Former Roman Catholic bishop Fernando Lugo has won Paraguay's presidential election, ending more than six decades of rule by the Colorado Party. With results declared in most polling stations, Mr Lugo has 41% of the vote. His Colorado Party rival, Blanca Ovelar, has 31% and former army chief Lino Oviedo 22%. The BBC's Gary Duffy in the capital Asuncion says many wanted a leadership change to help confront the poverty and unemployment rife in the country. Mr Lugo brought together leftist unions, indigenous people and poor farmers into a coalition to form the centre-left Patriotic Alliance for Change.
Former Roman Catholic bishop Fernando Lugo has won Paraguay's presidential election, ending more than six decades of rule by the Colorado Party.
With results declared in most polling stations, Mr Lugo has 41% of the vote.
His Colorado Party rival, Blanca Ovelar, has 31% and former army chief Lino Oviedo 22%.
The BBC's Gary Duffy in the capital Asuncion says many wanted a leadership change to help confront the poverty and unemployment rife in the country.
Mr Lugo brought together leftist unions, indigenous people and poor farmers into a coalition to form the centre-left Patriotic Alliance for Change.
ASUNCIÓN, Paraguay: A former Roman Catholic bishop and self-styled champion of the poor on Sunday broke the 62-year grip on the presidency by the governing party here, the longest-serving political party in the world. The former bishop, Fernando Lugo, who resigned from the church two years ago to run, was leading with 41 percent of the vote, over Blanca Ovelar de Duarte, with 31 percent, with 92 percent of the votes counted, according to unofficial results. Shortly before 9 p.m., Ovelar, the candidate for the National Republican Association, known as the Colorado Party, conceded defeat. Lugo, 56, will be the first Paraguayan president since 1946 not to be from the Colorado Party. "Today we've written a new chapter in our nation's political history," he said late Sunday. No other country had had a political party with a longer hold on the presidency than the Colorados, as they are called, not even the Kim family's Communist dynasty in North Korea. Lugo, a gray-bearded man who exudes natural warmth and often wears sandals, was backed by the Patriotic Alliance for Change party, the country's second largest.
ASUNCIÓN, Paraguay: A former Roman Catholic bishop and self-styled champion of the poor on Sunday broke the 62-year grip on the presidency by the governing party here, the longest-serving political party in the world.
The former bishop, Fernando Lugo, who resigned from the church two years ago to run, was leading with 41 percent of the vote, over Blanca Ovelar de Duarte, with 31 percent, with 92 percent of the votes counted, according to unofficial results. Shortly before 9 p.m., Ovelar, the candidate for the National Republican Association, known as the Colorado Party, conceded defeat.
Lugo, 56, will be the first Paraguayan president since 1946 not to be from the Colorado Party. "Today we've written a new chapter in our nation's political history," he said late Sunday.
No other country had had a political party with a longer hold on the presidency than the Colorados, as they are called, not even the Kim family's Communist dynasty in North Korea.
Lugo, a gray-bearded man who exudes natural warmth and often wears sandals, was backed by the Patriotic Alliance for Change party, the country's second largest.
Sounds like a person who has developed his own beliefs way beyond a religious dictatorship and should be a very positive change. Our knowledge has surpassed our wisdom. -Charu Saxena.
And of course I am way ahead - at least one hour! :-)
He has bought a lot of land in Paraguay.
Ashutosh Gupta's home in Richmond Park has all the lifestyle comforts that many educated Indians of his generation left India to attain - lush and peaceful gardens, a gym, a pool and, most important, unwavering electricity and water supplies.This luxury block in the ultra-modern Delhi suburb of Gurgaon (about 4,000 miles from Richmond, London) houses several hundred Indian families who have recently returned from living in the West, part of a 'reverse brain drain' migration which is gathering speed.Indian politicians are beginning to highlight, approvingly, the emerging phenomenon of 'brain gain', as large numbers of Indian-born executives decide that job opportunities and living conditions are as good, if not better, in India and make their way home.Gupta, 38, moved to this gated enclave after 15 years spent studying and later working as a Goldman Sachs banker in New York and London. 'Ten years ago, if I had considered moving back, people would have questioned my sanity, and assumed I couldn't hack it in the US,' he said. 'Now everyone recognises that India is a very exciting place. There are tens of thousands of people like me making the decision to return.'
Ashutosh Gupta's home in Richmond Park has all the lifestyle comforts that many educated Indians of his generation left India to attain - lush and peaceful gardens, a gym, a pool and, most important, unwavering electricity and water supplies.
