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Written on October 31st, 2006 in Monthly Index by Heidi
Written on October 31st, 2006 in Society by Heidi
Linked with Lori Wallach – USA, with Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch, and with The Public Citizen.
Published on March 5, 2003, by CommonDreams.org, written by Lori Wallach, director of Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch:
When most people think about trade, they conjure up images of ships laden with sacks of coffee and steel beams ferrying between nations, and trade agreements focusing on cutting tariffs and quotas on trade in goods. In reality however, today’s “trade agreements,” such as the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the 1995 World Trade Organization (WTO), have little to do with trade. Instead they focus on granting foreign companies new rights and privileges within the boundaries of other countries, on constraining federal, state and local regulatory policies and on commodifying public services and common resources, such as water, into new tradable units for profit.
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Written on October 30th, 2006 in Society by Heidi
From Neglect to Necessity
by PINR, Power and Interest News Report, of 27 October 2006 – China is a relatively new player in the Middle East and in the Persian Gulf in particular. Whereas Egypt was the first Arab country to establish diplomatic relations with China, it was not until 1990 that Beijing had established ties with all of the littoral states of the Gulf Cooperation Council (G.C.C.). The G.C.C. consists of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Bahrain and Qatar … (Read all on this PINR article).
Written on October 29th, 2006 in Politics - Geopolitics by Heidi
An Online Training by ‘Refugee Education Sponsorship Program‘ – SOFT SKILLS AND MANAGEMENT ABILITIES IN NGO ENVIRONMENTS, online training, next session 21 november to 10 december 2006:
Specially focusing on professionals and volunteers working in the field of development, humanitarian aid and related topics that demand and need something more than the formal training, given by their organizations, in the practical subjects they are working with. The development of all soft-skills that could maximize the effectiveness of our work is becoming more and more demanded and critical when hiring someone in the highly difficult field of assisting others.
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Written on October 28th, 2006 in Society by Heidi
by Chan Akya, Oct. 28, 2006 – The recent announcement of a bid for a British-Dutch steel company (Corus) by India’s Tata group has passed without raising much hue and cry in the United Kingdom or the Netherlands. The tempered reaction contrasts with the noise raised by French and Belgian lawmakers against a proposed takeover of Arcelor by Mittal earlier this year, which resulted in a transaction despite their objections – in other words, Mittal impressed shareholders enough to override political objections.
These successes by Indian businessmen are in contrast with the more labored path that Chinese companies find themselves exposed to when trying to buy foreign companies. US Congress members raised a ruckus when the China National Offshore Oil Corp (CNOOC) attempted to take over Unocal last year, and when Haier attempted to buy Maytag. In both cases political opposition culminated in the bids being withdrawn by the Chinese companies. (Read the rest of this long article on Asia Times online).
Written on October 27th, 2006 in Society by Heidi
After the Consultation Meetings on WSIS Action Lines in Geneva (12 May 2006), Paris (16 19 October 2006) and Beijing (22 October 2006), UNESCO will launch its role as facilitator for six of the eleven Action Lines. A main modality of UNESCO¹s facilitation role action will be the establishment of an online platform for the implementation process. The platform will play a crucial role to establish networks between the different stakeholders and help them to coordinate their WSIS Action Lines implantation.
In order to create the most suitable and comfortable platform for future collaboration, UNESCO has launched an online survey to gather information on the needs of the multistakeholder community. We would appreciate it if you could take some minutes to answer the questionnaire which is online at this UNESCO page:
Survey on the use of an online collaboration platform for the WSIS Action Line facilitation. The following survey is divided in three parts:
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Written on October 26th, 2006 in Society by Heidi
Links to just new postings:
Some substantial links:
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Written on October 25th, 2006 in Society by Heidi
Multiobjective Optimization considering Economics and Environmental Impact.
Abstract: This papere is devoted to an application of MOOP (multi-objective optimizaion programming) concept to the pratical field of chemical engineering for taking the trade-off between economics and pollution with appropriate analysis method. … (To read all the rest go to this page of ProSimPlus, and see also its Homepage).
