fulltimestudent

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Posts by fulltimestudent

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  27

  Options for the EU? - A cartoon from the Lebanese Daily Star

  by fulltimestudent in

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  2. current
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  fulltimestudent

  Two forecasters who got it right:

  There are others, but two will suffice. From: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-07-15/nine-people-who-saw-the-greek-crisis-coming-years-before-everyone-else-did

  First there was Wynne Godley, a British economist wrote about his own concerns in a 1992 article for the London Review of Books:

  What happens if a whole country—a potential ‘region’ in a fully integrated community—suffers a structural setback? So long as it is a sovereign state, it can devalue its currency. It can then trade successfully at full employment provided its people accept the necessary cut in their real incomes. With an economic and monetary union, this recourse is obviously barred, and its prospect is grave indeed unless federal budgeting arrangements are made which fulfil a redistributive role. ... If a country or region has no power to devalue, and if it is not the beneficiary of a system of fiscal equalisation, then there is nothing to stop it suffering a process of cumulative and terminal decline leading, in the end, to emigration as the only alternative to poverty or starvation.

  And second, Arnulf Baring, a German political scientist (?) who offered dire predictions in his 1997 book Scheitert Deutschland? Here's an English translation:

  They will say that we are subsidizing scroungers, lounging in cafés on the Mediterranean beaches. Monetary union, in the end, will result in a gigantic blackmailing operation. When we Germans demand monetary discipline, other countries will blame their financial woes on that same discipline, and by extension, on us. More, they will perceive us as a kind of economic policeman. We risk once again becoming the most hated in Europe.

  
  

  
  
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  Youth Unemployment in Europe - Will there be Social Consequences?

  by fulltimestudent in

  1. social
  2. current

  think for a moment about this chart and wonder as to effect that unemployment may have on young people.. .

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  fulltimestudent

  kaik: The issue in the south is that entire generation is growing without gaining employable skills and working habits like waking up for work and having responsibilities.

  Yes! And worse, that someone else is going to support them, whether its family or government!
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  6

  I think it's saying, "Buy Japanese" ...

  by fulltimestudent in

  1. social
  2. current

  or, maybe it's being promoted as the next big thing to replace manga.

  sent to me by a university lecturer of my acquaintance.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=260&v=m8-vje-bq9c.

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  fulltimestudent

  Bonsai : That's a *****d up video, but sadly it's the perfect embodiment of young Japanese people's version of what is cute and in vogue these days.

  Hi Bonsai - thnks for posting your thoughts on Ladybaby. Are you Japanese? Not that it matters, just interested in how cross-cultural identities develop and see things.

  I asked a student friend, (white -grin!- and Aussie) just back from a years study in Japan, for his Impressions? "Crazy, man, crazy," was his response.

  "Crazy man, crazy" is not ( I think) a descriptive term that would have been used to describe Japan, pre-WW2. So can we think that (maybe?) that what we are seeing is a result of Caesar MacArthur's attempts to turn Japan into an American clone?

  You also commented:

  So many young people here dress like princess prostitutes and think it's cute, not pedophilic. Sadly this is resulting in many kids and teenagers getting stalked, kidnapped and raped.

  That's sad. But, I dont know how to separate that as a Japanese experience, from the experience of women in India, and here in Australia. Being a woman seems to be the problem.
  

  And, on this thought -
  

  I asked my Japanese friends if anyone has ever heard of "Ladybaby" and none of them had.

  Your friends maybe absolutely correct, but 'Ladybaby' seems to have become known in Aussieland, as the following link will demonstrate.

  http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/from-ladybeard-to-ladybaby-the-pro-wrestling-heavy-metal-singer-taking-japan-by-storm-20150711-gia24x.html

  
  

  What about a group called 'Babymetal?' Have they come within your cultural experience yet?

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9r-DbjqDgk

  
  

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5cpmLWC7tW0
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
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  8

  Have Anglosphere (USA+UK) sanctions against Russia failed?

  by fulltimestudent in

  1. social
  2. current

  its fair to say that western sanctions have hurt the russian economy and made life a little more difficult for ordinary russian families, but as far as causing a political/economic collapse of russia - there is not much evidence that the sanctions are causing grief in russia.. and when you examine 'deals' that russia has made since the sanctions were authorised, it may be that russia is ahead of the game.. it can be suggested that sanctions are a very weak tool.

  famously, sanctions have not worked against china (back in mao's time), cuba or north korea.

  they weakened iraq, but caused the 2nd world economy then operating, and helped push iraq back into anarchy.

