Treason is a capital crime, but is it treason?

I am split when it comes to Wikileaks. This has nothing to do with the result of the information being spread, but is rather related to the ways of working. Spreading information is essential in a democracy, thus Wikileaks is doing an important job. Especially if the information is showing governmental or corporate disregard for laws, international treaties or human rights. This is the job of a whistleblower.

However, in getting hold of this information laws are broken. To me this is really the same as the traditional espionage between nations or corporations. The only difference is that there is no clear entity in the receiving end, instead there is the general public.

What we have here is then a collision between the whistleblower act and treason/espionage. 

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War? Again? Still?

The Korean peninsula is yet again in a state of high tension. The two Korean nations are still formally at war since the Korean war and since then there has been numerous incidents, for example a South Korean ship was likely sunk by a North Korean torpedo. Now the North Korean army is firing grenades at the South Korean island of Yeonpyeong; several houses are burning, there have been several injuries, casualties are so far unknown. Yeonpyeong is located close to the disputed border between the nations. 

So where is all this going? Can we expect a full scale war?

Without underestimating the regime in Pyongyang, I think it is unlikely. I think there may be some skirmishes along the border and some possible retaliation. But mostly it will probably be handled on a diplomatic scale, and results will probably be limited. The North Korean army is large, but not most likely not as well equiped as the armies that would be facing them in a potential war. The USA and all western nations would be right behind South Korea in such a war, what is interesting is what stance China would take. Perhaps China could be a key player in calming the situation down. China is North Koreas largest trade partner by far and is giving the regime massive support, how long will the communist neighbours keep this up.

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Star Wars II

In the 1980's the US Department of Defense, under president Reagan, launched the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), more commonly known as Star Wars. The goal was to set up a defense against (nuclear) missiles based on directed energy weapons, for example lasers. The term Star Wars also refers to the ambition to have it based in space or at least high up in the sky. This programme was however ridiculously expensive and never finalised, in 1993 it was abandoned. Today there are ground-based anti-missile missiles in use. The US has such installations in Europe, which has angered their former Cold war enemy Russia. It has been considered a shift in the power balance. Now discussions are underway to expand this programme and cooperation between Europe and the US is set to increase. These deepened ties are somehow considered a threat by Russia, in the sense that Europe is clearly deepening its ties with USA and in doing so alienating Russia. 

Showing that this is not primarily a guard against Russia, NATO has now invited Russian leaders to talks about cooperation and some believe Russia may also be included in the missile shield. However, the Russian people seem to be reluctant to cooperate with NATO, their former enemy. This cooperation seem a bit doubtful in days where Russian nationalism is growing and the leading team with Medvedev and Putin turn away from democracy and seem determined to regain the old glory, in various ways.

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Cholera

The earthquake in Haiti devastated the already poor country. Now since October a cholera epidemic is spreading in the temporary camps. So far over 900 have died from the epidemic and over 15 000 have been infected. Cholera spreads easily under these conditions and personal hygiene is essential to minimise spreading.
What is even more tragic is the riots caused by rumours that the cholera was spread to Haiti by Nepalese UN personnel. These rumours have now been confirmed. The riots have killed 2 persons and made work very hard for UN workers, making it worse for everybody. Apparently the riots have been started by Guy Philippe, a well-known Haitian druglord. For some reason he believes he has something to gain from this, perhaps weakening the government to gain power.

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Hunting the elusive God particle

Some possible traces of the elusive Higgs boson has been found, after collision between two protons the traces of two Z-particles were found, that in turn could be the remains of a Higgs boson. This is nowhere near conclusive evidence that the particle even exists, as Z-particles can be found after proton collisions without them being a Higgs boson first. The Higgs boson is the only missing particle in the Standard model of particle physics, thus finding it would help solve some inconsistencies in the model. The Higgs boson is thought to be the mediator of mass, as the photon is the mediator of electromagnetism.

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Food and weather

Throughout history we have been highly dependent on the weather for our supply of food. Many civilizations has gone under due to drought, bad harvests and so forth; basically hungry people will revolt, move our at least demand answers from their leaders. This is still true, especially in developing countries. Technology has helped us decrease this dependence to some extent, but it still exists.

Today bad weather makes the prices for grain and rice increase drastically, forcing governments to sell subsidised rice and grains to the citizens to keep the stability. This fall the weather phenomenon La Nina is causing drought in South America and heavy rains in Southeast Asia. This has destroyed harvests and caused market prices for rubber, palm oil and corn, among others, to increase heavily. Perhaps this is a good time to speculate in bull certificates based on food related raw materials.

