tagged w/ International Relations
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Plenty of things can cause a diplomatic ruckus. Saying you're preparing for war against a neighboring country, for example (lookin' at you Hugo Chavez). It's fun for everybody: headlines, street protests, recalling ambassadors. And it seems North African nations Egypt and Algeria are well down that road this week.
"One of the Egyptian protesters, holding a sign calling for the expulsion of the Algerian ambassador, told Agence France-Presse: “We should treat Algeria like any country that has declared war on us.”'
Wait, so what happened? An errant Egyptian drone strike in a suburb of Algiers? Why no, Algeria beat Egypt in a World Cup qualifying match 1-0 and there were reports that Egyptian fans were assaulted by Algerians leaving the game. And, bam, the streets of Cairo have exploded with violence! 35 people injured!
And that was at least a clean game! Poor Ireland is protesting it's World Cup loss to France after a French player scored a game-winning goal - using his hands. French President Nicolas Sarkozy has apologized for the incident but has not agreed with the Irish PM's call for a replay. To see the very evident handball, check out this Irish-produced video from YouTube showing it over and over again and set to dance music. (It's entrancing.)
(Big thanks to The Lede Blog for finding that one.)
I know what you're thinking, American reading audience: "Who cares about soccer?" Well, first off they call it "football" and second, worry you not - I've got an American football/international relations story for you too: Even Iraqi prisoners hate Packers fans (FP Passport)
'Iraqi prisoners at a detainment camp run by the Wisconsin National Guard have learned some English, unfortunately for the soldiers, it is mainly about the former pride of Green Bay. "They know Favre by name," said First Lieutenant Tim Boehnen, who is from New Richmond, Wis. "One of the big words they know now is shenanigan. They'll constantly talk about 'Favre shenanigans,' 'He's so good for the Vikings,' and 'The Packers have got to really feel bad about that one.' "'
FROM THE NEWS BLOG: http://blogs.current.com/news/2009/11/20/world-cup-soccer-is-tearing-the-world-apart/
SOURCES: http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/20/accepting-defeat-in-egypt-and-ireland/
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8369983.stm
http://www.france24.com/en/20091120-sarkozy-apologizes-ireland-football-world-cup-cowen-replay-call
http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2009/11/20/even_iraqi_prisoners_hate_packers_fansPlenty of things can cause a diplomatic ruckus. Saying you're preparing for war... more
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BEIJING — Whether by White House design or Chinese insistence, President Obama has steered clear of public meetings with Chinese liberals, free press advocates and even ordinary Chinese during his first visit to China, showing deference to the Chinese leadership’s aversions to such interactions that is unusual for a visiting American president.
Mr. Obama held a “town hall” meeting with students on Monday. But they were carefully vetted and prepped for the event by the government, participants said. And the Chinese authorities, wielding a practiced mix of censorship and diplomatic pressure, succeeded in limiting Mr. Obama’s exposure to a point where a third of some 40 Beijing university students interviewed Tuesday were unaware that he had just met in Shanghai with their colleagues.
Some students who were aware cast him in terms rarely applied to American leaders, such as “rather humble,” and “bland.” “Is America being capricious because their economic difficulties force them to be nicer to China and other countries, or is this a genuine change?” asked Liu Ziqi, 18, a freshman at the University of International Business and Economics. “I don’t know.”This is no longer the United States-China relationship of old, but an encounter between a weakened giant and a comer with a bit of its own swagger. Washington’s comparative advantage in past meetings is now diminished, a fact clearly not lost on the Chinese.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/18/world/asia/18china.html
http://sillyfox.files.wordpress.com/2009/07/china-usa1.jpgBEIJING — Whether by White House design or Chinese insistence, President Obama has... more
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Some people seem to think illegal immigration isn't a problem, not to sound like a bitch but you wouldn't if you or your parents were illegals and if they weren't your grandparents. And what's with everyone saying that this country was built on the backs of immigrates, i didn't know slaves migrated to this country it was built on slavery and free labor that's the truth. Wanting a better life is great but it's hard to say i want better life and can't get to where i come from and then claim you deserve to be a citizen because all you want to do is work and have a life for your family and kids. What about the guy who's family knows nothing else besides America and also wants a better life but can't achieve that because someone says i'll do the work cheaper and longer with no health coverage and no benefits, cash only.
