June 24, 2005
People's DailyAnalyzes CNOOC's Bid For Unocal
"China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) released its offer for a merger with Unocal amid concern and speculation. However, as its arch rival Chevron has not shown its ace, it is much difficult to estimate the chance CNOOC's success," China's People's Daily Online opines in a June 24, 2005 editorial.
The publication said, "If CNOOC makes it, the deal will be the largest overseas acquisition by a Chinese enterprise and is expected to give CNOOC more say on the international energy market."
However," People's Daily added, " the unfinished deal has already aroused the attention of the US Congress and Department of Energy. To ensure the deal, CNOOC especially stressed that the it would not affect the US oil and natural gas markets in any way as Unocal's oil and natural gas produced in the U.S territory will continue to be available on the US market and Unocal's oil and gas outputs account for less than one percent of the total consumption in the US."
See "What's the chance of CNOOC's successful bidding for Unocal?" for the entire editorial. Also see "China vs. Chevron in bidding war for Unocal's energy."
Posted by Munir Umrani at 06:09 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
June 23, 2005
China's Bid For Unocal Has Broad Economic Implications
"A bold offer by a state-owned company here [in Beijing, China] to outbid Chevron and take over a major California oil group [Union Oil Company of California] suggests that China's rising economic clout has hit harder and faster than even many optimists predicted," writes Robert Marquand, staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor, in the paper's June 24, 2005 edition. He noted: The $18 to $20 billion offer by China National Offshore Oil Corp. (CNOOC) to secure Unocal, which has oil and gas reserves in Asia, underscores the magnitude of the energy needs of China as it continues its manufacturing juggernaut on the world stage. The bid is part of China's so-called energy diplomacy, which in recent years has witnessed a host of Chinese leaders, including President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao, making deals worth tens of billions in Australia, Sudan, Iran, Khazakhstan, Venezuela, and Canada.
The question is: Will the Bush Administration let Unocal be sold to China? See "China's bold bid for global energy" for more of Mr. Marquand's analysis.
Posted by Munir Umrani at 08:50 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
June 15, 2005
Tony Blair And The Reality of Europe
James Kirkup at Scotsman.Com describes how a "bright-eyed" British Prime Minister Tony Blair "got real over Europe." He wrote in a June 15, 2005 article:On Friday [June 17, 2005], already scarred and weary from bruising visits to Germany, Luxembourg and France, Mr Blair will enter the chamber of the European Council building on the Rue de la Loi in Brussels knowing he is outnumbered 24 to one, preparing to cast his defiance in the faces of leaders he once cultivated as friends and now works to divide and undermine.
This particular battle is being fought over old ground, the British "rebate" (actually just a reduction in our membership fee) from the EU budget. It isn't just the rebate, though. The whole row over money has, of course, been triggered by the slow, shambolic demise of the EU constitution. And whatever Mr Blair's feelings about that document at its birth, he was undeniably jubilant at its death, even if diplomatic prudence prevents him from saying so. Mr. Kirkup said, "Even before the last rites were read over the treaty, Mr Blair was sounding distinctly cool on the European project in its current form. In a speech many Conservatives could - and did - admire last month, he admonished Brussels for over-regulating. For good measure, he even threw in an entirely fictional case of an English playground closed by European red tape." Here's more of Mr. Kirkup's analysis.
Posted by Munir Umrani at 06:46 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
June 07, 2005
Is Britain Engaging In 'Imperial Nostalgia'?
Guardian Unlimited Columnist Seumas Milne, in an article in the May 2005 issue of LeMonde Diplomatique, wrote: Barely a generation after the ignominious end of the British empire, there is now a quiet but concerted drive to rehabilitate it, by influential newspapers, conservative academics, and at the highest level of government. Just how successful this campaign has already been was demonstrated in January when Gordon Brown, chancellor of the exchequer and Tony Blair's heir apparent, declared in east Africa that the days of Britain having to apologize for its colonial history are over.
Mr. Milne said Mr. Brown's "remark, pointedly made to the Daily Mail - which is leading the rehabilitation chorus - in the run-up to May's general election, was clearly no heat-induced gaffe. Here's more. Thanks to The Periscope for bringing attention to "Britain: Imperial Nostalgia."
