Global Political Outlook: The world in 2017: Trump's long shadow and other events to watch

USA: The main thing to watch in 2017 in the US and in the world is the Von Trump family presidency, as dad and the kids likely won't even wrestle with policy issues, because of their supreme confidence in their own grasp of issues like the Middle East and nuclear arms.

It would be great if the shock of the Trump presidency sparked genuine grassroots interest in fixing American's dysfunctional democracy -  only about 55 per cent of eligible voters bothered to go to the polls in 2016 and democracy is retarded by serial maladies, from gerrymandered electorates to state-driven voter suppression to the role of lobbyists to big political donations.

As for US-Russian relations, the fallout from Vladimir Putin's alleged interference in the US elections will likely play out in the first months of the Trump administration, as Trump himself encounters resistance from his own Republican camp on sweeping it under the carpet.

China: One thing to watch in 2017 will be the political jostling and manoeuvring that will heat up ahead of a key Chinese leadership reshuffle at the 19th Party Congress to be held towards the end of the year. All eyes will be on any signalling of a potential future successor to President Xi Jinping, though speculation continues to firm that Xi plans to defy party convention and remain in power beyond the end of his second five-year term in 2022.

Taiwan looks set to pass a marriage equality bill allowing same-sex couples to wed, a move overwhelmingly backed by popular sentiment. Despite a stagnating economy and strained cross-strait relations, becoming the first Asian jurisdiction to legalise same-sex marriage will reinforce its reputation as one of the region's most progressive, vibrant and confident democracies.​

The South China Sea will remain the region's flashpoint with growing concern about the potential for conflict. Incoming US President Donald Trump has already raised questions about the "One China" policy after making a telephone call to Taiwan's leader. What happens in the strategic waters of the South China Sea, where most of Australia's trade passes, will depend on how Trump sets the parameters with China's thin-skinned communist rulers in 2017

Europe: Worst-case scenarios seem to have popped up quite a lot recently, which is a worry, because the worst-case scenario for Europe in 2017 is the effective collapse of the European Union. Under the continuing threat of terrorist attacks and the pressure of incoming refugees from Africa and the Middle East, politics is turning insular. Nationalism is on the rise.

On the eastern front, European states will continue to openly flirt with Russia, or bristle with worry about Donald Trump's commitment to NATO and their security.

Key elections will test whether the mood is merely grim or actually apocalyptic. Geert Wilders' anti-Islam, anti-immigration party will threaten to seize a share of power in the Netherlands, and the National Front's Marine Le Pen is likely to go head-to-head with social and economic conservative Francois Fillon in the French presidential race.

Italy may also go to the polls, with the anti-euro Five Star party in rude electoral health.

Then later in the year, Angela Merkel faces a tough fight to prove Germany's political centre can still command a majority.

Meanwhile, Britain will continue to tie itself in knots over what Brexit is going to involve, and how on earth it can actually be turned from a radical idea into a not-complete-debacle.

Oh, and, Eurovision is in Kiev this year. That's going to be weird..

The world in 2017: Trump's long shadow and other events to watch

EU Economy: What will the European economy look like in 2017? - by Lizzie O'Leary and Stephen Beard

There were three big electoral events affecting the global economy in the second half of 2016.

The biggest event  by far, of course, occurred in the U.S. on November 8th. The other two were in Europe and are set to have repercussions well into 2017: the vote for Brexit in the U.K. and the "no" vote in the Italian referendum.

Marketplace European Bureau Chief Stephen Beard joined Lizzie O’Leary to take a look at Europe moving into the New Year.

Read more: What will the European economy look like in 2017?

EU: Will Be Watching These Faces during 2017: Ten to watch for Europe

The European Union enters 2017 under siege from without and within, facing challenges to the east, west and south and experiencing a surge by anti-EU nationalists across the continent itself.

