Saturday, December 22, 2012

Crucifying Che

Ham handed Uncle Sam lost goodwill out here

If there is at all a fitting example of foreign policy blunder, it has to be US mess-ups in the Central & Latin America. Democratic Peace Theory, which has a claimant and champion in the form of United States believe that democratic characteristics is essentially the solitary or outstanding basis of interface between states. However, it fails to explain why US, the so-called champion of democracy, tried to topple every government in Central & South America, whom it either considered despotic or ‘Not democratic enough’ or ‘Not on its side.’ “US ideological conjectures and geopolitics interests have largely determined its acts and behaviour in Latin America. Whenever, there has been an issue between the US and Latin American republics, its diplomats have crumbled under pressure and fall back on stereotypes,” says Christopher I.

Clement, an expert on US policies in Latin America at Heritage Foundation, while talking to B&E. Truly, US have never sighed from toppling democratically elected governments. It all started in 1954 when the CIA engineered the ousting of the government of Guatemala. Again, in 1961, it attempted to overthrow the revolutionary Cuban government at the Bay of Pigs. After aborted and failed attempts, it lied low for few years. But in 1965, LBJ sent 10 battalions of paratroopers to Dominican Republic to fight the constitutional forces striving to recoup. He got success. Then in 1973, CIA successfully ousted the government of Allende in Chile in favour of a gory dictatorship. Similarly, in 1981, the then Reagan Administration started and funded the Contra war against Nicaragua.


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri
For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
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Thursday, December 20, 2012

If Ho Chi can, can’t Kim II?

No one ever thought that Vietnam could be unified; Nixon least of all

Can you ever, in your weirdest dreams, imagine the merger of North and South Korea? It’s easy to spin examples of Germany and draw similes, but then, Germany is in the developed west and not at all comparable to South Asian realities. Really, if the same question were to have been asked in early 60s about Vietnam – the closest mirror image then – the answer would have been a unanimous no. Today, there is one Vietnam. And truly so, if Ho Chi Minh could, why can’t Kim Jong II do the same now?

From 1954 to 1975, communism dominated North Vietnam while the US-backed South Vietnam was in a perennial state of conflict, with a primary aim to prevent the spread of communism in Southeast Asia, yet wanting to adopt the concept of being socialist state.


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.

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Monday, December 10, 2012

Put it back upside down!

That’s what the UPA did with the inflation figure, and thus favoured political opportunism over economic sense, says GYANENDRA KASHYAP

Let’s face it. The BJP may continue to harp on the plight of the common man in the UPA regime, but the fact is that even they could not have done much about the global slowdown over the past year. GDP, FDI, FII, there are a slew of indicators on on the economic that the Congress could get embarassed by. And that is why, the current Congress manifesto has little to speak on economic reforms. The less they have to deal with those painful numbers, the better, right? But shamefully, the Government did not lose an opportunity to misuse one statistic to its advantage, which we would like to discuss, as an indicator of how political maneuvering managed to overhaul economic sense in a government, which was ironically led by a globally famed economist.

That statistic is inflation, which the government pegged at a historic low of 0.44% in the beginning of March this year. The low inflation rate, however, has not at all translated into low prices for items consumed by the common man. And here is the catch; declining headline inflation does not necessarily imply prices coming down. It only implies that the rate at which the prices of goods were growing has become slower. According to Harsh Pati Singhania, President, FICCI, “Inflation rate has been coming down over time and these latest numbers are not entirely unexpected. However, the fact that WPI has come down to 0.44% on a year-on-year (yoy) basis despite prices of food articles going up by 7.3% on a yoy basis shows that inflation in case of other products has declined significantly.


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.

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Saturday, December 08, 2012

BANGLADESH: MUTINY

The main aim of the recent BDR mutiny in Bangladesh was to grab power and nothing else

He is credited with taking on numerous fundamentalist outfits close to Begum Khaleda Zia, leader of the Bangladesh National Party (BNP), whom Sheikh Hasina overthrew. "There are definite indications that even the army was split down the ranks,” Deepak Dastidar, a well known Bangladesh specialist told B&E.

It is well known that Ahmed was committed to rolling back the Talibanisation of Bangladesh, which had proceeded during the years when the hawkish Begum Zia was at the helm. Indeed it is an open secret that in all those years her government gave the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) and Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) a free hand. The result: Islamists felt completely undeterred to terrorise the nation’s Hindu minorities. This was coupled with the enforcement of a rigid Taliban culture on the Muslim community. No wonder that during Begum Zia''s second term in office (2001-2006), a large number of JI and JMB elements were able to penetrate the army’s ranks. Undoubtedly, all these events show that the BDR mutiny was actually a well orchestrated move to derail the liberals.