This luxury block in the ultra-modern Delhi suburb of Gurgaon (about 4,000 miles from Richmond, London) houses several hundred Indian families who have recently returned from living in the West, part of a 'reverse brain drain' migration which is gathering speed.
Indian politicians are beginning to highlight, approvingly, the emerging phenomenon of 'brain gain', as large numbers of Indian-born executives decide that job opportunities and living conditions are as good, if not better, in India and make their way home.
Gupta, 38, moved to this gated enclave after 15 years spent studying and later working as a Goldman Sachs banker in New York and London. 'Ten years ago, if I had considered moving back, people would have questioned my sanity, and assumed I couldn't hack it in the US,' he said. 'Now everyone recognises that India is a very exciting place. There are tens of thousands of people like me making the decision to return.'
When international corporations trample on human rights in developing countries, it's hard to find help. That's why human rights defenders are demanding improvements for getting legal compensation abroad. When international corporations start mining resources in developing countries, both pollution and human rights abuses are frequently the result, according to Michael Windfuhr of the German Protestant Church's social aid organization, Diakonisches Werk. People suffer alongside the environment when the ground is dirtied by oil spills, such as in the Niger Delta, or when ancient-growth forests are in danger of being cleared, as in South America. And most people generally find it hard to defend themselves, Windfuhr said. "That often has to do with them having very few resources themselves, often being illiterate, having difficulty documenting their cases, lacking money -- both for lawyers and the trip to the district court -- and lacking knowledge of their own rights."
When international corporations start mining resources in developing countries, both pollution and human rights abuses are frequently the result, according to Michael Windfuhr of the German Protestant Church's social aid organization, Diakonisches Werk. People suffer alongside the environment when the ground is dirtied by oil spills, such as in the Niger Delta, or when ancient-growth forests are in danger of being cleared, as in South America.
And most people generally find it hard to defend themselves, Windfuhr said.
"That often has to do with them having very few resources themselves, often being illiterate, having difficulty documenting their cases, lacking money -- both for lawyers and the trip to the district court -- and lacking knowledge of their own rights."
WASHINGTON: U.S. commanders in Afghanistan have in recent months urged a widening of the war that could include U.S. attacks on indigenous Pakistani militants in the tribal areas inside Pakistan, according to U.S. officials. The requests have been rebuffed for now, the officials said, after deliberations in Washington among senior Bush administration officials who fear that attacking Pakistani radicals may anger Pakistan's new government, which is negotiating with the militants, and destabilize an already fragile security situation there. U.S. commanders would prefer that Pakistani forces attack the militants, but Pakistani military operations in the tribal areas have slowed in recent weeks to avoid upsetting the negotiations. Pakistan's government has given the CIA limited authority to kill Arab and other foreign operatives in the tribal areas, using armed, remotely piloted Predator aircraft. But the government has put far greater restrictions on U.S. operations against indigenous Pakistani militant groups, including a group commanded by Sirajuddin Haqqani, son of the legendary militant leader, Jalaluddin Haqqani.
WASHINGTON: U.S. commanders in Afghanistan have in recent months urged a widening of the war that could include U.S. attacks on indigenous Pakistani militants in the tribal areas inside Pakistan, according to U.S. officials.
The requests have been rebuffed for now, the officials said, after deliberations in Washington among senior Bush administration officials who fear that attacking Pakistani radicals may anger Pakistan's new government, which is negotiating with the militants, and destabilize an already fragile security situation there.
U.S. commanders would prefer that Pakistani forces attack the militants, but Pakistani military operations in the tribal areas have slowed in recent weeks to avoid upsetting the negotiations.
Pakistan's government has given the CIA limited authority to kill Arab and other foreign operatives in the tribal areas, using armed, remotely piloted Predator aircraft. But the government has put far greater restrictions on U.S. operations against indigenous Pakistani militant groups, including a group commanded by Sirajuddin Haqqani, son of the legendary militant leader, Jalaluddin Haqqani.
From Manchester to Qingdao, Paris to Xi'an, the world is witnessing an extraordinary display of Chinese nationalism, as expatriates and students take to the streets to express their anger about growing anti-Olympic sentiment and attack what they see as biased Western coverage of last month's crackdown in Tibet. Anti-Chinese protests on the Paris leg of the Olympic torch relay and President Nicolas Sarkozy's threat to boycott the Beijing Games' opening cere-mony have led to demonstrations outside the French-owned Carrefour supermarkets, of which there are 112 in China. In Paris, there were displays of support for the Olympics by expatriates saying, "Love Our China".In Manchester and London, Chinese students staged silent protests against what they claim is distorted coverage by the BBC of Tibet. "We are here in a quest for objectivity, fairness and justice," an organiser.Internet users are organising online protests against CNN over commentator Jack Cafferty's description of the Beijing government as "goons and thugs", while there have been street demonstrations in Washington and in Los Angeles. The focus on CNN is remarkable as most Chinese people cannot watch the channel because it is available only in compounds where foreigners live and in a few hotels.
