Global Agenda articles from October 2008

Global Agenda archives from October 2008

Calm panic; Hong Kong in the soup; Bad times can be good for good governments.
October 1, 2008... Bad times can be good for good governments AS THE territory's officials love to boast, Hong Kong truly is a global city. Typically, this is a huge benefit, as it means energy, intellect and products from the world are easily available. But...

A pledge too far? A pledge too far in Ireland? The Irish government offers a full bank-deposit guarantee.
October 1, 2008... The government in Ireland guarantees all bank deposits The Irish government has pledged to safeguard all deposits and debts of six of the country's leading financial institutions for a two-year period, in a bid to improve the banks' access...

Pipelines and pyramids; Eastern Europe and the financial crisis; The world's headache becomes eastern Europe's migraine.
October 2, 2008... The world's headache becomes eastern Europe's migraine WHAT does the collapse of the pyramid scheme formerly known as the western financial system mean for the ex-communist world? The short-term answer is bad, and the longer-term answer...

No breakthrough; No breakthrough in Belarus; A parliamentary election in Belarus disappoints Western states and shows the limits of rapprochement.
October 2, 2008... Another dodgy election in Belarus Opposition parties remain shut out of parliament in Belarus after another election that fell far short of democratic standards. That is despite recent signs that the country's authoritarian regime was...

Land of milk and money; Tainted Chinese milk; China finds melamine and milk don’t mix.
October 3, 2008... China finds melamine and milk don't mix AS AN industrial chemical, melamine has many genuinely useful applications. But a protein booster for milk is not one of them. How melamine got into baby food in China, killing four infants and...

Deal sealed; India and America seal a nuclear deal; Three years after it was signed, America and India complete a nuclear deal.
October 3, 2008... India and America complete, at last, a civil nuclear deal More than three years after it was initially signed, the US-India civilian-nuclear deal has cleared its last remaining hurdle. A strong bipartisan majority in the US Congress...

A happening in Paris; Jacques Brel's effects; Auctioning off the remains of a chanteur's life.
October 4, 2008... Auctioning off the remains of a chanteur's life JACQUES BREL (pictured below) was a celebrated French chanteur with a lean, well-lived-in face, best known for the sad songs he wrote about people who were unfulfilled in love and life. He was...

Unintended consequences; Monetary policy and the credit crunch; Central banks may be forced into action.
October 5, 2008... Central banks may be forced into action HERE comes the cavalry, part two. In recent months, authorities have been relying on fiscal measures, bank bailouts and money-market interventions to try to solve the credit crunch....

A is for earth; Monitoring climate change; The world will soon know more about carbon dioxide.
October 6, 2008... The world will soon know more about carbon dioxide SINCE the start of the industrial age, the concentration of carbon dioxide in earth's atmosphere has increased by about 25%--from about 280 parts per million to over 370 parts per million....

Storm warning; The global financial crisis hits Hong Kong; Wall Street's financial troubles hit Hong Kong.
October 6, 2008... Wall Street's financial troubles hit Hong Kong In the past few weeks Hong Kong has been battered not only by a series of powerful typhoons, but also by the financial storm emanating from Wall Street. So far, the main effect of the credit...

A is for earth; Monitoring climate change; The world will soon know more about carbon dioxide.
October 7, 2008... The world will soon know more about carbon dioxide SINCE the start of the industrial age, the concentration of carbon dioxide in earth's atmosphere has increased by about 25%--from about 280 parts per million to over 370 parts per million....

A happening in Paris; Jacques Brel's effects; Auctioning off the remains of a chanteur's life.
October 7, 2008... Auctioning off the remains of a chanteur's life Correction to this article JACQUES BREL (pictured below) was a celebrated Belgian-born chanteur with a lean, well-lived-in face, best known for the sad songs he wrote about people who...

First, do no harm; Management training; Do bosses need their own Hippocratic Oath?
October 7, 2008... Do bosses need their own Hippocratic Oath? ALREADY the managers of many of the world's leading financial firms have been found wanting. Now, as the world's economy slows, attention will turn to managers of non-financial firms, to see if...

Be prepared; China and crisis management; China must do better at handling disasters.
October 8, 2008... China must do better at handling disasters "RIDICULOUS" is how China's banking regulator, Liu Mingkang, recently described American lending practices that led to the current crisis. In private, some Chinese officials have expressed even...

Moral authority, needed and absent; Eastern Europe and the financial crisis; Aiming low is no longer enough.
October 9, 2008... Aiming low is no longer enough WHEN communism collapsed, the West had all the cards. The one-party state and the planned economy hadn't worked. Welfare capitalism, free media, the rule of law and contestable elections were winners both in...

