Archive for June, 2010
06 4th, 2010
Taiwan’s president Ma Ying-jeou’s thoughts on the 21st anniversary of the Tiananmen massacre. They could be applied far beyond China:-
Surveying history, we see that in conflicts between governments and people which end in bloodshed, governments, as the public authority, must assume the heaviest responsibility. The existence of a government is dependent on the people’s trust. When it resorts to use of armed force against the people, it is not only the people that are hurt; the trust between the government and the citizenry is also damaged, and recovery from such an event takes a long time. In such situations, therefore, governments must bravely face up to this reality and, with the utmost patience and tolerance, take steps to rebuild trust.
06 4th, 2010
I am amazed that my bill from British Gas fails to specify how much I’m actually being charged. I am told what I’ve paid; how much gas I’ve used; the discount I get for direct debiit; my refund adjustment; and VAT; but no clear final bill.
Following the nine different numbers I had to call to ask about a BT broadband installation, little wonder that great British companies are foundering.
06 3rd, 2010
Like Israel and Palestine, Taiwan and China are two societies who have grievances over lost land, styles of government and strategic interests. But forty per cent of Taiwan’s trade is with China and between them they run 90 per cent of the global market for wi-fi routers. In contrast, Israel’s trade with its two Arab neighbour with whom it does have diplomatic relations — Jordan and Egypt — is only 0.6 per cent of the total.
On paper, neither Taiwan and China recognise each other’s right to exist, but over the years both have found an alternative way to live together.
06 1st, 2010
Over the past couple of years, a consensus has been emerging over the issue of democracy and elections in the developing world, brilliantly summed up by Borut Grgic of the Atlantic Council. His topic was the recent uprising in Kyrghystan.
“Illusions that Kyrghystan can be the bastion of Central Asian democracy should be dropped,” he writes in the International Herald Tribune. Among elected members of parliament “There is no sense yet of national duty or sacrifice for the common good…… whoever is elected next will probably not be much different in essence and form from the leader who was last ousted…..Nothing I saw convinced me that we have witnessed a democratic change…..The priority should be on achieving stability and economic growth, a return of functional institutions and a strengthening of law and order.”
Much of Grgic’s assessment could be mirrored for Iraq, Afghanistan and swathes of Africa.