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.

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Friday, December 07, 2012

North by west... to the killing fields

A billion dollar firm with a billion reasons to be called inglorious

The last one among the world’s largest defence contractors that deserves to be in our inglorious list is Northrop Grumman. It is more famous for its designing, system integrating, and manufacturing of defence electronics and many other military and commercial weapons. Among various kinds of military products that the company produces are aircraft, aircraft carriers, military vessels, missile satellite systems, electronic censors and information systems. Northrop is one more truant company witnessing growth in employment and sales revenue. During 2007, there were about 122,600 people employed in the firm globally; by the end of 2008, the figure reached 1,33,570 – an 8.9% increase in employment in 2008 during the current global economic mess. And one doesn’t need to wonder about the reasons. Similarly, its sales revenue has also gone up from $30.11 billion in 2006 to $32 billion in 2007 and finally to $33.9 billion in 2008. Northrop is one of the firms filing the highest number of patents – in 2007 alone, the company filed over 8,511 patents. Northrop acquired companies like Integic Corporation in 2005, Essex Corporation in 2007 and 3001 International in 2008.

Expectably, Northrop Grumman has equal contributions in war crimes. Although 90% of its products go to the US government, most of its weapons go to US aided undemocratic countries who are accused time and again of breaking international laws. Its sophisticated deadly weaponry also goes to countries like Korea, Taiwan, Bulgaria, Slovakia, Saudi Arabia and UAE apart from Australia, India, Japan, UK, US, NATO, Italy, Germany etc. An example to their reach is that Israel’s reserved A-4 attack aircraft, TA-4 training aircraft and even the AH-64 attack helicopter are made by Northrop Grumman.
Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.


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Thursday, December 06, 2012

All's fair in love and war!

The momentum has been set, now Rwanda & Congo must sustain it

Laurent Nkunda, who heads Congo's most powerful Tutsi rebel faction, was last week arrested in neighbouring Rwanda – which for years has supported his ruthless anti-Hutu insurgency in the region. Speculation is rife that Nkunda's arrest could be part of a Rwandan tradeoff with Congo. Some senior UN officials believe Congo might now be persuaded to go after Rwandan Hutu rebels. The arrest of Nkunda, on the other hand, means Rwanda is finally ready to abandon him and embrace the splinter faction of his movement, the National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP).

Nkunda on his part had displaced more than 250,000 people in eastern Congo in 2004. The humanitarian crisis and global outrage this provoked had forced both the Congolese and Rwandan governments to meet across the table. After last month's UN linking of impoverished Rwanda to the rebel group, while international donors threatened to cut off aid, Rwanda saw sense in snapping ties with Nkunda.


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.

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Tuesday, December 04, 2012

Investors are the first among equals

His mantra is that through strategic CSR, companies can create win-win situations for one and all. However, L.N.Mittal reiterates that the company’s main responsibility is towards its shareholders; as told to B&E’s Ruchika Chawla

Lakshmi Niwas Mittal, aka one of the “100 Most Influential People” (Time magazine 2007) and the richest Indian in the world, according to Forbes in March 2008, is known as the man behind ArcelorMittal, the world’s largest steel company; which he has built step by step, acquisition after acquisition, with an exceptional entrepreneurial zeal.

The pinnacle of Mittal’s achievements thus far has been the merger of Mittal Steel with Arcelor S.A. to form ArcelorMittal, which, besides enhancing steel production capacities, enabled the two companies to leverage on their largely complementary strengths in terms of steel products. Yet this is not another chronicle on the way ArcelorMittal dominates the global steel industry. In this exclusive one on one with B&E, Mittal discusses a more delicate issue, which should ideally be on the agenda of every billionaire in the world. Corporate Social Responsibility seemed to be a ‘fad’ in its earlier times, but has begun to mature and take precedence, as more prominent and world renowned figures play a major role in it; and not just for the “tax-break” but also for the betterment of the world we live in.