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Cold Winds

As seen in the 1930's in the shockwaves of the depression, xenophobic wave are yet again hitting Europe. We all know how it all turned out in the 1930's and the following World War II. A clear parallell that can be found is the economic depression, but claiming this as the sole reason is a very simplified conclusion. A closer look on the current xenophobic wave with right wing parties gaining influence in many European countries shows a development that started before the current financial crisis, when the economy was in a period of growth and prosperity. Although it was to a large extent made on a not so steady ground, it was still perceived as a good economy, thus the depression can hardly be the only reason, or not even the main one. However the depression seem to have worsened the situation, but it did not start it.

So that brings us to the obvious question, what started it? This is obviously a very complex question and the best I can do is some loose speculation.

In the 1930's immigration to Europe was very low by today's standards, in this time period it was more a matter of finding a scape goat for the economic hardship and its consequences. Whereas today mobility over borders has greatly increased and many immigrants come to Europe for various reasons, hopefully making it the dynamic melting pot that once made the USA what it was and what it still is. This also brings new cultures and religions, to me it seems rather obvious that before you can fear something you need to experience it. Thus introducing new cultures will often be seen as a threat to what already exists. Furthermore, an decreased confidence in politicians and a general discontent turns voters to those building their image on being outsiders and against the current establishment, as these kind of right-wing parties often do.

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Inciting social disorder?

Yet again the Chinese government and court system fail to impress, by imprisoning an advocate of human rights. Zhao Lianhai was found guilty of "inciting social disorder" after founding a website called Kidnet Stone Babies to give information and resources for parents to babies that have gotten ill following the Chinese milk scandal in 2008. As always it was covered up to a large extent to not damage the view of China during the Olympic games in Beijing 2008. 300,000 Chinese babies were made ill, 50,000 hospitalised and at least 6 died after drinking milk formula deliberately tainted with melamine. Melamine is plastics and fertiliser and was added to make test show a higher protein content in the milk.After the scandal a handful of farmers, milk dealers and executives at Sanlu, the dairy firm that sold the tainted milk, has been jailed or executed, but the sentences for detained government officials have never been announced.

Zhao Lianhai was sentenced to two-and-a-half year in jail for organising the website and for demanding compensation for the victims. How this is "inciting social disorder" is beyond me. But this seem to be a convenient "crime" that is used by the Chinese government to dispose of dissidents and human rights activists.

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Expanding the Security Council

Talks of expanding the UN Security Council has been going on for a long time, but now it seems they have peaked a bit. There are mainly four realistic candidates for an expansion of permanent seats: India, Brazil, Japan and Germany. However there are a few more looking to get one, for example Egypt and South Africa. To me they all seem like good candidates; India and Brazil large countries, democratic and fast growing economies and Germany and Japan more mature industrialized economies that are also significant players on an international stage.

For Japan and Germany the exclusion has much to do with past wars, whereas for India and Brazil it has to do with the magnificent economic growth not starting until rather recently. To me India should be the most obvious candidate, as the worlds largest democracy and one of the largest economies.

The possible expansion and how it is implemented is very important for the maneuver room of the United States. If new permanent members get veto right in the Security Council it would make it harder to undertake any operations, since there will be more parties able to block a decision. This may be a solution that is good in theory, but not very practical in reality. On the other hand an expansion, especially, of non-Western countries would perhaps give the Security Council increased legitimacy outside of Europe and North America.

 
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Feces in, feces out

We have all heard about donating inner organs, blood or semen. Now for something I never heard about before, donating feces. New research shows that rectal injection of feces from a healthy person cures 75% of patients experiencing intestinal trouble caused by certain, often resistant, bacteria. These troubles often occur after antibiotics treatment has knocked out the naturally occuring intestinal bacteria, thus leaving room for harmful bacteria to grow. By injecting feces the naturally occuring intestinal bacteria are reintroduced to the system and can often drastically decrease the number of harmful bacteria.The treatment seems a little disturbing, but effective.

Sharing is caring.

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Remember, remember, the 5th of November

5 November 1605 Guy Fawkes along with a group of 12 more young men conspired to blow up the House of Lords in London and kill king James. However information leaked, and the King's soldiers stopped the plot. It was done in a protest against a government, that was not functioning properly for its people, for this Guy Fawkes is regarded as a kind of hero in many circles. Jokingly he is referred to as the only one to enter the house of parliament with honest intentions. It is now one day too late to celebrate Guy Fawkes night, but still...

"Remember, remember the Fifth of November,

The Gunpowder Treason and Plot,

I know of no reason

Why the Gunpowder Treason

Should ever be forgot."

On the album the Queen is dead by The Smiths there is an engraving on the original vinyl saying Guy Fawkes was a genious.