Trouble in Thailand; Violence threatens Thailand's political stability; Yet more violence threatens Thailand's political stability.
October 9, 2008... Yet more violence threatens Thailand's political stability On October 7th at least two people were killed and around 400 were injured during clashes between riot police and anti-government protestors in central Bangkok. The fresh outbreak...

On the giants' causeway; British post-war painting; Lucian Freud, Francis Bacon and the agonies of sitting.
October 11, 2008... Lucian Freud, Francis Bacon and the agonies of sitting LUCIAN FREUD and Francis Bacon, the two giants of post-war British painting, met in 1945. Bacon was 36, Mr Freud not even 23. Mr Freud had heard about the mysterious and distinctive...

Think long; Valuation and stockmarkets; Finding a few bright spots in the gloom.
October 12, 2008... Finding a few bright spots in the gloom WHEN the dotcom bubble was in full swing in 1999 and early 2000, commentators wrote in vain about the absurdity of stock markets yielding 1-2% and trading on a price-earnings ratio of 30-40. The world...

The conservation olympics; The World Conservation Congress; On being green when the world has the blues.
October 13, 2008... On being green when the world has the blues IS THE Antarctic Treaty System helping to preserve biodiversity? What are the demands on groundwater in Azraq oasis in Jordan? How do the authorities of Parana state in Brazil control invasive...

OPEC's emergency meeting; OPEC may cut oil production as prices fall; Falling prices mean a cut in oil production is likely.
October 13, 2008... Falling prices mean a cut in oil production is likely If oil prices continue to slide over the next month, it seems likely that OPEC ministers, who have decided to hold an emergency meeting in Vienna on November 18th, will approve a...

The guilty men of Wall Street; Justice and the financial crisis; Jail time for financial titans?
October 14, 2008... Jail time for financial titans? LIFE must seem terribly unfair right now for Dick Fuld, who headed Lehman Brothers when it filed for bankruptcy last month. Given the willingness of governments around the world to pump money into the...

India and the credit crisis; The credit crisis hits India but it may profit; The credit crisis hits India but it may benefit in the long term.
October 14, 2008... How India could benefit in the long term The global financial crisis has hit Indian stockmarkets hard. By October 13th the country's benchmark indices had fallen some 50% from the record heights they scaled in early January 2008. India's...

On the giants' causeway; British post-war painting; Lucian Freud, Francis Bacon and the agonies of sitting.
October 14, 2008... Lucian Freud, Francis Bacon and the agonies of sitting LUCIAN FREUD and Francis Bacon, the two giants of post-war British painting, met in 1945. Bacon was 36, Mr Freud not even 23. Mr Freud had heard about the mysterious and distinctive...

Delayed and denied; War-crimes trials; Trials of Khmer Rouge leaders are put off again.
October 15, 2008... Trials of Khmer Rouge leaders are put off again WILLIAM GLADSTONE's old saying that justice delayed is justice denied certainly applies to the trials of the ghastly Khmer Rouge regime, which terrorised Cambodia in from 1975 to 1979. The...

Sidestepping politics in Iraq; Iraq's government battles on despite the challenges; Iraq's government struggles on despite the political challenges.
October 15, 2008... Iraq's government struggles on The launch of the country's first post-war oil licensing round is evidence of a government increasingly determined to press on with economic development, against the political and bureaucratic odds. When...

No crisis here; Russia and the credit crunch; Waiting for the shake-out behind the scenes.
October 16, 2008... Waiting for the shake-out behind the scenes SEEN through the framework of Western logic, the conclusion is irresistible. Russia's political idiosyncrasies must give way to the imperative of economics. As the Russian stockmarkets (on the...

China to Pakistan's rescue? Pakistan turns to China for help; Pakistan asks China for economic aid.
October 16, 2008... Pakistan asks China for economic aid Pakistan has turned to China in an effort to stave off a growing economic crisis. On October 14th the president, Asif Ali Zardari, arrived in Beijing for a four-day state visit focusing on economic and...

Me no Leica any more; Digital photography; A die-hard analog photographer goes digital.
October 17, 2008... A die-hard analog photographer goes digital THE one-liner from which the headline above was borrowed comes from a review of "I am a Camera"--a stage play and subsequently a movie (and later still the musical "Cabaret") based on Christoper...

Growing more corrupt; Worries about corruption in Africa; Fears grow about corruption in Africa.
October 17, 2008... Although Africa's economies are growing, they appear to be getting more corrupt, too Africa's economy has grown much faster since 2000, but fears regarding corruption have risen too. Africa's average score on Transparency International's...

The crimson and the white; 20th century Italian art; Lucio Fontana and the blade that took him to space.
October 18, 2008... Lucio Fontana and the blade that took him to space LUCIO FONTANA, who was born on the very eve of the 20th century, was entranced by space. Born in Argentina and raised there and in his father's native Italy, he saw how flight changed...

