POLITICAL LANDSCAPE OF ARGENTINA ABOUT TO CHANGE

If Argentina\'s October 28 presidential elections come off the way the polls indicate, the political reality of the country as of 2008 will be sharply different from what we see in the current campaigns, writes Horacio Verbitsky, Argentine journalist and writer, president of the Centre for Social and Legal Studies (CELS), and author of Robo para la corona, El vuelo, and other books. In this analysis, Verbitsky writes that Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner (CFK), as president, and right-wing Mauricio Macri, as opposition leader, will emerge as the defining poles of the political system, while three of the other current candidates -Roberto Lavagna, Elisa Carrio, and Ricardo Lopez Murphy- will fade from the scene. The historical radical and justicialist parties will give way to the PRO of Macri and the Victory Front, which supports current president Nestor Kirchner and is backing CFK, his wife, in the election. Polls show CFK winning with 39 to 55 percent of the votes, leading the runner up by no less than thirty points. Macri was elected governor of the Federal Capital on June 24 with a 61 percent majority. After this overwhelming victory, he ignored pressure to run in this election but did not hide the fact he is preparing to run in 2011. He is the big missing factor in this campaign, but after the elections he will emerge as the primary non-Kirchnerian political figure. The system imagined by the government with a centre-left force opposed to a centre-right seems about to come into existence as none of the political leaders of the last quarter-century are still viable.

AFRICAN COUNTRIES SHOULD MOVE SLOWLY IN SERVICES TRADE TALKS WITH EU

The outcome of Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) negotiations, set for this December, will change a decades-old reciprocal trading regime between the European Union (EU) and African Caribbean Pacific (ACP) countries. Specifically, negotiations on trade in services under the EPAs have important development implications for Eastern and Southern African (ESA) countries, writes Joy Kategekwa, Programme Officer, trade in services, at the South Centre\'s Trade for Development Programme. In this article, the author writes that the EU is seeking Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status for its service suppliers in the ESA region, which would not only give EU companies unlimited access to the ESA market on terms similar to those enjoyed by ESA countries, in the context of their various regional integration initiatives, but also automatic access to the treatment that ESA countries give to all other trading partners, with whom they have services economic integration agreements, or with whom, the ESA process of liberalisation has led to some form of services liberalisation. In making national treatment commitments for the EU, ESA countries lose the ability to retain any measures that favor local/ESA service suppliers, over EU ones. In sum, the outcome of the EPA on services, along the lines proposed by the EU,would bar ESA countries from implementing certain policy instruments or regulations that could increase the participation of local services suppliers particularly in the context of intra-regional trade. ESA countries should move slowly and cautiously on services liberalisation with the EU. Instead, they should focus on strengthening development cooperation in services with the EU, aimed at developing capacity to strengthen the sector domestically and for export, such that over time, they can have ability to benefit from a reciprocal services trade Agreement with the EU.

CURRENT PACE TOO SLOW ON UN MILLENNIUM POVERTY GOALS

The 2007 UN General Assembly will have to make the honest admission that the world community of nations has not lived up to the solemn undertakings it made to the poor in Africa and the rest of the world in the 2000 Millennium Declaration, writes Thabo Mbeki, President of South Africa. In this analysis, Mbeki cites the grim assessment made by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) about how many of the 53 African countries are likely to achieve the MDGs by the 2015 target date. The ECA says only 13 African countries are likely to reduce poverty to the required degree, 14 to achieve universal primary education; just 7 are likely to achieve gender parity at the level of secondary school education; a mere 8 are likely to reduce child mortality. The ECA tells the dismal and distressing story that the overwhelming majority of countries on our continent will, for the foreseeable future, remain mired in deeply dehumanising poverty, misery, and underdevelopment.

BIO-FUELS: NO SILVER BULLET AGAINST FOSSIL FUELS

While increasing the proportion of biofuels in the fuel mix for motor vehicles is a step in the right direction, it is not the \'\'silver bullet\'\' that will break the world\'s dependence on fossil fuels, writes Vicente Paolo Yu III, Coordinator of the Global Governance for Development Programme at the South Centre. In this article, Yu writes that biofuels should be seen as a part of a broader strategy of diversifying the energy mix that allows society to shift to more sustainable energy sources with minimal economic and social disruption. It is crucial that biofuel production does not compete directly with food production, especially in developing countries, and that the latter\'s poor not be made to vie for food with the livestock and automobiles of those in developed countries. More research, development, and investment needs to be made in other climate-friendly energy alternatives (i.e. biogas, solar, wind, tidal, water, geothermal, hydrogen), for power generation, transportation, and daily consumer use, to expand the use of these alternatives as future replacements for fossil fuels.

