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Helen Elizabeth Clark the 63 year old former Prime Minister of New Zealand and current Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has published an article on the IPS News Service titled ‘The BRICS and the Rising South’. Clark states “…Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, known as the BRICS …will examine proposals to create their own BRICS development bank. The readiness of the BRICS countries to offer their own new international development initiatives and policy ideas is a clear manifestation of the changing global development landscape examined in UNDP’s newly released 2013 Human Development Report, “The Rise of the South: Human Progress in a Diverse World”. This dramatic change in global dynamics, however, goes well beyond the BRICS. More than forty developing countries are estimated to have made unusually rapid human development strides in recent decades, according to the Report. Together, they represent most of the world’s population and a growing proportion of its trade and economic output. The progress of these fast mover countries measured in human development terms has accelerated markedly in the past decade. These geographically, culturally, and politically varied countries share a keen sense of pragmatism and a commitment to people, as seen through investments in education, health care, and social protection, and their engagement with the global economy. Neither rigid command economies nor laissez-faire free marketeers, they are guided by what works in their own national circumstances. …A greater voice for the South also means greater responsibility, with shared accountability for solving problems and sustaining progress. A more engaged, successful South, meanwhile, helps the North, through its economic dynamism and collaboration on global challenges. As the 2013 Human Development Report says, the South still needs the North, but, increasingly, the North also needs the South.” Inspired by Helen Clark, IPS News ow.ly/k4oC7 Image source Wikipedia ow.ly/k4ok2 Proposals to create BRICS development bank (May 6 2013)

 

Helen Elizabeth Clark the 63 year old former Prime Minister of New Zealand and current Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has published an article on the IPS News Service titled ‘The BRICS and the Rising South’. Clark states “…Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, known as the BRICS …will examine proposals to create their own BRICS development bank. The readiness of the BRICS countries to offer their own new international development initiatives and policy ideas is a clear manifestation of the changing global development landscape examined in UNDP’s newly released 2013 Human Development Report, “The Rise of the South: Human Progress in a Diverse World”. This dramatic change in global dynamics, however, goes well beyond the BRICS. More than forty developing countries are estimated to have made unusually rapid human development strides in recent decades, according to the Report. Together, they represent most of the world’s population and a growing proportion of its trade and economic output. The progress of these fast mover countries measured in human development terms has accelerated markedly in the past decade. These geographically, culturally, and politically varied countries share a keen sense of pragmatism and a commitment to people, as seen through investments in education, health care, and social protection, and their engagement with the global economy. Neither rigid command economies nor laissez-faire free marketeers, they are guided by what works in their own national circumstances. …A greater voice for the South also means greater responsibility, with shared accountability for solving problems and sustaining progress. A more engaged, successful South, meanwhile, helps the North, through its economic dynamism and collaboration on global challenges. As the 2013 Human Development Report says, the South still needs the North, but, increasingly, the North also needs the South.”

 

Inspired by Helen Clark, IPS News ow.ly/k4oC7 Image source Wikipedia ow.ly/k4ok2

John Malcolm Fraser the 82 year old Australian former Liberal Party politician who was the 22nd Prime Minister of Australia now alienated from his party has published an article in The Age Newspaper titled ‘All the way with the USA?’. Fraser states “There is increasingly aggressive posturing between China and American-backed Japan. If war breaks out Australia must not slavishly follow its superpower friend. The ownership of islands in the East China Sea now represents a highly sensitive and dangerous issue. There has been a significant escalation that could easily lead to conflict between China and Japan. A senior American intelligence officer has strongly sided with Japan and called China a bully on the high seas with ambitions to sink American warships and seize control of waters from its neighbours. He described China as a principal threat. We have the US and Japan lined up in concert against China. …If anyone thinks containment against China and containment against the Soviet Union had any similarities, they should be disabused. The Soviet Union had minimal trade links, no financial and capital market links worth mentioning with the West. China, on the contrary, is heavily entwined in the economies of nearly every Western country, certainly of Australia. It is the largest buyer of US Treasury bills. A war between America and China would have catastrophic results, first for America's economy, then for the economies of the world. If we had a government with a sense of history and of the future, we would seek to use our influence for peace and moderation. We should make it plain to America that we will not be going to war on that issue. We should oppose provocative action by any party. … When is Australia going to have sufficient courage to act as an independent nation?”  Inspired by John Malcolm Fraser, The Age ow.ly/i137R Image source Twitter ow.ly/i133G Courage to act as an independent nation (March 14 2013)

