Important Takeaways:

• New wars, old wars, famine, panic everywhere. So much for a quiet August
• From Bangladesh to Venezuela, one calamity rapidly overtakes another, but common denominators include poverty, corruption and lack of hope
  • [Bangladesh] Last week’s revolution in Bangladesh captured the tone. Recalling the 1986 “people power” overthrow of Ferdinand Marcos in the Philippines, Sheikh Hasina, a pro-democracy prime minister turned late-life autocrat, did not merely lose her job. She nearly lost her head, legging it into last-minute exile. Bangladesh, in turmoil and beset by score-settling, must piece itself back together. It won’t be easy.
  • [Venezuela] …the uproar following Venezuela’s election travesty. President Nicolás Maduro, no Chávez he, thought it was in the bag. Then the actual votes started coming in. Appalled, he belatedly realized he was losing. Publication of results was abruptly suspended, Maduro claimed a bogus victory, and the familiar lies, crackdowns and violence began.
  • Except, this time, like Bangladesh, repression hasn’t worked. Vote tallies have not been released, so no one believes him. The US and Europe say that opposition candidate Edmundo González won. Even friendly leftwing governments in Brazil, Colombia and Mexico are jibbing. Hundreds have been arrested, dozens have died. Yet Maduro won’t budge, and so the crisis deepens.
  • [Africa] Poverty, lack of opportunity and official corruption roil the global street. In Kenya, young anti-government demonstrators sparked copycat generation Z protests in Nigeria and Uganda. About 70% of Africa’s fast-expanding population is under 30. Youthful insurrection is not confined to a single calendar month. It’s ongoing.
  • In the Middle East, matters go from bad to seriously worse, fueling fears of region-wide war. Iran’s response to the assassination of Hamas’s leader, Ismail Haniyeh, in Tehran is awaited with trepidation. It’s an old story. Western countries conduct emergency evacuations. Israel, backed by the US, prepares to strike back.
  • [Ukraine] The conflict dramatically intensified this month after a large Ukrainian force invaded Russia right back.
  • Sudan’s civil war is a catastrophe with dire implications for the whole Sahel region, terrorism and migration – yet few seem to notice, let alone care.
  • At the opposite end of the spectrum, the wealthy wolves of Wall Street and other financial centers were busy making their own contribution to international insecurity with an irresponsible, rollercoaster display of record stock market instability. Yet jobbers’ jitters surely reflect the fears and uncertainties of a world running clean out of control.
  • Speaking of control, the “indispensable” country that much of the world looks to in times of trouble spent August hopelessly distracted by domestic political tumult. Don’t expect the US to sort things out, unless Joe Biden produces a parting rabbit. Harris v Trump is shaping up to be the knock-down, scratch-your-eyes-out, photo-finish fight of the century.

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