Written on October 25th, 2006 in Society by Heidi
What happened at this year’s Annual Meetings?
The Annual Meetings of the IMF and World Bank in Singapore marked the start of the Global Call to Action against Poverty (GCAP) Month of Action. Oxfam was at the Annual Meetings campaigning with its colleagues in GCAP and the Global Campaign for Education.
Oxfam decided to join a civil society boycott of the official World Bank and IMF civil society forum, in solidarity with 28 civil society representatives, who were arbitrarily denied access to attend the meetings by the Singapore Government. Over 200 civil society groups supported this boycott which succeeded in pressurizing the Singapore government to backing down and allowing the activists in, although too late to allow them to attend.
Oxfam’s analysis
Following the outcome of these meeting, Oxfam made statements on the following issues: Go to this site of OXFAM and read all.
Remember again Oxfam’s Global Action against Poverty.
Written on October 24th, 2006 in Society by Heidi
AsiaSource.org interviews Dr Supachai Panitchpakdi, the Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), on September 14, 2006.
Excerpt: … Question: At a recent UNCTAD meeting, Joseph Stiglitz argued for the creation of a Global Trade Facility and said, “Financial assistance to help poorer nations cope with increasingly open world trade- a concept known as “aid for trade” – should be expanded, quantified and guaranteed by industrialized countries.” Do you think that efforts along these lines have thus far been adequate?
Answer: The members of WTO have mandated Director-General Lamy to work on the concept by setting up a task force. The task force had already completed its work in July. So at the moment we are looking at the report of the task force and in the next couple of months WTO, together with Bretton Woods institutions and UN agencies, will try to come to grips with the implementation part of it.
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Written on October 23rd, 2006 in Society by Heidi
Linked with Pierre Salama – France, with La décennie perdue et la finance « vicieuse », and with Rethinking Financial Dependency.
This is a Project of Ministry of Commerce (GOI), UNCTAD and DFID.
You may download here all the texts given at the International Conference on “Development in Open Economies“, New Delhi, 1-3 April 2004.
Written on October 22nd, 2006 in Society by Heidi
Linked with Pierre Salama – France, with Strategies and Preparedness for Trade and Globalisation in India, and with La décennie perdue et la finance « vicieuse ».
Excerpt: … (see page 3, download the rest of this 38 pages on UNCTAD India.org): The financial crisis did not have the same significance in the eighties as in the nineties. In both cases it resembled a Ponzi- type crisis as applied to the State : domestic resources were not sufficient to service the debt in its entirety. In the eighties, the country had to sign letters of intent in order to obtain “involuntary” credits to supplement the country’s own resources. In the nineties access to international financial markets was renewed but this did not exclude recourse to “involuntary” credits. In the earlier period, debt servicing generated hyperinflation and a large internal debt. The drop in purchasing power was a consequence of both inflation and the economic crisis. For a large part of the population, the most impoverished, pauperization was absolute. In the second case, the debt was serviced during a period of economic recovery with a significant increase in labour productivity. Financial dependence led to the relative pauperization of a significant portion of the population, except in times of financial crisis or when incomes levels declined. This is what we will try to show. The lost decade and “vicious financing” The development of financial activities is not parasitical by nature. Generally, firms operate in a macroeconomic environment over which they do not ordinarily have much control, and they do so on the basis of very limited information.
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Written on October 21st, 2006 in Society by Heidi
Linked with Pierre Salama – France, with Rethinking Financial Dependency, and with Strategies and Preparedness for Trade and Globalisation in India.
