World Affairs
Posted on May 3, 2012 by Austin Osoroh
India, China and Brazil easily represent trophy nations for the argument that information technology is the short cut for developing countries to vault into the developed countries status. And there are many grounds solidify this claim. On the basis alone of information being power itself, and communications as the bearer of opportunities, it is often difficult to mount a counter offensive. The countless and increasing testimonies of the direct effects of Facebook, Twitter and Google on personal and economic value is rife. Wealth and opportunities have, and is being transmitted or transferred from advanced to less developed countries at an ever growing rate. The advent of the virtual worker is leaning a considerable influence on the bottom line of these countries’ foreign earnings. Businesses and organizations, in optimally pedaling the opportunities of information technology, are growing their market share, optimizing their expertise and tapping into resources far from their locality.… Continue reading →
Posted in Modern Living, Social Commentary, Society, Uncategorized, World Affairs |
Tagged advancement, China, developing, India, Information Technology
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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 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 19, 2012 by Austin Osoroh
Before Anders Behring Breivik’s hero worship formally transpires into a surprising concern for all those bearing a sense of outrage for a mass murderer, the warning must be sounded; It is a coming inevitability, and its foremost sponsor is the none other than society’s equivocal quest for utopian democratic values. Indeed the charade of his trial is already established by his blatant mockery of the whole process, in the
assured awareness that Norwegian laws and justice system has neither the capacity nor will to reciprocate his dastardly deeds with commensurate totality.
In truth, society is better off in advancing the ability to prevent or dissuade crime than in punishing it. Thus the alignment of society’s values to pursue such standards is justifiable, but only in the abstract when man is also no longer capable of self destructive tendencies. Irony, in Breivik’s instance abounds, for a man whose contribution and… Continue reading →
Posted in Social Commentary, Society, Uncategorized, World Affairs |
Tagged breivik, justice, norway, utoeya
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Posted on April 18, 2012 by Austin Osoroh
With abortion starts the first line of depriving a human the opportunity to life without their consent. In Spain, the recent rage over depravation to a life, although centered on infancy, is distant from the outright ending of life. Pointedly, it is ‘switching’ of a child’s parents without the consent of the child or biological parents. As doctors and nuns, who for a period from the 1960s to the late 80s, face the growing possibility of prosecution for selling new borns to more prosperous and befitting parents, the total appraisal of the effects of their crimes stand the possibility of being lost.
The State and religious institutions, in their domineering position over the Spanish society have, by these actions, influenced the family settings in the hope of achieving their ideals for the future of Spain. In the case of the nuns and doctors, the only defense to be mustered… Continue reading →
Posted in Society, Uncategorized, World Affairs |
Tagged church, justice, nuns
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Posted on April 10, 2012 by skeptik@l
2011 was the year of protest and revolution. It was the year of change. Many believed it to be a precursor for something bigger. For that, people like us expect a lot from this year, the year 2012. Sadly, it seems as though the revolution from last year is lost somewhere and it can’t be found.
Where did the revolution go? Sandra Gonzalez-Bailon tries to address that question in the article she wrote for Al-Jazeera. According Gonzalez-Bailon, social media sites like twitter and facebook generally help to spread the message and cause of a revolution but the impact is short-lived. The basis of this idea is that online platforms help the spread of controversial politics because online platforms are generally flexible. The process of re-tweeting on Twitter, sharing a link on Facebook or sending out online messages to social media contacts make the information being shared and spread have… Continue reading →
Posted in Activism, History, Media, Modern Living, Social Commentary, Society, World Affairs |
Tagged Revolution, Social Media
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Posted on March 6, 2012 by skeptik@l
Henry Kissinger once described this man as “one of the asymmetries of history”. Kissinger’s former boss, Richard Nixon, gave a more generous compliment to the same man, convinced that had he lived during a different time and a different place, he could most possibly have “attained the world stature of a Churchill, a Disraeli, or a Gladstone.” The man described by Kissinger and Nixon happens to be none other than Lee Kuan Yew, the former Prime Minister, Senior Minister and Minister Mentor of Singapore.
