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HomeIndiaUma Bharti calls for prohibition in all BJP-ruled states, appeals to party...
Uma Bharti calls for prohibition in all BJP-ruled states, appeals to party chief Nadda
In a series of tweets, former Madhya Pradesh CM Uma Bharti lists several reasons why prohibition should be imposed days after MP home minister says new liquor shops will open up.
Neelam Pandey
Senior BJP leader Uma Bharti | ANI
New Delhi: Days after Madhya Pradesh Home Minister Narottam Mishra said that new liquor shops will be opened in the state, senior BJP leader Uma Bharti has asked party president J.P. Nadda to impose an alcohol ban in states where the party is in power.
In a series of posts on Twitter Thursday, Bharti appealed to Nadda.
"I am making a public appeal to our party president JP Nadda through this tweet that wherever we have a BJP government, we should prepare for a complete prohibition in those states," she posted in Hindi.
5. मैं तो अपने राष्ट्रीय अध्यक्ष श्री @JPNadda जी से इस ट्वीट के माध्यम से सार्वजनिक अपील करती हूं कि जहां भी भाजपा की सरकारें हैं उन राज्यों में पूर्ण शराबबंदी की तैयारी करिए। @BJP4India
— Uma Bharti (@umasribharti) January 21, 2021
The former MP chief minister as well as Union minister also welcomed the delay by the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government in granting permission to these new shops.
"Government has not yet decided about increasing the number of liquor shops in Madhya Pradesh. This statement of Shivraj Singh Chouhan is a welcome step."
1. मध्यप्रदेश में शराब की दुकानों की संख्या बढ़ाने के बारे में सरकार ने अभी कोई निर्णय नहीं लिया है @ChouhanShivraj जी का यह वक्तव्य अभिनंदनीय है।
She then went on to highlight the positives of prohibition.
"At the time of the lockdown due to coronavirus, there was almost a state of prohibition, it is clear from the fact that people died from other causes and corona but no one died due to drinking alcohol," she argued.
2. कोरोनाकाल के लॉकडाउन के समय पर लगभग शराबबंदी की स्थिति रही इससे यह तथ्य स्पष्ट हो गया है कि अन्य कारणों एवं कोरोना से लोगों की मृत्यु हुई किंतु शराब नहीं पीने से कोई नहीं मरा।
Further, she highlighted the recent cases of people dying in Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh due to drinking spurious liquor.
"Recently in Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, a large number of people died due to drinking alcohol. Most of the road accidents are caused by the driver's drinking. It is surprising that liquor is the messenger of death, yet greed and pressure from the liquor mafia does not allow for prohibition."
3.अभी हाल में उ0प्र0 एवं म0प्र0 में शराब पीने से बड़ी संख्या में लोगों की मृत्यु हुई सड़क दुर्घटनाओं के अधिकतर कारण तो ड्राइवर का शराब पीना ही होता है यहबड़े आश्चर्य की बात हैकि शराब मृत्यु का दूत है फिरभी थोड़े से राजस्व का लालच एवं शराब माफिया का दबाव शराबबंदी नहीं होने देता है
Bharti also cited the pressure political parties were under to win elections. "The victory of BJP in Bihar proves that due to prohibition, women gave unilateral votes to Nitish Kumar," she said.
6. राजनीतिक दलों को चुनाव जीतने का दबाव रहता है बिहार की भाजपा की जीत यह साबित करती है कि शराबबंदी के कारण ही महिलाओं ने एकतरफा वोट नीतीश कुमार जी को दिये।@BJP4Bihar
"Prohibition is not a loss deal anywhere; the loss of revenue from liquor can be met from anywhere, but incidents of alcohol intoxication, murders, accidents, rape of young girls are frightening and a taint for the country and the society," she said.
7. शराबबंदी कहीं से भी घाटे का सौदा नहीं है शराब बंदी से राजस्व को हुई क्षति को कहीं से भी पूरा किया जा सकता है किंतु शराब के नशे में बलात्कार, हत्याएं, दुर्घटनाएं छोटी बालिकाओं के साथ दुष्कर्म जैसी घटनाएं भयावह हैं तथा देश एवं समाज के लिए कलंक है।
Bharti's comments come at a time the Congress in Madhya Pradesh has been targeting the BJP and Mishra's comments over the move. Former chief minister Kamal Nath alleged that the BJP government was converting the state into a "land of liquor".
Also read: After 40 days of lockdown, Indians just wanted alcohol not 'Gujarat Model'
Uma Bharti
Data 21 January, 2021	At	6:16 pm
Uma Bhartiji is a EXTREMELY RESPECTABLE HINDU ICON .
However prohibition is an invitation to POLITICIANS, CRIMINALS N POLICE to mint MONEY.
It's a STUPID n DANGEROUS IDEA in a REAL WORLD.


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By: John Curran
House Speaker Pledges Vote on Infrastructure Bill by Late September
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., has pledged to schedule a vote on the $1 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act by September 27.
The infrastructure bill, which already has Senate approval, is exciting to the technology sector as it features various tech priorities, including $65 billion for broadband and $2 billion for cybersecurity.
Speaker Pelosi's August 24 commitment to a vote on the infrastructure bill was accompanied by House approval of a motion that instructs committees to write the legislative language for a separate $3.5 trillion budget resolution that would fund big investments in "soft" infrastructure spending sought by President Biden and supported by many Democrats.
The version of the $3.5 trillion budget resolution already approved by the Senate instructs Senate committees to consider some tech-related items, including cybersecurity, research, and energy tech, as they write the Senate version of the bill.
"In consultation with the Chair of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, I am committing to pass the bipartisan infrastructure bill by September 27," Speaker Pelosi said. "I do so with a commitment to rally House Democratic support for its passage."
"Passing an infrastructure bill is always exciting for what it means in terms of jobs and commerce in our Country," Speaker Pelosi said. "Now more than ever, it also has to be a part of protecting our environment. I know that [Transportation and Infrastructure Committee] Chairman DeFazio will do the best possible job to that end in the Build Back Better Act."
"The House of Representatives has taken a significant step toward making a historic investment that's going to transform America, cut taxes for working families, and position the American economy for long-term growth," said President Biden after the House action.
"I want to thank Speaker Pelosi, who was masterful in her leadership on this, and Leader Hoyer, and Whip Clyburn, and Chairman DeFazio – the entire House leadership team – for the hard work, dedication, and determination to bring people together so we can make a difference in people's lives," President Biden said.
John Curran is MeriTalk's Managing Editor covering the intersection of government and technology.
Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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My interest in racing began 29 years ago. I was trying to find out how I could get behind the wheel since I did not have any money and that led me to employment at a performance driving school at Mosport. I started as a gopher and quickly moved up to an instructor level. Through that position, I became a track driving instructor and I was with them on a full time basis for two years before moving to a school at a different race track at Shannonville. I was there for four years. During the latter two years we acquired what is now called the Bridgestone Racing Academy. I instructed full time for six years.
What types of cars and what venues or series did you race in?
Early on for the most part I participated in endurance racing. I raced street sedans or showroom stock style cars. My first car was a Camaro IROC Z28. I raced three different vintages or years ranging from '87, '89 and '90. The racing that we were doing was called Firestone Firehawk Endurance Racing. Following that I got into amateur Formula 2000 racing. I've taught at a number of race tracks in the U.S., but all of my racing has been in Canada. In more recent years I participated in the Targa Newfoundland which is a road rally. It's a tarmac rally that is five days long in Newfoundland Canada. We did that for two years and won it the second year. Kind of a neat thing. It's a departure from road course racing in that you have to figure out how to receive information from the navigator. It is more complex than one would think.
Tell us about your company, Event Matrix.
Event Matrix is an automotive service company. We develop and run events for car manufacturers launching new products to the media and to the general public. We also do arrive-and-drives as well as sales training. In our motorsport division we range from track training the novice driver participating in lap days all the way up to race coaching. For the most part our coaching is for those who have been lapping and are making the move to wheel to wheel racing.
What are some of the most important skills for a lapping day driver to learn?
The first one from a novice standpoint is not a skill, but an attitude and understanding of what lapping is all about. The best way I describe this is that you always drive the car on a racetrack within your comfort level. The goal of lapping over and over and over again around a race track is to get more comfortable, learn the basics and build your comfort level so that you can just naturally get faster and stay within that comfort level. I found over the large number of years that I have been doing this that a lot of people come with a preconceived notion that when they start out you simply just step on the gas and you see what your car can do. These people often get into trouble. So I think the first thing is attitude.
The second thing is vision and how you use your eyes. I find even those who have been lapping for years often don't use their eyes effectively enough and can get themselves into trouble. When somebody is lapping and they make a mistake, I can always trace it back to what it was they saw or didn't see, what it was they were looking at that they shouldn't have been looking at. It's not just looking ahead. It's looking into the corner and giving your eyes and your brain information on a subconscious level. It is utilizing your peripheral vision more so than your focal vision when you are driving. So it is about learning and coaching yourself every time you go to the track on how to see things. When you are looking at and approaching your turn-in point, as an example, your eyes should actually be looking across the corner at least past the apex of the turn. But you're not focusing there, your concentration would be on the turn-in point. So you are peripherally concentrating on the turn-in point while your eyes are actually seeing the whole corner. That is not easy to do, but as you train yourself every time at the track it will certainly pay dividends.