In no other country can illegal immigrates demand anything, only in the great USA, so i say give them their citizenship, you want to claim to be true American citizen then pay taxes, you believe you have a right to the same health care and rights then you should pay for it. If we registered every illegal immigrate and then taxed them out the ass, set in place laws that had harsher penalties like actual jail time instead of a free trip home, i bet you people would think twice about running across the border or coming to America for vacation and staying. I'm just wondering why people feel if you say "you don't deserve shit and the fact you get taken advantage of is your own fault", their a racist and that America and should be open for any and everyone.
But it is your fault you get paid low wages and have no health care and get taken advantage of, since when is anything in this world for free..? why do you think that what you go through in your country gives you a right to come to another and make it hard on another man. Mexico's president even stated to the world "that illegals take the jobs that not even blacks want"
and he's damn right we've worked them since 1506 for FREE and the little bit of minimum wage blacks fought and died for won't go up cause someone with no papers will work for anything. Rules are set in place for a reason, they might suck but you can't make a change if your willing to be happy eating shit all you do is make it stink for the rest of us.
Not only would it help us out with our hugh debt, create jobs and force us to over haul the entire system cause you know someones gonna get mad and swear a great injustice but wheres the justice for us actual tax paying, social security card carrying citizens...?
i love George Lopez but he's an idiot to think that illegal immigration only upsets white people as if AMERICANS don't need a job. He represents his country to the fullest yet we as Americans don't have the same right?. If we flooded his country and under cut his fellow men,push them out of jobs then tell them you really don't want to work this job let me do it as well as stressed the medical system and basically did what we wanted in Mexico they claim the capitalist Americanos were destroying his homeland and we'd just continue to be the big mean super power.
i think any time people think it's OK for any group of people to break the law to better your self, at the expense of others.....your the true capitalist, liar, cheat and thiefSome people seem to think illegal immigration isn't a problem, not to sound like a... more
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Looks like the US wasn't so wrong about Iran developing nuclear weapons...now multiple sources are leading to more unanswered questions...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/nov/05/iran-tested-nuclear-warhead-design
excerpt below :
The UN's nuclear watchdog has asked Iran to explain evidence suggesting that Iranian scientists have experimented with an advanced nuclear warhead design, the Guardian has learned.
The very existence of the technology, known as a "two-point implosion" device, is officially secret in both the US and Britain, but according to previously unpublished documentation in a dossier compiled by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Iranian scientists may have tested high-explosive components of the design. The development was today described by nuclear experts as "breathtaking" and has added urgency to the effort to find a diplomatic solution to the Iranian nuclear crisis.
The sophisticated technology, once mastered, allows for the production of smaller and simpler warheads than older models. It reduces the diameter of a warhead and makes it easier to put a nuclear warhead on a missile.
Documentation referring to experiments testing a two-point detonation design are part of the evidence of nuclear weaponisation gathered by the IAEA and presented to Iran for its response.Looks like the US wasn't so wrong about Iran developing nuclear weapons...now multiple... more
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TEHRAN, Iran - -- A cry from the streets of Tehran put Iranian attitudes toward America at the center of a day of violent clashes Wednesday.
"Obama, Obama!" protesters chanted on a day marking the 30th anniversary of the U.S. Embassy takeover. "Either you're with them, or with us."TEHRAN, Iran - -- A cry from the streets of Tehran put Iranian attitudes toward... more
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US President Barack Obama has won the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize.
The Nobel Committee said he was awarded it for "his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and co-operation between peoples".
The committee highlighted Mr Obama's efforts to strengthen international bodies and promote nuclear disarmament.
There were a record 205 nominations for this year's prize. Zimbabwe's prime minister and a Chinese dissident had been among the favourites.
The laureate - chosen by a five-member committee - wins a gold medal, a diploma and 10m Swedish kronor ($1.4m).
"Only very rarely has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the world's attention and given its people hope for a better future," the Norwegian committee said as the prize was announced.
"His diplomacy is founded in the concept that those who are to lead the world must do so on the basis of values and attitudes that are shared by the majority of the world's population."US President Barack Obama has won the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize.
The Nobel Committee... more
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Ahmad Vahidi, wanted by Interpol for participation in the 1994 terrorist attack in Buenos Aires, is the new designated defense minister of Iran (still unratified by the Parliament). His nomination signals the increasing strength of the Revolutionary Guards and Ahmadinejad’s intention to continue defying the West and subverting the Middle East.