From Manchester to Qingdao, Paris to Xi'an, the world is witnessing an extraordinary display of Chinese nationalism, as expatriates and students take to the streets to express their anger about growing anti-Olympic sentiment and attack what they see as biased Western coverage of last month's crackdown in Tibet.
Anti-Chinese protests on the Paris leg of the Olympic torch relay and President Nicolas Sarkozy's threat to boycott the Beijing Games' opening cere-mony have led to demonstrations outside the French-owned Carrefour supermarkets, of which there are 112 in China. In Paris, there were displays of support for the Olympics by expatriates saying, "Love Our China".
In Manchester and London, Chinese students staged silent protests against what they claim is distorted coverage by the BBC of Tibet. "We are here in a quest for objectivity, fairness and justice," an organiser.
Internet users are organising online protests against CNN over commentator Jack Cafferty's description of the Beijing government as "goons and thugs", while there have been street demonstrations in Washington and in Los Angeles. The focus on CNN is remarkable as most Chinese people cannot watch the channel because it is available only in compounds where foreigners live and in a few hotels.
The student said she has received some messages calling for her to be burned alive with oil. She said she filed a report with the Duke University Police Department Friday. "I think this is not the time to die for my country," the student said. "I love my life." DUPD has increased patrols around the student's dormitory and has offered her personal protection, which she declined, said DUPD Maj. Gloria Graham. "She did report to us that there were some general threats made to her, or things she perceived to be threats," Graham said. "We take harassing phone call and e-mail cases all the time. I think we are all a little bit more alarmed about this case." Student gets threat after China protest
She said she filed a report with the Duke University Police Department Friday.
"I think this is not the time to die for my country," the student said. "I love my life."
DUPD has increased patrols around the student's dormitory and has offered her personal protection, which she declined, said DUPD Maj. Gloria Graham.
"She did report to us that there were some general threats made to her, or things she perceived to be threats," Graham said. "We take harassing phone call and e-mail cases all the time. I think we are all a little bit more alarmed about this case."
Student gets threat after China protest
This reminds of the sociopaths who threaten and often do burn their sisters, wives, girlfriends, nieces, daughters, etc. because they put on a little too much blush or cannot produce a son or looked at another guy the wrong way, or take your pick.
I am not saying that misogyny that is driving the hateful nationalistic fury towards this student -- her parents' home allegedly has been attacked, which would exclude misogyny per se. But I wonder whether nationalism (or if you prefer the politically clean expression, "patriotism" or "national pride"), sectarianism, sexism/misogyny, homophobia, racism, and all the rest, may not all sprout from the same poisonous root: insecurity at one extreme, self-loathing at the other. Instead of dealing with their own negative self-image, they feel compelled to identify with and project their self to some some tribe or principle or other kind of ersatz "super self", redirecing their wretchedness from self and converting it into a raging, terrified hatred of whatever is not self.
What is the vaccination for nationalism? A language is a dialect with an army and navy.
Nazism vaccinated the Germans and Franco vaccinated the Spaniards... When the capital development of a country becomes a by-product of the activities of a casino, the job is likely to be ill-done. — John M. Keynes
Iraqi government forces, with US and British support, have moved into the Mehdi Army stronghold in Basra and have surrounded its main bastion in Baghdad as the Shia militia's leader Muqtada al-Sadr threatened "open war". The Iraqi army, supported by US air strikes and British artillery, was able to advance into Basra against little resistance while there is still heavy fighting around Sadr City, a vast impoverished quarter of Baghdad in which some two million people are living."I'm giving the last warning and the last word to the Iraqi government," said Mr Sadr. "Either it comes to its senses and takes the path of peace ... or it will be [seen as] the same as the previous government [of Saddam Hussein]."The Sadrists see the attack on them as orchestrated by the Badr Organisation, the powerful Shia militia which is allied to the government and many of whose men have joined the Iraqi army and security services. "If they don't come to their senses and curb the infiltrated militias, we will declare an open war until liberation," Mr Sadr said.
Iraqi government forces, with US and British support, have moved into the Mehdi Army stronghold in Basra and have surrounded its main bastion in Baghdad as the Shia militia's leader Muqtada al-Sadr threatened "open war".
