This week’s events have generally added to our gloom.
Burma and China suffering from natural disasters with such a difference in their handling of the events. As the Generals in Burma maintain their intransigent opposition to foreign aid workers and underestimate the horrific statistics of death and devastation,Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao rushed to comfort survivors and direct rescue efforts. Foreign aid agencies are welcomed and all news sources are reporting every detail, including the indispensable bloggers in the more inaccessible areas China has earned praise for “exemplary” response to disaster, in comparison to the “callous” response of the Burmese authorities.
We see that Maxime Bernier has had his gag removed in order to deliver a no doubt carefully scripted message that “Canada is pushing the United Nations Security Council to press Myanmar’s military dictators to permit international aid to reach cyclone victims.” The National Post adds that “the Conservative government faces mounting pressure to back the UN’s ‘responsibility to protect’ doctrine — one that Canada pushed the world body to adopt — which calls on the international community to essentially invade the sovereign territory of a country if its government is not protecting its people.”
Once again the government is leading from the rear. But in any event, as we understand it, the Responsibility to Protect was not designed to force countries to accept international humanitarian aid and does not (yet) have standing under international law. (The Responsibility to Protect populations from genocide, ethnic cleansing, war crimes and crimes against humanity is an international commitment by governments to prevent and react to grave crises, wherever they may occur. In 2005, world leaders agreed, for the first time, that states have a primary responsibility to protect their own populations and that the international community has a responsibility to act when these governments fail to protect the most vulnerable among us.) For those who want to know more, a good place to start is World wrestles with Burma aid issue.
Amid disasters, UN ponders its “responsibility to protect”
Myanmar’s rejection of most international aid following the devastating cyclone, and China’s rejection of some assistance in the wake of Monday’s deadly earthquake are putting to test the United Nations’ “responsibility to protect.” The doctrine, implemented in 2005, directs the world body to intervene against crimes against humanity. France’s UN Ambassador Jean-Maurice Ripert has urged the doctrine be applied to deliver mass-scale aid to Myanmar’s people despite the regime’s opposition, but others say such an approach is riddled with geopolitical difficulties. Los Angeles Times (free registration) (5/14) , The Wall Street Journal (subscription required) (5/14)
Zimbabwe’s escalating violence bodes ill for the presidential run-off. Why is no-one advocating some form of ‘the responsibility to protect’ in Zimbabwe. Surely the long-suffering citizens deserve the help that their fellow Africans are unable or unwilling to deliver. As someone asked us recently: if the U.S. could invade Iraq because Sadam was oppressing his countrymen, why is there no move to do the same in Burma/Myanmar and Zimbabwe? Oh, we forgot. Neither country has oil. [We erred: see Comment 1)

As Israel celebrates 60 years of statehood, Lebanon lurches into another crisis that has precipitated a round of namecalling between Saudi Arabia and Iran in what Robert Fisk terms Iran’s proxy war with the U.S.
Closer to home, Nathan Gardels warns that While US Focuses on Iraq, Mexico is Collapsing “Any political scientist will tell you that the definition of a failed state is where the legitimate authorities have lost both their monopoly over violence and their fiscal effectiveness — the capacity to compel their subjects to pay enough taxes so the state can function. Mexico is a failing state on both counts. While all our attention is focused on Iraq, our neighbor is descending into Hobbesian chaos.” What does this mean for NAFTA??
World hunger - as someone remarked last week “There is much talk but seemingly little action” We would like to draw your attention to a feel-good story Students Fight Hunger with Internet Game about a wonderful initiative” freerice.com that permits us all to act in a small, but entertaining way.
Is there any good news? Serbia’s pro-West election results. Governor General Michaelle Jean’s triumph in France and conquest of President Sarkozy (we doubt that the PM or any of his male colleagues could have achieved the same effect). We are not yet sure how we would view the changing of the guard in Russia. Will President Dmitry Medvedev be a force for liberalizing - will Premier Putin allow him to be? Like the rest of the world, we’ll wait and watch. Depending on your view, the demise of Hillary Clinton’s campaign is fast approaching despite her win in West Virginia, which was widely expected. On a note of lesser global import, the ADQ has seemingly tanked in Québec. Jenna Bush got married in what appears to have been a small-ish tasteful ceremony presided over by a minister who is an Obama supporter. (Huffington Post reports with glee that her husband will be working at Constellation Energy, the 33rd worst corporate air polluter in the United States, which has filed an application with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to build the first nuclear power plant in America, construction by Bechtel). Meanwhile, Autumn Kelly of Pointe Claire is to wed Peter Phillips at Windsor Castle in a slightly more upscale event. Not quite sure how we should react to the news that Vatican says aliens could exist, - as long as they don’t unionize to impede progress on the lunar-based solar energy program ….

Finally, how many of you saw the item “Bush: I gave up golf for the troops“? President Bush has for the first time revealed the great sacrifice he’s made for the sake of our soldiers: he’s given up golf. “I think playing golf during a war just sends the wrong signal” —- words fail us!

Do join us for the Wednesday Night divertimento and, with luck, a preview of the 2nd edition of The MetropolitaIn.

Please check here or on Wednesday-night.com for breaking news, updates and further links

(Reuters) FACTBOX-Zimbabwe - its people, land and economy
ECONOMY: Food shortages have helped drive prices higher and inflation topped 100,000 percent year on year in January.
– Critics blame shortages and a collapse in foreign currency earnings partly on President Robert Mugabe’s seizure of white-owned farms to give to landless
– Once the regional breadbasket, Zimbabwe now has to import food, further straining foreign exchange reserves.
– The U.N. agricultural production index for Zimbabwe fell from nearly 107 in 2000 to just over 74 in 2005.

