Asia: Cambodia, Philippines, Indonesia, Palestinian Territories, Vietnam
Latin America: Bolivia, Cuba, Ecuador, Guatemala, Haiti, Nicaragua, Peru
To be taken at (country): Belgium
Accepted Subject Areas: Only the following English-taught courses at Belgian Flemish universities or university colleges are eligible for scholarships:
One-year master programmes
Master of Human Settlements
Master of Development Evaluation and Management
Master of Governance and Development
Master of Globalization and Development
Master of Cultural Anthropology and Development Studies
Two-year programmes
Master of Science in Food Technology
Master of Science in Marine and Lacustrine Science and Management
Master of Aquaculture (IMAQUA)
Master of Epidemiology
Master of Agro-and Environmental Nematology
Master of Rural Development
Master of Statistics
Master of Water Resources Engineering
Master of Sustainable Development
Master of Transportation Sciences
About the Award: VLIR-UOS awards scholarships to students from developing countries to study for a master or training programme in Flanders, Belgium. VLIR-UOS funds and facilitates academic cooperation and exchange between higher education institutions in Flanders (Belgium) and developing countries, aiming to build capacity, knowledge and experience for sustainable development.
The master programmes focus on specific problems of developing countries. These are designed to enable graduates to share and apply acquired knowledge in the home institution and country. In the shorter training programmes the focus is on transferring skills rather than knowledge, thus creating opportunities for cooperation and networking.
Selection Criteria: The following criteria will be taken into account for the selection of candidates for a scholarship:
Motivation. The candidate unable to convincingly motivate his application, is unlikely to be selected for a scholarship.
Professional experience: Preference will be given to candidates who can demonstrate a higher possibility of implementing and/or transferring the newly gained knowledge upon return to the home country.
Gender. In case of two equally qualified candidates of different sexes, preference will be given to the female candidate.
Regional balance. The selection commission tries to ensure that 50% of a programme’s scholarships are granted to candidates from Sub-Saharan Africa, provided a sufficient number of qualifying candidates from this region.
Social background. In case of two equally qualified candidates, preference will be given to candidates who can demonstrate that they belong to a disadvantaged group or area within their country or an ethnic or social minority group, especially when these candidates can provide proof of leadership potential.
Previously awarded scholarships: Preference will be given to candidates who have never received a scholarship to study in a developed country (bachelor or master).
Eligibility: You can only apply for a scholarship if you meet the following requisites.
Fungibility with other VLIR-UOS funding: A scholarship within the VLIR-UOS scholarship programme is not compatible with financial support within an IUC- or TEAM-project. Candidates working in a university where such projects are being organized, should submit a declaration of the project leader stating that the department where the candidate is employed is not involved in the project.
Age: The maximum age for an ICP candidate is 35 years for an initial masters and 40 years for an advanced masters. The maximum age for an ITP candidate is 45 years. The candidate cannot succeed this age on January 1 of the intake year.
Nationality and Country of Residence: A candidate should be a national and resident of one of the 31 countries of the VLIR-UOS country list for scholarships (not necessarily the same country) at the time of application.
Professional background and experience: VLIR-UOS gives priority to candidates employed in academic institutions, research institutes, governments, social economy or NGO’s, or aim a career in one of these sectors. However, also candidates employed in the profit sector (ICP and ITP) or newly graduated candidates without any work experience (ICP) can be eligible for the scholarship. The ITP candidate should have relevant professional experience and a support letter confirming (re)integration in a professional context where the acquired knowledge and skills will be immediately applicable.
Former VLIR-UOS scholarship applications and previously awarded scholarships: A candidate can only submit one VLIR-UOS scholarship application per year, irrespective of the scholarship type. Consequently, a candidate can only be selected for one VLIR-UOS scholarship per year.
The ICP candidate has never received a scholarship from the Belgian government to attend a master programme or equivalent or was never enrolled in a Flemish higher education institution to attend a master programme or equivalent before January 1 of the intake year
Number of Awardees: VLIR-UOS will award up to 180 scholarships.
Value of Scholarship: The scholarship covers ALL related expenses (full cost).
Duration of Scholarship: The master programmes will last for one or two academic years.
How to Apply:
To apply for a scholarship, you first need to apply for the Master programme.
To apply for the Masters programme, visit the website of the Master programme of your interest. Follow the guidelines for application for the programme as mentioned on its website.
In the programme application, you can mention whether you wish to apply for a scholarship. In case you do, the programme coordinator forwards your application to VLIR-UOS.