Posted by Munir Umrani at 09:41 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
The EU Heads Of Government Summit
EUROSOC said June 7, 2005 that, "The people of Holland and France may have scornfully rejected their leaders' outrageous claims that Europe faced a war if they did not vote for the EU constitution, but senior pundits see a war of sorts brewing in time for this month's heads of governments summit." Read why.
Posted by Munir Umrani at 09:06 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
June 06, 2005
Iceland and the European Union
Hjörtur J. Gumundsson, editor of EU Related News From Iceland, posted "a speech by Björn Bjarnason, Minister of Justice and chairman of the special Committee on Europe, at a meeting held by the Centre for European Policy Studies in Brussels May 31, 2005. Mr, Bjarnason, whose subject was Iceland and European integration, said, among other things: Iceland is one of the few European countries where there has never been a referendum on any European issue and when invited to address you here today, ladies and gentlemen, I considered it might be of value to you if I tried to answer two questions often put to us Icelanders here in Brussels: Why is Iceland not a member of the European Union? and What prevents Iceland from applying for membership in the European Union?
He said, "When The Financial Times speculated about our meeting with the Commissioner for enlargement it kindly said: "The affluent island wouldn't be a problem for the EU to absorb, particularly when compared with aspirants such as Albania and Bosnia. But would Reykjavik be ready to take the plunge? Maybe, if the island spells the end to the EU's constitutional headache, Brussels would make it an offer it couldn't refuse. Those Icelandic fish could be safe for a while yet." Here's the entire speech, thanks to Mr. Gumundsson.
Posted by Munir Umrani at 08:44 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
May 30, 2005
Why Most Frenchmen Voted No On EU Constitution
Ali Ihsan Aydin of Zaman Daily Online of Turkey reported May 30, 2005 that, "following the announcement of the [EU] referendum outcome in [France], a new public poll was published noting that 59 percent of French people claimed unemployment as the main reason for their refusal of the European Constitution, while 40 percent reflected discontent over the government." See "Surprise Comes from 'No' Voice in France."
Posted by Munir Umrani at 07:27 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
May 29, 2005
EU Referendum's Update On The French Vote Count
Richard North over at EU Referendum says the "Corrected score now stands at 57 percent NO - 42 percent YES, with 83 percent of the votes counted" in the French referendum on the European Union constitution. EU Referendum quotes Caroline Wyatt of BBC Radio 4 as saying "Chirac has been dealt a humiliating blow". Read more here.
Posted by Munir Umrani at 04:52 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
May 21, 2005
A Fistfull of Euros on 'The Euro And The Vote'
Edward Hugh at A Fistful of Euros reported May 21, 2005 that: "the euro yesterday reached its lowest level against the dollar in seven months having dropped from a value of $1.311 against the dollar a month ago to $1.255 yesterday. This was the lowest level since last October. Undoubtedly there are a confluence of factors at work here: yesterdays French growth numbers, longer term stagnant growth in Germany and Italy, Sunday's elections in the Federal Republic, the up and coming referendum in France, rumourology about forthcoming ECB rate cuts etc.
Mr. Hugh said, "this downward pressure will in reality be welcomed in many quarters, since it could give some useful relief to hard pressed exporters, and it may help those (eg Spain) with serious balance of payments problems by offering some kind of corrective impetus." Read more here.
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May 05, 2005
Harry's Place is Open to Comments on British Election
The British blog Harry's Place has good comments about today's election in Britain. The comments box is open for your thoughts. Here's a link.
Posted by Munir Umrani at 08:42 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
May 03, 2005
'U.S.-China Trade and Economic Ties'
The Bush Administration regularly offers its spin on "U.S.-China Trade and Economic Ties." The Washington File has a list of such articles.
Posted by Munir Umrani at 06:08 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
April 27, 2005
Why Belgium's Spies Have lost Their Llicence to Kill
The Daily Telegraph of London reported April 26, 2005 that, civilian agents of Belgium's "Sûreté de l'Etat, the equivalent of Britain's MI5, are already among the most powerless intelligence operatives in the Western world, with no right even to tap telephones. Now, they have had their handguns confiscated on the orders of their general administrator, Koen Dassen, a Belgian newspaper reported," according to the Telegraph. Why? It was because " one agent "drunkenly tried to shoot a colleague in the head," the paper said.Read more here.