For Mittal, good CSR is always strategic, and he believes that a business has to create a win-win situation for all its stakeholders. A few excerpts... B&E: What is your opinion on the concept of Creative Capitalism, which is being mooted by Bill Gates? Do you agree that CSR only makes sense when it is strategic in nature? LNM: I like Bill Gates’ concept of Creative Capitalism. The reality is that capitalism has positively impacted the lives of hundreds of millions of people. But many more have not been included. We should look at ways in which we can take the benefits of capitalism and extend them to the benefit of those who have missed out. Good corporate responsibility is always strategic. For me it is implicit in the phrase. As opposed to charitable contributions which are not necessarily strategic. There is a place for both in modern society.


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.

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Monday, December 03, 2012

Torchbearers of the jungle

The story of transformation - of how wildlife poachers of the Mogia tribe, became its protectors

After driving through the tall, golden grasses of the Ranthambore forest area (Mansingh forest area) for quite some time, we spotted a hut, which was strange, considering that it was a forest area where tigers and leopards could be on the prowl. The two kids joyously running around the trees, on seeing us, ushered their mother from the hut towards our jeep. After we enquired as to why they were staying in the Jungle, one of the children (a little girl) replied, “My dad’s name is Lakhan Singh. He was a poacher. We lived inside the jungles. He was caught by the police and taken away. After he came back, we moved out of the jungle and made a hut in this area.” Intrigued by the father’s background, I hopped out of the jeep and waited for Lakhan Singh, the ex-poacher!

After half an hour of waiting, I was sitting across Lakhan Singh. Tall, lanky and in his mid-forty’s, he belonged to the Mogia tribe, a tribe of poachers, partly responsible for the dwindling number of tigers in Ranthambore. Mogias are traditional hunters, especially of tigers. For generations, the tribe has been thriving in dense forests and are meat eaters.What initially was a practice to fill their stomachs later started fetching them big bucks. With animal trade becoming rampant around Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, the Mogias turned towards poaching and smuggling of the skin and bones of tigers, wild boars, chinkaras etc. “I had learnt to hunt when I was a kid. And when I grew up, I became a part of a group that killed animals for money,” explained Lakhan. In 2002, when the tiger count in Ranthambore reached an alarming figure, for the first time, the forest department set up a dedicated squad and increased their vigil to nab the poachers.


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.

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Saturday, December 01, 2012

Ma! I lost my billion dollar smile

With billions of personal dollars eroded, the foul market has gatecrashed into many a billionaire party...

November 11, 2008: [10:25am, IST: As final few pages of this issue of B&E get finalised, the BSE continues to tumble. In the past 90 trading minutes, the Sensex has already lost another conscience-striken 452.92 points!] All listed companies today are suffering from global recessionary fears. And how much loss are we really lamenting here? Well, the Sensex has tanked from where it had reached (on one glorified Tuesday - January 8, 2008), when it gonged the bell of 20,873 points, with the blue-chip giants valued at a gargantuan Rs.75.30 trillion! That indeed was history for the 133-year-old Bombay Stock Exchange.

But many history-defining action sequels followed… week after week after the Sensex breached the 20,000 mark and the overwhelming dependence of Indian stock markets on First-World economies became increasingly visible! The total Mcap lost by the Sensex has touched a heart-rending Rs.68.09 trillion as on November 11, 2008. That marks a shaving off of 90.4% of its total value on January 8! And while it becomes obvious that this typical summer has been a rather cold one for India Inc., there are the Indian billionaires whose herd has actually been the one fighting the snow with their jackets ripped off by the trading jackals!

This billionaire community is also the one which has suffered the maximum individual wealth loss; and not surprisingly the biggest of them includes names from the promoter community as Prof. Garland Durham, Asst. Professor of Finance, University of Kentucky confirms, “If you talk about largest individual shareholders who lose wealth when the market falls, it is usually the promoters; who own the largest blocks of equity…” Heading the list is of course the richest residential Indian – Mukesh Ambani, who is renowned for more than just his $2 billion new home. As per market reports, between January 8, 2008 and October 24, 2008, Mukesh lost a brain-tingling Rs.2,054 billion to see his total worth touch a lowly Rs.684.8 billion. What’s obvious here is the fact that it’s the stock market which deserves blame for Mukesh’s plight. B&E analysis proves that for a 66.9% movement in RIL’s adjusted stock price, Mukesh lost an almost equivalent 66.7% of his personal wealth (due to his stock ownership)! Going by the same statistical logic, the senior Ambani would be worth just Rs.825.95 billion today – a fall of almost 60% from the value he commanded during January 2008!


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
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