Applications submitted by the candidates to VLIR-UOS directly will not be considered!
Intelsat, operator of the world’s largest integrated satellite and terrestrial networks and leading provider of inflight connectivity (IFC), is accepting applications to its Space STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) program from teenagers across the African continent.
Intelsat in partnership with MaxIQ Space is delivering their Space STEM programme to teenagers across the African continent.
Announced during World Space Week, this intensive programme is mission one of a three mission space programme that culminates in students designing, building and launching experiments into space!
This partnership with MaxIQ Space chooses high school students from across the continent to be involved in an intensive program where students design, build and, for certain missions, launch satellites into space. This unique opportunity is entirely virtual, with each student receiving a STEM kit and engaging in virtual workshops delivered by space education specialists. Each workshop comprises lessons, practical activities, assignments and experiments.
Which Countries Are Eligible?
African countries
What Type Of Award Is This?
Scholarship
Who Is Eligible?
Candidates who:
Are between the ages of 14 and 18
Live on the African continent
Demonstrate a passion for and knowledge of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM)
Have a clear interest in all things “Space”
Have access to the internet through a smart device with browser capability
Have browser skills
Are proficient in English
What Is The Benefit Of Award?
Intelsat will sponsor 30 scholarships for the Space STEM program for candidates who successfully meet the following criteria above
MaxIQ Space selects thirty participants from the hundreds of applications received. These participants all receive an Intelsat MaxIQ kit at their home, and join live virtual workshops and Q&A sessions with subject matter experts. By learning, linking Space, STEM and Sustainability, the youngsters perform experiments and complete assignments, culminating in payload and satellite concept design.
How To Apply:
To apply, applicants must complete an online form and space-related quiz and submit a short explanation of why they should be selected for this unique program. The deadline to apply is December 31, 2023.
For those who are selected – Getting Started:
MaxIQ Kit – Once you have received your kit, you’ll find all the information you need at this link.
Canvas – You will receive an email invitation to Canvas, please create yourself an account and accept this course invitation. The whole program is delivered using Canvas, please make sure you have this ready for the first session.
Zoom – All workshops are held using Zoom. Please make sure you have access to Zoom and a web connection so that you can participate.
There is quite a lot of political debate going on about Hinduism. Laymen and young cadres are quite confused about it. This article attempts to remove some fog from the issue. So the language is simple and non academic. All dates and figures are rounded off though care is taken that they are not significantly different from more accurate estimates.
We will attempt to answer four basic questions which to us appear at the root of confusion. They are:
1. What is Hinduism?
2. How old is Hinduism?
3. How many Hindus are there in India?
4. What is Sanatan Dharma? How many Snatanis are there?
What is Hinduism?
The words Hindu, Hinduism and Hindu Dharma are not from the Indian tradition. They are of Western origin and all relate to the river Sindhu (Hindu) or Indus (India). They refer to the region and people generally east of this river. The Muslim rulers called all non Muslims as Hindus in India. The British called all non Muslims and Christians as Hindus!
The term Dharma does not mean religion in the Indian tradition. The term for religion in the Indian tradition is ‘Sampradaya’ or sect. But the word Hinduism has acquired a meaning which signifies a set or a group of Sampradayas or sects in India. How do we define this ‘Hinduism’?
The scholar Rahul Sankrityayan defined Hinduism as having three characteristics:
1. Belief in the Karma theory and rebirth
This answered the classic question that all religions must grapple with: Why do good people suffer? And why does the ruling class get away with all the injustice and corruption? The answer in Hinduism is that you are born in a particular caste and you get what you deserve because of the Karma or deeds you did in the past birth. If you behave well, that is, obey, follow ethics etc., then in the next birth you will have a better life/be born in a higher caste. The idea of rebirth came from Buddhism as Vedic Aryans did not believe in rebirth. The Karma theory was developed as both Buddhism and Hinduism developed into full fledged religions.
2. Creation of the caste system
The caste system is obviously related to Karma theory as explained above. It is especially Hindu as Vedic Arya, Buddhism and Jainism had no caste system. It was a master stroke to combine the two since it has lasted all these years! This was the Arthashastra and the Manusmriti’s way of consolidating peasant society. What is so special about the caste system? After all, some kind of hierarchy exists in many societies. Ambedkar defined caste as ‘enclosed class’. That is, endogamy (marrying within the caste) is compulsory and exogamy (marrying outside the caste) is prohibited. This effectively curbed unity of the oppressed classes. Even today if a lower caste man marries a woman from upper caste ‘honour’ killing can occur where the man and sometimes woman is also murdered.
