The Caribbean triumphalist and too optimistic towards the new administracion of President Obama .

"A symptom of the severe economic situation is the cancellation of the opera "Otello" at the Moscow Bolshoi lack of funds, a serious matter if we take into account the seriousness so the Russians are trying to culture. Can read in the news agency Ria Novosti."



The media reflect a review of the Caribbean triumphalist too optimistic towards the new administracion of President Obama and his change of orientation. The reality is, thousands and thousands of workers in China are off and have to migrate to the countryside. In the U.S., thousands of reservoirs are empty, the company behind the smash one another and the banking system is in crisis. But it goes to the Caribbean countries prepare and implement urgent measures of social security, energy consumption and economic reorientation. The European Union, Canada and the United States in global economic crisis, will not do much for the Caribbean countries. Historically, we have not been anything but simple recreation and tourist destinations for the rich. The measures taken by the CARICOM must relate to future scenarios of high unemployment and freezing of the domestic economy. A symptom of the severe economic situation is the cancellation of the opera "Otello" at the Moscow Bolshoi lack of funds, a serious matter if we take into account the seriousness so the Russians are trying to culture. Can read in the news agency Ria Novosti.
Os meios de comunicação reflectem uma revisão do Caribe triunfalista demasiado optimista para a nova administração do presidente Obama e sua mudança de orientação. A realidade é, milhares e milhares de trabalhadores na China são pontuais e têm de migrar para o campo. Na os E.U., milhares de reservatórios estão vazios, as empresas abrem falência e um após o outro, o sistema bancário está em crise. Mas ela vai para os países do Caribe preparar e implementar medidas urgentes de segurança social, o consumo de energia e económico reorientação. A União Europeia, o Canadá e os Estados Unidos na crise econômica mundial, não irá fazer muito para os países do Caribe. Historicamente, não temos nada, mas simples recreação e destinos turísticos para os ricos. As medidas tomadas pela CARICOM devem incidir sobre os cenários futuros de taxas de desemprego elevadas e congelamento da economia nacional. Um sintoma da grave situação económica é o cancelamento da ópera "Otello" at Bolshoi de Moscou falta de fundos, de um assunto sério, se levarmos em conta a gravidade assim os russos estão a tentar cultura. Pode ler na agência de notícias Ria Novosti.
新聞媒體反映了審查加勒比勝利者過於樂觀對新政府的總統奧巴馬和他的變化方向。 現實情況是，成千上萬的工人在中國的起飛，並遷移到農村。 在美國，成千上萬的水庫是空的，這兩家公司倒閉一個又一個和銀行系統正處於危機之中。 但不用為加勒比國家制訂和執行緊急措施的社會保障，能源消費和經濟調整。 歐洲聯盟，加拿大和美國在全球經濟危機，也不會做的加勒比國家。 從歷史上看，我們沒有任何東西，但簡單的娛樂和旅遊目的地的豐富。 所採取的措施必須與加勒比共同體的未來情景的高失業率和凍結國內經濟。 一種症狀的嚴峻的經濟形勢是取消了歌劇“奧泰羅”在莫斯科大劇院缺乏資金，一個嚴重的問題，如果我們考慮到這樣的嚴重性，俄羅斯正試圖文化。 可以閱讀的媒體報導。

オバマ氏は、メディアも大統領と向きの彼の変化の新政権に対する楽観キャリビアtriumphalistの見直しを反映しています。 現実は、何千人も、中国の労働者の何千ものオフして、田舎に移行することがあります。 米国では、何千もの貯水池は、他の企業とは、銀行システムの危機にあると倒産する空になります。 しかし、準備や社会保障、エネルギー消費と経済の再配列の緊急措置を実施するカリブ海の国に行く。 欧州連合、カナダと米国は世界的な経済危機で、カリブ海諸国に大きな貢献をすることはありません。 歴史的に、私たちは何もされてきましたが、金持ちの簡単なレクリエーションや観光の目的地。 CARICOMによって取られた措置は、高い失業率とは、国内経済の凍結の将来のシナリオに関連する必要があります。 培養しようとしている場合には、ロシアの深刻さを取るため、厳しい経済状況の症状は、オペラ" Otelloのキャンセル"資金のモスクワボリショイ不足で、深刻な問題である。 の報道機関ではRIA Novosti読むことができます。

Caribbean:CARICOM condemns Gaza fighting.

http://www.caribbean360.com/News/Caribbean/Stories/2009/01/12/NEWS0000006794.html
" The Caribbean bloc said that it welcomed the adoption of a resolution by the United Nations Security."

More than 820 Palestinians have died during the two-week Israeli offensive, including 235 children. It has been reported that Israel has warned residents of the Gaza Strip that it will intensify the military action.
GEORGETOWN, Guyana, January 12, 2009 - The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) has added its voice to those calling for an end to the Israel-Palestine fighting.
A release from the Caribbean bloc said that it welcomed the adoption of a resolution by the United Nations Security Council calling for "an immediate, durable and fully-respected ceasefire" in Gaza that would lead to the "full withdrawal" of Israeli, the passage of humanitarian aid to the Palestinians and an end to the trafficking of arms and ammunitions into the territory.
"The member states of the Caribbean Community express grave concern over the continued violence in Gaza and deplore the attendant loss of life, including that of innocent women and children, as well as the widespread destruction," the statement said. "The Caribbean Community is no less concerned about the continued firing of rockets into Israeli territory by Palestinian militants."
CARICOM has therefore called on all parties involved to respect the international community's ceasefire resolution and humanitarian law in order to facilitate the passage of critical relief supplies to the civilian population in Gaza.
It further encouraged those involved to adhere to the principles of the UN Charter that advocates the peaceful settlement of disputes in order to "bring to an end human suffering and create avenues for peaceful co-existence".
More than 820 Palestinians have died during the two-week Israeli offensive, including 235 children. It has been reported that Israel has warned residents of the Gaza Strip that it will intensify the military action.

CUBA: vaccine against hormone-sensitive prostate cancer.

The Cuban News Agency (ACN) reported that the vaccine to fight the second major cause of death of men in Cuba had been safely administered in the first stage of a clinical trial, concluded on July 23, 2007. (File photo)
Caribbean http://www.caribbean360.com/News/Caribbean/Stories/2009/01/12/NEWS0000006795.html

Cuba reports successful trial of cancer vaccine
CAMAGUEY, Cuba, January 12, 2009 - Health officials in Cuba are reporting a successful trial of a vaccine against hormone-sensitive prostate cancer. The trial has been approved by the State Centre for Quality Control of Medications.
The experts said that the vaccine, Heberprovac, can be used in the most advanced stage of the disease and although it is not a cure, it improves patients' quality of life and increases their survival.
The Cuban News Agency (ACN) reported that the vaccine to fight the second major cause of death of men in Cuba had been safely administered in the first stage of a clinical trial, concluded on July 23, 2007.
Experts now have to identify the most effective dose and the best administration programme for Heberprovac, before moving on to the second phase of the trial.
Produced by Camaguey's Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology Centre, the vaccine was administered on patients before they were given radiotherapy.
Another vaccine is also under study in the capital, Havana.
ACN said that the territories of Eastern Camaguey and western Pinar del Rio Province have the highest prevalence of prostate cancer in Cuba. According to projections, cancerous diseases will become the leading cause of death in Cuba by 2010.

Jamaica's foreign affairs minister endorses CARICOM passport

"...one of the aspirations is the free movement of people. This passport will give you that privilege as people can now take up their personal interest in different territories," PM'S JAMAICAN.


Prime Minister Bruce Golding (L) with Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Passport, Immigration and Citizenship Agency (PICA), Jennifer McDonald, as she explains to him the features of the CARICOM passport. JIS PHOTO


Published on Monday, January 12, 2009
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KINGSTON, Jamaica (JIS): Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Kenneth Baugh, has said that the introduction of the Jamaican CARICOM passport is an initiative that reinforces the country's commitment to Caribbean integration.

