Speaking of Capitalism...

Russia recently declared that China represents the ultimate model of government. When I read about President Medvedev's call for economic reform, I couldn't help but marvel at the hat he is tipping to capitalism. China's state controlled businesses drive a very lean and efficient capitalist model because the state does not have to wade through the levels of bureaucracy that exist within a democracy. But, China certainly does not strive to serve the good of the people in the way that Communism might romanticize. The result is much like a caste system in which the privileged are those who ultimately serve very near to the state while others suffer heavily from neglect and fall prey to the burgeoning networks of organized crime including such horrors as human trafficking and sex slavery.

Neglect is the key correlation between big government and the propagation of organized crime. Russia, China, and increasingly the U.S. all suffer from both internal corruption and large organized crime operations whose agendas begin to coalesce within the state structure. Propaganda: the guise of authority, control and progress is projected through the statement of good intentions for the sake of public support and control, while actual activity is off the radar. By the time damage is exposed, the bandits are away, leaving only a few artifacts, scapegoats and casualties scattered in the wake of the exit. Tax dollars are no longer serving 'the common good' but rather are funding unseen agendas and ultimately weakening the state itself for short term gains, leaving it vulnerable to collapse and domination by more powerful entities.

The counter to Chinese-style state-run capitalism would be big businesses running the state or 'economic fascism'. Fascism...communism...either way, they are two extremes which equate to totalitarian regimes, and the U.S. seems to teeter and flirt between these two extremes in it's eight-year bipolar pendulum swing. Perhaps a strong independent would lend balance to quell the contest, and recent polls indicate that voters are more open to an independent now than ever before: 40% conservative, 40% independent, and 20% liberal.

Otherwise, China will continue to lunge forward in economic power through gentrification, gobbling up the pits of vulnerability in Africa, South America, and now in the collapsing economy of the United States. Russia will perhaps follow suit, increasing her ties with Venezuela and other states of South America. And the U.S. will continue to spin it's facade, spinning in circles, chasing its tail ineffectually to win the war of 'Tastes Great' vs. 'Less Filling' partisanship. After all, a spinning circle makes for a better target.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8356122.stm

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev sets out economic reform

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has called for profound reform of the economy in his annual state of the nation address.

The Soviet model no longer worked, he said, and Russia's survival depended on rapid modernisation based on democratic institutions.

An oil and gas-based economy had to be reworked with hi-tech investments.

Inefficient state giants should be overhauled and issues of accountability and transparency addressed, he said.

"Instead of a primitive economy based on raw materials, we shall create a smart economy, producing unique knowledge, new goods and technologies, goods and technologies useful for people," Mr Medvedev said.

"Instead of an archaic society, in which leaders think and decide for everybody, we shall become a society of intelligent, free and responsible people."

Corruption

A year ago, in his first such address, Mr Medvedev made a surprise announcement about deploying missiles close to Poland.

This time the focus was on transforming Russia into a more modern and open country, by introducing sweeping reforms.

We need to launch modernisation of the entire industrial base
Dmitry Medvedev

More than one million Russians were at risk of losing their jobs, he said, and pressing social issues needed to be addressed.

"We can't wait any longer. We need to launch modernisation of the entire industrial base. Our nation's survival in the modern world will depend on that," Mr Medvedev said.

Government had to become more transparent, he said, and corruption should be punished. The giant state companies created by his predecessor, Vladimir Putin, had "no future", he said.

"Inefficient enterprises must go through bankruptcy proceedings or leave the market," he said. "We won't be protecting them forever."

Mr Medvedev promised to strengthen democratic institutions but warned that any attempts to disrupt national stability with "democratic slogans" would be stopped.

"Freedom means responsibility and I hope everyone understands that," he said.

And he promised a pragmatic foreign policy that would focus on improving Russians' living standards.

