"I have approximate answers and possible beliefs and different degrees of certainty about different things, but I'm not absolutely sure of anything..." (Richard Feynman)
Hans Christian Stroebele is the directly elected representative of the Berlin constituency (Kreuzberg), where I live. He is part of the fundamentalist left wing of the Greens. Most probably I would not vote for him, as I do share very little with his lot. I am in favor of German involvement in UN peace keeping, I am in favor of free market and globalization, I am in favor of keeping German nuclear power plants online as long as this is technically wise, ... and there are many other differences in opinion.
No, no, I don't mean that literally. I am very much aware that the USA are not in a position to take up any other military action, not morally, not politically, not economically. I only hope that the new American president realizes that this world needs the intervention of the most powerful nation of the free world. No one intervened against the Rwandan genocide, Darfur is a shame for humanity!
The following Citation is from China Daily of today: "The State Council has approved 2 trillion yuan ($292 billion) for the construction of a series of railway projects, to help boost economic growth amid the worldwide financial crisis. Increasing investment in fixed assets has remained a catalyst of China's economic development. By 2010, the total length of China's railway will reach 90,000 km, according to the Ministry of Railways. A number of major railway projects will be started soon, www.ce.cn - the country's leading economic news portal - quoted Wang Yongping, spokesman for the Ministry of Railways, as saying on Friday. About 1.2 trillion yuan has already been allocated, he said. Zheng Xinli, a senior government policy advisor, said: "In 1997, we dealt with the Asian financial crisis by stimulating domestic economic growth by investing in the construction of highways. This time the money will go on improving the rail network." The National Development and Reform Commission is developing plans to improve the country's railway systems, he said. (China Daily October 25, 2008)"
The description of the Dharavi slum in the Economist reminded me the Book Shantaram from which I learned the first time that these big slums are not these places of pure despair but human communities of a tremendous complexicity.
And I like Marxists of the type of Mr. Korde!!!!!
"As venture capitalist John Doerr once remarked to me 'You talk to the leadership in China and they are all engineers, and they get what is going on immediately. The Americans don't, because they are all lawyers'. Added Bill Gates: ' The Chinese have risk taking down, hard work down, education, and when you meet with Chinese politicians, they are all scientists and engineers. You can have a numeric discussion with them - --"
The Gini Coefficient measurs inequality in countries (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gini_coefficient). A high Gini coefficient means high inequality. The lowest Gini coefficient among industrialized countries has Norwegia with 19, many countries in Latin America are high upto 60, the extremest measured values. China went up from values in the 20 during communism to a 44 by the Deng reforms (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_income_equality) The West European Countries have lower Gini coefficients than the USA.
Attached you will find the speech of Bundespraesidend Koehler for the German National Day 2007. I like it. What I most like is the title. I also agree that we have the tackle the problem that the globalization creates dispartment within the countries more than between the countries. We have tobe careful that the globalization loosers in the rich countries do not turn against globalization (see https://johanneskeizer.com/node/293) .
