A Universal National Tri-party and Proportional Representation for 2010 Ethiopian Elections

Global Strategic Enterprises, Inc for Peace and Prosperity- www.globalbelai4u.blogspot.com
Our Passion is to reach our Individual and Collective Potential-Always!

Dear Patriotic Global Citizens and Friends of African Union and Ethiopia

A Universal Tri-party National Election System- An Innovation and Results Oreiented Governance in Ethiopia;

A Universal Tri-Party National Election System: An Idea Whose Time has come!

Examining the May 2010 Election Readiness of Ethiopia

Promoting Proportional Representation of Win-win Synergistic Competitive Partnership as an alternative to the current Conflictual Opposition Party Politics construct.

As Ethiopia is preparing for the May 2010 election, it is becoming aparent that one has to examine the Election Readiness of the country at individual and collective civic life.

A series of discussions at town hall and civic community level need to be initiated to prepare the individual and the public for this great occassion.

Election Conduct 101 should be reviewed by all interested parties that includes all stakeholders in the country including those who aspire to represent the people and those
who plan to elect a representative.

Representative Democracy demands that the contending political parties bring forward agendas for discussion and deliberations. Most importantly, the so called opposioton partries which I choose to refer to competing parties need to publish their agenda and politcal party platforms that makes them competitive in the upcoming elections.

From past experience, it is apparent that there are over 120 parties with very similar party political platform, except they represent different language or ethnic groups or geographic localizations.

Some have organized themselves as localized fronts and others as movement. Very few have organized themsleves as National Parties, with Specific Party Platforms on the impending challenges and opportunities of 21st century Ethiopia.

No developing or developed country has mor than three viable National Political Parties. The example of the British, USA, Germany and France as well as Russica and Japan show that there are less than three viable National Political Parties competing to participate in national elections.

China, Cuba and North Korea have only one totalitarian national parties. The Ethiopian experience looks like there is only one National Front and None National Political parties that compete in every county, district and regio of the country.

I therefore recommend a Universal Three National Party organized under political ideology and platforms that address the key three areas of the Ethiopian Experience.

1. C onservative party- that is organized along linguistic, ethnic and regional interest affiliations. Here the EPRDF and all the linguistic and cultural parties that have mushroomed over the past 30 years under nation and nationalities parties can be included.

2. Progressive party- those who aspire to change the national character of Ethiopia, by adopting Arab, Chinese, European and Russian systems. Here all the EPRPs, MEOSONs and social and liberal parties that want to ape other nations experience could be categorized here.

3. Capitalist and Free Market Party. These will be those who truly believe the problem in Ethiopia is poverty of ideas, wealth and ability to live together under common shared values of prosperity.

I believe, all the 120 Ethiopian Parties should be encouraged to organzie themselves under the above three National Party organization of Weg tebaqi, Lewt Felagi and YeBiltsegina Parties.

It is easy to identify them for the electorates, as they will have competing opportunities in all parts of Ethiopia as they represent the three cardinal principles of party organization.

The second important proposal is Proportional Representation. All parties will have a presence in the Federal and Regional Parliaments and Executive bodies according to the proportion of votes they garner and not whether they won by three percent as in 51% to 49% of electoral votes.

This means those who lost elections with 49% percent will have 49% of Seats in Parliament and Executive Bodies. This is fair, and will represent all votes and voices of the electoral bodies.

The current winner takes it all attitude creates, disappointment, resentment and eventual conflict that has beseiged the Ethiopian Modern History for the past 40 years, where the Progressive or change oriented youths and junior army officers and cadres sacrificed the future of the country to the tune of 200 years backwards.

Proporational Representaton will be the only true democratic option where every vote counts regardless of being in the majority of minority.

The last suggestion is to get rid of the notion of opposition parties. Parties are competitors and not enemies as the current system has proven over and over.

Each party will be respected and honored for making itself available with competing ideas to charter the future of the country. No one is a special patriot and no one is a banda or traitor. They all represent different perspectives and are willing to put their ideas to the test of the electorate.

I trust the above three ideas of National TriParty System, Proportional Representation and the Win-win respectful relationship of all competing parties not opposition is a positive idea that needs to be discussed and applied as we prepare ourselves for the May 2010 elections.

Remember: To repeat the same idea and mistake over and over again and expect a different result is lunacy!

Ethiopia deserves new ideas and new opportunities.

A Tri Party Electoral System and Proportional Representation within the spirit of healthy and friendly competition is an idea whose time has come!



Belai Habte-Jesus, MD, MPH
Global Strategic Enterprises, Inc 4 Peace & Prosperity!


the writer can be contacted at Globalbelai7@gmail.com




Belai Habte-Jesus, MD, MPH
Global Strategic Enterprises, Inc. 4 Peace & Prosperity
Win-win synergestic Partnership 4P&P-focusing on
5Es: Education+Energy+Ecology+Economy+Enterprises
www.Globalbelai4u.blogspot.com; Globalbelai@yahoo.com

The Global Green Solution for Global Economic and Ecological Crisis at the G-20 Pittsburgh Summit in USA

Global Strategic Enterprises, Inc for Peace and Prosperity- www.globalbelai4u.blogspot.com


Ethiopian American Civic Alliance
By
Belai Habte-Jesus, MD, MPH
Host of Voice of the Patriots and African Renaissance Broadcsts
Member of the Ethiopian American Civic Society Alliance

Press Release

Supporting the African Union Green Innovation Investment Movement at the G20 Summit in Pittsburgh, PA, 24-25 September 2009

We members and associates of the Ethiopian-American Civic Alliance in North America, declare our strong support of the G-20 Summit in Pittsburg with a focus on the Green Innovative Solutions promoted by Prime Minister Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia, the current chair and representative of African Union at the G-20 Summit.
We believe the current Global Ecological and Economic Crises are inter-connected and need synergized win-win green solutions that address both challenges at the same time.

Ethiopia, the Horn of Africa have suffered for over four decades due to ecological crisis, draught and famine that has brought a series of social and economic crisis that has been a scar in the human consciousness.

It is time to address the two inter-connected issues of the ecology and the economy at the same time at this summit in Pittsburgh, PA. USA.

We appreciate the G-20 November 15th Washington Summit focused on the international response to the global financial economic crisis, that tasked the G-20 Finance Ministers to take forward working the five areas of:
 Strengthening transparency and accountability
 Enhancing sound regulations
 Promoting integrity in financial markets
 Reinforcing international cooperation and
 Reforming the international financial institutions.

We believe all the above five priority areas should include Global Ecological Challenges, and include Green Innovative Solutions that is promoted by the African Union Group at this summit

While these working groups are critical in addressing the Global Economic Crisis, it is critical to appreciate that the Global Ecological Crisis has been raging for more than 4 decades, especially in its harshest forms in developing countries in Africa and especially the Horn of Africa.

The Global Economic and Ecological Crisis are inter-connected and the above five working groups and their respective recommendations should address the ecological challenges side by side with the economic crisis.

As such, the African Team headed by Prime Minister Meles Zenawi is encouraging the G-20 Summit nations that appropriate global ecological solutions include Green Innovative solutions that will transform the future economic and energy needs of the future.

The Economic Recovery Plan should include appropriate stimulus and recovery packages that address Green Innovative Solutions to the Ecological and Economic Crisis that is undermining the development and sustainability of all developing countries and especially African Countries.

We therefore request members of the G-20 Summit to look at the experience of Pittsburgh, the host city that has transformed its old industry with Green Innovative solutions that provides win-win solutions to both the Ecological and Economic Challenges faces governments and communities around the world and especially Africa.

As a community that has been negatively impacted by the devastating ecological crisis of the early 1970s that resulted in massive draught, famine and destruction of our families, we believe it is time to listen to the African delegation and seek win-win synergistic solutions that address both the global ecological and economic crisis.

Additional Background Reading and References
G-20 Working groups\

The November 15th Washington Summit, on the international response to the global financial and economic crisis, tasked G-20 Finance Ministers to take forward work in the following five areas:
• Strengthening transparency and accountability
• Enhancing sound regulation
• Promoting integrity in financial markets
• Reinforcing international cooperation
• Reforming the International Financial Institutions

Declaration and action plan from the Washington Summit (PDF 72KB)
As Chair of the G-20 in 2009 the UK, working closely with Brazil and Korea 2008 and 2010 Chairs respectively, has established four working groups to advance this work for the next Leaders Summit on 2 April in London. Each working group is co-chaired by two senior officials from the G-20, one from a developed and one from an emerging market economy. Each G-20 country is represented on each working group. Experts from relevant international financial institutions, standard setting bodies, non G-20 countries, business and academia have also been invited by co-chairs to input into the work of the groups.

Working Group 1 - Enhancing sound regulation and strengthening transparency
This group will monitor implementation of actions already identified and make further recommendations to strengthen international standards in the areas of accounting and disclosure, prudential oversight and risk management. It will also develop policy recommendations to dampen cyclical forces in the financial system and to address issues around the scope and consistency of regulatory regimes.
Co-chairs: Rakesh Mohan, Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank of India, and Tiff Macklem, Associate Deputy Minister, Canadian Ministry of Finance
Working Group 2 - Reinforcing international co-operation and promoting integrity in financial markets

This working group will monitor actions and develop proposals to enhance international co-operation in the regulation and oversight of international institutions and financial markets, strengthen the management and resolution of cross-border financial crises, protect the global financial system from illicit activities and non-co-operative jurisdictions, strengthen collaboration between international bodies, and monitor expansion of their membership.
Co-chairs: Alejandro Werner, Deputy Minister of Finance Mexican Ministry of Finance, and Jorg Asmussen, State Secretary in the German Federal Ministry of Finance
Working Group 3 - Reforming the IMF

This working group will look at the role, governance and resource requirements of the IMF. It will review the appropriateness of the IMFs lending instruments and the effectiveness of its surveillance function, and will consider the sufficiency of its resources, and its general arrangements and accountability; and will look at the issue of reform of the governance structure so that it more adequately reflect changing economic weights in the world economy.
Co-chairs: Lesetja Kganyago, Director General of the South African National Treasury, and Mike Callaghan, Special Envoy International Economy, Australian Treasury.

Working Group 4 - The World Bank and other multilateral development banks (MDBs)
This group will consider the mandates, governance, resourcing and policy instruments of the MDBs in light of the needs of their members and the pressures resulting from the impact of the downturn on developing countries. It will also look at the issue of reform of the governance structures so that they more adequately reflect changing economic weights in the world economy.


Co-chairs: Anggito Abimanyu, Head of Fiscal Policy at the Indonesian Ministry of Finance, and Benoit Coeure, Head of Multilateral Affairs and Development Policy at the French Ministry of Finance

The Working Groups will report to Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors when they meet on 14th March in the UK.

In addition, G-20 Finance Ministry and Central Bank Deputies have agreed to take forward the work of establishing closer macroeconomic cooperation to restore growth in a broad range of countries, while avoiding negative spillovers.

Communiqué

Meeting of Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors, London, 4-5 September 2009

We, the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors, met ahead of the Pittsburgh Summit to assess our progress in delivering the Global Plan for Recovery and Reform and agree further actions to ensure sustainable growth and build a stronger international financial system.

1. We reiterated the need for swift and full implementation of all the commitments made at the Washington and London Summits and have agreed the further necessary steps to strengthen the financial system, as set out in the accompanying declaration.

2. Our unprecedented, decisive and concerted policy action has helped to arrest the decline and boost global demand. Financial markets are stabilizing and the global economy is improving, but we remain cautious about the outlook for growth and jobs, and are particularly concerned about the impact on many low income countries. We will continue to implement decisively our necessary financial support measures and expansionary monetary and fiscal policies, consistent with price stability and long-term fiscal sustainability, until recovery is secured.

3. We must build on what we have already achieved and tackle the significant challenges that lie ahead. It is vital for growth that we act to support lending, including dealing with impaired assets and conducting robust stress tests where necessary. We must promote employment through structural policies, active labour market policies, and training and education. We will work to address excessive commodity price volatility by improving the functioning and transparency of
physical and financial markets and promoting a closer dialogue between producer and consumer countries. We welcome the swift implementation of the $250 billion trade finance initiative and reaffirm our commitment to fight all forms of protectionism and to reach an ambitious and balanced conclusion to the Doha Development Round.

4. We agreed the need for a transparent and credible process for withdrawing our extraordinary fiscal, monetary and financial sector support as recovery becomes firmly secured. Working with the IMF and the FSB we will develop cooperative and coordinated exit strategies, recognizing that the scale, timing and sequencing of actions will vary across countries and across the types of policy
measures.

5. We will work to achieve high, stable and sustainable growth, which will require orderly rebalancing in global demand, removal of domestic barriers and promotion of the efficient functioning of global markets. The need to combat climate change is urgent, and we will work towards a successful outcome in Copenhagen.

6. We have made significant progress in strengthening the IFIs, but more needs to be done. We are close to completing the delivery of $850 billion of additional resources agreed in April, including an expanded, more flexible New Arrangement to Borrow; and $50 billion to support social protection and safety nets, boost trade and safeguard development in low income countries. We welcome the overhaul of the IMF’s lending facilities. We encourage the Multilateral Development Banks to make
full use of their balance sheets and reaffirm our commitment to ensure they have appropriate capital, recognising that they are fully on track to deliver $100 billion of additional lending. In the period ahead we need to focus on providing resources to low income countries to support structural reforms and infrastructure development.

7. We look forward to prompt implementation of the 2008 IFI governance reforms, and will complete World Bank reforms by Spring 2010 and the next IMF quota review by January 2011. We recognise that the IMF should remain a quota-based organisation; and as part of the reforms, the voice and representation of emerging and developing economies, including the poorest, must be significantly increased to reflect changes in the world economy.

To achieve this we look forward to
substantial progress in Pittsburgh. We also reaffirm our commitment to increase accountability, strengthen the involvement of Fund Governors in strategic oversight, and agree to move to an open, transparent and merit-based selection of IFI management. To improve the role and effectiveness of the Fund in supporting stronger cooperation and ensuring a more sustainable global economy and international financial system, candid, even-handed, and independent
surveillance will be vital. We call on the IMF, working with other international institutions, to continue assessing our actions to secure a sustainable recovery.

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THE G-20 – ADDRESSING GLOBAL CHALLENGES
PRESENTATION TO
THE AUSTRALIAN BUSINESS ECONOMISTS LUNCHEON
SYDNEY
8 NOVEMBER 2006
MARTIN PARKINSON
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
THE TREASURY




I would like to thank Ben Ford, Mark Sewell and Gordon de Brouwer for their assistance in preparing this
presentation.
2

Introduction
Thank you for the opportunity to be with you today. It’s always a pleasure to speak at an
ABE luncheon.

In 10 days, Treasurer Peter Costello will host the annual meeting of the Group of Twenty
(G-20) Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors in Melbourne. It will be the most
significant economic and financial forum ever held in Australia and the culmination of
Australia’s year as chair of the G-20.

Under the overarching theme of ‘Building and Sustaining Prosperity’, the G-20 will
discuss key challenges facing the global economy.

Today I will focus on three of these challenges: reform of the IMF and the World Bank,
collectively known as the Bretton Woods Institutions (BWI); demographic change; and
resource security.

The G-20 is a relatively new grouping yet it is driving a quiet revolution in international
policy cooperation. So to set the scene I will briefly outline what the G-20 is, where it fits
in, and why it is important for Australia.



OVERVIEW OF THE G-20

The formation of the G-20 in 19991 was recognition of the rapid and widespread changes
that have been occurring in the balance of global economic activity in recent decades.
While industrialised countries remain economically important, emerging market
economies (EMEs) have become significant players in the world economy. China and
India together, for example, have more than tripled their share of global output in
purchasing power parity (PPP) terms over the past 25 years (Chart 1). That is a prodigious

feat made even more impressive given the global economy is now almost 5 times larger
than it was in 1980 (also in PPP terms).
1 The group was established in 1999 in response to the financial crises of the late 1990s, with a broad
mandate to address international, financial and development issues.
3
The Treasury





Chart 1: Changing global economy
(Purchasing power parity valuation of country GDP)
Source: IMF.
1980
Rest of world
35%
Other
major
emerging
9%
China
India 3%
3%
G7
50%
2005
Rest
of World
27%
Other
major
emerging
10%
China
15%
India
6%
G7
42%
Total GDP =$12,868.3 billion Total GDP =$61,027.5 billion
At the same time, the world has become more integrated. There has been a rapid
expansion in cross-border economic activity in the last several decades – reflecting
growing trade and investment, broad liberalisation and deregulation of domestic markets
and institutions, growth of multinational enterprises and increasing mobility of people.
The growth in international flows of goods and services and financial integration can be
seen in Chart 2.
The Treasury


Chart 2: Increasing global links
Source: IMF.
0
1
2
3
4
5
1970 1974 1978 1982 1986 1990 1994 1998 2002
0
1
2
3
4
5
Industrial Countries
Emerging Market Countries
Ratio to GDP Ratio to GDP
World Trade
(Ratio of goods and services imports plus exports to GDP)
Global Financial Integration
(Ratio of foreign assets plus liabilities to GDP)
30
35
40
45
50
55
60
1980 1983 1986 1989 1992 1995 1998 2001 2004
30
35
40
45
50
55
Per cent of World GDP 60
4
In an increasingly interdependent world, the distinction between domestic and
international economic challenges is blurring, reinforcing the importance of international
economic cooperation, especially between emerging and established economic players.
Indeed, it is hard to think of a global economic issue that can be successfully addressed
with national policies alone, or without the involvement of both industrialised and
emerging market economies – think climate change as an example.
This is important.

History reveals that a multilateral rules-based system reduces the ability of major powers
to pursue their interests without regard to the interests of others in the broader
international community. A rules-based multilateral system provides greater certainty
about the terms of engagement between nations.

It also facilitates the integration of emerging economies into the global system – helping
embed rules-based systems domestically and providing certainty to emerging powers
about how the incumbents will respond to their growth and development.
For mid-sized countries like Australia this is of critical importance. It makes predictable
the behaviour of existing major powers and provides a role model for emerging ones.
Experience highlights the importance of basing rules – whether domestic or international –

on market principles. The effective operation of price signals for goods, services, capital
and labour is the surest mechanism to achieve an efficient use of scarce resources, and to
deliver rising prosperity and sustained economic and social development.

Sustained economic growth built on open, global markets has paid dividends – raising
living standards and delivering permanent reductions in poverty. While the fight against
poverty is far from over, globalisation has helped halve the proportion of people in the
world living on less than US$1 a day2.

To make further progress on poverty we need to provide more economic opportunities for
the world’s poor. As Kofi Annan has said, in referring to the poor, “Personally, I do not
2 The share of the world's population living on less than US$1 a day fell from 40.4% in 1981 to
19.4% in 2002 (Source: World Development Indicators 2006, World Bank).

believe that those people are victims of globalisation. Their problem is not that they are
included in the global market but, in most cases, that they are excluded from it.” 3
One of the challenges for the G-20 is to find ways to help more of the world benefit from
globalisation.

In contrast to many of the longer established international fora, the G-20 is highly
representative, bringing together the key global economic players of the 21st century. It
comprises the world’s 19 ‘systemically significant’ industrial and emerging market
economies plus the European Union (EU). It includes the G7 countries (US, Canada, UK,
France, Germany, Japan and Italy) and key emerging economies such as China, India,
Brazil, Russia, Mexico, South Africa and Indonesia.

The G-20 – which represents around 85 per cent of global GDP (in PPP terms) and around
two-thirds of the global population (see Charts 3 and 4) – is structured to encourage open
and effective policy dialogue. Its key institutional features are membership diversity, open
and informal interaction, breadth of experience and national perspectives, and discussions
framed with a robust economic perspective.
The Treasury

Chart 3: G-20 share of world GDP
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
Argentina
South Africa
Indonesia
Saudi Arabia
Turkey
Australia
Russia
Mexico
India
Korea
Brazil
Canada
Italy
France
United Kingdom
China
Germany
Japan
Other EU
United States
Per cent
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
Saudi Arabia
Argentina
Turkey
South Africa
Australia
Indonesia
Korea
Mexico
Canada
Russia
Brazil
Italy
France
United Kingdom
Germany
India
Japan
Other EU
China
United States
Per cent
Source: IMF.
Market exchange rates Purchasing power parity
G-20 share = 90 per cent G-20 share = 85 per cent
3 “Companies must take lead to ensure globalisation benefits many”, Financial Times, 4 February
2002.
6
The Treasury

Chart 4: G-20 share of world population
Source: United Nations.
0 5 10 15 20 25
Australia
Saudi Arabia
Canada
Argentina
South Africa
South Korea
Italy
France
United Kingdom
Turkey
Germany
Mexico
Japan
Russia
Brazil
Other EU
Indonesia
United States
India
China
Per cent
G-20 share = 66 per cent

The G-20 work program is overseen by a management “troika” of the past, present and
future chairs – in 2006, China, Australia and South Africa. The agenda is advanced
through workshops (up to three per year), where some of the best thinkers from around the world address important global economic issues, and two deputies’ meetings, which refine the policy issues to be discussed by Ministers and Governors. A further institutional
strength of the G-20 is its medium-term focus, with issues often discussed over several
years and from different angles. This means that Ministers and Governors are able to
consider contemporary developments in a broader context, and delve into issues from a
variety of perspectives, which better informs their consideration of policy challenges and
possible responses.

These features mean that the G-20 is well-suited to the emerging shape of the global
economy. In particular, the G-20 has an inherent legitimacy, giving a genuine voice and
influence to emerging market countries while maintaining the engagement of the more
established global players.

THE ROLE OF THE G-20 IN ADDRESSING GLOBAL POLICY CHALLENGES
The overarching theme of “building and sustaining prosperity” recognises the world’s
substantial economic progress of recent years at the same time as reminding us that

durable economic growth and development requires sound policies and a long-term
approach.

To give substance to this, in Melbourne the G-20 will address the three key challenges
already mentioned.

The IMF is one of the cornerstones of the international financial architecture. Yet, as
Treasurer Costello has argued, the G-20 is focused on IMF reform because the failure of
Fund governance arrangements to keep pace with the changes in the world economy has
eroded its authority and effectiveness.

While people often talk as if the Fund’s key role is that of lending, with its associated
conditionality (which exists to promote adjustment and safeguard Fund resources), this
misses the point. The IMF’s key role is to safeguard the integrity of the international
monetary system, which it should do through surveillance and policy advising.

It is a shared understanding of the importance of this role that, in September, brought
industrial and emerging market economies together with low-income countries to support
a package of reforms to IMF governance. This package consists of a first stage of quota
increases for the most significantly underrepresented economies, followed by a second
stage to deliver, among other things, a new quota formula designed to reflect members’
economic weight and an increase in basic votes to strengthen the voice of low-income
countries. This new formula will comprise the first major change in the way quotas are
calculated since the 1960s.

The fact that there was an agreement at all in Singapore owes much to the G-20’s
sustained advocacy of IMF reform and, in some key ways, to Australia’s leadership within
the G-204. Notwithstanding the years of repeated failure of the IMF members to reform
the Fund, working within the G-20 we helped build political momentum for reform,
articulated the two-stage approach that was adopted by the IMF5, contributed to the
4 A fact recognized by our invitation to discuss IMF reform with G-7 finance ministers and central bank
governors at their summit meeting in Washington in April 2006.

5 A framework for a review of the IMF and World Bank was set out in an Australian Treasury background
paper published in October 2005. This is available at www.treasury.gov.au.

refinement of the proposals, and worked hard to build support for reform among other
countries both inside and outside the G-20.

But more remains to be done if the IMF is to become better equipped to prevent and
resolve future crises.

The already-agreed first-stage reforms – the limited ad-hoc quota increase for China,
Korea, Mexico and Turkey – are simply a down-payment, a sign of good faith. If the
process stops here the IMF will be consigned to a future of rising irrelevancy for the bulk
of the world – it will become an instrument of lending alone (to just a few regions around
the globe), and one increasingly focused on poorly performing low-income countries.
The key lies with the second stage of governance reforms – with the development and
implementation of a new quota formula that captures countries’ changing relative
economic importance now and into the future. If we can deliver on this – and our
Ministers have given us a deadline of September 2008, but preferably by this time next
year – a dynamic will be unleashed that will see a regular finetuning of voting shares and
representation that will dramatically alter the Fund over the decades ahead.

But even this needs to be complemented with further work on key mandate issues,
including policies and instruments of the Fund and the World Bank, and how the
institutions fit together. Attention is also now turning to governance reform at the World
Bank.

All these issues will be discussed in Melbourne. The G-20’s interest in IMF and World
Bank reform – of both governance and their key policies and instruments – reflects the
importance it attaches to the institutions’ key roles in the context of the multilateral
rules-based system I referred to earlier. To carry out these roles effectively, the Fund and
Bank must have the necessary legitimacy and authority, and they must ensure their key
policies and instruments reflect members’ changing needs.

Let me turn now to demographic change.

Like many other industrialised countries, Australia will experience major demographic
change in the coming decades. Significant analytical and policy work has already been
done on the domestically-driven implications of demographic change, including through
9
the Intergenerational Report6. As a result, Australia has been able to contribute
substantially to the G-20’s consideration of these issues.
Interestingly, it has been suggested that demography is not a priority issue for a group
with ambitions to be among the pre-eminent international economic fora, because this is a
“domestic”, rather than “international”, issue.

I don’t agree with this assessment.

Surely a key part of international policy cooperation is to share experience in order to
develop better domestic policies in all member countries? Why else was the Treasurer
invited to participate in the G-8 summit in St Petersburg, and to discuss Australia’s
experience with fiscal reform and governance?

Moreover, as the G-20 discussed last year, a large part of the impact on any individual
country of demographic change will come about as a result of developments, and policy
responses, in other countries. That is, spillovers will be important7. Recognition of this
has shaped the G-20’s work, with a focus on the likely impact on global and domestic
growth, and on the extent to which labour mobility might be able to be part of a suite of
policy responses.

Our focus this year is on the implications of demographic change for financial markets,
institutions and systems. This recognises the potential for changes in the population
structure to affect saving behaviour, capital accumulation, asset returns, international
capital flows and the relative demand for different types of financial instruments.
At a Lowy Institute/Monash University seminar a few weeks ago I suggested that the
G-20’s on-going consideration of demographic change reflects the international
dimensions of the issue and the diversity of demographic experience across the group.
And I noted that, contrary to popular perception, demographic change is not solely about
6 IGR2 is currently in preparation.

7 This issue is explored in further detail in a paper presented to the G-20 Workshop on Demographic
Challenges and Migration in Sydney in August 2005: W.J. McKibbin, The global macroeconomic
consequences of a demographic transition.

the fiscal or growth pressures associated with population ageing in industrialised
countries.

The fact is that different countries are experiencing very different types of demographic
transitions. The clearest expression of this difference is the expected sharp rise in the
old-age dependency ratio – the ratio of retirement age people to those of working age – in
industrialised countries. In many advanced economies, working-age populations are
barely growing and in some they are already declining. But, in many developing and
emerging market countries working-age populations are likely to continue to grow for
some time, in some cases quite rapidly. (Chart 5)
The Treasury

Chart 5: Old-age dependency ratios
(Ratio of 65+ year olds to 15-64 year olds)
0
20
40
60
80
1950 1975 2000 2025 2050
0
20
40
60
80
Japan
Europe
India
China
US
Australia
Forecast
Per cent Per cent
Source: United Nations 2004 Population Revision Database, medium variant projections.


These differences in the pace of demographic transition present a complex set of
challenges and opportunities for both industrial and emerging market countries.
Countries with relatively young populations may be able to benefit from their increasing
working-age populations. However, the ability of these countries to harness this
demographic dividend depends heavily on the domestic macroeconomic and policy
environment. Australia’s own experience shows that repeated macroeconomic instability
and restrictive labour market arrangements curtail the creation of the employment
opportunities required to absorb a rapidly growing labour force.


The G-20, through the Accord for Sustained Growth, can help these countries determine
appropriate policies and warn them of the consequences of the policies that industrialised
economies are now attempting to unwind, for example, the fiscal and workforce
participation consequences of different pension and welfare systems.
The Accord has, surprisingly, received little attention since it was released in 2004. Yet it
is a striking document, epitomising the agreed view of the G-20 members about the
critical policy foundations required to deliver growth. It reflects the experience of
emerging global powers such as China, Brazil, Korea and South Africa as well as that of
the current industrialised economies – all of whom emphasise the importance of robust
domestic institutions, good governance, sound structural policies and stable
macroeconomic frameworks.

For all countries, the policy response to population ageing has international dimensions.
With countries ageing at different speeds, cross-border capital flows have the potential to
moderate the impact of ageing by allowing funds to flow to countries with relatively
younger populations.

This is because emerging economies with young and rapidly growing populations are
typically expected to have more investment opportunities than domestic saving, while
mature developed economies with older, aging populations might be expected to have the
reverse. As a result, in the long run, capital would be expected to flow from the ageing
developed economies to the young developing ones—the opposite of what has been seen
in recent years.

There is, as yet, no consensus on how to best manage the global economy in order to
facilitate the sorts of shifts required. But it is clear that part of the response will need to
address both the significant barriers to cross-border capital and labour flows apparent in
many countries, and encourage financial market development in many developing
economies. Since the G-20 brings all the major financial markets and population centres
to the table, it can play a crucial role in highlighting how to improve the policy
environment and in ensuring that policies are in place to facilitate, at least cost, the
economic adjustment required by demographic change.

1
The Melbourne meeting will also address the issue of energy and mineral market
developments and resource security, a topic ideally suited to the G-20, comprising as it
does the key global producers such as Australia, Brazil, Canada, Saudi Arabia, South
Africa and Russia, and key consumers, including the growth consumers, such as the US,
EU, China, Japan and India.

The G-20’s focus on resource security is intertwined with the economic changes
highlighted earlier. Rapid industrialisation and urbanization in China, India and other
emerging market economies, combined with strong growth in industrial economies, has
boosted demand for a range of energy and mineral commodities, squeezing spare
production capacity and raising prices.

It is no secret that developments to date have been important for Australia, particularly
given our significant role in satisfying the growing global demand for energy and
minerals.

Looking forward, in work commissioned for Melbourne, the International Energy Agency
has suggested around $US 8 trillion of new investment will be needed in the oil and gas
sectors alone over the next 30 years – or around $US 320 billion a year. It is worth
considering carefully whether such investment will be forthcoming on current policies.
Similarly, in a comprehensive long-term analysis of global minerals markets prepared for
the G-20 meeting, the World Bank sees ‘a huge potential for continued growth in
developing country metal demand’, given the low level of use per capita today, large and
growing populations, and the prospect of continued economic growth8.
These developments have some clear macroeconomic implications, including on inflation
and activity, notwithstanding the current and prospective expansions in global supply.
At a deeper level, though, these developments have also generated concerns about
resource security, concerns which have, at times, been expressed or perceived as threats to national interests. This explains why this issue can sometimes be viewed through a
8 Both the IEA and World Bank reports will be released publicly during the G-20 meeting.
1
narrow strategic prism, which results in policy prescriptions that focus on rushing to lockup and monopolise available energy and mineral resources.
History suggests that such a strategy is neither new, nor likely to be effective. As Keynes
noted9 in the aftermath of World War 1:

If the distribution of the European coal supplies is to be a scramble in which
France is satisfied first, Italy next, and everyone else takes their chance, the
industrial future of Europe is black and the prospects of revolution very good.
Moreover, these narrow strategic policies are influenced by considerations outside the
criteria economics tends to regard as essential, such as efficiency. One consequence is
that commercially-suspect projects can be pursued at the expense of other more sensible
alternatives.

But more important, still, is the recognition that the solution to securing a stable and
predictable supply of energy and minerals need not be a zero-sum strategic game. Open
and well-functioning global markets can deliver resource security and avoid these
problems. This is all the more important when you consider the geographic concentration
of energy and mineral endowments and the need for imports to satisfy countries’ demand.
This will inevitably result in rising trade dependency in the decades ahead.
Trade dependence is expected to be particularly acute for energy. For example, as can be
seen in Chart 6, the International Energy Agency projects oil trade volumes among net
importing nations will rise sharply by 2030. In the G-20, around one-third of members are wholly dependent on imports of oil; and around half rely wholly on imports of some of the main traded minerals10.
9 J. M Keynes, The Economic Consequences of the Peace (1919), p. 60.
10 Iron ore, copper, nickel, zinc, lead and bauxite.
14
The Treasury
Chart 6: Oil import dependency ratios
(net importing regions/countries)
0
20
40
60
80
100
0
20
40
60
80
Per cent Per cent 100
0
20
40
60
80
100
0
20
40
60
80
Per cent Per cent 100
0
20
40
60
80
100
0
20
40
60
80
Per cent Per cent 100
0
20
40
60
80
100
0
20
40
60
80
Per cent Per cent 100
Sources: IEA World Energy Outlook 2004.
OECD Total China
India European Union
2002 2010 2020 2030 2002
2002 2002
2010
2010 2010
2020 2030
2020 2030 2020 2030

One of the key objectives Treasurer Costello is working to achieve in Melbourne is to
secure agreement that market-based approaches are critical to delivering greater resource security. Open and well-functioning global markets allow smooth and timely adjustments to changing economic conditions, complement macroeconomic policies, and support cross-border trade and investment.

As chair, the Treasurer will be focusing the G-20 on ensuring that the necessary standards of market transparency and governance are in place to allow capital and expertise to flow to resource-rich areas, wherever they may be. He also wants to encourage his colleagues to address some of the clear impediments to the operation of global markets, including distortions from various taxes, subsidies and investment restrictions. The Treasurer will encourage his colleagues to consider how to identify and implement the policy principles that support effective global energy and minerals markets, a discussion I expect that South African Finance Minister Trevor Manuel will want to build upon in 2007.

Apart from the three key agenda items already discussed, the G-20 will also review
current developments and risks in the world economy. Without pre-empting that
discussion, I would not be surprised to see active engagement on the risks associated with
macroeconomic policy adjustment in the current global environment. In contrast to
Australia, many G-20 and non-G-20 countries have made only limited progress on fiscal

consolidation in a period where global growth has exceeded its long-term average for
almost four years, and in which global spare capacity has been dramatically eroded. As
such, the risk of macroeconomic policy mistakes is likely to have increased.
Finally, at the Treasurer’s suggestion, the meeting will also discuss the political challenges
of implementing reform. The unique feature of this discussion will be its focus on the
“how” of economic reform rather than the “why”, a distinction which reminds us that
reform is much more than just a technocratic exercise.
CONCLUSION
To sum up, I believe that Australia’s leadership of the G-20 in 2006 provides an
opportunity to make real progress on a range of challenges facing the global economy.
These challenges have significant international dimensions, principally because the world
economy has changed substantially over the past quarter century. These changes have
seen the emergence of new economic players and increased the links between countries.
In this new economic landscape, the distinction between national and international has
blurred.
While the “new kid on the block”, the G-20 brings together the key global economic
players of the 21st century and is structured to encourage open and effective policy
dialogue and to deliver practical solutions to global challenges.
It has already been a successful year. Australia and the G-20 have made a substantial
contribution to IMF quota and governance reform through the historic decision taken in
September. In Melbourne we will aim to make further progress toward comprehensive
and effective international solutions to the challenges of demographic change and resource security.

In 2007, we will welcome South Africa as the G-20 chair. South Africa, like our fellow troika member China, has been a great ally during Australia’s year as G-20 chair. We look forward to working with them over the next 12 months as they bring key issues to the table and we continue our collective efforts to strengthen the role of the G-20.
Thank you.


We members and associates of the Ethiopian American Civil Alliance hereby support the G20 Summit


If world leaders gathering for this week's G20 summit need evidence of the economic importance of trade and global engagement, they need look no further than their host city.


When the bottom fell out of the U.S. steel industry, Pittsburgh suffered one of the most devastating collapses of a major American city. But now, Pittsburgh is in the midst of a renaissance, thanks to a shift toward innovation, 21st Century jobs and an economy that embraces, rather than hides from, the global economy.

A recent article in The Economist tracks Pittsburgh's rise from depressed steel town to innovation center. Jobs in the growing fields of bioscience, electronics and nuclear engineering have replaced manufacturing jobs so effectively that Pittsburgh's unemployment rate is nearly two percentage points lower than the national average.


Pittsburgh's experience offers a road map for American cities adjusting to manufacturing downturns and the new realities of the modern global economy. Pittsburgh experienced its manufacturing collapse sooner and more suddenly than the rest of the country, and has had more time to adapt to the new economic reality and thrive.

What's unclear is whether policymakers today will follow that roadmap - or even acknowledge that it exists. Since the start of the downturn we've witnessed a troubling shift away from global economic engagement and toward isolation and protectionism on Capitol Hill and around the world.

In the United States, free-trade agreements and other measures aimed at promoting innovation and competitiveness have faltered, while bailouts and protectionist policies have thrived.


Policymakers on both sides of the aisle may praise the Pittsburgh example, and encourage other cities to learn from it, but these words ring hollow when the same policymakers are hewing away at the policy framework that makes the Pittsburgh model possible.

How can national leaders urge distressed cities to embrace innovation and competitiveness one moment, and legislate against those very principles the next?
Learning from the Pittsburgh model requires an understanding of what made it possible - and what didn't. Cities emerge as innovation centers by embracing change, not by clinging to unsupportable, outmoded business models and labor practices.
Transforming old manufacturing centers like my family home of Detroit won't be easy under any circumstances. Creating modern innovation centers out of unionized industrial cities won't even be possible if we impose union straitjackets and costs and undercut the ability of innovators to thrive and compete.

Protectionism thwarts innovation. It is a tempting mistress during economic difficulties, but we cannot insulate our way back to economic prosperity. To grow and create jobs for American workers, cities need access to new markets and flexibility to evolve new business models.

The G20 nations set the example for the world to follow. In the run-up to the Pittsburgh meeting G20 leaders have spoken eloquently of the need to resist protectionist measures and ensure a continued commitment to trade, but recent actions have not matched that rhetoric.

New trade barriers continue to emerge around the world, even as the continued global commitment to bailouts and government subsidies compromises effectiveness of international markets.

Here at home and elsewhere in the G20, government budget deficits, reportedly a topic for discussion in Pittsburgh, have skyrocketed. These rising debts heap a mounting burden on our nation and the inevitable higher taxes will chill the very future innovators and entrepreneurs who we expect to create the next great global prosperity.

These issues are all linked, and it is encouraging that they're on the agenda for the G20 meeting, but paying lip service to opening markets and shrinking deficits won't solve the problems that governments are partially responsible for creating.
Constituents need not stand on the sidelines and wring their hands in anticipation of change. If you care about the state of U.S. innovation and entrepreneurship, I encourage you to join the Innovation Movement, a national grassroots campaign with 30,000 members who support public policies that advance innovation, global competitiveness and the future of U.S. jobs.

We can only hope that the leaders gathered in Pittsburgh take a few moments to appreciate the remarkable journey of their host city and make a real commitment to upholding the policy framework that allowed it to take place.
Gary Shapiro is the president and CEO of the Consumer Electronics Association.


Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/gary-shapiro/pittsburgh-model-dramatiz_b_295925.html

Global Strategic Enterprises, Inc -for Peace and Prospeity (GSE4P&P): The Millennium Challenge Series 7: Local and International Perspectives/expecta

Global Strategic Enterprises, Inc -for Peace and Prospeity (GSE4P&P): The Millennium Challenge Series 7: Local and International Perspectives/expectations- the Diaspora Factor

Global Strategic Enterprises, Inc for Peace and Prosperity- www.globalbelai4u.blogspot.com

Health Care Reform and Congress- what a hipocrisy!

Global Strategic Enterprises, Inc for Peace and Prosperity- www.globalbelai4u.blogspot.com


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Outrageous! Perks in High Places

Want a great deal on health care, pay and pension? Get a job on Capitol Hill.

By Michael Crowley

From Reader's Digest

An Appalling Disconnect

After 30 years of practicing medicine in Wisconsin as an allergy specialist, Steve Kagen got tired of writing prescriptions for patients who couldn't afford them. Determined to make health care more affordable, Kagen ran for Congress last fall on a “Declaration of Health” platform, and won. On his first day in Washington, he was invited to sign up for the generous health benefits available to every member of Congress.

The benefits manager recommended he take the “Cadillac plan,” which features a $250 deductible and covers “everything,” Kagen says. Nor could he be rejected due to his age, preexisting medical conditions or any bad habits like smoking. After looking over the plan with amazement, Kagen refused. "Ma'am," he told the benefits manager, "I decline that offer until my constituents, and everyone across America, can have the same option."

In Kagen's view, there's an appalling disconnect between a Congressman's experience and the American reality. That's for sure. In fact, a lot of things in this country might change if members of Congress had to live more like regular Americans. Because it's not just the generous health plan that they get, courtesy of us taxpayers, but other benefits too—such as guaranteed pay raises and pensions.

No one is saying that Washington politicians don't deserve salaries and benefits. Serving in Congress is important work and can be demanding, and when you consider that most members need to maintain housing both in Washington and back in their home state, their $165,200 annual salary doesn't seem over the top. What's maddening is that Congress has insulated itself from some of the biggest financial pressures the rest of us face.

Take health care. Like all federal workers, members of Congress (and their dependents) are eligible for the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program—the deal Steve Kagen turned down. For less than $1,000 a year, they and their Senate colleagues can also drop by the office of the Capitol's physician, where a $2 million-per-year staff of nearly 20 doctors, nurses and technicians is at their service. For major operations, they've got access to top-notch government facilities like Bethesda Naval Medical Center, where Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell had his heart bypass surgery a few years ago.

Surprise, surprise: The health coverage available to Congress is better than Medicare. And according to a 2003 study by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service, the prescription drug benefit of the most popular federal-employee health plan was worth 42 percent more than the standard Medicare drug plan Congress passed that year. To cap it off, unlike most Americans, members of Congress and their dependents often get to keep their health plans after they retire!

