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10 November 2002 |
NEPAD in trouble?
Analysis from the M&G on recent diplomatic manouvering around Mbeki's cherished NEPAD project. The bottom line:
"No one is going to stand up and say Nepad is a bad thing. But people are talking about it less and less because they don't believe it will amount to much.
"The US administration agrees in principle with Nepad's goals. But the inaction over Zimbabwe's persistent breaches of human rights, the inclusion of some very strange people on the Nepad steering committee and Mbeki's statement that political criteria are not part of the peer review system give rise to skepticism.
"The interest level in Nepad wanes as its credibility drops."
Seems to reinforce the scepticism I sensed and wrote about, somewhat cynically, and quoted in the very early days of this weblog.
11:28:58 PM 
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Ubearable News from Zimbabwe Again
Can anyone read this and not feel unbearable sorrow and anger that so many millions of people suffer and die through the despicable actions of the rotten Mugabe and his gang of thugs, and the inaction of the international community? Especially the SA government - bloody Mbeki and Nkosazana Zuma should burn in hell along with Mugabe for their cynical and callous connivance with the brute across the Limpopo. Do something, for God's sake!
On the other hand, it is encouraging to read that there are courageous and honest people prepared to put their lives on the line to oppose Mugabe - guys like this should be supported, they are possibly Zimbabwe's only hope.
11:02:19 PM
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Remembrance Sunday
A graceful, sensitive and sobering piece reminding us of why we remember the war dead at 11am on the Sunday closest to 11/11, and of the unbearable suffering experienced by Europeans in the 20th century. Sample:
On that day alone, August 23, 27,000 French soldiers were killed. By August 29, the French had suffered 260,000 casualties, including 75,000 dead. In the coming four years, the British Army would know no such day, no such week, nor indeed any such months as the last ones of 1914, during which the French lost a total of 300,000 dead: and the war had nearly four blood-sodden years to go.
Puts in perspective the almost bloodless high-tech wars which are fought nowadays (think Afghanistan), and illustrates perhaps why Europeans have a horror of war, and why they shy away from the necessary disciplining of Saddam Hussein.
Also why I thought seriously about my late Dad a week or two ago, on the 60th anniversary of the battle of El Alamein, and the sacrifices he and his generation made on our behalf in the desert and elsewhere.
Thanks Dad.
9:58:39 PM
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Beauty queens are at the forefront of feminism
Jenny McCartney in the opinion pages of the Sunday Telegraph uses the Miss World contest to muse about the state of womanhood and feminism, triggered by beauty queens' support for the unfortunate Amina Lawal, sentenced to be buried up to her neck and stoned to death. One often reads articles about modern man being troubled or feeling threatened. Well, it seems to me his sisters and daughters are equally troubled, and shouldn't gloat.
Women, often unprompted by men, are stampeding to plastic surgeons for breast implants, collagen lips and Botox injections. Anorexia and bulimia are rife among young women who feel too fat to be socially acceptable. The gulf between film-stars and models - who wear as little as possible to show off bodies perfected by exercise, dieting and surgery - and ordinary women is wider than ever.
In Britain, Miss World is no longer screened by the mainstream television channels, partly because it is viewed as rather passe and sexist. And yet a more bullying, insidious beauty contest takes place every day in our newspapers and magazines, in which a celebrated beauty's post-baby weight gain or crow's feet will be exposed with unprecedented glee. No culture in history has had such an intensely censorious obsession with female beauty as that of Britain in 2002.
Young women in the West have better pay and infinitely more choices in life than their mothers or grandmothers, but their dissatisfaction has zealously burrowed inward. They don't complain about society much any more, but about themselves, and the big noses or awful hair that fate has cursed them with. "Does my bum look big in this?" has become the dominant political slogan of a generation.
American feminists such as Naomi Wolf have written that the new battleground is "inside young women's own heads" because they are "suffering as never before from low self-esteem and chronic self-doubt". It is worth remembering, however, that although one's head may be filled with self-doubt, at least it is not poking up from the sand while a baying crowd throws rocks at it: that was to be the fate of Amina Lawal.
8:58:33 PM
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Exclusive : Behind the Bushies UN Victory.
[Google Top Stories]
George W Bush and Colin Powell had a good week. Newsweek has the inside story of how the US Secretary of State achieved a 15-0 resolution in the UN Security Council on Thursday, ramping up the pressure on Saddam Hussein to comply with the international community. Quite the opposite of the hysterical picture presented by the anti-war brigade. Hardly the war-mad, shoot-first cowboy depicted in the stereotypes, but the patient diplomat building a coalition. If war comes, it will not be without using all other levers of coercion.
Newsweek also has an exhaustive analysis of Bush's election victory (TIME also). Perhaps he is not such a dummy after all, but an astute political operator with a great team around him?
A genial sort, seemingly casual about details, Bush is actually a methodical executive with a penchant—almost an obsession—for planning.
...........................
Once the votes were counted, in ballot boxes and at the United Nations, Bush repaired for the weekend to Camp David. The patterns of his public life were repeating themselves, patterns established when he ran for governor of Texas and for president, and when he launched the war on terrorism with an attack on the Taliban in Afghanistan. Once again, he’d been underestimated—and exceeded expectations. Once again, he’d planned meticulously—and stuck doggedly to his game plan. Once again, he’d made few mistakes—far fewer than his enemies assumed he would. Now, at Camp David, he was back into his fitness regimen, lifting weights in the gym, jogging in the woods, even challenging his aides in bowling. There were no big meetings on the agenda, according to Card. At the Pentagon, meanwhile, Donald Rumsfeld & Co. were tinkering with their war plans. And Rove was already crunching the 2002 numbers, looking for clues. From the president’s point of view, 2004 was not far away.
