U.S.-China Meeting’s Aim: Personal Diplomacy

NY Times

WASHINGTON — When Tom Donilon, President Obama’s national security adviser, met with President Xi Jinping in Beijing last week to discuss his coming visit to the United States, China’s newly minted leader told him he wanted a conversation with Mr. Obama that did not involve diplomatic talking points. As if to underscore the message, he ignored the notes sitting in front of him.  

When Mr. Xi arrives on Friday for his first visit as president, Mr. Obama will make his own symbolic gesture, welcoming him amid the olive trees and artificial lakes of a 200-acre California estate. 

In more than six hours of meetings over two days, with ample time for dinner and a sunset stroll beneath the San Jacinto Mountains, administration officials hope Mr. Obama and Mr. Xi, who met for the first time last year in Washington, will really get to know each other, while exchanging ideas about how best to manage a complex, sometimes combustible relationship between the world’s two biggest economies.

 It is an enormous bet on the power of personal diplomacy, in a setting carefully chosen to nurture a high-level friendship. 

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Antonio de Aguiar Patriota: O Conselho de Segurança na Globalização

Project Syndicate

BRASILIA – A Carta da ONU, de 1945, representou um marco histórico na busca da paz pela via da concertação multilateral. Com o fim do conflito mundial, que provocou mais de 50 milhões de vítimas, os EUA e a URSS emergiram como as duas maiores potências globais. A Carta da ONU, negociada inicialmente entre EUA, URSS e Reino Unido, durante a II Guerra Mundial, previa a criação de um Conselho de Segurança (CSNU), que contaria, fundamentalmente, com cinco membros permanentes, incluindo também França e a República da China.

Illustration by Margaret Scott

A ONU, que em sua concepção reunia 51 países, tem hoje 193 membros. No entanto, embora o Conselho de Segurança tenha sido ampliado in 1965, com o aumento de seis para dez  assentos não-permanentes, o número de membros permanentes mantém-se inalterado desde 1945. 

Desde então, o mundo passou por importantes transformações. Além dos conflitos entre Estados e a proliferação de armas – em particular, as armas de destruição em massa – novos desafios surgiram, como o terrorismo e a ação de atores não-estatais em conflitos internos. Enquanto isso, a distribuição mundial do poder econômico e da influência política passa por acelerada reconfiguração, criando condições para o surgimento de uma ordem multipolar.

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Daniel Yergin: The Globalization of Energy Demand

CNBC

The harnessing of energy is what makes possible the world as we know it. The bounty can be measured in terms of virtually everything we do in the course of a day. But can we bet on that for the future?

The growth in world energy demand in the coming decades will be very large, an increase of as much as 35 to 40 percent by 2030. Can this need be met? This increase alone will be greater than all the energy that the world consumed in 1970. Underpinning it all is a fundamental shift in global energy demand, which reflects big changes in the world economy.

At the start of the 21st century, "developed" countries still represented two-thirds of total oil demand. By the end of the decade the split was 50-50 and the shift continues to this day. In terms of oil, North America, Europe and Japan have already reached peak demand. Because of demographics, increased efficiency and substitution, their petroleum consumption will be flat or declining. 

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Rousseff y Biden conversarán sobre cooperación energética entre Brasil y EE.UU.

América Economía

Río de Janeiro, EFE. El vicepresidente de Estados Unidos, Joseph Biden, iniciará este miércoles por Río de Janeiro una visita de tres días a Brasil en la que se reunirá con la presidenta brasileña, Dilma Rousseff, para conversar entre otros asuntos sobre la cooperación energética entre ambos países.

El descubrimiento de gigantescas reservas petroleras frente a las costas de Brasil que pueden atender parte de la demanda estadounidense y el deseo brasileño de acceder a la tecnología de EE.UU. para explotar el gas de esquisto son las premisas de la cooperación energética que Biden tratará en su primera visita a Brasil como vicepresidente.

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Trinidad PM says China offers $3 billion in loans

AP

PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad (AP) — China's president has offered concessionary loans to nine Caribbean countries totaling some $3 billion, Trinidad & Tobago's prime minister said Sunday.

Details of the offer were not immediately disclosed after a Sunday luncheon, but Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar told reporters that the loans would be earmarked for infrastructure and development projects across the Caribbean.

"We really welcomed that generosity," she said.

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The new geopolitics of energy: conflict or cooperation?

Elizabeth Buchanan
AUSTRALIAN INSTITUTE OF INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

“In the emerging international power system, we can expect the struggle over energy to override all other considerations” - Michael Klare[1]

 

Against the backdrop of depleting global energy reserves, a new geopolitical landscape is emerging, characterised by Petrostates utilising their natural resources as political commodities. This essay explores two avenues of countering the challenges posed by the new geopolitics of energy.  Will governments seek cooperation via collective energy security strategies? Or will the energy-poor nations instead opt to meet energy-rich Petrostates on the battlefield? To assess whether the new geopolitics of energy will result in conflict or cooperation, this essay examines Russia’s emerging energy superpower strategy, and provides a case study of the 2006 Russian-Ukrainian gas crisis.

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Cannabis: La nueva historia germina en América Latina

Eduardo Vergara B.*
ASUNTOS DEL SUR

Las políticas prohibicionistas para controlar las drogas por medio de la fuerza pasaron a la historia como el mayor fracaso de una política en nuestra región. Al centro, y por la masividad de su consumo, el cannabis se transformó en la excusa perfecta para intentar controlar nuestra sociedad y ejecutar esta seguidilla de absurdos.

