This map illustrates the different ways and forms by which the United
States has established its military basing in the Philippines. It shows
the locations of the increasing number of military exe...
Jayati Ghosh*
It is now clear that the prolonged
party for international finance capital is over, at least for now.
The US financial structure is crumbling, possibly even collap...
C. P. Chandrasekhar*
To the superstitious, recent
developments in global financial markets were possible reminders that
the Ides of March had arrived. To the more rational, they...
Jayati Ghosh*
There is no doubt about it: the US
financial structure is crumbling, possibly even collapsing. The
collapse of a major Wall Street bank and the enormous bailouts t...
Walden
Bello*
Walden
Bello was invited to participate in the Economist's Debate Series
on "Freedom and its Digital Discontents." The proposition of the
debate was &qu...
In the Shadow of Debt:The Sad but True Tale behind a Quarter Century of Stagnation in the Philippines
By Walden Bello*
Assaulted on all
sides owing to its entanglement in the ZTE-NBN corruption scandal,
the administration has confronted its critics with the image of an
economy that is purring along, that is doing just fine except for the
rise in the price of rice, for which it says it is blameless.
In this issue of Focus on Trade, Jayati
Ghosh and CP Chandrasekhar analyse the financial crisis sweeping the
US and Europe, and ask whether this will usher in a new era of market
regulation and state intervantion, and an opportunity for developing
countries to reasess their economic strategies.
(Excerpts from acceptance speech at the
Outstanding Public Scholar Award Panel, International Studies
Association, 49th Annual Convention, San Francisco,
California, March 27, 2008. Bello was the second recipient of the
award, the first being Dr. Susan George in 2007. Members of the panel
honoring Bello were George; Dr. Richard Falk, professor emeritus at
Princeton University; Dr. Robin Broad, professor at American
University, and Dr.Barry Gills, professor at the University of
Newcastle.)
I would like, first
of all, to say that I am very grateful to the International Political
Economy Section of the International Studies Association for this
award. I am very, very honored by the generous comments of Barry
[Gills], Robin [Broad], Richard [Falk] and Susan [George]. And it
really is an honor to be in the company of Susan, the first person to
be given this award. Let me just say that, especially in comparison
to Susan, I am not really sure that I am the best person to be named
ISA's Outstanding Public Scholar for 2008, though I think I would
consider myself a public intellectual or, as the French say,
intellectuel engage-that is, one who marries analysis to
action, or at least tries to.
We are saddened and alarmed that the peaceful protest led by Buddhist monks in the Tibetan capital on March 10, which was followed by a wave of sympathy protests in the neighboring Tibetan areas after that day, has drawn a strong response from the Chinese authorities. We also deplore the unrest that followed, even though we understand the problems that gave rise to them.
We are concerned about the police and military build-up in response to these events not only in Lhasa but also in Tibetan areas of western China.
We believe that news blockade and censorship of the media are not helpful for the Chinese people and the international community and damage the credibility of the Chinese government.
THERE
is now a solid consensus in the scientific community that if the
change in global mean temperature in the twenty-first century exceeds 2.4 degrees Celsius, changes in the planet's
climate will be large-scale, irreversible, and disastrous. Moreover,
the window of opportunity for action that will make a difference is
narrow -- that is, the next 10 to 15 years.
Throughout
the North, however, there is strong resistance to changing the
systems of consumption and production that have created the problem
in the first place and a preference for "techno-fixes," such as
"clean" coal, carbon sequestration and storage, industrial-scale
biofuels, and nuclear energy.
Globally,
transnational corporations and other private actors resist
government-imposed measures such as mandatory caps, preferring to use
market mechanisms like the buying and selling of "carbon credits,"
which critics says simply amounts to a license for corporate
polluters to keep on polluting.
(The Perils of China's Explosive Growth.
(2008).
In Encyclopædia Britannica.
Retrieved
March 16, 2008,
from Encyclopædia Britannica Online : )
The China
of 2007 was indeed a far cry from the country that in the 1950s Swedish
Nobel Prize-winning economist Gunnar Myrdal predicted would remain
mired in poverty. In anticipation of the 2008 Olympic Games, Beijing
was undergoing a huge makeover that would show how fast change could
happen in a country of 1.3 billion people. New subway lines were close
to completion, and more skyscrapers…
Read more>>> ( this is a link to Encyclopedia Britannica online)
Focus on the Global South
CUSRI, Chulalongkorn University, Wisit Prachuabmoh Building,
Bangkok-10330
Thailand
Ph: 66-2-2187363-65, Fax: 66-2-2559976, Email: admin@focusweb.org
By Walden Bello*
; "water-report")
