I want to share with you my views on the prospects a leader faces.
It is not a right to lead but an opportunity that a leader earns every day and risks losing every day if she/he fails to live up to the expectations, trust, and confidence given to her/him by the stakeholders. It is a special opportunity that no true leader takes lightly. A leader draws on all the experiences – good and bad, choices – wise and foolish, and people – helpful and hurtful, that have shaped her/his skills as a professional and a leader.
A leader earns the right to lead by exhibiting traits that move others to strive for their personal best. Be they the most junior to the most senior employee, the leader has a responsibility to know how to motivate each of them to excel.
Performance and sustainability of the business delivered to stakeholders (employees, board of directors, shareholders, partners, and society) is the measure of success. Each stakeholder has a different metric. For an employee it is a challenging and rewarding career. For the Board it is a thriving branded company. For the shareholders it is total returns. For partners it is being a reliable counterparty. For society it is contributing to the sustainability of our planet.
The personal qualities that I believe must be exhibited are: being fair and consistent; applying thoughtful judgment; being dependable in achieving goals; taking the initiative in anticipating and dealing with the unexpected; listening for ways to improve; making decisions; being accountable and courageous; dealing with all stakeholders respectfully; being cheerful, honest and truthful; exhibiting a sincere interest and exuberance in people; never being comfortable at the expense of others; ensuring that employees are recognized for their contributions; developing a learning organization and continuing to learn; being devoted to my seniors, shareholders, society, peers and subordinates; and maintaining mental and physical stamina.
All organisations and communities succeed because of their diverse people. A leader must strive to help people help themselves to achieve the best possible results. Together we deliver the extraordinary to stakeholders. Anything less than the extraordinary is the leader's failure to lead.
No discussion of leadership would be complete without touching on the temptation towards corruption. Leadership exposes a person to an exalted position. A position they may come to think is divinely theirs -- even Alexandre proved how perilous it is to believe that you have become divinely chosen.
In closing, the haunting words of Danny Dalton in Syriana (2005) ring loud, ‘Corruption is our protection. Corruption keeps us safe and warm. Corruption is why you and I are prancing around in here instead of fighting over scraps of meat out in the streets. Corruption is why we win.’
Corruption has been the undoing of every organization and system of government throughout history. Whether at a personal, corporate or governmental level – it breeds entropy. It is always excused for the same reasons and always leads to the same final outcome = failure. Leadership is the sweaty task of managing stakeholder's wealth and building something truly great with it.
No sustainable society or organisaton will emerge from a corrupt foundation – only distrust, contempt and dissolution await you.
Social Justice: Current Affairs, Business, Politics, and all the reasons in the world to Thrive on Creative Discontent!
Monday, August 9, 2010
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Human Rights can’t be that hard to get Right? Right?
Human Rights can’t be that hard to get Right? Right?
At this stage of my life I have become only more perplexed as to how the purpose of the United Nations and cause of Human Rights as envisioned by the General Assembly in its Preamble for the Universal Declaration of Human Rights have not been globally achieved. While I am a great advocate for sustainable development and could see myself being a champion for the environment or other development issues (specifically in the energy/infrastructure sectors) – it seems to me if we get the People issues right – then the Environmental and Developmental solutions will follow. We are long overdue for getting the people issue right!
The words of the Preamble are very clear: “Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world.
Whereas disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind, and the advent of a world in which human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech, and belief and freedom from fear and want has been proclaimed as the highest aspiration of the common people.”
But people are not born knowing what freedom, justice and democracy mean. It is incumbent on policymakers both local and global to define, express, and prove through action, regulations and law that these rights are inalienable rights. It takes enormous effort to arrive at the respect and tolerance for other people that these words imply.
At the start of the 21st century, the cause of democracy and respect for human rights continued to progress but in the shadow of violations of basic human rights, severe persecution, and egregious abuses a the direction of Heads of State still dominate much of the world.
