Finalist-PhilBlogAwards 2010

Finalist-PhilBlogAwards 2010
Finalist for society, politics, history blogs

BrightWorld

Pages

Showing posts with label Arabs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Arabs. Show all posts

Saturday, January 28, 2012

MOROCCO JETTISONS CLEAN ENERGY, KUDOS!

MOROCCO JETTISONS CLEAN ENERGY, KUDOS!

Erle Frayne D. Argonza

The Middle East and North Africa or MENA has some good news going concerning clean energy. This surely freshens the region a bit that has been mired in bloody conflicts between the youth-driven anti-Old Order movements and the status quo of Stone Age prinzeps-military dictatorships-family oligarchies.

US $9 Billions was allocated recently by stakeholders in Morocco to leapfrog the renewable energy or RE sector there. The project is largely in the domain of solar panel power production, which I find truly appreciable. The project could spin off RE across the entire region, or at least North Africa, so let’s cross our fingers that a new light will spark off human development in the entire region.

Below is a report on the subject from the World Bank.

[Philippines, 28 December 2011]

Source: http://menablog.worldbank.org/morocco-lights-way-clean-energy-future

Morocco lights the way to a clean-energy future

Submitted by Inger Andersen on November 18, 2011

Some countries of the Middle East and North Africa region are once again lighting up a new path. Following the social revolutions which showed the world the effect of combining non-violent protest with new media technology, an energy revolution is now underway. It also utilizes cutting-edge technology with the potential to lead the world into a new energy era. Pointing beyond fossil fuels, this revolution aims to harness an older and more abundant resource: sunshine.

Morocco has launched a National Solar Plan that is as bold as it is ambitious. Using Concentrated Solar Power technology, this $9 billion project aims to build five commercial-scale solar plants, with a generating capacity of 2,000 megawatts, the equivalent of a large nuclear power plant. The first solar plant will be constructed on the Ouarzazate plateau, south of the Atlas mountains, and is expected to begin generating power by 2014, with the full project slated for completion in 2020.

Morocco might be classified as a developing nation, but it is making a huge investment in its future, and championing the challenges of climate summits in Copenhagen and Cancun to fundamentally change our energy consumption models to protect the environment. This is no small feat for a country almost wholly reliant on coal and oil. Ouarzazate represents the first step in a radical transformation that by 2030 aims to cut the country's consumption of oil by 40 percent. Morocco currently imports 97% of its primary fuels, and this move toward domestic production will both provide significant energy security and eventually convert it into an energy exporter.

Apart from the economic benefits gained from nurturing a new industry - with the new jobs and skills it will create - the investment will also be a boon to the environment. It is calculated that the first phase of the Ouarzazate project will spare the atmosphere the equivalent of 240,000 tons of carbon dioxide per year, while the full solar project will reduce annual emissions by three million tons.

The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) is on the sharp end of climate change. Significant action to mitigate its effects is a necessity, not a subject for debate. Of the 19 countries that experienced record temperatures in 2010, five were in MENA.

From a development standpoint, this sort of extreme weather can have disastrous social and economic consequences; reversing gains and driving people back into poverty. The effect of lower precipitation and droughts is one example and precious water resources will become increasingly scarcer forcing people to spend more time looking for it, potentially foregoing critical activities such as education. In Yemen, where the search for water is the culturally defined job of young women, water scarcity could have a multi-generational impact on gender parity.

Climate change is the defining issue of our time, and while MENA is already grappling with its very real consequences, Morocco is showing a way forward. It is moving beyond pronouncements and translating commitments into actions. It is taking advantage of its wide open spaces and abundant sunshine. Although the World Bank and the Clean Technology Fund are supporting the project with low-cost financing, the leadership is Morocco's own. It is the first to launch a project under the MENA Concentrated Solar Power Scale-Up Program, a landmark World Bank development initiative that is designed to fund eight other commercial-scale power plants in the region.

