- A New Trudeau Era in Canada
Liberal Party leader Justin Trudeau CreditChris Wattie/Reuters
The sweeping victory of Justin Trudeau in Canada’s elections on Monday shows how ready Canadians were to emerge from a decade under the Conservative government of the secretive and combative Stephen Harper. Mr. Trudeau clearly benefited from voters’ memories of his father, Pierre Elliott Trudeau, who rose to power 47 years ago on a platform of liberal reforms and a wave of personal popularity that came to be dubbed “Trudeaumania.” To those memories, Justin Trudeau, 43, added his own charisma and the promise that, as prime minister, he would return Canadians to the tradition of liberal and humanitarian values that his father championed.
In his nearly 10 years in office, Mr. Harper pursued a conservative agenda of lowering taxes, cutting government programs and taking a tough line on security, including the passage of broad antiterrorism laws. His government also banned women from wearing face coverings at citizenship ceremonies.
Mr. Trudeau, by contrast, has pledged, among other things, to legalize marijuana, revise the antiterrorism laws, stop the purchase of F-35 fighter jets from the United States and end Canada’s combat role in the American-led fight against the Islamic State. While both men backed the Keystone XL oil pipeline, Mr. Trudeau is open to addressing environmental concerns. To many voters, that was the major appeal of Mr. Trudeau — that he would return the Liberal Party, and Canada, to the country’s core values, like a generous safety net, active participation in international organizations like the United Nations, a humanitarian foreign policy and an inclusive concept of nationhood. Mr. Harper’s conservatism was at odds with that identity.
For the Liberals, the election was a stunning reversal of years of sagging fortunes. In the Harper years, the party had lacked a dynamic leader and was eclipsed on the left by the New Democratic Party, which relegated the Liberals to No. 3 in Parliament after the 2011 elections. This time the Liberals soared from 34 seats to 184 in the 338-seat Parliament, while the Conservatives shed 60 seats and the New Democrats lost 59. The difference was Mr. Trudeau.
As Americans know well, legacy can be a boon and a bane. For Mr. Trudeau, his heritage was clearly a blessing, especially as almost half a century had elapsed between his father’s election and his own. But, in all those years, Canadians never fully lost their infatuation with the Trudeau era.
As for experience, the son is not the father. Pierre Elliott Trudeau, who died in 2000, was a star lawyer, intellectual and minister of justice before becoming prime minister. Justin Trudeau, is not the intellectual dynamo his father was, and before he entered politics in 2007, he had been a snowboard instructor, high school teacher and nightclub bouncer. (He remains a keen amateur boxer.)
But after the Liberals’ drubbing in 2011, the party found in Mr. Trudeau a fresh leader capable of inspiring much of the same excitement and loyalty as his father, especially among youthful voters. In politics, that counts for a lot, but it also creates a lot of expectations.
- Why Russia had to intervene in Syria
Russia's actions against terrorists are already bringing tangible results on the ground, and there is still time for Britain to get its share of the bombing pie, says the Russian Ambassador to the UK
The Independent Tuesday 20 October 2015
Russia has been one of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s strongest allies over recent years, and used its veto power four times at the UN Security Council to prevent international sanctions on Syria AP
Combating international terrorism has long been one of the top priorities of Russia's foreign policy. We have been consistently advocating genuinely global efforts in countering that evil. The fight against terrorism must be conducted on a universal legal basis, starting with the UN Charter. That is why Russia has been unable to join the US-led “global coalition” against Isis. The coalition was established in circumvention of the UN Security Council, and its operations in Syria violate the sovereignty of that country.
The fight against Isis can gain legitimacy only through a UN Security Council mandate. So far the Security Council has been blocked by attempts of a group of states to impose an ideological approach to this direct common threat. The Russian draft resolution on combating terrorist groups in the Middle East, while respecting the independence of countries of the region, remains on the table.
Russia calls for establishing a broad counter-terrorist front. Robustly addressing the threat of Isis and other terrorist groups in the region requires a joint and coordinated action by all those who are already fighting Isis on the ground. Those include the Syrian and Iraqi armies, the Kurdish and Shia militias, and groups of patriotic opposition in Syria. The recent meetings at the UN General Assembly have shown that nobody is enthused at the prospect of destruction of the regional architecture and replacement of secular states with an extremist “caliphate”.
While those diplomatic efforts are gaining momentum, Russia remains the only international player whose military actions in Syria have a legal basis in the form of the request of the government in Damascus. Our air strikes in Syria are solely focused on the elimination of the terrorist threat in that country. As regards the choice of targets, the Russian Defence Ministry has shown an unprecedented openness, providing comprehensive and detailed information on every single operation of the Russian Air Force, on a daily basis. Yet any information that our partners can share regarding potential Isis targets to be hit, will be highly appreciated. So far we haven't had any responses to our respective requests.