Only a very few countries do not commit significant human rights violations, according to Amnesty International. In their 2004 human rights report, the Netherlands, Norway, Denmark, Iceland, and Costa Rica are the only (mapable) countries that did not (in their opinion) violate at least some human rights significantly.
Events and new possibilities can affect existing rights or require new ones. Advances of technology, medicine, and philosophy constantly challenge the status quo of human rights thinking. How do we respond to situations where our values are incongruent with those of another culture? Our cultural practices are not just personal or subjective; they are socially constituted. We never act alone. The meaning of our practices is a shared meaning that is grounded in the assumptions and practices of our culture. Each culture may have different assumptions about how individual rights should be regarded by a virtuous person in the community.
I believe my passion for Human Rights has been woven throughout my life and its activities. I am not alone. In fact, the only people who seem not to care for Human Rights are those in power and normally charged with ensuring ensure human rights!
Arguably the most potent force shaping modern society today is the phenomenon of globalization, and economic globalization in particular. One of the defining characteristics of economic globalization is the transnational corporation (“TNC”). The global activities of TNCs are constituted by a series of complex relationships between the corporation itself and individuals, communities, governments, and other corporations, across various jurisdictions throughout the world, and invariably impact the lives and rights of human beings. Undoubtedly, the transnational actions of these corporate entities can affect virtually all internationally recognized rights. It is the conjunction of these concepts – of transnational corporate activity and its impact on international human rights law.
International human rights law transcends State boundaries. Its application has evolved, and it is now widely accepted or acknowledged as a global political ideology. The tenets of this ideology reside most prominently within the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of the United Nations. Together with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, these international instruments are collectively known as the “International Bill of Rights.”
The International Bill of Rights has been called “the Magna Carta marking mankind’s arrival at a vitally important phase: the conscious acquisition of human dignity and worth.” Significantly, the International Bill of Rights provides that each of its States Parties undertake to “respect and ensure” that “everyone has the right to an effective remedy…” and that “any person whose rights or freedoms as herein recognized are violated shall have an effective remedy…” In addition to and in conjunction with the International Bill of Rights, various articles of the Charter of the United Nations, the growing body of recognized principles and peremptory norms of customary international law, and multilateral conventions, all support the position that the international recognition of and global respect for the international human rights regime is well founded and binding upon States under international law.
Although States generally do not dispute the authority of the international human rights regime in principle, the enforcement of human rights principles by States has been less promising in the practice of transnational human rights litigation. Broadly speaking, transnational human rights litigation is the use by transnational human rights advocacy networks of international legal instruments for the protection of human rights. Moreover, it is a type of activism that focuses on legal action engaged with courts to make domestic legal changes, to reframe or redefine rights, and/or to pressure States to enforce domestic and international laws. Transnational human rights litigation is, therefore, largely concerned with bringing international human rights law to bear on the States whose obligation it is “to respect and ensure” that such rights are protected and enforced at the domestic level, through the guarantee of effective remedy.
Undoubtedly, economic globalization and the proliferation of TNCs have affected most aspects of human life. Whereas a corporation would once produce goods or provide services strictly within a domestic market, the liberalization of economic policies, the growth of high technologies, and innovations in the corporate structure have all combined to shape a brave new world in which States’ borders seem to be a thing of the past. TNCs can now and do move freely, investing and divesting capital at their whim and, at times, working with foreign governments to achieve common ends.
However, it is in this context that internationally recognized rights must now, more than ever, be recognized, protected, and enforced by States which are host to a globalized corporate structure. This burden weighs most heavily on those States which boast a strong foundation for the rule of law, where legal systems are largely fortified against corruption and are mostly insulated from the influence of political elites. And yet, most countries with such a strong foundation – as legally advanced societies – have not yet taken the appropriate steps to realizing avenues for victims of human rights abuses to seek civil remedies for harms committed against them.
A few of the most alarming trends in our current day are the privatization of the military (Blackwater), the use of National Security as a rationale to suspend Human Rights, and the disparity between the richest and poorest members of our planet.