Excerpt: … (par Pierre Salama) L’essor des activités financières n’est pas, par nature, parasitaire. D’une manière générale, les entreprises agissent dans un environnement macroéconomique sur lequel elles ont en général peu de prise, et elles le font également dans un contexte d’information incomplète. La complexité de la production aujourd’hui augmente l’incertitude quant à la rentabilité des projets. La couverture de ces risques nouveaux conduit au développement de produits financiers également complexes. A ce titre, le marché financier – à condition qu’il soit suffisamment grand et diversifié, ce qui n’est pas le cas en Amérique latine -, peut permettre l’essor de technologies nouvelles et assurer par conséquent la conversion de l’appareil de production vers la fabrication de produits industriels de plus en plus sophistiqués en créant des produits financiers adaptés au risque. Les exportations de produits complexes nécessitent non seulement l’intervention des banques et le montage d’un “package” financier complexe et original, mais aussi l’utilisation de produits financiers dits dérivés devant couvrir une série de risques dont celui du change. Ainsi la complexification du marché financier, quant à ses produits et à leur jeu, est, dans une certaine mesure, la conséquence de la complexification de la production. Cette complexification financière prend son envol avec la libéralisation financière (décloisonnement, désintermédiation et déréglementation).
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Written on October 20th, 2006 in Society by Heidi
One year ago, Northern Pakistan was hit by a devastating earthquake that killed more than 73,000 people and damaged and destroyed 600,000 homes. The UN refugee agency’s Emergency Response Teams were quickly on the ground, distributing tents to quake survivors. One year later, our teams are still working in these communities providing desperately needed long-term reconstruction assistance to victims of the earthquake.
With your support, the UN refugee agency provided the following life-saving assistance to earthquake survivors:
· 21,000 tents
· 115,000 plastic sheets
· 850,000 blankets
· 38,000 mattresses and,
· 25,000 heaters/stoves.
Once the immediate emergency phase ended, the hard work of rebuilding began. The onset of spring saw our ERTeams help more than 140,000 people to return home and start rebuilding their homes, their communities and their lives.
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Written on October 19th, 2006 in Economy by Heidi
Linked with Gabriel Kolko – USA, with The United States, & the End of the European Coalition, and with The death of deterrence.
by Gabriel Kolko, January 4, 2006, on LewRockwell.com:
The dilemma the US has had for a half-century is that the priorities it must impose on its budget and its imperial plans have never guided its actual behavior and action. It has always believed, as well it should, that Europe and its control would determine the future of world power. But it has fought in Korea, Vietnam, and now Iraq – the so-called “Third World” in general – where the stakes of power were much smaller.
The American priorities were specific, focused on individual nations, but they also set the United States the task of guiding or controlling the entire world – which is a very big place and has proven time and again to be far beyond American resources and imperial power.
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Written on October 18th, 2006 in Society by Heidi
Lancé par deux anciens cadres supérieurs néerlandais reconvertis dans l’Internet, le site Sellaband fait le lien entre talents musicaux inconnus et fans désireux de les produire, selon un système dépassant les clivages autour du téléchargement gratuit. “Ce site, c’est l’oeuf de Colomb”, s’écrie Johan Vosmeijer, ancien directeur des ventes au Benelux chez Sony, qui a tout quitté pour les locaux austères d’une start-up d’Amsterdam, née de la réflexion de son compatriote Pim Betist, ancien manager chez Shell.
Sur http://www.sellaband.com/, l’internaute peut écouter la production de groupes inconnus et si leur musique lui plaît, en acheter des parts à 10 dollars pièce. Une fois atteinte la barre des 50.000 dollars, un premier album est produit, et les investisseurs, au moyen du chat qui leur est réservé, peuvent influencer les choix artistiques de leurs poulains. Le CD arrive ensuite dans les bacs, mais est également téléchargeable gratuitement et légalement sur le site, qui s’acquitte des droits d’auteur.
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Written on October 18th, 2006 in Society by Heidi
Linked with Gabriel Kolko – USA, with Iraq, The United States, & the End of the European Coalition, and with The Decline of the American Empire.
Text by Gabriel Kolko, (Read the whole long article on Asia Times, August 30, 2006).