Posted by Munir Umrani at 01:32 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
April 23, 2005
High Oil Prices and the Day of Reckoning
Deep Blade Journal has an insightful post headlined "$380 oil?" The writer says "a day of reckoning is on the horizon" because oil and energy policies are based on the belief that high oil prices won't lead to recession.
Posted by Munir Umrani at 01:34 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
April 18, 2005
G7 Finance Ministers Issue Another Oil Caution
The Deep Blade Journal, my major source for understanding global oil issues, noted on April 17, 2005 that: "the money managers from the world's wealthiest country (sic) met this weekend in Washington where they discussed their usual agenda of how best to extend extreme neoliberal policies -- for example, opening the Chinese currency to speculation under the guise of correcting ``imbalance'', denying struggling people in poor countries debt relief through endless ``case-by-case analysis of HIPC [Heavily Indebted Poor Countries] countries'', and keeping these same countries and their people wide open for foreign exploitation and easy repatriation of profits -- while destroying unions and our local manufacturing jobs in the process.But this time they had to sooth nervous capitalists with a salve of faux bullishness in order to explain away the recent slide on Wall Street -- often a leading sign of deepening economic hard times."
The money managers from Japan, Britain, Germany, France, Italy and Canada met at a time when high oil prices have them running scared. They said, according to Deep Blade Journal, that "Higher oil prices are a headwind, and the expansion is less balanced than before. We welcome efforts to improve oil market data, increase medium-term energy supply and efficiency." Is this a departure from the line they took at the tenth G7 meeting in Washington, DC on October 2, 2004? Read this post at the Deep Blade Journal for some perspective.
Posted by Munir Umrani at 06:39 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
April 07, 2005
India and Oil Diplomacy in Central Asia
Manish Chand, in an April 6, 2005 post at Hindustan Times. Com, said, "With the global race for scarce energy resources intensifying, India is increasingly looking to Central Asia both as a reliable source of oil and natural gas and a focus of its strategic interests in Asia. Uzbek President Islam A. Karimov's visit to India has underlined New Delhi's growing engagement with Central Asia." the writer said. Here's more.
Posted by Munir Umrani at 10:43 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
February 28, 2005
Foreign Dispatches Sees a Problem With Debt Relief
Foreign Dispatches has a post headlined "The Problem With Debt Relief." I think it's worth reading. The blog says "Few ideas are as intuitively appealing as the notion that a great way to help the world's poor would be to cancel debts incurred by their governments, but as William Easterly explains, debt writeoffs are by no means the problem-free proposal their advocates imagine them to be." Here's more from Foreign Dispatches. Here is a link on Third World Debt.
Posted by Munir Umrani at 12:04 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
February 25, 2005
The Oil Price Trajectory Illustrated
Deep Blade Journal has a great piece on the oil price trajectory. "Hyperbolic price swings with huge upward bias portend threats to our future security," the blog predicts. I wish my professors in the three economics courses I took at Chicago State and East-West University had explained things as well. Read more here.
Posted by Munir Umrani at 02:29 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
February 24, 2005
Drezner Asks: 'How stable is Bretton Woods 2?'
University of Chicago Scholar Daniel Drezner asks How stable is Bretton Woods 2? in a provocative February 24, 2005 post on the Bretton Woods regime "for managing the international monetary system," which, he says, "was inherently unstable because of the Triffin dilemma. Nevertheless, the true Bretton Woods system did last for 14 years (1958-1971)," he notes, adding" It lasted for eleven years after Triffin explained the system couldn't last forever."
Mr. Drezner asserts that "Economists are labelling the current monetary arrangements as Bretton Woods 2. Under this system, the U.S. is running massive current account deficits to be the source of export-led growth for other countries. To fund this deficit, central banks, particularly those on the Pacific Rim, are buying up dollars and dollar-denominated assets." Read the entire post. Hopefully, it will generate considerable comments. It's a subject that needs to be widely discussed. By the way, I highly recommend Mr. Drezner's blog Daniel W. Drezner. It's intellectually stimulating, at least to me.
Posted by Munir Umrani at 08:08 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