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The affair of the appointment of Vahidi, a member of the Revolutionary Guards with a terrorist record, and statements made by Ahmadinejad after he was elected for a second term as president, may indicate that Iran will continue to promote its revolutionary agenda. According to that agenda, an emphasis will be put on supporting terrorist and Islamic organizations throughout the world, especially in the Middle East and attempting to undermine America's political agenda for promoting the peace process. That will be done by increasing military, economic and political support for the peace camp rejectionists. That includes support for terrorist organizations in the Middle East, including Hezbollah, Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
For the international community, Vahidi's appointment indicates a clear defiance of the West and signals that Ahmadinejad flaunts self confidence, perhaps exaggerated, and shows contempt, insensitivity and lack of consideration for international norms. The appointment is a translation into deeds of the “promises” he made on a number of occasions since his election to conduct a more assertive foreign policy, which would raise Iran's international status and promote its positions at the expense of the “arrogant nations” (i.e., the West, particularly the United States), especially in all issues concerning influence in the Persian Gulf and the Middle East.Ahmad Vahidi, wanted by Interpol for participation in the 1994 terrorist attack in... more
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Former FBI Language Specialist Sibel Edmonds finally gets to testify under oath, after being hit with a gag order.
Bombshells Under Oath: INCLUDE: CONGRESS MEMBERS NAMED IN ESPIONAGE, BRIBERY, SEXUAL BLACKMAIL SCHEMES; NEW BREWSTER JENNINGS / VALERIE PLAME DISCLOSURE...
Long gagged under the "state secrets" privilege by the Bush Administration, the Obama Administration's DoJ chose not to re-invoke privilege, paving the way for this information to finally make its way on to the unclassified public record.
LINK TO ARTICLE: http://www.bradblog.com/?p=7348.
Former FBI Language Specialist Sibel Edmonds finally gets to testify under oath,... more
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South Korea’s opposition is blockading parliament. The tactic may backfire
ReutersTHE ghost of Roh Moo-hyun is haunting South Korea. The former president committed suicide in May while under investigation for graft. His death has widened the split between the country’s “progressive” forces that he represented and the conservative ones led by President Lee Myung-bak.
Mr Roh’s backers set up a shrine to him across from Seoul’s city hall, a traditional gathering place for protesters. The makeshift altar was promptly surrounded by a ring of police buses and later destroyed by conservative groups. Earlier this year, there was a series of violent clashes between the two sides inside the National Assembly. Parliament’s summer opening was postponed because of Mr Roh’s suicide. Now the former president’s supporters are blockading the halls of parliament 24 hours a day, preventing deputies from getting into the chamber and any laws from being passed (see picture). Progressives are demanding the president apologise for Mr Roh’s suicide, claiming that prosecutors who were investigating him were operating at Mr Lee’s behest—a charge the president furiously denies.
Public discontent with Mr Lee and low approval ratings for his Grand National Party (GNP) have emboldened the opposition. Mono Research, a pollster, estimates support for Mr Lee and the GNP at just 33%. But the opposition is even less popular. The approval rating for the biggest opposition group, the Democrat Party, is just 21%, says Mono. The public’s patience with quarrelling politicians is wearing thin and some members of the opposition fear that confrontational tactics may backfire. Ooh Che-chang, a member of the National Assembly and spokesman for the Democrat Party, admits the blockade is “not right”.
The blockade could harm 700,000 or so “non-regular workers”. Temporary and other workers who have worked for a company for two years are normally able to upgrade their contracts to permanent status. The governments wants to allow small companies (fewer than 300 workers) to delay the upgrade for 18 months because of the recession. The Democrats want only a six-month delay. With parliament blockaded, no decision can be taken and temporary workers could be fired as their contracts expire.
For the opposition, an even more emotive issue is a bill that would enable newspapers and business groups to take large stakes in television stations. The Democrats oppose this because they think that if the stations were owned by conglomerates or big media groups, then critical reporting of the government and big business would end. The bill will no doubt become law eventually because the GNP has a comfortable parliamentary majority. But Democrats want to postpone discussing it until the next session.