VAN GOGH, STALIN AND THE TRAPS OF THE FUTURE

The macabre contrast between the multi-million-dollar transcendence of Van Gogh\'s paintings and the life the painter led, of privation and uncertainty, reveal in an exemplary fashion that the present is not always able to render individuals even a small measure of justice, not to mention a glimpse of what the future would hold for his work and memory, writes Leonardo Padura Fuentes, a Cuban writer and journalist whose novels have been translated into a ten languages. In this article, the author writes that although the events of the past cannot be changed in the present, when we see that a few of Van Gogh\'s irises and a self-portrait have become symbols of the beauty of human creation across the world, we understand that the memory of the future is adjusted with a perspective and equity that the present lacks. How many of the owners of the truth or the adored of the moment will be denied \'\'not three but many more times\'\'? However much they try to reinforce their pedestals, many of their statues will be gone tomorrow. Will those who live only for posterity ever learn this lesson? I doubt it, but the lesson will have an effect, in general sooner than later.

THE HIDDEN COSTS OF CHEAP FOOD

The industrial agriculture system that supplies Americans their cheap food is predicated on cheap labour, lax enforcement of already weak labour regulations, often hazardous working conditions, and physical and sexual abuse, writes Mark Sommer, host of the award-winning, internationally-syndicated radio programme, \'\'A World of Possibilities\'\'. In this article, Sommer writes that this is not just an American problem. In an increasingly integrated global food system, affluent consumers in North America, Europe, and elsewhere have come to expect low prices for food from far away and far out of season, much of which is grown and harvested by marginal farmers in distant places who receive a tiny portion of what we pay for it. Driven from the land by impossibly low commodity prices, they crowd the cities of the developing world in search of work. Failing to find it, their desperation becomes a breeding ground for extremist movements. Our abundance must not be built on their indigence. How much are we willing to pay for the food we eat to assure that those whose labour brings it to our tables are paid enough to eat it too?

ABRIDGED VERSION OF THE 2960-WORD ORIGINAL ARTICLE, ALSO AVAILABLE FOR PUBLICATION: EUROPE SELF-SERVING IN TRADE TALKS WITH AFRICA

The European Commission is pursuing a hidden agenda in its negotiations of Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) with African countries, writes Demba Moussa Dembele, Director of the African Forum on Alternatives. In this analysis, Dembele writes that the EC, claiming it wants to promote trade and investment in Africa, included the so-called \'\'Singapore issues\'\' dropped from 2003 WTO discussions following the strong opposition of African and other developing countries, which do not want to lock themselves into binding agreements on elements that are key policy instruments in their development process, particularly for industrialization. Such binding investment agreements would straightjacket African countries for the foreseeable future. This is why African and other ACP countries have emphatically reiterated their opposition to including these policies in the EPA negotiations. The best way to promote trade and investment in Africa is to address the fundamental issues of development raised by African countries, by assisting them in capacity- and infrastructure- building, in strengthening the process of regional integration, in developing the capacity to transform their raw materials domestically, and in building strong regional markets.

UN DEATH PENALTY VOTE CAN HELP STOP CYCLE OF REVENGE

Such is the world sentiment against the death penalty - with notable exceptions like the USA, China, and Singapore - that a resolution calling for a moratorium on executions and the abolition of capital punishment is to go before the UN General Assembly in October, writes Desmond Tutu, archbishop of Cape Town, Nobel Prize for Peace 1984. In this analysis, Tutu writes that the time has come to abolish the death penalty worldwide. The case for abolition becomes more compelling with each passing year. Everywhere experience shows us that executions brutalise both those directly involved in the process and the society that carries them out. Nowhere has it been shown that the death penalty reduces crime or political violence. In country after country, it is used disproportionately against the poor or against racial or ethnic minorities. It is often used as a tool of political repression. It is imposed and inflicted arbitrarily. It is irrevocable and results inevitably in the execution of people innocent of any crime. It is a violation of fundamental human rights.