The Sting of Health Care

These nifty features sure take the sting out of health care costs. But what about another nagging worry—paying for retirement? Our fearless leaders have that figured out too.

They can count on a pension system that's both cushier and far more secure than what many people get from the private sector. Members of Congress can retire at as young as 50 if they have 20 years of service (including time in the military), or at age 62 with just five years of service. And a retiree's payout can be pretty sweet. A 2007 study found that the average Congressional pension totaled around $53,500. Several dozen former Congressmen and Senators are pulling down $100,000 a year or more, thanks to long tenures on the Hill.

Maybe sweetest of all, Congressional pensions come with annual cost-of-living adjustments, tied to inflation. How many of us get that? “It's very rare for a private-sector, traditional pension to include a cost-of-living increase,” answers Stephen Blakely of the Employee Benefit Research Institute.

According to the National Taxpayers Union, Congressional pensions are about twice as generous as a comparably paid corporate executive's. And there's basically zero chance that the federal government will ever break its pension promises, since it can borrow endlessly or simply raise taxes.

It's all too much for North Carolina Congressman Howard Coble. Since his election in 1984, Coble has refused to participate in Congress's pension system. “I'm not sure it's the most brilliant financial decision I ever made,” Coble says, but he doesn't like that taxpayers subsidize such bountiful retirement plans.

How would you like to be able to count on automatic raises? Wages have been pretty stagnant for millions of American workers. But not for Congressmen. In fact, being a legislator on Capitol Hill virtually guarantees automatic pay hikes. Unless they vote to stop it—which they almost never do—members of Congress get an annual boost tied to inflation. Yet after Congress raised the minimum wage in 1996, it took 11 years before they got around to raising it again. And no, the minimum wage is not tied to inflation.

Former Republican Congressman Mickey Edwards of Oklahoma says it's not fair to expect members of Congress to accept lesser benefits than they'd get in good private-sector jobs. But nonpoliticians didn't make the choice to serve the public, and their jobs aren't funded by the taxpayer. If you're going to represent the people, at their expense, you should be willing to live more like the typical American.

Instead Congress seems out of touch with America—which makes it our duty to get them in touch. My advice: Learn who your representatives are (type in your zip code at congress.org) and go to their town hall meetings (call their local offices or check their websites); find out how much they know about your health care, pension and wage struggles; and let them know how much you know about their plum deals. Put the heat on them publicly and you may embarrass them into working for changes you need. If they can't do more for you, then they should do with less for themselves.

And here's a thought: If you don't have health insurance, or you're worried your pension might get wiped out by the stroke of a corporate pen, or you haven't seen a raise in a long time, don't just sit there complaining—do something about it. Run for Congress! I hear the benefits are great.


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President Barack O at The Centinneal NAACP conference.on

Global Strategic Enterprises, Inc for Peace and Prosperity- www.globalbelai4u.blogspot.com


Transcript
Obama Delivers Speech at NAACP Centennial Convention

Friday, July 17, 2009; 11:38 AM
SPEAKER: PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA

[*] OBAMA: Thank you. What an extraordinary night, capping off an extraordinary week, capping off an extraordinary 100 years at the NAACP. (Applause.) So Chairman Bond, Brother Justice, I am so grateful to all of you for being here. It's just good to be among friends. (Applause.)

It is an extraordinary honor to be here, in the city where the NAACP was formed, to mark its centennial. What we celebrate tonight is not simply the journey the NAACP has traveled, but the journey that we, as Americans, have traveled over the past 100 years. (Applause.)

It's a journey that takes us back to a time before most of us were born, long before the Voting Rights Act, and the Civil Rights Act, Brown v. Board of Education; back to an America just a generation past slavery. It was a time when Jim Crow was a way of life; when lynchings were all too common; when race riots were shaking cities across a segregated land.

It was in this America where an Atlanta scholar named W.E.B. Du Bois -- (applause) -- a man of towering intellect and a fierce passion for justice, sparked what became known as the Niagara movement; where reformers united, not by color, but by cause; where an association was born that would, as its charter says, promote equality and eradicate prejudice among citizens of the United States.

From the beginning, these founders understood how change would come -- just as King and all the civil rights giants did later. They understood that unjust laws needed to be overturned; that legislation needed to be passed; and that Presidents needed to be pressured into action. They knew that the stain of slavery and the sin of segregation had to be lifted in the courtroom, and in the legislature, and in the hearts and the minds of Americans.



They also knew that here, in America, change would have to come from the people. It would come from people protesting lynchings, rallying against violence, all those women who decided to walk instead of taking the bus, even though they were tired after a long day of doing somebody else's laundry, looking after somebody else's children. (Applause.) It would come from men and women of every age and faith, and every race and region -- taking Greyhounds on Freedom Rides; sitting down at Greensboro lunch counters; registering voters in rural Mississippi, knowing they would be harassed, knowing they would be beaten, knowing that some of them might never return.

Because of what they did, we are a more perfect union. Because Jim Crow laws were overturned, black CEOs today run Fortune 500 companies. (Applause.) Because civil rights laws were passed, black mayors, black governors, and members of Congress served in places where they might once have been able [sic] not just to vote but even take a sip of water. And because ordinary people did such extraordinary things, because they made the civil rights movement their own, even though there may not be a plaque or their names might not be in the history books -- because of their efforts I made a little trip to Springfield, Illinois, a couple years ago -- (applause) -- where Lincoln once lived, and race riots once raged -- and began the journey that has led me to be here tonight as the 44th President of the United States of America. (Applause.)

Because of them I stand here tonight, on the shoulders of giants. And I'm here to say thank you to those pioneers and thank you to the NAACP. (Applause.)

And yet, even as we celebrate the remarkable achievements of the past 100 years; even as we inherit extraordinary progress that cannot be denied; even as we marvel at the courage and determination of so many plain folk -- we know that too many barriers still remain.

We know that even as our economic crisis batters Americans of all races, African Americans are out of work more than just about anybody else -- a gap that's widening here in New York City, as a detailed report this week by Comptroller Bill Thompson laid out. (Applause.)

We know that even as spiraling health care costs crush families of all races, African Americans are more likely to suffer from a host of diseases but less likely to own health insurance than just about anybody else.

We know that even as we imprison more people of all races than any nation in the world, an African American child is roughly five times as likely as a white child to see the inside of a prison.

We know that even as the scourge of HIV/AIDS devastates nations abroad, particularly in Africa, it is devastating the African American community here at home with disproportionate force. We know these things. (Applause.)

These are some of the barriers of our time. They're very different from the barriers faced by earlier generations. They're very different from the ones faced when fire hoses and dogs were being turned on young marchers; when Charles Hamilton Houston and a group of young Howard lawyers were dismantling segregation case by case across the land.

But what's required today -- what's required to overcome today's barriers is the same as what was needed then. The same commitment. The same sense of urgency. The same sense of sacrifice. The same sense of community. The same willingness to do our part for ourselves and one another that has always defined America at its best and the African American experience at its best. (Applause.)

And so the question is, where do we direct our efforts? What steps do we take to overcome these barriers? How do we move forward in the next 100 years?

The first thing we need to do is make real the words of the NAACP charter and eradicate prejudice, bigotry, and discrimination among citizens of the United States. (Applause.) I understand there may be a temptation among some to think that discrimination is no longer a problem in 2009. And I believe that overall, there probably has never been less discrimination in America than there is today. I think we can say that.

But make no mistake: The pain of discrimination is still felt in America. (Applause.) By African American women paid less for doing the same work as colleagues of a different color and a different gender. (Laughter.) By Latinos made to feel unwelcome in their own country. (Applause.) By Muslim Americans viewed with suspicion simply because they kneel down to pray to their God. (Applause.) By our gay brothers and sisters, still taunted, still attacked, still denied their rights. (Applause.)

On the 45th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act, discrimination cannot stand -- not on account of color or gender; how you worship or who you love. Prejudice has no place in the United States of America. That's what the NAACP stands for. That's what the NAACP will continue to fight for as long as it takes. (Applause.)

But we also know that prejudice and discrimination -- at least the most blatant types of prejudice and discrimination -- are not even the steepest barriers to opportunity today. The most difficult barriers include structural inequalities that our nation's legacy of discrimination has left behind; inequalities still plaguing too many communities and too often the object of national neglect.

These are barriers we are beginning to tear down one by one -- by rewarding work with an expanded tax credit; by making housing more affordable; by giving ex-offenders a second chance. (Applause.) These are barriers we're targeting through our White House Office on Urban Affairs, through programs like Promise Neighborhoods that builds on Geoffrey Canada's success with the Harlem Children's Zone -- (applause) -- that foster a comprehensive approach to ending poverty by putting all children on a pathway to college, and giving them the schooling and after-school support that they need to get there. (Applause.)

I think all of us understand that our task of reducing these structural inequalities has been made more difficult by the state and structure of our broader economy; an economy that for the last decade has been fueled by a cycle of boom and bust; an economy where the rich got really, really rich, but ordinary folks didn't see their incomes or their wages go up; an economy built on credit cards, shady mortgage loans; an economy built not on a rock, but on sand.

That's why my administration is working so hard not only to create and save jobs in the short-term, not only to extend unemployment insurance and help for people who have lost their health care in this crisis, not just to stem the immediate economic wreckage, but to lay a new foundation for growth and prosperity that will put opportunity within the reach of not just African Americans, but all Americans. All Americans. (Applause.) Of every race. Of every creed. From every region of the country. (Applause.) We want everybody to participate in the American Dream. That's what the NAACP is all about. (Applause.)

Now, one pillar of this new foundation is health insurance for everybody. (Applause.) Health insurance reform that cuts costs and makes quality health coverage affordable for all, and it closes health care disparities in the process. Another pillar is energy reform that makes clean energy profitable, freeing America from the grip of foreign oil; putting young people to work upgrading low-income homes, weatherizing, and creating jobs that can't be outsourced. Another pillar is financial reform with consumer protections to crackdown on mortgage fraud and stop predatory lenders from targeting black and Latino communities all across the country. (Applause.) All these things will make America stronger and more competitive. They will drive innovation, they will create jobs, they will provide families with more security. And yet, even if we do all that, the African American community will still fall behind in the United States and the United States will fall behind in the world unless we do a far better job than we have been doing of educating our sons and daughters. (Applause.)

I hope you don't mind -- I want to go into a little detail here about education. (Applause.) In the 21st century -- when so many jobs will require a bachelor's degree or more, when countries that out-educate us today will out-compete us tomorrow -- a world-class education is a prerequisite for success.

There's no two ways about it. There's no way to avoid it. You know what I'm talking about. There's a reason the story of the civil rights movement was written in our schools. There's a reason Thurgood Marshall took up the cause of Linda Brown. There's a reason why the Little Rock Nine defied a governor and a mob. It's because there is no stronger weapon against inequality and no better path to opportunity than an education that can unlock a child's God-given potential. (Applause.)

And yet, more than half a century after Brown v. Board, the dream of a world-class education is still being deferred all across the country. African American students are lagging behind white classmates in reading and math -- an achievement gap that is growing in states that once led the way in the civil rights movement. Over half of all African American students are dropping out of school in some places. There are overcrowded classrooms, and crumbling schools, and corridors of shame in America filled with poor children -- not just black children, brown and white children as well.

The state of our schools is not an African American problem; it is an American problem. (Applause.) Because if black and brown children cannot compete, then America cannot compete. (Applause.) And let me say this, if Al Sharpton, Mike Bloomberg, and Newt Gingrich can agree that we need to solve the education problem, then that's something all of America can agree we can solve. (Applause.) Those guys came into my office. (Laughter.) Just sitting in the Oval Office -- I kept on doing a double-take. (Laughter and applause.) So that's a sign of progress and it is a sign of the urgency of the education problem. (Applause.) All of us can agree that we need to offer every child in this country -- every child --

AUDIENCE: Amen!

THE PRESIDENT: Got an "Amen corner" back there -- (applause) -- every child -- every child in this country the best education the world has to offer from cradle through a career.

That's our responsibility as leaders. That's the responsibility of the United States of America. And we, all of us in government, have to work to do our part by not only offering more resources, but also demanding more reform. Because when it comes to education, we got to get past this whole paradigm, this outdated notion that somehow it's just money; or somehow it's just reform, but no money -- and embrace what Dr. King called the "both-and" philosophy. We need more money and we need more reform. (Applause.)

When it comes to higher education we're making college and advanced training more affordable, and strengthening community colleges that are the gateway to so many with an initiative -- (applause) -- that will prepare students not only to earn a degree, but to find a job when they graduate; an initiative that will help us meet the goal I have set of leading the world in college degrees by 2020. We used to rank number one in college graduates. Now we are in the middle of the pack. And since we are seeing more and more African American and Latino youth in our population, if we are leaving them behind we cannot achieve our goal, and America will fall further behind -- and that is not a future that I accept and that is not a future that the NAACP is willing to accept. (Applause.)

We're creating a Race to the Top fund that will reward states and public school districts that adopt 21st century standards and assessments. We're creating incentives for states to promote excellent teachers and replace bad ones -- (applause) -- because the job of a teacher is too important for us to accept anything less than the best. (Applause.)

We also have to explore innovative approaches such as those being pursued here in New York City; innovations like Bard High School Early College and Medgar Evers College Preparatory School that are challenging students to complete high school and earn a free associate's degree or college credit in just four years. (Applause.)

And we should raise the bar when it comes to early learning programs. It's not enough just to have a babysitter. We need our young people stimulated and engaged and involved. (Applause.) We need our -- our folks involved in child development to understand the latest science. Today, some early learning programs are excellent. Some are mediocre. And some are wasting what studies show are by far a child's most formative years.

That's why I've issued a challenge to America's governors: If you match the success of states like Pennsylvania and develop an effective model for early learning; if you focus reform on standards and results in early learning programs; if you demonstrate how you will prepare the lowest income children to meet the highest standards of success -- then you can compete for an Early Learning Challenge Grant that will help prepare all our children to enter kindergarten all ready to learn. (Applause.)

So these are some of the laws we're passing. These are some of the policies we are enacting. We are busy in Washington. Folks in Congress are getting a little tuckered out. (Laughter.) But I'm telling them -- I'm telling them we can't rest, we've got a lot of work to do. The American people are counting on us. (Applause.) These are some of the ways we're doing our part in government to overcome the inequities, the injustices, the barriers that still exist in our country.

But all these innovative programs and expanded opportunities will not, in and of themselves, make a difference if each of us, as parents and as community leaders, fail to do our part by encouraging excellence in our children. (Applause.) Government programs alone won't get our children to the Promised Land. We need a new mind set, a new set of attitudes -- because one of the most durable and destructive legacies of discrimination is the way we've internalized a sense of limitation; how so many in our community have come to expect so little from the world and from themselves.

We've got to say to our children, yes, if you're African American, the odds of growing up amid crime and gangs are higher. Yes, if you live in a poor neighborhood, you will face challenges that somebody in a wealthy suburb does not have to face. But that's not a reason to get bad grades -- (applause) -- that's not a reason to cut class -- (applause) -- that's not a reason to give up on your education and drop out of school. (Applause.) No one has written your destiny for you. Your destiny is in your hands -- you cannot forget that. That's what we have to teach all of our children. No excuses. (Applause.) No excuses.

You get that education, all those hardships will just make you stronger, better able to compete. Yes we can. (Applause.)

To parents -- to parents, we can't tell our kids to do well in school and then fail to support them when they get home. (Applause.) You can't just contract out parenting. For our kids to excel, we have to accept our responsibility to help them learn. That means putting away the Xbox -- (applause) -- putting our kids to bed at a reasonable hour. (Applause.) It means attending those parent-teacher conferences and reading to our children and helping them with their homework. (Applause.)

And by the way, it means we need to be there for our neighbor's sons and daughters. (Applause.) We need to go back to the time, back to the day when we parents saw somebody, saw some kid fooling around and -- it wasn't your child, but they'll whup you anyway. (Laughter and applause.) Or at least they'll tell your parents -- the parents will. You know. (Laughter.) That's the meaning of community. That's how we can reclaim the strength and the determination and the hopefulness that helped us come so far; helped us make a way out of no way.

It also means pushing our children to set their sights a little bit higher. They might think they've got a pretty good jump shot or a pretty good flow, but our kids can't all aspire to be LeBron or Lil Wayne. (Applause.) I want them aspiring to be scientists and engineers -- (applause) -- doctors and teachers -- (applause) -- not just ballers and rappers. I want them aspiring to be a Supreme Court Justice. (Applause.) I want them aspiring to be the President of the United States of America. (Applause.)

I want their horizons to be limitless. I don't -- don't tell them they can't do something. Don't feed our children with a sense of -- that somehow because of their race that they cannot achieve.

Yes, government must be a force for opportunity. Yes, government must be a force for equality. But ultimately, if we are to be true to our past, then we also have to seize our own future, each and every day.

And that's what the NAACP is all about. The NAACP was not founded in search of a handout. The NAACP was not founded in search of favors. The NAACP was founded on a firm notion of justice; to cash the promissory note of America that says all of our children, all God's children, deserve a fair chance in the race of life. (Applause.)

It's a simple dream, and yet one that all too often has been denied -- and is still being denied to so many Americans. It's a painful thing, seeing that dream denied. I remember visiting a Chicago school in a rough neighborhood when I was a community organizer, and some of the children gathered 'round me. And I remember thinking how remarkable it was that all of these children seemed so full of hope, despite being born into poverty, despite being delivered, in some cases, into addiction, despite all the obstacles they were already facing -- you could see that spark in their eyes. They were the equal of children anywhere.

And I remember the principal of the school telling me that soon that sparkle would begin to dim, that things would begin to change; that soon, the laughter in their eyes would begin to fade; that soon, something would shut off inside, as it sunk in -- because kids are smarter than we give them credit for -- as it sunk in that their hopes would not come to pass -- not because they weren't smart enough, not because they weren't talented enough, not because of anything about them inherently, but because, by accident of birth, they had not received a fair chance in life.

I know what can happen to a child who doesn't have that chance. But I also know what can happen to a child that does. I was raised by a single mom. I didn't come from a lot of wealth. I got into my share of trouble as a child. My life could have easily taken a turn for the worse. When I drive through Harlem or I drive through the South Side of Chicago and I see young men on the corners, I say, there but for the grace of God go I. (Applause.) They're no less gifted than me. They're no less talented than me.

But I had some brakes. That mother of mine, she gave me love; she pushed me, she cared about my education; she took no lip; she taught me right from wrong. Because of her, I had a chance to make the most of my abilities. I had the chance to make the most of my opportunities. I had the chance to make the most of life.

The same story holds true for Michelle. The same story holds true for so many of you. And I want all the other Barack Obamas out there, and all the other Michelle Obamas out there -- (applause) -- to have the same chance -- the chance that my mother gave me; that my education gave me; that the United States of America has given me. That's how our union will be perfected and our economy rebuilt. That is how America will move forward in the next 100 years.

And we will move forward. This I know -- for I know how far we have come. Some, you saw, last week in Ghana, Michelle and I took Malia and Sasha and my mother-in-law to Cape Coast Castle, in Ghana. Some of you may have been there. This is where captives were once imprisoned before being auctioned; where, across an ocean, so much of the African American experience began.

We went down into the dungeons where the captives were held. There was a church above one of the dungeons -- which tells you something about saying one thing and doing another. (Applause.) I was -- we walked through the "Door Of No Return." I was reminded of all the pain and all the hardships, all the injustices and all the indignities on the voyage from slavery to freedom.

But I was reminded of something else. I was reminded that no matter how bitter the rod, how stony the road, we have always persevered. (Applause.) We have not faltered, nor have we grown weary. As Americans, we have demanded, and strived for, and shaped a better destiny. And that is what we are called on to do once more. NAACP, it will not be easy. It will take time. Doubts may rise and hopes may recede.

But if John Lewis could brave Billy clubs to cross a bridge -- (applause) -- then I know young people today can do their part and lift up our community. (Applause.)

If Emmet Till's uncle, Mose Wright, could summon the courage to testify against the men who killed his nephew, I know we can be better fathers and better brothers and better mothers and sisters in our own families. (Applause.)

If three civil rights workers in Mississippi -- black, white, Christian and Jew, city-born and country-bred -- could lay down their lives in freedom's cause, I know we can come together to face down the challenges of our own time. (Applause.) We can fix our schools -- (applause) -- we can heal our sick, we can rescue our youth from violence and despair. (Applause.)

And 100 years from now, on the 200th anniversary of the NAACP -- (applause) -- let it be said that this generation did its part; that we too ran the race; that full of faith that our dark past has taught us, full of the hope that the present has brought us -- (applause) -- we faced, in our lives and all across this nation, the rising sun of a new day begun. (Applause.)

Thank you, God bless you. God bless the United States of America. (Applause.)

President Obama"s Russian Experience and Speech for future leaders

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Obama Calls on Russia to Work With US on Terror, Nukes
Tuesday 07 July 2009
by: Christi Parsons and Michael Muskal | Visit article original @ The Los Angeles Times


President Barack Obama called for Russian cooporation on ending the proliferation of nuclear weapons in Moscow, on Tuesday. (Photo: Haraz N. Ghanbari / AP)
In a far-reaching speech in Moscow, the president said it was up to the new generation of leaders in both countries to put aside differences and tackle international issues including terrorism and nuclear proliferation.

Moscow and Los Angeles - President Obama today called on Russians to put aside their former roles as Cold War foes of the United States and join together to work to curb nuclear weapons and to improve the economic and social lives of people around the globe.

In a far-reaching speech to graduates of the New Economic School in Moscow, Obama said the old Cold War rivalries that marked the second half of the 20th Century were gone and it was up to the new generation of leaders in Russia and the United States to decide how to solve the world's woes.

Also see below:
Transcript of Obama Speech •

"You get to decide what comes next," Obama said. "You get to choose where change will take us. Because the future does not belong to those who gather armies on a field of battle or bury missiles in the ground - the future belongs to young people with the education and imagination to create.


"Look to the future that can be built if we refuse to be burdened by the old obstacles and old suspicions," Obama said. "Look to the future that can be built if we partner on behalf of the aspirations we hold in common. Together, we can build a world where people are protected, prosperity is enlarged, and our power truly serves progress."

Obama is completing his second day in Moscow, part of a weeklong trip to Russia, Italy for economic talks with the G-8, and finally to Ghana. He exchanged pleasantries this morning with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, considered by many to be the real political power in Russia. On Monday, Obama met with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.
Today's speech echoed themes that Obama sounded in Cairo, where the president made his case to Muslims around the world to challenge extremism. As in the Egyptian forum, Obama chose to address an audience of the young and educated he hopes will be open to his message of economic and political liberalism.

Throughout his time here, Obama has stressed curbing the spread of nuclear weapons to countries such as North Korea and Iran and limiting U.S. and Russian arsenals. He sounded the same theme today at the New Economic School, founded after the collapse of the Soviet Union and specializing in the study of pro-Western economics.

"You are not old enough to have witnessed the darkest hours of the Cold War, when hydrogen bombs were tested in the atmosphere, children drilled in fallout shelters, and we reached the brink of nuclear catastrophe," Obama said.

"Your lifetime coincides with this era of transition," Obama continued. "But think about the fundamental questions asked when this school was founded. What kind of future is Russia going to have? What kind of future are Russia and America going to have together? What world order will replace the Cold War? Those questions still do not have clear answers, and so now they must be answered by you - by your generation in Russia, America, and around the world."

Obama insisted that the U.S. wanted "a strong, peaceful, and prosperous Russia." He also sounded the kind of note he has used before when discussing the need for political modernization and for the expansion of democracy.

"In 2009, a great power does not show strength by dominating or demonizing other countries. The days when empires could treat sovereign states as pieces on a chessboard are over," Obama said. "The pursuit of power is no longer a zero-sum game - progress must be shared."

"In the short period since the end of the Cold War, we have already seen India, Pakistan and North Korea conduct nuclear tests. Without a fundamental change, do any of us truly believe that the next two decades will not bring about the further spread of nuclear weapons?" he asked.

In addition to securing the world's most dangerous weapons, Obama called for the defeat of terrorism, including Al Qaeda. He thanked Russia for allowing military supplies to be moved through its airspace to Afghanistan.

Obama also went beyond security issues, calling for global prosperity in the face of the current economic downturn.

"We meet in the midst of the worst global recession in a generation," Obama said. "I believe that the market is the greatest force for creating and distributing wealth that the world has known. But wherever the market is allowed to run rampant - through excessive risk-taking, a lack of regulation, or corruption - then all are endangered, whether we live on the Mississippi or the Volga."

Lastly, Obama reminded the audience of America's role in spreading democracy and what he called universal rights.

"By no means is America perfect. But it is our commitment to certain universal values which allows us to correct our imperfections, and to grow stronger over time. Freedom of speech and assembly has allowed women, minorities, and workers to protest for full and equal rights. The rule of law and equal administration of justice has busted monopolies, shut down political machines, and ended abuses of power. Independent media have exposed corruption at all levels of business and government. Competitive elections allow us to change course and hold our leaders accountable," Obama said.

"If our democracy did not advance those rights, I - as a person of African ancestry - wouldn't be able to address you as an American citizen, much less a president," he said.

Earlier, Obama met with Putin, who acknowledged that "there were periods when our relations flourished quite a bit and there were also periods of, shall we say, grayish mood between our two countries and of stagnation. With you we link all our hopes for the furtherance of relations between our two countries. We are very glad to see you here, and welcome you here in Russia."

Obama thanked Putin and in a slight slip seemed to catch himself while mixing up the formal titles. "I'm aware of not only the extraordinary work that you've done on behalf of the Russian people in your previous role as prime minister - as president, but in your current role as prime minister," Obama said.

Obama is scheduled to meet with Kremlin critics later today.



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Remarks by the President

At the New Economic School Graduation
Gostinny Dvor
Moscow, Russia
Tuesday 07 July 2009

Thank you so much. Well, congratulations, Oxana. And to the entire Class of 2009, congratulations to you. I don't know if anybody else will meet their future wife or husband in class like I did, but I'm sure that you're all going to have wonderful careers.

I want to acknowledge a few people who are here. We have President Mikhail Gorbachev is here today, and I want everybody to give him a big round of applause. (Applause.) I want to thank Sergei Gurief, Director of the New Economic School. (Applause.) Max Boiko, their Chairman of the Board. (Applause.) And Arkady Dvorkovich, who is the NES board member, President of the Alumni Association and is doing an excellent job for President Medvedev, because he was in our meeting yesterday. (Applause.)

Good morning. It is a great honor for me to join you at the New Economic School. Michelle and I are so pleased to be in Moscow. And as somebody who was born in Hawaii, I'm glad to be here in July instead of January. (Laughter and applause.)

I know that NES is a young school, but I speak to you today with deep respect for Russia's timeless heritage. Russian writers have helped us understand the complexity of the human experience, and recognize eternal truths. Russian painters, composers, and dancers have introduced us to new forms of beauty. Russian scientists have cured disease, sought new frontiers of progress, and helped us go to space.

These are contributions that are not contained by Russia's borders, as vast as those borders are. Indeed, Russia's heritage has touched every corner of the world, and speaks to the humanity that we share. That includes my own country, which has been blessed with Russian immigrants for decades; we've been enriched by Russian culture, and enhanced by Russian cooperation. And as a resident of Washington, D.C., I continue to benefit from the contributions of Russians - specifically, from Alexander Ovechkin. We're very pleased to have him in Washington, D.C. (Applause.)

Here at NES, you have inherited this great cultural legacy, but your focus on economics is no less fundamental to the future of humanity. As Pushkin said, "Inspiration is needed in geometry just as much as poetry." And today, I want particularly to speak to those of you preparing to graduate. You're poised to be leaders in academia and industry; in finance and government. But before you move forward, it's worth reflecting on what has already taken place during your young lives.

Like President Medvedev and myself, you're not old enough to have witnessed the darkest hours of the Cold War, when hydrogen bombs were tested in the atmosphere, and children drilled in fallout shelters, and we reached the brink of nuclear catastrophe. But you are the last generation born when the world was divided. At that time, the American and Soviet armies were still massed in Europe, trained and ready to fight. The ideological trenches of the last century were roughly in place. Competition in everything from astrophysics to athletics was treated as a zero-sum game. If one person won, then the other person had to lose.

And then, within a few short years, the world as it was ceased to be. Now, make no mistake: This change did not come from any one nation. The Cold War reached a conclusion because of the actions of many nations over many years, and because the people of Russia and Eastern Europe stood up and decided that its end would be peaceful.

With the end of the Cold War, there were extraordinary expectations - for peace and for prosperity; for new arrangements among nations, and new opportunities for individuals. Like all periods of great change, it was a time of ambitious plans and endless possibilities. But, of course, things don't always work out exactly as planned. Back in 1993, shortly after this school opened, one NES student summed up the difficulty of change when he told a reporter, and I quote him: "The real world is not so rational as on paper." The real world is not so rational as on paper.

Over two tumultuous decades, that truth has been borne out around the world. Great wealth has been created, but it has not eliminated vast pockets of crushing poverty. Poverty exists here, it exists in the United States, and it exists all around the world. More people have gone to the ballot box, but too many governments still fail to protect the rights of their people. Ideological struggles have diminished, but they've been replaced by conflicts over tribe and ethnicity and religion. A human being with a computer can hold the same amount of information stored in the Russian State Library, but that technology can also be used to do great harm.

In a new Russia, the disappearance of old political and economic restrictions after the end of the Soviet Union brought both opportunity and hardship. A few prospered, but many more did not. There were tough times. But the Russian people showed strength and made sacrifices, and you achieved hard-earned progress through a growing economy and greater confidence. And despite painful times, many in Eastern Europe and Russia are much better off today than 20 years ago.

We see that progress here at NES - a school founded with Western support that is now distinctly Russian; a place of learning and inquiry where the test of an idea is not whether it is Russian or American or European, but whether it works. Above all, we see that progress in all of you - young people with a young century to shape as you see fit.

Your lifetime coincides with this era of transition. But think about the fundamental questions asked when this school was founded. What kind of future is Russia going to have? What kind of future are Russia and America going to have together? What world order will replace the Cold War? Those questions still don't have clear answers, and so now they must be answered by you - by your generation in Russia, in America, and around the world. You get to decide. And while I cannot answer those questions for you, I can speak plainly about the future that America is seeking.

To begin with, let me be clear: America wants a strong, peaceful, and prosperous Russia. This belief is rooted in our respect for the Russian people, and a shared history between our nations that goes beyond competition. Despite our past rivalry, our people were allies in the greatest struggle of the last century. Recently, I noted this when I was in Normandy - for just as men from Boston and Birmingham risked all that they had to storm those beaches and scale those cliffs, Soviet soldiers from places like Kazan and Kiev endured unimaginable hardships to repeal - to repel an invasion, and turn the tide in the east. As President John Kennedy said, "No nation in history of battle ever suffered more than the Soviet Union in the Second World War."

So as we honor this past, we also recognize the future benefit that will come from a strong and vibrant Russia. Think of the issues that will define your lives: security from nuclear weapons and extremism; access to markets and opportunity; health and the environment; an international system that protects sovereignty and human rights, while promoting stability and prosperity. These challenges demand global partnership, and that partnership will be stronger if Russia occupies its rightful place as a great power.

Yet unfortunately, there is sometimes a sense that old assumptions must prevail, old ways of thinking; a conception of power that is rooted in the past rather than in the future. There is the 20th century view that the United States and Russia are destined to be antagonists, and that a strong Russia or a strong America can only assert themselves in opposition to one another. And there is a 19th century view that we are destined to vie for spheres of influence, and that great powers must forge competing blocs to balance one another.

These assumptions are wrong. In 2009, a great power does not show strength by dominating or demonizing other countries. The days when empires could treat sovereign states as pieces on a chess board are over. As I said in Cairo, given our independence, any world order that - given our interdependence, any world order that tries to elevate one nation or one group of people over another will inevitably fail. The pursuit of power is no longer a zero-sum game - progress must be shared.

That's why I have called for a "reset" in relations between the United States and Russia. This must be more than a fresh start between the Kremlin and the White House - though that is important and I've had excellent discussions with both your President and your Prime Minister. It must be a sustained effort among the American and Russian people to identify mutual interests, and expand dialogue and cooperation that can pave the way to progress.

This will not be easy. It's difficult to forge a lasting partnership between former adversaries, it's hard to change habits that have been ingrained in our governments and our bureaucracies for decades. But I believe that on the fundamental issues that will shape this century, Americans and Russians share common interests that form a basis for cooperation. It is not for me to define Russia's national interests, but I can tell you about America's national interests, and I believe that you will see that we share common ground.

First, America has an interest in reversing the spread of nuclear weapons and preventing their use.

In the last century, generations of Americans and Russians inherited the power to destroy nations, and the understanding that using that power would bring about our own destruction. In 2009, our inheritance is different. You and I don't have to ask whether American and Russian leaders will respect a balance of terror - we understand the horrific consequences of any war between our two countries. But we do have to ask this question: We have to ask whether extremists who have killed innocent civilians in New York and in Moscow will show that same restraint. We have to ask whether 10 or 20 or 50 nuclear-armed nations will protect their arsenals and refrain from using them.

This is the core of the nuclear challenge in the 21st century. The notion that prestige comes from holding these weapons, or that we can protect ourselves by picking and choosing which nations can have these weapons, is an illusion. In the short period since the end of the Cold War, we've already seen India, Pakistan, and North Korea conduct nuclear tests. Without a fundamental change, do any of us truly believe that the next two decades will not bring about the further spread of these nuclear weapons?

That's why America is committed to stopping nuclear proliferation, and ultimately seeking a world without nuclear weapons. That is consistent with our commitment under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. That is our responsibility as the world's two leading nuclear powers. And while I know this goal won't be met soon, pursuing it provides the legal and moral foundation to prevent the proliferation and eventual use of nuclear weapons.

We're already taking important steps to build this foundation. Yesterday, President Medvedev and I made progress on negotiating a new treaty that will substantially reduce our warheads and delivery systems. We renewed our commitment to clean, safe and peaceful nuclear energy, which must be a right for all nations that live up to their responsibilities under the NPT. And we agreed to increase cooperation on nuclear security, which is essential to achieving the goal of securing all vulnerable nuclear material within four years.

As we keep our own commitments, we must hold other nations accountable for theirs. Whether America or Russia, neither of us would benefit from a nuclear arms race in East Asia or the Middle East. That's why we should be united in opposing North Korea's efforts to become a nuclear power, and opposing Iran's efforts to acquire a nuclear weapon. And I'm pleased that President Medvedev and I agreed upon a joint threat assessment of the ballistic challenges - ballistic missile challenges of the 21st century, including from Iran and North Korea.

This is not about singling out individual nations - it's about the responsibilities of all nations. If we fail to stand together, then the NPT and the Security Council will lose credibility, and international law will give way to the law of the jungle. And that benefits no one. As I said in Prague, rules must be binding, violations must be punished, and words must mean something.

The successful enforcement of these rules will remove causes of disagreement. I know Russia opposes the planned configuration for missile defense in Europe. And my administration is reviewing these plans to enhance the security of America, Europe and the world. And I've made it clear that this system is directed at preventing a potential attack from Iran. It has nothing to do with Russia. In fact, I want to work together with Russia on a missile defense architecture that makes us all safer. But if the threat from Iran's nuclear and ballistic missile program is eliminated, the driving force for missile defense in Europe will be eliminated, and that is in our mutual interests.

Now, in addition to securing the world's most dangerous weapons, a second area where America has a critical national interest is in isolating and defeating violent extremists.

For years, al Qaeda and its affiliates have defiled a great religion of peace and justice, and ruthlessly murdered men, women and children of all nationalities and faiths. Indeed, above all, they have murdered Muslims. And these extremists have killed in Amman and Bali; Islamabad and Kabul; and they have the blood of Americans and Russians on their hands. They're plotting to kill more of our people, and they benefit from safe havens that allow them to train and operate - particularly along the border of Pakistan and Afghanistan.

And that's why America has a clear goal: to disrupt, dismantle, and defeat al Qaeda and its allies in Afghanistan and Pakistan. We seek no bases, nor do we want to control these nations. Instead, we want to work with international partners, including Russia, to help Afghans and Pakistanis advance their own security and prosperity. And that's why I'm pleased that Russia has agreed to allow the United States to supply our coalition forces through your territory. Neither America nor Russia has an interest in an Afghanistan or Pakistan governed by the Taliban. It's time to work together on behalf of a different future - a future in which we leave behind the great game of the past and the conflict of the present; a future in which all of us contribute to the security of Central Asia.

Now, beyond Afghanistan, America is committed to promoting the opportunity that will isolate extremists. We are helping the Iraqi people build a better future, and leaving Iraq to the Iraqis. We're pursuing the goal of two states, Israel and Palestine, living in peace and security. We're partnering with Muslim communities around the world to advance education, health, and economic development. In each of these endeavors, I believe that the Russian people share our goals, and will benefit from success - and we need to partner together.

Now, in addition to these security concerns, the third area that I will discuss is America's interest in global prosperity. And since we have so many economists and future businessmen and women in the room, I know this is of great interest to you.

We meet in the midst of the worst global recession in a generation. I believe that the free market is the greatest force for creating and distributing wealth that the world has known. But wherever the market is allowed to run rampant - through excessive risk-taking, a lack of regulation, or corruption - then all are endangered, whether we live on the Mississippi or on the Volga.

In America, we're now taking unprecedented steps to jumpstart our economy and reform our system of regulation. But just as no nation can wall itself off from the consequences of a global crisis, no one can serve as the sole engine of global growth. You see, during your lives, something fundamental has changed. And while this crisis has shown us the risks that come with change, that risk is overwhelmed by opportunity.

Think of what's possible today that was unthinkable two decades ago. A young woman with an Internet connection in Bangalore, India can compete with anybody anywhere in the world. An entrepreneur with a start-up company in Beijing can take his business global. An NES professor in Moscow can collaborate with colleagues at Harvard or Stanford. That's good for all of us, because when prosperity is created in India, that's a new market for our goods; when new ideas take hold in China, that pushes our businesses to innovate; when new connections are forged among people, all of us are enriched.

There is extraordinary potential for increased cooperation between Americans and Russians. We can pursue trade that is free and fair and integrated with the wider world. We can boost investment that creates jobs in both our countries, we can forge partnerships on energy that tap not only traditional resources, like oil and gas, but new sources of energy that will drive growth and combat climate change. All of that, Americans and Russians can do together.

Now, government can promote this cooperation, but ultimately individuals must advance this cooperation, because the greatest resource of any nation in the 21st century is you. It's people; it's young people especially. And the country which taps that resource will be the country that will succeed. That success depends upon economies that function within the rule of law. As President Medvedev has rightly said, a mature and effective legal system is a condition for sustained economic development. People everywhere should have the right to do business or get an education without paying a bribe. Whether they are in America or Russia or Africa or Latin America, that's not a American idea or a Russian idea - that's how people and countries will succeed in the 21st century.

And this brings me to the fourth issue that I will discuss - America's interest in democratic governments that protect the rights of their people.

By no means is America perfect. But it is our commitment to certain universal values which allows us to correct our imperfections, to improve constantly, and to grow stronger over time. Freedom of speech and assembly has allowed women, and minorities, and workers to protest for full and equal rights at a time when they were denied. The rule of law and equal administration of justice has busted monopolies, shut down political machines that were corrupt, ended abuses of power. Independent media have exposed corruption at all levels of business and government. Competitive elections allow us to change course and hold our leaders accountable. If our democracy did not advance those rights, then I, as a person of African ancestry, wouldn't be able to address you as an American citizen, much less a President. Because at the time of our founding, I had no rights - people who looked like me. But it is because of that process that I can now stand before you as President of the United States.

So around the world, America supports these values because they are moral, but also because they work. The arc of history shows that governments which serve their own people survive and thrive; governments which serve only their own power do not. Governments that represent the will of their people are far less likely to descend into failed states, to terrorize their citizens, or to wage war on others. Governments that promote the rule of law, subject their actions to oversight, and allow for independent institutions are more dependable trading partners. And in our own history, democracies have been America's most enduring allies, including those we once waged war with in Europe and Asia - nations that today live with great security and prosperity.

Now let me be clear: America cannot and should not seek to impose any system of government on any other country, nor would we presume to choose which party or individual should run a country. And we haven't always done what we should have on that front. Even as we meet here today, America supports now the restoration of the democratically-elected President of Honduras, even though he has strongly opposed American policies. We do so not because we agree with him. We do so because we respect the universal principle that people should choose their own leaders, whether they are leaders we agree with or not.

And that leads me to the final area that I will discuss, which is America's interest in an international system that advances cooperation while respecting the sovereignty of all nations.

State sovereignty must be a cornerstone of international order. Just as all states should have the right to choose their leaders, states must have the right to borders that are secure, and to their own foreign policies. That is true for Russia, just as it is true for the United States. Any system that cedes those rights will lead to anarchy. That's why we must apply this principle to all nations - and that includes nations like Georgia and Ukraine. America will never impose a security arrangement on another country. For any country to become a member of an organization like NATO, for example, a majority of its people must choose to; they must undertake reforms; they must be able to contribute to the Alliance's mission. And let me be clear: NATO should be seeking collaboration with Russia, not confrontation.

And more broadly, we need to foster cooperation and respect among all nations and peoples. As President of the United States, I will work tirelessly to protect America's security and to advance our interests. But no one nation can meet the challenges of the 21st century on its own, nor dictate its terms to the world. That is something that America now understands, just as Russia understands. That's why America seeks an international system that lets nations pursue their interests peacefully, especially when those interests diverge; a system where the universal rights of human beings are respected, and violations of those rights are opposed; a system where we hold ourselves to the same standards that we apply to other nations, with clear rights and responsibilities for all.

