Posts of November 2012

M Carey, J Bieber & Barack the Enviro-Fraud

♠ Posted by Emmanuel in Environment,Europe,Travel at 11/30/2012 10:25:00 AM

I was shopping at a discount store when I caught sight of an LED TV playing what I thought was a music video of Mariah Carey's 1994 seasonal hit "All I Want for Christmas is You." I smiled as I recalled fond memories of a more innocent age. To my eyes at least, the young Mariah Carey was up there in the running for the most beautiful woman I ever saw'd. Imagine my surprise, then, when Justin Frickin' Bieber appeared in the video. As it turns out, this clip was Beiber's remake featuring the aforementioned Mariah Carey...made in 2011. What threw me off was the image of her all slinky alike in her youth. But alas, contrasting...

Tim Geithner, I Dub Thee 'Pantywaist of Globalization'

♠ Posted by Emmanuel in Americana,Cheneynomics at 11/29/2012 08:32:00 AM

I've been meaning to make this post for four long, steenkin' years--and here it finally is. Perhaps Timmy thought he got away with stepping down soon as Treasury Secretary, but alas, I've pulled the trigger at the last moment. Anyway, this award is for continually being cowed in the China-bashing exchanges he finds himself in the middle of. In the past, I confess to poking fun at his responses to being made to perform admittedly unenviable tasks [1, 2]. How does piling on $1T in debt annually sound, for starters? My favourite, of course, being his repeated avocations of "strong dollar" policy despite continually asking China...

God Save the Empire: UK's Canadian BoE Guv'nor

♠ Posted by Emmanuel in Credit Crisis,Europe at 11/28/2012 05:49:00 PM

To be sure, outgoing Bank of England Governor Sir Mervyn King has a number of things going for him in my book. He was a longtime LSE professor before giving up his teaching position for a higher calling. He is also a long-suffering Aston Villa fan as our team battles to save itself from the ignominy of relegation. (Since the Premier League started, Aston Villa has never been demoted to the second division, but this year it's well and truly in the relegation zone.) That said, let's just say that during his time at the venerable BoE, many did not cotton up to his uppity ways. Philip Stephens of the FT had this to say...

12.9% Inflation? Bah! Serbia's Soccer Club Bailouts

♠ Posted by Emmanuel in Credit Crisis,IMF,Sports at 11/27/2012 08:50:00 AM

Ladies and gentlemen, today I bring you the best act of "sticking it to the EU and the IMF" for 2012. So those Greeks may have caved in to the IMF-ECB-EU troika for the umpteenth time, but it appears those only aspiring to join the EU are keen on Sticking It To The Man. Having told the IMF to take the idea of central bank independence and shove it despite badly needing funds, the Serbian government has come up with yet another brilliantly over-the-top ploy sure to guarantee emergency lenders loathe it even more (if not to actually get it any money). Let me first give you the IMF's 20 November depiction of Serbia as discussions...

Can the White People Have Mubarak Back Now?

♠ Posted by Emmanuel in IMF,Middle East at 11/26/2012 06:01:00 AM

Sometime ago now, some wet-behind-the-ears white kid criticized me for suggesting that US policy in the Middle East could use improvement since it was contradictory and incoherent--especially when it came to using ICT as a diplomatic tool. Unsurprisingly, greenhorns like him took the events of Arab Spring as confirmation that we were in a whole new world of digitally revolutionized international relations--a dazzling place fogeys like myself never knew. Hosni, Hosni - prolly better than Morsi, Morsi However, unfolding events have demonstrated that there is no such thing. First they held runoff elections contested by those...