The third factor is never discounting the value of going back to the skid pad. This is probably the biggest fault of most drivers. They get very comfortable and confident at driving maybe just a single race track but they never really learn when they get to that threshold point of traction or when they go over it, the recovery. So there is always that nervousness that tension of what will happen when I get to that point. We are dealing with cars now that have wonderful stability management programs. They don't impede you're driving all that much and a lot of drivers don't even notice when the systems are coming on. I really stress that if you've been on the race track for even two, three years, go back to the skid pad. Find a coach who is experienced on the skid pad and turn all the systems off. See what your skill level is. I've done this with a few drivers and they are blown away with how poorly they do on the skid pad. They just continually spin out as they try to do some sort of sustained oversteer or just oversteer and recovery. They just can't do it. They don't know what to look for, they don't know what they should be doing with their feet and often they are really slow with their steering. So going back to the skid pad will humble the driver and also give then a really good understanding of where their level is at recovering from a loss of traction.
How did you get involved in sports vision training?
It dates back about 25 years or so ago. When I was working at the Bridgestone Racing Academy a sports optometrist came to us. He was doing research and had worked with a number of top level athletes from volleyball to hockey on Olympic and NHL teams. He was doing research because he was going to be working with race car drivers. He went on to study us and gave us a lot of information on what he had learned over the years. I then used that in my classrooms and coaching for the next 20 or so years. Five years ago as part of starting my company and trying to give students a little bit more, I went back and got certified and we bought some pretty expensive equipment to work with. It is a case of 'did I see what I think I saw?' Decisions happen in a split second. The more you train with this equipment, the more you realize that you are very accurate in what you see and in those moments of 'did I actually see that?' Yeah, you did. Your brain captures it. Now that I am a certified sports vision trainer it just adds to my tool box.
What sort of equipment do you use for the vision training?
We have a number of different tools that tax the eyes. The one that we've gained the most information out of and gotten more mileage out of is called the Dynavision D2 and it is a board that is about 4 feet by 4 feet and it has 64 buttons on it. They are all in a circular shape so it makes a large bull's eye, if you will. These buttons light up in red and when a button lights up, you hit it with your hand and it turns that light out and it moves it to a different location. So if you get to a speed of half a second on average to reach these buttons, we'll actually set the programming to only have the light stay on for half a second. You have to make it within half a second to get to that point and then it moves to a different spot. When a green light comes on, you are not allowed to hit it, so while you are trying to be very fast in your movements, you have to be selective. The third level involves a screen in the center of the board that flashes numbers, letters or symbols. We typically use digits. As an adult, you can read five digits in a flash of a tenth of a second. Those who are speed readers can process six digits and basically nobody can read seven digits. When the number flashes on the screen the student has to recite the number while they are banging the buttons. There is a lot of brain activity. It keeps them conscious, it keeps them alert. The hand movement is working in conjunction with peripheral vision and reaction time. You become incredibly accurate with your reactions.
One would say, okay, 'well that's a lab how does it translate?' The translation is actually pretty simple. You need to react quickly to visual inputs on the race track. Say a car is locking up in front of you and you have to quickly react. Your brain will react more quickly and accurately than if you didn't do this training. The training gives you confidence in your peripheral vision because you see how accurate and quick you are in the lab. It also builds the ability to get into a focus, focusing on the correct things. This is a wonderful tool to build focus. Video games do that as well.
How long does the training take? Does it involve a number of sessions? How long does it take to increase your ability?
Everybody is a little bit different, but in general we would start with a 20 to 30 minute session. More would be too taxing on your brain. If you did two sessions a week, within two weeks, you would increase your peripheral accuracy and your comfort level dramatically. For you to see a difference in your ability to react in general, it would be in the range of a month and a half. We've done this with a number of people and other trainers have done it as well. I have had experience working with the military and when they go out on a mission, we don't see them for six or eight months. When they come back, we find that their performance has dropped about 10 percent and within two sessions, they are back up to where they were. So about six to eight weeks of training will build somebody up to a point where they could essentially do a maintenance following that.
What are the pragmatics of that training? What if one of our readers was interested in it? What would they do? Would they have to come back and forth to your facility? How would that work?
We have a mobile training center. Depending on how far we are going, we would need five users to make it worth our while to go to them. If you wanted to come see us, we could certainly do that. There are a number of facilities around the U.S. that have the Dynavision D2 and work with athletes. Most of them have other tools as well. Some facilities are more sports oriented than others. If any of your readers are interested, the easiest thing to do is to go to the Dynavision International website which lists training facilities. Short of that, I know a number of different facilities that are more sports oriented and I could lead people to them if they are not close to me in the Toronto area.
Is there anything that a person could do on their own for vision training? Are there exercises that people can do at home?
There are a number of different ones. One is for depth perception and we use this more as a warm up. Use a string with and every foot to foot and a half place a different colored bead. You attach it to a doorknob and bring the string to your chin. Look at each bead until it comes into focus. Go all the way to the doorknob and back. That works your depth perception. The faster you can get each bead into focus the better your depth perception becomes.
Anybody can pick up the strobe glasses. They are $500 and you can share it with a few people. If you are working with a buddy, a simple thing is to toss a ball back and forth with the glasses on. If you are by yourself you could throw a tennis ball against a wall. That helps with vision and focus.
Once you become aware of your peripheral vision, you will actually start working it when you are not using any of the equipment. When your awareness of your peripheral vision increases, it gets to the point where you are seeing things in your rear view mirror when you're not even looking at it. You are picking up movement. Mountain biking is an excellent opportunity to exercise your peripheral vision. As you look at rocks while also looking ahead you are practicing awareness of both your focal and peripheral vision.
You can research this on the internet. There are many inexpensive ways to improve your vision. To take it to the next level you do need someone coaching you and determining whether you are practicing correctly. Start out searching for DIY vision training, peripheral training, peripheral vision training, and sports vision training. Do it yourself train my eyes or something like that. Lumosity is an app for brain training but it is all done through the stimulation of the eye. It helps reaction time and deciphering what you see.
Can you give us an anecdote of how you helped a lapping day driver and what specifically you did to help that person?
The person I can think of was always a good driver. I had driven with him a number of times and we seemed to click. He had been lapping on days that I wasn't at the track or I was busy with other participants and I hadn't been with him for a little while. He got into a different car and made a mistake and he spun at one point. Following that, the next two lapping days he was nervous, he wasn't lapping as fast, he wasn't enjoying himself as much as he had been before. He came to me again and he told me he was having some difficulties. I got in the car with him to observe and we realized that he wasn't entirely sure why he spun. He needed to figure out why he spun, specifically what he did that caused the spin. We did figure that out. He was concentrating on the wrong things. He was concentrating on the pure mechanics of driving the track. He was trying to figure out the braking point for a particular corner and then the specific turn-in point and trying to be as precise as possible. I reeled him back a little bit and I said, "You can't do that because every time you approach the corner, you are going to be in a slightly different spot. You might be carrying a different amount of speed, because of how you exited the last corner. If you are travelling 5 miles an hour faster, a prescribed braking point is not going to work. You're going to go into the corner too fast. You have to make your visual markers more global and not concentrate on a spot, but use your vision so that it is more informative." I went back to the basics. As you approach a corner look into the corner, glance into the corner and see the angle. When I say glance, it literally can just be a flash of looking at the exit of the corner so that you see the change of angle that you have to make. We do this on the street every day. If we are travelling a new road and we are going to be making a corner, our brain naturally has our eyes look around that corner and determine how much we should slow down. We don't look at the speed we are travelling. We just have our brain calculate the angle of the corner we are approaching and the speed we are travelling and determine how much we should slow down. That's all based on our comfort level. So I brought him back to that and I drove around with him for the next couple of laps and I told him when to advance his eyes. So as he approached a corner I would say, "Glance into the corner, now look halfway through the corner," all the while I pre-coached him to say, "You still need to look at the point you are approaching. So I want your eyes in that direction, but if you haven't reached the turn-in point, your peripheral concentration should be on the turn-in point." It doesn't have to be perfectly accurate, but it has to be appropriate to the turn-in to the corner itself, not the cone that might be on the track or the specific point that you use as a reference. Once he started concentrating on looking ahead, having more of a global view of the track, he became more comfortable and was smoother. At the end of the day he told me that he was back to where he was if not even further along and he was absolutely enjoying the track day again.
How do you handle blind corners? Are you imaging where the track out point is while you are looking through the turn?
Yeah, that is exactly it. I describe it as part of learning a track. As you drive the track, there can be blind corners like at Sebring where there are walls you just can't see around or there is elevation. At Mosport turn two is probably the most daunting because as you approach it at high speed, you are going up a hill and right at the crest is the turn-in. Literally you are looking at trees and sky. After turn-in you only see the first third of the corner and can't see the rest of the corner. What I ask people is if you can see the corner what would you be looking at when you turn in? Or what should you be looking at when you turn in is probably a better question. A lot of people will say, "When I turn in, I should look at the apex" and I actually say that's wrong. You shouldn't be looking at the apex because that is not where you want to end up. Where you want to end up and still be on the track is the exit of the corner. If you miss the apex and still stay on the track, then you are in good shape. If you hit the apex at the wrong angle and don't stay on the track, you didn't do a very good job. The bigger point is that you should be looking at the exit. So if you have a blind corner, then what you need to be doing, and this is the repetitiveness, is that you create a picture image in your brain of what the exit looks like. And you know by going around that corner a number of times where that exit is. So inevitably you're looking through a wall with x-ray vision, if you will, and pretending that you can see the exit of that corner. So you are using imagery as you turn in to that corner. Even though you can't see it, you know where it is if you've done enough laps. If you haven't done enough laps, you shouldn't be going fast enough to get yourself into trouble. You should spend the first number of laps determining and really memorizing what that corner is to you. Where the bumps are, where the exit is relative to the turn-in. You create an impression in your brain. So as you said, you're imagining where the corner is going and you're looking in that direction. Sometimes you're looking at a wall but you're not focusing on it. You're looking across it pretending that you can see the exit.