There was a time when Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin could shape the world in one meeting. Those days are over. The world is more complex today. Billions of people have found their voice, and seek their own measure of prosperity and self-determination in every corner of the planet. Over the past two decades, we've witnessed markets grow, wealth spread, and technology used to build - not destroy. We've seen old hatreds pass, illusions of differences between people lift and fade away; we've seen the human destiny in the hands of more and more human beings who can shape their own destinies. Now, we must see that the period of transition which you have lived through ushers in a new era in which nations live in peace, and people realize their aspirations for dignity, security, and a better life for their children. That is America's interest, and I believe that it is Russia's interest as well.

I know that this future can seem distant. Change is hard. In the words of that NES student back in 1993, the real world is not so rational as on paper. But think of the change that has unfolded with the passing of time. One hundred years ago, a czar ruled Russia, and Europe was a place of empire. When I was born, segregation was still the law of the land in parts of America, and my father's Kenya was still a colony. When you were born, a school like this would have been impossible, and the Internet was only known to a privileged few.

You get to decide what comes next. You get to choose where change will take us, because the future does not belong to those who gather armies on a field of battle or bury missiles in the ground; the future belongs to young people with an education and the imagination to create. That is the source of power in this century. And given all that has happened in your two decades on Earth, just imagine what you can create in the years to come.

Every country charts its own course. Russia has cut its way through time like a mighty river through a canyon, leaving an indelible mark on human history as it goes. As you move this story forward, look to the future that can be built if we refuse to be burdened by the old obstacles and old suspicions; look to the future that can be built if we partner on behalf of the aspirations we hold in common. Together, we can build a world where people are protected, prosperity is enlarged, and our power truly serves progress. And it is all in your hands. Good luck to all of you. Thank you very much.
»
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COMMENTS
This is a moderated forum. It may take a little while for comments to go live. Be civil and on-topic, don't threaten or advocate violence, please keep it under 300 words. Thanks for participating.

Where American Presidents
Tue, 07/07/2009 - 18:28 — Bruce (not verified)
Where American Presidents continue to fail is in understanding that the Russians view us with historically justified suspicion. Wilson sided with the Czar against the socialists and the communists as the Czar represented traditional support for corporate capitalism. The USA provided support for Nazi Germany up through 1941 in spite of the bombing of London and the invasion of the Soviet Union. After the fall of Berlin the Soviet government seized countries to create a buffer around it, which is now being converted to NATO countries aligned with the US corporate interests and the establishment of missile bases within easy striking distance of Moscow. But we pretend they are only for defense after having invaded Afghanistan and Iraq and with active plans to attack Iran and to most likely establish an occupying military presence in Pakistan as well. The American government always supports the dictators when it is in the interests of American corporations, as with the Philippines, Indonesia, Argentina, Spain, Dominican Republic, Chile, Guatemala, El Salvador, Panama, Burma, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Haiti, and now Honduras where the military coup would not have taken place without the prior consent of the American government.
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Sanity has prevail, at least
Tue, 07/07/2009 - 18:42 — Fermin Torres (not verified)
Sanity has prevail, at least for now. It must be hard for the neo-conservatives in America to find a leader who has some kind of savvy where the world is going. For eight whole years, America under conservatism, the GOP, the right Christian wing of the republican party was bent on greed, picking on defenseless little countries, destruction of the planet, wars and more wars. They are trying to undermine with lies, falsification, deceit the accomplishment Obama has done in less than six months what they destroyed in 8 years. Today, then can't fight the opposition or the truth, so they turn to on each other. Must be the water they drink. In just less than two weeks, the republican party lost two governors, one who knew what was coming, and the other who thought he could fool the people.
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Sheer imperialist garbage
Tue, 07/07/2009 - 20:03 — Anonymous (not verified)
Sheer imperialist garbage and empty rhetorical flourishes in the all too typical Obama style of fake sincerity. With Obama, nothing is as it seems, or indeed, as it sounds. His speeches amount to little more than disingenuous grandstanding for the propagandistic American media to riff off and amplify– all in the service of iron clad American hegemony. Similar to the disgraceful Cairo speech, Obama's recent nonsense, fools only the hopelessly näivé. Does he plan to dismantle the 'first strike' anti missile systems in Czechoslovakia and Poland? Will that Cold war anachronism called NATO be abolished? Will the meddling in the Ukraine and Georgia be ended? The answer to all these questions is, a resounding no. Obama's speeches are becoming ridiculously easy to parse: When he says something, he means just the opposite, despite the seeming high-mindedness of his oratorical finesses. –(Jill Bains)
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Want to improve relations
Tue, 07/07/2009 - 21:22 — dr wu--the last of the big-time thinkers (not verified)
Want to improve relations with Russia? 2 steps will do: 1. don't base US missiles in Poland and Ukraine. (this gives US first strike nuclear survivability--we can destroy them totally before they can destroy us. Puts Russia at a huge disadvantage and alters the MAD equation--mutual assured destruction --that McNamara developed and kept the world at relative peace. 2. No NATO membership for Georgia and Ukraine-- Russia feels threated by NATO's aggressiveness. NATO, by definition is anti-Russia.
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First, remember that speech
Tue, 07/07/2009 - 21:53 — Robb (not verified)
First, remember that speech acts are actions, too, and second, I want to express my support for this speech and the Cairo speech, and the President Obama's transformative vision which is coming through loud and clear. This is the right president for America at this precise time in history; perhaps in a strange way we had to weather the Bush-Cheney years in order to be able to see the urgency of this moment and vote into office this genius. I did not hear the speech today, but I have read the transcript with careful attention--well done, Obama, well done.
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Obama is a silver tongued
Wed, 07/08/2009 - 00:38 — Anonymous (not verified)
Obama is a silver tongued empty mouth piece puppet for the global elite. He just sounds so much more than that idiot Bush that he just makes you WANT to Believe... It is all empty words. We are living in 1984. Read it, you'll recognize it immediately. End the war! Ha, he has sent more in. Transparency, HA! Ignoring the rightful prosecution of the guilty parties that put us in this ILLEGAL war. Bailout HA! He has given out far more than Bush. Close Guantanamo Ha. Think people! It is all slick talk. He is a puppet...Groomed for the post. Research his background. Think!
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My understanding is that
Wed, 07/08/2009 - 04:39 — Anonymous (not verified)
My understanding is that Putin and company have not allowed Obama's speeches to be widely carried in the Russian media, so it doesn't matter in Russia about what he said, only about what Putin says.
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Global Strategic Enterprises, Inc for Peace and Prosperity- www.globalbelai4u.blogspot.com

Our Passion is to reach our individual and collective potential-Always!

Happy 4th of July
Saturday 04 July 2009
by: Barack Obama


President Obama used his weekly address to call for a renewal of the American spirit. (Photo: Time Magazine)
Remarks of President Barack Obama
Weekly Address
The White House
Saturday 04 July 2009

Hello and Happy Fourth of July, everybody. This weekend is a time to get together with family and friends, kick back, and enjoy a little time off. And I hope that's exactly what all of you do. But I also want to take a moment today to reflect on what I believe is the meaning of this distinctly American holiday.

Today, we are called to remember not only the day our country was born - we are also called to remember the indomitable spirit of the first American citizens who made that day possible.


We are called to remember how unlikely it was that our American experiment would succeed at all; that a small band of patriots would declare independence from a powerful empire; and that they would form, in the new world, what the old world had never known - a government of, by, and for the people.

That unyielding spirit is what defines us as Americans. It is what led generations of pioneers to blaze a westward trail.

It is what led my grandparents' generation to persevere in the face of a Depression and triumph in the face of tyranny.

It is what led generations of American workers to build an industrial economy unrivalled around the world.

It is what has always led us, as a people, not to wilt or cower at a difficult moment, but to face down any trial and rise to any challenge, understanding that each of us has a hand in writing America's destiny.

That is the spirit we are called to show once more. We are facing an array of challenges on a scale unseen in our time. We are waging two wars. We are battling a deep recession. And our economy - and our nation itself - are endangered by festering problems we have kicked down the road for far too long: spiraling health care costs; inadequate schools; and a dependence on foreign oil.

Meeting these extraordinary challenges will require an extraordinary effort on the part of every American. And that is an effort we cannot defer any longer.

Now is the time to lay a new foundation for growth and prosperity. Now is the time to revamp our education system, demand more from teachers, parents, and students alike, and build schools that prepare every child in America to outcompete any worker in the world.

Now is the time to reform an unsustainable health care system that is imposing crushing costs on families, businesses, large and small, and state and federal budgets. We need to protect what works, fix what's broken, and bring down costs for all Americans. No more talk. No more delay. Health care reform must happen this year.

And now is the time to meet our energy challenge - one of the greatest challenges we have ever confronted as a people or as a planet. For the sake of our economy and our children, we must build on the historic bill passed by the House of Representatives, and make clean energy the profitable kind of energy so that we can end our dependence on foreign oil and reclaim America's future.

These are some of the challenges that our generation has been called to meet. And yet, there are those who would have us try what has already failed; who would defend the status quo. They argue that our health care system is fine the way it is and that a clean energy economy can wait. They say we are trying to do too much, that we are moving too quickly, and that we all ought to just take a deep breath and scale back our goals.

These naysayers have short memories. They forget that we, as a people, did not get here by standing pat in a time of change. We did not get here by doing what was easy. That is not how a cluster of 13 colonies became the United States of America.

We are not a people who fear the future. We are a people who make it. And on this July 4th, we need to summon that spirit once more. We need to summon the same spirit that inhabited Independence Hall two hundred and thirty-three years ago today.

That is how this generation of Americans will make its mark on history. That is how we will make the most of this extraordinary moment. And that is how we will write the next chapter in the great American story.

Thank you, and Happy Fourth of July.

Belai Habte-Jesus, MD, MPH

Global Strategic Enterprises, Inc for Peace and Prosperity- www.globalbelai4u.blogspot.com

Our Passion is to reach our iIdividual and Collective Potential-Always!

Belai Habte-Jesus, MD, MPH


I. OVERVIEW OF EXPERIENCE

1.1 Visionary leadership for win-win synergistic partnerships for success. Dr Habte-Jesus has a well developed and proven leadership skills built on strategic visioning, effective communication, efficient implementation strategies and strong team-building efforts to realize a win-win synergistic partnership for success.

1.2 Public Health & Strategic Management Consulting. Dr Habte-Jesus is a public health physician and Strategic Management Consultant with technical expertise in risky assessment, emergency planning, strategic management, with well developed experience in leadership development, multi-cultural empowerment, health and human services, business development, resource generation, health information systems, marketing.

1.3 Quality Improvement & Patient Safety leadership. As Corporate Director for Professional Services and Quality Improvement for over 12 home health agencies scattered through out the United States: (California, Colorado, District of Columbia, Pennsylvania and Virginia, Dr Habte-Jesus has promoted all aspects of quality improvement and patient safety both within Human Touch Group of HHAs and externally. As the key person in charge of Quality Improvement and Audit, Dr Habte-Jesus has initiated and promoted all the professional accreditation processes with the Joint Commission and the respective state and District health regulatory authorities.

Dr Habte-Jesus has competent knowledge and experience in clinical medicine, public health and health services management with a deep knowledge and expertise in the area of Quality management and organizational re-structuring to promote change in compliance with changing patient and environment of care needs. He has well developed expertise in systems and processes, re-design, human factors engineering, the various process improvement methodologies and related activities of quality improvement, risk assessment, option appraisal and decision making.

He has developed a unique CORT Analysis package that deals with Organizational Challenges, Opportunities, Risks and Threat Analysis supported with Option Appraisal system that considers Nine series of Options and Alternatives while making potentially risky decisions in volatile and high security challenge environment.


1.4 Organizational leadership, design and re-engineering. Dr Habte-Jesus has extensive organizational design, re-engineering expertise with well developed tools and managerial ability to collaboratively plan, organize, and direct the activities of others.

As Chair of the Governing Board of Human Touch and the Professional Advisory Body, Dr Habte-Jesus, has well developed interpersonal skills to interact effectively with organizational leadership, Board members, government officials, clinical and managerial leaders in health care organizations, and others within and outside the organization and United States. He has excellent written and verbal communication skills necessary to effectively present information and ideas effectively in articles, proposals, position papers, and presentations. .


1.5

1.6 Strategic Management Enterprises. He has extensive experience in Strategic Management Enterprises towards multicultural community empowerment, leadership of strategic management enterprises, business development, continuous quality improvement, public health, clinical medicine, epidemiology, health information systems. He has specialized expertise in risk assessment, business planning, budget forecasting, tracking and controlling costs, expertise in international health and global health and medicine with specialty in preventing, managing and controlling infectious diseases, research; program development, planning, implementation and evaluation.


1.7 Multicultural Community empowerment. He has well developed expertise in multicultural community empowerment in health and human services as well as the development and promotion of small businesses and non profit organizations that empower community leadership. He has competent written and spoken communication skills with extensive experience in results/performance oriented management, qualitative and quantitative research, business development/management, with excellent interpersonal and organizational skills supported with expertise in organizational leadership, clinical and epidemiological research, strategic marketing, fund raising, health promotion, teaching and multicultural multimedia hosting & comprehensive health promotion radio and television programming and broadcasting experience.

1.5 Practical leadership and training experience. He has proven track record of leadership supported by highly developed organizational and interpersonal skills and training expertise in the area of good governance, win-win synergistic partnerships, health and human services with policy and program development, epidemiology, evaluation and participatory strategic planning and management expertise in health, education, human resources, youth development, mental health, mental retardation, and tropical medicine and infectious diseases, home health hospice services as well as public health prevention services.

1.6 Excellent track record of leadership. He is visionary, highly driven, detail and results oriented, self-motivated, team player and highly inspired to solve problems in the short and long term. He believes in developing win-win synergistic partnership among multicultural communities via business enterprises. He has worked as executive officer, director and senior manager with several health and human service institutions in Africa, Asia, Europe and here in North America. His summary experience and additional areas of expertise include:


 Visionary leadership and participatory management, empowering civil societies and multicultural communities.
 Good governance and globalization and empowering civil societies.; resource development and management
 Health Sector Reform and Research: Private, Public and HMO, Managed Care, home health and hospice care.
 Strategic Planning, evaluation and sustainable development, policy development and evaluation, extensive qualitative and quantitative analysis, epidemiological research and publication, epidemiology, women’s health, youth development, pediatrics, mother and child health, public speaking, coaching and publications.
 Global Health Promotion and prevention and management of Tropical Medicine & Hygiene and Infectious Diseases Management & Control
 Reproductive health, STI/HIV/PTSD and Child development, health, population and nutrition, prevention and early intervention programs, i.e. TB, Malaria, HIV/STD, etc.
 Quality assurance, (CQI) evaluation and managing change, Good Practice and Policy and Procedures, Business Plans and Strategies
 Managing Change, Behavioral research, multicultural holistic and integrated health enterprises
 Behavioral Science, Mother and Child Health, mental health and mental retardation services, Regional Minority Health, HIV/AIDS Services
 Managing a LifeStarts at community empowerment zones at East Capitol Center for Change



 Resource Generation Expertise. Grant Reviewer/Evaluator, Business plan, contract negotiation, strategic multimedia communication, teaching and multicultural community empowerment radio broadcasting, conference planning/chairing and dissemination of evidence based information.

 1.7 Visionary Leadership Skills and expertise. His visionary leadership skill is based on character, integrity, commitment, compassion and with win-win synergistic partnership and team building expertise. He has excellent interpersonal and communication skills with qualitative and quantitative research, health information systems, clinical evaluation, continuous quality improvement and quality assurance expertise, teaching, policy and business development, program management, marketing, strategic planning, visioning, and negotiation skills.

 1.8 Multi-Media Computer/Internet Communications. Highly developed written and spoken communication skills with competency in Health Information Systems as well as Microsoft Vista Ultimate Office 2007, 2003, 2000, Power Point, Excel, Corel WordPerfect 9 Suite, Epi-Info, Mednotes, Medisoft, VisiTrack, HomeSolutions, CDC Wonder, SAS, SPSSX, Harvard Graphics, Multi-media Internet communication and contract development and negotiation skills.


 Broadcasting & Multi-Media Expertise. Excellent skills in vision, voice and data presentation using television, radio and print media: program development, marketing and production and broadcasting. He is fluent in English, Amharic, and Oromifa languages with working knowledge of French, Arabic, Hindi and Tigrinya.
 Research Interests. The role of Multi-media in changing individual and group behavior, Corporate Governance; Global Climate Change, Managing Change, Health Promotion and Disease Prevention; Innovative Enterprise Promotion, Security, Peace and Prosperity; Fair and Free Market System for sustainable development and prosperity

II. EDUCATIONAL/RESEARCH AND ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS

 2.1 Academic Merit Scholarship: Master of Public Health. Master of Public health for medical doctors (1986); International Merit Scholarship with special commendation for research, University of Leeds, School of Public Health, United Kingdom, Great Britain. Concentration in epidemiology, health services research, management sciences population, and nutrition, mother and child health with a focus on international medicine and infectious diseases.

 2.2 Academic Merit Scholarship: Medical Doctor. (1983) General medicine training with specialty in public health and child development and survival, Christian Medical College and Hospital, Vellore, South India, University of Madras.

 2.3 Awards: Distinction for Dissertation. “Evaluation of Mother and Child Health Services in Developing and Developed Countries with a Retrospective Infant and Perinatal Morbidity and Mortality Studies.” September 1986.

 2.4 Academic Awards: The Bausch & Lomb Honorary Science Award- for the Best Outgoing Student, May 1972

 2.5 Service Achievement Awards: Certificate of Distinguished Achievement, LifeStarts @ East Capitol Center for Change, Sep 2003.

 2.6 Service Achievement Awards: Bitwoded of the Imperial Solomonic Crown Without Borders, May 2000

 2.7 Ambassador for Peace, Universal Peace Federation, Seoul, South Korea, February 2006















III. MANAGEMENT, ADMINISTRATION & TECHNICAL EXPERTISE

Sample achievements over the last five years
3. 1. Director of Professional Services Continuous Quality Improvement and Strategic Business Development, Corporate Office: Human Touch, Inc, 100 N Washington, St, Suite 410, Falls Church, Virginia, 22046; T: 703.531.05340, P: 703.531.0540

 1.1 Responsibilities. Lead the development and expansion of Home Health Care, Home Hospice and Wellness and Rehabilitation Center in the Metropolitan Washington DC area, California, Colorado, Pennsylvania and Virginia states managing 12 Home Health Care Agencies. Lead in the need and risk assessment research, development of quality improvement protocol and strategic business development for the expansion and productivity of staff by developing management training and supervision of staff in establishing the centers. Developed a strategy for professional human resource development that included staff recruitment, retention, performance evaluation and promotion. Provide leadership in Continuous Quality Improvement protocol and compliance with the Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Health Care Organizations protocol as well as federal and state standards by developing qualitative and quantitative tools for measuring performance and results.

 1.2 Achievements. Developed a series of Nine thriving Home Health Care agencies in the Metropolitan Washington DC, Denver Colorado and Allentown, Pennsylvania in eastern and central parts of the USA. . Made the appropriate risk assessment for acquisition, business development and prepared the necessary certification and accreditation documents with appropriate staff recruitment, training and performance management tools and quality assurance protocol.

 Re-organized and centralized the management, marketing, intake and billing process as well as the Continuous Quality Improvement Protocol of the different organizations under one roof and developed protocols, strategies and templates for growth and expansion Organized Organizational Policy and Procedure with all the human resources and clinical as well as management information and marketing strategies. Developed the Joint Commission Accreditation Strategy and Implemented all the leadership standards including Infection Control Policy and Procedure and trained skilled professionals on how to deal with infections such as MRSA (Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus) infections in the home care setting. Accessing health information systems such as Med soft, Visitrack and Scan health (HomeSolutions.net) soft wares for managing patient information.


3. 2 Clinical Program Director, Carl Vogel Center, 1012, 14th Street, NW, Suite 700, Washington, DC 20005; Ph: 202 638 0750 ext 18, Fax: 202 638.0749; E-mail: rogramdirector@carlvogelcenter.org

 2.1. Responsibilities. Lead and manage a team of medical doctors, psychologist, mental health specialist, HIV Specialists, medical nutritional therapists, mental health specialists, case managers an marketing/outreach workers. Develop key result areas, set up primary medical HIV clinic, certificate of need, Medicaid/Medicare eligibility, Clinical policies and procedures, HIV work plan, Continuous Quality Improvement, Medical Record System (Med Soft and Mednotes), integrated and comprehensive system of care, clinical personnel issues, manage and chair weekly Clinical Management Team Meetings and Multi-Disciplinary Case Conferences, medical billing system and HIPPA compliance.

 2.2. Achievement. Organized and set up a functioning HIV Primary Medial Care System with appropriate secondary and tertiary referral systems. Developed and submitted Certificate of Need for Primary Medical Care Developed a business proposal for HRSA Capacity Building Grant, developed organizational network for improved governance for board development, MIS and financial accounting system that synchronizes with clinical care protocol, medical records, billing and continuous quality improvement protocol for Primary HIV Care (Prevention, Early Intervention, Therapy and Rehabilitation, etc).

3.3. Director, Comprehensive Care II, Inc. October 2003+ @ 337 Delafield Place, NW, Washington, DC 20011, Voice: 202 291 2586; Fax: 202 291 3104; e-mail: Globalbelai@yahoo.com
 3.1. Responsibilities. Direct a team of over 40 professionals including doctors, psychologists, nurses, social workers, case managers, and qualified mental health professionals, residential counselors to provide an individualized care plan that includes habilitation and behavior support plan (ISP, BSP) for over 30 consumers of wide range of age groups and behavioral challenges with a mix of disabilities from mild to profound residing in 6 homes in Washington DC.

 3.2. Accomplishments. Undertook a comprehensive needs assessment and SWOT analysis that looks at the strength, weakness, and opportunities and threats both at internal and external environments. Developed an extensive five years Human Care Agreement for Residential and Respite Services with appropriate budget and negotiated with the Government of the District of Columbia, DHS/Mental Retardation/Developmental Disabilities Administration. Directed a team of professionals to ensure a highly organized services that allowed the re-certification of six group homes with appropriate compliment of health and human services for ICFMR facilities. Prepared regular monthly training with an up-to-date training manual to professionals on a holistic approach in improving the safety and well being of consumers with mental health and mental retardation challenges.

3.4 4 Director of Strategic Development & Quality Assurance -Human Touch, Inc. May 2002 4600 King Street, Suite 4R, Alexandria, VA, 22302, Voice: 703 379 2526; Fax: 703 379 5010.

 4.1. Responsibilities. Responsible for strategic marketing, business development and organization of the marketing and business development of a health and human services agency providing home health care services to vulnerable communities who cannot access primary and secondary care services due to physical limitations. Initiated and developed free standing home health care, home hospice and wellness and rehabilitation outpatient centers in the Metropolitan Washington DC area.

 4.2. Achievements. Undertook a comprehensive needs assessment and proposal development towards improving the internal and external market share of the agency towards establishing a strong presence in the Northern Virginia and Washington DC area. Developed successful proposals and presentations for a Certificate of Need Application for Home Health Care, Home Hospice Care and Capitol Wellness and Rehabilitation Centers in the Metropolitan Washington DC area. and made several contacts that yielded profitable contracts with health providers, insurance agencies such as Aetna, Care First, Blue Cross Blue Shield, MAMSI, Options, National Capital Health Care and other agencies.



IV. SAMPLE SELECTED BOOKS, ARTICLES, PUBLICATIONS,
AWARDS & PRESENTATIONS

1. Habte-Jesus, Belai et.al: Evaluation of Mother and Child Health Services in Developing and
Developed Countries- Evaluating the Global Burden of Childhood Morbidity and Mortality with Perinatal Mortality Studies on work done between 1977-1986, University of Leeds, United Kingdom, Great Britain., September 1986.

2. Habte-Jesus, Belai, et.al: North East Thames Regional Health Authority: Good Practice Policy
Guidelines for higher Specialties (Neurology and Neurosciences, Cardiology and Cardio-thoracic Services, East Nose and Throat, Ophthalmology, Oral and Dental Services, Renal Services, Accident and Emergency, Pediatrics and Genetic Services, etc. (Work done between 1988-1993). London, England, United Kingdom, Great Britain.

3. Habte-Jesus, Belai, et al, (Clapp & Mayne, inc) Interactive Communication Diary—A flexible
health information system to assist patient-provider communication with appropriate data sets for
institutional, patient – physician health information communication system. A Proposal for NIH
Funded Innovative Small Business Research Grant. June 1997.

4. Habte-Jesus, Belai: Presenter at the National Council for International Health 24th Annual
Conference: The impact of HIV on future work force- Building Strategic Alliances, Washington,
DC. July 1997.

5. Habte-Jesus, Belai: Presenter “Education for Empowerment in the 21st Century Development” at
African Institute for Education and Development Inc, July 1996

6. Habte-Jesus, Belai: Letter of Advocacy to Bill Clinton, President of the United States regarding US
Africa Policy: Re: Pre-empting the Impending Rwanda Genocide: July 1997.

7. Habte-Jesus, Belai: Protocols for Evaluating HIV/AIDS Prevention Programs in Washington
DC May 1996.

8. Habte-Jesus, Belai, et.al. Initiating Roll Back Malaria, Lessons learned from USAID Malaria
Prevention and Control Program, Academy for Educational Development and USAID, Africa Bureau, March 1997.

9. Habte-Jesus, Belai: Innovative Community AIDS Education for African American Men and
Women with a focus on the special needs of women, July 1997.

10. Habte-Jesus, Belai et. al: Health Needs Assessment of African-Born Residents in the
Washington, DC, Metropolitan Area, ECDC, August 1999.

11. Habte-Jesus, et. al: Healthy Tomorrows Partnership for Children, A collaboration Program of the
DC Linkage and Tracking System, Office of Maternal and Child Health Systems Development
Initiative and the American Academy of Pediatrics: Accessing a “Primary Health Care Home
through Case Management, May 1994.

12. Habte-Jesus, et. al: Parenting Education as a foundation for prevention and early intervention
of future PVO Child Survival Program, December 1996.

13. Habte-Jesus, Belai, et. al. Cradle to Grave Health Care Reform n the USA: An idea whose time
has come. The White House Health Care Reform Task Force, April 1993

14. Habte-Jesus, Belai. A holistic approach in improving the safety and well being of consumers
with mental health and mental retardation challenges, September 2004

15. Habte-Jesus, et. al. Capacity Building Initiative for HIV Primary Care Services with a focus on
Infrastructure development via improved Governance, MIS/Financial System and
Continuous Quality Improvement System, April 2005.

16. Habte-Jesus, Belai, “Empowering civil societies series” - Shifting Paradigm of Global Good
Governance, the changing role of stakeholders and advocates, Diaspora Dialogue IV, George
Washington University Law School, May 2005- Chaired the conference as well as prepared key note
address.

17. Habte-Jesus, Belai, et. al; Organizing Global Partnership for Peace, Democracy and Prosperity
by Empowering Civil Societies Across the Globe to combat poverty and global terrorism.. July 2005

18. Habte-Jesus, Belai, et. al. Multicultural community empowerment via Multi-Media Broadcast
Network. Weekly Empowerment Radio Broadcasts; on 1390 AM: Immune wise living series
addressing cradle to grave optimal health issues from spiritual, emotional, psychological and
physical health perspective, Began in 1996 and ongoing. Host of “Voice of the Patriots”, focusing
on the synergy of Education, Ecology and Economy for win-win cross cultural partnerships-
Millennial Renaissance Network of Hager-Fikir Multi-Cultural Communications, Inc.

19. Habte-Jesus, Belai, Institutional Challenges of Good Governance, Globalization and
Millennium Development Goals in 21st Century Transitional Economies, the experience of the
Horn and Ethiopia. Ethiopia: Beyond the Current Crisis Symposium at Washington Times Building,
Wednesday, 14 December 2005: 15:00-18:00 Hrs organized by Voice of the Patriots, Voice of Reason,
United Press International, Ambassadors for Peace Program& World Media Association.

20. Habte-Jesus, Belai, et. Al; Unique lessons in developing modern primary care centers in the
Metropolitan Washington, DC area. January 2000.

21. Habte-Jesus, Belai, et, al,. Lessons from establishing modern home health services and
accreditation with Joint Commission on Health Organizations. September 2004

22. Habte-Jesus, Belai, et, The experience of developing modern home hospice services in the
Metropolitan Washington DC area. March 2005

23. Habte-Jesus, Belai, et.al., The unique experience of developing a modern primary health care
center and outpatient rehabilitation facility in the Metropolitan Washington, DC area. December
2006.
24. Habte-Jesus, Belai, et.al, Managing Global Climate Change Series with Millennial Renaissance
Transformation Agenda Series, www.Globalbelai4u.blogspot.com


V. KEY SAMPLE POSITIONS HELD OVER THE PAST 20 YEARS

1. Director- Strategic Business Development & Continuous Quality Improvement- Human Touch 2005+
2. Director -Community of Hope Health Services & Community Medical Care Health Services- 2000+
3. Director of Community Health Center- Non Profit Clinic Consortium, www.npcclinics.org,
4. Director of Health Services @ Ethiopian Community Development Council 1999 - 2000
5. Consultant trainer at Lutheran Social Services of the National Capital Area 1998 - 1999
6. Consultant USAID-Africa Bureau and Academy for Educational Development, 1997 - 1998
7. Senior Public Health Advisor, Clap & Mayne, Inc. 1997 - 1998
8. Executive Director of Professional Network Group, 1511 K Street, NW, Suite 949; 1995 - 1997
9. Consultant with Basics Partnership for Child Survival Health Inc. 1996 - 1997
10. Administrator of Family and Maternal Enhancement of Koba Associates, Inc 1994 - 1995
11. Assistant Director, At-risk Children (0-8) -DC Commission of Public Health 1993 - 1994
12. Lecturer -Master of Public Health Program, George Washington University Hospital, DC 1993 - 1995
13. CEO, Global Research and Development Enterprises, Washington, DC 1993+
14. Manager, Health Services Development, NE Thames Regional Health Authority, UK 1989 -1993
15. Lecturer & Public health manager, St. Mary’s Hospital, SW Thames Regional Health Authority 1988/89
16. Coordinator, Kent Council on Addiction, South East Thames Regional Health Authority, 1987/88
17. Senior Fellow and Residence at the William Harvey Hospital, Ashford, Kent, England 1986/87
18. Research Fellow at Master of Public Health Program, University of Leeds, UK. 1985 -1986
19. Senior Resident at St Joseph Hospital New Delhi and Christian Medical College, Vellore. 1984 -1985
20. Medical Education and Residency Program, Christian Medical College, Vellore. 1977 -19 84
21. Premedical education and national development campaign, Haile Sellassie University. 1973 - 1977

VI. SELECTED AWARDS AND DISTINCTIONS

1. Best outgoing student at Bedenno Elementary School (First in each class in each grade (1-8) 1964 - 72
2. Haile Selassie I Gold Medal for Distinction in Ethiopian School Leaving Certificates- 1972
3. The Bausch & Lomb Science Award for the Best Outgoing Student of Class of 72
(First in each class in each Semester for grades 9-12.) 1972
4. Merit Scholarship to undertake Pre-Medical Studies at Haile Sellassie I University- 1973-1976
5. Merit Scholarship to study medicine by the Indian Council for Cultural Relations- 1976-1985
6. Merit Scholarship- Advanced Degree of Public Health for Medical Doctors, University of Leeds 1986
7. Fellow of Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 1986
8. Fellow of the Royal Society of Public Health, London, England. 1986
9. Highest Commendations for MPH thesis: Evaluating Global Mother and Child Health Services, 1986
10. Founder and CEO of Global Strategic Enterprises, Inc 1993
11. Grand Cross of St Mary of Zion Order- Imperial Order of Solomonic Crown without Borders, 2001
12. Grand Cross Lion of Judah Order. Imperial Order of Solomonic Crown Without Border s, 2000+
13. Grand cross of the Imperial Order of Menelik, Order of Solomonic Crown Without Borders 2000+
14. Chancellor of Imperial Solomonic Enterprises& Bitwoded of the Imperial Solomonic Crown Without Borders 2000+
15. Board Member, Immigration and Refugee Services of America, Mental Health Initiatives 1999
16. Board Member, DC Care Consortium of Providers serving HIV/AIDS populations, 2000+
17. Board Member, Community Medical Care- Non Profit Clinic, DC 2000
18. Advisory Board Member, Ethiopian American Constituency Foundation 2005
19. Ambassador for Peace, Universal Peace Federation, Oct 2005 2005
20. Host of “Voice of the Patriots” A Global Multicultural Broadcasting Corporation 2005
21. Host of “African Horizon” Ethiopian Broadcasting Service Television Network 2007
22. Advisory Board Member of National Association for Home Care & Home Hospice Medical Equipment 2007

Ethiopian Victory over Italians at Adowa Imperial Ethiopian Orders

Global Strategic Enterprises, Inc for Peace and Prosperity- www.globalbelai4u.blogspot.com

IMPERIAL ETHIOPIAN ORDERS

As we celebrate the 113th Great Adwoa victory of 1896, it is critical to understand the organizational structure and governance that made Adwa in 1896 and the Solomonic Dyansty happen for over 3,000 years.

The following is just a reminder of some of the Imperial Orders and is posted here so that the current and future generations appreciate and follow suit to organize Orders and Governance that allows us to win the shackles of poverty once for all towards win-win synergestic partneships with public and private global institutions that allows us to reach our individual and collective potential.

The Barack Obama story started some 113 years ago at Adwa in Ethiopia. Can some one connect the big dots for all of us....

Here is my input


The Order of Solomon

The highest Imperial Order. Reserved for emperors, high princes of the Imperial House, heads of state, monarchs.

The Order of Solomon's Seal

Very high order reserved for Prince's of direct line & foreign heads of state.
The Order of the Queen of Sheba

Originally for designed for Princess' of direct line but has been awarded to heads of state and royals.

The Order of the Holy Trinity

Originally for heads of Church but has been awarded to diplomats, heads of state, royals, nobles, and senior military leaders,
The Order of Emperor Menelik II

Awarded in the past to government officials, members of the Imperial Family, foreign dignitaries, royals, nobles and military leaders for service to the crown.

The Order of the Ethiopian Lion

Awarded to government officials, diplomats, advisors, military leaders, royalty and nobility for service to the crown.

The Order of the Star of Ethiopia

Awarded to government officials, diplomats, advisors, military leaders, royalty, nobility, and for service to the crown.

The Order of Saint Anthony

Arguably the oldest order of chivalry still in existence today. Originated in the fourth century. Originally a monastic order. Awarded rarely today. The lowest order in the Imperial pantheon of orders.

DYNASTIC or "HOUSE" ORDERS

The Dynastic Orders have all been initiated since the family was exiled in 1974. These contemporary orders are more commonly awarded by the present Crown than are the older Imperial Orders. Nevertheless, the House Orders represent prestigious awards emanating from the Head of the Imperial House and Origo Fons Honorum Aethiopiae.

The Order of the Ark of the Covenant

The Highest of Dynastic orders. Instituted by H.I.H. Zere Yacob. Rarely awarded outside of the Imperial Family or to senior advisors of government. The only recipient of the order is a member of the priory.

The Order of Haile Selassie I

Originated by H.I.M. Emperor (in exile) Amha Selassie to recognize pan-African development and peace initiatives.
The Solomonic Order of Merit

Instituted by H.I.H. Zere Yacob as a chivalric order of merit. Bestowed in recognition of service to the Ethiopian crown or people of Ethiopia. Typically for humanitarian service.

The Order of Saint Mary of Zion

Instituted by H.I.H. Zere Yacob as a "working" order of chivalry to help generate resources for humanitarian efforts in Ethiopia.
Ethiopian Knighthood

It is within the purview of the Crown to bestow the rank of Knight Bachelor. A Knight Bachelor is not affiliated with any of the Orders but is recognized as a Knight in service to the Crown.

A knight Bachelor would rank senior to all Knights holding Dynastic Orders except the Order of the Ark of the Covenant, but not senior to knights of the Imperial Orders. To my knowledge, this rank of knighthood has not been bestowed by H.I.H. Prince Zere Yacob.

The Ethiopian Order of Baronets

The title of Baronet or Gerazmatch is the only hereditary title of nobility available to non-Ethiopians. The title is made available by invitation to ten persons a year. Conditions of the title are based upon established Articles of Homage which defines specific responsibility attendant to those holding the title.

The title remains active to the recipient for so long as the conditions defined in the Articles of Homage are honored and continue in this capacity from generation to generation. The Baronet is pledged to provide support to the village specified in the Baronetcy as specified in the Articles of Homage for so long as he lives.

The Imperial Ethiopian Order of Baronets constitutes a Noble Company comprised of individuals that hold the title of Baronet or other titles of nobility. Ethiopian nobles inducted into the Imperial Ethiopian Order of Baronets are designated as "Fellows" of the Order and carry the postnominals of Bt.(E).

The insignia of the order is a large oval onyx set in silver having in the center a gold Ethiopian Orthodox Cross set with a ruby in the center and emeralds on the four arms of the cross. This is suspended by a silver collar.

All Baronets appointed thus far (5) have been Templars, two of which are members of the Priory.

The Order of the Ark of the Covenant

The Order of the Ark has typically been reserved for highly placed persons with a long history of loyalty and service to the Crown. This is a relatively new order initiated by H.I.H. Zere Yacob, and has only been awarded once.

The insignia is a rendition of the Ark of the Covenant in gold on a red background surrounded with a gold Star of David. The insignia is augmented with diamonds and rubies.

The Order of Saint Mary of Zion

This Order of chivalry is open to individuals who wish to join and meet the criteria (members of the Templar Order meet all requirements).

Proceeds derived from this order are used exclusively for humanitarian work within the projects defined by the crown. Passage fee for the Order is $500 with a yearly oblation of $250. The Order is awarded in three ranks, Knight / Dame, Commander, and Grand Cross.

The insignia is a rendition of Mary with Christ Child on a sky blue background. The insignia is accented with Amethysts and Aquamarine. The ribbon is sky blue and mulberry.

The Order is awarded in three common ranks of Knight / Dame, Commander, and Grand Cross. The rank of Grand Collar is reserved for royals and for individuals within the Order who display exceptional service over an enduring period of time.

The Solomonic Order of Merit (formerly known as the MEOLJ)

This is a chivalric order of merit awarded in recognition of efforts supporting the crown and the Ethiopian people. Being an order of merit, it incurs no cost to the recipient other than the cost of the insignia should the recipient desire to own it.

The Order is awarded in three grades, Knight / Dame (silver breast star), Commander (gold breast star), Grand Cross (cordon). A collar of the Order is reserved for exceptional service or prolonged loyalty to the Crown.

The Order is also awarded in three classes. Knights of Justice for those working directly for the Crown, Knights of Honor for recognizing those providing service but outside of the organizations of the Crown, and Knights of Grace for members of the clergy, who are contributing to the efforts of the Crown.

The insignia is the same for recipients regardless of class. This has been awarded with some frequency within the Priory in recognition of our work in Ethiopia.

Additional bestowals are pending and it is anticipated that this Order will become commonplace within the Priory as our work in Ethiopia continues.

The insignia is a gold Lion of Judah surmounted on a disc of ebony surrounded by a Star of David enameled green. The ribbon and cordon are green with thin red and yellow striping on each edge.

Commendations

There are several specific commendations that lie within the prerogatives of the crown and specifically within the prerogatives as delegated from the Crown to the Imperial Chancellor.

There exist twelve specific commendations housed within the organization of the Order of Saint Mary of Zion but which are available to award to anyone within the chivalric system of the Crown. The following is extracted from the Statutes of the Order of Saint Mary of Zion.

Section 1. Commendations There exists within the Order twelve specific commendations.

While these are specific to the Order, the Crown has the option to award these to individuals not directly affiliated with the Order in recognition of comparable service to the Crown.

Section 2. Specific Commendations The following are listed in ascending order of precedence.

Service Medal. This is awarded to members upon reaching service levels of 5, 10, and 20 years.
Knight's Cross. Awarded for chivalric service to the Order.

Amha Selassie I Founders Medal. Awarded to those instrumental in recruiting and forming new commands of the Order.
The Order of the Horn of Africa. Awarded for knightly pilgrimage to Ethiopia.

The Crescent of the Nile. Awarded for professional services (medical, legal, clerical) to the Crown or the People of Ethiopia.
The Cross of Axum. Awarded for religious services to the Order or the Crown.

Haile Selassie I Humanitarian Service Medal. Awarded for direct humanitarian services as performed in the name of the Order or the Crown.

Star of the Empire. Awarded to leaders that demonstrate exemplary service while in a position of administration or command.


Legion of Valor. Awarded for personal sacrifice to the Order.

Order of the Crown. Awarded for personal sacrifice to the Crown.
Dynastic Order of Honor. Awarded for exceptional service or sacrifice to the Crown or to oppressed peoples in the name of the Crown.

Imperial Order of Merit. Awarded only upon recommendation of the Grand Master for exceptional service to the Crown.

Any commendation can be awarded more than once with each additional award being signified with a small bronze star affixed to the ribbon of the respective decoration.

Any award can be bestowed with "distinction" such being designated with a bronze "D" affixed to the ribbon of the respective decoration.
The following members of the Priory have received Imperial Orders.

The Order of Emperor Menelik II : Belai Habte-Jesus

The following Dynastic Orders have been bestowed to members of the Priory.