Money in the street; TIPS; Banking on inflation.
October 19, 2008... Banking on inflation WHEN markets move as rapidly as they have in recent weeks, anomalies appear, but spotting them is difficult. Sometimes [pounds sterling]20 notes may actually be lying on the pavement, just waiting to be picked up. ...

Sleeping with the fishes; Tuna fishing; High time to save the Mediterranean bluefin.
October 20, 2008... High time to save the Mediterranean bluefin WHEN Gemma Parkes, a communications officer for WWF, an environmental advocacy group, was attending an international meeting on fish conservation a few years ago, an unknown delegate left a bunch...

Leaning left; Honduras joins Chavez’s club; Honduras agrees to join a grouping promoted by Venezuela and Cuba.
October 20, 2008... Honduras joins a club promoted by Venezuela and Cuba On October 9th the Honduran Congress ratified the country's membership in the Alternativa Bolivariana para los pueblos de nuestra America (ALBA, Bolivarian Alternative for American...

Bubbles and career risk; Rebuilding the financial sector; The dangers of left-brained bank bosses.
October 21, 2008... The dangers of left-brained bank bosses AS THE global financial system fights desperately for survival, few people are more justified in saying "I told you so" than Jeremy Grantham, a Cassandra of the investment community since long before...

An end to the war? Seeking peace in Darfur; Omar al-Bashir, Sudan's president, claims he will bring peace to Darfur.
October 22, 2008... Omar al-Bashir, the president of Sudan, claims he will bring peace to Darfur Faced with the threat of an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) on charges of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes, the...

All together now; Asia and the credit crisis; Beware the temptation to gloat.
October 22, 2008... Beware the temptation to gloat ON SEPTEMBER 26th, as America's Congress was meeting to debate its bail-out, Dr Mahathir Mohamad, Malaysia's former prime minister, wrote on his blog: "We cannot forget how in 1997-98 American hedge funds...

President's dilemma; Iran, Israel and European gas; Deciding between Nabucco and South Stream.
October 23, 2008... Deciding between Nabucco and South Stream WHICH will it be? The next American president will have to decide. Either Europe gets natural gas from Iran, or Russia stitches up the continent's energy supplies for a generation. In one...

Move over, Prius; Fuel combustion; Dieselesque petrol engines take to the road.
October 24, 2008... Dieselesque petrol engines take to the road A FLEET of Volkswagen Golfs (Rabbits to Americans) that get a staggering 94 miles per gallon (or, as Europeans say, 2.5 litres per 100km) are running around Berlin. Something like the Golf "Twin...

Little hope on trade; Europe and Asia make little progress on new trade agreements; Disappointing results as Europe and Asia talk of new deals on trade.
October 24, 2008... The European Union is making little progress on a new generation of free-trade agreements with Asia The collapse of the Doha round of multilateral trade talks in July 2008 might have been expected to accelerate a move towards greater...

Sold to the brave; Art.view; There are more buyers about than you think.
October 25, 2008... There are more buyers about than you think THE FTSE 100 index has fallen 30%, the Dow 40%. The interbank market is virtually frozen and Goldman Sachs is one of many firms that is defenestrating bankers by the bushel. That is the news from...

Counting on a catalyst.
October 27, 2008... If the authorities are to show the bears wrong, they must try something new WHAT now? The authorities have fired a lot of ammunition at the financial markets but they have not made a decisive breakthrough. The main bit of good news is that...

Crunch time for democracy?
October 27, 2008... How the economic crisis may also be bad news for democracy The spread of democracy has stagnated in the past two years, after decades of advances. Today, half the world population lives in a democracy of some sort. Yet with financial...

Cool aid?
October 28, 2008... Iceland requests a loan from the IMF The Icelandic government has formally requested a US$2bn loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), three weeks after the state was forced to take control of the country's three largest commercial...

A split in South Africa? SANC without trace in South Africa? The ruling ANC in South Africa may face a new rival.
October 29, 2008... The ruling ANC in South Africa may face a new rival Breakaway members of the ruling party are discussing the formation of a new political party. They will struggle to make a serious dent in the ANC vote, however. Breakaway members of...

A pinch too much; Sodium and high blood pressure; Salt is set to be the next trans-fat.
October 31, 2008... Salt is set to be the next trans-fat WITH so much emphasis on health care during the current presidential campaign, whoever wins next Tuesday's election will need to make some speedy decisions about the runaway medical costs occasioned by...

Financial first aid in Russia; Bailing out the bear; The Russian government lends $10 billion to cash-strapped firms.
October 31, 2008... The Russian government lends $10 billion to cash-strapped firms Russia has started to lend money to cash-strapped corporates that need to repay loans, with nearly US$10bn dispersed from a pot of US$50bn. The latter should be sufficient to...