Cho Yoon-sun, the GNP’s spokeswoman, hopes negotiations between government and opposition can lead to compromises over both issues. She says the government will not try and force its way past the opposition’s blockade. But compromise is not in the air yet. The Democrats’ Mr Ooh says the blockade will continue until the parliamentary session ends later this month. Some Democrats may even go on hunger strike. It is turning into a long, hot summer.South Korea’s opposition is blockading parliament. The tactic may backfire... more
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"Tibetan monks and nuns spend their lives studying the inner world of the mind rather than the physical world of matter. Yet for one month this spring a group of 91 monastics devoted themselves to the corporeal realm of science.
Instead of delving into Buddhist texts on karma and emptiness, they learned about Galileo's law of accelerated motion, chromosomes, neurons and the Big Bang, among other far-ranging topics.
Many in the group, whose ages ranged from the 20s to 40s, had never learned science and math. In Tibetan Buddhist monasteries and nunneries, the curriculum has remained unchanged for centuries.
To add to the challenge, some monastics have limited English and relied on Tibetan translators to absorb the four-week crash course in physics, biology, neuroscience and math and logic taught by teachers from Emory University in Atlanta.
But the monastics put morning-to-evening lectures into action. At a Buddhist college campus here in Dharamsala, the exile home of the Dalai Lama in northern India, red-robed monks and nuns experimented with pendulums, gathered plants in the foothills of the Himalayas that showed natural selection and bent their shaved heads over microscopes to view an unseen world.
Tibetan monks and nuns may spend 12 hours a day studying Buddhist philosophy and logic, reciting prayers and debating scriptures. But science has been given a special boost by the Dalai Lama, who has long advocated modern education in Tibetan monasteries and schools in exile, alongside Tibet's traditions. India is home to at least 120,000 Tibetans, the largest population outside Tibet.
Science may seem at odds with Tibetan religious rituals. Reincarnations of high Tibetan monks are identified through dreams and auspicious signs. The Dalai Lama credits the state oracle with helping him decide to flee Tibet in 1959 as Chinese troops advanced on Lhasa.
Yet the Tibetan spiritual leader views science and Buddhism as complementary "investigative approaches with the same greater goal, of seeking the truth," he wrote in "The Universe in a Single Atom," his book on "how science and spirituality can serve our world." He stresses that science is especially important for monastics who study the nature of the mind and the relationship between mind and brain.
Others are more frank about the need to learn science. "The 21st century is here," said Tenzin Lhadron, a forthright 34-year-old nun enrolled in this summer's science program. "Everybody is influenced by science. We want to know what it is.""Tibetan monks and nuns spend their lives studying the inner world of the mind rather... more
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ACCRA, Ghana — President Obama traveled in his father’s often-troubled home continent on Saturday as a potent symbol of a new era and the embodiment of hope but also as a messenger with a tough-love theme: help is on the way but it is time to take responsibility for yourselves as well.
The sight of the first black president of the United States, the son of an African goat herder and now the most powerful man in the world, electrified this small coastal nation and much of the region. Cheering crowds lined streets to catch a glimpse. Billboards with his picture dotted the city. His name and campaign theme became the refrain of songs played in his honor.
But while the history of the moment was lost on no one and Mr. Obama bathed in the rapturous welcome, he also delivered a strong and at times even stern message that, had it come from any of his predecessors, might not have been received the same way. Instead, it was cast by the White House as hard truths from a loving cousin who could say what no one else could.
“We must start from the simple premise that Africa’s future is up to Africans,” Mr. Obama said in an address to Parliament televised across the continent. “I say this knowing full well the tragic past that has sometimes haunted this part of the world. After all, I have the blood of Africa within me and my own family’s story encompasses both the tragedies and triumphs of the larger African story.”
But, he continued, Africa must put the past behind it. “It is easy to point fingers and to pin the blame for these problems on others,” he said. “Yes, a colonial map that made little sense helped to breed conflict. The West has often approached Africa as a patron, or a source of revenue, rather than as a partner. But the West is not responsible for the destruction of the Zimbabwean economy over the last decade or wars in which children are enlisted as combatants.”
end of excerpt
Source: The New York TimesACCRA, Ghana — President Obama traveled in his father’s often-troubled home... more
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Sweden, in short, is an exceptional place. On July 1st the Swedes took over the rotating presidency of the European Union for six months. They will oversee the writing of new EU rules on financial supervision and regulation. They must craft a common EU position to take to the Copenhagen climate-change conference in December. And their presidency will be filled with institutional chores. The coming months will see the appointment of a new European Commission, and—if Irish voters say yes to the Lisbon treaty in a referendum in October—two new jobs will need filling: a foreign-policy chief and a full-time president of the European Council, representing the 27 national governments. Swedish exceptionalism will shape all of these dossiers.
