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| GCC Expansion Plan |
 THE
proposal to enlarge the Gulf Cooperation Council to Jordan and
Morocco, made at a council summit meeting in Riyadh last month,
marks a profound change in the nature of the organisation as
it reaches its 30th anniversary. This decision, which went practically
unnoticed in the West, is all the more worthy of attention in
that it is likely to usher in long-term changes in the region´s
political scenario. Initially set up to provide a safeguard
against an Iranian military threat and to create regional economic
integration in the Arabian peninsula, the Gulf Cooperation Council
has moved away from its early... |
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| LESSONS FOR CHINA FROM ARAB SPRING |
 FROM:
Ministry of State S e c u r i t y TO: President Hu Jintao SUBJECT:
The Arab Spring Dear President Hu: You asked for our assessment
of the Arab Spring. Our conclusion is that the revolutions in
the Arab world contain some important lessons for the rule of
the Chinese Communist Party, because what this contagion reveals
is something very new about revolutions unfolding in the 21st
century and something very old about why they explode. Let´s
start with the new. Sometime around the year 2000, the world
achieved a very high level of connectivity, virtually flattening
the global economic. |
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New portugal govt faces bailout stres
AP
LISBON PORTUGAL’s centre-right Social Democrats had little time to savour their return to power on Monday, launching immediately into getting a ruinous debt burden under control despite a shrinking economy.
Social Democrat leader Pedro Passos Coelho scored an emphatic win at the ballot box on Sunday, with his party collecting 39 percent of the vote to 28 percent for the secondplaced Socialist Party, which had governed for the past six years.
Passos Coelho takes over as prime minister later this month with Portugal in the middle of a financial storm.
His new government inherits a record jobless rate of 12.6 percent and an expected economic contraction of 4 percent over the next two years.
The clock is also ticking on a long list of painful austerity measures that have to be adopted swiftly in return for a euro78 billion ($114 billion) international bailout programme agreed to under the former Socialist government.
Any delays or hesitation could jeopardize the agreement that saved Portugal from bankruptcy, and complicate European efforts to staunch the continent’s debt troubles.
“Passos Coelho is going to have the shortest honeymoon period ever,” the Jornal de Negocios editor wrote Monday.
The strong win offered encouragement, however, for Passos Coelho’s ambition to set Portugal on the road to recovery.
Despite upcoming further tax hikes, public sector pay freezes, and pension and welfare cuts, almost 80 percent of voters supported one of the three parties that have backed the bailout conditions.
The yield on Portugal’s 10- year bonds stood at 9.71 percent Monday — slightly down on the day but still at an unsustainable level as markets awaited news of the new government’s progress.
Passos Coelho said he would consult with the smaller, conservative Popular Party — which won 12 percent of the vote — about forming a coalition government.
Such a deal would ensure him an absolute majority in parliament, which is crucial for the approval of debt-reduction policies and broad social and economic reforms.
A lot is riding on Passos Coelho’s negotiating skills.
The affable 46-year-old is untested at such a high level, never having held a government post.
After graduating in economics from a Lisbon university in 2001 he went into business, becoming an executive at companies in the energy and environmental sectors.
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