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17 Januar more tales of global crisis, desperation, and repressionAs usual, I haven't been paying enough attention to events outside of China: 1) Crisis may make 1929 look a 'walk in the park' and Bush convenes Plunge Protection Team by Ambrose Evans-Pritchard (Telegraph Dec 29 and Jan 11) [...] As the credit paralysis stretches through its fifth month, a
chorus of economists has begun to warn that the world's central
banks are fighting the wrong war, and perhaps risk a policy error of
epochal proportions.
"Liquidity doesn't do anything in this situation," says Anna Schwartz, the doyenne of US monetarism and life-time student (with Milton Friedman) of the Great Depression. "It cannot deal with the underlying fear that lots of firms are going bankrupt.[...]" York
professor Peter Spencer, chief economist for the ITEM Club, says the
global authorities have just weeks to get this right, or trigger
disaster. "The central banks are rapidly losing control.[...] They
still have another couple of months before this starts imploding.
Things are very unstable and can move incredibly fast. I don't think
the central banks are going to make a major policy error, but if they
do, this could make 1929 look like a walk in the park," he adds.[...]
2) Food riots of the 21st century by Jonathan Watts (Mail & Guardian Jan 6) The risks of food riots and malnutrition will surge in the next two
years as the global supply of grain comes under more pressure than at
any time in 50 years, according to one of the world’s leading
agricultural researchers.
Recent pasta protests in Italy, tortilla rallies in Mexico and onion demonstrations in India are just the start of the social instability to come unless there is a fundamental shift to boost production of staple foods, warned Joachim von Braun, the head of the International Food Policy Research Institute. The growing appetite of China and other fast-developing nations has combined with the expansion of biofuel programmes in the United States and Europe to transform the global food situation. After decades of expanding crop yields and falling food prices, the past year has seen a sharp rise in the cost of wheat, rice, corn, soya and dairy products. “Demand is running away. The world has been consuming more than it produces for five years now. Stocks of grain and of rice, wheat and maize are down at levels not seen since the early 1980s,” said Von Braun, whose organisation is the world’s largest alliance of agricultural researchers, economists and policy experts. So far, crises have been averted because states have eaten into national stocks, but this could be set to change because China, in particular, has run down its supplies. “Over the next 12 to 24 months we are in a fairly risky situation. Large consuming nations, particularly China, will feel pressed to enter international markets to bid up prices to unusual levels,” Von Braun warned ahead of a speech to the institute’s AGM in Beijing. Thanks to its manufacturing prowess China has huge foreign exchange reserves and could buy the global food crop several times over. But its consumers are already feeling the cost of food inflation. According to the local media three shoppers died last month in a stampede at a supermarket in Chongqing that was offering cheap rapeseed oil. The threat of instability has prompted Prime Minister Wen Jiabao to make the fight against food price rises one of his government’s priorities. So far it seems a losing battle.[...] In October the government announced pork prices were up more than 50%, vegetables 30% and cooking oil 34% compared with the year before. The knock-on is felt across the world. In rich nations it means a few more cents for breakfast cereal in the short term and a slightly higher cost for toys, clothes and other Chinese goods. But for the world’s poorest communities the rises will have a potentially devastating effect. Bangladesh has had to ask for half a million tons of food aid -- a severe blow to the pride of a country that had been trying to wean itself off international assistance. Bangladeshi officials say the price of cooking oil, of which it imports 1,2-million tons a year, has almost tripled in the past two years because it is now valued as an alternative to diesel oil. More worryingly, their main staple of rice is hard to buy at any price because India, Vietnam and Ukraine have cut exports. Added to this are the pressures caused by global warming, which have been blamed for the droughts that damaged crops in Australia this year. The social tensions caused by rising food prices are already evident, says Von Braun. “The first sign was the tortilla riot in Mexico city, where 70 000 took to the streets. I think that was only the beginning -- there will be more,” said Von Braun. “For a year or two countries can stabilise with stocks. But the risk comes in the next 12 to 24 months. The countries that cannot afford to buy will be the losers, while those with huge foreign exchange reserves will bid up the world market.” [...] 