Sclerotic, Old Europe: a Myth · 28 October 2007, 09:56 CET by Charles Vermeulen
In ‘Europe’s "blue card" plan. Not the ace in the pack’ a small article in this week’s The Economist the weekly explains why only ‘a paltry 1.7%’ of the EU’s workforce are highly qualified non-Europeans whereas in the US more than 3% of the employed population are highly skilled foreigners, in Canada more than 7% and in Australia even more than 10% and the blue card probably won’t fix this. First of all, because ‘many European governments’ will religiously guard their migration policies against EU attempts to harmonise them. Secondly, because European economies aren’t attractive enough. That is, ’(a)s long as those economies remain relatively undynamic, the most talented (especially English-speakers) will use their wits to look for work elsewhere’. Unfortunately the magazine underpins neither this thesis nor its diagnosis of the current state of the European economy. By ‘undynamic’, however, I assume it especially refers to the Rhinelandic, European welfare state, which it probably perceives as a drag on the EU economy.
In an op-ed in the Washington Post entitled ‘5 Myths About Sick Old Europe’, however, Steven Hill shows that the European economy is actually doing pretty well and that its welfare state shouldn’t be conceived as an impediment to growth and dynamics, but, on the contrary, as a system that is ‘geared toward keeping everyone healthy and working’, ‘an ingenious framework in which the economy finances the social system to support families and employees in an age of globalized capitalism that threatens to turn us all into internationally disposable workers’. Click here to read how Hill pitches into this and four other ‘myths about sick old Europe’.
blue card,
china,
competitiveness,
eu,
europe,
old europe,
rhineland,
steven hill,
welfare state
On Africa's Growing Geopolitical Importance · 16 June 2007, 14:18 CET by Charles Vermeulen
Instability in the Middle East which threatens to spill over to Africa, ‘resource nationalism’ in Russia and South America, the growing importance of Africa’s west coast oil fields to Europe and the U.S. and China’s rising presence in the region – all compell the U.S. to form a new Africa strategy in which oil and counter-terrorism will be the key components and which will culminate in the establishment of Africom, a unified military command for Africa that must be operational before mid-2008. Read more about it in Christopher Thompson’s ‘The Scramble for Africa’s Oil’, a report in the New Statesman.
africa,
africa strategy,
africom,
china,
europe,
oil,
resource nationalism,
russia,
united states
Small-Scale Clash of Civilizations? · 14 November 2006, 17:03 CET by Charles Vermeulen
With a population of almost 600,000 Rotterdam is the second largest municipality in the Netherlands after Amsterdam. A considerable part of its inhabitants belongs to one of its major ethnic minorities (Turks, Moroccans, Surinamese). This is also the case in the Afrikaanderwijk, an old working-class neighbourhood in the south of Rotterdam. According to the The Centre for Research and Statistics (COS), the research centre of the municipality, 33.7% (3,175) of the population of this neighbourhood is of Turkish descent and 13.4% (1,264) of Moroccan descent. This is clearly visible because of the considerable amount of women wearing headscarves on the streets of the Afrikaanderwijk.
Yesterday afternoon I walked along the metro line which passes through the Afrikaanderwijk as a poster caught my attention. The poster, put up on the sidewalk along the busy Hillelaan near metro station Rijnhaven, announced that the Dutch cabaret artists De Vliegende Panters (The Flying Panthers) will visit Rotterdam next week to perform a show in the old Luxor Theatre. The poster showed a naked woman wearing nothing but a jackboot (on her left foot), exposing her pubic hair and her breasts. The poster could hardly be overlooked and a large part of the poster’s audience no doubt consists of Dutch Moroccans and Turks. What would they think of this poster? As the woman on it looks somewhat disturbed or annoyed and definitely not sensual, it’s obvious that the photographer didn’t attempt to present her as an object of lust. Will they be offended nontheless, consider it as yet another sign of Dutch / Western decadence / lack of morality, creating / adding to an occidentalistic attitude? Or will they pass the poster with a shrug? Today I checked and the poster was still there, unharmed.
afrikaanderwijk,
clash of civilizations,
ethnic minorities,
moroccans,
netherlands,
rotterdam,
surinamese,
turks,
vliegende panters
The Economist on the Chinese Presence in Africa · 29 October 2006, 16:20 CET by Charles Vermeulen
This week’s edition of The Economist has dedicated two interesting articles to the pros and cons of the Chinese presence in Africa: ‘In the ‘China in Africa. Never too late to scramble’ and ‘Africa and China. Wrong model, right continent’.
africa,
beijing consensus,
china,
china in africa,
the economist
Chinese Companies in Namibia · 28 October 2006, 16:15 CET by Charles Vermeulen
An interview by New Era reporter Mbatjiua Ngavirue with Chinese Ambassador to Namibia Liang Yinzhu gives some insight in the activities of Chinese companies in Namibia and the difficulties sometimes attendant on these activities.
africa,
china,
kaunda,
liang yinzhu,
namibia
Africa's Best Friend or 'Neo-Colonial' Intruder? · 28 October 2006, 10:00 CET by Charles Vermeulen
In the previous posting I mentioned the western criticism, on the eve of the Sino-African Summit, that China ‘ignores environmental standards in Africa and that it deals with governments with poor human rights records’. However, different views on the Chinese presence in Africa coexist as both cases below may show.
