Condensed from “Humiliate, Strip, Threaten: UK Interrogation Manuals Discovered,” copyright Ian Cobain of the Guardian, published in the Cambodia Daily, Oct. 27, 2010. All text below is copyright Cobain/the Guardian.
LONDON – The British military has been training interrogators in techniques that include threats, sensory deprivation and enforced nakedness in an apparent breach of the Geneva Conventions.
One PowerPoint training aid created in September 2005 tells trainee military interrogators that prisoners should be stripped before they are questioned. “Get them naked,” it says. “Keep them naked if they do not follow commands.”
A manual prepared in April 2008 suggests that “Cpers” – captured personnel – be kept in conditions of physical discomfort and intimidated. It also urges enforced nakedness.
More recent training material . . . suggests that interrogators tell prisoners they will be held incommunicado unless they answer questions.
The 1949 Geneva Conventions prohibit any “physical or moral coercion,” in particular coercion employed to obtain information.
This material was created for the instruction of “tactical questioners,” who conduct initial interrogations of prisoners of war, as well as for the instruction of servicemen and women from all three branches of the armed forces.
Next month, at the high court in London, lawyers representing more than 100 Iraqis who were held and interrogated by British forces . . . will argue that there is compelling evidence that they were tortured in a systematic manner.
The abuse . . . includes 59 allegations of detainees being hooded, 11 of electric shocks . . . 52 of sleep deprivation, 131 of sight deprivation using blackened goggles, 39 of enforced nakedness and 18 allegations that detainees were kept awake by pornographic DVDs played on laptops.
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Most Top Facebook Apps Transmit Personal Data About Your Friends to Outside Companies
Condensed from “Top Facebook Applications Caught in Major Security Breaches,” copyright Emily Steel and Geoffrey Fowler of the Wall Street Journal, which was published in the Cambodia Daily, Oct. 19, 2010. All text below is copyright Steel and Fowler/the Wall Street Journal.
NEW YORK – Many of the most popular applications, or “apps,” on the social-networking site Facebook Inc have been transmitting identifying information . . . to dozens of advertising and Internet tracking companies, a Wall Street Journal investigation has found.
The Journal found that all of the 10 most popular apps on Facebook were transmitting users' IDs to outside companies. The apps . . . include Zynga Game Network Inc's FarmVille, with 59 million users, and Texas HoldEm Poker and FronteirVille. Three of the top 10 apps, including FarmVille, also have been transmitting personal information to outside companies.
NEW YORK – Many of the most popular applications, or “apps,” on the social-networking site Facebook Inc have been transmitting identifying information . . . to dozens of advertising and Internet tracking companies, a Wall Street Journal investigation has found.
The Journal found that all of the 10 most popular apps on Facebook were transmitting users' IDs to outside companies. The apps . . . include Zynga Game Network Inc's FarmVille, with 59 million users, and Texas HoldEm Poker and FronteirVille. Three of the top 10 apps, including FarmVille, also have been transmitting personal information to outside companies.
China Arms the North of Sudan, Courts the Oil-Rich Separatist South
Condensed from “Chinese Interests Face Predicament in Sudan Vote,” copyright Joe Lauria, the Wall Street Journal, published in the Cambodia Daily on Oct. 25, 2010. All text is copyright Lauria/the Wall Street Journal.
JUBA, SUDAN – China is courting the secessionist government of oil-rich Sudan, in an apparent departure from Beijing's decades-long opposition to independence movements abroad.
Sudan, after constant civil war over the past five decades, is seeing tensions boil again ahead of a planned independence referendum early next year that stands to split Africa's largest country in two. Voters from the largely Christian south are expected to vote to break away from the country's largely Muslim north. As the Jan 9, 2011, election approaches, both sides have accused the other of amassing troops.
[D]espite its recent overtures to the south, Beijing seeks to maintain its long-standing economic ties with Khartoum, the seat of Sudan's government and center of northern power. China armed and supported the north in the 23-year civil war in the south from 1983 to 2005, in which 2 million people are believed to have died. It continues to arm Khartoum and has built the north infrastructure projects, including the largest hydroelectric dam in Africa.
China has a very pragmatic reason for tolerating the south: It is home to 80 percent of Sudan's oil reserves, including most of the China National Petroleum Corp's four oil concessions, granted to it by Khartoum.
JUBA, SUDAN – China is courting the secessionist government of oil-rich Sudan, in an apparent departure from Beijing's decades-long opposition to independence movements abroad.
