Arhiv Svet
37 milijard USD za dobrodelne namene
| 26. junij 2006 | Svet | Jure
Warren Buffet, drugi najbogatejši Zemljan, je v dobrodelne namene podaril 85 odstotkov svojega bogastva. Približno 37,4 milijarde USD.
Als Warren Buffett 1952 heiratete, warnte der damals 22-Jährige seine Frau Suzie gleich vorab: “Ich werde einmal reich werden.” Suzie ließ das freilich kalt: “Entweder sie interessierte das nicht, oder sie glaubte mir nicht”, erinnert sich Buffett. Für den Fall, dass es aber wirklich so weit kommen sollte, seien sich beide immer schon einig gewesen, was sie letztlich mit dem Vermögen anfangen wollten: “Es wieder an die Gesellschaft zurückgeben.”
Friedman v Sueddeutsche Zeitung
| 26. junij 2006 | Svet | Jure
Sueddeutche Zeitung je v sobotni izdaji objavil tudi intervju z zdaj že 93-letnim Miltonom Friedmanom, “visokim svečenikom trga”. Intervju, ki vam ob branju večkrat izvabi tisto “že, že…ampak.” S Friedmanom se strinjam glede vojne v Iraku in neumnosti vojne proti drogam, pri ostalem pa imam velike pomisleke. A vseeno, a kdo lahko cesarju z Nobelovo nagrado ob takem odgovoru:
Was ist mit Ländern wie Finnland, wo der Staat effizient ist, die Leute gern Steuern bezahlen und die Wirtschaft wächst? Man trifft in dieser Welt auf alle möglichen Anomalien. Es gibt keinen Grund, weshalb Laisser-faire nicht auch in Skandinavien funktionieren würde.
že končno pove, da je nag?
(Pripis: “anomalija” je lep evfemizem za nezmožnost pojasnitve/razlage in dober napotek, da ste teoretsko malo bosi)
W. Engdahl
| 20. junij 2006 | Svet | Jure
Včeraj sem med preklapljanjem televizijskih kanalov ujel zadnjo četrtino oddaje na HRT, posvečene gensko spremenjenim organizmom (GSO), kjer so gostili W. Engdahla. Zanimiv gost, zanimiva oddaja, ki je ponudila dober vpogled v pritiske mednarodnih korporacij na politiko zaradi GSO. Kasneje sem malo pobrskal po netu in odkril, da je Engdahl avtor, ki že 30 let piše o energetiki, politiki in ekonomiji. Objavil je tudi svetovno uspešnico A Century of War: Anglo-American Oil Politics and the New World Order, v kratkem pa bo izdal še Seeds of Destruction: the hidden agenda of GMO.
Engdahl ima tudi svojo spletno stran, kjer je kar nekaj zanimivega branja.
Ameriško veleposlaništvo v Bagdadu piše…
| 19. junij 2006 | Svet | Jure
Sporočilo ameriškega veleposlaništva o življenju osebja, ki ne živi v strogo varovani zeleni coni.
– “Personal safety depends on good relations with the ‘neighborhood’ governments, who barricade streets and ward off outsiders. The central government, our staff says, is not relevant; even local mukhtars have been displaced or coopted by militias. People no longer trust most neighbors.”
– One embassy employee had a brother-in-law kidnapped. Another received a death threat, and then fled the country with her family.
– Iraqi staff at the embassy, beginning in March and picking up in May, report “pervasive” harassment from Islamist and/or militia groups. Cuts in power and rising fuel prices “have diminished the quality of life.” Conditions vary but even upscale neighborhoods “have visibly deteriorated” and one of them is now described as a “ghost town.”
– Two of the three female Iraqis in the public affairs office reported stepped-up harassment since mid-May….”some groups are pushing women to cover even their face, a step not taken in Iran even at its most conservative.” One of the women is now wearing a full abaya after receiving direct threats.
– It has also become “dangerous” for men to wear shorts in public and “they no longer allow their children to play outside in shorts.” People who wear jeans in public have also come under attack.
– Embassy employees are held in such low esteem their work must remain a secret and they live with constant fear that their cover will be blown. Of nine staffers, only four have told their families where they work. They all plan for their possible abductions. No one takes home their cell phones as this gives them away. One employee said criticism of the U.S. had grown so severe that most of her family believes the U.S. “is punishing populations as Saddam did.”
– Since April, the “demeanor” of guards in the Green Zone has changed, becoming more “militia-like,” and some are now “taunting” embassy personnel or holding up their credentials and saying loudly that they work in the embassy: “Such information is a death sentence if overheard by the wrong people.” For this reason, some have asked for press instead of embassy credentials.
– “For at least six months, we have not been able to use any local staff members for translation at on-camera press events….We cannot call employees in on weekends or holidays without blowing their ‘cover.’”
– “More recently, we have begun shredding documents printed out that show local staff surnames. In March, a few staff members approached us to ask what provisions would we make for them if we evacuate.”
– The overall environment is one of “frayed social networks,” with frequent actual or perceived insults. None of this is helped by lack of electricity. “One colleague told us he feels ‘defeated’ by circumstances, citing his example of being unable to help his two-year-old son who has asthma and cannot sleep in stifling heat,” which is now reaching 115 degrees.
– “Another employee tell us that life outside the Green Zone has become ‘emotionally draining.’ He lives in a mostly Shiite area and claims to attend a funeral ‘every evening.’”
– Fuel lines have grown so long that one staffer spent 12 hours in line on his day off. “Employees all confirm that by the last week of May, they were getting one hour of power for every six hours without. … One staff member reported that a friend lives in a building that houses a new minister; within 24 hours of his appointment, her building had city power 24 hours a day.”
– The cable concludes that employees’ “personal fears are reinforcing divisive sectarian or ethnic channels, despite talk of reconciliation by officials.”
Žalitev religioznih čustev - tri leta zapora
| 19. junij 2006 | Svet | Jure
Edmund Stoiber, šef nemške (ajd, bavarske) CSU, se je v novem intervjuju zavzel za poostritev kazni za žalitev religioznih čustev. V kolikor bo s pobudo uspešen pri Merklovi, bo žalitev religioznih čustev v Nemčiji hudo resna zadeva, ki vas bo v najhujšem primeru nagradila s tremi letami bivanja v zaprtih prostorih na državne stroške. Več o tem…
p.s. Fenomenalna fotografija, kajne?
The rich, the poor and the growing gap between them
| 19. junij 2006 | Svet | Jure
A meritocracy only works if it seen to be fair. The US system increasingly fails that test, as this week’s Economist cover story on inequality and the American dream explains.
Celoten članek + precej dobrih povezav
Slovaški reformisti pred volilnim porazom
| 16. junij 2006 | Svet | Jure
Pa tako so se trudili! EDS, deregulacija, privatizacija, liberalizacija… ni da ni. Tujci so jim peli hvalnice, a plesali so samo dve leti. Jutri so namreč na Slovaškem volitve, nahvaležni Slovaki pa baje niso preveč zadovoljni s slabo rastjo plač, podražitvami in drugimi socialnimi posledicami reform. Slovaško torej zagotovo čaka leva vlada, ki napoveduje spremembe tudi na zunanjepolitičnem področju (beri: poberimo se iz Iraka).
Iračani bežijo v Sirijo in Jordanijo
| 16. junij 2006 | Svet | Jure
U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants je objavil, da je od začetka lanskega leta v Sirijo in Jordanijo prebegnilo več kot 650.000 Iračanov. Skupaj naj bi v tujini živelo kar 880.000 Iračanov, kar postavlja Irak na tretje mesto po številu beguncev, za Palestino in Afganistanom.
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