 

John Malcolm Fraser the 82 year old Australian former Liberal Party politician who was the 22nd Prime Minister of Australia now alienated from his party has published an article in The Age Newspaper titled ‘All the way with the USA?’. Fraser states “There is increasingly aggressive posturing between China and American-backed Japan. If war breaks out Australia must not slavishly follow its superpower friend. The ownership of islands in the East China Sea now represents a highly sensitive and dangerous issue. There has been a significant escalation that could easily lead to conflict between China and Japan. A senior American intelligence officer has strongly sided with Japan and called China a bully on the high seas with ambitions to sink American warships and seize control of waters from its neighbours. He described China as a principal threat. We have the US and Japan lined up in concert against China. …If anyone thinks containment against China and containment against the Soviet Union had any similarities, they should be disabused. The Soviet Union had minimal trade links, no financial and capital market links worth mentioning with the West. China, on the contrary, is heavily entwined in the economies of nearly every Western country, certainly of Australia. It is the largest buyer of US Treasury bills. A war between America and China would have catastrophic results, first for America’s economy, then for the economies of the world. If we had a government with a sense of history and of the future, we would seek to use our influence for peace and moderation. We should make it plain to America that we will not be going to war on that issue. We should oppose provocative action by any party. … When is Australia going to have sufficient courage to act as an independent nation?”

 

Inspired by John Malcolm Fraser, The Age ow.ly/i137R Image source Twitter ow.ly/i133G

Chibundu Onuzo the 21 year old Nigerian author of her first novel 'The Spider King's Daughter' has published an article in The Guardian titled ‘Africa and the new white man's burden’, referring to China taking advantage of the Colonialism shadow still casts over the west's relationships with African countries. Onuzo states “Kipling's burden was shouldered by men who felt a calling to civilise the "half devil, half child" peoples who apparently proliferated the 19th-century world. …Things have somewhat changed in the 21st century. Many who take up the load of development do so, if not with guilt – for guilt is too unnuanced a term –, then with an acute awareness of all that has preceded their arrival among the less economically developed of the earth. …So they tread carefully, mindful of sensibilities that are both figment and real. They overlook corruption because it is how things are done in Africa. They laud substandard leaders because it is how people are ruled in Africa. To criticise or hold under too deep a scrutiny is to be accused of being an agent of a new type of colonialism. It is true that the phrases neocolonialism and neoimperialism are not obsolete. …There are cries that China's is a new imperialism. If so, at least it is new and not trapped in a stagnant history of ex-colonisers and their ex-colonies. Hearteningly, China does not hide its wish to make profit out of its dealings with Africa behind altruism or religion or paternalism. …But if China's dealings in Africa do not point to an attempt to make Beijing a metropolis, then it is better not to recast the Chinese arrival in Lagos as the second act of the British landing in Eko; it is better that history serves as merely a loose reference for dealing with foreign powers.”  Inspired by Chibundu Onuzo, The Guardian ow.ly/hdFxv Image source Twitter ow.ly/hdFrY Africa the new white man’s burden (February 4 2013)