I have one more question. I'm going to go mountain biking after this interview. What should I practice while I'm mountain biking today?
When I'm on the road and I see a rock, if I look at that rock as I approach it, I find that I'll hit it. It's odd because I don't want to hit it. My brain says don't hit it, yet I still continue to look at it more than anything. So what I challenge you to do as you're mountain biking and see an obstacle is to take your eyes away from it. Don't look at the obstacle as much and move your eyes beyond it so that you are seeing what's after the obstacle. I challenge you to raise your eyes, concentrate more on your peripheral vision and be diligent in using your peripheral vision to look at what is in front of you. In the end, if you hit something, by having a further view, you're more apt to stay on the bike and ride on because you'll be able to protect yourself and figure out your way around it. To go back to the race track, and oval track drivers are really good for this, as they tag the wall at the exit of a corner, they are not actually looking at the wall when it happens. They continue on because they are looking around the corner.
Challenge yourself as you ride and determine how you see things and then try changing it. Don't do it at full speed. Remind yourself maybe four or five different times to change your eyes and see if it makes a difference. It should.
There are a lot of parallels between track driving and mountain biking. I've been conscious of practicing the line because you can certainly apex turns on a mountain bike in different ways to help you avoid obstacles or to set yourself up for the next turn. There is a particular local trail called Slo Flo. It is very tight with a lot of switchback turns and elevation changes. It's a very slow area of the trails and I've learned that this also parallels track driving in that the "in slow, out fast" technique works on this mountain bike trail. I can usually get through it faster and smoother if I'm thinking about "in slow, out fast." I have been aware of where I look because I've learned from track day driving that if you look at something you're going to hit what you're looking at. And I learned that in mountain biking, if I look at an obstacle, I'm going to hit it. However, like you say, if you look beyond it, if you just let your bike keep rolling, you're probably not going to fall off. But if you get tentative and you focus on the obstacle, just staring at the obstacle and waiting for yourself to hit it and that is all you're doing, you are probably going to fall. I've fallen plenty of times but I've learned to force myself to look where I want to end up so I can avoid or get beyond the obstacle without falling down. So there are a lot of parallels between the two activities.
Yeah, there definitely are. Our eyes are pretty fantastic. I think I'm going to end up being the eye guy here, the vision guy. Whatever I do, I always come back to that. Even when I'm looking at data for a race driver, it always comes back to where they were looking.
I think people might do these things sort of intuitively as they practice and they become better at track day driving. I think that without being aware of it, they are learning these techniques. As a vision coach, you are focusing in on teaching them to be more visually aware and they are more likely to use it and learn it more quickly and effectively.
That's exactly it. I find that the majority of right seat instructors will teach the line. I'm trying to change everybody's attitude. Let's not so much teach them the line. Let's teach them the line to be safe on this track, but let's teach them how to find a line so it's more about the vision. Many drivers go to a new track, and are oftentimes totally lost. They haven't got a clue because they had learned to go from point to point. That's why I'm trying to change the instructors' method of training to be more general. Don't worry about being right on that apex, don't worry about being right on that turn-in point. It's not that important. What is important is to get around the corner and be smooth throughout it. If you happen to line up near the turn-in cone and the apex cone, and you end up at the exit cone, hey you nailed it. But don't force the car there. I am trying to change the method of training to be more vision oriented earlier. I know there are fast race car drivers out there and I go back to race car drivers because it is more measurable. Track day drivers are working with car insurance and they are not supposed to be timing themselves but race car drivers can use lap times as a barometer of progress. I know fast racers that look point-to-point but I believe that they look point-to-point slightly differently. Their focal is on the point they are going towards, but they are really pushing and using their peripheral vision to look at the next point. They've learned to do that quite subconsciously. I am trying to reverse that to where their peripheral concentration should be on the point that they are approaching as opposed to the rest of the corner being the peripheral part. My thinking is that if you look at the whole corner and use your peripheral vision to see the turn-in point, you are going to see more. On a qualifying lap you may not be any faster than the guy who looks point-to-point. However, on a race lap, where you've got a number of vehicles and things you have to negotiate, by having a more global look, you're going to see more things and you'll be able to react to them earlier.
Jeff has been a Targa Newfoundland winner and a driving coach for almost 30 years. His emphasis on vision is intriguing and clearly goes way beyond the usual advice to look way ahead. If you are considering a coach, definitely keep Jeff in mind. Check out Event Matrix at http://eventmatrix.ca/.


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Q: Optimal design for separating traffic from 1 program through 2nd router while leaving all the other programs going through 1st router? I have the following network setup Speedport Router(integrated modem) - this one gets DSL internet connection (250 / 40 Mbps) Linksys EA6900 Router (without modem) - this one is connected to the speedport for the internet connection. I have a computer on which I have a network interface (intel integrated) and a wifi usb card (some belkin 802.11g).
Since I want to download some stuff (torrents via uTorrent) which I may want to do it in secret via VPN, I was thinking of doing this by connecting a Linksys router to PureVPN (I have an account there) and any traffic through the Linksys router would be encrypted and secure, albeit slower and with bigger latency which I don't really mind. Even then if I feel that this is too slow I can change the VPN server to another one. I usually use NL, SWE or LUX servers for P2P.
Anything else would go directly through Speedport router which has the lowest latency because it is a direct internet connection.
I was thinking of doing it in the following way: Connect NIC with Speedport router via cat 6 cable, and I have already done this. Connect belkin wifi with Linksys EA6900 wirelessly, and I have already done this. Now I plan to mod the Linksys EA6900 into a Asuswrt Merlin firmware via this guide: https://www.linksysinfo.org/index.php?threads/asuswrt-merlin-build-384-5-or-later-on-linksys-ea6900-or-ea6700.74209/ (this will be a challange in its own right).
Now comes the part where I force the uTorrent to use the secure VPN connection for its traffic. I was thinking of 2 options: 1. use Net Limiter to achieve this, force the uTorrent to use wifi connection to EA6900 router. 2. set up a proxy server on the Linksys EA6900 with Asuswrt Merlin firmware and then setup the uTorrent to use the proxy from the IP address which is given to Linksys EA6900 on the Speedport router. That way it will utilize the secret VPN connection on the EA6900 but going through Speedport to which it is connected via cable thereby reducing the latency even more than with wifi connection.
What do you guys think? Do you have some suggestions, some comments, some improvements, some alternatives which might be easier or less of a hassle? Any feedback would be good.
Since as you can see, I have this pretty much worked out (at least in theory) I was just wondering and wanted to see if somebody has already had a similar scenario and has done all this, if this is feasible (especially the proxy server on the EA6900 part), even more so if somebody has an even better idea on how to solve this.
EDIT: I have just checked and have found out that I also have an integrated NIC on the motherboards, so it makes 2 NICs, 1 external and 1 integrated and a wifi dongle stick. OS is Windows 10.
If I were to connect NIC1 to Router 1 and NIC2 to Router 2, how to specify which one takes precedence in the windows settings? One would be secure via VPN and the other would be direct internet connection as already stated.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


With respect to Michael Bird's criticisms in particular, I plan to respond in more detail in the comments section of his post. As far as my own interaction with Bird and knowledge of his work, I listened to the Seminary Dropout interview with Bird about his latest book, which was great, and I recently enjoyed reading an older essay of his in a book about the authority of Scripture. But that is it. We do not know each other, and I sense that Bird read my post with a somewhat suspicious lens. I trust there are reasons for this, but, along with what was probably my own failure to disambiguate some things, I think this caused us to miss each other.
At the same time, the subject of atonement is at the heart of evangelical and Christian identity, and despite my best efforts to write charitably, the argument in my post was unavoidably polemical. It is therefore perfectly understandable that someone like Bird would offer a fairly spirited retort. However, Bird did not simply comment on my original post by asking pointed questions or seeking clarification on key issues. Instead, and in a manner that is consistent with the larger phenomenon of people talking past each other on the theological blogosphere, he made significant assumptions and rather sweeping judgments about both my thinking and Missio Alliance in general.
I would like to think our discourse could be a little less accusatory. Assume the best, you know?
For instance, based solely on Bird's response, one would think I was unreservedly recommending that everyone in the world should buy and read Tony Jones' latest book! In actuality, all I did was note that Tony has recently written a book that also emphasizes the urgency of the atonement question. Unfortunately, I haven't read the whole book yet, so I withheld any further evaluative remarks. So far though, in terms of critical responses, it does look like both Geoff Holsclaw and J.D. Kirk, to name two, have given fair-minded reviews of it.
Indeed, while the Christus Victor and moral influence theories stand squarely within the rich heritage of Christian theology, I do believe the atonement has to be substitutionary. According to a number of places in Scripture, the severity of sin does seem to require that Christ suffer a brutal death if humanity's relationship with God is going to be reconciled. Christ died in our place, for and because of our sin. So whatever culpability the Romans, the Jewish leadership or the crowds had in the crucifixion as described by passion narratives, it was also a divinely orchestrated event.
Yes, Jesus died instead of us! He was divine, he was innocent, and he was righteous, so in him we have justification. This we believe, as Paul and the rest of the New Testament declares.