El consumo de cannabis, tanto para fines recreativos como terapéuticos, es masivo. En países como Uruguay y Chile, la prevalencia de consumo llega a 5,6% y 4,9% de la población total. En este último, las detenciones por ley de drogas, en gran parte relacionadas al cannabis, superaron las 85.000 en 2012. Por otro lado se encuentra la producción. Ya no podemos hablar de países productores y consumidores solamente, por la simple razón de que la producción puede tomar lugar en la tranquilidad de un hogar, ya que afortunadamente miles de personas han optado por el autocultivo como forma de reducir los daños asociados a la salud y la seguridad.

* Director de Asuntos del Sur y Observatorio Latinoamericano de Políticas de Drogas y Opinión Pública

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Jürgen Habermas: Democracy, Solidarity And The European Crisis

SOCIAL EUROPE

The European Union owes its existence to the efforts of political elites who could count on the passive consent of their more or less indifferent populations as long as the peoples could regard the Union as also being in their economic interests, all things considered. The Union has legitimized itself in the eyes of the citizens primarily through its outcomes and not so much by the fact that it fulfilled the citizens’ political will. 

This state of affairs is explained not only by the history of its origins but also by the legal constitution of this unique formation. The European Central Bank, the Commission, and the European Court of Justice have intervened most profoundly in the everyday lives of European citizens over the decades, even though these institutions are the least subject to democratic controls. 

Moreover, the European Council, which has energetically taken the initiative during the current crisis, is made up of heads of government whose role in the eyes of their citizens is to represent their respective national interests in distant Brussels. Finally, at least the European Parliament was supposed to construct a bridge between the political conflict of opinions in the national arenas and the momentous decisions taken in Brussels – but this bridge is almost devoid of traffic.

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Desarrollo chileno atado a su liderazgo en el cobre

Marianela Jarroud
IPS

SANTIAGO, 21 may 2013 (IPS) - El liderazgo de Chile como primer productor mundial de cobre no está amenazado, pero el país tiene el reto de convertir la explotación del mineral en un capital social de largo plazo y atender los altos costos de la energía, que aumentaron siete veces en la última década, analizaron expertos para IPS.

“La ventaja comparativa, distinta a los indicadores de producción, está viéndose un poco amenazada por alzas de costos, principalmente en electricidad y los proveedores”, afirmó Rodrigo Balbontín, analista del Centro de Estudios del Cobre y la Minería (Cesco).

Con 36,3 por ciento de la cuota de mercado y 28 por ciento de las reservas del metal, Chile sigue siendo el principal productor mundial de cobre, nacionalizado en 1971 por el entonces presidente socialista Salvador Allende (1970-1973).

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Are we on the cusp of a solar energy boom?

John Aziz
The Week

The total solar energy hitting Earth each year is equivalent to 12.2 trillion watt-hours. That's over 20,000 times more than the total energy all of humanity consumes each year. And yet photovoltaic solar panels, the instruments that convert solar radiation into electricity, produce only 0.7 percent of the energy the world uses. So what gives?

For one, cost: The U.S. Department of Energy estimates an average cost of $156.90 per megawatt-hour for solar, while conventional coal costs an average of $99.60 per MW/h, nuclear costs an average of $112.70 per MW/h, and various forms of natural gas cost between $65.50 and $132 per MW/h. So from an economic standpoint, solar is still uncompetitive.

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Asia's Currency War

Anthony Fensom
THE DIPLOMAT

Global finance chiefs may have denounced it, but that has not stopped Japan joining other central banks in driving its exchange rate lower. With Australia and South Korea forced to respond, will the Asia-Pacific region be the main battleground in a global currency war?



At the latest Group of Seven (G7) meeting near London, the message from the seven industrialized nations’ finance officials was unequivocal: no currency manipulation by members.

Britain’s Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne said the G7 would continue its three-month-old pact “not to target exchange rates,” with the German and US finance ministers cautioning Japan over the weakening yen.

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Soros versus Sinn: The German Question

Geroge Soros/ Hans-Werner Sinn
Project Syndicate

Illustration by Paul Lachine

FRANKFURT – The euro crisis has already transformed the European Union from a voluntary association of equal states into a creditor-debtor relationship from which there is no easy escape. The creditors stand to lose large sums should a member state exit the monetary union, yet debtors are subjected to policies that deepen their depression, aggravate their debt burden, and perpetuate their subordinate position. As a result, the crisis is now threatening to destroy the EU itself. That would be a tragedy of historic proportions, which only German leadership can prevent.

The causes of the crisis cannot be properly understood without recognizing the euro’s fatal flaw: By creating an independent central bank, member countries have become indebted in a currency that they do not control. At first, both the authorities and market participants treated all government bonds as if they were riskless, creating a perverse incentive for banks to load up on the weaker bonds. When the Greek crisis raised the specter of default, financial markets reacted with a vengeance, relegating all heavily indebted eurozone members to the status of a Third World country over-extended in a foreign currency. Subsequently, the heavily indebted member countries were treated as if they were solely responsible for their misfortunes, and the structural defect of the euro remained uncorrected.

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Irán, a favor de continuar lo antes posible las conversaciones con el Sexteto

Ria Novosti

Irán está a favor de continuar las negociaciones sobre su programa nuclear con el Sexteto de mediadores internacionales y rechaza cualquier interrupción en este proceso, declaró hoy el portavoz del Ministerio de Exteriores de la República Islámica, Ramin Mehmanparast.