NEPAL: PEACE HICCUP

After the heady excitement of last year\'s pro-democracy uprising in Nepal that forced King Gyanendra to restore parliament, Nepal\'s eight-party coalition has fallen apart with the Maoists quitting government on Tuesday. The move did not come as a surprise, since the ex-guerrillas had been warning of just this for months. But it does put in doubt the fate of elections for the constituent assembly scheduled November 22, writes Kunda Dixit, editor of the Nepali Times newspaper and author of A People War. In this article the author writes that most of the estimated 15,000 ex-guerrillas are interned in camps supervised by a UN monitoring mission in Nepal and their weapons are under lock and key. On Tuesday, the UN expressed concern about the Maoists quitting the government, saying this would jeopardize the peace process. The hope now is that behind-the-scenes negotiations currently underway will produce an agreement that the first meeting of the constituent assembly after elections will declare Nepal a republic. It remains to be seen whether the Maoists will agree to this, and if they do elections may still be possible. Otherwise they may be postponed. Nepal\'s peace process is not in jeopardy, and the Maoists are not about to go back to war. But it is proof of just how difficult it is for a group that has pursued armed struggle to transform itself into a pluralistic, non-violent political party.

MAKING GLOBALISATION GOOD FOR ALL

Increasing trade restrictions is the wrong response to anxieties generated by the rapid pace of globalization and would cause unthinkable damage, writes Pascal Lamy, Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO). In this analysis, Lamy writes that more often than not, the real cause of pain is not trade opening but the failure to accompany the efficiency gains it brings with economic policies that would amplify its benefits. Trade opening involves a built-in asymmetry: while the millions who experience gains in purchasing power from trade opening are usually unaware of the cause, the thousands whom it hurts can easily identify the source of their pain. For politicians, this asymmetry is difficult to cope with and too often the easy way out is to treat foreigners as scapegoats. The multilateral arena continues to be the most cost-effective way to negotiate trade matters. This is especially true for medium and small developing countries, who have much less negotiating power in bilateral negotiations with big partners than they do in a multilateral setting.

POPE BENEDICT XVI IS LEADING THE CHURCH ASTRAY

The world is suffering from a clear crisis of meaning caused by the irrationality of world economics and politics and the general crisis of religion, which is the natural source of hope and ethics. Today almost all religions are contaminated by the evil of fundamentalism, which is frequently the basis of terrorism, Leonardo Boff, a Brazilian theologian and environmentalist, is a member of the Commission of the Earth Charter. In this article Boff writes that the search for religious peace has not been joined by the Roman Catholic Church which has exhibited an increasingly closed attitude that has lead to positions that are clearly fundamentalist and exclusionary and are reflected in the speeches of the current Pope. The doctrinal strategy of Benedict XVI consists of a direct confrontation with modernity guided by a cultural pessimism that is unacceptable in someone who should know that the Spirit is in humanity and is not a monopoly of the Church, and that salvation is open to all. Its principal social base now lies in lay movements characterised by mediocre thought, submission to the authorities, obedience to the laws of the market, and a preference for big media spectacles over the confrontation of poverty, injustice, and threats to the environment.

WHEN THE STATUE OF LIBERTY BARS THE WAY

It was in 1883 that Jewish American poet Emma Lazarus wrote the famous lines below the Statue of Liberty in New York: \'\'Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free\'\', writes Leonardo Padura Fuentes, a Cuban writer and journalist whose novels have been translated into a ten languages. In this article, the author asks, What would this Mother of Exiles say today? The human flux, stronger than ever, is greeted with intolerance, selectivity, and, worst of all, xenophobia. As nationalism grows increasingly hard-core and furious, hypocritical governments are trying to regulate or even block outright a solution that would be so essentially human that no law or wall could ever completely stop. Today no one is speaking the words of Emma Lazarus, or engraving them on plaques. To the contrary, some even think that this much lauded Jew shouldn\'t have stooped so low. Who today cares for the tired and poor and huddles masses from other shores? What rich and powerful country is asking for the tempest-tossed to be delivered to its shores? The golden doors stand in darkness and no one will light them, and yet, even so, the poor and downtrodden still find a crack to squeeze through towards a better life.

