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Tag Archives: sanctions
Latest Developments, March 6
Posted on March 6, 2013 by Beyond Aid
Presidential death
The University of London's Oscar Guardiola-Rivera argues that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, whose death was announced Tuesday, made his country more inclusive during his 14 years in power:
"Chávez's Social Missions, providing healthcare and literacy to formerly excluded people while changing their life and political outlook, have proven the extent of such a transformative view. It could be compared to the levelling spirit of a kind of new New Deal combined with a model of social change based on popular and communal organisation.
The facts speak for themselves: the percentage of households in poverty fell from 55% in 1995 to 26.4% in 2009. When Chávez was sworn into office unemployment was 15%, in June 2009 it was 7.8%. Compare that to current unemployment figures in Europe."
Meddling allegations
The Associated Press reports that a British diplomat has been accused of "shadowy, suspicious and rather animated involvement" in Kenya's presidential election by supporters of Uhuru Kenyatta who is currently leading as ballot counting continues:
"Kenyatta's party also asked the high commissioner, Christian Turner, to explain what it called 'the sudden upsurge of British military personnel' in Kenya. British troops attend a six-week training course near Mount Kenya before deploying to Afghanistan. A new battle group arrived the week before Kenyans voted.
Britain's Foreign Office said claims of British interference 'are entirely false and misleading.' It said the British soldiers in Kenya are part of a regular training program planned nine months ago 'completely unrelated to the Kenyan elections.' "
New gun market
Reuters reports that the UN Security Council has voted for a British-drafted partial suspension of the longtime arms embargo on Somalia:
"The Security Council resolution would allow sales of such weapons as automatic assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenades, but leaves in place a ban on surface-to-air missiles, large-caliber guns, howitzers, cannons and mortars as well as anti-tank guided weapons, mines and night vision weapon sights.
Human rights group Amnesty International called one the U.N. Security Council on Monday not to lift arms embargo on Somalia, describing the idea as premature and warning that it could "expose Somali civilians to even greater risk and worsen the humanitarian situation."
Violent mine
The Daily News reports that two more people have died in clashes at a Tanzanian mine owned by Canadian giant Barrick Gold:
"The [North Mara Gold Mine] has been experiencing frequent invasions carried out by mostly young men targeting gold sand. The intruders have often been clashing with police officers guarding the mine 24 hours. In 2011 five civilians were shot dead after hundreds of people invaded the mine and clashed with anti-riot police.
The mine is also guarded by private security guards. The Canadian miner is currently setting up a multimillion wall fence at Gokona pit in a bid to boost safety and security in one of the country's largest gold mine located at Nyamongo area."
Toxic fog
Etiame reports that Togolese fishermen have said they encountered a suffocating cloud at sea, near a coastal area where the World Health Organization noted reports of a "strange" outbreak of coughing and chest pains last month:
" 'We were on the high sea that day. It was as if someone had launched tear gas. It stung our nostrils. It was probably toxic discharge from a ship. If it had been pollution from a neighbouring country, it would have dissipated by that point,' said a visibly perturbed Koffa." (Translated from the French.)
Protecting assets
The Globe and Mail reports that Canada has negotiated "so-called foreign investment promotion and protection agreements" with Cameroon and Zambia, bringing to seven the number of African countries that have made such deals with Ottawa:
"The FIPAs are meant to give businesses greater confidence to invest at a time when resource nationalism has become one of the leading concerns of the global mining industry. The trend became especially pronounced in recent years as emerging nation's sought to renegotiate terms of mining investments in the wake of booming prices for metals like gold and copper, trading several times where they were a few years ago even.
Canada has 24 FIPAs in force around the world. It has also concluded the agreements with Benin, Madagascar, Mali, Senegal and Tanzania and is pursuing FIPAs with Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana and Tunisia."
Killer deal
Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières has said the Trans-Pacific Partnership, currently in its 16th round of negotiations in Singapore, could become "the most harmful trade pact ever for access to medicines in developing countries":
"The negotiations are being conducted in secret, but leaked drafts of the agreement include aggressive intellectual property (IP) rules that would restrict access to affordable, lifesaving medicines for millions of people.
Proposed by U.S. negotiators, the IP rules enhance patent and data protections for pharmaceutical companies, dismantle public health safeguards enshrined in international law, and obstruct price-lowering generic competition for medicines."
Reuters reports that Western observers will not be welcome in Zimbabwe during this year's constitutional and presidential votes, purportedly due to the punitive policies their countries have imposed:
"Foreign Minister Simbarashe Mumbengegwi, from Mugabe's ZANU-PF party, told the state-controlled Herald newspaper that Harare would bar U.S. and European Union observers because of sanctions on Mugabe and his inner circle for alleged human rights abuses.
'To be an observer, you have to be objective and once you impose sanctions on one party, your objectivity goes up in smoke,' Mumbengegwi, who is responsible for inviting and accrediting foreign observers, was quoted as saying.
'I do not see why they need to be invited when they have never invited us to monitor theirs.' "
Posted in Latest Developments	| Tagged arms embargo, Barrick Gold, election observers, Foreign Investment Promotion and Protection Agreements, Hugo Chavez, intellectual property, Kenya elections, sanctions, toxic discharge, Trans-Pacific Partnership	| Leave a reply
Latest Developments, February 8
Posted on February 8, 2013 by Beyond Aid
Surprise endorsement
Wired reports that UN special rapporteur for human rights and counterterrorism Ben Emmerson, the man who recently launched an investigation into the use of armed drones, has given his "qualified backing" to John Brennan, the man who has been running the US drone program, for next head of the CIA:
"Emmerson, a British lawyer, has put the U.S. on notice that he won't hesitate to investigate U.S. 'war crimes' if he uncovers evidence of them. While Emmerson's inquiry won't focus on individuals responsible for any uncovered abuses, Brennan, as a White House aide, presided over the bureaucratic process for ordering suspected terrorists killed. Yet at the White House, Emmerson says, Brennan 'had the job of reining in the more extreme positions advanced by the CIA,' which he thinks augurs well for Brennan's CIA tenure.
'By putting Brennan in direct control of the CIA's policy [of targeted killings], the president has placed this mediating legal presence in direct control of the positions that the CIA will adopt and advance, so as to bring the CIA much more closely under direct presidential and democratic control,' Emmerson says. 'It's right to view this as a recognition of the repository of trust that Obama places in Brennan to put him in control of the organization that poses the greatest threat to international legal consensus and recognition of the lawfulness of the drone program.' "
Georgetown University's David Cole wonders if there are any "alternative checks within the executive branch" during US decision making on targeted killings:
"For example, is anyone assigned to make the case against the targeted killing—that is, to advocate on behalf of the person the administration is considering executing? The CIA uses 'red teams' to challenge and improve its analysis of potential operations; shouldn't that be required before the executive kills a human being? Much information has been leaked about the process, but nothing has suggested that such a safeguard exists in the targeted killing program."