Later: Mark Steyn in the Sunday Telegraph agrees with me in typically economical, robust and graphic prose, a lot more readable and brief than both Newsweek and Time (and yours truly):
Well, if he is an "arrogant cowboy" he's got a lot more to be arrogant about. Within the space of 60 hours this week, George W Bush pulled off an amazing double, stacking up impressive victories in both the US elections and the UN Security Council. In both cases, Two-Gun Tex didn't have to fire a shot, merely stand back and let his opponents shoot themselves in the foot - or possibly a little higher up.
...........................
It's not just that Two-Gun Tex called their bluff but that he played them off against each other brilliantly, going to the UN just before the congressional vote to give the Democrats a little multilateral cover, and then whumping the Dems just before the UN vote to remind Chirac and co that, while he may be an arrogant swaggering moronic cowboy, there ain't gonna be a new sheriff in town for another six years.
..........
After this week, it may be time for the President's disparagers to get some new insults.
2:46:01 PM
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Natasha's Job
We spoke to Natasha on Friday, and for the first time understood exactly what she is working at while waiting for her big break into London journalism. In her usual reticent fashion she hadn't told us much about it, except that she's not earning enough money. Turns out that what she is doing is right up her street. She works at Somerset House, which must be an awesome location, at the Gilbert Collection, London's newest and most important collection of the decorative arts.
Things are looking up, she is very busy with a major new exhibition, "The Jewels of JAR", (a retrospective exhibition of the superb work of virtuoso jewelery designer Joel Arthur Rosenthal), working long hours (and making more money) and hobnobbing with all sorts of big names, Lords and Ladies, big shots from Christie's, Givenchy and Valentino, big New York jewellers. Lord Rothschild is Chairman of the Trustees.
The exhibition itself looks amazing, in fact there was a segment about it on the Greek TV news last night, and it is stunning. So, for a little jewellery designer and magazine journalist from Cape Town, a pretty groovy assignment!
I must say, I had never heard of the Gilbert Collection, but after following the link above, I'm now an expert. Similarly, all I knew about Somerset House was that it was where all the UK family records were kept (turns out they moved out in 1970). But again, after spending time on the web site, I understand how historically and architecturally (Inigo Jones, Sir William Chambers) fascinating it is, and look forward to being able to visit it, newly restored with funds from the UK lottery. The history is fascinating: former home of Elizabeth I and Catherine of Braganza, where Oliver Cromwell lay in state, home of great institutions like the Navy Board, the Royal Academy, the Royal Society and the Inland Revenue. Follow the link and learn all about it.
1:28:28 PM
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England collapse to defeat. Australia wrap up a 384-run victory in the opening Ashes Test after bowling out England for 79 in their second innings. [BBC News | Front Page]
As forecast. Pretty tame finish, being bowled out for 79 in less than 29 overs. Whatever happened to the stiff upper lip? They'll be giving McGrath the impression he's a good bowler!
Meanwhile, back at the Wanderers, Jacques Kallis shows in the best way possible that Minister of Sport Balfour is irrelevant, and that he Kallis, not Balfour) is probably the world's leading all-rounder.
11:28:48 AM
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The Transformation of a Hidebound I.B.M. [New York Times: Technology]
Review of Lou Gerstner's memoir of his time as CEO of IBM, which I must buy as part of my Christmas shopping at Amazon.
Some quotes from the review:
Lou Gerstner saved I.B.M., period.
Probably he did, by reversing the disastrous fragmentation strategy of John Akers, and focussing on IBM's traditional strengths as an integrator and source of wide-ranging expertise.
He writes that the choice to keep the company together, reversing the course set by his predecessor and endorsed by the board, was "the most important decision I ever made — not just at I.B.M., but in my entire career." He based it on strategic analysis and instinct — and listening to customers. His bet was that I.B.M.'s competitive advantage would be as the "foremost integrator of technologies" to solve business problems for corporate customers. So much of what I.B.M. did since then flowed from the one-company decision — the changes in sales, marketing, organization and compensation.
A successful strategy, although in my view, the decision to focus mainly on the top-end corporate customers forced IBM to cede the consumer and small business marketplace to others. Perhaps that battle was already lost. As the review notes:
Before long, Mr. Gerstner also realized that trying to recapture control of the personal computer business from Microsoft was quixotic — costly, time-consuming and yesterday's war.
Sad, because possibly only IBM could have made any impact on Microsoft, the evil empire.
Mr. Gerstner, no stranger to big companies and bureaucracy, was stunned by what he calls "the extraordinary insularity of I.B.M." That resulted in a pathological focus on internal process at I.B.M. instead of on customers and the marketplace.
Yes, that was IBM's fatal weakness, probably fuelled by the endless anti-trust suit of the 70's and 80's. When I left IBM shortly after Gerstner's installation and viewing the company from outside, operating within the same customer set for another, complementary company, it was my strongest impression - the insularity. To some extent, it still exists in the company today. Again, it is possibly the focus on the corporate customers which leads to the weird fact that the world outside and the technological press seems to nothing about what IBM is doing.
A second review in the weekend NY Times makes this point:
Perhaps most important, though, Gerstner, the nontechie, listened to those who anticipated that the PC revolution was entering a new stage. Few in the business then foresaw the big-system foundations of today's networked world, in which corporate customers need soup-to-nuts services provided by a global information technologist. The now common phrase ''e-business'' is essentially I.B.M.'s.
Another recent link in the NY Times covers Sal Palmisano's new reign at IBM, and the new focus on utility computing.
11:23:13 AM
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© Copyright 2006 Robert C Wallace.
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