The Iraqi army, supported by US air strikes and British artillery, was able to advance into Basra against little resistance while there is still heavy fighting around Sadr City, a vast impoverished quarter of Baghdad in which some two million people are living.
"I'm giving the last warning and the last word to the Iraqi government," said Mr Sadr. "Either it comes to its senses and takes the path of peace ... or it will be [seen as] the same as the previous government [of Saddam Hussein]."
The Sadrists see the attack on them as orchestrated by the Badr Organisation, the powerful Shia militia which is allied to the government and many of whose men have joined the Iraqi army and security services. "If they don't come to their senses and curb the infiltrated militias, we will declare an open war until liberation," Mr Sadr said.
The torture lady is in Iraq to praise the "unity" behind Maliki's puppet government. That "unity" is, of course, not existent. On Sadr she commented: "It's been very difficult to get a read of what his motivations are and what his intentions are." Well, let me help you here. Sadr wants the attacks on his people to be stopped immediately. He wants a timetable for the occupiers to leave his country and he wants a united, independent Iraq. If he will not get these majority demands fullfilled through a fair political environment, he will ask the people to fight for it. That's it.
The torture lady is in Iraq to praise the "unity" behind Maliki's puppet government.
That "unity" is, of course, not existent.
On Sadr she commented: "It's been very difficult to get a read of what his motivations are and what his intentions are."
Well, let me help you here.
Sadr wants the attacks on his people to be stopped immediately. He wants a timetable for the occupiers to leave his country and he wants a united, independent Iraq. If he will not get these majority demands fullfilled through a fair political environment, he will ask the people to fight for it. That's it.
TEHRAN: Even at $115 a barrel, oil is priced too low, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said in comments published on Saturday, adding that the commodity "should find its real value." "Oil at $115 a barrel in today's market is a deceiving figure. Oil is a strategic commodity and should find its real value," the state broadcaster's Web site quoted Ahmadinejad as saying on Friday. US crude hit a record of $117 on Friday. Iranian Oil Minister Gholam Hossein Nozari, whose country is OPEC's number-two oil producer and exporter, on Wednesday rejected calls from oil consuming countries for the cartel to take action to bring down prices."The oil price has reached $114 a barrel. When the price is suitable and supply is higher than demand, this shows the reason is somewhere else, and we should deal with this other reason," he said.The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries - which produces 40 percent of the world's oil - has refused to raise its daily output quota, fixed at 29.67 million barrels.
TEHRAN: Even at $115 a barrel, oil is priced too low, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said in comments published on Saturday, adding that the commodity "should find its real value." "Oil at $115 a barrel in today's market is a deceiving figure. Oil is a strategic commodity and should find its real value," the state broadcaster's Web site quoted Ahmadinejad as saying on Friday. US crude hit a record of $117 on Friday.
Iranian Oil Minister Gholam Hossein Nozari, whose country is OPEC's number-two oil producer and exporter, on Wednesday rejected calls from oil consuming countries for the cartel to take action to bring down prices.
"The oil price has reached $114 a barrel. When the price is suitable and supply is higher than demand, this shows the reason is somewhere else, and we should deal with this other reason," he said.
The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries - which produces 40 percent of the world's oil - has refused to raise its daily output quota, fixed at 29.67 million barrels.
After Tuesday's vote, the Democrats should move quickly to affirm Mr Obama's nomination. That is not just because his lead in elected delegates is already unassailable and the contest should be brought to a swift conclusion. It is also because he is, in fact, the better candidate.
The Financial Times?
I now officially pronounce this Democratic Presidential Nominating Season weird.
And, yes, it is now officially weird. I don't know what's up at the FT lately, on a side note. They're actually covering stuff lately. Has something happened to the water supply in the City? Conservatives want live babies so they can raise them to be dead soldiers. - George Carlin
I don't know why he does this, but Axelrod needs to straighten him out. Conservatives want live babies so they can raise them to be dead soldiers. - George Carlin
they always get their butts handed to them in the spin game.
So don't spin. Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.
Public Policy Polling, so far the most accurate in this primary cycle, released their last Pa Poll showing:
Obama 49 Clinton 46
Chafing at ties between American intelligence agencies and Ecuadorean military officials, President Rafael Correa is purging the armed forces of top commanders and pressing ahead with plans to cast out more than 100 members of the American military from an air base here in this coastal city. Mr. Correa -- who this month dismissed his defense minister, army chief of intelligence and commanders of the army, air force and joint chiefs -- said that Ecuador's intelligence systems were "totally infiltrated and subjugated to the C.I.A." He accused senior military officials of sharing intelligence with Colombia, the Bush administration's top ally in Latin America. The dismissals point to a willingness by Mr. Correa, an ally of President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela, to aggressively confront Ecuador's military, a bastion of political and economic power in this coup-prone country of 14 million people. Mr. Correa's moves mark a clear break with his predecessors, illustrating his wager that Ecuador's institutions may finally be resilient enough to carry out such changes after more than a decade of political upheaval. The gambit also poses a clear challenge to the United States. For nearly a decade, the base here in Manta has been the most prominent American military outpost in South America and an important facet of the United States' drug-fighting efforts.