We have recently witnessed developed countries violating non-derogable human rights (international conventions class the right to life, the right to be free from slavery, the right to be free from torture and the right to be free from retroactive application of penal laws as non-derogable), while the UN recognizes that human rights can be limited or even pushed aside during times of national emergency - although
“the emergency must be actual, affect the whole population and the threat must be to the very existence of the nation. The declaration of emergency must also be a last resort and a temporary measure”
—United Nations. The Resource
Rights that cannot be derogated for reasons of national security in any circumstances are known as peremptory norms. Such UN Charter obligations are binding on all States and cannot be modified by treaty. However history is littered with violations – some examples of national security being used to justify human rights violations include the Japanese American internment during WWII, Stalin's Great Purge, Mao’s Great Leaps, War on Drugs, and the actual and alleged modern-day abuses of terror suspects’ rights by some western countries, often in the name of the War on Terror.
A day cannot be wasted in trying to:
• Stop violence against women
• Defend the rights and dignity of those trapped in poverty (Labor Rights)
• Abolish the death penalty
• Oppose torture and combat terror with justice
• Free prisoners of conscience
• Protect the rights of refugees and migrants
• Regulate the global arms trade
• Protect and restore the environment (Climate Change)
• Safeguard reproductive rights
• Develop sexual orientation rights
• Enforce trade & water rights
My own family history of parents or grandparents who had to flee their native countries due to political collapse or my wife and her family’s experience with despotism & war in her native land that led her family immigrating to Sweden have made the issues of Human Rights palpable for me.
We have the responsibility and obligation to future generations to civilize our planet and plan for the needs and interests of future generations.
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/search?q=human+rights
At this stage of my life I have become only more perplexed as to how the purpose of the United Nations and cause of Human Rights as envisioned by the General Assembly in its Preamble for the Universal Declaration of Human Rights have not been globally achieved. While I am a great advocate for sustainable development and could see myself being a champion for the environment or other development issues (specifically in the energy/infrastructure sectors) – it seems to me if we get the People issues right – then the Environmental and Developmental solutions will follow. We are long overdue for getting the people issue right!
The words of the Preamble are very clear: “Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world.
Whereas disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind, and the advent of a world in which human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech, and belief and freedom from fear and want has been proclaimed as the highest aspiration of the common people.”
But people are not born knowing what freedom, justice and democracy mean. It is incumbent on policymakers both local and global to define, express, and prove through action, regulations and law that these rights are inalienable rights. It takes enormous effort to arrive at the respect and tolerance for other people that these words imply.
At the start of the 21st century, the cause of democracy and respect for human rights continued to progress but in the shadow of violations of basic human rights, severe persecution, and egregious abuses a the direction of Heads of State still dominate much of the world.
Only a very few countries do not commit significant human rights violations, according to Amnesty International. In their 2004 human rights report, the Netherlands, Norway, Denmark, Iceland, and Costa Rica are the only (mapable) countries that did not (in their opinion) violate at least some human rights significantly.
Events and new possibilities can affect existing rights or require new ones. Advances of technology, medicine, and philosophy constantly challenge the status quo of human rights thinking. How do we respond to situations where our values are incongruent with those of another culture? Our cultural practices are not just personal or subjective; they are socially constituted. We never act alone. The meaning of our practices is a shared meaning that is grounded in the assumptions and practices of our culture. Each culture may have different assumptions about how individual rights should be regarded by a virtuous person in the community.
I believe my passion for Human Rights has been woven throughout my life and its activities. I am not alone. In fact, the only people who seem not to care for Human Rights are those in power and normally charged with ensuring ensure human rights!
