November 2011
3 posts
October 2011
7 posts
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Speculation in Agricultural Commodities: Driving... →
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has again delayed the introduction of position limits required under the Dodd-Frank Act. These limits are intended to prevent speculation in (among other things) agricultural commodities, speculation which, many critics argue, have driven up the price of food worldwide and plunged millions into hunger. Click on the link to read more…..
Steve Jobs: Goodbye to an Icon →
It felt like I’d been slapped in the face. There it was: On Twitter. In my email. On a phone call. Steve Jobs, the tech industry’s one true icon, was gone — taken from us far too soon, at the age of 56. Say what you will about the dynamic maverick who built and rebuilt Apple over the course …
September 2011
4 posts
5 tags
The Recolonisation of the Arab world
Despite vast financial wealth, natural and human resources, the Arab World remains underdeveloped and more than half the population is condemned to a life of poverty. Instead of underdevelopment, a more fitting concept that would capture the recent historical phase would be that of reverse development or de-development. De-development represents a combination of retrogression in the build-up of...
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War is Good for Business: Rebuilding Libya with... →
“There is no tomorrow” under a NATO-sponsored Al Qaeda rebellion in Libya.
While a ”pro-democracy” rebel government has been instated, the country has been destroyed.
Against the backdrop of war propaganda, Libya’s economic and social achievements over the last thirty years have been brutally reversed:
The [Libyan Arab Jamahiriya] has had a high standard of living...
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“Charities needed to start treating the public like adults. There is a con, there...”
– Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) International President, Unni Karunakara, calls on aid agencies to stop presenting a misleading picture of the famine in Somalia and admit that helping the worst-affected people is almost impossible.
Charity president says aid groups are...
August 2011
9 posts
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An initial Libyan scorecard - Opinion - Al Jazeera... →
The post-Gaddafi transitional period represents the greatest challenge to the Spring’s renewed spirit of pan-Arabism.Mark LeVine
With the fall of Muammar Gaddafi’s 41-year dictatorship in Libya, the year of Arab revolutions has taken a game-changing turn, not just for the peoples of the region seeking systematic and large-scale political change - but for geopolitics at a global...
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UN 'plan for post-Gaddafi Libya' leaked →
Document appears to reveal plans for UN’s role in post-conflict Libya, including deployment of military observers.
A leaked document apparently detailing United Nations preparations for its role in post-Gaddafi Libya reveals plans for the world body to deploy military observers and police officers to the North African country.
The 10-page document, apparently written by a special UN team...
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“Let me tell you a story. Before MSF opened its hospital in Marere [in southern...”
– Hussein Sheikh Qassim, Medical Activities Manager in the Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) hospital in Marere, southern Somalia. He spoke by phone on August 17. Read his account here. (via doctorswithoutborders)
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“The hospitals that I’ve visited since the clashes started are often quite...”
– Speaking from Tripoli, Jonathan Whittall, MSF head of mission, describes the situation on the ground. More here. (via doctorswithoutborders)
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Libyan rebel commander admits his fighters have... →
Abdel-Hakim al-Hasidi, the Libyan rebel leader, has said jihadists who fought against allied troops in Iraq are on the front lines of the battle against Muammar Gaddafi’s regime.
In an interview with the Italian newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore, Mr al-Hasidi admitted that he had recruited “around 25” men from the Derna area in eastern Libya to fight against coalition troops in Iraq....
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NATO nations set to reap spoils of Libya war →
It looks like the more telling news on Libya has migrated to the business pages. With jubilant reporting of Gaddafi’s imminent downfall seizing headlines, it’s the financial pages that have the clinical analysis. So, for instance, it is in this section that the Independent reports a “dash for profit in the post-war Libya carve up”.
Similarly, Reuters, under the...