“Irán espera que el proceso de negociación no tenga ninguna interrupción ni pausa y que, manteniendo el marco lógico de conversaciones y sobre la base del Tratado de No Proliferación Nuclear, podamos discutir las propuestas (para resolver el conflicto)”, manifestó el diplomático iraní.

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Will the EU Kill China’s Solar Industry?

James Parker
The Diplomat

Every few weeks, it seems, a new twist takes place in the drama of China’s solar industry.  The latest news, however, emerges not from Wuxi, home of Suntech Power, nor from Xinyu, home of LDK Solar. In fact, the threat comes from the Brussels in the European Union (EU).

According to recent media reports, the European Union Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht will recommend this coming Wednesday (May 8) that the bloc should slap massive punitive tariffs on Chinese solar panels. Reuters writes that such Tariffs would be proposed “to guard against Chinese production [capacity] that quadrupled between 2009 and 2011 to more than the entire global demand.”

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Dólar vs. el resto

Alfredo Saiat
IADE

La cotización del dólar comercializado en el circuito marginal ha subido en lo que va del año 36 por ciento y desde el comienzo del nuevo régimen de administración y control de acceso a la moneda extranjera lo hizo en 96 por ciento. A lo largo de ese período los motivos expresados por analistas de la city para justificar el aumento han sido variados. La secuencia explicativa comenzó con que el dólar oficial estaba barato, continuó con los nervios de inversores ante la imposibilidad de ahorrar en divisas, luego con la dificultad para comprar dólares a la paridad oficial por parte de turistas al exterior, siguió con la merma estacional de la liquidación de dólares de exportación de soja, y ahora que esos mismos exportadores después de vender en el segmento oficial recompran en el paralelo.

 

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How to destabilize the Assad regime

Elisa Massimino
FP

In the wake of reports that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad allegedly used sarin, a chemical weapon, it appears that U.S. President Barack Obama is on the brink of providing the Syrian opposition with lethal weapons. But it certainly does not seem that the Obama administration pursued the full range of nonlethal options available, particularly those involving the international community. Here's an idea: To affect meaningful and decisive change in Syria, which is suffering from a humanitarian catastrophe, the international community should use all available diplomatic and economic leverage to choke off the arms, resources, and money flowing to the regime. 

A new Human Rights First report reveals that at least a dozen countries -- including Russia, Iran, North Korea, Venezuela, Angola, Georgia, Lebanon, Cyprus, South Africa, and the United Arab Emirates -- are continuing to provide the Assad regime with weapons, fuel, military technology, and access to financial markets. The paper provides both a unique overview of Assad's third-party supporters and a roadmap the U.S. government can follow to crack down on them. The U.S. government should use diplomacy to try to influence the countries providing these resources as well as the countries allowing these resources to pass through their jurisdiction. In addition, the U.S. Treasury should use existing authority under the Syria sanctions regime to designate those entities continuing to support the Assad regime and block them from the U.S. marketplace. 

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Abbas, Netanyahu may hold impromptu Beijing meeting

Global Times

Chinese President Xi Jinping met with visiting Palestinian counterpart Mahmoud Abbas in Beijing on Monday, as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrived in Shanghai starting his official visit to China on the same day.

As there is a possibility that the two visiting leaders could meet in Beijing after diplomatic arrangements from China, experts say the overlapping trips are an indication that China could play a more important role in Middle Eastern affairs thanks to its growing influence in the region.

In his meeting with Abbas, Xi said China firmly supports the cause of the Palestinian people and tabled a four-point proposal for the settlement of the Palestinian question.

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John Kerry considera a Latinoamérica el "patio trasero" de Estados Unidos

TelesurTV

El secretario de Estado norteamericano, John Kerry, calificó este jueves a América Latina como el “patio trasero de Estados Unidos” y no como una región vecina, soberana e independiente en la que convergen numerosas naciones, con diferentes ideas o tendencias sociales, económicas o culturales.

Secretario de Estado norteamericano habló ante el Congreso de su país (Foto: Archivo)

En un discurso ofrecido ante el Comité de Asuntos Exteriores de la Cámara de Representantes, Kerry quiso subrayar la importancia que tiene entablar un “mayor acercamiento con América Latina, porque se trata del “patio trasero” de su país.

En ese sentido, adelantó que tiene planes de viajar en fecha próxima a Colombia y a Brasil, así como también confirmó las visitas del presidente Barack Obama a México y a Costa Rica, en mayo próximo.

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Post-Election Sabotage: Washington Seeks to Destabilize Venezuela

Stephen Lendman
Global Research

Longstanding US plans prioritize regime change. It’s the oil, stupid! Venezuela has the world’s largest reserves. It’s a prize Washington covets. More on that below.

Post-election US-orchestrated destabilization continues. Venezuelans elected Nicolas Maduro president. The electoral process was scrupulously open, free and fair. The result is indisputable.

World leaders congratulated Maduro on his victory. Obama remains silent. On April 16, State Department spokesman Patrick Ventell alleged “outstanding voting irregularities.”

“So the CNE’s decision to declare Mr. Maduro the victor before completing a full recount is difficult to understand, and they did not explain their haste in taking this decision,” he said.