Now, in the church's witness to atonement, there are at least three tasks for the church. Exegesis (informed by biblical/situational context), theological interpretation (informed by reason, tradition, and the grand narrative of the Bible), and proclamation (informed by contemporary context). Exegesis alone will not get you straight to proclamation.
Secondly, the temptation is always looming to smuggle a transactional economy back into a grace-based relationship between God and the world. Atonement theories are one of the sites where this is most likely to happen. The most frequent example I see of this comes in the form of telling people to love God or follow Jesus "because of what he did for us" or "because we owe him everything." This is a true, and Scripture concurs in some cases, but ultimately the most compelling reason to love God and follow Jesus is not because we have to, but because we get to. Because we have freely come to see and trust that God's love for us in Christ is true and good and beautiful in the first place, and that it holds all things together. This is why the logic of forgiveness through atonement, while not fully comprehensible, cannot be contradictory.
Thirdly, context is everything. And not just New Testament context, but also contemporary context. We are far removed from the world of Second Temple Judaism, as well as the feudal judicial system of the Middle Ages. This does not mean that we are exempt from doing the hard work of understanding and interpreting the passages and theological traditions that have been handed down to us from these times and places, but it does mean that the way we preach the gospel today has to be, while not necessarily palatable, still relatable to modern sensibilities. There is nothing inherently "progressive" about this. Rather, it is driven by the on-going demands of faithful gospel-application in local church settings.
Whatever disagreement we may still have about atonement theory, Bird and others like him will surely agree that atonement must be worked out on the ground in communities — where Christians are striving for unity amid differences and being brought together by the concrete, universal reconciliation and communion that is established by God in Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit.
So, in the work of embodying this atonement in community, the church is called to forgive as God in Christ forgave us. This commitment to forgive, particularly for people of privilege, issues in a refusal to stop suffering, even for the sake of our enemies. We don't get to demand payment even when it's very hard not to. We don't cry out for vengeance or retribution, even when it hurts us deeply not to. This is perhaps above all what it means for the church to be a community called atonement (a'la McKnight), and a community that is different from the world, for the sake of the world.
In the atonement, God is the one who first put relationship before the Law. Now the Church gets to imitate that.
Finally, in embodying atonement, the Church is called to be in solidarity with the poor and marginalized in our midst. There is no atonement apart from this! Whether the reconciliation we are called to seek is across lines of gender, ethnicity, race, sexuality, nationality or class, people of atonement are people who enter into life with those whom society has demeaned or excluded in some way or another. This solidarity is expressed in neighborliness. At times, it may require resistance and advocacy, but only through relationships of mutual submission and that eschew patronizing hierarchies.
And most of all, solidarity and embodied atonement come together not just when we forgive, but when we are forgiven by each other — especially by those in whose oppression we have been complicit, even if unknowingly. The reconciliation of all things that Christ's atonement inaugurates comes to completion only when these relationships are healed.
So I'd love to know, how does this sit? What questions does this provoke? What angles or issues still need to be considered?
 For the best theological treatise of a non-penal substitutionary theory of the atonement in the Western tradition, to my knowledge, I recommend Hans Urs von Balthasar's Theodramatics, (vol. IV in particular), which is arguably the greatest systematic theology of the 20th Century, along with Barth's. I am currently writing a chapter in my dissertation on von Balthasar's soteriology).
 Perhaps no one stressed this more in the European-American theological tradition than Jurgen Moltmann in The Crucified God. The Patristic and classical tradition would have some questions for certain aspects of Moltmann's theology, but one does not have to be a full-blown Moltmannian to appreciate his contribution.


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Regional News • Middle East
US 'terrorist' designation of Yemen's Houthis comes into effect
Just days before the now-former President Donald Trump was set to leave office, his administration announced plans to label the Houthis a "foreign terrorist organization" – effectively barring US citizens and entities from interacting financially with the group.
The designation came into effect on Tuesday, just as the US Treasury Department released details of limited licensing exemptions to the restrictions. For months, international aid groups providing much-needed aid to civilians hard hit by a devastating conflict in Yemen have warned that their work could be disrupted by the US designation of the Houthis – and urged the Trump administration not to do it. But US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on January 10 said the measure aimed "to hold Ansarallah accountable for its terrorist acts, including cross-border attacks threatening civilian populations, infrastructure, and commercial shipping".
Human rights and humanitarian groups, as well as US lawmakers, are also urging the recently inaugurated US President Joe Biden to rescind the designation. The United Nations' humanitarian chief last week called for the US to reverse the decision, saying it could lead to "large-scale famine on a scale that we have not seen for nearly 40 years".
Biden's incoming national security adviser also recently criticized the move.
Yemen War
Trump has handed out last minute series of 143 pardons
United States President Donald Trump has handed out 143 pardons shortly before leaving office. The list includes former advisor Steve Bannon, rappers Lil Wayne and Kodak Black (illegal gun possession), Kwame Kilpatrick the former mayor of Detroit (corruption), Elliott Broidy the ex-Vice-Chairman of the Republican Party (illegal lobbying for Malaysia), Solomon Melgen a prominent ophthalmologist and Trump's neighbour from Palm Beach, Florida (health insurance fraud against senior citizens) and Paul Erickson, conservative activist and ex-boyfriend of alleged Russian spy Maria Butina (money laundering).
Paul Erickson
Robin Hayes
Kwame Kilpatrick
Elliott Broidy
Source: whitehouse.gov
Joe Biden has been sworn in as 46th President of the United States
Credit: Ashley Winkler for Pendect
Joseph Robinette "Joe" Biden, Jr. has been sworn in as 46th President of the United States of America. He is succeeding President Donald Trump.
As the first woman of color, the first woman of South Asian descent Kamala Harris has also been sworn in to hold the office of Vice President of the United States.
Kamala Harris has been sworn in as Vice President of the United States
As the first woman of color, the first woman of South Asian descent Kamala Harris has been sworn in to hold the office of Vice President of the United States.
Capitol Hill mob was "fed lies" and "provoked" by Trump, Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell says
President Donald J. Trump and Vice President Mike Pence walk with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and Senator Roy Blunt, R-Mo., Tuesday, March 10, 2020 Credit: The White House from Washington, DC, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell said on the Senate floor that President Donald Trump helped provoke the mob that stormed the U.S. Capitol, blaming the president directly for the attack on the Capitol.
"The mob was fed lies. They were provoked by the president and other powerful people," so McConnell.
2021 US Capitol Protests
President-elect Joe Biden leaves Blair House for a pre-inauguration church service
The soon to be United States President Joe Biden has left Blair House for a church service before the presidential inauguration in "The Beast," the presidential limo. Together with his wife Dr. Jill Biden and high-ranking politicians such as Nancy Pelosi and Mitch McConnell he will attend a mass.
President's Guest House
Source: twitter.com/CodyKMBC
Business • Markets
Office Depot rejected a takeover attempt by office supply rival, Staples
Office Depot store Credit: The ODP Corporation
However, the parent company of Office Depot said it is open to a different kind of a deal, such as selling its retail and e-commerce businesses to Staples or agreeing to a joint venture, according to the report.
In a letter, ODP Chairman Joseph Vassalluzzo wrote that a deal that's not a full takeover "could be executed more efficiently and with far greater certainty and less regulatory risk than your proposal." He wrote the letter to Stefan Kaluzny, the managing director of Sycamore Partners and a board member of USR Parent, the subsidiary over Staples.
This was the third attempt by Staples to acquire Office Depot.
Trump leaves the White House for the last time, hours before Biden's inauguration
Donald Trump has left the White House for the last time of his presidency, hours before President-elect Joe Biden's inauguration. Trump boarded Marine One accompanied by Melania Trump and left for the Joint Base Andrews where he's attending his departure ceremony.
Joint Base Andrews
Two members of National Guard have been removed from inauguration mission over ties to right-wing militias
Credit: unsplash.com / Chris Henry
Two members of the U.S. Army National Guard have been found to have ties to fringe right group militias. Consequently, they will be removed from the security mission to secure Joe Biden's presidential inauguration.
No plot against Biden was found.
National Guard of the United States
Source: twitter.com/JesseRodriguez
FBI is vetting National Guard ahead of Biden's inauguration amid fears of insider attack
Credit: Georgia National Guard, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
All 25,000 National Guard troops tasked with securing the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris on January 20 are being vetted by the Pentagon and the FBI amid fears of a coordinated insider attack.
"This type of vetting often takes place by law enforcement for significant security events. However, in this case the scope of military participation is unique. The DC National Guard is also providing additional training to service members as they arrive in DC that if they see or hear something that is not appropriate, they should report it to their chain of command," so Christopher Miller, the acting defence secretary.
Regional News • World
Biden to not lift international travel restrictions
An officer with U.S. Customs and Border Protection Office of Field Operations welcomes and clears international travelers arriving at Dulles International Airport in Dulles, Va., March 13, 2020. Credit: U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Jen Psaki, President-elect Joe Biden's press secretary, dismissed Donald Trump's order to lift the ban on travellers from Europe and Brazil that has been in place since March 2020, instead announced plans to "strengthen public health measures around international travel."
"With the pandemic worsening, and more contagious variants emerging around the world, this is not the time to be lifting restrictions on international travel," Psaki tweeted. "On the advice of our medical team, the Administration does not intend to lift these restrictions on 1/26. In fact, we plan to strengthen public health measures around international travel in order to further mitigate the spread of COVID-19."