March 28, 2008
(IPS) “The Election Will Not Be Free and Fair”
Ephraim Nsingo and Tonderai Kwidini
HARARE - Where to begin with listing the concerns that surround Saturday’s general elections in Zimbabwe?
The widely-documented harassment and physical abuse of opposition supporters and rights activists by government supporters and state forces — and the lingering fear cast by even greater levels of intimidation during parliamentary elections in 2005 and 2000, and the presidential poll of 2002?
(RCI) Soldiers patrolled the streets of Harare with armoured cars and water cannons, as the country’s security chiefs warned that no violence would be tolerated during Saturday’s presidential election. President Robert Mugabe told a final campaign rally near the capital that his supporters would show their disdain for “meddling Britain” by giving him another victory. He has been president since 1980. He is opposed by Morgan Tsvangirai, the leader of the main faction of the Movement for Democratic Change, and Simba Makoni, a former Mugabe loyalist and finance minister, both of whom accuse the president of intending to rig the vote. Mr. Tsvangirai urged supporters to stay at polling stations until they close and the counting starts because the president wouldn’t dare to steal the votes in front of so many witnesses.
A tense Zimbabwe readies for crucial election
Security forces are at the ready in Zimbabwe amid concerns that Saturday’s election could spark violence similar to the bloodshed that followed Kenya’s disputed vote in December. The main rival to President Robert Mugabe is former Finance Minister Simba Makoni. He’s seen by many as the best choice to address Zimbabwe’s runaway hyperinflation and widespread health problems. Newsweek (3/31) , BBC (3/28)
Zimbabwe on tenterhooks
(The Economist) OPINION polls and anecdotal evidence suggest that Robert Mugabe would be heavily defeated if the elections on Saturday March 29th were fair, but few Zimbabweans expect the incumbent to allow himself to be beaten and stand down. In any case, an array of imponderables make it hard to predict the outcome, however fairly the poll and, more important, the count are conducted. But for the first time since Mr Mugabe won power in 1980, there is at least a chance that he will have to go.
Zimbabwe children face ‘unbearable’ suffering: charity
Children in Zimbabwe face “unbearable” suffering, ranging from malnutrition and lack of health care to the threat of rape and violence, the British-based charity Save the Children said Saturday.As the African country goes to the polls this weekend, the charity said Zimbabwe’s six million children are among the most vulnerable in the world, with HIV/AIDS a constant threat which has made a record number orphans.
March 3, 2008
(The Independent) Presidential race hots up in Zimbabwe with more defections from ruling party
Buoyed by key defections from the ruling party and support from the opposition movement, former finance minister Simba Makoni held a presidential election rally in the capital yesterday with promises to repair the economy and heal divisions in the nation.
At an upbeat rally attended by about 3,000 people in the township of Highfield, the symbolic birthplace of black resistance to colonial-era white rule, Makoni launched his Harare campaign with vows to “get Zimbabwe working again.”
Makoni shared the stage with Edgar Tekere, a founder of the ruling party alongside President Robert Mugabe, as well as a former deputy education minister and several former ruling party lawmakers and veterans of the bush war that swept Mugabe to power in 1980. A dozen influential business and community leaders wore Makoni campaign T-shirts.
The March 29 elections represent the biggest challenge to Mugabe since independence from Britain in 1980.
Mugabe, 84, is favorite to win the elections, despite being blamed for the world’s highest inflation rate of more than 100,000 percent. The main opposition Movement for Democratic Change is divided and Mugabe enjoys total control of all state organs and election machinery, including the media. But the country’s veteran ruler could face a run-off poll if he fails to win 51 percent of the vote against Makoni and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai. In the last presidential election, Tsvangirai won 41 percent and officials in Makoni’s campaign say defections from the ruling party are closing the gap.