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  fulltimestudent

  On this topic, there is news today of a huge new joint-Russian-Chinese dairy project in north China. It involves a project milking 100,000 cows.

  A joint company financed with 161 billion (US) dollars has been established between China's Zhongding Dairy Farming and Russia's Severny Bur who will work together on the project.

  Is a 100,000 cow facility practical? In central China (Anhui Province) there is already a 40,000 animal facility. The largest in the USA is a 30,000 animal unit in Fair Oaks, Indiana.

  A giant stockfeed venture has also been established. Earlier this month, China's Huae Sinban Co signed an agreement to lease 115,000 hectares (284,000 acres) in Russia's Transbaikal region for feedstock, according to state-run Russia Today. The company is expected to invest about $450 million in the project over the next half century. Huae Sinban plans to lease up to 200,000 hectares in Russia if the first stage of the project from 2015-2018 works out.

  The background to this dispute illustrates the futility of sanctions imposed by the USA. Russia imposed a ban on most agricultural products from the United States, Canada, Europe, Australia and Norway until August 2016, in retaliation for recently renewed Western economic sanctions over Russia's military moves in Ukraine and Crimea.

  So farmers in those countries lost significant Russian markets. Now those farmers will have to face up to losing a huge percentage of Russian milk/cheese business forever as this new venture (and, likely others) take over the market.

  The likely affect of the Chinese-Russian move is spelled out in this statement:

  Mansel Raymond, chairman of the Milk Working Party Copa-Cogeca, an organization representing European agricultural groups, said the ban and the Sino-Russian dairy venture are a concern for EU dairy farmers.
  "The scale of Chinese investment in dairy production is vast," Raymond told UK-based Farmers Weekly. "I wonder now whether we will ever get the Russian milk market back.
  "Building a 100,000-cow dairy farm is simply mind-boggling. If the project goes ahead and the 100,000 head represents milking cows, this unit alone could produce 800 million liters a year (about 200 million gallons).
  "In that case, it would equate to 100,000 tons of cheese – and that would mean this unit alone could produce about 30 percent of our previous exports to Russia," Raymond added.
  In August 2014, when the Russian agricultural-product sanctions were first imposed, they were estimated to affect about one-tenth of Russia's $43 billion in yearly food imports, straining both foreign suppliers and Russian consumers, the Los Angeles Times reported.
  "The food embargo by Russia that began in August of 2014 impacts approximately $1 billion of the $1.4 billion of ag and food products that the US sold to Russia," David Salmonsen, senior director of congressional relations for the American Farm Bureau Federation, said in an e-mail to China Daily. "Those most impacted are Russian consumers and European farmers who had a large share of food exports to Russia."
  EU countries were shipping about $2.7 billion in produce a year to Russia, and the embargo's impact will be felt unevenly among the 28 countries in the EU, analysts said.
  "For the larger EU economies - Germany included - the costs are bearable. For some of the smaller EU economies, the pain will be more acute," the Times reported, quoting RBS Capital.

  Link: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/world/2015-07/09/content_21229773.htm

  I predict a lot of unhappy European (mostly) farmers.
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  1

  Who are they and where are they?

  by fulltimestudent in

  1. social
  2. current

  ok, its a teaser heading.

  and the "who" is rather easy because of the american flag, but the "where" is more difficult.

  and, "who" are the military types in white uniforms?

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  fulltimestudent

  I found these piks after deciding to be sceptical about a claim that the USA's first clash with 'communist' Russia was at this time.

  While I suggest that there is little doubt that (generally) the administration of the time did not like the Bolsheviks, it is suggested by a writer checking the records in the American National Archives, that the Commander of the American contingent, did (under difficult circumstances) attempt to be neutral in the conflict.

  You can find Gibson Bell Smith's overview of the operation at:

  (Part 1) http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2002/winter/us-army-in-russia-1.html

  (Part 2) http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2002/winter/us-army-in-russia-2.html

  (Part 3-Notes) http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2002/winter/us-army-in-russia-3.html
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  1

  Who are they and where are they?

  by fulltimestudent in

  1. social
  2. current

  ok, its a teaser heading.

  and the "who" is rather easy because of the american flag, but the "where" is more difficult.

  and, "who" are the military types in white uniforms?

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  fulltimestudent

  
  

  OK, its a teaser heading. And the "who" is rather easy because of the American flag, but the "where" is more difficult. And, "who" are the military types in white uniforms? And "when" is it?

  So let's keep it easy and fill in the blanks.