Many tribal communities were probably forced out of their habitat to clear land for agriculture and later were absorbed in to Hindu society as Shudras and Panchamas (untouchables). Untouchability was the Indian form of slavery which continued unhindered till Independence in 1947. It was Dr. B.R. Ambedkar and the Hindu reformers who finally managed to abolish it legally through the Indian Constitution. However Ambedkar’s dream of abolishing caste probably cannot be realised because caste is quintessentially a Hindu phenomenon. Abolish caste and you abolish Hinduism itself!
3. Taboo on cow slaughter and beef eating
This was a classic case of a totem turning into a taboo. Earlier the totemic food for the cattle herding communities was beef and cow sacrifice was a major Vedic ritual. This transformation occurred due to agriculture becoming more important. Buddhism and Jainism also contributed to it. This also distinguished Hindus from the tribals.
To conclude, Hindus are those people who have belief in 1. Karma theory and rebirth, 2. Caste system 3. and taboo on cow slaughter and beef eating.
How old is Hinduism?
We have dated Hinduism to 200 BCE (Before the Common Era). This needs some explanation as many people keep on saying that Hinduism is thousands of years old. But if you use the above mentioned yardstick of the definition of Hinduism, that is: 1. Belief in karma theory and rebirth, 2. Creation of caste system and 3. Taboo on cow slaughter and beef eating, we will show that the earlier periods in Indian history did not exhibit all these characteristics.
Indian civilization is normally dated from the Indus Valley Civilization. The Indus Valley Civilisation was a Bronze Age civilisation in the North Western regions of South Asia, lasting from 3300 BCE to 1300 BCE, and in its mature form 2600 BCE to 1900 BCE. We do not know enough about its civilisation because its script has yet to be deciphered. However if we apply the above definition of Hinduism, they were certainly not Hindus! Of course being part of the same subcontinent we have certainly absorbed some of their achievements.
Present day Hindus themselves trace their origin to the Vedic period (1200 BCE-600 BCE). These people were called Aryans. Cow and beef was totemic food for them. Nor did they believe in rebirth. Certain social divisions were certainly there – warriors, shepherds, peasants and traders – but they were not rigidly frozen as castes and certainly untouchability was not there. Actually the main division was probably ‘Aryans and Nonaryans’ communities.
Hinduism as we know today dates from the Arthashastra and Dharmashastra (or Manusmriti) around 200 BCE. These texts got consolidated between 200 BCE and 300 AD. Buddhism and Jainism, dating from 500 BC, were a big challenge to Hinduism which lasted up to 800 AD. Buddhism then almost vanished from India, but Jainism has survived as a small but powerful sect of traders. However, their daily life is indistinguishable from other upper caste Hindus except for their strict vegetarianism. For all practical purposes, Jainism is treated as one of the Sampradayas of Hinduism.
What happened during this period that allowed Hinduism to consolidate? The answer in one word is ‘iron’. The coming of the Iron Age made settled agriculture the mainstay of the economy. Iron ploughs and tools helped clear forests and improve agriculture production. This in turn supported the formation of a stable State in two ways. It made it possible to impose taxes and also supported an urban population and army with food. The taxes helped to pay the army and bureaucracy. Iron also gave better weapons to the army.
Now a State is an instrument of the ruling class to serve its interests and keep the ruled classes under control. This control is rarely done by force, although it is always there. Most of the time however, this control is done through a set of cultural processes which legitimise or justify the system of State power. Among them, religion is one of the most important one. In modern times democracy and elections also perform this role. In ancient India, Arthashastra by Chanakya and Dharmashastra or Manusmriti by Manu helped legitimise the State and consolidate Hinduism.
Thus Hinduism is about 2200 year old, that is about 200 years older than Christianity and 800 years older than Islam!
How many Hindus are there in India?
The numbers used in this section are rough estimates, rounded off to make reading simpler. But as we said in the beginning they do not significantly differ from accurate estimates.