Haiti, among the countries hit hardest by the global food crisis, should return to more homegrown food staples such as corn, experts say. But in this analysis of why the Caribbean country’s food crisis runs so deep, the Los Angeles Times reports that local farmers see such a path to be riddled with obstacles. Los Angeles Times (free registration) (5/13)
May 12, 2008
We were introduced to freerice.com some time ago and have found the game quite addictive. It’s a great cause and a fun way to test/improve your vocabulary. Doing well by doing good!
Students Fight Hunger with Internet Game
With food prices and world hunger on the rise, some Atlanta students have found a fun way to help - by using an Internet game. FREE RICE IS A VOCABULARY GAME THAT HELPS DELIVER RICE TO COUNTRIES IN NEED. So far, according to the site, the World Food Programme’s total donations is over 32 billion grains of rice [and counting].
CHINA: Buying Farmland Abroad, Ensuring Food Security
BEIJING, May 9 (IPS) - Rattled by rapidly rising global grain prices, China is looking at strategies to ensure long-term food security for its 1.3 billion people such as procuring farmland overseas and opposing the formation of any international grain price- fixing monopolies.
… despite repeated declarations that the country is well equipped to deal with the food crisis engulfing the world, government officials remain worried about China’s long-term abilities to feed its population.
To counter growing domestic challenges in ensuring food self-sufficiency, China is drafting a policy to encourage agricultural companies purchasing farmland abroad.
While Chinese state banks and oil companies have made numerous investments overseas, snapping contracts for oil and mineral resources, there has been little official incentive so far for Chinese agricultural companies to venture abroad.
May 9
Top U.N. human rights forum to examine food crisis
By Stephanie Nebehay
GENEVA, May 9 (Reuters) - The United Nations Human Rights Council will hold a special session on May 23 to examine how the world’s food crisis is undermining the right to food for millions of people, officials said on Friday.
The rights to adequate food and freedom from hunger are enshrined in international law as basic, universal human rights. The request was submitted by Cuba, Egypt and Pakistan and approved by 41 of the Council’s 47 member states.
In a statement, the sponsors said that while middle-class families in the Western world spend about 20 percent of their budgets on food, for families in developing countries it can make up 60 to 80 percent of their incomes.
May 8
What a waste: Britain throws away £10bn of food every year
Global food shortages, soaring prices and alarm over the environment. But every day, Britain throws away 220,000 loaves of bread, 1.6m bananas, 550,000 chickens, 5.1m potatoes, 660,000 eggs, 1.2m sausages and 1.3m yoghurts
We wonder what the figures would be for Canada, let alone the U.S. — and this reminds us of our frustration over what Beryl Wajsman refers to as the “nanny state” laws prohibiting the donation by grocery stores, restaurants and hotels of unused food to soup kitchens and other organizations who feed the poor and hungry.
Investments set to grow in African agriculture
Skyrocketing food prices have prompted several international companies to consider investing more in African farming, the Financial Times reports. The Common Fund for Commodities, a United Nations branch, said it has received inquiries from multinational corporations interested in developing new African agriculture projects. Financial Times (5/7)
May 3
Food crisis overshadows trade talks
(Emerging Markets) US trade representative Susan Schwab this weekend denied that subsidies to rich country farmers are contributing to the food crisis – and said progress in trade talks depended on developing countries giving ground on market access.
Development experts challenged Schwab on the role of rich countries’ domestic agricultural subsidies, and argued that financial speculators are aggravating the food crisis.
In Madrid, ADB president Kuroda – who pledged budgetary assistance to countries hit by the food crisis – said food prices in Asia had almost tripled in four months, despite the fact that supply appears able to cover demand. He attributed the rise to hoarding, rather than speculation, and to export bans some countries have imposed on rice.
May 1
UN’s Holmes warns against overreacting on biofuels
John Holmes — the United Nations’ humanitarian chief who will head the world body’s new task force on the global food crisis — said Wednesday it’s important to not to have a “knee-jerk response” against biofuels. Fuels made from food crops have come under heavy criticism as food prices have soared over the last year, but Holmes said biofuels were a serious response to the problem of climate change and the world now needs a “careful, sophisticated and differentiated” approach to addressing the food crisis. Google/Agence France-Presse (4/30)
April 30
(CBC) Ottawa pledges extra $50M for global food crisis
April 29
‘Biofuels frenzy’ hits grain market
Michael Mathes, Agence France-Presse
WASHINGTON - A “biofuels frenzy” and other misguided policies have led to the global food crisis in which rice consumption is outpacing production, threatening one billion people with malnutrition, experts said today.
International agriculture researchers warned that farmers will need to double global food production by 2030 to meet rising demand and said countries should impose a moratorium on grain-based ethanol and biodiesel to rein in skyrocketing prices for corn, rice, soybeans and wheat.
UN, World Bank create food crisis task force
United Nations agencies and the World Bank joined forces Tuesday to set up a special task force aimed at tackling the world’s growing food crisis. Soaring food prices are contributing to instability and riots across the globe and driving millions more people to live in extreme poverty. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged donors to provide $755 million in emergency funds for the World Food Programme. BBC (4/29) , Reuters (4/29)
April 26
Canada deaf to global food crisis, expert says
Top UN adviser blasts Harper government
(Globe & Mail) NEW YORK, TORONTO — A key adviser to the United Nations has sharply criticized Canada for abandoning its leadership role in international development, and urged the country to step up its level of aid to poorer countries in the face of soaring food prices.
Jeffrey Sachs, one of the world’s best-known economists, accused the Harper government yesterday of adopting an “antagonistic,” and occasionally “mocking,” tone toward the implementation of the UN’s Millennium Development Goals, a group of objectives aimed at alleviating problems ranging from poverty to global warming.
(RCI) U.S. ECONOMIST CRITICIZES CANADIAN FOREIGN AID
A key adviser to the United Nations says that Canada is abandoning its global leadership role in foreign development. U.S. economist Jeffrey Sachs says that the Conservative Party government has essentially done nothing on crucial international matters such as poverty, hunger, disease, climate change, and foreign assistance. Mr. Sachs adds that his pleas for Canada to take a special role in the global food crisis have been ignored since the former Liberal Party government.
April 25
CANADA TO RESPOND TO WORLD FOOD CRISIS
(RCI) The Canadian Press reports that Canada could double the aid that it contributes to the UN World Food Program in response to the worsening international crisis caused by soaring food prices. An unnamed federal official has told the agency that Bev Oda, the minister responsible for the Canadian International Development Agency, will make a “significant” announcement early next week in reaction to an appeal by the UN for help. The source said that the announcement will place Canada’s food aid contribution for 2008 beyond what was given in the previous year. The UN has set a deadline of May 1 for receiving $755 million in emergency food aid pledges. Canada is pledged to provide the WFP with the dollar equivalent of 420,000 metric tonnes of wheat annually. The country has failed to live up to the promise in four of the past eight years but exceeded its commitment in the last two years.
April 22
Placing the Terrorist Threat to the Food Supply in Perspective
(Stratfor) High food prices have sparked a great deal of unrest over the past few weeks. Indeed, the skyrocketing cost of food staples like grain has caused protests involving thousands of people in places such as South Africa, Egypt and Pakistan. These protests turned deadly in Haiti and even led to the ouster of Prime Minister Jacques-Edouard Alexis.
With global food supplies already tight, many people have begun once again to think (and perhaps even worry) about threats to the U.S. agricultural system and the impact such threats could have on the U.S. — and global — food supply. In light of this, it is instructive to examine some of these threats and attempt to place them in perspective.
April 18
UN meeting to focus on global food crisis
The United Nations said Friday it will focus on ways to rein in escalating food prices and growing malnutrition when Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the UN’s agency heads meet in Switzerland April 28-29. “The main subjects on the agenda will be the food crisis and climate change. They will look at means of coordination,” spokeswoman Marie Heuze said of the next installment of the semi-annual meeting. Reuters (4/18)
April 17
The global food crisis is less about shortages than about bad policy, says food expert Raj Patel.