Arguably the most potent force shaping modern society today is the phenomenon of globalization, and economic globalization in particular. One of the defining characteristics of economic globalization is the transnational corporation (“TNC”). The global activities of TNCs are constituted by a series of complex relationships between the corporation itself and individuals, communities, governments, and other corporations, across various jurisdictions throughout the world, and invariably impact the lives and rights of human beings. Undoubtedly, the transnational actions of these corporate entities can affect virtually all internationally recognized rights. It is the conjunction of these concepts – of transnational corporate activity and its impact on international human rights law.
International human rights law transcends State boundaries. Its application has evolved, and it is now widely accepted or acknowledged as a global political ideology. The tenets of this ideology reside most prominently within the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of the United Nations. Together with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, these international instruments are collectively known as the “International Bill of Rights.”
The International Bill of Rights has been called “the Magna Carta marking mankind’s arrival at a vitally important phase: the conscious acquisition of human dignity and worth.” Significantly, the International Bill of Rights provides that each of its States Parties undertake to “respect and ensure” that “everyone has the right to an effective remedy…” and that “any person whose rights or freedoms as herein recognized are violated shall have an effective remedy…” In addition to and in conjunction with the International Bill of Rights, various articles of the Charter of the United Nations, the growing body of recognized principles and peremptory norms of customary international law, and multilateral conventions, all support the position that the international recognition of and global respect for the international human rights regime is well founded and binding upon States under international law.
Although States generally do not dispute the authority of the international human rights regime in principle, the enforcement of human rights principles by States has been less promising in the practice of transnational human rights litigation. Broadly speaking, transnational human rights litigation is the use by transnational human rights advocacy networks of international legal instruments for the protection of human rights. Moreover, it is a type of activism that focuses on legal action engaged with courts to make domestic legal changes, to reframe or redefine rights, and/or to pressure States to enforce domestic and international laws. Transnational human rights litigation is, therefore, largely concerned with bringing international human rights law to bear on the States whose obligation it is “to respect and ensure” that such rights are protected and enforced at the domestic level, through the guarantee of effective remedy.
Undoubtedly, economic globalization and the proliferation of TNCs have affected most aspects of human life. Whereas a corporation would once produce goods or provide services strictly within a domestic market, the liberalization of economic policies, the growth of high technologies, and innovations in the corporate structure have all combined to shape a brave new world in which States’ borders seem to be a thing of the past. TNCs can now and do move freely, investing and divesting capital at their whim and, at times, working with foreign governments to achieve common ends.
However, it is in this context that internationally recognized rights must now, more than ever, be recognized, protected, and enforced by States which are host to a globalized corporate structure. This burden weighs most heavily on those States which boast a strong foundation for the rule of law, where legal systems are largely fortified against corruption and are mostly insulated from the influence of political elites. And yet, most countries with such a strong foundation – as legally advanced societies – have not yet taken the appropriate steps to realizing avenues for victims of human rights abuses to seek civil remedies for harms committed against them.
A few of the most alarming trends in our current day are the privatization of the military (Blackwater), the use of National Security as a rationale to suspend Human Rights, and the disparity between the richest and poorest members of our planet.
We have recently witnessed developed countries violating non-derogable human rights (international conventions class the right to life, the right to be free from slavery, the right to be free from torture and the right to be free from retroactive application of penal laws as non-derogable), while the UN recognizes that human rights can be limited or even pushed aside during times of national emergency - although
“the emergency must be actual, affect the whole population and the threat must be to the very existence of the nation. The declaration of emergency must also be a last resort and a temporary measure”
—United Nations. The Resource
Rights that cannot be derogated for reasons of national security in any circumstances are known as peremptory norms. Such UN Charter obligations are binding on all States and cannot be modified by treaty. However history is littered with violations – some examples of national security being used to justify human rights violations include the Japanese American internment during WWII, Stalin's Great Purge, Mao’s Great Leaps, War on Drugs, and the actual and alleged modern-day abuses of terror suspects’ rights by some western countries, often in the name of the War on Terror.