Chibundu Onuzo the 21 year old Nigerian author of her first novel ‘The Spider King’s Daughter’ has published an article in The Guardian titled ‘Africa and the new white man’s burden’, referring to China taking advantage of the Colonialism shadow still casts over the west’s relationships with African countries. Onuzo states “Kipling’s burden was shouldered by men who felt a calling to civilise the “half devil, half child” peoples who apparently proliferated the 19th-century world. …Things have somewhat changed in the 21st century. Many who take up the load of development do so, if not with guilt – for guilt is too unnuanced a term –, then with an acute awareness of all that has preceded their arrival among the less economically developed of the earth. …So they tread carefully, mindful of sensibilities that are both figment and real. They overlook corruption because it is how things are done in Africa. They laud substandard leaders because it is how people are ruled in Africa. To criticise or hold under too deep a scrutiny is to be accused of being an agent of a new type of colonialism. It is true that the phrases neocolonialism and neoimperialism are not obsolete. …There are cries that China’s is a new imperialism. If so, at least it is new and not trapped in a stagnant history of ex-colonisers and their ex-colonies. Hearteningly, China does not hide its wish to make profit out of its dealings with Africa behind altruism or religion or paternalism. …But if China’s dealings in Africa do not point to an attempt to make Beijing a metropolis, then it is better not to recast the Chinese arrival in Lagos as the second act of the British landing in Eko; it is better that history serves as merely a loose reference for dealing with foreign powers.”

 

Inspired by Chibundu Onuzo, The Guardian ow.ly/hdFxv Image source Twitter ow.ly/hdFrY

Profound sense of loss and disillusionment (December 22 2012) Profound sense of loss and disillusionment (December 22 2012)

Yue Minjun the 50 year old Chinese contemporary artist best known for oil paintings depicting himself in various settings, frozen in laughter as a sort of logo that can be attached to any setting to add value, has been profiled by Nazanin Lankarani in a New York Times article titled ‘The Many Faces of Yue Minjun’. Lankarani states “…The notion of risk is well known in China, where artists can be subject to state censorship in various forms. Recent widely-reported examples include the artists Ai Weiwei, who has faced accusations of crimes ranging from tax evasion to bigamy and pornography, and Zhang Huan, whose 2008 show at the Shanghai Art Museum was canceled in 2008 by local authorities, with no reason given. A prolific painter since the early 1990s, Mr. Yue, 50, belongs to the generation of artists marked by what he calls a “profound sense of loss and disillusionment” after the crackdown at Tiananmen Square in 1989, in which popular demonstrations culminated in the massacre of protesters. “I feel that those years enabled us to find a new energy,” Mr. Yue said in a conversation in July with a friend, Shen Zhong, included in the catalog of the Paris show. “We discovered that the ideas and assumptions we had about a lot of things were no longer credible.” For the artists who chose to stay in China after 1989, the Cynical Realism movement, which Mr. Yue joined, was a possible path to express their experience in post-Tiananmen Chinese society. “Those who stayed experimented with a new iconography lush with signs of a disenchantment in confronting their society and assessing their own status,” said Grazia Quaroni, a curator at the Fondation Cartier. But, she added, “30 years later, Yue Minjun’s work exudes a sense of melancholy rather than cynicism.”

 

Inspired by Nazanin Lankarani ow.ly/g2elq image source Facebook ow.ly/g2efN

Asia is experiencing an economic slowdown (December 15 2012) Asia is experiencing an economic slowdown (December 15 2012)

Supachai Panitchpakdi the 66 year old Thai Secretary-General of the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) has published an article on IPS News titled ‘Global Rebalancing – Implications For Asia’. Panitchpakdi states “Although it remains the fastest growing region, Asia is already experiencing an economic slowdown, with gross domestic product (GDP) expected to fall… In China and other major economies in the region, however, internal rebalancing remains unfinished as private consumption should take on a greater role relative to investment. High wage growth will help to support this goal as well as helping to promote further external rebalancing. High and volatile commodity prices also present a risk to the rebalancing process for the Asian region, because they can be a drag on growth. Rising oil prices, for example, act as an immediate dampener on aggregate spending in fuel-importing countries, contracting spending more or less immediately, whereas any spending expansion from fuel-exporting countries occurs only after a lag. However the main risk continues to be concentrated in the developed economies, where the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) has long been concerned that premature and excessive fiscal austerity is choking recovery and growth unnecessarily. The developing economies in Asia have played a major role stoking the engine of growth since the crisis, but this could be derailed if there continues to be a decline in consumer demand from their traditional markets in the advanced economies, and the effects of a reduction in this demand would of course have further spill-over effects if it provoked a downturn in Asian household and investment demand. … Ultimately, what is most important is that regional markets remain open, so that rising domestic demand in each country is met not only by domestic enterprises but also by those operating in other countries of the region.”

