World Views

Dutch forbid Iranians from studying nuclear technology

2008-07-09T16:26:00Z

The Dutch government has passed a new law under which Iranians will be banned from access to courses and facilities related to nuclear technology in the Netherlands.

According to a report in the Nature News, under the new law, passed on July 4, Iranians, including those holding dual citizenship in the Netherlands, will be unable to enroll in graduate-level courses involving nuclear and rocket technologies.

U.S. far from the happiest place on Earth

2008-07-07T16:24:00Z

Looking for a vacation spot? Need to add some more happiness to your life? Take a trip to Denmark! It may not have warm sandy beaches but it should make you smile.

According to the National Science Foundation-funded World Values Survey, Denmark is the happiest place on earth. The research, conducted regularly by a global network of social scientists, flies in the face of Muslims still angry about the Danish cartoons of their prophet Mohammed.

Democracy, social equality and a peaceful atmosphere are the key components to the country's high rating. While not the richest country, Denmark is prosperous. Criteria such as good healthcare and access to higher education were also factors taken into account.

The world-wide survey also asked people how happy they considered themselves. One theory that has been proposed to explain the happiness of the Danes is their lower expectations. This theory came from Professor Kaare Christensen at the University of Southern Denmark.

The same theory also explains why the United States came in 16th; Americans expect more out of life. Researchers also noted that Political freedom is the greatest indicator of happiness.

"I strongly suspect that there is a strong correlation between peace and happiness," said Ronald Inglehart, a political scientist at the University of Michigan's Institute for Social Research, who directed the study. "The results clearly show that the happiest societies are those that allow people the freedom to choose how to live their lives."

Other countries that topped the list are Puerto Rico, Colombia and Switzerland.

Forty-five of 52 countries since 1981 have had their happiness levels increased, but sadly the political unrest, financial problems, and social strife have diminished the endorphins in Zimbabwe, the country rated least happy this round of evaluations.

Think you've got it bad at the pump? Check out these worldwide gas prices

2008-06-25T15:43:00Z

OK, so we're all feeling the burn at the pumps these days and hope that it's only temporary. But our pain is shared by many countries. In fact, to a number of countries, US gas costs are actually cheap!

Don't believe it? Review the chart we put together below to end your disbelief. In it, you will see worldwide gas costs per gallon of gas for 2004 (green bars) and for the present, 2008 (white bars).

As the chart depicts, gas is twice as expensive in Europe and Israel, and 50% more expensive in Japan as well as in Brazil, where ethanol for sugar cane has emerged as a viable, widely-used alternative to gasoline. But in Venezuela and Saudi Arabia, two of the largest oil-exporting countries in the world, gas in cheap.

So why do gas prices vary so much between countries when every day you hear that a barrel of oil costs a certain amount worldwide? It's a mix of reasons, really, but for the most part, prices vary due to the amount of subsidies and taxes placed on the commodity. The Europeans limit their subsidies on gas to keep cost truer and tax it a high rates to compensate for the environmental damage caused by drilling and burned fuel emissions.

In contrast, in countries like Venezuela and Saudi Arabia where the government controls the oil business, the government subsidizes the fuel costs of the local oil and does not tax it, keeping the price artificially cheap to keep its people happy and encourage economic growth. It is currently 19 cents per gallon in Venezuela and 45 cents in Saudi Arabia.

The other main reason gas prices vary worldwide stems from currency differences. As the euro is currently valued 50% higher than the dollar, euros have more buying power. So even if gas prices in Europe seem crazy expensive at $8 per gallon, because of currency differences, Europeans are only paying 5.33 euros per gallon.

In the US, gas taxes average about 18 cents per gallon, pretty low compared to European countries and certainly too low for the proposed gas tax moratorium to have any real effect on spending. Those looking for a break from the high prices at the pump should stop looking for a sweeping government bailout. The US isn't likely to embrace the economic policies of Venezuela and start selling its own gas at discounted rates to US citizens, especially since private companies, not the government, owns the oil industry.

Like any economic situation, there are two ways to alleviate high commodity costs: reduce demand and increase supply. Neither one will happen overnight, but taking a hard look at our transportation system reveals much room for eliminating some demand. By embracing smart growth - development in clusters instead of sprawling superhighways punctuated by strip malls - we can begin to curtail the need to drive miles and miles to get anywhere. Other opportunities for decreasing demand can come from increasing availability of public transit, increasing vehicle fuel efficiency, and engineering our vehicles to run on a resource that is not finite.

To increase supply, the only option on the table is drilling for more oil domestically. Certainly, this would increase supply by a small amount, but it wouldn't affect global prices much and it would take 5-10 years before a drop of new oil makes its way into the petroleum network. However, by increasing the efficiency of the engines that demand the commodity, resources are stretched and the net effect is an increase in supply.

