Em 2050, cristaos e muculmanos se equiparao, e estes crescerao mais - Ishan Tharoor (WP)

Chart: There will be almost as many Muslims as Christians in the world by 2050

By Ishaan Tharoor  

The Wahington Post, blog World Views, April 2 , 2015

 

A new study released Thursday by the Pew Research Center projected the populations of the world's major religions over the next four decades. It reports, among many other findings, that Islam is the world's fastest growing religion and that the global population of Muslims will nearly match that of the world's Christians by 2050, as the chart below shows.

The project was a major undertaking for Pew and is one of the first such comprehensive demographic analyses of its kind. "We have spent years analyzing thousands of data sets, censuses and populations registers," says lead researcher Conrad Hackett. "It's been a tremendous amount of work."

"The projections are what will occur if the current data are accurate and the trends play out as expected," advises the report. Pew took into account a complex range of factors in making its model for projecting the world's religious populations. These include fertility rates, the size of youth populations, effects of migration and rates of "religious switching" — such as, for example, the tendency of some in various religious communities to eventually become, as the study puts it, "unaffiliated."

For the purposes of this study, Pew did not analyze differing depths of religiosity among certain populations, nor disparities between confessional sects within a particular religion. The broader picture it paints offers some interesting glimpses of a not-so-distant future.
According to the Pew report, growing "unaffiliated" populations in the West and parts of East Asia will be undercut by declining birthrates. "The ten countries with the largest 'unaffiliated' populations are shrinking," says Hackett.
As the chart above shows, Muslims are part of the only religious community that is projected to increase at a rate faster than the world population as a whole. After 2070, Pew predicts, there will likely be more self-identifying Muslims than Christians. India, while still a Muslim-minority country, will likely also be the world's largest Muslim nation by 2050.
Still, this hardly indicates some sort of global Muslim takeover, as many far-right Western nationalists fear. Even the most generous projection for 2050 in Europe, where a number of Islamophobic parties are in ascension, places the continent's Muslim population at just around 10 percent.

Pew's study also shows how the major cradle for world religions -- particularly its two biggest, Islam and Christianity -- will be in sub-Saharan Africa, where a population boom will make it the home of four out of every 10 Christians on the planet.
You can peruse the full report here.

Ishaan Tharoor writes about foreign affairs for The Washington Post. He previously was a senior editor at TIME, based first in Hong Kong and later in New York.

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Adolf Hitler e o seu Mein Kampf: o que George Orwell disse a respeito? - Ishaan Tharoor (WP)

WorldViews

What George Orwell said about Hitler’s ‘Mein Kampf’

By Ishaan Tharoor  

The Washington Post, February 25 at 12:20 PM

This undated file photo shows writer George Orwell, author of "1984." (AP)

 

As my colleague Anthony Faiola reported this week, Adolf Hitler's "Mein Kampf" is expected to be reissued in Germany for the first time since the end of World War II. Although widely available elsewhere in the world, the book — Hitler's testament and what's considered the founding text of Nazism — was never reprinted in postwar Germany.
Its planned reissue in Germany, The Post notes, will come in the form of a 2,000-page academic tome that supplements Hitler's own text with sharp commentary and criticism. The new version offers "a useful way of communicating historical education and enlightenment," says one of the scholars behind the project. "A publication with the appropriate comments, exactly to prevent these traumatic events from ever happening again."
[Read: ‘Mein Kampf’: A historical tool, or Hitler’s voice from beyond the grave?]
There was a time, though, when "Mein Kampf" was not just the repugnant treatise of the 20th century's greatest villain. More than seven decades ago, Hitler and the message of Nazism had great traction, and it required clear-eyed thinkers to cut through its seductions.
George Orwell's 1940 review of an English edition of the book is as important now as it would have been then. (You can read a digitized version of the piece, which appeared in the New English Weekly, here.) That's not because he's uniquely right about the threat of Hitler — at this point, World War II was already in full swing. But the celebrated British man of letters has a special lens into the dangers and allure of fascism.
Orwell offers this withering assessment of Hitler's ambitions:

What [Hitler] envisages, a hundred years hence, is a continuous state of 250 million Germans with plenty of “living room” (i.e. stretching to Afghanistan or thereabouts), a horrible brainless empire in which, essentially, nothing ever happens except the training of young men for war and the endless breeding of fresh cannon-fodder. How was it that he was able to put this monstrous vision across?