Sudan, after constant civil war over the past five decades, is seeing tensions boil again ahead of a planned independence referendum early next year that stands to split Africa's largest country in two. Voters from the largely Christian south are expected to vote to break away from the country's largely Muslim north. As the Jan 9, 2011, election approaches, both sides have accused the other of amassing troops.
[D]espite its recent overtures to the south, Beijing seeks to maintain its long-standing economic ties with Khartoum, the seat of Sudan's government and center of northern power. China armed and supported the north in the 23-year civil war in the south from 1983 to 2005, in which 2 million people are believed to have died. It continues to arm Khartoum and has built the north infrastructure projects, including the largest hydroelectric dam in Africa.
China has a very pragmatic reason for tolerating the south: It is home to 80 percent of Sudan's oil reserves, including most of the China National Petroleum Corp's four oil concessions, granted to it by Khartoum.
Land Mines Define Resistance by Taliban
Condensed from “The First Rule of War in Afghanistan: Watch Where You Step,” copyright James Foley, GlobalPost, published in the Cambodia Daily, Oct. 27, 2010. All text below is copyright Mr. Foley.
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan – In Kandahar it's all a matter of footing. Where you step and where you don't.
The Taliban have mostly eschewed direct firefights in the face of overwhelming fire power, but they can make a pressure plate out of two blocks of wood taped together with a metal connection wired to a 9 volt battery and a farmer's jug filled full of Homemade explosive. The kind of stuff that can be concocted using fertilizer and metal byproducts.
Then there was the morning the Afghan soldier called LaRasha brought in a the whole contraption – pressure plate, wires and jug of explosive, that he'd just dug up from outside the compound US troops were occupying. The US guys asked him to take it outside. LaRasha usually leads the patrol. He gives his rifle to another soldier and holds the mine detector out in front.
Villagers say they stare at the US soldiers because, “sometimes they fire at us.”
A few weeks ago Charlie Company pushed far down a dirt road and set up a patrol base in an abandoned compound and started sand-bagging it. Initial the patrols were to “clear” nearby compounds. In other words, asking locals a few basic questions and then blowing up some empty grape huts.
[After one mine damaged a “specialized route clearing vehicle”], a day later a US 225-kg bomb was dropped on two individuals digging at the same IED spot at night; a few days later, a man was killed digging there again in daylight.
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan – In Kandahar it's all a matter of footing. Where you step and where you don't.
The Taliban have mostly eschewed direct firefights in the face of overwhelming fire power, but they can make a pressure plate out of two blocks of wood taped together with a metal connection wired to a 9 volt battery and a farmer's jug filled full of Homemade explosive. The kind of stuff that can be concocted using fertilizer and metal byproducts.
Then there was the morning the Afghan soldier called LaRasha brought in a the whole contraption – pressure plate, wires and jug of explosive, that he'd just dug up from outside the compound US troops were occupying. The US guys asked him to take it outside. LaRasha usually leads the patrol. He gives his rifle to another soldier and holds the mine detector out in front.
Villagers say they stare at the US soldiers because, “sometimes they fire at us.”
A few weeks ago Charlie Company pushed far down a dirt road and set up a patrol base in an abandoned compound and started sand-bagging it. Initial the patrols were to “clear” nearby compounds. In other words, asking locals a few basic questions and then blowing up some empty grape huts.
[After one mine damaged a “specialized route clearing vehicle”], a day later a US 225-kg bomb was dropped on two individuals digging at the same IED spot at night; a few days later, a man was killed digging there again in daylight.
Friday, October 29, 2010
Cambodian Company Takes Land from Villagers, Gives Land to Prime Minister's Son
Condensed from "Anti-Terror Center Planned in Land Concession," copyright Phann Ana, the Cambodia Daily, Oct. 28, 2010. All text below is copyright Phann Ana/the Cambodia Daily.
The 3,200-square-km economic land concession granted to the Pheapimex Company 13 years ago stretches over two provinces and will soon contain [] plantations the company is currently developing despite villager protests.
But in the hills of Samakki Meanchey and Poek Phos districts in Kompong Chhang province, the concession will soon give way to something else: a new 7,000-hectare training center for the RCAF National Counterterrorism Task Force commanded by Prime Minister Hun Sen's son, Brigadier General Hun Manet.
Commanded by the premier's son, whose star is rising in the armed forces, the counterterrorism task force enjoys a prominent place in the changing face of Cambodia's military. . . . [T]he task force received marksmanship and hand-to-hand combat training from the US Marines 31st Marine Expiditionary Unit in 2007.
Surrounded by the Pheapimex Concession, which is itself 31 times larger than the legal size limit established in 2005, the new training center will be in friendly territory, as the company's owners are well-known friends of the premier and his wife.