Source: twitter.com/jrpsaki
US study shows: greater use of force against left-wing demonstrations
Credit: unsplash.com / Andrew "Donovan" Valdivia
A study by the US Crisis Monitor based on around 13,000 demonstrations across the US since April 2020 shows that the police use force three times more often on left than right-wing demonstrators.
Barack Obama used this data in a statement to justify why Trump supporters were not stopped at the Capitol: The use of police force against predominantly white demonstrators is now demonstrably significantly reduced.
Adam Schiff: Trump should be denied daily intelligence briefings
Credit: Gage Skidmore from Peoria, AZ, United States of America, via Wikimedia Commons (Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 2.0)
House Intelligence Chair Adam Schiff said Sunday that President Donald Trump should be barred from receiving daily intelligence briefings after he leaves office.
"There's no circumstance in which this president should get another intelligence briefing, not now, not in the future," Schiff told on CBS' in an interview. "I don't think he can be trusted with it now and in the future, he certainly can't be trusted."
Man found living in an airport for 3 months over Covid fears
A man too afraid to fly due to the pandemic lived undetected in a secure area of Chicago's international airport for three months, US. He reportedly found the staff badge in the airport and was "scared to go home due to Covid"
All 50 US states prepare for possible violence ahead of Biden's inauguration
Credit: The National Guard / via Wikimedia Commons (Creative Commons Attribution 2.0)
After the FBI issued a warning of potential violence in all 50 state capitals ahead of President-elect Joe Biden's inauguration on January 29, state officials are preparing for potentialyl armed and violent protests. National Guard forces have been activated in California, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Kentucky and Florida. Washington, DC is bracing for further violent protests following the attack on the US Capitol earlier this month.
Twitter temporarily suspends account of Republican congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene
Twitter has on Sunday temporarily blocked the account of Republican Congresswoman and "QAnon" supporter Marjorie Taylor Greene.
Greene had violated company rules on multiple occasions, the online platform said. The congresswoman had written on Twitter that voter fraud had occurred in the Senate elections in Georgia. According to U.S. broadcaster CNN, Greene had spread several conspiracy myths and false reports at once in a lengthy thread.
The congresswoman's Twitter messages were then flagged with a notice that their content was controversial. A few hours later, the online network decided to suspend Greene's account for twelve hours.
Marjorie Taylor
FBI checks National Guards for Biden inauguration security risks
Credit: unsplash.com / Ian Hutchinson
The FBI is also investigating US military personnel in preparation for Joe Biden's inauguration. The US military authorities cannot rule out that an attack on the President-elect may come from within its own ranks. All 25,000 National Guards transferred to Washington would have to undergo a security clearance.
The inauguration will take place after the events around January 6th under the strictest security measures.
Source: tagesschau.de
Biden announces that United States will re-join the Paris climate agreement
Immediately after his inauguration, future U.S. President Joe Biden plans to implement about a dozen measures that also represent his promised departure from Donald Trump's course. Among other things, Biden will reverse Trump's entry ban on citizens from several predominantly Muslim countries on Wednesday and lead the U.S. back into the Paris climate agreement, future White House chief of staff Ronald Klain said Saturday.
Ron Klain
Source: nzz.ch
Arts, Entertainment, Culture • Music
Spector, who transformed pop with his "wall of sound" recordings, worked with the Beatles, the Righteous Brothers and Ike and Tina Turner. "California Health Care Facility inmate Phillip Spector was pronounced deceased of natural causes at 6:35 p.m. on Saturday, January 16, 2021, at an outside hospital. In February 2003, actress Lana Clarkson was found dead at his house in Alhambra, California with a bullet wound to her head.
Kamala Harris to resign as senator on Monday
Harris plans to leave her post as senator on Monday, two days before she is to be sworn in as the new vice president in Washington. That was announced by staff in her office. She is to be succeeded in office by California Democrat Alex Padilla.
Padilla will be California's first senator with Latino roots. He will take Harris' post for the remaining two years
Democratic Party (United States)
Source: Der Spiegel
News from Germany


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New Books in Asian Studies: The Sound of Salvation with Guangtian Ha
In this upcoming edition of the 2022 New Books in Asian Studies series, the Sigur Center will host a discussion of The Sound of Salvation: Voice, Gender, and the Sufi Mediascape in China with author Guangtian Ha, Assistant Professor of Religion at Haverford College. The event will be moderated by Eric Schluessel, Assistant Professor of History and International Affairs at GW.
Elliott School of International Affairs
Ruth Ben-Ghiat on "Personality Cults and the Authoritarian Playbook"
As part of its program on "Truth and Lies," The GWU Humanities Center welcomes NYU Professor Ruth Ben-Ghiat (history and Italian studies) for her distingusied (online) lecture on "Personality Cults and the Authoritarian Playbook."
Language Lunch
The Elliott School Office of Graduate Student Services invites all GW students, faculty, and staff to attend Language Lunch. Language Lunch offered Fridays from 12:00-1:00 p.m., allows language speakers to have a safe space in which they can practice their foreign language communication skills.
This week's languages are: Arabic, French, German, Hebrew, Persian, Russian, and Turkish
Lumbering State, Restless Society: Egypt in the Modern Era with Nathan Brown, Amr Adly & Mona Atia
Lumbering State, Restless Society offers a comprehensive and compelling understanding of modern Egypt. Nathan J. Brown, Shimaa Hatab, and Amr Adly guide readers through crucial developments in Egyptian politics, society, and economics from the middle of the twentieth century through the present.
This week's languages are: Chinese, English, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, and Spanish
Southeast Asia and the Future of the Rules-Based (Liberal) Order
On February 11th, the Sigur Center for Asian Studies will host Benjamin Ho, Assistant Professor at the China Programme of the S.
Information Session: Islamic Studies (MA and Graduate Certificate)
Join an online session with Professor Mohammad Faghfoory of the GW Columbian College's Department of Religion to learn about how our graduate degree programs in Islamic Studies can take your career to the next level. You will also have the opportunity to ask any questions you have about our program and the application process.
Bigger Data About Smaller People: Investigating Children's Language Learning at Scale
Every typically developing child learns to talk, but children vary tremendously in how and when they do so. What predicts this variability? In this talk, Michael C. Frank describes his efforts to create predictive models of early language learning. This goal has led him to create open data resources like Wordbank, childes-db, and Peekbank that capture data from tens of thousands of children learning dozens of different languages.
Webinar: CCAS Tips and Best Practices for Applying to Graduate School
Hear from our experienced admissions team who will provide some helpful tips on making your graduate school application to the GW Columbian College of Arts and Sciences stand above the rest!
The session will be full of helpful insights to:
Visions of Beirut: The Urban Life of Media Infrastructure with Hatim El-Hibri and Will Youmans
In Visions of Beirut Hatim El-Hibri explores how the creation and circulation of images have shaped the urban spaces and cultural imaginaries of Beirut. Drawing on fieldwork and texts ranging from maps, urban plans, and aerial photographs to live television and drone-camera footage, El-Hibri traces how the technologies and media infrastructure that visualize the city are used to consolidate or destabilize regimes of power.
This is How They Tell Me the World Ends
Join us for a conversation with leading cybersecurity expert, award-winning journalist, and bestselling author, Nicole Perlroth, on her new book, This is How They Tell Me the World Ends: The Cyber-Weapons Arms Race (Bloomsbury, 2021). What is the global cyber-weapons arms trade? In what ways is it altering the balance of global politics?
Information Session: Art Therapy (MA)
Join us online for an information session discussing the field of art therapy and GW's master's program. The GW Art Therapy Graduate Program trains exceptionally skilled therapists whose professional practice is grounded in a broad understanding of the most current clinical art therapy, counseling and trauma theories.
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Sizemore Insights
by Charles Lewis Sizemore, CFA
The Rich Investor
Peak Income
Peak Profits
Category: Geopolitics
Does Syria Matter?
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee gave its blessing to President Obama's plan to take limited action against the Syrian regime for using chemical weapons against its own people. A full Senate vote is expected in the next few days and will likely pass. Barring any hiccups in the House, the bombs could start falling as soon as next week.
Whenever the words "Middle East" and "war" get mixed in the same sentence, people get nervous. It's a messy and complicated part of the world with ever-shifting alliances and unlikely bedfellows. Devoutly Sunni Saudi Arabia supports the secular military regime in Egypt, while constitutionally secular Turkey supports the deposed Muslim Brotherhood. In Syria, a secular nationalist regime is supported by radical Shia Iran and Orthodox Christian (and formally communist) Russia. And Lebanon? Its political arrangements resemble something from the Godfather.
You might think that hatred of Israel is the tie that binds, but even this is a half-truth. Though the two countries have no formal relations, Israel and Saudi Arabia have become allies of sorts, and rumors have flown in recent years that the Saudis have given the nod to the Israelis that it might <wink wink> be ok for their jets to cross Saudi airspace en route to bombing Iran's nuclear facilities.
This is why an airstrike on Syria gives us the jitters. The fear is that, given how complicated the relationships are, a "limited" response could escalate into something much bigger, dragging in other regional players such as Iran, or even Russia. Colin Powell warned George W. Bush that if he broke Iraq, he owned it. No one in Congress or the White House wants to "own" Syria.
So with all of this as background, should investors worry about Syria?
Not really. You should watch the headlines and be aware that events can change quickly. But consider the following:
The Western response is intended to punish the Assad regime but not remove it. Assad will not escalate and give the West an incentive to remove him…particularly since he is winning the war.
