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WEEK IN REVIEW Editorial for April 21–26, 2008

By Informify Staff

At the end of each week, we review the stories we covered and look for connections. This past week two major themes emerged:

China's Influence Widening

The tensions over China's long-term occupation of Tibet, and the Chinese crackdown against Tibetan separatists flared last week. As the Beijing Olympics approach, the West continues to pressure the Chinese government to dialogue with Tibet's Dalai Lama. The Chinese, however, maintain that the Dalai Lama is a separatist leader intent on liberating Tibet from China. Across the world protesters met Olympic torch runners in London, Paris, San Francisco, Argentina, Australia and Japan to draw attention to China's human rights record and occupation of Tibet. While some Western governments openly discussed the possibility of boycotting the Olympics this summer, only Germany and the United Kingdom announced plans to boycott the opening ceremonies.

This week the U.N. held a meeting to discuss a growing worldwide food shortage. Although the price of oil and a lagging American economy are partly to blame, China's growing population and expanding economy have contributed. As China's income level rises, people who were once only able to afford staple foods like rice and soybeans can now afford more expensive vegetables and meats. Coupled with an increasing population (1.3 billion now), the increased demand for food has led to inflation in China. And because it imports and exports enormous amounts of food, China's inflation contributes to the worldwide crisis.

Finally, Chinese authorities felt some heat from the Zimbabwe election crisis. While members of Zimbabwe's police and military raided the offices of the main opposition party, a shipment of Chinese weapons chugged its way toward Zimbabwe. After loud protests from Western countries, including the United State, and several of Zimbabwe's neighbor countries, China agreed to turn back the ship. Naturally this drew strong protest from Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe, who blasted his African neighbors as "myopic stooges." Meanwhile, Mugabe still refuses to release election results from the March 31 presidential election.

U.S. Economic Tremors Felt Worldwide

We've just passed the halfway point in the fiscal year and the United States faces a growing budget deficit of $311 billion. To help reduce the deficit, the government will likely borrow from other countries and then owe them interest, take money from U.S. taxpayers, and cut social programs that serve people who are already suffering financially.

For instance, government cuts in healthcare programs in the nation's poorest counties may be partially to blame for falling life expectancy rates among poor women. Even with recent medical advancements, Americans don't live as long as people in other industrialized nations such as Japan and Canada. And the poor fared even worse, women especially, who actually live five years less than they did in the 1980s.

The country's swelling trade deficit significantly favors other countries like China. This increases the United States' dependence on foreign goods.

Ironically, the rising price of oil coupled with stacked U.S. deficits caused the price of food production in the U.S. to skyrocket. Developing countries dependent on our food supply struggle to afford wheat and corn. Not only does the U.S. money crisis put poor Americans health at risk, it threatens the ability of billions of poor people in developing countries to eat.