Concentrated Solar Power technology has proven dependable in generating consistent levels of electricity, and the Moroccan plan will prove its suitability to large-scale industrial application. It will also prove to all the participants of the COP 15 and 16 climate summits, that mitigating the effects of climate change through the gradual replacement of fossil fuels with renewable energy is possible. It just means taking the summit pronouncements seriously, and turning them into bold actions.

There is no GDP test for innovation. It is not size that matters, but vision and commitment, and Morocco is displaying plenty of both. The progress of the National Solar Plan will be watched closely by its neighbors, eager to follow in its footsteps. Morocco could very well unleash a green energy revolution in the heart of the sunshine belt.

@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

PEACE & DEVELOPMENT LINKS:

http://erleargonza.blogspot.com, http://unladtau.wordpress.com, http://www.facebook.com, http://www.newciv.org, http://sta.rtup.biz, http://magicalsecretgarden.socialparadox.com, http://en.netlog.com/erlefrayne, http://www.blogster.com/erleargonza, http://www.articlesforfree.net, http://ipeace.us, http://internationalpeaceandconflict.org, http://www.blogleaf.com/erleargonza, http://erleargonza.seekopia.com, http://lovingenergies.spruz.com, http://efdargon.multiply.com, http://www.blogleaf.com/erleargonza, http://talangguro.blogfree.net

Saturday, August 06, 2011

INCLUSIONARY POLITICS & GOVERNANCE AFTER ‘ARAB SPRING’

INCLUSIONARY POLITICS & GOVERNANCE AFTER ‘ARAB SPRING’

Erle Frayne D. Argonza

Arab societies have been very exclusionary as regards politics & governance. The post-colonial era had long commenced and celebrated nascent nation-states after World War II, yet Arab political societies remain relatively ‘closed societies’.

The ‘Arab Spring’, a broad regional turmoil that has affected the entire Arab world, seems to offer a new opportunity to retool and re-engineer politics and governance. Those sectors or groups marginalized along religious sects, gender, generations, ethnicity, and class are challenging ossified structures and political cultures, thus creating windows of opportunities for grand re-engineering works.

This analyst had openly opined for an ‘open political society’ for the entire Arab world, even as he gave his moral support to youth revolutionists who have been spearheading the meltdown of tyrannical regimes in the region. My position hasn’t changed, though I am critical of world powers’ bombing addiction in Libya that has resulted to enormous ‘collateral damage’.

Below is a reportage about the UNDP’s efforts to change the frames of governance in the region after the Arab Spring.

[Philippines, 10 July 2011]

Source: http://www.beta.undp.org/undp/en/home/presscenter/media_contacts.html

Clark: After the Arab spring, toward political and economic inclusion

22 June 2011

Speech by Helen Clark
“After the Arab Spring: Toward Political & Economic Inclusion in the Arab World”
At the Academy for Educational Development
Washington, D.C.
22 June 2011

My thanks go to Ambassador Chamberlin and the Middle East Institute for co-hosting this event with UNDP today focusing on events in the Arab States region.

Nearly ten years ago, UNDP began commissioning Arab Human Development Reports. The first four Reports drew attention to deficits in freedoms and governance, in education and the production and use of knowledge, and in women’s empowerment in the region.

The most recent report, in 2009, highlighted widespread challenges in the area of human security, including the high rates of youth unemployment throughout the region.

In recent months, the Arab Human Development Reports have been taken off the shelves again, dusted off, and quoted widely around the world. The credit for them, and for the salience of their findings, must go to the authors. They were writing and speaking from within the region, and not to the region from afar.

While covering different topics in depth, the central message of the reports has been clear – that in the interests of human development in the broad sense, change was needed in the region.

Those who have filled the streets and squares of the Arab States at great personal risk in recent months have called for that change to take place now.

They have braved batons and bullets to express their deep desire for dignity, opportunity, and the protection of their human rights.

They have called for a meaningful say in the decisions which shape their lives, and for an end to corruption, injustice, and repression.