It's not sufficient to answer that last question just by looking at the political and economic forces that buoyed Hitler's rise, Orwell contends. Rather, one has to grapple with the inescapable fact that "there is something deeply appealing about him."
Hitler, Orwell writes, "knows that human beings don’t only want comfort, safety, short working-hours, hygiene... they also, at least intermittently, want struggle and self-sacrifice, not to mention drums, flags and loyalty-parades."
For good reason, the Atlantic's Graeme Wood quoted this same piece in his lengthy meditation on the worldview of the militants of the Islamic State. The militarist pageantry of fascism, and the sense of purpose it gives its adherents, echoes in the messianic call of the jihadists.
Wood cites this passage in Orwell's review: "Whereas Socialism, and even capitalism in a more grudging way, have said to people 'I offer you a good time,' Hitler has said to them, 'I offer you struggle, danger, and death,' and as a result a whole nation flings itself at his feet."
But, in my view, the most poignant section of Orwell's article dwells less on the underpinnings of Nazism and more on Hitler's dictatorial style. Orwell gazes at the portrait of Hitler published in the edition he's reviewing:

It is a pathetic, dog-like face, the face of a man suffering under intolerable wrongs. In a rather more manly way it reproduces the expression of innumerable pictures of Christ crucified, and there is little doubt that that is how Hitler sees himself. The initial, personal cause of his grievance against the universe can only be guessed at; but at any rate the grievance is here. He is the martyr, the victim, Prometheus chained to the rock, the self-sacrificing hero who fights single-handed against impossible odds. If he were killing a mouse he would know how to make it seem like a dragon. One feels, as with Napoleon, that he is fighting against destiny, that he can’t win, and yet that he somehow deserves to.

Hitler projected this image — of a self-sacrificing hero, wounded by the universe — and went on to unleash horrors on the world. But the narcissism of a "martyr" and the penchant to make dragons out of mice, as Orwell puts it, can be found in demagogues of all political stripes. It's worth keeping these words in mind when watching the spectacle of our contemporary politics.
Related links

• After 75 years, "Mein Kampf" will go back in print in Germany
• The Islamic State and fascism
• Hitler's Ukrainian 'bloodlands'
• This was one of World War II's greatest forgotten tragedies

Ishaan Tharoor writes about foreign affairs for The Washington Post. He previously was a senior editor at TIME, based first in Hong Kong and later in New York.

Argentina-China: eles so quelem complar aloz e petloleo? Humor pouco englacado da plesidente algentina...

O Blog World View do Washington Post comenta as tentativas canhestras de humor da presidente Cristina Kirchner, ou feitas em seu nome....
Paulo Roberto de Almeida

WorldViews

Argentina’s president sent out this strange, offensive, and frankly racist, tweet

By Roberto A. Ferdman The Washington Post, February 4 at 1:46 PM

Diplomacy can be complicated. (Rolex De La Pena/pool photo via European Pressphoto Agency)

The only thing worse than mocking an accent heard in another country is doing it publicly, via Twitter, when you're the president of Argentina, while you're in that other country on a high-stakes diplomatic visit.
Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner made a strange attempt at humor Wednesday morning when she took to Twitter during a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Rather than chronicle the discussions, which were centered around the South American economy's need for foreign investment, Kirchner instead made light of the situation by poking fun at the Chinese accent.
"Vinieron solo por el aloz y petroleo," Kirchner wrote, replacing rs with ls in both instances. The English equivalent would look something like this: "Did they only come for lice and petloleum." Here's the full tweet, which, as you can see, has been eagerly retweeted and as of 12:30 p.m. still hadn't been deleted:

Kirchner, to be fair, did follow up with a half-apology, which blamed "ridiculousness" and "absurdity" for the need for humor. "If not, it's very, very toxic," it said.