Economic war
The Associated Press reports that Iran's supreme leader has said that increasingly harsh economic sanctions make direct nuclear talks with the US impossible:
" 'You are holding a gun against Iran saying, "Talks or you'll fire." The Iranian nation will not be frightened by such threats,' [Ayatollah Ali] Khamenei added in a reference to U.S. sanctions over Iran's nuclear efforts.
The U.S. this week further tightened sanctions, which have already slashed Iran's oil revenue by 45 percent. The new measures seek to cut deeper into Iran's ability to get oil revenue. It calls on countries that buy Iranian crude — mostly Asian nations including China and India — not to transfer money directly to Iran and instead place it in local accounts."
No exceptions
Publish What You Pay is celebrating the Dutch government's decision not to support "dangerous exclusions" in proposed new EU requirements for extractive industry transparency:
"The upcoming legislation which is being introduced through the European Accounting and Transparency Directives builds upon a landmark provision in US law – section 1504 of the Dodd-Frank Act passed in 2010 – which requires all oil, gas, and mining companies listed on U.S. stock exchanges to publish their payments to all countries and for every project. The US rules implementing Dodd-Frank 1504 do not provide for any exemptions from reporting.
In deciding not to support exemptions, Dutch Minister of Economic Affairs Henk Kamp said in a letter to the Dutch Parliament that exemptions were 'not desirable' since the Dutch government wished to create 'a level playing field for international transparency requirements'.
Anglo-Dutch oil giant Royal Dutch Shell and other oil companies have been fighting these laws both in the United States and European Union."
Global precedent
Reuters reports on the opening of a special court in Senegal that will be the first in the world to hold a "trial of an ex-head of state by another country for rights abuses":
"Prosecutors will work at a sea-front court in the Senegalese capital Dakar, investigating the alleged killing and torture of 40,000 people during [former Chadian President Hissene] Habre's 1982-1990 rule.
Africa has a human rights court which sits in Arusha, Tanzania, but its status has only been ratified by 26 countries.
Former African heads of state have stood trial before, but only in their own countries or before international tribunals, never in the court of another country."
Mining murders
Morning Star reports that a Colombian court has ordered prosecutors to investigate the president of a US mining company over the 2001 deaths of two union leaders:
"The company denies hiring militias and is fighting a lawsuit filed by survivors of the murdered men in an Alabama federal court that claims [Drummond Company] aided and abetted war crimes, including extra-judicial killings.
Lawyer for the plaintiffs Terry Collingsworth applauded judge [William] Castelblanco's order that prosecutors investigate Drummond's president, Garry Drummond, as well as a former mine security chief and two Colombians to determine whether they shared responsibility for the killings.
But he also said he wasn't hopeful that the order would lead to a Colombian criminal prosecution."
Gene treaty
Intellectual Property Watch reports that UN delegates have produced a text that could lead to "an international instrument or instruments protecting genetic resources against misappropriation":
"The text, bearing a large number of brackets, shows that divergences still need to be bridged. The [Intergovernmental Committee on Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore (IGC)] meeting scheduled for July has three extra days planned for the end to discuss the three legs of the IGC: genetic resources, traditional knowledge and traditional cultural expressions. But this genetic resources text is not expected to be reopened then.
Canada, Japan, Norway, South Korea and the United States, resubmitted their joint recommendation on genetic resources and associated traditional knowledge, for a non-binding instrument without a disclosure requirement."
Luxury ban
Voice of America reports that China has banned radio and TV ads for luxury goods on the grounds that they "publicized incorrect values and helped create a bad social ethos":
"The move to ban certain ads comes as the lunar new year celebrations approach and is another in a line of efforts by Chinese authorities to root out corruption, something the Chinese Communist Party has publicly acknowledged as a life or death struggle.
In December, China forbade high-ranking Chinese military officials from attending banquets and other events where alcoholic beverages are served. They also set limitations on the use of welcome banners, red carpets, floral arrangements, live performances and souvenirs."
Posted in Latest Developments	| Tagged CIA, Dodd-Frank, drones, extractive industry, genetic resources, Hissène Habré, intellectual property, red teams, sanctions, WIPO	| Leave a reply
Latest Developments, December 18
Posted on December 18, 2012 by Beyond Aid
Asymmetric grief
The Guardian's George Monbiot points out that drone war-waging American officials and the world's media seem to consider the deaths of innocent children far less tragic in some contexts than in others:
"It must follow that what applies to the children murdered [in Newtown, Connecticut] by a deranged young man also applies to the children murdered in Pakistan by a sombre American president. These children are just as important, just as real, just as deserving of the world's concern. Yet there are no presidential speeches or presidential tears for them, no pictures on the front pages of the world's newspapers, no interviews with grieving relatives, no minute analysis of what happened and why.
'Are we,' Obama asked on Sunday, 'prepared to say that such violence visited on our children year after year after year is somehow the price of our freedom?' It's a valid question. He should apply it to the violence he is visiting on the children of Pakistan."
Plugging leaks
Global Financial Integrity has released its annual study on "the amount of money flowing out of developing economies via crime, corruption and tax evasion" and called for global action to limit this draining of resources:
"Policies advocated by GFI include:
Addressing the problems posed by anonymous shell companies, foundations, and trusts by requiring confirmation of beneficial ownership in all banking and securities accounts, and demanding that information on the true, human owner of all corporations, trusts, and foundations be disclosed upon formation and be available to law enforcement;
Reforming customs and trade protocols to detect and curtail trade mispricing;
Requiring the country-by-country of sales, profits and taxes paid by multinational corporations;
Requiring the automatic cross-border exchange of tax information on personal and business accounts;
Harmonizing predicate offenses under anti-money laundering laws across all Financial Action Task Force cooperating countries; and
Ensuring that the anti-money laundering regulations already on the books are strongly enforced."
Behaving like adults
Foreign Policy reports that former senator Chuck Hagel, one of the frontrunners to become the next US secretary of defense, has a history of opposing sanctions and endorsing engagement in dealing with perceived threats to international stability:
" 'Engagement is not appeasement. Diplomacy is not appeasement. Great nations engage. Powerful nations must be the adults in world affairs. Anything less will result in disastrous, useless, preventable global conflict,' Hagel said in a Brookings Institution speech in 2008.
