Month: March 2009

Categories
Russia

The Fall of the Russian Billionaires

Over the last year, Russia has seen their stock of billionaires dwindle to a mere third of their 2007 levels – from 87 down to 32.

This recent drop-off was largely fueled by declining crude oil prices, real estate value, a failing stock market, and the depreciation of the Russian ruble.

2008 saw the MICEX Oil & Gas index drop 59 percent while the stock market as a whole fared even worse, recording a decline of 67 percent. Couple that with the ruble depreciating 29 percent against the dollar and there is little surprise that Russia’s wealthiest have taken financial hits.

Categories
Culture & History North Korea

N Korea Threatens War if Satellite Launch is Blocked

North Korea has threatened that interfering with the satellite it plans to launch will lead to war.
The Korean Central News Agency said “ Shooting our satellite for peaceful purposes will precisely mean a war. ” It added: “We will retaliate any act of intercepting our satellite for peaceful purposes with prompt counter-strikes by the most powerful military means.” Sources believe that North Korea is planning to test-fire a long-range missile under the pretense of a satellite launch.

Since the United States and South Korea military exercises began, the North has put its 1.2 person military on full combat alert and cut off communications with the South. It also released a statement last Friday saying that because of the military exercises the safety of commercial flights flying through airspace at its east coast could no longer be assured.

The new U.S. envoy to North Korea, Stephen Bosworth, said any launch by North Korea would be very ill-advised. A South Korea’s defence ministry spokesman said that the threats were just rhetoric although the armed forces was prepared to deal with it should any conflicts arise.The annual military exercise between the two involves about 50,000 U.S. and South Korean troops.

Categories
Culture & History North Korea

S Korea ‘regrets’ DPRK’s military communication cut-off

South Korea said it “regrets” that North Korea cut military communications channel until March 20 over protests that South Korea’s military exercise with the United States. The joint military exercises involve 26,000 U.S. troops and more than 50,000 South Korean troops will participate in the Key Resolve and Foal Eagle exercise all over South Korea beginning today. A South Korean spokesman called for DPRK to immediately withdraw the measure on the basis of inter-Korean agreements.

Categories
Culture & History Eastern Europe

Future of the EU in Jeopardy?

While the current financial crisis continues to devastate global markets, the European Union is faced with its greatest challenge in its relatively short history – as the division between West and East, rich and poor, threatens to split the union along the seams.

Instead of uniting behind a common banner of an amalgamated Europe in the face of adversity, as the nature of the EU would suggest, many of the coalition’s original members have shown signs of reluctance to come to the aid of those nations who are on the brink of collapse.

Continue reading “Future of the EU in Jeopardy?”
Categories
Cambodia & Laos Vietnam

WWF to Support Indochina’s Rattan Industry

The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) pledged 2.4 million Euros on Thursday towards a three-year project that will target Indochina’s rapidly diminishing rattan industry.

Rattans are a climbing palm with tough stems that are largely used in the production of wickerwork, such as furniture and baskets.

More than 90 percent of the rattan used in the region comes from natural forests which are being harvested at an aggressive rate and at the cost of severe damage to the environment.

The WWF’s plan includes steps that will make processing environmentally cleaner and more efficient so that the natural forests and rattan stocks of Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia may be brought to a sustainable level.

Categories
Vietnam

Vietnam Allocates $50 Billion to Develop Northern Coastal Region

Vietnam’s President Nguyen Tan Dung approved a plan today which will allocate US$50 billion over the next 11 years to develop an economic belt along the country’s northern coast.

The goal of the project is to establish a vibrant economic area which will propel the country’s economic, technology, and scientific sectors forward through cooperation with China to the north as well as other ASEAN members.

The investment plan is split up into two phases – the first from 2009-2010 and the second from 2011-2020.

Phase one will require an initial investment of between $5 and $7 billion and will lay the foundation for the economic zone through the construction of basic infrastructure needed for the area.

Phase two will require more than $40 billion as integral projects are developed, including three seaports, one airport, and several tourist and entertainment attractions.

By 2020, the area is expected to contribute 6.5 to 7 percent of the country’s GDP.

Categories
Eastern Europe

Poland Claims IMF Aid Not Necessary

The governor of Poland’s central bank, Slawomir Skrzypek, said today that Poland would not be asking for a loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), unlike many of its cash-strapped neighbors.

“I am convinced the situation in Poland does not require any extraordinary actions of the IMF,” said Skrzypek this morning. He went on to claim that any country presently seeking aid could “stigmatize and discourage” investors.

Unlike much of Eastern Europe at present, Poland’s stability remains high and the country is expected to maintain positive economic growth this year while it weathers the economic crisis.

Categories
China Culture & History

China to Increase Military Budget

In its 19th double-digit increase in 20 years, China is again increasing military spending for the 2009 fiscal year – this time by 14.9 percent. The increase will boost the country’s military finances up to RMB480.6 billion, or a 6.3 percent share of the total budget.

The funds will help maintain “sovereignty and integrity of Chinese territory and would not threaten any country,” according to a report by National People’s Congress spokesman Li Zhaoxing, issued today.

Li went on to say, “The increased part of the budget is mainly used to raise salaries for soldiers as well as spending on military ‘informatisation’, counter-terrorism and internal security.”

In a policy report issued by Beijing in January, government officials asserted that China’s national security was improving, but that the country’s armed forces needed to be upgraded in order to deal with potential conflicts abroad.

China currently boasts a military force of 2.3 million soldiers, the largest in the world.

Categories
Cuba

Raúl Castro Shakes Things Up in Cuba

Despite President Raúl Castro’s promise to reform the stale bureaucracy in Cuba his first year in office passed with little happenstance outside the ‘business as usual’ politics that were practiced by the former president, Mr. Castro’s older brother Fidel.

After a year of deflated expectations, however, President Castro decided to shake up Cuba’s government on Monday by replacing some of the country’s most familiar political leaders.

Among those ousted was current Foreign Minister Felipe Pérez Roque and several others who were reportedly very close to Fidel Castro during his tenure as Cuba’s president.

“Raúl promised more than he delivered in his first year, and you can view these cabinet changes as an explicit acknowledgment of that by Raúl himself,” said Daniel Erikson, who is the director of Caribbean programs at the Inter-American Dialogue in Washington.

Categories
Russia

Clandestine Diplomacy at Work between the U.S. and Russia

A recent report reveals that U.S. President Barrack Obama may be partaking in back channel diplomacy with Russian President Dmitri Medvedev regarding Iran and the plans for a missile defense system in Eastern Europe.

In a clandestine letter hand-delivered to Moscow by top officials last month, it appears that Obama expressed a willingness to abandon plans on the Eastern Europe missile shield that was proposed under the Bush administration, much to the chagrin of Russia’s governing elite.

In return, the U.S. demands that Russia uses its significant political and commercial influence in Tehran to help bring about an end to Iran’s development of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles.

While there has not been a response yet issued from the Kremlin, a willingness to compromise may lead to a positive step in American-Russian relations. Presidents Obama and Medvedev will meet face to face for the first time on April 2nd at the Group of 20 meeting in London.