The United States had a monopoly of nuclear weaponry only a few years before other nations challenged it, but from 1949 until roughly the 1990s, deterrence theory worked – nations knew that if they used the awesome bomb, they were likely to be devastated in the riposte.
Despite such examples of brinkmanship as the Cuban missile crisis and numerous threats of nuclear annihilation against non-nuclear powers, by and large the few nations that possessed the bomb concluded that nuclear war was not worth its horrendous risks.
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Written on October 17th, 2006 in Society by Heidi
Linked with Gabriel Kolko – USA, with The death of deterrence, and with The Decline of the American Empire.
by Gabriel Kolko, this article is not dated, must be around Spring-Summer 2003/Notes, see on The Bertrand Russell Peace Foundation.
We are experiencing the equivalent of a geopolitical earthquake.
The disintegration of the Soviet bloc permitted American unilateralism on a scale the modern world has never seen. But with its war against Iraq the United States for the first time openly massed its military power and then invaded another nation, justifying the war in the name of the elimination of weapons of mass destruction and “regime change.” At the same time, it staked the very future of its existing alliances – NATO above all – but also the United Nations. NATO’s demise is a major outcome of the war against Iraq.
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Written on October 16th, 2006 in Society by Heidi
Economy is the basis of our live, we are rich, or poor, or somewhere in the mid of it and the Economy is one of the most important tools by which our economic situation goes on.
Found Biz/ed, an online help for students, and for all of us wanting understand a bit better some economic basis concepts. Biz/ed updated is their actual new formula. They write:
Biz/ed is evolving: For the last ten years, Biz/ed has provided a range of comprehensive and authoritative teaching and learning resources to support Business, Economics, Accounting and Leisure & Tourism qualifications. Now Biz/ed is starting to evolve, and there are going to be a few changes that we would like to keep you informed about.
See mindmap.
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Written on October 15th, 2006 in Society by Heidi
Linked with Samir Makdisi – Lebanon.
(AP-Naharnet Homepage) Beirut, Oct. 11, 2006 – Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi gave his moral support to war-ravaged Lebanon on Wednesday, saying the country’s stability was key to that of the Middle East. Prodi, who arrived in Lebanon late Tuesday, held separate talks with Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Saniora and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri on the U.N. peacekeeping operation in south Lebanon, to which Italy is the leading contributor nation. … // … “The stability of Lebanon is the instrument toward stability of the area,” Prodi told reporters after his talks with Saniora. Prodi pledged to secure a prisoners’ swap with Israel. … // … Secretary General Kofi Annan has appointed a secret envoy to negotiate the release of the Israeli soldiers, which is required under the U.N. cease-fire resolution. … // … Italy, Lebanon’s number-one trading partners, has “several ideas on how to participate in the early recovery of Lebanon,” Saniora said. … // … Saniora expressed appreciation for what he called Italy’s “strong participation” in the U.N. operation. Italy is contributing 2,500 troops to the U.N.’s expanded peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon, assembled under the U.N. Security Council resolution that ended the conflict between Israel and Hizbullah.
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Written on October 14th, 2006 in Society by Heidi
Linked with Samir Makdisi – Lebanon.
Al Bawaba (Homepage), October 05, 2006 – Restoring bridges over political troubled water: Earlier this month, Lebanon’s parliamentary majority leader Saad Hariri warned that Lebanon should not miss the “golden opportunity” to receive significant aid from Arab states and the international community. … // … Hariri also mentioned the compensation mechanism for the private sector which is being established by Seniora government. In addition, he spoke about incentives and tax reductions which will be granted to business owners through agreements to be signed with various Arab and Islamic funds, the International Monetary Fund, and the World Bank. Hariri pointed to the connection between the need to maintain political and security calm and the actual arrival of the much-needed funds.
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Written on October 13th, 2006 in Society by Heidi
Linked with Samir Makdisi – Lebanon.
See Lebanon’s Economy also on wikipedia.