3) NYT series Empty Seas, "on the relationship between Europe’s demand for fish and the world’s supply": a) Europe Takes Africa’s Fish, and Boatloads of Migrants Follow by Sharon LaFraniere (Jan 14) [...] A vast flotilla of industrial trawlers from the European Union, China, Russia and elsewhere, together with an abundance of local boats, have so thoroughly scoured northwest Africa’s ocean floor that major fish populations are collapsing. That has crippled coastal economies and added to the surge of illegal migrants who brave the high seas in wooden pirogues hoping to reach Europe. While reasons for immigration are as varied as fish species, Europe’s lure has clearly intensified as northwest Africa’s fish population has dwindled. Last year roughly 31,000 Africans tried to reach the Canary Islands, a prime transit point to Europe, in more than 900 boats. About 6,000 died or disappeared, according to one estimate cited by the United Nations.[...] b) Europe's Appetite for Seafood Propels Illegal Trade by Elisabeth Rosenthal (Jan 15) [...] Fish is now the most traded animal commodity on the planet, with about 100 million tons of wild and farmed fish sold each year. Europe has suddenly become the world’s largest market for fish, worth more than 14 billion euros, or about $22 billion a year. Europe’s appetite has grown as its native fish stocks have shrunk so that Europe now needs to import 60 percent of fish sold in the region, according to the European Union. In Europe, the imbalance between supply and
demand has led to a thriving illegal trade. Some 50 percent of the fish
sold in the European Union originates in developing nations, and much
of it is laundered like contraband, caught and shipped illegally beyond
the limits of government quotas or treaties. The smuggling operation is
well financed and sophisticated, carried out by large-scale mechanized
fishing fleets able to sweep up more fish than ever, chasing threatened
stocks from ocean to ocean.[...]
4) 2007 was the warmest on record for Earth's land areas by Doyle Rice (USA TODAY Jan 15)
5) Trees absorbing less CO2 as world warms by James Randerson (The Guardian Jan 3) The ability of forests to soak up man-made carbon dioxide is weakening, according to an analysis of two decades of data from more than 30 sites in the frozen north. The finding published today is crucial, because it means that more of the CO2 we release will end up affecting the climate in the atmosphere rather than being safely locked away in trees or soil. The results may partly explain recent studies suggesting that the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere is increasing faster than expected. If higher temperatures mean less carbon is soaked up by plants and microbes, global warming will accelerate. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which
shared the Nobel peace prize with Al Gore, has concluded that humanity
has eight years left to prevent the worst effects of global warming.[...] 6) World Outsources Pregnancies to India: Giving Birth Becomes Latest Job Outsourced to India As Commercial Surrogacy Takes Off by Sam Dolnick
(AP Dec 30) [...] More
than 50 women in this city are now pregnant with the children of
couples from the United States, Taiwan, Britain and beyond. The women
earn more than many would make in 15 years. But the program raises a
host of uncomfortable questions that touch on morals and modern
science, exploitation and globalization, and that most natural of
desires: to have a family.[...] Experts say commercial surrogacy — or what has been called "wombs for rent" — is growing in India. While no reliable numbers track such pregnancies nationwide, doctors work with surrogates in virtually every major city. The women are impregnated in-vitro with the egg and sperm of couples unable to conceive on their own. Commercial surrogacy has been legal in India since
2002, as it is in many other countries, including the United States.
But India is the leader in making it a viable industry rather than a
rare fertility treatment. Experts say it could take off for the same
reasons outsourcing in other industries has been successful: a wide
labor pool working for relatively low rates.[...] Dodia's own three children were delivered at home and she said she never visited a doctor during those pregnancies. "It's
very different with medicine," Dodia said, resting her hands on her
hugely pregnant belly. "I'm being more careful now than I was with my
own pregnancy."[...]
Mandul, who has two sons of her own, gave birth to a
child for an American couple in February. She said she misses the baby,
but she stays in touch with the parents over the Internet. A photo of
the American couple with the child hangs over the sofa. "They need a baby more than me," she said.[...] Kailas Gheewala, 25, said she doesn't think of the pregnancy as her own. "The
fetus is theirs, so I'm not sad to give it back," said Gheewala, who
plans to save the $6,250 she's earning for her two daughters'
education. "The child will go to the U.S. and lead a better life and
I'll be happy."[...] But if commercial surrogacy keeps growing, some fear it could change from a medical necessity for infertile women to a convenience for the rich. "You
can picture the wealthy couples of the West deciding that pregnancy is
just not worth the trouble anymore and the whole industry will be
farmed out," said Lantos.[...] "I
know this isn't mine," said Jagrudi Sharma, 34, pointing to her belly.