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Wall Street's Climate Finance Bonanza

Janet Redman
FPIF

Government officials from an elite group of developed countries meeting in Washington, D.C. at the invitation of U.S. climate envoy Todd Stern appear to be on the brink of instigating yet another corporate handout and big bank giveaway—this time in the name of fighting climate change. 

If it follows a recently leaked agenda, the meeting will focus on using capital markets to raise money for climate finance. The goal is to fill the void left by the United States and other developed nations that have failed to meet their legal obligations to deliver funding to poorer countries for climate programs.

In this corporate-oriented approach, countries would provide generous loan guarantees and export subsidies that sweeten investments for private firms and give them the chance to net big profits while leaving governments (and the taxpayers they represent) to cover the losses if investors’ bets don’t pay off. Wealthy countries would then be able to claim that they had moved billions of dollars of new climate investments.

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Entrevista a Giovanni Arrighi: "At Some Point Something Has To Give” – Declining U.S. Power, the Rise of China, and an Adam Smith for the Contemporary Left

Kevan Harris/Journal of World-Systems Research.

Giovanni Arrighi (1937-2009) spent his life thinking and writing about what he saw on his well-traveled path: liberation movements in Africa, worker rebellion in Italy, global inequality between North and South, the military and financial limits of US power, and the economic rise of China. In his many articles and books, including an unplanned trilogy on the origins and workings of global capitalism, Arrighi grappled with the complexities of history and the limitations of existing economic and political theories. This rethinking was fully on display in his final book, Adam Smith in Beijing: Lineages of the Twenty-First Century. Although I interviewed Arrighi on May 18, 2008, several months before the financial meltdown in global markets, his prescient statements are relevant for the crises we face today. Arrighi passed away in June 2009. His scholarly and intellectual tradition continues on at the Giovanni Arrighi Center for Global Studies at The Johns Hopkins University.

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A Chinese Pivot?

Jaswant Singh/Project-Syndicate.

Xi’s early focus on Sino-Indian relations is unusual for a Chinese leader. He enunciated a five-point platform, rather like Jawaharlal Nehru’s “five principles of peaceful coexistence,” implemented in the two countries’ Panchsheel Treaty of 1954.

According to Xi’s platform, pending a final settlement of territorial issues, the two countries should cooperate to maintain peace and tranquility and prevent border disputes from affecting the overall relationship. China and India should maintain close strategic communications in order to keep bilateral relations on the “right track.”

Moreover, the two countries should harness each other’s comparative strengths and expand mutually beneficial cooperation in infrastructure, investment, and other areas; strengthen cultural ties to advance an expanding friendship; and enhance their cooperation in multilateral forums to safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of developing countries in tackling global challenges. Finally, they should accommodate each other’s core concerns.

Link.

North Korea lists demands for talks

Al Jazeera.

North Korea has demanded the withdrawal of UN sanctions and the end of US-South Korea military drills as conditions for resuming talks with Seoul and Washington.

The list of pre-conditions outlined on Thursday, which came from the North's top military body, insisted on a general apology for all "provocative acts" taken against North Korea.

The North's statement said: "Dialogue can never go with war actions."

The conditions will likely be rejected by South Korea and the US, which have themselves made any talks conditional on the North taking steps towards denuclearisation.

Dialogue has become the new focus of a blistering rhetorical battle that has sent military tensions soaring on the Korean peninsula ever since the North carried out its third nuclear test in February.

Some analysts see the North's engagement in a debate over dialogue as a welcome shift from the apocalyptic threats of nuclear war that have poured out of Pyongyang in recent weeks.

"I don't think Pyongyang really expects these conditions to be met," said Yang Moo-Jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul.

"It's an initial show of strength in a game of tug-of-war that at least shows a desire to have a dialogue down the line,"Yang said.

Link.

U.S. military to step up presence in Jordan in light of Syria civil war

CNN.

Washington (CNN) -- In a critical indication of growing U.S. military involvement in the civil war in Syria, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel has ordered the deployment of more American troops to Jordan.

Hagel announced the deployment, which was first reported on CNN, in a statement to the Senate Armed Services Committee on Wednesday.

He said the troops will work alongside Jordanian forces to "improve readiness and prepare for a number of scenarios."

The troops, which will number up to 200, are from the headquarters of the 1st Armored Division at Fort Bliss, Texas, two Defense Department officials told CNN.

The deployment "creates an additional capability" beyond what has been there, one official said, and will give the United States the ability to "potentially form a joint task force for military operations, if ordered."

The new deployment will include communications and intelligence specialists who will assist the Jordanians and "be ready for military action" if President Barack Obama were to order it, the official said.

Link.

 

US calls for Venezuela election recount after narrow win for Nicolás Maduro

The Guardian.

The United States is hesitating to recognise Nicolás Maduro as president of Venezuela and has called for a recount of the vote from Sunday's closely fought election.

The procrastination is likely to embolden Venezuela's opposition and enrage many on the left in Latin America, who have long accused the US of interfering in the region's politics.

The US secretary of state, John Kerry, said he had yet to evaluate whether the disputed result was legitimate when asked about the matter by members of the House of Representatives.

"We think there ought to be a recount," he told the foreign affairs committee in reference to Venezuelan opposition demands for a full audit of the vote.

At least seven people have died in the protests that have riven Venezuela following Sunday's narrow presidential poll. The National Electoral Council declared Maduro the winner by 262,000 votes out of 14.9m cast.

Link.

América Latina acelera su crecimiento en 2013.