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The ugly face of the Red Dragon

Liu Xiaobo was named the Nobel Peace Prize laureate in October. He is to receive his prize in Oslo (Norway) in Decemeber. However, the Chinese regime will not let him come to Oslo to accept it since he is a political prisoner. Furthermore, the Red Dragon has today showed us its ugly face, as Cui Tian-kai, Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs, has warned other countries that plan to be represented at the ceremony. Cui threatens the rest of the world by stating that countries having representation at the ceremony will have to face the consequences. 

"This Nobel Peace Prize is highly politicized. The choice before some European countries and others is clear and simple: do they want to be part of the political game to challenge China's judicial system or do they want to develop a true friendly relationship with the Chinese government and people in a responsible manner?" says Cui.

This kind of bullying is of course unacceptable and I do hope all democratic countries will do what is right, and face these consequences, or call the bluff. It is important to show the Chinese government that these undemocratic actions are not tolerated in a democratic society.

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From one election to another

This week has seen an election in a country that likes to be perceived as the world's foremost democracy, now on to another election in a country that is commonly perceived as one of the least democratic countries. Burma is ruled by an undemocratic military regime, that has used violence and undemocratic measures to suppress and imprison the opposition. The most famous examples would be Aung San Suu Kyi who has been place in house arrest since 1989 and the recent (2007) protests of the monks. Many monks where shot or imprisoned, and today their democratic movement is living a life outside the spotlight in one of the world's most closed countries. The military regime is backed by China, Burma's most important trade partner, that is blocking UN resolutions against Burma. 

On Sunday an election will be held, however the party that won the last election will not participate. National League for Democracy won 392 out of 485 chairs in the parliament in 1990, but the parliament was never assembled and the military regime took the power instead. Participating in the election would mean they have to accept the constitution that is giving all power to the military and it would also entail kicking Aung San Suu Kyi out of the party.

The outcome of the election is quite clear, very little will change and the need for outside intervention seems obvious...

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The Sphinx and the Egyptians

The mythical sphinx of Giza was constructed around 2500 BC by the Egyptian Pharao Khafra. Some theories is giving credit for building the Sphinx to Khafra's father, Khufu, or his half brother, Djedefre. It has now lost its nose and beard; especially the beard is quite characteristic for Egyptian Pharao depictions. Later on walls were constructed around the Sphinx to protect it from flying sand that would erode the statue.

New theories claim that the Sphinx was not originally constructed with a human head, but rather that of a lion or of the Jackal-Dog Anubis, God of the Necropolis.This is partly based on the proportions of the statue; the body is long and the head is quite small. Thus it is believe that the head used to be larger and has carved out of the original head.

One controversy based partly on the appearance of the Sphinx is about the race of the ancient Egyptians, some archaeologists/historians claim that the head has typical characteristics of a black African. This is obviously hard to determine after thousands of years of erosion. Also many paintings show black Egyptians from this time, and it has been proposed that the view of the Egyptians as rather light-skinned is a result of European racism during the earlier days of egyptology. Many however believe that the people of the ancient Egyptian civilization were not homogeneous, but rather mix with influences from several cultural and geographical areas. This make this controversy rather pointless, if not to discover the origins of the first inhabitants of the Egyptian Nile area and founders of the ancient civilization. Egypt is located in the crossroads between the African continent and the Middle East, and it is not unlikely that the population then, as it is now, was quite diverse.

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The result

In the end it seems the Democrats keep their majority in the Senate (counting two independents who caucus with the Democrats), however in the House of Representatives the Republican party will get a quite clear majority. This leaves us in a position where the Republicans have gained influence, and the Democrats have seen their room to maneuver decreased. Thus increased regulations on the financial markets may be hard to push through, at least as the Democrats has envisioned it. 

As for the Tea party candidates results are mixed, as expected you win some and loose some. Exact numbers should be available should be available soon.

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Pyongyang Bob strikes again

North Korea has now released an official statement concerning the torpedo that sunk a South Korean ship in March and killed 46 soldiers. As suspected the North Korean official standpoint is that it was not their torpedo, since it was supposedly made out of aluminum and all North Korean torpedoes are made from steel. They have even offered to send a torpedo to South Korea as "proof". As always, it is hard to trust Kim Jong-Il on this issue.

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Midterm Elections

Today Americans are voting in the midterm elections. The Republican party is expected to increase their influence, and the Tea Party movement is expected to gain influence as well. Elections for the congress is every two years; the Congress is the legislative body of the US government.The Congress is made up of two chambers: the Senate, to which members are elected for six-year terms; and the House of Representatives, whose members are elected for two-year terms. Meaning that all the 435 House seats will be filled by the will of the people now in November. Also around one one-third of the Senate is also elected, this year 37 senators will be elected or re-elected.

