The future of China's economic miracle has been preying on investors' minds this year in the wake of a far-reaching crackdown by Beijing on many of its key industries.
Billions of dollars have been wiped off the value of several Chinese technology firms as a result of new anti-monopoly and data security rules. Online shopping behemoth Alibaba and its peers have been hit particularly hard.
The curbs have been extended to many other areas of the economy, including the burgeoning cryptocurrency market, where transactions of digital currencies — including Bitcoin — are now effectively illegal. The private education and energy sector have also not been spared.
Read more at:
China crackdown: How much pain can the economy take? | Business | Economy and finance news from a German perspective | DW | 07.10.2021
Showing posts with label Crackdown. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Crackdown. Show all posts
5/3/21
Russia: As Russia's confrontation with the West escalates, so has its crackdown on dissent at home
Nikita Golovizin faced int imidation and later arrest by Russian security services after he flew a European Union flag from his balcony next to a sign calling President Vladimir Putin a 'thief.'
For opponents of President Vladimir Putin in Russia, it seems as if there's no place that's safe these days — including in their own homes. "It was like 'bang, bang, bang' for half an hour," said Nikita Golovizin, an activist from the city of Voronezh about five hundred kilometres south of the capital Moscow, as he described how security agents parked themselves outside his apartment for several hours on one recent evening.
Read Mo0re at: As Russia's confrontation with the West escalates, so has its crackdown on dissent at home | CBC News
For opponents of President Vladimir Putin in Russia, it seems as if there's no place that's safe these days — including in their own homes. "It was like 'bang, bang, bang' for half an hour," said Nikita Golovizin, an activist from the city of Voronezh about five hundred kilometres south of the capital Moscow, as he described how security agents parked themselves outside his apartment for several hours on one recent evening.
Read Mo0re at: As Russia's confrontation with the West escalates, so has its crackdown on dissent at home | CBC News
1/9/19
Saudi Arabia: Disappeared Saudi couple highlights crackdown on activists shows disrespect for Human Rights of Saudi Government
The cases of Saudi stand-up comedian Fahad
al-Butairi and his wife, Loujain al-Hathloul, a women's right-to-drive
activist, who were arrested in 2018, has resurfaced following a Twitter
thread detailing their disappearance.
In a series of tweets, American writer and
television producer Kirk Rudell spoke about his friendship with the
Saudi couple who tried to challenge the kingdom's strict social rules.
The tweets about their disappearance went viral, spotlighting Saudi Arabia's crackdown on activists and the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in October last year.
Read more: Disappeared Saudi couple highlights crackdown on activists | Saudi Arabia News | Al Jazeera
10/30/16
Turkey fires thousands more civil servants, shuts media outlets
 |
| Crackdown or Erdogan dictatorship? |
More than 100,000 people had already been sacked or suspended and 37,000 arrested since the failed coup, in an unprecedented crackdown the government says is necessary to root out all supporters of Gulen from the state apparatus.
Thousands more academics, teachers, health workers, prison guards and forensics experts were among the latest to be removed from their posts through two new executive decrees published on the Official Gazette late on Saturday.
Opposition parties described the move as a coup in itself. The continued crackdown has also raised concerns over the functioning of state.
Read more: Turkey fires thousands more civil servants, shuts media outlets - France 24
8/7/16
Turkey: The story behind post-coup siege mentality in Turkey
Turkish politicians and media were quick to blame the West for the
failed July 15 coup. The idea that world powers have designs on Turkey
has been around for over a century - and it's not totally without basis.
In the weeks since the July 15 coup, Turkey's government has cracked down domestically on the network led by US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen. Many officials and media outlets have taken things a step further, implicating the imam's American hosts in the coup - an idea that has gained some traction.
The idea that foreign powers seek to weaken and divide Turkey is a powerful force in domestic and foreign policy. The Ottoman Empire dissolved at the hands of ethnic nationalism and foreign interference. During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Ottoman lands in the Balkans succumbed to national liberation movements, often with the support of European powers.
At the same time, Ottoman territories in Arab North Africa were lost to the machinations of European powers, and, by the eve of World War I, the empire was a shadow of its former self. During the war, British-backed Arab revolts left an indelible mark on Turkish minds of the dangers of foreign instigation on emerging national consciousness. Even today, many Turks view Arabs as traitors.
The experience of losing the Ottoman Emptire to ethnic nationalism has created hypersensitivities to external meddling within Turkey and on its periphery, with regard to Kurds in Turkey, Iraq and most recently in Syria.
Since coming out of the coup attempt stronger than ever, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has helped stoke the notion that the coup was part of a bigger international plot, calling Gulen a "pawn" controlled by a greater "mastermind."