A number of factors have contributed to the groundswell of anger against both economic and political exclusion and the denial of basic freedoms.

First, times became even tougher for many people in the region as growth rates declined with the global recession. As it was, even before the recession, according to the 2009 Arab Human Development Report the proportion of those in the Arab States living on under $2 a day is estimated to have declined only from about 22.5 per cent in 1990 to a little over twenty per cent in 2005, the most recent year for which this data is available.

In Egypt, the World Bank estimates that around nineteen per cent of people lived under $2 per day in 2005. Using a $3 a day poverty line, over fifty per cent of the population was poor. By this measure, around half of all Egyptians are particularly vulnerable to any income or price shocks – as there have been with the recession and with food and fuel price volatility. In a number of other countries in the region people suffer from similar vulnerabilities.

Unemployment has been a major challenge in the region, especially for young people. The under-25s make up over fifty per cent of the population, and they suffer rates of unemployment which are nearly twice the global average for youth.

There is also a mismatch between the supply of university graduates and the type of jobs available in this region. In Egypt, over twenty five per cent of young people with university degrees are unemployed. In Tunisia, that figure stands at around forty per cent.

It’s also worth noting that the unemployment rate counts only those in the job market – not those who are out of work but not job seekers. According to the ILO, Arab labour markets have the lowest labour force participation rates in the world. The female participation rate is especially low, at 27 per cent.

Many developed societies have also been deeply shaken by the global recession, food and fuel price volatility, and high rates of unemployment.

But the impacts tend to be cushioned there by social protection systems, and democracy has its own built-in safety valves for expression of discontent and for peaceful transfers of power.

In countries in the Arab States region with significant numbers of people under or close to the breadline, with large youth populations, without the democratic safety valve, and in many cases with outright repression of human rights, resentment boiled over into uprisings aimed at systemic change. That now opens up the prospect of building more inclusive economies, societies, and political systems and guaranteeing basic rights previously denied.

In order for the reform processes now underway to succeed and be sustainable, they have to be led and driven by national actors. Yet the international community can support the process. Let me mention some of the ways in which UNDP is doing just that.

A core part of our mandate is to support countries’ efforts to build democratic governance. In that work, we draw on the wide experience we have gained from our experience around the world, and the fact that we are a trusted partner and able to work in sensitive areas.

While in Cairo recently, I took part, together with the Egyptian Prime Minister, in an event UNDP organized for a broad cross-section of Egyptians and others from the region. The aim was to share experiences with those who had helped lead transitions to democracy in other parts of the world, including Latin America, South Africa, and Indonesia.

Beyond that event, we are supporting the formal multi-party national dialogue process in Egypt, and helping to identify ways to encourage young people to participate in the processes which will shape the future of this nation.

We are mobilising support for the development of the human rights architecture, anti-corruption mechanisms, and the decentralisation and local governance agendas. We are fielding experts to provide advice on asset recovery and security sector reform.

In Tunisia, UNDP is giving support to the new electoral commission and to the development of political parties. Work is also being done to help develop policy options for a strategy against corruption; to support an inclusive national dialogue; and to help strengthen civil society, including by supporting work on the new NGO regulatory framework. UNDP has also been asked to assist with security sector reform.

In all this work, I do believe it is essential to protect the rights of women and girls, to ensure that their voices too are heard, and that they are represented at the decision making tables.

We know, however, that building democratic governance alone is not enough. It has to be supplemented by supporting more inclusive economic growth which will reach young people and marginalized groups in general.

While longer term strategies are put in place, quick-win job creation is needed – an area in which UNDP has experience which can be drawn on by policymakers.

In Egypt, UNDP has been promoting job creation through small- and medium-sized enterprises and micro-credit schemes. We are also helping to design a public works programme to address short-term economic recovery challenges.

In Tunisia, we are designing coaching programmes for young people, and supporting labour intensive public works in a province whose economy has been badly affected by the Libyan crisis.

Country by country in the region, we are reviewing our programmes so that we can respond effectively to changing circumstances.