It is expected that the Republicans will get a majority of the chairs in the House of Representatives, the Senate seem to harder to predict and more uncertain. What is quite clear however is that this election will force president Obama to negotiate more with the Republicans and compromises will have to be made. The most pressing issue is obviously the strained economy, an area where compromises will be hard since the parties are quite far apart.

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Disputed land

Tension is building up between Japan and Russia after president Medvedev's visit to the Kuril islands. The Kuril islands are around 50 islands outside the eastern coast of Russia and north of Japan. After the Japanese surrender in World War II the Soviet Union annexed the four southernmost islands that previously belonged to Japan. Because of this issue there has been no official peace between Russia/Soviet Union and Japan following WWII. This is however disputed by Japan. In this context Medvedev's visit was a clear sign from Moscow that these islands are to be considered Russian ground and it not up for negotiation. This stop was made on his trip to the meeting of Southeast Asian nations the coming weekend.

Whether or not this should be seen as a sign of a Russian expansionistic and nationalistic movement is still unclear. The San Francisco Peace Treaty between the Allied Powers and Japan from 1951 states that Japan must give up all claims to the Kuril islands, but it also does not recognize the Soviet Union's sovereignty over the Kuril Islands.

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Biological diversity

Friday evening in Nagoya, Japan, a new treaty on biological diversity was signed by almost 200 nations. Finally some positive signals in international environmental work can be seen, even though the treaty is a compromise. The overall purpose is to reduce the loss of biodiversity over the coming 10 years.

The treaty contains an agreement on how to compensate nations for use of domestic "genetic resources", for example if a new pharmaceutical is developed from a medicinal plant. This is significant since many of these potential medinical plants exist in developing countries, whereas the companies using them are mainly from industrialised countries. 

Furthermore, it contains an agreement about protection of 17% of the land area and 10% of the ocean area on a national level. This was reduced from the proposed 20% and 15%.

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This is not Cricket

The Pakistani cricket team's summer tour of England ended in controversy. Three pakistani players are accused of spot-fixing. Spot-fixing differs from match-fixing in one significant way; spot-fixing relates to "fixing" specific incidents within the game. To my knowledge the investigation is still not finished, and as such the three players are still to be considered innocent. However, evidence is according to several sources convincing. 

The relationship between the chairman of the Pakistan cricket board and his counterparts in other parts of the old British empire is strained at best. He has been throwing out accusations right and left and received a lot of bad-will for his way of running the Pakistan cricket board. For some reason pakistani players more often than others are connected to this kind of activities, and a clean-up is needed.

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Who is John Galt?

I would like to recommend an excellent book, "Atlas Shrugged" written by Ayn Rand in 1957. At that time the political landscape was very different, with communism in a position of larger power. Ayn Rand escaped the Soviet Union and fleed to the USA, this historical background makes the setting of the novel more understandable..

The book is a dark depiction of a world in crisis, where the USA is slipping into a communism-like state. Companies are being taken over by the government or run by a sort of government controlled corporate puppet regime. The book is about the contrast between need and ability, and the right of ownership of property and your own intellect. It is about those willing to live in or unable to revolt against such a system, and about those that are trying to revolt. It is about the contrast between those that produce and those that loot. It is a philosophical thriller, with many discussions on politics, market economics and the role of the state.

If you ask me to name the proudest distinction of Americans, I would choose- because it contains all the others- the fact that they were the people who created the phrase to make money. No other language or nation had ever used these words before; men had always thought of wealth as a static quantity- to be seized, begged, inherited, shared, looted or obtained as a favor. Americans were the first to understand that wealth has to be created.

(Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged, 1957)

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Just another tea party

The Tea party is a new political movement in the USA; the name is, of course, a reference to the Boston Tea Party, where colonists protested the British taxation of the American (British) colonies by disquising themselves as Indians (native Americans) and throwing tea into the water in the Boston harbour. The parole then was: "No taxation without representation". This was to protest the lack of governmental influence given to the colonies, despite the taxation.

The Tea party is today a conservative movement looking to decrease taxes, promote capitalism and decrease the size of the public sector and government to increase individual freedom. Also added to this are traditional conservative Christian values as banning abortion and gay marriage. Thus is can be perceived as a break-out group from the Republican party.

With the upcoming midterm election , they can be expected to have some influence. If nothing else they could be seen as a sign of splitting in the Republican ranks, which could help the Democrats. On the other hand president Obama's approval rating have decrease significantly and a sitting president often has worse results in the midterm election compared to the last election. So far president Obama has not been the great success that was expected, Obamacare cannot be seen as a success so far and the economic situation is not looking good for the USA.Projections are that the Republican will gain influence in the midterm election.