FREE TRADE? COMMODITY PRICES RISE AS POOR FARMER INCOME FALLS

(By Ali Mchumo, John R. Kaputin, Supachai Panitchpakdi, and Kemal Dervis) - It\'s the kind of unfair situation that makes poorer nations wonder where the payoff is with free trade: demand for coffee, tea, cocoa, cotton, and sugar -- which is what many such countries have to offer the world -- has risen, prices paid in the supermarket have risen, yet the share paid to the farmers who grow these basic agricultural commodities has fallen, writes Ali Mchumo, Managing Director of the Common Fund for Commodities; John R. Kaputin, Secretary General of the ACP Group of States, Brussels ; Supachai Panitchpakdi, Secretary General of UNCTAD, Geneva ; and Kemal Dervis, Administrator at the UNDP. In this article the authors ask, where is the profit accumulating and why isn\'t globalisation \"working\" in this case to reduce poverty in poor or developing nations? Such countries are often lectured. The complexities of the \"value chain\" between crop and supermarket shelf do not work to the advantage of low-income, smallholder farmers. The process may be global, but it\'s not fair. The higher end, where food and natural textiles are \"differentiated\" -- processed in ways that appeal, packaged attractively, branded, and advertised -- is where most of the money accumulates. The original industrial revolution was fuelled by surplus income from farming. The poorer regions of today\'s world deserve the same chance Western Europe and the United States had a century and a half ago. Something is \"off\" about the prevailing situation. It must be fixed. Otherwise the looming scenario offered by a Zambian farmer-trade unionist may become a reality: \"If you will not pay us reasonable prices for our exports, we will export ourselves.\"

KILLING ME SOFTLY: THE UNCERTAIN EFFECTS OF UNTESTED CHEMICALS

\"Better living through chemistry.\" That was the tag-line used by Dow Chemical in the 1950s at the outset of an era when industrial chemicals were introduced on a massive scale into consumer goods, agriculture, and virtually every other sector of modern life, writes Mark Sommer, host of the award-winning, internationally syndicated radio programme, \"A World of Possibilities\". Sommer writes in this article that the phrase has become hauntingly ironic as, tens of thousands of chemicals later, environmental health researchers discover more and more evidence of negative long-term impacts from some of what we had long thought to be a purely benign technology. In the advanced industrial world all of us are unavoidably immersed in a brew of synthetic chemicals most of whose ingredients have never been tested for their long-term impacts on human health. The costs of testing such a vast reservoir of synthetic chemicals would be huge and one way or another those costs would be passed on to consumers. But the costs of continuing to ignore the impacts would undoubtedly be far greater. Given the choice, would you rather find out now and act accordingly or risk being surprised at a later date by maladies that could have been avoided?

A GREEN REVOLUTION IN AFRICA

Imagine a new variety of drought and pest-resistant rice for Africa with double the yield of traditional rice, a growing season 30-50 days shorter than other varieties, a higher protein content, and it even tastes good. This is not a futuristic scenario but NERICA, the New Rice for Africa, which combines the high yield of Asian rice with the hardiness of African rice, writes Kanayo Nwanze, Vice President of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and former Director-General of the Africa Rice Centre [WARDA]. In this article, the author writes that NERICA is a reality in the fields of 30,000 farmers in 20 countries. Yields have increased dramatically, families are taking advantage of the shorter growing season to plant an extra crop of vegetables or legumes, and women report that the wider leaf of the NERICA plant casts a shadow that inhibits weed growth. Rice was a crucial building block of the Asian green revolution. The high-yielding varieties that helped people overcome hunger marked the beginning of the end of Asia\'s chronic poverty and allowed its first steps toward industrialisation. Without a doubt, developments such as NERICA are exactly what is needed to move the African Green Revolution forward.

RAPE AND THE RULE OF LAW

The lengthy prison terms for war crimes and crimes against humanity handed down by the Special Court for Sierra Leone on 19 July have been greeted with widespread praise; two senior members of the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council were sentenced to 50 years in prison and another to 45 years for atrocities committed during the country\'s civil war, including rape, writes Noeleen Heyzer, Executive Director, United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM). In this article, the author writes that calling senior military leaders to account for sexual crimes against women is a historic achievement that reaffirms the recognition that rape is among the gravest violations of international law, on par with acts of mass murder and terrorism. It is hoped these sentences will help bolster the capacity of local courts to convict the thousands of lower-ranking rapists who walk free. This is indeed the best hope for resurrecting the rule of law in a war-ravaged nation. Regrettably, international support for the rehabilitation of justice systems and the rule of law has not prioritised women\'s access to justice, which has generally been sidelined in favor of market-oriented reform, such as revising corporate laws to improve the investment climate. We must act urgently ensure that laws on paper are matched by action.