The 3,200-square-km economic land concession granted to the Pheapimex Company 13 years ago stretches over two provinces and will soon contain [] plantations the company is currently developing despite villager protests.
But in the hills of Samakki Meanchey and Poek Phos districts in Kompong Chhang province, the concession will soon give way to something else: a new 7,000-hectare training center for the RCAF National Counterterrorism Task Force commanded by Prime Minister Hun Sen's son, Brigadier General Hun Manet.
Commanded by the premier's son, whose star is rising in the armed forces, the counterterrorism task force enjoys a prominent place in the changing face of Cambodia's military. . . . [T]he task force received marksmanship and hand-to-hand combat training from the US Marines 31st Marine Expiditionary Unit in 2007.
Surrounded by the Pheapimex Concession, which is itself 31 times larger than the legal size limit established in 2005, the new training center will be in friendly territory, as the company's owners are well-known friends of the premier and his wife.
Kremlin-Installed Chechnya Governor Wants Putin to Be Russia's Leader-for-Life
Condensed from “Chechnya's Leader Kadyrov Calls for Putin to Return as President,” copyright Reuters, published in the Cambodia Daily, Oct. 27, 2010. All text below is copyright Reuters.
The leader of Russia's volatile Muslim Chechnya region Ramzan Kadyrov has called for Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin to return as president in the 2012 elections and serve for life.
“I want him to be the president as long as he lives,” Kadyrov told Newsweek magazine. “As long as Putin backs me up, I can do everything,” he said.
Kadyrov is widely credited by Russia's leaders for rebuilding Chechnya, but rights groups accuse him of heavy-handed tactics such as torture and abduction. Analysts say the Kremlin allows Kadyrov to run Chechnya as a personal fiefdom in exchange for relative stability.
The leader of Russia's volatile Muslim Chechnya region Ramzan Kadyrov has called for Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin to return as president in the 2012 elections and serve for life.
“I want him to be the president as long as he lives,” Kadyrov told Newsweek magazine. “As long as Putin backs me up, I can do everything,” he said.
Kadyrov is widely credited by Russia's leaders for rebuilding Chechnya, but rights groups accuse him of heavy-handed tactics such as torture and abduction. Analysts say the Kremlin allows Kadyrov to run Chechnya as a personal fiefdom in exchange for relative stability.
Obama Presses for Free Trade with South Korea
Rewritten from “US, S Korea to Meet on Stalled Free-Trade Pact,” copyright the Cambodia Daily, Oct. 27, 2010.
WASHINGTON – Top US and South Korean trade officials were to meet in San Francisco yesterday to discuss how to ensure approval of a free trade deal between the two countries. The meeting comes shortly before the November 12 deadline set by US President Barack Obama and South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak to resolve differences over a pact.
While running for president in 2008, Obama criticized the free-trade agreement negotiated by former US President George Bush. Now he promises to resolve any problems with the pact.
WASHINGTON – Top US and South Korean trade officials were to meet in San Francisco yesterday to discuss how to ensure approval of a free trade deal between the two countries. The meeting comes shortly before the November 12 deadline set by US President Barack Obama and South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak to resolve differences over a pact.
While running for president in 2008, Obama criticized the free-trade agreement negotiated by former US President George Bush. Now he promises to resolve any problems with the pact.
US Military Contractors Teach Former Sierra Leone Rebels How to Fight
Condensed from “Sierra Leone's Former Fighters Train to Keep Peace Abroad,” copyright Reuters, published in the Cambodia Daily, Oct. 27, 2010. All text below is copyright Reuters.
HASTINGS, SIERRA LEONE – In a patch of freshly cleared bus a short drive outside Freetown, the capital, US trainers look on as Sierra Leonean troops square their rifles at imagined targets.
Those selected as potential peacekeepers are now being taken under the wing of the American Africa Contingency Operations Training and assistance program, which pays private military contractors to train African armies.
The soldiers – many of whom fought in Sierra Leone's civil war – are finding the program a stark contrast to their previous combat experience.
“There is a lot of difference between the rebel fight and the military training,” said 31-year-old Lance Corporal Hassan Conteh, a former rebel. “In terms of the rebel fight, we just do things at random, without good control.”
HASTINGS, SIERRA LEONE – In a patch of freshly cleared bus a short drive outside Freetown, the capital, US trainers look on as Sierra Leonean troops square their rifles at imagined targets.
Those selected as potential peacekeepers are now being taken under the wing of the American Africa Contingency Operations Training and assistance program, which pays private military contractors to train African armies.
The soldiers – many of whom fought in Sierra Leone's civil war – are finding the program a stark contrast to their previous combat experience.