The full outcome of the events unfolding in the region is as yet unknown. Where regimes have fallen and transitions are under way, hopes are riding high, but there will be bumps along the way. Rapid transitions bring not only new opportunities, but also new lines of division and tension. The decline in economic growth in countries undergoing transitions has also created more hardship.

In conclusion, we have seen the success of popular movements in forcing political change in key Arab States.

That now needs to be followed by the difficult and detailed work of building more inclusive societies, economies, and governance systems.

That will take perseverance, patience, and partnerships, but it is essential if the legitimate aspirations of those who have already brought about change and those who continue to struggle for it are to be met.

@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

Come Visit E. Argonza’s blogs & website anytime!

Social Blogs:

IKONOKLAST: http://erleargonza.blogspot.com

UNLADTAU: http://unladtau.wordpress.com

Wisdom/Spiritual Blogs:

COSMICBUHAY: http://cosmicbuhay.blogspot.com

BRIGHTWORLD: http://erlefraynebrightworld.wordpress.com

Poetry & Art Blogs:

ARTBLOG: http://erleargonza.wordpress.com

ARGONZAPOEM: http://argonzapoem.blogspot.com

Mixed Blends Blogs:

@MULTIPLY: http://efdargon.multiply.com

@SOULCAST: http://www.soulcast.com/efdargon

Website:

PROF. ERLE FRAYNE ARGONZA: http://erleargonza.com

Friday, July 08, 2011

G8 INROADS IN ARAB STATES: DEVELOPMENT OR SPIRAL DOWNFALLS?

G8 INROADS IN ARAB STATES: DEVELOPMENT OR SPIRAL DOWNFALLS?

Erle Frayne D. Argonza


Western powers, via the G8 headhammer nations, are re-charting development tracks for the Arab states. Such re-directions are being rushed, in light of the uprisings in the Arab region that threatens the very investments as well as the degree of continuing control and manipulation of the latter countries by Western financier oligarchs.

How far the G8 can carve out new development arrangements that can re-secure their hold of the said regions is surely in question. Emerging markets that are purse-rich are now much engaged in North Africa and the Middle East, rendering them as alternative orbits for dependence in case the newly installed Arab regimes will lose the old ‘chocolate bar sweeteners’ of aid and investments from their Western masters.

Below is an update report from the DevEx regarding the G8 contingency steps being taken for the Arab states.

[Philippines, 15 June 2011]

From: DevEx – http://www.devex.com

At Deauville Summit: G8 Outlines New MENA Partnership, Reaffirms Aid Commitments

G-8 leaders ended their 37th summit in France on Friday (May 27) with the announcement of a new partnership with countries in the Middle East and North Africa and a confirmation of their commitment to global development efforts. Both partnership and overall G-8 development plans drew mixed reactions from experts and members of the international development community.

The Deauville Partnership is the G-8’s response to the so-called Arab Spring and outlines the leaders’ commitment to support stabilization and economic modernization in Egypt and Tunisia, and possibly other MENA countries that will be open to reforms. The partnership commits $20 billion worth of economic aid from multilateral banks, and G-8 leaders said they aim to mobilize up to $20 billion more from bilateral sources.

Some experts praised the Deauville Partnership for laying out an important vision for engagement with MENA countries, but others criticized the G-8 for not outlining a detailed aid timeline or specific financial contributions per country. There were also others who voiced concern that the partnership and the assistance G-8 countries plan to channel through it could affect budgets for development programs in other regions of the world.

The G-8’s commitments to global efforts to improve health and food security were also outlined in the group’s final communique. These included calls for a successful pledging conference for the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization and an announcement of support for reform efforts at the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. The leaders also affirmed their commitment to fulfill past pledges to increase aid for agricultural development and to boost the effectiveness and transparency of their aid information.

Members of the international development community were mostly disappointed with this part of the G-8 communique, which most aid groups said was vague and largely lacking in concrete targets.

