Sunday, October 19, 2014

Around The World [10.19.14]

US - Cuba Relations



"Fidel Castro has expressed Cuba’s readiness to cooperate with the US in the global fight against Ebola. Cuba has been on the frontline of international response to the worst outbreak in the disease's history.
In his article “Time of Duty,” which was published on Saturday, the retired Cuban leader said that medical staff trying to save lives are the best example of human solidarity. Fighting together against the epidemic can protect the people of Cuba, Latin America, and the US from the deadly virus, he added.
“We will gladly cooperate with American [medical] personnel in this task – not for the sake of peace between the two states which have been adversaries for many years, but for the sake of peace in the world,” wrote Castro.
Although Cuba is far from being a prospering economy, it boasts one of the best medical systems in the world, and often lends a helping hand in the aftermath of natural disasters and epidemics.
US State Secretary of State John Kerry on Friday spoke about Cuba as one of the "nations large and small stepping up in impressive ways to make a contribution on the front lines."


I am blessed with people's love. This common love can be translated into nations co-operating with each other.

Another wonderful thing is taking place - 

people from different parts of the world are getting to know each other through my blog - 
the problems each of them face, 
the similarities they share 
and in the process, people are discovering their common roots in humanity and getting closer to each other.



Syria


" ... the regime may be more fragile than it thinks. Discontent has been rising, even among Mr Assad’s fellow Alawites (a Shia offshoot) who dominate Syria’s security forces. 
Another weak spot for Mr Assad is the economy.
The contours of a settlement have long been clear—a transitional government and security forces that incorporate more of the Sunni opposition"

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  3. Possible Foreign Policy For America In The Middle East  
  4. Towards World Peace  
  5. Middle East Peace Process  
  6. Around The World (09.17.14) 
  7. Changing The Hearts And Minds Of Extremists
  8. Caretaker Government Can Show The Way Of Peace In Syria   


"The transitional government could be such that
  • The chief of the transitional government is acceptable to all the parties involved. 
  • Military and arms support from outside countries are stopped immediately. 
  • The caretaker government shows zero tolerance to extremists and militias, no matter what ideology they represent. 
  • The situation in Syria returns at least close to normal. Initiatives are taken to bring back all the refugees back to Syria. The refugee situation is causing disastrous effects in the Middle East. Humanitarian efforts are undertaken. 
  • A definite time period is determined during which the caretaker government rules. Before the time period ends, a free, fair, credible and internationally acceptable election is held."
 (January 23, 2014)




Mexico


  • Focus - Drug Trafficking, so called "Drug Lords", Criminal groups, Drug Gangs.


"Apart from the abductions, especially shocking is the charge that a drug gang in effect ran Iguala, putting in two of its own—a mayor and his wife—who used local police to settle their scores violently with little fear of being caught. One hypothesis, publicly aired by Ángel Aguirre, the embattled Guerrero governor, is that the mayor ordered the attack on the students because he feared they would disrupt a party in which his wife planned to launch her own campaign for mayor. The mayor and his wife are now fugitives, but Mr Aguirre (who is fighting to save his own skin) says many other towns in Guerrero are in the grip of organised crime.

The ex-minister says that the “whitewash” enables the security forces to believe they can continue to kill without scruple. But impunity goes further than that. Mexicans’ lack of faith in their law-enforcement authorities means that the number of uninvestigated crimes, as well as the total number of crimes, is staggering.

To counter impunity, Mexico needs accountability.


Some argue that to end violence, Mexico needs to do away with separate police forces in its 32 states and 2,457 municipalities and create a vast unified federal police force. But such a monster could be untamable—especially given the corrupting power of drug money.
Sabino Bastidas says the problem goes beyond policing to governability: checks and balances on local and state governments are far weaker than at the federal level, meaning that towns are ruled as fiefs. In a system where power brings privilege, and privilege can literally mean getting away with murder, it is not just institutions that may need to change but a whole frame of mind."


India



"More moderniser than market reformer, Narendra Modi relies on his bureaucrats


Mr Modi is a strong-willed moderniser, a man who thinks a capable bureaucracy can fix much of what ails India. 

In office for only five months, he spends a lot of time with civil servants, preferring to meet them instead of ministers. He and they have been looking for fixes, such as shifting the paperwork needed to open a business onto the internet, or freeing firms from petty inspections. Meetings are said to have a corporate air, with Mr Modi as chief executive. Dates for specific targets—the “deliverables” of corporate jargon—are set.

Mr Modi presses his civil servants to think big. In August he called for 75m more Indian households to have bank accounts by February. The aim is to increase access to banking in a country where two-fifths of households lack it.


India’s most modernising effort by a mile: Aadhaar, the unique-identity scheme, in which biometric data are to be recorded to create a digital identity for every Indian. This can now be used, say, to open a bank account or get a passport. 
The prime minister’s chief civil servant for e-government, Ram Sewak Sharma, spells out what might follow once Indians have digital identities. Last year in Jharkhand state in eastern India Mr Sharma installed a system to track the daily attendance of nearly 14,000 officials. Each day at the office they log in and out by scanning a fingerprint or iris. The data is then published live, online. Taxpayers can even see which civil servants are at work or not.
Both Mr Sharma and his boss think technology can do a lot to lessen rampant corruption. 
Measurably better performance is what excites Mr Modi. The prime minister wants India to be among the top 50 in the World Bank’s “ease of doing business” index. It is currently 134th. 
Next, a commission will report on restructuring the huge and lumbering Indian Railways. Another will look at how to modernise the Food Corporation, which sits on much of Indian agriculture.
If the bureaucracy works better, implementing market reforms later may prove easier. "


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"A WhatsApp helpline where users can post pictures of unclean areas and providing a platform to have regular discussion with residents’ welfare associations are some of the steps announced by the Aam Aadmi Party on Saturday."



Indonesia



"Indeed, in an interview last week in his private office he seemed remarkably relaxed and confident ... Parliament, for instance, was not a concern, because he will control a majority there “within six months,” he said.

.. he has already set a new tone for the office and what he calls his “people-centric policies.”

Tall, thin and unassuming, Mr. Joko, 53, has a laid-back style and a face he jokingly says resembles that of a village street-food vendor more than the incoming president of the world’s fourth-largest nation.
His July election over a former general and son-in-law of the dictator Suharto was characterized by many as a choice between a common man and a throwback to Indonesia’s authoritarian past.

High office has not changed his humble habits.

He drew national attention for his daily walking tours through traditional markets and slum areas, where he would talk with residents about bread-and-butter issues such as health care, education and traffic, a kind of direct public contact alien to Indonesia’s traditionally aloof politicians.

During his first week in office, he plans to nationalize a “smart card” program for free health care and financial support for basic education for tens of millions of poor Indonesians, a program that was popular when he was a mayor in Central Java Province and governor of Jakarta."


Ebola Crisis




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