"The CARICOM passport is a welcome initiative because it has been long awaited. This is something that strengthens our Caribbean community, it's a further indication of the integration of CARICOM," he said in an interview with JIS News, at the handing over of the first Jamaica CARICOM passport to Prime Minister Bruce Golding. With the Caribbean Community moving towards a Free Trade Area, Baugh said that the CARICOM passport serves as a means to promote intraregional tourism through hassle free travelling for Caribbean nationals between CARICOM member states. "One of the most important things in terms of establishing a Free Trade Area, is that if we were to move to a common market, (which we are now in a single economy) one of the aspirations is the free movement of people. This passport will give you that privilege as people can now take up their personal interest in different territories," he articulated. Baugh further advised that Jamaica has already put in place measures to eliminate any possible delays that persons are likely to face while travelling across the region. "You have some countries that have not moved very fast and as a consequence people have difficulty moving around, they find themselves subject to delay. We in Jamaica have moved very far in terms of putting in the legislative measures to make sure that everything is okay and other countries have done so as well. We are hoping that we can now iron out those difficulties to ensure that there is easy and free movement of all nationals in the Caribbean from one territory to another," he added. Turning to international trade and economic issues, Baugh emphasised that although CARICOM member states are independent they cannot afford to be isolated. "The world is no longer like that, you can't be isolated anymore, although we may be independent in terms of geo-political nature, in terms of our territory as a small country. But in terms of economy and trade relations we cannot do without becoming a part of larger arrangements not only as the CARICOM territory but even in the region to enter into trading and economic co-operations with other countries in this part of the hemisphere," he said. Continuing, the Foreign Affairs Minister stressed that "the larger the population, the larger the market place, the better the income and the more we will derive from it in terms of benefits and our trading. This is also good for our manufacturers and exporters". He also said, "What we have to do now is develop the discipline of creative and productive industries to have goods and services to export so that we can benefit in a real way from these relationships. We can't continue to look at ourselves as 2.7 to 3 million people and think that we are going to cater for that market place. That cannot hold anymore". "We would not be competitive at all, we have to look for larger market places and we have to develop a new discipline, an outward looking [approach where we] try to embark on processes that can take us into these other markets in terms of our goods and services," he added. Regional Heads of Government agreed on the introduction of the CARICOM Passport as a defining symbol of regionalism. In January 2005 Suriname was the first member state to issue the CARICOM Passport. Belize is the only member state yet to introduce the document.

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The current crisis was predicted 30 years ago. Ria Novosti.

"The concept of a post-industrial society, for one thing, promised a miraculous salvation. It was very similar to the bright future predicted by communist ideologists. "

"Unprecedented technical breakthrough was the sine qua non both for building communism in the U.S.S.R. and for post-industrialized society in the West. It was supposed to produce technology which would resolve a number of environmental and socio-economic problems (for instance, let machines do arduous, dirty work).
As a result, the elites of the industrially advanced countries preferred to live with a due account of restrictions, and grow until they reach the natural limits in the hope of a technological leap which would allow them to go beyond the limits."
16:10

08/ 01/ 2009

MOSCOW. (RIA Novosti economic commentator Vlad Grinkevich) - The current economic crisis came as a bolt from the blue for most. In the meantime, experts warned in the early 1970s that the world economy was heading for a crisis in the first decades of the 21st century.
In the 1960s, Western countries concluded that oil-stained beaches, smoggy megalopolises, and heavy pollution of major European rivers were too high a price for the benefits of mass production. In 1968, a group of industrialists, politicians, and scientists set up the Club of Rome in the Italian capital. They had enough money to conduct a series of studies with the participation of prominent scientists, and the use of tested methods.
Computer-predicted disaster
The Club's first report, which had the tell-tale title "Limits to Growth," caused a shock. It was compiled by a group of scientists headed by Dennis L. Medows, who decided to create a cybernetic model of global development. Having focused on five global processes: fast industrialization, population growth, increasing shortage of food, depletion of non-renewable resources, and degradation of the environment, they modeled the future on a computer.
The emotionless machine produced an answer that sounded like a verdict: the human race is in for a disaster. Considering that the population was growing at a rate of over two percent annually at that time, while industry was growing at up to five to seven percent, modern civilization was bound to reach the limits of growth in the first decades of the 21st century. Mineral resources will have been depleted; environmental pollution will have become irreversible; a sudden uncontrolled drop in the population and decline in production will have become inevitable. Millions of people will have died as a result of man-made catastrophes, spontaneous economically motivated social conflicts and unknown pandemics.
To prevent the cataclysm, the authors of the report offered a concept they called "zero growth," under which new purchases should only replace used up items. For example, a new car should be purchased only when the old one has stopped running; there should be universal birth control - no more than two children per family, and they suggested restricting consumption.
The report was a bombshell. It called into doubt the foundations of the Western economies. The zero growth concept contradicted the very logic of industrialized society which rested on the principle of supply-and-demand. The concept did not offer a future for the poor people of the non-capitalist world: a resident of a Soviet communal apartment was bound to live in it until he died, while a Chinese peasant was doomed to heat his hut with manure and dead-wood.
Does the truth begin as heresy?
Needless to say, the report was subjected to severe criticism, primarily because its authors did not offer any solutions. They admitted that their model was far from ideal, but the conclusions of their opponents were no less fallacious. Optimistic scenarios were not limited to only good wishes. The concept of a post-industrial society, for one thing, promised a miraculous salvation. It was very similar to the bright future predicted by communist ideologists.
Unprecedented technical breakthrough was the sine qua non both for building communism in the U.S.S.R. and for post-industrialized society in the West. It was supposed to produce technology which would resolve a number of environmental and socio-economic problems (for instance, let machines do arduous, dirty work).
As a result, the elites of the industrially advanced countries preferred to live with a due account of restrictions, and grow until they reach the natural limits in the hope of a technological leap which would allow them to go beyond the limits.
Global self-deception
The talk of the looming global crisis quickly ground to a halt in the latter half of the 1980s. Optimists were bragging about the resolution of global problems, and many analysts were confident that the bright post-industrial future had already arrived.
They seemed to be right but only at first glance. The majority of the European and U.S. middle class were white collar workers, involved in finances, marketing, and research. But in reality, driven by the market's logic, the leaders of the industrialized countries simply followed the path of least resistance. They switched the dirtiest and most labor-consuming industries to the developing countries, and let guest workers from the same countries take the worst jobs at home because they were cheaper than machines.
However, practice has shown that even a very advanced country cannot resolve global problems alone. Indeed, the once lifeless Czech Vltava or the German Rhine now abound with dozens of fish species, but the environmental crisis which the West has overcome is now looming elsewhere. It became clear that it would go beyond the limits of assembly lines several years ago when the Amur River was covered by a huge benzol spill. Resource restrictions are even more obvious - regardless of where a plant or factory oriented to the world market is located, a certain amount of resources is required to produce a commodity.
Finally, to control the production scattered all over the world, a sophisticated financial system had to be construed. With time, it started taking on a life of its own, produced by a fictitious economy with the profits of financial institutions depending not on real production but on intricate financial transactions.
This resulted in a big number of disproportions in the world economy. Investment in the financial market surpassed corporate capital, while the funds accumulated in the financial bubble exceeded the money in the real economy by many times.
As a result, an attempt to mothball the problem ended in failure. Having reached the limits of growth, the financial system collapsed and triggered the current economic turmoil.
The opinions expressed in this article are the author's and do not necessarily represent those of RIA Novosti.
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The global scientific communiy should care about countries tha remain scientifically deficient

"THE BUILDING OF SCIENTIFIC CAPACITY IS A MAIN REASON FOR THE SOUTH'S ECONOMIC PROGRESS. SEVERAL DEVELOPING COUNTRIES -fOR EXAMPLE: BRAZIL, iNDIA, CHINA, AND EVEN RWANDA- NOW SPEND 1 % OR MORE OF THEIR GROSS DOMESIC PRODUCT ON SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY.(...)"
"THE POIN IS, IN OUR GLOBAL WORLD, IMPROVED SCIENTIC CAPACITY IS NOT JUST GOOD FOR THE DEVELOPING WORLD, IT BENEFIT THE ENTIRE WORLD."
"THE GLOBAL SCIENTIFIC COMMUNITY SHOULD CARE ABOUT COUNTRIES THAT REMAIN SCIENTIFICALLY DEFICIENT"
"UNITED STATES CONTINUES TO DOMINATED GLOBAL SCIENCES...WITH 30 % OF SCIENTIST ARTICLES PUBLISHED, CHINA IS THE SECOND ONE IN THE WORLD WITH 8 % PUBLISHED."

MOHAMED H. A HASSAN, EJECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF TWAS,TRIESTE ITALY.
IF YOU WANT TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE FROM "SCIENCE" MAGAZINE, CLICK HERE:
http://sciences.blogs.liberation.fr/home/files/edit-10-24-08.pdf

TWAS & UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) is responsible for the administration of TWAS finance and staff, based on an agreement between the two organizations and the Italian government which provides the Academy with its core funding. TWAS collaborates closely with UNESCO's Natural Sciences Sector. Together with ICSU and UNU/IAS, TWAS and UNESCO co-sponsor the joint visiting scientist programme. UNESCO also provides financial support for the TWAS associateship programme at centres of excellence in the South.

The Caribbean isolated, one-one die in the storm. You can not live on illusions to die of disappointment.

"JAMAICAN OBSERVER"

EDITORIAL.