There is no panacea to curtail the escalating energy crisis, but one thing is clear: oil is not and will never be the answer to the problem. So why look for solutions inside the oil industry? Oil is what got us into this mess in the first place - why drill for more of it?

If the money spent on the Iraq War went into developing a hydrogen economy or designing cars that ran on electricity generated from geothermal, wind, solar, and wave power, the US could be selling its oil to the rest of the world within ten years at $6 per gallon and laughing about it.

Also Interesting:

Greening the Gov: Is teleworking worth the effort?
U.S. fastest growing wind energy market
New report shows White House influencing EPA decision about CA emissions laws

Ethanol under fire in Congress
Whatever happened to the 'hydrogen highway' Schwarzenegger promised California?
The Petroleum Prison

Chinese is the New Black...In South Africa

2008-06-19T18:41:00Z

A high court in South Africa ruled on Wednesday that Chinese-South Africans will be reclassified as “black,” a term that includes black Africans, Indians and others who were subject to discrimination under apartheid. As a result of this ruling, ethnically Chinese citizens will be able to benefit from government affirmative action policies aimed at undoing the effects of apartheid.

Immigration isn't just an issue in the U.S.

2008-05-06T13:43:00Z

The Independent, a British newspaper, published the following article about Britain's attempts to curtail immigration. The articles discusses the most recent attempt to limit the influx of immigrants to only those considered skilled workers (think H-1B visas). Like the U.S., the British government is requiring businesses to prove they are unable to find and hire U.S. workers to do the jobs they are seeking immigrants for.

As Britain continues to create new legislation to handle increasing rates of immigration, we should continue to monitor their progress in handling the situation. They might just come up with a new approach we haven't yet thought about.

"New immigration controls detailed today would have prevented 20,000 foreign workers taking jobs in Britain last year, the Home Office said.

The restrictions form part of the Government's point-based immigration system, being introduced this year to ensure only those with skills the country needs are allowed in.

They will apply to "skilled" workers from this autumn and follow new rules already announced to apply to "highly skilled" migrants. Those for students will follow later.

Firms must show they cannot find British workers to do the job and would-be immigrants will have to show the work is skilled, they speak good English and earn over £24,000 or are well qualified.

Home Office analysis suggested 12% of non-European migrants who arrived last year under the existing work permit scheme would have been refused - around 8,000 individuals."

China leads world in executions. U.S. number five on list

2008-04-15T14:26:00Z

Amnesty International, a human rights watchdog group, released a report today detailing numbers and trends in state-sanctioned executions worldwide. According to the report, China led the world in executions with 470, down substantially from the 1,010 killed in the previous year. However, the group believes the number executed to be much higher as the country's government does not actually publish these statistics. The US-based organization “Dui Hua Foundation” estimates that 6,000 people were executed in China last year, based on reports from Chinese officials.

Iran maintained the the second-highest number of executions and the most per capita, with 377 killings that included a man stoned for adultery.

The number of American executions fell to its lowest level in about 15 years, putting it fifth in the world with 42, behind Saudi Arabia (143) and Pakistan (135).

The report also noted some disturbing trends, such as the fact three countries -- Iran, Yemen, and Saudi Arabia -- put people under the age of 18 to death, the youngest a 13-year-old executed in Iran in April.

Amnesty also reported that many countries continued to execute people for crimes not commonly considered criminal, or after unfair procedures. Among them:

Ja'Far Kiani, father of two, was stoned to death for adultery in Iran in July.
A 75 year-old North Korean factory manager was shot by firing squad in October for failing to declare his family background, investing his own money in the factory, appointing his children as its managers and making international phone calls.
Mustafa Ibrahim, an Egyptian national, was beheaded in Saudi Arabia in November for the practice of sorcery.
Michael Richard was executed in Texas, USA, on 25 September after a state courthouse refused to stay open an extra 15 minutes to allow the filing of an appeal based on the constitutionality of lethal injections. Richard's attorneys had been unable to file the appeal on time because of computer problems; problems they had already brought to the court's attention. The US Supreme Court then refused to stop the execution. Earlier in the day, however, it had agreed in a Kentucky case to review the lethal injection issue, a decision that led to a de facto moratorium on all other lethal injection executions around the country. The Supreme Court's ruling is expected later this year.

World Views: Queen of Jordan trying to improve Arab stereotypes via YouTube

2008-04-03T14:38:00Z

In a surprising but refreshingly novel approach to foreign diplomacy, the Queen Rania Al Abdullah of Jordan has decided to use YouTube to address Arab stereotypes by fielding questions and comments from YouTube users.

Queen Rania, named the third most beautiful woman in the world in 2005 by Harpers & Queen magazine, is renowned for her philanthropic work and attempts at improving education, women's rights, and global understanding of Islam.

