Why I placed that Ban Blair-Baiting ad

by Stan Rosenthal

The hate-speech directed at Blair must be countered

The wild hostility towards Blair is damaging democracy. Photograph: Getty Images

“Bliar is a war criminal and should be tried and executed – let’s bring back castration, disembowelling, hanging, and quartering since he is also a traitor.”

This is a more extreme example of the sort of hate-speech being incessantly directed at our former Prime Minister which prompted a group of concerned citizens to set up the online petition related to this week’s New Statesman ad. Our other worry was that the media would be cherry-picking, distorting and exaggerating anything said at the Iraq inquiry which appeared to undermine the case for war and therefore Tony Blair’s reputation.

Filed under: Europe, Politics , Ban Blair Baiting Petition, Iraq Inquiry, Stan Rosenthal, Tony Blair, United Kingdom

Yulia Tymoshenko: Princess of the Orange Revolution

by Caela

Yulia Tymoshenko’s authoritarian proclivities are well-known--and feared--among the country's elite, and they’ve earned her comparisons to another political leader: Vladimir Putin. Many observers say it's chilling to consider what her leadership could mean for the green shoots of Ukrainian democracy.

As energy Deputy Prime Minister, she virtually ended many corrupt arrangements in the energy sector. Under her stewardship, Ukraine’s revenue collections from the electricity industry grew by several thousand per cent. She scrapped the practice of barter in the electricity market, requiring industrial customers to pay for their electricity in cash. She also terminated exemptions for many organizations which excluded them from having their power disconnected. Her reforms meant that the government had sufficient funds to pay civil servants and increase salaries.

Filed under: Europe, Politics , 2010 Election, European Union, Orange Revolution, Penta Political Analysis Center, Runoff Election, Ukraine, Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko, Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, Viktor Yanukovich

Noynoy Aquino: the straightest guy in town

by silent sinner

Wooing the nod of the business community, Liberal Party standard-bearer Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III vowed to provide businessmen a level playing field free of cronyism once he is elected as President in the May 2010 elections.

Whatever doubt I had about a possible Noynoy Aquino administration had been effectively put to rest by the speech he gave at the Makati Business Club last Thursday. It wasn’t just a good keynote speech. It was probably the best policy speech I’ve heard from a Filipino politician in recent years. It was simple, straight-forward, comprehensive and feasible. It wasn’t too left and it wasn’t too right. It was right there in the political center: inclusive, visionary but pragmatic, conservative in values but progressive in ideas.

Filed under: Asia, Politics , 2010 Election, Noynoy Aquino, Philippines

2010 Elections: New Heads of State and Heads of Government

by Caela (Ed: silent sinner)

Who will be the winners and losers of this round?

Here is an overview (albeit incomplete) of the possible batch of new and not-so-new leaders in the world stage this year either making their debut at International events as head of state/government or will be lucky to be saying “I’m back!”.

Filed under: Americas, Asia, Europe, Middle East, Politics , 2010 Election, Brazil, Chile, Czech, General, Iraq, Parliament, Philippines, President, Slovakia, Sri Lanka, Ukraine, United Kingdom

The Middle East Game: von Neumann Solution

by Caela

Back in 1948, RAND Corporation was established. It was the greatest monument to John von Neumann’s game theory. It began as the air force’s Project RAND (Research ANd Development), a scientific consultancy initially contracted to Douglas Aircraft conceived as a peacetime Manhattan Project. RAND went on to hire a diverse group of specialists, scholars and consultants that ranged from John Nash to Condoleezza Rice. But on its first decade, the guiding spirit of RAND was unquestionably, John von Neumann.

Filed under: Culture, Politics , Civilization, Democracy, Game Theory, John von Neumann, Nondemocratic enetity, Peace of Westphalia, Policy of Deterrence, Project RAND, RAND Corporation, Rational Choice Theory, Sovereign States, Terrorism, Tony Blair, United States, winning strategy

The Blood, The Backhoes and The Bodybags: Warlordism in the 21st Century

by Neil The Satirical

Nope folks, those are real dead people. This is not a scene from a Rambo Movie

Filipinos are used to seeing brains splattered across the pavement during election time. Election period is every gun smuggler’s, hit man’s and corrupt politician’s candyland; for guns, goons and gold are very much in circulation this time of the year. Thus a politician receiving a bullet through the head or getting whacked by an ax is not really something to whine about. An election period without election related violence in the 7,107 islands is like October fest without the booze.

