Korean instability
05 30th, 2010The leaders of Japan, China and South Korea finished an emergency summit warning that the sinking of a South Korean warship poses a threat to peace and stability in the region. Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said avoiding conflict between the Koreas was “most urgent”, but did not apportion blame for the sinking of the South Korean warship, Cheonan, in March.
Click here: The Third World War Click here: The Third World War
Rwanda conundrum
05 29th, 2010Rwanda president Paul Kagame talking to the Guardian’s Sarah Boseley on accusation that he is suppressing democracy:-
“Democracy is good music but you need somebody with ears to listen to that music,” he says, leaning across the table. “It doesn’t matter how much you talk about democracy or human rights. Tell me about a family who spend the whole night looking at each other and wondering whether they will have something to eat. Are they thinking about anything else? They are just not listening.”
In 1994, Rwanda suffered a horrific tribal genocide, largely because democratic freedoms allowed one tribe to incite violence against another. In 2010, the same country, under Kagame’s presidency, is is held up as a model for African development and foreign investment.
Come on! — decide what we really want.
Let’s stop this talk of crisis
05 29th, 2010Maurice Levy, chief executive of the French communications group, Publicis, argues in the International Herald Tribune that we are going through an unprecedented crisis with a loss of meaning, direction and proper values. This is utter rubbish and lazy thinking.
We live in a more secure and moral world than we ever have. I suggest Mr Levy asks whether he would prefer the values and direction that led to the slaughter of the First World War, the rise of Hitler, Stalin’s purges and Mao’s famines.
India train insurgency
05 28th, 2010The alleged Maoist insurgent attack on an Indian train raises questions about how the world’s biggest democracy is dealing with an uprising claiming to represent the disenfranchised poor. The Indian government describes the Maoist movement as the greatest threat to its internal security, while in his influential blog, http://ridingtheelephant.wordpress.com/ John Elliott writes the government is split on whether the insurgency should be seen as a terror or a developmental problem.
“The government is of course functioning adequately despite all the policy problems, corruption, and lack of prime ministerial drive and authority. From Sonia Gandhi’s and the party’s point of view, keeping the coalition intact is a primary issue till the next general election due in 2014. What a lot India is missing as a result! ”
At issue is whether democratically elected government’s primary role should be to stay in power or solve long-term problems.
A lethal British fashion
05 28th, 2010A 40-year-old man charged with the murders of three Bradford women who worked as prostitutes, is due to appear before magistrates later.
The Bradford murders follow a of trend of serial-killing that stretched from Jack the Ripper, to Dr Harold Shipman, the Ipswich murders and beyond. There is something very British about them, our fascination and the way we solve them.
To find our more Click here: The Magnificent Spilsbury and the Case of the Brides in the Bath
North Korean test case
05 27th, 2010America’s handling of the current North Korean crisis may prove a tipping point in its long-term relations with China. The economic crisis has propelled China into being more assertive on the world stage, while it remains bedevilled by the insecurities and stubborness that have plagued it for years.
In the middle of all this lies North Korea — a nuclear-armed rogue state .
Thailand — which democracy?
05 26th, 2010Karuna Buakamsri, news anchor at Channel 3 Bangkok writes movingly about the 1992 protests in Bangkok when activists were unarmed and filled with ideals. With her then, among the protesters, were young idealists who became leaders of the now opposing Yellow and Red shirt movements — one which ransacked the Prime Minister’s office and occupied the airport, the other which set fire to central Bangkok. Both claim they are fighting for democracy.
“I can’t see any justice or democracy in what they have done,” writes Karuna Karuna Buakamsri who had to flee from her burning television station building.
Low Trust Britain
05 25th, 2010In his book Trust, Francis Fukuyama argues that the higher the trust within a society the further it advances, which is why Japan and the United States have fared far better than low-trust Rwanda and Bosnia. BT, the British telecoms company operates on the extremities of low trust. In order to try to install a broadband line, I have so far rung seven separate numbers, each for a department that is banned from liaising with another and disempowered from solving issues. The departments go under such names as Broadband; Narrowband; Customer Service; Technical Support; OpenZone; BTFon and others. For the record, the numbers were 08001114567; 08006901991; 08456007030; 08000223322; 08081006778; 0800800150; and a 7th I have lost my note of.
The issue remains unaddressed. My bet is that BT’s very senior management will shortly undergo a complete overhaul.
p.s. It turns out that BT boss Ian Livingston was paid a £1.2m bonus last year.
p.p.s And a 9th number 08007830056
Democracy on Trial
05 25th, 2010Michael Portillo, former British Defence Minister, has made a superb BBC 4 radio documentary Democracy on Trial in which he talks to key players such as End of History’s Francis Fukuyama, Neocon’s David Frum and Bottom Billion’s Paul Collier on the record of democracy.
Listen on this link:- http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00sc7yp
Indians Read
05 24th, 2010The new hi-tech website www.Indiansread.com has Democracy Kills on its top ten list, together flanked by Gurcharan Das and Tariq Ali.
