North Korea's Nuclear Moves

North Korea again conducted its Nuclear Tests on May 25 2009. The tests signaled Pyongyang's growing disillusionment over the U.S. refusal to conduct bilateral talks. North Korea, facing international censure for the nuclear test, threatened on again to attack the South after it joined a U.S.-led plan to check vessels suspected of carrying equipment for weapons of mass destruction.


"Last year, a lot of people from Seoul and Washington visited Pyongyang telling Kim and his people that once Obama was in the White House, the U.S. was going to be a totally different entity to deal with," said Lee Dong-bok, a senior associate in Seoul for the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).

But it's not working out that way. That's the reason North Korea is acting in such an erratic manner."

When North Korea first conducted Nuclear tests on Oct 9 2006, it said it carried out in defiance of international warnings. It was a success and had not resulted in any leak of radiation. The US said the reported test was a "provocative act", while China denounced it as "brazen". China expressed its "resolute opposition" to the claimed test and said it "defied the universal opposition of international society".
A Russian news agency reported that an official in North Korea's embassy in Moscow warned that new tests would take place "if the United States and its allies continue the policy of intimidation against North Korea," Tass reported.

Mike - the MBA blogger

The Politics of Power and the Power of Politics

My course Global Political Economy and Regional Business Environment has really opened my eyes and ears to Political behaviors and International relations.

US: US has been in a mess caught between India and Pakistan. India obviously is at the wrong ends with respect to Kashmir but India has a sound excuse - Terrorism and the violent effects of an untrusty neighbour, Pakistan. US has been losing its face in the muslim world and Pakistan is now the center of the world's attention. Pakistan's co-operation to destroy the Taliban setup is vital for US. At the same time, US's involvement in the Pakistan affairs, such as with India on Kashmir, spoils its reputation. Pakistan public is convinced now than ever that India, US and the West are forces of oppresion, Anti-Pakistan. So US reacts mildly to the release of India's most wanted terrorist,Jamaat -ud-Dawa's chief Hafiz Saeed, while India is unhappy at the release of from house arrest. Pakistan has no plans to go back to the Lahore court with more evidence against Hafeez. US's war on terror has also become more famous or infamous as a war on Islam. So US wants Pakistan to do the dirty so that the religius view is ruled out.

China: Chinese are really everywhere. So are the Indians but then China is than India the leader in East-Asia and China's closeness to Pakistan equals if not is stronger in the muslim world. With active help from China and North Korea, Pakistan has surged well ahead of India in the missile arena. The only nuclear-capable ballistic missile in India’s arsenal which can be said to be 100% operational as of now is the short-range Prithvi missile. China has been supporting naxals in East India and Pakistan to weaken India.
China has naval bases in Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Myanmmar. China is coming closer and closer to India's border and in many cases has infringed beyond!

Pakistan: The country is in a mess. LeT, State-backed terror network is now stabbing the state. LeT and Al Quaida came closer and did carry out Anti-Indian activities for decades. However, with Pakistan co-operating (?) with US to vanquish the terror networks (really? yeah, whatever, that's the latest from Pakistan), LeT has had to fight with Pak to help Al Qaida. Pakistan has been lying to its people for long long time. Pakistan has blamed India forever and sucessfully fed the Pakistani minds with seeds of Anti-India. Now, even a cleaning job is seen by the public as an act of compulsion towards US and other so called, Anti-Pakistan forces. Pakistan knows the terror networks it has setup, which operates behind the scenes, but dismantling it
would lose the government, not only its face but lead to public outcry. Again, Pakistan which has about 60 nuclear warheads, primarily targeted towards India, is continuing production of fissile material for weapons and adding to its production facilities and delivery vehicles, a US Congressional report has said.

India: India has been under-playing the Chinese threat for a long time. SM. Krishna's appointment, immediately saw increased troops in the Indo-Chinese border. India is realizing China is day-by-day moving towards a regional hegemon. India really needs to get on the act and face up to China's threat. US has been asking India to take an active role in Pakistan because US thinks India should join the party if it wants to hear the music. India is worried as it feels, it would lead to increased attacks in India. It may also antagonize the muslims in India. Will India ever join Pakistan for help. Never! I would say its right thing to do too, you never know when Pakistan will turn against India! Sometimes standing still may be, the best move you ever made! India has been purchasing defense weapons from Israel and Pakistan has hence pinned India-Israel nexus as Anti-Pakistan!