In other comments, Mr Medvedev

• Called for a "joint reliable platform" to strengthen Europe's security, saying such a body would have prevented the war with Georgia

• Described the situation in the North Caucasus as Russia's most serious internal problem and pledged to fight "terrorist crimes" there

• Suggested that the number of time zones in Russia - currently 11 - should be reduced


Putin's shadow

The Russian president gave a bleak assessment of the current situation and issued a clarion call for change, reports the BBC's Richard Galpin in Moscow.

There was much in the speech that implied deep criticism of Mr Putin, who is now prime minister.

The president is keen to prove he is his own man and has his own identity as a political leader, rather than remaining under Mr Putin's shadow.

But the question is whether the president can deliver on his pledges and bring about real significant political and economic reform, our correspondent adds.

Chavez Says Venezuela to Prepare for War as Deterrent

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aZuAU4StKAQY

By Daniel Cancel

Nov. 8 (Bloomberg) -- Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez told the military and civil militias today to prepare for war as a deterrent to a U.S.-led attack after American troops gained access to military bases in neighboring Colombia.

Chavez said a recently signed agreement that gives American troops access to seven Colombian bases is a direct threat to his oil-exporting country. Colombia has handed over its sovereignty to the U.S. with the deal, he said.

“Generals of the armed forces, the best way to avoid a war is to prepare for one,” Chavez said in comments on state television during his weekly “Alo Presidente” program. “Colombia handed over their country and is now another state of the union. Don’t make the mistake of attacking: Venezuela is willing to do anything.”

The U.S. agreement with Colombia is part of an effort to “strengthen and increase ties with countries in the region,” Robin Holzhauer, spokeswoman for the U.S. Embassy in Caracas, said by telephone. “We’ve done that with governments who want to have partnerships with us.” Colombia has said the agreement would help combat drug trafficking.

Ties between Venezuela and Colombia have deteriorated this year after President Alvaro Uribe accused Chavez of financing leftist Colombian rebels. Chavez, a self-proclaimed socialist revolutionary, said he would stop importing goods from Colombia due to the U.S. military pact. The two countries are each other’s second-largest trading partners after the U.S.

Colombian Exports

Colombian exports to Venezuela plunged 45.7 percent in August from a year earlier, according to data from the Colombian statistics institute.

Uribe’s office said Colombia hasn’t taken any steps toward a war and that it will take Chavez’s threats to the Organization of American States and the United Nations Security Council.

“Colombia hasn’t and won’t make a single gesture of war to the international community, and even less so, to a brother country,” it said in a statement posted on the Foreign Ministry’s Web site. “The only interest that moves us is overcoming the narco-terrorism that has mistreated Colombians for so many years.”

Chavez ordered an increase of troops along the more than 2,000-kilometer border between Venezuela and Colombia last week and said he may declare a state of emergency after two officials from the National Guard were shot and killed by supposed Colombian rebels.

Tank Battalions

In March 2008, Chavez sent 10 tank battalions to the border with Colombia after the Colombian military attacked leftist rebels in Ecuadorian territory, killing Raul Reyes, a leader of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia.

Chavez later called the tanks back from the border and helped dissipate tensions between Uribe and Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa.

Venezuela has purchased billions of dollars of weapons, tanks, fighter jets and helicopters from Russia since 2003. Chavez says the purchases are necessary to modernize the Armed Forces and to protect the country’s natural resources from a possible invasion from the U.S.

Venezuelan Interior and Justice Minister Tarek El-Aissami said last month officers from Colombia’s domestic intelligence agency are operating clandestinely in his country to destabilize the government.

Accused of Spying

Venezuela is also holding three Colombian citizens accused of spying as agents of the Colombian intelligence agency, known as DAS. Colombia says two of the individuals don’t belong to the agency, Departamento Administrativo de Seguridad, and that the other was on vacation in Venezuela when arrested.

Colombian Foreign Minister Jaime Bermudez said that the military deal with the U.S. will help “end drug-trafficking and terrorism in Colombia” during the signing ceremony in Bogota on Oct. 30.

Colombia is the source of 80 percent of the cocaine sold in the U.S., according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

Former Cuban president Fidel Castro expressed concern similar to Chavez’s on Nov. 6, saying the U.S. might send Colombian troops to crush Venezuela’s government.

