Politics
Posted on April 27, 2012 by Austin Osoroh
Perhaps, it was because Hollywood now stuttered to craft spellbinding scripts of political thrillers with erstwhile regularity. So China decided to lend a hand with a real life template set in Chongqing, and with a British character for international twist; the Bo Xilai Pact has been playing before packed global audiences from all major heavyweight news sources from Australia to Helsinki. The saga as it unfolds, raises more questions with every scene of intrigue and convolution. Ultimately, what would concern strategic thinkers in the State
Department will revolve solely around the ‘real’ powers within China’s Politburo, and the possible tweaking of its personnel to ensure continuity with the new wave of incoming leaders.
In the light of the saga, there is a necessity to ponder the ‘untouchable’ place of Xilai until Wang Lijun opened his can of worms inside the American Consulate about the murder of Neil Heywood. As… Continue reading →
Posted in Politics, Society, World Affairs |
Tagged beijing, bo, China, lijun, xilai
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Posted on April 26, 2012 by skeptik@l
Is there a correlation between an individual’s alcohol tolerance level and his leadership abilities? If the level of alcohol intake really does affect your ability to lead, well then we all know what to look for in a leader now wouldn’t we?
Mitt Romney, a Republican candidate for the United States Presidential election revealed to the press that he is a teetotaller because of his Mormon faith. Amusingly, Timothy Egan from the New York Times found some sort of correlation between American presidents who consumed alcohol and those who didn’t.
Egan enlightened his readers when informing them that in the history of presidency in the United States, the best presidents were perceived to be flexible, open-minded and were “generally open to a drink.” However, the presidents who refrained from drinking were the ones who were encapsulated as terrible presidents. For instance, the last president to refrain from drinking was none… Continue reading →
Posted in Fascinating Characters, Food, Government, Great Leaders, History, Modern Living, Politics, Society |
Tagged Alcohol, Mitt Romney, Presidents
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Posted on April 25, 2012 by skeptik@l
In a feat to revolutionize the online music scene, Anonymous has recently announced the arrival of a new social music platform called Anontune. The aim of Anonymous is essentially to introduce an online platform to attain songs from all over the internet without much effort. The project is still in its beginning stages but apparently, a significant amount of attention has been diverted to the cause.
Wired magazine has featured an article on the progress of Anontune as well as the history of its creation. According to Wired, one of the Anontune founders informed Wired reporters that the project was initiated approximately 6 years ago when a group of Anonymous members started a conversation about music on an underground hacking site.
During the interview with one of the Anontune founders, it was said that the Anonymous members criticised Youtube for not having a good music player function due to… Continue reading →
Posted in Government, Modern Living, Politics, Society |
Tagged Anontune, Anonymous
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Posted on April 24, 2012 by skeptik@l
When social media was introduced to our society, most of us were appreciative of the convenience it provided. I mean, who wouldn’t be? Haven’t you ever wondered what life was like before twitter and Facebook? Think about it, what did you did to get your daily news before you had the convenience of just going through your twitter feed? Also, how on earth did you manage to keep up with your friends before the introduction of Facebook? Even though social media exists mostly to our convenience, it seems as though social media does not exist to benefit the role of politics. Take the case of the US presidential campaign as an example.
Sure enough, social media does play a significant role in politics. However so, it seems as though the progression of social media has somehow gone out of hand, according to Wesley Donehue, a Republican Internet consultant who gives… Continue reading →
Posted in Modern Living, Politics, Social Commentary, Society, Technology & Innovation |
Tagged politics, Social Media
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Posted on April 21, 2012 by skeptik@l
Ever since the demise of Kim Jong-Il, North Korea’s supreme leader from 1944 to 2011, the international community has been interested in the progress of North Korea under the new ruler – the young Kim Jong Un. Only in his late twenties, Kim Jong Un is possibly the youngest ruler North Korea has ever had and it looks like this means change for North Korea. The death of Kim Jong-Il meant heavier responsibilities for the young Kim Jong Un. Let’s be realistic here, Kim Jong-Il didn’t exactly inherit a nation of prosperity, unbridled by economic constraints. In fact, Kim Jong-Il obtained something else, something quite the contrary.
Correspondingly, the deputy director of the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington DC, Marcus Boland ascertained that North Korea’s income per capita today appears to be the same standard as it was during the 1970s. In fact, Boland claims that it is… Continue reading →
Posted in Economics, military affairs, Nations, Politics, Society |
Tagged Kim Jong Un, North Korea
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Posted on April 20, 2012 by Austin Osoroh
It is either some things never change, or they change to stay the same. The rumblings of over Dr Jim Yong Kim’s appointment to the World Bank as its president has seen the United States selective use of its democratic principles questioned yet again. As the highest votes-holding nation in the organization, that has dictated its choice of presidents since inception the United States was expected on this occasion as a start, to relinquish her monopoly.