On Syria, Hagel was a longtime supporter of engagement with the regime of President Bashar al-Assad and his father before him, Hafez al-Assad. After meeting with Assad the elder in 1998, Hagel said, 'Peace comes through dealing with people. Peace doesn't come at the end of a bayonet or the end of a gun.' "
Vulture setback
The Guardian reports that an international tribunal has ordered Ghana to release an Argentine ship and crew detained due to aggressive collection tactics by an American "vulture fund":
"The vessel arrived at Tema on 1 October, but was prevented from leaving three days later by a court order obtained by the investment vulture fund NML Capital, which is suing the Argentinian government for non-payment of a $1.6bn (£988m) debt.
Ahead of the tribunal's decision, the UN independent expert on foreign debt and human rights, Cephas Lumina, said: 'Vulture funds, such as NML Capital, should not be allowed to purchase debts of distressed companies or sovereign states on the secondary market, for a sum far less than the face value of the debt obligation, and then seek repayment of the nominal full face value of the debt together with interest, penalties and legal costs or impound assets of heavily indebted countries in an attempt to force repayment.' "
WTO contender
Reuters reports that a former Ghanaian trade minister, Alan John Kwadwo Kyerematen, has become "the first official candidate" to succeed France's Pascal Lamy as head of the World Trade Organization:
"Many trade diplomats think the job should go to an African, Latin American or Caribbean candidate, since all but one head of the 17-year-old WTO have been from developed countries. The exception was Thailand's Supachai Panitchpakdi.
But Lamy has said there was no system of rotating the job between countries and regions and said his successor, chosen by consensus, should be picked on the basis of competence alone."
Deep sea concerns
Inter Press Service reports on some of the worries being expressed over the prospect of deep sea mining in the territorial waters of a number of Pacific island states:
"The International Seabed Authority (ISA) and the Applied Geoscience and Technology Division of the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SOPAC) concluded last year, 'The current level of knowledge and understanding of deep sea ecology does not make it possible to issue any conclusive risk assessment of the effects of large-scale commercial seabed mining.'
Furthermore, many Pacific Island states are yet to establish appropriate DSM legislation and regulatory bodies.
'PNG does not yet have all of its maritime boundaries established,' [the University of Papua New Guinea's] Kaluwin said. 'The government does not yet have appropriate off-shore or deep sea mining policies and legislation in place. We also need to address the traditional rights of landowners and communities over the marine environment.'
Hannah Lily, legal advisor to the [EU's Deep Sea Minerals Project], told IPS, 'Appropriate regulatory mechanisms, which require of proposed DSM (projects) further in-depth scientific research and analysis, should be in place before any DSM mining project takes place.' "
Atmospheric governance
The Economist's Free Exchange blog argues that, in a world where countries cannot seem to agree on collective emissions reductions, people should expect more and more "unilateral geoengineering gambits":
"Large, northerly countries like Canada and Russia have an almost unchecked ability to adapt but smaller and more equatorial places will quickly run out of options. It is unrealistic to suppose that unilaterial geoengineering schemes won't be an inevitable result.
Such schemes could pose huge risks. Successful, precisely deployed efforts might nonetheless have unpredictable and substantial side effects or unpleasant distributional costs. Without a forum to address such effects, geopolitical tensions could worsen in a hurry.
If the world can't create a functional international forum for addressing atmospheric management—one with teeth—then the costs of global warming are going to be far higher than they ought to be, whatever the mix of policies used to attack it."
Posted in Latest Developments	| Tagged deep sea mining, drones, geoengineering, global governance, illicit financial flows, international tribunal for the law of the sea, sanctions, secondary market, vulture funds, WTO	| Leave a reply
Latest Developments, December 7
Posted on December 7, 2012 by Beyond Aid
African pivot
The Wall Street Journal reports the Obama administration is considering asking congress for authorization to "pursue extremist groups" in Africa:
"The move, according to administration and congressional officials, would be aimed at allowing U.S. military operations in Mali, Nigeria, Libya and possibly other countries where militants have loose or nonexistent ties to al Qaeda's Pakistan headquarters. Depending on the request, congressional authorization could cover the use of armed drones and special operations teams across a region larger than Iraq and Afghanistan combined, the officials said."
Safety second
Bloomberg reports that Walmart last year dismissed as too expensive safety improvements at garment factories in Bangladesh, where more than 700 textile workers have died since 2005:
"At the April 2011 meeting in Dhaka, the Bangladesh capital, retailers discussed a contractually enforceable memorandum that would require them to pay Bangladesh factories prices high enough to cover costs of safety improvements. Sridevi Kalavakolanu, a Wal-Mart director of ethical sourcing, told attendees the company wouldn't share the cost, according to Ineke Zeldenrust, international coordinator for the Clean Clothes Campaign, who attended the gathering. Kalavakolanu and her counterpart at Gap reiterated their position in a report folded into the meeting minutes, obtained by Bloomberg News.
'Specifically to the issue of any corrections on electrical and fire safety, we are talking about 4,500 factories, and in most cases very extensive and costly modifications would need to be undertaken to some factories,' they said in the document. 'It is not financially feasible for the brands to make such investments.' "
Drug shortage
Reuters reports that international sanctions against Iran may be precipitating a healthcare crisis:
"Government hospitals and pharmacies report a widespread lack of drugs to treat cancer, multiple sclerosis, blood disorders and other serious conditions. Iranian media highlighted the shortages earlier this month through the case of a teenager who died of hemophilia after his family failed to find his medicine.
Both the United States and the European Union say their embargoes do not target trade in humanitarian goods. But cutting off Iran's banking system from the outside world has touched every sector of the economy, resulting in spiraling food prices, a plunging Iranian rial, deepening unemployment and now, hitting health care, analysts and traders say."
Unfair shares
Reuters also reports on a study that found that nearly 20 years after the end of apartheid, South Africa's black majority "directly owns" less than 10 percent of the country's main stock market:
"Despite the ruling African National Congress' drive for 'black economic empowerment', under which firms are set black ownership and other targets, millions of blacks remain trapped in poverty and excluded from the formal economy.
'If you look at the demographics of this country, what would be normal is that no less than 50 percent of the JSE (Johannesburg Stock Exchange) should be owned by black people,' ANC spokesman Keith Khoza said."
Europe beyond aid
The Center for Global Development's Owen Barder writes that Europeans may "more than pull their weight in aid to developing countries" but that does not mean they shine at development cooperation:
"So if European countries are serious about development – and not just giving aid – then we must also consider how European policies on trade, investment, migration, environment, technology and security all affect the developing world.
Improvements in any of these policies could have much more impact on poverty and prosperity in poor countries than any increase in the quantity or quality of aid we are likely to make. Taken together, they are far more important than aid for creating the conditions for development. Yet they get relatively little attention in development circles."