A day cannot be wasted in trying to:
• Stop violence against women
• Defend the rights and dignity of those trapped in poverty (Labor Rights)
• Abolish the death penalty
• Oppose torture and combat terror with justice
• Free prisoners of conscience
• Protect the rights of refugees and migrants
• Regulate the global arms trade
• Protect and restore the environment (Climate Change)
• Safeguard reproductive rights
• Develop sexual orientation rights
• Enforce trade & water rights
My own family history of parents or grandparents who had to flee their native countries due to political collapse or my wife and her family’s experience with despotism & war in her native land that led her family immigrating to Sweden have made the issues of Human Rights palpable for me.
We have the responsibility and obligation to future generations to civilize our planet and plan for the needs and interests of future generations.
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/search?q=human+rights
3rd Opium War: How the West was Won!
The Third Opium War: How the West was Won!
Emperor Xiangfeng fled the capitol as leaping flames consumed the Summer Palace and the screams from the Forbidden City -- as it was being looted by British and French troops with the support of the United States -- echoed through his soul to his ancestors. He knelt with great humility asking for the mandate from heaven to be restored; if not to him, then to China. The Emperor knew that only heaven could provide the divine inspiration to cure China’s 40 million opium addicts and restore China to its greatness for the other 340 million Chinese.
Low Cost, High Quality, High Volume Provider to the World
Today, China’s trade with the World is expected to reach $3.5 trillion by the end of 2010 . China is the provider of choice for electrical machinery & equipment, power generation equipment, apparel, iron & steel, optics & medical equipment, furniture, inorganic & organic chemicals, vehicles, toys & games, and mineral fuel and oil. China has wisely provided a global subsidy worth hundreds of billions of dollars to businesses and people worldwide. China is peacefully acting on the world in the same manner as colonial armies brutally did to China -- invading deep into the economies of countries, exporting their most valuable assets back to China and thereby undermining the ability of the host country to function without its China relationship.
China is the destination of choice for the most sophisticated & most successful enterprises, and brightest individuals in the world. China matches the world’s largest market and is the world’s most advanced and prolific manufacturer, it has or will have imminently the brand names, entertainment industry, and technology that sets the world standards.
Money, Ever Cheaper Opiate of the People
If China spent its dollars, it could flood the world market and quickly drive the value of the dollar down. China is not interested in a lower dollar, so it lends them to the USA by buying US Bonds. China is propping up the value of the dollar while allowing American debt to swell overall. Beijing’s heavy buying of US Treasuries serves to push down US interest rates.
China’s currency peg ripples around the world, America does not experience price changes forced by a changing Yuan, but other nations do. As the Euro, GBP, Yen climb against the dollar, Chinese goods become cheaper for Europeans and Japanese. As high Chinese demand pushes up prices of raw materials, Americans buying these raw materials feel the pain just as the Chinese do, but if the GBP, Euro, Yen drop against the dollar-yuan combination, Europeans & Japanese feel the pain. China’s peg touches everything.
This codependency is not sustainable. The West cannot take on even bigger debt and amass huge trade deficits indefinitely. Americans and Europeans’ now pay greater dividends to foreigners than they take in, now live in a world of renters rather than owners. The West squanders its national wealth to finance private consumption and unproductive government spending extracting a permanent price on their economies that has already sent them into a downward spiral that began in 2008. The West is now left with few fiscal tools much the way that the economies of Argentina and Brazil have historically faced economic and social collapse.
All Commodities Lead to Beijing
The historic Silk Road has been reopened connecting Asia to the Middle East and Europe. The economic links extend far beyond the historic trade of exotic goods. Through the new Silk Road now flows the abundant resources of Central Asia, Russia and Iran to Beijing. A series of operational or soon to be operational pipelines predict the magnitude of this flow: 1) Kazakhstan-China oil pipeline, 2) Turkmenistan-China gas pipeline, and 3) East Siberian-Pacific oil pipeline. Today, China imports 50% of its daily oil demand; of this 40% comes from the Gulf Cooperation Council Nations and Saudi Arabia’s largest consumer is now China.