Reuters/AlJazera.net, 09 October 2006 – by five per cent this year, and 15 pecent next year, an International Monetary Fund official said … The IMF estimates that Lebanon suffered about $3.5 billion in damage caused by Israel bombardment and the forced sea and air blockade. “We underestimated the impact of the blockade,” said Khan in Dubai.
“It had a far more serious impact than we thought. The bulk of Lebanon’s revenues come from customs and 90 per cent of that comes from the Beirut port and the airport.”
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Written on October 12th, 2006 in Economy by Heidi
Linked with Samir Makdisi – Lebanon.
UNIFIL says it boosts Lebanon’s economy – Reuters, Oct. 5, 2006: U.N. peacekeepers went on a public relations campaign in Lebanon on Thursday, explaining in a statement how the presence of their beefed-up force would benefit the struggling Lebanese economy.
The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) is monitoring a truce that ended a war between Israel and Hizbollah guerrillas on Aug. 14. The force, along with Lebanese army troops, is now in control of virtually all of south Lebanon.
The U.N. Security Council authorised increasing the number of UNIFIL peacekeepers from 2,000 before the war to up to 15,000 and gave it robust rules of engagement to maintain the peace.
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Written on October 11th, 2006 in Politics - Geopolitics by Heidi
WANGO, the World Association of NGOs, holds its annual World Congress of NGOs at the Mövenpick Resort and Spa, Dead Sea, Jordan, from November 30 to December 3, 2006.
NGO representatives from more than 70 nations, as well as prominent international and national leaders from the governmental, intergovernmental and for-profit sectors will gather for this unprecedented event. The Congress will include:
- Exploration of issues of fundamental import for the non-profit community
- Unprecedented opportunity for networking
- Over 90 presenters
- Variety of session formats for presenting ideas, issues, and practical resources of assistance to NGOs:
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Written on October 10th, 2006 in Society by Heidi
par Guillaume Deleurence, 01net – PeerTV et MaxTV permettent d’accéder aux flux télévisuels gratuits. Des outils plus ou moins acceptés par les groupes de médias.
Il existe sur la Toile bon nombre de flux télévisuels gratuits, mis en ligne par les chaînes elles-mêmes en streaming, ou par des webTV spécialisées, en mode peer to peer. Pour éviter d’avoir à jongler entre les différentes adresses et accéder à des centaines de chaînes facilement, des logiciels se proposent d’agir comme des interfaces uniques et simplifiées.
C’est le cas du français MaxTV Online* (disponible en version gratuite et payante) et de PeerTV (gratuit), un outil français lui aussi lancé début septembre. Une fois le logiciel installé, l’internaute clique dans une liste sur le nom voulu. Après un temps nécessaire à la connexion – durant lequel MaxTV, pour sa version gratuite, en profite pour afficher de la publicité – apparaissent alors les images demandées.
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Written on October 9th, 2006 in Society by Heidi
Read all this and much more on weitzenegger.de – The website for International Development Cooperation, and its (english) Newsletter.
An European Commission / World Bank initiative to provide a real-time working tool and help donors identify the current situation in South-East Europe and the macroeconomic needs of the countries. Also provides an additional way for donors to coordinate their assistance.
click here for (a beautiful) regional map of South-East-Europe.
The Joint Office for South East Europe was set up in 1999 to support the European Commission / World Bank in their Joint role as coordinators of international assistance for the reconstruction and development of South East Europe (SEE). The work of the office is underpinned by three core interrelated functions: Continue Reading…
Written on October 8th, 2006 in Society by Heidi
Read all this and much more on weitzenegger.de – The website for International Development Cooperation, and its (english) Newsletter.
From the International Labour Organisation ILO
ILO crisis response is involved in four types of emergencies (and pursues three pillars of work), though the programme’s units play different roles in each.
Boosting crisis response through decent work:
Crises threaten the number and quality of jobs, as well as human livelihoods, development, and social progress. But by mobilizing relevant actors for reconstruction, they can open a window of opportunity to promote decent work for a better future. Decent work pulls societies and individuals out of crises and fuels sustainable recovery and development. It can also break the links between poverty, vulnerability, and crises.