The Order of the Ark of the Covenant : Belai Habte-Jesus

The Solomonic Order of Merit

Grand Collar (GCSOM) : H.R.H. Prince Estifanos Mengesha Seyoum
Grand Cross / Class of Justice (GSOM) : Belai Habte-Jesus, Steve E. Pehrson, Thomas J. Allred, Steven D. Clark, Ron Ivie, Linda Briggs

Commander / Class of Justice (CSOM) : Bobby Richardson, Cynan Benedikt, Garry Bryant, Don Wood (proposed), Lloyd Neilson (proposed)

Knight or Dame / Class of Justice (KSOM / DSOM) : Rev. Lynn Truman, Kami Pehrson, Astrid Allred, Carol Rasmussen, Callie Webb, Ed Lombard-Stewart, Jacqueline Benedikt (proposed)

The Order of Saint Mary of Zion

Grand Collar (GCMZ) : H.R.H. Prince Estifanos Mengesha, Betwoded Belai Habte-Jesus
Grand Cross (GMZ) : Steve E. Pehrson, Thomas J. Allred, Steven D. Clark, Ron Ivie
Commander (CMZ) : Bobby Richardson, Cynan Benedikt

http://www.smotj.org/priories/mountain/

Copyright © 2001 All Rights Reserved
The Priory of the Mountain of the House of the Lord
Last update: 22 Jan 2001



Swine FluGeneral Info
Questions & Answers

Swine Influenza and You
What is swine flu?
Swine Influenza (swine flu) is a respiratory disease of pigs caused by type A influenza viruses that causes regular outbreaks in pigs. People do not normally get swine flu, but human infections can and do happen. Swine flu viruses have been reported to spread from person-to-person, but in the past, this transmission was limited and not sustained beyond three people.

Are there human infections with swine flu in the U.S.?
In late March and early April 2009, cases of human infection with swine influenza A (H1N1) viruses were first reported in Southern California and near San Antonio, Texas. Other U.S. states have reported cases of swine flu infection in humans and cases have been reported internationally as well. An updated case count of confirmed swine flu infections in the United States is kept at http://www.cdc.gov/swineflu/investigation.htm CDC and local and state health agencies are working together to investigate this situation.


Is this swine flu virus contagious?
CDC has determined that this swine influenza A (H1N1) virus is contagious and is spreading from human to human. However, at this time, it not known how easily the virus spreads between people.

What are the signs and symptoms of swine flu in people?
The symptoms of swine flu in people are similar to the symptoms of regular human flu and include fever, cough, sore throat, body aches, headache, chills and fatigue. Some people have reported diarrhea and vomiting associated with swine flu. In the past, severe illness (pneumonia and respiratory failure) and deaths have been reported with swine flu infection in people. Like seasonal flu, swine flu may cause a worsening of underlying chronic medical conditions.

How does swine flu spread?
Spread of this swine influenza A (H1N1) virus is thought to be happening in the same way that seasonal flu spreads. Flu viruses are spread mainly from person to person through coughing or sneezing of people with influenza. Sometimes people may become infected by touching something with flu viruses on it and then touching their mouth or nose.

How can someone with the flu infect someone else?
Infected people may be able to infect others beginning 1 day before symptoms develop and up to 7 or more days after becoming sick. That means that you may be able to pass on the flu to someone else before you know you are sick, as well as while you are sick.

What should I do to keep from getting the flu?
First and most important: wash your hands. Try to stay in good general health. Get plenty of sleep, be physically active, manage your stress, drink plenty of fluids, and eat nutritious food. Try not touch surfaces that may be contaminated with the flu virus. Avoid close contact with people who are sick.

Are there medicines to treat swine flu?
Yes. CDC recommends the use of oseltamivir or zanamivir for the treatment and/or prevention of infection with these swine influenza viruses. Antiviral drugs are prescription medicines (pills, liquid or an inhaler) that fight against the flu by keeping flu viruses from reproducing in your body. If you get sick, antiviral drugs can make your illness milder and make you feel better faster. They may also prevent serious flu complications. For treatment, antiviral drugs work best if started soon after getting sick (within 2 days of symptoms).

How long can an infected person spread swine flu to others?
People with swine influenza virus infection should be considered potentially contagious as long as they are symptomatic and possible for up to 7 days following illness onset. Children, especially younger children, might potentially be contagious for longer periods.

What surfaces are most likely to be sources of contamination?
Germs can be spread when a person touches something that is contaminated with germs and then touches his or her eyes, nose, or mouth. Droplets from a cough or sneeze of an infected person move through the air. Germs can be spread when a person touches respiratory droplets from another person on a surface like a desk and then touches their own eyes, mouth or nose before washing their hands.

How long can viruses live outside the body?
We know that some viruses and bacteria can live 2 hours or longer on surfaces like cafeteria tables, doorknobs, and desks. Frequent handwashing will help you reduce the chance of getting contamination from these common surfaces.

What can I do to protect myself from getting sick?
There is no vaccine available right now to protect against swine flu. There are everyday actions that can help prevent the spread of germs that cause respiratory illnesses like influenza. Take these everyday steps to protect your health:


Cover your nose and mouth with a tissue when you cough or sneeze. Throw the tissue in the trash after you use it.
Wash your hands often with soap and water, especially after you cough or sneeze. Alcohol-based hand cleaners are also effective.
Avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth. Germs spread this way.
Try to avoid close contact with sick people.
If you get sick with influenza, CDC recommends that you stay home from work or school and limit contact with others to keep from infecting them.
What is the best way to keep from spreading the virus through coughing or sneezing?

If you are sick, limit your contact with other people as much as possible. Do not go to work or school if ill. Cover your mouth and nose with a tissue when coughing or sneezing. It may prevent those around you from getting sick. Put your used tissue in the waste basket. Cover your cough or sneeze if you do not have a tissue. Then, clean your hands, and do so every time you cough or sneeze.

What is the best way to keep from spreading the virus through coughing or sneezing?
If you are sick, limit your contact with other people as much as possible. Do not go to work or school if ill. Cover your mouth and nose with a tissue when coughing or sneezing. It may prevent those around you from getting sick. Put your used tissue in the waste basket. Cover your cough or sneeze if you do not have a tissue. Then, clean your hands, and do so every time you cough or sneeze.

What is the best technique for washing my hands to avoid getting the flu?
Washing your hands often will help protect you from germs. Wash with soap and water. or clean with alcohol-based hand cleaner. we recommend that when you wash your hands -- with soap and warm water -- that you wash for 15 to 20 seconds. When soap and water are not available, alcohol-based disposable hand wipes or gel sanitizers may be used. You can find them in most supermarkets and drugstores. If using gel, rub your hands until the gel is dry. The gel doesn't need water to work; the alcohol in it kills the germs on your hands.

What should I do if I get sick?
If you live in areas where swine influenza cases have been identified and become ill with influenza-like symptoms, including fever, body aches, runny nose, sore throat, nausea, or vomiting or diarrhea, you may want to contact their health care provider, particularly if you are worried about your symptoms. Your health care provider will determine whether influenza testing or treatment is needed.

If you are sick, you should stay home and avoid contact with other people as much as possible to keep from spreading your illness to others.

If you become ill and experience any of the following warning signs, seek emergency medical care.

In children emergency warning signs that need urgent medical attention include:

Fast breathing or trouble breathing
Bluish skin color
Not drinking enough fluids
Not waking up or not interacting
Being so irritable that the child does not want to be held
Flu-like symptoms improve but then return with fever and worse cough
Fever with a rash
In adults, emergency warning signs that need urgent medical attention include:
Difficulty breathing or shortness of breath
Pain or pressure in the chest or abdomen
Sudden dizziness
Confusion
Severe or persistent vomiting

How serious is swine flu infection?
Like seasonal flu, swine flu in humans can vary in severity from mild to severe. Between 2005 until January 2009, 12 human cases of swine flu were detected in the U.S. with no deaths occurring. However, swine flu infection can be serious. In September 1988, a previously healthy 32-year-old pregnant woman in Wisconsin was hospitalized for pneumonia after being infected with swine flu and died 8 days later. A swine flu outbreak in Fort Dix, New Jersey occurred in 1976 that caused more than 200 cases with serious illness in several people and one death.

Can I get swine influenza from eating or preparing pork?
No. Swine influenza viruses are not spread by food. You cannot get swine influenza from eating pork or pork products. Eating properly handled and cooked pork products is safe.

Imagine Good Governance at the center of Obama's upcoming Appointments and for his old Senate Seat?

Global Strategic Enterprises, Inc for Peace and Prosperity-
www.globalbelai4u.blogspot.com
Our Passion is to reach our individual and collective potential- Always!


Re; Imagine transparency and accountability at play and the Clinton-Obama Saga continues!


Good governance is about transparency and accountability. The Barack Obama Transition team has been very careful not to compromise public trust, and the current series of events around the Senate Seat Obama has vacated is becoming the center of attention.

Surely, so far no crime is committed; as the pre-emptive security, and intelligence team have been on the offensive with wiretapping, and, early removal of the Governor's capacity to appoint a Senator.

The announcement of the law officer at the press briefing is very telling as to why Chicago is now considered to be the Capital City of Corruption. Will it ever tarnish Obama's clean guy image? Time will tell. For now he seems to dispel the fear of corruption.

As Secretary of State Elect Hilary Clinton makes do with potential reduced salary, Obama's old Senate Seat is up for Sale,by what is referred to as "Pay2Play" game plan. Imagine! the number of hoops Hilary had to go through even involving the former President Bill Clinton's series of foundations and enterprises.

In short, his Senate Seat is up for corrupt practices whereas the Secretary of State position is devalued to respect some Senate rules.

So, you have it. Good governance at play at one end of the game and then the worst kind of corruption at the other. Where is Corruption International where you need it.

Fortunately, the US legal system was able to put to jail a sitting Governor with pre-emptive strategy and intelligence. I wish we could do the same with the Al-Qaeda Terror Networks around the world.

This is an interesting lesson on good governance that needs to be emulated across the world. The British government put to jail their sitting Member of Parliament and the debate is still raging.

When does crime become crime? Only when it is dealing with the common man or every man is under the rule of law? That continues to be the question the Good Governance Proponents ask as we see so much disparity in our world today.

Here is a good example of Good Governance at play: The Hilary and Barack Saga continues.....

Dr B

Obama confident staff clear in Ill. gov scandal
By PHILIP ELLIOTT, Associated Press Writer Philip Elliott, Associated Press Writer
42 mins ago

CHICAGO – President-elect Barack Obama declared Thursday he was "absolutely certain" his staff members engaged in no deal making concerning the filling of his former Senate seat, and he announced an investigation into whether they had contacts with anyone on the subject.

Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich was arrested Tuesday, accused of using his authority to choose Obama's replacement in the Senate to barter for campaign cash or a lucrative job inside or outside government. The governor has ignored calls for his resignation and declared his innocence. He retains the power to appoint a Senate successor to Obama.

The president-elect said he was "as appalled and disappointed as anybody" by the allegations. He said that neither he nor his transition team have been a part of the continuing federal investigation, using language that was very specific but left several questions unanswered.

"I have not been contacted by any federal officials and we have not been interviewed by them," Obama said.

He had called a news conference Thursday to introduce former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle as his choice to be secretary of health and human services, and he also lobbied for congressional passage of short-term loans to rescue the U.S. auto industry.

But all but one of the four questions posed to the president-elect by reporters dealt with the scandal that has rocked Illinois politics as well as Obama's so-far widely praised preparations to move into the White House.

Obama aimed to put an end to persistent questions about whether any of his staff were involved in Blagojevich's alleged schemes. Obama said he himself never spoke to the Illinois governor about the choosing of his successor. And he addressed for the first time the issue of whether his transition staff had any contacts.

He did not offer a definitive denial, saying he wanted to "gather all the facts" about that and expected to know more in the next few days.

But he was definitive about whether his staff had any involvement in Blagojevich's attempted wheeling and dealing.

"What I'm absolutely certain about is that our office had no involvement in any dealmaking around my Senate seat. That I'm absolutely certain of," he said. "That would be a violation of everything that this campaign has been about. And that's not how we do business."

In addressing the issue, the usually smooth-talking Obama occasionally stuttered or stumbled.

Nothing in the federal complaint suggests any wrongdoing by Obama or his staff. But the accusations against Blagojevich are an unwelcome distraction to the presidential transition, bringing fresh attention to some of the unsavory characters that have connections, however distant, to Obama and to questions of whether he can follow through on his message of change and clean government.

Obama noted that Blagojevich himself was quoted in the criminal complaint, compiled in large part from wiretaps on the governor's phones, criticizing Obama in colorful, vulgar language for being unlikely to help him.

"As is reflected in the U.S. attorney's report, we were not, I think, perceived by the governor's office as amenable to any deal making," Obama said. "I won't quote back some of the things that were said about me. This is a family program, I know."

Obama called again on Blagojevich to resign.

"I think the public trust has been violated," he said. "I do not think that the governor at this point can effectively serve the people of Illinois."

With lawmakers in Illinois maneuvering to quickly take the appointment responsibility out of Blagojevich's hands, Obama did not dictate a particular solution but demanded one be found.

"This Senate seat does not belong to any politician to trade," he said. "Any vacancy will be filled in an appropriate way, so that whoever is sent to Washington is going to be fighting for the people of Illinois. I hope and expect that the leaders of the Legislature will take these steps to ensure that this is so."



Secretary of state salary cut for Clinton
By LAURIE KELLMAN, Associated Press Writer Laurie Kellman, Associated Press Writer
1 hr 21 mins ago

WASHINGTON – Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton would make about $4,700 less as secretary of state than her predecessor, Condoleezza Rice.

Congress late Wednesday lowered the salary for the nation's top diplomat to keep Clinton's nomination from running afoul of the Constitution.

An obscure section on compensation for public officials, the Emoluments Clause, says that no member of Congress can be appointed to a government post if that job's pay was increased during the lawmaker's current term.

In other words, Clinton, D-N.Y., might have been ineligible to serve in the post because she was serving in Congress when Rice's salary was raised to its current level of $191,300. So late Wednesday, the House and Senate quietly rolled the secretary of state's salary back to $186,600, its level in January 2007 when Clinton began her second Senate term.

Even at the lower rate, Clinton would still get a raise over her Senate salary.

Senators now make $169,300 and are expected to receive a raise to $174,000 next year.

President-elect Barack Obama nominated Clinton to the post earlier this month. She is expected to keep her Senate seat pending confirmation by the Senate next year. Republicans and Democrats have said they expect no serious objections to her confirmation.

___

The measure is S.J. Res. 46 and can be viewed at http://thomas.loc.gov


Illinois governor tried to sell Senate seat: prosecutors
Tue Dec 9, 2008 6:37pm EST Email | Print | Share| Reprints | Single Page | Recommend (3) [-] Text [+]
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CHICAGO (Reuters) - The governor of Illinois, Rod Blagojevich, was arrested on Tuesday on "staggering" corruption charges that alleged he tried to sell the U.S. Senate seat vacated by fellow Democrat, President-elect Barack Obama.

The governor also tried to extort the Chicago Tribune, one of the country's leading newspapers, into firing editorial writers who were critical of him, federal prosecutors said.

Obama has long distanced himself from the governor of his home state -- who has been under investigation on other issues for years -- but Blagojevich's arrest was a likely embarrassment to the president-elect. Obama said he was "saddened and sobered" by the news and had not been aware of the alleged efforts to sell the Senate seat he vacated.

The case shined light again on old-style corruption in the grimy caldron of Chicago politics from which Obama emerged.

Obama, who takes office on January 20, resigned from the Senate after winning the November 4 presidential election. The Illinois governor is meant to pick Obama's Senate replacement.

The U.S. Senate's Democratic leader, Harry Reid of Nevada, called for the decision on appointing Obama's replacement to be taken out of Blagoveich's hands.

State lawmakers said they would go into session to try to have the law changed so a replacement can be picked by a special election -- meaning that Obama's replacement could be a Republican if the voters so decided.

Caught on tape, Blagojevich used an expletive as he described the Senate seat as something so valuable "you just don't give it away for nothing." He said he might even appoint himself if he could get nothing for it, the criminal complaint against him said.

"The breadth of corruption laid out in these charges is staggering," U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, the federal prosecutor, said in a statement detailing the charges.

It was enough to make revered Illinois statesman Abraham Lincoln "roll over in his grave," Fitzgerald later told reporters, adding the arrest of Blagojevich was made in order to stop a "crime spree."

The governor and his chief of staff, John Harris, were taken into custody at their Chicago homes. Blagojevich appeared in court later and was released on his own recognizance, meaning he did not have to post bail.

There were immediate calls from both Republicans and Democrats in Illinois for Blagojevich to resign.

Blagojevich's office issued a statement saying the allegations would not affect the functioning of the state.

Fitzgerald stressed there were no allegations in the criminal complaint about Obama. The president-elect told reporters: "I had no contact with the governor or his office and so I was not aware of what was happening."

'FOR SALE' SIGN

Blagojevich and Harris were each charged in a federal complaint with conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, and a second count of solicitation of bribery.

The mail and wire fraud charge carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison while the bribery charge has a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison. Each count carries a maximum fine of $250,000.

The charges "allege that Blagojevich put a 'for sale' sign on the naming of a United States senator; involved himself personally in pay-to-play schemes with the urgency of a salesman meeting his annual sales target; and corruptly used his office in an effort to trample editorial voices of criticism," Fitzgerald said in his statement.

Blagojevich was accused of threatening to withhold state assistance to the Tribune Company in connection with the sale of the Chicago Cubs' baseball home, Wrigley Field, in order "to induce the firing of Chicago Tribune editorial board members sharply critical" of him, Fitzgerald said.

Investigators said Blagojevich and Harris were caught on court-authorized wiretaps.

Blagojevich was seeking a "substantial" salary for himself at a nonprofit foundation or union affiliated organization, a spot on a corporate board for his wife, promises of campaign cash, as well as a cabinet post or ambassadorship in exchange for his Senate choice, an FBI affidavit said.

Democrats, with independent allies, would hold at least 58 seats in the 100-seat Senate when the new Congress convenes in early January if Obama's successor is a Democrat. A Minnesota Senate seat is still undecided.

Blagojevich, in his second term, is the latest in a string of Illinois governors to run afoul of the law. His immediate predecessor, George Ryan, is in jail following a federal corruption conviction.

(Reporting by Michael Conlon and James Vicini, Kyle Peterson and Karen Pierog in Chicago; Editing by Jackie Frank, Frances Kerry and Bill Trott)

Why Barack Obama Won Election 2008

Global Strategic Enterprises, Inc for Peace and Prosperity-
www.globalbelai4u.blogspot.com

Re: Why and How Obama Won the US Presidential Election

Dear Global Citizens and Friends of Ethiopia/Africa:

It has now been few days and quite a lot of comments have evolved as to how and why Obama won the US Presidency. Expressed reasons have ranged from his genetic make up to his developmental environment and even the global climate change and global economic crisis challenges.

However, it is becoming clearly evident that Obama, the man himself had a lot to do with where he is today

Regardless of his advent and performance over the past 2 years, more evidence is surfacing from his own biography as well as his campaign managers and those associated with him that it is the man Obama who made a difference.

My impressions changed a lot after watching C-SPAN Cable TV on Friday night where his current Chief of Staff-elect was being roasted in 2005 to raise resources for Epilepsy Cure Foundation that is run by Obama's Campaign manager.

This is an excellent show to watch to understand how Obama is perceived by his colleagues in the Senate and Congress and especially the Democratic leadership circles and the Chicago political leaderships.

I am now convinced it is the intelligence, character, and behavior as well as his leadership style and skills as well as the experience and vision of this great man that won him the presidency.
The recent series of endorsement from General Colin Powel a recent Secretary of State in the Republican Administration and the open letter by one of the best brains of our time (the attached Nobel Laurette's) and most importantly, he is surrounded by highly intelligent and loyal friends, most of whom that are multi-cultural and mainly of Jewish descent.

The rather interesting issue is the endorsement he got from traditional African American leadership, some of it rather late and his own Pasteur of 20 years tried to destroy his candidacy by giving a very damaging Press Conference at the Washington National Press Club. That showed us all what Obama was made of when he unconditionally refuted and disassociated himself from such a destructive force.

All the same, the comments of Jesse Jackson at the Father's Day NAACP conference also made it clear that he is a new generation leader. Yet, the amazing fact was that we do not see many key African Americans as much as Multi-cultural team who share his passion and his vision. It is a great testimony that the so called African American leadership is not based on interactive and proactive communication and dialogue with the membership. It was rather just by admiration based on past perceived performance.

Yes, current global events and especially US Political events in the person of President Bush and former House Speaker Gingrich had a lot to do with how the public perceived the Democrats and the new leadership. McCain and his running mate Sarah Palin and their comparative ignorance and rather poor judgement and highly embarrassing behavior had a lot to do. The choice was stark like day and night.

Just watch Sarah Palin's interview the last few days post the election to see her judgement and wisdom if there is any compared to how Obama continues to carry himself. The fact he called Ms Reagan and apologized right away for the unwanted jokes he cracked at her expense was a far difference between him and how Sarah Palin continues to carry herself. No where do you hear from her they lost because of their performance, which Mc Cain to his credit was more generous than her in accepting responsibility.

At the end the most efficient and well organized campaign machine won. Still people want to credit the wrong reasons for this success. It is also the wishes and aspirations of the American people that prevailed. The American experience is changing and this election. The American Demographics has changed dramatically and this election is a reflection of the American changing experience and evolution.

There is a dearth of written, spoken and video information for a long time to review when the dust settles.

Here is just the beginning.

Dr B

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
An Open Letter to the American People

September 25, 2008

This year's presidential election is among the most significant in our nation's history.

The country urgently needs a visionary leader who can ensure the future of our traditional strengths in science and technology and who can harness those strengths to address many of our greatest problems: energy, disease, climate change, security, and economic competitiveness.

We are convinced that Senator Barack Obama is such a leader, and we urge you to join us in supporting him.

During the administration of George W. Bush, vital parts of our country's scientific enterprise have been damaged by stagnant or declining federal support.

The government's scientific advisory process has been distorted by political considerations. As a result, our once dominant position in the scientific world has been shaken and our prosperity has been placed at risk.

We have lost time critical for the development of new ways to provide energy, treat disease, reverse climate change, strengthen our security, and improve our economy.

We have watched Senator Obama's approach to these issues with admiration. We especially applaud his emphasis during the campaign on the power of science and technology to enhance our nation's competitiveness.

In particular, we support the measures he plans to take – through new initiatives in education and training, expanded research funding, an unbiased process for obtaining scientific advice, and an appropriate balance of basic and applied research – to meet the nation's and the world's most urgent needs.

Senator Obama understands that Presidential leadership and federal investments in science and technology are crucial elements in successful governance of the world's leading country. We hope you will join us as we work together to ensure his election in November.

Signed,

Alexei Abrikosov Physics 2003
Roger Guillemin Medicine 1977
Peter Agre Chemistry 2003
John L. Hall Physics 2005
Sidney Altman Chemistry 1989
Leland H. Hartwell Medicine 2001
Philip W. Anderson Physics 1977
Dudley Herschbach Chemistry 1986
Richard Axel Medicine 2004
Roald Hoffmann Chemistry 1981
David Baltimore Medicine 1975
H. Robert Horvitz Medicine 2002
Baruj Benacerraf Medicine 1980
Louis Ignarro Medicine 1998
Paul Berg Chemistry 1980
Eric R. Kandel Medicine 2000
J. Michael Bishop Medicine 1989
Walter Kohn Chemistry 1998
N. Bloembergen Physics 1981
Roger Kornberg Chemistry 2006
Michael S. Brown Medicine 1985
Leon M. Lederman Physics 1988
Linda B. Buck Medicine 2004
Craig C. Mello Medicine 2006
Mario R. Capecchi Medicine 2007
Marshall Nirenberg Medicine 1968
Stanley Cohen Medicine 1986
Douglas D. Osheroff Physics 1996
Leon Cooper Physics 1972
Stanley B. Prusiner Medicine 1997
James W. Cronin Physics 1980
Norman F. Ramsey Physics 1989
Robert F. Curl Chemistry 1996
Robert Richardson Physics 1996
Johann Diesenhofer Chemistry 1988
Burton Richter Physics 1976
John B. Fenn Chemistry 2002
Sherwood Rowland Chemistry 1995
Edmond H. Fischer Medicine 1992
Oliver Smithies Medicine 2007
Val Fitch Physics 1980
Richard R Schrock Chemistry 2005
Jerome I. Friedman Physics 1990
Joseph H. Taylor Jr. Physics 1993
Riccardo Giacconi Physics 2002
E. Donnall Thomas Medicine 1990
Walter Gilbert Chemistry 1980
Charles H. Townes Physics 1964
Alfred G. Gilman Medicine 1994
Daniel C.Tsui Physics 1998
Donald A. Glaser Physics 1960
Harold Varmus Medicine 1989
Sheldon L. Glashow Physics 1979
James D. Watson Medicine 1962
Joseph Goldstein Medicine 1985
Eric Wieschaus Medicine 1995
Paul Greengard Medicine 2000
Frank Wilczek Physics 2004
David Gross Physics 2004
Robert W. Wilson Physics 1978
Robert H. Grubbs Chemistry 2005

The views expressed in this letter represent those of the signers acting as individual citizens. They do not necessarily represent the views of the institutions with which they are affiliated. The Medicine award is for “Physiology or Medicine.”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Why Obama won


Digg Facebook Newsvine del.icio.us Reddit StumbleUpon Technorati Yahoo! Bookmarks Print Ben Smith, Jonathan Martin Ben Smith, Jonathan Martin –
Wed Nov 5, 2:37 am ET
Featured Topics: John McCain Barack Obama Play Video Video: Keys to Victory FOX News

Slideshow: Election '08 Play Video Video: McCain Camp Accepts Tough Loss ABC News Play Video Video: Obama Accepts Historic Victory ABC News Reuters – U.S. President-elect Senator Barack Obama, his wife Michelle and their daughters Malia (2nd R) and Sasha … Barack Obama’s sweeping victory as president of the United States sends him to the White House to face what may be the worst national financial crisis since the time of Franklin Roosevelt’s election in 1932.

Obama won on his own terms, strategically and symbolically. He rolled up a series of contested states, from Colorado to Virginia, long out of Democratic reach. And his victory reflected the accuracy of his vision of a reshaped country. Racism, much discussed, turned out to be a footnote, and African-American turnout was not unusually high. Instead, Obama drew his strength from an array of racially mixed, growing areas around cities like Orlando, Washington, Indianapolis, and Columbus on his way to at least 334 electoral votes.

“Even as we celebrate tonight we know that the challenges tomorrow will bring are the greatest of our lifetime: two wars, a planet in peril, the worst financial crisis in a century,” Obama told a crowd of more than 100,000 in Chicago’s Grant Park.

The assembled crowd had been strangely silent through the evening, even as Obama shut the door for McCain by winning New Hampshire and Pennsylvania, and even after his victory in Ohio pointed toward a landslide, seemingly unwilling to accept or believe the impending victory.

Only at 11:00 p.m., when CNN declared that Obama had surpassed 270 electoral votes, did the crowd roar in approval.

"This victory alone is not the change we seek — it is only the chance to make that change," Obama said, standing between two bulletproof glass walls.

McCain, speaking in a somber concession speech outside the Phoenix hotel where he married his wife, declared that he had done what he could.

"I don't know what more we could have done to try to win this election," he said.

Calling Obama "my president," McCain vowed to work with him to help repair a nation facing profound challenges at home and abroad.

"These are difficult times for our country, and I pledge to him tonight to do all in my power to help him lead us through the many challenges we face," McCain said.

After booing Obama's name and offering a few jeers, the crowd came to recognize the history in the evening when McCain paid tribute to the nation's first black president by recalling his own favorite commander-in-chief.

"A century ago, President Theodore Roosevelt's invitation of Booker T. Washington to dine at the White House was taken as an outrage in many quarters," McCain recalled. "America today is a world away from the cruel and prideful bigotry of that time. There is no better evidence of this than the election of an African-American to the presidency of the United States."

For the first time, claps and even a few cheers were heard from the dejected crowd.

Obama’s win came with Democratic gains in the Senate and House, though his broad victory — he swept swing states ranging from Indiana to Ohio to Virginia — was perhaps even more dramatic than his party’s success in congressional races. Obama and other Democratic leaders quickly signaled their awareness of the risk of overreaching, with Obama avoiding any claim of partisan victory, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid going further.

"This is a mandate to get along, to get something done in a bipartisan way. This is not a mandate for a political party or an ideology,” Reid told Politico.

As grand as the symbolism of Obama’s victory was, it was also a victory for his steady, corporate campaign management. The campaign’s early decision to play on a more ambitious map than other Democratic nominees was the source of his mandate. And the result closely mirrored the PowerPoint presentation his campaign manager, David Plouffe, pitched to sometimes-skeptical audiences of reporters and donors.


McCain’s campaign blamed larger forces for their candidate’s defeat.

“We were crushed by circumstance,” communications director Jill Hazelbaker said after McCain’s speech. “The economic crisis was a pivotal point in this race.”

External factors aside, McCain and his campaign also lagged far behind Obama in every key metric — money, organization, discipline — and failed to embrace Obama's organizational model or the technology it borrowed from the private sector.

Earlier campaigns had celebrated their technological prowess, but in Obama’s cutting-edge campaign, new political technology was implemented and came of age, evidenced by its vaunted fundraising machine and its “Houdini” computer system, which enabled the campaign as late as Tuesday afternoon to identify and bring to the polls a last wave of supporters who hadn’t yet voted.

The coalition Obama assembled proved as modern as the technology his campaign employed.

In his clear-cut victory, Obama became the first Democrat to win a majority of American votes since Jimmy Carter’s 1976 election. He won states just months ago thought to be impregnable to his party, places that just four years ago went for President Bush by double-digits: Virginia, Indiana, and North Carolina among them.

Indeed, Obama won in all regions of the country but the Deep South, piling up big wins in the perennial Democratic bulwarks on both coasts and making deep inroads into New South states, the industrial and agricultural heartland and the fast-growing Rocky Mountain West.

But perhaps most spectacularly, he found victory with a multiracial coalition that has the makings of a formidable political base of power.

If his was the first 21st century campaign, his victory was powered by a new face of America: comprised of all ethnicities, hailing mostly from cities and suburbs, largely under 40 years old, and among all income classes.

As they emphatically proved by obliterating the presidential color line, many of these voters are not guided by traditional cultural attachment to race, religion or region.

What makes his victory so resounding, and so daunting for Republicans, was that he combined support from African-Americans, Jews, and young whites with other key groups. He also reversed President Bush’s advances with Hispanic voters.

Further, and even more worrisome for the GOP, Obama was dominant among self-described “moderate” voters, a 60 percent swath of Americans larger than either self-described liberals or conservatives.

This 21st century coalition allowed Obama to blow out McCain in cities and suburbs where Bush had narrowly won or lost by smaller margins four years ago, and to pull off narrow wins in Virginia, North Carolina, Florida, Indiana and Ohio.

He ran up huge margins in heavily-black cities and counties in each, but was able to edge out McCain thanks to big wins in populous, racially-mixed localities like Northern Virginia's Fairfax County (59 percent), Charlotte’s Mecklenburg County (62 percent), Orlando’s Orange County (59 percent), Indianapolis’s Marion County (64 percent) and Columbus’s Franklin County (59 percent).

The coalition underscored the theme that made Obama famous in 2004, and one that he returned to in his victory speech, citing his support from “young and old, rich and poor, Democrat and Republican, black, white, Latino, Asian, Native American, gay, straight, disabled and not disabled — Americans who sent a message to the world that we have never been a collection of Red States and Blue States: we are, and always will be, the United States of America."

Africa responds to Global Financial Crisis

Global Strategic Enterprises, Inc for Peace and Prosperity- www.globalbelai4u.blogspot.com

Africa calls summit to respond to financial crisis
Mon 27 Oct 2008, 18:31 GMT


BRAZZAVILLE, Oct 27 (Reuters) -

The African Union said on Monday it would hold a summit next month on the continent's response to the global financial crisis.

It also urged member states to tighten their belts to help them withstand the impact of collapsing world markets.

"We urge African governments to pursue prudent monetary and fiscal policies to mitigate the effects of falling world markets on the continent, in a manner that does not compromise our development," African Union Commission chief Jean Ping told a meeting on sustainable development.

He said the continental body and the African Development Bank (AfDB) had agreed to hold the summit on Nov. 12 in Tunis, where the majority of the bank's personnel work.

"There is no doubt it will have serious repercussions on capital flows and their sustainability, as well as on trade in Africa," Ping said of the global financial turmoil.

The financial crisis also may reduce donors' development aid budgets, Ping said while attending the Sixth Forum on Sustainable Development which opened in Congo Republic's capital Brazzaville.

Ping is a former government minister from oil-producing Gabon, which has one of the highest average per capita incomes in Africa but stands to lose from weaker world oil prices, which have dropped by more than half from record highs in July .

African economies generally have been growing at their fastest pace for years thanks in part to booming Asian demand for their commodities exports and rising foreign investment.

But with a global economic slowdown and some developed economies tipping into recession, the International Monetary Fund trimmed its growth forecast for sub-Saharan Africa to 6 percent in 2008 and 2009 from about 6.5 percent in 2007.

The Tunis conference will come just a few days after the world's major industrialised and developing economies meet in Brazil as the "G-20" to draw up plans to tackle the crisis in preparation for a global summit in Washington on Nov. 15.

The president of the West African state of Benin, Thomas Boni Yayi, complained at the weekend that Africa's poorest countries had no representation within the G-20, which includes only South Africa, the poorest continent's biggest economy. (Reporting by Christian Tsoumou; writing by Alistair Thomson; editing by Michael Roddy)

Global response to global crisis? A step in the right direction or too late to matter! Is it inclusive enough?

Global Strategic Enterprises, Inc for Peace and Prosperity-
~*~*~*~*~*~*Promoting an Integrated and accountable global community for all~*~*~*~*~

www.globalbelai4u.blogspot.com for 6.6 Billion Global Stakeholders!

Dear Patriotic Global Citizens: Are the Bottom Billion likely to lose out again?


Invited Guests at the Nov 15, 2008-World Economic Summit at the White House include:
the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Canada and the United States, the European Union China, Brazil, India, Russia, South Korea and other major economies.

Where are Africans, South East Asians and Latin Americans; the most vulnerable?


The Global Economic Meltdown or Contagion of insecurity and distrust is mainly affecting the North American and European and lately Asian Markets. For now, Africa and Latin America- the least integrated continents appear to be slow to get the pandemic.

However, every one is saying that they are late in contracting the disease and the epidemics will reach these vulnerable nations in the end. When it does, perhaps its impact will be worse or if the political and economic leaders of these continents do their homework there might be some hope.

As the world is waking to the new economic realities and are making adjustments or even try and buy out the bad debt or the contagion, the confidence is not there yet as the causes of the problem, that is unregulated greed, out of touch speculators and ineffective risk management institutions are still not made accountable.

The challenge in the end is institutional integrity, lack of transparency, accountability and most of all empowering the ability of those decision makers to get rid of or punish while collar criminals. The days of making 18 Million Dollars in threee weeks as the AIG CEO did just before he declared its collapse and making Golden Parachutes while the rest stakeholders dive into obscurity is over! Or should be over before they get the Trillion Dollar Rescue Plan or Wall Street Welfare as most people refer to it. All the incompetent and criminal CEOs should be made accountable. So that the lesson is you cannot creative a Global Financial Meltdown and go scot or US free.


What happened to Transparency International, to International Monetary Fund and the series of self appointed Foundations that monitor corruption and poor governance across the world? What were they doing when the elephant in the living room was romping and destroying all trust of the free market and global economy.

Reading their reports, they look like out of sink and out of focus. Why bother what is happening in poor African economies and writing about their current and past incompetence when the world's economy is collapsing.

The so called solutions sound even more funny than the alleged causes of the problem. Imagine words like Economic Bail Out, Corporate welfare and giving billions and even trillions to the very system that is corrupt and the cause of the problem. Already over 2 trillion dollars evaporated when the Economic Bail Out was just under discussion. Imagine how long this has been going on at least five years of expressed and documented financial meltdown.

The Europeans are very good in terms of making new systems and now there are topics of Breton Woods like new financial and banking systems being created. Who is missing from this discussions?

Africans and Latin Americans for that matter the new Economic Giants of Asia like Russia,China and India do not seem sitting at the table. Africa and Latin America are not even consulted nor are they demanding to be present at these negotiations.

The three key players appear to be the British, French and US with consultation of the Germans.

The IMF is quiet. So is the World Bank, the UN and all the international financial institutions that should demand to be part of the communication about how to address the current and future challenges.

In the end, it is the poor Billions who will suffer most. Unfortunately, most of them are in Africa, Latin America and South East Asia and do not seem to be organized enough to address the upcoming new Giant conversation.

President Elect Obama seems to be the only one who is a community organizer and knows first hand what the poor are going through even in times of plenty. The other President Elect is a former prisoner of war and Senate Veteran who is a famous maverick.

Would maverick leadership solve the Global Economic Crisis or deliberate, interactive and risk management and proactive leadership that consults widely and leads cautiously?

The forces of greed and destruction are still out there wild and uncontrolled by Any viable system. Greed breeds economic terrorism and social chaos. We need to create means of pre-empting uncontrolled greed and speculators.

Are the leaders of Africa, Latin America and South East Asia planning to be partners in this new deal? Or are we going to have a series of NGOs pretending to care after the deal is made? The time to act is now.

Ensure that the bottom Billions are partners in these new negotiations of creating the new World Order.

The New Economic World Order should be transparent, and accountable to all 6.6 Billion stakeholders of the globe and not only few masters of the new Economic Contagion. If they do not have a seat in this new table, then they have to have the courage to offer an alternative to the new Breton Woods or Brown Sarkozy deals.

Here is the interesting story of the New Economic Order under discussion

Dr B Jesus (GlobalB)*Washington DC*USA*

*~*~**~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~**~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

WASHINGTON – World leaders will meet Nov. 15 in Washington to address the global financial crisis — the first in a series of summits to mitigate what economists predict could be a long and deep downturn.

In making the announcement, White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said the first meeting will focus on the underlying causes of the financial crisis, the global response and the principles that should guide any reforms.

The summit will bring together leaders of the Japan, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Canada and the United States, the European Union China, Brazil, India, Russia, South Korea and other major economies. She said the White House would seek input from the winner of the U.S. presidential election who will take office on Jan. 20.

Perino said countries would come to the summit with different approaches about what's needed to fix the system. "I don't believe that you'll have any details coming out of this meeting in terms of things that everyone agrees to at the first meeting," she said.


~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~***~*~*~*~*~*~*~**~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~



European leaders press for new economic order

Digg Facebook Newsvine del.icio.us Reddit StumbleUpon Technorati Yahoo! Bookmarks Print By JOHN LEICESTER, Associated Press Writer John Leicester, Associated Press Writer – Fri Oct 17, 2:19 pm ET AP –

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, speaks to French President Nicolas Sarkozy, during …


PARIS – The idea is ambitious: World leaders joined by aides to the new U.S. president-elect would gather before the year's end in New York and attempt to forge a new vision for the global economy.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy has teamed up with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown to press for such a summit, and the French leader travels to Camp David this weekend to lobby President Bush to sign on.

Brown, buoyed by the praise he won for engineering a British bank bailout that inspired U.S. and European rescues, is proposing "radical changes" to the global capitalist system, including a cross-border mechanism to monitor the world's 30 biggest financial institutions. Sarkozy has floated the idea of reforming rating agencies and even exploring the future of currency systems.

Details remain vague and the obstacles are many.

But the political pendulum, at least in Europe, is swinging decisively in the direction of tighter control and supervision, away from the laissez-faire economics that fueled a colossal global boom and appear to have enabled an equally dramatic bust.

In Brown's view, what's needed is nothing less than a new version of the 1944 Bretton Woods conference that brought together Allied leaders and established a post-World War II global monetary and financial order, laying foundations for the International Monetary Fund and a currency exchange regime that lasted for three decades.

"This is a defining moment for the world economy," Brown wrote in Friday's Washington Post. "The old postwar international financial institutions are out of date. They have to be rebuilt for a wholly new era."

Behind the lofty rhetoric, Brown and Sarkozy are backed by a degree of clout.

They have proved instrumental in the past two weeks in corralling European governments to dig deep into taxpayers' pockets to shore up banks, unfreeze credit, and soothe markets.

But experts wonder whether leaders at the proposed summit will truly be able to set aside national interests and clashing legal and business cultures to agree on a common vision. In exchange for global financial stability, nations could be forced to sacrifice autonomy and economic growth under tighter regulatory shackles.

The gathering aims to bring together the Group of Eight industrial powers as well as emerging players like China and India — and countries at different stages of economic maturity will bring different needs to the table, as climate change talks have made abundantly clear.

Officials in the waning Bush administration are also politely dismissing global regulation and some observers are skeptical Europeans can sell the idea to any U.S. president.

"I'm very dubious that much can be done," said Charles Wyplosz, an international economics professor in Switzerland.

The White House is playing down the likelihood Bush will agree to a time and place for a summit when he meets this weekend with Sarkozy and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso.

For Brown, the banking bailouts are only phase 1 in getting finance working again. Phase 2, he argues, will require global action as sweeping as that which gave birth to the United Nations, the World Bank and the IMF in the 1940s.

At a European summit this week, Sarkozy and Brown started to flesh out their proposals, backed by Barroso and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

The most eye-catching proposal from Brown — albeit one based on a proposed European system — envisions a cross-border monitoring program for the 30 biggest giants of global finance, such as America's Citigroup Inc. or Britain's HSBC PLC.

He also called for the 185-nation IMF to be turned into an "early warning system for the world economy," with international monitoring powers. Such reform would mark a revival for the IMF, which has receded to the sidelines of the global economy in recent years.

Sarkozy cast his net even wider. The conservative — who has in recent weeks sounded increasingly like a leftist — wants discussion on tax havens, hedge and sovereign wealth funds, the "folly" of big pay bonuses for risk-taking executives and even how many major currencies the world needs.