But what Kirchner seems to misunderstand is that her sense of humor is questionable at best. It was in poor taste for her to mock an Asian accent, especially while sitting with the Chinese president, negotiating with him, no less, for money.
Argentina has been working with China to secure a currency swap, which will help Argentina boost its dwindling reserves. And that's on top of the billions Argentina already receives from China each year. Why make fun of the hand that feeds you? Who knows.
Kirchner's tasteless tweet comes on the heels of a separate and much more serious public relations problem. A leading prosecutor investigating the bombing of a Jewish Center in Argentina in 1994 turned up dead shortly after accusing the Argentine government of working to cover up the inquiry. Kirchner originally called the prosecutor's death a suicide before backtracking on her suggestion and saying instead that the death was part of a plot to undermine her government.
Kirchner's approval rating has fallen by seven points since November and now stands below 40 percent, according to a poll conducting Wednesday morning by Carlos Fara and Associates. It's hard to imagine this latest gaffe will help reverse that trend.

China welcomes Argentine president(1:13)

Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, who is in Beijing to bolster ties, attends a welcome ceremony hosted by her Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping. (Reuters)

Roberto A. Ferdman is a reporter for Wonkblog covering food, economics, immigration and other things. He was previously a staff writer at Quartz.

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Google world: as buscas mais comuns em certos paises em 2014 - The Washington Post, World Views

O Google (quem nao está nele, ou quem não o usa?) é um instrumento fabuloso: quando tomei conhecimento de sua existência, no final dos anos 1990, ainda hesitei um pouco em adotá-lo como buscador principal, em substituição ao que eu então usava (e que por incrível que pareça, já nem me lembro de qual era, tantas foram as derrocadas nesse campo: alguém ainda se lembra do navegador Netscape, que chegou a ter mais de 90% do mercado?), mas depois que passei a utilizá-lo ele virou até palavra e verbo de uso corrente, pelo menos nos EUA. Mas também no Brasil: quem é que não googlelizou em busca de algo útil? (e aí acabam aparecendo 545 mil opções de respostas...)
Pois aqui estão as palavras mais frequentes buscadas em certos países.
Quem tiver paciência, procure pela principal palavra no Brasil, OK?
Aposto como tem a ver com os saudáveis hábitos companheiros...
Paulo Roberto de Almeida

WorldViews

5 Google search trends that help explain the chaos of 2014

By Rick Noack  

The Washington Post, World Views, December 29 at 12:20 PM

A person prepares to search the Internet using the Google search engine, on May 14, 2014, in Lille. (PHILIPPE HUGUEN/AFP via Getty Images)

Every year, Google releases a variety of lists that reveal the world's favorite search terms. The American tech corporation also distinguishes between countries and categories, which allows an examination of global differences in search behavior.
Of course, Google's search trends do not reflect world events in their entirety, partially because the search engine is not dominant in all countries and many Middle Eastern nations are missing from Google's summary. In some cases, however, the search trends reflect worrisome international conflicts or problems.
You can take a closer look at the data here, but we have compiled a list of some of the most politically revealing search trends in 2014.
Ukrainians were more interested in manuals that explain how to make molotov cocktails than in any other recipe. Google considers such manuals to be recipes -- a category that is usually occupied by cook-book entries in other countries. 