 

Inspired by IPS News ow.ly/fWkFo image source Roberto Barroso ow.ly/fWkAq

Nails that stick up will be hammered down (December 5 2012) Nails that stick up will be hammered down (December 5 2012)

Ian Bremmer the 43 year old American political scientist specializing in US foreign policy and global political risk has published an article on Reuters titled ‘What do we know about China’s new leadership?’. Bremmer states “As China obsessives know, it is tough to read tea leaves when the water is as opaque as that surrounding China’s Politburo. In the wake of the Chinese leadership transition, we’re left to sift through the news in search of answers. There is plenty we do not know about the process or what its outcome will bring, but when it comes to underlying themes we can understand, it is possible to make some predictions. Start with solidarity. In the most telling example of Chinese political unity, the Politburo, the elite political body that makes all of China’s major decisions, went from nine people to seven to consolidate control of the political process. The Communist Party is now more unified than before and is less likely to tolerate dissent from within. The stability of the Communist Party is paramount. All else will fall in line. Note what happens to those who don’t. If the Bo Xilai incident demonstrated anything, it’s that, in China, nails that stick up will be hammered down. There is no room for leaders who stray from the party platform. Need more evidence that power is being consolidated? Hu Jintao recently surrendered his military position sooner than expected so Xi Jinping, the incoming president, could have more control. Li Keqiang, Xi’s incoming deputy, got the nod to run the economy rather than Wang Qishan   the most senior and noted market reformer of the lot. Three of five of the remaining standing committee members seem to be protégés of former President Jiang Zemin, a sign that the leadership is looking to past success as much as to the future.”

 

Inspired by Reuters ow.ly/fKe67 image source Stephen Voss ow.ly/fKe0D

 

Unique style of observational comedy (August 4 2012) Unique style of observational comedy (August 4 2012)

Des Bishop the 37 year old Irish-American comedian who has developed a unique style of observational comedy, most critical of his adopted home in Ireland and the America he left behind, has been profiled by Jay Richardson in an article published in The Independent on his plans to learn Mandarin from scratch and perform stand-up in China. In the article Bishop states “What I thought China was and what it is are two very different things, all you hear is the very narrow focus upon human rights, the economy, the one-party system and the disparity between the rural poor and the urban wealthy. You never hear about everyday life. I was blown away by how different it was to my expectations and how much it was unlike the West. I picked up [a regional Irish variant language] faster than I expected and quickly started using it at gigs in Irish-speaking areas. Only improvised stuff, just bantering with the crowd. I realised structuring material would be difficult but actually messing around with the language, it was easy to be funny. What surprised me learning Irish was how much better I understood what made those places tick, it’s something you don’t feel until it happens”.

 

Inspired by The Independent ow.ly/czs6y image source Facebook ow.ly/czs5E

Mike Davis the 65 year old American Creative writer, social commentator and political activist has published an article on Toms Dispatch questioning if China now props up the world, the question is: For how much longer? Davis states, ”Officially, the People’s Republic of China is in the midst of an epochal transition from an export-based to a consumer-based economy. …Unfortunately for the Chinese, and possibly the world, that country’s planned consumer boom is quickly morphing into a dangerous real-estate bubble. …now every city with more than one million inhabitants (at least 160 at last count) aspires to brand itself with a Rem Koolhaas skyscraper or a destination mega-mall.  The result has been an orgy of over-construction. …In effect, a shadow banking system has arisen with big banks moving loans off their balance sheets into phony trust companies and thus evading official caps on total lending. …If China has a hard landing, it will also break the bones of leading suppliers like Brazil, Indonesia, and Australia.  Japan, already mired in recession after triple mega-disasters, is acutely sensitive to further shocks from its principal markets.  And the Arab Spring may turn to winter if new governments cannot grow employment or contain the inflation of food prices.”

