 |
| Blog |
 |
| Archive |
|
|
|
|
| Blog |
| To find an archived article, simply click on Index and scroll the subject titles, or do a Ctrl-F search |
TALLRITE BLOG
You can write to me at
blog2-at-tallrite-dot-com |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| “Ill-informed and Objectionable” Comment by an anonymous reader | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| For some reason, this site displays better in Internet Explorer than in Mozilla Firefox | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
June 2008 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
ISSUE #177 - 8th June 2008 [470+1411=1881]
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Once again, and to no-one's great surprise, the United Nations demonstrates for all to see its irrelevance and incompetence when it comes to important global matters. For what is more important than issues of human rights, health and education for all, security from murder and genocide, protection from natural catastrophe? Actually, food is. Food is the most important issue to face mankind everywhere and always has been, for the very simple reason that without it you die. Average food price are suddenly increasing at an astonishing rate: over 50% in only the first four months of this year; in Britain, food costs are increasing the national grocery bill by half a billion pounds a month. As a direct result of such trends people at the very bottom of the economic scale (think North Korea or Zimbabwe or Ethiopia) have died and are dying of malnutrition and starvation. 850 million people are at such risk. So it is entirely appropriate that a distinguished world body such as the UN, through its Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), should have called an international three-day World Food Summit where 183 countries could debate global trade policies, agricultural subsidies and biofuels and agree methods and polices that would solve the crisis and alleviate the inhumane human suffering and death. And who better to invite as an expert witness in proven techniques to be eschewed because they result in the certain starvation of an entire population than Zimbabwe's very own Tyrant-4-Life Robert Mugabe. To add to his existing accomplishments, just last week he took a leaf out of the Burmese Junta's book by banning international NGOs from distributing food aid to his destitute citizens. Only North Korea's T4L Kim Jong Il does it better but he is too scared of flying to go to Rome - his last trip beyond Asia, to Moscow in 2001, took nine days each way in a specially-built armoured train. But lo, T4L Mugabe was not invited to share his shocking expertise with other delegates. Instead it seems he was expected to contribute to learned discussions on how to bring down the price of food as an alternative to starving people to death. After three days of debating in the FAO's Rome headquarters (with T4L Mugabe and his 16-man entourage staying at the five-star Ambasciatori Palace Hotel, one of Rome's most expensive hotels at up to a thousand €uros a night), the best the summit could come up with was a generic document which as we will see later is strong on platitudes but silent on concrete action. The delegates might as well have declared world peace while they were at it. High prices of any commodity are a two-edged sword:
As a result buyers try not to buy and sellers try to produce and sell even more. The net result - lower demand and higher stocks - drives the price back down again in search of a new point of equilibrium. The process then repeats itself in reverse, and so price variations continue, up and down in small swings or large, forever. It's the capitalist and free-trade system that is uniquely responsible for the massive increase, in real terms, of the mean wealth of the world's people over the last two centuries since the industrial revolution burst onto the scene.
However the pricing system only works if it is allowed to work. If someone attempts to prop up the price, say with subsidies, or to control the price, or to force the price down by decree, or to ration provisions, or to prevent or tax imports and/or exports, supply goes haywire leading to gluts and shortages. Yet the small minorities who make money from such situations, whether through receiving subsidies, hoarding scarce supplies, running smuggling networks and so forth, will move heaven and earth to protect their lucrative privileges. It is very easy and popular to grant privileges; infinitely harder to remove them. Food prices are high today for a variety of reasons:
Meanwhile, the obscenity of long-standing agricultural subsidies in the rich world combined with the cheap exports that result and the protectionism which obstructs imports have managed to penalise countless developing-world farmers, who could otherwise produce the same food without subsidies and at less cost. It's like pouring gasoline on a fire. Surely it is obvious that allowing high prices to spur increased production, while removing market-distorting and trade-suppressing subsidies, tariffs and fiats, will result in more food production which would bring prices back down to sensible levels. The best example of what even little-educated sons of the soil in the developing world can do if left alone to their own devices is the free-market poppy production of war-torn, infrastructureless Afghanistan. With no help from anyone, these hardened men fill over 90% of global demand for (illegal) heroin and other opiates, thanks also to the absence of subsidies or tariffs either at home or in the export markets. Moreover some of these canny Afghan capitalist-farmers are now switching to wheat whose price has trebled this year, making it more profitable than poppies (whose own value coincidentally has been dropping of late). Thus do they contribute to the food-shortage solution. The International Food Policy Research Institute estimates that biofuel demand has contributed to 30% of the recent increase in cereal prices. The US subsidises, to the tune of $7 billion per year, the production of some 300,000 barrels a day of maize ethanol in exchange for a supposed greenhouse-gas reduction of a derisory one-nineteenth percent. It doesn't take much nous to figure out that if the Americans stopped frittering so much of their citizens money on such pointless subsidies, the land freed up to restore food production would contribute to the food-shortage problem - cutting prices by 20% say some. But the Bush administration is disgracefully urging on the US to even more subsidised biofuel production. The EU's Common Agricultural Policy continues to distribute largesse to its farmers: €43 billion in 2005 representing 44% of the budget. And for what? So that farmers can continue to produce food at a cost no consumer will pay. This largesse is removed from the pockets only of taxpayers who do produce stuff that people are willing to buy. Thus failing enterprises (most farmers) are rewarded while the successes (profit-makers) are punished. To keep the system going, cheaper food from the developing world must be banned, taxed or restricted, to protect the local produce from too much competition in the supermarket. And excess food is then dumped, with further subsidy to make it cheap, in the developing world to compete with local farmers and put them out of business. That's why the CAP is an obscenity on every level. Demolishing it and opening the EU's markets to the developing world would certainly contribute to the food-shortage problem, while at the same time delivering a better deal to long-suffering EU taxpayers. These simple and obvious measures would far exceed any good done by the splodges of aid furnished by well-meaning governments and NGOs.
So has the UN FAO come up with any such measures in its
hunger jamoboree? Did it heck!
Notwithstanding sterling declarations of intent, its final communiqué is full of do-nothing steps (not to mention opt-outs by Argentina, Cuba and Venezuela):
Now ask yourself how any of these items, littered as they are with fuzzy verbs, can for example be measured, for if they can't be measured they simply won't be done - that's human nature. And that's the precise reason the declaration is full of “assuring”, “enhancing”, “making efforts”, “striving”, because such words commit no-one to actually do anything but talk. No-one has promised to tear down trade barriers, open markets, cut subsidies by certain defined dates, the only actions that will sustainably solve the food-shortage/high-price problem, just as they have solved every other major supply problem facing the world. The United Nations, a club which ranks
has become an irrelevant talking shop. The inclusion of so many thugs in its membership makes it structurally incapable of solving global problems, and indeed it adds to them. Tyrants are succoured, democracies such as Israel are denigrated, peace-keepers are notorious for serial sex abuse (2003, 04, 05, 06, 07) under legal immunity, to name but a few egregious UN characteristics, yet it is funded mainly by the democracies (the US pay 22%). As I've argued previously, the democracies should walk away from the UN, allow it to implode, and form their own United Democracies. At least if the UD were then to decide it wanted to tackle a particular global problem, you could pretty sure it would achieve something constructive, rather than sham conferences such as the UN-FAO's latest charade.
On 31st May, the Irish Times kindly afforded me its prime Saturday OpEd slot for an article entitled “Simplistic prediction of looming oil drought are wide of the mark”. Intended as a primer for the layman/woman, it tries to answer the question “when will the oil run out?”, a subject I first wrote about back in 2005. With oil exceeding $130 a barrel it is a topical theme. Having seen my column, Ireland's state broadcaster RTE then invited me to discuss and debate on live radio oil issues with a Colin Campbell, on its morning chat-show, Today with Pat Kenny. It was my first such experience and I found it a bit nerve-wracking, but I seemed to survive. My antagonist Mr Campbell is an experienced ex-BP oilfield geologist who runs an international think-tank and has written a book devoted to the cult of "“Peak Oil”. But I was surprised at how thin his arguments turned out to be. A few months ago I wrote a post, “Beware the Peak Oil Salesman”, deriding the Peak Oil concept, which provided me with some ammunition. You can listen to the 20-minute oily debate here.