(Newsweek) The escalating crisis of global food shortages and price spikes has been called the result of a perfect storm of conditions. Droughts, the high cost of fuel, rising inflation and the use of crops for biofuels have left many nations of the world struggling to provide access to affordable staple foods like rice or wheat, and unfortunately, there is no end in sight. A new book by University of California, Berkeley, food expert Raj Patel called “Stuffed and Starved: The Hidden Battle for the World Food System” (Melville House) examines how our food goes from the field to our dinner plates. He delivers a blistering indictment of the policies of multinational agribusiness conglomerates and charges that their drive for profit at any cost has left the developing world starving while wealthy countries like the United States are experiencing epidemic obesity rates and related health problems.
April 15
Feeding the Future:Investing in Agriculture
More than 800 million people suffer hunger today. A new global effort has been launched to solve this complex problem and find ways to double food production in 25 to 50 years in an environmentally and socially sustainable manner under the conditions of climate change.
Reinventing Agriculture
By Stephen Leahy
Will today’s markets be able to cope with future food demands?
JOHANNESBURG, Apr 15 (IPS) - The results of a painstaking examination of global agriculture are being formally presented Tuesday with the release of the final report for the International Assessment of Agricultural Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD).
The assessment has explored how agriculture can be reinvented to feed the world’s expanding population sustainably in an era of multiple challenges — not least those presented by climate change and a growing food crisis that has led to outbreaks of violence in a number of developing countries.
“Increase Agricultural Productivity While Reducing the Environmental Footprint”
Interview with Robert Watson
April 13
World Bank echoes food cost alarm
“We have to put out money where our mouth is now so that we can put food into hungry mouths,” Mr Zoellick said. “It’s as stark as that.”
He called for more aid to provide basic nutrition and for planting crops, and more lending to develop agriculture in the long-term.
He also called on wealthy donor countries to quickly fill the World Food Programme’s $500m (£250m) funding shortfall.
On Saturday, the head of the IMF, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, warned of mass starvation and other dire consequences if food prices continue to rise sharply.
See also Global Monitoring Report
April 10
Zoellick urges world leaders to tackle food crisis
World Bank President Robert Zoellick on Thursday called on the international community to step up its efforts to combat soaring food prices and malnutrition, saying the current crisis has significantly set back recent gains against poverty. “We estimate that the effect of this food crisis on poverty reduction worldwide is on the order of seven lost years,” he said. The Washington Times (4/11) , Spiegel Online (4/10)
Rich world must do more to address food crisis: Some of the reasons for the soaring food prices are beyond the control of developed countries, such as the rise of the middle class in China and India. But rich nations are worsening the situation by increasingly using food products for fuel and hence they must do more to address the growing crisis, the paper argues. The New York Times (4/10)
Britain’s Brown urges G8 to tackle global food crisis
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown on Thursday said the upcoming Group of Eight summit in Japan should act against spiraling food costs that are spreading hunger and unrest around the world. Brown requested, in a letter to Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda, that the industrial countries that make up G8 look at issues such as the role biofuel may play in pushing up food prices. Google/Agence France-Presse (4/10)
9 April
UNEP chief: Agriculture must move in new direction
United Nations Environment Programme executive director Achim Steiner describes the many challenges facing farmers in an interview with the Inter Press Service News Agency. Currently attending a major summit on farming in Johannesburg, South Africa, Steiner here calls for a “broader vision for agriculture.” Inter Press Service (4/9)
April 8
Soaring food costs threaten world’s political stability: UN official
(CBC) Rising food prices could cause political instability worldwide, the UN’s top humanitarian official said Tuesday, as clashes over food costs in Haiti and Egypt continued for a second day.
Pointing to a 40 per cent average rise in food costs worldwide since mid-2007, John Holmes, the United Nations under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief co-ordinator, said the trend is likely to exacerbate both the incidence and depth of food insecurity worldwide.
6 April
Governments meet to tackle global food crisis
Officials from some 60 governments are meeting in Johannesburg, South Africa, this week to discuss what can be done to counter the soaring food prices that are threatening millions of people with hunger. Scientists and others at the conference, hosted by the International Assessment of Agricultural Science and Technology for Development, are expected to tout a more sustainable model for farming and development.
Towards a New and Improved Green Revolution
By Stephen Leahy
JOHANNESBURG, Apr 6 (IPS) - As food prices soar and hundreds of millions go hungry, experts from around the world will this week present a new approach for ensuring food security, at the intergovernmental plenary for the International Assessment of Agricultural Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD).
In the past year the price of corn has risen by 31 percent, soybeans by 87 percent and wheat by 130 percent. Global grain stores are currently at their lowest levels ever, with reserves of just 40 days left in the silos. Meanwhile, food production must double in the next 25 to 50 years to feed the additional three billion people expected on the planet by 2050.
The IAASTD brought together more than 400 scientists who examined all current knowledge about agricultural practices and science to find ways to double food production in the next 25 to 50 years and do so sustainably, while helping to lift the poor out of poverty.
The findings of the three-year IAASTD indicate that modern agriculture will have to change radically from the dominant corporate model if the world is to avoid social breakdown and environmental collapse …They concluded that the way to meet these challenges is through combining local and traditional know-how with formal knowledge.
The Clean Energy Scam
(TIME) … by diverting grain and oilseed crops from dinner plates to fuel tanks, biofuels are jacking up world food prices and endangering the hungry. The grain it takes to fill an SUV tank with ethanol could feed a person for a year. Harvests are being plucked to fuel our cars instead of ourselves. The U.N.’s World Food Program says it needs $500 million in additional funding and supplies, calling the rising costs for food nothing less than a global emergency. Soaring corn prices have sparked tortilla riots in Mexico City, and skyrocketing flour prices have destabilized Pakistan, which wasn’t exactly tranquil when flour was affordable.
4 April
Rising Grain Prices Panic Developing World
By Ariana Eunjung Cha
(Washington Post Foreign Service) SHANGHAI — A spike in the price of rice and other food staples is triggering consumer panic, including food riots in Yemen and Morocco, and hoarding in Hong Kong.
Governments around the world have taken radical measures in recent weeks to control their countries’ supplies of rice. Egypt last week said it would ban all rice exports for six months. Cambodia has stopped all private-sector exports of rice, and India and Vietnam also have imposed restrictions.
The price of grains — corn, wheat, and rice — has been rising since 2005 under pressure from farmers who would rather plant crops for biofuels than for food, the lack of technological breakthroughs in crop yields, and drought and disease. The sharpest increase has been this year, with the price of Thai rice, a world benchmark, nearly doubling since January, to $760 per metric ton. Some analysts expect that price to reach $1,000 in the next three months.
Tang Min, a former chief economist for the Asian Development Bank, said the price increase is the inevitable consequence of supply and demand. “The world population is increasing, but the increase in the planting of rice has not been as fast,” he said.
Despite efforts by governments to increase public-sector wages and introduce food subsidies, price increases and shortages have led to violent clashes along supply lines, in food distribution centers and at supermarkets.
Food Prices To Rise For Years, Biofuel Firms Say
LONDON - Staple food prices will rise for some years, but should eventually fall to historical averages as harvests increase, biofuel company executives said on Thursday. [Hardly reassuring for the panicking consumers; in fact the tenor of most of the reported remarks from this Outlook 2008 Conference is appallingly coldblooded vis à vis the rising costs of food.]
Soaring demand for better quality food from rapidly industrialising emerging markets such as China, supply shortages, increased demand for biofuels, and a surging appetite for food commodities by investment funds, have combined to push prices of basic foods higher and higher in recent months.
Stephane Delodder, managing partner of Netherlands-based consultancy iFuel Corporate Advisory, told a conference the problem of rising food prices would persist for some years. Market forces should eventually help rebalance supply and demand, especially in markets which are not highly regulated, but this could take some time.
12 March
Ban: World must counter growing hunger problem
As prices for wheat, corn, rice and other food staples have soared in recent months and global food stocks are lower than usual, malnutrition is threatening ever more people around the world, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon writes in The Washington Post. The international community must respond better to this “new face of hunger,” for example by boosting donations to the World Food Programme and strengthening several UN humanitarian programs, he says. The Washington Post (3/12)