"But I'm giving happiness to another couple. And it's great for me."
Álvaro Colom was sworn in Monday as Guatemala's first leftist president in more than 50 years, promising to fight poverty in a nation where half the people live on less than $1 a day. Colom took office along with his vice president, former Houston Methodist Hospital heart surgeon Rafael Espada, in a ceremony attend by at least 10 world leaders, including Mexican President Felipe Calderón, Colombian President Álvaro Uribe and Venezuelan leader Hugo Chávez. Colom, an industrial engineer who led Guatemala's efforts to coax thousands of war refugees back home, has promised a broad social agenda that includes building schools and medical centers, creating jobs and bringing security to a country where gangs behead victims and drug traffickers control much of the police.
The country's last leftist president, Jacobo Arbenz, was thrown out of office in 1954 by a CIA-orchestrated coup. [ 8)
U.S. rejects Chavez's call to remove Colombian rebels from terrorist list (Xinhua Jan 15) [nothing surprising here, but seems appropriate to contextualize the previous report] The U.S. government
Monday rejected Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's call for the
international community to remove the rebel Revolutionary Armed Forces
of Colombia (FARC) from a list of terrorist groups.[...] The
spokesman made the remarks after
Chavez said Friday that Colombia, Latin American and European countries
should clear the FARC and the National Liberation Army (ELN) of
Colombia from the terrorism list and grant them political status.[...]
Chavez said the FARC and the ELN were put on the terrorism listof some
countries because of pressure from Washington. 9) 80 arrested in Guantanamo protest at Supreme Court by Michael Winter (USA Today blog Jan 11)
Police arrested 80 protesters outside the U.S. Supreme Court today during a protest marking the sixth anniversary of the first terror suspects imprisoned at the U.S. military base at Guantanamo Bay. Similar protests were held in Australia, Europe and Africa. Dressed in orange jumpsuits and black hoods, about 200 protesters marched from the Capitol to the court, calling for the prison to be closed. Some entered the courthouse while others kneeled on the steps.[...] In London, about 100 people in orange jumpsuits gathered near the U.S. embassy, AFP reports. Hundreds also marched through Sydney. Later this year the justices will rule whether the Guantanamo prisoners can challenge their detention in civilian courts. Currently they are subject to military tribunals. The Pentagon has released several hundred detainees, with 275 remaining. Meanwhile, a federal appeals court today rejected a claim by four British former detainees that they were tortured at the prison, saying Guantanamo officials had acted as part of their jobs. Judge Karen Lecraft Henderson wrote that the alleged torture "was incidental to the defendants' legitimate employment duties."  ]
"Give us the name of the terrorists!" The interrogating officer screamed at the orange-suited prisoner as he threw him on his back. The officer placed a black cloth on the suspect's face and started pouring a jug of water over it. The alleged terrorist flailed desperately as if trying to pull himself out of a lake. As the waterboarding demonstration continued on the frigid Friday afternoon, a crowd of shoppers began to accumulate around the stage, set up at Westlake Center. Many observers grimaced as they watched the performance. Friday marked the sixth anniversary of the first detainees arriving at the American military prison in Guantanamo Bay. The waterboarding demonstration was part of an international effort to condemn the detention of Guantanamo's prisoners and the interrogation techniques used against them. A national group, The World Can't Wait -- Drive Out the Bush Regime, organized the event, along with Amnesty International, the American Civil Liberties Union and other civil rights groups that have called waterboarding a form of torture that should be outlawed. [...] The Bush administration has maintained that waterboarding is not torture. Vice President Dick Cheney confirmed in 2006 that the CIA used the technique while questioning al-Qaida suspects. [...] The controversial method has been used in interrogations at least since the 15th century under the Spanish Inquisition. It is outlawed as torture under the Geneva Conventions. 