A New Capitalism
02 5th, 2010Anatole Kaletsky hot foot back from Davos writes in The Times :-
The question that nobody wants to raise is whether the new model of capitalism that emerges to dominate the world will be a radically reformed version of the Western democratic system or some variant of the authoritarian state-led capitalism favoured in China, Russia and many other emerging economies.
“The West must come up with a new model of capitalism that’s consistent with our political values,” he quotes a US diplomat as saying. “Either we reinvent ourselves or we will lose.”
Dead Aid and Democracy
01 31st, 2010I am reading Dambisa Moyo’s book, Dead Aid, in which she writes: “In a perfect world, what poor countries at the lowest rungs of economic development need is not a multi-party democracy, but in fact a decisive benevolent dictator to push through the reforms required to get the economy moving.”
She may be right. But how to make it work?
Broken society
01 30th, 2010The average income in Britain is around £20,000 which is not enough for a family to live on. Employers knows this, but the lower the wages the higher their bonuses. Therefore, both parents have to work full time. Because parents are too exhausted to raise their children society has become ‘broken.’ This was the conclusion around the dinner table last night to the question of how can anyone live on the average salary. What a dangerous economic balance for a society to get itself into!
Paradoxical ideology
01 24th, 2010The concept of having to hold elections to give government’s credibility unravelled a fraction with Afghanistan’s decision to postpone its parliamentary elections for four months. It shows up the paradoxical ideology advocated by Western democracies who pushed for the postponement — after the chaos of the presidential elections in August. Elections are all very well, but they must be held in an environment where they work.
Arguing Democracy’s Corner
01 23rd, 2010I’m finding increasing pressure for the advocates of ‘instant democracy’ to get off their butts and argue their case. This is a very interesting site from the US. http://principalitiesandpowers.blogspot.com/
It is a disgrace, given all that political theorists have to teach, that there has been such enthusiasm for “democracy” and multi-party elections, in isolation of the other pre-requisites for liberty……With the rise of dictators (Chavez), kleptocrats (Putin), and Islamocrats by the ballot box, democracy has been earning a justifiably bad reputation. David C. Innes, Asst. Professor, The King’s College in New York City.
Al Qaeda — South Asian Threat
01 20th, 2010Al-Qaeda is trying to destabilise the whole of South Asia hoping to provoke war between India and Pakistan, US Defence Secretary Robert Gates says. “It’s important to recognise the magnitude of the threat,” Mr Gates said, after meeting his Indian counterpart AK Antony in Delhi.
The scenario is laid out in:-
The Number One Cafe Restaurant
01 20th, 2010Unusual for London, an elegant and spacious BYO restaurant with superb Thai and Malaysian food that does not charge corkage. It’s only just opened and deserves big support. A multi-dish dinner for two, squid, chicken, tofu, beef — all freshly cooked — costs less than £30 and would be double that if you had to pay for drinks. They helpfully direct guests to a small wine shop around the corner from where I chose a £9.99 bottle of New Zealand Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc.
It’s called The Number One Cafe Restuarant, 1 Dalgarno Gardens, London, W10 5LL 44 (0) 20 968 0558.
The Economist & Democracy’s Decline
01 16th, 2010The Economist has published one of the most carefully argued pieces I have seen on the democracy debate.
Here is an extract, but I urge you read the whole article:- Click here: Crying for Freedom – Democracy’s Decline
For freedom-watchers in the West, the worrying thing is that the cause of liberal democracy is not merely suffering political reverses, it is also in intellectual retreat. Semi-free countries, uncertain which direction to take, seem less convinced that the liberal path is the way of the future. And in the West, opinion-makers are quicker to acknowledge democracy’s drawbacks—and the apparent fact that contested elections do more harm than good when other preconditions for a well-functioning system are absent. It is a sign of the times that a British reporter, Humphrey Hawksley, has written a book with the title: “Democracy Kills: What’s So Good About the Vote?”.
Democracy & Engels
01 13th, 2010Review of Democracy Kills in The Morning Star:-
Humphrey Hawksley is not another Friedrich Engels. Yet the BBC correspondent’s latest book certainly has the potential to be something comparable to The Condition Of The Working Class in England in 1844, albeit different in the scope and scale of its subject matter. Democracy Kills: What’s So Good About Having The Vote? offers an impressive collection of evidence, including interviews with people at the bottom of the capitalist pile across five continents, to show that the last 20 years of imposed liberal democratic values – usually narrowly defined as the opportunity to periodically participate in elections – has led to the deaths of millions and the impoverishment of many more.
To read the whole review Click here: Democracy Kills — Morning Star
Mexico drug wars
01 11th, 2010So far this year, almost 300 have died in the war between Mexico’s drug cartels. Sixty nine had been killed in the past 24 hours and a third of the killings have been in Cuidad Juarez on the US border with El Paso. When covering drug trafficking over the US-Canada border last year, the US Border Patrol were adamant that drug cartels would not hesitate in exporting terror if the money was right. So which is the biggest danger Mexico or Afghanistan?