Some of his harshest words were for ratings agencies, hinting that he wouldn't be sorry to see them disappear altogether in the financial architecture that he and Brown say they want built.

"Do we keep them?" he asked. "What do we replace them with?

"Should they only be American?" he added, in a statement bound to get attention from U.S.-based Moody's and Standard & Poors.

As always, Sarkozy is in a hurry. Waiting three months until John McCain or Barack Obama is sworn in runs the risk of the crisis getting worse or getting better, which could frustrate the drive for fundamental reform, the French leader warned.

He suggested instead that the winner of the November election send economic aides with Bush to the summit. Sarkozy is pushing for a November or December meeting in New York, "where everything started."

"Europe wants it, Europe is asking for it, Europe will get it," he said. "If we wait for the new president that means, in the best case scenario, we would get together in the spring ... It's much too late and not acceptable."

But obstacles abound.

Brown's talk of "very large and very radical changes" could prove highly problematic in a capitalist system that has grown increasingly complex and intertwined since the end of the Cold War.

Experts say experience shows that getting nations to agree on specific rules that could crimp their economic strengths can be a long, frustrating and sometimes fruitless process. And politicians now howling that capitalism needs curing turned a deaf ear to warnings of flaws in the banking system when economic times were good, they point out.

Wyplosz predicted that leaders will find, once they get down "to the nitty gritty," that reforming the World Bank and IMF is going to be difficult.

And he was pessimistic about the prospects for effective cross-border policing of banks, saying countries have a habit of wanting to protect their own banking champions from outside meddling.

"There will be a lot of talk but the discussions will go nowhere and two or three years from now the urge to change things will be gone," he said.

On closer inspection, Brown's still ill-defined proposal to better supervise big financial groups may also not live up to the billing of radical reform.

A British Treasury spokesman, who could not be identified under government policy, said Brown was referring to creation of committees that would meet regularly to swap information on big banks' behavior.

Each committee would be made up of regulators from an array of countries, likely including Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Singapore, Switzerland, Britain and the United States, the spokesman said.

He added: "It's not a regulatory thing, it's about information sharing and keeping each other informed."

Julian Jessop, chief international economist at London-based Capital Economics, said "this could be just another set of ghastly committees with a bunch of countries on them."

Some experts are also concerned that a summit with such an ambitious yet vague agenda could distract leaders from far more concrete and pressing steps, not least forcing banks to squirrel away more money so they can better ride out tough times.

"The French are always good at launching very conceptual discussions," said Harald Benink, a professor of banking and finance in the Netherlands. "That doesn't address the fundamental problems that have become all too obvious."

____

AP Business Writers Aoife White in Brussels and Emily Vencat and Pan Pylas in London contributed to this report.

Global response to global crisis? A step in the right direction or too late to matter!

Global Strategic Enterprises, Inc for Peace and Prosperity-

www.globalbelai4u.blogspot.com

Dear Patriotic Global Citizens: Are the Bottom Billion likely to lose out again?

The Global Economic Meltdown or Contagion of insecurity and distrust is mainly affecting the North American and European and lately Asian Markets. For now, Africa and lating America- the least integrated continents appear to be slow to get the pandemic.

However, every one is saying that they are late in contracting the disease and the epidemics will reach these vulnerable nations in the end. When it does, perhaps its impact will be worse or if the political and economic leaders of these continents do their homework there might be some hope.

As the world is waking to the new economic realities and are making adjustments or even try and buy out the bad debt or the contagion, the confidence is not there yet as the causes of the problem, that is unregulated greed, out of touch speculators and ineffective risk management institutions are still not made accountable.

The challenge in the end is institutional integrity, lack of transparency, accountability and most of all empowering the ability of those decision makers to get rid of or punish while collar criminals.

What happened to Transparency International, to International Monetary Fund and the series of self appointed Foundations that monitor corruption and poor governance across the world? What were they doing when the elephant in the living room was romping and destroying all trust of the free market and global economy.

Reading their reports, they look like out of sink and out of focus. Why bother what is happening in poor African economies and writing about their current and past incompetence when the world's economy is collapsing.

The so called solutions sound even more funny than the alleged causes of the problem. Imagine words like Economic Bail Out, Corporate welfare and giving billions and even trillions to the very system that is corrupt and the cause of the problem. Already over 2 trillion dollars evaporated when the Economic Bail Out was just under discussion. Imagine how long this has been going on at least five years of expressed and documented financial meltdown.

The Europeans are very good interms of making new systems and now there are topics of Bretton Woods like new financial and banking systems being created. Who is missing from this discussions?

Africans and Latin Americans for that matter the new Economic Giants of Aisa like Russia,China and India do not seem sitting at the table. Africa and Latin America are not even consulted nor are they demanding to be present at these negotiations.

The three key players appear to be the British, French and US with consultation of the Germans.

The IMF is quiet. So is the World Bank, the UN and all the international financial institutions that should demand to be part of the communication about how to address the current and future challenges.

In the end, it is the poor Billions who will suffer most. Unfortanately, most of them are in Africa, Latin America and South East Asia and do not seem to be organized enought to address the upcoming new Giant conversation.

President Elect Obama seems to be the only one who is a community organizer and knows first hand what the poor are going through even in times of plenty. The other President Elect is a former prisioner of war and Senate Veteran who is a famous maverick.

Would maverick leadership solve the Global Economic Crisis or deliberate, interactive and risk management and proactive leadership that consults widely and leads cautiously?

The forces of greed and destruction are still out there wild and uncontrolled by anyt viable system. Greed breeds economic terrorism and social chaos. We need to create means of pre-empting uncontrolled greed and speculators.

Are the leaders of Africa, Latiin America and South East Asia planning to be partners in this new deal? Or are we going to have a series of NGOs pretending to care after the deal is made? The time to act is now.

Ensure that the bottom Billions are partners in these new negotiations of creating the new World Order.

The New Economic World Order should be transparent, and accountable to all 6.6 Billion stakeholders of the globe and not only few masters of the new Economic Contagion. If they do not have a seat in this new table, then they have to have the courage to offer an alternative to the new Bretton Woods or Brown Sarkozy deals.

Here is the interesting story of the New Economic Order under discussion

Dr B


European leaders press for new economic order

Digg Facebook Newsvine del.icio.us Reddit StumbleUpon Technorati Yahoo! Bookmarks Print By JOHN LEICESTER, Associated Press Writer John Leicester, Associated Press Writer – Fri Oct 17, 2:19 pm ET AP –

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, speaks to French President Nicolas Sarkozy, during …


PARIS – The idea is ambitious: World leaders joined by aides to the new U.S. president-elect would gather before the year's end in New York and attempt to forge a new vision for the global economy.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy has teamed up with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown to press for such a summit, and the French leader travels to Camp David this weekend to lobby President Bush to sign on.

Brown, buoyed by the praise he won for engineering a British bank bailout that inspired U.S. and European rescues, is proposing "radical changes" to the global capitalist system, including a cross-border mechanism to monitor the world's 30 biggest financial institutions. Sarkozy has floated the idea of reforming rating agencies and even exploring the future of currency systems.

Details remain vague and the obstacles are many.

But the political pendulum, at least in Europe, is swinging decisively in the direction of tighter control and supervision, away from the laissez-faire economics that fueled a colossal global boom and appear to have enabled an equally dramatic bust.

In Brown's view, what's needed is nothing less than a new version of the 1944 Bretton Woods conference that brought together Allied leaders and established a post-World War II global monetary and financial order, laying foundations for the International Monetary Fund and a currency exchange regime that lasted for three decades.

"This is a defining moment for the world economy," Brown wrote in Friday's Washington Post. "The old postwar international financial institutions are out of date. They have to be rebuilt for a wholly new era."

Behind the lofty rhetoric, Brown and Sarkozy are backed by a degree of clout.

They have proved instrumental in the past two weeks in corralling European governments to dig deep into taxpayers' pockets to shore up banks, unfreeze credit, and soothe markets.

But experts wonder whether leaders at the proposed summit will truly be able to set aside national interests and clashing legal and business cultures to agree on a common vision. In exchange for global financial stability, nations could be forced to sacrifice autonomy and economic growth under tighter regulatory shackles.

The gathering aims to bring together the Group of Eight industrial powers as well as emerging players like China and India — and countries at different stages of economic maturity will bring different needs to the table, as climate change talks have made abundantly clear.

Officials in the waning Bush administration are also politely dismissing global regulation and some observers are skeptical Europeans can sell the idea to any U.S. president.

"I'm very dubious that much can be done," said Charles Wyplosz, an international economics professor in Switzerland.

The White House is playing down the likelihood Bush will agree to a time and place for a summit when he meets this weekend with Sarkozy and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso.

For Brown, the banking bailouts are only phase 1 in getting finance working again. Phase 2, he argues, will require global action as sweeping as that which gave birth to the United Nations, the World Bank and the IMF in the 1940s.

At a European summit this week, Sarkozy and Brown started to flesh out their proposals, backed by Barroso and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

The most eye-catching proposal from Brown — albeit one based on a proposed European system — envisions a cross-border monitoring program for the 30 biggest giants of global finance, such as America's Citigroup Inc. or Britain's HSBC PLC.

He also called for the 185-nation IMF to be turned into an "early warning system for the world economy," with international monitoring powers. Such reform would mark a revival for the IMF, which has receded to the sidelines of the global economy in recent years.

Sarkozy cast his net even wider. The conservative — who has in recent weeks sounded increasingly like a leftist — wants discussion on tax havens, hedge and sovereign wealth funds, the "folly" of big pay bonuses for risk-taking executives and even how many major currencies the world needs.

Some of his harshest words were for ratings agencies, hinting that he wouldn't be sorry to see them disappear altogether in the financial architecture that he and Brown say they want built.

"Do we keep them?" he asked. "What do we replace them with?

"Should they only be American?" he added, in a statement bound to get attention from U.S.-based Moody's and Standard & Poors.

As always, Sarkozy is in a hurry. Waiting three months until John McCain or Barack Obama is sworn in runs the risk of the crisis getting worse or getting better, which could frustrate the drive for fundamental reform, the French leader warned.

He suggested instead that the winner of the November election send economic aides with Bush to the summit. Sarkozy is pushing for a November or December meeting in New York, "where everything started."

"Europe wants it, Europe is asking for it, Europe will get it," he said. "If we wait for the new president that means, in the best case scenario, we would get together in the spring ... It's much too late and not acceptable."

But obstacles abound.

Brown's talk of "very large and very radical changes" could prove highly problematic in a capitalist system that has grown increasingly complex and intertwined since the end of the Cold War.

Experts say experience shows that getting nations to agree on specific rules that could crimp their economic strengths can be a long, frustrating and sometimes fruitless process. And politicians now howling that capitalism needs curing turned a deaf ear to warnings of flaws in the banking system when economic times were good, they point out.

Wyplosz predicted that leaders will find, once they get down "to the nitty gritty," that reforming the World Bank and IMF is going to be difficult.

And he was pessimistic about the prospects for effective cross-border policing of banks, saying countries have a habit of wanting to protect their own banking champions from outside meddling.

"There will be a lot of talk but the discussions will go nowhere and two or three years from now the urge to change things will be gone," he said.

On closer inspection, Brown's still ill-defined proposal to better supervise big financial groups may also not live up to the billing of radical reform.

A British Treasury spokesman, who could not be identified under government policy, said Brown was referring to creation of committees that would meet regularly to swap information on big banks' behavior.

Each committee would be made up of regulators from an array of countries, likely including Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Singapore, Switzerland, Britain and the United States, the spokesman said.

He added: "It's not a regulatory thing, it's about information sharing and keeping each other informed."

Julian Jessop, chief international economist at London-based Capital Economics, said "this could be just another set of ghastly committees with a bunch of countries on them."

Some experts are also concerned that a summit with such an ambitious yet vague agenda could distract leaders from far more concrete and pressing steps, not least forcing banks to squirrel away more money so they can better ride out tough times.

"The French are always good at launching very conceptual discussions," said Harald Benink, a professor of banking and finance in the Netherlands. "That doesn't address the fundamental problems that have become all too obvious."

____

AP Business Writers Aoife White in Brussels and Emily Vencat and Pan Pylas in London contributed to this report.

Global Strategic Enterprises, Inc for Peace and Prosperity-

www.globalbelai4u.blogspot.comEuropean leaders press for new economic order
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Digg Facebook Newsvine del.icio.us Reddit StumbleUpon Technorati Yahoo! Bookmarks Print By JOHN LEICESTER, Associated Press Writer John Leicester, Associated Press Writer – Fri Oct 17, 2:19 pm ET AP – British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, right, speaks to French President Nicolas Sarkozy, left, during …
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PARIS – The idea is ambitious: World leaders joined by aides to the new U.S. president-elect would gather before the year's end in New York and attempt to forge a new vision for the global economy.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy has teamed up with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown to press for such a summit, and the French leader travels to Camp David this weekend to lobby President Bush to sign on.

Brown, buoyed by the praise he won for engineering a British bank bailout that inspired U.S. and European rescues, is proposing "radical changes" to the global capitalist system, including a cross-border mechanism to monitor the world's 30 biggest financial institutions. Sarkozy has floated the idea of reforming rating agencies and even exploring the future of currency systems.

Details remain vague and the obstacles are many.

But the political pendulum, at least in Europe, is swinging decisively in the direction of tighter control and supervision, away from the laissez-faire economics that fueled a colossal global boom and appear to have enabled an equally dramatic bust.

In Brown's view, what's needed is nothing less than a new version of the 1944 Bretton Woods conference that brought together Allied leaders and established a post-World War II global monetary and financial order, laying foundations for the International Monetary Fund and a currency exchange regime that lasted for three decades.

"This is a defining moment for the world economy," Brown wrote in Friday's Washington Post. "The old postwar international financial institutions are out of date. They have to be rebuilt for a wholly new era."

Behind the lofty rhetoric, Brown and Sarkozy are backed by a degree of clout.

They have proved instrumental in the past two weeks in corralling European governments to dig deep into taxpayers' pockets to shore up banks, unfreeze credit, and soothe markets.

But experts wonder whether leaders at the proposed summit will truly be able to set aside national interests and clashing legal and business cultures to agree on a common vision. In exchange for global financial stability, nations could be forced to sacrifice autonomy and economic growth under tighter regulatory shackles.

The gathering aims to bring together the Group of Eight industrial powers as well as emerging players like China and India — and countries at different stages of economic maturity will bring different needs to the table, as climate change talks have made abundantly clear.

Officials in the waning Bush administration are also politely dismissing global regulation and some observers are skeptical Europeans can sell the idea to any U.S. president.

"I'm very dubious that much can be done," said Charles Wyplosz, an international economics professor in Switzerland.

The White House is playing down the likelihood Bush will agree to a time and place for a summit when he meets this weekend with Sarkozy and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso.

For Brown, the banking bailouts are only phase 1 in getting finance working again. Phase 2, he argues, will require global action as sweeping as that which gave birth to the United Nations, the World Bank and the IMF in the 1940s.

At a European summit this week, Sarkozy and Brown started to flesh out their proposals, backed by Barroso and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

The most eye-catching proposal from Brown — albeit one based on a proposed European system — envisions a cross-border monitoring program for the 30 biggest giants of global finance, such as America's Citigroup Inc. or Britain's HSBC PLC.

He also called for the 185-nation IMF to be turned into an "early warning system for the world economy," with international monitoring powers. Such reform would mark a revival for the IMF, which has receded to the sidelines of the global economy in recent years.

Sarkozy cast his net even wider. The conservative — who has in recent weeks sounded increasingly like a leftist — wants discussion on tax havens, hedge and sovereign wealth funds, the "folly" of big pay bonuses for risk-taking executives and even how many major currencies the world needs.

Some of his harshest words were for ratings agencies, hinting that he wouldn't be sorry to see them disappear altogether in the financial architecture that he and Brown say they want built.

"Do we keep them?" he asked. "What do we replace them with?

"Should they only be American?" he added, in a statement bound to get attention from U.S.-based Moody's and Standard & Poors.

As always, Sarkozy is in a hurry. Waiting three months until John McCain or Barack Obama is sworn in runs the risk of the crisis getting worse or getting better, which could frustrate the drive for fundamental reform, the French leader warned.

He suggested instead that the winner of the November election send economic aides with Bush to the summit. Sarkozy is pushing for a November or December meeting in New York, "where everything started."

"Europe wants it, Europe is asking for it, Europe will get it," he said. "If we wait for the new president that means, in the best case scenario, we would get together in the spring ... It's much too late and not acceptable."

But obstacles abound.

Brown's talk of "very large and very radical changes" could prove highly problematic in a capitalist system that has grown increasingly complex and intertwined since the end of the Cold War.

Experts say experience shows that getting nations to agree on specific rules that could crimp their economic strengths can be a long, frustrating and sometimes fruitless process. And politicians now howling that capitalism needs curing turned a deaf ear to warnings of flaws in the banking system when economic times were good, they point out.

Wyplosz predicted that leaders will find, once they get down "to the nitty gritty," that reforming the World Bank and IMF is going to be difficult.

And he was pessimistic about the prospects for effective cross-border policing of banks, saying countries have a habit of wanting to protect their own banking champions from outside meddling.

"There will be a lot of talk but the discussions will go nowhere and two or three years from now the urge to change things will be gone," he said.

On closer inspection, Brown's still ill-defined proposal to better supervise big financial groups may also not live up to the billing of radical reform.

A British Treasury spokesman, who could not be identified under government policy, said Brown was referring to creation of committees that would meet regularly to swap information on big banks' behavior.

Each committee would be made up of regulators from an array of countries, likely including Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Singapore, Switzerland, Britain and the United States, the spokesman said.

He added: "It's not a regulatory thing, it's about information sharing and keeping each other informed."

Julian Jessop, chief international economist at London-based Capital Economics, said "this could be just another set of ghastly committees with a bunch of countries on them."

Some experts are also concerned that a summit with such an ambitious yet vague agenda could distract leaders from far more concrete and pressing steps, not least forcing banks to squirrel away more money so they can better ride out tough times.

"The French are always good at launching very conceptual discussions," said Harald Benink, a professor of banking and finance in the Netherlands. "That doesn't address the fundamental problems that have become all too obvious."

____

AP Business Writers Aoife White in Brussels and Emily Vencat and Pan Pylas in London contributed to this report.

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Time line of the Credit Crunch and how we ignored the crisis

Global Strategic Enterprises, Inc for Peace and Prosperity-

www.globalbelai4u.blogspot.com


Re: Timeline of the Credit Cruch and Global Financial Crisis.

This is a very important time line for all of us to consider seriously regardless of our social standing and professional background. We all were let down by those we trusted to be honorable, professional, competent and most importantly transparent and accountable.

No one wanted to be accountable. All failed, especially those in Wall Street and Main Street. Imagine a white house that declared Government was the problem and should not be in the way of business and called for de-regulation for so long. Those mantras of Days of Good and Big Government are gone and in is small and corrupt government that is not accountable. Those days are gone for ever!



The time line below shows clearly how we got here. It did not happen overnight. There were lots of signs and events to alert us about the catastrophy.

Those in authroity and responsiblity to take action just slept in the Greed Wagon.

How we got here? is a very interesting lesson for future generations, both comedians and historians as well as those who want to govern the future.

A time line of the Credit Crunch or Market Crisis shows what fools were running the Free Market or No one was running things. Deregulation, open free market became the mantra that allowed our CEOs on their criminal goals of robbing the banks and the speculators were literally playing fool on all of us.

Imagine some thing called shadow banking or hedge funds as they call them where billions were being made without any regulation or accountability. Shadow banking is not transparent, not available to all, but to few insiders who robbed every body. Imagine, a bailout for the worst criminals and robbers of our time. I remember, Ronald Regan's supporters calling Lani Guiner the Welfare Queen, now we have the Corporate Welfare Emperors being rewarded by the last out going Republican Administraton that sang deregulation for so long.



There were lear warning signs and there was no one at the driving seat! The world events before the crisis and during the crisis clearly show those responsible to monitor the market slept at the driving seat and how the speculators got us in to this mess. Can we do some thing about it? That will be the role of Barack Obama's team here in the US and the same old chronies in Europe and Asia. We need change we can believe in.

Lesson from the Global Credit Crunch Time line is here for us to be more vigilant in the futue and pay attention to details and clear warning signs, all the time.

Dr B



Timeline: Global credit crunch

A year ago, few people had heard of the term credit crunch, but the phrase has now entered dictionaries.

Defined as "a severe shortage of money or credit", the start of the phenomenon has been pinpointed as 9 August 2007 when bad news from French bank BNP Paribas triggered sharp rise in the cost of credit, and made the financial world realise how serious the situation was.

The problems, however, started much earlier. GROWING SUB-PRIME PROBLEMS

After a two year period between 2004 and 2006 when US interest rates rose from 1% to 5.35%, the US housing market begins to suffer, with prices falling and a rise in homeowners defaulting on their mortgages.

Default rates on sub-prime loans - high risk loans to clients with poor or no credit histories - rise to record levels.

APRIL-AUGUST 2007: SUB-PRIME CONTAGION

April


The credit losses associated with sub-prime have come to light and they are fairly significant...Some estimates are in the order of between $50bn and $100bn of losses
Ben Bernanke, Chairman US Federal Reserve, speaking on 20 July 2007

New Century Financial, which specialises in sub-prime mortgages,

As it sold on many of its debts to other banks, the collapse in the sub-prime market begins to have an impact at banks around the world.

July

Investment bank Bear Stearns tells investors they will get little, if any, of the money invested in two of its hedge funds after rival banks refuse to help it bail them out.

Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke follows the news with

AUGUST 2007: SCALE OF THE CREDIT CRISIS EMERGES

9 August 2007


BNP's statement is scary, to put it mildly
BBC Business Editor, Robert Peston


Investment bank BNP Paribas tells investors they will not be able to take money out of two of its funds because it cannot value the assets in them, owing to a "complete evaporation of liquidity" in the market.

It is the clearest sign yet that banks are refusing to do business with each other.

The European Central Bank

. It adds a further 108.7bn euros over the next few days.
The US Federal Reserve, the Bank of Canada and the Bank of Japan also begin to intervene.

17 August


by half of a percentage point to 5.75%, warning the credit crunch could be a risk to economic growth.
21 August

UK sub-prime lenders begin to withdraw mortgages or put up the cost of borrowing for UK homeowners with poor credit histories.

28 August

German regional bank Sachsen Landesbank faces collapse after investing in the sub-prime market;

SEPTEMBER 2007: A RUN ON A BANK

3 September

German corporate lender IKB

4 September

The rate at which banks lend to each other rises to its highest level since December 1998.

The so-called banks either worry whether other banks will survive, or urgently need the money themselves.

13 September


The fact that it has had to go cap in hand to the Bank is the most tangible sign that the crisis in financial markets is spilling over into businesses that touch most of our lives
Robert Peston, BBC business editor


The BBC reveals Northern Rock has asked for and in the latter's role as lender of last resort. Northern Rock relied heavily on the markets, rather than savers' deposits, to fund its mortgage lending. The onset of the credit crunch has dried up its funding.

A day later depositors withdraw £1bn in what is

They continue to take out their money until the government steps in to guarantee their savings.
18 September

The US Federal Reserve

19 September

After previously refusing to inject any funding into the markets,

OCTOBER 2007: MAJOR LOSSES BEGIN TO EMERGE

1 October

Swiss bank UBS is the world's first top-flight bank to request The chairman and chief executive of the bank step down. Later, banking giant Citigroup unveils a sub-prime related loss of $3.1bn. A fortnight on Citigroup is forced to write down a further $5.9bn. Within six months, its stated losses amount to $40bn.

30 October

Merrill Lynch's chief

NOVEMBER 2007: UK HOUSING MARKET 'TURNS DOWN'

29 November

The Bank of England

30 November

The Council for Mortgage Lenders (CML)

saying that without more funding available on financial markets, mortgage lenders will not be able to offer as many mortgages.
DECEMBER 2007: HELP IS AT HAND

6 December

US President George W Bush

The Bank of England cuts interest rates by a quarter of one percentage point to 5.5%.

13 December

The US Federal Reserve

The Bank of England calls it an attempt to "forestall any prospective sharp tightening of credit conditions". The move succeeds in temporarily lowering the rate at which banks lend to each other.

17 December

The central banks continue to make more funding available.


and, the following day, $500bn from the European Central Bank to help commercial banks over the Christmas period.

NEXT UP: THE BOND INSURERS

19 December

Ratings agency Standard and Poor's downgrades its investment rating of a number of so-called monoline insurers, which specialise in insuring bonds. They guarantee to repay the loans if the issuer goes bust.

There is concern that insurers will not be able to pay out, forcing banks to announce another big round of losses.

9 January 2008

The World Bank

as the credit crunch hits the richest nations.
18 January

A rush to withdraw money from its commercial property funds

for investors wanting to take their money out.
It blames the rush of withdrawals on concerns about the US sub-prime mortgage collapse, recession worries and interest rates.

21 January

Global stock markets, including London's FTSE 100 index,

22 January

The US Fed

- its biggest cut in 25 years - to try and prevent the economy from slumping into recession.

It is the first emergency cut in rates since 2001. Stock markets around the world recover the previous day's heavy losses.

31 January

A major bond insurer MBIA,

-blaming its exposure to the US sub-prime mortgage crisis.
FEBRUARY - MARCH 2008: BIG NAME CASUALTIES

7 February

US Federal Reserve boss

saying he is closely monitoring developments "given the adverse effects that problems of financial guarantors can have on financial markets and the economy".
The Bank of England cuts interest rates by a quarter of one percent to 5.25%.

8 February


Some investors forgot the golden rule of financing: 'Don't buy things that you don't understand'
FSA chief executive Hector Sants, speaking on 27 February

In the UK, the latest

its highest level since 1999.
10 February

Leaders from the G7 group of industrialised nations say worldwide losses stemming from the collapse of the US sub-prime mortgage market could reach $400bn.

17 February

After considering a number of private sector rescue proposals, including from Richard Branson's Virgin Group,

7 March

In its biggest intervention yet,

to try to improve liquidity in the markets.
17 March

Wall Street's fifth-largest bank,

in a deal backed by $30bn of central bank loans.
A year earlier, Bear Stearns had been worth £18bn.

28 March

Nationwide

revising its previous forecast of no change in prices.
APRIL 2008: THE 100% MORTGAGE IS CONSIGNED TO HISTORY

2 April

Moneyfacts, which monitors financial products,

in the previous seven days.

I have a deep sense of shock at how deeply our successful industry has already been hit by these unprecedented funding market conditions
Steven Crawshaw, chairman of the Council for Mortgage Lenders, speaking on 11 April 2008

Five days later the 100% mortgage disappears when

8 April

The International Monetary Fund (IMF), which oversees the global economy,

It says the effects are spreading from sub-prime mortgage assets to other sectors, such as commercial property, consumer credit, and company debt.

10 April

The Bank of England cuts interest rates by a quarter of one percent to 5%.

11 April

A warning is issued by the CML that the amount of funding available for mortgages in the UK could be cut in half this year.



The effects of the credit crunch are likely to be broader, deeper and more protracted than previously expected
IMF global stability report, 8 April 2008

15 April

Confidence in the UK housing market

according to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, because of the "unique liquidity blight".
But it does add that the situation is good news for buyers with large deposits who can buy property that was previously out of reach.

21 April

The Bank of England announces details of an

by allowing them to swap potentially risky mortgage debts for secure government bonds.
APRIL - JUNE 2008: BANKS PASS ROUND THE HAT

22 April

Royal Bank of Scotland

with a £12bn rights issue - the biggest in UK corporate history.
The firm also announces a write-down of £5.9bn on the value of its investments between April and June - the largest write-off yet for a British bank.

25 April

Persimmon becomes

citing the lack of affordable mortgages and a fall in consumer confidence.
It adds sales have fallen by a quarter since the beginning of the year.


Because of the uncertainties in the global economy and the UK lending environment, it is difficult to predict when the [housing] market will improve
House builder Persimmon


29 April

The CML says

, the lowest monthly number since records began in 1999.
30 April

The first

is recorded by Nationwide.
Prices were 1% lower in April compared to a year earlier after a "steep decline" in home buying over the previous six months.

Later in the week, figures from the UK's biggest lender Halifax, show a 0.9% annual fall for April.

2 May

More than

government figures show, a rise of 54% on the previous year. Retail and construction firms are hardest hit.
22 May

Swiss bank UBS, one of the worst affected by the credit crunch,

to cover some of the $37bn it lost on assets linked to US mortgage debt.
19 June

There are significant developments in two major credit crunch-related investigations in the US, which it is hoped will restore confidence in the credit markets.

The FBI

as part of a crackdown on alleged mortgage frauds worth $1bn.
Separately,

linked to sub-prime mortgages.
It is alleged they knew of the funds' problems but did not disclose them to investors, who lost a total of $1.4bn.

25 June

Barclays

to bolster its balance sheet.
The Qatar Investment Authority, the state-owned investment arm of the Gulf state, will invest £1.7bn in the British bank, giving it a 7.7% share in the business. A number of other foreign investors increase their existing holdings.

JULY 2008: MAJOR LENDERS ON THE EDGE

8 July

The gloomy findings of a survey of its members

within months.
Meanwhile, the FTSE 100 stock index briefly dips into a "bear market", in which the market suffers a 20% fall from its recent highs.


The outlook is grim and we believe that the correction period is likely to be longer and nastier than expected
British Chambers of Commerce, 18 July 2008


13 July


- the second-biggest bank in US history to fail.
14 July

Financial authorities

As owners or guarantors of $5 trillion worth of home loans, they are crucial to the US housing market and authorities agree they could not be allowed to fail.
The previous week, there had been a panic amongst investors that they might collapse, causing their share prices to plummet.

21 July

Just

because they are priced higher than existing shares are trading on the stock market.
But HBOS still gets the £4bn it wanted, as the unsold new shares are bought by the issue's underwriters.

31 July

UK house prices

a decline of 8.1%.
The average home now costs £169,316. That is nearly £15,000 cheaper than in the same month last year.

Meanwhile, HBOS reveals that profits for the first half of the year sank 72% to £848m, while bad debts rose 36% to £1.31bn as customers failed to repay loans.

AUGUST - SEPTEMBER 2008: GIANTS SUFFER

4 August

Global banking giant HSBC

after suffering a 28% fall in half-year profits.
Of Europe's top banks, HSBC has among the heaviest exposure to the troubled US housing and credit markets.

22 August

The bad news continues with revised figures from the ONS revealing that the UK economy is a standstill.

28 August

Nationwide reveals that UK house prices have fallen by 10.5% in a year.

A day later

blaming surging mortgage arrears for a rise in impairment.
Looking ahead, it warned it expected arrears to remain at high levels for the rest of the year.

30 August

Chancellor Alistair Darling

in an interview with the Guardian newspaper, saying the current downturn would be more "profound and long-lasting" than most had feared.
1 September

Official figures from the Bank of England show a slump in approved mortgages for July.

Meanwhile, while

and two-year lows of $1.80.
2 September

In an effort to kick-start the UK housing market

from £125,000 to £175,000.
But there is more bad news, as the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development forecasts that the UK will be in a full blown recession by the end of the next two quarters. A day later the European central bank cuts growth forecast 2009 to 1.2% from 1.5%.

4 September

The Bank of England leaves rates on hold at 5% while the latest figures from the Halifax show that house prices in England and Wales continue to fall.

5 September

A raft of negative news from around the world

The US labour market figures - which showed the unemployment rate rising to 6.1% - were a further jolt to investors who have had to swallow a slew of poor economic data in recent days.

6 September

The Halifax

Chief executive Andy Hornby explains that British banks will continue to suffer major problems in offering loans until they can raise significant sums on wholesale markets, something that will not be possible until US house prices recover.
7 September

Mortgage lenders Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac - which account for nearly half of the outstanding mortgages in the US -

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson says the two firms' debt levels posed a "systemic risk" to financial stability and that, without action, the situation would get worse.

At the same time, in the UK, the Nationwide announces it will merge with two smaller rivals, the Derbyshire and Cheshire Building Societies.

9 September

More bad news emerges for the UK economy as the ONS reveals manufacturing output fell by 0.2% between June and July, raising a real fear of recession.

Meanwhile, the British Retail Consortium reports UK retail sales values fell by 1.0% on a like-for-like basis from August 2007.

On the housing front, there were more negative headlines with the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors

while the CML reported that the number of first-time buyers has hit its lowest level since its survey began in January 2002.
10 September

Wall Street bank Lehman Brothers posts a loss of $3.9bn for the three months to August.

The announcement comes against a background of further dire economic warnings from the European Commission, which

15 September

After days of searching frantically for a buyer,

becoming the first major bank to collapse since the start of the credit crisis.
Former Federal Reserve chief Alan Greenspan dubs failure as "probably a once in a century type of event" and warns that other major firms will also go bust.

Meanwhile fellow US bank

for $50bn, the latest twist in a dramatic turn of events on Wall Street.
16 September

The US Federal Reserve

to save it from bankruptcy. AIG gets the loan in return for an 80% public stake in the firm.
17 September

Britain's biggest mortgage lender

creating a banking giant holding close to one-third of the UK's savings and mortgage market. The deal follows a run on HBOS shares.
25 September

In the largest bank failure yet in the United States, Washington Mutual, the giant mortgage lender which had assets valued at $307bn is

The group was hit by mortgage defaults the collapse of the US housing market after its expansion into sub-prime lending.


28 September

The credit crunch hits Europe's banking sector as the European banking and

It is seen as too big a European bank to be allowed to go under.
Authorities in the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg agree to pour in 11.2bn euros ($16.1bn; £8.9bn). Fortis' share price has fallen sharply amid concerns about its debts.

In the US lawmakers announce they have reached a bipartisan agreement on a rescue plan for the American financial system.

The package, to be approved by Congress, allows the Treasury to spend up to $700bn buying bad debts from ailing banks.

It will be the biggest intervention in the markets since the Great Depression of the 1930s.

29 September

In Britain the

The British government takes control of the bank's £50bn mortgages and loans, while its savings operations and branches are sold to Spain's Santander.
The Icelandic government takes control of the country's third-largest bank Glitnir after the company had faced short-term funding problems.

Wachovia, the fourth-largest US bank, is bought by its larger rival Citigroup in a rescue deal backed by the US authorities. Under the deal, Citigroup will absorb up to $42bn of Wachovia losses.

The US House of Representatives rejects a $700bn rescue plan for the US financial system - sending shockwaves around the world.

It opens up new uncertainties about how banks will deal with their exposure to toxic loans and how credit markets can begin to operate more normally. Wall Street shares plunge, with the Dow Jones index slumping 7% or 770 points, a record one-day point fall.

30 September


as the deepening credit crisis continues to shake the banking sector.
After all-night talks the Belgian, French and Luxembourg governments said they would put in 6.4bn euros ($9bn; £5bn) to keep it afloat.

Separately,

.
In the UK, Prime Minister Gordon Brown says the government is planning to raise the limit on guaranteed bank deposits from £35,000 to £50,000.

1 October


which eventually approves an amended $700bn financial rescue bill.
Market confidence that Lloyds TSB's takeover of HBOS will not be derailed by stock market volatility sees HBOS shares rise 20%.

A report says that French Finance Finister Christine Lagarde calls for an emergency EU bail-out fund for banks threatened with failure.

The EU says it is looking at whether Ireland's full guarantee of saving deposits is anti-competitive.

3 October

The US House of Representatives

The 263-171 vote was the second in a week, following its shock rejection of an earlier version on Monday.

The UK's City watchdog, the Financial Services Authority (FSA)

6 October

Germany announces a

The deal to save Hypo Real Estate, reached with private banks, is worth 15bn euros more than the first rescue attempt, which fell apart a day earlier.

World stock markets

.
The

Chancellor Angela Merkel's had earlier said that no German savers would lose any money. But it emerges that this was a was a political pledge, rather than one which would see it change laws on banking deposits.

However Denmark had already responded by giving a 100% guarantee on savings, while Sweden increased its protection levels.


The country's largest banks agree to sell off some of their foreign assets and bring them home.



Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/business/7521250.stm

Published: 2008/10/06 10:52:53 GMT


Here is Johnny came late. The IMF wants to get involved too with Bush's folly of the century:

http://www.worldbank.org/news. For inquiries call 202-473-7660 or send a written request to the News Bureau.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Friday, October 10, 2008
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Financial Crisis: Global Action Needed, Says World Bank
IMF Takes Action To Stem Crisis
Africa: There Is Hope
Drug Firms Agree To Invest More In AIDS Research: UN
Six million Ethiopians need emergency aid: charity.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
=================================================
The Financial Crisis: Global Action Needed, Says World Bank.
=================================================

"Leaders of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank called for swift, coordinated action on the global financial crisis, writes The Wall Street Journal. World Bank President Robert Zoellick said...that the Group of Seven major economic powers need to take steps to combat the financial turmoil and to help poor countries deal with their problems.

'I hope the G-7 will point toward coordinated action to show that authorities are getting ahead of the curve,' Mr. Zoellick said, in advance of weekend meetings of the IMF and World Bank and Friday's meeting of G-7 finance ministers and central-bank governors." [The Wall Street Journal]

Reuters further reports Zoellick said on Thursday "the world should not forget the needs of the world's poorest countries as it focuses on the financial rescue. 'Over recent weeks, attention has focused on the size of financial package, and on the impact on Main Street,' Zoellick told a news conference ahead of a World Bank and International Monetary Fund meeting of global finance leaders in Washington this weekend.

'There are Main Streets all over the world. We must look beyond the financial rescue to the human rescue,' he added. Zoellick said the World Bank was tentatively forecasting growth in developing countries could slow to around 4 percent, significantly lower than its April forecast of 6.6 percent.

Zoellick said a fall in exports from slowing advanced economies will trigger a falloff in investments, while deteriorating financing conditions, combined with monetary tightening, will trigger business failures and possibly banking emergencies in developing nations. 'The poorest cannot be asked to pay the biggest price,' Zoellick said. 'For the poor, the costs of crisis can be life-long,' he added." [Reuters News/Factiva]

Dow Jones adds Zoellick said "Group of Seven leading industrial nations need to get 'ahead of the curve' on the financial crisis and also help poor countries deal with their problems. Poor countries already dealing with the 'double jeopardy' of rising food and fuel prices are now facing a 'triple hit' as the financial troubles continue to spread, said Zoellick, reiterating that many of them are at a 'tipping point.'" [Dow Jones/Factiva]

Meanwhile, Reuters reports that "A new World Bank report on Thursday named 28 countries in Africa, Asia and the Middle East facing financial strains due to high food and fuel costs and now from a cascading credit crisis....The report, published ahead of weekend IMF and World Bank meetings of finance and development ministers, said many of these countries had little or no room to take on new debt to afford the higher prices.

It said resource-rich developing countries had the means to cushion the current account impact of costlier food and fuel. But inflation is rising and they could be afflicted by 'Dutch disease,' a phenomenon in which high revenues from natural resources lead to a strengthening of a currency.

The World Bank said countries whose budgets were squeezed by higher prices could qualify for its assistance, which would target specific reforms to reduce unsustainable energy or food subsidies or design social programs that targets the poorest. [Reuters News/Factiva]

In a separate piece, Reuters reports the World Bank President said the global financial crisis would take a turn for the worse if countries responded by erecting barriers to trade. Countries 'need to recognize the dangers of protectionism which could exacerbate the downturn in financial markets,' Zoellick said at a news conference ahead of the fall meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank.

The bleak outlook for completion of the long-running Doha round of world trade talks raises concerns that countries could turn to protectionism, he said. Zoellick said he was worried that the failure of the Doha round would put strain on the Word Trade Organization as an institution by shifting its primary role to dispute settlement. [Reuters News/Factiva]

Dow Jones writes Zoellick told French state-owned France 24 that "countries should focus on addressing bad assets held by financial companies and actively inject liquidity into the banking system as needed, the head of the World Bank said in a radio interview Friday. He said the crisis has deepened as a result of a lack of information that has spawned a lack of confidence. Zoellick said governments should continue to recapitalize troubled financial companies and address the needed regulatory reform for the future." [Dow Jones/Factiva]

=================================================
IMF Takes Action To Stem Crisis.
=================================================
"The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has activated an emergency finance mechanism to help countries hit by the financial crisis. IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn said the lending procedure would allow the IMF to react quickly to support countries facing funding problems.

Strauss-Kahn said the events of the past few weeks were beginning to take their toll on emerging economies as credit lines were cut and as trade was being hit by slowing demand in Western economies.

He said the IMF was ready to assist any country in need of funding through its emergency aid mechanism, set up in 1995 to help Mexico stabilize its financial system after a crisis of confidence that led to sharp declines in the country's currency.

The Philippines, Thailand, Korea and Indonesia also drew on the mechanism to access billions of dollars of loans after the eruption of the Asian financial crisis in 1997. [BBC News]

Reuters adds the IMF "has warned that the worst financial crisis since the 1930s Great Depression could inflict lasting economic harm on the world.

The IMF has about $200 billion immediately available to lend to countries in need but can tap other sources. He said the global economy was on the cusp of recession but with quick and forceful action, the spreading crisis could be contained." [Reuters News/Factiva]

The Financial Times reports that European equities collapsed on Friday, left vulnerable after a dramatic late sell-off in New York extended the sustained losing streak on world stock markets. Banks stocks once more faced heavy selling as confidence in the international financial system continued to drain away, taking major indices to fresh 5-year lows.