“There is a lot of difference between the rebel fight and the military training,” said 31-year-old Lance Corporal Hassan Conteh, a former rebel. “In terms of the rebel fight, we just do things at random, without good control.”
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Refugees from Somalia Expect No Return to the Good Life
Condensed from “Somali Refugee Flow to Kenya Ebbs, Flows but Never Stops,” copyright Jeffrey Fleishman, Los Angeles Times, which was published in the Cambodia Daily, Oct. 19, 2010. All text below is copyright Fleishman/Los Angeles Times.
DADAAB, KENYA – He buried his children and fled west across the border to a new country.
Young soldiers with rifles pass as Mohamed Abdul walks in the clothes of a refugee, a man who once owned several houses and a kiosk in that whitewashed and bloodied city by the sea: Mogadishu, Somalia.
Things taken, life whittled, and suddenly he is in Kenya, angry and lost amid tents and huts.
“Sometimes I get the job of loading food into a wheelbarrow and running from hut to hut,” he says. “The food is too little. There's no milk, no sugar for our tea. There are no real jobs. The only thing you have in a refugee camp is peace from rifles and bombs."
Nearly 300,000 Somalis have fled to eastern Kenya, living in UN camps meant to hold 90,000. Their dead are laid in foreign soil, their new are born in borrowed beds far from the farms and fishing villages of their ancestors.
Ibrahim Hussein Abu-Bakr doesn't even dream of a place with such a pretty name as Mombasa, and he suspects he'll never again harvest mangoes and pineapples on his farm in Somalia. He speaks of men with guns, how fast they swept between the fields, burning and killing.
“There's no land for me to farm in Kenya,” he says. “It was good, though, once in Somalia. I planted my crops and supported my family. We farmers sat around the market and told stories and then we went back and worked our lands. We were happy before it all started.”
DADAAB, KENYA – He buried his children and fled west across the border to a new country.
Young soldiers with rifles pass as Mohamed Abdul walks in the clothes of a refugee, a man who once owned several houses and a kiosk in that whitewashed and bloodied city by the sea: Mogadishu, Somalia.
Things taken, life whittled, and suddenly he is in Kenya, angry and lost amid tents and huts.
“Sometimes I get the job of loading food into a wheelbarrow and running from hut to hut,” he says. “The food is too little. There's no milk, no sugar for our tea. There are no real jobs. The only thing you have in a refugee camp is peace from rifles and bombs."
Nearly 300,000 Somalis have fled to eastern Kenya, living in UN camps meant to hold 90,000. Their dead are laid in foreign soil, their new are born in borrowed beds far from the farms and fishing villages of their ancestors.
Ibrahim Hussein Abu-Bakr doesn't even dream of a place with such a pretty name as Mombasa, and he suspects he'll never again harvest mangoes and pineapples on his farm in Somalia. He speaks of men with guns, how fast they swept between the fields, burning and killing.
“There's no land for me to farm in Kenya,” he says. “It was good, though, once in Somalia. I planted my crops and supported my family. We farmers sat around the market and told stories and then we went back and worked our lands. We were happy before it all started.”
EU Sends Soldiers to Seal off Greece-Turkey Border
Condensed from “Armed European Guards Head to the Greece-Turkey Border,” copyright Ian Traynor of the Guardian, published in the Cambodia Daily, Oct. 27, 2010. All text below is copyright Traynor/the Guardian.
BRUSSELS – A new force of armed European guards is to be dispatched to Greece to patrol the country's border with Turkey in an attempt to stem steeply increasing illegal immigration into Europe. The deployment . . . will be the first time Brussels has deployed multinational armed forces on the EU's external land border.
BRUSSELS – A new force of armed European guards is to be dispatched to Greece to patrol the country's border with Turkey in an attempt to stem steeply increasing illegal immigration into Europe. The deployment . . . will be the first time Brussels has deployed multinational armed forces on the EU's external land border.
US Wants Pakistan to Allow More CIA Paramilitary Actions
Condensed from “US Seeks a Wider Role for the CIA Near Afghanistan Border,” copyright Julian Barnes and Adam Entous of the Wall Street Journal, which was published in the Cambodia Daily, Oct. 25, 2010. All text below is copyright Barnes and Entous/the Wall Street Journal.
WASHINGTON – The US is pushing to expand a secret CIA effort to help Pakistan target militants in their havens near the Afghan border.
The number of CIA personnel in Pakistan has grown substantially in recent years. The push for more forces reflects, in part, the increased need for intelligence to support the CIA drone program that has killed hundreds of militants with missile strikes.