For years Sweden has made lefties swoon. When Mr Reinfeldt came to power in 2006, the Social Democrats had run the country for 65 of the 74 previous years. Sweden has a huge public sector (in 2007 taxes and social-security contributions swallowed more than 48% of GDP), yet even the flintiest liberal has to admit that it is an exceedingly well-run, handsome place. Its fearsome levels of organisation and conformity are offset by a relaxed, outdoorsy culture, and the openness that goes with being a small, maritime country. If Zurich were crossed with Sydney, the result might be something like Stockholm.
Others say political labels are misleading. Sweden’s big state works because it is Swedish, not because it is big, says Johan Norberg, a liberal economist. The country has had an efficient bureaucracy for 200 years. The public sector expanded only in the 1950s, after a century of astonishing economic growth driven by free trade and free markets (from 1850 to 1950, average incomes multiplied eightfold, as a poor peasant society was transformed into one of the world’s richest countries).
Their own banking crisis of the 1990s combines with today’s credit crunch to persuade Swedes of the need for tougher cross-border financial regulation. But they do not want to see it imposed from on high. In the 1720s, when the Swedish king was abroad “making wars”, the government shored up national unity by taking big decisions by consensus, says Mats Odell, the financial-markets minister. EU decisions on financial regulation can, in theory, be taken by majority vote. And some countries would be happy to outvote Britain and impose rules that would rein in the City of London. But that is not Sweden’s plan, says Mr Odell: Swedes believe that consensus is the best way to take long-term decisions that all can live with.
Swedes often draw lessons from past success (this can make them sound smug). In climate-change talks, it will make them rather tough. Sweden has cut carbon emissions by a tenth since 1990, even as its economy grew by 50%, Mr Reinfeldt said this week. He calls his country “an interesting example” for others. When it comes to the Lisbon treaty, Swedes are wary of anything that smacks of EU bossiness, or a power-grab by big countries (though Mr Reinfeldt has also called Sweden the world’s smallest superpower). Swedish ministers are dubious about the new job of president of the European Council, preferring the idea of an “elected chairman” who can organise meetings of the 27 leaders.
Sweden is different in other ways, too. Its voters are more favourable to EU enlargement than almost all others. That is matched at government level: Sweden’s foreign minister, Carl Bildt, strongly backs EU membership for Turkey (he is also robust over Russia). A giant in a Europe of diplomatic pygmies, Mr Bildt would make a fine EU foreign-policy chief. Alas, his brilliance is matched by a reputation for arrogance (ie, he is Swedish), so some countries may block him. A pity..
Sweden, in short, is an exceptional place. On July 1st the Swedes took over the... more
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is the first female leader of Germany and the first since the war to hail from the east. She has had the job for three-and-a-half years and looks likely to keep it after the federal election in September. Yet as Angela Merkel prepared to meet Barack Obama in Washington this week, a certain mystery still hung over her. Who is she and where might she take her country?
Mrs Merkel’s character is best summed up by what she is not. Unlike other European leaders, she is neither charismatic, nor flashily intellectual, nor domineering. Yet nobody could deny that she is a highly effective politician. Were she to express interest in the job of EU president that will be created if the EU’s Lisbon treaty is ratified this autumn, it would be given to her on a plate.
Above all, Mrs Merkel has stayed popular—more consistently so than any chancellor since Konrad Adenauer. And she has accomplished this in the teeth of Germany’s worst recession since the war. GDP shrank by 7% in the year to the first quarter. Industrial production has fallen by over a fifth. Unemployment has been masked by job subsidies and make-work schemes, but it is likely to climb back above 4m next year. That Mrs Merkel is still favourite to win re-election as chancellor is a tribute to her political skill.
But is she a reformer?
The question is not whether Mrs Merkel will keep power, but whether she is ready to use it. She has an unusual background for a CDU leader: daughter of a Protestant pastor, raised in communist East Germany, she was a physicist before turning to politics. That ought to bode well in a party that is fonder of consensus than of radical change. She seems intellectually to accept the case for greater liberalisation, smaller government and freer markets.