09 Januar back in businesschinastudygroup.org has moved to chinastudygroup.net . Looks like it's still on the same old server whose IP address is blocked in the PRC, but the new domain name is not, so you can access it using a simple proxy tool, and i assume someone is just waiting to do some housecleaning (note it's still got the March 2006 "coming soon" message) before switching servers and making its grand debut over here. And I think I've figured out why +0r wasn't working for me before - still necessary to log in - but I'm still playing with that, and besides, now's probably not a good time to succumb to the temptation to resume posting news and blogs, what with 150 papers to grade, 4 articles to translate, a research paper to write, and exams to study for... 22 September stinkbugsDoes anyone know if mosquito-repellent incense (蚊香) attracts stinkbugs? I've been using the smokeless kind of incense (蚊香片) you put in an electric device (灭蚊器）, since the regular incense makes me sick. And they have all kinds of flavors - sandalwood, citrus, camphor. It may just be the place I'm at now, more or less out in the country, with a construction site outside my window and bean fields beyond that. Maybe beans (or rape, another major crop around here) attract stinkbugs. And maybe it's just this time of year. But I never noticed them until a couple nights ago, when I started using Raid brand incense (I normally use Rainbow brand). I didn't pay attention to the flavor described on the box - I only bought it b/c it was the only kind they had left in the store, and then I threw the box away. I guess it's citrus flavor. And it seemed to keep the mosquitoes away, alright, but then the stinkbugs started marching in through the little hole where my internet cable comes in through the window - I've taped up the rest of the window-edge (not sure what you call it - the place where the screen meets the window frame - they don't fit together very well, so I've stuck layer after layer of scotch tape on the edge there in an effort to keep out mosquitoes, but my internet cable also comes in through the window, so I've got to leave one little hole exposed, and it just happens to be just big enough for stinkbugs to crawl through, so now every time I look up, I see two or three of them marching in along the internet cable, like Mongolian hordes riding triumphantly through the Shanhai Pass, coming to violate the civil repose of my study. I simply cup my hand around them (they're extremely slow, and apparently insensitive, or at least indifferent, to the approach of predators - and no wonder, because as soon as I do so, or more often, as soon as I've thrown them violently, and with a hint of malicious pleasure, into the basin of my squat toilet, their odor begins to envelop me and overpower even the relatively pleasant aroma of the mosquito repellent. The only comparable smell that comes to mind is rotten eggs, but this not so sulfuric; it's sweeter, and seems greener, maybe just because the bugs are green (or brown - why do they come in two different colors? is it male and female?), but it also seems to remind me a little bit of rotting grass or hay (a vague memory from my early farm days). But there is also a distinct bugginess about the odor - even if you didn't see their wiggly little green bodies, you would know that smell could only come from an insect. But what else can you do besides throw them in the toilet? Like I said, my window is taped shut, and besides, if I opened it (or the door, for that matter) I'm sure hundreds of the nasty little things would come flying in. But there is a trick I've discovered. If you're gentle enough, and quick enough, you can transport them from the internet cable (or the lamp, or wherever they've encamped themselves) to the toilet without causing them to release their musk. If I can resist the urge to vent my disgust for the inferior species by splatting them against the porcelain basin, and instead drop them gently into the hole (squat toilets contain no water, and the hole drops straight down for probably a foot or so before reaching the first turn), then flush, most of the time I can be rid of him without the nasty side-effect. Unfortunately, when the smell does get on your hand, it's hard to make it go away, even with hot water and soap. And it's hard to tell whether you've really gotten rid of the smell, since its memory continues to haunt you. So tonight I got a box of Rainbow brand mosquito repellent, and I'm waiting to see if makes a difference. It's hard to tell at this point, since I was using the Raid repellent earlier this evening, and there are still a few stinkbugs hiding around the room, waiting to jump out me just when I get comfortable. We'll see. Anyway, I'm probably too tired (and too dope up on antihistamines) too care at this point. (A few minutes later...) Well, I was just attacked by another one, and managed to dispose of it without any smelly consequences. I forgot to mention that they do attack, in a sense. In any case, they fly, and make an annoying buzzing sound (one of them kept waking me up all night the other other night, despite my benadryl-chlortrymeton-unisom cocktail), and sometimes land on you and hide between the folds of your clothes. I wonder what they're trying to accomplish. Do they want to lick my sweat? This one was brown - I seem to have noticed a pattern that the brown ones are less likely to release odor than the green ones. Are they different sexes, or different kinds of insects even? |
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EARTH'S TOP 10 WARMEST YEARS [for Earth's entire surface since 1880]
- I applaud the anonymous author who risked his job by writing that in the Seattle Times!]
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