Some US officials [] remain hopeful that Islamabad will allow a greater covert presence that could include CIA paramilitary forces.
Given Pakistan's objections to US ground forces, using more CIA paramilitary forces could be a “viable option,” said a government official. “That gives them a bit of cover,” the official added, referring to the Pakistanis.
WASHINGTON – The US is pushing to expand a secret CIA effort to help Pakistan target militants in their havens near the Afghan border.
The number of CIA personnel in Pakistan has grown substantially in recent years. The push for more forces reflects, in part, the increased need for intelligence to support the CIA drone program that has killed hundreds of militants with missile strikes.
Some US officials [] remain hopeful that Islamabad will allow a greater covert presence that could include CIA paramilitary forces.
Given Pakistan's objections to US ground forces, using more CIA paramilitary forces could be a “viable option,” said a government official. “That gives them a bit of cover,” the official added, referring to the Pakistanis.
Japanese Prime Minister Pursues Asia-Pacific Free Trade Zone
Condensed from “Japanese Ruling Party Divided Over Asia-Pacific Free Trade Plan,” copyright the Asahi Shimbun, which was published in the Cambodia Daily, Oct. 25, 2010. All text below is copyright the Asahi Shimbun.
[Japanese Prime Minister Naoto] Kan is expected to pursue Japan's participation in the Trans-Pacific Partnership at next month's Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Yokahama.
[T]he prime minister appears determined to put Japan at the forefront of negotiations to form the trans-Pacific free trade area. A Cabinet minister close to Kan says he fears Japan's economy will sink unless Japan goes for it.
The TPP is a regional economic trade initiative [which includes Singapore, New Zealand, Chile, Brunei, the United States, and seven other countries]. US President Barack Obama reportedly wants to reach an accord by fall 2011.
The farm ministry [in Japan] predicted in 2007 that if all tariffs were lifted, Japan's food self-sufficiency would fall from 40 percent to 12 percent because almost all rice would be replaced by imports.
[Japanese Prime Minister Naoto] Kan is expected to pursue Japan's participation in the Trans-Pacific Partnership at next month's Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Yokahama.
[T]he prime minister appears determined to put Japan at the forefront of negotiations to form the trans-Pacific free trade area. A Cabinet minister close to Kan says he fears Japan's economy will sink unless Japan goes for it.
The TPP is a regional economic trade initiative [which includes Singapore, New Zealand, Chile, Brunei, the United States, and seven other countries]. US President Barack Obama reportedly wants to reach an accord by fall 2011.
The farm ministry [in Japan] predicted in 2007 that if all tariffs were lifted, Japan's food self-sufficiency would fall from 40 percent to 12 percent because almost all rice would be replaced by imports.
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Police Say Chinese Supervisors Shot Mine Workers in Zambia
Condensed from "Zambian Miners Riot After 11 Shot at Chinese-Owned Mine," copyright Nicholas Bariyo and Sarah Childress of the Wall Street Journal, which was published in the Cambodia Daily, Oct. 19, 2010. All text below is copyright Bariyo and Childress/the Wall Street Journal.
Zambian locals rioted and blocked a road leading to Chinese-owned Collum Coal Mine Ltd on Saturday to protest the shooting of at least 11 miners, allegedly by Chinese supervisors, during a protest over low wages, police officials said Sunday.
On Friday, miners at Collum Coal Mine, in the Sinazongwe District of southern Zambia, demonstrated against low pay and poor working conditions. Gunshots followed, allegedly fired by two Chinese supervisors, wounding 11 miners, two of them critically, according to Zambian police and government officials.
Zambian locals rioted and blocked a road leading to Chinese-owned Collum Coal Mine Ltd on Saturday to protest the shooting of at least 11 miners, allegedly by Chinese supervisors, during a protest over low wages, police officials said Sunday.
On Friday, miners at Collum Coal Mine, in the Sinazongwe District of southern Zambia, demonstrated against low pay and poor working conditions. Gunshots followed, allegedly fired by two Chinese supervisors, wounding 11 miners, two of them critically, according to Zambian police and government officials.
Obama Travels to India to Help US Multinationals Land Contracts
Condensed from "US Seeks Billions of Dollars in Indian Deals," copyright Amols Sharma of the Wall Street Journal, which was published in the Cambodia Daily, Oct. 19, 2010. All text below is copyright Sharma/the Wall Street Journal.
NEW DELHI – The US is aiming to sell up to $5.8 billion of military-transport aircraft to India and secure other major deals when US President Barack Obama travels to New Delhi early next month.