 

Inspired by Toms Dispatch ow.ly/b7tb0 image source michaelmoore.com ow.ly/b7tOg

Wen Jiabao the 69 year old the sixth and current Premier of the State Council of the People’s Republic of China, serving as China’s head of government has called for the break-up of a banking “monopoly” over lending practices that has prevented businesses from borrowing the money they needed for expansion. Wen stated during tours of company sites in Fujian Province and the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, “Regarding raising funds for your businesses, I think it has been too easy, quite frankly, for our banks to make profits, the reason is that a small number of large banks are in a monopolistic position. It is only from them, and nowhere else, that companies get the loans they need. This is why we’ve now come to make way for private capital to enter the financial services sector, which ultimately requires breaking monopolies. There is already a consensus among the central leadership, which is reflected, as you can see, by the pilot reform in Wenzhou. I think some successful practices from Wenzhou’s pilot reform can be introduced nationally. Some of the practices may even be immediately implemented. The monopoly in the sector makes getting loans expensive. Private businesses, especially smaller ones, have to get cheaper loans to flourish.”

 

Inspired by Chinaorgcn http://ow.ly/aEeXD image source www.kremlin.ru http://ow.ly/aEfls

Pieter Wezeman the 42 year old Dutch Senior researcher with the SIPRI Arms Transfer Programme with expertise in Arms flows and procurements claims the Asian states are the largest of the arms buyers of the world. In an article published on the Press Service News Agency, Thalif Deen following his interview with Wezeman states “China, India and South Korea – three of the most vibrant economies in Asia – are also beefing up their military arsenals with new weapons systems from the United States, Russia, Germany, France and the UK… beating out the traditional frontrunners – the rich, oil-blessed Middle Eastern countries. India was the world’s single largest recipient of arms, accounting for 10 per cent of global arms imports, followed by South Korea (six per cent of arms transfers), Pakistan (five per cent), China (five per cent) and Singapore (four per cent). The five biggest arms suppliers in 2007-2011 were the United States, Russia, Germany, France and the UK. With the exception of Germany, the four other suppliers are veto-wielding permanent members of the UN Security Council. The top five suppliers accounted for 75 per cent of all international arms transfers.”

 

Inspired by Thalif Deen http://ow.ly/a6WSs image source Thella Johnson http://ow.ly/a6Xiy

Song Dong the 45 year old Chinese conceptual artist credited with having influenced many artists in China and abroad, has opened a new exhibition, the third with his wife and collaborator Yin Xiuzhen, titled ‘The Way of Chopsticks III’. In an article published by Artcat, Dong and Xiuzhen are said to be “Widely regarded as two of China’s most prominent conceptually oriented artists, the husband and wife team have pursued independent careers since the mid-1990s and have continued to do so until the present day … Working together for the first time in 2002, they chose the theme of chopsticks as, whether picking up a grain of rice or a more sizeable morsel of food, two chopsticks are essential . As a symbol of their long-standing personal and professional relationship, the humble pair of chopsticks was an essential element…”

 

Inspired by ArtCat http://ow.ly/7Vnm0 image source panacheprivee http://ow.ly/7VnyZ

Gary Faye Locke the 61 year old US Secretary of Commerce First Chinese-American to take up the post (March 19 2011)

Gary Faye Locke the 61 year old US Secretary of Commerce a third-generation American with paternal ancestry from Taishan Guangdong in China, has been announced as the presidential nominee to become the next United States Ambassador to China following the resignation of Jon Huntsman, Jr. China through its spokeswoman Jiang Yu has indicated it will welcome his appointment which must still be confirmed by the US Senate, stating that “China-US relations are highly important. We hope the new U.S. ambassador to China will play a positive role in promoting greater development in bilateral relations.” Locke is the only Chinese American in history to serve as a governor, and is viewed as a rising star in the Democrat ranks and a possible vice-presidential pick.

 

Inspired by Jackie Calmes ow.ly/4fvf8 image source Gary Locke ow.ly/4fuXj

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