Global Conflict Simmers Despite Lack of Open War: "An Attack on Iran is likely to Happen in 2012" by Dai Xu | ||||||
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Global Research, January 12, 2012 | ||||||
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As summarized in 1986 by Zbigniew Brzezinski, former US national security advisor, the national interest of the US lies in three fronts...Today, the US has been carrying out strategies on all the three fronts. It has further squeezed Russia's space through NATO expansion. The "return to Asia" has stirred up huge waves of tension around China. In the Islamic world, the US has brought down Iraq, Libya, Sudan, and Yemen. Now it is pressuring Syria and Iran, as well as Pakistan. Lately in the discussion of international affairs and China's response, voices advocating "hiding one's capabilities and biding one's time" still dominate. But as I see it, national strategy should not be a static matter. It should be subject to changes, particularly to the changes of the global political sphere. It is absolutely right for China to stick to the path of peaceful development. Meanwhile, however, we should still keep a cool and watchful mind when dealing with international affairs. Contrary to what many people had expected, conflict remained after the end of the Cold War, and many confrontations escalated into warfare years after. As summarized in 1986 by Zbigniew Brzezinski, former US national security advisor, the national interest of the US lies in three fronts. The first is the far west where Eastern Europe is the focal point. The second is the far east, where conflicts are centered in countries such as Japan, China and North Korea, and key points of interest lie in South Korea, the Philippines, and Taiwan Island. The third lies in the southwest, where the strategic focuses of the US are Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan. Today, the US has been carrying out strategies on all the three fronts. It has further squeezed Russia's space through NATO expansion. The "return to Asia" has stirred up huge waves of tension around China. In the Islamic world, the US has brought down Iraq, Libya, Sudan, and Yemen. Now it is pressuring Syria and Iran, as well as Pakistan. I'd like to call this perpetual state of global conflicts "warm war." It is more heated and noticeably obvious than the silent confrontation of the cold war, despite lacking blatant display of open fire. However, it can still be regarded as a type of warfare in a broader sense. I believe a US war with Iran is likely to happen this year. The US is trying to achieve its ultimate goal as one of its global strategies. Both US and Europe need to get rid of the current financial mire. Israel worries that its national security is at stake. The current sanctions the West has forced upon Iran can actually be seen as a declaration of war. The preparation for this war has been going on for years in the form of espionage, Internet attacks, assassinations, and all sorts of manipulations the US has played on the country's psyche. To be fair, not only the US but also Israel and Iran are preparing for this war. So is Russia, which sees great potential in this conflict. Pakistan may also be drawn into trouble by the US as the US has much to gain if Pakistan is mired in social unrest. The US has wanted for years to take over Pakistan, which is the only Islamic country that has nuclear weapons. Another hidden agenda the US has is to cut off China's access to the Indian Ocean so as to stop the trading activities China has with the Islamic world. The strategy of the US may also involve North Korea, which is in its post Kim Jong-il era, and Myanmar, which is strategically important to China. As one can see, due to the strategic manipulations of the US, 2012 will not be a year of world peace. It's possible that the world can't walk out of the shadow of war in the following years. Alarmingly, US Republican candidate Jon Huntsman said in the CBS TV debate that "We should be reaching out to our allies and constituencies within China [...who] are bringing about change, the likes of which is gonna take China down." It cannot be clearer that US politicians are never in favor of allying with China for mutual interest. Since China's reform and opening-up, China has rarely mentioned the idea of "three worlds," and it always favors the policy of not forming cliques and non-confrontations. The purpose of this article is not to provoke conflict or encourage confrontation, but to remind our fellow countrymen to be more clear-headed about the US' hidden agenda, and to have a firm grasp of the global picture. The author is a research fellow at the China Center for Strategic Studies at Peking University. | ||||||
sábado, 14 de enero de 2012
http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=28625
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viernes, 13 de enero de 2012
Indicators of Product Market Regulation Homepage OCDE
Indicators of Product Market Regulation Homepage
The OECD has developed a range of indicators of product market regulation at both the economy-wide and sectoral levels. All of these indicators measure the extent to which policy settings promote or inhibit competition in areas of the product market where competition is viable. Please cite the database as: OECD (2011), Product Market Regulation Database, www.oecd.org/economy/pmr.miércoles, 4 de enero de 2012
http://edant.clarin.com/diario/2008/09/20/opinion/o-01763871.htm
EDITORIAL
La regulación del sistema financiero
La crisis financiera internacional puso de manifiesto que las críticas al sistema regulatorio existente estaban plenamente justificadas.