The New York Times further reports that "Iceland's financial system collapsed Thursday, and analysts said it was probably only a matter of time before the country would have to turn to the IMF for help. Such a move, which would make this small island nation the first sovereign state to fall victim to the credit squeeze that began last year, would require it to accept harsh measures to restore fiscal and monetary stability." [The New York Times]

Meanwhile, The Guardian writes that UK chancellor "Alistair Darling will urge Britain's G7 partners today to consider emulating his emergency bail-out for their banks. The chancellor expects the G7 and the IMF to beef up their early warning systems to prevent future bubbles in financial markets, and to provide a comprehensive response to the credit crunch. 'We want to see these meetings come up with practical action,' a Treasury source said." [The Guardian (UK)]

In a separate piece, Reuters adds that "Japan stands ready to help the International Monetary Fund ride to the rescue of countries struck down by the global credit crisis, Finance Minister Shoichi Nakagawa said...The Nikkei newspaper reported that Japan would propose making trillions of dollars in currency reserves held by Asian and Middle Eastern governments available to support IMF-led bailouts. Japan alone has $995 billion in official foreign currency reserves. China has $2 trillion, the world's largest stockpile." [Reuters News/Factiva]

The Financial Times meanwhile writes that when finance ministers of the world's seven richest nations gather in Washington today, they hope to send the message that they are united in fighting the worst financial crisis in almost a century. [The Financial Times]

In related news, another Reuters piece suggests that "business is booming in the trade finance market as exporters and importers return to a tried and tested form of credit amid the chaos of the financial crisis, bankers in the sector say. Demand for trade finance -- a traditional form of banking dating back to the Middle Ages -- is so strong that some houses say they are turning away business for lack of capacity. But if volumes are up, so is the price, with deals currently offered at 300 basis points over interbank refinancing rates, three times or more the going rate a year ago." And that is now making it hard for developing countries to finance their exports, with Brazil sounding the alarm. Some bankers also fear the high prices could eventually see new business dry up. [Reuters News/Factiva]

=================================================
Africa: There Is Hope.
=================================================
The Economist writes in this week's edition that "until the past few weeks of global turmoil, Africa's doughty band of boosters were feeling they at last had something to smile about.

After four decades of political and economic stagnation that kept most of their 800m-odd people in poverty and gloom, the continent's 48 sub-Saharan countries have been growing for the past five years at a perky overall rate of 5% or so...

Many basic indices [however] remain grim. Africans' lifespan is still declining, owing largely to the scourge of AIDS, 60% of whose worldwide victims are African.

A recent World Bank paper was guarded as to whether the African surge would last. Most of the quicker growth, it notes, is due to soaring revenues enjoyed by just eight sub-Saharan African countries blessed with oil.

A third of Africa's countries--by far the highest proportion in any continent--are trapped in civil wars or cycles of violent unrest.

Another report, notes the weekly, co-sponsored by the World Bank, gently dissents from the certitudes of the "Washington consensus" that pure free marketry could cure all, and that Africa must just open up to trade, tighten its fiscal strings and sell off the state.

One size in varied Africa does not fit all. The rich world could, for instance, offer time-limited trade preferences.

Other devices could help too. America's Africa Growth and Opportunity Act of 2000 has spurred African exports by dropping American tariffs.

Another promising new mechanism is the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, a voluntary code that a score of African countries have adopted, with governments and foreign firms accounting openly for their dealings...

The creation of national savings funds in commodity-flush countries is another good idea. On the farming front, issuing individual land titles, no easy task in a continent where much land is still communally held, is another.

Pragmatism often beats dogma. So Africa has a rare chance to break out of its poverty trap, concludes the weekly...And the rich world, troubled as it is, must never give up in its effort to help the poor one to stand on its own feet." [The Economist/Factiva]

All Africa notes the IMF said on Wednesday that "African economies will not be hit very hard by the major economic downturn. Its experts said the continent will be spared the worst shocks largely because of limited integration in global financial and capital markets.

Aid agencies have, however, cautioned that any cut in donor assistance to poor countries will have a devastating impact in the provision of social services and overall efforts to eradicate poverty.

'The world economy has entered a major downturn after being hit by two very large shocks: a surge in oil and commodity prices and the expanding financial crisis,' IMF economic counselor and research director Olivier Blanchard told journalists during the World Economic Outlook (WEO) report briefing.

The WEO report projects global growth year on year will slow sharply to 3.9 per cent this year from five per cent in 2007, and continue slowing to three per cent next year.

IMF experts said growth in Africa will be lower than previously predicted averaging about six per cent during 2008/09."

============================
Drug Firms Agree To Invest More In AIDS Research: UN.
==========================

"U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on Thursday that major pharmaceutical firms promised to invest more on researching treatments for the AIDS virus and diagnostic procedures for poorer regions," reports Reuters.

"The companies also agreed to invest more in prevention, including vaccines and pre- and post-exposure prophylaxis, Ban said in a statement issued after he met with top executives at pharmaceutical and diagnostic firms working on AIDS and HIV, the virus that causes it.

'We noted that despite the gains, the epidemic continues to outstrip our best efforts. Only one-third of those who need antiretroviral treatment in low-and middle-income countries are getting it,' he said.

The senior executives Ban and other U.N. officials met with were from 17 companies, including Abbott Labs, Boehringer Ingelheim, GlaxoSmithKline, Pfizer and other top industry players. B

an said the companies agreed to 'invest further in research and development of new HIV-related medicines adapted to resource-limited settings to be used safely in children, adolescents, adults and pregnant women' -- in other words, to try to make drugs available to people in poor environments." [Reuters News/Factiva]

=================================================
Six million Ethiopians need emergency aid: charity.
=================================================

"The number of Ethiopians in need of emergency assistance has risen to 6.4 million, the charity Oxfam said on Friday, warning of a disaster if donors did not respond.

"The number of Ethiopians needing emergency assistance has leapt by 40 percent from 4.6 million to 6.4 million people since June," the British organisation said in a statement, quoting UN and Ethiopian government statistics. [Agence France Presse]

The agency said the same time cereal rations to those needing assistance have been reduced by a third because not enough food is reaching the country. The agency called on all donors to respond generously to the worsening crisis as, according to the UN, the total aid effort is currently under-funded to the tune of 260 million U.S. dollars.

The revised numbers of those needing emergency assistance is likely to be a conservative estimate and does not include the 7.2 million Ethiopians so chronically poor that they receive cash or food aid from the government every year. [Xinhua]

Meanwhile, in related news on Ethiopia, Hindu Business Line reports that "India has extended the largest-ever line of credit of $640 million to Ethiopia for greenfield investment in three sugar factories in that geographically strategic country in the African continent, besides putting in place a slew of measures to boost bilateral trade relations.

Talking to Business Lineafter returning from the fifth Ethio-India Joint Trade Committee meeting held in Addis Ababa on October 7, the Minister of State for Commerce and Power, Mr Jairam Ramesh, said India is the second-largest foreign investor as its outward investment commitment to Ethiopia is $3.5 billion. Of this $2 billion is in the agriculture and floriculture sectors. "Indian companies are very active in floriculture, leather and potash mining," he said, adding that areas such as power and information technology have also been identified for heightened cooperation.[Hindu Business Line]

Bilateral trade has reached USD 249 million in 2007, with imports from India accounting for around 96 per cent of the total amount.

"Indian investors were engaged in 349 projects worth over USD 4 billion, which are at different stages. It is estimated that the ongoing projects will create about 26,000 permanent and 121,000 casual jobs," Ethiopian Minister of State for Trade and Industry Ahmed Tusa said.

Currently, India has invested over USD 3.5 billion in Ethiopia in sectors such as floriculture, infrastructure development, agriculture and mining, making India the second largest investor in the African nation. [Reuters India]

=================================================
Also in this Edition; Briefly Noted...
=================================================

UN calls on donors to meet $140 million shortfall in food aid for Zimbabwe. The call from the World Food Programme comes amid a protracted deadlock in power-sharing talks between Robert Mugabe, the president, and Morgan Tsvangirai, the opposition leader whose party yesterday accused the regime of "fiddling while Zimbabwe burns" [Financial Times]

President Viktor A. Yushchenko of Ukraine signed an order on Thursday to dissolve Parliament and hold snap elections, raising new uncertainties about Ukraine's tilt toward the West at a moment when the country has become a focal point of rising tensions with Russia. [New York Times]

Russia's lower house of parliament, the Duma, has approved a raft of measures worth $86bn to assist banks hit by the credit freeze. The government will make $50bn available to banks and firms that need to refinance foreign debt. The rest will be available as loans to banks. [BBC News]

Both Montenegro and Macedonia recognized Kosovo's independence despite opposition from Serbia, which called the moves by its Balkan neighbors a betrayal and expelled the Montenegrin ambassador from Belgrade. [Associated Press Newswires/Factiva]

Serbia on Thursday decided to reinstate all its ambassadors who were withdrawn from countries which recognized Kosovo's independence after it seceded from Belgrade in February, a statement said. The decision came a day after the United Nations General Assembly approved Serbia's proposal to ask the International Court of Justice to rule if Kosovo's unilateral breakaway from Belgrade was in line with international law. [Agence France Presse/Factiva]

Brazil, Mexico, Argentina and Colombia -- the biggest economies in the region -- have all pumped money into the market to shore up flagging national currencies. Several are readying other measures, either individually or within the framework of the G20 group of advanced and developing economies, which is to hold an emergency meeting in Washington on Saturday. [Agence France Presse/Factiva]

President Alvaro Uribe had asked the central bank on Thursday to help protect the economy and free up capital by lifting a deposit required on private foreign debt sought for loans and import financing. [Reuters News/Factiva]

Switzerland's acting finance minister will not travel to the annual meeting of the IMF this weekend due to the turmoil on global financial markets, the government said on Thursday. Switzerland will be represented at the annual meeting of the IMF and World Bank in Washington by Economy Minister Doris Leuthard and SNB President Jean-Pierre Roth. [Reuters News/Factiva]

The World Bank is considering approving a $1.01bn loan to Mexican development bank Sociedad Hipotecaria Federal (SHF), according to a document from the Washington-based multilateral institution.

The project would support the strengthening of Mexico's housing markets by: boosting SHF's financial capacity to develop and consolidate markets for housing finance and to expand access to lower income groups over the medium term; and to improve SHF's technical capacity to increase access to lower income groups over the medium term, the document reads. [Business News Americas/Factiva]

India has extended the largest-ever line of credit of $640 million to Ethiopia for greenfield investment in three sugar factories in that geographically strategic country in the African continent, besides putting in place a slew of measures to boost bilateral trade relations. [Business Line (The Hindu)/Factiva]

The International Finance Corporation has said that it has made its first equity investment in the onshore oil and natural gas drilling sector by providing financing to Punj Lloyd Upstream Limited, reports Economic Times.

The IFC will offer up to 30 million of debt and equity financing to Punj Lloyd Upstream Limited, a subsidiary of Punj Lloyd Limited, a leading Indian engineering and construction company that specializes in the energy and infrastructure sectors. [Global Banking News/Factiva]

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Bush: US will work with partners on credit crisis By MARTIN CRUTSINGER, AP Economics Writer
44 minutes ago



WASHINGTON - President Bush met with foreign financial officials Saturday and pledged a global response to the credit crisis that will lead toward a "path of stability and long-term growth."

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Bush announced no new strategies to attack the economic woes circling the globe, stressing instead, "We will do what it takes to resolve the crisis and the world's economy will emerge stronger as a result."

The president spoke in the Rose Garden outside the White House, joined there in a show of solidarity not long after daybreak by finance officials from the G-7 — Japan, Germany, Britain, France, Italy and Canada, in addition to the United States. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice also attended.

"The United States has a special role to play in leading the response to this crisis," the president said. "That is why I convened this morning's meeting here at the White House and it is why our government will continue using all the tools at our disposal to resolve this crisis."

He added, "As our nations carry out this plan, we must ensure that the actions of one country do not contradict or undermine the actions of another. In an interconnected world, no nation will gain by driving down the fortunes of another. We are in this together. We will come through it together."

Bush's comments were aimed at avoiding the mistakes that worsened economic conditions during the Great Depression in the 1930s. Then, some nations pursued go-it-alone strategies such as erecting protectionist trade barriers to shield their domestic industries. Those trade barriers ended up only worsening the global downturn.

In the current crisis, Ireland moved to guarantee all bank deposits, a decision that triggered similar actions in Germany and other nations which were concerned that nervous depositors would move their bank accounts to Ireland.

The White House meeting lasted about a half-hour, less than scheduled.

Officials from the Group of 20 countries — which include the wealthiest and the world's biggest developing nations such as China, Brazil and India — planned to attend a meeting Saturday evening that Paulson requested to explain the actions that U.S. and other wealthy nations have taken.

Before that session, Paulson briefed members of the policy-setting board of the 185-nation International Monetary Fund on the actions the U.S. and other countries have taken to get credit flowing again.

"These extraordinary events require a global response and financial officials from around the world are working together, taking action individually and collectively as necessary, to address these challenges," Paulson said. He said that once the crisis was over "we must turn our attention to longer-term reforms to modernize our outdated financial regulatory strucutre and address other weaknesses."

For Bush, it was the 22nd time in 27 days that he has spoken publicly about the financial crisis. Congress heard testimony last week that the retirement accounts of Americans have lost $2 trillion in the past 15 months, and the New York Stock Exchange Dow Jones industrials average plummeted more than 18 percent last week alone, the largest ever in a week.

A wave of selling sent markets lower in several Asian and European nations on Friday, while other exchanges were closed to prevent the same fate.

The stock selloffs stem from fears that banking systems have essentially frozen up around the world — a credit crisis that took hold sharply three weeks ago in the United States and has led to an escalating series of interventions by the administration and Federal Reserve. Officials have also spoken openly of concerns that the United States may be headed for a potentially deep recession.

It was only eight days ago that Congress approved a $700 billion bailout for the financial industry, and the Fed has pumped billions of dollars into the economic system hoping to provide greater access to credit for potential borrowers.

On Friday, Paulson announced the Treasury would begin buying part ownership in American banks, an effort similar to a program tried beginning in the Great Depression of the 1930s.

The administration's decision is aimed at restoring the depleted capital reserves of banks, which have been forced to cut back on loans because they have suffered billions of dollars in losses in the current mortgage meltdown.

The G-7 officials discussed the global economic crisis for three hours on Friday and issued one of the shortest communiques in the history of the group. It pledged to take "all necessary steps to unfreeze credit and money markets" to end the crisis.

Overseas officials also have injected billions of dollars of reserves into their banking systems with little effect so far. As the markets plunged this past week, however, the U.S. and other countries accelerated their efforts.

The G-7 statement endorsed a program to prevent the failure of major banks in each of the countries, unfreeze credit and money markets, bolster capital and deposit insurance programs and get the battered mortgage financing system operating more normally.

It was the meltdown of the subprime mortgage market with cascading defaults that triggered the start of the credit crisis in the United States in August 2007.

While the G-7 group did not endorse all the plans put forward, such as a proposal from Britain that countries guarantee the loans that banks make to each other, the finance ministers said they believed they had agreed on a comprehensive plan that would show results.

The question of how countries can deal with the spreading financial crisis was dominating discussions at the weekend meetings of the 185-nation International Monetary Fund and its sister lending institution, the World Bank.

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IMF takes action will it stem the crisis?

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IMF takes action to stem crisis
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has activated an emergency finance mechanism to help countries hit by the financial crisis.

IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Khan said the lending procedure would allow the IMF to react quickly to support countries facing funding problems.

The scheme, which was used during the Asian financial crisis in 1997, will help speed up approval of loans.

He said the world was "on the cusp of recession", but could still recover.

The IMF has already sent a mission to Iceland, where the government has taken control of its three biggest banks.

Speaking ahead of meetings of the IMF and World Bank, Mr Strauss-Khan urged countries to act "quickly, forcefully, and co-operatively" to solve the global economic problems.


There is no domestic solution to a crisis like this one
Dominique Strauss-Kahn, IMF managing director


A day after seven central banks around the world cut interest rates in an effort to calm financial markets, the IMF chief said further co-ordinated action was necessary.

"All kinds of policy co-operation are to be commended," he said.

But he issued a stark warning against countries acting unilaterally to fight the crisis, referring to recent isolated moves by certain European Union member countries.

"There is no domestic solution to a crisis like this one."

Finance ministers from the G7 group of wealthy nations are also meeting in Washington this weekend.

Turbulent week

It has been yet another turbulent week on world financial markets. Wednesday key developments include:

Stock markets have lost ground despite initial gains, with the Dow Jones index sinking below 9,000 points for the first time in more than five years
US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson is considering capital injections into troubled US banks, a White House spokeswoman said
The UK has condemned Iceland's handling of the collapse of its banks and its failure to guarantee British savers' deposits
The oil producers cartel Opec will hold an emergency meeting in Vienna on November 18 to discuss the impact of the financial crisis on oil prices, which fell below $87 a barrel
'Human crisis'

Mr Strauss-Khan said the events of the past few weeks were beginning to take their toll on emerging economies as credit lines were cut and as trade was being hit by slowing demand in Western economies.

He said the IMF was ready to assist any country in need of funding through its emergency aid mechanism, set up in 1995 to help Mexico stabilise its financial system after a crisis of confidence that led to sharp declines in the country's currency.

The Philippines, Thailand, Korea and Indonesia also drew on the mechanism to access billions of dollars of loans after the eruption of the Asian financial crisis in 1997.

Separately, World Bank president Robert Zoellick warned against letting the "financial crisis become a human crisis".

He said a drop in exports combined with higher credit costs will trigger business failures in the poorest economies and, in some cases, "bankrupt" countries.

Acknowledging there was no "silver bullet" to fix the global financial difficulties, he said it was up to the Group of Seven industrialised countries to work together to come up with a plan to solve it.

"Countries will take different actions, customised to their circumstances, yet the actions need to target the same basic problems," he said.





Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/business/7661956.stm

Published: 2008/10/09 20:07:31 GMT

© BBC MMVIII

Where was the International Monetary Fund all this time?

The End or the Beginning of Global Capitalism as we know it

Global Strategic Enterprises, Inc for Peace and Prosperity-
www.globalbelai4u.blogspot.com


Global Capitalism at a unique challenge in history.



Us government may take part ownership in banks By MARTIN CRUTSINGER and JEANNINE AVERSA, AP Economics Writers
5 minutes ago



News that the Bush administration is considering taking part ownership in a number of U.S. banks helped restore a relative calm over global financial markets Thursday.

The aim of such a move would be to thaw the lending freeze that threatens to push the world's economy into recession. It comes after rampant fear about the global economy sent investors scurrying on Tuesday for safety in U.S. government securities despite an orchestrated round of rate cuts by the world's central banks.

Investors also were hoping that selling, which gave the Dow its ninth straight day of losses, was overdone. Wall Street began the day higher, but then slid after declines in some blue chip names like General Motors Corp. weighed on the markets.

An administration official, who spoke late Tuesday on condition of anonymity because no decision has been made, said the $700 billion rescue package passed by Congress last week allows the Treasury Department to inject fresh capital into financial institutions and get ownership shares in return.

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson told reporters that Treasury was moving quickly to implement the $700 billion rescue effort and he specifically mentioned reviewing ways to bolster the capital of banks.

"We will use all the tools we've been given to maximum effectiveness, including strengthening the capitalization of financial institutions of every size," Paulson said at a Wednesday news conference.

His statements came on the heels of Britain's move to pour cash into troubled banks in exchange for stakes in them — a partial nationalization.

Asked whether he would try something like the British plan, Paulson said: "We have a broad range of authorities and tools. ... We've emphasized the purchase of liquid assets, but we have a broad range of authorities. And I'm confident we have the authorities we need to work with going forward."

The Federal Reserve on Wednesday cut its target for the benchmark rate on overnight loans between banks to 1.5 percent. The cut from 2 percent took the rate to its lowest level in more than four years.

In an unprecedented coordinated move, central banks in England, China, Canada, Sweden and Switzerland and the European Central Bank also cut rates after a series of high-stakes phone calls over several days between Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke and his counterparts.

The Fed acted in concert with the European Central Bank to make emergency interest rate cuts after the Sept. 11 terror attacks in 2001. But Wednesday's cuts were unique in the number of nations that participated, the Fed said.

On Thursday, rates in South Korea, Hong Kong and Taiwan were also trimmed and Asian markets appeared to find their feet after a brutal round of selling Wednesday.

Tokyo's benchmark Nikkei 225 index rose more than 1 percent but fell back to close down 0.5 percent to 9,157.49, a five-year low. That followed a 9.4 percent plunge Wednesday, its biggest one-day drop since the 1987 market crash.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index gained 3.6 percent to 15,985.39, while South Korea's key index rose 0.6 percent after earlier rising as much as 2.9 percent.

European markets shed some early gains Thursday ahead of Wall Street's opening, but remained in positive territory, with British banking stocks in particular enjoying a strong rally in the wake of the government's $865 billion plan to buy stakes in banks .

But all eyes are on now on Wall Street, where investors hope markets are getting closer to finding a bottom after the worst five-day rout since 1987. On Wednesday, the Dow gave up 189 points to close at — and is now down about 35 percent from its high of 14,164.53 reached exactly one year ago.

In midmorning trading, the Dow Jones industrial average fell almost 1 percent. GM was the biggest decliner in the Dow.

Broader stock indicators were mixed. The Standard & Poor's 500 index slipped 1.2 percent and the Nasdaq composite index rose 0.2 percent.

The tentative move back into stocks Thursday siphoned some money away from safe haven investments like government bonds and gold.

Demand for short-term Treasurys waned, with the yield on the three-month Treasury bill, which moves opposite its price, rising to 0.69 percent from 0.63 percent late Wednesday. Longer term debt also fell, with the yield on the 10-year note rising to 3.74 percent from 3.65 percent late Wednesday.

For millions of Americans, the Fed's cut means borrowing money becomes cheaper. Home equity loans, credit cards and other floating-rate loans all fluctuate depending on what the Fed does.

Bank of America, Wells Fargo and other banks cut their prime rate by half a point to 4.5 percent, also the lowest in more than four years, after the Fed announced its decision early Wednesday.

Fed watchers believe the central bank might cut rates further when it meets later this month, and perhaps again in December, in hopes of cushioning the blow if the United States falls into recession.

Even the coordinated action may not break the fear that has gripped investors across the world as jobs evaporate and retirement savings dry up. Banks may still be inclined to hoard cash, and until they decide to lend again the crisis is not likely to let up.

If anyone needed evidence, major American retailers turned in dismal sales figures for the third quarter — further proof that consumer spending, the lifeblood of the economy, is sputtering.

The government reported Thursday that jobless claims fell by 20,000 to 478,000 last week, within economists' expectations. The claims still remain at elevated levels due to the struggling economy, though.

The Fed's interest rate cut was a change in course. It had held rates steady because of inflation concerns. Since the Fed had put a stop to interest-rate cuts in June, the economic outlook has deteriorated.

"The pace of economic activity has slowed markedly in recent months," the Fed said. "Moreover, the intensification of financial market turmoil is likely to exert additional restraint on spending, partly by further reducing the ability of households and businesses to obtain credit."

Although inflation has been running higher, the Fed believes the recent drop in prices for oil and gas, and the weaker prospects for economic activity, have reduced the threat it poses to the economy.

The credit markets, which have been remarkably tight for weeks, showed only small signs of loosening. Rates on commercial paper, the short-term debt companies issue to raise cash for everyday expenses, went down. But the rate banks charge each other for loans went up.

The Fed also reduced its emergency lending rate to banks by half a percentage point, to 1.75 percent. Given the intense credit crisis, banks have been borrowing more under what is known as the discount window.

___

Associated Press writers Joe Bel Bruno and Anne D'Innocenzio in New York, Christopher S. Rugaber in Washington and Pan Pylas in London contributed to this report.



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~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~**~*Stocks fluctuate as economic worries dog investors By TIM PARADIS, AP Business Writer
1 hour, 30 minutes ago



Stocks fluctuated Thursday as Wall Street weighed the prospects for the economy after IBM Corp. affirmed its profit forecast and investors hoped the government might take ownership stakes in banks to help stabilize the financial industry.

But declines in some blue chip names like General Motors Corp. weighed on the markets and hurt the Dow Jones industrial average. Broader market gauges were mixed.

Investors looked to recover from near-panic selling that cascaded through global markets in the past week. Stocks around the world moved mostly higher one day after the Federal Reserve and other leading central banks cut interest rates to help unclog the credit markets and stimulate the global economy.

There's some hope by investors that Wall Street is getting closer to finding a bottom after the worst six-day rout for the Standard & Poor's 500 index since 1987. On Wednesday, the Dow gave up 189 points to close at 9,258.10 — and was down about 35 percent from its high of 14,164.53 reached exactly one year ago.

"I think the base driver today is that we're oversold," said Arthur Hogan, chief market analyst at Jefferies & Co. "You can't do that too long before things turn around, and I think the bottom of this market gets put in this week."

While a rate cut can take up to a year to work its way through the economy, the move was aimed as a boost to investor sentiment. Perhaps adding to that, there were some signs Thursday that corporate earnings might come in better than expected. IBM, one of the 30 stocks that make up the Dow industrials, posted third-quarter results that beat forecasts and affirmed its full-year earnings forecast.

Investors also appeared cheered by a plan being considered by the Bush administration to invest in hobbled U.S. banks as a way to stabilize the financial sector. An administration official, who asked not to be identified because no decision has been made, said the $700 billion rescue package passed by Congress last week allows the Treasury Department to inject fresh capital into financial institutions and obtain ownership shares in return.

Britain rolled out a similar plan, though no U.K. bank has received any investments. In Iceland, the government now has control of all three of the country's major banks as it struggles to contain the troubles there.

Wall Street also gained some confidence after the government reported applications for unemployment benefits dropped last week from a seven-year high. The Labor Department's report matched projections, though claims still remain at elevated levels.

In midmorning trading, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 69.85, or 0.75 percent, to 9,188.25. GM was the biggest decliner in the Dow, falling $1.24, or 18 percent, to $5.67.

Broader stock indicators were mixed. The Standard & Poor's 500 index slipped 4.19, or 0.43 percent, to 980.75, and the Nasdaq composite index rose 9.83, or 0.56 percent, to 1,750.16.

Demand for short-term Treasurys waned, with the yield on the three-month Treasury bill, which moves opposite its price, rising to 0.77 percent from 0.63 percent late Wednesday. Longer-term debt prices also fell, with the yield on the 10-year note rising to 3.76 percent from 3.65 percent late Wednesday.

Investors will also be watching to see what effect short selling will have on the market now that a three-week ban imposed by regulators has expired. Some analysts believe the unprecedented ban on short selling — an effort to bolster investor confidence amid the worst financial crisis since the stock market crash of 1929 — did more harm than good at a time of historic market volatility.

Meanwhile, oil prices looked for direction as traders weighed fears that a world recession will crimp demand against speculation that OPEC may cut output to keep prices from falling too far. Light, sweet crude rose 14 cents to $89.09 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Declining issues outnumbered advancers by about 3 to 1 on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume came to 386.7 million shares.

The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies fell 6.77, or 1.24 percent, to 539.80.

In Asia, Japan's Nikkei 225 closed down 0.50 percent while the Hang Seng added 3.31 percent. In afternoon trading, European bourses advanced, with Britain's FTSE-100 up 1.65 percent, Germany's DAX up 0.86 percent, and France's CAC-40 up 0.34 percent.

___

On the Net:

New York Stock Exchange: http://www.nyse.com

Nasdaq Stock Market: http://www.nasdaq.com

~*~*~*~*~*

Fair and Free Market in a context of Global Good Governance

Global Strategic Enterprises, Inc for Peace and Prosperity-
www.globalbelai4u.blogspot.com
Our Passion is a more integrated and globalized world that is attractive to all stakeholders (6.5 Billion shareholders)!

By Belai Habte-Jesus, MD, MPH

The Challenge of the Millennium: Making the Markets and Elections accountable to reliable information and public informed judgement is the challenge of the new integrated global community.

The Crisis in the West can wreck havoc across the world and the global community needs to have a transparent and accountable system of regulating the markets and election processes.

Free and Fair Market System for an integrated globalized world is needed. It is the duty of global citizens to promote all round transparency and accountability across public and private enterprises so that the health of the world economy and ecology is protected, always!



Purpose: Trans formative win-win agenda: making the markets and elections accountable!

To consider an Alternative Trans formative Agenda for May 2005/2008/2010 Series of Elections and the promotion of Free and Fair Markets in Ethiopia,Africa, Europe, Asia and the Americas as they consider future choices.

Premise: Good Governance based on fair elections; Free and accountable markets

The premise of this article is based on the principles of democratic representations for good governance that are exercised within the principle of frequent elections and mandates from global citizens. Fair markets that are accountable to the legal framework of international financial institutions. Election are about choosing policies, options and strategies that respond to the changing needs of the people, where ever they live on the planet.

The Choice: Transparent and Accountable Free and Fair Market System

The choice should be the evolutions of free and fair markets that are responsive to the changing needs, demands and expectations of the electorates or public and private stakeholders. The recent series of Housing Market failures in the US is reverberating across continents where established banks are bearing the brunt of the crisis and the US tax payers are bailing the two giant Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Public/Private institutions.

The Crisis: Unregulated Market held hostage by criminal speculators!

Voodoo economics is playing havoc to world treasures across the continents.
The unacceptable oil price hike is also making commodity markets too expensive where food price is picking up beyond the means of the majority of the world population. The normal Need, Demand and Supply economic model is being manipulated by criminal speculators who are bypassing the regulations and making billions of dollars without the respective productivity and creativity. This is gross robbery of the world treasure by few Wall Street and Mortgage brokers.


Process: Informed Choice via multimedia communications and transparent regulations!

As such for the public and regulators need live reliable and accurate financial information to make informed choices. Markets and elections are about choice, literally, need, demand and supply interaction. There must be a fair, equitable election and market system that is compliant to 3As and 3Es and FoC (Elections that are Affordable, Accessible, Available and Equitable, Efficient, Effective and conducted in an environment that supports freedom of Choice exercised within a transparent and accountable framework.


Global governance should reflect global realities.

Our world is highly integrated and globalized as what happens in one corner impacts the other within hours some times minutes and even seconds. Global Multi-Media Communications have made the world a truly global village and governance across the world should reflect this reality.

Creating the Paradigm of hope and opportunities

The old archaic construct of hiding behind geography is fast disappearing by the emerging global integrated cultural and economic convergence that is taking place at a fast pace. The recent series of global economic and ecological crisis is testimony to the emerging transformation of global relationships. The technological and social advances of our time demands a coordinated and integrated responses to our changing global crisis.

Transparent and accountable governance.

Global governance should be led by interactive, intelligence and multi-media based communication networks such that all citizens of the globe are protected and are made to benefit from the the emerging technological and cultural convergence. Representatives in government should be direct where the people have more access to decision making and are able to change their representatives based on competence, performance and results rather than the archaic out of date construct of group loyalty.

Lessons from US Democratic Presidential Primaries.

The current Democratic Presidential Primaries are an excellent example of how they left out millions of electorates in Michigan and Florida who could be their asset in the general elections due to chronism and old out of date party political rules.

The Experience of the Presidential Campaigns in the US clearly shows that Security, Ecology and Market crisis as evidence with clear global market crisis and US Atlantic Hurricane calamity, Middle East and African Terror and Famine Crisis, they tend to spend weeks and months talking about their biological identities of race, age, sex and very superficial issues of how they respond to questions making the presidency similar to the entertainment and late night commodity series.

The millennial times are serious times of challenges and opportunities. Yet, the global leadership does not seem to have the tools and attitudes to address the unique challenges. The public are not making their elected officials accountable for their action and inaction.

Considering the voices of all people!

It is likely they will loose the opportunity of having the best candidate and even loosing the general elections because their rules and protocols are out of date and do not respect the wishes of the people to matter in the electoral process. Imagine Super delegates or Politburo members making the choice instead of the electorates? Can reverse communism dictate terms in democratic USA under procedural chaos that denies the voice of two great states, Michigan and Florida. Can we expect the Democrats to win when they do not respect the votes of millions of citizens from these critical states? Time will tell!

Effective use of modern multi-media communications

Obama is utilizing modern multi-media communication channels and out smarting the old second world war era electoral system which the Clinton's so perfected to suit their purposes. The role of modern multimedia channels changing the face of democratic campaigns is key indication of what is possible in the future in other countries and regions of the world.

Can Super-delegates represent Politburo?

What is the difference between Super Delegate and Politburo members, why are some citizens more important than others. Is this democracy, cliptocracy, or dictatorship of the elites. Mind you the central determinant is money and money is what drives the cartels too. Super-delegates and Politburos are the same constructs exercised by different communities with more or less very similar outcomes. Individual choice and proportional representations demand one person, one vote and effective, transparent and accountable system of governance.

Greed and power can blind super delegates or super speculators!

Super Delegates, Politburo is dictatorship through the back door. What is interesting is that the same behavior that is abominable in one culture is portrayed as progressive democracy in another. I believe this cultural disconnect par excellence! The US Presidentical candidates that are protected by their wealth from the challenges of the common man need to feel the economic, security threats of survival

Our choices should be based on smart objectives that reflect the interests and choices of each community and stakeholders.

SMART Objective based agenda:

SMART Objective: Specific, Measurable, Appropriate, Realistic and Time Sensitive

To design an alternative trans formative paradigm for a prosperous Globe/Africa/Ethiopia based on Fair and Free Market,private ownership, transparency, accountability and good governance where there is a small, flexible and interactive government that respects the changing needs and demands of its citizens.

Why transformation?

The transformation strategy should be specific, measurable, appropriate, realistic to the changing parameters and time sensitive in terms of immediate, intermediate, short term and long term public and private expectations.

The demands of the Millennial Renaissance trans formative agenda.

Transformational Governance should be about change to meet the demands of the changing standards, market and security concerns of the citizens. To change the election paradigm towards real choice of direction for change. The current millennial renaissance transformational agenda demands a responsive transparent and accountable governance across the globe.

Can it happen in our time or are we going to pass on a more dangerous world because we missed the boat due to our incompetence and greed?

Approach: Making elections transparent and accountable

Setting the agenda for 2005/2008/2010 set of elections in different parts of the globe by focusing on free and fair market promoted investment, ownership to eradicate poverty via change in policy and electoral system. The experience of recent elections in the US, Europe, Asia and Africa has not been transparent. Some elections in Kenya have created untold amount of human and material resource loss. This needs to change.

The elections should be about choice. Change is the universal constant, and the constitutions, rules, regulations and protocols should change to reflect the realities on the ground.

Choosing change in direction.

The elections or government policies should be about choice in direction towards a free and fair market system that respects the interests of all stakeholders.

The current series of political arrangement be it fronts or coalitions in Africa, Asia, Democrats and Republicans in Americas, Labor/liberals and conservatives in Europe or revolutionary fronts in Latin America all in government and opposition are leftovers of the old confrontational paradigm of Marxist Leninist ideologies and their theological counter parts of liberation theologies.

The new paradigm post the cold war era needs to to develop an alternative vision from disaggregation the nations' resources into ethnic, racial and linguistic differentiations that lead into poverty and dictatorship.

The New Integrative Win-Win Partnerships Paradigm

That alternative paradigm is the development of an interactive integration and win-win partnerships of public and private stakeholders. This paradigm should be built on an environment of pre-emptive security, ecological and economic integration where the free markets are fair and accountable to all stakeholders.

The current series of housing, food, energy market collapse is a critical indication that we need to move towards evidence based fair market that is accessible, affordable, available, efficient, effective and equitable and most of all that respects the freedom of choice of all stakeholders.

Managing Housing, Oil and Food Cartels.

The current global crisis generated by greedy housing, oil and food cartels should be changed to a price system that attends to demand and supply within the context of global needs and productivity. Governments and the public at large should not be hostage to these cartels but act in a transparent and accountable way that monitor the price of commodities be it oil, food, entertainment and other products.


The vulnerable youth of bottom billions are not patient with such level of incompetence!

The highly charged vulnerable populations of the current world are not going to die like Ethiopians did in Wolo and Tigrai in the early 1970s literally dying waiting on the food distribution lines.

Today, these vulnerable groups, especially the youth are highly organized and ready to demand their share of the food, energy and housing market by any means possible including physical and emotional strategies that might threaten the security and safety of the general public.

We do not need to wait for the youth of the bottom one billion people to rise up with chaotic violent revolutions. We can take pre-emptive preventive actions of managing the market to reflect to the emerging needs of the vulnerable populations of the globe.

Managing the Market or being managed by the Cartels?

The Market cannot be left in the hands of few criminal cartels that can hold the world hostage. We cannot be talking about shortages when there is plenty and the Cartels are hoarding goods and services to demand more price than they are actually worth.

The current out of control oil and food prices and the unbelievable profit margins of these criminals cartels can not be sustained. If democracy can be bought by criminal cartels then what is the difference between the drug cartels and criminal gangs they are all the same in different suits and garbs.

Lessons from the Mortgage Meltdown:

The Mortgage meltdown in the United States that is reverberating across the world is nothing but another group of white collar financial mortgage cartels that are abusing the free market economy by insider dealings and out right criminal misrepresentations that allows them to change the interest rates to such level that home owners are left bankrupt. Again, this is a problem of Housing Mortgage Cartels that need to be managed by transparent and accountable governance.

The Advertising Paradigm: US Presidential elections for sale?

The US Presidential election is being turned into racial, gender and age discrimination cartel instead of dealing with the critical issues of oil, food and housing cartels that is making life a misery to the public. They spend millions with moronic advertisements that do not address the real issues but biological markers of genetic, age and gender differences on which the candidates have no control.

The candidates can control their policy options but not their age, sex and genetics. This is stupidity of the worst kind. The cartels want the public to miss the real point by distracting them with their biologic and animal instincts.

Managing our choice or choosing our future?

The choice is between fair and free market; between investment and poverty;,between security and insecurity. This paper advocates for fair and free market, private ownership, rule of law, transparency, accountability and good governance as an alternative to the current scenario of all of the same old Marxism, liberation theology, Terror and Poverty being recycled all over again. Change is what is needed and all competition should about offering change.

Expected outcome:

The expected outcome of this dialogue is to initiate vigorous discussion at intellectual, policy and political campaign towards rejecting poverty for ownership and investment; free cartel dealings for fair transparent market. Challenging the current corruption and poverty ridden ideology and policy that does not trust nor respect its own citizens.

Take back what are your land, property and citizenship fair market into your hands for prosperity and good governance. Change is needed from poverty, aid and hopelessness towards productivity, business and enterprises that attracts local and foreign investment.

Discussion towards understanding our options.

The left ideology of distributing poverty and the right wing ideology of corruption, hit, steal and run cartel approach has reached its zenith of incompetence and need to be challenged once for all by productivity and competency. The political elites and cadres of the past 30 years have focused on ethnic based geographical localization that reminds one of the Apartheid eras of homelands of genocide and poverty. The real issue is not reducing poverty but building prosperity!

Changing the paradigm of hopelessness!

Our option is to change the paradigm of hopelessness and disengagement to that of dialogue and pre-emptive governance that reflects the interest of the majority that is 6.5 billion people around the world. If few well organized cartels are allowed to usurp our economics and political and cultural lives, then we are left with narrow choices of insecurity, chaos and constant terror. It is critical to be strategic and pre-emptive in our deliberations and dialogue of chartering the future.

Empowerment of the people.

The current trend of dictatorship and outright terror of uncontrolled market and insecurity in housing, food and oil market is tearing apart the fabric of our society and has crippled the economy towards hopelessness, crime and terror under the guise of liberation fronts and loony liberal democracy of all sorts. We need patriotic good governance and not globalized terror via so called loony liberal democracies where every thing goes without transparency and accountability.

Changing fear with courage, despair with hope!

All resources continue to be in the hands of few people in authority who do not know how to use the resources themselves nor allow others to utilize it. Unfortunately, the current set of leadership of highly vulnerable bottom billion people are busy walking the old beaten tracks. We need to change our insecurity with intelligent and interactive courage, and despair with practical and interactive hope based on hard work and engagement of all civil societies.

Ownership of talent, resources and enterprises!

The leaders of the poorest developing countries are left with no option but to continue to beg for IMF, World Bank and Bilateral donations while impoverishing their own citizens. However, the new global win-win partnership demands that the public and private sector and general citizenry should be empowered with tools of education, knowledge economy, investment that includes ownership of land, property, assets and skills that can be transacted freely in a transparent legal framework that is fair to all. Market speculators and drug dealers are criminals that need to be made accountable.

Protecting, talent, resources and skills.

Once land and resources are restored to the public and transacted within the context of fair and fair markets; the poor will be in charge of enterprises that are productive and profitable to all participants. These enterprises that utilize the talents and resources of the majority need to be transacted with clear-cut legal process that are transparent and accountable to the interests of all stakeholders. Then, the citizens (not the criminal cartels) can put them forward as collateral's for investment and development purposes that will transform their ecologies, economies and social paradigm. This is the wave of the future.

Knowledge Economy is based on organic resources.

Government and Business should be separated. The current conflict of interest where a party owns or is owned by cartels that own the whole country and behaves, as the landlord and tenant at the same time, denying citizens from productivity or legal competition will be changed as the good governance will demand transparency and accountability at all levels.

The current global poverty is artificial

The current global poverty among plenty due to incompetent leadership and greedy political, oil, food and drug cartels will change as even the role of governance will be challenged and competent people will compete for every position in the respective countries. The current global poverty and vulnerability is artificial created by the greed and fear of minorities who o not see a global paradigm at peace with itself and promoting a common secure environment. This is a mindset and perspective that needs to change.

Promoting Green Knoldege Economy

The knowledge based economy can only survive on green and organic economy as the current market speculation driven economy is wiping out the assets of the global economy in seconds due to volatile global market forces. Can the market be tamed? Can it be free and fair at the same time? Yes, Global Green Knowledge Economy can change the future of the current market dominated by criminal cartel groups.

