Global Agenda articles from March 2009

Global Agenda archives from March 2009

Depths of bounty; The growth of aquaculture; More people eating more fish means more farming.
March 2, 2009... More people eating more fish means more farming EVERY few years, the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) produces a report on the state of the world's fisheries and aquaculture. Its most recent effort is published today and two things...

Business as usual; Business as usual at the ASEAN summit; The latest ASEAN summit produced lots of high-minded rhetoric--but little concrete action.
March 3, 2009... The ASEAN summit produced rhetoric but little action Among the many regional groupings around the world, the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) is one of those whose actions, more often than not, have failed to match their...

Lawyers, arise! Indian and Pakistani protests; Activism and the bar in south Asia.
March 4, 2009... Activism and the bar in south Asia IN SOUTH Asia, lawyers do not merely vocalise other people's complaints. They also issue their own, vigorously. Recent weeks have produced some striking examples of this. On February 19th in Chennai,...

Edge of the abyss; Guinea-Bissau's president is assassinated; The assassination of Guinea-Bissau's president risks plunging the country back into chaos.
March 4, 2009... The president's assassination risks plunging Guinea-Bissau into chaos The assassination of the army chief and president has thrown Guinea-Bissau into a profound crisis. Bereft of the only two figures who could unite competing political and...

Lawyers, arise! Indian and Pakistani protests; Activism and the bar in south Asia.
March 5, 2009... Activism and the bar in south Asia IN SOUTH Asia, lawyers do not merely vocalise other people's complaints. They also issue their own, vigorously. Recent weeks have produced some striking examples of this. On February 19th in Chennai,...

Insult and penury; Eastern Europe and the economic crisis; Responding to western neglect and ignorance.
March 5, 2009... Responding to western neglect and ignorance THE economic crisis is still unfolding across the ex-communist world. Amid the genuine worries about jobs and savings are some other concerns--less substantial, but more toxic. The biggest is...

Socket to me; The smart electricity grid comes home; The much-talked-of smart grid prepares to enter the home.
March 6, 2009... The much-talked-of smart grid prepares to enter the home READERS may recall a futile exercise your correspondent undertook last year to go solar ("Sunny side down", Feb 15th, 2008). Despite having a large flat roof, an unobstructed view to...

In from the cold; A new foreign minister for Libya; A former intelligence chief becomes Libya's new foreign minister.
March 6, 2009... Libya's new foreign minister is a former intelligence chief Mousa Kousa, who has been chief of Libya's external intelligence services for 15 years, has been named as the country's new foreign minister. Mr Kousa has been instrumental behind...

Another disappointment; India's trade policy continues to underwhelm; India's latest trade-promotion plans have disappointed exporters.
March 9, 2009... India's latest trade-promotion plans have disappointed exporters When the Indian government released its interim trade policy in late February, it was the latest in a series of underwhelming announcements. Like the central bank's...

Shooting at goals; The perils of goal-setting; Why setting performance targets can backfire.
March 10, 2009... Why setting performance targets can backfire SEVERAL years ago, employees at General Motors (GM) began sporting badges with the number 29 on them. That figure was not a prescient estimate of the billions of dollars that the giant car...

Pulp friction; Uruguay and Argentina argue over their shared river border; Tensions on the border between Argentina and Uruguay.
March 10, 2009... Tensions on the border between Argentina and Uruguay Uruguay and Argentina have argued over a huge new cellulose mill on the Uruguayan side of the river that divides the two countries since late 2006. Now, an industrial accident--a gaseous...

Shooting at goals; The perils of goal-setting; Why setting performance targets can backfire.
March 11, 2009... Why setting performance targets can backfire SEVERAL years ago, employees at General Motors (GM) began sporting badges with the number 29 on them. That figure was not a prescient estimate of the billions of dollars that the giant car...

Surprise stimulus; Malaysia's big stimulus plan; Malaysia's unexpectedly large spending package.
March 11, 2009... Malaysia's government plans to spend so much that an alarmingly high fiscal deficit will result On March 10th Malaysia's government unveiled a stimulus programme worth 60bn ringgit (US$16bn). At around 9% of GDP, this is one of the largest...

Spring sprung; The Maastricht art fair; Encouraging news from a Europe's leading international art fair.
March 14, 2009... Encouraging news from Europe's leading international art fair THE European Fine Art Fair in the old Dutch city of Maastricht has always differed from others, and not just because it mixes high Rococo furniture with Chinese jade,...

Point, shoot and save.
March 16, 2009... Like nature, conservation can be red in tooth and claw JUST off the coast of California lies the lushly vegetated and stunningly beautiful Santa Cruz Island. Its 250 square kilometres (96 square miles) are home to 12 species found nowhere...

Malagasy misery; The army intervenes in Madagascar; The worsening political crisis in Madagascar has prompted the army to step in.
March 16, 2009... The worsening political crisis in Madagascar has prompted the army to step in The confrontation between the hard-line president, Marc Ravalomanana, and the young mayor of Antananarivo, Andry Rajoelina (more popularly known as "Andry TGV"),...