“World leaders have got the right words, but until action is delivered, their dither and delay will continue to cost lives,” Chris Page of World Vision U.K. noted.

Thursday, March 31, 2011

WESTERN BOMBING ADDICTION OBFUSCATES LIBYAN PRO-DEMOCRACY

Erle Frayne D. Argonza

Civil war rages on in Libya as of this writing. Western powers’ bombing sorties did change the compass of the conflict, as they destroyed armored arsenals and aircraft of government forces, thus weakening Kadhafy’s position. However, the bombing addiction is turning more spurious, even as it obfuscates the legitimacy of the pro-democracy forces.

In previous articles, I already sounded off my resonance with the youthful generations of the Arab world in their just and legitimate campaigns to overthrow republican tyrannies and antiquated kingdoms & sheikhdoms. In the case of Libya, I was amenable to seeing a coalition of forces from Africa (e.g. African Union) and the Arab League help out to flash Kadhafy off his turf.

To recap, Kadhafy responded with sadistic carnage to the peaceful pro-democracy protesters, and that genocide is simply inhumane, demonic and unacceptable by any yardstick of civility. And so he must be ousted by a synergy of external and internal forces, till the opposition will be given the opportunity to construct a new government.

I was surprised by the rapidity with which the Western powers responded and took the cudgels of external intervention, which I did observe with detached coldness for a while. But now, seeing that the ugly ogre of power hegemonism has reared itself, I can see that the bombing obsession could turn the conflict to directions other than what the pro-democracy forces themselves opted to sojourn at the commencement of the campaign.

Obama just seems too over-focused on his own obsession, the same obsession he is now projecting on the leaderships of the USA, France and UK. Just exactly where that obsession will lead to, must be forecast and anticipated with opacity. Obama might revive the already dying Pax Americana which most countries vehemently oppose, revived precisely by the entry of American ground troops to Libya.

Cameron is puppet of the British financiers who have enormous stake in Libya’s oil, so we can expect more of UK intervention in the war. It isn’t remote that the British oligarchs will call the shots by secretly moving to bankroll the war while America provides the ground troops for the oligarchs’ pursuits. It’s Iraq and Afghanistan all over again, and that spells real danger.

Remember, the Anglo-European oligarchy had planned all along to orchestrate the waging of a 3rd World War, by pitting a Sunni-Zion alliance versus an Iranian-led Shiite coalition. The Arab conflicts got their abominable plan almost off-track, so they are recasting their tools and orchestrating opportunities in the Arab conflicts in their favor, so that their apocalyptic agenda will hold through.

As far as American politicians are concerned, Libya has no strategic significance to America’s interests, so they are befuddled by Obama’s obsession with bombing Libya and his subterfuge agenda to land ground troops there. Obama’s divergence from mainstream hegemonistic compass in America would reveal him as a closet Confederate who works unabashedly to align America’s hot wars to the abominations of the Anglo-European oligarchs.

African countries should better act quickly so as to secure the initiatives in orchestrating the external intervention in Libya. Acting out too late, the bombing addicts of the West would transform the conflict into a grotesque holocaust of sorts that could ignite a gigantic conflagration.

[Philippines, 31 March 2011]

@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
Come Visit E. Argonza’s blogs & website anytime!

Social Blogs:
IKONOKLAST: http://erleargonza.blogspot.com
UNLADTAU: http://unladtau.wordpress.com

Wisdom/Spiritual Blogs:
COSMICBUHAY: http://cosmicbuhay.blogspot.com
BRIGHTWORLD: http://erlefraynebrightworld.wordpress.com

Poetry & Art Blogs:
ARTBLOG: http://erleargonza.wordpress.com
ARGONZAPOEM: http://argonzapoem.blogspot.com

Mixed Blends Blogs:
@MULTIPLY: http://efdargon.multiply.com
@FRIENDSTER: http://erleargonza.blog.friendster.com
@SOULCAST: http://www.soulcast.com/efdargon

Website:
PROF. ERLE FRAYNE ARGONZA: http://erleargonza.com

Sunday, March 13, 2011

STOCK MARKETS SHIVER AS PAN-ARABIA BROILS

Erle Frayne D. Argonza

Pan-Arabia, the whole region comprised of Arab ethnicities and state, is broiling in hot embers of social turmoil. As the turmoil escalates, with civil war as the maximum broiler exemplified by Libya, stock markets tumble and shiver.