Mr. Correa -- who this month dismissed his defense minister, army chief of intelligence and commanders of the army, air force and joint chiefs -- said that Ecuador's intelligence systems were "totally infiltrated and subjugated to the C.I.A." He accused senior military officials of sharing intelligence with Colombia, the Bush administration's top ally in Latin America.
The dismissals point to a willingness by Mr. Correa, an ally of President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela, to aggressively confront Ecuador's military, a bastion of political and economic power in this coup-prone country of 14 million people. Mr. Correa's moves mark a clear break with his predecessors, illustrating his wager that Ecuador's institutions may finally be resilient enough to carry out such changes after more than a decade of political upheaval.
The gambit also poses a clear challenge to the United States. For nearly a decade, the base here in Manta has been the most prominent American military outpost in South America and an important facet of the United States' drug-fighting efforts.
Hint... hint... Europeans should close the U.S. bases too.
We can't do that. We'd be invaded immediately by Russia China Iran Malta.
In the summer of 2005, the Bush administration confronted a fresh wave of criticism over Guantánamo Bay. The detention center had just been branded "the gulag of our times" by Amnesty International, there were new allegations of abuse from United Nations human rights experts and calls were mounting for its closure. The administration's communications experts responded swiftly. Early one Friday morning, they put a group of retired military officers on one of the jets normally used by Vice President Dick Cheney and flew them to Cuba for a carefully orchestrated tour of Guantánamo. To the public, these men are members of a familiar fraternity, presented tens of thousands of times on television and radio as "military analysts" whose long service has equipped them to give authoritative and unfettered judgments about the most pressing issues of the post-Sept. 11 world. Hidden behind that appearance of objectivity, though, is a Pentagon information apparatus that has used those analysts in a campaign to generate favorable news coverage of the administration's wartime performance, an examination by The New York Times has found. The effort, which began with the buildup to the Iraq war and continues to this day, has sought to exploit ideological and military allegiances, and also a powerful financial dynamic: Most of the analysts have ties to military contractors vested in the very war policies they are asked to assess on air. Those business relationships are hardly ever disclosed to the viewers, and sometimes not even to the networks themselves. But collectively, the men on the plane and several dozen other military analysts represent more than 150 military contractors either as lobbyists, senior executives, board members or consultants. The companies include defense heavyweights, but also scores of smaller companies, all part of a vast assemblage of contractors scrambling for hundreds of billions in military business generated by the administration's war on terror. It is a furious competition, one in which inside information and easy access to senior officials are highly prized.
The administration's communications experts responded swiftly. Early one Friday morning, they put a group of retired military officers on one of the jets normally used by Vice President Dick Cheney and flew them to Cuba for a carefully orchestrated tour of Guantánamo.
To the public, these men are members of a familiar fraternity, presented tens of thousands of times on television and radio as "military analysts" whose long service has equipped them to give authoritative and unfettered judgments about the most pressing issues of the post-Sept. 11 world.
Hidden behind that appearance of objectivity, though, is a Pentagon information apparatus that has used those analysts in a campaign to generate favorable news coverage of the administration's wartime performance, an examination by The New York Times has found.
The effort, which began with the buildup to the Iraq war and continues to this day, has sought to exploit ideological and military allegiances, and also a powerful financial dynamic: Most of the analysts have ties to military contractors vested in the very war policies they are asked to assess on air.
Those business relationships are hardly ever disclosed to the viewers, and sometimes not even to the networks themselves. But collectively, the men on the plane and several dozen other military analysts represent more than 150 military contractors either as lobbyists, senior executives, board members or consultants. The companies include defense heavyweights, but also scores of smaller companies, all part of a vast assemblage of contractors scrambling for hundreds of billions in military business generated by the administration's war on terror. It is a furious competition, one in which inside information and easy access to senior officials are highly prized.
Behind Analysts, the Pentagon's Hidden Hand - New York Times
But The Times successfully sued the Defense Department to gain access to 8,000 pages of e-mail messages, transcripts and records describing years of private briefings, trips to Iraq and Guantánamo and an extensive Pentagon talking points operation.