What's the World Bank up to?
Monday, January 12, 2009
The World Bank, or International Bank of Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), has failed so far - some would say not surprisingly - to adequately support the reform of budget financing and debt sustainability which is at the heart of the macroeconomic strategy of the Jamaican Government.
The World Bank was made aware of the Government's intention to replace expensive bond financing with less costly resources from the multilateral development banks while it was still in opposition. Mr Audley Shaw lost no time after his appointment as finance minister in initiating discussions with the World Bank, Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB).
As the largest of the three, the World Bank was expected to play the lead role in the consortium. Minister Shaw met with the appropriate vice-president in Kingston and Prime Minister Bruce Golding met with the president of the World Bank in Washington DC. All indications were that the "big bank" would take the lead technically and financially. Inexplicably the Bank has failed to execute the role it is established to perform.
This is all the more regrettable since Jamaica is an ideal case. We are a heavily indebted small vulnerable developing country that is doing all the right things in the extremely difficult circumstances of an unprecedented global financial crisis.
The WB's exposure is so small that the Government of Jamaica has in recent years repaid more than it has drawn down. The other Bretton Wood institution, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has expressed comfort with the government's macroeconomic policies.
The three institutions have the same data on Jamaica yet are proceeding differently.
The Caribbean Development Bank (miniscule compared to the World Bank) has approved US $100 million over three years. The IDB has committed to a multi-year financing programme and since June approved US$370 million, including US$200 million for the private sector.
In January, the board of the IDB is expected to approve a further US$300 million in liquidity support to be allocated to the private banking sector.
The World Bank is to deliberate next week on a one-shot US$100 million loan. This is an outright failure to carry out its mission. If the Bank can fail to support such a deserving case as Jamaica, it is sending a dangerous signal that could cause panic in the developing countries who are now desperately rushing to the Bank for help.
Jamaica made its approach the Bank before the global crisis and should not be short-changed because of the surge in demand following the global financial crisis. The "Big Bank" is not short of resource though we can't but conclude that it lacks heart and vision. Fortunately the IDB has played the lead role from which the World Bank has unfortunately resiled.
All this begs the question why? As far as we are aware, the political level work was properly done and the Caribbean section of the World Bank has been pushing. The problems may be what the Bank is hearing from its office in Kingston.
In these institutions, the outcome at head office can often be undermined by poor work in the country office. The local World Bank office needs to spend less time on public relations and more on strengthening its technical expertise.

The Caribbean and the false expectations for the U.S. economy.

TODAY, YOU CAN TRUST IN EVERY CREDIT CARD, FRECUENTLY, THE CUSTOMER DENIED TO PAY COMPLAINT TO THE BANK HE DID NOT SIGNED THE PURCHASE. SOME STORE OWNER ARE REFUSING TO ACEPT CREDIT, ONLY DEBIT OR CASH TO SELL SOME ITEM OF HIGTH RISK OF LOOSING MONEY. MEDIA AMERICAN SPENT NINE CENTS TO TWENTY ONE OVER A DOLLAR EARNED WITHOUT ANY SAVING ACCOUNT IN THE BANK.

USA TODAY NEWS LINK:
http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/retail/2009-01-08-retail-walmart_n.htm

The Caribbean and the false expectations for the U.S. economy. There are many who believe in the Caribbean with the presidency of Obama their problems are resolved, however, the reality is that take years to recover the U.S. economy is not yet known where or when the substance of the crisis the U.S. domestic market. But it applies to join Caribbean countries, and, to diversify their markets. An economic inestability can occur in any country at any time. Before the sinking of the global economy should be urgently appeal to the pooling of resources and ideas, the diversification of the market as is doing President Correa of Ecuador in his country, rather than to establish units that carried us to the seabed. The U.S. economy is very bad and has all the signs of which shall be made much worse. Obama is the helmsman of the boat in the middle of the storm. In times like that, the impossible dream of living like before in the "old good times" by the "old fashion way", fail. Gualterio Nunez Estrada, Sarasota, Florida.

(The background of this news are 29 thousands billions in credit that the customers cant not paid... in years to the date.!)
December was a cold month for retail sales
By Jayne O'Donnell, USA TODAY
Major retailers reported dismal December sales Thursday, stepping up store closings and making new bankruptcy filings likely in coming months.
Department and specialty stores were the hardest hit, but the recession is starting to take a toll on discounters. Wal-Mart (WMT), about the only retailer to increase sales, had a worse-than-expected 1.7% sales jump. The discounter warned investors Thursday that its fourth-quarter profit will be lower than it predicted, and that January sales may be flat.
Almost all retailers have posted declining sales for several months.
Macy's (M) said its sales were down 4% and announced plans to close 11 stores — from Indianapolis to Palm Beach, Fla.
MACY'S CLOSINGS: List of the 11 stores
Warnings by regional department store chain Gottschalks that it could run out of cash by month's end became public this week. Gottschalks' sales were down 9.6%. Bon-Ton Stores (BONT), another regional department store, posted dire results, too, with sales down 5.8%.
FIND MORE STORIES IN: Florida Wall Street New York St. Louis Indianapolis Los Angeles Nashville Wal-Mart Women Thomson Reuters Macy West Palm Beach Palm Beach Wal-Mart Stores Kmart Sears Abercrombie Nordstrom Saks Fifth Avenue Fitch Limited Brands Sears Holdings Craftsman Ken Perkins Costco Wholesale Goody November-December Kenmore Williams-Sonoma Department Stores Frank Badillo TNS Retail Forward Against All Odds Warnings Arden B Bon-Ton
Jeff Green, a sales forecaster and strategic analyst for malls and retailers, expects more closings for Macy's, which acquired the former May Department Stores in 2006. He also questioned whether Gottschalks and Bon-Ton can survive without filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
Still, retail research and consulting firm TNS Retail Forward saw some promise in the numbers — which overall were down 1.5% from December 2007. December was better than November, Retail Forward noted, and was affected by bad weather and less-favorable exchange rates for tourists.
"These results provide signs that retail weakness may be bottoming out," says Retail Forward senior economist Frank Badillo.
January and February are typically the slowest retail sales months, however, so the dire holiday season prompted some retailers to move quickly:
•Women's clothier New York & Co. (NWY) announced it would close up to 50 of its 600 stores.
•The family clothing chain Goody's will begin liquidating its remaining 287 stores today.
•The hip-hop apparel chain Against All Odds filed for Chapter 11 this week and said it will liquidate some of its nearly 70 stores.
Neiman Marcus posted the worst monthly declines of the retailers reporting, with sales down 27.5% over December 2007. Saks Fifth Avenue (SKS) dropped 19.8%, and Nordstrom (JWN) was down 10.6%.

Book:Trinidad and Tobago Industrial Policy 1959-2008.by Wendel Mottley.

OIL, GAS AND PEOPLE LIVES IN CARIBBEAN.


Trinidad and Tobago Industrial Policy 1959-2008.

Price: $50.00
Number Books in packaging:1Number Books in box:1
Trinidad and Tobago is the primary supplier of Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) to the United States. How did this twin island nation state with less than 0.5 per cent of the world's natural gas reserves, establish itself as a world class gas export hub, also becoming the world's largest exporter of commodity chemicals methanol and ammonia? Wendell Mottley answers these questions in Trinidad and Tobago Industrial Policy.
In examining how the resulting accretion of wealth has affected the social and political polity of Trinidad and Tobago, Mottley traces the resource-led development in a democratically emerging political economy while analyzing the policy errors and new directions for the future. This book differs from others on the subject of natural resource development by examining the experience of a democracy not an autocracy.
Mottley reveals, as only an active participant could, how fragmented the development of Trinidad and Tobago's industrial policy was - experimental, subject to reverses, and aided by the sheer luck if good timing and the intervention of talented individuals. Combining his observations in his native Trinidad and Tobago with a rigorous and illustrative economic and financial analysis born of his own scholarship as an economist and his vantage point as an international investment banker, Mottley presents a plan for Trinidad and Tobago's sustainable economic future while offering a solid contribution to the literature on natural resource based development. Engaging and provocative, Trinidad and Tobago Industrial Policy will be equally valuable to players in the international energy industry as well as students of development economics.
Contents
The Beginnings of National Industrial Policy in Trinidad and Tobago
The State as Entrepreneur
The State as Facilitator
Pathbreaking Analysis and the Generation of Demand
The US Gas Market at the beginning of the Twenty-first century
The Social and Economic Impact of the Practice of Industrial Policy in Trinidad and Tobago
Social and Economic Underpinnings - the Mandate for Change
Caribbean Impact
The Trinidad Energy Experience - Lessons and its Wider Relevance
The Future - Industrial Policy Options
Wendell Mottley is a New York-based Investment Banker having previously served as executive director of the company which eventually became the pivot of Trinidad adnd Tobago's natural gas-led industrialization and as Minister of Finance, credited with playing a decisive role in setting Trinidad and Tobago on a sustained path of growth from 1994 onwards.

Publication Date: September 2008
ISBN: 978-976-637-362-7
Binding: Hardback
Pages: 558
Price: US$49.95

The Politics of oil and gas...and people's lives.SIR RONALD SANDER.