On the People’s Daily Online, the web edition in English of ‘the official newspaper of the Communist Party of China’, Kenneth Kaunda, the first president of Zambia dismisses the critism. According to Kaunda ‘China was an all-weather friend to African people and it is still now. African leaders and their people will not be cheated by lies that China’s presence in Africa is neo-colonialism’. Kaunda points to, among other things, the TAZARA (Tanzania-Zambia Railway Authority) railway, built ‘under Chinese assistance both financially and technically in the 1970s’, which connects Kapiri Mposhi in land-locked Zambia to Tanzania’s Dar es Salaam port. The TAZARA railway offered copper-rich Zambia a major, alternative transport conduit as as a result of which the country was no longer dependent on the railways of the neighbouring apartheid regimes for sea-access.
On the other hand, besides from human rights and environmental issues, the South African newspaper Independent Online (IOL) reported that Chinese ambassador in South-Africa Liu Guilin sent a rather harsh message to the South African textile industry during a lecture at the University of Pretoria last Wednessday: China grants it two years to adjust to Chinese competition and it deems import quote unacceptable after that time. The Chinese government had agreed upon import quota earlier this year.
So, then how to value the Chinese presence in Africa? Is China Africa’s best friend or a ‘neo-colonial’ intruder?
africa,
china,
kaunda,
liu guilin,
neo-colonialism,
sino-african summit,
south africa,
tazara,
zambia
China in International Trade and Human Rights · 27 October 2006, 08:13 CET by Charles Vermeulen
The article in Voice of America which I mentioned in the previous posting contained, by the way, a short reaction by China’s Vice Foreign Minister Zhai Jun on the allegations that China ignores environmental standards in Africa and that it deals with governments with poor human rights records like Angola and Sudan:
In the fall of 2005 U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Robert B. Zoellick urged ‘China to become a responsible stakeholder’ in the ‘international system’. Clearly the country has a long way to go.
africa,
china,
human rights,
responsible stakeholder,
robert b. zoellick,
zhai jun
On China's Role in International Trade · 26 October 2006, 19:45 CET by Charles Vermeulen
Today I came upon two interesting reports which both seem to underline once more China’s role in international trade. To start with a recent survey by Loyens & Loeff, ‘an independent full service law firm with integrated corporate law and tax practices’ based in the Benelux, which showed that Chinese investors ‘favour Europe for expansion (60%) over the United States (43%) and Asia (29%) and that ’[w]ithin Europe, the preferred countries are the Netherlands and Germany (22%), followed by France (18%) and Belgium-Luxembourg (16%)’. Furthermore, it appeared from the survey that ‘Chinese investors hope primarily to acquire distribution networks and access to new markets’.
Secondly, I came upon a report published today by Voice of America according to which China has stated that it ‘is negotiating as many as 2,500 trade deals with some 40 African nations ahead of a Sino-African summit in Beijing next week’. The report also pointed to the fact that ‘China is looking to [Africa] as a source of energy, new markets and investment opportunities’, but ‘unlike with the U.S. or the European Union, China buys from Africa far more than it sells’.
africa,
beijing,
china,
europe,
germany,
international trade,
loyens & loeff,
netherlands,
sino-african summit,
united states
Disney Cartoons 'Partly Made in North-Korea' (3) · 20 October 2006, 11:02 CET by Charles Vermeulen
But which Walt Disney cartoons are ‘partly made in North-Korea’? Search.com gives us the answer:
lion king,
north korea,
pocahontas,
pyongyang,
sek studio,
walt disney
Disney Cartoons 'Partly Made in North-Korea' (2) · 20 October 2006, 10:38 CET by Charles Vermeulen
In the previous posting I quoted Paul Tjia of Rotterdam-based consultancy firm GPI Consultancy, who stated in an interview by Nova that Walt Disney has cartoons ‘partly made in North-Korea’. I found this a rather mysterious remark, for Tjia didn’t elucidate it at all, that is, at least not in the interview. But in a comment on a blog posting on the Nova interview on Asia Watch, which in turn was based on a posting on No Dependencies / No Logo, an article by Susan Kitchens in Forbes was mentioned that explains a lot.
disney,
gpi consultancy,
north-korea,
paul tjia,
rotterdam,
walt disney