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Issue No. 245/246 (Jan/Feb 2011)
*Click on cover to download the magazine (PDF)
COVER:
Currency wars, hot money and global economic uncertainty
Currency
chaos threatens global recovery
While the global economy is still struggling to recover from the
2007-09 recession, the US Federal Reserve’s adoption of a policy of
'quantitative easing' has triggered a 'currency war' with major exporting
nations.
By Martin Khor
The
currency war - the Brazilian view
Brazil
has been feeling the full heat of competitive currency devaluations.
The following piece provides the Brazilian perspective on these developments.
China's
response to the problems of QE2 and the yuan
In a speech presented at the Caixin Summit in Beijing
in November 2010, People's Bank of China governor addressed the problem
of QE2 along with the thorny issue of the exchange rate of the yuan.
By Zhou
Xiaochuan
Fallout
of global currency wars on India
India
too has been experiencing a surge in financial inflows but has been
loath to resort to capital controls as it has been relying on such short-term
capital inflows to fund its current account deficit.
By CRL Narasimhan
Curbing
hot capital flows to protect the real economy
Prudential regulations deployed by many
developing nations to stem speculative capital inflows should be coupled
with action by the developed countries in order to fully steer capital
to productive use and to avoid future crises.
By Stephany
Griffith-Jones & Kevin P Gallager
Leading
economists urge US to allow use of capital controls
A letter written by more than 250 US
and international economists urging the Obama administration to reform
US trade rules that restrict the use of capital controls reflects growing
consensus among economists that capital controls are legitimate policy
tools for preventing and mitigating financial crises.
An
imbalanced recovery
While there has been much talk about
'economic recovery and a return to business as usual', there are major
roadblocks and pitfalls in the path ahead and such optimism may be unwarranted.
By CP
Chandrasekhar and Jayati Ghosh
Global
unemployment still at stubbornly high levels
Despite claims that the 2007 Great Recession
is over and notwithstanding the fact that some countries are experiencing
impressive economic growth, the global unemployment picture is as stark
as ever.
By Kanaga Raja
ECOLOGY
Destruction
and devastation under Mongolia's eternal sky
The seemingly infinite Mongolian sky
now hangs over the largest mining boom on the planet.
By Brian
Awehali
Still
a ways to go, after historic ruling against Chevron
A court in Ecuador ruled
in favour of some 30,000 indigenous and mixed-race members of Amazonian
communities who have spent nearly 18 years in a legal battle against
US oil giant Chevron for health and environmental damage caused by its
oil operations in the 1970s and 80s. Instead of accepting responsibility,
Chevron has now instituted a phalanx of legal remedies to deprive the
impoverished victims of the fruits of their victory.
By Gonzalo
Ortiz
HEALTH & SAFETY
Ethics,
equity and genocide
The following article, based on a speech
presented before Binayak Sen was found guilty of connections
with a banned organisation and sentenced to life imprisonment, gives
a good insight into the thinking of a man who has devoted most of his
life to working with the most marginalised people of India.
By Binayak Sen
ECONOMICS
Taming
the 'Wild West' of microfinance
It’s time the authorities regulated
and supervised commercial microfinance institutions, whose coercive
methods of loan recovery have driven a significant number of their indebted
clients, mainly from the rural areas of India, to suicide.
By Kavaljit Singh
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WORLD
AFFAIRS
'From
the Gulf to the Ocean', the Middle East
is changing
The Egyptian revolution has shown the
world that democracy and freedom in the Arab world needs no military
funding, no political doctrines, no Great Middle East Democracy Projects,
and no foreign invasions or foreign-backed military coups.
By Ramzy Baroud
Tunisia's
wall has fallen
The signal for the Arab revolt came from Tunisia
when its people rose up to overthrow their hated dictator.
By Nadia Marzouki
Labour
anger does not end with Mubarak
In international media reports on the
revolt in Egypt,
the role played by working people in bringing about this historic change
has been totally ignored.
By Emad Mekay
Egypt:
Democrats and tyrants
The response to the revolt in Egypt has made it clear that, for the
West, democracy and freedom are not the absolutes they have been cracked
up to be. They are partial, conditional and highly circumscribed.
By Jeremy Seabrook
The
break-up of Sudan
The
people of Southern Sudan voted overwhelmingly in a historic referendum
in January to secede from Africa's largest state and constitute a separate nation-state
of their own. The problem of Sudan
is a reflection of the political bankruptcy of the ruling Arab elites.
By Mohamed El Mokhtar
Key
challenges for Southern Sudan after
split
The release of referendum results for
Southern Sudan’s historic independence
showing that 98.83% voted for secession means formal independence is
scheduled for 9 July 2011, but key challenges still remain to be negotiated.
Stakeholders
in the Cote d'Ivoire crisis
Reports in the international media on
the post-election crisis in Cote d'Ivoire are rarely illuminating
with regard to the main players in the crisis.
By Sanou Mbaye
From
military-industrial complex to Permanent War
State
50 years
ago US President Dwight D Eisenhower warned his countrymen of the threat
posed by the 'military-industrial complex' to the making and implementation
of his country's national security policy. How is the situation today?
By Gareth Porter
Pentagon
ecstatic over new Chinese 'threat'
The US ‘military-industrial complex’ attempts to invoke
the 'threat' of China
to expand the already bloated defence budget.
By Andrew
Cockburn
HUMAN RIGHTS
Tunisia
speaks up, shakily
Freedom of expression, freedom of assembly
and freedom of the press are the big gains of Tunisia's
so-called Jasmine Revolution, according to a top Tunisian economist,
writer and opposition figure. But he warns that dark days still lie
ahead.
By AD McKenzie
WOMEN
Egyptian
riot grrls: Finding the feminine face of fury
For Egyptian women, the decision to
fully participate in the mass demonstrations that toppled Mubarak was
also a decision to take back their streets - the very streets where
sexual harassment and stalking were rampant.
By Beenish Ahmed
ACTIONS & ALTERNATIVES
Crucial
role of panchayats in decentralised energy model
The challenge now is to create a model
of renewable energy development that is most suited to the needs and
potential of a rural-based economy like India.
By Bharat Dogra
TRIBUTE
Tribute
to Patrice Lumumba on the 50th anniversary of his assassination
It was in January 1961 that Patrice
Lumumba, the great African freedom fighter and the first lawfully elected
prime minister of Congo,
was assassinated.
By Carlos Martinez
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