"The book, modestly entitled "Trinidad and Tobago: Industrial Policy 1959-2008", is a masterly account of the role that oil and gas has played in the economy of Trinidad and Tobago, and the role it has failed to play in developing the country's human resources, healing its ethnic divisions and ensuring against potential conflict in the future."

YOUR WRITER
Sir Ronald Sanders is a business executive and former Caribbean diplomat who publishes widely on Small States in the global community. Responses to: ronaldsanders29@hotmail.com

2009 started with arctic temperatures in Europe. The cold grip in many parts of Europe was worse because of a row between Russia and the Ukraine over natural gas.
Russia cut gas supplies to Ukraine early in January in a dispute over pricing and an allegation that Ukraine was not only not paying its bills but stealing gas as well. The countries of the European Union (EU) depend on Russia for about a quarter of their total gas supplies, some 80% of which are pumped via Ukraine. Tens of thousands of homes were left without heating.
At the time of writing, Russia says that it will resume gas supplies to the EU countries if monitors are sent to the Ukraine, but no date has been set and, as temperatures plunge to minus 10 degrees centigrade, people may die in many countries in Europe, particularly those that were once part of the Soviet Union and who are almost entirely dependent on Russian gas for heating.
This issue is not only about the price of gas. Four years ago, an anti-Russian regime won power in Ukraine and Russia accused it of supplying arms to Georgia last August when Russia and Georgia warred over South Ossetia. Georgia had launched a military strike on the province in an attempt to reclaim it after 16 years of semi-independence - a move the Russians regarded as presumptuous.
Russia pushed Georgian troops back into Georgia but vowed at the time to teach the Ukraine a lesson.
It can't be discounted that, in cutting off the gas supply to EU countries through Ukraine, the Russian government is underscoring EU dependence on Russian gas, and sending a warning against policies of which it disapproves. Among these would be the expansion of EU membership to include former members of the Soviet Union that share borders with Russia.
In the same week, Venezuela's President, Hugo Chavez, seemed unable to make up his mind whether to continue donating heating oil to poor families in the US. First, he cut off supply, then he reinstated it after his "god father" image took a beating in the international media.
Chavez introduced the programme four years ago when oil prices were relatively high and he was in full flight in his virulent attacks on the US President George W Bush and the American government.
According to the Associated Press, Venezuela supplies fuel to 200,000 households in 23 states and 65 Native American tribes - last year alone the value of these supplies was put at $100 million.
Now that the price of oil has dropped almost 70% from its high last July, PDVSA, the state-owned oil company, which Chavez uses to dispense largesse in support of his Bolivarian Socialist Revolution, can not afford these gifts.
Chavez is faced with the possibility of devaluing the Venezuelan currency - a measure he seems to be postponing until a referendum is held in February, the result of which he hopes will allow him to extend the term of his Presidency.
Also at risk is the PetroCaribe programme to which several Caribbean countries are signatories. Chavez has reportedly cut back on oil production as part of an agreement by the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to force-up the price of oil. But, projections indicate that, with the demand for oil dropping in several major countries, including China and India, in the face of the international financial crisis, oil prices will not reach their earlier high levels in a hurry if at all.
The Caribbean governments that signed up to PetroCaribe and who have predicated some of their social development projects on the back of promises made by Chavez may find themselves scrambling for financing from elsewhere if they can get it.
Amid all this, an important book on the politics of oil and gas in the Caribbean has been produced by Wendell Mottley, a former Finance Minister of Trinidad and Tobago and now a New York-based investment banker. The book, modestly entitled "Trinidad and Tobago: Industrial Policy 1959-2008", is a masterly account of the role that oil and gas has played in the

The book, modestly entitled "Trinidad and Tobago: Industrial Policy 1959-2008", is a masterly account of the role that oil and gas has played in the economy of Trinidad and Tobago, and the role it has failed to play in developing the country's human resources, healing its ethnic divisions and ensuring against potential conflict in the future.
For instance, Mottley makes the point: "In Trinidad, a useful reality check is the ratio of the output of the educational system to employment in the energy sector. Every year, the country graduates 19,000 students from its high schools. Based on the most optimistic expansion of the oil, gas, chemicals and other process industries, only 1,780 of these students will be absorbed by these industries every year. The remaining 17,220 students must be placed elsewhere... in the real Trinidad and Tobago".
And, the "real Trinidad and Tobago" is one in which of the labour force of 625,900 approximately one-quarter or 159,000 persons "may be poorly equipped to earn a living in (the) twenty-first century".
Mottley also warns that "the projected large revenue streams (from oil and gas) over the next 20 years could be interrupted by the eruption of destructive social forces caused by the country's dual development paths".
He deals too with the petro-diplomacy between Trinidad and Tobago and Venezuela as both countries seek strong influence over neighbouring states in the Caribbean. And, he asks the question: "Is Venezuela, through PetroCaribe, seeking to turn, and can it succeed in turning, the Caribbean into vassal states, tied to one energy source, and sinking daily further into unrepayable debt?"
Mottley's book, published by Ian Randle in Jamaica, also gives a revealing insight into the maritime dispute between Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago - allegedly over fishing, but really over petroleum as he confirms.
These events so early in 2009 indicate that the politics of oil and gas will continue to play an important part not only in relations between States but in the lives of ordinary people.

Posted on Fri, 09 Jan 2009 13:37:31 Permalink


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Caribbean island enforces indecent-exposure law for tourist and local.DENVERPOST.COM

nation and world briefs
Caribbean island enforces indecent-exposure law
Denver Post Wire Report
Posted: 01/11/2009 12:30:00 AM MST


ST. GEORGE'S, Grenada — Bikini- and Speedo-clad tourists beware. The Caribbean island of Grenada says it recently began enforcing an indecent- exposure law banning bathing suits away from the beach, as well as saggy pants that reveal underwear.
Police commissioner James Clarkson said violators are usually ordered to cover up. But the law allows for a $270 fine or six months in jail.
Clarkson said Friday that cruise ships usually inform passengers of proper non-beach attire, but "from time to time, there is the one or two who take their chances."



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"JAMAICAN OBSERVER', Today.

Cruise tourism bad for environment.CayCompas.com

CAYMAN iSLANDS.

LETTER TO THE EDITOR.

Thursday 8th January, 2009 Posted: 14:27 CIT (19:27 GMT)
> Comment on this story

With all due respect, I am not sure the math supports the intensity of the cruise industry’s convictions about the benefits of their business.

The CTO will tell you it takes 10 or more cruise passengers to equal the economic benefit of one stay over guest. In other words, for every additional stayover visitor attracted to the Cayman Islands you could kindly ask ten cruise passengers to stay home. No loss in tourism revenue and a dramatic increase in peace and quiet. Fewer crowds mean better experiences and better word of mouth.

Just because the economic cost of tourism density is difficult to measure does not mean it doesn’t count. When tourists keep running into other tourists they tell 10 friends back home that the destination is too touristy. Who can argue that the hustle and bustle greeting most cruise passengers does justice to the true Caymanian experience? What stories do those visitors tell of the Cayman Islands when they return home? Assuming after a week or two at sea cruise passengers can even distinguish one duty free from port from the next.

Too often tourism only looks at what visitors spend ignoring what it cost to attract them. For example, every additional overnight guest reduces the pressure to expand ship berthing facilities saving hundreds of millions in infrastructure expenditures; money that could be spent improving schools and other public facilities. What is the social cost when a destination offers first rate port facilities to visitors and third rate educations to residents?

The fewer cruise ships that come to the Cayman Islands, the clearer the water and the better the scuba diving. While the economics of water clarity are difficult to measure, it still matters. Divers spend more money than stayover guests so increasing water clarity increases tourism revenue exponentially while reducing tourism pressure.

Before we can have an informed debate about the merits of cruise tourism, we need to consider how much of every visitor dollar spent in the Cayman Islands actually remains in the Cayman Islands. According to the UN, on a worldwide basis roughly 30 cents of every visitor dollar remains in the destination.

Cruise passengers have higher economic leakage rates than stayover visitors because more of their money passes through the hands of global corporations. So a dollar spent by a cruise passenger might be worth half that of a stayover visitor.

So, if we could count everything that really matters, we might find that it takes 30–40 cruise passengers to equal the benefits of a single stayover guest. Still liking the benefits?

At the end of the day how the Cayman Islands chooses to develop tourism cannot be answered in economic terms alone. Until the costs of tourism are measured in social and environmental terms as well, the answers will always steer us in the wrong direction.