Mike - the MBA blogger

The story of Gastarbeiters

While the Oil Boom has yet to make Siberia a magnet for Russia's knowledge class, it is attracting many other newcomers: impoverished immigrants from beyond Russia's borders. Every morning, in a vacant lot just off the highway to Filipenko's showcase capital, it is common for a group of shabbily dressed men ranging in age from their 20s to their 40s, waiting for offers of menial work. A car usually pulls up, and several of the men walk over to talk to the driver, who is looking for a few hands to dig potatoes. But his offering price, just under ten dollars a day, isn't enough, and he drives away without any takers.

These men are what Russians, borrowing a German word, call gastarbeiters—guest workers. They are nearly everywhere in Khanty-Mansi. Most are Muslims from Tajikistan, the former Soviet republic in Central Asia whose economy was shattered by civil war in the mid-1990s. They come here in spring and return home before winter arrives. It's not every day they find a job, but when they do they can earn about $20 lugging bags of cement for a construction crew or doing household cleaning. They wire funds back to their families, and their employers avoid paying taxes on the wages.

The men are supposed to obtain registration papers certifying their place of residence, but, as they tell me, they have no authorized place to live, bunking instead in unheated garages illegally rented to them. A work boss—a kind of Mafia figure—obtains papers for them by bribing the registration office, but those documents, listing a false address, leave the gastarbeiters at the mercy of the police. When they are found out, they're sometimes forced to pay a spot "fine" (read "bribe"), and repeat offenders may face deportation. Russia's federal government recently put the burden on employers to register the workers and check their identifications, but such measures are unlikely to stem the tide so long as the oil boom continues.

A FLOOD OF RUSSIANS from economically depressed cities west of the Urals is also swelling the oil towns of western Siberia. Forty years ago Surgut was a collection of wooden hovels, in a place where temperatures can plunge to minus 60 degrees Fahrenheit and midwinter darkness lasts for all but a few hours a day. Today Surgut is one of western Siberia's largest cities, with 300,000 people. The new arrivals are voting with their feet, a sign that Russia's new market economy is actually working.

Mike - the MBA blogger

The Power of Dreams

There once was a sheikh who dreamed big. His realm, on the shores of the Persian Gulf, was a sleepy, sun-scorched village occupied by pearl divers, fishermen, and traders who docked their ramshackle dhows and fishing boats along a narrow creek that snaked through town. But where others saw only a brackish creek, this sheikh, Rashid bin Saeed al Maktoum, saw a highway to the world.

One day in 1959, he borrowed many millions of dollars from his oil-rich neighbor, Kuwait, to dredge the creek until it was wide and deep enough for ships. He built wharves and warehouses and planned for roads and schools and homes. Some thought he was mad, others just mistaken, but Sheikh Rashid believed in the power of new beginnings. Sometimes at dawn, with his young son, Mohammed, by his side, he’d walk the empty waterfront and paint his dream in the air with words and gestures. And it was, in the end, as he said. He built it, and they came.

His son, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum, now rules Dubai, and around that creek has built towering dreams of his own, transforming the sunrise vision of his father into a floodlit, air-conditioned, skyscrapered fantasy world of a million people. With its Manhattan-style skyline, world-class port, and colossal, duty-free shopping malls, little Dubai now attracts more tourists than the whole of India, more shipping vessels than Singapore, and more foreign capital than many European countries. The people of 150 nations have moved here to live and work. Dubai has even built man-made islands—some in the shape of palm trees—to accommodate the wealthiest of them. Its economic growth rate, 16 percent, is nearly double that of China. Construction cranes punctuate the skyline like exclamation points. Welcome to Dubai!

Mike - the MBA blogger

Top 10 Geography Mistakes :)

Here's the collection of Top 10 Geography mistakes caught on tape. I have seen some of these videos. It was great fun to laugh at them again!



Mike - the MBA blogger