Worth noting too (given ET's emphasis on media manipulation through pundits fed talking-point boilerplate):
Internal Pentagon documents repeatedly refer to the military analysts as "message force multipliers" or "surrogates" who could be counted on to deliver administration "themes and messages" to millions of Americans "in the form of their own opinions."
Let's not pretend it doesn't exist and the noise isn't as carefully orchestrated.
In the meantime, anarchy and violent oppression is ruling Zimbabwe.
Mugabe minister accused of gun threats : Mail & Guardian Online
Zimbabwe's health minister armed himself with a Kalashnikov and threatened to kill opposition supporters forced to attend a political meeting unless they voted for President Robert Mugabe in a second round of the presidential election, according to witnesses. The accounts of the incident involving Dr David Parirenyatwa -- as well as witness reports of other forced meetings at which Zanu-PF MPs and senior military officers oversaw the beating of people who voted against Mugabe in last month's elections -- establish a direct link between the highest levels of the ruling party and what the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) described on Sunday as a "war" against the people.An affidavit made before a commissioner of oaths by an opposition activist names Parirenyatwa, along with a deputy minister and other senior ruling-party officials, as threatening to kill MDC supporters.
MDC: There is a 'war' being waged in Zim : Mail & Guardian Online
Zimbabwe's opposition on Sunday accused the authorities of waging a "war" that has killed 10 people and injured 500 others since disputed parliamentary and presidential elections."Ten people have so far been killed in Zimbabwe since March 29. The situation in Zimbabwe is desperate," Tendai Biti, secretary general of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), told reporters in Johannesburg.Biti said hundreds of homes had been burnt and 3 000 families been displaced in election-related violence. He also said that more than 400 MDC activists had been detained since the vote.
We haven't heard from the guy who has gone back to get his two kids for four days now. The only remaining line of communications, a land-line telephone, appears to be cut off. I'm concerned.
China's carmakers are embracing next-generation cleaner-car technology, motivated more by profit and pragmatism than any special love for the planet. <...> Shanghai Automotive, or SAIC, China's largest domestic carmaker, said it would be producing more than 10,000 hybrid cars a year by 2010, including those made by its joint venture partners, General Motors and Volkswagen. Chery premiered a planned hybrid that it will pilot at the Olympic games. Their belief - and that of their supporters in government - is that China is positioned to vault past existing automotive models into the new technologies, which require regulators' support in areas such as tax policy and investment in new technologies such as hydrogen fuel cells. <...> However, the local industry's push into greener cars appears to be motivated mostly by China's preoccupation with energy security and a desire to build a world-class auto industry.
Shanghai Automotive, or SAIC, China's largest domestic carmaker, said it would be producing more than 10,000 hybrid cars a year by 2010, including those made by its joint venture partners, General Motors and Volkswagen. Chery premiered a planned hybrid that it will pilot at the Olympic games.
Their belief - and that of their supporters in government - is that China is positioned to vault past existing automotive models into the new technologies, which require regulators' support in areas such as tax policy and investment in new technologies such as hydrogen fuel cells. <...>
However, the local industry's push into greener cars appears to be motivated mostly by China's preoccupation with energy security and a desire to build a world-class auto industry.
The West, home to only 12% of world population, jealously guards its control of organizations that were intended to serve the whole of humanity. Mahbubani rips apart propaganda in Western media outlets that participants in the annual Group of Seven summit "are meeting global challenges, not promoting their selfish national interests". (p 123) Newly energized Asians are consciously deciding to disallow their lives from being determined by Western interests. Mahbubani asserts that a turbulent era of de-Westernization has commenced in Asia. With most Asians disavowing former beliefs that the West was the "most civilized part of the world", the latter has lost appeal as an ideal in human advancement. Chinese intellectuals, drawing on a history of insularity, have decolonized their mind the furthest and fastest. Accompanying China's accumulation of wealth and economic vitality is a popular rediscovery of its glorious cultural heritage and pride.
Mahbubani asserts that a turbulent era of de-Westernization has commenced in Asia. With most Asians disavowing former beliefs that the West was the "most civilized part of the world", the latter has lost appeal as an ideal in human advancement. Chinese intellectuals, drawing on a history of insularity, have decolonized their mind the furthest and fastest. Accompanying China's accumulation of wealth and economic vitality is a popular rediscovery of its glorious cultural heritage and pride.
The West, home to only 12% of world population, jealously guards its control of organizations that were intended to serve the whole of humanity.