Andy Dumaine

Canadian Anthropology Society call por paper about 50 years of the Cuban Revolution. University of British Columbia, Vancvouver,B.C.

casca news
This is a blog recording the announcements that are sent out on the CASCA listserv.
Friday, January 9, 2009

Call for Papers: Canadian Anthropology Society Annual Meeting
Call for PapersCanadian Anthropology Society Annual MeetingMay 13-16, 2009 University of British Columbia, Vancouver, B.C.
Session Title: 50 Years of the Cuban Revolution: Political Economy,Ecology and CultureSession Organizer: Kendra Coulter, University of WindsorThis year marks the 50th anniversary of the Cuban Revolution. Cuba is animportant sociocultural site for anthropological scholarship on theproduction of political projects, offering significant insights forunderstanding transnational anti-imperialist, anti-neoliberal andsocialist politics. This session will examine the accomplishments andcomplexities of the Cuban Revolution as a lived, collective process and asa sustained challenge to the capitalist model. Papers on politicalecology, gender relations, labour, education, health, children/youth andpolitical economy in Cuba are particularly welcome.
Please email Kendra Coulter directly at kcoulter@uwindsor.ca beforeJanuary 27th.
Posted by metafactory at Friday, January 09, 2009

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The thought of Rafael Correa opened the doors of a new relationship of the United States and the European Union with Latin America and the Caribbean b

Correa's ideas are based on Jose Marti thesis about latinoamerican and caribbean identity. Correa and Jose Marti founded his meaning from Spains roots in United States vinculated to the elites of the working class.
Rafael Correa's leadership during his visit to Cuba reveals the need for better relations with Spain and a wide interaction with the elites of the United States for the development of a Movement of Latin American and Caribbean countries for equity and social justice for all . The thesis of Jose Marti on the balance of the world is the basis of this thinking in the region.

Rafael Correa in Havana stands out as the dawn of the new thinking of Latin American and Caribbean.

" Jose Marti, Omar Torrijos, Salvador Allende and Bolivar's ideas are the ideological foundations of President Rafael Correa. At the same time, Rafael Correa is the conscience of the elite class of workers and peasants in the United States of America."

President Rafael Correa of Ecuador gave a lecture at the University of Havana. Doctor of Economics, expressed his conviction to create a regional bank for Latin American and Caribbean countries to cope with the global economic crisis, but climate change. President Rafael Correa has emerged as the most important intellectual and ideological movement of the new Latin American and Caribbean countries in search of its identity because of its reputation as a balanced and talented leader of the Ecuadorian people. Correa, in the view of Jose Marti balance of world power is the youngest of the entire novel and the Latin American left and now has followers in Cuba and the Caribbean.

In President Rafael Correa is the thought of Bolivar, Jose Marti, Omar Torrijos y Salvador Allende with the formation of working class and peasants of the American elites, the first working class and peasants in the history of mankind. Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa is the new dawn of ideas of the Latin American and Caribbean unity, based on the thesis BOLIVAR JOSE MARTI AND ON THE BALANCE OF THE WORLD AND SOCIAL JUSTICE. Scientific ideas and ideology based on the identity of Latin America and its projects on the economy have attracted strongly to Havana and Cuban intellectuals and political leaders. Correa's ideas seem to involve all the elites of government Latin America and the Caribbean in its relationship with the United States. That young president of enormous intellectual capacity is the equilibrium point for a new geopolitics of Latin American and Caribbean chancelleries because joins the Latin American left and right. Jose Marti, Omar Torrijos, of Salvador Allende and Bolivar's ideas are the ideological foundations of President Rafael Correa. At the same time, Rafael Correa is the conscience of the elite class of workers and peasants in the United States of America.Gualterio Nunez Estrada, Sarasota, Florida.

Cardenal Renato Martino:"Gaza: a big concentration camp", egoismo, hatred, poverty and injusice in the Holy Land.

HIGH DIGNAARIO VATICAN CONDEMNS THE TERRORIST STATE OF ISRAEL IN GAZA AND THE VIOLATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS.
Type: Person
Name: Cardinal Renato Martino
Title: President
Organization: Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace
Date of Birth: 23/11/1932
Place of Birth: Salerno (Italy)
Nationality: Italy
Fact Sheet: Biography for Renato Martino

INT. Renato Raffaele Martino
mercoledì 7 gennaio 2009

ILSUSSIDIARIO.NET "il quotidiano approfundito"

Interview, click here:

http://www.ilsussidiario.net/articolo.aspx?articolo=10714

ISRAELE/ Card. Martino: "raccogliamo i frutti dell’egoismo. L’unica speranza è il dialogo

Un senso più acuto della dignità dell’uomo. Nessuno vede l’interesse dell’altro, ma solamente il proprio. Ma le conseguenze dell’egoismo sono l’odio per l’altro, la povertà e l’ingiustizia. A pagare sono sempre le popolazioni inermi. Guardiamo le condizioni di Gaza: assomiglia sempre più ad un grande campo di concentramento."

VATICAN-GAZA (UPDATED) Jan-9-2009 (810 words) With photos posted Jan. 8. xxxiGaza Strip resembles a concentration camp, says top Vatican official

By Carol Glatz

Catholic News ServiceVATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The Gaza Strip increasingly is looking like "a big concentration camp" while egoism, hatred, poverty and injustice are fueling the continual slaughter in the Holy Land, said a top Vatican official."We are seeing a continual massacre in the Holy Land where the overwhelming majority has nothing to do with the conflict, but it is paying for the hatred of a few with their lives," said Cardinal Renato Martino, head of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace."Let's look at the conditions in Gaza: It's looking more and more like a big concentration camp," he said in an interview published Jan. 7 in the Italian online newspaper IlSussidiario.Israel's ambassador to the Vatican, Mordechay Lewy, criticized the cardinal's comments saying they were "way out of line."However, the remarks have not negatively affected Vatican-Israeli relations which are still "good as before," said the ambassador, according to the Italian news agency ANSA Jan. 8.That the cardinal would make the comparison "shows he has never visited a concentration camp," he added.Meanwhile, Israel's foreign ministry spokesman, Yigal Palmor, said Cardinal Martino's comments "seem to have come directly from Hamas propaganda" and did nothing "to help bring people closer to the truth and peace."By saying the Gaza Strip resembled a concentration camp, the cardinal was ignoring "the unspeakable crimes" committed by the Palestinian militant group Hamas, he said in a Jan. 7 interview with Agence France-Presse.Palmor said Hamas "has derailed the peace process and has turned the Gaza Strip into a giant human shield."In an interview with the Italian newspaper La Repubblica Jan. 8, Cardinal Martino defended his description of the Gaza Strip, saying those who criticized his remarks "can say what they want. The situation in Gaza is horrible.""I say, look at the conditions of the people who live there. Surrounded by a wall that is difficult to cross -- in conditions (that are) contrary to human dignity. What has been happening recently there is horrifying," he said.He said there was nothing in his comments "that may be interpreted as anti-Israeli" and he condemned Hamas' use of violence against Israel.But he lamented the deaths of so many Palestinian civilians and children and the destruction of nonmilitary targets by Israel, suggesting such losses could have been avoided given that Israeli forces have sophisticated surveillance "technology that can let them identify an ant on the ground."Both Israeli and Palestinian leaders have done reproachable things, he said, but "Israel has the right to live in peace, (and) the Palestinians have the right to have their own state.""Israel certainly has the right to defend itself and Hamas must keep that in mind," he added."I am not defending Hamas: If they want a home, if they want a Palestinian state, they have to understand that the path they have set out upon is wrong," said the cardinal.He said both Israelis and Palestinians are at fault for not doing enough to stop the fighting and start peace talks.In the Jan. 7 interview with IlSussidiario, Cardinal Martino said: "If they are unable to come to an agreement then someone else had better feel an obligation to do it for them. The world cannot sit and watch and do nothing."He called for an "international intervention force" to stop the fighting.The reason Palestinians and Israelis have so far not been able to end the conflict and begin dialogue is because there is an acute lack of respect for human dignity, he said."No one recognizes the interests of the other but only one's own. However, the consequences of egoism are hatred toward others, poverty and injustice, and the defenseless are always the ones who pay," he added.About 760 Palestinians, half of them civilians, have been killed since Israel began its attacks on Gaza Dec. 27 to root out Hamas.The fighting has made access to basic needs even more difficult as food, medicine and other relief items already were lacking due to an 18-monthlong Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip, said a Jan. 5 press release by Caritas Internationalis, an umbrella group of Catholic aid agencies.Meanwhile, in his annual address to diplomats Jan. 8, Pope Benedict XVI appealed for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza and the resumption of negotiations between Palestinians and Israelis, with the support of the international community."Once again I would repeat that military options are no solution and that violence, wherever it comes from and whatever form it takes, must be firmly condemned," he said.He said a cease-fire is "an indispensable condition for restoring acceptable living conditions to the population."He urged both sides to resume negotiations and agree to "the rejection of hatred, acts of provocation and the use of arms."END
Copyright (c) 2009 Catholic News Service/USCCB. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed.CNS · 3211 Fourth St NE · Washington DC 20017 · 202.541.3250