Federico Steinberg/Infolatam

El Fondo Monetario Internacional (FMI) acaba de hacer públicas sus nuevas previsiones de crecimiento. Subraya que se está consolidando una economía mundial que se mueve a tres velocidades: rápido crecimiento en el conjunto de los países emergentes, que avanzarán un 5,3% en 2013 e incluso algo más en 2014; un crecimiento bastante sólido en Estados Unidos (del 1,9% en 2013 y del 3% en 2014); y una recesión en Europa, con crecimientos negativos del 0,3% este año y una débil recuperación en 2014.

La sección de América Latina y el Caribe del informe lleva por título “Crecimiento más alto apoyado por condiciones de financiación laxas” (Higher Growth Supported by Easy Financing Conditions), que se plasma en un avance del 3,4% en 2013 y del 3,9% en 2014, casi un punto más de lo que se creció en 2012. La inflación, aunque se acercará al 6% en promedio, no supone un riesgo porque las expectativas de inflación están bien ancladas. Aún así, algunas economías muestran síntomas de recalentamiento. Destaca especialmente el acelerón en el crecimiento de Brasil, la mayor economía de la región, que pasará de avanzar a un tímido 1% en 2012 a crecer al 3% en 2013 (y al 4% en 2014).

Además, Chile, Colombia, Bolivia, Perú, Ecuador, Paraguay y Costa Rica crecerán por encima del 4% y tan sólo Venezuela experimentará un crecimiento plano. México, la segunda economía latinoamericana, crecerá por debajo del 4%, pero las reformas estructurales que el gobierno está poniendo en marcha podrían permitirle acelerar su crecimiento potencial. Completa el cuadro Argentina, que crecerá por debajo del 2%.

El FMI atribuye esta buena dinámica económica a la solidez de la demanda interna, las buenas condiciones financieras, los elevados precios de las commodities y la reducción de riesgos sistémicos que acechaban a la economía mundial el año pasado (crisis del euro, fuerte contracción fiscal en Estados Unidos o inestabilidad geopolítica en Oriente Medio).

Link.

Wallerstein: End of the Road for Runaway Factories?

www.iwallerstein.com

 

It has been a marvel of capitalist adjustment to a long process of constant change of circumstance. This marvelous system has however depended on one structural element – the possibility of finding new “virgin” areas for relocation of runaway factories. By virgin areas, I mean rural zones that were relatively uninvolved in the world market economy.

However, over the past 500 years, we have been “using up” such areas. This can be measured quite simply by the de-ruralization of the world’s populations. Today, such rural areas are reduced to a minority of the world’s surface, and it seems likely that by 2050, they will be a very, very small minority. 

To see the consequences of such massive de-ruralization, we need only turn to an article in The New York Times of April 9. It is entitled “Hello, Cambodia.” The article describes the “flocking” to Cambodia of factories that are fleeing China because of the rise of wage-levels in China, a previous recipient of such runaway factories. However, the article continues, “multinational companies are finding that they can run from China’s rising wages but cannot truly hide.”

The problem for the multinationals is that the incredible expansion of communications has caused the end of the win-win situation. Workers in Cambodia today have begun syndical action after only a few years, not after twenty-five. There are strikes and pressure for higher wages and benefits, which they are receiving. This of course reduces the value for the multinationals of moving to Cambodia, or Myanmar, or Vietnam, or the Philippines. It now turns out that the savings of moving from China are not all that great.

Link.

Taiwán comienza sus mayores ejercicios militares desde 2008

RT

Los ejercicios anuales en el estrecho de Taiwán (o estrecho de Formosa, que separa la China continental de la isla de Taiwán) incluyen pruebas de sistemas de lanzamisiles múltiples Thunderbolt-2000, diseñados para destruir a los barcos enemigos en los accesos a la costa. Además de los misiles, en las maniobras participarán tanques, artillería y helicópteros de combate.

El presidente taiwanés Ma Ying-jeou, quien inició una mejora en las relaciones con Pekín, supervisará personalmente los lanzamientos de misiles. En su discurso a las tropas, pronunciado antes del comienzo de las maniobras, el presidente señaló que los ejercicios deberían recordar la amenaza que conlleva el desarrollo de China. 

Link.

  a mejora en las relaciones con Pekín, supervisará personalmente los lanzamientos de misiles. En su discurso a las tropas, pronunciado antes del comienzo de las maniobras, el presidente señaló que los ejercicios deberían recordar la amenaza que conlleva el desarrollo de China.

"En los últimos años la economía china está experimentando un crecimiento explosivo, y ellos [China] se han dedicado a modernizar su ejército. Así que tenemos que fortalecer nuestras fuerzas de defensa para prevenir la amenaza china y mantener la paz y la estabilidad en las relaciones entre Taiwán y China," dijo.

Los ejercicios, que involucran a las tropas terrestres, la Fuerza Aérea y la Marina de Guerra taiwanesa, son las mayores maniobras desde 2008. Los ejercicios se llevan a cabo en las islas Penghu, situadas a medio camino entre la China continental y Taiwán.

Las maniobras comenzaron un día después de que China publicara su libro blanco anual con datos de su Ejército y doctrina militar, en el que el Ejército de Taiwán se caracteriza como "la mayor amenaza para el desarrollo pacífico de las relaciones a ambos lados del estrecho de Taiwán".