Syria's options for retaliation are few and likely ineffective. Could they attack Israel in the hopes of rallying the Arab street? Maybe. But Saddam Hussein tried that in the first Gulf War to little effect.
Iran is not likely to join the fray. Think about it. If they sit tight, their ally in Syria will take some damage but will hold on to power.
Vladimir Putin's Russia likes to antagonize the West, but this isn't the 1980s. Russia has little to gain from letting this escalate too far, particularly given that their ally is winning the war.
Syria is not an oil-exporting country. Unless Iran enters the fray and closes the Straits of Hormuz—which again, is unlikely—any spike in the price of oil should be a temporary blip.
There are plenty of macro risks out there to consider. Front and center is the Fed's tapering of its quantitative easing program, and Europe's sovereign debt debacle is the crisis that never seems to end. But Syria is not something you spend time worrying about.
This article first appeared on InvestorPlace.
Charles Lewis Sizemore, CFA, is the editor of the Sizemore Investment Letter and the chief investment officer of investments firm Sizemore Capital Management. Click here to learn about his top 5 global investing trends and get your copy of "The Top 5 Million Dollar Trends of 2013."
Author Charles Lewis Sizemore, CFAPosted on September 6, 2013 Categories GeopoliticsTags Syria2 Comments on Does Syria Matter?
The Nicaragua Canal: China's Secret Motive
I first saw the Panama Canal in action in 2002. Though nearly 90 years old at time (and soon to be 100 years old at time writing), it was an impressive piece of engineering to behold even by modern standards. A series of locks lifts ships 85 feet above sea level and then lowers them again on the other side. And it does it through some of the least hospitable terrain on the planet.
You absolutely cannot underestimate the importance of the Panama Canal to the modern global economy. The existence of the Canal has done more to promote free trade and globalization than all of the international summits in history. It has massively reduced costs and transit times and allowed for much tighter economic integration between the countries of the Americas and between the Americas and the Old World.
The Canal currently handles about 5% of all worldwide shipping traffic—and it would be substantially higher were it not for the fact that the Canal is currently running at maximum capacity, pending the opening of a new, wider lane set to open in 2014. The new lane will accommodate significantly larger ships and is expected to double the Canal's current capacity.
Note: The Canal is something that would make any red-blooded American proud. It was started by the French—who ended up giving up on it due to engineering difficulties and a high mortality rate for their workers. It took American innovation and engineering prowess to get the job done.
Proposed Nicaragua Canal Route
Yet recent moves by China add a new wrinkle to this story. Even while the capacity of the Panama Canal is being doubled, a Chinese company is in serious discussions with the Nicaraguan government to build a rival canal.
The cost? $40 billion and 11 years of construction.
Based on economics alone, it's hard to understand the Chinese motivation. Panama nets about $1 billion per year in tolls on its Canal and has the ability to undercut any potential rival on price. The Canal expansion—which, again, doubles capacity—cost just $5.2 billion.
China may be betting that world trade will be high enough to justify two Central American canals by the year 2025, but I believe their motivation is less economic and more geopolitical.
The Panama Canal has been under the control of the Republic of Panama since 1999. But under the original treaties, negotiated by the Carter Administration, that ceded control to Panama, the United States retained a permanent right to defend the Canal if its openness and neutrality were ever at risk. The Canal may belong to Panama, but the United States still considers it a vital asset necessary for national defense.
Could China have similar motives in Nicaragua? It would appear so to me.
In Nicaragua, China has the potential to essentially bribe one of the poorest countries in the Western hemisphere into being a loyal ally. By some estimates, a new canal could double the country's GDP per capita. And Nicaragua is not a country known for being friendly to the United States.
Will the canal happen? Maybe, maybe not. We'll see. But if it does, it should benefit the world economy by increasing capacity, speeding up transit times, and, presumably, forcing Panama to lower its tariffs in order to compete.
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Author Charles Lewis Sizemore, CFAPosted on June 12, 2013 Categories GeopoliticsLeave a comment on The Nicaragua Canal: China's Secret Motive
Review: The Revenge of Geography
"The present, as permanent and overwhelming as it can seem, is fleeting," writes Robert Kaplan in the introduction to The Revenge of Geography: What the Map Tells Us About Coming Conflicts and the Battle Against Fate. "The only thing enduring is a people's position on the map."
As a country built with a spirit of self-reliance and an ideology of free will, Kaplan's idea of "the map as a country's destiny" might seem a little offensive to American readers. But the United States is itself a case in point. It is the United States' isolation, bordered by two oceans, that allowed it to develop virtually unmolested for the first two centuries of its independence.
And as disappointing as it might be to American patriots who remember the Cold War, Kaplan's colleagues at Stratfor has always maintained that the Soviet Union's eventual defeat was inevitable.
Even if Ronald Reagan had never become president and escalated the arms build-up that led to the Soviets throwing in the towel, geography had already sealed their fate, at least according to Stratfor's analysis. Due to Russia's lack of seaports—and the ease with which enemies could block access to the few that Russia has—it was always going to be easier for the United States or Britain to contain Russia than vice versa. In an age of nuclear missiles and air power, geography may matter less than it once did. But the world is still far from flat, and geography still very much matters.
Students of history no doubt remember that it was the Russian winter and bleak landscape that defeated Napoleon Bonaparte's invasion, not the Russian army. As continental land powers, both Russia and Germany have an appreciation for geography that few other countries would appreciate. As Kaplan writes,
As heirs to land power, Germans and Russians have over the centuries thought more in terms of geography than Americans or Britons, heirs to sea power. For Russians, mindful of the devastation wrought by the Golden Horde of the Mongols, geography means simply that without expansion there is danger of being overrun. Enough territory is never enough. Russia's need for an empire of Eastern European satellites during the Cold War, and its [more recent] use of military power, subversion, and the configuration of its energy pipeline routes all designed to gain back its near abroad…are the wages of a deep insecurity.
But Germans, at least through the middle of the 20th century, were more conscious of geography still. The shape of German-speaking territories on the map of Europe changed constantly from the Dark Ages through modern times… Historically changeable on the map, lying between sea to the north and Alps to the south, with the plains the west and the east open to invasion and expansion both, Germans have literally lived geography.
Robert Kaplan has had a long and distinguished career as an analyst on geopolitical issues, and he currently writes for George Friedman's global intelligence service Stratfor.
I reviewed Friedman's The Next 100 Years, and his follow-up The Next Decade. Though I have never fully forgiven Dr. Friedman for some of his more outlandish forecasts—such as a Japanese-Turkish military alliance attacking America from bases on the moon—I continue to recommend both books as two of the more thought-provoking long-term forecasts in print today.
If you liked The Next 100 Years or if you enjoy reading Stratfor geopolitical insights, then The Revenge of Geography is a book you will want to add to your reading list in 2013.
Readers might notice some similarities between Revenge and another book I reviewed, Ian Morris' Why the West Rules—For Now.
It was Morris' contention that it was "maps, not chaps" that led to eventual dominance of the West over the globe. In other words, it was the conditions of geography and the chain of events that followed it and not some innate cultural superiority that eventually led to British warships shooting their way up the Yangzi River rather than Chinese warships shooting their way up the Thames. (Adding credence to this view, Kaplan notes that Europe has a coastline that is 23,000 miles long—long enough to encircle the earth—full of natural harbors and that Europe has a higher ratio of coastline-to-landmass than any other continent or major region.)
Kaplan's focus is very different—and tends to focus around the impact that major mountain ranges have had on the development of the peoples in and around them—but his conclusions are remarkably similar. In situations where man-made borders based on politics and ideology (such as the former East and West Germany or the current North and South Korea) come into conflict with natural borders based on geography and culture, it is the map that determines the outcome.
Kaplan reserves some of his most controversial comments for North America, and particularly the relationship between the United States and Mexico—and the role that geography plays.
The United States has been overly fixated on the Middle East since the September 11, 2001 terror attacks. The Obama Administration has since tried to "re-pivot" American policy towards East Asia and the Pacific. But what about Latin America?
It would seem that the American attitude towards Latin America is best summarized by an off-the-cuff comment that President Nixon once made to a young Donald Rumsfeld: "Latin America doesn't matter."
Kaplan might beg to differ. Paraphrasing the views of other policy experts, Kaplan writes,
While the United States was deeply focused on Afghanistan and other parts of the Greater Middle East, a massive state failure was developing right on America's southern border, with far more profound implications for the near and distant future of America, its society, and American power than anything occurring half a world away. What have we achieved in the Middle East with all of our interventions since the 1980s? … Why not fix Mexico instead?
Aside from the obvious point that Mexico might not want to be fixed by its northern neighbor or that the "fixing" might be better done by Mexican citizens themselves than by outsiders, Kaplan does have a valid point. The United States shares a long border with Mexico, and the realities of geography mean that our destinies are linked—regardless of prevailing political views about immigration. As Kaplan writes,
It is in the Southwest where the United States is vulnerable. Here is the one area where America's national and imperial boundaries are in some tension: where the coherence of America as a geographically cohesive unit can be questioned. For the historical borderland between America and Mexico is broad and indistinct…
Mexico and Central America constitute a growing demographic powerhouse with which the United States has an inextricable relationship. Mexico's population of 111 million people plus Central America's of 40 million constitute half the population of the United States… 85 percent of all Mexico's exports go to the United States, even as half of all Central America's trade is with the U.S…
The destiny of the United States will be north-south, rather than the east-west , sea-to-shining-sea of continental and patriotic myth.