Legal first
The Jakarta Globe reports that an Indonesian anti-corruption court has made a Japanese businessman the country's "first foreign graft convict":
"[Shiokawa] Toshio, the president director of Onamba Indonesia, was proven guilty of bribing Imas Dianasari, an ad hoc judge with the Bandung Industrial Relations Court, over a labor dispute case involving the electrical wire manufacturer.
The court ruled in favor of the company and allowed it to discontinue the employment of workers who had joined a labor strike, shortly before Onamba's human resources manager Odi Juanda gave Imas the Rp 200 million [US $20,800] bribes."
Conflicting rights
The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) has released a report on a case of industrial pollution in Peru that "illustrates the conflict between international human rights law and investors' protection":
"People from La Oroya have brought a case against the State of Peru for failing to protect their right to health, before the Inter-American Commission. Parents of children with high blood lead levels have attempted to get redress in the US, where the parent company is located through a class action. In an attempt to stop the proceedings before the US Court of Missouri, at the end of 2010, the Renco Group launched an international artbitration claiming its rigths as a foreign investors, guaranteed by the Free-Trade Agreement between Peru and the United States, had been violated by Peru, and asking for at least 800 million USD as compensation."
Congo's riches
Bloomberg offers a portrait of Israeli billionaire Dan Gertler whose investments in the DR Congo have left him with a hand in nearly a tenth of the world's cobalt production, as well as "a roster of critics":
"His Gibraltar-registered Fleurette Properties Ltd. owns stakes in various Congolese mines through at least 60 holding companies in offshore tax havens such as the British Virgin Islands.
'Dan Gertler is essentially looting Congo at the expense of its people,' says Jean Pierre Muteba, the head of a group of nongovernmental organizations that monitor the mining sector in Katanga province, where most of Congo's copper is located.
'He has political connections, so state companies sell him mines for low prices and he sells them on for huge profits. That's how he's become a billionaire.'
In the eight months preceding November 2011 elections, in which [Joseph] Kabila won a second five-year term, companies affiliated with Gertler bought shares in five mining ventures from three state-owned firms, according to minutes of board meetings, company filings and documents published later. The state companies didn't announce the sales."
Posted in Latest Developments	| Tagged beyond aid, black economic empowerment, bribery, extractive industry, Johannesburg Stock Exchange, sanctions, tax avoidance, textile industry, United States-Peru Trade Promotion Agreement, War on Terror	| Leave a reply
Financial dependency
Business Day reports that new African Union head Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma is unhappy with the extent to which her organization depends on funding from outside the continent:
" 'No liberated mind can think their development agenda can be funded by donors,' Ms Dlamini-Zuma told a Business Unity South Africa banquet in her honour at the weekend in Johannesburg.
'Over 97% of programmes in the AU are funded by donors.
She said donors were even footing the bill for African institutions to develop the continent's strategic agenda, a fundamental task in what has been dubbed the African century."
Conditional rights
The Guardian reports that a pair of high-profile UN figures are calling for a crackdown on out-of-control land grabbing in Africa:
"Olivier De Schutter, the UN special rapporteur on the right to food, acknowledges the importance of the [committee on world food security] voluntary guidelines, but points out the lack of an effective enforcement mechanism. He argues that governments in sub-Saharan Africa or south-east Asia with poor governance, or tainted by corruption, will continue to seek to attract investors at all costs.
'The international community should accept it has a role in monitoring whether the rights of land users, as stipulated in the guidelines, are effectively respected,' De Schutter told the Guardian. 'Since there is no "sheriff" at global level to achieve this, at the very least, the home states of investors should exercise due diligence in ensuring that private investors over which they can exercise control fully respect the rights of land users. Export credit agencies, for example, should make their support conditional upon full compliance with the guidelines, and in the future, the rights of investors under investment treaties should be made conditional upon the investors acting in accordance with the guidelines.' "
Reuters reports that the Kenyan government plans to show some flexibility in implementing its new mining law:
" 'For those who have been licensed, we have asked them to provide clear proposals on how they want to implement this, taking into consideration commitments they have and we will consider that,' Mohammed said in a interview.
'But for those who have not been licensed, it will be immediate. We will not be issuing any new mining licences without the ownership of 35 percent by local citizens.'
The new requirement of 35 percent local equity follows a new tax of 10-20 percent targeting sales of property or shares in oil, mining and mineral prospecting firms, introduced recently to help plug a growing funding gap."
GM crops on trial
The Times of India reports that the country's highest court will not consider a proposed 10-year ban on field trials of genetically modified crops before hearing from stakeholders, such as a group of biotech companies whose members include agribusiness giant Monsanto:
"The five-member [court-constituted Technical Expert Committee] was unanimous in recommending suspension of field trials for 10 years, a period which it said should be used to put in place additional safeguards. It recommended identification of specific sites for field trials, setting up of an independent scientific panel to evaluate bio-safety data, recognition of conflict of interest in regulatory body and requirement of preliminary bio-safety tests prior to such trials."
Blind sanctions
The University of Southern California's Muhammad Sahimi and
Al-Monitor's Eskandar Sadeghi-Boroujerdi argue that the economic sanctions imposed on Iran by the West are not "smart" and "targeted" as initially promised:
"The world was promised that the sanctions will not hurt millions of ordinary Iranians who go about their daily lives and, in fact, oppose many of their government's policies.
But, the sanctions are now in full force, and are hurting the same people who we were told were not meant to be their target, in what is yet another case of 'collateral damage' inflicted by Western policy towards Iran, and its disenfranchised people who have lost control over their destiny at both home and abroad. In fact, there are very strong indications that a human catastrophe could emerge whose scale poses as much a threat as an outright military attack."
Yale University graduate student Justin Scott takes issue with Black365, a new McDonald's website aimed at African-Americans, in which the fast-food giant compares itself to the iconic baobab tree:
"Aside from issues of health, hegemony, and markets, what we have here is McDonald's, a Western behemoth pushing a product that could not be even remotely considered African, using an African symbol to appeal to a population of African origin, in order to make itself look like something it isn't. And it's a shame that this tactic hasn't been attacked more widely."
Reuters reports that the Tanzanian government and foreign mining companies have very different ideas on how the country can enjoy more benefits from its mineral wealth:
"East Africa's second biggest economy argues it is not seeing the fruits of soaring commodity prices, in particular gold. It plans to increase the mining sector's contribution to the economy to 10 percent of GDP by 2025 from 3.3 percent last year.
But the miners say hiking taxes and increasing royalties is the wrong approach. They say Tanzania should focus on attracting more investors and issuing additional mining licenses."
Ruinous rankings
The Guardian reports that the World Bank's latest Ease of Doing Business Index is once again coming under fire for promoting "a neo-liberal agenda of privatisations, welfare cuts, limited employment rights and low wages to please and entice foreign multinationals":
"Bin Han, one of China's senior representatives at the World Bank, says the rankings are fundamentally flawed.
