Main events

As the end of Michaelmas term at the LSE approaches, we all take time reflect upon the successes and failures that we have experienced. At the London Globalist, we would like to present to you the main events that have occurred over the last couple of months in a photo report. It is up to you to decide whether the international affairs represented below have been evidence of successes or failures of the international community.

The US Elections

The fight for the oval office is unfolding as candidates from the Republican and Democrat parties fight to secure the presidential nomination. Undoubtedly, the highlights of the contest have been Donald Trump, Bernie Sanders with Hillary Clinton somewhat in the background yet still leading the polls for the Democratic nomination. The primaries are due to be held in the early part of 2016.

Elections in Argentina

The elections in Argentina resulted in the victory of Mauricio Macri, the leader of the opposition party PRO ending a near decade long rule by the FPV under Cristina Fernandez de Kircher.

Far-right dominates in French politics

National Front, a populist far-right party, led by Marie Le Pen, performed incredibly well in the France’s recent regional elections by coming first in 6 out of 13 contests.

Brazil

The on-going corruption investigation into Petrobras, Brazil’s state-owned oil giant, has revealed that much of the senior political elite was tied up in the unlawful practices. With Brazil experiencing a recession, a devaluation of its national currency and staggering rates of inflation, calls for impeachment of the incumbent President Dilma Rousseff are becoming stronger.

COP21, Paris

2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference hosted in Paris, France has seen over 150 world leaders gather on its opening day expressing the desire to secure an agreement on tackling the effects of climate change.

G20 Ankara

The leaders of the world’s twenty largest economies gathered in Ankara, Turkey to lay out their economic and political vision. Much of the summit was dominated by discussion on how to most effectively curb the rise of ISIS.

UNGA

This year saw the 70^th Session of the UN General Assembly with world leaders including Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping, Barack Obama and many more sharing their perception of the international community and the effectiveness of the response mechanisms in place to deal with international crises.

The struggle between Putin and the West in Syria and Ukraine continues…

Sanctions, verbal disputes, Russia’s greater involvement in Syria – all the same really. Although in the recent address to the Federal Assembly, many experts noticed that Vladimir Putin’s rhetoric has become less aggressive with regard to the West.

The Refugee Crisis
The influx of refuges from Syria has posed a great challenge to the European Union who is failing to construct a unified and coherent response to this issue. Angela Merkel has adopted a compassionate stance agreeing to settle a large number of refuges in Germany while the Hungarian PM has taken a tough stance closing down the border to prevent further migration.

The shake up of Investment Banking

Reduction of the Investment Banking division at Credit Suisse, Job reductions in Deutsche Bank and faster promotion and higher pay rates announced at Goldman Sachs.

Volkswagen Emissions Scandal

The US Environmental Protection Agency issued a notice of violation of the Clean Air Act to Volkswagen after it was found that the automaker had intentionally programmed its systems to produce false emission figures to meet the environmental criteria for operation. The discovery resulted in Volkswagen becoming the target of investigations in multiple countries.

Aeroflot vs Transaero

Russia’s second largest carrier, Transaero, filed for bankruptcy and ceased operations in mid-October following a failed attempt by Aeroflot, state-owned Russia’s largest airline, to secure a stake in the failing carrier.

UK Politics

Election of Jeremy Corbyn as the new Labour Leader

The UK political arena experienced a political earthquake when the Labour Party elected a far-left wing, Jeremy Corbyn, as its leader. Whilst Jeremy Corbyn has a huge mandate from the members of the Labour Party, the parliamentary Labour Party has not been unable to unite behind their leader who they feel is making Labour ‘unelectable’.

The Tax Credits Fiasco

With George Osborne, Chancellor of the Exchequer, set to tackle to the budget deficit and eventually produce a budget surplus by 2019-2020, optimisation of the expenditures had to be enforced. However, the cuts to the Tax Credits proposed by the Conservatives were rejected by the House of Lords which forced George Osborne to scrap the initiative altogether.

The House of Commons votes to extend the airstrikes against Daesh into Syria

After an 11-hour debate in the House of Commons, an overwhelming majority of MPs voted in favour of extending the RAF air strikes into Syria.

The Daesh attacks

A Metrojet flight on its way to St Petersburg, Russia carrying 224 people crashed over the Sinai Peninsula after a bomb was planted by the affiliates of Daesh.Paris saw a wave of shootings and bombings, which claimed lives of over 120 people. Bombings in Beirut saw over 40 casualties. Ankara bombings claimed the lives of 120 people.