Point, shoot and save.
March 17, 2009... Like nature, conservation can be red in tooth and claw JUST off the coast of California lies the lushly vegetated and stunningly beautiful Santa Cruz Island. Its 250 square kilometres (96 square miles) are home to 12 species found nowhere...

Left turn; Change of the guard in El Salvadorr; Mauricio Funes's victory ends 17 years of right-wing rule in El Salvador.
March 17, 2009... A victory for Mauricio Funes ends 17 years of right-wing rule in El Salvador Mauricio Funes, the candidate for the left-wing opposition Frente Farabundo Marti para la Liberacion Nacional (FMLN), declared victory in El Salvador's...

Capital return; Italy's banks may seek state support; Italy's banks may look to the state to boost their capital reserves.
March 18, 2009... Italy's banks may seek state help to boost capital Italian banks have appeared less vulnerable to the economic crisis than many of their US and European counterparts, given their relatively cautious lending and borrowing strategies and high...

Fit as a Finn; Military exercises; What the rest of Europe can learn from the Nordic countries.
March 19, 2009... What the rest of Europe can learn from the Nordic countries IMAGINE some mythical countries called Badland, Eastland, Rohan, Northland, Southland and Midland. At the end of the 1990s, say, oil is found off the shores of Midland. A number of...

The next oil giant? Challenges for Brazil's oil industry; Brazil still has big hurdles to jump in its oil industry.
March 19, 2009... Brazil's oil industry has big hurdles to clear In the past two years Brazil has discovered the largest oil deposits in the country's history and the world's most promising fields since the discoveries made in Kashagan in Kazakhstan in...

Boost for Formula One.
March 20, 2009... Racing cars borrow a trick from the Toyota Prius WITH the Formula One season opening in Melbourne next week, people are about to be bombarded once again with rhetoric of how "racing improves the breed". The idea that motor racing is an...

Sticky fingers; Stolen art; The tale of a theft nearly rectified.
March 21, 2009... The tale of a theft nearly rectified WHEN the auctioneer reached Lot 72 in last Wednesday's sale of the contents of Gianni Versace's Lake Como villa, he said he was afraid it had been withdrawn and moved on quickly. A pity: this was a rare...

Political turmoil in western Ukraine; A shift in political support in Ukraine; Yuliya Tymoshenko's party has been beaten soundly in its heartland in Ukraine.
March 23, 2009... Yuliya Tymoshenko's party has been beaten soundly in its heartland in Ukraine The result of a controversial regional election points to a collapse in support for Ukraine's prime minister, Yuliya Tymoshenko, in her political heartland, with...

Wisdom of the small.
March 23, 2009... A tiny country is planning to go carbon-neutral ON MARCH 15th the president of the Maldives, Mohamed Nasheed, announced that his country would try to stop using fossil fuels--and thus eliminate most of its greenhouse-gas emissions--by 2020....

Boost for Formula One.
March 23, 2009... Racing cars borrow a trick from the Toyota Prius WITH the Formula One season opening in Melbourne next week, people are about to be bombarded once again with rhetoric of how "racing improves the breed". The idea that motor racing is an...

Indonesia's election; Indonesia's ruling party is set to do well in forthcoming elections; The ruling Democratic Party is set to prosper.
March 24, 2009... The ruling Democratic Party is set to prosper With just over two weeks to go before Indonesia's legislative elections on April 9th, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's Democratic Party (PD) has further extended its lead in opinion polls....

The export trap; Asian economic development; Asia's failing export-led growth model.
March 25, 2009... Asia's failing export-led growth model JAPAN developed rapidly after American gunboats opened it to trade in the late 19th century. Within 40 years, Emperor Meiji led his once-feudal country into the modern world economically (and, alas,...

Consolidation in Turkey; The ruling party in Turkey is set to benefit from local elections; Turkey's ruling party is expected to do well in local elections.
March 26, 2009... The ruling party is set to strengthen its position in Turkey The conservative Justice and Development Party (AKP) led by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan looks set to tighten its grip on local government in the municipal elections on...

Hot investments in China; A telling American investment in China; An American company plans to invest in a Chinese restaurant chain.
March 27, 2009... An American company plans to buy a stake in a Chinese restaurant chain On March 25th Little Sheep, a Chinese restaurant chain, announced that Yum! Brands of the US will buy a 20% stake in the company for HK$493m (around US$64m). One of...

A light-adapted eye; David Hockney; Britain's pool man hopes to make a bigger splash.
March 28, 2009... Britain's pool man hopes to make a bigger splash ANYONE strolling down Duke Street in London's St James's last week came across a delightful coup de theatre. Through the broad glass windows of Christie's Duke Street gallery could be seen a...

Disengagement party; Employee motivation; Staff-motivation schemes may not be so recession-proof.
March 31, 2009... Staff-motivation schemes may not be so recession-proof IN THE past few years there has been much talk in boardrooms about how best to create an "engaged workforce". The idea is that by making employees feel they are highly valued, managers...

Structural shift in India; Indians are saving more; Indian savings are rising.
March 31, 2009... India's savings patterns are shifting, with far-reaching implications for the economy and financial system The downward plunge of the Indian stockmarket has hurt the fortunes of thousands of investors, big and small. It will also have...