Amid many disheartening developments for democracy and the rule of law worldwide, a glimmer of joy recently shone through the gloom. The Chinese poet Liu Xia – the 57-year old widow of the renowned human-rights activist and political dissident Liu Xiaobo – has made it to Europe.
Unlike the 2008 global financial crisis, which was mostly a large negative aggregate demand shock, the next recession is likely to be caused by permanent negative supply shocks from the Sino-American trade and technology war. And trying to undo the damage through never-ending monetary and fiscal stimulus will not be an option.
The Communist Party of China would like the mainland Chinese population and the rest of the world to believe that the ongoing, sometimes violent protests in Hong Kong pose a threat of "terrorism." But the truth is that China has only itself to blame for pushing the city's idealistic youth into the streets once again.
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NEW YORK – There has been a lot of bad news lately on the human-rights front. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has resumed air strikes on his people, killing opposition fighters and civilians alike. Poland’s ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party continues to make headway in its quest to destroy judicial independence. The United States Supreme Court upheld President Donald Trump’s travel ban, which prevents immigrants, refugees, and visa holders from Iran, Libya, North Korea, Somalia, Syria, Venezuela, and Yemen from entering the country.
But a glimmer of joy recently showed through the gloom of these and other disheartening developments: the Chinese poet Liu Xia – the 57-year old widow of the renowned human-rights activist and political dissident Liu Xiaobo – has made it to Europe.
Liu’s husband, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, died of liver cancer last year, nearly eight years into an 11-year prison sentence in China for drafting a petition demanding democracy and respect for human rights. When he was awarded the Nobel in 2010, the Chinese authorities barred his family from travelling to Oslo to accept the prize, placed his wife under house arrest, and allowed her little contact with her husband. The Chinese government continued to monitor and restrict her movements closely, even after his death.
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