She is cautious by temperament. The opposite of France’s Nicolas Sarkozy, she is more of a methodical scientist than a mercurial revolutionary.
Yet this betrays a dangerous complacency. Even if the economic crisis was not made in Germany, it has changed the world: Germany will suffer unless it responds. The old reliance on manufacturing exports looks broken. Consumers, chary of spending, are hobbling domestic demand. Services, the backbone of all modern economies, are underdeveloped. Germany suffers from deeper weakness too. The demographic outlook is grim, threatening Germany’s public finances. Education, once the envy of the world, is now mediocre—especially when it comes to universities, where the government is only just starting on reform (see article).
Admittedly, many other European countries have even bigger immediate problems than Germany. But the truth is that all of Europe needs reform: to shift away from high taxes, generous and wasteful welfare states, and, most of all, overly regulated and inflexible product and labour markets. If Mrs Merkel’s Germany were to lead the way, it would be not just Europe’s biggest economy but also its intellectual leader
Smarter than Nicolas (let alone Silvio); but not Konrad
Mrs Merkel will go down in history as Germany’s first female leader—no mean feat. But if she wants to measure up to Adenauer or Helmut Kohl, she must persuade Germans of the case for change. And for that she needs to be far bolder.is the first female leader of Germany and the first since the war to hail from the... more
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"A new framework for reducing carbon emissions takes a crack at the knottiest dilemma confronting a global climate solution: how to divvy cuts between rich and poor nations.
A new study published Monday attempts to sidestep the rancor, finding that virtually every country has a class of individuals - the so-called "high emitters" - enjoying a rich, carbon-intensive lifestyle. If those individuals, no matter their locale, are forced to take responsibility for their emissions, a great swath of countries become participants in the climate effort, the study claims.
"Rich people in poor countries shouldn't be able to hide behind the poor people in those countries," said Robert Socolow, co-director of Princeton's Carbon Mitigation Initiative and a co-author of the study, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The problem has dominated talks leading to December's Copenhagen negotiations on a post-Kyoto accord. Developing nations expect the industrialized world to do the heavy lifting on emissions cuts; industrialized countries, noting that the developing world will account for upwards of 97 percent of future emissions growth, want assurances that such growth will be curbed.
Under this framework, the international community would draw a single, global line for carbon emissions. Countries would then be responsible for reducing the carbon footprint of individuals living above that line. Emissions from individuals living below the line do not factor into the accounting."
Much more at link, a very interesting article that brings up many questions about a "fair" deal when it comes to climate change regulation."A new framework for reducing carbon emissions takes a crack at the knottiest dilemma... more
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India hires a famous entrepreneur to shine a light on its invisible masses
The Guardian
FOR Chanda, a middle-aged mother of two, moving to Delhi last year involved a trade-off. It brought her employment on the capital’s roads, for which she earns 2,000 rupees ($41) a month; in her village in Madhya Pradesh (MP) she could find no work at all. But Chanda and her family lost the state benefits—cut-price wheat, rice and cooking-oil—they had been receiving because, though they are still eligible to receive alms, the BPL (“below-poverty line”) card with which she claimed for them in MP is not recognised in Delhi. Nor is her voter-registration card, which allows her to vote only in her native village. Though all-too apparent, squatting under plastic sheeting on a Delhi pavement, she and her children are officially invisible.
Among India’s roughly 100m internal migrants, there are many like them: without documentation to enforce their claims on the state or, alas, to protect themselves from its abuses. India recognises at least 20 proofs of identity, including birth certificates, caste certificates, tax codes, driving-licences and so on, but none universally. Hence a bold scheme to issue a new biometric identity card to the whole 1.2 billion population. It was announced in January, with much focus then on its potential for guarding against illegal immigrants and foreign terrorists, including the Pakistani sort that launched a commando attack on Mumbai in November. But it made bigger headlines on June 25th when Nandan Nilekani, co-founder of Infosys, one of India’s biggest computer-services companies, was appointed—and given ministerial status—to run the scheme.