See also Tibet and The Olympic Protest Primer

May 11
Don’t coddle Beijing - it must account for its role Darfur: Roméo Dallaire
Many consider it taboo to speak of the genocide in Darfur and the upcoming Beijing Olympics in the same breath. I disagree entirely. I believe the two should be firmly linked in the public’s mind, and I said so in blunt terms during a recent CBC interview.
April 29
China marks 100 days to Olympics
(BBC) Highlights of the day will include a long-distance race in Beijing and the unveiling of an Olympic theme tune.
Wednesday will also see the return of the Olympic flame to China after its controversial global relay.
April 24
China to clear out students, refugees before Olympics
Beijing - China plans to order all foreign students to leave the country before the Olympic Games in August, strictly regulate the issuing of business and tourist visas, and deport refugees, sources said on Thursday (April 17).
‘Even if you have to continue your studies in September, you need to leave Beijing in July and August,’ a spokeswoman for Beijing University told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa. The university is one of China’s most prestigious colleges and enrolls hundreds of foreign students annually on Chinese-language and other courses.
The spokeswoman said the two-month gap applies to all universities in Beijing and was ordered by ‘higher authorities’ because of the Olympics.
April 21
China has not met Olympics goals on rights, pollution
China has invested billions of dollars in new stadiums and other projects for this summer’s Olympic Games in Beijing, but the country has failed to live up to promises made in 2002 to improve human rights and clear up pollution before the events, The Washington Post reports. “To ensure a successful Olympic Games, the government did make some technical and strategic efforts to improve the environment, human rights and press freedom. They did make some progress. But in these three areas, there’s a long, long way to go,” said Cheng Yizhong, an editor who covers China’s preparations for the Games. The Washington Post (4/21)
April 16
Beijing’s Obvious Hand at the U.S. Olympic Torch Run
The April 9 Olympic torch relay in San Francisco opened a window into the organizational capabilities of the Chinese government and its intelligence collection apparatus inside the United States. From the coordinating efforts of the city’s Chinese Consulate, down through local Chinese business and social organizations, and on to the pro-China supporters who photographed the event, the operation showed an efficiency and organizational capability not seen among the anti-China demonstrators. The run also revealed a high level of sophistication, planning and control in the pro-China camp.
April 10
Olympic President Makes Rare Criticism of China
BEIJING — The president of the International Olympic Committee, Jacques Rogge, offered a rare criticism of the Chinese government on Thursday, calling on the authorities to respect its “moral engagement” to improve human rights and to provide the news media with greater access to the country ahead of the Beijing Games.
Mr. Rogge’s comments on China, made at a news conference here during which he described the protests that have dogged the torch relay as a “crisis” for the organization, were a departure from his previous statements that strenuously avoided any mention of politics.
The Chinese government immediately rejected Mr. Rogge’s remarks, saying they amounted to an unwelcome meddling in the country’s domestic affairs. “I believe I.O.C. officials support the Beijing Olympics and adherence to the Olympic charter of not bringing in any irrelevant political factors,” Jiang Yu, a Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, told reporters.
April 9
Olympic Torch Route Changed in San Francisco
(NYT) SAN FRANCISCO — The nation’s only chance to see the Olympic flame up close became an elaborate game of hide-and-seek here … as city officials secretly rerouted the planned torch relay, swarmed its runners with blankets of security and then whisked the torch to the airport in a heavily guarded motorcade.
[The relay in San Francisco follows stops in London and Paris earlier this week that descended into chaos because of protests against China’s record on rights.]
April 2
Journalism speaks with one voice in China
In China, news reporting is filtered through the state-run news agency, Xinhua. Internet censors block sensitive Western reports from appearing on Web sites publicly accessible in China. During the past three weeks, while most of the world has tuned in to the violent protests in Tibet, apparently not a single story in a Chinese newspaper has appeared on Tibet outside of those stories written and approved by Xinhua. The Christian Science Monitor (4/2)
March 31
We all feel Tibet’s pain, but a Games boycott is not the way to go
Boycotts in 1980 and 1984 merely helped the host countries
NORMAN WEBSTER, The Gazette
What is going on in Tibet wrenches the gut - but is a boycott of the Beijing Olympics really the best response? Boycotts can have perverse effects, as we learned in 1980 in Moscow and four years later in Los Angeles. In each case, the evil government that was supposedly being disgraced by the withdrawals actually seemed to benefit, at least in the hearts of its own citizens.
March 27
(National Post) Father Raymond J. de Souza: Stop ignoring China’s brutality and start a modified boycott of the Beijing Games
Surely, there must be a certain incomprehension in Beijing these days. After all, the Chinese regime has been breaking heads since 1949, and the world has more or less gotten used to it. Why should it be different this time?
The question for friends of Tibet, for friends of the Chinese people, for friends of liberty, should be: Can it be different this time?
The world can rightly claim to be appalled by the Tibetan crackdown — reports from Tibetan groups detail brutal torture and killings of monks and nuns — but no one can claim to be shocked. Is there a regime more ghastly than that of the People’s Republic of China?
Is any other government that so systematically suppresses all religious liberty, erecting religious bureaucracies to which believers are required to belong in order to worship? Is there any other regime that still imprisons and kills bishops, priests and monks who fail to swear loyalty to the state? Is there any other country where the entire population is subject to child-bearing control, with forced sterilization and abortions for those who decline to submit to state rules on family size? Is there any other regime that executes thousands of its citizens annually, the majority for the crime of challenging the ruling party? Is there any other country accused (by credible sources) of executing religious dissidents, harvesting their organs and selling them? Is there any other regime more dependable in its support of the worst kind of evil around the world (Darfur)?
March 25
Why China might have Olympic regrets
(The Independent) There will be no international boycott of the Olympics in Beijing. By the time the Games are over, however, even the Chinese Government might be wishing that its country had never been chosen to host them.
The disruption yesterday by pro-Tibetan demonstrators of the Athens launch of the Olympic torch relay is just the first trickle of what will become a tidal wave of embarrassment for the colonial Communist rulers of the ancient Buddhist kingdom of Tibet.
French President Sarkozy: I Might Boycott The Opening Of The Beijing Olympics
(AP) PARIS — French President Nicolas Sarkozy said Tuesday that he cannot rule out the possibility he might boycott the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics if China continues its crackdown in Tibet.
Beijing’s Olympic Makeover
China Dispatch
April 2008 Vanity Fair
With its grandiose architecture, cowed citizens, and earnest self-improvement efforts—No pushing! No swearing! No irony!—Beijing is determined to be the perfect host. But no amount of pomp and prep work can buy China the role it wants.
[The Chinese] see the Olympics as an exercise in national prestige. The authorities’ main focus is not on the sporting events but on the accumulation of gold medals. They are also obsessed with the opening ceremony—sure to be a display of jingoistic pomp, and to include the hideous marching formations and synchronized crowd movements so dear to Chinese leaders. Already the boasting is uncomfortable to witness, because it stems so obviously from insecurity and a fear of losing face. It will naturally provoke reactions opposite to those intended—though probably unspoken, and beneath the official praises. Not that the Olympics much matter one way or the other. They will be hyped on television and soon enough forgotten. But it’s as if the Chinese government does not realize that the world already has a fairly accurate view of China. Yes, China is booming. And, yes, China’s cities are big and modern. But also, yes, China has serious problems—pollution, rural poverty, water shortages, the suppression of civil liberties, corruption, and the abysmal condition of its universities and schools. The problems are understandable, and hardly a state secret. I suppose people tidy up their houses before parties, too. But the Chinese would appear in a better light if they were not quite so nervous in advance. Read article
March 23
(BBC) Storms ahead for Olympics torch
Activists say the [lighting of the Olympic torch] ceremony will trigger protests over Tibet and other issues.
Security has been stepped up at the birthplace of the games in Greece to prevent demonstrations over China’s reaction to protests in Tibet.
The Dalai Lama supports the games, saying they will make a billion Chinese people proud. The Chinese authorities have accused him of trying to ruin the Olympics.
But the Taiwanese president-elect, Ma Ying-jeou, has said Taiwan might boycott the games “if the Chinese authorities continue to suppress the Tibetan people and the situation in Tibet continues to worsen”.
AUSTRALIA: Calls to Boycott Beijing Olympics
MELBOURNE, Mar 22 (IPS) - The crackdown by Chinese authorities on protesters in Tibet has elicited calls within Australia, a major sporting power, to boycott the Beijing Olympics.
March 18
Olympic committee concerned about Beijing air
For the first time, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on Monday said it is concerned that Beijing’s notoriously bad air quality could harm the health of athletes participating in this summer’s Games. It said it will monitor the city’s air quality daily during the Games to determine whether some of the events — such as the marathon and triathlon — should be postponed.
March 17, 2008
EU boycotts China oil firm over funding of Darfur regime
By Kim Sengupta
The European Parliament has disinvested in a firm accused of being one of the chief bankrollers of the Sudanese regime’s military campaign in Darfur after pressure from MEPs and human rights activists.
The Independent can reveal that, in a significant step in boycotting firms whose revenues are said to fuel the genocide, the EU has sold its shares in the Chinese oil giant PetroChina/ CNPC. The move follows revelations that MEPs’ pension funds continued to be invested in the company, despite widespread criticism of Chinese support for the regime in Khartoum.
The decision strengthens the international campaign to apply pressure on the Sudanese government over the continuing killings, rapes and forced evictions in Darfur by its own troops and the Janjaweed militia which colludes with state forces.
China is the foremost foreign investor in Sudan and a main supplier of weapons. It buys two thirds of Sudanese oil output.
March 12, 2008
Darfur’s return to hell|
(The Independent) Children raped. Homes looted. Villages torched. And thousands forced to flee aerial bombings– three months after UN took over peacekeeping.
The conflict in Darfur has entered a violent and deadly new phase. Another “scorched earth” policy is being unleashed, reminiscent of the worst waves of government-backed violence that brought the Sudanese region to world attention five years ago and led the US to declare that what was happening there constituted genocide.
Internal reports by humanitarian agencies operating in the region, and seen by The Independent, reveal that the active Sudanese government-backed military phase of the conflict, thought to have ended early in 2005, has resumed, with horrifying consequences.
March 8
(NYT) China Defends Sudan Policy and Criticizes Olympics Tie-In
BEIJING — China has expressed “grave concerns” to the Sudanese government about the recent violence in western Darfur and is actively working to resolve delays in establishing an international peacekeeping force, China’s special envoy to Darfur said Friday.
Mr. Liu defended China’s policy on Darfur last month at Chatham House, a research institute in London. On Friday, he said China’s position on Darfur was essentially the same as that of the United States and other Western powers. On arms sales, Mr. Liu said China was one of several countries that sold weapons to Sudan and “is by no means the biggest exporter.”
February 23
(IHT) China, in new role, presses Sudan on Darfur
By Lydia Polgreen
KHARTOUM, Sudan: Amid the international outrage over the bloodshed in Darfur, frustration has increasingly turned toward China, Sudan’s biggest trading partner and international protector, culminating in Steven Spielberg’s decision last week to withdraw as artistic adviser to the Beijing Olympics.
And it may be working.
China has begun shifting its position on Darfur, stepping outside its diplomatic comfort zone to quietly push Sudan to accept the world’s largest peacekeeping force, diplomats and analysts say.
It has also acted publicly, sending engineers to help peacekeepers in Darfur and appointing a special envoy to the region who has toured refugee camps and pressed the Sudanese government to change its policies.
February 15
(TIME) Beijing’s Spielberg Problem
By Austin Ramzy / Beijing
By the numbers, Beijing’s preparations for the Summer Olympics are formidable. But no amount of preparation has readied Beijing for the protest and criticism the Games are attracting.
That was made clear this week when director Steven Spielberg announced he was quitting his role as a creative consultant for the Games’ opening and closing ceremonies.Despite what he called “some progress,” the movie mogul said the continuing bloodshed meant he couldn’t continue his work for the Games. “Sudan’s government bears the bulk of the responsibility for these on-going crimes,” he wrote, “but the international community, and particularly China, should be doing more to end the continuing human suffering there.”
Spielberg’s departure is bad news for China. “They are trying to have a perfect Games and present a picture of unmitigated success to the world,” says Nicholas Bequelin of New York-based Human Rights Watch. “And here is something that is not a success.”
A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman expressed regret over Spielberg’s decision on Thursday, while the Beijing Games organizing committee noted that “linking the Darfur issue to the Olympic Games will not help to resolve this issue and is not in line with the Olympic Spirit that separates sports from politics.” But those responses came nearly two days after Spielberg announced his decision to withdraw, adding yet another news cycle to an issue Beijing clearly wanted to go away. “They need to learn to do a better job of this, there’s no doubt,” says David Zweig, director of the Center on China’s Transnational Relations at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, of how Beijing has handled the setback. “It’s always funny how a country that is so sensitive to propaganda can’t do a good job of its own international propaganda.”
Part of the issue is that the Summer Games are no mere sporting event for China. Even though Beijing demands the event not be politicized, it is using the Games to demonstrate that China has returned to its rightful place as a world player whose opinion matters. As long as the government ties China’s global prestige to the success of the event, so it will be stung by any slights or failures. That’s a position Beijing’s opponents are learning to exploit. Indeed, given the success of the Darfur campaign, it is inevitable that other protests will follow on Tibet, the banned Falun Gong spiritual movement and China’s support of Burma’s ruling junta.
While U.S. President George W. Bush told the BBC this week that he still plans to attend the Games, if another big name follows Spielberg out the door, China could see its Olympic dreams irreparably tarnished.
(The Independent) The great wall of indifference
Yesterday, The Independent announced a global campaign to shame China into doing more to help Darfur. And the reaction from those who could actually change things? President Bush rules out boycott and says ‘I’m going to the Olympics’. Major Games sponsors refuse to raise the issue with the Chinese
China broke its silence over the issue, saying it regretted the Hollywood star’s resignation.
The country’s state-owned media accused Western countries of exploitation, insisting the Chinese public were “disgusted” and “baffled” by attempts to influence policy ahead of the Olympics.
Sudan also leapt to the defence of its key trading partner and political ally. Ali al-Sadig, a Foreign Ministry spokesman, praised Beijing’s role in the peacekeeping operation and claimed Spielberg’s decision had been based on “wrong information”.
But despite the apparent indifference to the Nobel laureates’ letter in Beijing, Washington and Khartoum, the signs are that, between now and August, when the Games commence, the pressure on China and those companies and individuals associated with the Olympics will not let up. More
February 14
(The Economist)
High hurdles
It has never been possible to separate the Olympics from politics
China, due to host the games in August, is finding that its Olympic slogan—“One world, one dream”—also rests on hope more than fact. Steven Spielberg, an American film director, has quit as an artistic adviser for the opening and closing ceremonies: China, he said, must do more to stop the bloodshed in Darfur. On February 14th a group of Nobel laureates and athletes said the same in a letter to the Independent, a British daily.
Since Beijing won the right to stage the games in 2001 China has known that it would have a hard time preventing critics of its human-rights abuses from spoiling the event. In 2006 it was delighted when Mr Spielberg came on board. But to China’s surprise, its behaviour abroad, particularly in Sudan, has been the focus of Hollywood’s ire in the run-up to the games.