Filed under: Asia, Politics , Ampatuan Massacre, Asia, Philippines, Politics

Philippines, Indonesia: Exceeded Growth Expectations

by silent sinner

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo signing the Coral Triangle Initiative Summit in Manado, North Sulawesi, Indonesia, Friday, May 15, 2009. Coral Triangle Initiative is a grouping of six Asian countries comprising one of the world’s richest marine areas.

MANILA, Philippines – Global investment bank Goldman Sachs said the Philippines performed better than most of the next 11 emerging economies (N-11) during the global crisis.

“Within the N-11, Indonesia and the Philippines have positively surprised,” Goldman Sachs said in its latest Global Economics Paper.

The N-11 and the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, and China) are 2 terms coined by Goldman Sachs several years ago. The investment bank considers the BRIC as the fastest-growing developing economies, and the N-11 as the ones “worth keeping an eye on” outside of the BRIC.

Filed under: Americas, Asia, Business , Bangladesh, Brazil, BRIC, China, Egypt, G-7, Goldman Sachs, India, Indonesia, Iran, Korea, Mexico, N-11, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Russia, Turkey, Vietnam

[Commentary] EU: We want a President; World: Oh, were you talking to us?

by Caela

After the Irish “yes” to Lisbon Treaty, European capitals were swept with speculations as to who would get the top job that Lisbon would create. Think Tanks across the Union worked double time to put forward necessary policy proposals aiming to strengthen the Union. At first ears around the world perked up to hear who would possibly get what is perceived as President of Europe post as the name Tony Blair was uttered across the world’s capitals. Pundits and commentators gave their takes, usually having strong positions (whether pro or con) regarding Blair and his European credentials.

Filed under: Americas, Asia, Europe, Middle East, Politics , Chinese President Hu Jintao, Commentary, European Union, Iran President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President of the European Council, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, Tony Blair, US President Barack Obama

Change-Maker: Tony Blair’s Courtship with Religion

by Caela

On May 30 in New York, Blair formally unveiled The Tony Blair Faith Foundation, which, among other things, is dedicated to proving that collaboration among those of different religious faiths can help address some of the world’s most pressing social problems.

The riddle of man’s relation with God (or a creator) — or even absence of — has found many different expressions. It has evoked many brilliant answers and how we feel about them is largely dependent on our private belief as to just which answer our own peculiar spiritual needs. There was a point in our shared histories when religion — and faith — was openly criticized, a point in time when everything was open for debate and discussion. That period saw the birth of progress at a rate previously unknown. It also lead to the market mechanism and capitalism, the scientific method, religious tolerance, and the organization of states into self-governing republics through democratic means. One by one, these products of that period seem to be failing but it does not mean that they are failing for what they are. Back in Davos Tony Blair was quite right in saying that “[w]e’ve been taught a very old lesson, which is that values matter.” We have forgotten the values that gave birth to these: freedom and a contractual basis of rights.

Filed under: Culture , Contractual Basis of Rights, Extremism, Face to Faith, Faith and Globalisation, Freedom, Freedom of Speech, God, Islam, Judaism, National Secular Society, Religion, Religious Debate, Religious Tolerance, Religious Unity, Roman Catholicism, Secularism, Tony Blaiir Faith Foundation, Tony Blair

Israel is (Always) Wrong, Stupid!

by Claude Moniquet

Paul Larudee (right) of the International Solidarity Movement and his fellow anti-Israel activists announcing that they were going to repeat their attempt to sail a ship from Cyprus to Gaza during wartime. Gaza War Protest and Anti-Israel Rally. San Francisco, January 10, 2009

If you put aside the United States, the Czech Presidency of the European Union – which expressed the view on Saturday, January 3 that the Israeli operation was ‘defensive’ and not ‘offensive’ – as well as several politicians and media who are isolated and not in tune with the rest, Israel has been again, for the past dozen days or so, subjected to rapid fire criticisms, each more virulent than the others.

Filed under: Middle East, Politics , Czech Presidency, European Union, Fatah, Gaza Strip, Hamas, Islamic Millitarism, Israel, Jihad, Mass Media, Palestinian Authority, Palestinian Authority President Mahmud Abbas, United States of America