Diplomatic Faux Pas

The Obama administration made the decision to withdraw from the highly controversial program to establish military presence in Poland and Czech Republic in form of a ballistic missile shield. The program was officially described as a protection against missiles launched from Iran, but a brief look at the map would have everyone scratching their heads, where those missiles were to be directed. Norway? Finland?
The bottom line is that the program was a tough one to sell and even tougher one to implement, given the lack of the actual proved technology to successfully shot down an active missile. Not to mention the proximity of a former rival and still a military superpower to those planned military installations. Russia from the very beginning was protesting those plans and described them as targeted against them. I have to admit, that I would agree with the Russians on this one. Again, you don't have to take my word for it, just look at the map.

So the plans are no more, the Russians are more happy, the Americans probably even too. So what do the Poles and the Czechs think? As you can imagine, they are not very thrilled. Had the entire situation been handled more diplomatically, perhaps the big disappointment and some anger could have been prevented. But it was exactly the way the announcement was handled, that sparked a lot of negative voices in both Poland and the Czech Republic against the decision and the United States in general. The call was made in the middle of the night, disregarding entirely the time difference, by Hilary Clinton to both prime ministers of the two countries. The Prime minister of Poland, actually refused to take that call and went back to sleep, having his Minister of Foreign Affairs respond to it. I actually think it wasn't a bad idea, given that he knew what the phone call was all about. But the time of the call wasn't really the worst part, it was the date. The announcement was given on September 17th. Little known date on this part of the Atlantic, but in Europe, especially in Poland, it was the date of the invasion of Russia against Poland in a plot with Hitler to wipe out Poland from the map of Europe once again, and effectively support the Nazi Germay in the Second World War.

Pretty ironic coincidence, pretty sad for people in Poland, and very much a diplomatic faux pas. How long more will Polish and Czech troops stay in Iraq and Afghanistan now?

category: International | posted by: Norbert | comments: 0

Streatching the Global Trade Muscle

The recent US announcement about an order to impose tariff on Chinese produced tires has little to no consequence to the US-China relations.
First of only, the United States has used it's right to do so. One of the conditions put in place before China could join the World Trade Organization was that it had to accept that the United States could impose such tariffs basically on any of the Chinese imports if it perceive is as a threat. So there you have it.
The Chinese, despite, some protests to the new tariff filed with the WTO, do not have in their best interest damaging the rest of the trade that's going on between the two countries. Neither does the US for that matter.
With China being the largest holder of US international debt, the cooperation between the two countries should be anything but smooth. Further tariffs are unlikely.
So what was the move for, you may ask. It appears thought as the move was to improve the image of President Obama among the US workers, unions and general public. It's all about saving local jobs after all. The fact that only several thousands of jobs are being saved is not really emphasized that much. If the US was to continue on that path, it could destabilize the world financial market. And for the country like United States, just about getting ready to get out of a bad recession, it's the last thing it would want.
In summary, it's simply politics as usual.

category: International | posted by: Norbert | comments: 0

Quote - Leader

"Become the kind of leader that people would follow voluntarily; even if you had no title or position."
- Brian Tracy

category: International | posted by: Norbert | comments: 1

Afghanistan - White Phosphorus Use

Anyone who still doubts that the Taliban is on the rise in Afghanistan and the border region of Pakistan should learn about one of the recetn attacks (July 4, 2009) that the Taliban paramilitaries launched on a small US outpost in Paktika province (Eastern Afghanistan).
The US troop station was a scene of an intensive and sudden attack. The US soldiers were not only outnumbered but were faced with rockets, mortars and artillery projected phosphorus, not to mention light arms. The coalition forces were saved by an air strike that dispersed the attackers, but the scene was left with 2 US solders dead and several others wounded. The use of phosphorus is especially alarming. I can't recall hearing about any such attackers attempted before by the Taliban. It is an indication that they are able to acquire ever more sophisticated weaponry.

category: International | posted by: Norbert | comments: 0

Presidential Race - Tough Competition

This will be a bit of political humor. If you ever question the motives of some of the candidates that run for the presidential office, regardless of the country, you will like this. Here is a quote from Nurlan Motuev one of the presidential candidates in the recent presidential election in Kyrgyzstan. He was among the few candidates that were trying to compete with the incumbent President Kurmanbek Bakiyev.

"Our programs are largely similar [when commenting on Bakiyev's program], and we don't have anything to argue about. We are like allies who have no disagreements between them. Moreover, I wouldn't want to distract him from his duties."

