| Planning for a modern Juba: the pitfalls in choosing partners
April 8 2007 — One year ago, a number of Southern Sudanese professionals and I agreed with the basic objectives of the government of the Southern Sudan on the need to harness existing human and physical resources and build the institutional capacity to undertake some of the pertinent and urgent reconstruction and development priorities. The need for this was reiterated by Vice president Salva Kirr's remarks in Juba, on March 21st 2007 when he addressed the Sudan Consortium Meeting and I quote ….regimes emerging out of conflict situations like ours with weak structures, institutions and capacity and poor systems are often prone to corrupt practices both from within and from without" This is pleasant to hear but it also makes what I am going to say less relevant for the Vice President because it would be like preaching to the converted.
Globalisation, Yes, Globalisation, No
Globalisation was in discussion yesterday at a seminar at the World Bank Dhaka Office looking for making it work for the developing world, viz. Bangladesh and other similar countries. Many foreign and local experts including ministers, diplomats and economists explored the possibilities to get more opportunities from globalisation, and identifying the constraints. Our finance adviser said, "Inequality is increasing due to the global trading pattern… then, of course, we need a compensation mechanism on how do we compensate the losers" (The Daily Star, April 9th). He talked in the language of economics while the key-note speaker British High Commissioner Anwar Choudhury highlighted the dark side of globalisation, saying it could bring threats of global crime and terrorism that could be organised and spread with devastating impact.
Russia's energy policy: Should Europe worry?
East-West relations are deteriorating to a level not seen since the Soviet period. Recent cover stories on Russia from The Economist (December 16, 2006) and Der Spiegel (March 5, 2007) present President Vladimir Putin as a gangster with a gasoline pump and a Soviet Commissar wielding Gazproms massive pipeline network. These images illustrate a growing fear in the West that Russia is a threat. Russia, according to this point of view, is using energy as a weapon to rebuild its empire. This article examines to what extent Europe, which is heavily dependent on Russian oil and natural gas supplies, should worry. Real and Perceived Threats What the European consumer of Russian gas and oil worries about is mainly what he or she decides to worry about. A major turning point in Europes perception followed the Russia-Ukraine gas dispute in January 2006: Many European governments and large parts of the media decided that the short-lived shutdown of Russian gas deliveries to Ukraine were something to worry about.
Japanese IT Guru Found Guilty
In one of the biggest scandals in Japan's corporate history, a Tokyo court has found Takafumi Horie, the flamboyant founder and former president of Internet startup Livedoor Co, guilty of accounting fraud and other securities-law violations.
In its ruling on Friday, the Tokyo District Court sentenced Horie to two and a half years in prison without suspension, a decision unusually heavy for the crime. Horie, who was once seen as an iconic leader of a more freewheeling style of capitalism in Japan, immediately appealed the ruling, according to his lawyer. The Livedoor scandal has brought deep -- and still reverberating -- repercussions to the Japanese business world as well as the stock market.
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How you can check out financial advisers
I've got answers to some interesting reader questions today, including how to bequeath a Roth IRA, who pays tax on a child's account, how to adjust your payroll withholding to avoid a big tax bill and how to transfer homeownership to a child. Q: In response to my column on an upgraded Web site for checking out stockbrokers (March 22), Jack K. asks, "Are there sites such as those mentioned in your column that similarly vet independent financial advisers, who may work on a fee-only basis, as opposed to brokers who may be affiliated with investment firms?" A: Some advisers and financial planners are also registered as brokers. If they are, you can find their dossiers at www.nasd.com. Click on NASD BrokerCheck and follow the directions. If they are not brokers, you'll have to dig deeper.
MIT Conference is Bullish on Solar Power
Rhone Resch stood at the microphone in a conference room in Cambridge, Mass., and asked for a show of hands. “How many people here,“ he demanded, “have a solar system on the roof of their house or their business?" Not more than a dozen people responded. “Now, how many people want to have a solar system on the roof of your house or your business?" This time every hand went up, accompanied by some sheepish chuckling. “People want to have solar," explained Resch, the president of the Solar Energy Industries Association, based in Washington, D.C. “There's an incredible untapped demand here." To judge by the discussion at MIT's Energy 2.0 Conference, held in early March, the public could well get its way. The conference brought entrepreneurs and inventors together with financiers to discuss not just advances in renewable fuels but in unconventional oil, hybrid cars, and climate change policy.
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