ clan.

So, it should not come as a surprise that women can be great world leaders too. Although it is not yet the time for America to elect its first woman president, the feat has been done in other countries in the past and until the present day. Enjoying equal voting right was just the beginning. Women did their part in shaping our society into a global community that welcomes the ideas and contribution of everyone regardless of gender but it seems that the number of women leaders have stagnated in recent years.

The number of women in executive roles in government and parliament globally has stagnated with only minor improvements since 2015, according to a new report by U.N. Women, with the Americas witnessing the most gains compared to other regions.

In the Americas, which includes North and South America and the Caribbean, women's representation has gone up from 22.4 percent in 2015 to 25 percent in 2017.

In comparison, women’s representation in Europe stands at 22.5 percent, up slightly from 21.6 percent in 2015. In Asia, the number has risen from just 10.6 percent to 11 percent, while in Africa women hold 19.7 percent of the region’s ministerial posts.

The top five countries with the largest share of women ministers are in Europe and the Americas, with Canada and Sandinista-run Nicaragua leading the way with more than 50 percent of ministerial positions filled by women.

(Via: http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Americas-Lead-Way-But-Women-Less-Represented-in-Global-Politics-20170318-0024.html)

Other women leaders acknowledge the fact that not enough women get into higher ranks or positions in politics than they would’ve wanted to.

In 2012, Julia Gillard gave a speech that went viral. During a debate in parliament, Australia's first female prime minister delivered a 15-minute rebuke of Tony Abbott, the leader of the opposition, in which she branded him a sexist and a misogynist.

And it seems that she is right and that not much has changed over the years.

Five years on, Gillard still finds women crossing the road to congratulate her. She will be sitting on a plane and another passenger will lean over and mention the incident.

In some cases, she tells IBTimes UK during an interview in Dubai, the only thing that person will know about Australia is kangaroos, koalas - and her speech.

And she experienced it first-hand herself.

"If there are women in the world that find that speech inspiring and it is the only thing they know about Australian politics, well, that is a pretty good thing."

Those who know a little more about Australia will also be likely to remember Gillard's exit from politics in an ugly power struggle that saw her ousted by her political rival and former boss, Kevin Rudd, after just three years in power. Both Rudd and Gillard had pledged to resign if the other triumphed, and Gillard made good on that pledge in June 2013 when Rudd beat her by just 12 votes.

But she remains to have high hopes for all the women to break barriers and enjoy equal opportunities and same respect as their male counterparts.

"When you look around the world, women still tend not to be represented in anything like equal numbers," she explains. "For me, this comes down to a very simple concept: if you believe that men and women are equal and have equal capacities and if you look at our world and you aren't seeing half and half when it comes to the leadership of nations then means there are still barriers preventing women coming through," she says.

(Via: http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/julia-gillard-still-not-enough-women-getting-top-politics-1612446)

But there is a slim chance that women can conquer the political environment in more conservative countries like Russia.

Russians are growing colder on the idea of women taking part in politics and the majority say they are not ready to see a woman lead their country in the next 15 years, a new poll finds.

Two thirds of Russians (66 percent) still approve of women participating in politics, according to a poll by independent survey company Levada Center, which is a drop by 11 points since last year.

(Via: http://europe.newsweek.com/russians-grow-cold-women-politics-majority-oppose-female-president-563363?rm=eu)

Women have achieved so much over the last century but more work still needs to be done. The world at large is more accepting of women and women thrive in certain industries like fashion, communication, and education among others. Many have even filled up important posts in companies and even started their very own.

However, politics is a different arena. While a lot of women have been elected into office for various government positions, it is still predominantly dominated by men. We must first change our view of women and see them as equals to men before even bigger changes can be seen to our society in general.

The blog article Women In Power was originally seen on https://www.soulvisual.com/

source https://www.soulvisual.com/blog/women-in-power/