Sex role in the society, tradition and economy. Lates researchh

Web address: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/09/ 080922090801.htm
Sexism Pays: Men Who Hold Traditional Views Of Women Earn More Than Men Who Don't, Study Shows
ScienceDaily (Sep. 22, 2008) — When it comes to sex roles in society, what you think may affect what you earn. A new study has found that men who believe in traditional roles for women earn more money than men who don't, and women with more egalitarian views don't make much more than women with a more traditional outlook.
Timothy Judge, PhD, and Beth Livingston from the University of Florida, analyzed data from a nationally representative study of men and women who were interviewed four times between 1979 and 2005. A total of 12,686 people, ages 14 to 22 at the beginning of the study, participated; there was a 60 percent retention rate over the course of the study.
At each of the four interviews, participants were asked about their views on gender roles in the work force and at home. They answered questions such as whether they believed a woman's place is in the home, whether employing wives leads to more juvenile delinquency, if a man should be the achiever outside the home and if the woman should take care of the home and family.
Participants were also asked about their earnings, religious upbringing, education, whether they worked outside the home and their marital status, in addition to other topics. Prior studies have shown that men tend to hold more traditional gender roles than do women, though this gap has narrowed over time.
The researchers looked specifically at gender role views as a predictor of a person's earnings. They controlled for job complexity, number of hours worked and education. Their analyses showed that men in the study who said they had more traditional gender role attitudes made an average of about $8,500 more annually than those who had less traditional attitudes.
"More traditional people may be seeking to preserve the historical separation of work and domestic roles. Our results prove that is, in fact, the case," Judge said. "This is happening even in today's work force where men and women are supposedly equal as far as participation."
For women, however, the situation was reversed. Women who held more traditional views about gender roles made an average of $1,500 less annually than the women with more egalitarian views. Put another way, if a married couple holds traditional gender role attitudes, the husband's earning advantage was predicted to be eight times greater than a married couple where the husband and wife have more egalitarian attitudes.
"These results show that changes in gender role attitudes have substantial effects on pay equity," Judge said. "When workers' attitudes become more traditional, women's earnings relative to men suffer greatly. When attitudes become more egalitarian, the pay gap nearly disappears."
Notably, the results also did not fundamentally change when other factors were controlled, such as industry, occupation, hours worked, and number of children. "These results cannot be explained by the fact that, in traditional couples, women are less likely to work outside the home," Judge said. "Though this plays some role in our findings, our results suggest that even if you control for time worked and labor force participation, traditional women are paid less than traditional men for comparable work."
The researchers also sought to understand why some people hold more traditional or less traditional perceptions of gender roles. Some associations they found were:
People living in Northeastern cities had less traditional views regarding gender roles
People whose parents both worked outside the home had less traditional views regarding gender roles
Married, religious people tended to have more traditional gender role views
Younger people had less traditional views but became more traditional over time
The authors offered suggestions for future research, including investigating the relationship between happiness and job attitudes among people with specific gender role views arguing that more money and happiness doesn't necessarily always go together for some people.
The researchers believe their results show that the gender pay gap is not just an economic phenomenon. "Psychology has an important role to play, too," said Judge. "Our country's policies have been leaning toward gender equality for decades now. But, according to our study, traditional gender role views continue to work against this goal."
Journal reference:
Timothy A. Judge, PhD, and Beth A. Livingston. Is the Gap More Than Gender? A Longitudinal Analysis of Gender, Gender Role Orientation, and Earnings. Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol. 93, No. 5
Adapted from materials provided by American Psychological Association, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.
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American Psychological Association (2008, September 22). Sexism Pays: Men Who Hold Traditional Views Of Women Earn More Than Men Who Don't, Study Shows. ScienceDaily. Retrieved January 9, 2009, from http://www.sciencedaily.com­ /releases/2008/09/080922090801.htm

In Cuba, family relationships are sacred and are above politics.

The division of the family is the main source in Cuba and into the Cuban emigration to the weakening of the culture and identity of the Nation.. The family and close friends are sacred in Cuban culture and are above the ideology and politics

Elian is certainly the most beloved of the Cuban American people. Elian recently told the foreign press in Cuba, his desire to visit their relatives and friends in Miami. • When Elian may travel to the United States visiting his Cuban family, with his father, and the American friends who cared HIM?. To date, we do not know if the U.S. Interests Section in Havana would grant temporary visas to Cuban Elian and family who want to visit their relatives cubanamerican in the United States. Nobody talks about the family problem that is sacred to all Cubans.

Obama"s nominated United Nation Ambassador of United States with Jamaican culture roots."TIME".

Susan Elizabeth Rice, (WITH A jAMAICAN GRANDMOTHER.NOIE FROM THE BLOGGER)a key adviser on foreign policy to Barack Obama during his campaign for the presidency, is a member of the advisory committee for the Obama transition and is the nominee for ambassador to the United Nations.
Ms. Rice spent eight years at the White House and the State Department under President Clinton. She was a member of the National Security Council staff, first as director for international organizations and peacekeeping, and then as a special assistant to the president and senior director for African affairs. From 1997 to 2001, she was assistant secretary of state for African affairs. She has special expertise in the problems posed by weak and failed states, global poverty and transnational security threats.
A protégé of Madeleine K. Albright when Ms. Albright was secretary of state, Ms. Rice catapulted over more veteran officials in 1997 when she was given the job as assistant secretary of state. She also has had experience with Al Qaeda — Ms. Rice was the top diplomat for African issues during the 1998 terrorist bombings of embassies in Tanzania and Kenya.
She has been a member of Mr. Obama’s inner circle for more than two years. She showed early loyalty to him despite her ties to the Clinton administration, signing on with Mr. Obama at a time when Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton was presumed to be the frontrunner for the Democratic nomination.
She potentially faces tough questioning, however, because of her role in American policy toward Rwanda during the 1994 genocide when she was a member of a Clinton administration team that kept the United States on the sidelines. She told The Atlantic Monthly in 2001 that she had learned a lesson: "I swore to myself that if I ever faced such a crisis again, I would come down on the side of dramatic action, going down in flames if that was required."
She and Condoleezza Rice, the current secretary of state, are both female African-American foreign policy experts who have ties to Stanford University, but they are not related.
She was born on Nov. 17, 1964, and is the daughter of a former governor on the Federal Reserve Board. She earned an undergraduate degree from Stanford and both a master's degree and a doctorate in international relations from New College at Oxford University, where she was a Rhodes Scholar. After the Clinton administration, Ms. Rice was a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and was also a foreign policy adviser to John Kerry's presidential campaign in 2004. She is married to Ian Cameron, the Canadian-born executive producer of ABC News's "This Week with George Stephanopoulos." They have two children.

Cuban, Ecuadorian presidents meet in Havana.Source:Xinhua.China.