In a country known for its outstanding computer-services entrepreneurs and hidebound, lacklustre government, this was an exciting recruitment. “The two worlds have come together,” says Mr Nilekani, a thoughtful man and best-selling author. His recent book, “Imagining India”, includes an argument for just the sort of identity card that he must now, with a starting budget of 1 billion rupees, deliver.
In the language of his former profession, Mr Nilekani foresees his “Unique Identity Authority of India” as a vast server loaded with biometric and other details of every Indian, which will be accessed using the new identity card. The system would be used by central, state and local government bodies, so the cardholder’s identity could be swiftly confirmed for a host of purposes—dispensing welfare benefits, issuing passports, updating land records and so forth.
By boosting technology and co-operation across the bureaucracy, this would seem to promise improvements throughout India’s moribund public sector. It might also provide the standard form of identification for opening a bank account, a humdrum pleasure that two-thirds of Indian households have yet to enjoy. Daring to look further, Mr Nilekani imagines the system inspiring Indian service providers to develop new technologies to take fuller advantage of it. Thus, for example, it might help give Indians a wider range of financial services. “The technology we have available to us at our stage of development,” he argues, “was not available to America and Europe [at the same stage in their development], and we have to take advantage of that.”
This is heady stuff, especially given the coercive abilities of India’s corrupt and territorial officials. Selling the scheme to central and state-level ministers and their minions, Mr Nilekani concedes, will be his first big test, and this explains why he requested the lofty rank conferred on his new office. Developing the right technology, and magnifying it to an India-size scale, will represent additional risks.
Nor, even if these obstacles are overcome, can the scheme be quite the administrative panacea that Indians crave. It is bound to get muddied; duplicate cards will be issued. But biometric checks should at least make it relatively simple to detect such fraud—India hires a famous entrepreneur to shine a light on its invisible masses
The... more
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Only after three hours of negotiations both President Barack Obama of the United States of America and President Dmitry Medvedev of the Russian Federation have agreed to decrease their countries respective nuclear arsenals drastically. The treaty is seen as one of the most significant between the two nations since the Cold War.
In addition to speaking about Nuclear armaments both Presidents exchanged their opinions on Iran, Afghanistan, the power balance in Russia and general US-Russian relations. With that said, President Obama admitted there are areas in which both nations have serious disagreements.
Source: MSNBCOnly after three hours of negotiations both President Barack Obama of the United... more
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A Japanese diplomat, Yukiya Amano, was elected the International Atomic Energy Agency’s next director-general on Thursday, narrowly edging out a South African diplomat for the post, an official at the agency said.
In the last of six rounds of voting at the organization’s headquarters in Vienna on Thursday, Mr. Amano won the required two-thirds majority of the 35-nation board, with 23 yes votes and one abstention, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the election results will not be official until the agency’s governing board meets on Friday.
In earlier rounds of voting, Mr. Amano had been locked in a tie with a South African diplomat, Abdul Samad Minty.
Mr. Amano, 62, an experienced international diplomat, will replace Mohammed ElBaradei, the current director general, when his term expires in November.
Depicted by experts as the candidate favored by the United States and other wealthy nations, Mr. Amano favors a strict approach toward Iran, which Western countries suspect of trying to build nuclear weapons. Iran says its nuclear program is purely for civilian purposes to generate energy.
end of excerpt
Source: The New York Times OnlineA Japanese diplomat, Yukiya Amano, was elected the International Atomic Energy... more
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WASHINGTON — After a closed-door session that lasted close to dawn, the Organization of American States on Wednesday gave Honduras three days to restore its ousted president, Manuel Zelaya, or face suspension from the group, pitting the region unanimously against an interim leader who has defied international condemnation and said that only force would unseat him.
Calling Mr. Zelaya’s overthrow an “old-fashioned coup,” the organization’s secretary general, Jose Miguel Insulza, said: “We need to show clearly that military coups will not be accepted. We thought we were in an era when military coups were no longer possible in this hemisphere.”
Diplomats said they had rarely seen the O.A.S. unite so solidly behind a common cause, and that it was the first time the group had invoked its so-called Democratic Charter since it was adopted in 2001 as a clean break with the region’s history of authoritarian rule.
The charter calls on the organization to take emergency diplomatic efforts aimed at restoring a legitimately elected government and provides for a nation to be suspended if those efforts fail.
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Source: The New York Times OnlineWASHINGTON — After a closed-door session that lasted close to dawn, the Organization... more
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