Texto completo en: http://actualidad.rt.com/actualidad/view/92013-taiwan-ejercicios-china

Los ejercicios anuales en el estrecho de Taiwán (o estrecho de Formosa, que separa la China continental de la isla de Taiwán) incluyen pruebas de sistemas de lanzamisiles múltiples Thunderbolt-2000, diseñados para destruir a los barcos enemigos en los accesos a la costa. Además de los misiles, en las maniobras participarán tanques, artillería y helicópteros de combate.

El presidente taiwanés Ma Ying-jeou, quien inició una mejora en las relaciones con Pekín, supervisará personalmente los lanzamientos de misiles. En su discurso a las tropas, pronunciado antes del comienzo de las maniobras, el presidente señaló que los ejercicios deberían recordar la amenaza que conlleva el desarrollo de China.

"En los últimos años la economía china está experimentando un crecimiento explosivo, y ellos [China] se han dedicado a modernizar su ejército. Así que tenemos que fortalecer nuestras fuerzas de defensa para prevenir la amenaza china y mantener la paz y la estabilidad en las relaciones entre Taiwán y China," dijo.

Los ejercicios, que involucran a las tropas terrestres, la Fuerza Aérea y la Marina de Guerra taiwanesa, son las mayores maniobras desde 2008. Los ejercicios se llevan a cabo en las islas Penghu, situadas a medio camino entre la China continental y Taiwán.

Las maniobras comenzaron un día después de que China publicara su libro blanco anual con datos de su Ejército y doctrina militar, en el que el Ejército de Taiwán se caracteriza como "la mayor amenaza para el desarrollo pacífico de las relaciones a ambos lados del estrecho de Taiwán".

Texto completo en: http://actualidad.rt.com/actualidad/view/92013-taiwan-ejercicios-china

Bombs frequent in U.S.; 172 ‘IED’ incidents in last 6 months, by 1 count

McClatchy Newspapers.

WASHINGTON — The two explosions that killed three people and wounded more than 170 Monday in Boston were dramatic, the deadliest bombing in the United States since April 19, 1995, when a truck loaded with fertilizer blew up outside the federal building in Oklahoma City, killing 168. But the method of attack wasn’t particularly surprising to anti-terrorism experts: a homemade bomb that officials refer to as an IED, or improvised explosive device. 

In fact, in the last six months, there have been 172 IEDs reported in the United States, according to a government count that an official revealed Tuesday in answer to questions about U.S. preparedness. The official shared the figures, which were gathered before Monday’s explosion, only on the condition that neither the official nor the official’s office be identified.

The official shared information in an email that indicated most American IED attacks were small: “Homemade fireworks, childish pranks and other such non-terror related activities.” 

But the information also notes that American officials have long understood the threat, and includes a warning that’s been distributed to other agencies: “Expect IED attacks by Homegrown Violent Extremists (HVEs) and individuals to continue throughout the United States. High profile events will present additional targets for HVEs and other individuals.”

Link.

Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2013/04/16/188733/bombs-frequent-in-us-172-ied-incidents.html#storylink=cpy

Merkel intereseda en participar en el crecimiento de Ecuador

El Comercio



Link

La canciller alemana, Angela Merkel, transmitió hoy al presidente de Ecuador, Rafael Correa, su interés por participar en el crecimiento del país. "Ecuador tiene unos buenos indicadores económicos y esperamos poder participar en su desarrollo", declaró la mandataria alemana durante la rueda de prensa conjunta tras su encuentro en la Cancillería de Berlín. Dentro de ese interés, Merkel señaló el importante papel que juega contar con un marco estable de condiciones legales para proteger las inversiones en el país latinoamericano. "Queremos dar un impulso al acuerdo comercial con Ecuador", afirmó la canciller alemana sobre el nuevo acuerdo de comercio entre la Unión Europea (UE) y Ecuador, tras el rechazo de este último a firmar un Tratado de Libre Comercio con la UE.

Este contenido ha sido publicado originalmente por Diario EL COMERCIO en la siguiente dirección: http://www.elcomercio.com/politica/Merkel-interesada-crecimiento-economico-Ecuador-visita-Alemania-Correa-UE-acuerdo_0_902909838.html. Si está pensando en hacer uso del mismo, por favor, cite la fuente y haga un enlace hacia la nota original de donde usted ha tomado este contenido. ElComercio.com

La canciller alemana, Angela Merkel, transmitió hoy al presidente de Ecuador, Rafael Correa, su interés por participar en el crecimiento del país. "Ecuador tiene unos buenos indicadores económicos y esperamos poder participar en su desarrollo", declaró la mandataria alemana durante la rueda de prensa conjunta tras su encuentro en la Cancillería de Berlín. Dentro de ese interés, Merkel señaló el importante papel que juega contar con un marco estable de condiciones legales para proteger las inversiones en el país latinoamericano. "Queremos dar un impulso al acuerdo comercial con Ecuador", afirmó la canciller alemana sobre el nuevo acuerdo de comercio entre la Unión Europea (UE) y Ecuador, tras el rechazo de este último a firmar un Tratado de Libre Comercio con la UE.