SEÑOR PRESIDENTE CONSTITUCIONAL DE LA REPÚBLICA DEL ECUADOR
ECON. RAFAEL CORREA DELGADO (Ph.D)
DATOS PERSONALES:
Fecha de nacimiento: 6 de Abril de 1963.Lugar de nacimiento: Guayaquil - Ecuador.Nacionalidad: Ecuatoriana.Estado civil: Casado TÍTULOS ACADÉMICOS:
Doctor (Ph.D.) en Economía: Universidad de Illinois en Urbana - Champaign. Octubre/2001.Master de Ciencias en Economía: Universidad de Illinois en Urbana - Champaign. Mayo/1999.Master de Artes en Economía: Universidad Católica de Lovaina la Nueva, Bélgica. Junio/1991.Economista: Universidad Católica de Santiago de Guayaquil, Guayaquil - Ecuador. Julio/1987. IDIOMAS:
Español: lengua materna. Inglés: fluido. Francés: fluido. Kichwa: principiante. EXPERIENCIA PROFESIONAL:
Enero de 2007 Presidente Constitucional de la República del Ecuador.
Agosto de 2006 Candidato a la Presidencia de la República por el binomio Alianza País.
Agosto del 2005 hasta el presente: Consultor independiente. Abril del 2005 – Agosto del 2005: Ministro de Economía y Finanzas de la República del Ecuador. 1993 – Abril del 2005: Profesor Principal del Departamento de Economía, Universidad “San Francisco de Quito”, Quito - Ecuador.Director del Departamento de Economía.Instructor de Macroeconomía, Microeconomía, Economía Cuantitativa y Desarrollo Económico. Instructor de Economía Empresarial, Programa MBA de la USFQ.Director de SUR, Centro de Investigaciones Económicas y Sociales de la USFQ. 1992 – 1993: Director Administrativo – Financiero de los proyectos de educación financiados por el Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo, Quito – Ecuador.Gerencia administrativa y financiera de proyectos de mejoramiento del sistema educativo ecuatoriano, con un presupuesto total de 110 millones de dólares y un equipo permanente de 120 personas. 1988 – 1989: Director Financiero de la Universidad Católica de Santiago de Guayaquil, Guayaquil – Ecuador.Gerencia de los recursos financieros de la Universidad, con un equipo permanente de 16 personas divididos en los departamentos de Presupuesto, Contabilidad y Tesorería. 1987 – 1988: Voluntario en la Misión de los Padres Salesianos en Sumbahua, Provincia de Cotopaxi – Ecuador.Diseño, implementación y control de proyectos de desarrollo rural integral para las comunidades indígenas de la Parroquia Sumbahua. 1984 – 1987: Especialista Industrial del Centro de Desarrollo Industrial del Ecuador –CENDES-, Ministerio de Industrias del Ecuador, Guayaquil – Ecuador.Diseño y evaluación de proyectos de inversión, básicamente industriales. EXPERIENCIA ACADÉMICA:
2001 - 2005: Profesor Principal y Director del Departamento de Economía, Universidad “San Francisco de Quito”, Quito - Ecuador. Director de “SUR”, Centro de Investigaciones Económicas y Sociales de la USFQ. Profesor invitado en la Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales (FLACSO, Quito - Ecuador), Instituto Tecnológico de Monterrey (TEC, Quito - Ecuador), Universidad Andina (Quito - Ecuador), Universidad Estatal de Guayaquil (Guayaquil – Ecuador), Universidad Católica de Santiago de Guayaquil (UCSG, Guayaquil - Ecuador), y Escuela Superior Politécnica del Litoral (ESPOL, Guayaquil - Ecuador). 1997 - 2001: Instructor del Departamento de Economía, Universidad de Illinois en Urbana-Champaign, Illinois – EE.UU. 1993 - 1997: Profesor Principal del Departamento de Economía, Universidad “San Francisco de Quito”, Quito - Ecuador. 1992 - 1993: Profesor Asociado de la Facultad de Economía, Universidad Católica de Santiago de Guayaquil. Guayaquil - Ecuador. 1988 - 1989: Profesor Asociado de la Facultad de Economía, Universidad Católica de Santiago de Guayaquil. Guayaquil - Ecuador. 1983 - 1985: Asistente de Cátedra de la Facultad de Economía, Universidad Católica de Santiago de Guayaquil. Guayaquil - Ecuador. DIGNIDADES Y PREMIOS:
Beca del Gobierno de Bélgica: Beca obtenida a través de concurso nacional de merecimientos para realizar estudios de post-grado en Bélgica, 1989. Beca de la USAID: Beca obtenida a través de concurso nacional de merecimientos para realizar estudios de post-grado en Estados Unidos, 1989. (beca no utilizada) Tesis para la obtención del título de Economista "Evaluación de los Programas de Apoyo al Sector Informal en Guayaquil". Felicitación del jurado y recomendación para publicación a nivel nacional, 1987. Presidente de la Federación de Estudiantes Universitarios Particulares del Ecuador (FEUPE), 1986. Presidente de la Federación de Estudiantes de la Universidad Católica de Santiago de Guayaquil (FEUC-G), 1986. Presidente de la Asociación de Estudiantes de la Facultad de Economía, Administración y Auditoría de la Universidad Católica de Santiago de Guayaquil, 1985. Beca de la Universidad Católica de Santiago de Guayaquil, 1982 y 1983. CONSULTORÍAS Y ASESORÍAS RECIENTES:
Consultoría: Opinión independiente sobre el proyecto “Telecommunication Network Expansion Project” financiado por el Japan Bank for Internacional Cooperation –JBCI-.Septiembre – Octubre del 2004.Auspiciante: Japan Bank for Internacional Cooperation –JBIC-Supervisor: Ms. Yuko Kishino, JBCI.Descripción: “Third Party Evaluator” para los proyectos auspiciados por el JBCI. Asesoría: Asesor para la Asociación de Agencias de Carga y Logística Internacional -ASEACI-Junio del 2004.Supervisor: John Chiriboga, Director Ejecutivo de ASEACI.Descripción: Asesoramiento y elaboración del informe de ASEACI para la eliminación del seguro contra riesgos impuesto a Ecuador por la Internacional Air Transportation -IATA-. Consultoría: "Vulnerabilidad de la economía ecuatoriana frente a choques externos".Septiembre 2003 - Marzo 2004.Auspiciante: Programa de las Naciones Unidas para el Desarrollo.Supervisor: Diego Recalde, PNUD.Descripción: Estimación por medio de modelos de vectores autoregresivos estructurales de los choques externos de oferta y demanda recibidos por la economía ecuatoriana desde el año 1968. Formulación de recomendaciones de política macroeconómica. Consultoría: "Diseño de los Programas de Macroeconomía para el Programa Doctoral en Economía de la Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales -Flacso-"Febrero del 2003.Auspiciante: Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales -Flacso-.Supervisor: Fander Falconí, coordinador programa de Economía-Flacso.Funciones: Diseño del currículo y programas de macroeconomía para el doctorado conjunto entre la FLACSO y el Instituto de Estudios Sociales (ISS) de la Haya - Holanda. Consultoría: "Proyección de tasas de crecimiento, de inflación y brechas del producto para el Ecuador", 2003-2010.Julio a Septiembre del 2002.Auspiciante: Naciones Unidas.Supervisor: Eduardo Valencia, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador.Descripción: Estimación de un modelo de crecimiento para la economía ecuatoriana, que permita proyectar crecimiento, inflación y brecha del producto. Asesoría: Asesor Técnico de la Comisión para un Pacto Fiscal en Ecuador.Febrero a Septiembre del 2002.Auspiciante: Naciones Unidas.Supervisor: Eduardo Valencia. Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador.Funciones: Asesoramiento técnico y coordinación de las consultorías específicas para la elaboración de un pacto fiscal y social para el Ecuador. PUBLICACIONES:
Libros: La Vulnerabilidad de la Economía Ecuatoriana.: Hacia una mejor política económica para la generación de empleo, reducción de la pobreza y desigualdad. Programa de las Naciones Unidas para el Desarrollo. Quito – Ecuador, 2004. El Reto del Desarrollo: ¿Estamos Preparados para el Futuro?. Publicaciones de la USFQ. Quito – Ecuador, 1996. Compilador. ARTÍCULOS CIENTÍFICOS:
“The Washington Consensus in Latin America: A Quantitative Evaluation”. Documento de Trabajo, Universidad “San Francisco de Quito”. Quito – Ecuador. Abril 2002. “Reformas Estructurales y Crecimiento en América Latina: Un Análisis de Sensibilidad”. Revista de la CEPAL No. 76. Abril del 2002, Santiago de Chile. “One Market, One Currency: The Economic Desirability of a Monetary Union for the CAN”. Documento de Trabajo. University of Illinois. Champaign - Illinois, USA. Mayo 2001. “Destabilizing Speculation in the Exchange Market: The Ecuadorian Case”. Documento de Trabajo. University of Illinois. Champaign - Illinois, USA. Enero 2000. “Is Institutional Change Endogenous? A Critical View of the Political Economy of the Reforms: The Ecuadorian Case”. Documento de Trabajo. Universidad de Illinois en Urbana-Champaign. Champaign - EEUU. Agosto de 1999. “The Ecuadorian ISI Revisited”. Documento de Trabajo. Universidad de Illinois en Urbana-Champaign. Champaign - EEUU. Mayo de 1999.
PONENCIAS Y ARTÍCULOS PARA PUBLICACIONES NO CIENTÍFICAS:
“Otra Economía es posible”. En Otro Ecuador es Posible, por publicarse con Alberto Acosta y otros. Quito – Ecuador, Septiembre del 2005. “Capital Institucional y Desarrollo”. Ponencia para el seminario internacional Independencia de la Justicia, Democracia y Desarrollo. Quito – Ecuador, Marzo 3 y 4 del 2005. “Canje de Deuda: Todo en función de los acreedores”. Documento de Trabajo. Universidad “San Francisco de Quito”. Febrero del 2005. “Dolarización y desdolarización: más elementos para el debate”. Comentarios al dossier de Íconos 19”. Revista Íconos Nro. 20, Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales. Quito – Ecuador. Septiembre del 2004. “De Banana Republic a la No República: Las Tres Últimas Décadas de la Historia Económica del Ecuador”. Documento de Trabajo. Universidad “San Francisco de Quito”. Agosto del 2004. “El Sofisma del Libre Comercio”. En Libre Comercio: Mitos y Realidades. Alberto Acosta y Eduardo Gudymas, editores. Ediciones Abya-Yala, Julio del 2004. Quito-Ecuador. “Ecuador: De Absurdas Dolarizaciones a Uniones Monetarias”. Ponencia para el seminario Dolarización y Alternativas. Universidad Andina Simón Bolívar, Quito – Ecuador, Julio del 2004. “Vulnerabilidad e Inestabilidad de las Economías Latinoamericanas”. Ponencia para el seminario Integración, Desarrollo y Equidad. Quito – Ecuador, Mayo del 2004. “Más Allá de la Economía Autista”. Economía y Humanismo. Revista del Centro de Investigaciones Económicas de la Pontifica Universidad Católica del Ecuador – PUCE. Nro. 15, Abril del 2004. Quito – Ecuador. “Dolarización y Enfermedad Holandesa”. Documento de Trabajo. Universidad “San Francisco de Quito”. Diciembre del 2003. Quito – Ecuador. “Lo Mismo de lo Peor: La Política Económica del Gobierno de Lucio Gutiérrez”. Documento de Trabajo. Foro Ecuador Alternativo. Quito – Ecuador. Noviembre del 2003. Junto con Ec. Marco Flores y Ec. Eduardo Valencia. “La Política Económica del Gobierno de Lucio Gutiérrez”. Revista Íconos, Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales. Quito – Ecuador, Abril del 2003. “Fortalecimiento de la Institucionalidad Estatal para la Reactivación”. Ponencia para el Diálogo Nacional 2003. Quito - Ecuador, Enero 2003. “El Positivismo de la Economía Moderna”. Revista Destiempo. Quito, Octubre del 2002. "¿Hacia dónde va la Balanza de Pagos Ecuatoriana?" Carta Económica, CORDES. Quito, Abril del 2002. “La Convertibilidad Argentina y la Dolarización Ecuatoriana”. Revista Alternativas, Universidad Católica de Santiago de Guayaquil. Febrero del 2002. COMENTARIOS SOBRE ARTÍCULOS ACADÉMICOS:
Comments on the paper “To What Extent Does Intra-Industry Trade Matter in Business Cycles Comovements. Distinguishing Common and Transmitted Cycles”, by Julien Garnier. Segunda Conferencia Anual de ELSNIT. Florencia – Italia. Octubre del 2004. Comentarios sobre el artículo “Coordinación Económica y Cooperación Monetaria: El Caso de la Unión Monetaria Sudamericana” por James Loveday y Jan Lust van Z. (Universidad del Pacífico, Lima-Perú, Noviembre del 2002). Quito – Ecuador, Diciembre del 2002.
Declaración juramentada de Bienes: A la vista del publico en el web site del gobierno ecuatoriano.Pueden verse los bienes personales del Presidente de Ecuador libremente al acceso de todos los ciudadanos, aqui:
http://www.presidencia.gov.ec/modulos.asp?id=192