Kaplan is not so much delving into mass-immigration scare statistics as he is emphasizing the growing importance of our southern neighbors to our own globalized economy.
Again returning to geography, Kaplan notes that Mexico has far more natural borders internally between its various regions than it does with the United States. Baja California and the Yucatan Peninsula (home of Cancun, Cozumel and many of Mexico's other famous beaches) are separated from the rest of the country by sea and, in the case of the Yucatan, by jungle. And northern Mexico is separated from Mexico City and the central highlands by desert and mountains.
Kaplan notes something that I have noticed in my own travels. Northern Mexico is very different than southern Mexico. The people are every bit as distinct as New Yorkers and Mississippians, and they don't particularly like each other.
Northern Mexico, including the large business hub of Monterrey, is gritty and industrial with a strong "get it done" mentality. It's people, by and large, are rugged individualists and very entrepreneurial. As Kaplan notes, Northern Mexico is responsible for 85% of all U.S.-Mexican trade.
If you can understand Spanish, watch how norteños from Monterrey are portrayed in Spanish-language television. They're generally hard-nosed, no-nonsense small businessmen who, in contrast to the urbane residents of Mexico City, have no interest in or time for cultural pursuits. Oh, and they're usually wearing an obnoxiously-large cowboy hat and flashy boots.
Kaplan sees a "borderland" culture along the Texas-Mexico border that is distinct from both the U.S. and Mexican heartlands. It is a hybrid culture, mostly Spanish-speaking but with "American" attitudes towards business and commerce. Both northern Mexico and the southwestern United States are subtly separating from the rest of their respective countries.
What is the potential result of the interaction between geography and demographics along the U.S.-Mexican border?
Kaplan cites University of New Mexico Professor Charles Truxillo's prediction that, by 2080, the states of the American southwest and Mexican north will secede and form a new country of their own—La Republica del Norte.
We'll see about that. In any event, I agree with Kaplan that the realities of geography make some degree of melding between the countries inevitable.
All in all, The Revenge of Geography is a worthwhile read for anyone with an interest in geopolitics. I don't agree with all of Kaplan's conclusions, but he gave me plenty of fodder for thought. If reading a 350-page tome is not to your liking, check out Kaplan's writings at Stratfor.
This article first appeared in the HS Dent Forecast.
Author Charles Lewis Sizemore, CFAPosted on December 27, 2012 April 2, 2015 Categories Book Reviews, GeopoliticsTags George Friedman, Robert Kaplan, Stratfor1 Comment on Review: The Revenge of Geography
The Greek Debt Crisis In Historical Perspective
Greece is no stranger to economic crises such as the current one. The country has been in debt since its independence and has gone through a cycle of borrowing and defaulting numerous times. Foreign powers have always had an interest in maintaining Greece's stability, so previously they always agreed to refinance its debts. The only new factor in Greece's ongoing crisis is that the country is not as strategically important to outsiders as it was before the end of the Cold War, so foreign governments are not as interested in loaning Athens money.
With Greece again roiling world financial markets, it can be useful to step back and get an historical perspective. Greece has been here before, and if history is any guide this will not be the last time.
If Greece has developed something of a bailout culture, it is because there has always been a Western power with a geopolitical interest in bailing the country out. Whether it was Britain attempting to keep Tsarist Russia in check or the United States looking to best the Soviets in the Cold War, Greece has always had a patron. By virtue of its strategic location in the Eastern Mediterranean, Greece mattered.
I've written favorably about geopolitical forecasting firm Stratfor and its prolific founder, George Friedman. I wrote reviews of Friedman's two most recent books ("Book Review: The Next 100 Years" and "Book Review: The Next Decade") and continue to recommend both.
Today, I recommend you read Stratfor's analysis of Greece's debt woes, which first appeared on Stratfor.com as "Greece's Continuing Cycle of Debt and Default":
The ongoing financial crisis in Greece is a familiar situation for Athens. Greece has been in debt since its war for independence from the Ottoman Empire in the 1820s, which means international creditors and foreign sponsors have played a role in Greek finances, politics and economic development since then. Even though Greece has failed to achieve the expected gains from the reforms its Western creditors have demanded it make in order to pay back its loans, foreign powers have always had a strategic need for Greece and have thus refinanced or forgiven its debts despite numerous defaults.
Indebted from the Start
The modern state of Greece was born after 11 years of fighting against the Ottoman Empire (from 1821-1832). However, it was not until Western intervention in 1827 that the conflict turned decidedly in Greece's favor. The war had disrupted commerce in the Eastern Mediterranean, and France and the United Kingdom were concerned that a power vacuum in the region would give the Russian Empire an opportunity to expand and gain direct access to the Mediterranean. They thus sought to balance any expansion of Russian power by positioning themselves strongly in a newly independent Greek states. When Greece finally achieved its independence, it was these three Great Powers — France, the United Kingdom and Russia — that negotiated the terms of that independence.
Despite the nationalist origins of the Greek conflict, the Treaty of Constantinople — negotiated by the Great Powers in 1832 — declared the Kingdom of Greece an absolute monarchy and appointed a Bavarian prince, Otto, as monarch. Since the 17-year-old Prince Otto was a minor when he was named monarch, a council of regents consisting of three Bavarian advisers who came to be known as the "Troika" — incidentally, the same term used for the International Monetary Fund (IMF), European Central Bank and European Union officials today — were appointed to rule in Otto's name. One member of the Troika was particularly instrumental in establishing the framework for the new country: former Bavarian Finance Minister Josef Ludwig von Armansperg, who ultimately was appointed prime minister of Greece when Otto assumed the throne.
During the fight against the Ottomans, Greece accumulated a large external debt — a debt on which it defaulted in 1826, greatly restricting the new country's ability to access international credit. The United Kingdom, France and Russia agreed to loan the new country 600 million francs. As a condition of the loan, the three countries maintained diplomatic representatives in Athens who were heavily involved in the creation and oversight of the Greek government. The Great Powers wanted to see immediate returns on their loans after the new country began taking shape. However, the only immediate source of internal revenue for Greece was agriculture. Loans were given to farmers to expand cultivation on land that was nationalized after the war. The financing terms of the state loans, which required a 3 percent down payment in cash, combined with an immediate and heavy tithe on the lands' production, forced most agriculture laborers to borrow from the few private individuals who had access to large amounts of capital — mostly the wealthy members of the Greek diaspora and the merchant class. This created a cycle of debt wherein the state's attempts to pay off its international debt resulted in an increasingly indebted population…
Greece in Modern Times
By the end of World War II, Greece, along with its European sponsors, was in economic ruins. In March 1947, the United Kingdom had to end the financial assistance it had provided Greece in varying degrees since the 1820s. However, the Communist insurgency that engulfed Greece immediately after World War II once again presented the threat of Russia (now the Soviet Union) controlling strategic points in the Eastern Mediterranean. This made Greece strategically critical to the single remaining Western superpower: the United States, whose military and economic aid to Greece during the Cold War prevented Communist forces from gaining influence in the country. In 1981, Greece became the 10th member of the European Economic Community (the predecessor of the European Union). After this, Greece received large loans and subsidies from the European bloc in addition to aid from the United States. Nonetheless, by the early 1990s, Greece's lack of economic growth and massive budget deficit led the IMF and European Commission to supervise the country's finances.
A Familiar Position for Athens
Greece's current problems — a large external debt, high defense expenditures, a political system entrenched by its ability to provide its supporters with continual patronage, a capital-poor and import-dependent economy, an ineffective tax collection system, exclusion from international credit markets and the forfeiture of its fiscal sovereignty to external creditors — are problems Greece has faced throughout its modern existence. It has been in major powers' strategic interest to ensure Greece's stability since its independence from the Ottoman Empire, but it seems that nearly 200 years of international interest in developing the Greek economy has not done much to change Greece's circumstances.
Article by Stratfor. Full article can be viewed at "Greece's Continuing Cycle of Debt and Default."
Some things never change, though Greece's strategic importance to the West perhaps has. Greece has far less value as a military, diplomatic, or trading partner than, say, neighboring Turkey. It will be interesting to see if, for the first time in two centuries of welfare payments, the West finally cuts Greece loose.
Author Charles Lewis Sizemore, CFAPosted on May 17, 2012 May 23, 2012 Categories Geopolitics, HistoryTags European Debt Crisis, Greece1 Comment on The Greek Debt Crisis In Historical Perspective
Military Spending by Country
With outstanding U.S. debt fast approaching 100% of GDP and budget deficits continuing to yawn stubbornly wide, the next president and congress will have some unpleasant decisions to make. Spending will have to be cut. But from where? Social Security and Medicare will come under debate, as will most discretionary spending. But the elephant in […]
With outstanding U.S. debt fast approaching 100% of GDP and budget deficits continuing to yawn stubbornly wide, the next president and congress will have some unpleasant decisions to make. Spending will have to be cut. But from where?
Social Security and Medicare will come under debate, as will most discretionary spending. But the elephant in the room that no one wants to acknowledge is the U.S. military (see figure).
Top 10 Countries by Military Spending, 2011
Spending, $bn
World Share, %
Source: The Economist, April 7, 2012
The United States currently accounts for nearly half of all world military spending. Its military budget is more than eight times that of China and fourteen that of Russia.
The United States requires a large, muscular military to defend its economic and diplomatic interests abroad. Having a powerful army and (more importantly) navy is essential to maintaining credibility. But during times of economic austerity, unpopular questions of "how big is enough" will start to be asked.