Decent work can pull people and societies out of crises:
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Written on October 7th, 2006 in Society by Heidi
Linked with Elsie Monge – Ecuador, and with A Human Rights Council’s statement.
by Cyril Mychalejko, September 25, 2006 on ZNet:
Excerpt: … Now welcome to Intag, Ecuador, home to Ascendant’s Junin Project, where one sign (among many) posted on a local road reads: “The Communities of Junin, Cerro Pelado, Barcelona, El Triunfo and Villaflora do not permit mining.” The company is awaiting confirmation from the Ecuadorian government to begin the exploration phase for a potential open-pit copper mine in these areas.
According to human rights organizations and lawyers representing many residents of the region, the company’s activities in the area are anything but socially responsible and even amount to complicity in human rights abuses with the Ecuadorian government.
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Written on October 6th, 2006 in Society by Heidi
Linked with Joy DeGruy-Leary – USA, Assuming Authority, and with Shocking Lancet Study about Haiti.
Added March 9, 2007: Linked also with Zakari Tata Askira – Nigeria, and with LIMITING DOCTORS AND LAWYERS – WRONG ANSWER.
Found this article on 3 websites: First on News from Africa, 15 September 2006, by Zakari Tata Askira (Source: Global Afrikan Congress) – see article below, and slightly different on Nigeria World, July 2006, also by Zakari Tata Askira, and also on AfricaFiles:
Western countries have been silent about the role of European banks in the transfer of fortunes to their countries. This wealth can only leave Africa with the willing partnership of these banks. This process keeps African countries dependent on handouts. While they continue to blame our governments they do not stop their banks from receiving the money. By current acceptable standards of European law the willing keeper of stolen goods is equally guilty.
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Written on October 5th, 2006 in Society by Heidi
I got this mail yesterday: Dear Heidi, The Global Month of Action, ‘Stand Up Against Poverty’, got off to a great start with events taking place around the world. Campaigners in Singapore, Liberia, Indonesia, Belgium, Scotland and many other countries started the Month of Action with a bang and took action to protest against the damaging effects of World Bank and IMF policies on developing countries. There are many more events and activities to come until the month of action ends on 17 October, World Poverty Day. Reply To: Oxfam-mail.
Get an update on what happened at the World Bank and IMF meetings:
Find out more about Stand Up events taking place around the world.
WHAT YOU CAN DO TO STAND UP AGAINST POVERTY:
Wear your white band – if you haven’t got one, make one from white paper or material, or buy one from Oxfam’s on-line store.
Take part in a stand up event near you.
Organise your own event – contact local cinemas, theatres, concerts or other audience-focused events and ask them to all stand up before the event starts. Take a look at the toolkit for more ideas.
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Written on October 5th, 2006 in Economy by Heidi
Linked with Firdous Tabasum – Kashmir.
by DR. TABASUM FIRDOUS, lecturer Central of Central Asia Studies, University of Kashmir. She is also member of our NGO:
In this globalized world when distances do not matter, nations come closer, people interact at ease, Central Asia too is no longer a forbidden land that lies on the other side of hedge for the world in general and India in particular.
In recent years, especially after the disintegration of the Soviet Union in 1991, Central Asian region has come under a sharp focus. With the physical presence of the US in some of the Central Asian States (CAS), geo-strategy of the entire region has undergone a conspicuous change.
Central Asia is no more a forbidden region for the West and for the world. It is no more behind the iron curtain. Western powers as well as neighboring countries all are eager to find a foothold in the CAS. Their success depends on the agenda they are pursuing and the programmes they would like to undertake. India is a big country in South Asian region. She is also an emerging economic power. Naturally she would also like to make some impact in the new strategy in South Asian region as well as the Central Asian region.