“The empire hopes to send them to fight against their Venezuelan and Ecuadorean brothers and other Bolivarian and Alba peoples to crush the Venezuelan revolution, just as they tried to do with the Cuban revolution in April 1961,” Castro wrote in a “reflection” published on the Cubadebate.cu Web site. The Alba bloc is a nine-member group of Latin American countries led by Chavez.

‘Foreign Intervention’

The presence of U.S. troops in Colombia is a “shameless foreign intervention in their internal affairs,” Castro said. The agreement amounts to the U.S.’s “annexation” of the South American country, he said.

The U.S. may try to help Colombia invade Venezuela, as the U.S. supported Iraq’s invasion of Iran in the 1980s, Chavez said.

A military attack on Venezuela would spread to other countries in the region because Venezuela has “friends” from Mexico to Argentina, Chavez said during the program.

“If the Yankee empire tries to use Colombia to attack Venezuela, the war of 100 years would begin,” he said. “The war would extend to other countries in the continent, from Mexico to Argentina. No one believes that a war against Venezuela would only be in Venezuela.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Daniel Cancel in Caracas at dcancel@bloomberg.net

China's 2010 Humanoid Robot Olympics

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8346185.stm

The international event will be held in the city of Harbin and will see robots take part in 16 different events.

Robots will be able to compete in familiar Olympic sports such as athletics as well as those more suited to machines such as cleaning.

Entry to the competition will be restricted to robots resembling humans. They must possess two arms and legs. Wheels are banned.

The organisers of the games expect from more than 100 universities from around the world to send competitors to the event.

Harbin has been picked as the venue because the city's Institute of Technology is the home of a robot football research group that manages a very successful team of soccer playing humanoids.

Professor Hong Rongbing, from the Harbin Institute of Technology, said the idea of the competition was to drive innovation and produce robots that are more flexible and helpful.

No specific date has been set for the games as its organisers are still rounding up sponsors to help pay for it.

The Chinese event will face competition from the RoboGames that also stages sports events for robots. The 2010 RoboGames will take in California in April.

The Harbin robot games will be one among an increasingly crowded calendar for robot sports and other competitive events. One event, Roboexotica, is for robots that can mix cocktails, light cigarettes and chat with bar patrons.

Robots already have their own world cup. The 2009 competition saw entries from 400 teams that hailed from 35 separate nations. The 2010 event will be held in June in Singapore. A rival event is run by the Federation of International Robot-Soccer Associations.

Smells like Halliburton: Al Gore's Convenient Half-Truth

Following the recent BBC article that deflates the hype about global warming: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8299079.stm

...connect the dots to the latest headline:

Al Gore could become world's first carbon billionaire

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/energy/6491195/Al-Gore-could-become-worlds-first-carbon-billionaire.html

Al Gore, the former US vice president, could become the world's first carbon billionaire after investing heavily in green energy companies.

Last year Mr Gore's venture capital firm loaned a small California firm $75m to develop energy-saving technology.

The company, Silver Spring Networks, produces hardware and software to make the electricity grid more efficient.

The deal appeared to pay off in a big way last week, when the Energy Department announced $3.4 billion in smart grid grants, the New York Times reports. Of the total, more than $560 million went to utilities with which Silver Spring has contracts.

The move means that venture capital company Kleiner Perkins and its partners, including Mr Gore, could recoup their investment many times over in coming years.

Few people have been as vocal about the urgency of global warming and the need to reinvent the way the world produces and consumes energy as Mr Gore. And few have put as much money behind their advocacy and are as well positioned to profit from this green transformation, if and when it comes.

Critics, mostly on the political right and among global warming sceptics, say Mr. Gore is poised to become the world's first "carbon billionaire," profiteering from government policies he supports that would direct billions of dollars to the business ventures he has invested in.

Representative Marsha Blackburn, Republican of Tennessee, has claimed that Mr Gore stood to benefit personally from the energy and climate policies he was urging Congress to adopt.

Mr Gore had said that he is simply putting his money where his mouth is.