The automatic spending cuts that were part of the grand bargain between Barack Obama's White House and the Republican-controlled House hit the military budget hard. In an election year, neither party will want to see them implemented.
But once the election is over, even the most hawkish of republicans will have to accept that sacred cows like the military will have to be touched if the United States is to get its finances under control. And with a smaller military, expect a more modest foreign policy. It's a whole new world, dear reader.
Author Charles Lewis Sizemore, CFAPosted on April 26, 2012 May 23, 2012 Categories GeopoliticsLeave a comment on Military Spending by Country
Charles Sizemore is the Editor of Peak Income and Peak Profits and a contributing writer to The Rich Investor. As Dent Research's retirement expert, he specializes in income solutions. (Read More)
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OTE deal delights Canyon Eisberg
Canyon Eisberg have struck a deal with Leeds-based sports nutrition company OTE for the 2018 campaign.
And sports director Tim Elverson reckons they have all the ingredients to fuel his troops for what promises to be a hectic campaign at home and abroad.
Discussing the partnership ahead of the team presentation at the Canyon Experience Weekend on Saturday, Elverson said:
"We were looking for a nutrition partner who could provide a full range of products that deliver performance but also taste great and are kind on the stomach.
"The lads will spend a lot of time using it with our busy calendar, so it is crucial they get on with it.
"OTE was my first choice but as we were late to the party, I didn't think we would be able to hatch a deal.
"So I was so relieved and delighted when Matt (Harrison) was excited at the prospect of working with us.
"OTE was founded on the belief 'Goodness In = Greatness Out', a belief shared by Canyon Eisberg."
And the Canyon Eisberg riders are looking forward to getting stuck into the range as the season gets into full swing, too. Harry Tanfield said:
"I'm very excited about using OTE nutrition this season. I've used a number of their products before, which I've really enjoyed, so I'm looking forward to trying the full range.
"It is great to have OTE in our corner. Nutrition is so important to us and they really know their stuff."
With products developed by experienced sports nutritionists and honed by athletes, OTE currently fuel World Tour outfit EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale and women's UCI team Trek-Drops.
And having used their range with the latter, Canyon Eisberg soigneur Jodie Lloyd knows Elverson's squad are in safe hands. She said:
"From a swanny's point of view, OTE have a full range of products for before, during and after both training and racing.
"They cater for all the riders' dietary requirements, too, which is really important to ensure they are at their best."
OTE's multi-award winning energy gels, bars, pH neutral energy drinks and recovery drinks only use natural ingredients and are free from artificial sweeteners and colours.
© Canyon dhb p/b Soreen
Lowsley-Williams eyes "mini Tour de France" Riders put on spot at team presentation


The definitive history of the early years of the Ordnance Survey is Rachel Hewitt's Map of a Nation, which I reviewed in 2012.
Today is the publication date for The Ordnance Survey Puzzle Book (Trapeze), a collection of map quizzes and puzzles—a "mix of navigational tests, word games, code-crackers, anagrams and mathematical conundrums" contrived by Gareth Moore—based on some 40 Ordnance Survey maps dating as far back as 1801. It's out in the U.K. only; North Americans will have to try third-party sellers on Amazon (or elsewhere) or order directly from British vendors.
The Guardian reports on the worst-selling Ordnance Survey map, which I suspect will very quickly cease to be the worst-selling map thanks to the news coverage. It's OS Explorer 440: Glen Cassley and Glen Oykel, a 1:25,000-scale map of a remote region of the Scottish Highlands. (Buy it at Amazon.) The area covered by the map is apparently spectacularly empty, at least as far as humans are concerned, with only "a few dozen houses," most of which are used for vacation or hunting purposes. In a blog post today, the Ordnance Survey goes into more detail, listing the 10 least popular maps in the U.K.: they're all in Scotland, so they also give the least popular maps for England and Wales.
If the purpose here is to point to the route less travelled, well and good, but I suspect the effect will be rather like what happens when a travel guide raves about an out-of-the-way, hidden gem of a restaurant.
Now seems an odd time to be launching a line of standalone, single-purpose GPS devices, but the Ordnance Survey has gone and done so: they've announced a total of four devices, ranging in size from the cycling-friendly Velo to the robust Aventura and in price from £370 to £500. The OS has been offering third-party devices from the likes of Garmin and Satmap through its online store; it'll be interesting to see how people see these as measuring up against those devices—or against an app on the smartphone they may already own. More at Road.cc.
October is a busy month: I'm aware of six new map books coming out. Two deal with the mapping of war, three with the rich cartographical history of Great Britain, while the sixth is a colouring book.
War Map: Pictorial Conflict Maps, 1900-1950 by Philip Curtis and Jakob Sondergard Pedersen (The Map House, 6 October). This is a companion book to the Map House's exhibition of pictorial conflict maps, which I told you about last week.
by Christopher Fleet, Charles W.J. Withers and Margaret Wilkes (Birlinn, 20 October). A follow-up to Scotland: Mapping the Nation (Birlinn, 2012), this book explores the Scottish islands through maps from the National Library of Scotland's collection.
Britain's Tudor Maps: County by County (Batsford, 13 October) reproduces the maps from John Speed's 1611 Theatre of the Empire of Great Britaine. These apparently include the first individual county maps of Great Britain, so this is a work of some historical significance.
Cóilín Parsons is the author of The Ordnance Survey and Modern Irish Literature (Oxford University Press, June 2016; Amazon, iBooks), which links the Ordnance Survey of Ireland to the origins of literary modernism in Ireland. Writing in The Irish Times, Parsons makes a larger argument about the cultural impact of the Irish survey, which resulted in large part from the survey's precise mapping requirements and the need to hire non-cartographic scholars to get the job done—they were mapping aspects of Irish life that had not previously received official attention.
This unlikely assembly came about because the survey was instructed to make a map at a scale of six inches to one mile. The scale might seem unexceptional to anyone who grew up using the survey's maps, but at the time it was nothing short of revolutionary—it called for enormous maps of frequently sparsely inhabited areas, and at a level of detail never before seen across such a vast expanse of land. How was the survey to gather the information to fill in such detailed maps? The answer was to task not only the engineers of the army, but also a crew of civilian workers under Petrie's supervision, to both map the physical features of the landscape and also record every possible aspect of the landscape from its placenames (the initial justification for employing Irish language scholars) and archeology to its productive economy.
Another map colouring book has just been announced, this one from the Ordnance Survey: "The book will take you on an immersive colouring-in journey around Great Britain, from the coasts and forests to our towns and countryside. Expect to see iconic cities, recognisable tourist spots and historical locations across England, Scotland and Wales via the 55 illustrations. The Great British Colouring Map also includes a stunning gatefold of London. We can't wait to share it with you—it will be on shelves in October." Pre-order at Amazon.
Previously: A-Z Maps Colouring Book; Albion's Glorious Ile: A 400-Year-Old Map Colouring Book; City Maps: An Adult Colouring Book.


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12084_CIPR_AI_1024x512
#AIinPR calls for contributions to literature repository ahead of report launch at Turing Institute
CIPR's #AIinPR panel has published a literature repository following an intensive 12-month review of nearly 200 global publications on artificial intelligence and its impact on the professions.
The panel is calling on practitioners to submit their own contributions via a shared document which will form the basis of a final report – 'The Effects of AI on the Professions' – due to be launched at The Turing Institute on 16 January. All submissions accepted to the repository will be fully credited.
The review suggests public relations is significantly behind the curve and sleep walking into AI. Other professions have already done major work on the shape of their future workforce, reviewing education and training, looking at their future role in organisations and society and at the ethics of AI. We need to get cracking, and get on with some serious work in all these areas.
Professor Anne Gregory Hon FCIPR
The panel has also announced Vice Chair, Kerry Sheehan, will take over from Stephen Waddington as Chair and will announce their 2020 plan and details of new members at the Turing Institute event.
Our initial research on AI makes really stark reading for the PR sector as it shows that we are way behind on adopting any innovation. As a profession which provides strategic management function driving business, profiles, profits and purpose – and the ones who should be best placed to promote AI to aid the public's adoption of good AI to realise its benefits - we have a vital role to play - we need to take this seriously.
I'm really proud to be leading the AIinPR panel, picking up from Stephen Waddington. I would like to thank him for his work as Chair and I'm delighted he will still be continuing as valued member of our panel.
Kerry Sheehan Chart.PR, FCIPR, CIPR Artificial Intelligence Vice Chair
More information on the CIPR's AIinPR work, including the globally-leading 'Humans Still Needed' research; contributing to UK Government and European Commission reports on AI; and working with the technology and AI development industries across the world can be found at www.cipr.co.uk/ai.
About the Chartered Institute of Public Relations
Founded in 1948, the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) is the Royal Chartered professional body for public relations practitioners in the UK and overseas. The CIPR is by far the biggest member organisation for PR practitioners outside of North America. By size of turnover and number of individually registered members, we are the leading representative body for the PR profession and industry in Europe.
Jon Gerlis
Public Relations and Policy Manager
jong@cipr.co.uk


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Hazards of Helen DVD
Hazards of Helen
Helen Holmes stars as a quick-witted heroine, prone to getting in and out of trouble, in seven episodes of this long-running silent adventure series. Includes "The Grit of the Girl Telegrapher", "The Open Track", "The Governor's Special", "The Leap from the Water Tower", "The Wrong Train Order", "The Pay Train", and "In Danger's Path".
Title: Hazards of Helen
Starring: Helen Holmes
Attributes: Silent Movie
Helen Holmes