China is exchanging its depreciating reserves of US dollars for things of value, notably rice, with frightening consequences for dependent countries, and deadly consequences for American foreign policy. The chart below shows the price of 100 pounds of rice against the euro's parity against the US dollar during the past 12 months. The regression fit is 90%. There is an even tighter relationship between the price of rice and the price of oil, another store of value against dollar depreciation. As the chart makes clear, the ascent of the cost of rice to $24 from $10 per hundredweight over the past year tracks the declining value of the American dollar. The link between the declining parity of the US unit and the rising price of commodities, including oil as well as rice and other wares, is indisputable. China has bid aggressively for rice all year, and last week banned rice exports, along with Vietnam and several other producers. For developing countries whose currencies track the American dollar and whose purchasing power declines along with the American unit, this is a catastrophe, as World Bank president Robert Zoellick warned the Group of Seven industrial nations in Washington last week. Food security suddenly has become the top item on the strategic agenda.
The chart below shows the price of 100 pounds of rice against the euro's parity against the US dollar during the past 12 months. The regression fit is 90%. There is an even tighter relationship between the price of rice and the price of oil, another store of value against dollar depreciation.
As the chart makes clear, the ascent of the cost of rice to $24 from $10 per hundredweight over the past year tracks the declining value of the American dollar. The link between the declining parity of the US unit and the rising price of commodities, including oil as well as rice and other wares, is indisputable. China has bid aggressively for rice all year, and last week banned rice exports, along with Vietnam and several other producers.
For developing countries whose currencies track the American dollar and whose purchasing power declines along with the American unit, this is a catastrophe, as World Bank president Robert Zoellick warned the Group of Seven industrial nations in Washington last week. Food security suddenly has become the top item on the strategic agenda.
No good deed ever goes unpunished. Asians are quickly discovering the wisdom of this idiom, as they suddenly confront staggering shortages in basic food items. The price of rice has gone up exponentially in the past few weeks, crossing US$1,000 a tonne, despite the absence of any discernible decrease in global production nor a concurrent increase in consumption. <...> Agricultural produce has been the source of much abuse by the Europeans, whose Common Agricultural Policy (CAP - surely an acronym that deserves an "R" as its second letter) is uniquely responsible for keeping a billion people in dire poverty. The American response has been both through their own subsidies, and by increasing the alternative uses of agricultural crops such as ethanol for corn that is heavily subsidized in the name of energy self sufficiency. CAP ensures that vast farms producing overly expensive produce in Europe are sustained at taxpayer expense, leaving fallow the fertile lands of Africa and many parts of Asia as excess production is dumped on global markets. These countries cannot export to Europe or the United States due to the tying of agricultural trade with unrelated items, creating astounding tariff and non-tariff barriers to trade. <...> There is however another culprit here, one that gets away scot-free usually. As most regular readers of this column know, I am referring to the root cause of the current mess of inflation amid excessively depressed interest rates, the US dollar. More simply, the idiot central bankers of Asia who squander their responsibility at the altar of conformity by purchasing billions of dollars worth of useless financial assets have done their region a great disservice. <...> Locking up savings in a currency that has terminally declining purchasing power means that Asian authorities have less fiscal and monetary policy leeway to regulate the dynamics of their own economies. This is what causes structural inflation, that is, the achievement of a new level in prices, as different from a cyclical increase in prices, which has in turn manifested in food prices.
Agricultural produce has been the source of much abuse by the Europeans, whose Common Agricultural Policy (CAP - surely an acronym that deserves an "R" as its second letter) is uniquely responsible for keeping a billion people in dire poverty. The American response has been both through their own subsidies, and by increasing the alternative uses of agricultural crops such as ethanol for corn that is heavily subsidized in the name of energy self sufficiency.
CAP ensures that vast farms producing overly expensive produce in Europe are sustained at taxpayer expense, leaving fallow the fertile lands of Africa and many parts of Asia as excess production is dumped on global markets. These countries cannot export to Europe or the United States due to the tying of agricultural trade with unrelated items, creating astounding tariff and non-tariff barriers to trade. <...>
There is however another culprit here, one that gets away scot-free usually. As most regular readers of this column know, I am referring to the root cause of the current mess of inflation amid excessively depressed interest rates, the US dollar. More simply, the idiot central bankers of Asia who squander their responsibility at the altar of conformity by purchasing billions of dollars worth of useless financial assets have done their region a great disservice. <...>
Locking up savings in a currency that has terminally declining purchasing power means that Asian authorities have less fiscal and monetary policy leeway to regulate the dynamics of their own economies. This is what causes structural inflation, that is, the achievement of a new level in prices, as different from a cyclical increase in prices, which has in turn manifested in food prices.
uniquely responsible for keeping a billion people in dire poverty
Without defending subsidised exports (or the current structure of the CAP)in any way, I'd all the same like to see the calculations there.