February 12 2008
(Reuters) … “I find that my conscience will not allow me to continue business as usual,” Spielberg said in a statement issued on a day when Nobel Peace laureates sent a letter to China’s president urging a change in policies toward its ally Sudan.
“At this point, my time and energy must be spent not on Olympic ceremonies, but on doing all I can to help bring an end to the unspeakable crimes against humanity that continue to be committed in Darfur,” he added. More
(NYT) Spielberg Drops Out as Adviser to Beijing Olympics in Dispute Over Darfur Conflict
By HELENE COOPERWASHINGTON —
Steven Spielberg said Tuesday that he was withdrawing as an artistic adviser to the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, after almost a year of trying unsuccessfully to prod President Hu Jintao of China to do more to try to end Sudan’s attacks in the Darfur region.
Mr. Spielberg’s decision, and the public way he announced it, is a blow to China, which has said that its relationship with Sudan should not be linked to the Olympics, which have become a source of national pride. In a statement sent to the Chinese ambassador and the Beijing Olympic committee on Tuesday, Mr. Spielberg said that his “conscience will not allow me to continue with business as usual.”
“Sudan’s government bears the bulk of the responsibility for these ongoing crimes but the international community, and particularly China, should be doing more to end the continuing human suffering there,” the statement said. “China’s economic, military and diplomatic ties to the government of Sudan continue to provide it with the opportunity and obligation to press for change.”
Responding to Mr. Spielberg’s action, a spokesman at the Chinese Embassy in Washington said, “As the Darfur issue is neither an internal issue of China nor is it caused by China, it is completely unreasonable, irresponsible and unfair to link the two as one.”
Mr. Spielberg had written to Mr. Hu about Darfur twice in the past 10 months, his spokesman said, taking China to task for its “silence” while Sudan blocked the deployment of international peacekeepers and expelled aid workers from the region.
In September, Mr. Spielberg also met with China’s special envoy to Darfur at the Chinese mission to the United Nations, said Mr. Spielberg’s spokesman, Andy Spahn. None of those efforts yielded the results Mr. Spielberg wanted, Mr. Spahn said. In the meantime, Mr. Spielberg had come under increasing pressure from advocates working on Darfur, including a campaign by the actress Mia Farrow, to drop his association with the Beijing Olympics.
After receiving word that Mr. Spielberg had done just that, Ms. Farrow was jubilant.”His voice and all of the moral authority it gives, used this way, brings a shred of hope to Darfur, and God knows, rations of hope are meager at this time,” said Ms. Farrow, a good-will ambassador for Unicef who helped start a campaign last year to label the Games in Beijing the “Genocide Olympics.”
The actor Don Cheadle, a co-founder of Not On Our Watch, a Darfur advocacy group, said he hoped that Mr. Spielberg’s actions would force China to rethink its position. “One guy like Steven in a position like that is like 100 other guys,” he said. “Those are the kinds of moves, that if they catch fire, and other people think of boycotting, or refraining, the cumulative effect could be something that potentially could change the calculation of that government.”
Mr. Spahn said Mr. Spielberg planned to encourage others to do more to pressure China on Darfur, but he did not offer details. Advocates said they hoped to enlist help from corporate sponsors of the Olympics.
China has fought attempts to link Darfur to the Olympics, but it has also responded at times to the pressure.
Last year, shortly after Mr. Spielberg’s first letter to Mr. Hu, China dispatched a senior official to Sudan to push the government to accept a peacekeeping force and appointed a special envoy. But the Sudanese military has continued its attacks there, as recently as last week.
(Al Jazeera) adds more on the letter from Nobel Peace Prize laureates

