statism

India pushes ‘shock and awe’ currency plan to save BRICS

"India is pushing for joint 'shock-and-awe' intervention by key developing states to halt capital flight and shore up currencies, in a move that risks backfiring and triggering a vicious spiral. 'It is going to happen in a matter of days rather than weeks, Brazil and India can start the move,' said Dipak Dasgupta, a top Indian official. Mr Dasgputa told Reuters that China, Brazil, India, Turkey, Russia and South Africa have all been squeezed as the US Federal Reserve prepares to tighten monetary policy. Joint action would give emerging markets greater firepower, allowing them to deploy their combined $8.7 trillion (£5.6 trillion) of reserves and crush 'speculators', rather than being picked off one by one." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingIndia pushes ‘shock and awe’ currency plan to save BRICS

India pushes ‘shock and awe’ currency plan to save BRICS

"India is pushing for joint 'shock-and-awe' intervention by key developing states to halt capital flight and shore up currencies, in a move that risks backfiring and triggering a vicious spiral. 'It is going to happen in a matter of days rather than weeks, Brazil and India can start the move,' said Dipak Dasgupta, a top Indian official. Mr Dasgputa told Reuters that China, Brazil, India, Turkey, Russia and South Africa have all been squeezed as the US Federal Reserve prepares to tighten monetary policy. Joint action would give emerging markets greater firepower, allowing them to deploy their combined $8.7 trillion (£5.6 trillion) of reserves and crush 'speculators', rather than being picked off one by one." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingIndia pushes ‘shock and awe’ currency plan to save BRICS

India’s Poorest Women Coerced Into Sterilization

"When it comes to family planning, women are on the front lines in India, which has carried out about 37 percent of the world’s female sterilizations. Government-imposed quotas and financial incentives for doctors mean 4.6 million women were sterilized last year, many for cash payments and many in the unsanitary and rudimentary conditions that greeted Devi. In neighboring China, the government has since 1979 used the threat of fines and the loss of social services to enforce rules that bar many urban couples from having more than one child. It now is beginning to ease the policy as the population ages and coastal regions face labor shortages." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingIndia’s Poorest Women Coerced Into Sterilization

India’s Poorest Women Coerced Into Sterilization

"When it comes to family planning, women are on the front lines in India, which has carried out about 37 percent of the world’s female sterilizations. Government-imposed quotas and financial incentives for doctors mean 4.6 million women were sterilized last year, many for cash payments and many in the unsanitary and rudimentary conditions that greeted Devi. In neighboring China, the government has since 1979 used the threat of fines and the loss of social services to enforce rules that bar many urban couples from having more than one child. It now is beginning to ease the policy as the population ages and coastal regions face labor shortages." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingIndia’s Poorest Women Coerced Into Sterilization

India’s Poorest Women Coerced Into Sterilization

"When it comes to family planning, women are on the front lines in India, which has carried out about 37 percent of the world’s female sterilizations. Government-imposed quotas and financial incentives for doctors mean 4.6 million women were sterilized last year, many for cash payments and many in the unsanitary and rudimentary conditions that greeted Devi. In neighboring China, the government has since 1979 used the threat of fines and the loss of social services to enforce rules that bar many urban couples from having more than one child. It now is beginning to ease the policy as the population ages and coastal regions face labor shortages." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingIndia’s Poorest Women Coerced Into Sterilization

India’s Poorest Women Coerced Into Sterilization

"When it comes to family planning, women are on the front lines in India, which has carried out about 37 percent of the world’s female sterilizations. Government-imposed quotas and financial incentives for doctors mean 4.6 million women were sterilized last year, many for cash payments and many in the unsanitary and rudimentary conditions that greeted Devi. In neighboring China, the government has since 1979 used the threat of fines and the loss of social services to enforce rules that bar many urban couples from having more than one child. It now is beginning to ease the policy as the population ages and coastal regions face labor shortages." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingIndia’s Poorest Women Coerced Into Sterilization

Seized shark fins dumped in Marshall Islands ceremony

"The gesture underscored the progress made towards protecting the marine predators since the Marshalls declared a two million square kilometre (770,000 square mile) shark sanctuary in 2011. Villagomez said some commercial tuna fishermen still illegally cut the fins from sharks, even though they earned very little from the practice. 'Fishermen only receive a few dollars (per fin),' he said. 'But once they are processed in China and sold in Hong Kong restaurants, the price can be as high as US$1,500 per kilo.' The fins that were dumped off the capital Majuro were confiscated from a Chinese longline fishing vessel earlier this year that was fined $125,000." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingSeized shark fins dumped in Marshall Islands ceremony

Peru devotes $35 million to protect coffee farmers from fungus

"Peru’s anti-drug strategy hinges on persuading farmers to grow coffee instead of coca, the raw material of cocaine, but low prices and plant disease are getting in the way. President Ollanta Humala’s government is allocating $35 million to help coffee growers pay off debts and cope with 'la roya,' a stubborn fungus known as coffee rust. Peru exports coffee to 46 countries, but the bulk — 60 percent — goes to Europe. Germany is Peru’s largest single customer. Peru ranks alongside Bolivia and Colombia as the world’s main producers of coca, grown exclusively in the Andes of South America, mostly on the eastern slope." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingPeru devotes $35 million to protect coffee farmers from fungus

U.S. Losing the GWOT

"Major Bryan Groves, U.S. Army, says the same thing: 'Al Qaeda (AQ), its affiliate organizations, the Taliban, and most recently, AQ-inspired violent extremists, have demonstrated a tenacious resiliency. Their resiliency has primarily manifested itself through a unique ability to evolve and grow over time, enabling them to continue attacking U.S. interests abroad and at home. This resiliency is also evident through continued extremist recruitment, radicalization, mobilization, and funding. The frustrating aspect of this for U.S. counterterrorism officials is the enemy’s success in these areas despite tremendous American and Coalition efforts to disrupt, dismantle, and defeat these organizations.'” Continue reading →

Continue ReadingU.S. Losing the GWOT

Julian Assange: The Modern State Is Acting Like A Mongol Horde

"What is happening to the world now is not some Henry Kissinger-esque figure making secret plots...That happens a little bit, and those people like to think that they're in charge. But it seems to me that what is actually going on is a pretty much out of control bureaucracy involving The State and Big Corporations, the National Security Agency now. Eighty-percent of its budget goes to Booz Allen Hamilton, Lockheed Martin... I liken it to a Mongul horde. Yeah, there are some people trying to be in charge of it in some ways, but its basically an unthinking, unreasoned process. And all the secrecy means that no one has the proper oversight of what is going on." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingJulian Assange: The Modern State Is Acting Like A Mongol Horde