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Written on October 4th, 2006 in Economy by Heidi
Linked with Elmi Asha Hagi Amin – Somalia, with Ayaan Hirsi Ali – ex Somalia & Netherlands (now USA), with Nuruddin Farah – Somalia, and with Save Somali Women and Children SSWC.
Find on WomenWarPeace.org:
Secretary-General: Latest Report to Security Council October 2005
Security Council: Latest Resolution, October 2005Int. Committee of the Red Cross: IHL Treaty Database, Somalia
To browse all the following links, go to this page of WomenWarPeace.org:
- UNDP: Country Page, Human Development Indicators
- World Bank: Somalia Country Brief
- UNFPA: Population and Reproductive Health Profile of Somalia
- UNICEF: Country Statistics for Somalia
- World Health Organization: Country Profile for Somalia
- UNAIDS: Country Fact Sheet
- Relief Web: Country Backgrounder
- Food and Agricultural Organization: Country Profile
- Human Rights Commission: Reports and Resolutions
- OCHA: Consolidated Humanitarian Appeal
- Amnesty International: Country Page
- Human Rights Watch: Country Page Landmine Monitor: Country Profile
- BBC: Country Profiles
Written on October 3rd, 2006 in Economy by Heidi
Linked with Bradford Dillman – USA, with undergraduate study of International Political Economy, and with Illicit International Transactions.
Algeria’s Parliamentary Elections, Lessons for US Policy in the Arab World, by Bradford Dillman, June 11, 2002 – The results of Algeria’s May 30th (2002) parliamentary elections should be cause for concern in Washington. Not only do the elections provide an example of the dire state of Arab domestic politics, they also pose important challenges for American policy in the war on terrorism.
Violence and Boycotts Hamper Polling:
Last week’s parliamentary elections took place in the context of violence and public apathy. The two main Berber opposition parties, the Front of Socialist Forces (FFS) and the Rally for Culture and Democracy (RCD), along with a number of prominent opposition leaders, called for an election boycott. Berbers staged civil disobedience, intifada-style, which prevented almost all voting in the Kabylie region. Turnout at the polls nationally was only 47%, the lowest in Algeria’s history. Turnout in the capital, Algiers, was officially only 32%.
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Written on October 2nd, 2006 in Society by Heidi
Linked with Bradford Dillman – USA, with undergraduate study of International Political Economy, and with Lessons for US Policy in the Arab World.
Implications for Reconstruction in Iraq, Palestine, and Algeria – DRAFT, NOT FOR CITATION, by Bradford Dillman, Assistant Professor of International Political Economy, The University of Puget Sound, 1500 N. Warner St., #1057, Tacoma, WA 98416, Mail, 253-879-3594.
This text is from a workshop on “Rebuilding Devastated Economies in the Middle East”, G.E. von Grunebaum Center for Near Eastern Studies, UCLA, Session II, February 3-5, 2005.
For more than a decade, violence has devastated the economies of Iraq, the Palestinian Territories, and Algeria. All three nations are beset with high unemployment, degraded infrastructure, and low or negative per capita economic growth.
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Written on October 1st, 2006 in Society by Heidi
Le monopole du Livret A: le gouvernement français remet sa copie à Bruxelles, par Eve SZEFTEL, sept. 29, 2006:
D’abord mon commentaire: comme si la concurrence entre banques allait dans le sense de plus de service pour les économiquement faibles. Non, cela ira uniquement dans le sens de plus de profit pour les banques. Et nous, perdant financièrement par petites tranches, on nous manipulera certainement mieux dans le futur. Que vont-ils encore inventer, si on laisse faire?
PARIS (AFP) – Le gouvernement français devait défendre vendredi auprès de la Commission européenne le maintien du monopole de distribution du Livret A par les Caisses d’Epargne et la Banque Postale que Bruxelles pourrait remettre en cause. La Commission a lancé fin juin une procédure d’infraction à l’encontre de la France, lui demandant de justifier les “droits spéciaux” accordés à la Banque Postale et à l’Ecureuil en matière de distribution du Livret A, détenu par 46 millions de Français.
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