"Do you think there is something wrong with being active in business in this country?" Mr. Gore said. "I am proud of it. I am proud of it."

N Korea plutonium and weapons claims

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8339439.stm

North Korea has completed the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel rods to extract weapons-grade plutonium, according to its official news agency.

The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) added that "noticeable successes" had been made in turning the extracted material into weapons-grade plutonium.

The statement comes one day after North Korea said it was ready for talks with the US on its nuclear programme.

It also threatened to "go its own way" if Washington refused direct talks.

Eight thousand spent fuel rods had been reprocessed, KCNA said. Analysts say this is enough plutonium to make at least one atomic bomb.

North Korea was already believed by some analysts to have enough weapons-grade plutonium for about six bombs, but had none small enough to place on a missile.

"Noticeable successes have been made in turning the extracted plutonium weapon-grade for the purpose of bolstering up the nuclear deterrent in the DPRK [North Korea]," said the KCNA statement.

'Grave insult'

The announcement is the latest move in stop-start attempts by the US and its allies to end North Korea's nuclear programme.

[North Korea] was compelled to take measures for bolstering up its deterrent for self-defence to cope with the increasing nuclear threat and military provocations of the hostile forces
Korean Central News Agency

The nuclear fuel cycle
Q&A: North Korea nuclear row

North Korea said on Monday that it was ready to return to six-party talks on rolling back its nuclear programme if the US first agreed to hold bilateral talks.

The six parties are the two Koreas, the US, China, Japan and Russia.

The US has repeatedly said bilateral talks can be held as part of the six-party process.

The forum had reached agreement in 2007 that North Korea would shut down the Yongbyon nuclear complex in return for fuel aid and political concessions for the isolated country.

But the deal unravelled late last year amid a disagreement over how to verify North Korea's account of its atomic activity.

When North Korea's launch of a long-range rocket in April brought UN censure, Pyongyang announced it was restarting the Yongbyon reactor and would begin to reprocess the spent fuel rods.

An underground nuclear test, the second since 2006, triggered UN sanctions.

In September, the North said it had entered the final phase of enriching uranium, which would give it a second path to making nuclear weapons.

In its latest statement, KCNA said the UN censure of what it called a peaceful attempt to launch a satellite was "a grave insult to the dignity of its people".

North Korea "was compelled to take measures for bolstering up its deterrent for self-defence to cope with the increasing nuclear threat and military provocations of the hostile forces," the statement said.

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D9BO6DAG1&show_article=1

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - North Korea claimed Tuesday that it has successfully weaponized more plutonium for atomic bombs, a day after warning Washington to agree quickly to direct talks or face the prospect of a growing North Korean nuclear arsenal.

The announcement underlined Pyongyang's impatience over securing one-on-one talks with Washington, as well as the difficulties in dealing with a regime that resorts to threats and provocations to get what it wants.

Pyongyang's official Korean Central News Agency said North Korea had finished reprocessing 8,000 spent nuclear fuel rods, which experts say would provide enough weapons-grade plutonium for at least one more nuclear bomb.

The claim may not mean much, since North Korea is believed to already have enough weaponized plutonium for half a dozen nuclear weapons. But the timing—a day after Pyongyang warned it would beef up its nuclear arsenal if the U.S. refused to agree on bilateral talks—shows the communist regime is flexing its atomic might to push Washington to act, analysts said.

"North Korea is trying to show off its nuclear might as a way to pressure the United States to agree to the talks," said Kim Yong-hyun, a North Korea expert at Seoul's Dongguk University.

The U.S. Embassy in Seoul said it had no comment.

North Korea has long sought direct nuclear negotiations with the U.S., believing that it is the easiest, fastest and surefire way of ensuring the survival of the totalitarian regime and win economic concessions to rebuild its moribund economy.

On Monday, North Korea's Foreign Ministry warned that "if the U.S. is not ready to sit at a negotiating table with the (North), it will go its own way," an apparent threat to bolster its nuclear arsenal.