Having served Singapore as Prime Minister for a remarkable forty-seven years, Lee is often scrutinized and condemned by Western liberals. Lee was labeled a grimy authoritarian, despotic dictator and a totalitarian – those and possibly every other autocratic insult you can find out there. Despite being criticized and condemned for implementing the most ridiculous of laws such as banning the sale of chewing gum in Singapore,… Continue reading →
Posted in Government, Great Leaders, Politics, Social Commentary, World Affairs |
Tagged Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore
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Posted on January 20, 2012 by Austin Osoroh
Oil power and money, has funded relevance for many nations as the commodity continues to fuel the global economy. From Venezuela’s questionable charity causes to poor Americans to Putin’s arm-twisting of Europe to impose its will, oil indeed has proven a formidable weapon. As an energy source, oil’s longevity as a mainstay of the global economy has increasingly raised eyebrows in the continued absence of a viable alternative. Technology and research has promised and delivered so much, except in providing a true rival to break the hegemony of oil. In sweet irony, some of the major sources
of this valuable resource have coincided with boundaries and territories that necessarily do not favor or conform to the values of the larger international community. Thus the arising situation of impasse cannot be denied, and perhaps in extreme views, it has presented for a measure of tolerance in global affairs. Dissenting governments… Continue reading →
Posted in Politics, Social Commentary, World Affairs |
Tagged ideologies, oil, politics
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Posted on January 19, 2012 by Austin Osoroh
Undoubtedly, capital punishment is a frontrunner in the slew of dying fads among the comity of nations, regardless of what China’s next figures may read. While the practice of State undertaken breath snuffing from law erring citizens is on its ultimate cruise down Global Abandonment Avenue, the thoughts it leaves many to ruminate on without the din of its
proponents and opponents are varied and interesting. A prism of evaluation that is difficult to dismiss is whether it served any useful purpose, and interestingly, bathed by the rays of such thinking is the bold, glaring fact that crime will never be eradicated.
For opponents of capital punishment the list of buttressing arguments against the practice is long, and entirely provable. And spearheads like Amnesty International are confident that its global stoppage can only be within a matter of years, rather than decades. Yet any case that can be made… Continue reading →
Posted in Social Commentary, Society, World Affairs |
Posted on January 18, 2012 by Austin Osoroh
Silicon Valley and Bangalore may not be aware of the threats from Caribbean upstarts in Cumuto, Trinidad or Salisbury, Dominica. The next wave of Information Technology innovations is set to be driven from these anonymous Caribbean hinterlands to supersede the Facebooks, Youtubes and Instagrams of today. And just as Brazil has breezed past the United Kingdom in economic brawn, these Caribbean IT initiatives are a proof of the consummate shift of relevance across the Information Technology plains. Ribboned on these new spate of services and products, most of
them already undergoing beta testing, are the unmistakable spirit of superior thinking and unabashed daring; the Caribbean is finally ready to shed its stereotypes. Awuch! Dizzying stuff of sheer high-octane wishful dreaming, is what all of the foregoing presently represents.
Nevertheless, It can and ought to mark the pervading consciousness of the Caribbean in the global evolution that is shunting the… Continue reading →
Posted in Economics, Nations, Technology & Innovation, World Affairs |
Tagged Caribbean, global, Information Technology, Intellectual property, services
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Developing In A Rush
Posted on May 3, 2012 by Austin Osoroh
India, China and Brazil easily represent trophy nations for the argument that information technology is the short cut for developing countries to vault into the developed countries status. And there are many grounds solidify this claim. On the basis alone of information being power itself, and communications as the bearer of opportunities, it is often difficult to mount a counter offensive. The countless and increasing testimonies of the direct effects of Facebook, Twitter and Google on personal and economic value is rife. Wealth and opportunities have, and is being transmitted or transferred from advanced to less developed countries at an ever growing rate. The advent of the virtual worker is leaning a considerable influence on the bottom line of these countries’ foreign earnings. Businesses and organizations, in optimally pedaling the opportunities of information technology, are growing their market share, optimizing their expertise and tapping into resources far from their locality.… Continue reading →
Posted in Modern Living, Social Commentary, Society, Uncategorized, World Affairs | Tagged advancement, China, developing, India, Information Technology | Leave a comment