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Deadly drugs

A sort of bizarre debate is currently going on in the USA, whether or not it is legal to import thiopental from Europe. Sodium thiopental is a part of the lethal injection used for executions in parts of the USA. Currently there is a shortage of domestic sodium thiopental and buying it from Europe may be in violation to FDA (Federal Drug Administrations) rules regarding drugs. The issue is if these rules are applicable since it is not used as a drug. In the UK, the source of the import, the debate is about whether or not it is legal to sell a substance used for killing people when it is known that it will in fact be used for executions. 

Sodium thiopental induces unconsciousness, then the prisoner is paralysed by pancuronium bromide and finally the heart is stopped using potassium chloride. This may seem to be a rather medieval way of punishment, and not surprisingly the death sentence has been abolished in most democratic countries. However, it still exists in many states ruled by communism, religious fundamentalism or despotism. Not a fun group to be associated with for the USA...

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The real McCoy

 Lately customs in some European countries, such as France and the Netherlands, have stopped import of generic drugs manufactured in India. This has been done after complaints about counterfeiting from large pharmaceutical companies, with competing drugs. Generic drugs are "copies" of drugs that can be manufactured legally after the patent has run out. Thus these drugs are not illegal and stopping them should be in violation with World Trade Organization policies. What makes the holders of the expired patents worried, is that the generic manufacturer can provide the drugs without the very expensive drug development process, thus selling the same drug at a lower price. A typical drug development process is often estimated to cost around $2 billion and take around 10 years.

Now this problem has been resolved, at least for now, and Indian generic drugs can be imported again. However, Indian officials are still worried about coming developments in this matter. India is currently a leading location for manufacturing of generic drugs, much due to relatively low wages and high competence.

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The Story of Stuff

Here follows a short movie about the need to change the way we use resources, from a linear system to a circular system. The main point is, as previously mentioned, that using finite resource in a linear system is not sustainable. 

The Story of Stuff 

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Strike!

What is with the french and their willingness to go on strike?

News reports about french workers on strike are quite frequently heard, often for reasons that may seem rather small to foreigners. This time the strikes are against a new pension reform, which most controversial part is an increase of the retirement age from 60 to 62 years old. To many outside french retirement at 60 seems to be a luxury, and at this time something they cannot afford. An aging population need a larger working force for support, obviously reform is needed. 

The usual example of french strikes are french farmers dumping various farming products on the street and blocking streets with farm machines. This tend to center around insufficient government support or against European Union ideas about decreasing import tariffs on agricultural products. These protectionistic policies are often criticised and would need reform to create a better market.For some reason these french farmers are allowed to have a too large influence on the European community; the french government bows and their large influence in the European Union often enough to block suggestions "threatening" the french farmers.

This strike is however spread to more sectors and seem to be more widespread. The current strike has been estimated to cost, the already strained french economy, 200 to 400 million euros ($280 to $560 million) every day. The costs include fuel shortages, lost foreign investment, and damage to the country's reputation.

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A wonderful, magical animal?

Christien Meindertsma, a dutch artist, has during three years tracked all product derived from a single pig, in an exhibition called PIG 05049. The result was following parts of the pig from it original source to 185 products, except for the more obvious one like pork meat, it includes ammunition, medicine, photo paper, heart valves, brakes, chewing gum, porcelain, cosmetics, cigarettes, conditioner and even bio diesel. The many applications of different parts of a pig body is not very surprising, but still an interesting piece of work that highlights the many connections in our production system.

Lisa: “I’m going to become a vegetarian”
Homer: “Does that mean you’re not going to eat any pork?”
Lisa: “Yes”
Homer: “Bacon?”
Lisa: “Yes Dad”
Homer: "Ham?”
Lisa: “Dad all those meats come from the same animal”
Homer: “Right Lisa, some wonderful, magical animal!”"

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Making babies

 Scientists have now discovered how a sperm cell binds an egg cell on a molecular level. This is of course fundamental in the creation of new individuals. The sperm binds to a receptor  called ZP3 in the extra-cellular region of the egg called zona pellucida (ZP). It is this receptor that has been mapped on a molecular level. This is one part, the other part that is likely to follow is molecular and structural research on the corresponding receptor on the sperm cell. This is research is important for understanding the mechanism of human reproduction, thus it is likely to have application in contraception or in helping childless couples reproduce.This research has been conducted by Luca Jovine's team at Karolinska Institutet (Stockholm, Sweden) in cooperation with Tsukasa Matsuda at Nagoya University (Japan).

3D Structure of the receptor

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Big animals

A couple of animal records have been set lately. First, a reamarkable specimen of the common goldfish, or koi carp, has been found. A 30-pound koi carp was found in France.

The sefcond entry is a Maine Coon cat, with the impressing length of 48,5 inches (over 4 feet) or over 123 centimetres.