Susan Rice, the New Archetypal Ugly American

♠ Posted by Emmanuel in United Nations at 11/26/2012 04:30:00 AM

Although years and years of economic stagnation have thinned their numbers somewhat, Ugly Americans are still rather plentiful--including policymakers who act internationally. How can you distinguish these folks? In general, they all share the following attitudes and behaviours: Think all that's needed to set the world right is for it to be more like the US; Boss people around as if they have some god-given right to as an American; Compel others to undertake difficult policies they themselves would not dare implement. In the realm of political economy, you of course have Larry Summers. His post-Clinton administration rotundity simply adds weight to the ugliness of his policy prescriptions. Whereas he once asked poor countries to undergo liberalization, deregulation and privatization as a cure-all for whatever ails, when the US was faced with its own crisis he was indifferent to pursuing policies of deliberalization, reregulation and nationalization. As I've mentioned, all...

The Honest Truth: ASEAN is Still Rather Lame

♠ Posted by Emmanuel in China,Southeast Asia at 11/23/2012 12:16:00 PM

World leaders--among them from ASEAN member countries, China, Japan and the US came, saw and whimpered in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Among other things, differences within ASEAN itself are causing trouble coming up with a united policy on the matter of the South China Sea to negotiate with China. (Remember, the current ASEAN chair Cambodia is a longtime Chinese ally dating to the Khmer Rouge era and beyond. While it has no claims there, the general perception is that it's removing the issue from the ASEAN meeting agenda at China's behest.) Meanwhile, having previously accelerated the date of ASEAN economic integration including...

Singapore is Least Emotional Nation; Mine Most

♠ Posted by Emmanuel in Southeast Asia at 11/22/2012 10:55:00 AM

Are all Southeast Asians stereotypically taciturn? Well no. BusinessWeek has an interesting article entitled "Singapore Confronts an Emotion Deficit" that, in my opinion, provides some ammunition for Singaporeans-as-automatons stereotypes. Worker ants, to make an analogy. The data comes from an international poll from Gallup on how often respondents expressed emotion recently. The implication here of course is that Singapore has managed to get ahead by getting many of its citizens to carry on with a "stiff upper lip" in the British vernacular without raising much of a fuss. Oddly enough, Singapore is classed with many former...

Egypt Back to Poorhouse, to Get $4.8B From IMF

♠ Posted by Emmanuel in IMF,Middle East at 11/21/2012 05:43:00 PM

It is no surprise to me that the IMF has just announced that Egypt is now in line to receive the $4.8B it asked for. It's geopolitics: the United States cannot really afford to lose Egypt as a mediator between Hamas and Israel as it has done in the past. Of course, matters are greatly complicated now by Egyptian leadership being drawn from the ranks of the Muslim Brotherhood which has inspired Hamas all these years. How will President Mohammad Morsi manage this tricky balancing act of maintaining face with Hamas and traditional Brotherhood constituencies while cottoning up to America Mubarak-style and enforcing IMF conditionalities? Remember, this is the guy who once described Israelis as "vampires." (Too much Twilight saga, eh, Morsi?) Lest you think matters are done and dusted, remember that the $4.8B loan is not yet finalized but will require approval by the (Western-dominated) IMF Executive Board. Should Morsi @#$% up over the next few days by disclaiming conditionalities...

Philippines & China: Joint Exploration, Not War

♠ Posted by Emmanuel in China,Energy,Southeast Asia at 11/20/2012 07:09:00 AM

The Philippines' industrialist du jour, Manny V. Pangilinan--he goes by his initials "MVP"--has long sought to partner with Chinese energy firms in exploring contested areas in the South China Sea. Say what you will about Pangilinan, but his move shows astuteness about the political sensitivities surrounding energy exploration there. If you will recall, the Philippine president was sufficiently annoyed by recent run-ins with the Chinese in the South China Sea as to officially rename the part of it claimed by Manila the "West Philippine Sea." While China always issues fine words such as those spoken at the recently-concluded...

Is Canada Less Racist-Protectionist Than the US?