Conclusion

This paper looks at age-old transparent and accountable patriotism, enterprise, productivity based competitiveness under the rule of law as the only option for a vision of prosperous Ethiopia. The notion that the farmer will sell all the land and migrate to the cities is a myth created to blunder the wealth of the nation towards both material and spiritual poverty. Who is really handing over Badme and Ethiopian Red Sea Coast, the farmer or misguided communists?

Terror should be replaced by Green knowledge economy.

Considering the poorest nations of the Horn, one wonders, Why not govern regionally instead of fighting over the Desert scraps of Badme or Armacheho in Erobland and Bejamedir or Borenalands in the north, west and southern part of Ethiopia. Why not settle the economic and security challenges of Somalia instead of trying to access the hell on earth and perhaps in heaven too by promoting mayham and terrorizing cbildrena and seniors. Hungry people need food not bullets. Market forces like security and will shy away from terror zones and the foolish Somali leaders do not even know the basics of economcis 101: Need, Demand and Supply interact best in a secure environment.

The global climate change and regional terror network can only be defeated by green knowledge economy that has international legal enforcement of fair and free market instead of callous dumbing ground for old delapidated warfare armaments. The local leadership should spend meagre resources on green economy insted of out of date heaps of warfare armaments.

Artificial boundaries need to be liberated with fair economies

It is not the land that is the issue it is how we mange it. Allow the land to be developed for investment so that the local people have jobs and are able to participate in the fair and free market system. The current artificial boundaries need to be liberated with fair and free markets where jobs, and good can easily move from community to communtiy in a legal framework.

Putting boundaries as the central issue of divergence in a continent such as Africa who did not take part in the demarcation process in the first instance and now trying to implement out of date principle of border demarcations that were set up by colonial leaders without considering local interests need not be the focus of our development agenda in an integrated and globalized world,

Creating win-win collaborative partnerships!

The current global market and enterprise environment demands collaborative regional partnerships for competitiveness and win-win partnerships within the context of African Union cultural, economic, parliamentary and judicial integration. The African Union is the transformational agenda of Africans in the 21st century and the old colonial divide and rule boundaries should not be our present agenda.

Oil, Food, Drug and Gun Cartels should be made accountable.

The notion that the oil and food cartels can keep on putting up prices without consequences is fast disappearing. The people want to manage their economic, energy and food markets so that they are beneficiaries of the market forces.

The old communists and dictatorships are being replaced by the selfish market cartels, using the same old strategy of terrorizing the populations with exploding market prices. Free Market should be tempered with Fair market and every society should be able to define what is fair and free and not be dictated to by the Global Market Cartels.

The recent Sunami in Maynamar and Burma Military Dictatorship response is a clear example of how some governments can be out of touch with the needs of their own people!

The oil, food, drug and gun cartels that are disrupting the global cultural and economic convergence should be made accountable? How can the public match their growing economic power that buys the politicians and legal enforcement community?

Empowering the youth and our future.

The youth who are not educated cannot be productively engaged. The fountain of the future are kept prisoners in their own homes and made criminals by a shortsighted philosophy of poverty. One can only get rid of poverty by productivity and investment.

Land ownership and the ability to use it as collateral for business enterprises is the only solution of the current crisis. If we do not invest in the productive future of our youth, the rogue elements of society, be it drug, gun and energy gangs or theological goons will recruit them to our peril. Engaging our youth is in our best interest, otherwise others will engage them against our inherent interests

The May 2005/2008/2010 series of election should be about choice, poverty or prosperity, ownership or tenancy that leads to economic slavery. Ownership of property and the market is the only gateway to self determination and empowerment of the global stakeholders (6.5 Billion People).

Silence, or doing nothing in light of the current global crisis will lead to insecurity and un necessary social and economic terror that can be prevented by intelligent and proactive pre-emptive strategies of empowering the real stakeholders (6.5 Billion people).

Remember silence in the face of such overwhelming threat to our collective security and destiny is in effect collaboration with the criminals and terrorists and dictators of our time. The next generation will judge this callous and selfish generation mercilessly if they ever get the opportunity to do so. We can change this paradigm of hopelessness by acting individually and collectively now when it matters. The time is now to act


Belai FM Habte-Jesus, MD, MPH

First draft in 15 January 2005 and updated on 21 May 2008, Vamcpver, BC, Canada and 15 Spetember 2008 Washington, DC


Re: Managing the Market: Can it be fair and free at the same time? Price gouging and its consequences!

You may have to get used to paying more for your groceries for another two years or more.

Experts say an increase in global food consumption combined with increasing use of crops such as corn and soybeans for alternative fuel production are partly to blame.

Agricultural economists who've studied food price fluctuations cite historical trends that show run-ups in farm commodity prices typically happen in five-year cycles.

More from CNNMoney.com:

• The High Price of Going 'Organic'

• Rebate Checks: How to Spend 'Em

• Recession-Proof Job: Personal Financial Adviser
Prices flare up in the first two to three years of the cycle and then start to moderate by the fourth or fifth year, said Chris Hurt, agricultural economist at Purdue University .

If 2007 was the first year of this latest cycle, Hurt said farm supply could start catching up to demand by 2010, helping to push down milk, bread, cereal and other grocery prices.

Until then, "Americans will be moving backward in their [food] lifestyle." By that he means that more families will trade down to cheaper food alternatives, or eat out less often, in order to adjust their budgets to both higher food and fuel costs.

Wal-Mart, the No. 1 discounter and supermarket chain, said Tuesday that spending patterns in its stores already support the trend. The retailer said shoppers are buying more white meat and less red meat, stocking up on larger package sizes and buying more boxed frozen meals as eating at home replaces going out.

"This is the first price boom we've seen since the 1970s," said Bill Knudson, professor of agricultural economics at Michigan State University, agreed. "There's an old industry saying that high prices cure high prices. My personal opinion is that food prices will remain high for another two or three more years."

The good news, however, is that "there's no grave concern" of a pending food shortage in the United States, Hurt said.

Why Is Food More Expensive Now?

Experts point to four main global trends for the rise in food prices.

First, growing incomes in developing countries such as China, India, Malaysia mean citizens in these countries are eating better and more frequently, thereby putting more demand on the global food supply.

More from Yahoo! Finance:

• 6 Ways You Can Eat Better for Less

• Rising Food Costs: Solutions Amid the Squeeze

• Stock Up on Food for Rich Returns
"People are consuming more quantity and higher-quality foods," said Hurt. "They are eating more meats, eggs, grains and [drinking] milk."

Second, adverse weather patterns over the past four years have harmed crop production in Australia, southern Europe, Ukraine and even parts of the United States.

American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) economist Jim Sartwelle said a prolonged drought in Australia - a major wheat and dairy producer - has led to big drops in world exports of wheat and milk.

Third, the United States is normally a big food surplus nation but, "with a weak dollar, there's been a run on our pantry of food supplies," Sartwelle said. "A lot of our excess production is going overseas and this is pushing up domestic prices."

Fourth, burgeoning demand in the European Union and the United States for ethanol and other biofuels has sparked a price surge in corn, soybeans, sugarcane and other commodities used to produce those alternative fuels.

It's not only consumers feeling the price pain, Sartwelle said.

He said that "even with higher retail prices, farmers and grocers get very little increase in their profit margin," because it's being offset by higher packaging costs, energy cost to produce and stock food and fuel to transport products.

Bill Ferriera, president of the Apricot Producers of California, also sees a bump-up in the costs of farming.

"Fertilizer costs have doubled from last year and farm labor availability is a big problem," he said. "Many farmers are choosing not to grow produce that is labor intensive."

Despite these food price hikes, Americans still spend only about 10% of their disposable income on food and beverage purchases per year, according to the Department of Agriculture.

That's below the 15% share of disposable income that Europeans spend on food and drinks, and the whopping 70% that citizens of Pakistan and Bangladesh budget for consumables, said Hurt.

So even with a 4.5% expected rise in overall food prices, Americans, per person, will only spend an extra $87 this year on groceries, according to the Economic Research Service of the Department of Agriculture.

But that's little consolation for consumers whose budgets are already stretched amid the the worst food price inflation in 17 years, according to government reports.

The latest nationwide quarterly survey from the AFBF, which tracks supermarket prices for 16 basic grocery items, showed the total cost of its basket of goods rose to $45.03 in the first quarter of 2008, up 8% from the prior quarter.

Products with the steepest retail price jumps were a 5-pound bag of flour, up 69 cents to $2.39; cheddar cheese, up 61 cents to $4.71 a pound; corn oil, up 58 cents to $3.01 a 32-ounce bottle; and dozen large eggs, up 55 cents to $2.16.

But higher prices aren't here to stay, Hurt said. He's confident that producers will allocate more land to production over the next two to three years. "I expect greater use of technology to increase crop yields and better use of genetics to create drought-tolerant crops," he said.

Knudson said the United States this year is expected to dedicate 2 million acres of land from its federal Conservation Reserve Program to farming in order to increase production during lean times.

"In Canada more land will also be committed to farming this year," he said. "All this should help to eventually increase food supplies through the [price] boom cycle."

Copyrighted, CNNMoney. All Rights Reserved.


~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~~*~*

Here is from the US Presidential Candidates: John and Obama on the Economy:


Obama, McCain blame economic woes on greed, policy
By Liz Sidoti, Associated Press Writer | September 15, 2008

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Obama speaks during a rally in Grand Junction, Colo., Monday, Sept. 15, 2008. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)
WASHINGTON - With chaos rocking financial markets, John McCain assailed "greed and corruption" on Wall Street and promised to clean it up, while Barack Obama blamed White House policies and said his opponent would only deliver more of the same.


The presidential candidates struggled on Monday to seize control of the issue voters say is most important — the economy — with Republicans and Democrats alike saying the man who succeeds may well win the election.

However, in a dizzying day of speeches and statements, neither White House hopeful offered any fresh ideas for turning things around. Instead each relied on the same vague, though vastly different, pitches he has sounded over the past few months for fixing what ails the country.

And they didn't emphasize that they are part of the Congress that has done little to head off the crisis. McCain is a four-term Arizona senator, Obama a first-termer from Illinois.

Bemoaning "the most serious financial crisis since the Great Depression," Democrat Obama faulted Republican McCain's domestic policy agenda as the same as President Bush's — "one that says we should just stick our heads in the sand and ignore economic problems until they spiral into crises."

McCain declared in a new TV ad, "Our economy is in crisis. Only proven reformers John McCain and Sarah Palin can fix it" — though he also told voters in Jacksonville, Fla., "The fundamentals of our economy are strong."

While presidents — and candidates of the party occupying the White House — often take credit for good economies and try to avoid blame for bad ones, financial crises nearly always have multiple causes.

Home loans became more affordable a few years ago when the Federal Reserve kept interest rates low. Politicians of all stripes encouraged home ownership. But lightly regulated financial outfits began slicing and dicing the resulting mortgages into securities and selling them to investors.

Eventually, it all began collapsing, prices dropped, people started losing their homes and Wall Street went into a spin.

This is the backdrop with some seven weeks left in the campaign, and both Obama and McCain are trying to find a message that resonates with anxious voters who are fretting about their retirement nest eggs, home mortgages and job security.

As different as their policies are, they were united in their message to voters: It's not your fault.

Courting working class voters who gave him grief in the Democratic primary, Obama sounded an I-feel-your-pain note.

Obama lamented Republican policies over eight years that he said "encouraged outsized bonuses to CEOs while ignoring middle-class Americans" and said: "Instead of prosperity trickling down, the pain has trickled up — from the struggles of hardworking Americans on Main Street to the largest firms of Wall Street."

McCain's words were sympathetic as well.

"America is in a crisis today," he said — then added: "The economic crisis is not the fault of the American people. Our workers are the most innovative, the hardest working, the best skilled, the most productive, the most competitive in the world. ... But they are being threatened today ... because of greed and corruption that some engaged in on Wall Street and we have got to fix it."

Some in the markets, he said, "have treated Wall Street like a casino."

The upheaval at Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., Merrill Lynch & Co., and American International Group Inc. — and the stunning reordering of the financial market that has following — gave the candidates an opening to press their economic ideas anew.

In line with historical positions of Democrats and Republicans, Obama generally supports stronger consumer protections, better regulatory oversight and more government intervention, while McCain broadly prefers a market system of less federal involvement and red tape.

Both advocate tax cuts, though to different degrees and different ends. Obama seeks to cut into inequality between rich and poor by raising taxes on the wealthiest Americans and give breaks to the middle class and lower-income people. McCain wants to spur the economy and create jobs by keeping tax rates low for higher-income taxpayers and slashing rates for corporations.

While they focused on the topic that voters say matters most, the two campaigns also continued to assail each other Monday on character issues. The Democratic vice presidential nominee, Joe Biden, said McCain was "launching a low blow a day." McCain's campaign, in turn, accused Obama of spouting "false talk about change" and hurling insults to cover up his record.

Yet, even that increasingly personal griping took a back seat as Obama and McCain maneuvered for an edge on the economy with stocks tumbling as investors reacted to the latest Wall Street turmoil.

Obama has led for months on the question of who would best handle the economy, but some polls show that his advantage has dwindled. He had a slight advantage over McCain on the economy — 47 percent to 42 percent — in an ABC News/Washington Post poll last week, the Democrat's edge cut in half since spring. However, CNN's latest poll showed Obama with a larger edge, 52 percent to 44 percent, with no movement from early this year.

McCain focused mostly on a need for regulatory reforms and applauded the federal government's refusal to bail out the latest cash-strapped institutions. It was a posture designed to bolster his free-market stance and strike a populist chord.

He promised: "The McCain-Palin administration will replace an outdated, patchwork quilt of regulatory oversight and bring transparency and accountability to Wall Street. We will have transparency and accountability and we will reform the regulatory bodies of government." He didn't say precisely how.

At a campaign appearance in Grand Junction, Colo., Obama chastised McCain by saying: "It's not that I think John McCain doesn't care what's going on in the lives of most Americans. I just think he doesn't know. He doesn't get what's happening between the mountains in Sedona where he lives and the corridors of power where he works."

As for government regulation, he said, "For years I have called for modernizing the rules of the road."

It's been nearly a decade since Congress and President Clinton reshaped the financial landscape. That 1999 legislation removed Depression-era barriers between commercial banks and investment firms and allowed the creation of financial behemoths where years later the risks of underwriting subprime mortgages were somewhat hidden.

Former Sen. Phil Gramm, R-Texas, until recently one of the McCain campaign's top economic advisers, was a chief writer of that law.

McCain voted for a Senate version of the bill but did not vote on the final package. Biden voted against the Senate legislation but for the final compromise that Clinton signed. Obama was not in Congress at the time.

Connecting to our Divine and Sacred Feminine Self on Millennial International Women's Day

www.globalbelai4u.blogspot.com

African(Ethiopian) Renaissance Millennium Foundation Presents the Sacred & Divine Feminine Slef as a transformational agenda for the 21st Century Vulnerable world!

We believe there is a Sacred and Divine Feminine Self in all of us and empowering our nurturing, creative, interactive self within ourselves, our neighbors and our ecosystem will change our individual and collective potential.

We have tried the Destructive and Competetive Masculine Self for so long and it is time to try the Divine and Sacred Self- the complementary side of our biology, character and spirit!

The following story of Queen of Sheba and her Kingdom is a clear indication that given the opportunity, our Sacred and Divine Femine Self can be a source of Great Good Governance.


BLOOMBERG NEWS

May 8, 2008

Queen of Sheba's Palace Discovered in Ethiopia,
University Says

By Catherine Hickley

May 8 (Bloomberg) -- A team of archaeologists from the University of Hamburg, Germany said they discovered the Queen of Sheba's palace and an altar that may have
once held the Ark of the Covenant in Axum, Ethiopia.

A Christian king built a new palace over the 10th-century B.C. structure, which probably didn't survive for very long, the university said in a statement. The altar, oriented toward the star Sirius, has two columns and may have been where the Ark of the Covenant, the holiest treasure of early Judaism, was kept until the first temple was built in Axum, the researchers said.

``The special significance of this altar must have been handed down over centuries,'' the statement said. ``This is shown by the many sacrifices found around
this spot.''

The Ark of the Covenant, featured in the Indiana Jones movie ``Raiders of the Lost Ark,'' was kept in Jerusalem for centuries, according to the Old Testament. After Jerusalem was conquered by the Babylonians in the 6th century B.C., the ark's fate
isn't documented in the Bible and it entered the realm of legend.

Ethiopian Christians contend that the ark left Jerusalem much earlier -- during the realm of Solomon -- and was brought to Ethiopia, where it has long been enshrined in a church and is now accessible only to its guardian, a monk. This theory was explored by the British author Graham Hancock in ``The Sign and the
Seal.''

Fate of the Ark

The Hamburg team led by Helmut Ziegert has for nine years been investigating the origins of the Ethiopian state and the Ethiopian orthodox church. The central
purpose of the field trip was to find out how Judaism arrived in Ethiopia in the 10th century B.C., and to seek clues to the present location of the Ark of the
Covenant, the university said.

The palace built over the Queen of Sheba's home was also aligned with the star Sirius, the statement said. The researchers conjecture that the second palace was
built by Menelik, who, legend has it, was the son of Sheba and King Solomon.

The results of the Hamburg field trip suggest that together with Judaism and the Ark of the Covenant, a cult worshipping Sirius came to Ethiopia and practiced
its religion until about 600 A.D., the university
said.

According to the Old Testament, God ordered Moses to build the Ark of the Covenant, a box made of acacia wood and plated with gold. It is believed to have
contained the tablets listing the Ten Commandments.

To contact the reporter on this story: Catherine Hickley in Berlin at chickley@bloomberg.net.


URL: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601100&sid=aHkn1LT4dQcU


Global Climate Change demands we become creative, interactive and nurturing!

Re: Responding to the call of the Sacred and Divine Self will promote a healthy interactive and nurturing environment in dealing with the most serious challenge of out time, Climate Change and its repercussions.

We are all observing the negative impacts of rapid adverse global climate change, and its fundamental challenges of our neighborhoods on every continent and every ocean. No geographic region is immune to the adverse impact of Global Climate Change. The challenge remains, how we respond to it to ensure that the organic life as we know it survives and thrives.

A. The facts.

A.1 Changes in the Ocean:

Sea level is slowly rising at the rate of one inch per decade due to increase in thermal average sea temperature and runoff from melting glaciers.

Emissions from burning fossil fuels have driven Carbon Dioxide in the atmosphere to the level of just over 380 parts per million- higher than it has been in hundreds of thousands of years.

A.2 Acidity of the Sea and Air

Carbon dioxide readily mixes with water to form carbonic acid- the same stuff that gives soda fizz and helps it dissolves your teeth-and the oceans are now absorbing so much Carbon Dioxide that they are becoming increasingly more acidic and toxic.

The acidity is is newly recognized as a threat to marine life, as it depletes the carbonate ions that coral reefs and other sea creatures use to build their hard skeletons. The rate of acidification is so great that the trajectory we are on is expected to destroy most reefs around the world.

A.2 Toxic Acidity at cellular level:

As the toxicity is raging in the macro-ecology at micro level, similar toxic changes are taking place where the level of acidity at cellular level due to carbonic drinks, coffee and alcoholic and other acidic substance consumption, etc.

A.3 Unhealthy dietary habits

Our changing dietary habits where we are consuming increasing animal products such as meat and consumption of acidic products such as amino acid concentrations at cellular level is making metabolism at intercellular level so toxic that the normal compensatory cell ecology tries to address the challneges by inadvertently making our cells adopt to the new toxic environment. The level of malnutrition as evidenced with protein-energy deficiency in developing nations and obesity in developed countries is becoming a source of immunologic challenges increasing the metabolic diseases such as diabetes, atherosclerosis, arthrities, allergies, asthma and cancer epidemics.


A.4 Compensatory mechanism challenging our immune system: Rising Pandemics of Allergies, Astham, carcinogens, malnutition etc.

The normal compensatory actiivities to keep the cellular pH near optimum range takes effect by galvanizing calcium and other trace elements from our cartlages and endocrine glands leading to a series of chnornic metabolic, musculoskeletal and and joint problems such as Diabetes, Hypertension, Atherosclerosis, Arthrities, as well as evolving mutagenesis resulting into a series of cancer epidemics in our cellular and organic systems literraly imapcting our health and wellbeing.

Similar compensatory mechanisms are involved when our cells try to manage the challenges of allergens in the spring and summer seasons, activating the immune system that results in asthma and other hypersensitivity based alergic responses that is becoming common and pandemic in certain seasons and geographic locations.

A.5 Bleaching events of the coral reefs

Rising sea surface temperatures have made bleaching events more common- in which the water gets so hot corals expel the symbiotic algae they need to survive.

The global bleaching even in 1997-98 killed 16 percent of the world's corals, leading to researchers to estimate that more than 20 percent of the world's reefs have been damaged beyond repair by climate change, pollution, and destructive fishing methods.

A.6 30 Billion dollars cost to the aquatic ecosystems

Reefs are the bedrock of an entire aquatic ecosystem, including habitat for fisheries that feed more than a billion people in Asia. Their economic value for food, tourism, even coastal flood protection, among other services, has been valued at 30 billion dollars.

A.7 Extreme weather in Africa and Europe

Extreme weather: Rising average temperatures puts more heat energy and water vapor into the atmosphere, fueling heavier rainfall, more powerful hurricanes, and more frequent heat waves, while increasing the risk of drought and wildfires. Human-caused warming may have doubled the likelihood of the heat wave that hit Europe in 2003.

A.8 Drought in Ethiopia

Drought: Ethiopian farmer's livelihood has been ruined due to persistent drought has pounded the region since the 1970s, wiping out crops and contributing to famine and disease among millions of Africans. Climate change has already caused arid areas to become drier and may be intensifying droughts in Africa and other parts of the globe.

Any lessons for Africa?

African countries like Ethiopia, are among the most at risk, since they remain heavily dependent on rain-fed agrictulrures and often cannot afford technology that would help them adapt. The recent food crisis is reminiscent of 1974Oil Embargo, that reaulted the 1984 famine, 1994 food crisis and now in 2008 the report below shows another wave of new food crisis pandemic around the world.

A.9 Desertification and Rising Seas:

Desertfication. A recent UN study warned that desertification could displace 50 million people in the next decade, mostly in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Rising Seas. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IGPCC) recently estimated that seas will rise 7 to 23 inches by 2100 but could not rule out a rise of three feet or more. A 16 inch rise would submerge 11 percent of Bangladesh's land area and displace seven to ten million people.

A.10 US families Contributes 50,000 ponds of Carbon Dioxide

It is reported that in the US alone, each year, the average American family contributes about 50,000 pounds of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere-many times more than families in Botswana or India. (Changing Climate, National Geographic Magazine, 22 June 2008.

The Greed and Ignorance of the so called "Developed Polluting Nations" is burning the globe:

All the above ten points indicate that the so called developed polluting nations are contributing a significant proportion of the toxic pollution of the environment that is adversely affecting the global climate change where developing nations such as Africa and even Europe are bein negatively impacted with adverse climate for the past 30 years.

Three Countries and Europe are the main culprits!

The United States, China, India and Brazil and Europe, are now top nations contributing to the global climate change and other emerging nations in Asia, Eastern Europe and Africa are joining this new team of polluting nations without impunity. The United Nations and its associate organizations like the WHO and World Bank etc are encouraging nation states and the global communities to change their life styles.


Changing our polluting life styles!

Will the Polluting nations and eonomies pay attention? Will they listen? They are worried about nuclear pollution in Iran and Syria but should really focus in their backyard where the Carbon foot prints and other toxins produced in their respective industries and waste disposal system is turning the globe in to a junk yard.


It is critical that we pay attention to the US based American Public Health Association most recent campaign that is well researched and developed that all global citizens should pay attention.


We encourage our respected global readers and contributors to pledge in changing our life styles after reading the following pledge letter.


Dear Colleague:

Climate change is a public health issue. As public health professionals, we are in the unique position of playing an important role in both keeping people healthy and addressing the impacts of climate change.

Thankfully, these twin goals are not incompatible, but we must act — and we must act now. Attached please find the American Public Health Association’s (APHA) first step toward a blueprint for the public health community’s approach to climate change.

As you may know, Climate Change: Our Health in the Balance is the theme for National Public Health Week 2008.

In preparation, APHA developed a background document and then invited leaders from public health, environmental science, faith-based and other community organizations to comment on the document.

In addition, we held a virtual summit to reach consensus on what the most important steps for the public health community should be in the fight against climate change.

Throughout this process, we have come to realize that much work has already been done by our colleagues in the field, but as a community, we have never attempted to reach consensus about our collective role in preventing and responding to climate change.

It is with that in mind that we present to you these recommendations, which were reached by an inclusive and interactive process and which we hope represents the majority of concerns and aspirations of the public health community.

These recommendations focus on what is feasible and where it is critical for public health to engage in the discussion and fight against climate change. We would like your support as we move forward and try to address the pressing needs that are part of all of our daily work.

Please read the attached recommendations. The recommendations were formally released on March 31, 2008 and the next step is building up the list of supporters in anticipation of several events during National Public Health Week.

Addressing climate change is a long-term goal for APHA, so we will be continuing to gather support and signatures long after National Public Health Week is over. However, we would like to present the media and other opinion leaders with a document illustrating our strong cross-cutting support for public health’s critical role in tackling climate change.

Please feel free to share these documents with your colleagues and partner organizations.

If you have already signed on in support of these recommendations, we thank you and apologize for the multiple requests.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact Susan Polan, PhD, Associate Executive Director, Public Affairs and Advocacy, at susan.polan@apha.org or by phone at 202/777-2510.

Name:________________________________________________________________________________

Organization;________________________________________________________________________

City, State, Zip:_________________________________________________________________________________

____I am signing this as an individual
____I am signing this as a representative of my organization


Please return via fax (202/777-2532) or e-mail to Susan Polan (susan.polan@apha.org)

~*~*~*~*~**~*~*~*

The Issue and the Challenge

Over the past year, scientists from around the globe have stated in the strongest possible terms that the climate is changing, and human activity is to blame.

Greenhouse gases — mainly from the fossil fuels we burn in our cars and trucks, the power plants that bring us electricity and the industries that manufacture our goods and produce our food — are causing temperatures on Earth to increase.

These changes are already dramatically affecting

human health around the world. The World Health Organization reported that the climate change which occurred from 1961 to 1990 may already be causing over 150,000 deaths or the loss of over 5.5 million disability adjusted life years annually starting in 2000.

These numbers are staggering, but they should not be surprising: climate change influences our living environment on the most fundamental level, which means it affects the basic biological functions critical to life. It impacts the air we breathe and the food available for us to eat. It impacts the availability of our drinking water and the spread of diseases that can make us sick.

These impacts are different in different parts of the world — and equally troubling, they are disproportionately burdensome for the world’s more vulnerable populations. Children, the elderly, the poor and those with chronic and other health conditions are considered the most vulnerable to the negative health impacts of climate change because they are most susceptible to extreme weather events like heat waves, drought, intense storms and floods.

They are also least likely to have the resources to prepare or respond. This unequal burden seems especially unjust given that these populations are the least likely to contribute to climate change. Any strategies for managing climate change impacts must take their unique challenges and needs into account.

Why the Public Health Community Is Uniquely Qualified to Respond

There is growing recognition that we must act and we must act now. As public health professionals, we are in the unique position of playing an important role in both keeping people healthy and addressing the impacts of climate change. Thankfully, these twin goals are not incompatible.

In fact, many of the choices individuals should make for the sake of their health — and the health of their communities — are the same choices that benefit the health of the planet. Making the climate change issue real means helping people understand how the way they live affects themselves and others, whether through transportation choices, the use of water and electricity or the types of goods purchased and consumed.


Encouraging behavior change is familiar territory for public health experts, and it is a key part of the solution. The shift away from fossil fuels and a movement toward general environmental awareness aligns with existing public health priorities:
n The transportation sector is one of the largest sources of greenhouse gases.

Encouraging people to walk, bike, use public transportation or carpool is co-beneficial, as it helps reduce vehicle greenhouse gas emissions and helps improve an individual’s health by increasing physical activity.


n Similarly, improving community design to reduce reliance on cars means less greenhouse gases and also less obesity, diabetes and even asthma exacerbation because of cleaner air.

n Eating less meat reduces the need to convert land from rainforest or grassland to grazing fields; requires less corn to be grown for feed (meaning less pesticides and other fossil fuel-based products needed in the growing process); and reduces the output of methane gases from manure.

There is a direct connection between climate change and the health of our nation today.

Few Americans, however, are aware of the very real consequences for our communities,
our families and our children. It is time for the public health community to take a seat at the table for this critical discussion.

Climate Change Is a Public Health Issue

There are public health professionals around the country already implementing groundbreaking strategies to respond to and prevent the potentially devastating impacts of climate change. Others are in the trenches, tackling public health problems day in and day out without recognizing that many of them are directly related to climate change.

The public health system will be a frontline responder to potential emergency conditions caused by climate change. It will also play a key role in informing, educating and empowering the nation to make the changes needed to mitigate the problem.

Moving Forward

As representatives of the public health community, we acknowledge that it is our responsibility to make the connection between the way Americans lead their lives, their impact on the planet and the planet’s impact on their health. By highlighting these links, we can help Americans make choices and lead lifestyles that are healthy for them, their families, their communities and the climate. Doing so will help communities prepare to manage and lessen the impacts of climate change.


We recognize that climate change requires serious actions and we have no time to waste. We support the development of a detailed blueprint around which the public health community can continue to build consensus about how to prevent further damage and respond to existing problems. We believe the following recommendations are the starting point and reflect the unique contribution of the public health community.

Recommendations

Education and outreach

n Educate yourself, your family and your community about the connection between climate change and health.

n Build partnerships with stakeholders to ensure inclusion of public health concerns on policies and programs related to climate change mitigation and adaptation. Reach out to colleagues in other programs and departments at the local, state and federal levels, such as emergency management agencies, departments of agriculture and water resources, and others to form a cross-agencies committee to collaborate on climate change-related risks.

Research

n Conduct vulnerability and needs assessment(s) and determine the potential impacts of climate change within your community. Evaluate how a future climate could affect the ability of programs to achieve their goals, and identify where and when modifications are likely to be needed, and what additional human, financial and technical resources will be required.

n Support and promote federal funding of research on the health impacts of climate change and how the impact varies by geography, climate and community, in particular among vulnerable populations.

Advocacy

n Educate decision-makers (policy-makers, opinion leaders) about the connections between climate change and health with a particular focus on its impact on vulnerable populations.

n Support and promote policies that strengthen public health leadership and work force capacity to ensure the infrastructure is in place to be ready.
Support Best Practices

n Identify and build upon existing public health programs that can also help to address the health impacts of climate change. Ensure that surveillance and data monitoring programs capture information needed to improve public health programs and effectively identify and address the health risks of climate change.
n Support and promote policies to develop and design communities that benefit both health and the environment.

Healthy Behavior

n Help the public health system go green and initiate programs to green your work environment.

n Adopt as many good practices as possible to reduce your contribution to climate change. For example, reduce, reuse and recycle, and give your car a break. If possible and you are not already taking advantage of available opportunities, use public transportation, carpool, walk, bike or telecommute.
Climate Change Is a Public Health Issue


~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The crisis of Climate change is impacting the world with a serious food criss that is reverberating all of the world

As usual such crisis attracts the kind hearted but misguided charties who perperuate the problem instead of strategically solving the problem. We will produce few saints and perpertuate more tragedy for generations to come.

Can we we change these saints into development and enterprise heroes is the challege of the time. As they consume so much resource in the wrong direction on the wrong people for a short time, and not allowing creative solutions to emerge as they suck in all the oxygen of compassion into another charity instead of long term strategic enterprises,etc. We have been there in 1974, 1984, 1994 and now in 2008 we should seek some alternaives and not be fooled again and again into compassionate charities who allow events and problems to perpetuate to the next generation.

We need new ideas to solve the impact of Global Climate Change in a way that is sustainable and pre-emptive.

All the same, here is the response of some charities. I never like Charities but Enterprises, as charities reduce our Divine self into beggars, while enterprises bring dignity and self help. One is short term and the other is long term and sustainable.

I wish charities will convert themselves into empowering enterprises and our world will be a different one. All the same, here are the charities at it again, and again. Will they ever learn and convert into enabling enterprises? I wonder! May be the Bill Gate Foundation will change this hopeless paradigm of charities who love crisis into enterprises that solve problems. Who knows it could happen in our life time.


Dr B

News
Oxfam and Care call for fundamental changes in tackling global hunger and soaring food prices
News Release | April 21, 2008

Austrian Karlheinz Boehm (2ndL) founder of 'Menschen fuer Menschen Foundation' (Aid for Ethiopia), his wife Amiz (C) and German President Horst Koehler (R) with his wife Eva Luise (L) pose for the media before a lunch at the presidential residence Bellevue castle in Berlin April 21, 2008. REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch (GERMANY) Oxfam and CARE today said the international aid system was not fit for purpose and called for fundamental changes in order to tackle the challenge of food price hikes and impending food crises in East and West Africa. The call comes at the end of a conference on how best the world can address global hunger attended by some 30 leading UN and aid agencies in Rome.

"Food riots have pushed global hunger onto the political agenda but the aid business will not be able to tackle global hunger while it remains stuck in the past, seeing food crises as one-off events and not tackling the underlining problem - chronic poverty. The world has become much better at sending in teams to save lives but it seems incapable of doing what is needed to prevent crises happening in the first place," said Barbara Stocking, Oxfam's Chief Executive.


"When governments fail to act early enough," said Dr. Robert Glasser, CARE International's Secretary General, "the costs of dealing with a crisis increase enormously, both in economic terms and in loss of life. Television pictures of aid being flown out to the latest food crisis is not a triumph of compassion but a sign of failure to act soon enough."


CARE and Oxfam warned that besides the impact of food price hikes there are also early signs of impending food shortages in East and West Africa. These potential disasters could be averted if the world takes immediate action.


In East Africa the March to May rainy season has been slow to start, triggering concern that another widespread humanitarian crisis might strike for the second time in less than three years.

Although there has been some rain over the last week, CARE and Oxfam are particularly concerned about hunger striking the poorest in southern Somalia and the Somali Region of Ethiopia and in West Africa there are worrying warnings of increased hunger hot spots in Mauritania and Niger.


Acting earlier not only saves more lives but makes economic sense. In 2004 and 2005 early warnings alerted world donors that in West Africa, Niger needed aid to avert a famine.

There was no immediate response, and it was not until television cameras showed emaciated children dying that the world acted. The cost of the delay was high in human life and in economic terms. The UN estimated that acting earlier would have cost $1 a day to prevent a child suffering from malnutrition. Because of delay it cost $80 to save a malnourished child.


Another area of concern is the inefficiencies and high costs resulting from self-interest on the part of those delivering aid. Shipping surplus food aid thousands of miles provides a boon to shipping companies, but also increases the cost of delivering food anywhere from 50% to 100%.


"Food aid can and does save lives. But due to powerful interest groups and outdated policies, food aid generally arrives too late, is too expensive and, when it floods weak, local markets, puts local farmers out of business and consequently puts back chances of recovery after the famine has passed," said Barbara Stocking, Oxfam's Chief Executive.


CARE and Oxfam are calling for more aid of the right kind in the right place at the right time. Specifically, the organizations want:


Appropriate aid delivered according to needs:

The nature of food insecurity and vulnerability needs to be better understood in order to design more appropriate responses.

Alternatives to emergency relief, including food aid, to be delivered when appropriate, for example cash for work and other cash transfer schemes. Often food is available during a food crisis. The issue is that it is too expensive for the hungry to buy it. Buying food aid locally can help stimulate the local economy and keep farmers in work.

Chronic and cyclical problems need to be addressed through social protection mechanisms, such as social insurance and assistance.


Support development of poor country governments' capacity to respond to chronic crises:

National governments need to invest in the social protection of their citizens, implement 'safety net' programmes (cash for work schemes or targeted assistance to the vulnerable) for populations at risk of hunger, intervene before livelihoods collapse.

Donors need to commit resources to support the establishment of local response and safety net mechanisms, eg the donors backed 'Productive Safety Net Programme' ensuring predictable assistance to eight million people in Ethiopia.

Mechanisms allowing more effective monitoring and coordination of international aid against hunger need to be established within the UN system, and with NGOs.


Disaster risk reduction is a key factor in preventing future crises. Many weather-related crises are cyclical and preparedness and risk reduction strategies can reduce the loss of valuable agricultural production, but this requires a substantial change in emphasis from donors, who will need to make an investment before public support has been mobilized by images of starvation.


On the recent food price crisis CARE AND Oxfam called for:

Increase donor and national government investment in small-scale agriculture in developing countries, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa. Most African governments have failed to meet their 2003 promise to allocate at least a tenth of their spending to agriculture and they are now reaping the consequences.

Countries such as Malawi and Zambia have shown the way, moving from dependence on food aid to become cereal exporters in recent years. Greater international support is needed. It is important that humanitarian organizations ensure that women can access the opportunities that are created.


Large-scale growth in biofuels demand has pushed up food prices and so far there is little evidence that it is reducing overall carbon emissions.

Natural carbon sinks such as rainforests and grasslands are being destroyed to make way for new biofuel plantations and biofuel crops are displacing food production. Countries driving biofuel demand need to monitor the impacts of their policies on global food security and provide financial support for affected countries.

Mandatory targets need to be reassessed in terms of likely impact on emissions and negative social and environmental side effects in developing countries, including higher food prices, land grabs and labour rights abuses. Developing countries need to integrate their biofuel strategies with food security policies to address issues such as land allocation and crop use.


Ensure financial services such as insurance and credit are available to poor farmers. In Thailand, for example, small producers are going to the wall because banks will not lend them money to manage between harvests.


Allow space for national trade policies to manage food security and rural development and to support the poorest and most marginalised farmers to gain from current price rises.

Recognise that climate change is going to exacerbate these problems, requiring urgent mitigation and adaptation response

Eliminate trade-distorting export agricultural subsidies, export restrictions and price controls. This will correct distortions in world markets and pave the way towards a long-term solution to unstable food prices.


"There is clearly a lot that governments and aid agencies must do to tackle hunger, " said Jonathan Mitchell, CARE's emergency response director. "What emerged from this conference is that humanitarian and relief agencies are committed to new solutions. We now need aid agencies to be held accountable and for donor governments to get behind these changes."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~~*
BLOOMBERG NEWS] FOOD CRISIS ERASES ETHIOPIANS' GAIN; RISKS HEALTHSunday, May 4, 2008 7:05 PM

By Bill Varner and Jason McLure

May 2 (Bloomberg) -- Shagay Shanko and her husband
left a struggling family farm in southern Ethiopia 12
years ago to seek work in the nation's capital. The
couple found construction jobs that paid $2 a day,
enough to add meat to their diet.

``It used to be good,'' Shanko, 25, said of their
lives in Addis Ababa. Not any more. Soaring food
prices mean they can't even afford injera, a
nutritious, spongy bread that is a staple of Ethiopian
cooking. Their three children eat only two meals a
day, and the family relies on government-subsidized
wheat to stave off hunger.

Millions of people in Ethiopia and dozens of nations
from Bolivia to Indonesia were on a path out of
poverty before the food crisis. Now they are at risk
of backsliding amid the surge in prices for wheat and
other commodities, according to the World Bank and aid
groups. Vulnerable developing economies might shrink
as much as 10 percent because of malnutrition and
falling school attendance, a United Nations study
found.

Ethiopia, where the economy last year grew by almost
10 percent after recovering from droughts and a border
war with neighboring Eritrea, is one of 21 African
nations that might regress. Annual inflation in
Ethiopia climbed to 29.6 percent in March, the highest
in more than a decade, on food costs.

``Feeding 6.7 billion people is no easy task,''
Jeffrey Sachs, director of the Millennium Villages
Project at the Earth Institute at Columbia University,
said in London today.

Rapid Global Growth

Shortages are mainly caused by ``rapid global growth,
against a backdrop of tightening biophysical
constraints without a systematic understanding or a
systematic view of what to do,'' he said. ``We have a
world population that has increased 10 times in the
last two centuries,'' he said in a speech to promote
his new book, ``Common Wealth: Economics for a Crowded
Planet.''

Countries ``getting their economic house in order''
are at greatest risk, Divya Reddy of the Eurasia
Group, a New York-based political-risk consulting
firm, said in an interview. ``They face tough policy
choices, such as putting reforms on hold or increasing
food subsidies that compromise other budget
priorities.''

Relief officials fear that 1 billion impoverished
people worldwide will be hurt for a generation as they
have less to spend on medical care and education.
Illnesses will spread and fewer children will attend
school, according to John Holmes, the UN's
emergency-aid chief.

``It is the perfect storm of rising hunger and lack of
availability of food,'' Holmes said in an interview.
``It is serious, it is structural, it will last a long
time, and we don't have any experience in how to deal
with it.''

Emergency Food Aid

As many as 9 million Ethiopians in a nation of 80
million that is sub-Saharan Africa's second-most
populous will need emergency food aid this year,
according to the U.S. Agency for International
Development. That is six times more than the 1.4
million fed last year by the Rome-based World Food
Program.

Ethiopia's government, which unlike Sudan and Angola
has no oil production to offset the economic damage,
is trying to lower food prices. It will cut taxes on
grain sales and has opened a commodities exchange
along with regional warehouses for grain and beans.
The exchange may alleviate shortages by helping
farmers and wholesale buyers connect.

The moves, including pay raises for government
employees and fuel and food subsidies that will trim
revenue by $445 million, will have a ``negative
impact'' on development projects, Prime Minister Meles
Zenawi told lawmakers March 18.

Health Care Cut

The spending is ``very difficult to bear for a poor
country such as ours,'' Zenawi said. Education and
health care are among the programs facing cuts.

In Indonesia, escalating prices for rice, soybeans,
corn and palm oil may slow economic growth this year
from a 2007 pace of 6.3 percent, the highest rate
since 1996. Indonesians have rioted over food.