Protest letters were delivered to Chinese missions in the US and Europe [AFP]

Earlier on Tuesday nine Nobel Peace Prize laureates including Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Elie Wiesel and Jody Williams sent the Chinese president a letter urging China to uphold Olympic ideals by pressing Sudan to stop atrocities in Darfur. As the primary economic, military and political partner of the government of Sudan, and as a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, China has both the opportunity and the responsibility to contribute to a just peace in Darfur,” they said in the letter.
November 7, 2005
In the Olympic Logo, China’s Double Standard
There’s new word of a thriving double standard in China. While they turn a blind eye to the wholesale piracy of US intellectual property, there is apparently one brand that they fiercely protect… There is apparently one logo that is inviolate: The 2008 Olympic logo. There was a great story on this topic last week by Wall Street Journal reporter Geoffrey Fowler.

AIRSHIP

George Monbiot in The Guardian
If there is a God, he’s not green. Otherwise airships would take off
Many will cite the Hindenburg, but flying without harming the planet is possible. These craft are worth developing
Of all the charges levelled against environmentalists, perhaps the most unfair is the accusation that we are opposed to technological change. Most of the greens I know are fascinated by gadgets (sometimes to the exclusion of better solutions), while some of the people we confront seem terrified by new technologies, and react to them - witness the campaigns against windfarms - with irrational hostility.
But because environmentalists tend to have a feeling for material constraints, we recognise that solutions cannot be conjured out of thin air. In some cases they just don’t appear to exist. There are two reasons why we make such a fuss about flying. The first is that, even as governments promise to cut emissions, everywhere airports are expanding. In the UK, the government expects the number of airline passengers to rise from 228 million in 2005 to 480 million in 2030. Before long, there will scarcely be a patch of sky without a jet in it. The other is that there are no alternative means of propelling people through the air which are not more destructive than burning ordinary aviation fuel. Or so we think.
The airline companies prescribe two cures that are even worse than the disease. Even before they are deployed commercially in jets, biofuels are spreading hunger and deforestation. At first sight, hydrogen seems more promising. If it is produced by electrolysis using renewable electricity, it’s almost carbon free. The prohibitive issue is storage. Hydrogen contains just a quarter of the energy as the same volume of jet fuel (kerosene), which means that planes could fly long distances only if they were filled with gas, rather than passengers or cargo.
This means that if hydrogen planes are to fly commercially, they need much wider bodies than ordinary jetliners. According to the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution, “the combination of larger drag and lower weight would require flight at higher altitudes” than planes fuelled by kerosene. A technology that is green at ground level becomes an environmental disaster in the stratosphere. Hydrogen’s great advantage - that it produces only water when it burns - turns into a major liability: in the stratosphere, water vapour is a powerful greenhouse gas. The commission estimates that hydrogen planes would exert a climate-changing effect “some 13 times larger than for a standard kerosene-fuelled subsonic aircraft”.
But there is another use for this gas, though I am aware that it will go down like a lead balloon with most of my readers. The word airship elicits a fixed reaction in almost everyone who hears it: “What about the Hindenburg?”. It’s as if, every time someone proposed travelling on a cruise ship, you were to ask: “But what about the Titanic?”. Yes, there was a spectacular disaster - 71 years ago. It has lodged in our minds because, like the Titanic, the Hindenburg was bigger and plusher than any craft built before it, and it was carrying rich and prominent people. The conflagration was witnessed by journalists and broadcast all over the world. It also became the technology’s funeral pyre: the Hindenburg was doomed long before it burnt, as airships were already being displaced by aeroplanes.
Though the designs have changed, their disadvantages have not disappeared. While a large commercial airliner cruises at about 900 kilometres per hour, the maximum speed of an airship is roughly 150kph. At an average speed of 130kph, the journey from London to New York would take 43 hours. Airships are more sensitive to wind than aeroplanes, which means that flights are more likely to be delayed. But they have one major advantage: the environmental cost could be reduced almost to zero.
Even when burning fossil fuels, the total climate-changing impact of an airship, according to researchers at the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, is 80% to 90% smaller than that of ordinary aircraft. But the airship is also the only form of transport that can easily store hydrogen: you could inflate a hydrogen bladder inside the helium balloon. There might be a neat synergy here: one of the problems with airships is that they become lighter, and therefore harder to control, as the fuel is consumed. In this case they become heavier. Michael Stewart of the company World SkyCat suggests burning both gaseous and liquid hydrogen to keep the weight of the craft constant.
Airships fly much lower than planes, typically at about 4,000 feet, which means their emissions of water vapour have very little effect on temperature. If they were powered by hydrogen fuel cells, they would be almost silent, greatly reducing the effects for people on the ground. Though they are much slower than jets, the cabin can be built much wider, which means that travelling by airship would be rather like travelling by cruise ship, but at twice the speed and using a fraction of the fuel.
There are four small companies trying to get airships off the ground. Most of the new designs make use of aerodynamic lift as well as buoyancy (they are shaped like fat planes with stubby wings or tails), which means they are heavier and more stable than the old dirigibles and can land without help on the ground. They can alight on and take off from almost any flattish surface, including water. But all of them have a problem with flotation - of the financial rather than the physical kind. While the price of carbon stays low, companies have no financial incentive to switch to a different form of transport.
The only help governments are prepared to provide is some development funds for military applications: raising money for killing people is always easier than raising money to save them. For a few years the Pentagon took an interest in craft that could land anywhere and carry several hundred tonnes of equipment. Otherwise, like so many other promising green technologies, this proposal is losing height in a hostile market. All the companies promoting large commercial airships are concentrating on freight, especially in places that are poorly served by roads. The danger here is that, if they take off, they could displace not jet transport but freight shipping - in which case, if they burn diesel, they are likely to cause a net increase in carbon pollution.
Paradoxically, the other major constraint could be an environmental one. Airships are one of several green technologies that might be killed by a shortage of materials. A new generation of solar panels relies on gallium and indium, whose global supplies appear close to exhaustion. The price of platinum, which is used in catalytic converters, has tripled over the past five years. Beyond a few natural gasfields in Texas, economically viable supplies of helium are rare; even there they might be exhausted in 50 years at current rates of use, or much faster if airships take off. If there is a God, he isn’t green.
Is this proposal just a flight of fancy? Because airships feature in no official document, because they have not been considered by either government or major industry, I have no way of knowing. But like most greens I’m prepared to try almost anything, as long as it works. Can the same be said of our opponents? monbiot.com