India is set to buy 10 Boeing Co C-17 transport aircraft in the country's largest military transaction yet with the US, people familiar with the matter said. The exact price is still to be determined. The total value of deals agreed to during the trip could reach $10 to $12 billion, including pacts for India to buy military jet engines from General Electric Co, freight locomotives, and reconnaissance aircraft.
The visit comes as some Western companies that have made big bets in India – or plan to – are growing increasingly frustrated with restrictive regulations in energy, technology, health care and banking. Obama is likely to raise concerns with market access – among other issues – during his visit, a White House spokesman said Sunday.
Topping the list of US concerns is [a] civil nuclear-energy partnership, people familiar with the matter say. Though a 2008 deal ended US sanctions against India imposed after its past nuclear-weapons tests, US firms including GE aren't selling nuclear technology here yet. They are worried about a recently passed Indian law that exposes them to accident liability, deviating from the practice in most countries, where nuclear plant operators assume all liability [emphasis added].
GE Chief Executive Jeff Immelt has complained in recent months that the leaders of France, Germany and Russia lobby for their nations' corporate interest abroad, suggesting the Obama administration hasn't done as much as it could to stoke sales for US firms abroad.
NEW DELHI – The US is aiming to sell up to $5.8 billion of military-transport aircraft to India and secure other major deals when US President Barack Obama travels to New Delhi early next month.
India is set to buy 10 Boeing Co C-17 transport aircraft in the country's largest military transaction yet with the US, people familiar with the matter said. The exact price is still to be determined. The total value of deals agreed to during the trip could reach $10 to $12 billion, including pacts for India to buy military jet engines from General Electric Co, freight locomotives, and reconnaissance aircraft.
The visit comes as some Western companies that have made big bets in India – or plan to – are growing increasingly frustrated with restrictive regulations in energy, technology, health care and banking. Obama is likely to raise concerns with market access – among other issues – during his visit, a White House spokesman said Sunday.
Topping the list of US concerns is [a] civil nuclear-energy partnership, people familiar with the matter say. Though a 2008 deal ended US sanctions against India imposed after its past nuclear-weapons tests, US firms including GE aren't selling nuclear technology here yet. They are worried about a recently passed Indian law that exposes them to accident liability, deviating from the practice in most countries, where nuclear plant operators assume all liability [emphasis added].
GE Chief Executive Jeff Immelt has complained in recent months that the leaders of France, Germany and Russia lobby for their nations' corporate interest abroad, suggesting the Obama administration hasn't done as much as it could to stoke sales for US firms abroad.
Chinese Professor Explains China's View of Globalization
Condensed from "Western, Chinese Conceptions of Globalization Are Very Different," copyright Zhang Xiaoying, head of the Department of English and Journalism at the School and English and International Studies at Beijing Foreign Studies University, which was published in the Cambodia Daily, Oct. 27, 2010.
As China extends its trade, investment and influence to every part of the world, the West has become increasingly agitated about what it sees as the new Chinese imperialism. Perhaps this isn't surprising, given the West's own history of expansion.
It is an irony of globalization, which the West has thought of so long as its own invention, that now China is the great beneficiary. The US in particular finds it difficult to see this as anything other than a drive for world domination.
Global ambition has been a formative part of the Western worldview for over 2,000 years, framing the fates of nations and governments. By contrast, China has traditionally styled itself as the "Middle Kingdom," the center of a world that could be left to its own devices so long as it did not intrude.
Traditional Western and Chinese ways of thinking have an impact today. The West still tells the story of the whole world, but now it calls this story "globalization." And China is largely telling a story about itself, one in which it is merely the beneficiary of Western globalization.
China's global economic activity, according to its traditional thought – captured in the saying "sweep the snow only in front of your doorstep" – draws on the rest of the world to look after the Chinese people. The contrast with the West's drive to shape the world in its own image could not be more profound. The scope for mutual incomprehension is vast.
As China extends its trade, investment and influence to every part of the world, the West has become increasingly agitated about what it sees as the new Chinese imperialism. Perhaps this isn't surprising, given the West's own history of expansion.
It is an irony of globalization, which the West has thought of so long as its own invention, that now China is the great beneficiary. The US in particular finds it difficult to see this as anything other than a drive for world domination.
Global ambition has been a formative part of the Western worldview for over 2,000 years, framing the fates of nations and governments. By contrast, China has traditionally styled itself as the "Middle Kingdom," the center of a world that could be left to its own devices so long as it did not intrude.
Traditional Western and Chinese ways of thinking have an impact today. The West still tells the story of the whole world, but now it calls this story "globalization." And China is largely telling a story about itself, one in which it is merely the beneficiary of Western globalization.
