Thursday, October 17, 2013

Commentaries, Opinions, And Editorials -- October 17, 2013

Share of each country's population that is enslaved. Click to enlarge. Data source: Walk Free Global Slavery Index. (Max Fisher/The Washington Post)

This Map Shows Where The World’s 30 Million Slaves Live. There Are 60,000 In The U.S. -- Max Fisher, Washington Post

We think of slavery as a practice of the past, an image from Roman colonies or 18th-century American plantations, but the practice of enslaving human beings as property still exists. There are 29.8 million people living as slaves right now, according to a comprehensive new report issued by the Australia-based Walk Free Foundation.

This is not some softened, by-modern-standards definition of slavery. These 30 million people are living as forced laborers, forced prostitutes, child soldiers, child brides in forced marriages and, in all ways that matter, as pieces of property, chattel in the servitude of absolute ownership. Walk Free investigated 162 countries and found slaves in every single one. But the practice is far worse in some countries than others.

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Commentaries, Opinions, And Editorials

Relief Around the World as U.S. Avoids Debt Default -- Joe McDonald, Real Clear World/AP

US Democracy Is Nearing its Limits -- Sebastian Fischer and Marc Pitzke, Spiegel Online

Outlook for Syria peace talks dims -- Ariel Zirulnick, Christian Science Monitor

Now it is impossible to defeat Syria -- RT

Iran’s spots haven’t changed, whatever it tells negotiators -- Anne Applebaum,

Why a little-noticed chat between the US and Iran is a big deal -- Scott Peterson, Christian Science Monitor

As Iran and the West Make Progress in Geneva, Israel Grumbles From the Sidelines -- Karl Vick, Time

The Future of Afghanistan -- Max Boot, Commentary

What China Sees When It Looks at Southeast Asia -- Zhang Yuanan, World Crunch

Israel and the new Munich -- Caroline B. Glick, Jerusalem Post

Few Alternatives for Germany -- Milton Ezrati, National Interest

Olympic-Level Corruption in Putin's Russia -- Kim Zigfeld, Commentary

Russia: Structural Decline or a Cyclical Trough? -- Martin Gilman. Moscow Times

Credit Ratings and the Debt -- John Steele Gordon, Commentary

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