Luego de la crisis asiática de 1997 se planteó una discusión internacional sobre la calidad de las regulaciones en relación a la creciente complejidad de las operaciones, la difusión del apalancamiento y la pérdida de transparencia que esto implicaba.
Se puso a la orden del día, entonces, la necesidad de reformar la arquitectura financiera internacional y, en particular, en el ámbito del Banco de Pagos Internacionales se comenzó a rediseñar el sistemas de regulaciones bancarias de Basilea, que implican, entre otros procedimientos prudenciales, aumentos en la dotación de capital.
En ese sentido se hicieron avances, pero no sucedió lo mismo con la observación de los mercados de títulos ni sobre las conductas de los bancos de inversión que operan en ellos.
La falta de regulación y seguimiento permitió que los elementos riesgosos del mercado siguieran expandiéndose, con las consecuencias que ahora se observan.
La primera y necesaria reacción del gobierno de Estados Unidos y de los grandes bancos centrales del mundo fue realizar operaciones de provisión de liquidez y de salvataje de entidades para evitar el colapso del sistema financiero y una crisis en el sistema productivo.
Ahora queda retomar la discusión y el estudio sobre la arquitectura financiera internacional para evitar lo que sucedió luego de la crisis asiática, a saber, que la recomposición del mercado y la aparición de una nueva ola de optimismo dejaron de lado las previsiones sólidamente fundadas, lo cual permitió la ampliación de las distorsiones ya operantes en el mercado global.
Es necesario, en primer lugar, avanzar en la aplicación de las nuevas normas de la banca comercial y, fundamentalmente, en la observación y regulación de los bancos de inversión y de los mercados de títulos.
La crisis financiera, debida a la acumulación de riesgo en operaciones complejas y poco transparentes, demuestra la necesidad de retomar la discusión por la reforma de la arquitectura financiera internacional, especialmente en el mercado de títulos.
Cassidy: Silicon Valley 2012 will make your head spin
Cassidy: Silicon Valley 2012 will make your head spin
Posted: 12/31/2011 03:00:00 PM PST
Another year; another dollar.
Or another $1 billion, if you're Zynga. Which maybe you don't want to be. Truth is, in 2011 Zynga's stock debut put the ''Z'' in Zzzzzzzzzzzz.So much for the year of the IPO.
Oh wait. This year -- 2012 -- is going to be the year of the IPO. Forget LinkedIn, Groupon, Pandora. They're so 2011. 2012 will be the year of Facebook. The next gold-plated Silicon Valley company has already moved into its McMansion in Menlo Park. New money. New digs. It's the way of the valley.
Maybe 2011 was the year of the new headquarters. Apple (AAPL) landed plans for its spaceship in Cupertino. Looks like the Meadowlands or a glass doughnut, depending on whether you're a football fan or just hungry.
Of course, Apple was the biggest business story of the year, but isn't it every year? The company lost its brilliant but bullying CEO. The world mourned and Walter Isaacson wrote a book that became a runaway bestseller. You haven't been able to turn on the TV or radio without seeing or hearing the author talking about Steve Jobs.
Things just don't slow down
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Throw in the vitriolic political discourse that permeates our daily lives (vitriol that will only grow as the presidential election approaches) and 2012 is likely to be the year that we are both more connected and more divided than ever before.
But divided or united, Silicon Valley business never stops moving forward. And it takes a nimble leader to stay in front of it all. Ask Carol Bartz, who got the heave-ho at Yahoo (YHOO), a company that might be celebrating its last new year in its current form.
Maybe 2011 was the year of the departed CEO.
Of course, Jobs stepped down, no longer able to run the company he co-founded. And over at Hewlett-Packard (HPQ), Léo Apotheker was shown the door, just about the time he found the executive washroom.
He started his tenure in November 2010 dogged by questions of why he wouldn't appear in public and in the end, it turns out, he never really showed up.
Meg Whitman is now leading the company, the third CEO in just over a year. And no, it's not true that the HP operations folks have installed a revolving door on the CEO suite.
But maybe a revolving door spinning at the speed of light could be the new symbol of Silicon Valley.
The sweep and speed of change in the valley in 2011 was breathtaking. It's hard to imagine a wilder ride in 2012, but you know it's coming. Try to enjoy it.
Happy New Year.