'The Chinese conclusion is straightforward: the report has used a wrong methodology, failed to reflect facts in individual countries, and misled readers. The questionable quality of the report has ruined the Bank's reputation,' he said at the debate.
The new boss at the World Bank, Jim Yong Kim, has pledged to review the rankings."
Posted in Latest Developments	| Tagged African Union, Committee on World Food Security, ease of doing business index, extractive industry, genetically modified crops, investment treaties, land grabs, sanctions, voluntary principles	| Leave a reply


text:
Evaluation & Sponsorship
Country Spotlight: MALTA
by Sam Hussain | posted in: Articles, Country Spotlights | 0
[kad_youtube url="https://youtu.be/pOsqn-cFl_w" width=800 ]
Full name: Republic of Malta
Capital city: Valletta
Population: 514,564 (Est 2019)
GDP in current prices: USD $14.54 billion (2018)
GDP real growth: 6.6% (2018)
Area: 316 km2
Government: Unitary parliamentary constitutional republic
President: George Vella
Prime Minister: Robert Abela
Currency: Euro (€) (EUR)
HDI: 29th (2018)
Ease of doing business index: 88th (2020)
Time zone: GMT +1
Dialling code: 356
The Republic of Malta is a small South European island country that lies approximately 130 kilometres south of Italy and 333 kilometres north of Libya. Malta is an archipelago in the Mediterranean Sea, but only the three largest islands of Malta, Gozo and Comino are inhabited. The landscape of the islands is characterised by terraced fields, dry vegetation, rock and limestone. This is due to the long hours of strong sunshine that they receive throughout the summers, which are usually dry and hot. The average annual temperature is around 23°C.
Malta is the 10th smallest country by land area and one of the most densely populated nations in the world. Its capital Valletta is the smallest national capital in the European Union. Maltese and English are the official languages, although Italian is also widely spoken.
The parliamentary system is closely modelled on the Westminster system. The parliament is made up of the president, a prime minister and the multi-party House of Representatives. The country is divided into five regions – including Gozo and Comino which are classified as one region – with each having its own Regional Committee which serves at an intermediary level between local government and national government.
The House of Representatives consists of 65 members, with five members being elected from each of the thirteen electoral districts. The role of the President of Malta is largely ceremonial, and he or she is appointed by the House of Representatives for a five-year term. The President appoints a Prime Minister, selecting a member of the House of Representatives who is judged to be best able to command the support of the majority of its members. The current President is George Vella, who was sworn in on 4 April 2019. The current Prime Minister is Joseph Muscat, leader of the Labour Party, who was re-elected on 3 June 2017, with the main opposition leader being Adrian Delia, leader of the Nationalist Party. The next general elections are scheduled to be held by 2022.
Malta is a highly industrialised, high-income, advance service-based economy and is listed within the top 30 countries by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Malta's real GDP growth in 2018 of 6.6%, compared with 6.7% in 2017, was one of the highest growth rates in the EU and was mainly attributable to domestic demand.
Malta's main advantage has always been its central location for trade, and the economy reflects that. Being a small island nation, it has limited natural resources and can only produce around 20% of the food requirements for its relatively large population. The economy therefore is dependent on human resources and foreign trade. Malta's economy is driven by financial services, tourism, real estate, and manufacturing, particularly of electronics. Other significant sectors are pharmaceuticals, information technology and call centres.
Ahead of its entry to the EU, the Maltese Government pursued a policy of gradual economic liberalisation and privatisation, taking steps to shift the emphasis from reliance on direct government intervention and control to policy regimes that allow a greater role for markets. In 2007 the government sold off its 40% stake in 'MaltaPost', and by 2010, Malta had managed to privatise its telecommunications, postal services, shipyards and shipbuilding.
Malta produces almost all its electricity from oil, and energy costs, which are some of the highest in Europe, have become an issue. The government is looking into the potential of solar and wind power and Malta and Tunisia are currently discussing the commercial exploitation of petrochemicals on their shared continental shelf.
Malta has managed to maintain a relatively low unemployment rate of less than 4%, mainly because of constant economic growth and by policies encouraging continuous training for the labour force. Malta ranks high on global inward foreign direct investment comparisons and is among the top twenty countries most likely to sustain economic growth. Malta didn't suffer in the same way as other jurisdictions during the Eurozone crisis, because of low debt and sound banking. Malta regularly ranks within the top 30 financial systems on the World Economic Forum's Global Competitiveness Report and placed 36th overall in the 2018 Global Competitiveness Index.
Another major factor in Malta's economic growth has been its property market, helped by the fact that Malta does not have a property tax. Because of pressure from population growth and foreign direct investors, the property market has been in constant boom, especially in towns like St Julian's, Sliema and Gzira and around the harbour area.
Malta relies heavily on tourism and 2018 has again seen record-breaking arrival numbers. Tourist arrivals and foreign exchange earnings derived from tourism have steadily increased over the last 30 years. 2018 brought 2.634 million inbound visitors to the country, 13.8% higher than in 2017 and more than twice the 2008 total of 1.291 million.
The United Kingdom and Italy remain Malta's most important source markets, accounting for 24.7% and 16.0% of total visitors, respectively, with Germany and France the next most important markets. The total tourist expenditure was estimated at nearly €2.1 billion, an increase of 8.0% year-on-year. In 2017, travel and tourism contributed 27.1% of Malta's GDP compared with 21.6% in 2009.
There are currently five times more tourists than there are residents. The increased numbers of visitors have increasingly stretched resources and put pressure on the existing infrastructure (such as water, waste management, hotels, beaches and roads), with overcrowding especially during the peak summer months. Consequently, the Malta Tourism Authority (MTA)and the Ministry for Tourism have been promoting cultural tourism and festival tourism as ways to attract visitors during all months of the year rather than just the summer months.
As part of the Schengen Area, visitors to the EU can travel freely. While Malta cannot unilaterally drop the requirement for nations it makes agreements with to obtain visas to enter the Schengen Area through its border crossing points, it is permitted to offer visa facilitation agreements to some nationalities.
The main mode of public transport in Malta is bus, offering a cheap, frequent service to many parts of Malta and Gozo with the majority of buses departing from a terminus in Valletta. There are also frequent daily car and passenger ferry crossings between Malta and Gozo.
Malta has just the one airport, located approximately 8 kilometres southwest of Valletta, through which 96.9% of its international visitors arrived last year.
The rest come by sea. Malta has three large natural harbours, one of which – Malta Freeport on the south-eastern side of the island – is the 9th busiest container port in Europe.
Malta currently has two investment migration programmes:
• The Malta Individual Investment Programme (MIIP) for citizenship
• The Malta Residence Visa Programme (MRVP) for permanent residency.
