GLOBAL ISSUES – Page 204 – IDN-InDepthNews

GLOBAL ISSUES2012-11-012023-07-10

Imagine a Hedge Fund Manager as U.S. President

By Julio Godoy
IDN-InDepth NewsViewpoint

BERLIN (IDN) – In the late summer of 1998, in the wake of the Asian financial crisis, a group of German and French professors of economics organised at the University of Bremen in Germany a seminar to discuss ways to re-regulate the international financial markets. The theme could not have been timelier:

The disaster of the Mexican crisis in late 1994 had already shaken the foundations of neoliberalism in Latin America, the Asian crisis repeated the same symptoms, and it was already clear that some hedge funds, such as the Long Term Capital Management, which had been heavily speculating in Russian bonds, would sooner than later go bust.

GLOBAL ISSUES2012-10-312023-07-10

Iran and the Empire’s ‘Dollarization’ Stick

By Eric Walberg*
IDN-InDepth NewsViewpoint

TORONTO (IDN) – The West’s attempts to destroy the Iranian economy through heightened sanctions – including most imports, oil exports and use of banks for trade operations – is having its impact. According to Johns Hopkins University Professor Steve Hanke, Iran is facing hyperinflation, with a monthly inflation rate of nearly 70% and its national currency, the rial, plummeting in value against western currencies.

Iran is the latest casualty to be placed on his Hanke-Krus Hyperinflation Index, which includes France (1795), Germany (1922), Chile (1973), Nicaragua (1986), Argentina (1990), Russia (1992), Ecuador (1999) and Zimbabwe (2007) – countries which experienced price-level increases of at least 50% per month.

ENERGY2012-10-272023-07-10

China Cautious About Building New Nuclear Plants

By Richard Johnson
IDN-InDepth NewsReport

LONDON (IDN) – More than eighteen months after the Fukushima nuclear disaster in March 2011 in Japan, China continues to exercise caution in returning to building new nuclear power plants. After an executive meeting, the State Council or China’s cabinet, presided over by Premier Wen Jiabao, has decided not to set up any atomic plants in inland regions, but only build a few in coastal areas that have gone through adequate justification.

Within days of Fukushima accident, the Council had decided to halt approvals and licensing for new reactors until a safety plan was in place, and there was assurance that existing plants were adequately designed, sited, protected and managed.

ARMAMENTS2012-10-262023-07-10

Toward a World of Diminished Reliance on Nukes

By Robert Wood*
IDN-InDepth NewsViewpoint

VIENNA (IDN) – The CTBT (Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty) remains central to leading us toward a world of diminished reliance on nuclear weapons, reduced nuclear competition, and eventual nuclear disarmament. The legal ramifications of its entry into force, and the practical effects of its verification provisions, remain vital to achieving our ambition of a world without nuclear weapons.

With a global ban on nuclear explosive tests, states interested in pursuing nuclear weapons programs would have to either risk deploying weapons uncertain of their effectiveness, or face international condemnation for conducting nuclear tests.

ARMAMENTS2012-10-252023-07-10

Hiroshima and Nagasaki Want Nukes Abolished

By Ramesh Jaura*
IDN-InDepth NewsAnalysis

BERLIN | TOKYO (IDN) – Much to the chagrin of several millions in Japan and beyond, who are relentlessly campaigning for a nuclear weapons-free world, the government in Tokyo has declined to join an initiative calling for efforts to outlaw nukes out of concern it would affect the country’s security arrangement under the U.S. nuclear umbrella. But the mayors of Nagasaki and Hiroshima as well as the Hiroshima Prefecture’s Governor remain unwavering in their impassioned commitment to abolition of nuclear weapons.

ARMAMENTS2012-10-212023-07-10

Australia-NZ Pact Falls Short of Abolishing Nukes

By Neena Bhandari
IDN-InDepth NewsAnalysis

SYDNEY (IDN) – Australia and New Zealand have entered into a scientific and technical cooperation agreement to strengthen detection of nuclear explosions under the framework of the international Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) and work together to promote a permanent and effective ban on nuclear weapon tests.

Biodiversity2012-10-202023-07-10

Small Steps Towards Ensuring Biodiversity

By Devinder Kumar
IDN-InDepth NewsReport

NEW DELHI (IDN) – While official statements about the outcome of the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in Hyderabad, read rather upbeat, a global environment organisation, Friends of the Earth International (FoEI), has criticized negotiators for focusing on false solutions to biodiversity loss and favouring corporate polluters over people and the planet.

ENERGY2012-10-192023-07-10

Nuclear Industry Upbeat About Future

By Richard Johnson
IDN-InDepth NewsReport

LONDON (IDN) – Though it is still too early to assess the full impact of the Fukushima atomic power plant accident in March 2011, the World Nuclear Association (WNA) believes that it will have “very little impact” on global nuclear fuel markets.

In the latest edition of its biennial report, Global Nuclear Fuel Market: Supply and Demand 2011-2030, the WNA believes that it is possible to make some “reasonable deductions”. Despite the closure of reactors in Japan and Germany – and slowdowns in some programs in response to Fukushima – the report notes that the global situation for energy supply and demand remains “effectively unchanged”.

Climate Change2012-10-162023-07-10

Clean Development Mechanism Travels to Lomé

By Jaya Ramachandran
IDN-InDepth NewsReport

BONN (IDN) – The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) secretariat has forged a first-of-its-kind partnership to assist development of emission-reduction projects under the Kyoto Protocol in countries that would appear to have been ignored until now.

ECONOMY2012-10-152023-07-10

Anxiety Persists As IMF-World Bank Meet Ends

By Martin Khor*
IDN-InDepth NewsAnalysis

GENEVA (IDN) – There were sobering messages on global economic prospects emerging from the 2012 meeting of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund on October 14 in Tokyo.

Developing countries’ Finance Ministers and Central Bank officials voiced their concerns on the failure of developed countries to deal with their economic situation and on the policy and political paralysis preventing solutions.