Democracy Round-Up: Russia and Venezuela bet on crypto currency to circumvent U.S. sanctions
Headlines from around the world in the fight to protect democracy and the rule of law
State-sponsored crypto currencies could soon be in the works for both Russia and Venezuela with the goal of circumventing U.S. sanctions. In Venezuela, Pres. Nicolás Maduro laid out a plan to create a digital currency called the Petro that would be similar to Bitcoin but backed by the government’s oil and natural gas reserves. In Russia, officials have proposed a Bitcoin-esque crypto ruble. However, the very thing that would make current crypto currencies useful for evading sanctions — their underlying blockchain technology — also make it a counter-intuitive choice for a state currency. Blockchain was specifically designed as a decentralized record-keeping system maintained on peer-to-peer networks. “Just as email allowed messages to move around without going through a central postal service, the computer network maintaining Bitcoin records allows money to move around without going through any central authority,” The New York Times explained. Still, the efforts also show how crypto currencies, once considered a fringe concept in global finance, are starting to gain some broader acceptance. [The New York Times]
Norway has stopped exporting weapons and ammunition to the United Arab Emirates due to concerns they could be used in the war with Yemen, where a humanitarian crisis has unfolded as fighting enters its third year. It’s not clear whether Norwegian weapons specifically are being used in the conflict, in which 60,000 people have been killed or wounded since March 2015, according to the U.N. Still, the war has escalated dramatically since last fall, and the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has decided, as a “precautionary measure,” to suspend arms export licenses that had already been issued to the UAE. The country is part of a Saudi Arabia-led coalition that first launched a massive aerial attack against Houthi rebels — who are backed by Iran — in the capital of Sanaa and have escalated fighting in much of the country’s north. An estimated 13 million Yemenis have been forced to go without adequate food or water, leading to a cholera outbreak last summer. [Al Jazeera]
French Pres. Emanuel Macron has said he will introduce a new law aimed at combating fake news during elections as false stories aimed at candidates become more and more prevalent. The legislation will require websites to say who is financing them and will cap the amount of money allowed for sponsored content. It will establish a special legal action during elections that will allow authorities to remove fake news content from sites. “If we want to protect liberal democracies, we must be strong and have clear rules,” Macron said. He was also the target of fake news stories during his campaign, including fabricated reports that he hid money in offshore accounts, accepted campaign financing from Saudi Arabia, and even engaged in a homosexual extra-marital affair. [The Guardian]
The nonprofit Words Without Borders has released its annual list of the editors’ favorite books in translation from 2017, with recommendations for what titles to watch for this year as well. Choices included a coming-of-age story set in 1980s Poland, a tale of motherhood and isolation set in Sweden, a collection of fantastical short stories from Argentina, and an illustrated novel coming out of Egypt. WWB is a New York-based nonprofit that promotes cultural understanding through the translation, publication and promotion of the world’s finest contemporary literature. [Words Without Borders]
