International press impressions of week ending June 15, 2013
Posted By jimcwaters on June 16, 2013
Items I found interesting, outside of the continual feeds on Turkey, Syria, and surveillance and leaks in the US:
African airlines, it’s pride is in shame–despite the fact that Kenyan, one of the best inter-African and reliable airlines just reported a $100 million loss, the only direction here is growth, with African airlines only accounting for 3% of global travel. With open skies and plans for some budget carriers, the future looks promising (BBC).
Cambodian style of democracy Le Monde chose to make this the lead on its geo & politique, with news of the ruling People’s Party (read Hun Sen’s club) expelling all opposition parliamentary members on the pretext they broke internal rules of the parliament. Elections are scheduled for July 28–the same date that another tenuous election is planned in Mali.
Still looking for a non-moribund morality in China–The most popular article on-line for the Southern Weekly (南方周末) follows a long-term discussion in China about morality. With a leading party (really an exclusive club) that has a theoretical basis that itself discredits in action and the story in 2010 of the young Yue Yue whom numerous people ignored on the street as she was in trouble, Chinese have. turned to a variety of religions. The piece is lengthy and analyzes both Chinese and European history in changes in moral practices, ending up arguing that things are better now without slavery, improvement in the state of women and widespread agreements on human rights. Three weeks ago too, the 60-minute style program (焦点访谈) told of Chinese tourists defacing ancient sites in Egypt, reminding citizens that they should be more cultured when traveling.
The Taiwan/Philippines fight improves Chinese-Taiwanese relations: The Chinese Asia Weekly devotes nearly half its issue on the incident where the Philippine coast guard killed fisherman Hong Shicheng. The Southern Weekly posts prominently the visit of the Kuomindang’s honorary chairman Wu Boxiong.
Cultural protection under a free trade: one of my favorite trade economists told me that “free trade” agreements need only one statement: “no barriers.” Apparently the French negotiators don’t think so and are adamant on protecting their culture from the US in any agreement. The weekend version of the Financial Times interviews the philosopher/dandy Bernard-Henri Lévy who says “French culture is better protected by the energy and audacity of the writers and the moviemakers than by laws and formal protections.”
Russian state control of and dependence on oil–Just as Thane Gustafson’s new book on the Russian oil industry and the state’s rec0ntrol after the divestment in the 1990s (Wheel of Fortune), reviewed in the London Review of Books, Kommersant tells of its confidence that the Russian government will be able to reform how its state monopolies will fall under public oversight. Right that the state control of oil and gas could follow the model of Norway and states on the Arabian peninsula (the US is really the only country where private reigns), Russia remains challenged to find way to avoid the longer term problems of its resource curse. Igor Gaidar argued that the fall in oil prices led the fall of the Soviet Union; one pre-eminent American diplomat of Soviet space asked me once what on earth is attractive to foreigners from Russia other than what comes from Russian earth–maybe Ak-47s?
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