Today the Indian population is roughly estimated as 140 crores (1400 million or 1.4 billion). But we will use 2011 data as no census so far has been conducted since then. We will also round off data for ease of reading. According to the 2011 census, total Population in 2011 was 121.1 crores; Hindu 96.6 crores (79.8%); Muslim 17.2 crores (14.2%); Christian 2.8 crores (2.3%); Sikh 2.1 crores (1.7%); Buddhist 0.8 crores (0.7%); Jain 0.5 crores (0.4%). Obviously this is just like what the British did – all non Muslims and non Christians were lumped together. This suits those political forces who visualize India primarily a Hindu country, in opposition to the Indian Constitution which visualizes India as a secular country.
However not all these 79.8% or 97 crores Hindus consider themselves as Hindus. The Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes comprise about 16.6% and 8.6%, respectively, of India’s population. That is, there are some 23 crores Scheduled Castes and some 12.0 crores Schedule Tribes in India. So there are some 35 crores of SC and ST people. These 35 crores are by most yardsticks not Hindus, though the Sangh Parivar would claim the SC/ST population of 35 crores as Hindus. The remaining 62 crores are unambiguously Hindus. That is to say Hindus constitute about 51% of India’s population. They live in today’s political India. North East India and Kashmir have very few Hindus and Hindu Indians are treated as foreigners/exploiters/enemies by the majority of these people.
The position of the Scheduled Castes is ambiguous. Traditionally, they were the shudra and panchamas, the lowest castes within the Hindu religion. They might include many tribal communities that were absorbed into Hindu society. The daily life of the Shudras and Panchamas is closer to the tribals because of this history. Their gods and goddesses are not the normal Hindu deities like Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva, Rama and Krishna. Nor are their festivals the same as Diwali, Dussera, Holi, Ugadi etc. Even in the 20th century, there have been instances of tribals becoming Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Castes going into the forests to become tribals. This probably has happened throughout the last 2000 years, the reason why these communities (today known as Scheduled Castes and Tribes) are viewed outside Hinduism. The political leaders of these communities also do not see a future within Hinduism. Today there is a sense of revolt against mainstream Hinduism, and large-scale conversion to other religions (Christianity, Buddhism and Islam) have occurred much to the anger of Sangh Parivar. What is clear is that the ideology of the Sangh Parivar wants to keep them as slaves and second class citizens within the Hindu fold.
To conclude this section, there are 62 crores Hindus and they constitute about 51 % of India’s population.
What is Sanatan Dharma? How many Hindus are Snatanis?
Recently there has been a huge controversy where some people have suggested that all Hindus do not believe in Sanatan Dharma. So what is Sanatan Dharma?
From the very beginning Hindu religion had this debate. First it was those sects who accepted the authority of Vedas and there were some who did not. Buddhists and Jains obviously did not. There were other sects at that time who did not accept the authority of Vedas either. So to begin with, Sanatanis are those Hindus who believed in the authority of Vedas and Manusmriti. These people consolidated their power and remained the dominant force up to 8th century A. D. By that time people were getting much oppressed and a religious revolt/reform movement began. This was called the Bhakti movement.
The Bhakti movement had two distinct strands, referred to as Sagun and Nirgun. Both trends contributed to the emergence of modern Indian languages through Bhakti literature. As a rule, the Sagun tradition is identified with upper castes and Nirgun with the lower castes.
The word Sagun means ‘with qualities’ and it refers to a concept of God who is all powerful and all knowing. In practice it means identifying God with the king and in the temples there will be an image of God looking like a king with his queen and other court people. Almost all the founders and saints of this tradition were Brahmins. Ramanujacharya (12th c.) is considered to be the main source of the Sagun Bhakti movement. His theology was called Vishishtadvaita, and his Bhakti ideas went by the name of Vaishnavism. Apart from Brahmins and many traders, peasant castes also followed Vaishnavism, although their priests were normally Brahmins. There were many other founders of the Sagun tradition of Bhakti, who composed and created modern Indian languages. Among others by Chaitanya in Orissa and Bengal, Surdas and Tulsidas in the North and other Vaishnavas of Gujarat, Western M.P., and Rajasthan etc. In content, Sagun Bhakti emphasized obedience and surrender to God!
As against this, there is a Nirgun (without qualities) tradition. In this there are no deities in a temple and God is regarded as formless. Most of the saints in this tradition were artisans or belonged to the lower castes (except Guru Nanak, the founder of the Sikh faith, who was a trader). Prominent among them were Kabir and Dadu. The Sikh religion has a book called Grantha Sahib which is a compendium of Nirgun Saints. Many Sufi saints are also included in it, because the Nirgun ideas are close to Sufi ideas. This is the main reason that most of the converts to Islam were artisans! In content Nirgun Bhakti emphasized love and equality among all people. The great classic inter-community love stories like Heer-Ranjha, Laila-Majnu, and Sohni -Mahiwal etc. come from this tradition and have enriched modern languages.