♠ Posted by Emmanuel in China,Energy at 11/20/2012 05:28:00 AM

It appears so. Recently, I posted on China's government-owned energy firm CNOOC attempting to buy Canada's Nexen and the political sensitivities that go with it. CNOOC is the same firm American lawmakers effectively discouraged from buying relatively pipsqueak American producer Unocal back in 2005 over dubious "national security" grounds. Just as you would expect, our Canadian friends appear to be more welcoming of the spirit of free trade in allowing the Chinese to buy Nexen. Undoubtedly, there have been delays over largely the same objections, but the Canadians appear to be less racist-protectionist overall. However the latest word from the ever-popular "sources" is that the acquisition will be allowed to go through with the qualification that Canadian management and board representation remain substantial: Negotiators for the Canadian government adopted many of the conditions requested by Alberta Premier Alison Redford last month, which include guarantees that at least 50...

New PRC Leaders' Fully Convertible Yuan by 2015?

♠ Posted by Emmanuel in China,Currencies at 11/19/2012 08:43:00 AM

With the new Chinese leadership coming in early next year with Premier-Elect Xi Jingping, leaders' promises to make the yuan (renminbi) fully convertible gain urgency given China's slowing economy. Last year Chinese officials told their EU counterparts that convertibility would come "by 2015." Lest you think that this was an offhand statement, market commentators have this year raised expectations of this coming true. Even the outgoing central bank governor indicates that his successor will make this move: China’s central bank governor said convertibility will be the next step in the overhaul of the exchange-rate system as calls grow for the nation’s new leadership to deepen changes in the economy to sustain growth.“For the central bank, I think the next movement related to the yuan is going to be reform of convertibility,” Zhou Xiaochuan said at a conference in Beijing on Nov. 17. “We are going to realize it, we are moving in this direction, we need to go further, we will...

F1 in Hickville: The United States Grand Prix

♠ Posted by Emmanuel in Americana,Marketing,Sports at 11/18/2012 07:32:00 AM

Yee-haw! Y'all jus' be wonderin' 'bout how F1 landed in Texus thus weekund! The news agency Reuters is usually very reliable--especially when it comes to financial news. However, I take immense exception to this feature entitled "Motor racing-U.S. goes from F1 wasteland to land of promise" as the Austin Grand Prix is underway. You see, after years of absence, F1 is back in America, this time with a purpose-built race track. Most American racing series alike NASCAR just feature oval racing, so road courses appropriate for F1 have not been plentiful stateside. Again, F1 coming to America is being lauded as a breakthrough....

I [Heart] Hamas: Egypt, Terror & Asking IMF $4.8B

♠ Posted by Emmanuel in IMF,Middle East at 11/16/2012 04:59:00 PM

It is widely accepted that international financial institutions (IFIs) the World Bank and IMF are still dominated by the US which effectively brought them to existence so many decades ago despite America's obviously diminished financial standing. In an interesting twist of geopolitics, here's one to think about: Hamas is classified by several Western governments as a terrorist group--including the United States. At the same time, Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood is closely linked to the group, and the current Islamist leadership has been at pains to show support as conflict once again breaks out between the Israelis and the Palestinians: Egyptian Prime Minister Hisham Qandil made a historic visit to the Gaza Strip amid the biggest flare-up of violence in years between Israel and Hamas, underscoring the acute dilemma Egypt's new Islamist government faces as the stakes rise in the long-running conflict between the Israelis and Palestinians. Mr. Qandil arrived in Gaza on Friday morning...

Foreign Private Investors Dump Treasuries in Sept

♠ Posted by Emmanuel in Cheneynomics at 11/16/2012 03:36:00 PM

MarketWatch alerted me to the fact that foreign private investors dumped the most Treasuries ever in the month of September based on Treasury International Capital System (TICS) data: Foreign investors were net sellers of $18.3 billion of Treasurys in September, the largest amount on record, Treasury Department data released Friday showed. Overall, foreign investors bought a net $17.9 billion of long-term U.S. securities in September, down sharply from the $78.5 billion purchased in the prior month. This includes Treasurys, mortgage-related bonds, corporate bonds and equities. According to the data, China-based investors slightly increased their holdings of U.S. Treasurys in the month. Foreigners made net purchases of $23.4 billion of U.S. equities in September, up from $6.1 billion in the prior month The official data is here if you want to see it. Here's hoping that private foreigners get rid of more of this dollar-denominated detritus in the near-term as we head towards...