We thought the new phenomenon of stock markets insulating themselves from political-military hot fires is the order of the day. It seems this isn’t so, as we see the diverse stock markets shiver and grope for better light with the advent of the Arabian broil.

The Philippine stock exchange, which hit the highest level of 4,400+ points late last year, had since been tumbling down, hitting a low level of 3,700+ points since the Arab broils began with the Tunisian crisis. The previous forecasts of the same stock market breaching the 4,800+ points is mere delusional, it is good material for banters and guffaws.

Sure, the Asian growth wave has been helping to jettison stock markets in Asia to better levels, I have no problem accepting this development. I already wrote notes about the matter and published them recently. But there are X factors that can affect stock markets, inclusive of a possible World War III that will pit the Sunni-Zionist alliance versus the Iran-led Shiite coalition.

To my own amazement, the Arab internal turmoil came, thus brushing aside the probability of a global war. Amazement, as I find myself in league with the pro-democracy younger generations of Arabs. Instead, the turmoil by itself has been affecting financial and capital markets in large measures, and so this for us is the X Factor worth observing.

We were all witness to how a political event—the Red Shirts mass upheaval in Thailand—brought down the Bangkok stock markets to pathetic lows last year. That political event was just confined to Thailand by the way, yet the stock markets of contiguous economies did quiver badly while the turmoil was unfolding.

In Pan-Arabia, the turmoil is region-wide, with Tunisia and Egypt showing the way to ‘regime change’ via people power upheaval or revolution. There is not a single political movement orchestrating the turbulence by the way, and let there be no mistake that the turmoil isn’t susceptible to manipulation by any one political or imperialistic force.

A turbulence so gigantic as to embroil an entire region comprising of almost two (2) dozen states is just too mind boggling for various quarters. Financial and stock analysts could be at a lost at the moment for answers to the puzzles raised by the pan-Arabian turmoil, just as political analysts are at a lost for their equivalence of efficacious tools and forecasts.

So the question that can be raised from the unfolding events in pan-Arabia is: will the turmoil make or brake global stocks altogether? If in case the stock markets will plunge anew from this juncture, will the end of the pan-Arabian crisis put an end to the plunge and bring back the stock markets to new bullish rounds? Or, will the stock markets see the end of them all, and lead to the de-institutionalization of centuries of stock trading?

I am of the opinion that stock markets should be abolished altogether, and forecast many years past that stock markets will crash down to never land in the foreseeable future. That crashing down began in 2007, and a much bigger crash will happen sooner or later. The result of that crash will see the greater justification for abolishing the dirty gambling game of stock trading, and lead to alternative capitalization of enterprises other than stock trading.

So let’s all watch out closely for the unfolding events, and see how they dovetail into the stock trading trends. If ever stock markets will show semblance of growth, this will be only tentative till the last month of 2012 if ever. Stock markets will have no future beyond 2012, rest assured.

[Philippines, 09 March 2011]

@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@


Come Visit E. Argonza’s blogs anytime!

Social Blogs:
IKONOKLAST: http://erleargonza.blogspot.com
UNLADTAU: http://unladtau.wordpress.com

Wisdom/Spiritual Blogs:
COSMICBUHAY: http://cosmicbuhay.blogspot.com
BRIGHTWORLD: http://erlefraynebrightworld.wordpress.com

Poetry & Art Blogs:
ARTBLOG: http://erleargonza.wordpress.com
ARGONZAPOEM: http://argonzapoem.blogspot.com

Mixed Blends Blogs:
@FRIENDSTER: http://erleargonza.blog.friendster.com
@SOULCAST: http://www.soulcast.com/efdargon

Website & Mixed Blogs:
MULTIPLY: http://efdargon.multiply.com

Wednesday, March 09, 2011

FOOD PRICES UP, SPECULATORS ATTACK ANEW!


