We learned of Shane MacGowan’s death, mere hours before press time last week. As we later pondered the great Pogues’ singer songwriter’s impact we were reminded of one our trips to Ireland some years ago. One night in Dublin we joined a musical pub tour that took us to different pubs in the city where we had a pint and listened to and learned about traditional Irish music. I asked the guide how he had become so enamored and knowledgeable of such music. He told me when he was a teenager, he and some friends (mates?) learned to play instruments and were getting ready to busk on the streets. They, of course, being youngsters at a time when traditional music was not in style, were rock and rollers. Just before they were about to busk on the street they went into a pub for a pint to steel their nerves.
In the pub were some old guys playing traditional Irish music. The guide and his friends listened while they drank. The traditional musicians saw them sitting with their instruments, and because playing traditional Irish music is a communal thing, asked the boys if they wanted to join in. Our guide and his friends said they didn’t know how to play these songs. The traditionals said no problem they’d show them how and so the kids joined in. And played. And played into the night, so late in fact, that our guide never did busk rock and roll style on the street that night. Nor ever. He became a traditional Irish musician and also moonlighted showing tourists like me the ropes.
After the formal tour as others dispersed, he asked my wife and I if we wanted to join him at a couple of real places off the tourist map. Which we eagerly did, hanging and drinking and listening to and watching traditional Irish bands into the wee hours of the morning and listening to our now Irish friend regale us with personal stories of Irish musicians famous (Bono) and not. Shane MacGowan helped bring such music to an even greater audience, and added and enriched the music salting it with a rock and roller vibe. You gotta love this great big cultural mobius strip we live on. While traipsing it, we predict our Indian future, worry over Venezuela invading Guyana and warn yet again of South China Sea dangers. It’s this week’s International Need to Know, a Lullaby of international information, the Waltzing Matilda of global data.
Without further ado, here’s what you need to know.
Globally 1 In 5 Under Age 25 Are From India
India is important and despite what people have been predicting, the 21st Century is likely to be the India Century* not the China Century. We were reminded of this when we read that one in five people under the age of 25 are from India. Yes, 20 percent of all the young people in our world are Indian. That’s staggering to think about. Youngsters are who will shape our future and a whole lot of them are from India. Already India is the most populous nation in the world. Even with a developing economy India has the third-largest GDP measured in purchasing power parity** or fifth in nominal terms. In recent years, India has become a large destination for foreign direct investment, essentially replacing China as the golden child of investors dreams. If we want to understand what the world will be like in the coming decades we need to understand India.
*Or maybe the AI Century
**A way of calculating GDP to account for cost of living and inflation in different countries
Drinking Guyana’s Milkshake
We don’t pretend to be an expert on Guyana, or for that matter on Venezuela. But it seems worthy of more attention that Venezuela is threatening to take Guyana territory. And not just a little bit of Guyana but what would amount to two-thirds of the country’s territory, a land area “roughly the size of Florida.” Why does Venezuela pine for this territory? The usual two reasons: money and power. The money part has to do with the fact that oil was discovered in 2015 just off the coast of the Guyanan territory that Venezuela covets and that now provides $US1 billion annually to Guyana’s government coffers. Venezuela, you may recall, has become an economic basket case under the leadership of Chavez and Maduro. And therein lies the second reason. To try to stir up a patriotic cause for Venezuelans to rally around rather than have them think about the era of disaster their leadership has led them into. There is a history to this dispute, and we are no expert on it, but it’s best to think of Maduro as the Daniel Day Lewis character in There Will Be Blood shouting at Guyana,
Here, if you have a milkshake, and I have a milkshake, and I have a straw. There it is, that’s the straw, you see?
(He held his finger up) Watch it.
(He walked back a few steps) Now my straw reaches acroo-oo- oo-oss the room, and starts to drink your milkshake. I… drink… your… milkshake!
(Slurping sound) I drink it up!
China Corner: That Darn South China Sea
We’ve been warning about the dangerous conflicts in the South China Sea for quite some time now, especially China’s tactics in regards to a shoal just off the Philippines. We’re heartened to see more mainstream places like The Atlantic start to take note but with the Israel-Gaza conflict sucking the air out of the hot news media room, we will continue to remind ourselves of just how dangerous the South China Sea is. The Philippines says there are now 135 Chinese military boats “swarming” the area, an increase from 111 in November. Recently, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and the Philippines Defense Minister Gilberto Teodoro Jr. met to “bolster the two countries alliance.” China, of course, takes a different view and claims the Philippines efforts to resupply its ship “seriously infringes upon China’s sovereignty and violates international law and the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea.” Never mind that this dispute has been declared in favor of the Philippines. By all means, keep an eye on Gaza and definitely work to help Ukraine but we should not be distracted from what is happening in the South China Sea. It might be where the real action is.