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Faraday's Cage

Faraday cage, after the English scientist Michael Faraday,  is a metallic enclosure that prevents the entry or escape of an electromagnetic field. It lets electric charges travel on the outside of it, while the electric field effects are cancels out in the centre of it, leaving the inside like the eye of the storm. It is widely used to for protecting electronics from lightning storms. An ideal Faraday cage consists of an unbroken, perfectly conducting shell, in reality this is impossible to achieve, however a fine-mesh copper screening is a good solution. Ideally the cage should also be connected to an earth ground.

You have probably heard of the classic tip to sit in your car for protection during lightning storms, since cars are Faraday cages. However, they are not very good Faraday cages since they are not unbroken (windows, etcetera) and since they are isolated by the tires and thus not connected to an earth ground. Having a car made with fiberglass or an convertible would further decrease the effect. In newer cars the many electronic connection going into the interior of the car, could also be a problem. If you use a car as a Faraday cage, make sure you are not touching the outer walls or anything that is conducting electricity that is connected to them. 

Some claim the radiation from cell phones will be trapped inside the car, by the same principles, thus increasing its harmfulness. This view is however widely disputed, and seem to be mostly spread by people basing their business helping against it and less serious actors.

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The raised fist

During the Olympic games 1968 in Mexico City Tommie Smith  won the 200 meter race and broke the world record with a time of 19.83 seconds. The image above is classic and powerful; it is from the medal ceremony and also features John Carlos (USA) to the right and Peter Norman (Australia) to the left. The raised fist with a black glove and Olympic Project for Human Rights badges are symbols of a fight against racism both in sports and most importantly in society in general. The three athletes were booed by the crowd and more or less explicitly expelled from their national team. The so-called Black power salute is a symbol for the US black power movement, an organisation against racial segregation and in some ways pro-socialism. The movement is diverse and some branches advocate black supremacy and separatism. Thus it is not uncontroversial, even though the origin is important.

Interesting is the various meaning of the raised fist symbol, it is and has been used by groups for black power, white power, socialism and various nationalist groups, to mention a few.  It is a symbol of willingness to fight, not necessarily violently, and unity. It is a basic symbol, thus it is not unexpected it has had numerous meanings depending on the context.

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CSR and the Global Market

The market has become increasingly globalised, in the sense that product and services are bought and sold in a global context. As value chains span over border, often several borders, regulating it becomes more difficult and a single state is not enough to ensure responsible business practise. This shows a need for other actors to help promote CSR, in the form of companies or international organisations,. Thus CSR work is perhaps even more important in the globalised world of today.

However, some countries with developing economies are critical to international CSR standards, for example India. In this case CSR is considered a concept developed and defined by developed countries and not fit for developing countries. In the global market place developing countries generally have their main advantage based on the low costs of labour, and by implementing a CSR standard this advantage is believed to diminish due to the cost of CSR. Therefore a standard giving companies importing from developing countries incentives to choose suppliers that are compliant with the standard, could give developing countries a disadvantage, at least at first. If this would force business out of the developing countries, investments would decrease and the standard of life would likely decrease; what would be beneficial for workers on the surface, could lead to adverse effects.


The (economic) reasons for CSR work are often stated by a few assumptions:
• Customers favour product and services by responsible companies
• Investors favour investments in responsible companies
• Potential employees would rather work in a responsible company
• Engaging the stakeholders of the business leads to larger opportunities for innovation
• Reduction of risks in regard to environment, labour and society

However, according to Knox and Maklan these assumptions seem to be hard to measure and the results so far seem to be ambiguous at best. To get a clear idea on the relationship between CSR and beneficial results further research is needed, in doing so new ways to measure and explore this issues need to be developed.

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CSR and the firm

An important issue in CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) is what a company should do and what is the purpose of it. Some, like the widely recognised economist Milton Friedman, would argue that CSR is not what a company should do; a company should instead focus on maximising returns for the shareholders, and abide the law and general ethical principles in doing so. Thus instead leaving the work of forming standards to ensure a responsible behaviour to the government, and if this is done well there would be no room or need for CSR in the companies, rather what is best for the shareholders would be best for the society. This is well in line with classical economics going back to Adam Smith and the invisible hand regulating the market.

However, this view is disputed. The assumption made here is that an efficient market, including an efficient state apparatus, will make sure that business is conducted in a responsible way. Obviously, this is not the case in reality, thus there is an important role for CSR work to play in filling the void between the real market and the ideal market. In this context it seems CSR work has an important role to fill and it should be something important for companies in catering to the interests of the stakeholders in regards to the interaction with the market, society and externalities. Actual it could be assumed that CSR has developed from a liberal market view, where not enough regulations are present to ensure commitment to responsible business principles. In this context it is not surprising to see an increase in CSR activities of companies, some argues that companies have taken over some of the responsibilities of regulating the market, which was earlier an activity exclusively conducted by the state. Not only are many companies conducting CSR activities in their own organisation, but also in their extended value chain containing several tiers of suppliers.