Este contenido ha sido publicado originalmente por Diario EL COMERCIO en la siguiente dirección: http://www.elcomercio.com/politica/Merkel-interesada-crecimiento-economico-Ecuador-visita-Alemania-Correa-UE-acuerdo_0_902909838.html. Si está pensando en hacer uso del mismo, por favor, cite la fuente y haga un enlace hacia la nota original de donde usted ha tomado este contenido. ElComercio.com

La canciller alemana, Angela Merkel, transmitió hoy al presidente de Ecuador, Rafael Correa, su interés por participar en el crecimiento del país. "Ecuador tiene unos buenos indicadores económicos y esperamos poder participar en su desarrollo", declaró la mandataria alemana durante la rueda de prensa conjunta tras su encuentro en la Cancillería de Berlín. Dentro de ese interés, Merkel señaló el importante papel que juega contar con un marco estable de condiciones legales para proteger las inversiones en el país latinoamericano. "Queremos dar un impulso al acuerdo comercial con Ecuador", afirmó la canciller alemana sobre el nuevo acuerdo de comercio entre la Unión Europea (UE) y Ecuador, tras el rechazo de este último a firmar un Tratado de Libre Comercio con la UE.

Este contenido ha sido publicado originalmente por Diario EL COMERCIO en la siguiente dirección: http://www.elcomercio.com/politica/Merkel-interesada-crecimiento-economico-Ecuador-visita-Alemania-Correa-UE-acuerdo_0_902909838.html. Si está pensando en hacer uso del mismo, por favor, cite la fuente y haga un enlace hacia la nota original de donde usted ha tomado este contenido. ElComercio.com

La canciller alemana, Angela Merkel, transmitió hoy al presidente de Ecuador, Rafael Correa, su interés por participar en el crecimiento del país. "Ecuador tiene unos buenos indicadores económicos y esperamos poder participar en su desarrollo", declaró la mandataria alemana durante la rueda de prensa conjunta tras su encuentro en la Cancillería de Berlín. Dentro de ese interés, Merkel señaló el importante papel que juega contar con un marco estable de condiciones legales para proteger las inversiones en el país latinoamericano. "Queremos dar un impulso al acuerdo comercial con Ecuador", afirmó la canciller alemana sobre el nuevo acuerdo de comercio entre la Unión Europea (UE) y Ecuador, tras el rechazo de este último a firmar un Tratado de Libre Comercio con la UE.

Este contenido ha sido publicado originalmente por Diario EL COMERCIO en la siguiente dirección: http://www.elcomercio.com/politica/Merkel-interesada-crecimiento-economico-Ecuador-visita-Alemania-Correa-UE-acuerdo_0_902909838.html. Si está pensando en hacer uso del mismo, por favor, cite la fuente y haga un enlace hacia la nota original de donde usted ha tomado este contenido. ElComercio.com

La canciller alemana, Angela Merkel, transmitió hoy al presidente de Ecuador, Rafael Correa, su interés por participar en el crecimiento del país. "Ecuador tiene unos buenos indicadores económicos y esperamos poder participar en su desarrollo", declaró la mandataria alemana durante la rueda de prensa conjunta tras su encuentro en la Cancillería de Berlín. Dentro de ese interés, Merkel señaló el importante papel que juega contar con un marco estable de condiciones legales para proteger las inversiones en el país latinoamericano. "Queremos dar un impulso al acuerdo comercial con Ecuador", afirmó la canciller alemana sobre el nuevo acuerdo de comercio entre la Unión Europea (UE) y Ecuador, tras el rechazo de este último a firmar un Tratado de Libre Comercio con la UE.

Este contenido ha sido publicado originalmente por Diario EL COMERCIO en la siguiente dirección: http://www.elcomercio.com/politica/Merkel-interesada-crecimiento-economico-Ecuador-visita-Alemania-Correa-UE-acuerdo_0_902909838.html. Si está pensando en hacer uso del mismo, por favor, cite la fuente y haga un enlace hacia la nota original de donde usted ha tomado este contenido. ElComercio.com

Paul Krugman: Insurance and Freedom

NY Times

President Obama will soon release a new budget, and the commentary is already flowing fast and furious. Progressives are angry (with good reason) over proposed cuts to Social Security; conservatives are denouncing the call for more revenues. But it’s all Kabuki. Since House Republicans will block anything Mr. Obama proposes, his budget is best seen not as policy but as positioning, an attempt to gain praise from “centrist” pundits.

No, the real policy action at this point is in the states, where the question is, How many Americans will be denied essential health care in the name of freedom? 

I’m referring, of course, to the question of how many Republican governors will reject the Medicaid expansion that is a key part of Obamacare. What does that have to do with freedom? In reality, nothing. But when it comes to politics, it’s a different story. 

Link

Norbert Elias: Wishful thinking

Sociología Contemporánea

Ejes estratégicos para una agenda regional de medio ambiente

Nuriem de Armas
IADE

La Comunidad de Estados Latinoamericanos y Caribeños (CELAC) avanza en la construcción de una política ambiental regional, para lo que perfiló varios ejes estratégicos.

Después de dos jornadas de intercambios, expertos de los países miembros de este grupo determinaron que trabajarán sobre ejes temáticos como recursos hídricos, cambio climático y biodiversidad, entre otros.

Link

Rapid technological change is producing something analogous to a Marxist revolution

Adam Lent
LSE

For Marx, meaningful change would only come about when the workers seized control of the means of production. In his day that meant land, factory machinery and transport networks. Were he around now, I think he would probably cast a tired eye over the left’s moral crusading on executive remuneration and welfare payments and look instead with enthusiasm to what is stirring in the economy. For it is there that something extraordinary is just starting to happen: the means of production are being seized by the workers – some of them at least.

