THE THREATS OF THE BOOM-BUST CYCLE

As in previous episodes, a key factor in the current boom in capital flows to developing and emerging economies (DEEs) is a sharp cut in interest rates and a rapid expansion of liquidity in the major advanced economies (AEs), notably the US. This first occurred in a coordinated way after an agreement at the April 2009 G20 summit in London as a countercyclical response to the crisis. In the US, recovery started in summer 2009 but the strong growth of nearly 4 percent in the first quarter of 2010 slowed to less than 2 percent in the second quarter. The response of the US Federal Reserve was to initiate another round of quantitative easing through purchases of long-term treasuries and other securities. Although the declared objective was to stimulate private spending by lowering long-term interest rates and raising asset values, this move has also been widely seen as an effort to weaken the dollar and stimulate exports.

BEYOND GDP TO BETTER WAYS OF JUDGING PROGRESS AND WELL-BEING

At last there seems to be real progress in overhauling the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as measure of a country's status and progress-almost twenty years after 170 governments pledged to do so by signing Article 40 of Agenda 21 at the 1992 Rio Conference.

NEOLIBERALISM’S NEWEST PRODUCT: THE MODERN SLAVE TRADE

Two centuries after the abolition of slavery we are seeing the reintroduction of an abominable practice: human trafficking. The International Labour Organisation (ILO) estimates that 12.3 million people each year are taken captive by networks tied to international crime and used as forced labour in inhuman conditions.

RIGHT OF REPLY: Allegations without Factual Basis Drive Anti Sri Lanka Campaign

The content of your recent report on the Channel 4 video screened in Capitol Hill is disappointing. Your reporter uncritically endorsed the line purveyed by the organisers of the event without so much as a passing reference to the counter views advanced by my office at the screening of this video in New York or an effort to contact the Sri Lankan authorities. Not very professional!

NORWAY: A CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY AND DEMOCRACY

Norway is a small nation and its people are in shock after the callous act of political violence of unprecedented cruelty that occurred just days ago. There is a tangible atmosphere of quiet everywhere, of subdued voices, sadness, and national grief, which is fortunately alleviated by the compassion and concern that flows from friends all over the world. We are also grateful to our national leaders, government, police, and emergency and rescue personnel for reacting with admirable composure, compassion, and efficiency.

NORWAY: A CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY AND DEMOCRACY

Norway is a small nation and its people are in shock after the callous act of political violence of unprecedented cruelty that occurred just days ago. There is a tangible atmosphere of quiet everywhere, of subdued voices, sadness, and national grief, which is fortunately alleviated by the compassion and concern that flows from friends all over the world. We are also grateful to our national leaders, government, police, and emergency and rescue personnel for reacting with admirable composure, compassion, and efficiency.

NORWAY: WHAT CAN WE LEARN?

22 July 2011 will be engraved in Norwegian history like 9 April 1940, the German invasion. Words pale before this enormity. The center of Oslo, where the ministries are located, resembles a war-zone more than during the Second World War, when it was hit by some bombs from the resistance and from England. Even worse was the massacre at the Labor Party youth camp on Ut"ya Island near Oslo with 68 killed and many seriously wounded.

NORWAY: WHAT CAN WE LEARN?

22 July 2011 will be engraved in Norwegian history like 9 April 1940, the German invasion. Words pale before this enormity. The center of Oslo, where the ministries are located, resembles a war-zone more than during the Second World War, when it was hit by some bombs from the resistance and from England. Even worse was the massacre at the Labor Party youth camp on Ut"ya Island near Oslo with 68 killed and many seriously wounded.

65th Anniversary of World Church Service Celebrated

"It has been 65 years but please don’t retire" Vincent Cochetel United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees joked from the podium in the Museum of the City of New York.

THE SHALE GAS RUN SPREADS WORLDWIDE

Nine thousand feet beneath the surface of 34 U.S. states lie vast deposits of shale impregnated with natural gas. Unlike the concentrated reservoirs of earlier eras, most of which have now been tapped out, this gas is trapped in hairline cracks in the shale itself. It can only be tapped through an energy- and water-intensive process called hydraulic fracturing (or "fracking") recently developed by American geologists and mining engineers. Toxic chemicals are injected two miles deep and another mile in all directions to break up shale rock and release the gas.