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High-frequency trading

The last couple of year computerised stock market trading, so called high-frequency trading. This refers to computer programs acting on the stock market based on defined parameters and searching for pricing discrepancies between market places. These programs are designed to help investors, in this case exclusively large scale investors, to act on small changes or differences in stock prices. This trading is extremely short term, oand volumes are often large. The extreme short time frames of the trades have made internet connections very important, in this case it is a matter of milliseconds or even smaller fraction of a second. It has come to the point where companies running such computers are trying to run them as physically close as possible to the stock exchange to decrease transfer times by minimising the distance that the signal need to travel.

It has been estimated that these kind of trading makes up 2/3 of all trading in the USA. Thus it is increasing the volumes of the stock market, which is often seen as a good thing, especially for smaller traders. However, it also brings negative effects, for example when these machines act on signals they tend to increase the volatility, meaning they increase both ups and downs. If a stock falls enough to trigger a sell signal for the computer program large volumes will be sold and thus increasing the fall, and the other way around.

High-frequency trading is being discussd by policy makers and sort of regulation in the not too distant future would not be unexpected.

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Hooligans

That many European soccer teams, both national teams and clubs, have trouble with hooliganism is nothing new. Lately this has perhaps been apparent in Eastern Europe, and now less than a week ago a national team game between Italy and Serbia in Genoa had to be stopped due to Serbian hooligans. This is tragic, and even though the hooligans were unusually violent it was still nothing exceptional.

Now in the aftermath of the event some sources tell a story of organised criminal gangs paying the Serbian hooligans to cause chaos. It was likely that the two gangs, despite being in a financial dispute with each other, financed the riots because both have interests to create chaos in the state of Serbia, the source, who asked not to be named, told Politika. I wonder how they will try to benefit from this chaos and if the gangs felt the action met their objective. An investigation is currently being started, and more information is likely to come.

In many parts of Europe, and possibly elsewhere as well, firms belonging to different soccer teams are fighting each other on a regular basis. Most of the time this does not affect the "regular" supporters and often these fights are not even in the proximity of the arena. This is a troubling development, but to some extent I believe there have always been gangs of men fighting other gangs. The soccer and supporting a club is not really the root of the problem, but rather an excuse to form these kind of groups. Of course the club is linked to the trouble, but noe solely responsible.

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Conflicts of interest

Central Asia is an area of high political interest and internal conflicts. These states five used to be parts of the Soviet union and as such they carry bagage from their totalitarian past. Although they are officially republics, democracy is questionable and corruption is wide spread in many areas. Two important factors for the regions are the complex political situation following the fall of the Soviet Union and the borders issues created by Soviet administration. During the Soviet era administrative borders were created, which were later made into national borders after the independence. In many cases these borders do not match the ethnical groups in the area, thus they have created conflict between different groups.

These nations are due to their geographical position of interest two three great powerhouses: China, Russia and the USA. Both Russia and the USA have military bases in the Central Asian republics, and China is involved in border conflicts with Kyrgyzstan. NATO has a cooperation with Kazakhstan, but the fast growing economy has now strengthened its political ties to Russia. Adding to the instability is the proximity to Afghanistan, a failed state in a war-like state and talks of fundamental islamist trying to increase their power. Central Asia is a powder keg, moving towards a tricky future. 

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Early life

Scientist have found the oldest evidence of life so far, it consists of tubular shapes in ancient South African rock. The fossils are estimated to be 3.34 billion years old. The evidence is not yet final, as it is not 100% certain that these tubular cavities are made by a microbe, but the scientist are confident they will prove so that is the case. 

Continuing on early life, scientist believe they have found out which was the first land plant . It is estimated  that several plant species had colonised dry land around 472 million years ago. The scientist have found fossilised cryptospores from the plants in what is today Argentina. The plants in question are early relatives of todays' liverworths. They are simple plant without roots and stems.

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Don't buy stuff you can't afford

In a time where more and more nations are falling into deep debt, here is a friendly reminder from SNL.

Don't buy stuff you can't afford



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Mining

Today the first of the 33 trapped miners in Chile are finally reaching the surface again. For the first time since August 5 they will breathe surface air, they will however still not see the light just yet. This is due to the damage it would cause their eyes after months in darkness. So it seems the story will get a happy ending after all.

