INDUSTRIAL COMPETITIVENESS IN VIETNAM

Erle Frayne D. Argonza

Industrialization is the crux of Vietnam’s development agenda. This is the signal being beaconed by the first industrial competitiveness report of the same country.

Among the high-growth economies of East Asia, Vietnam’s growth has been truly remarkable. Vietnam’s policy makers have hinged their growth goals on physical economy frameworks as a way to growth and…

CONGO FRESH VIOLENCE BODES ILL FOR 2012

Erle Frayne D. Argonza

Another round of violence recently erupted in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Over 100,000 affected residents have fled their homes and are sheltered in makeshift tents.…

By Jan Oberg & Ida Zidore

February 26, 2012

A new report by Media Tenor and the Institute for Economics and Peace shows that violence still outrules peace in the international TV media. Yet, certain aspects of the study are questionable – how to measure peace…

GLOBAL FOOD PRICE INDEX DECLINE

Erle Frayne D. Argonza

Global food price index ended up with a general decline, as per report from the FAO. This was a quick reversal of the year-long trend that saw food prices rising as a whole.

The FAO reported in the mid-phase of last year that food prices were rising, and rising alarmingly. Famine struck the Horn of Africa, while calamities damaged to food base of other countries, events…

CAN SMART FARMING REVERSE CLIMATE CHANGE IMPACT?

Erle Frayne D. Argonza

Can smart farming equalize or even totally reverse the deleterious impact of climate change? What parameters and factors (soil? seeds? water? skills? technology?) need to have some control altogether to see the positive effects of the interventions?

That question is the subject of intense response today by stakeholders in Malawi, Vietnam and Zambia that…

FISCAL DECENTRALIZATION: SHOWCASING PHILIPPINES

Erle Frayne D. Argonza

The government decentralization that has been going on in the Philippines for the duration of the post-Martial Law/Dictatorship era (dictatorship deposed in 1986) seems to have caught the attention of urban observers worldwide.

As a gesture of interest on the Philippine experience, the United Nations recently published a book showcasing the same…

ASIANS TOP USA-EUROPE SCIENCE R&D SPENDING

Erle Frayne D. Argonza

Another breakthrough news has struck our perception banks recently, with the gladdening news that Asians as a whole have topped both USA and EU spendings on science research & development.

Ten Asian countries are noted to be leading the way for Asians as a whole in sci-tech R & D, to note: China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, South…

URBANIZING MYANMAR LAUNCHES INSTITUTE

Erle Frayne D. Argonza

Myanmar has been mired too long in the rural backwoods of eternal militaristic damnation. So it would be a well appreciated news to learn of scaling up urban development in the struggling country.

Myanmar is juxtaposed next to the ASEAN 5—Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines—that are now citadels of urban development, industrialization and service…

SEAWEED BIOFUELS, WHAT’S YOUR TAKE?

Erle Frayne D. Argonza

Kelp off the coast of Chile is being developed into a source of biofuels today. The strategy is aquafarming and not the open biomining of available seaweeds. Which means that biotech can be applied to treble the quantities of yields of the bi-product.

What’s your take of the new development in biofuels? Techno-innovators would surely welcome this development, among whom…

MEKONG LEADERS PLAN AHEAD

Erle Frayne D. Argonza

An end-of year (2011) good news was the meeting of Mekong leaders to plan ahead for tomorrow. A 10-year plan was forged among them, with the ADB acting out as process facilitator and co-convenor.

The Mekong region comprises a huge section of the continental Southeast Asia which by itself is a subregion of significant proportions. Boosting development growth in the…

URBAN SECURITY OF TENURE: CAN IT BE MONITORED?

Erle Frayne D. Argonza

Is it possible to fully monitor security of tenure in cities? What concrete policy measures and institutional requirements can be taken to conduct such monitoring efficaciously?

Cities often than not differ in their policy measures concerning tenure matters. Besides, there is the variegation in the level of institutionalization of rules and enactment—from…

G20 DEVELOPMENT AGENDA: HIGH FLYING OR SPUTTERING DECAY?

Erle Frayne D. Argonza

Is the development agenda of the world’s top 20 wealthy nations still flying high on the menu of social interventions? Or is the same agenda being continued, if to show semblance of the glory…

MOROCCO JETTISONS CLEAN ENERGY, KUDOS!

Erle Frayne D. Argonza

The Middle East and North Africa or MENA has some good news going concerning clean energy. This surely freshens the region a bit that has been mired in bloody conflicts between the youth-driven anti-Old Order movements and the status quo of Stone Age prinzeps-military dictatorships-family oligarchies.

US $9 Billions was allocated recently by stakeholders…

HIMALAYAS’ GREEN TECH BOOMS, WHO OWNS IT?

Erle Frayne D. Argonza

We have a gladdening news about the Himalayan region regarding the potentialities of renewable energy or RE as impetus for economic prosperity. Eight (8) countries in the Hindu-Kush Himalayan region particularly manifest high potentials for RE-driven growth.

The question that is now rising from the emerging green tech boom there is: who owns the said RE…

HUNGER STOKES AFGHANS, CRUEL WINTER COMES!

Erle Frayne D. Argonza

Severe drought just struck northern Afghanistan, inducing shortfalls in crop yields. Over 2 millions of Afghans up north have begun to feel the severity of the shortfall.

The news is surely alarming, as it comes amid the eco-catastrophes of similar types in the Horn of Africa, parts of Pakistan, and other regions of the planet. The seeming coincidence of too…

TOKEN AID FOR THAILAND’S FLOOD VICTIMS FROM ADB

Erle Frayne D. Argonza

Whether this news is gladdening or not, the Asian Development Bank had extended emergency funds worth US $3 million to Thailand to shore up the country’s relief and rehabilitation operations in light of the massive…

http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=28254

The Globalization of War

The "Military Roadmap" to World War III



Michel Chossudovsky and Finian Cunningham (Editors)





December…

RETURNING MIGRANTS: HIGHLIGHTING COTE D’IVOIRE

Erle Frayne D. Argonza

So many conflicts are happening across the globe at this moment, leading to mass migrations of affected non-combatants. Rebel groups bent on forming mini-states, such as those on the African continent, form a ceaseless phenomenal tapestry of violence and migrations.

Incidentally, many migrants have returned to the homeland, or as in the case of other…

AID TRANSPARENCY RANKING SHOWS BAD PERFORMANCES!

Erle Frayne D. Argonza

How much transparency is involved in the aid phenomenon? Is the transparency coming from the donor or from the recipient, or from both sides of the aid coin?…

IS SOMALIA’S FAMINE HOPELESSLY IRREVERSIBLE?

Erle Frayne D. Argonza

Is the Somalia famine hopelessly irreversible? If the catastrophe can be reversed, can the interventions be sustained without aid from external donors?

 …