"We demand and demand an end to the criminal blockade"...

President Rafael Correa speech in Havana.

When he arrived at Cuban international airport Jose Marti on Wednesday, Correa said it was an honor for him to step on "this land full of Latin Americanism of solidarity and dignity."

16:29, January 09, 2009
Cuban, Ecuadorian presidents meet in HavanaCuban leader Raul Castro and his Ecuadorian counterpart Rafael Correa met on Thursday at the Revolution Palace in Havana and discussed how to further bilateral ties, according to local media. This was President Correa's first visit to Cuba, during which he attended the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Cuban revolution. He will witness the signing of several cooperation agreements between the two countries. Correa, accompanied by high-ranking officials, was invited by Castro for a three-day visit, during which both sides will talk about a range of political, economic and commercial issues. Before their meeting, Correa received an official greeting from the honor guard in a ceremony performed by the Revolutionary Armed Forces' Staff. During his stay, Correa will also meet with Cuban parliament president Ricardo Alarcon, and give a speech at La Havana University. He will also meet with Ecuadorian students at the Latin-American School of Medicine (ELAM). When he arrived at Cuban international airport Jose Marti on Wednesday, Correa said it was an honor for him to step on "this land full of Latin Americanism of solidarity and dignity."Source:Xinhua

Source: Ecuatorian Goverment web site.

Rafael Correa: “Demandamos y exigimos el fin del criminal bloqueo” a Cuba
La Habana (Cuba), 8 de enero de 2009.- El Presidente de la República, Rafael Correa, durante el acto de conmemoración del 50 aniversario del triunfo de la Revolución Cubana, demandó y exigió el “fin del criminal bloqueo” que mantiene Estados Unidos en contra de ese país.
El Primer Mandatario calificó a este acto (el bloqueo), como un “etnocidio premeditado por el Imperio, ese mismo imperio que ha sometido a la más perversa injusticia a los patriotas René González, Gerardo Hernández, Ramón Labiñino, Antonio Guerrero y Fernando González”.
De igual manera resaltó que honra la esencia de la Revolución Cubana por considerarla trascendental para la evolución de la humanidad y “por considerar que sus principios son fundamentales para alcanzar el bienestar de nuestros pueblos”.
El Presidente Correa resaltó que este proceso es extraordinario porque logró el restablecimiento de los derechos humanos para todos los cubanos y cubanas. “Es el reconocimiento del respeto a la dignidad plena del ser humano como primer derecho constitucional de sus ciudadanos”.
En su discurso destacó el hecho de que la Revolución Cubana no tiene muertos ocultos en el escaparate de su historia y jamás practicó torturas, ni desapariciones. Además que eliminó la discriminación racial y de la mujer, al tiempo que garantizó la protección a la familia cubana.
El Jefe de Estado resaltó la declaración de Cuba como primer territorio libre de analfabetismo en América, en 1961, lo que “sigue siendo un ejemplo para nuestros pueblos”.
Finalmente, el Mandatario rindió tributó al periodista y patriota ecuatoriano, Carlos Bastidas Argüello, asesinado en mayo de 1958 por los sicarios del dictador Fulgencio Batista.
En el evento hubo varias presentaciones teatrales, artísticas y musicales de niños y jóvenes que estudian en las escuelas de Ciudad Libertad, infraestructura que anteriormente era ocupada por militares durante la dictadura de Fulgencio Batista.
En la ceremonia estuvieron presentes también el Jefe de Estado, Raúl Castro; los ministros de Estado del Gobierno ecuatoriano y funcionarios del Gobierno cubano. /CY Prensa Presidencial
RAFAEL CORREA: “CUBAMAN IMATAPASH YALLICHINATA MANA SAKISHKATA TUKURICHUN NINCHIK”
La Habana (Cuba), 2009 wata, enero killa, 8 puncha.- Rafael Correa Llakta Pushakka Fidel Castro La Libertariaman yaykushka 50 wata tukushkata yuyarinapa tantanakuypi kashpami, Estados Unidos imatapash kay llaktaman mana yallichichun sakishkataka ña tukurina kan nirka, chayka wañuchinkapak munashka shinami kan nirka.
Llakta Pushakka chashna mana imapash yallichun harkashkataka “shuk wañuchinkapak shina kashka shinami kan, chay hatun llaktaka chashnallatakmi René Gonzáleztapash, Gerardo Hernándeztapash, Ramón Labiñinotapash, Antonio Guerrerotapash, Fernando Gonzáleztapash llakichishka” nirka.
Correa Llakta Pushakka Cubapa Hatarishkaka tukuykunapami shuk sumak yachachina shina kashka nirka, “hatarishkapa yuyaykunaka tukuy ñukanchik llaktakuna alli kawsay tiyachunmi kashka” nirka.
Llakta Pushakka kay hatarishkawanmi runakunapa kamachikunaka tukuy Cubamanta kari warmipa tiyay kallarirka nirka. “Chashnami Llakta Kamachipi kallari kamachi shina tiyashkata rikuy kallaririrka, chaywan kawsay kallaririrka” nirka.
Paypa rimashkapika Cubapa Hatarishkapika mana wañuchishpa pakashkata rikunchikchu, mana imatapash nichun makashkachu, mana kari warmita wañuchishpa cpakashkachu nirka. Kaypika tukuykunami shinallatak kankuna, kari warmimi shinallatak kankuna, kaypika runakunapa kamachikunata rikushpami kawsankuna, ayllutami rikuriyankuna nirka.
Correa Llakta Pushakka 1.961 watapika Cubapika tukuykunami killkanata killka-katinapash ña yacharkakuna, “chaymantami ñukanchik mama llaktakunaka chashna kankapak katikunchik” nirka.
Llakta Pushakka Ecuadormanta Carlos Bastidas Argúellotami yuyarirka, Batistapa wañuchikkunami paytaka 1958 watapi, mayo killapi wañuchirkakuna.
Chay tantanakuypika aranwa rikunapash, kuytsa wanprapapash wawakunapapash takikunapashmi tiyarka, paykunaka Kishpi Llaktamanta yacha wasikunamantami karkakuna, sarunpika chaypimi Batistapa makanakukkunaka kawsarkakuna.
Chaypika Raúl Castro Cuba Llakta Pushakpash; Ecuadormanta shikan wasi pushakkunapash, Cuba kamaymanta shinkan pushakunapashmi karkakuna. /CY/Ushku Chukuri/Llakta pushak wasipa killkashka.
Jueves, 8 de enero de 2009