MIIP for Citizenship
Malta's Individual Investor Programme was the most exclusive economic citizenship scheme available on Earth and was firmly capped at 1800 applicants. In August 2020, the program officially reached its limit and stopped accepting new applications! The Malta Residence and Visa Programme (Malta Golden Visa) closed down a month earlier.
The new Malta citizenship by investment program is expected to open in October 2020, but the exact criteria has yet to be made public and still needs to be discussed and approved at Parliamentary level. Rumors are swirling that Malta's new citizenship program will have substantially larger investment requirements with the minimum financial contribution increasing to at least €750,000. We are also hearing that the new citizenship program will likely require investors to establish a stronger link with Malta by purchasing or renting a more expensive property on the islands as well as making a small donation to a local charity. Many also believe the new program's residency requirement will be much longer than the previous one-year stipulation.
MRVP for residency
Malta's Residence Visa Programme was launched in spring 2017, and received over 1,000 applications during its first eighteen months, with 250 (main applicants) visas approved by July 2018.
Applicants must be nationals of a non-EU/EEA country and be able to prove that they either have an annual income of at least €100,000 from outside Malta, or have capital assets of not less than €500,000. In addition, they must:
• Make an investment of €250,000 in Government bonds or accepted securities/shares on the Malta Stock Exchange; the investment must be retained for a minimum of five years
• Purchase or rent a property for a minimum of €270,000 or yearly rental of €10,000 in the south of Malta or on Gozo, or a minimum value of €320,000 or yearly rental of €12,000 if the property is in the north of Malta
• Make a contribution to the government of €30,000, of which €5,500 is a non-refundable administrative deposit and must be paid upon submission of the application; once it is established that the beneficiary qualifies for such status, the balance of the contribution must be paid.
Benefits of Maltese Citizenship
A successful application gives the right to live, work and study in any country in the EU and Switzerland, plus visa-free travel to over 180 countries. The tax system is based on domicile and residence, rather than citizenship. Tax is only due on income and capital gains arising in Malta. After a period of five years, property can be sold in Malta completely tax free, so long as it was the resident's sole residence for at least three years. If selling the property before three years of residence, a tax of 12% is charged on the selling price.
In addition, there are no inheritance or death taxes, no net worth or wealth taxes, no municipal taxes, rates or real estate taxes and no estate duty. With tax benefits such as these, a stable economic climate and banks ranked as some of the most stable in the world, investment in Malta is a sound way to gain citizenship.
Potential changes
Because of its popularity, The Malta Individual Investor Programme is reaching its cap. MIIPA will continue accepting applications for citizenship under the current regulations until 30 September 2020.
Applications for residence under this programme will continue to be accepted until 31 July 2020. Those individuals who obtain a residence permit, but do not manage to submit a citizenship application by 30 September 2020, may be considered under new regulations that the Government is considering.
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text:
NewsNational PoliticsThe Race
As millennials walk away from religion, Catholic Church hopes to reverse the trend
By: Amanda Brandeis
They're called the religious nones--a diverse group made up of atheists, agnostics, the spiritual, and those with no specific organized religion in particular. And over the years, this population has continued to grow, with millennials increasingly driving the growth.
"I think many of us are finding connections in spirituality in ways that for our parents would seem quite odd, but for us, feel more relevant and feel more authentic," said Jill Filipovic, a columnist and author of the book OK Boomer, Let's Talk: How My Generation Got Left Behind.
A millennial herself, Filipovic considers herself a part of this growing trend.
"I don't affiliate formally with any of these religious beliefs. I would qualify myself as religious none, even though I'm culturally Christian," said Filipovic.
The Pew Research Center found just 27 percent of millennials say they attend religious services on a weekly basis, compared to 38 percent of baby boomers. And only about half of millennials--adults born between 1981 and 1996--say they believe in God with absolute certainty, and only about 1 in 10 millennials say religion is very important in their lives.
"Millennials, as I said, are relatively progressive people, and the Catholic Church is a formal patriarchy. It's an organization in which women are formally barred from being in positions of power," said Filipovic.
The Pew Research Center says religious nones are growing faster among Democrats than Republicans, though their ranks are swelling in both partisan coalitions.
But while less religious, millennials are still likely to engage in spiritual practices.
"It doesn't surprise me to see spirituality on the rise; it's such a key part of the human condition to want to understand why am I here, what is my purpose."
The trends are not going unnoticed by religious institutions like the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego, which created the Young Adult Ministry to connect young adults to the Catholic Church.
"That's where we start to cultivate relationships and just bring us all the baggage, bring us all the stuff that you have questions about, and let's just talk about it," said Patrick Rivera, director of Young Adult Ministries.
Rivera says before the pandemic, they would hold social events that don't necessarily feel religious.
"We have Theology on Tap, where we'll go to a bar or a parish hall, we'll bring in our own kegs and speakers and live musicians and have a theological discussion," said Rivera.
He says the effort has been a sort of rebranding of the church.
"One of the hardest parts for me in the last few years has been the rise of different scandals and things that have come up," said Rivera.
Through conversation and social events, he says they're working to connect with marginalized groups like the LGBTQ community, who've historically felt ostracized from the church.
"That's the issue we want to try and resolve. It doesn't necessarily matter how you enter into faith or community, the community is still there longing to accept you as you are," said Rivera. "Definitely LGBT community is an area that we seek to try to mend some of the damages we've seen done across the previous generation or so from the church."
A young adult ministry coordinator, Daniel Godinez, was 27 when he reconnected with the Catholic church.
"I didn't have the right friendships, I didn't have the right connections, it all came down to a moment of emptiness in my life," said Godinez.
Despite having a great job and friends, he says life's pleasures were not fulfilling him. In 2012, an old friend invited him to a church retreat, which Godinez believes was God calling him back home.
"It was absolutely tough, not having support from your friends at that moment when you're going through that transition process, I think is probably the toughest thing you can encounter at that moment in life," said Godinez.
Godinez is now the Young Adult Ministry Coordinator at Most Precious Blood in Chula Vista and married to a woman he met through the church.
Rivera says COVID-19 has impacted the church's ability to reach new people; rather than large gatherings, they must rely on small events to continue outreach. However, Rivera says it's allowed them more opportunities to focus on the one-on-one small-scale relationship model.
"It's one person at a time for us," said Rivera.


A new book, written by King's students and published collaboratively by King's Centre for Strategic Communications (KCSC) and NATO Strategic Communications Centre of Excellence, sets out to provide an in-depth analysis of the phenomenon known as Fake News.
As well as providing a more in-depth look at Fake News than in other literature currently available, issues discussed in the book have been submitted to the Fake News inquiry currently being held by the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee of the House of Commons. The book will also be freely available to anyone across the globe.
