The Forum in Mauritius, a new platform to enable voices from the Global South to suggest implementable solutions to problems of international immediacy -- particularly relating to developing countries -- will be inaugurated on October 22 in Port Louis. Please contact: adeela@marcom.com
Based on projections from the Energy Information Administration's February 2009 Short Term Energy Outlook (STEO), members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) could earn $402 billion of net oil export revenues in 2009 and $530 billion in 2010. Last year, OPEC earned $971 billion in net oil export revenues, a 42 percent increase from 2007. Saudi Arabia earned the largest share of these earnings, $288 billion, representing 30 percent of total OPEC revenues. On a per-cap...
COLUMN-Bush, Rice and irrational optimism By Bernd Debusmann Wed Jan 23, 2008 10:00am EST (Bernd Debusmann is a Reuters columnist. The opinions expressed are his own) WASHINGTON, Jan 23 (Reuters) - Condoleezza Rice said it so often that it could have been the motto of last November's Annapolis conference on the Middle East: "Failure is not an option." Catchy and upbeat, the words would fit nicely on a bumper sticker. George W. Bush opened his last year in office with his first visit...
World Bank's Report on South Asia's prospects From the World Bank report at: www.worldbank.org/sar: In 2006, GDP in South Asia is estimated to have expanded at a very rapid pace of 8.2%. Factors contributing to this trend: * Progress in promoting private sector–led growth * Improved macro-management * Greater integration with the global economy * Loose monetary and fiscal policies and strong remittance inflows have boosted domestic demand * Restrictions on Chinese exports of t...
Interview: Kamal Nath (Forbes Asia, November 27, 2006) By Pranay Gupte Kamal Nath, India's Minister of Commerce and Industry, is widely credited with raising his country's profile in the global arena – and with persuading ever increasing numbers of foreign sources to invest in the booming Indian economy. A longtime member of the Congress Party, Nath has served as Minister of the Environment and Forests, and of Textiles, in prior administrations. He's believed to be particularly close ...
There is no "Third World" model of political or economic development any more -- if ever there was a credible one. Indeed, the very term "Third World" is no longer en vogue -- it's as though there was a race and "we" of the "Third World" (meaning, of course, denizens and citizens of the world's 135 developing countries) came in third. Third to whom? The East Europeans and Soviets, notionally the "Second World"? Third to the "First World," the 30 members of the OECD, the Paris-base...
It would be interesting to elicit views on the Bush Administration's two-track approach to nuclear proliferation -- its sturdy promotion of selling nuclear technology to India -- notwithstanding critics in Congress and elsewhere -- and its escalating bellicosity toward Iran over Tehran's nuclear ambitions. There are striking similarities in the positions that both India and Iran have taken. Both insist that their nuclear plans are focused on meeting civilian needs. India's population of 1....
To those of us who’ve followed Frank Rich’s political essays and postings, the election results offered further evidence of his acuity. Frank has been spot on. It would be a disservice to term him the “Karl Rove” of the Left (or the media). But if the moniker could be considered benign, then I would certainly apply it to Frank — that is to say, Frank’s reading of the culture has been at least as sharp as that of Rove’s during the latter’s early reign as President Bush’s guru-in-residence.
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Martin Tolchin capped a 40-year career at The New York Times, where he reported on Congress and politics, by becoming founder, publisher, and editor-in-chief of The Hill newspaper. He's now launching a new newspaper in Washington, "The Capitol Leader." His wife Susan is professor of public policy at George Mason University, and a well-known lecturer and media commentator. They have just come out with their ninth book, "A World Ignited: How Apostles of Ethnic, Religious and Racial Hatred To...
Singapore: The Charade Of Meritocracy October 2006 By Michael D. Barr The legitimacy of the Singaporean government is predicated on the idea of a meritocratic technocracy. A tiny number of career civil servants play a leading role in setting policy within their ministries and other government-linked bureaucracies, leading both an elite corps of senior bureaucrats, and a much larger group of ordinary civil servants. Virtually all of the elite members of this hierarchy are "scholars,"...
R. W. Apple, Jr.: An Appreciation By Pranay Gupte He was always Johnny, Johnny Apple. The byline read "R. W. Apple, Jr." -- for Raymond Walter Apple, Jr. -- but no one called him that. He was always Johnny Apple -- larger than life, a giant of the game of international journalism, the last of that generation of correspondents who were equally at ease in Dubai and Dakar, in the salons of Washington and the chancelleries of Europe, in the jungles of Africa and the sands of the Middle ...
Dubai Govt Takes 30% Stake In Galadari Bros - Sources By Simeon Kerr and Sarmad Khan OF DOW JONES NEWSWIRES · DUBAI (Zawya Dow Jones)--The Dubai government has taken a 30% stake in one of Dubai's oldest family-owned conglomerates, Galadari Brothers Co., according to a document seen by Zawya Dow Jones. A memo dated Oct. 5 says that a decree from a judicial court appointed by Dubai's ruler, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, has restructured the shareholding of Galadari Group...
Having just returned to New York after more than two weeks in Australia and the Gulf, I felt I should relay to two things. One, the obvious: the widespread and growing antagonism toward the American adventure in the Middle East. But it's my second observation that disturbs me most: The widespread and growing dislike of all things American on account of Washington's global approach. Even in Australia, long considered a reliable ally, the coalition government of Prime Minister John Howard, a...
I was so struck by this article in The New Yorker by Seymour M. Hersh -- a great investigative reporter -- that I decided to post it on my blog: WATCHING LEBANON by SEYMOUR M. HERSH Washington’s interests in Israel’s war. Issue of 2006-08-21 Posted 2006-08-14 In the days after Hezbollah crossed from Lebanon into Israel, on July 12th, to kidnap two soldiers, triggering an Israeli air attack on Lebanon and a full-scale war, the Bush Administration seemed strangely passive. “It’s a mom...
After Lebanon, there's Iran (Christian Science Monitor) By Vali Nasr MONTEREY, CALIF. When the war in Lebanon ends, the US will have to piece together a whole new strategy for dealing with Iran - especially its nuclear program. The Israeli- Hizbullah war has boldly ratcheted up Iran's regional stature at the same time it has depleted US influence and prestige. From the outset, the Lebanese conflict was about more than just Hizbullah. Jerusalem and Washington were quick to point th...