CUBA: CARS, HOUSES, CORRUPTION, ILLEGALITY

Cuba may be the only country in the world whose citizens have, for half a century now, not been allowed to freely acquire a car or a home. Indeed the very words have a very different connotation on the island.

Commitment Marks the Second Nelson Mandela International Day

The United Nations Monday commemorated the second annual Nelson Mandela International day, a day marking not only the birthdate of the former South African president, but also to recognize his work as a freedom fighter and peacemaker.

NEGATIVE AND POSITIVE NONVIOLENCE

It is remarkable that two of the greatest evils of the 20th century -colonialism and the Cold War- were both overcome with nonviolence: Gandhi's nonviolent campaign against British colonialism which led to India's and Pakistan's Independence in 1947, paving the way for other countries' independence, and the nonviolent demonstrations, especially in Gdansk and Leipzig, which led to the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the end of the Cold War.

THE MIDDLE EAST NEEDS A MARSHALL PLAN

The latest events in the Mediterranean and Middle East are a call for adequate responses to the region's need for economic and political stability, development, employment, and resolution of migration issues. Such responses should aim to optimise potential synergies, coordination, and mutual support for initiatives already under way and for new ones - essentially, a sort of coherent and broad-based Marshall Plan capable of gathering together all the key international actors to address the political, economic, cultural and social (migration) dimensions of the "Arab Spring".

OP-ED: Consequences of Wars: Good Bye to Foreign Aid

- Faced with a total public debt of $14.46 trillion, the United States is besieged by layoffs in police, fire stations, libraries, teachers and workers in all core services and professions in all State governments, Americans urge US Government to use the $126 billion a year it spends on wars in Iraq and Afghanistan for urgent domestic needs. Americans argue that there are so many better uses for the money, and say they are baffled the US government would build bridges in Baghdad and Kandahar and not in the United States.

OP-ED: Foreign Policy Goes Gaga

Lady Gaga and Alice Walker don't have much in common. One dresses in red meat; the other doesn't even eat the stuff. One writes lyrics like "I want your ugly, I want your disease, I want your everything as long as it's free." The other writes "The Color Purple".

ISRAEL: AN ATTEMPT TO SILENCE PEACE MOVEMENT

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO WALL STREET

The behaviour of the banks reminds one of the Balkan folk dancers who face and applaud each other and then turn their backs. They lend more money than they have available to creditors who will not be able to repay it, knowing that the government will rescue them with public funds to keep them from going bankrupt and causing economic chaos. Once they get their hands on the money, the cycle begins again.

EGYPT: NOW THE HARD PART

Who could forget the images of joy broadcast worldwide the morning of February 11 from Tahrir Square of people celebrating the announcement by newly-selected vice president Omar Suleiman that Hosni Mobarak, leader of Egypt since 1981, had resigned? The eyes of the thousands of young Egyptians radiated great hopes for the future of their country and deep pride in the courage and tenacity shown during the 18 days of protests. The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, once it weighed the pros and cons of abandoning the leader to his fate, "temporarily" took control over the country to initiate the delicate period of transition towards democracy. For a moment everyone, or almost everyone, thought that a new age had dawned, in a "new Egypt".

JAPAN: RESPONDING CREATIVELY TO CRISIS

The human spirit has a truly remarkable capacity -the ability to generate hope from the most devastating of crises. This ability to create value can be seen in the response to the earthquake that struck Japan on March 11.

THE MAIN PROBLEM WITH GLOBALISATION IS TOO LITTLE GOVERNANCE

Globalisation dominates our era, but it is an increasingly fragile dominance. Even as global integration delivers enormous benefits -growing wealth, spreading technology, the rise of billions of people in the developing world- it also creates new risks -financial instability, economic imbalances, environmental stresses, growing inequalities, cyber penetration- that we seem to have difficulty managing.