Mining accidents are quite common, especially in China. Last year 2,631 miners were killed in accidents and the worst year 2002 there were 6,995 deaths in Chinese mines. Safety is appaling, corporate social repsonsibility is unheard of and the environment is damaged on a large scale. All this is regarded as secondary as coal, and lots of it, is needed to fuel the growing economy. Lately regulations have been launched to help safety in mines, for example management have been forced to regularly spend time and do inspections underground. Hopefully these regulations can help improve the situation of Chinese miners, but many seem to have little hope this will lead to more than marginal improvements.

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Trial and Terror

The lives of the prisoners of war in Guantanamo has been out of focus in media lately. Now the first prisoner will finally get a trial in a civil court. Obama promised to close the Guantanamo prison when he was elected, but so far not much has happened. There seem to be little progress in the closing process, apparently there is trouble with the transfer of prisoners to other facilities and more surprisingly with the prisoners that are to be released.

Hopefully this will pave the way for more trials in civil courts, instead of the closed and criticised trials in military courts.

Previous post on the prisoners in Guantanamo


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Why deflation is bad

Economists everywhere fear inflation and lots of effort is put in to keeping it down. Perhaps the most important tool for reducing inflation is increasing the interest rate in hopes of cooling down the economy. Often inflation is a result of a heated economy and a well-performing economy. Inflation is bad since it reduces the value of money, but the alternative is even worse for an economy. 

Now some large economies are facing deflation, Japan is already there, the USA is not far behind and the rest of the industrialised world may follow. Deflation means, opposite of inflation, that prices are falling over the entire market. This may at first sound like a good thing; things get cheaper we can increase our standard of living and so forth. However, if we all assume prices will be lower tomorrow than they are today; it will makes us curb spending. This will obviously decrease demand, which will lower prices even more and in the long run force companies to cut wages and lay off staff. If it goes this far, the downward spiral is in full spin. Furthermore, this will make debts more expensive as the money value increases. The trouble is now that lowering interest rates can only be done until they are 0, and even then the real interest rate is still positive. For Japan this is a real problem since the interest rate is currently extremely low.

Krugman on Deflation

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Fighting terror?

The American usage of drones to kill "terrorists" has escalated lately, up to the point that Pakistani officials are protesting and closing borders for NATO supply trucks. To make matters worse US troops shot down a pakistani military helicopter, assuming that they were militant islamists. This is forcing supply trucks to take another more dangerous route through Baluchistan. In this area  40 NATO oil trucks have been destroyed.

The NATO/American way of waging war is turning a whole area against them. Instead of decreasing the number of militant islamists targetting Western interests, we can safely assume they will keep growing and may also turn more violent. Furthermore, I suspect that American actions will reflect on the rest of the Western society, thus increasing threats not only in USA, but in all of the Western world.

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Free Liu Xiaobo

Liu Xiaobo was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize 2010 for his work for democracy and human rights in China. Hopefully, perhaps a naive hope, this will put some pressure on China to move towards democracy. At least it should bring some attention to the treatment of chinese groups and individuals promoting democracy and human rights. He is now imprisoned for inciting subversion of state power.

Free Liu Xiaobo

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Failed states

 

The failed states index ranks states based on their inability to function as states (according to the indicators in the end of this post).This less than flattering list contains many of the usual suspects, states that you hear about in the news often in reference to corruption, (civil) war and lack of democracy. The bottom 20 contains: 12  African states, 4 in Western Asia and the Middle East, 3 in Eastern Asia and 1 in the Carribean. This gives yet another indication on the troubles on the African continent, and how much work still needs to be done to reduce poverty, increase democracy and reduce corruption.

Social indicators
1. Demographic pressures: including the pressures deriving from high population density relative to food supply and other life-sustaining resources.  

2. Massive movement of refugees and internally displaced peoples

3. Legacy of vengeance-seeking group grievance

4. Chronic and sustained human flight: both the "brain drain" of professionals, intellectuals and political dissidents and voluntary emigration of "the middle class".
Economic indicators
5. Uneven economic development between groups: measured by group-based poverty, unemployment, infant mortality, education levels.
6. Sharp and/or severe economic decline
Political indicators
7. Criminalization and/or delegitimisation of the state: corruption or profiteering by ruling elites and resistance to transparency, accountability and political representation.
8. Progressive deterioration of public services: a disappearance of basic state functions (such as health, education, sanitation, public transportation) that serve the people, including failure to protect citizens from terrorism and violence.
9. Widespread violation of human rights
10. Security apparatus as ‘state within a state’: emergence of elite guards that operate with impunity. Emergence of state-sponsored or state-supported private militias that terrorize political opponents, suspected "enemies," or civilians sympathetic to the opposition.
11. Rise of factionalised elites: a fragmentation of ruling elites and state institutions along group lines.
12. Intervention of other states or external factors: military or Para-military engagement in the internal affairs of the state at risk by outside armies, states, or entities that affect the internal balance.

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