China's global economic activity, according to its traditional thought – captured in the saying "sweep the snow only in front of your doorstep" – draws on the rest of the world to look after the Chinese people. The contrast with the West's drive to shape the world in its own image could not be more profound. The scope for mutual incomprehension is vast.
India's Noveua Riche Driving for Attention
Condensed from "India's Smaller Cities Begin to Show Off Growing Wealth," copyright Lydia Polgreen, the New York Times, published in the Cambodia Daily, Oct. 25, 2010. All text below is copyright Polgreen/the New York Times.
AURANGABAD, INDIA – A group of more than 150 local businessmen [in central Indian city Aurangabad] decided to buy, en masse, a Mercedes-Benz car each, spending nearly $15 million in a single day and putting this small, but thriving, city on the map.
"The story of Aurangabad is the story of India," said Debashish Mitra, head of sales and marketing for Mercedes-Benz in India. "People want to spend, and feel they deserve luxury."
These men could not be more different from their cautious fathers, who stashed every penny as a hedge against an uncertain future in India's economy, which until 1991 was heavily controlled by the government. In the land of Gandhi and the birthplace of Buddhism, grand displays of material wealth are still frowned upon.
Older men like Ashish Garde, who runs Nirlep, a company that has made nonstick pots and pans here since 1968, declined to join the group. Garde said the nearly $15 million spent on luxury cars would have been better spent on investments in industries that would create jobs or donations to charities. He declared himself satisfied with his economy car.
"Those of us who went through the hardships of the past know the value of money in a different way," Garde said." Those who get quick money, their relationship is different. After globalization things happen very easily."
AURANGABAD, INDIA – A group of more than 150 local businessmen [in central Indian city Aurangabad] decided to buy, en masse, a Mercedes-Benz car each, spending nearly $15 million in a single day and putting this small, but thriving, city on the map.
"The story of Aurangabad is the story of India," said Debashish Mitra, head of sales and marketing for Mercedes-Benz in India. "People want to spend, and feel they deserve luxury."
These men could not be more different from their cautious fathers, who stashed every penny as a hedge against an uncertain future in India's economy, which until 1991 was heavily controlled by the government. In the land of Gandhi and the birthplace of Buddhism, grand displays of material wealth are still frowned upon.
Older men like Ashish Garde, who runs Nirlep, a company that has made nonstick pots and pans here since 1968, declined to join the group. Garde said the nearly $15 million spent on luxury cars would have been better spent on investments in industries that would create jobs or donations to charities. He declared himself satisfied with his economy car.
"Those of us who went through the hardships of the past know the value of money in a different way," Garde said." Those who get quick money, their relationship is different. After globalization things happen very easily."
Zimbabwe Looks to Sell off State Assets
Condensed from "Zimbabwe Hopes to Revive Struggling State Firms," copyright Reuters, published in the Cambodia Daily, Oct. 27, 2010. All text below is copyright Reuters.
HARARE, ZIMBABWE – Zimbabwe hopes to have clear plans by the end of the year on turning around 10 struggling state firms under a revived privatization drive, which a cabinet minister said was attracting foreign investors.
State Enterprises Minister Gordon Moyo said the government had recently approved a new program to restructure, commercialize and privatize at least 10 companies and had receive interest from foreign investors.
Moyo declined to say which companies would be privatized. Targeted firms include National Railways of Zimbabwe, AgriBank, Zimbabwe Iron and Steel Company, the National Oil Company of Zimbabwe, power utility ZESA, and Air Zimbabwe.
HARARE, ZIMBABWE – Zimbabwe hopes to have clear plans by the end of the year on turning around 10 struggling state firms under a revived privatization drive, which a cabinet minister said was attracting foreign investors.
State Enterprises Minister Gordon Moyo said the government had recently approved a new program to restructure, commercialize and privatize at least 10 companies and had receive interest from foreign investors.
Moyo declined to say which companies would be privatized. Targeted firms include National Railways of Zimbabwe, AgriBank, Zimbabwe Iron and Steel Company, the National Oil Company of Zimbabwe, power utility ZESA, and Air Zimbabwe.
Australian Officials Oppose Singaporean Takeover of Stock Exchange
Condensed from "Opposition Mounts Following Singapore Exchange Big for ASX," copyright Edna Curran and Rachel Pannett of the Wall Street Journal, published in the Cambodia Daily, Oct. 27, 2010. All text below is copyright the Curran and Pannett/the Wall Street Journal.
CANBERRA, Australia – A political backlash in Australia threatens to derail the proposed $8.3 billion takeover of the country's largest stock market operated by Singapore Exchange Ltd.