As per our analysis above it is the people who follow the Sagun trend that can be classed as those Hindus who believe in Sanatan Dharma. In terms of caste, it is the upper castes – Brahmins, Kshatriyas and traders undoubtedly belong to this tradition. SC and ST certainly do not belong to it. Among the OBC (Other backward Castes) the peasants and cattle herding castes also believe in Sagun Dharma. The lower OBC castes, mainly artisan castes – like weaver, carpenter, iron smiths, potters etc. are by and large Nirgunias. So we can define Sanatanis as: Hindus minus Artisan Castes.
In terms of numbers we will use 2011 data as above. There will be some small confusion because the percentage of OBC varies from state to state and we will take a rough estimate of 40% for all India levels. According to the 2011 census, total Population in 2011 was 121 crores. OBCs account for 40% of India’s population, that is, some 48 crores. So out of 62 crores Hindus, 48 crores are OBCs. And the upper castes account 14 crores only. What is the proportion of artisan caste in the OBC group? This varies from state to state. Caste surveys are being carried out in several states (so far five) and the figures are emerging. A working hypothesis can be 50%. For the country as a whole it can be between 20 – 30 crores. If you take the halfway figure, that is, 24 crores, then the maximum number of Sanatanis among the 62 crores Hindus will be about (62 -24) 38 crores or about 31 % of population. (This is just an estimate. Figures therefore will not fully tally). The number of the upper caste alone will be (38-24) 14 crores.
To conclude this section, Sanatanis are those Hindus who believed in the authority of Vedas and Manusmriti. Also they are Sagunias, that is, they believe in a God who has qualities! Some 38 crores Hindus or about 31 % of population are Sanatanis.
Our Figures at a Glance
Note: All figures are rounded off. Estimated means our estimates. This chart is mainly indicative. Figures will not fully tally. We have also adjusted the figures for 2023.
A new round of sweeping austerity is underway at colleges and universities across the United States. Public and private schools in every part of the country have announced mass layoffs, program eliminations and campus closures in response to significant budget shortfalls as a result of declining enrollment, the ending of federal COVID-19 pandemic funding, and a long-term decline in state investment into higher education.
West Virginia University students lead a protest against cuts to programs in world languages, creative writing and more amid a $45 million budget deficit outside Stewart Hall in Morgantown, West Virginia on Monday, August 21, 2023. [AP Photo/Leah Willingham]
At the federal level, both the Democrats and Republicans have funneled trillions of dollars to war, corporate bailouts and tax cuts for the rich over the last two decades, but have offered no lifeline to struggling colleges. The most recent data from the Department of Education shows that in 2021, the federal government allocated a mere $13.9 billion in general funds support to public universities, less than 1 percent of discretionary spending that year.
The following snapshot of cuts in several areas gives a sense of the scale of the looming attacks.
At Bradley University, a private non-profit in Illinois, massive cuts have been proposed to address a $13 million budget shortfall, representing 10 percent of the school’s total operating budget.
The austerity plan announced by president Stephen Standifird will slash 68 faculty posts from a combination of 47 layoffs and the elimination of another 21 positions through retirements and vacant posts.
At least 17 programs in the arts, math, sciences and humanities are set to be cut entirely, including Actuarial Science, Statistics, Religious Studies, Printmaking, Ceramics, International Studies, and Public Health Education.
Significantly, five other programs that are fundamental to a liberal arts education are being considered for either discontinuation or will be converted into “service units” that no longer offer major or minor degrees: Mathematics, Philosophy, Physics, Economics and French.
Speaking to local news, Jacob Weinberg, a junior at Bradley, noted that the cuts to the liberal arts programs will have a broad impact. “They might not have the best financial statistics, but they teach you much bigger and, in my opinion, more important ideas.”
At the Castleton campus of the Vermont State University (VTSU) system, Interim President Michael Smith recommended in October the discontinuation of 10 degree programs, the consolidation of 13 additional programs, and the cutting of between 20-33 faculty positions, or 10-15 percent of all faculty. Smith cited a $22 million budget deficit across the VTSU system.
The programs proposed for discontinuation include Agriculture, Forestry, Photography, Music, School Psychology, Climate Change Science, and Computer Engineering Technology.