Last week I was privileged to attend a talk and Q&A session, under the auspices of the Iona Institute, given by a 35-year-old Englishwoman, Joanna Rose, who is the result of an artificial conception by her mother using an anonymous sperm donor. She is the first such person ever to speak publically in Ireland about her situation, and her central message is that the offspring of in-vitro-fertilisation are never consulted - or indeed rarely even considered - in the debate over the use of IVF. From her special perspective, she believes this - and IVF itself - are deeply wrong. Delivered without self-pity, I found the session extremely moving in that it raised jolting considerations that would rarely cross the mind of anyone who is fortunate enough to have been naturally conceived and raised by his/her biological parents. Here are a few of the points she made, some of which are touched on by the International Donor Offspring Alliance, a grouping of IVF offspring. Make your own judgements.
In the coming days, I am expecting Ms Rose to be appear on a national radio interview which I helped set up, in which case I will add the link.
At last (September 2008),
Donations to China and Burma by Text
Four charities, the Irish Red Cross, Oxfam Ireland, Trócaire and Concern Worldwide, are using text-messaging for the first time in Ireland in order to appeal for funds to help alleviate the disasters in Burma and China. Even though the latter two are my most unfavourite charities, it is such a slick and easy way to donate that I would recommend it to all. Moreover, I don't for a moment think that any of the charities would misuse such money. In both these stricken countries, entire villages and towns have been reduced to rubble, with thousands dead, wounded and homeless. From the TV screens, it may appear that the Chinese are suffering more, but that is only because the Burmese Junta is keeping foreign news media away. If you live in the Republic of Ireland, you simply text the word AID to 57500 to send an automatic donation of €2.50 to charities on the front line, which appears on your phone bill or comes out of your credit. Go on, do it now! You won't even feel it.
Piggybacking on the Lisbon Treaty Ireland has been exploding with excitement over its upcoming referendum on the Lisbon treaty. (Readers will be familiar with the low opinion I hold of this execrable document and my advice to vote No.)
But some of the more canny politicians, aware that
there are local elections next year for which they are not yet permitted to
campaign, have come up with a cunning ruse.
- - - - - - - - - - A M E R I C A - - - - - - - - - - Quote: “I will do everything in my power to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon - everything.”
As part of an astonishing U-turn
He also guarantees the defence of Israel and a
united Jerusalem, Quote (from the subscription-only Irish Times): “It is the right of the American nation to elect who they want. But we hope they won't make a mistake, like the last time.”
Hassan Kazemi Qomi, Iran's ambassador to Iraq,
Thus Mr Obama secures another embarrassing endorsement, - - - - - - - - - - Z I M B A B W E - - - - - - - - - - Quote: “This is the person who has presided over the starvation of his people. This is the person who has used food aid in a politically motivated way. So Robert Mugabe turning up to a conference dealing with food security or food issues is, in my view, frankly obscene.”
Australian foreign affairs minister Stephen Smith Quote: “[Robert Mugabe is] a pariah - a mad dog on two legs. The only contact a civilised nation should have with him is to put him in handcuffs and lead him to trial.”
Lord Tebbit, a cabinet minister under Margaret
Thatcher,
If ever there were a candidate for kidnapping
while in Rome - - - - - - - - - - C A N A D A - - - - - - - - - - Quote (Minute 61): “There can't be enough laws to deal with the issue [of hate].”
Ian Fine, Director of the General Dispute
Resolution Branch
The remark was made at a televised debate discussing
I wonder would he like to invoke anti-hate laws
against me - - - - - - - - - - I R E L A N D - - - - - - - - - - Quote (from the subscription-only Irish Times): “In the case of the Lisbon Treaty, voters can be reassured by the fact that politicians and civil servants have pored over every word to ensure that their interests [whose interests?] were protected.”
Ambassador
John Bruton, former Irish Taoiseach, In fact his sentence tells you exactly why voters should
vote NO. Quote: “I think if you ask them [Toulouse] they'll feel like a team beat them playing boring and ugly stuff, but we don't care. I have a medal in my arse pocket.”