KCSC is committed to innovative ideas and research in Strategic Communications and the contributions of our students. Fake News: A Roadmap is testimony to this.
The NATO Strategic Communications Centre of Excellence takes new challenges in the information environment very seriously. Although fake news is nothing new, there are new techniques for hostile information to be spread faster and more effectively. We need intellectual rigour and big thinking to inspire new ways for governments and societies to approach these challenges. Our cooperation with King's College London and their bright students has brought us a much needed insight into the fake news phenomenon.


text:
Falcons lose NCAA tournament dreams, fall to Spartans
Paul Barney and Paul Barney
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The Falcons' stint in the NCAA Tournament abruptly came to an end Saturday afternoon, as fifth-seeded Michigan State made sure there would be no upset in the first round, knocking off 12th-seeded BG 72-62 at Freedom Hall in Louisville, Ky., and ending their season at 27-7.
"I can't begin to express how proud I am of our effort," BG coach Curt Miller said. "We've grown a lot through the season and we didn't back down. We went toe-to-toe with a very talented team."
Lauren Prochaska had a game-high 19 points and teammate Tracy Pontius added 15, as the duo combined for eight of the Falcons' 11 3-pointers in the game.
Eight of the team's 11 3-pointers came in the first half, including three as part of a 15-0 run from BG after falling behind 8-0 to start the game.
The Spartans would battle back, however, as they went on another 8-0 to regain the lead 16-15 at the 11:02 mark.
"I think we played a great first half. We came out ready to compete this game and we weren't going to back down," Prochaska said. "They took an early 8-0 lead but we weren't going to let the game get away from us that early."
BG would retake the lead 31-30 with 2:22 remaining off a 3-pointer from Pontius, but both teams traded baskets down the stretch to take a 36-36 score into the break.
Michigan State would pick up their defensive intensity in the second half and used its size and physicality to their advantage.
Once the Spartans broke a 36-36 tie off a 3-pointer from Aisha Jefferson, they never looked back, increasing their lead to as many as 13 points, en route to a 10-point win.
Turnovers and the inability to keep Michigan State off the offensive glass cost the Falcons in the game's final 20 minutes.
The Spartans scored 13 points off BG's nine second half turnovers and had an 11-4 edge on the offensive boards, which led to nine second-chance points.
"Their intensity going to the offensive glass in the second half really wore us down," Miller said. "They're bigger, stronger and faster. You have to play an 'A' game to beat that team and we didn't quite play an 'A.'"
Free throws ultimately hurt the Falcons in the second half as they connected on just 9-of-16 at the charity stripe.
"[Michigan State] just battled with us up and down, and I think the tire factor hit us at the end at the free-throw line," Pontius said.
Jefferson led the way for Michigan State with 17 points to pace four Spartans in double-
figures, including Jasmine Thomas, Brittney Thomas and Lauren Aitch, who scored 11, 11 and 10 points, respectively.
Six-foot-9-inch Allyssa DeHaan finished with eight points and 11 rebounds in 20 minutes of work.
The Spartans took advantage of the size mismatch and it showed, outrebounding the Falcons 42-35 and outscoring them 28-4 in the paint.
"They are a huge team and very physical," Prochaska said. "They really tried to take advantage of that. We battled and competed as hard as we could and I think eventually, it just wore us down."
Prochaska and Pontius combined for 34 points, while Jen Uhl finished with seven points and six rebounds.
Senior Tara Breske finished her Falcon career with seven points, while fellow senior Tamika Nurse grabbed eight rebounds, but struggled from the floor, going 0-for-3 with two points.
Miller and his staff lose a total of four seniors in Breske, Nurse, Laura Bugher and Sarah Clapper.
Breske, Bugher and Clapper were part of 113 total wins at BG, which is the second-highest total in both school and conference history.
A lot can to be said about this year's Falcons, a season in which they won the Mid-American Conference regular-season title for the sixth consecutive year while capturing the MAC Tournament championship for the fourth time in those six seasons.


"I started my career in retail in Athlone, but always had a vague idea that I would like to be a make-up artist. I took a course in Dublin to learn the basics and I loved it, but in order to develop I had to put in the hours of practice whenever I could.
"I have had quite a few exciting experiences, including working with Dannii Minogue on the launch of her greatest hits album. Emma Watson was another special client for a ' Harry Potter' premiere.
"Women put a lot of trust in me to work with their eyes and face, and it's important to know what you're doing. But when you have that trust, it is easy to communicate.


ever since our first food truckfest, the girls and i have been obsessed with hawaiian shave ice. well, it really stems from trips to hawaii, but with the ridiculous cost of airfare, i can't even talk about that right now for fear of bursting into tears. heh.
chasing the two trucks that serve shave ice is fun, but sometimes the craving hits and we're dejected to find that neither of them are anywhere near us. one afternoon while MIL was home, we did hop in the car right after picking up the girls from school and hightail it all the way out to eagle rock, just past pasadena, for the get shaved truck. probably a 25-mile drive, but oh, did it hit the spot. and they have an actual store - but that's even farther away from us.
so when i heard via twitter that tropical shave ice, our second option, was opening a shop in nearby west covina, i was stoked. and after a midweek mall run (during which we tried lee's sandwiches for the first time - and definitely not the last), we made our way over for a frosty treat.
we drove around the strip mall looking for the shop and finally found it, with no sign save a small banner draped outside with the truck logo on it. no splash, no dazzle, but who cares - it's shave ice!
there really wasn't much to speak of on the inside, either. it was just a run-down former fast-food joint with a few souvenir-store pieces of hawaiian "decor" and peeling paint. there was a girl sitting behind the counter with a calculator and an order pad, and the menu was just like the one plastered on their truck.
although they'd decided to share the space with a fellow hawaiian-themed food truck that offers yummy shrimp and rice plates like on the north shore of o'ahu. mmmm. but as i was stuffed with that delicious baguette sandwich from lee's, it'll have to wait till next time.
seemed like the same girl who took our order went back to make our ices, because it took forever, but it was worth the wait.
or was it? it seemed that although the guys on the truck are pretty generous with the goodies, here in the shop was a different story. sure, it was just a $.50 upcharge - just like in the truck - but the tiny spoonful of ice cream at the bottom was a big disappointment. like, it was such a small serving we barely tasted it. and when we complained via twitter, they brushed it off with a "sorry about that, we serve gourmet ice cream at $.50 for a small scoop." i answered back and told them that the charge was the same on the truck for a way bigger serving and that we'd be skipping the shop from now on.
that's such a lie. heh. but it sounded good. in any case, it's nice to know that there's something available nearby for when we really, really need our shave ice fix. it beats chasing trucks or driving out to the valley or freaking torrance, anyway.


