Juremes's Favorite Links from Diigo

"What’s Causing Global Food Price Inflation?"

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 10:56:45 -0000

In summary, several factors are behind the recent dramatic increase in food prices. But one of them is clearly a result of deliberate policy decisions, i.e. to support the expansion of biofuels production and use. The OECD’s recent report on the economic assessment of biofuel support policies has clearly shown that their effectiveness is disappointingly low, with public support costing between $960 and $1700 per tonne of greenhouse gas emissions saved. In a situation like that, governments have good reasons to reconsider their biofuel support policies if they want to help to calm food prices down.

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Posted by: juremes

Setting market conditions in Slovakia

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 10:55:01 -0000

Discontent with healthcare privatisation was the prime campaign theme of the 2006 elections in Slovakia, and promises to undo it were a main reason for a new bizarre coalition of three populist parties taking government.

After taking office, PM Robert Fico didn't dare to start renationalisation outright, and overall, his government implemented only minor changes to his predecessors' radical neoliberal reforms. However, it seems that with his power now consolidated, Fico felt he has the power to risk some conflict with the private insurers - and conflict there is, one of them brought the government into court, demanding half a billion Euros in damages.

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Obama on Iraq and Afghanistan: A Friendly Critique

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 22:30:15 -0000

Afghan tribes are fractious. They feud. Their territory is vast and rugged, and they know it like the back of their hands. Afghans are Jeffersonians in the sense that they want a light touch from the central government, and heavy handedness drives them into rebellion. Stand up Karzai's army and air force and give him some billions to bribe the tribal chiefs, and let him apply carrot and stick himself. We need to get out of there. "Al-Qaeda" was always Bin Laden's hype. He wanted to get us on the ground there so that the Mujahideen could bleed us the way they did the Soviets. It is a trap.

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Barack Obama - My Plan for Iraq - NYTimes.com

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 22:23:19 -0000

The call by Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki for a timetable for the removal of American troops from Iraq presents an enormous opportunity. We should seize this moment to begin the phased redeployment of combat troops that I have long advocated, and that is needed for long-term success in Iraq and the security interests of the United States.

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Death of globalisation consensus

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 09:40:39 -0000

So if globalisation is in danger, who are its real enemies? There was a time when global elites could comfort themselves with the thought that opposition to the world trading regime consisted of violent anarchists, self-serving protectionists, trade unionists, and ignorant, if idealistic youth. Meanwhile, they regarded themselves as the true progressives, because they understood that safeguarding and advancing globalization was the best remedy against poverty and insecurity.

But that self-assured attitude has all but disappeared, replaced by doubts, questions, and scepticism. Gone also are the violent street protests and mass movements against globalisation. What makes news nowadays is the growing list of mainstream economists who are questioning globalisation's supposedly unmitigated virtues.

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Odprto pismo Barbari Brezigar

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 09:24:47 -0000

Odločil sem se, da Ti napišem to odprto pismo, čeprav vem, da ne odgovarjaš na pisma, ki pomenijo kritiko Tvojega dela (ocen in ugotovitev), in da ne daješ pojasnil, čeprav si zanje zaprošena.

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Vojak resnice

Mon, 07 Jul 2008 10:51:24 -0000

Najbolj legendarni stavek, ki si ga velja zapomniti, se je glasil: “Glede na prijavo so se potrdili sumi, da - in to zelo resni sumi - da lahko gre za kaznivo dejanje sestajanja teh dveh oseb.” Tako je govoril minister Dragutin Mate in se zapisal v zgodovino. V Sloveniji torej poznamo kaznivo dejanje Sestajanja dveh oseb. Hudo. Kaj nam torej ostane? Da se ne sestajamo več. Ali da policija sestavi seznam oseb, ki se lahko sestajajo?

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How Prozac sent the science of depression in the wrong direction - The Boston Globe

Sun, 06 Jul 2008 20:13:10 -0000

In recent years, scientists have developed a novel theory of what falters in the depressed brain. Instead of seeing the disease as the result of a chemical imbalance, these researchers argue that the brain's cells are shrinking and dying.

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Ni slaba šala: notranji minister podučuje predsednika sodišča at razgledi.net

Sat, 05 Jul 2008 15:41:24 -0000

Ob tem, da takšnega pravnika, predsednika sodišča Barago notranji minister Mate podučuje, kaj da bi moral storiti in kaj da je zagrešil, so skorajšnje volitve edina srečna okoliščina.

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Naomi Klein: Big Oil's Iraq deals are the greatest stick-up in history

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 06:47:34 -0000

Once oil passed $140 a barrel, even the most rabidly rightwing media hosts had to prove their populist credibility by devoting a portion of every show to bashing Big Oil. Some have gone so far as to invite me on for a friendly chat about an insidious new phenomenon: "disaster capitalism." It usually goes well - until it doesn't.

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"China and Wal-Mart: Champions of Equality"

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 12:47:08 -0000

My response is here and here. The response argues that a full assessment of the change in worker circumstances should include factors such as changes in economic security (see recent headlines about job layoffs), employer based health care and retirement programs, debt burdens, etc., "and when you do that, it is far less clear that workers have benefited overall even if you take the Broda and Romalis result as given.

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En šrot v marici še ne bo prinesel pravne države at razgledi.net

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 09:27:23 -0000

Res je, boj proti korupciji in klientelizmu je ‘nenehna naloga’, a če so v revoluciji kar naprej preizkušali nove recepte, dokler jim krava ni poginila, se v demokraciji zna zgoditi, da bo zaradi pre-številnih aretacij ‘tajkunov’ storila konec pravna država.

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Iceland pays price for financial excess

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 08:58:26 -0000

Since then Iceland’s economy has continued to decline. Gross domestic product shrank by almost 4 per cent in the first quarter of 2008 compared with the final quarter of last year, when growth was barely positive. The stock market and the currency have both fallen by about a third since the start of this year.

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Pok blogosferičnega balona « Dr. Onyx

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 08:51:29 -0000

Da je slovenska blogosfera v globoki krizi, zame pričati vsaj dve večji zadevi poleg kopice manjših.

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The Damned: Luchino Visconti. Nationalism as Regression, 09/06/07, Kinoeye

Sat, 14 Jun 2008 20:09:20 -0000

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Senses of Cinema

Thu, 12 Jun 2008 22:28:15 -0000

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Hot, Hard Cocks and Tight, Tight Unlubricated Assholes: Transgression, Sexual Ambiguity and 'Perverse' Pleasures in Serge Gainsbourg's Je t'aime moi non plus

Thu, 12 Jun 2008 21:45:41 -0000

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Cable: deregulation good for consumers; Ars: like heck it is

Wed, 11 Jun 2008 17:44:32 -0000

"Until 1984, local governments kept cable prices in check," says CU. "Then deregulation resulted in a torrent of price hikes, interrupted only by a brief period, 1993-1996, when rates were regulated. The Telecommunications Act of 1996 opened the flood gates to deregulation and more price hikes. Since passage of the 1996 Act, cable rates have increased by 59 percent—almost three times the rate of inflation—according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics."

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Globalization anxiety as mass hysteria?

Tue, 10 Jun 2008 21:29:49 -0000

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Oh the irony - UK entrusts its energy future to French State-owned groups

Mon, 09 Jun 2008 12:18:49 -0000

But let me repeat it again: EDF and Areva are not just French, they are State-owned. They are the anti-thesis of the 'let the markets take care of it' mindset (which does not mean they are not competititve, as some are finally noticing). They embody government planning, government investment, and the rule of engineers over lawyers. French. State-owned.

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Posted by: juremes