It is already widely noted how rapid technological change is transferring the power to design and manufacture from large companies into the hands of individuals and small networks. Less noticed is the way that a similar transfer of power is happening for other business practices associated with the service sector as much as manufacturing.

Link

U.S. Engaged in Torture After 9/11, Review Concludes

The New York Times.

WASHINGTON — A nonpartisan, independent review of interrogation and detention programs in the years after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks concludes that “it is indisputable that the United States engaged in the practice of torture” and that the nation’s highest officials bore ultimate responsibility for it.

The sweeping, 577-page report says that while brutality has occurred in every American war, there never before had been “the kind of considered and detailed discussions that occurred after 9/11 directly involving a president and his top advisers on the wisdom, propriety and legality of inflicting pain and torment on some detainees in our custody.” The study, by an 11-member panel convened by the Constitution Project, a legal research and advocacy group, is to be released on Tuesday morning.

Debate over the coercive interrogation methods used by the administration of President George W. Bush has often broken down on largely partisan lines. The Constitution Project’s task force on detainee treatment, led by two former members of Congress with experience in the executive branch — a Republican, Asa Hutchinson, and a Democrat, James R. Jones — seeks to produce a stronger national consensus on the torture question. 

While the task force did not have access to classified records, it is the most ambitious independent attempt to date to assess the detention and interrogation programs. A separate 6,000-page report on the Central Intelligence Agency’s record by the Senate Intelligence Committee, based exclusively on agency records, rather than interviews, remains classified. 

Link.

Africa Continues to Grow Strongly Despite Global Slowdown

World Bank.

Economic growth in Sub-Saharan Africa is likely to reach more than 5 percent on average in 2013-2015 as a result of high commodity prices worldwide and strong consumer spending on the continent, ensuring that the region remains amongst the fastest growing in the world -- according to the World Bank’s latest Africa’s Pulse, a twice-yearly analysis of the issues shaping Africa’s economic prospects. 

In 2012, about a quarter of African countries grew at 7 percent or higher and a number of African countries, notably Sierra Leone, Niger, Cote d’Ivoire, Liberia, Ethiopia, Burkina Faso and Rwanda, are among the fastest growing in the world. 

The new World Bank report forecasts that medium-term growth prospects remain strong and will be supported by a gradually improving world economy, consistently high commodity prices, and more investment in regional infrastructure, trade, and business growth. 

Welcoming the new assessment that Africa continues to grow faster than the global average, the World Bank’s Vice President called on the need for faster progress in areas such as electricity and food in the vulnerable areas of The Sahel and the Horn of Africa, and that significantly more energy and agricultural productivity were needed to raise the quality of life for Africans throughout the continent and reduce poverty significantly. 

Link.

Link al reporte.

Discurso de John Kerry en Japón: "America's Pacific Dream".

state.gov

Our Pacific Dream is to translate our strongest values into an unprecedented security, economic, and social cooperation. We can break new ground in how we keep countries safe, help economies to mature, create new jobs and embrace partnerships for the future. And we can do it while empowering people to make these choices for themselves. We can turn our potential and our promise into widespread prosperity and opportunity, and in doing so, we can pass the test by which every generation is judged.

Now I’m not speaking about a static set of commandments. I’m talking about a mutual recognition that we are all in this together, otagai-sama – (laughter) – and a conversation that begins with the realization that cooperation can benefit us all. It is increasingly clear that what happens around the Pacific matters around the rest of the world now more than ever before. After all, this region is home to both enormous opportunities and enormous challenges at the same time, and how we handle them together will be felt for a long time everywhere in the world.

So to make our shared vision a reality for the region and to ensure that Asia contributes to global peace and prosperity, together I submit to you that we need to organize ourselves around four principles: strong growth, fair growth, smart growth, and just growth. Let me talk about that for a moment.

Link.

World military spending falls, but China, Russia’s spending rises, says SIPRI

SIPRI

The fall—the first since 1998—was driven by major spending cuts in the USA and Western and Central Europe, as well as in Australia, Canada and Japan. The reductions were, however, substantially offset by increased spending in Asia, Eastern Europe, the Middle East and North Africa, and Latin America. China, the second largest spender in 2012, increased its expenditure by 7.8 per cent ($11.5 billion). Russia, the third largest spender, increased its expenditure by 16 per cent ($12.3 billion). 
Despite the drop, the global total was still higher in real terms than the peak near the end of the cold war.

‘We are seeing what may be the beginning of a shift in the balance of world military spending from the rich Western countries to emerging regions, as austerity policies and the drawdown in Afghanistan reduce spending in the former, while economic growth funds continuing increases elsewhere,’ said Dr Sam Perlo-Freeman, Director of SIPRI’s Military Expenditure and Arms Production Programme. ‘However, the USA and its allies are still responsible for the great majority of world military spending. The NATO members together spent a trillion dollars.

Link.

Factsheet.

China 'reveals army structure' in defence white paper

BBC News

China has revealed the structure of its military units, in what state-run media describe as a first.

The army has a total of 850,000 officers, while the navy and air force have a strength of 235,000 and 398,000, China said in its defence white paper.

The paper also criticised the US's expanded military presence in the Asia Pacific, saying it had exacerbated regional tensions.

China's defence budget rose by 11.2% in 2012, exceeding $100bn (£65bn).

The defence white paper, which state media describe as China's 8th since 1998, emphasised China's "unshakable national commitment... to take the road of peaceful development". 

Link