CHINA, The Magnanimous Superpower?

It is not often that Africa makes it to the front-page of non-African newspapers. However this week Beijing seems to be living for Africa, as the city gets ready for the Summit and Ministerial Conference of Forum On China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), to take place from the 3^rd to the 5^th of November. Chinese newspapers report on every detail of the coming event, from the preparations in the capital to the arrival of African officials, flooding their pages with pictures of President Hu Jintao greeting each and every African leader as they arrive to Beijing. In preparation for the event, the city has not only embellished itself with red lanterns and other traditional decorations. It has also decided to take more than a quarter million cars out of circulation for a day, to improve traffic and pollution conditions for their guests.

This special relation between the Middle Kingdom and the African Continent might surprise many in the West, but for those involved it is only logical to strengthen those ties. Officially, Sino-African relations started 50 years ago with Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai’s visits to Africa, followed more than 800 exchanges of visits between Chinese and African leaders, and the establishment of diplomatic relations of China with 48 African Nations. However, it is in the past ten years that both parts have really grown closer to each other, as China’s rapidly growing economy demands it to look for new business partners and more importantly, raw material and oil, both of which Africa has plenty.

The trade volume between China and Africa has increased significantly from $ 3 billion in 1995 to $ 39.7 billion in 2005, and is expected to exceed to $ 50 billion this year. This dramatic increase means for example that Angola has become China’s first oil provider, replacing Saudi Arabia. And that Nigerian markets have been flooded with cheap and many times substandard Chinese clothes and toys. But more importantly for Sub-Saharan Africa, it means a contribution to their real GDP growth, which is at a rate of 5.5%, from a 2.6% in 2000.

Nevertheless, there is much more to Sino-African relations than mere goods and commodities trade. There is also a high degree of cooperation in many areas, including infrastructure, technology, and health among others. China Daily reports that China has helped establish almost 900 projects in Africa, and train more than 14,000 personnel in various fields. And that is not all; China has also pardoned $1.38 billions in debt from 31 African countries, and has promised to do more to help the development of the continent.

In this light, China appears to be the savior Africa was waiting for. However many refuse to see the situation under that light, considering it too naïve. From an alternative perspective, China is doing what any country in its place would do: assuring its energy resources, among others of great importance, and expanding the reach of its markets while subtly tightening the leash around its less developed partners, which eventually will have to respond to China’s generosity. Yet until now, China has imposed only one condition to offering its friendship to Africa, recognizing one-China, and not a separate Taiwan.

In any case, more than 40 African leaders, and their delegations have already arrived to Beijing to discuss many issues of their relation with China, which shows their interest in continuing to strengthen these ties. Certainly, this summit will prove to be key in defining the future role of China in Africa, as well as in securing China’s interest in the continent.

From Russia with Love? Or maybe death...

A shot of death? Hundreds have died in Russia following consumption of tainted vodka. Numerous Russian towns have declared a state of emergency as thousands of citizens pour into local hospitals after drinking vodka laced with household chemicals. In an effort to curb illegal production of vodka; Russian government passed a law mandating all alcoholic beverages to have a stamp and barcode. Vodka began to disappear from the shelves as producers were unable to promulgate the new, more stringent standards. Fundamental economic theory dictates that a decrease in supply without a change in demand translates into an increase in price. The demand for vodka was more than the market could handle. Bootleg vodkas began to pop-up; often laced with any and every substance that contained some percentage of alcohol. Incidence of hepatitis and liver failure skyrocketed; a staple of low quality; bootleg alcohol. Russian Roulette may have met its match.
In related news, Finland recently declared alcohol as the leading killer of people aged 15 to 64; more than cardiovascular disease and cancer. Experts cite a rise in EU regulations which reduced alcohol import quotas by more than 40%. Alcohol is not a staple of Finnish culture as it is in Russia but in both cases many more are dying as a result of alcohol than ever before.
Russian energy giant Gazprom is said to double the price of gas for Georgia by 2007. Currently, gas is sold for $110 cubic metres of gas and will increase to $230. Critics charge Russia with using oil as a political weapon and cite the spike in oil prices as fallout from decreasing relations between Russia and Georgia. Georgia’s state minister for economic reform, Kakha Bendukidze said the increase was a political decision rather than a market incentive.
Google has yet to fully take-over Russia and Eastern Europe but it has made its presence known in the United States. Google is soaking up the market for internet TV following their $1.65 billion purchase of internet mogul YouTube. Already the search engine flagship of the internet; Google intends to expand its advertising arm to YouTube’s vast audience of over 20 million. Google’s advertising budget is expected to pass $1.3 billion by 2011.
Google’s growing conglomeration approaches Microsoft’s monopoly on technology. Microsoft announced today that it plans to release its newest operating system Windows Vista on November 30 following numerous beta-versions. This will be Microsoft’s first operating-system release since 2003 when it unveiled XP. Vista is said to be a major overhaul of the Windows operating system including new and enhanced user-interfaces and advanced networking capabilities. Vista will premiere in 6 different versions; each catered to the consumers’ requirements; three for business, two for home-users, and one for developing nations.

