Stirring Trouble Internationally

19/11/2012

Conflict Between Israel And Hamas Is About Security

Mehmet Ali writes from Cairo: The Arab League is meeting here to discuss what it can do to halt the violence in Gaza.

Will Egypt abrogate the peace treaty with Israel over the latest fighting? The Muslim Brotherhood government does not wish to because by doing so it would escalate the conflict.

18/11/2012

Cultural Moron UK Minister

Polly McPhee writes from London: Who is Maria Miller? MM just happens to be the British Minister of Culture – the lady with cash handouts for the so-called arts.

Hytner and Boyle have to be heard and believed. Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire and Hytner’s production of Alan Bennett’s The History Boys are not simply local productions. They play all over the world and win the big Oscars wherever they go. But look, they have their artistic origins in British provincial theatre. If Ms Miller does not understand that, then the small theatres are in trouble. David Cameron buys the idea that there should be more private money going into that arena. via (stirringtroubleinternationally.com)

The Past Still Exerts Considerable Influence On Chinese Politics. Expect Little Change Soon

Hu Jintao and Wen Jiabao Gu Suhua writes from Beijing: A feeling of intense disappointment pervades this city and country. Instead of a new generation of leaders taking over, the golden oldies of the past exercised a visible influence on the selection of the top Party elite. First and foremost was Jiang Zemin. Now 86 years old, he stepped down as paramount leader as long ago as 2002. He was not the oldest comrade from the past. That prize went to Song Ping, now 90.

Jiang Zemin is the patron of the Shanghai faction within the leadership. It now has three of the seven seats on the Politburo Standing Committee. They are Xi Jinping, who owes his rise to power to Jiang; Zhang Dejiang, who will soon become Chair of the National People’s Congress or parliament; and Liu Yunshan, who has become head of the Party Central Committee Secretariat. Hu Jintao wanted to promote two of his protégés, regarded as reformers, to the Standing Committee. However Jiang and Li Peng, now 84 years old, and one of those who advocated the crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in Tiananmen Square in June 1989, blocked their advance.

Hu Jintao, in his farewell 101 minute speech, devoted some time to talking about a fairer and more transparent way of choosing leaders. Party members had the ‘right to know, right to take part in discussions, electoral rights and supervisory rights’. However Hu did not condemn the cult of personality which was so evident in the activities of Bo Xilai, the disgraced Party secretary of Chongqing. Hu was visibly annoyed by the cult of personality which surrounds Jiang Zemin. However he chose not to make this public.

Wen Jiabao’s speech was much more revealing. He referred to an address by Deng Xiaoping delivered in 1980. The latter identified huge obstacles facing the Party and government: ‘bureaucracy, over concentration of power, patriarchal attitudes, life tenure in leading posts and a multitude of privileges’. He defined patriarchal traditions as ‘placing individuals above the organisation’. They used this as a ‘tool to become dictatorial’. Which patriarch did Wen have in mind? Clearly he was referring to the activities of Jiang Zemin.

Hu Jintao talked a lot about battling corruption. If it were not overcome the Party would be dealt a fatal blow. What new Party regulations did he introduce to combat this disease? None. The obvious one was to oblige senior Party officials to declare the assets of their relatives and to reveal whether the latter had foreign residency rights.

Jiang Zemin Bloomberg and the New York Times, just before the Congress, published detailed information about the business activities of the relatives of Xi Jing and Wen Jiabao. For instance, it was claimed that the Wen family was worth $2.7 billion. Censors scrambled to remove this information from the web but it is certain that millions of Chinese read it. No reports circulated about investigations into the business activities of top Party families. The elite were in denial. They claimed that measures had been put in place to prevent relatives from improperly acquiring wealth.

In his report, Hu stated that the economy was ‘unbalanced, uncoordinated and unsustainable’. Despite this he advocated that the state sector should grow at the expense of the private sector. This underlines the influence of state corporations on policy. If China is to become more economically efficient, it has to avoid the emergence of state monopoly capitalism. Chinese capitalism now appears to resemble American capitalism in the late 19^th century. The Middle Kingdom needs economic reform and quickly.

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The Past Still Exerts Considerable Influence On Chinese Politics. Expect Little Change Soon A post originally shared by Alexander first published over on Stirring Trouble Internationally. Stirring Trouble Internationally is a current affairs website with news about music, entertainment, politics and world news. Stirring Trouble Internationally - A humorous take on news and current affairs http://www.stirringtroubleinternationally.com http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/StirringTroubleInternationally/~3/9yU9ghNDs7w/ November 18, 2012 at 12:08AM

Another Week On The UK Music Scene

Stooshe Another Week On The UK Music Scene

Freddie Matthews writes from London: The last seven days saw the feisty London grown up girl-group Stooshe, who were due to release their debut solo album Stooshe on 26 November, change their minds. Following a so called ‘rush of creativity’ which has seen them write some of the best songs of their career, Stooshe have delayed the release date by some 4 months until March 2013. Are you bothered they’re giving away a Christmas present to their fans, in the shape of the previously unreleased track ‘Ain’t No Other Me’, which will be free to download on the original album release date of 26 November? You’re not that bothered are you, in fact like me, you really couldn’t give a sh*t.

The X-Factor finally threw in the towel and lost their bottle this week with the announcement that the final show won’t be in the battle for the Christmas number 1 single. The X-Factor final will now be held two weeks before the Christmas chart race but music insiders still think that whoever the winner is, and my money’s on the ASDA worker Jahmene or 15-year-old Ella, that they may still hold on for the coveted Christmas No.1.

Every teenage girl’s favourite boy band One Direction is on course for the big double next week, in the form of a UK number one single and album. The track Little Things was leading the midweek sales early in the week but by Friday was being outsold by the new releases from both Bruno Mars and Little Mix. We’ll see about that one then. After their US Billboard No.1 album success with Up All Night, One Direction are once again attempting to bid for the UK No.1 album with their second album Take Me Home. This is a feat they are yet to achieve as they only managed No.2 with the first album but that UK release was back in 2011. However, English rocker and old-timer Rod Stewart is trying to give the baby boy band a run for their money as his Christmas album Merry Christmas Baby is just 65,000 sales behind, hang on 65k units? There’s no way his fans can make up that number of sales or can they? Do his fans even know what a download actually is?

Led Zeppelin Overly enhanced model Katie Price (once known as Jordan) has picked up her microphone again. Having previously heard her ridiculous vocal before, I have no comment other than NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! The only thing this freak is good at is creating press frenzy around her disgraceful circus of a life. There should be a UK law, crime against music, to stop her threatening to ever go anywhere near a microphone ever again.

And finally rock legends Led Zeppelin have announced a CD & DVD release this week. At last some credible music to report on. The new CD & DVD called Led Zeppelin Celebration Day was recorded at London’s O2 arena on the 10 December 2007. I’m kind of wondering why this has taken five years to produce but who really cares as this is a great piece of music news from this week in the UK to end on.