These are 10 faces Europe will be watching in 2017:

DONALD TRUMP – USA

JAROSLAW KACZYNSKI – POLAND

GEERT WILDERS – Netherlands

THERESA MAY – UK

MARINE LE PEN – FRANCE

VLADIMIR PUTIN – RUSSIA

SERGIO MATTARELLA – ITALY

ANGELA MERKEL – GERMANY

THE AFRICAN MIGRANT

THE MEN AND WOMEN IN BLACK - ISIS

Read more: Faces of 2017: Ten to watch for Europe

The Environment: Air pollution in Europe uis getting worse says European Environment Agency

According to the World Health Organisation, this is now the environmental factor causing the greatest concern for our health. The European Environment Agency states that around 90% of the urban population in Europe is exposed to pollutants which are considered to be harmful.

“This hike in pollution is partly due to the increased emissions caused by more heating being used to combat cooler temperatures,” explains weather forecaster Lionel Guiseppin. “Also, other contributing sources of pollution are traffic and manufacturing. These factors combine to create an accumulation of pollution. “

The European Union is trying to find solutions to this dangerous threat. A directive governing national emissions levels has been issued (the PEN directive) and the EU has also set limits, for the first time, on the ambient concentrations of fine particles.

On a national scale, each member state has taken emergency measures to limit the harmful effects.

Many European towns, especially in France, have reduced the speed limit in built up areas from 50 to 30 km per hour. The aim is to encourage the use of bicycles. The introduction of the ruling concerning alternate number plates, although quite efficient, has caused problems for public transport.

“I think it’s a good thing but at the same time it is a bit of a pain,” says French commuter Laurice Harrow. “As it’s free today, people are no longer using their cars but the trains are full and we no longer have any space, it’s a real pain.”

The second solution offered by Public Authorities is to ban vehicles with a high level of pollution. In Germany, ignoring this directive can lead to a fine of up to 40 euros while in Sweden, drivers may have to pay 113 euros. In London, the fines are higher still and can reach approximately 1200 euros for heavy goods vehicles.

Whilst waiting for the benefits of these solutions to take effect, some citizens have already taken measures. Anti-pollution masks are slowly but surely infiltrating the large European towns.

Read more: Air pollution in Europe

EU Forecast 2017; Three trends that will continue hurting the eurozone in 2017 – by Ilaria Maselli

In a referendum earlier this month, Italian voters dealt a knockout blow to their prime minister’s proposed reform agenda. He declared his resignation that very night.

Disdain for the current crop of politicians extends throughout Europe, with uncertainty surrounding the 2017 elections in the Netherland (March), France (May), and Germany (September.

On top of all of this comes the start of the Brexit negotiation, presumably in March. How will Theresa May manage to ensure that companies but not people retain the freedom of movement? For the rest of the EU, more than an economic challenge, the negotiation poses an existential challenge: does the eurozone need more or less integration to fix its economy and address the uncertainty? And if the answer is “more” what are the policies needed? Eurobonds? A common unemployment insurance scheme? More redistribution across regions?

This lack of confidence almost always puts the brakes on economic growth, since it pushes companies to postpone hiring and delay investment decisions. Moreover, recent research reveals that the most productive companies – those that have the most to lose from taking risks – demonstrate the strongest wait-and-see attitude. A protracted state of uncertainty can therefore permanently affect the productivity, innovation and growth performance of even the best companies.

Read more; Three trends that will continue hurting the eurozone in 2017 –

The Netherlands: Santa's secret past: Who is the real Saint Nicholas? And why do we celebrate Christmas? - by Tom Rawle

Saint Nicholas is said to have created miracles across Turkey

The big guy in the North Pole has been the traditional Christmas gift-giver for hundreds of years now.

But his dark past is a fairly untouched subject. Look away now kids.

The well-known bearded ball of joy was based on Saint Nicholas, a 4th century bishop based in Turkey.

Saint Nick was known for giving secret presents and pulling off a handful of miracles according to the history books.

Yet the real festive folk hero is now also widely revered as being the patron saint of prostitutes.

According to the story, Nicholas saved three women from becoming hookers after their father could not afford dowries for them to wed.

At the time in Turkey – then known as Asia Minor, unmarriable women would be forced into prostitution.

Luckily old Nick had a plan.

On the night before the eldest daughter came of age, he anonymously offered up a purse of gold coins to the family.