  The "where" is Vladivostok, and the date is August 1918, and the military in white uniforms are a Japanese contingent welcoming the American contingent.

  Another view of the march:

  
  

  The building in the background was the GHQ for the military of all the so-called "Allies" (hence the flags) who took part in the operation. The purpose of the intervention, was ostensibly to protect a Czech force that was attempting to escape defeat by using the Siberian railway to cross Asia to Vladivostok and then by ship back to Europe.
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  2

  Youth Unemployment in Europe - Will there be Social Consequences?

  by fulltimestudent in

  1. social
  2. current

  think for a moment about this chart and wonder as to effect that unemployment may have on young people.. .

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  fulltimestudent

  Think for a moment about this chart and wonder as to effect that unemployment may have on young people.

  
  
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  9

  The end of a Chinese 'nail' house

  by fulltimestudent in

  1. social
  2. current

  disputes between residents of resumed property in china, often become dramatic, as in these two cases.. .

  these problems are not unique to china, but can arise in any society when the community (government) wants to use the land on which a house stands for somethings different (e.g.

  a new school, roads, railways, etc).

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  fulltimestudent

  Magnum: Thanks, interesting. Actually, I thought the Chinese government would just forcefully confiscate the land and make a small reimbursement. It seems that the U.S. government is tougher than the Chinese in this area.

  In China, land is (usually) owned either by the state or the village as a group ( a collective). What is sold is the right to use the land. That system is not unique to China, in Australia, that's the system in use in the capital city, Canberra, but not elsewhere

  The village collective system is the most interesting to me (as an interested observer of the social changes in China). In south China, in the very large city of Guangzhou (once called Canton), the city has expanded over village owned agricultural land, The village collective still owns the land, but the system has enabled these formerly (relatively) 'poor' peasants to become very, very wealthy.

  In the west this system is often called 'leasehold.' In the Chinese version, the length of the lease is subject to the use to which the land is to be put.

  Purpose	Years of Grant
  Land for residential purposes	70 years
  Land for industrial purposes	50 years
  Land for purposes of educational, scientific and technological, cultural, health care or sports	50 years
  Land for commercial, tourism or recreational purposes	40 years
  Land for combined usage or other purposes	50 years

  So if you buy a dwelling from a previous owner, you may actually 'own' the use of the property for less than the original 70 years, which of course must affect the price.

  The above is a rather simplistic overview. The system is still evolving, as all tenure systems do, and difficult situations arise sometimes, as in the following instance. (Obviously the situation is more complicated than the FT video allows.)

  I feel some sympathy for the situation of this woman and her family.

  The family bought the house (in Beijing) during the last years of the Imperial Qing dynasty (which ended in 1912).

  Then came the official Republic of China, whose authority did not extend far from Beijing- most of the country was ruled by the so-called war-lords (local dictators). Then, from 1937 to 1945, there was a Japanese ruled authority. In 1945 the Republic of China ruled during the civil war, until 1949, when the Communist dominated Popular Front won control of North China and Beijing.

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mc_fGteRF0k
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  9

  The end of a Chinese 'nail' house

  by fulltimestudent in

  1. social
  2. current

  disputes between residents of resumed property in china, often become dramatic, as in these two cases.. .

  these problems are not unique to china, but can arise in any society when the community (government) wants to use the land on which a house stands for somethings different (e.g.

  a new school, roads, railways, etc).

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  fulltimestudent

  And sometimes the main part of a project is completed as the dispute drags on, as in the case below in Changsha, Hunan province, where failure to settle impacts the completion of a public square in front of the new shopping centre.

  
  
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  9

  The end of a Chinese 'nail' house

  by fulltimestudent in

  1. social
  2. current

  disputes between residents of resumed property in china, often become dramatic, as in these two cases.. .

  these problems are not unique to china, but can arise in any society when the community (government) wants to use the land on which a house stands for somethings different (e.g.

  a new school, roads, railways, etc).

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  fulltimestudent

  Disputes between residents of resumed property in China, often become dramatic, as in these two cases.

  

  
  

  These problems are not unique to China, but can arise in any society when the community (government) wants to use the land on which a house stands for somethings different (e.g. A new school, roads, railways, etc). In China, as elsewhere, most people settle sooner rather than later with the government, but in China some refuse to settle, and the dispute goes on for much longer periods of time. The usual result is as pictured, the project goes ahead anyway and the property of the people who have refused to settle is left sticking up like a nail in a piece of wood.

  Its not always a building, in the image below, a family refused to have the tomb of a relative re-located.