Archive for June, 2010
06 30th, 2010
China and Taiwan have signed a historic trade pact, seen as the most significant agreement since civil war split the two governments 60 years ago.
Not long ago the China-Taiwan story was about missiles and invasions. It’s amazing what trade can do
06 26th, 2010
The US warns that North Korea may be preparing for another missile test.
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06 20th, 2010
Britain already has the most video cameras per head of population among Western democracies, now the Sunday Times reports that a network of ‘intelligent’ listening devices that can monitor conversations and detect threatening language are being deployed for the first time in a city centre — Coventry.  I story I wrote about three years ago in From Our Own Correspondent Click here: Big Brother is watching us all
06 18th, 2010
China has been cutting deals in debt-ridden Greece in what’s being seen as a relentless pursuit of global influence. The European Council on Foreign Relations has recently warned that Chinese behaviour poses a ‘huge test’ for Europe — a view shared by many in the United States.Â
06 16th, 2010
A prairie fire is an issue that begins at the grass roots and spreads quickly to face down those in power. Three that come to mind are in 2006 when Dubai Ports World bought P & O that happened to own ports in the the United States and led to a scare that Muslims were running American ports; when the American public backed the invasion of Iraq because Saddam Hussein was linked to the 9/11 attacks; and now we have BP. Let’s see what happens there.
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Click here: Democracy Kills
06 15th, 2010
Much comparison is being made between America’s treatment of Union Carbide responsible for the 1984 Bhopal disaster in India and of BP for the Gulf of Mexico oil leak. In America, President Obama is responding to the concern of his own citizens.  In India, despite many more deaths and far higher levels of toxic pollution, the government has felt no electoral need to respond and/or the people felt helpless to exert pressure and/or they didn’t care. As for Bhopal and America, it protected its own. Such are the workings of democracy.
06 12th, 2010
It’s very interesting to compare the two opening ceremonies of the China Olympics and the South African World Cup. Both contained huge visions of the future. Both came from countries that represented a whole region and the dreams of millions. Both were spectacular. China was more meticulous, but by God, the Africans could dance.
Click here: Democracy Kills                                                Click here: The Third World War — A Future History
06 10th, 2010
Sri Lanka is becoming a focus of the emerging Great Game bewing played between China and India over control of the Indian Ocean. China is supplying more than half of all Sri Lanka’s development loans while India has just signed a new package of trade, aid and development deals with Sri Lanka.
“China wants to be the pre-eminent power in Asia and whether Asia ends up being multipolar or unipolar depends on what happens in the Indian Ocean. Currently there is a power vacuum there and China wants to fill it,” says Brahma Chellaney of Delhi’s Centre for Policy Research.Â
Click here: The Third World War — A Future History        Â
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Click here: Democracy Kills
06 5th, 2010
Documents smuggled out of Burma (Myanmar) by an army defector indicate its military regime is trying to develop nuclear weapons and long-range missiles, possibly assisted by North Korea. U.S. Senator Jim Webb has postponed a trip to Myanmar because of the allegations. If true, it means that China could eventually have two rogue states under its thumb with rudimentary nuclear weapons to use as strategic bargaining chips in its power balance with the United States.
06 5th, 2010
The steady, growing hostility towards BP by Americans is driven partly by BP’s failure to understand the American dream.   While Britain’s tendency is to play down and minimise fuss, Americans like big crises to be solved by big heroes. It is impossible to underestimate how the power of this narrative feeds into the making of American policy. It is muddle through against resolution; Full Monty against Independence Day; Midsomers Murders against Dirty Harry.
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Click here: Democracy Kills                                       Click here: Democracy Kills
