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Highlights:
Canada’s universal basic income
The Independent reported that the Canadian province of Ontario “is set to become the first region of the country to test a ‘basic income,’—a social support system that does away with means-tested welfare and replaces it with a single, universal payment that every citizen is entitled to.”Prime Minister Justin Trudeau plans to extend this idea across the entire nation.Optimistic proponents of the program say it has never been tried before, except in small parts of Canada and South America. But programs like these have been tried before—in various socialist and Communist nations—and they have failed in every case.Europe compromises with its values over migrants
The European Union’s recent deal with Turkey regarding migrants breaks the EU’s own laws. It also compels it to turn a blind eye to increasing authoritarianism in Turkey.That’s the extent to which the migrant crisis has transformed the Continent.As columnist Brad Macdonald wrote in the November-December 2015 Trumpet, Europe’s old demons are returning as a consequence: “Perhaps the greatest effect of the refugee crisis, together with Russia’s dramatic resurgence and Europe’s rolling financial problems, is the way it is causing Europe to shed this postwar veneer and return to its past. Being tolerant feels good, until hundreds of thousands of foreigners enter your nation and expect you to foot the bill. Being multicultural is wonderful, until Muslims waving Islamic State flags and eyeing your teenage daughter settle in your village. … Europe right now is a place where dreams are beginning to meet reality.”Iran threatens to walk away from deal
After ramping up its terrorism rhetoric and illegally test-firing ballistic missiles emblazoned “Israel must be wiped out” in Hebrew, Iran preempted possible sanctions from the U.S. by threatening to walk away from the nuclear deal altogether.“If our interests are not met under the nuclear deal,” warned Iran’s deputy foreign minister, Abbas Araqchi, “there will be no reason for us to continue.”“If other parties decide, they could easily violate the deal,” he added. “However, they know this will come with costs.”Germany’s ‘Super Sunday’ election
Voters in Germany are “set to punish Merkel at key ‘Super Sunday’ election,” wrote The Local.Over 12 million Germans in Baden-Württemberg, Rhineland-Palatinate and Saxony-Anhalt will elect new regional parliaments.“These elections are very important … as they will serve as a litmus test for the government’s disputed policy” on refugees, said Jens Walther, a Düsseldorf University political scientist.Japan’s military-manga complex
For those who still associate Japan’s resurgent militarism with its World War ii atrocities, a manga-laced public relations campaign must just be Japan’s latest remedy.Japan’s Self-Defense Force is plastering its war planes with manga—Japan’s infamous cartoon characters of doe-eyed young girls—in an apparent effort to “not only ameliorate public dissent against militarism, but also reconcile the horror and carnage of past aggression with the future need for defense, setting up the stage for possible military engagement in the East China Sea,” wrote Katherine Chin for the Brown Political Review.
Other news:
Canada has sold off its gold—it’s now the only G-7 nation that does not hold at least 100 tons of gold in its reserves. “In the absence of the gold standard,” former Fed chairman Alan Greenspan said, “there is no way to protect savings from confiscation through inflation.”China’s draconian one-child policy created a debilitating, unnatural sex-ratio imbalance. China now has 33 million more men than women. This tragedy is fueling the sex trafficking industry as slavers capture Southeast Asian women for import into China.Get more details on these stories and more by subscribing to the Trumpet Weekly!