The Queen's move into the Web 2.0 world via YouTube follows a recent trend here in the U.S. in which government agencies have enrolled bloggers to communicate directly with citizens, embraced audio casts of their work called podcasts, and military branches have promoted their activities via YouTube videos. But the interactive format employed by the Queen has yet to be used by the U.S. government for either domestic purposes or to win over the hearts and minds of those around the world.

Given that over 250,000 people have tuned into to the Queen's YouTube cast since Sunday, when the video was posted, the idea seems to be a success and one that Uncle Sam should take a lesson from.

So what did the Queen have to say, exactly? We've included the highlights of the video and the video itself below. We hope to hear your ideas of how this format, or a similar format, could be used to improve our own government's efforts at governing and diplomacy.

Transcript:

"In a world where it's so easy to connect to one another, we still remain very much disconnected. There's a whole world of wonder out there which we cannot appreciate with stereotypes. So it's important for all of us to join forces, come together, and bring down those misconceptions.

I've been surprised by some of the questions I've been asked. Do all Arabs hate Americans? Can Arab women work? Are there any YouTubers in Jordan?

If what most people know about the Arab world and Arab people they've known through programs like 24 and Jack Bauer, I think they're in for a very big surprise.

From now until August 12th, which is International Youth Day, I hope to be receiving from YouTubers some of the questions that they have and some of the common stereotypes that they hear about the Arab world...I want people to know the real Arab World."

Video

Japan Appoints Cartoon Ambassador

2008-03-20T14:20:00Z

Japan has created an unusual government post to promote animation, and named a perfect figure Wednesday to the position: a popular cartoon robot cat named Doraemon.

The appointment is part of Japan's recent effort to harness the power of pop culture in diplomacy. Japan also created an International Manga Award last year under comic enthusiast former Foreign Minister Taro Aso, who likened it to a "Nobel Prize" for an artist working abroad.

China Bans YouTube

2008-03-19T13:35:00Z

The Chinese government has blocked access to YouTube after scores of clips showing violence between police and Tibetan protesters were posted to the site.

Brazilians Taming Oil Prices with Ethanol

2008-03-18T14:04:00Z

A massive new fleet of vehicles that can run on ethanol alcohol produced from fermenting sugarcane, gas, or a mixture of the two called flex-fuel vehicles is holding gas prices that are escalating out of control around the world at 2005 prices in Brazil.

These vehicles, which account for 20 percent of all vehicles in Brazil and 90 percent of new sales, has prevented state oil company Petrobras from charging more for gasoline despite record world oil prices, the company said Friday.

"It doesn't make sense hiking the price of gasoline abruptly if it will cause me a bigger loss of the market than what is already happening today," a Petrobras director told reporters. "It's possible that this year we'll sell more ethanol than gasoline in Brazil."

Unlike hybrids sold in the U.S., flex cars sold in Brazil cost the same as standard models. In fact, many models only come as flex-cars. And although ethanol engines burn 25 percent more fuel per mile than gasoline, ethanol usually sells at somewhere between a third to half of the price of gas. In a developing country with the sixth largest population in the world (201 million), keeping fuel costs down is a major priority.

The flex-fuel trend took seed in 2002 and has grown quickly since. But the program's origins trace to the early 1980's when Brazil's military government pushed the alcohol-powered vehicles to cut the country's reliance on foreign oil imports and help domestic sugar producers earn a better living. The initiative required gas stations across the country to add ethanol pumps and between 1983 and 1988, over 88 percent of cars sold annually were running on an ethanol and gasoline medley.

At the close of the 1980's, the government withdrew the subsidies supporting the ethanol program and sugarcane farmers went back to selling sugar, which priced better as a commodity than ethanol. Falling gas prices in the 1990's left little incentive to use the flex-fuel vehicles, although many taxi drivers continued to fill up with ethanol.

In 2002, the Brazilian Congress passed a law requiring a blend of ethanol and gasoline at all stations. It was enough to get car makers tinkering with flex-fuel vehicles once again, only this time market conditions - namely rising oil prices and a growing environmental movement - favored mass production.

Like Brazil, the U.S. has tinkered with ethanol use for quite some time but without much success. At present, there are 4 million cars in the U.S. than can run on a blend of up to 85% ethanol and gasoline, but few places offer the fuel. At present, 10 states don't have a single ethanol or ethanol-gas mix pump and only 1500 such pumps exist around the country.

The numbers show a lack of seriousness in our policies towards moving away from a petroleum economy. If a developing country like Brazil could make the move in the 1980's, certainly the world's largest economy can today as well. Although ethanol, a fuel which requires significant farm land to produce, is hardly a panacea for petroleum addiction, the substitution of the fuel serves as a clear role model for change. The U.S. must look to and study Brazil's successes and failures in its own attempt to curtail reliance on gasoline. And while a transformation won't happen overnight, it will never happen without major legislation on Capital Hill to subsidize the evolution of our fuel to a completely renewable source.