Stating it bluntly recently, Erdogan said: "Unfortunately, the West is supporting terrorism and stands by coup plotters."
The United States has denied any involvement or prior knowledge of the coup, but the accusations have set the stage for a further deterioration of relations between Washington and Ankara so long as the United States refuses to extradite Gulen.
Last week, US Ambassador to Turkey John Bass said he was "deeply disturbed and offended by the accusations without a shred of fact in so much of the commentary in this country."
Indeed, pro-government media has fueled anti-Western sentiment and freely peddles conspiracy theories. In some ways, the rhetoric is a reflection of the anti-Turkish and Islamophobic sentiment that comes out the West.
Yeni Safak Editor-in-Chief Ibrahim Karagul, who is close to Erdogan, wrote that the US was directly behind the coup and had declared war on Turkey by bombing the parliament, shooting people and attempting to assassinate the president.
Karagul has accused the US and Europe of working on a "scenario" to prepare the "invasion and occupation" of Turkey. Preparations for the "siege," a second invasion of Anatolia, started with the "Crusade intervention" throughout the Middle East in the 1990s, he wrote. Karagul's other recent articles contain subheadlines such as "European Union now a threat to Turkey" and "US intends to destroy Turkey."
Turkey lives in a dangerous neighborhood that, over the past three decades, has witnessed the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the violent collapse of Yugoslavia, the disintegration of Iraq and the slow-motion meltdown of Syria. Adding to this is a 35-year insurgency by the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in Turkey that has claimed more than 40,000 lives.
From the perspective of some in Turkey, the United States has been a major driver of instability in the Middle East, especially through its second war in Iraq, which has heightened sectarianism across the region and given birth to a quasi-Kurdish state in northern Iraq.
But it is in Syria - where Turkey attempted to oust President Bashar al-Assad - that Ankara feels abandoned by its allies. The conflict has led to heightened tensions with United States over its backing of Syrian Kurdish groups tied to the PKK who have carved up autonomous regions along its border.
From Ankara's perspective, the United States is now backing two factions that it considers terrorist groups: the PKK-aligned YPG Syrian Kurdish militia and the Gulen movement, which has its headquarters in the state of Pennsylvania.
This is not to say that Turkey hasn't contributed to its own problems and those in the region. Certainly, the country's leadership seeks to externalize problems for domestic political reasons. Nor does it discount real concerns over the authoritarian direction that the country is taking under Erdogan.
However, it might behoove the West to at least understand the drivers - both real and imagined - behind the perceptions in Turkey.
EU-Digest
In the weeks since the July 15 coup, Turkey's government has cracked down domestically on the network led by US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen. Many officials and media outlets have taken things a step further, implicating the imam's American hosts in the coup - an idea that has gained some traction.
The idea that foreign powers seek to weaken and divide Turkey is a powerful force in domestic and foreign policy. The Ottoman Empire dissolved at the hands of ethnic nationalism and foreign interference. During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Ottoman lands in the Balkans succumbed to national liberation movements, often with the support of European powers.
At the same time, Ottoman territories in Arab North Africa were lost to the machinations of European powers, and, by the eve of World War I, the empire was a shadow of its former self. During the war, British-backed Arab revolts left an indelible mark on Turkish minds of the dangers of foreign instigation on emerging national consciousness. Even today, many Turks view Arabs as traitors.
The experience of losing the Ottoman Emptire to ethnic nationalism has created hypersensitivities to external meddling within Turkey and on its periphery, with regard to Kurds in Turkey, Iraq and most recently in Syria.
Since coming out of the coup attempt stronger than ever, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has helped stoke the notion that the coup was part of a bigger international plot, calling Gulen a "pawn" controlled by a greater "mastermind."
Stating it bluntly recently, Erdogan said: "Unfortunately, the West is supporting terrorism and stands by coup plotters."
The United States has denied any involvement or prior knowledge of the coup, but the accusations have set the stage for a further deterioration of relations between Washington and Ankara so long as the United States refuses to extradite Gulen.
Last week, US Ambassador to Turkey John Bass said he was "deeply disturbed and offended by the accusations without a shred of fact in so much of the commentary in this country."
Indeed, pro-government media has fueled anti-Western sentiment and freely peddles conspiracy theories. In some ways, the rhetoric is a reflection of the anti-Turkish and Islamophobic sentiment that comes out the West.
Yeni Safak Editor-in-Chief Ibrahim Karagul, who is close to Erdogan, wrote that the US was directly behind the coup and had declared war on Turkey by bombing the parliament, shooting people and attempting to assassinate the president.