Bolivia, already hurt by $500 million in crop damage
from floods, is seeing inflation accelerate because of
food prices. While natural gas exports may help soften
the blow, much of the money doesn't reach the poor,
the Argentine government, speaking for countries in
the region, told the International Monetary Fund last
month.

Food demand from China and India is driving global
prices, along with wider use of crops for fuels.
Natural disasters last year reduced cereal harvests.

Surging prices might mean ``seven lost years'' in the
fight against hunger, according to World Bank
President Robert Zoellick. That would make the UN goal
of halving global poverty by 2015 unattainable.

Markets of Abidjan

The crisis is evident even in the markets of Abidjan,
the commercial capital of Ivory Coast in West Africa,
which is benefiting from the end of a civil war and
rising exports of cocoa.

Cow's feet have replaced better cuts of meat and many
people eat only once a day, according to Nafissatou
Ganame, a 25-year- old mother of three.

``This is probably the main reason why women took to
the streets,'' Ganame said, referring to an April 1
demonstration that ended when government troops used
tear gas to disperse protesters. ``It wasn't like that
before, not in Ivory Coast.''

In Ethiopia, diminished expectations are also taking
hold.

Getachew Alemu, a 27-year-old Addis Ababa taxi driver,
said he used to save some money from fares. That's no
longer possible now that bakers are skimping on flour,
forcing him to buy three bread loaves to get the
nutrition one used to provide, he said.

``The government is claiming the economy is growing,''
Alemu said. ``What does it mean to grow? We are
working just for food.''

To contact the reporters on this story: Bill Varner at
the United Nations at wvarner@bloomberg.net; Jason
McLure in Addis Ababa via the Johannesburg bureau at
abolleurs@bloomberg.net

URL: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601116&sid=agKWcT12WmQ0&refer=africa#


~*~*~*~*~*~*~~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Strategy in Changing the Image & Opportunities of People of Ethiopian/African Descent Around the world
by

African (Ethiopian) Renaissance Millennium Foundation; 01 March 2008
SMART Objectives: Specific, Measurable, Appropriate, Realistic and Time Sensitive

Purpose: To convert our challenges into new opportunities during the African Millennium

Strategy: Continuous Positive image development communications at all opportunities

I. Immediate: One Week Strategy; Converting our challenges into opportunities

Purpose: to respond to the Senate Hearing of Tues 12 Mar 08@10 am

1. Develop a working paper in line with African Union, Ethiopian Government/Embassy and Communities around the world.

2. Post the working paper on Africa, Ethiopia/Horn on web sites, e-mail systems and broadcast it via radio, pal talk promoting the new developments in Ethiopia/Horn

3. Send e-mails to the Senate Africa Subcommittee, its chair and the Senate International Relations to pre-empt its evolution into a positive win-win partnerships.

4. Have a series of writers on the Ethiopian as well as US-Ethiopia perspectives and publish them on websites, papers and e-mail distribution networks.

5. Contact Pro-Ethio-US (US-Africa) relations academicians, think tanks and former diplomats

II. Intermediate: First three months: Setting the Agenda for interactive dialogue with all stakeholders

Purpose: To Promote image of Peace, Prosperity and Investment Opportunity by
Improving dialogue and understanding about the current progress in the Continent, Horn and Ethiopia within the regional and global context.

Approach: A series of conferences, workshops and presentations at different fora
1. Reviewing the past and chartering a better future series of conversations and presentations.

2. Assessing current challenges and opportunities of Africa (Ethiopia) and the Horn

3. Risk Assessment and Option Appraisal of the security, development and diplomatic agendas

4. Africa’s role in the Millennium: Lessons from OAU and AU and the respective international organizations, such as ASEAN, EU, Inter-American States, etc.

5. The role of international development and diplomatic agencies in Africa (EU/World Bank Group, NATO and AFRICOM, Non Aligned Movement and Common Wealth Groups, etc.

6. Defining African Future and Promoting the Interests and Potential of All People of African Descent- The OBAMA factor in US politics.

7. Defining US-EU and Asia Africa Policy Visa Vi's US Presidential Elections

8. Lessons from HR 2003 & Wuchale Treaty lessons of Adwa and US Voice Vote Congressional Bill

9. The Future: Converting our Challenges into Opportunities

III. Short Term: Up to November 2008 US Elections

Purpose: To deliberate the process of US-Africa Policy and make positive contributions

1. Win-Win Partnerships: Set up Democratic and Republican Caucuses to influence US-Africa Policy

2. Common Shared Value: Define the Transformational Renaissance US-Africa Policy and Agenda

3. Promote a Positive Investment opportunities. Encourage the promotion of transformational renaissance Africa Policy across the world

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Dear Global Patriotic Citizens and Friends of Ethiopia and USA:

Re: Thriving US-Ethiopian partnership regardless of the grim assessment of the Loony Left Economist Magazine:


Managing the Challenges of Global Climate Change by Pre-empting Crisis!

Converting International Charities into Global Enterrises, that will be the day!

The people of Ethiopia and the United States have had a very long relationship lasting more than 100 years and have managed a series of challenges and opportunities in the past.

The attached series of articles and news testify that this relationship is mutual and beneficial to each other's interests.

Global Climate Change has negatively impacted the Horn more than any other region in the past. The challenge continues to be apparent even with highly coordinated information and resources to match the damages.

It is critical to understand the root causes of the problems, and focus on potential solutions,instead of wasting time on blaming people, and even the climate itself. Global Climate Change has been taking place for millennia, and, will continue to do so impacting the regions in different ways. Some part of the globe are cooling fast while others are heating up depending on the global and solar events.

The solution is to manage them, and ensure that catastrophic events do not happen without appropriate accommodation of the evolving challenges.

In the mean time, pre-empting the Catastrophic impacts of Global Climate Change is the duty and responsibility of all Governments, Scientific and Food and Energy institutions around the world.

We trust this challenge will also be converted to new opportunities by allowing all stakeholders to invest in new and creative solutions. As such, the leadership of the Horn has to evolve to new ways of thinking where the challenges of the region are looked at from regional perspective and not few isolated tribal communities.

The clashes we see over millennia on grazing lands due to climate change has to stop with this generation; by creating a common grazing land without borders where the local people can move to places where there is productive grazing land.

Another reason not to tribalize, nationalize or privatize land but make it a communal property of the People of African Descent. Then, we all have a home to go back to and to nurture and look after.

After all movig around the grazing or cultivating popultion is helpful as each group brings with it different skills and level of competence that the ecology deserves. So, let us not make it an individual private issue but a communal social issue for divine and sacred human beings.

If our focus is only to Privatize, Tribalize and Nationalize land, Global Climate Change will force us to live like animals instead of humans. We need to create a common homeland that accommodates the needs of each stakeholder at public and private level.

It is critical to create a reserve of highly intelligent, and learning institutions that can solve our on going problems. Let us think strategic, long term and win-win always!

with regards

Dr B



http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/PANA-7DJHJG?OpenDocument

Source: ENA, Ethiopian government news agency

April 8,2008
Ethiopia, WFP sign LoU for food assistance worth 448.5 million USD

Ethiopia and World Food Program (WFP) here on Tuesday signed a Letter of Understanding (LoU) for the provision of food assistance worth 448.5 million USD.

According to the LoU, WFP would provide a total of 595,325 metric tones of food assistance to support the country's productive safety net, relief targeted supplementary feeding and HIV/AIDS programs during the coming three years (2008-2010).

The assistance aims at reducing malnutrition, rehabilitating children under the age of five years and pregnant women, improving the nutritional status of people living with HIV/AIDS and increasing school enrollment.

State Minister of the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development (MoFED), Mekonnen Manyazewal and Senior Deputy Country Director of WFP Abenzer Ngowi signed the LoU.

The assistance will be coordinated and implemented through federal /regional food security coordination bureaus, Federal /Regional Disaster Prevention and Preparedness Agencies and Federal /Regional HIV/AIDS prevention and control office.

________________________________________

http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSL09310828
Land clashes kill 18 in Ethiopia
Wed Apr 9, 2008


ADDIS ABABA, April 9 (Reuters) - Clashes over grazing and farm land killed 18 people last week near the southern Ethiopian town of Wondo-Genet, police said.

A police commander told Reuters the fighting on April 3 pitted members of the Gugi Oromo and Sidama clans, some 260 km (160 miles) south of the capital Addis Ababa.

"Clashes between the two clans have been brought under control and the government is investigating their cause," Demsash Hailu, public relations head of the Federal Police, said late on Tuesday.

Fighting between the two clans in the region, which is known for its hot springs and lush forests, flare up sporadically.

They normally centre on disputes over land used for grazing and for growing khat, a narcotic plant that is one of Ethiopia's main exports and chewed across east Africa and the Middle East

____________

http://www.news24.com/News24/Africa/News/0,,2-11-1447_2302299,00.html

Source: News24, South Africa

UN staff escape Somalia ambush


08/04/2008


Nairobi - Two staff members of the UN refugee agency narrowly escaped an ambush on their vehicle by armed militiamen in Somalia's northern breakaway region of Puntland, the agency said in a statement on Tuesday.

The vehicle was carrying a foreign aid worker and a local driver, both employed by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), and was ambushed on Sunday in the town of Garowe.

"More than 20 bullet holes were counted in the UNHCR vehicle," the statement said, adding that the pair escaped unharmed.

The police escort later arrested four suspects and recovered assault rifles, it said. One policeman was wounded in the leg during an exchange of fire with the militiamen.

"The security situation in Somalia's Puntland region has been deteriorating for the past few months, making the delivery of assistance to vulnerable people increasingly difficult," the UNCHR said.

Two aid workers and a journalist were abducted late last year and a German aid worker was briefly held in February in a region disputed by Puntland and the neighbouring breakaway region of Somaliland.

Two other aid workers - a Kenyan and a Briton - employed by an India-based organisation and contracted by the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation are currently held by gunmen in southern Somalia.







~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Dear Patriotic Global Citizens and Friends of Ethiopia:

RE: Evaluating and Assessing the Economist Article on Ethio-US relations!
Assessing the Economist analysis of Ethio-US Relations and the Security and Economic Challenges of the Region.

Why refer to the Ethio-American relationship as loveless liaison in the first place. Who decides whether there is love or no love, the Economists or the two interested parties? What does the Economist analysis mean to Ethiopian and United States Citizens and stakeholders?

How can the Economist make sweeping statements about their sacred relationships in this critical times of global security and survival challenges? Should we respond by making similar if not challenging analysis of the changing behavior of the Economist itself in the current critical economic crisis around the globe and what this means in terms of the US and Ethiopia relations?

This rather callous assessment of Ethio-US relations, one can make an assumption of why the Economist takes such a negative and rather disingenuous assessment of the two nations and their respective governments.

One can only see that the British Economist does not like the decline of UK-US receding relationship when it comes to security and global insecurity and does not like the ascending relationship of Ethio-Americans that is based on common value and interest, especially when the British are gradually pulling out of their respective US-British Alliance in the Middle East and especially in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The Current British Labor Governments got rid of their shining genius PM (Tony Blair) due to misguided BBC disinformation campaign and followed the decline of the influence of the once Great British Empire and chose not to materialize in a world where the security crisis is unfolding.

The unfortunate development of Britain becoming the nerve center of the European terrorist is rather disconcerting and alarming to the rest of the world. The Economist does not seem to recognize this and make appropriate analysis of the role Britain is forced to play under the misguided liberal British Media such as itself.

This story is well documented by the CNN International program under different headlines and titles that interviews overt and covert operatives in Britain in the recent series of international broadcasts.

Just reviewing the CNN series entitled "The Enemy Within" showing how Britain is empowering terrorists to convert the island into their European Base should have been a concern for a British Journal such as the Economist. Alas! The Economist Editorial Board is converting into a rumour monger and shabby journalism.

When the world is being seriously challenged by a new set of threats such as sleeper cell terrorists that use liberal media as its propaganda outlet, we had thought the age old respectable Economist will not oblige.

Sure enough that is not what is happening. Compare this fact with what the Economist is trying to portray about the unique Ethio-US relations in terms of the current transformational security and prosperity agenda of good governance and pre-emptive security strategies.

Ethiopia refused the same pressure and strategy when the BBC tried to lionize the Oganden terrorists as liberation fighters and secured the area for economic and development security of the region. This was negatively portrayed by the Economist, the BBC and the US based New York Times and Washington Post to no avail. The Economist is at its rather disquieting analysis of the Horn once more again.

In Somalia, Ethiopia did not wait to be infiltrated by the terrorists like Britain did, but made a pre-emptive strike to sustain its security and succeeded. Is this news or a story worth analysis? Why portray the success in the Horn so grudgingly and even callously?

The Economist will learn when the terrorist blow up its own interests as it does not see the challenges to its home country. After all, it is an International Journal and can operate from other cities, and countries, and even from the web, but the domain language of the web require a secure Britain and Ethiopia and for that matter Globe. That is what the Economist cannot visualize or project in to the future! Analysis Paralyses is the state of the Economist!


The Liberal Media such as the Economist and the BBC are failing miserably the Great British people in Basra, Iraq and other international fora by second guessing their leadership instead of creating a win-win partnership with like minded global partners and addressing the Global Security Challenge of the time.

The tragedy of misunderstanding the terrorist network and sleeper cell terrorists among Europeans and across the world that was started in Britain has changed the paradigm across the world and is being actively debated by the current US Presidential elections. But in Britain, it has also cost the leadership of one of the brightest Prime Minister of modern Britain, Tony Blair and Spain to be forced out of their respective office.

The current set of disinformation and misinformation in Europe, by the liberal media should not be allowed to cascade around the world and especially here in the US and Ethiopia.

Eventually the challenge is that of common shared value and not old archaic racist ideologies that have betrayed the common heritage of all the 6.5 Billion people of the globe, the real stakeholders indeed! That old rather out of sink perspective of global security and national interest agenda is being transformed with the modern consciousness of common shared value for global security and prosperity.

We need a new Global Security Strategy based on Common shared value of all peoples of the world and not continue with the current racist and rather narrow minded out dated philosophies that guide the current set of national intelligence and security strategies.

British liberals like their counter parts in Europe and America are not learning from history. They will continue to appease terrorists to their peril. This time they will loose big time as the people are smarter than them and will be exiled from power across the globe for a long time to come. They can learn and change their course or face bankruptcy and be part of the trash basket of history.

The Economist as well as all the Liberal Media across the world have shown a series of intelligence disregard for facts, and will left behind with the advent of modern interactive digital information age, where their editorial power has been completely usurped by the intelligent common man with a lap top. Technology has really empowered the global decision makers and every one with access to an internet account, and the liberals are loosing big time! May be they should, learning from the experience of the Economis Africa editor's continous misrepresetation of facts in the Horn.

The British Army in Basra failed to do the small task of keeping the Southern Iraq safe and the fiasco is unfolding. While Ethiopia is containing the terrorists in Mogadishu instead of succumbing to their aggressive advancing into Baidowa and Ethiopia last Christmas 2006. Just imagine where we would be had Ethiopia not interfered early! Just imagine what the economist would be writing or analyzing today, the collapsing Horn and Africa? You be the judge! Foresight and leadership by Ethiopians should be appreciated and not scorned!

The Economist is showing jealousy of the Ethiopian success in pre-emptive security and wants to write a rather sarcastic and misguided analysis about the Ethio-US relations based on our common shared value and interests.

The current set of British leadership be it at the BBC or Whitehall or Downing Street failed miserably in standing for what Britain is known to do so throughout history.

The current set of leadership in Parliament or Downing Street is not the same caliber as that of Churchill’s or Margaret Thatcher’s Downing Street, nor the British Parliament is of the same caliber. It is clear now how London is being converted into the most powerful Terrorist Cells in the world due to the liberal/labor media and security incompetence.

Addis Ababa by comparison is way ahead into making the region and its people safe from on going terrorist assaults. Addis is home to African Union and the UN Economic Commission for Africa and cannot afford to misfire on Security and Prosperity challenges of the time.

Addis Ababa may be slow in its Diplomatic and Information offensive as it does not have a BBC or CNN or Arabic Alegezira to mention. That too is changing fast. The series of web sites, media and information dissemination efforts are changing rapidly.

The US Presidential Election is also uncovering the security and economy fiasco where both parties are not ready for a competent response.

The Diaspora is becoming more aggressive in articulating its immediate, short and long term interests in line with Africa (Ethiopia) Renaissance Agenda.

The Economist is again failing in its competency to analyze events just as BBC continues to fail in enabling terrorists by misinforming its international audience.

Eventually, the truth, common shared value and interests is the basis of the Ethio-US relations and the Economist failed to understand this as it continues to fail to understand the current global security and economic crisis.

Economy flourishes with secure and good governance environment, and the Economist does not seem to appreciate this. The new move in the global economy is to move towards a fair and free economic system, yet the Economist has failed to understand this basic global shift in Economic and Security framework.

All the same, the Economist has failed itself with poor intelligence and poor economic and security analysis. The liberal media continues to fail to appreciate the challenges of the globe where fair and free economic system is needed to address the challenges of economic and security disparity that is unfolding before us.

This Economist article is one clear example of how wrong the liberal media like the BBC, CNN and now the Economist are failing to understand the current and future challenges of the global economy and emerging security crisis.

The labor and liberal politicians are making the same mistake they made at the dawn of the second world war where they tried to appease Hitler, Mussolini and Imperial Japan and eventually tried to sell out Ethiopia at the League of Nations where Emperor Haile Selassie was betrayed and Ethiopia was abandoned.

Ethiopians have learned their lesson, the Economist and the liberal politicians and media has not learned their lesson, and this article is an excellent example. Ethiopia will treasure its sovereignty, security and prosperity and will never allow any power or interest group on earth or heaven to dictate terns to Ethiopia.

Ethiopia, the only nation on earth never colonized by any colonial power, will not change it long held sacred duty of advancing its sovereignty and freedom in the Horn and Africa and the Middle East in general. I am sure the British and American allies also will rise up to the occasion and support Ethiopia's challenging role in global security.

Please read on.
Dr B or Global Strategic Enterprises, Inc 4 Peace & Prosperity





Ethiopia and the United States
A loveless liaison
Apr 3rd 2008 | ADDIS ABABA
From The Economist print edition
America and Ethiopia need each other, but their needs are not equal



Pragmatism. THE alliance between the United States and Ethiopia was born of pragmatism. In another time, they might have been enemies.

Sovereignty paramount. Ethiopians do not like American soldiers tramping on their soil.

Human Rights the contending issues. Americans dislike Ethiopia's bad human-rights record.
Local elections due this month are a case in point.

Emasculated opposition. Ethiopia's opposition, emasculated by the long imprisonment of its leaders (most of whom were pardoned last year) and weakened by its own divisions, will almost certainly be crushed in an unfair contest.

The Upcoming 2008 Elections. “It's going to be a stitch-up,” says a Western diplomat. “Control is what this government is all about.”

Keeping the Intelligence secret. America jealously guards information about its more discreet military activities in Ethiopia, while advertising its soldiers' do-gooding: digging wells, vaccinating animals and so on.

Defense budget: Officially, it contributes only a sliver of Ethiopia's $300m defence budget. Unofficially, it may have helped pay for the rising costs of Ethiopia's army, one of Africa's largest.

Secret Base in Eastern Ethiopia? Some say America has a secret base in eastern Ethiopia to move CIA, special forces and “friendlies” into next-door Somalia; America says not.


Closest Military Ties. What is certain is that the closest military ties between the two countries involve Somalia, which America fears may have already become an incubator of Islamist terrorism.

That is why America backed Ethiopia's invasion of Somalia at the end of 2006.
Ethiopian Intelligence and American Power. Its own air raids on supposed terrorist targets in Somalia have relied on Ethiopian intelligence, though nearly all appear to have missed.

American officials praise the Ethiopian troops who are still in Mogadishu, Somalia's battered capital, as peacekeepers; most Somalis see them as occupiers.

Ethiopia stands for its own sovereignty. Leftist hardliners in Ethiopia's government think that its prime minister, Meles Zenawi, is doing the Bush administration's bidding. That is not how the Americans portray it.

Zenawi Answers to party central committee. Regardless of Mr Zenawi, who must answer to his party's central committee and is anyway due to step down in 2010, the Pentagon wants to make Ethiopia a bulwark in a region where Somalia is a dangerously failed state, Sudan and Eritrea are pariahs and Kenya has troubles of its own.

Ethiopia has other selling points. The African Union is based there. Its ancient Christian history stirs American evangelicals.

Capital of Development Activists. Its poverty and population (at 80m, Africa's third-largest) attract development-minded foreigners.

Poverty and A-list Client State. But Ethiopia is too poor to be rated an A-list client state. Even American hawks admit that selling guns to one of the planet's hungriest countries, the “cradle of humanity” to boot, would look bad.

America says the little it gives Ethiopia's forces is “non-lethal”: boots, night-vision goggles, medical kits and so forth.

Peace Keeping Army. It would like to do more to train Ethiopian troops for peacekeeping work.

Ethiopia can buy arms from any where it wants. A measure of America's realism is the way it has allowed Ethiopia to buy arms from North Korea.

So differences remain.
Role of Diaspora. Many in Ethiopia's 1.2m-strong diaspora in the United States have lobbied their congressional representatives to condemn Mr Zenawi's government as tyrannical.

HR2003 and its implication. A bill passed by the House of Representatives last year called for curbs on aid to Ethiopia, but is unlikely to be passed by the Senate.
Yet it points to a division between those in Washington (mainly Republicans) wanting to reward Ethiopia for fighting terrorism in Somalia and those (mainly Democrats) wishing to punish it for its human-rights abuses at home.

Ethiopia, for its part, had hoped for stronger support from America over its border dispute with Eritrea. It wants the administration to list two Ethiopian separatist groups, the Ogaden National Liberation Front and the Oromo Liberation Front, as terrorists.

America is reluctant. The process is complex; it has taken a long time to complete listing the Shabab, a Somali jihadist group. The Ogaden and Oromo fronts will go on fund-raising among their supporters in America, just as the Irish Republican Army once did.

Aid from European Union countries will probably keep flowing, however patent Ethiopia's human-rights violations.

China will invest more. But Ethiopia's luck may run out. After several years of good harvests, a famine may set in this year.

With 8m of its people likely to depend on food aid, much of it paid for by the Americans, Ethiopia still needs America a lot more than America needs it.


A Loveless Liaison or Endemic Dishonesty?

Desta Berhe

April 06, 2008



The Economist published this article on April the 3rd, 2008 describing the Ethio-US relations as loveless liaison. I am responding to the article’s allegations and claims. All of the points are repetitions of previous relentless distortions by many Western media outlets bashing the Ethiopian peoples.

Moreover, the claims demonstrate the shameless, two-faced nature of the people behind those media outlets. It has long been known that Western media outlets rarely serve the interest of the people who deservedly need to be served. The rule of thumb of Western media outlets is: ‘Do not utter anything positive about Ethiopia in particular and Africa in general’.

It is not in their interest to do so. Those media outlets are nothing but destructive forces in the affairs of the people of Africa. We have recently watched how a 10 second video clip was played out of a full Sunday morning sermon by a certain reverend for sinister purposes. Every Western media uses the same sinister approach, and the Economist is not an exception. Now, I will expose the distortions and lies packed in the article and refute the absurd claims.



The article begins by stating that the alliance of Ethiopia and the US was born of pragmatism. Then, it foretells that both countries can be enemies at another time. It is true that the Ethio-US relations had been unpleasant during the previous regime. Nevertheless, they have never been enemies. And there is nothing that would suggest anyone to conclude that Ethiopia and the US can be enemies. Such a scenario is only possible in the distorted understanding of the writer of the article.

Ethiopia’s foreign relations policy strives to ensure security, through realizing national development and democracy. This shows that the purpose of having relations with other nations is to promote economic development and democracy, which requires Ethiopia to have more friends.

It emanates from the notion of reducing vulnerability through building capacity at home in order to reduce external threats. This policy shows that Ethiopia seeks foreign relations based on mutual respect. Incidentally, the foreign policy doctrine of Ethiopia does not clash with the foreign policy of the US. Thus, there is no reason for both of them to be enemies. The prophecy that says ‘Ethiopia and the US may be enemies at another time’ can only come from bounty hunters turn journalists, doomsayers.



The article assures readers that Ethiopians do not like American soldiers tramping on their soil. The presence of the US military in Eastern Ethiopia is known. However, the assertion that Ethiopians dislike the US military presence is bogus. God knows how many Ethiopians were invited for reflections on the US military presence to lead the writer to that conclusion. But, I can certainly say this. The US military presence in Eastern Ethiopia cannot be more of a concern than the US presence at Entoto Avenue.



Any journalist who attempts to say something about what the US dislikes or likes needs to demonstrate some degree of honesty for it is easy to understand the US. Americans dislike anything that could lead to one thing: threatening their self-interest.

Let us come to the human right record issue. If the people of Economist believe that the US government has better human right record than the Ethiopian government, it will be hypocrisy. Respecting or violating human right has no boundary. Thus, the US government is neither clean from human right violations nor better than many other nations. If truth is to be told, the US government lacks moral high ground to dislike another nation for human right violations.

If that happens, it is hypocrisy. So, if the writer of the article overheard of any American complaining about a bad human right record of the Ethiopian government, s/he must be courageous enough to ask how is the Ethiopian government worse than the US? Or, how is the Ethiopian government worse than many of the US allies?



The article argues that the unfair contest of the upcoming local election is a case in point for Americans to dislike Ethiopia. First, EPRDF (the governing party) has little to be blamed for the problem within the opposition.

It can only be blamed for its goodwill to providing the opposition with fair playground to compete, who later got loose to abuse the very rule of the land that allowed them to get into fair political contest. And the US government had the knowledge of where the problems lied.

That cannot be genuine basis for the US government to feel uncomfortable about. Such an argument is coming from false premises to support false assertion (Americans dislike Ethiopia). When the opposition parties were tested in real life politics, they proved themselves that they were barely a house of cards. The governing party is not supposed to baby-sit the opposition.


The argument that the upcoming local elections are unfair would make sense to uninvited guests who have no clue or are not accustomed to tell the truth at the ground. If there is anything unfair about it, it is because the contest is going to be between fulltime politicians of three and half decade old party with solid and realistic political programs and clueless turncoats specialized in demonizing the governing party.

There is no opposition capable of taking power to lead any of the local districts. If the writer met a Western diplomat who believes that the government is holding down [a capable] opposition because ‘Control is what this government is all about’, the diplomat must be advised to go fishing and reminded that the size of the catch depends on the depth of the waters.


The article portrays Ethiopia as an invader of Somalia. Here there are so many things that are certain. (1) Somalia has been without government for a decade and half. (2) Somali elites established the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) in January 2005, which was recognized by the UN and other international communities. (3) The TFG moved to Baidoa in August 2005. (4)

In 2006, a group of Somalis established the Union of Islamic Courts to takeover the internationally recognized TFG, and declared war against Ethiopia. (5) The TFG sought Ethiopia’s help and formally asked the Ethiopian government to get rid of UIC. (6) The Ethiopian government met with the UIC eight times to help them make peace with TFG, which they refused. (7)

Ethiopia later accepted the call of the TFG and annihilated the UIC in December 2006. There is nothing invasion here. Would the Kuwaitis regard the Americans as occupiers/invaders when Sadam Hussein was in power? Would the S. Koreans regard the Americans as invaders/occupiers when their country was at crisis with its neighbor?


In line with this, the claim that most Somalis see the Ethiopian army as occupiers is unwarranted. Any rational person would ask: ‘how many Somalis of this clan, that clan, this age, that age, in this place, in that place, this gender, that gender, this profession, that profession, etc see Ethiopians as occupiers or as peace keeping brothers from next door?’ And layperson knows where journalists look for dissents to backup their preconceived lies. The truth of the matter is that Ethiopians always extend helping hands to their Somali brothers and sisters even when they were least expected to do so.

It is true that the last Somali regime was at war with Ethiopia, but the Somalis as a people did not, are not, and will not see their Ethiopian compatriots as enemies. After the culmination of WWII and the defeat of the Axis Powers, Ethiopia engaged itself in fierce diplomatic battle to help the Somali people reclaim their freedom. Likewise, after the fall of Somalia in 1991, so many Somalis left their home to their second home, Ethiopia and lived in peace and harmony.

It would require a journalist a 10-minute ride to Little Mogadishu in Addis Ababa and seek for genuine information instead of hunting for dissents to backup preconceived repetitive lies.

Another bogus claim of the article is the existence of a difference between leftist hardliners and PM Meles Zenawi in dealing with the situation in Somalia and Ethiopia’s relations with the US. Only God knows if indeed leftist hardliners really exist within EPRDF. Everybody knows, though, that there is no meaningful ideological difference among the EPRDF party elites.

It is even hardly possible to come up with any sort of significant ideological difference between the EPRDF party elites and those who left the party in 2000. To whisper that there is ideological difference between PM Meles Zenawi and his colleagues in dealing with the situation in Somalia and Ethio-US relations, as well as anything else is laughable. There is nothing left or right in EPRDF. There is fine-tuning in response to changing scenarios.

Despite the article claims that the Ethio-US relation is a loveless liaison, it declares that the Pentagon wants Ethiopia to be a bulwark in a volatile region. If the US wants Ethiopia to be a bulwark in an unstable region, there is less reason for the US to dislike Ethiopia.

An observation that Ethiopia is reliable alley of the US in a dangerous region followed by a claim depicting the alliance as loveless liaison (because of Ethiopia’s bad human right record—another hypocritical claim) demonstrates the lack of understanding of the yardstick of US foreign policy relations or sincerity. The other side of the truth is that Ethiopia has more reasons to be strong (as its history proves) in this volatile region.

The need to be strong is not a matter of conforming to the foreign relations interests of other nations. Ethiopia has historical reasons of over 3000 years to be strong. Moreover, despite the blemish of the last few decades in her long and proud history, Ethiopia is very dependable for any nation to establish a trustworthy relationship of equals.


The allegation of the article that suggests Ethiopia’s history, resources, and potentials are cheap tradable commodities (selling points) to maintain a loveless liaison with the US is appalling.

Ethiopia’s proud history, resources, and potentials are always appealing to the US to maintain a dependable and sustainable relationship. Thus, there is less reason to be unhappy about Ethiopia. In fact, Ethiopia had been attracting so many nations for so ago. How is Ethiopia less dependable than China, Egypt, England, India, Pakistan, Nigeria or Saudi Arabia?


The article further demonizes Ethiopia as too poor to be rated as A-list client State for US’s arms market. This claim displays the lack of common sense. One. Ethiopia is not a terribly weak and poor nation as the article is trying to make the world believe. Ethiopia is one of the strong nations on the planet. No other nation in the world has proven itself to be as strong as Ethiopia. A sane and professional journalist can go and open a history book and see how many nations disappeared because of minor shocks Ethiopia has endured so many times like normal. It is not surprising if a bounty hunter turn journalist failed to see that.

Two. Only stupid folks would solicit for expensive guns from expensive markets in faraway lands while they could acquire cheap ones from unwavering, long time allies next door. Three. There is one last important point the writer didn’t like to explain (most likely doesn’t understand).

Despite Ethiopia becomes an A-client state (i.e. capable of buying big guns from the US) tomorrow; there is no reason for anybody to believe that She will enter into such kind of transaction. But, let us assume Ethiopia will go for the purchase top guns from the US. And yet, anybody who tempts to believe that the US will get into such kind of a deal must be downright naïve.

The likely scenario to follow would be like this. Ethiopia’s purchase of top weaponry triggers Egypt to acquire even more top weaponry, which in turn triggers Israel, to go far more. This chain of events trigger the Ayatollahs in Iran to strongly peruse their nuclear ambition, which can be more reason for someone in the Western hemisphere to sing Bum-Bum-Bum, Bum-Bum, Bum-Bum-Bum. Am I getting into Newton’s Third Law?



Another claim of the article suggesting many of the [1.2 million?] Diaspora in the US to have lobbied their congressional representative to condom PM Meles Zenawi government as tyrannical is flimsy.

How many are the many? It is known that there are few fulltime, noisy political elites from the previous regimes and outlaws who work with some US belly-politicians (lobbyists) against Ethiopia. But, the claim that suggests the existence of many Diaspora Ethiopians who are at odds with the governments is simply untrue.

The astounding investment worthy of several billion Eth. Birr by the Diasporas at home shows that the ordinary, law abiding, and respectful Ethiopians have little doubts in the sincerity and determination of the government to pull Ethiopia back into Her right position.



In line with this, the sense that Republicans and Democrats in the US differ in relation to Ethiopia has nothing to do with Ethiopia’s business. We all know that the Democrats lost the Presidency, the House, and the Senate because of their own problem. We also know that they approved the invasion of Iraq. Once they started to learn that they are getting screwed by the day even after they regain the House and the Senate, they started to discredit the very invasion they approved.

They started to play another version of President Bush’s: ‘either you are with us or against us’ rant against nations that befriended their own country. Any government, which had healthy relationship with the US, was reduced to be a promoter of President Bush’s agenda, thus the Republicans’.

Democrats relentlessly demonized Ethiopia for having a usual and dependable relationship with their own country. They went as far as digging 100 years historical scar in Turkey, because that nation happened to be the ally of the US in the war against terrorism they approved, while suppressing their own several centuries dirt and its effects. A hypocrite from New Jersey could not be ashamed of himself to visit a brutal beast who incarcerates people because they chose to pray to God. To make human right defenders out of those people is outright hypocritical.



The article completes its distortions by putting the likely scenario of Ethiopia’s future. One thing must be clear here. The flow of aid and other support from those who can afford to those of us who need it should not be played beyond it should be played. The big deal in this affair is that if the support is not delivered without strings in a meaningful way.

Trickling support to Ethiopia and other African nations to make them look terribly dependent on the handouts of the West for too long, despite the source of the wealth of the West is Africa, is not acceptable. Europe as well as Japan and its allies had recovered from the ashes by none other than the support of the US through the Marshal Plan. The fact that the EU will trickle or pump their support to Ethiopia is for their benefit. No one is getting free lunch


African Renaissance Millennium on International Women's Day!

International Women’s Day: Reclaiming the Divine and Sacred Feminine in all of us!
The Divine and Sacred Feminine is the source of our regeneration in this Millennium!

Women are generally sacred and nurturing in their nature. They become Divine when they take part in our social regeneration, by participating in conception, pregnancy and delivery of the next generation. We become Divine by their sacred duty of procreation and delivery of the future generation.

Imagine, a world without the manifestation of Divine and noble charcteristics and its blessings on all of us, we will all be extinct in two generations. Alas, we maintain our divinity and perpetual existence by the sacred role of women and the Divine Feminine in all of us regardless of our appreciation and deliberate choice.

What is International Women’s Day? Why is it important to remember?

March 8 gives us the unique opportunity to connect to our sacred and divine self on International Women's Day!

March 8, 2008 is considered the Millennial International Sacred Feminine Day by those who believe the characteristics of the sacred feminine is the link between our humanity and divinity.

What does the global sacred feminine mean to all of us: half human and half divine beings? This duality has been recognized for Millennia and has been challenged only in the last Millennium without relevant evidence and to our current hopeless state of affairs around the world.

I say, half Divine because it is the feminine part of us that is sacred and divine. In terms of the whole divine feminine construct, we are talking about 50% of 6.5 Billion people around the globe, and even the rest 50% of living humanity has a significant proportion of this unique Divine and Sacred Feminine constituency, making the proportion even much higher.

For those who appreciate scale and context, this is a huge phenomenon that should demand our immediate attention. The role of the Divine feminine in modern life is not expressed nor appreciated due to our intentional ignorance or callous disregard and the consequences are too often seen in their devastations, be it a individual, community or ecology level today.

The presence, distribution and determinants of the Divine Feminine amonst us, is s a significant statistics we cannot ignore. If we do try to ignore this glaring facts and potential, we do it at our own common peril. The current social, economic ecological and security crisis around the world is mainly due to this gross negligence of our divine feminine self and giving too much emphasis to our masculine and at times destructive self.


Why allow our future to be so vulnerable ! when we can bless it and empower it to a better future? The challenge remains to be the deliberate choice of promoting our individual and collective potential! That potential is the appreciation and deliberate affirmative action we take to enhance the role of our Divine Feminine Self at individual and collective existence. We are talking about fundamental life style and governance change.

The current open political discussions around the world, and especially in the US Presidential elections is very interesting.

It appears race (ethnicity) and gender is becoming a point of departure when it should be a point of our common consensus and opportunity for seeking win-win partnerships between key stakeholders that is our gender, cultural diversity and convergence of our common heritage as human beings, where there is concordance of about 99,7 percent of our genetics as the Genome project testifies.

For some reason biological markers are being taken as primary markers of competence, out of context of reality rather than character, experience and most of all well articulated policies and strategic plan. For some reason, the election is becoming a genetics and gender contest instead of representation, good governance and visionary solutions to change the future for the better.

Can we ever go back to the real issue of selecting a competent leadership that can be verified with facts rather than sheer biological determinants. It is so funny, where the diminishing role of our Divine Feminine has left us due to our intentional and casual ignorance of innate characteristics that is human and divine.

Our African ancestry for common humanity has been proven without doubt, and yet we deny our African connection and discriminate against people of African descent all over the world, the worst disparity being in our home continent Africa itself.

The person of African descent all over the world is at the bottom of socio-economic ladder. Is this by design or by accident?

The current debate in the US Presidential Primaries among Obama and Clinton testifies that a detached African Sperm with no social and cultural connection has turned out to be a handicap instead of a blessing for the Genius European American Obama who chooses to refer to himself as a Black Man, although he is almost 99 percent white that has been brought up in European American Womb, family and community.

What type of consciousness allows this level of discrimination to proceed against a Harvard Graduate and relative of six former presidents including the current Vice President.


There is some things seriously wrong with a society that even bothers to discuss this in such context. Then this same society wants to export its racism and willful disregard to the truth that the African Ancestry is common to all human race and one is really discriminating against self by disregarding this fact.

Imagine the precious son of America from an African sperm and Euro-American egg, fertilized in the European American womb and brought in the home of an European American family and community being asked to disown the cultural base of his absent father's spiritual family regardless his almost 99.9% cultural home of European American.

Just imagine an Obama of an American genius of a Presidential Candidates, being asked to choose between a culture and father he has never owned nor been part of. He is truly an European American of great heritage of six presidents and yet his African or Kenyan Father only donated his sperm and disappeared from the scene.

How can an absent father or the son who had no choice in the matter, be blamed by the actions and words of an adopted pastoral father's speech. Where is the justice and human rights that America boasts itself with. Can it see its own hypocrisy and why the rest of the world is claiming please look at the mirror.

Then Obama gets an African American pastor (Rev Jeremiah Wright) to adopt him, that too after acquiring first class degree from Harvard the best institution in the country, and he is blamed for what the pastr allegedly said in a different era out of context with the current campaign.

Why should an American genius be punished for his adopted pastor's comments, that too when the comments were taken out of context. What is this lynching the wrong man for the wrong sin by the wrong person.

Where is the Supreme Justice Court when you need it! What is the American consciousness coming to in the new Millennium. It definately needs the Divine and Sacred Feminine Mindset more than ever! Can one take to any court of justice such level of ignorance and apparent disregard for the truth? Not in America, he has to prove damage by refering to some clasue written by some one before him first with some reference to precedence. That is what the so called Good Governance allows, where as Divine Governance demands that we love our neighbor as our selves and even more because all humans are in essence divine.

Why excuse such level of ignorance and departure from our common human heritage? Why not adopt our divine feminine self that promotes both an Obama and Hilary as well as a McCain hero that is part of our common existence. In the first place why compete when you can collaborate? One can easily share roles and even rotate responsibilities. Wasting so much money on such campaign, when oen can use it to support the sagging economy be it homelessness, lack of health insurance or accelerating petrol price is beyond common sensse.


Why International Women’s Day?

Honoring and remembering the unique contribution of women, the sacred and divine feminine! the promise of our renaissance in the 21st century!

The International Women Day is an attempt to capture at our divine potential that has been ignored for millennial due to ignorance and callous disregard to the most valued and respected members of our community, the divine and sacred feminine in all of us!

The Sacred Feminine is the agent of holistic change. This fact is corroborated with evidence in classical and ancient civilizations where the sacred and divine feminine administered and graced over the temples, palaces and governance of the Blue Nile and Mediterranean civilizations. The history of the Ethiopian Empresses, Egyptian Queens and Goddesses and the Greek and Mesopotamian Priestesses and Goddesses is a case in point.

The sacred feminine in all of us is what makes our mothers, sisters, wives and daughters special that connects us the fathers, brothers and sons to our natural divine self.

What do we mean by sacred and divine feminine?

The famous Davinci Code series were trying to highlight the sacred feminine and divine feminine in our lives from time immemorial to the recent Christian era, where the feminine part of us was considered as goddesses, divine and were chairing the temples, palaces and governance centers all along the Nile Basin Civilization and Mediterranean civilizations.

Can we reclaim our sacred and divine selves?

All the Renaissance artists point to this divine feminine and we should review it and may be even take it to the next level of “Divine Governance , led by the divine feminine in each of us, (as good governance is a pretension of what can be, created by loony liberals to pretend that they care) with empowered and enlightened feminine leadership across the world in the new Ethiopian/African Millennium.

African Divine Feminine has taken over its natural leadership role. We have wasted too many centuries with the misguided evil masculinity that denies our sacred and divine feminine its important leadership role.

Who were the heroines of Sacred and Divine Feminine?

The few names that come to mind are Isis, Cleopatra, Aphrodite and then the series of Queens and Impresses that range from Queen of Sheba, Azeb, Bilquis, Judith-Gudit, Empress Tayitu and Zewditu Menelik that ruled the Upper and Lower Nile Civilizations in the heartland of Axumite, Azania and Beja neighbo