Over a hundred students rallied against the proposal in late October as several state legislators met with staff and faculty union officials. Denouncing the proposed ending of the music program, one student told local news, “Arts are important … It’s involved in everyone’s lives.”
Linda Olson, sociology professor and the local representative for the American Federation of Teachers at VTSU, reported that the campus is already struggling due to staff shortages: “There are staff positions that are paid so little we can’t find people to do them. … In our building, for example, which is the largest academic building, we are now required to remove our own garbage because we can’t get a person to clean the building.”
The University of Wisconsin-Platteville is set to eliminate 111 positions among faculty, administrators and other staff, representing 12 percent of its workforce. This includes 60 layoffs, plus the elimination of 31 vacant positions.
The university cited declining enrollment—28 percent over the last decade—high inflation, reduced state funding and an existing tuition freeze as it predicted a $9.7 million budget shortfall for fiscal year 2024.
Cuts are coming across the University of Wisconsin system. UW-Oshkosh plans to lay off 200 non-faculty employees, over 20 percent of all employees. UW-Parkside will implement employee furloughs, requiring most employees to take between four and 19 unpaid leave days through June 2024. The unpaid days will equal reductions to bi-weekly salaries by between 2.11 and 10 percent.
In Mississippi, Delta State University in Cleveland faces “across the board cuts” to overcome an $11 million dollar deficit after a decade of “emergency-style budgeting” according to President Daniel Ennis. The university’s enrollment has plummeted 48 percent over the last 16 years. The cuts, which have not been specified, but which will include faculty layoffs, salary cuts and possible program closures, come on top of years of other cuts.
In 2015, faced with a $1 million deficit, the university eliminated multiple programs in the Division of Languages and Literature—Journalism, Communications/Theater, and Modern Foreign Languages. Athletic Training and Real Estate/Insurance were also eliminated that year, as was the student newspaper’s printing budget.
Shepherd University, a public liberal arts institution in Shepherdstown, West Virginia, faces a $6 million deficit in the next two years. $3.8 million in cuts have already been announced, with more to follow, says President Dr. Mary Hendrix. These include 44 staff positions, 16 faculty slots, and four administrative positions. Additionally, one campus is set to be shuttered, and the university is “reviewing” all existing academic programs.
The latest round of cuts follows years of austerity in higher education. A report published this year by the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association on higher education financing notes that, “Although national-level education appropriations have recovered to 2008 levels, the majority of states continue funding higher education at a lower level than prior to the Great Recession. Twenty-eight states have not yet recovered from the 2008 Great Recession. ... Arizona (40.9% below) and Louisiana (32.2% below) are furthest from recovery. Another eight states remain at least 20% below 2008 levels.”
In addition to layoffs and program cuts, the growing financial pressure on colleges has led to mass closures across the US. Since 2016, an estimated 101 public and private non-profit colleges have either closed, merged or have announced plans to do so, according to one monitor. States with the most closures include New York (nine), Massachusetts (nine), California (eight) and Illinois (eight).
Among the most common casualties of these closures and mergers are art colleges, some of which had operated for over a century: Memphis College of Art and Watkins College of Art in Tennessee; Oregon College of Art and Craft and Pacific Northwest College of Art in Oregon; School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Massachusetts; New Hampshire Institute of Art; and the historic San Francisco Art Institute in California.
The United States and South Korea on Monday took steps to deepen military cooperation and further inflame tensions in the Indo-Pacific region. Washington is showing that even as it provides complete support for Israel’s genocide in Gaza, there will be no easing of the war drive aimed at China.
US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, left, with and South Korean Defense Minister Shin Won-sik, before their annual security meeting at the Defense Ministry in Seoul, Monday, Nov. 13, 2023. [AP Photo/Jung Yeon-je/Pool Photo]
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin arrived in Seoul late Saturday alongside the Pentagon’s Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Charles Brown. On Monday, Austin and South Korean Defense Minister Sin Won-sik held the 55th annual Security Consultative Meeting (SCM). They released the 2023 Tailored Deterrence Strategy (TDS), the first revision to the TDS in ten years.
The revisions emphasized “extended deterrence” collaboration, ostensibly directed at North Korea. In reality, this means joint cooperation between Washington and Seoul on the use of US nuclear weapons through the new Nuclear Consultative Group (NCG), announced following the April summit between Presidents Joe Biden and his South Korean counterpart Yoon Suk-yeol. The NCG is modeled after a similar body that decides nuclear policy within NATO.
