We’re being inundated with news after news of disasters around the world, from Burma’s cyclone, U.S. deathly tornadoes, Chile’s Mt. Pinatubo -like volcano eruptions to China’s massive 7.9 earthquake. Natural disaster seems to be increasing in frequency and in the scale of casualty and damage it is inflicting. A lot of it could be attributed to human action - i.e. global warming and human build structure. I was watching BBC News when one of their guest were talking about how large deaths in earthquakes are usually a result of human build structure collapsing. Toronto Star reported today that one school in China collapsed trapping almost all the students. However, the buildings beside it only suffered minor damage. It begs the question - was the collapsed building a result of constructor and builders corruption? Granted it was a huge earthquake measuring 7.9 but a stronger building might not collapse right away giving time for students to escape.
Toronto Star - Trapped Students had no time to escape:
The school collapsed so rapidly – one floor “pancaking” atop another – that there was practically no time to escape.
…..
Engineers said the school’s walls and support columns gave way almost instantly.
“These buildings just weren’t made for that powerful of a quake. Some don’t even meet the basic specifications,” said Dai Jun, a structural engineer and concrete specialist in Chengdu who was surveying damage in the area.
As I write these, there’s threat of another cyclone hitting Burma and possibility of Dam bursting in quake affected area in China.
The response of government to the disaster is a story of contrast between China and Burma. China’s premiere were on his plane right after the earthquake. Within hours, he was directing operation in the ground and comforting the victims. This is something rarely seen from leaders anywhere in the world, especially right after a disaster. In contrast, Burma’s government have been totally inept and I was dumbfounded to read that Burma’s military stopped a well known actor from giving aid directly. Chinese have been streaming from their bikes, cars and foot to volunteer and help. At a time of disaster it is inconceivable that the Burmese government would prevent a citizen from helping others. They insist that something as trivial as giving food to the victims should go through the government. As I stated in my last blog, this is no time for stupid politics.
The conduct of politicians right after the devastating Myanmar disaster is disgusting. Bush and Harper were quick to point finger at the Military Junta. U.S. then say if Myanmar government does not handle this properly it would lead to their downfall. They then went on to accuse the Myanmar’s government of being slow to act. This is coming from a government who failed to act for a long time after Hurricane’s Katrina disaster in New Orleans. They commanded that Myanmar government let them in. While the U.S. government take advantage of this massive disaster to undermine the government of that country, and western media constantly chide Myanmar for failing to act (starting immediately right after the disaster), Asians seem to have different opinion. AFP reported that:
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice insists aid to cyclone-ravaged Myanmar has nothing to do with politics but critics and some Asian diplomats wonder whether Washington is mixing the two.
Taiwanese religious leader claim exactly opposite to what U.S. and their media have been reporting:
A Taiwanese Buddhist leader said Friday that Myanmar was promptly dispatching food and medical materials to cyclone survivors even though the reclusive country has been slow to let foreign aid workers in.
Master Hsin Tao made the comments as he returned from a trip to Yangon to assess the destruction from Cyclone Nargis.
He led a team of 10 Taiwanese aid workers to Myanmar this week and dispatched 6 tons of food to cyclone survivors.
Myanmar’s government on the other hand, coming under attack, reacted with stupendously stupid decision of blocking foreign experts and showing lack of sound judgment. Both sides should just let the Non-Government Organizations (NGOs) take care of matters behind the scene and all politicians should just shut up! This is not the time for politics and trying to overthrow a government. There are real people suffering on the ground.
I’ve blogged back in February about how biofuel could contribute to world hunger and the weird conflicting development of recession and inflation occurring at the same time (i.e. stagflation). Now that the food prices and perceived shortage has become a great concern and garnering headline news, all sorts of excuses are being used to explain why there is such a shortage of food which has lead to riot across the world. Price of gas rarely gets the blame. But even though price of gas do play a big part, especially with rapid rise in diesel fuel used for truck delivering the food, the main culprit is rarely mentioned in the press. The source of all this price increase in the face of recession could be traced back to the falling dollar. As dollar continued its fall, countries holding U.S. dollar in their reserves are trying to dispose of them and results to speculating on gas and food. In turn, gas and food have become the new gold. Oil prices, which is pegged against the U.S. dollar and have already risen as a result of the dollar decline, now suffers from a double whammy as speculators bump up the prices of oil further. Speculation on food commodities is also leading to astronomical rise in food prices making it unaffordable for people already living in poverty. For more on this, be sure to read the two related article below. One from Asia times and the other is from Wall Street Journal.
Related articles:
Asia Times: Rice, death and dollar ( April 22, 2008 )
The Wall Street Journal - The Fed’s Bender ( April 28, 2008 )
Harper is applying his old modus operandi to Election Canada. Election Canada have been investigating Harper’s in and out scheme. Harper’s “best defense is offense” motto and playing the victim was used against CNSC and barely affected their poll numbers. However, it might be different this time around. By attacking the integrity of Election Canada, Harper is putting this independent, non-political, institution’s reputation in jeopardy. That threatens to seriously compromise not only Election Canada but also our democratic institution as a whole. By accusing Election Canada of bias, he risked plunging the pillar of our democracy (i.e. voting) into serious doubt. What’s next? When he lose the election, he will accuse Election Canada of fraud? That would create serious question for our electoral process and degrade it into the same status as a tumultuous third world country, where elections fraud are prevalent.
Looks like this concern is shared by Canadian voter as the latest poll shows Tories has dip in poll (due to Conservatives dispute with Election Canada).
The stock market is in a very delicate situation right now. Hope people don’t panic as stock market opens here on Monday morning. As of now there are huge drops in the Asian stock market and U.S. dollar continue to fall. This comes after JP Morgan bought Bear Stearns on the cheap at $2.00. Bear Stearns was at one time trading at about $150.00 last April and recently fell to about $30.00. So it is a shock that it’s now being sold for $2.00. That means it is pretty much gone. I guess the bail out is a necessary move because allowing it to collapse would create panic among investors. Scene like depression era comes to mind when people were rushing to the banks to withdraw money which only worsens the situation. I doubt that would happen but with online trading now, people would probably be transferring their money out of stocks and into the safer bonds. Whether the Bear Stearns buy out would be enough to ease concern remains to be seen.
Asian stock as of this time:
Hang Seng fell by 932.52 points (~ 4% dropped)
Nikkei 225 fell by 439.20 (3.59% dropped)
Related article:
Bloomberg - Asia Stocks, U.S. Futures, Dollar decline after Fed Cuts rate