Addicts of the West, Demographic Decrepitude
Today 50 tones of cocaine a year worth £1.4 billion pass through West Africa. Inter-pol estimates as much as two-thirds of the cocaine sold in Europe this year will reach the Continent by way of West Africa. The smugglers are using trucks, ships, speed-boats, and planes. There is really no limit to the imagination of traffickers. The cartels work with local criminal gangs and officials. Some consignments are headed for corrupt armies, customs and police forces.
Mexican drug cartels now dominate the wholesale illicit drug market in the United States. Arrests of key cartel leaders, particularly in the Tijuana and Gulf cartels, have led to increasing drug violence as cartels fight for control of the trafficking routes into the United States. The Gulf and Sinaloa cartels reportedly use personal "enforcer gangs" to perpetuate violence and intimidate Mexican citizens and public officials. Mexican President Felipe Calderón has called drug violence a threat to the Mexican State .
Today, 40-60 million people in the West are categorised as addicts . The West suf-fers from an aging population, growing trade deficits, perilously large sovereign debt levels and unemployment ranging from 12-25%.
Battlefield Changes -- Failure of the West to Adapt
Two Wars continue to rage for the West with estimated death toll of 700,000 people killed , total war-related funding reaching $1.08 trillion, including $748 billion for Iraq, and $300 billion for Afghanistan. Two wars that yielded the unintended consequence of having pollarised a planet against the West. Not surprisingly, on 4 March 2010, Beijing announced China's declared defense budget will only increase by 7.5% this year -- the slowest rate in 20 years. Upon reflection are we not witnessing the recognition by Beijing of the terms of engagement for the 21st century battlefield -- cyber attacks that can bring down or penetrate country or corporate networks harvesting data, processes or even altering assembly line algorithms, and vulture funds that are domiciled in remote unrelated havens that ruthlessly attack (i.e., setting fiscal/treasury policies) corporates and sovereigns. In this battlefield; tanks, planes and troops play an ever decreasing role and represent the costly folly of perceived security.
The Sun Rises for the East
A crimson sun peacefully rises for Chairman Hu Jintao each morning while President’s Obama, Sarkozy and PM Brown rest blissfully unaware in the black abyss of night. The words of the Great Leader echo to Chairman Hu, “Nothing in the world is difficult for one who sets his mind to it.”
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/01/new-approach-to-china.html
Emperor Xiangfeng fled the capitol as leaping flames consumed the Summer Palace and the screams from the Forbidden City -- as it was being looted by British and French troops with the support of the United States -- echoed through his soul to his ancestors. He knelt with great humility asking for the mandate from heaven to be restored; if not to him, then to China. The Emperor knew that only heaven could provide the divine inspiration to cure China’s 40 million opium addicts and restore China to its greatness for the other 340 million Chinese.
Low Cost, High Quality, High Volume Provider to the World
Today, China’s trade with the World is expected to reach $3.5 trillion by the end of 2010 . China is the provider of choice for electrical machinery & equipment, power generation equipment, apparel, iron & steel, optics & medical equipment, furniture, inorganic & organic chemicals, vehicles, toys & games, and mineral fuel and oil. China has wisely provided a global subsidy worth hundreds of billions of dollars to businesses and people worldwide. China is peacefully acting on the world in the same manner as colonial armies brutally did to China -- invading deep into the economies of countries, exporting their most valuable assets back to China and thereby undermining the ability of the host country to function without its China relationship.
China is the destination of choice for the most sophisticated & most successful enterprises, and brightest individuals in the world. China matches the world’s largest market and is the world’s most advanced and prolific manufacturer, it has or will have imminently the brand names, entertainment industry, and technology that sets the world standards.
Money, Ever Cheaper Opiate of the People
If China spent its dollars, it could flood the world market and quickly drive the value of the dollar down. China is not interested in a lower dollar, so it lends them to the USA by buying US Bonds. China is propping up the value of the dollar while allowing American debt to swell overall. Beijing’s heavy buying of US Treasuries serves to push down US interest rates.