Erle Frayne D. Argonza

Winds of change are blowing hard on the granite edifices of autocratic regimes in pan-Arabia. As this is happening, financier speculators cashed in on the conflict by playing it up in the petrol spot market, thus raising oil prices to scorching heat levels. More areas of the global economy are under attack by the financier speculators, food & beverage among them.

As gas price in Manila has been rising by the week, so have the prices of food been going up. We are today on a bounty season for fruits here at the tropics—near the equator—yet such commodities’ prices are also moving up abnormally like they were in a situation of scarcity. Grains, vegetables, meat, cooking oil, and other related prime commodities have been accompanying the spurious OPH (oil price hike).

Little do common folks realize the handiwork of greedy speculators in the present inflationary patterns in food on a worldwide range. But that’s the fact, and many times before was it proved beyond doubt that greedy speculators, fronted by dirty operators, have always been busying their hands in reaping mega-profits on food commodities during times of crises.

Fact is, even when there is no crisis—such as crisis in the supply line—the speculators create the situation of crisis by hoarding millions of tons of specific commodities, e.g. rice. The instantaneous effect is the sign given off to traders in the commodities markets to play it up on the trading engagements, and elevating the emotive facet of the matter to the level of panic and near-hysteria.

Remember that time three (3) years back or so when rice suddenly began to disappear in the retail end of the market in the Philippines. There was a bounty season at that juncture, which came as a shock to me upon knowing from insiders (ground-level traders) that gargantuan hoards of rice were hidden inside many warehouses. President Arroyo then announced to the world that the PH will buy rice from overseas no matter how much the price is.

Of course, the commodities traders (speculative investors) heard the signal well. And voila! Rice prices across continents skyrocketed almost overnight! I even went on to forecast that it the near future, a cartel of sorts will be organized by certain countries to protect themselves versus the attackers. To make my hair rise on ends, hardly a day passed when I published my blog article about the forecast, certain Southeast Asian countries announced the formation precisely of such a rice cartel.

As the conflict situation in pan-Arabia boils up for some time, mark it down that the same coterie of financier speculators will keep on pursuing speculative attacks on certain prime commodities. Let’s not be surprised at all if the major staples—wheat, rice, sorghum, barley, oat, potatoes, yam—will experience inflationary upsets on the retail end over the next forty-five (45) days or so.

I have to prepare myself psychologically for the hyper-criminal speculative attacks this time. During the global rice crisis mentioned, I experienced sudden hypertension attack, as my cardiac condition quickly reacted to the rapidity of the crisis up to the pronouncement of rice cartel formation, rendering my forecasts a 100% mark hit.

So you fellow global citizens better watch out for the unfolding events, so as to prepare yourselves psychologically and financially too.

[Philippines, 08 March 2011]

@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
Come Visit E. Argonza’s blogs anytime!

Social Blogs:
IKONOKLAST: http://erleargonza.blogspot.com
UNLADTAU: http://unladtau.wordpress.com

Wisdom/Spiritual Blogs:
COSMICBUHAY: http://cosmicbuhay.blogspot.com
BRIGHTWORLD: http://erlefraynebrightworld.wordpress.com

Poetry & Art Blogs:
ARTBLOG: http://erleargonza.wordpress.com
ARGONZAPOEM: http://argonzapoem.blogspot.com

Mixed Blends Blogs:
@FRIENDSTER: http://erleargonza.blog.friendster.com
@SOULCAST: http://www.soulcast.com/efdargon

Website & Mixed Blogs:
MULTIPLY: http://efdargon.multiply.com

Monday, August 09, 2010

CURRENCY: PERSIA’S OVERKILL WEAPON VERSUS NEW ROME (EU-USA)

Erle Frayne D. Argonza


Observers may be wondering about what revived Persia (Shiite empire) possesses that serves as its leverage in a Manichean ‘clash of civilizations’ with revived Rome (EU-USA). Nukes and petrol (Iran cuts down oil pumping levels) are the most easily identifiable at the moment, and those with Jurassic linear thinking are inclined to forecast these possible leverages.