World Powers Play Erector Set With Border Fences

Everybody loves fences. The indecisive can sit on them, the remorseful can mend them, and the envious can use them to navigate to the greenest grass. These days though, the biggest fans of these perennially popular partitions are...pugnacious politicians, who are throwing them up on the borders between Mexico and the US, Iraq and Saudi Arabia, China and North Korea, India and Kashmir, and perhaps most controversially, that fence springing up on the "border" between Israel and Greater Palestine.

Another Fence Goes Up in Israel/Palestine

Pundits take various stances on the justifications and outcomes of security fences, as they are called. United Press International surveys history to find that the Great Wall of China was basically effective, which should give pause to critics of the US-Mexico Fence. I pause. Their article concludes rather astutely, with reference to the proposed 700 mile fence on the border, that “the current legislation does not appear to be designed to solve current problems so much as to alleviate them. It appears to be a measure designed to buy time. But time is often the most precious commodity any political measure can buy.”

Time in office seems to be the biggest concern on many politicians’ minds though, and so we must nod to the predictable deluge of criticism of this fence and many others. The Tuscon Citizen, who ought to know, calls the fence "political theatre." This certainly seems to be backed up by the numbers, which suggest that the completed fence will cost far more than congress is willing to spend: from 2.2 to over 4 billion. That spent so far? 67 million. Boeing got the contract.

Privilege: The Real Fence

Over there in the friendly Middle East, the issue is foggier. The series of "fences," as the Israeli Goverment prefers to call them as to deflect criticism that they define future borders, do seem to have greatly reduced attacks. Even the French Foriegn Minister has done an about-face on the fence, stating that he has "significantly evolved on the matter of the separation fence. Although the wall was a moral and ethical problem for me, when I realised terror attacks were reduced by 80 percent in the areas where the wall was erected, I understood I didn't have the right to think that way," said Douste-Blazy.

The criticisms of the fence focus on political rather than security effects, however. The leftist Israeli blogger falsedichotomies published his experience attending a rowdy protest against a relatively new section of the fence at Bil'in. "The lands of Bil’in have been taken in order to expand the settlement of Upper Modi’in Illit, rather than to increase security. This settlement currently has 35,000 residents. According to the Ministry of Housing, by 2020 it is intended to hold 150,000 people."

Most critics point to similar instances. The most outragous from the critics' point of view is the fence that seperates 'occupied' East Jerusalem from the West Bank and from the rest of Jerusalem. East Jerusalem is seen by many Palistinians as a future capital.

The newest scar across the bloodied back of the Middle East is Saudi Arabia's fence along their border with Iraq. According to UPI once again, "the Saudis have invested a third of a billion dollars in building a 550-mile fence to try and cut off Iraq from their own country." (I thought it would be fun to link to UPI via the goofy 'Spacewar.com' military news site. Go ahead, just clink n' chuckle).

The Saudi Solution

The London Daily Telegraph reported on its Web site that the new Saudi security barrier "will be equipped with ultraviolet night-vision cameras, buried sensor cables and thousands of miles of barbed wire (and) will snake across the vast and remote desert frontier between the countries." And this as Bush desperately tried to dampen fears about losing Iraq after the declassified parts of the new National Intelligence Estimate in Iraq concluded with
RAND-type certainty that the war is lost and serves to recruit and inspire legions of terrorists.

As the smug liberal blogger with one hand around a mug of fair trade, now comes the time for me to offer my opinion. Security fences around the world will resist serving the only end they possibly can, namely buying time in ultimately political problems, as pointed out by the UBI analysis. This is because there is simply too much short term political gain to be had with them: land grabs, 'get tough' posturing on immigration and national security, stem the tide of refugees, and as in the case of Israel, define the terms for future negociations. This is not to say that they are unacceptable in all circumstances--owing to the chaos in Iraq, Saudi Arabia's fence seems not all together unreasonable. But in the large majority of cases, the only things the fences seem to seperate us from is the hard political solutions-including trade adjustment, global wealth redistrubution, and territory sacrifice-these problems require.


A fence between Israel and the West Bank