Contact Mike Cassidy at mcassidy@mercurynews.com or 408-920-5536. Follow him at Twitter.com/mikecassidy.
OCDE Indicateurs de réglementation des marchés de produits
Indicateurs de réglementation des marchés de produits - page d'accueil
http://www.oecd.org/document/10/0,3746,fr_2649_34323_2367306_1_1_1_1,00.html
L'OCDE a élaboré une série d'indicateurs de réglementation des marchés de produits, tant pour l'économie dans son ensemble que pour divers secteurs. Tous ces indicateurs permettent d'évaluer dans quelle mesure les politiques publiques favorisent ou entravent la concurrence sur les marchés de produits où celle-ci est viable. Veuillez indiquer comme référence de cette base de données : OCDE (2011), Base de données des indicateurs de réglementation des marchés de produits, www.oecd.org/economie/rmp.
Les indicateurs de réglementation de l'économie dans son ensemble (RMP)
Les indicateurs de réglementation des marchés de produits (RMP) offrent un aperçu global des systèmes réglementaires en place dans les pays de l'OCDE, et ont été estimés pour les années 1998, 2003 et 2008. Pour l'année 2008, la couverture a été étendue à quatre pays de l'OCDE (Chili, Estonie, Israël et Slovénie) ainsi qu'à l'Afrique du Sud, au Brésil, à la Chine, à l'Inde, à l'Indonésie et à la Russie.Les indicateurs de réglementation sectorielle (RNM)
Ces indicateurs permettent d'appréhender sous forme synthétique un large éventail de dispositions réglementaires appliquées dans l'ensemble des pays.
Les utilisateurs de ces données doivent être conscients qu’elles peuvent ne plus refléter complètement la situation actuelle dans les pays qui ont poursuivi des réformes rapides.
Voir plus de détails sur les indicateurs RMP
La réglementation des services professionnels
Ces indicateurs mesurent les conditions réglementaires qui prévalent dans le secteur des services professionnels. Ils couvrent les dispositions réglementaires applicables à l'entrée et à l'exercice d'activités dans les secteurs des services comptables, juridiques, d'ingénierie et d'architecture, et ont été estimés pour les années 1996, 2003 et 2008.
Voir les indicateurs sur la réglementation des services professionnels
La réglementation du commerce de détail
Ces indicateurs mesurent les conditions réglementaires qui prévalent dans le secteur du commerce de détail. Ils ont été estimés pour les années 1998, 2003 et 2008.
Voir les indicateurs sur la réglementation du commerce de détail
La réglementation dans les secteurs de l'énergie, des transports et des communications (ETCR)
Ces indicateurs offrent un aperçu synthétique des dispositions réglementaires en vigueur dans sept secteurs : les télécommunications, l'électricité, le gaz, les services postaux, le transport ferroviaire, le transport aérien de passagers et le transport routier de marchandises.
Voir les indicateurs sur la réglementation dans les secteurs de l'énergie, des transports et des communications (ETCR)
L'impact de la réglementation
Les indicateurs d'impact de la réglementation (RI) sont des indicateurs sectoriels qui mesurent les effets d'entraînement qu'a la réglementation des secteurs non manufacturiers sur l'ensemble des secteurs de l'économie. Veuillez indiquer comme référence de cette base de données : OCDE (2011), Base de données des indicateurs de réglementation des marchés de produits, www.oecd.org/economie/rmp.
martes, 3 de enero de 2012
http://www.bundesnetzagentur.de/cln_1912/EN/Areas/Telecommunications/TelecomsRegulation/AnalyticalCostModel/analyticalcostmodel_node.html
Use of Analytical Cost Models
Telekom regulation in GermanyTelecoms regulation aims to promote competition and to guarantee defined levels of service across the country. Price regulation is therefore a requirement for dominant companies. The price determinations themselves have to be made within a set of constraints anchored in the Telecommunications Act (TKG) and the Telecommunications Rates Regulation Ordinance (TEntgV).
Section 2 of the TEntgV sets out the supporting documents a company must submit with its price proposals. Common costs must be given as well as direct costs, and also their allocation to the given services. The cost statements must also provide information on the costing methodology.
The benchmark specified in Section 3 of the TEntgV is the costs of efficient service provision. These are derived from the long run incremental costs of providing the service plus an appropriate mark up for volume-neutral common costs - both inclusive of an appropriate return on capital employed - to the extent that these costs are required to provide the service.
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