Pyongyang has claimed it needs atomic weapons to defend itself against the U.S., which fought against the North during the Korean War of the 1950s and has 28,500 troops stationed in South Korea to protect the ally.

The U.S. says it has no intention of attacking the North.

But the North said Tuesday that it remains "compelled to take measures to bolster its deterrent for self-defense to cope with the increasing nuclear threat and military provocations of the hostile forces."

KCNA reported "noticeable successes" in weaponizing plutonium.

Washington has said it is willing to meet one-on-one with the North if the talks lead to the resumption of six-nation negotiations involving China, Japan, the two Koreas, Russia and the U.S.

However, discussions between a North Korean envoy and a U.S. official last week did not yield an agreement to hold talks, both sides said.

State Department spokesman Ian Kelly told reporters Monday that Sung Kim, the chief U.S. nuclear negotiator, recently had useful discussions with Ri Gun, North Korea's No. 2 official for nuclear talks. He said the U.S. is still considering North Korea's offer.

North Korea agreed in 2007 to disable its main nuclear facility in Yongbyon—a step toward its ultimate dismantlement—in exchange for much-needed energy aid and political concessions. However, Pyongyang halted that process more than a year ago and later abandoned the pact amid international censure for a series of nuclear and missile tests.

North Korean officials restarted the nuclear facilities in April in retaliation for a U.N. rebuke of a rocket launch widely criticized as an illicit test of its long-range missile technology. The country also kicked out international nuclear monitors.

The North then conducted its second-ever nuclear test in May and later launched a series of banned ballistic missile tests, prompting the U.N. Security Council to toughen sanctions against the regime.

In September, North Korea said it was in the final stage of reprocessing spent fuel rods, and claimed it had succeeded in enriching uranium, a process that would give the regime a second way to build atomic bombs.

Tuesday's announcement was designed to hurry along negotiations, analysts said.

"North Korea is pressuring the United States to decide quickly whether it wants to resolve the standoff through bilateral talks or allow the (plutonium) to be used for atomic weapons," North Korea expert Koh Yu-hwan of Dongguk University said.

E-books Rise in Popularity

"In a sign that ebooks are rising in popularity, a recent survey by mobile analytics company Flurry revealed that users may be using the iPhone for more intellectual pursuits, and not just the visual sizzle. The 'book-related' apps on the iPhone overtook games in terms of new apps released. According to the post, 'Book-related apps saw an upsurge in launches in September ... So much so that book-related applications overtook games in the App Store as a percentage of all released apps. The trend isn't an aberration. In October, one out of every five new applications launching on the iPhone was a book ... from August 2008 to the same month in 2009, more apps were released in the 'games' category than any other and, as a result, the iPhone (and iPod touch) became a new handheld gaming platform, one that impacted the Nintendo DS. '"

http://gigaom.com/2009/11/01/iphone-e-book-reader/

The Cannibalism of Care and Feeding

"When the people find that they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic. Sell not liberty to purchase power."

- Ben Franklin

We as Americans should, of course, be concerned with the immediacy of specific, current events. But, to avoid becoming mere spectators addicted to awaiting, witnessing, and merely enumerating the passage of such events, one must be willing to disengage, step back and observe objectively to get the big picture.

The pendulum swings left, something goes horribly wrong, so then it swings right, and something goes horribly wrong again. And with each change in direction, the pendulum swings further in the opposite direction, and executive power increases - regardless of which party is running the show - as though reality tv culture was ushered in to set the mood for completely passive captivity. Like a connoisseur of atrocities, we are so hooked on the negative attention and over-stimulation of shock and disbelief that we have developed an appetite for disaster in spite of ourselves. The disconnect between seeing red flags from miles away and taking preventative measures is so far separated that we are better off planning trials and funerals at the moment of awareness than to think we can do anything but write our representatives (who would only send a form letter dismissing our concern as a federal issue anyway).

