ARS NOTORIA

Cameron and Sarkozy smash up Libya.   A Mad Max army of Islamic fundamentalists and all-sorts prepare for government . The African Union called for an immediate cessation to the bombing of  Libya. This call was ignored and censored by the British and French  media who are now, with honourable exceptions, embedded into their respective governments policy of military intervention.  The panel representing the AU calling for cessation comprises Presidents Jacob Zuma of South Africa, Yoweri Museveni of Uganda, Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz of Mauritania, Amadou Toumani Toure of Mali and Sassou Nguesso of Congo.  The legitimate contribution of the high ranking representatives of the African Union, including the South African president Jacob Zuma, to a negotiated solution to a civil war in a country on the African continent, was sabotaged and subsequently dismissed out of hand by NATO and in particular by the two most important former colonial powers in Africa, France a

There is another, allied source of legitimate power. It is called historical and political awareness. Let's apply it:  NATO commander in  charge of bombing Libya Suharto was overthrown by popular pressure -- but just as much, because the cold war was over and, having done his job as a mega killer and ally for decades, the US could let him go. And Washington could look on without angst that the once-great non-aligned power under Sukarno up to the early 1960s, might start rebuilding itself as a nation, because whoops, there goes plucky little East Timor, finally getting independence, Aceh ready to split away too, and all kinds of religious fundamanics ready to keep Indonesia from even thinking about a progressive agenda.     Many many Serbs wanted to be rid of Milosevic, but he was certainly not overthrown by moral authority. It was NATO bombing that did it, because he represented, in however withered and warped a way, the last traces of that anti-imperialist, n

Noor Mohammed Taraki By John Ryan I was in Afghanistan on an agricultural research project in October and November of 1978. Through Kabul University I conducted my research project with the assistance of an agriculture professor. A Marxist government had come to power only six months before, so I was there at a significant period in the country's history.  The bulk of Afghanistan's people in the 1970s were farmers, but the landholding system hadn't changed much since the feudal period. More than three quarters of the land was owned by landlords who comprised only three per cent of the rural population. The king was deposed in 1973, but no land reform came about and the new government was autocratic, corrupt and unpopular. On April 27, 1978, to prevent the police from attacking a huge demonstration in front of the presidential palace, the army intervened, and after firing a single shot from a tank at the palace, the government resigned.

Proposal for India and the USA Commercial banks should not be allowed to create money. by Anandi Sharan Thursday, 07 April 2011 at 12:28 Proposal for India Three point programme: a) a bill to prohibit the creation of money by commercial banks; b) A bill to pass the land (that is right to land) to Gram Saba and town committees,  subject to a constitutional amendment bill; c|) a budget 2012-2013 that includes an ecological tax reform bill. Brief elaboration The constitution is basically sound. distortions from the industrial mindset have been adopted from  the colonial mindset. However, respectability of the law, and hence desire for respect for the law - because it makes us feel reassured - can be restored through creating a small shift in perspective on the three  burning issues confronting the country. Measures we should take include: a) Prohibition of  money creation by commercial banks and instead reintegrate RBI into Fin Min and give money to centre and states to

Corporate rot started with the East India Company Corporate governance is a big problem today, witness ridiculous risk taking, huge cash bonuses out of revenue (not profit) and investment in products no one understands. Why is it like this? The answer strangely is the East India Company . Johnny Company was the corporation most responsible for the public limited company structure that is so prevalent today. There were many things wrong with the company, starving Bengali’s to death to increase profits for one, but the one I’m particularly concerned with here was its governance. The Company was owned by share holders based in London, but more often than not by appointed managers who didn’t own majority stakes. As a consequence the only way that managers could make money was by using the corporate machinery to make short term profits, hence starving people to death in Bengal. If you don’t believe me read Nick Robin’s fantastic, The Corporation that Changed the World: How the East

SKYLON an opportunity for British commercial space development It seems that all the three main UK parties have one economic thought in common, and that is we do too much finance as a % of our GDP. What nobody seems to agree on is how we as a nation diversify our economy sufficiently so it starts to look more like Germany and less like a club for the city. I thought I would throw out a few ideas to add to the debate: INVESTMENT Money is the grease and the engine of the economy. Hence CAPITAL ism. So how does it get to small, medium sized technology/industrial based enterprises? This has been a deep concern of politicians and economists alike since the banking crisis in 2008. Quantitative Easing has been the most used indirect way of floating the system in capital and thereby hoping that investment ends up in the place it needs to. This works to a degree, but if we want to have a more directed effort the following two solutions are workable: 1 We own big high street banks

Resolution 1973 has offered a legal base for the until-recently dithering West to choose a side in the ongoing Libyan conflict. Vague enough and faced with suspicion from some of the big players in the UN, it did, however, pass. The big players have been caught off guard by these sweeping social revolutions. This wasn’t the case with the Arab and Muslim nations, for they call their collective will, call it Islam if you please, the sleeping, or at worst the chained, giant. The declared aim is to save the lives of civilians from the despot Muammar Gaddafi's thugs. Whether Gaddafi was to see through with his threats or not, that question seemed to Britain, France and other leading enthusiasts a risk too 'unethical' to bear in mind. Thus the 3 months that took the international invasive action in Kosovo in 1997 was reduced now to 3 weeks in Libya. This was impressive but a quick look at the normal pace of decision taking within UN leaves one rather cynical and it is too un

Resolution 1973 has offered a legal base for the until-recently dithering West to choose a side in the ongoing Libyan conflict. Vague enough and faced with suspicion from some of the big players in the UN it did however pass. The big players have been caught off guard by these sweeping social revolutions. This wasn’t the case with the Arab and Muslim nations for they call their collective will, call it Islam if you please, the sleeping or at worst the chained giant. The declared aim is to save the lives of civilians from the despot Muammar Gaddafi's thugs. Whether Gaddafi was to see through his threat or not, that question seemed to Britain, France and other leading enthusiasts a risk too 'unethical' to bear in mind. Thus the 3 months that took the international invasive action in Kosovo in 1997 was reduced now to 3 weeks in Libya. This was impressive but a quick look at the normal pace of decision taking within UN leaves one rather cynical and it is too un-bure