UNQUENCHABLE THIRST: THE WORLD WATER BUSINESS

It is well known that even in countries where mineral water is public property, it is private companies that are making major and easy profits from selling it, writes Riccardo Petrella, founder member and General Secretary President of the International Committee for the World Water Contract, and professor at the Catholic University of Louvain. In this article, the author writes that the \'\'business\' of bottled mineral water has become one of the most lucrative and fast-growing sectors around the world. The Swiss private bank Pictet forecasts that by 2015 private companies will supply water to almost 1.75 billion \'\'consumers\'\'. In this context, it is not surprising to learn that water management companies are among the most hotly bought and sold businesses, much the way shoes or refrigerators are. The last major instance of this was the sale of of Thames Water, which in fifteen years passed from being a public entity to a private British company to a holding of a German energy giant and now of an Australian bank. It should not be excluded that in ten more years Thames Water could pass into the hands of a Chinese company specialising in urban waste removal.

TAILOR THE DEVELOPMENT APPROACH TO LOCAL CONDITIONS

The one-size-fits-all formula for development is clearly a mistake. To begin with, today\'s developed countries used a broad range of economic approaches in their own development strategies, writes Benjamin Mkapa, former President of Tanzania (1995-2005) and President of the South Center, an Inter-Governmental Organization based in Geneva, Switzerland. In this article, Mkapa writes a government should design and implement a national development policy that takes into account its country\'s unique conditions and characteristics. The developing countries that disregarded orthodox economic policy advice to combat financial crises were the ones that managed to get over the crises early and in good shape. Globalisation should not require the replication in the developing world of the political and institutional structures of governance of the US and Western Europe. Nor should cultural and social values across the developing world be recreated in the image of western life styles and role models. A fair globalisation requires that the process respect diversity of culture, religion, and political and social opinion while fully respecting universal principles.

PERVERSE SUBSIDIES

Since its inception in November 2001, the Doha Round of the WTO has been unable to take even one step towards the apparently shared goal of liberalising trade because of industrialised countries\' subsidies of their own agricultural production, writes Norman Myers, who is completing, with Jennifer Kent, a book on institutional roadblocks. In this article, Myers writes that certain subsidies are bad not only for the environment but for the economy too and should be designated \'perverse\' subsidies. These are especially prominent in agriculture, fossil fuels, road transportation, water, forests, and fisheries, and total a whopping USD 2 trillion a year. Eliminating perverse subsidies would do more than virtually any other measure to stimulate and streamline our economies and safeguard the environment. Moreover, governments would find that with the freed-up funds they could cancel their budgetary deficits, slash taxes, and boost their health and education budgets by unprecedented amounts.

NOSTALGIA FOR THE OLD PLEASURES

With all the warnings about everything from sunlight to smoking to meat, it seems more and more astonishing that our species has made it to the present day, after millions of years of exposure to the sun and unrestrained eating and drinking, smoking, and indulging in sex (and not only for reproduction) and travelling, writes Leonardo Padura Fuentes, a Cuban writer and journalist whose novels have been translated into a ten languages. In this article, the author writes that there was even a time not so long ago that we even considered these suicidal indeed genocidal acts to be pleasures, like smoking a cigarette in a bar with a glass of wine or a coffee. The oblivion that shrouded life back then (of course AIDS, global warming, and the hole in the ozone layer didn\'t yet exist) made life more pleasing, if sometimes shorter. Today, however, when the entire human race risks vanishing from the earth because of its own stupidity and mistreatment of our planet, many people are worried about living to one hundred in perfect health, limiting if not eliminating pleasures while they burn rivers of fuel and raze forests and, most important, forget that for millions of other people in this world, a piece of bread, a glass of clean water, or even an avocado are not enemies but luxuries that it becomes harder and harder to come by each day.

AFRICA MUST BE HEARD ON CLIMATE CHANGE

While in wealthy countries, the looming climate crisis is a matter of concern, in Africa, which has hardly contributed to climate change, it is a matter of life and death, writes Wangari Maathai, the 2004 Nobel Peace Laureate and a member of Kenya's Parliament and the founder of the Green Belt Movement. In this analysis, the author writes that therefore, Africa must not remain silent in the face of the realities of climate change, and its causes. African leaders and civil society must be involved in global decision-making about how to address the climate crisis in ways that are both effective and equitable. Unfortunately, the generation that destroys the environment may not be the one that pays the price. Politically, it is more expedient to sacrifice the long-term common good and intergenerational responsibility for the convenience and opportunities of today. But, morally, we are required to act for the common good of all. The global challenge of climate change requires that we ask no less of our leaders, or ourselves