Our society will shriek like a baby snatched from its mother's teet when the time comes to shut off the political drama and go outside to play. And on that day, the day we have no choice but to participate rather than spectate, the play will be very rough. Polarization has induced an addiction anxiety disorder. If the programmers of our political saga can achieve a point where we, the consumers are willing to fight over changing the channel - that inevitable swing of the pendulum from from further left to further right - they can most certainly keep everyone on the couch and off the playing field. Don't turn off the set and go out to play; just sit back, relax, and pick a channel. Plenty of snacks and a remote control, and regardless of Tivo, the content itself IS commercial. And the White House is now, literally, buying up lots of air time. By the people, for the people, right? The partisan plots are predictable and both the casting and acting is either unapologetically neglectful or mercilessly predatory on ignorance and ego. But the cinematography is consistently decadent - to die for.

So, partisan people, just because someone doesn't subscribe to your show...or starts to get up off of that miserable couch...or doesn't sit on the couch at all...don't automatically assume that disengagement indicates a subscription to that OTHER show that you love so much to hate. Maybe the viewer saw enough, and just got fed up with the reruns and recurring characters portrayed by overpaid actors, season after season. Change, you say? Sure, we experience exponentially proportionate polar opposite change every eight years, each administration undoing whatever was set forth by the previous. Like a dog chasing it's tail, spinning in circles.

Anyone remember 'Dynasty' ('81-'89)? Maybe it was ahead of it's time. The Clinton Dynasty...the Bush Dynasty...huge government...huge corporations...tick...tock...

The Audacity of...Jeb. Guessing the obvious, 2012, maybe he has just let out his first giggle:

Jeb Bush: Obama trying to 'attack capitalism'

From the article: "I think President Obama has used the bully pulpit as a way to attack capitalism," he said, according to LegalNewsline.com.

Bush paused a moment, then acknowledged: "That'll make the news."

*************

Clearly, our culture has become divided and our government ineffective as a result of a perverse preoccupation with media and marketing for partisan dominance. Broad strokes and accessible, emotional associations are employed to engage and rally the support of the masses. Politics are now reduced to explicit and literal symbols - palatable and packageable - fashionable, social accessories to be adorned and exchanged in the form of memes. But, like most fashions, only time tells on the abuses and profiteering which emerges long after the credits have rolled. Our leadership thinks as far as the next term, whereas Chinese singularity, for example, plans its future over hundreds of years and looks back on thousands. And, we bicker in a trance of oblivion amongst ourselves, spinning in circles and biting our own tail raw.

Our willingness and even insistence upon touting our symbolic labels can get dicey depending on context. Particularly in a bankrupt economy, belief can serve as a currency for outcome, and it can therefore be planted, cultivated, and harvested. The farmers encourage public labeling of seeds so that they can predict their yield; those seeds being our hopes and fears.

When questioned publicly about his religious views, Thomas Jefferson once said, "To their interested absurdities, I leave them to grope in the dark."

Jefferson culled his beliefs from a variety of sources, including but not limited to the Bible. Aren't we all truly a composite of our experiences and influences, both conscious and unconscious? If someone states themselves to be something explicitly, can we then reliably predict and count on their behavior? Uncertainty is a major driver of change, and so the world is very accepting and even demanding of symbolic representation. While some people are very cautious about labeling themselves, others will race to declare and relegate themselves to an explicit, especially in a social context. The new stereotypes are not born into; they are chosen and screamed from mountain tops in droves. I remember when voting used to be a private matter. Then there was MTV Rock the Vote. The average voter is now just that - average - at best, if even.

Maybe we are approaching the right time for our independent voices to mitigate the polarity and alleviate our identity crisis. Pick a channel? Most people only know the two big channels because the assumption is that anything else is a 'throw away'. Fine, pick your poison, couch potatoes, but there are independent candidates who run on ideology.

For the time being, let's be good to each other, regardless of whatever ineffectual accessory you encounter repeatedly in traffic or on facebook or other public trough, for these troughs feed the polarized zombies as the fabric of their framework begins to slowly unravel, whichever pole they claim. This may not be a recession after all. Perhaps it is the fall of the Republic, and a return to the State of Nature will recall many long forgotten codes of humility and respect.