Germany shows true unchanged colors toward blacks.
Racism Toward Blacks Globally
Here is a clip of racism toward Africans globally. Please don't be fooled though; just because you don't see such overt racism in the US as much, doesn't mean anything short of racism becoming more covert.
Libyan Leader Moammar Gadhafi
Libyan Revolutionary, Moammar Gadhafi, speaks at the UN. He is the chairman of the African Union.
Subprime Mortgage Crisis
The subprime mortgage financial crisis, which has yet to be resolved, is the sharp rise in foreclosures in the subprime mortgage market that began in the United States in 2006 and became a global financial crisis in July 2007. Rising interest rates, increasing the monthly payments on newly popular adjustable rate mortgages, together with property value declines from the demise of the United States housing bubble, left many home owners unable or unwilling to meet financial commitments, and lenders without a means to recoup their losses. Many observers believe this has resulted in a severe credit crunch, threatening the solvency of a number of marginal private banks and other financial institutions. The sharp rise in foreclosures after the peak of the housing bubble caused several major subprime mortgage lenders, such as New Century Financial Corporation, to shut down or file for bankruptcy, with some accused of actively encouraging fraudulent income reporting on loan applications. This led to the collapse of stock prices for many in the subprime mortgage industry, and drops in stock prices of some large lenders like Countrywide Financial. This has been associated with declines in stock markets worldwide, several hedge funds becoming worthless, coordinated national bank interventions, contractions of retail profits, and bankruptcy of several mortgage lenders. Observers of the meltdown have cast blame widely. Some, like Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee chairman Chris Dodd of Connecticut, have highlighted the predatory lending practices of subprime lenders and the lack of effective government oversight. Others have charged mortgage brokers with steering borrowers to unaffordable loans even though lenders offered these borrowers programs that found them acceptable risks, appraisers with inflating housing values, and Wall Street investors with backing subprime mortgage securities without verifying the strength of the portfolios. Borrowers have also been criticized for over-stating their incomes on loan applications and entering into loan agreements they could not meet. Some subprime lending practices have also raised concerns about mortgage discrimination on the basis of race. The effects of the meltdown spread beyond housing and disrupted global financial markets (see financial contagion and systemic risk) as investors, largely deregulated foreign and domestic hedge funds, were forced to re-evaluate the risks they were taking and consumers lost the ability to finance further consumer spending, causing increased volatility in the fixed income, equity, and derivative markets. The impact on the economy of this American problem was also felt in Europe, where the European Central Bank tried to control the crisis by injecting over USD$ 205 billion in the European financial markets.
Global Warming
Carbon dioxide and other gases warm the surface of the planet naturally by trapping solar heat in the atmosphere. This is a good thing because it keeps our planet habitable. However, by burning fossil fuels such as coal, gas and oil and clearing forests we have dramatically increased the amount of carbon dioxide in the Earth’s atmosphere and temperatures are rising.
The vast majority of scientists agree that global warming is real, it’s already happening and that it is the result of our activities and not a natural occurrence.1 The evidence is overwhelming and undeniable.
We’re already seeing changes. Glaciers are melting, plants and animals are being forced from their habitat, and the number of severe storms and droughts is increasing.
Diamond Crisis in Africa
Who hasn't heard of the slogan "A diamond lasts forever"? Diamonds have always occupied a very high status in the world of jewelry. Fueled by tradition and intense marketing campaigns, diamonds have achieved incomparable status. Starry eyed young men present gorgeous diamond rings to their girlfriends. Married couples exchange diamond studded jewelry over the years as symbols to their undying love. Celebrities and personalities don fabulous diamond jewelry whenever they go out in public. There is absolutely no doubt as to how valuable and sought after diamonds are. As with most things in life, there is always something bad mixed with the good. A diamond may be a woman's best friend but a diamond can also be the bane of some people's existence - and I am not talking about the man's pocket here. The term conflict diamond, or blood diamond as others call it, became quite well-known to the average person in 2002 when the James Bond movie "Die Another Day" was released. This contribution to the legendary James Bond saga revolved around the idea of smuggling conflict diamonds. So what is a conflict diamond? The UN formally defines a conflict diamond as a "diamond that originates from areas controlled by forces or factions opposed to legitimate and internationally recognized governments, and are used to fund military action in opposition to those governments, or in contravention of the decisions of the Security Council." In short, a conflict diamond is any diamond that is mined from an area in which there is war, or armed conflict. The idea is that diamonds are very much in demand and that they fetch such a high price in almost any market. If you mine diamonds and sell them to other countries - of which there is definitely no shortage - you can get a large amount of money for them. Where does the profit from these sales go? You guessed it - to finance wars and other forms of armed conflict in the affected areas. The manner of mining and selling conflict diamonds is usually done in secret. You can just imagine what the reaction of the (average) buyer would be if he learned that he was financing a war somewhere in Africa with his transaction. Thus, people involved in the conflict diamond business do not really advertise what they are doing. Although these activities have been going on for quite some time, it was only in 2000 that the international community formally recognized the gravity of the situation. In December of that year, the United Nations General Assembly recognized the role of rough diamonds in furthering the conflicts in specific areas in Africa. The General Assembly came up with a resolution aiming to severe the connection between the illegal sales of diamonds and wars in concerned areas. With this resolution in place, countries that buy diamonds from Africa became more aware of the illicit trade. International sanctions were then put in place. In addition to these sanctions, individual countries set up their own methods and processes to curb the practice of trading conflict diamonds. The idea is that if no one will buy, then no one will sell. People who take advantage of conflict diamonds would have no market and thus the practice would stop.
We all know however, that in the real world, things are never as simple as they usually seem to be.
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