Front runners by merit appear to be the duo of Nigeria’s Ngozi Okonji-Iweala and Colombia’s Jose Antonio Ocampo. The former a one time executive of the institution and the latter his country’s ex finance minister, and both were understandably scathing of the America’s decision to prop Dr Kim, a medical expert into a chair more befitting of a seasoned economist. Hardly the first time a professional from the non-banking or economics sector served… Continue reading →
Posted in Government, Nations, Politics, Uncategorized, World Affairs |
Tagged IMF, kim yong, presidency, world bank
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Posted on April 20, 2012 by skeptik@l
Ever since the SOPA debacle, internet piracy issues have been one of the popular topics being discussed. The intention for giving birth to SOPA is noble, no doubt but it also involves other implications. The future of the internet is at stake.
According to the Guradian, “If there is a battle over the future shape of the internet – and society as a whole – then hacktivist groups such as Anonymous and Lulzsec,Wikileaks and the file-sharing site Megaupload.com are among the frontline battalions. “
In that regard, John Perry Barlow, a lyricist for the Grateful Dead has reasons to believe that American politicians began to attack political hackers like Lulzsec and Anonymous. As such, these groups retaliated by launching online attacks on the politicians of the United States as well as the United Kingdom. They targeted government websites, News Corporations and hacked into intelligent service agencies to extract classified information.
With that… Continue reading →
Posted in Media, Modern Living, Politics, Science, Social Commentary |
Tagged Internet
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Posted on April 17, 2012 by skeptik@l
It seems as though men just cannot deny their most basic instincts. Who else to witness this first hand than the President of the United States himself. Just a few days ago, President Barack Obama left for a trip to Columbia for a political summit. He had found himself in a rather sticky situation.
Apparently, President Obama was caught in between a prostitution scandal. As much as you’d expect a stunt like that to be pulled by the president himself, because it appears to be a nice trend for powerful men to follow, it wasn’t initiated by President Obama. Instead, Obama’s Secret Service men got in trouble.
So who else to grab the spotlight if not the Secret Service men themselves? According to the Guardian, the Secret Service agents had been consuming alcoholic beverages in large quantities before the alleged event took place. So here’s what supposedly took place.… Continue reading →
Posted in Media, Modern Living, Nations, Politics, Society |
Tagged Prostitue, Secret Service
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Posted on April 9, 2012 by skeptik@l
As of recent, the nation of Israel has declared a new enemy. The German Nobel Prize winning author, Gunter Grass is apparently Israel’s new enemy. Last Wednesday, a particular poem written by Grass called “What Must Be Said” was published. It carefully pokes on sensitive issues about the current situation between Israel and Iran.
According to Guardian,
“The occasion for Günter Grass’s What Must Be Said is the sale to Israel by Germany of a submarine with the potential to carry nuclear weapons(With his last drop of ink, Grass’s poem infuriates Israel, 6 April). It is a real issue amid many arms sales from the west and the east to Middle Eastern powers. What is less real, however, is the hyperbole Grass deploys when he writes of Israel’s launching of “a pre-emptive strike which could wipe out the Iranian people”. From where does this genocidal idea come? As far as I know, it… Continue reading →
Posted in Art, History, Media, Modern Living, Politics, Religion, Society |
Tagged Gunter Grass, Iran, Israel
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Posted on April 3, 2012 by Austin Osoroh
Jobs and the economy, are the two main priorities for almost every voter in the US next presidential polls. Tough enough for the next Administration is the challenge of on delivering both, without having to worry about unexpected shenanigans from competitors like China, that like giant voracious moths have been wolfing away at the United States erstwhile economic invincibilities. There can be no doubt that strategic thinkers in Washington are already resigned to the fact that to resuscitate its stalling economic fortunes, America will have to seek new grounds on which build new advantages in competitiveness against the likes of China. Since such direct, short term routes of wresting back migrated jobs will depend on matching wages and conditions with the Chinese, an obvious anathema to the average American worker. If stimulating the US economy and creating new jobs go hand in hand, the rhetoric of the current presidential campaign… Continue reading →
Posted in Government, Politics, Social Commentary, Society, Uncategorized |
Tagged China, economy, president, White House
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Social Media Does Not Help The Cause Of Politics
Posted on April 24, 2012 by skeptik@l
Sure enough, social media does play a significant role in politics. However so, it seems as though the progression of social media has somehow gone out of hand, according to Wesley Donehue, a Republican Internet consultant who gives… Continue reading →
Posted in Modern Living, Politics, Social Commentary, Society, Technology & Innovation | Tagged politics, Social Media | Leave a comment