Russia's actions are already bringing tangible results on the ground. Several hundred air strikes have allowed to degrade significantly Isis command and logistical infrastructure. This is in stark contrast with the widely recognised and admitted inefficiency of the US-led coalition. After more than a year of bombing, Isis' ranks have swollen, their control over some regions has strengthened, and financial flows have been steady.
As we said, Britain can have its fair share of the bombing pie in Syria. We’d rather know what resources Her Majesty’s Government is willing to commit to this joint endeavour. As year-long bombing campaign by the US-led coalition showed, the lack of healthy competition and mutual control benefited the terrorist. Hopefully, that is changing now. In terms of legitimacy, the British participation could be part of the operation of the quadripartite coalition, acting at the request of Damascus.
The accusations that Isis is a product of Russia's “insistence” on keeping President Assad in power are absolutely untenable. What is true is that the weakening of the Syrian authorities caused by the outside interference has led to vacuum and vast zones of anarchy throughout the country, that were filled by terrorists. The so called moderate opposition was led to believe that a Western military intervention would engineer a “regime change”, that somebody would fight for them. Consequently, as civil war raged, polarisation left little room for those misled groups.
Indeed, while solving the problem of terrorism, we certainly must facilitate the launch of a UN-led focused and comprehensive political process based on the Geneva communiqué of 30 June 2012. Defeating terrorists will help create the right conditions for a lasting political settlement. It will be the best way to put an end to the civil conflict and achieve а “peace without victory”, something that the Entente powers couldn’t stomach in 1918. After all, it is peace all the Syrians are longing for.
Alexander Yakovenko is the Russian Ambassador to the United Kingdom
- London Wants to Become the Center of Chinese Currency Trading
The Bloomberg October 20, 2015
The Importance of President Xi Jinping’s U.K. Visit
- PBOC official said to view London as likely renminbi hub
- Euronext study expects $5 trillion of Chinese investment
Three years ago, Chinese officials said U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron had “seriously damaged” relations by meeting with the Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan leader. As planned talks between the two countries were canceled or failed to take place, worries emerged that Britain would miss out on building deeper economic ties.
That doesn’t seem to be a problem anymore. As the U.K. capital hosts Chinese President Xi Jinping this week, a ranking People’s Bank of China official told a British executive that the central bank already expects London to be the worldwide center for renminbi trading. The London executive asked not to be named, citing confidentiality.
U.K. executives care about relations with China because its economy is widely expected to regain its 19th century role as the world’s largest. And while its currency wasn’t even allowed outside its own borders before 2004, China is opening up now, spurring predictions that the renminbi will become a reserve currency eventually rivaling the dollar. London already has 40 percent of global foreign-exchange trading and wants to build on its dominant position by grabbing a major share of offshore renminbi trading.
“We’re seeing the internationalization of the renminbi growing at a pretty brisk pace here,” said Standard Chartered Europe Chief Executive Officer Richard Holmes. “There’s a lot of runway. There’s a lot further to go. And that’s due to what I view as the end of U.S. dominance.”
London’s prowess in foreign-exchange trading has been a frequent theme in the past week as bankers and politicians cite a statistic from TheCityUK, a financial services lobby group: London trades more dollars than New York, and more euros than all of Europe combined.
Jobs, Investment
For the U.K. capital, increasing its renminbi trading could mean more financial services jobs and more investment. More than $50 billion of Chinese cash has gone into British assets in the past 15 years, according to Standard Chartered estimates. The two countries agreed on 14 billion pounds ($22 billion) of trade deals during Chinese Premier Li Keqiang’s visit last year.
“The big story for the next 15 years is China’s integration with global financial markets,” said David Loevinger, a former China specialist for the U.S. Treasury and now managing director at TCW Group Inc., which oversees about $180 billion. “Leaders of other countries know their prosperity depends on how they structure their relationship with China.”
A study commissioned by Euronext NV forecasts that as much as $5 trillion of Chinese money over the next three to five years will flow into assets on European exchanges.
Data backs up the belief that London’s gravity is pulling in renminbi trading. Peak transactions in the offshore currency against the U.S. dollar take place at 7 a.m. London time, reflecting the handover from Asia when London currency traders are at their desks, according to ICAP Plc data.
Trading has more than doubled at that time in the past year on ICAP’s EBS Brokertec platform. The dollar-renminbi cross has shot up to its third-most traded pair from 14th in 2013. Last year, the broker and market operator created a 24-hour, six-person team focusing on the Chinese currency.
Offshore renmimbi trading more than doubled on Thomson Reuters Corp. markets in the past six months to $192.5 billion in September, including spot and forwards transactions. That’s up from $127.1 billion a year earlier and $28.2 billion in 2013.
Strong Position
“London is in a strong position to become a major hub for offshore RMB trading,” said Yang Du, head of Thomson Reuters’ China business desk.
沒有留言:
張貼留言