It's also plain nonsense to put America in second position as having simply "responded" to European abuses. Chan Akra might recall that Europe is not, for example, a rice producer of any importance. Complaining about the rice market and immediately calling Europe to the bar is somehow unconvincing...
Have the UN report on European rice.
FAO - TWENTY-FOURTH FAO REGIONAL CONFERENCE FOR EUROPE
Rice is not a major food crop in Europe. However, rice consumption has steadily increased during the last decade. The cost of rice production in Europe remains relatively high making competition with imported rice difficult. In addition, concern over the negative effects of rice production on the environment and biodiversity has continued to increase. However, the rice-based production systems in Europe have a number of opportunities for sustainable development.
US rice exports account for half of their production
<Quick back of envelope calculation>
so roughly US exported rice has ten times the market size than EU exported rice. Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.
After a lot of dredging around, in which Eurostat was f---ing useless and the FAO not much good, I found a note from EC Trade (pdf) that contains a good summary re EU rice.
With an average yearly production of approximately 2 million tonnes out of a total world production of about 400 million tonnes and an average yearly consumption of 2 million tonnes out of global consumption of over 400 million tonnes, the EU is neither a leading world producer nor a major consumer of rice. Asia is both the leading producing area and the major consumer.
Here's the import/export balance:
Rice is imported mainly from India, Thailand, USA, and Pakistan, and exported to Turkey, Switzerland, UA Emirates, Norway... and small amounts to Mediterranean countries other than Turkey.
Rice-sector reform of the CAP has recently resulted in increased imports, reduced exports. The USDA's Rice Yearbook 2008 (pdf) gives EU 25 exports at 150,000 tons a year, with US exports at 3.3 to 3.4 million tons a year (table p. 88). So a ratio of roughly 1:23.
They have squiffed their squib.
13. As rice plants originate from sub-tropical and tropical zones, they are easily damaged by low temperatures at any growth stage from germination to ripening. The cool weather and strong winds during stand establishment in Mediterranean climate areas may cause partial stand loss and seedling drift, which lead to poor crop establishment. In many temperate areas, emergence rate quite often does not exceed 30-40 percent of the planted seeds.14. This low rate of crop emergence is due primarily to the effect of anaerobic conditions during germination that occurs under low temperatures. To avoid low temperatures during crop establishment stage, therefore, some growers end up with delays in crop planting. However, a delay in crop establishment leads to the occurrence of reproductive stages of the crop during periods of low temperatures during the autumn that causes the death of pollen cells at the meiosis stage and subsequent grain sterility. Damage to rice yield caused by spikelet sterility could be one of the most severe in some years.
13. As rice plants originate from sub-tropical and tropical zones, they are easily damaged by low temperatures at any growth stage from germination to ripening. The cool weather and strong winds during stand establishment in Mediterranean climate areas may cause partial stand loss and seedling drift, which lead to poor crop establishment. In many temperate areas, emergence rate quite often does not exceed 30-40 percent of the planted seeds.
14. This low rate of crop emergence is due primarily to the effect of anaerobic conditions during germination that occurs under low temperatures. To avoid low temperatures during crop establishment stage, therefore, some growers end up with delays in crop planting. However, a delay in crop establishment leads to the occurrence of reproductive stages of the crop during periods of low temperatures during the autumn that causes the death of pollen cells at the meiosis stage and subsequent grain sterility. Damage to rice yield caused by spikelet sterility could be one of the most severe in some years.
Chan Akra might recall that Europe is not, for example, a rice producer of any importance.
He's aware of that. But he claims CAP is partly responsible keeping a billion people in dire poverty for two reasons:
The largest consumers of rice being in Asia, a few minor weather disturbances caused exports to decline and as prices rose as a consequence, quickly caused a domino effect of trade bans and other barriers, accentuating the problem. The Philippines is the worst affected by the mess, but others like Indonesia are also suffering. Rice may be an Asian problem, but the unnecessarily complex system of trade agreements in place is clearly a legacy of corrupt European governments, who bear all the moral shame in this matter.
Rice may be an Asian problem, but the unnecessarily complex system of trade agreements in place is clearly a legacy of corrupt European governments, who bear all the moral shame in this matter.
Europan aid policies are probably damaging African agriculture more than the CAP, which tends to support imports from the poorest countries. In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes
The more Asia times is quoted in the Salon, the less I tend to like that publication. I know that ChrisCook was published over there, but the overall level of content seems to be increasingly shallow. In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes
That chart is pretty silly, given that the scales are totally different.