These are not innocent remarks. For years Washington has stoked formerly minor territorial disputes in Southeast Asia to put pressure on Beijing while also overturning the “One China” policy on Taiwan in all but name. The references to the South China Sea and the Taiwan Strait are designed to ratchet up tensions by placing them at the center of the allies’ military planning.
Both Japan and South Korea are key components of Washington’s war plans and the construction of a ballistic missile system targeting China. Austin and Sin met Sunday with Japanese Defense Minister Minoru Kihara, who attended the session remotely from Tokyo, and pledged to launch a three-way missile detection system, sharing information in real-time by next month. They also agreed to develop more detailed plans on holding trilateral war games “more systematically and effectively” beginning in January.
These developments, unveiled shortly before President Biden is set to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping in San Francisco on Wednesday, serve to apply additional pressure beforehand. Beijing criticized the US-South Korean military plans through a November 13 opinion piece in the Global Times. It warned: “The US-Japan-South Korea security cooperation could accelerate the NATO-ization of the Asia-Pacific region, which will not only have a significant negative impact on the security environment around China, but also on the cooperation process in East Asia.”
The danger of war is not giving the US pause. For all of Washington’s claims of “respect for international law,” the genocide Israel is conducting in Gaza with the full backing of the US makes it glaringly clear what Washington really means by the “rules-based order.” The declaration by the Biden administration that are there are no “red lines” for Israel when it comes to slaughtering Palestinians, likewise means there will be no red line Washington will not cross in stoking and conducting a war with China, including the use of nuclear weapons.
Seoul is using the slaughter in Gaza to promote the US war agenda. At a meeting with Austin on Sunday, South Korean President Yoon called on the US to “maintain the joint Korea-US defense posture that can immediately and firmly punish North Korea even if it miscalculates and carries out any provocation including a Hamas-style surprise attack.”
Seoul has denounced Hamas’ supposed “surprise” attack on October 7, which in reality was a popular uprising against the fascistic Netanyahu regime after decades of brutal suppression by Israel. Yoon has essentially endorsed Israel’s fraudulent claims that it is defending itself, as well as the genocidal methods it is using against the Palestinians. At the same time, Yoon’s administration is creating an atmosphere, without any evidence, that Pyongyang is planning some sort of “surprise” attack.
This provides Washington and its allies with the pretext to continue their military buildups, as they whip up tensions with North Korea, an impoverished former colonial country of 26 million people, through threats and economic isolation. Washington then seizes on any response by Pyongyang to blame China for the situation.
Last week, during a visit to Seoul following a G7 foreign ministers meeting in Tokyo, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken claimed that Beijing was not doing enough to influence Pyongyang to give up its weapons programs. “China has a unique relationship with North Korea,” he stated. “We do look to China to use that influence to play a constructive role in pulling North Korea from this irresponsible and dangerous behavior.”
Blinken declared that the Indo-Pacific remained an “area of sustained focus” for the US.
Emphasizing this point, Washington has deployed a number of strategic assets to the region in recent weeks. This includes dispatching a B-52 bomber to the Korean Peninsula, with such an aircraft landing in South Korea for the first time. The bomber took part in trilateral air force drills, the first held between the US, South Korea and Japan. The US has also sent the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier strike group to the region, joining the USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier.
Both US aircraft carriers have held significant drills over the past week, with the Carl Vinson taking part in the Exercise 2023 alongside Japan, Canada, Australia and the Philippines, close to where the war games took place.
Currently, the US has two aircraft carrier groups in both the Middle East and the Indo-Pacific, effectively threatening wider and potentially nuclear wars on each side of the Eurasian landmass.
The decision last week by the rating agency Moody’s to downgrade the outlook on the credit status of US government debt from “stable” to “negative” is notable. While still retaining it at AAA, Moody’s update is another expression of American capitalism’s ever-worsening fiscal and financial position and the political turmoil that is both accompanying and feeding into it.
The New York Stock Exchange [AP Photo/J. David Ake]
It followed the move by the rating agency Fitch to lower its long-term rating for the US from AAA to AA+ in August and the S&P downgrade of US debt in 2011.
Moody’s has not gone that far, at least not yet, but the move to “negative” status often precedes an outright downgrade.
The driving forces for the decision are the increase in the US budget deficit, much of it the result of increased military spending, the sharp increase in the interest bill on the debt because of the rate hikes carried out by the US Federal Reserve and the conflicts in Congress which have led to repeated threats of shutdowns of government services.