China’s currency peg ripples around the world, America does not experience price changes forced by a changing Yuan, but other nations do. As the Euro, GBP, Yen climb against the dollar, Chinese goods become cheaper for Europeans and Japanese. As high Chinese demand pushes up prices of raw materials, Americans buying these raw materials feel the pain just as the Chinese do, but if the GBP, Euro, Yen drop against the dollar-yuan combination, Europeans & Japanese feel the pain. China’s peg touches everything.
This codependency is not sustainable. The West cannot take on even bigger debt and amass huge trade deficits indefinitely. Americans and Europeans’ now pay greater dividends to foreigners than they take in, now live in a world of renters rather than owners. The West squanders its national wealth to finance private consumption and unproductive government spending extracting a permanent price on their economies that has already sent them into a downward spiral that began in 2008. The West is now left with few fiscal tools much the way that the economies of Argentina and Brazil have historically faced economic and social collapse.
All Commodities Lead to Beijing
The historic Silk Road has been reopened connecting Asia to the Middle East and Europe. The economic links extend far beyond the historic trade of exotic goods. Through the new Silk Road now flows the abundant resources of Central Asia, Russia and Iran to Beijing. A series of operational or soon to be operational pipelines predict the magnitude of this flow: 1) Kazakhstan-China oil pipeline, 2) Turkmenistan-China gas pipeline, and 3) East Siberian-Pacific oil pipeline. Today, China imports 50% of its daily oil demand; of this 40% comes from the Gulf Cooperation Council Nations and Saudi Arabia’s largest consumer is now China.
Addicts of the West, Demographic Decrepitude
Today 50 tones of cocaine a year worth £1.4 billion pass through West Africa. Inter-pol estimates as much as two-thirds of the cocaine sold in Europe this year will reach the Continent by way of West Africa. The smugglers are using trucks, ships, speed-boats, and planes. There is really no limit to the imagination of traffickers. The cartels work with local criminal gangs and officials. Some consignments are headed for corrupt armies, customs and police forces.
Mexican drug cartels now dominate the wholesale illicit drug market in the United States. Arrests of key cartel leaders, particularly in the Tijuana and Gulf cartels, have led to increasing drug violence as cartels fight for control of the trafficking routes into the United States. The Gulf and Sinaloa cartels reportedly use personal "enforcer gangs" to perpetuate violence and intimidate Mexican citizens and public officials. Mexican President Felipe Calderón has called drug violence a threat to the Mexican State .
Today, 40-60 million people in the West are categorised as addicts . The West suf-fers from an aging population, growing trade deficits, perilously large sovereign debt levels and unemployment ranging from 12-25%.
Battlefield Changes -- Failure of the West to Adapt
Two Wars continue to rage for the West with estimated death toll of 700,000 people killed , total war-related funding reaching $1.08 trillion, including $748 billion for Iraq, and $300 billion for Afghanistan. Two wars that yielded the unintended consequence of having pollarised a planet against the West. Not surprisingly, on 4 March 2010, Beijing announced China's declared defense budget will only increase by 7.5% this year -- the slowest rate in 20 years. Upon reflection are we not witnessing the recognition by Beijing of the terms of engagement for the 21st century battlefield -- cyber attacks that can bring down or penetrate country or corporate networks harvesting data, processes or even altering assembly line algorithms, and vulture funds that are domiciled in remote unrelated havens that ruthlessly attack (i.e., setting fiscal/treasury policies) corporates and sovereigns. In this battlefield; tanks, planes and troops play an ever decreasing role and represent the costly folly of perceived security.
The Sun Rises for the East
A crimson sun peacefully rises for Chairman Hu Jintao each morning while President’s Obama, Sarkozy and PM Brown rest blissfully unaware in the black abyss of night. The words of the Great Leader echo to Chairman Hu, “Nothing in the world is difficult for one who sets his mind to it.”
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/01/new-approach-to-china.html
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