May 12
A surprise in Serbia, as voters back the pro-European party of President Boris Tadic
(The Economist) EXPECT the unexpected. That has long been a useful guide to the Balkans, as the election in Serbia on Sunday May 11th proved. Preliminary results show a big swing in favour of parties campaigning to continue on the path of European integration. This was totally unforeseen. Analysts relying on usually accurate polling data had predicted that Serbs would vote for a government which would halt or even reverse Serbia’s efforts to join the European Union (EU). That has not happened, but a strong and stable Serbian government is still far from assured. More
May 11
Pro-West bloc claims Serbia win
(Al Jazeera) Serbia’s pro-European forces are leading the vote count, according to unofficial preliminary estimates.
In Serbian Elections, Voters Face a Choice Between East and West
April 30
LABOUR-SERBIA: Now May Day Means Mobbing
By Vesna Peric Zimonjic
BELGRADE, Apr 30 (IPS) - From the days of celebrating workers on May Day, the day now brings reminder of a new practice of mobbing among Serbia’s workers.
The transition to the market economy since former president Slobodan Milosevic fell from power in 2000 has introduced the new practice of mobbing — abuse of workers through creation of a hostile environment, humiliating reshuffles, rumours, and negligence. This has caused widespread distress, and driven many to quit their job.
Serbia signs EU deal in bid to defeat nationalists
The European Union and Serbia signed an agreement last night offering the country a first step on the road to full membership of the EU. The deal aims to avert a victory by Serbian ultra-nationalists in elections next month.
Serbia’s deputy premier, Bozidar Djelic, signed the accord in Luxembourg, just days ahead of the 11 May parliamentary polls in which nationalist parties are expected to win.
March 25
Serbia to UN: Divide Kosovo along ethnic lines
Serbia submitted a formal proposal to the United Nations Monday that Kosovo should be partitioned off along ethnic lines, a plan that would give Belgrade control of key functions in the newly independent country. Kosovo’s leaders have said they oppose such a move, and they have the support of European countries and the U.S., which most likely would oppose it at the UN Security Council. The Guardian (London) (3/25)
(Spiegel on line) Fury and Tension Grip Europe’s Newest Country
Kosovo may now be an independent state, but Europe’s youngest country remains a trouble spot. The Serbian minority is arming itself, violence has erupted, and the peacekeeping forces are struggling to contain the situation. Will the unrest last months — or decades?
The political message [of the unrest in Mitrovica] was that Kosovo’s sovereignty did not solve its problems, but instead only intensified the never-ending hatred between ethnic Serbs and ethnic Albanians. Pacification of the country, which is still under UN protection, is a only reality for the distant future. Meanwhile, Kosovo remains an experiment for an uncertain period of time and with an uncertain outcome.
March 18
Canada recognizes Kosovo, Serbia pulls ambassador
“We know that a significant number of countries including our G7 partners and many of Canada’s close allies have already recognized Kosovo. So what we did today, we joined the international community and recognized Kosovo as a new state,” Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Bernier told CBC News.
March 14
(The Economist) Fresh elections in Serbia could favour the nationalists
Serbia’s governing parties, split on the question of how to deal with the EU in the wake of Western recognition of Kosovo’s independence, have agreed to hold a pre-term election in May. This appears to spell the end of the anti-Milosevic coalition, which opposed radical nationalists. The fault-line now is between parties putting Kosovo first and those putting the EU first. Although the latter won the presidential contest, they are unlikely to win a majority in the parliamentary poll. The hardline Serbian Radical Party looks closer than ever to gaining power. Read article
March 8
Serbia ruling coalition collapses
Serbia’s Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica has said his coalition has collapsed and is calling for elections.
The move follows his failure to get his cabinet to reject closer ties with the European Union in the wake of Kosovo’s declaration of independence.
Mr Kostunica, a nationalist, has described the decision by EU states to recognise Kosovo as illegal. Serbian President Boris Tadic says Belgrade will only be able to defend its right to Kosovo if it joins the EU.
February 26
Today, the Stratfor Geopolitical Diary reports:
The Russians appear to have made their move on the Kosovo issue. They have supported the idea of the mainly Serbian region of northern Kosovo breaking away from Kosovo and rejoining Serbia proper if the region wishes.
February 25
Thanks to Ron Robertson for this scathing account of U.S. foreign policy under Presidents Clinton and B