Karagul has accused the US and Europe of working on a "scenario" to prepare the "invasion and occupation" of Turkey. Preparations for the "siege," a second invasion of Anatolia, started with the "Crusade intervention" throughout the Middle East in the 1990s, he wrote. Karagul's other recent articles contain subheadlines such as "European Union now a threat to Turkey" and "US intends to destroy Turkey."
Turkey lives in a dangerous neighborhood that, over the past three decades, has witnessed the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the violent collapse of Yugoslavia, the disintegration of Iraq and the slow-motion meltdown of Syria. Adding to this is a 35-year insurgency by the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in Turkey that has claimed more than 40,000 lives.
From the perspective of some in Turkey, the United States has been a major driver of instability in the Middle East, especially through its second war in Iraq, which has heightened sectarianism across the region and given birth to a quasi-Kurdish state in northern Iraq.
But it is in Syria - where Turkey attempted to oust President Bashar al-Assad - that Ankara feels abandoned by its allies. The conflict has led to heightened tensions with United States over its backing of Syrian Kurdish groups tied to the PKK who have carved up autonomous regions along its border.
From Ankara's perspective, the United States is now backing two factions that it considers terrorist groups: the PKK-aligned YPG Syrian Kurdish militia and the Gulen movement, which has its headquarters in the state of Pennsylvania.
This is not to say that Turkey hasn't contributed to its own problems and those in the region. Certainly, the country's leadership seeks to externalize problems for domestic political reasons. Nor does it discount real concerns over the authoritarian direction that the country is taking under Erdogan.
However, it might behoove the West to at least understand the drivers - both real and imagined - behind the perceptions in Turkey.
EU-Digest
12/15/14
Russia: Google closes Russia office after Internet crackdown
Google is planning to close its Russian engineering operations,
amid growing disquiet about new Russian internet laws which could see
other tech companies leave the country.
The Internet search giant is closing the department, but will offer its close-to 100 engineers, most of whom work in Moscow, new jobs elsewhere. It will keep its other Russian operations open, and has frequently made similar internal changes in the past from other countries.
A Google representative said: "We are deeply committed to our Russian users and customers and we have a dedicated team in Russia working to support them".
Russia has recently introduced new laws aimed at keeping data stored by Internet companies on Russian citizens inside the country. The government has also increased its requests to remove links from Google, a ploy usually used to get rid of unflattering stories or comments.
This changing climate in Russia may lead more Internet companies to move their operations to other countries in the region, including neighboring Ukraine.
Read more: Google closes Russia office after Internet crackdown
The Internet search giant is closing the department, but will offer its close-to 100 engineers, most of whom work in Moscow, new jobs elsewhere. It will keep its other Russian operations open, and has frequently made similar internal changes in the past from other countries.
A Google representative said: "We are deeply committed to our Russian users and customers and we have a dedicated team in Russia working to support them".
Russia has recently introduced new laws aimed at keeping data stored by Internet companies on Russian citizens inside the country. The government has also increased its requests to remove links from Google, a ploy usually used to get rid of unflattering stories or comments.
This changing climate in Russia may lead more Internet companies to move their operations to other countries in the region, including neighboring Ukraine.
Read more: Google closes Russia office after Internet crackdown
6/20/13
Pharmaceutical Industry: Europe Fines Drug Companies for Delaying Generics - by James Kanter
Europe’s top antitrust enforcer continued a crackdown on drug company efforts to keep low-cost generic versions of their medicines off the market, a campaign that is taking place on both sides of the Atlantic.
Read more: Europe Fines Drug Companies for Delaying Generics - NYTimes.com
On Wednesday, the European Commission fined a Danish pharmaceutical company and a number of generic producers a total of 146 million euros, or $195 million.
The commission said that Lundbeck of Denmark colluded with companies like Ranbaxy of India and Merck of Germany in 2002 and 2003 to delay market entry of a less expensive generic version of a blockbuster antidepressant called citalopram. Joaquín Almunia, the European commissioner for competition, said that Lundbeck also destroyed significant quantities of the low-cost version of the drug.
Read more: Europe Fines Drug Companies for Delaying Generics - NYTimes.com
3/13/13
Terrorism: Germany Cracks Down on Islamic Extremism
The German police announced Wednesday that they had arrested four men associated with the ultraconservative Islamic movement known as Salafism on suspicion of plotting to kill the leader of a far-right political party that has repeatedly taunted Muslims with caricatures of
Read more: Germany Cracks Down on Islamic Extremism - NYTimes.com
Read more: Germany Cracks Down on Islamic Extremism - NYTimes.com
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