One year on, he repeated the same gesture for the middle daughter.

And finally in the third year, he dropped a purse down the chimney for the third daughter (hence the modern day fable).

The wonderworker is said to have continued his good will to help maintain the purity of women and slow down the growth of prostitution.

Gerry Bowler, historian and author of World Encyclopedia of Christmas, told Daily Star Online exclusively that Saint Nicholas is a “semi-mythical saint”, yet was renowned around the globe.

He said: “So many stories were told about his wonder-working powers — he could fly, he could be in two places at once, he could raise the dead to life — that he was the most popular saint in heaven (outside of the Virgin Mary).”

In another story Saint Nick is said to have brought back to life three children murdered by an evil butcher.

In translated script from Symeon the Metaphrast, a philosopher in 900AD, he wrote: “Now after he had long lived in this manner, renowned for his virtuous conduct, he asperged the metropolis of Myra with sweet and lovely unction distilled from the blossoms of divine Grace.

"When he came to the very advance age, full of days both heavenly and earthly, he need must comply with the common law of nature, as is man's lot.

Dr Bowler said many areas of the Catholic Church still allow for the teachings of Saint Nicholas, despite some no longer trusting the legend.

In his book, World Encyclopedia of Christmas, he writes: “After his death Nicholas became a well-loved saint, being named the patron, among other things, of Russia, Greece, Vikings, choirboys, thieves, perfumers, barrel makers, unmarried women and sailors.”

He adds: “By the sixteenth century German children hung out their stockings for him to drop presents in just as he had dropped bags of gold to the poor man’s daughters.

“At the same time in England children were told that he came in through the window.”

From this, the idea of Santa Claus was born”

He writes: “Among Protestant countries only the Netherlands maintained its devotion to Nicholas, known there as Sinterklaas.

“This figure of Sinterklaas inspired early nineteenth-century Americans in New York City to develop a new Gift-Bringer, Santa Claus.

“It is Santa Claus who is exported back to Europe to provide the model for Gift-Bringers such as Father Christmas.”

So the good news is Santa Claus is (based on) a real person.

The bad news, he meddled a bit too much with prostitutes

From: Santa's secret past: Who is the real Saint Nicholas? And why do we celebrate Christmas? | Daily Star

Resolution 2017- Help Clean-up Global Plutocracy:: Breaking Through Power: It's Easier Than We Think

This has become the New Normal: Don't accept it

 "When a small group of people rules a society the political system is considered an oligarchy; when only money and wealth determine how a society is controlled, the political system is a plutocracy.

This is basically the situation we have today in the US, Russia, China, EU and many other countries in the world.

From the standpoint of a democratic society, both oligarchy and plutocracy are inherently unjust and corrupt.

Of course there are variations in the degrees of authoritarianism and cruelty that each system exercises over the communities it relies upon for workers and wealth. Scholars have resorted to using phrases like “benign dictatorships” or “wise rulers” or “paternalistic hierarchies—“ to describe lighter touches by those few who impose their rule over the many.

Thomas Paine simply called them tyrannies. People, families, and communities can only take so much abuse before they rise up to resist. The job of the rulers is always to find that line and provide the lowest level of pay, security, housing, consumer protection, healthcare, and political access for society so that they can extract and hoard the greatest amount of wealth, power, and immunity from justice for themselves. In many ways, the majority of Americans live in a democracy of minimums, while the privileged few enjoy a plutocracy of maximums.

In a plutocracy, commercialism dominates far beyond the realm of economics and business; everything is for sale, and money is power. But in an authentic democracy, there must be commercial-free zones where the power of human rights, citizenship, community, equality, and justice are free from the corrupting influence of money. Our elections and our governments should be such commercial-free zones; our environment, air, and water should never fall under the control of corporations or private owners. Children should not be programmed by a huckstering economy where their vulnerable consciousness becomes the target of relentless corporate marketing and advertising.