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text:
INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS – A Reflecting Pool
Written by William C. Benker The survival of the auteur in today's synthetic assembly line…
Read the postINGLOURIOUS BASTERDS – A Reflecting Pool
June 7, 2010 / Andrea O / Main Slate Archive
LADY FROM SHANGHAI – Mirrors & Greed
By William Benker
Lady From Shanghai – 1947 – dir. Orson Welles
Orson Welles' Lady From Shanghai bridges the cinematic landscape from drama to adventure and mystery. Led by its director (and protagonist) himself, alongside heroine Rosalie Bannister (Rita Hayworth), each character reveals layer after layer of insecurities, deception and greed throughout the story. However, the fascination lies within the depth that Welles is able to explore. Both tough guy and damsel reveal their true colors gradually, methodically, touching upon the most intimate conundrums of life, reflecting a harrowing character piece that shows the demons within oneself. The magic lies in Welles' delivery, exposing the depths and revealing their own façade to be but a mere image they have create to shelter their true selves.
Read the postLADY FROM SHANGHAI – Mirrors & Greed
March 2, 2010 / Andrea O / Main Slate Archive
HIGH AND LOW: Or Heaven And Hell
By Melvin Cartagena
High & Low – 1963 – dir. Akira Kurosawa
The film has such assertive direction that it slips without effort from power play drama to suspense thriller to police procedural/manhunt chase to high drama. In spite of this blend of genres that for a lesser director would take three or four films to fully unravel in its complexity, this film is all Kurosawa, an assured and heady blend of action, drama and objective humanity.
Read the postHIGH AND LOW: Or Heaven And Hell
December 8, 2009 / Andrea O / Main Slate Archive
JULIE & JULIA: Life, Better with Butter
By Peg Aloi
Julie & Julia – 2009 – dir. Nora Ephron
Julie & Julia, the popular and well-loved film about a young New Yorker's attempt to cook her way through Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking in one year, would be far less entrancing if writer-director Nora Ephron had not decided to include a witty and rollicking chronicle of Child's adventures in Paris and her slow journey towards becoming one of the world's most recognizable chefs.
Read the postJULIE & JULIA: Life, Better with Butter
September 22, 2009 / Leo Racicot / Main Slate Archive
THE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH
The Masque of the Red Death – 1964 – dir. Roger Corman
Before he was crowned the all-time campy Master of horror schlock, the incomparable Vincent Price had already carved out for himself a distinguished career in Hollywood that would have been the envy of any actor of his time. Such film classics as Laura, The House of the Seven Gables, The Keys of the Kingdom, The Ten Commandments, Leave Her to Heaven and many more were graced with his formidable skill and presence.
Director Roger Corman, christened "the King of the Bs" due to the slew of low-budget, some might even say 'corny' movies he cranked out beginning in the 1950s, mans The Masque of the Red Death with as sure a hand as he brought to all his projects, creating springboards for such stellar artists-to-be as Jack Nicholson, James Cameron, Jonathan Demme, Francis Ford Coppola and Martin Scorcese, and turning out what has become a body of films many of which are today considered true masterpieces of the genre.
Read the postTHE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH
September 21, 2009 / Andrea O / Main Slate Archive
Moon – 2009 – dir. Duncan Jones
In Moon (dir. Duncan Jones, 2009), Sam Rockwell plays the scruffy hipster-next-door on the moon, who turns out to be both more and less than what he seems. With impressive set design, constructed with tiny models instead of CGI, Moon inhabits not the 1960s techno-future of visible progress, but the 1970s paranoid present of hidden ulterior motives. In a way, Moon recalls not so much the actual space race, but the aftermath of plastic modules on the kitchen table, with an excess of glue and tiny pieces that don't seem to fit anymore.
Read the postMOON
September 17, 2009 / Jared Gordon / Main Slate Archive
Star Trek – 2009 – dir. JJ Abrams
Before I went to see J. J. Abrams' version of the classic franchise, I was treated to dark whispers and quiet warnings such as, "If you're a big-time Trekkie, you're not going to like it."
Being a moderate-time Trekkie, as opposed to a big-time one, I hotly anticipated the release through two years of promotional posters, mysterious trailers, and vague, origin-story allusions. I have to confess that along with Pixar's Up, Star Trek is likely one of the best movies of the year. It's not just a good sci-fi movie. It's a good movie.
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August 25, 2009 / Jared Gordon / Main Slate Archive
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon – 2000 – dir. Ang Lee
"When in comes to the affairs of the heart, even the greatest warriors can be consummate idiots."
Ang Lee's homage to Du Lu Wang's kung-fu novel, "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", I must confess, did not make an instant impression upon me the first time that I saw it. The film soars with Lee's breathtaking direction and cinematography by Academy award-winner Peter Pau, but I found the story meandering and simple.
Of course, I missed the point, discovered only after a re-watch. The story is indeed simple. It is the characters who are complex. This is an ironic movie about opposites: finding through loss. Gaining through sacrifice. Joy through despair. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is a simple story about masculinity, femininity, and life.
Read the postCROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON
August 21, 2009 / Chris Bamberger / Main Slate Archive
Nick and Nora's Infinite Guest List: THE THIN MAN
By Christine and Robert Bamberger
The Thin Man – 1934 – dir. W.S. Van Dyke
Most people get a terrific kick out of the interplay between William Powell and Myrna Loy in the Thin Man movies, especially in the original, made just before the Production Code in Hollywood went into full force. But the film's convoluted plot and numerous characters make it necessary to keep notes just to follow along. In getting a handle on the many personalities in the movie, it becomes increasingly apparent that this large cast of characters, spread all over the periphery of the plot, is not peripheral at all. Indeed, this bunch serves to draw our attention even more to Nick and Nora Charles.
Read the postNick and Nora's Infinite Guest List: THE THIN MAN
August 10, 2009 / Leo Racicot / Main Slate Archive
FOOTSTEPS IN THE DARK
Footsteps in the Dark – 1941 – dir Lloyd Bacon
A smart, breezy romp cut from the same cloth as The Thin Man series, Footsteps in the Dark marked a change in the actor Errol Flynn's career. Until this movie was made, the very popular matinee idol was known primarily for his rousing, period piece swashbucklers and he jumped at the opportunity to trade in his Robin Hood tights and swords for a chance to prove himself as a deft comedian. He more than succeeds.
Read the postFOOTSTEPS IN THE DARK


text:
Callophrys olivacea är en fjärilsart som beskrevs av Blachier 1909. Callophrys olivacea ingår i släktet Callophrys och familjen juvelvingar. Inga underarter finns listade i Catalogue of Life.

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