Munster's
second-row forward Donnacha O'Callaghan
Munster are now deserved champions of Europe
If only they could now play the
Blue Bulls from Pretoria, South Africa
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| See the Archive and Blogroll at top left and right, for your convenience | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Return
to Tallrite Blog As always, “ill-informed and objectionable” - Comment by an anonymous reader |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Now, for a little [Light Relief]
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Gift Idea |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Good to report that as at
FREED AT LAST, |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
BLOGROLL
Atlantic Blog (defunct) Blog-Irish (defunct)
Jihad
Religion
Iona Institute
Leisure
Blog Directory
My Columns in the
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
What I've recently
But it's not
entirely honest in its subtle pro-Palestinian bias, and therefore needs
to be read in conjunction with an antidote, such as See detailed review +++++
BP's ambitious CEO John Browne expanded it through adventurous acquisitions, aggressive offshore exploration, and relentless cost-reduction that trumped everything else, even safety and long-term technical sustainability. Thus mistakes accumulated, leading to terrifying and deadly accidents in refineries, pipelines and offshore operations, and business disaster in Russia. The Macondo blowout was but an inevitable outcome of a BP culture that had become poisonous and incompetent. However the book is gravely compromised by a litany of over 40 technical and stupid errors that display the author's ignorance and carelessness. It would be better to wait for the second (properly edited) edition before buying. As for BP, only a wholesale rebuilding of a new, professional, ethical culture will prevent further such tragedies and the eventual destruction of a once mighty corporation with a long and generally honourable history. Note: I wrote
my own reports on Macondo +++++
A horrific account of:
More details on my blog here. +++++
After recounting a childhood of convention and simple pleasures in working-class Aberdeen, Mr Urquhart is conscripted within days of Chamberlain declaring war on Germany in 1939. From then until the Japanese are deservedly nuked into surrendering six years later, Mr Urquhart’s tale is one of first discomfort but then following the fall of Singapore of ever-increasing, unmitigated horror. After a wretched journey Eastward, he finds himself part of Singapore’s big but useless garrison. Taken prisoner when Singapore falls in 1941, he is, successively,
Chronically ill, distraught and traumatised on return to Aberdeen yet disdained by the British Army, he slowly reconstructs a life. Only in his late 80s is he able finally to recount his dreadful experiences in this unputdownable book. There are very few first-person eye-witness accounts of the the horrors of Japanese brutality during WW2. As such this book is an invaluable historical document. +++++
This is a rattling good tale of the web of corruption within which the American president and his cronies operate. It's written by blogger Michele Malkin who, because she's both a woman and half-Asian, is curiously immune to the charges of racism and sexism this book would provoke if written by a typical Republican WASP. With 75 page of notes to back up - in best blogger tradition - every shocking and in most cases money-grubbing allegation, she excoriates one Obama crony after another, starting with the incumbent himself and his equally tricky wife. Joe Biden, Rahm Emmanuel, Valerie Jarett, Tim Geithner, Lawrence Summers, Steven Rattner, both Clintons, Chris Dodd: they all star as crooks in this venomous but credible book. ACORN, Mr Obama's favourite community organising outfit, is also exposed for the crooked vote-rigging machine it is. +++++
It is really just a collation of amusing little tales about surprising human (and occasionally animal) behaviour and situations. For example:
The book has no real message other than don't be surprised how humans sometimes behave and try to look for simple rather than complex solutions. And with a final anecdote (monkeys, cash and sex), the book suddenly just stops dead in its tracks. Weird. ++++++
It's chapters are organised around provocative questions such as
It's central thesis is that economic development continues to be impeded in different countries for different historical reasons, even when the original rationale for those impediments no longer obtains. For instance:
The author writes in a very chatty, light-hearted matter which makes the book easy to digest. However it would benefit from a few charts to illustrate some of the many quantitative points put forward, as well as sub-chaptering every few pages to provide natural break-points for the reader. +++++
The author was a member of Britain's V Force, a forerunner of the SAS. Its remit was to harass Japanese lines of command, patrol their occupied territory, carryout sabotage and provide intelligence, with the overall objective of keeping the enemy out of India. Irwin is admirably yet brutally frank, in his descriptions of deathly battles with the Japs, his execution of a prisoner, dodging falling bags of rice dropped by the RAF, or collapsing in floods of tears through accumulated stress, fear and loneliness. He also provides some fascinating insights into the mentality of Japanese soldiery and why it failed against the flexibility and devolved authority of the British. The book amounts to a very human and exhilarating tale. Oh, and Irwin describes the death in 1943 of his colleague my uncle, Major PF Brennan. +++++ Other books here |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
After
48
crackling, compelling, captivating games, the new World Champions are,
deservedly,
England get the Silver,
No-one can argue with
Over the competition, |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