This Friday, a government shutdown is once again looming—they have become an almost perpetual feature of the political landscape—when a 45-day deal between the Biden administration and the Republican-controlled House of Representatives to avert the last crisis and maintain government funding expires.
That deal led to House Speaker Kevin McCarthy losing his position, sparking a revolt led by aggressive Trump supporters which, after weeks of wrangling, resulted in the extreme right-winger Mike Johnson filling the post.
Announcing its decision, Moody’s said: “In the context of higher interest rates, without effective policy measures to reduce government spending or increase revenues, Moody’s expects that the US fiscal deficits will remain very large, significantly weakening debt affordability.”
It warned that continued polarisation within Congress “raises the risk that successive governments will not be able to reach consensus on a fiscal plan to slow the decline in debt sustainability.”
The interest rate increases, from near zero to almost 5 percent since rises began in March 2022, are having a major impact. In the third quarter of this year the interest bill on government debt was running at an annual rate of $981 billion, an increase of 54 percent from the first quarter of 2022, and up by 91 percent from the second quarter of 2020.
The US government debt is now more than $33 trillion and rising and stands above 120 percent of gross domestic product (GDP).
In a comment piece in the New York Times, columnist Peter Coy recalled that four years ago Olivier Blanchard, a former International Monetary Fund official now at MIT, had said it was possible for a government to run moderate budget deficits forever so long as economic growth exceeded the interest rate.
“The problem,” he continued, “is that deficits in the US have been large, not moderate, and the interest rate on debt now exceeds the economy’s growth rate, rather than vice versa.”
Long-term interest rates are now pushing towards 5 percent while US economic growth is not expected to go much above 2 percent and could even move into recession in the next year.
In a post for the Peterson Institute for International Economics, Blanchard said he freely admitted he did not predict the rise in long-term rates.
This failure only points to a more fundamental issue, that of methodology.
Notwithstanding its highly developed mathematical models and the availability of vast computing power, bourgeois economics assumes that the capitalist profit system is the only possible and viable form of economic organisation. It therefore ignores its inherent contradictions until they erupt in the form of crisis which it then puts down to some kind of accident or external factor.
This outlook is reflected in the political sphere. It was seen in the Biden administration’s response to the Moody’s downgrade, largely based on the attempt to assert that all was still for the best in the best of all possible worlds.
Deputy Treasury secretary Wally Adeyemo said that while Moody’s had retained the AAA rating, “we disagree with the shift to a negative outlook.
“The American economy remains strong, and Treasury securities are the world’s pre-eminent safe and liquid asset.”
Such an assessment ignores all recent experience. In March 2020, at the start of the pandemic, the Treasury market froze for several days when no buyers could be found for US government debt. A full-blown meltdown of the entire US and global financial system was only averted when the Fed intervened to the tune of $4 trillion.
Ever since then the liquidity problem has bubbled away. It came to the surface, at least partially, earlier this month when the Treasury tailored its issuance of new debt to shorter-term bonds to try to avoid market turbulence.
And rather than a sound and stable institution where the money to fund government activity is calmly raised, the $25 trillion US Treasury market is more and more resembling a giant gambling casino.
Huge bets, the quantity of which is not fully known, are being made in the so-called basis trade, in which investors take advantage of the difference between bond prices and their futures. But because the difference is tiny, vast amounts of money must be borrowed to make a profit, giving rise to what the Fed called in a recent report the potential for “financial stability vulnerability.”
The response from the White House to the Moody’s decision was to shift the blame the Republicans.
“Moody’s decision to change the US outlook is yet another consequence of Congressional Republicans extremism and dysfunction,” said spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre, as she accused them of “holding the nation’s full faith and credit hostage.”
The deepening crisis of the US financial system since 2008, attempts by a number of countries to lessen their dependence on the US dollar as the global reserve currency, the ongoing turbulence in the US Treasury market, the rapid interest rate hikes instituted by the Fed and backed by the Biden administration and the impact of ongoing war—to name just some of the features of the present situation—were passed over.
And the very fact that Trump-led forces have been able to gain a certain social base and political traction is due to Democrat attacks on the position of broad sections of working people, with the collaboration of the trade union apparatuses, going back decades.
But for all the political turbulence, there is a consensus in ruling political and financial circles about what must be done to meet the growing crisis in government finances. An all-out attack is being organised against the working class involving the further suppression of wages, cuts in living standards and the gutting of so-called entitlement programs. The only issue in ruling circles is how this is to be carried out.
