The Utter Unlikeliness of Call of Duty: Singapore [?!]

♠ Posted by Emmanuel in , at 9/30/2015 04:12:00 PM
Call of Duty: Singapore is a really dumb idea. I look forward to Call of Duty: Kirby's Apartment. If you were going to set a fictional video game franchise concerning a terrorist attack somewhere, the very last place yours truly would think of is Singapore. It is a highly antiseptic society that has banned chewing gum. More seriously, Singapore is a country that, to its credit, I can honestly say has truly tried to be accommodating of all races and faiths. Yes, migrants are sometimes discriminated against...but by Singaporeans of all races and faiths who've had the privilege of getting there first instead of being of certain...
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French-Built Warships for Russia: Sold to Egypt

♠ Posted by Emmanuel in ,,, at 9/28/2015 02:50:00 PM
From scaring Russia's neighbors to fighting ISIS: a new role for the star-crossed Mistral-class warships. I almost forgot to post about the continued travails of warships originally built by France for the Russians. With the outbreak of hostilities over Ukraine, the French government canceled the sale since the Mistral amphibious assault ships could be used to support Russian--how do we say it--excursions in neighboring countries. These warships are helicopter carriers that can also land troops during...adventures in others' territories. So, they have sat in French ports for a long time over what Russia will use them for...
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Pol Eco of Stats: World Bank's New $1.90 Poverty Line

♠ Posted by Emmanuel in , at 9/25/2015 08:17:00 PM
New targets require new measures of poverty, right? There has been, in the memorable characterization of Robert Wade, a "political economy of statistics" concerning poverty and inequality. As standard-bearers of neoliberal, market-led globalization, the World Bank would of course claim that the world's decades-long towards putting faith in market mechanisms has resulted in a global reduction of both. Robert Wade begs to differ. Needless to say, methods of measuring these "bads" remain contentious. There are of course all sorts of ways to measure poverty. For quite some time now, the World Bank has kept an easily-remembered...
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If Global Markets are Right, Hillary's Next US President

♠ Posted by Emmanuel in at 9/23/2015 01:30:00 AM
With one tweet, Hillary Clinton wiped out billions and billions in drugmaker market capitalization worldwide. Stock markets around the world are quite jumpy at the moment. Almost any news that can be negatively construed is amplified in such as environment. Take, for example, the hammering that global biotechnology and pharmaceutical stocks have taken since yesterday when Hillary Clinton tweeted about the need for price caps on the prices that these drug manufacturers can charge. Actually, she did not single out a Big Pharma firm but a small-fry entity. Carnage has ensued in global stock markets-especially in Europe and...
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From Bonds to Nukes: UK-PRC 'Special Relationship'?

♠ Posted by Emmanuel in , at 9/22/2015 06:49:00 PM
UK Chancellor George Osborne declares his country open for Chinese business. The hoary notion of a US-UK 'special relationship'--one hegemon passing the baton to another it shares considerable socio-historical ties with--has been a constant one in the post-WWII order. As it adjusted to a new, then-unaccustomed role of second fiddle, the UK sought to maintain global influence by being close to #1. In this 'realist' mode of thinking, Britain may no longer be top dog, but it has the top dog's ear nonetheless. China's rise presents an interesting challenge insofar as the PRC is socio-historically dissimilar to the UK. Will...
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A Catholic Counterpoint to Papal Capitalism-Bashing

♠ Posted by Emmanuel in , at 9/21/2015 01:30:00 AM
First Raul Castro, up next the Yanquis. Pope Francis' visit to the Americas--he's in Cuba at the moment--has occasioned much thought among the power and money elites about how to deal with him. On one hand, he appears quite popular--more so than his immediate predecessor, the stern Benedict XVI. On the other hand, his broadsides against the excesses of capitalism haven't gone down easily in the heartland of capitalism, the United States. He is, after all, Argentinian, and their country has always perceived the visible hand of Estados Unidos in their affairs. His US itinerary is quite full: As the U.S. presidential campaign...
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e-Frontiers: Germany vs US in the "Industrial Internet"

♠ Posted by Emmanuel in , at 9/18/2015 04:11:00 PM
On the face of it, the "industrial Internet" is something of an oxymoron. Industry implies manufacturing goods, whereas the Internet implies a weightless economy in which transactions are conducted online. However, there is indeed a competition brewing between two powerhouses in the business of making goods. You have Germany, the world's most renowned manufacturer, seeking to digitally enable its manufacturing base by incorporating Internet-based innovations that smooth out the supply chain, automatically prompt repairs and so on. Then, you also have the United States which is keen on bringing such innovations to the factory...
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Techno-Slander: Philippines Bans PRC Voting Machines

♠ Posted by Emmanuel in ,, at 9/17/2015 06:11:00 PM
Would the PRC have rigged voting machines sold to the Philippines? We won't know now. Back when the United States had a much larger share of the world economy, every other conspiracy theory had the Americans involved in some form of treachery to impose its will on the world. For better or worse, the economic ascent of the arguably even more inscrutable People's Republic of China has resulted in quite a number of US conspiracy theories being replaced by PRC conspiracy theories. As a large manufacturer of electronics, a cottage industry has been spawned around how China will implement its dastardly plans for world domination...
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Refugee Class Warfare: EU Favoring Syrians to Africans?