"I do not wish to live in a country of serfs working for foreign landlords," said independent lawmaker Bob Katter, who plans to present a motion in Parliament to oppose the takeover of the ASX by a foreign investor.
CANBERRA, Australia – A political backlash in Australia threatens to derail the proposed $8.3 billion takeover of the country's largest stock market operated by Singapore Exchange Ltd.
"I do not wish to live in a country of serfs working for foreign landlords," said independent lawmaker Bob Katter, who plans to present a motion in Parliament to oppose the takeover of the ASX by a foreign investor.
Cambodian Red Cross Accused of Nepotism in Disaster Relief Distribution
Condensed from "Red Cross Defends Distribution; Adhoc Received Complaints," copyright Kuch Naren and Drew Foster of the Cambodia Daily, published in the Cambodia Daily, Oct. 27, 2010. All text below is copyright the Naren and Foster/the Cambodia Daily.
A day after dozens of villagers from two communes in Banteay Meanchey province protested the Cambodian Red Cross' distribution method for providing flood relied, officials from the aid organization stood by their procedures and rejected claims of nepotism.
Chan Sothea, a 45-year-old villager from Preah Ponlea commune in Serei Saophoan City who participated in Monday's protest, alleged that the commune chief selected family member to receive donations from Red Cross, while ignoring more badly affected villagers.
Preah Ponlea commune Chief Chea Huon said yesterday that he could supply 100 of the 700 families in his commune affected by the floods with Cambodian Red Cross donations on Monday. He said an additional 217 families received aid yesterday.
A day after dozens of villagers from two communes in Banteay Meanchey province protested the Cambodian Red Cross' distribution method for providing flood relied, officials from the aid organization stood by their procedures and rejected claims of nepotism.
Chan Sothea, a 45-year-old villager from Preah Ponlea commune in Serei Saophoan City who participated in Monday's protest, alleged that the commune chief selected family member to receive donations from Red Cross, while ignoring more badly affected villagers.
Preah Ponlea commune Chief Chea Huon said yesterday that he could supply 100 of the 700 families in his commune affected by the floods with Cambodian Red Cross donations on Monday. He said an additional 217 families received aid yesterday.
Cambodian Villagers Fear Court Action After They Refuse to Sell Land to Sugar Company
Condensed from "K Speu Families Fear Legal Action From Sugar Firm," copyright Kuch Naren of the Cambodia Daily, published in the Cambodia Daily, Oct. 27, 2010. All text below is copyright Naren/the Cambodia Daily.
Two families from Kampong Speu's Omlaing commune said yesterday they feared legal charges after they rejected offers for their land by a sugar company this weekend. The company, owned by Cambodian People's Party Senator Ly Yong Phat, has been involved in an ongoing land disputes with residents of the area.
Villager Meas Nhen, 41, said on Sunday a RCAF [Royal Cambodian Armed Forces] soldier identified himself as a worker for Phnom Penh Sugar Company and urged her to accept $500 in exchange for her 30-by-200-meter plot of farmland.
Another villager, Kheand Savorn, 30, said he had also refused a similar compensation offer for his 73-by-200-meter plot of land made by company workers Sunday.
Mr. Savorn said he was worried about the consequences of his refusal. "I am really concerned the company will order the court to press charges against me and other villagers who refuse to sell their land.
"Two other families have been charged for land encroachment, although they gave the court documents to prove legal ownership of the properties," he said.
About 700 familiars in Omlaing commune are involved in a land dispute [with] Mr. Yong Phat, who has been granted a 10,000-hectare sugar concession on land claimed by local families.
Two families from Kampong Speu's Omlaing commune said yesterday they feared legal charges after they rejected offers for their land by a sugar company this weekend. The company, owned by Cambodian People's Party Senator Ly Yong Phat, has been involved in an ongoing land disputes with residents of the area.
Villager Meas Nhen, 41, said on Sunday a RCAF [Royal Cambodian Armed Forces] soldier identified himself as a worker for Phnom Penh Sugar Company and urged her to accept $500 in exchange for her 30-by-200-meter plot of farmland.
Another villager, Kheand Savorn, 30, said he had also refused a similar compensation offer for his 73-by-200-meter plot of land made by company workers Sunday.
Mr. Savorn said he was worried about the consequences of his refusal. "I am really concerned the company will order the court to press charges against me and other villagers who refuse to sell their land.
"Two other families have been charged for land encroachment, although they gave the court documents to prove legal ownership of the properties," he said.
About 700 familiars in Omlaing commune are involved in a land dispute [with] Mr. Yong Phat, who has been granted a 10,000-hectare sugar concession on land claimed by local families.
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