New Rome (EU-USA) itself has been projecting a rather alarmist tone that had overstressed those leverages as the weapons of its revived ancient enemy. In my analysis, this projection is just a cover-up or ‘decoy’ propaganda by new Rome whose technocratic-military-oligarchic elites know too well the real leverage that Iran possesses.

My contention is that currency will be new Persia’s most powerful weapon versus its ancient adversary. Iran’s ayatollahs and partisan ideologues aren’t dumb, they’ve been preparing for this weaponry a long time ago yet (since after Islam’s take-over of Teheran in the early 80s), and they will use this weapon with determined zeal.

The U.S. intelligence community had actually created dollar-manufacturing machines outside the USA to churn out humungous volumes of the currency that will escape the inquisitive eyes of Congress. The dollars are used for covert operations overseas—to buy weaponry, drugs, gold, and stash assets elsewhere beyond Congress’ prying eyes.

Sadly for the USA and New Rome, one such machine—located inside Iran during the regime of the Shah—fell into the hands of Islamic revolutionaries after the overthrow of the Shah. It would be overstretching naïve posturing if one thinks that Shiite Islam won’t use the machine for its purpose: to produce dollars by the mighty lot.

The Western oligarchy had shown its competence at destroying economies via currency attacks. Recall the devastation of the Asian economies when Soros & cronies waged an organized campaign of currency attacks beginning in June 1997. The offshoot was the Asian ‘financial meltdown’ as we called it then.

It isn’t difficult to recognize that Persia will use the same currency attack to take down the economies of its adversaries. New Rome is already teetering on the edge of a deeper economic collapse that could send it down to 3rd world infamy in the short run, a fact that Persia’s experts and strategists are watching so closely with glee.

Persia may decide to rain dollars on the world’s coffers as a pre-emptive attack versus its ancient enemy. Let’s better take this scenario very seriously.

The moment that dollars will flood the global coffers, by which the dollar will become a mere over-the-counter commodity, both the Euro and Yen will go down in value as well. All those financial, monetary, and merchandise commodities that are dependent on the said currencies will come crashing down from economic roofs as well.

Bellicosity towards Persia will prove to be New Rome’s folly, as we will see later. It may prove more worthy for Rome to cajole its ancient enemy via carrots (diplomacy and merchandise leverages) rather than sticks that can only lead to the eventual destruction of the West in a hot war versus Iran (see previous article).

Even East Asia, which is the global growth driver today, will be severely affected by a crash of the dollar via a Persian currency attack. With gargantuan stocks of dollars stashed in their vaults, a badly devalued dollar will suddenly de-stabilize their domestic economy and external trade as well.

It is futile for the Anglo-European-American oligarchy to decide on nuking Iran in order to destroy its dollar-making capabilities. Vaults upon vaults full of the currency are most likely stocked up all over the planet via the agents and friends of Shiite (that includes mafia operators, corrupt state officials, and dirty bankers) from where the currency can be released like relentless rocket attack weapons.

The Manichean ‘war of the worlds’ betwixt ancient enemies Rome and Parthia will prove to be the most catastrophic of all wars. No one power will win this war at all, although Persia will end up having the last laugh as the West gets fragmented and destroyed.

[Philippines, 24 July 2010]

[See: IKONOKLAST: http://erleargonza.blogspot.com,
UNLADTAU: http://unladtau.wordpress.com,
COSMICBUHAY: http://cosmicbuhay.blogspot.com,
BRIGHTWORLD: http://erlefraynebrightworld.wordpress.com, ARTBLOG: http://erleargonza.wordpress.com,
ARGONZAPOEM: http://argonzapoem.blogspot.com]