♠ Posted by Emmanuel in , at 9/13/2015 01:30:00 AM
The many forgotten Africans seeking European asylum. The fate of Syrian refugees is making the headlines nowadays and raises questions about the future of pan-European migration policy. In a way it's a reprise of monetary policy, asking whether a singular migration regime suits countries varying in demographics, development, and the ability to welcome migrants. One of the notable things about Syrian refugees is that many of them are quite technology-savvy, with an article noting how adept they are at using smartphones to find their way if and when they reach Europe and to find relatives already there: As thousands of...
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Brazil, From Losing Investment Grade to...IMF Bailout [?!]

♠ Posted by Emmanuel in ,, at 9/10/2015 08:34:00 PM
Roussef is probably nostalgic about her Marxist guerrilla fighter days right about now. The seemingly inevitable just happened: after being hit hard by slumping global commodity prices, Brazil's sovereign debt has been downgraded back to below investment grade or junk status by Standard and Poor's. In 2008 Brazilian IOUs became investment grade; by 2015 it's yesterday once more. Add in the corruption case hounding the Rousseff leadership and all-around economic malaise to complete the rather dire picture. From building BRICs to stumbling blocks, it seems: The Brazilian government’s sovereign debt rating has been cut to...
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Meesa Back!! Indonesia to Rejoin OPEC

♠ Posted by Emmanuel in , at 9/09/2015 08:28:00 PM
The once and future export industry of Indonesia? This news item has to be one of the odder ones in a truly weird year: Having left the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) in 2008 because it had since turned into a net oil importer, Indonesia now wishes to rejoin OPEC. Has it become a net oil exporter once again? Well, no. So, it's odd that Indonesia would want to rejoin a group whose interests are opposite its own as a net importer. That is, why get together again with a cartel expressly formed to raise oil prices...when you're a net oil importer? On the face of it, it's not a welfare-enhancing move on...
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Cool Runnings: Locating Data Servers in the Arctic

♠ Posted by Emmanuel in , at 9/07/2015 01:30:00 AM
A server farm in the Arctic is born. Ever thought about where all that data you have on Facebook, Google, etc. is actually stored? The post title says it all about the shape of things to come: with so much data being stored in servers nowadays, the cost for keeping this kind of equipment from overhearing is an important consideration. Instead of keeping cloud servers in, say, hot Asian climates where cooling is necessary, many international technology firms heavily invested in data management are setting up shop where it's naturally cool--the Arctic. From CNN: The sub-zero climes of northern Sweden are an unlikely outpost...
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Can G-20 Calm the Markets' Frayed Ends of Sanity?

♠ Posted by Emmanuel at 9/05/2015 04:12:00 PM
The G-20 countries are meeting amid no small amount of turmoil in global financial markets generally attributed to two causes: First, the United States looks set to increase policy interest rates for the first time since--wow, has it really been that long--2006. With the American economy not quite robust but doing better than most developed economies nonetheless, the first 0.25% hike may come as early as this month. Next, China has the opposite situation. Its economy is slowing despite having buoyed its stock markets to questionable effect since the start of the year. Put both together--uncertainty about whether the world's...
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Prolly Dead: PRC's $23B Bid for US Micron Technology

♠ Posted by Emmanuel in ,, at 9/04/2015 01:30:00 AM
China out! Keeping Micron Technology "safe" from the Reds. It is no real mystery as to why the Chinese remain keen on buying American technology firms. Having mixed success in product upgrading on their own, they are keen to acquire foreign knowledge--through outright purchase of US firms if necessary. However, the old canard of "national security" keeps being raised by American politicians that Chinese buying US technology concerns would lead to these equipment makers festooning products meant for the American market with all sorts of snooping devices.  The irony, of course, is that Americans have been observed...
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CCP Mythology: KMT, Not Reds, Fought Japan in WW2

♠ Posted by Emmanuel in , at 9/02/2015 03:10:00 PM
Tanks, missiles, armored personnel carriers...and beautiful women on the march: it's PRC parade time. If you repeat a lie often enough, then you have to sustain it through further deception thereafter. One of the most curious bits of hagiography for the People's Republic of China leadership is that they led the way in fighting the imperial forces of Japan during WWII. Like in the rest of Asia, it certainly wasn't a pleasant time for those under the boot of Nippon's "Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere." That is why, seventy years later, the Chinese Communist Party still feels a compelling need to reinvent history in...
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