Riot police run away from an exploding molotov cocktail during clashes with radical protesters in Kiev, Ukraine, 19 January 2014. (EPA/OLEG PETRASIUK)

In 2013, nobody would have predicted that 2014 could become such a decisive year in the history of Ukraine. Last January, Ukrainians angered by the government of then President Viktor Yanukovych, a Moscow ally, protested in Kiev and western Ukraine. Violence soon overshadowed the uprising and Feb. 20, at least 88 people were killed within only 48 hours.
Two days later, Yanukovych fled to Russia -- but chaos persisted in Ukraine.
The particular interest in molotov cocktails can be traced back to the street fights in Kiev and other cities that were particularly frequent in the first half of the year.
In 2013, the most asked question in Ukraine that involved the word 'How' was "How to make a screenshot?" This year, however, Ukrainians were primarily interested in: "How do I save electricity?"

A Pro-Russian rebel walks in a passage at the local market damaged by shelling in Petrovskiy district in the town of Donetsk, eastern Ukraine, Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2014. (AP Photo/Mstislav Chernov)

As the Economist pointed out in November, Ukraine is the world's least equal country in terms of wealth. The Post's editorial board concluded on Dec. 22 that Ukraine's currency and GDP forecasts were in even worse shape than Russia's. Given that Ukraine braces for a cold winter, experts fear the collapse of the country's already fragile economy.
The European Union recently estimated that at least $15 billion in additional foreign assistance was needed to prevent the implosion of Ukraine's economy.
Many Ukrainians are already feeling the impact: Earlier this month, the U.N. children's agency warned that more than 1.7 million children were suffering due to the conflict in Ukraine and that the situation was exacerbated by cold temperatures and a lack of supplies.
In Sweden, the fourth most googled question starting with "Why?" has been: "Why was the E.U. established?"

European flags fly at the entrance of the EU Commission Berlaymont building in Brussels on May 21,2014. (GEORGES GOBET/AFP via Getty Images)

Sweden is often considered a role model democracy and welfare state. This year, though, was a tough one for admirers of the Scandinavian nation of roughly 9.5 million inhabitants.
2014 exposed an anti-immigration attitude among many Swedish that has worried many abroad. An anti-immigration party that is often accused of promoting xenophobia came in third in this year's elections in September.
When Europe elected the E.U. parliament in May, anti-immigration as well as anti-European Union attitudes gained momentum and were often promoted by the same right-wing parties. That could explain the Swedish interest in getting to know why the E.U. was established in the first place.
Many French searched for information on how to abstain from elections. "How to vote blank/ white" was most searched in the category of sentences starting with "How to …”

French President Francois Hollande leaves the stage after a speech as part of the ceremonies to mark the 70th anniversary of the Allied landing in Provence, on August 15, 2014. (ALAIN JOCARD/AFP via Getty Images)

France's political elite had at least three reasons to be worried this year: the European Parliament elections, as well as the country's Senate and municipal elections. All three turned out to be disastrous for the ruling Socialist party.
While France's current President Francois Hollande became the most unpopular one in the country's recent history, right-wing party Front National celebrated major gains.
Its success was fueled by the country's weak economic performance, high unemployment rates, and a rise in xenophobic, as well as anti-Semitic, attitudes.
With an abstention rate of 56.5 percent from this year's E.U. elections, France was far above average (43.1 percent). Many polling experts believe that the high rate of abstention is a sign of frustration among the French with their political elites.
5. In Israel, the most searched news event term was the Home Front Command.

Palestinians inspect damage to adjacent houses from a fallen minaret of the Al-Sousi mosque that was destroyed in an Israel strike, at the Shati refugee camp, in the northern Gaza Strip, Wednesday, July 30, 2014. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)

Israel's Home Front Command, established in 1992, is a military entity that is deployed within the country. For instance, its Web site provides instructions and local alerts in the case of an emergency or attack.
Hence, the Command was among the most regionally searched terms in 2014 – a year in which thousands (and far more Palestinians than Israelis) died in a conflict that was dubbed Operation Protective Edge by Israel.

Rick Noack writes about foreign affairs. He is an Arthur F. Burns Fellow at The Washington Post.