American history demonstrates that whenever commerce dominates all aspects of national life, a host of ills and atrocities have not just festered and spread, but become normal—enslavement, land grabs, war, ethnic cleansing, serfdom, child labor, abusive working conditions, corrupt political systems, environmental contamination, and immunity from the law for the privileged few. History also shows that whenever there have been periods when enough of the country organizes and resists, we see movements of people and communities breaking through power. Progress is made. Rights are won.

Education and literacy increase. Oppression is diminished. It was in this manner that people of conscience abolished the living nightmare imposed by the laws and whips of white enslavers. The nation moved closer to promises of “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness” expressed in the Declaration of Independence. We won more control over our work, our food, our land, our air, and our water. Women secured the right to vote. Civil rights were elevated and enforced. Public schools, improved environments, workplace collective bargaining, and consumer protections did not spontaneously evolve; they were won by people demanding them and breaking through power.

These moments of great progress are expressed in terms of new legislation, regulations, and judicial decisions that directly benefit the life, liberties, and pursuit of happiness of most Americans. From the abolition of slavery to the introduction of seat belts, great social gains have been achieved when people mobilize, organize, and resist the power of the few. The problem is that these liberating periods of humanitarian and civilizational progress are of shorter duration than the relentless commercial counterforces that discourage and disrupt social movements and their networks of support. Some commentators have used the bizarre term “justice fatigue” to describe the pullback that often occurs when communities of resistance are faced with increased surveillance, infiltration, harassment, and arrest. A more accurate term is repression.

Concentrated power in the hands of the few really should matter to you. It matters to you if you are denied fulltime gainful employment or paid poverty wages and there are no unions to defend your interests. It matters to you if you’re denied affordable health care. It matters to you if you’re gouged by the drug industry and your medication is outrageously expensive. It matters to you if it takes a long time to get to and from work due to lack of good public transit or packed highways. It matters to you if you and your children live in impoverished areas and have to breathe dirtier air and drink polluted water and live in housing that is neglected by your landlord. It matters to you if your children are receiving a substandard education in understaffed schools where they are being taught to obey rather than to question, think and imagine, especially in regards to the nature of power.

If you’re a little better off, it matters to you when your home is unfairly threatened with foreclosure. It matters to you when the nation is economically destabilized due to Wall Street’s crimes, and your retirement account evaporates overnight. It matters to you if you can’t pay off your large student loans, or if you can’t get out from under crushing credit-card debt or enormous medical bills due to being under-insured. It matters to you if you are constantly worried about the security of your job, or the costly care of your children and elderly parents.

“We live in a beautiful country,” writes historian Howard Zinn. “But people who have no respect for human life, freedom, or justice have taken it over. It is now up to all of us to take it back.” To better assess what it specifically takes to do just that, it is important to understand how the people profiting from plutocratic forces strategically and regularly dominate old and new circumstances with powerful controlling processes".

With elections coming up in in Europe and other countries of the world in 2017- don't ever believe it is too difficult for you as one person to make a difference.  Speak out, join an advocacy group, or even organize one yourself. Go to political meetings of your choice and ask questions.

Politicians need your vote and will listen to you, specially if their political career depends on it.Politicians will usually also tell you everything you want to hear, and will even lie through their teeth, as long as you give them your vote. Check their voting record and compare it to their promises.  You will notice that most of what they told you before they never materialized. Question them about it in Public.

In Europe these questions could be : "why is Europe spending millions of euros fighting loosing wars in the Middle East.  What is done to improve education, Why has the care for the elderly declined so dramatically?" 

Or people in the US could ask: "why do we still have an outdated voting system, How come military spending figures are kept secret, etc etc".

Believe it or not, your future and that of your children stands or falls based on your involvement as a Citizen. Sitting at home and watching "pre-cooked" news by the corporate owned media or wondering what kind of dog food is better for your dog won't get you anywhere.

Most of the above quoted text comes from an easy-to-read compact book by Ralph Nader, called "Breaking Through Power" - You can order it on line and certainly will find it most fascinating as the world around you becomes more bizarre by the minute.

Wishing you a Merry Christmas and an active and involved 2017 - hope you will take-off those slippers and use them to start slapping your politicians into shape and making them listen more attentively to you and what your needs are.

EU-Digest