US v China in FTAs: TPP, Meet the PRC's 'RCEP'

♠ Posted by Emmanuel in China,Japan,Southeast Asia,Trade at 11/15/2012 11:24:00 AM

So the FTA battle in rejoined: In the run-up to the ASEAN summit this weekend, here's a feature about (surprise!) another FTA arrangement that should soon be negotiated in the Asia-Pacific. It is no big secret that the United States and China do not see eye to eye about who should take the leadership role in Asia-Pacific economic integration and what form it should take. That both would prefer being the leader in regional integration is obvious, but they too would configure a regional FTA differently. The US would design something favourable to its interests highlighting provisions on--inter alia--intellectual property, competition law, government procurement, labour and the environment. Meanwhile, China would prefer to emphasize all the abovementioned less and concentrate on the more straightforward matter of increasing trade volume. So, while the US Trade Representative keeps talking up the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) enlargement negotiations in the hopes that more countries...

How Scuderia Ferrari Improved a Hospital ICU [!]

♠ Posted by Emmanuel in Health,Sports at 11/14/2012 01:59:00 PM

Longtime readers will know from my blog FAQs that I am most excited about the field of IPE borrowing from different social science disciplines and beyond--anthropology, human geography, neurology, sociology...even moral philosophy and theology. If you look past largely artificial disciplinary boundaries, you'll often find that others have unique insights of their own about the same phenomena you are investigating. It was thus a pleasure for me to find out that the same sort of thing is happening in the hard (some would say "real") sciences. This may sound incredible, but a bunch of doctors were watching Formula One during...

Will US Honour Its WTO Obligations to Russia?

♠ Posted by Emmanuel in Russia,Trade at 11/13/2012 11:53:00 AM

To be honest, American hypocrisy over human rights is appalling. Not only are they fond of linking these issues to unrelated ones, but they also do not respect steps other countries have made to address them. You would also have expected Americans to clean up their act with respect to human rights violations of their own alike their Guantanamo Ghraibing activities, but they still continue with practices alike indefinite detention and drone strikes. Both of the latter have received deservedly withering criticism from former US President Jimmy Carter as blatant human rights violations. Even with Russia acceding to the WTO, the US has so far failed to extend most-favoured nation status (MFN) over the USSR--not Russia, mind you--not allowing free emigration in the early seventies. It's antiquated geopolitics. Obviously, Russians have been able to go wherever they damn please since the collapse of the Iron Curtain. But, hypocritical American lawmakers have not done away with the...

Barcelona FC & Pol Eco of Catalan Secession

♠ Posted by Emmanuel in Europe,Sports at 11/11/2012 01:52:00 PM

I have made a post recently about the interesting implications of Catalan secession from recession-hit Spain, but there's one aspect I have yet to cover that may be particularly important not only to sports fans. The all-conquering Spanish national football team has won the Euro competition two times on the trot in 2008 and 2012 in addition to the World Cup in 2010. Those are highly impressive and unprecedented feats, but remember too that many key players over the years have been Catalan alike Andres Iniesta, Cesc Fabregas, Sergio Busquets, Xavi, Gerard Pique and (latterly) Jordi Alba. Even now, there is conjecture on the...

Flood Monitoring? There's a (Non-US) App for That

♠ Posted by Emmanuel in Environment,Southeast Asia at 11/09/2012 10:05:00 AM

Certain weather events reminded me of the tribute band Zepparella's remake above of Led Zeppelin's own cover of bluesman Memphis Minnie's "When the Levee Breaks." Robert Plant's powerful banshee wailing was remarkable insofar as he was, er, a man. So the impact is diminished even if you have an accomplished female singer. But, this tribute band exempted, little girlie man behaviour that doesn't rock is unfailingly common Stateside--which is especially evident after Hurricane Sandy. Rotund, recliner-bound Yanks have a well-deserved reputation worldwide for wussy behaviour, thinking that what happens to them is somehow...