How nice of him. Bakiyev ultimately won, but it just makes you wonder why that other guy run in the firs place, why wasted his money, time and who knows what else.

category: International | posted by: Norbert | comments: 0

Nuclear Club

All over the world people have mixed feelings about the use of atomic energy for both civilian and military purposes. It is very likely though that weather we like it or not, nuclear energy will gradually replace coal and gas as the main sources of energy. There simply isn't enough traditional natural energy resources to fuel the growing world economy. Unless we can figure out how to conquer the renewable resources more effectively and economically, nuclear power plants are the future. Military use is a whole different story and I hope that the world will be able to stop the spread of such weapons. Here is a brief look at some of the statistics:

• 436 - number of operational nuclear power plants in the world
• 31 - number of counties with nuclear power plants
• 104 - number of power plants in the United States
• 59 - number of power plants in France
• 53 - number of power plants in Japan
• China, India, Pakistan, Argentina, Brazil, South Africa and Taiwan - developing countries with nuclear power plants
• 15% of global energy production comes from nuclear power plants
• Westinhouse/Toshiba (US/Japan), Areva (France), Atomenergoprom (Russia) - three companies dominating the market when it comes to supplying civilian energy technology
• URENCO (Great Britain/Germany/The Netherlands), EURODIF (France), the US Enrichment Corporation and TENEX (Russia) - share about 95% of the world supply market for enriched uranium
• 5 - the number of countries that have nuclear powered submarines in their navy (United States, Russia, France, United Kingdom, China and India)

category: International | posted by: Norbert | comments: 0

Bolivia's Rich Future

Is Bolivia going to become the next Saudi Arabia? Think cars! Now, think energy efficient cars, cars running on electrical power, batteries. What are most modern battery technologies based on? Lithium.
40% of world's knows resources of lithium are found in the mountains of Bolivia. With smart approach, this poorest country of South America, has the potential of becoming a prosperous place. Poverty rate is very high and big parts of the country are largely undeveloped. The biggest challenge for the government there will be to process the resource into the final product using high skilled labor and technology, rather than export raw material and let others profit on the added value. Will our future cars be running on batteries that were Made in Bolivia?

source: YouTube

category: International | posted by: Norbert | comments: 0

What Saved Ahmadinejad?

How close was Mahmoud Ahmadinejad from having to give away his power as the President of Iran? After the many violent domestic protests and calls from around the world to conduct a truly democratic election, it seemed for the moment that we may be witnessing a fundamental change in Iran. A switch from a totalitarian religious regime to a democracy. It seemed so close. Looking at history, it was clear that that many people protesting on the streets, means something and it could be big. We have seen it before in Eastern Europe and other parts of the world. But it didn't go through. Something happened. Something stopped it.
What stopped the protesters was the oppressive regime with it's violent police and military arms. People were arrested, threatened and even killed. It worked, at least for the moment. But what silenced the world? What made us lose interest in what's happening there? Call me crazy, but I honestly think that one of the most contributing factors was the unexpected death of Michael Jackson. Suddenly, the center of the world switched from Tehran to Neverland. So if there is anyone in this world to benefit from Michael's death, it's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, still today the president of Iran, serving his second term. Blessed by the supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei, not so much by the people of Iran.

category: International | posted by: Norbert | comments: 0

Quote - Democracy

"People often say that, in a democracy, decisions are made by a majority of the people. Of course, that is not true. Decisions are made by a majority of those who make themselves heard and who vote - a very different thing." - Walter H. Judd

category: International | posted by: Norbert | comments: 0

Editor's Note

First I wanted to thank all of the visitors and readers of my blog. I especially appreciate those who take the time to post a comment. We have had quite a few so far and they come from all corners of the world.
There is a lot going on in the US and the world that is worth commenting and blogging on. The biggest challenge I have, as an author, is time. I try to read as much as I can and share my thoughts on as many subjects as time permits, but still I feel like it's not nearly enough to make this site really popular worldwide. I have been approached a few times by others interested in helping me post insightful articles about what's going on in the world of politics. Most likely we will have a few staff additions in the near future as a result of that.
But in the meantime, the focus of this blog will shift slightly from blogging just about anything, to political blogging about places that deserve it the most. In my view those are countries and places in the world that have a very dynamic political and economic environment, often times very rural and yet to be conquered in many ways. Places often ignored, poor, forgotten, but as we saw on 9/11, places that can turn into centers of world's attention in a matter of a few hours. I believe these places are just as interesting, if not more interesting, as developed democracies with market economy and relatively peacefully societies. So this is the goal and I hope I will have more time to post interesting stories here more frequently.

category: International | posted by: Norbert | comments: 0