Kith & Kin: a recurrent issue
Amidst all the issues we look at here I know the odd comment is made on expatriate communities in "new" states, e.g. Russian speakers in the baltic States; the conflicts which can occur when communal tensions explode i.e. Bosnia and Georgia. Plus immigration and related issues e.g. Muslim populations in Western Europe. The emergency evacuations of the 'international community' over the beach examples Beirut and Liberia and at airfields e.g. missionaries plus from Rwanda.
Decades ago it was called 'kith & kin'; e.g. notably in Rhodesian UDI in 1965 and whether the UK could / would use military force.
Have we thought about the sizeable populations from Western countries living abroad? Particularly in countries that could quickly or slowly become 'Chaos Country'.
I can recall the small, mainly US medical student presence in Grenada being used to justify or re-inforce US military intervention.
The catalyst for this was finding a Canadian paper on 2.8m nationals living abroad, equivalent to 8% of the population and larger than some provinces: http://www.asiapacific.ca/en/canadia...publications#5 Part of a larger website: http://www.asiapacific.ca/canadiansabroad
Time to stop.
davidbfpo
Angolan 'mafia targets Chinese'
On the theme by the BBC:http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/8358919.stm
Quote:
The Chinese embassy in Angola has advised its nationals not to go out alone at night after a spate of violent attacks on Chinese expatriates.
davidbfpo
The Yemeni Revolution & the British Yemeni Diaspora
A short article by a British Yemeni student, which opens with:
Quote:
The Yemeni diaspora in the UK, which has taken an active role in co-ordinating international action, encapsulates this phenomenon. The Yemeni diaspora has historically reflected divisions and phenomena present in Yemen, including the tension between North and South Yemen and the lack of women in community leadership roles. The Yemeni revolution challenged many of these deeply engrained norms and customs, and has, in turn, impacted the diaspora. All in all, the Yemeni revolution has been a positive force in the Yemeni diaspora, uniting, empowering and mobilizing the community to engage with policy makers and high-level UK government officials to voice its concerns and opinions about UK-Yemen relations.
Link:http://muftah.org/the-yemeni-revolut...SGAmCE.twitter
The author contends that the Yemeni community is uniting, as an observer this was sometimes hard to discern, even when meeting with the UK Ambassador to Yemen - who was on a tour of the communities in the UK.
Indian kith & kin in the Middle East
WoTR has an article on India's growing presence in the Middle East, notably the Persian Gulf region, which has some fascinating snippets, but I will cite the first passage which is relevant here, with my emphasis:
Quote:
There are over 6 million Indian citizens working in the Middle East. That is more than the population of Finland. This provides some context as to why India has now actively started to build its relations further with the region. It also raises the question as to why it has waited for so long to do so.
Link:http://warontherocks.com/2014/04/ind...-persian-gulf/
Elsewhere I have seen articles on the deaths amongst construction workers from the sub-continent on building for the World Cup in Qatar 2022; concern being expressed, not as I recall by their home governments. Here is one BBC report:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-26482775
Indian kith & kin in the Middle East: Part 2
An Indian columnist on India's dependence on remittances:
Quote:
Between 2001 and 2012, they remitted $339.3 billion. This was more than the total foreign direct investment flow into India during 2000-2014 which was only $326,509 million according to our commerce ministry.
I note he cites the Phillipines too:
Quote:
Their 10.5 million overseas workers, including 1.074 million “irregular” workers, remitted $20 billion during 2011. This is 11.17 per cent of the country’s gross national product (GNP).
Link:http://www.asianage.com/columnists/o...t-out-mind-047
Canadian-Hong Kong kith & kin
The protests in Hong Kong have not appeared here (yet), but their impact is way beyond the special administrative region (SAR) as this Canadian article explains:
Quote:
Because there are 300,000 Canadian citizens (most of Hong Kong origin) living in Hong Kong, and about 500,000 people of Hong Kong descent living in Canada, we have a big stake in the events playing out in Hong Kong.
Link:http://www.asiapacific.ca/canada-asi...-uncertainties
Portuguese Congressman wants a base
A strange tale:
Quote:
After Speaker John Boehner tapped him (Representative Devin Nunes (R., Calif.) as House Intelligence chairman in January, Nunes was in a better position to directly challenge the Pentagon. He set his sights on relocating the Joint Intelligence Analysis Center (JIAC), an “intelligence fusion center” that Congress approved for construction at U.K. airbase RAF Croughton.
Link:http://www.nationalreview.com/articl...air-force-base
Update June 2016:
Quote:
The US is moving forward with consolidating its transatlantic intelligence analysis operations within a planned Joint Intelligence Analysis Complex at RAF Croughton..
Link:https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/...rce-leave-vote
Italy's biggest Chinese community clashes with police near Florence
An unlikely headline in The Guardian, after a skirmish between the Italian state and:
Quote:
Some 50,000 Chinese work in the area, making clothes and handbags with the prized “Made in Italy” label....Some of the firms are accused of using illegal migrant labour, ignoring safety rules and evading taxes. The area is also the focus of an investigation into allegations of money smuggling worth €4.5bn (£3.8bn) to China from Italy between 2006 and 2010.
Regional president Enrico Rossi .....vowed to tackle crime in the area, where he said half of all economic activity is illegal, €1bn in taxes go unpaid every year, and money is laundered through international transfers.
Link:https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...-near-florence
Chinese diplomats have visited the town and made their own comments.
The Yemeni (Hadhramaut Region) diaspora
Thanks to a pointer at a RUSI-British Yemeni Society conference on leaving Aden in 1967 (more on another thread one day) I learnt that Yemenis from the Hadhramaut Region, the former colonial era Eastern Aden Protectorate, had a diaspora across the Indian Ocean to India and Indonesia, which remains active today. Not only with commercial trading, religion and family settlements long-established that remain today.
I wonder if these links have helped AQ and more recently ISIS with their mission to expand, not only in the Yemen, but elsewhere.
There is a new book, from July 2017, on the theme: 'Hadhramaut and Its Diaspora: Yemeni Politics, Identity and Migration'. For a review see:http://middleeastreviewsonline.com/m...ity-migration/
Pan-Islamic Connections Transnational Networks Between South Asia and the Gulf
As if by magic yesterday Hurst Publishers notified this book was due out: 'Pan-Islamic Connections: Transnational Networks Between South Asia and the Gulf', which has this short review:
Quote:
Connections of trade, family, learning and faith have existed between South Asia and the Gulf for hundreds of years. This book focuses on their workings in the modern period with especial emphasis on Islam. It demonstrates the significant and complex interactions which take place across the region, some of which are of strategic potential.
Link:http://www.hurstpublishers.com/book/...-connections/?
No doubt there are books on the Omani relationship with East Africa, as a "lurker" reminded me; after all they were Zanzibar's rulers.
The dangerous influence of expats: Diaspora groups are often out of touch with....
This article's full title is: 'The dangerous influence of expats: Diaspora groups are often out of touch with the mood back home' and appears on anheard of website, although the author's name is familiar and thanks to a "lurker".
The focus is on the recent Ukrainian elections and it ends with:
Quote:
Of course expats deserve a voice in their new country. Just because their voice may be louder and more impassioned, however, does not mean it should be allowed to drown out the rest.
Link:https://unherd.com/2019/05/the-dange...nd=1&tl_groups[0]=18743&tl_period_type=3