EconomicsUSA: Construction; Cost of materials in usa rises due to Building Boom in other countries

I found this nooz item in the email nerwsletter of the Associatied General Contractors: of America [Dec17,2k10]  -- Building boom in other countries pushes up materials cost

 The cost of construction materials has increased by 4.8% over the past year and 0.5% in November alone, thanks to burgeoning demand in China and India, according to the Associated General Contractors of America. Prices for copper and brass have risen by 16%; diesel fuel has increased by 18%; and aluminum has grown by 14%. Such sharp cost increases can run construction companies out of business, AGC warns. Los Angeles Times / Money and Company blog (12/16)  

The market is hi-ly sensitive also to precious metals of the newer kind from China, under a new designation, but very important to importers into Ameroica from China of these precious materials [not comparable to 'blood diamonds' as far as i know], China where there's a relative abundance of the necessary mining operations.  For a brief period, China barred exports of these commodities to Anerica 


Telegraph [Aug1,2k10] 'hot political summer as China throttles rare metal supply and claims South China Sea', by Ambrose Evans-Pritchard.


-- EconoMix

India: Sri Lanka: Principals who direct some 50 Christian colleges & universities gather today

COLOMBO, SRI LANKA— A conference of Principals of colleges and universities in India that was previously scheduled for May in Bangkok, Thailand, is now rescheduled for September 9-12, 2010, in Colombo, Sri Lanka. The reason for the re-location is due to the April advisory of India's govt, recommending  that citizens avoid nonessential travel to Bangkok where explosions had killed one person and injured dozens in the city’s main financial district; the travel advisory continued into the month of May.  So, thereupon, the three sponsors of the planned Principals' Conference -- IAPCHE, the National Council of Churches in India (NCCI), and the Student Christian Movement of India (SCMI) -- hastily tried to re-organize the event in another location, but were not able to effect the change. The organizers then agreed to change the date and venue.

Invitation

Therefore, we re-issue our warm invitation to institutions world-wide to join Indian principals (presidents) at the 4-day event with the theme Strengthening through Networking. India is the country with the most IAPCHE institutional members. These institutions have a long history of carrying out their mission in a pluralistic national context, where Hinduism and Islam are the majority religions, and where Jainism, Sikhism and Buddhism have significant communities as well. 

IAPCHE had sponsored an earlier all-India assemblage when more than 50 Indian institutions gathered at a conference in Bangalore in 2009 and agreed to meet again in 2010. This conference is an ideal opportunity for IAPCHE institutions world-wide to make connections with the 50+ Indian institutions; the conference gathered in Sri Lanka last n+te, opening the second such Principal's conference -- this time on the island off the Indian subcontinent in Sri Lanka's capital of Colombo.

We believe that this gathering of colleges founded on Christian values will further our institutions’ mission. Possible benefits include establishing contacts for international students’ admissions, and twinning/joint programs among these h+er ed institutions.  A concept paper and conference brochure was made accessible at Iapche's webs+t. (www.iapche.org). 

About Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka is a presidential parliamentary democracy with a developing economy. In May 2009, the Sri Lankan government declared victory over the Tamil Tigers (an apparently terrorist organization, now defunct, aimed at establishing a separate territory and nation for the island's Tamil population), following more than 26 years of civil conflict.  Sri Lanka's Tamil population is perhaps best viewed in its inter-linguistic and inter-ethnic context, where it is in the minority:

According to the latest estimates Sri Lanka has a population of about 20 million. The ethnic division of the population is: Sinhalese 74% (this comminity is also anciently descended from a people indigenous to India -- largely Buddhist), Tamil 18% (a peopled ethnically related to the Tamils of southern India, including the Indian states of Tamil Nadu and Kerala -- which has a large Christian population), Moor 7% (descended from Arab Muslim immigrants from across the Indian Ocean), Burgher (a community descended, in part, from the Dutch colonists of long ago and inclusive of a synod of 30 Christian Reformed Churches and local missions, as well as of Burgher-descended Catholics), Malay, and Vedda 1%. Major languages in Sri Lanka are: Sinhala 74% (official and national), Tamil 18% (national), other 8%. English is commonly used in government and spoken competently by about 10% of people. Population density of Sri Lanka is 792 persons per square miles.

 Despite the history of conflict, Sri Lanka’s beaches, hill country, and archeological sites continue to attract thousands of visitors each year from around the world.  This is remarkable because the Asian Tsunami (December 26, 2004) caused severe damage and loss of life to several coastal areas of eastern, southern, and southwestern Sri Lanka but the affected areas and resorts have recovered. The capital city of Colombo has good tourist facilities.


-- Rewritten by refWr+t from IAPCHE's Contact newsletter (June,2k10)

Terror: How the Pakistani extremists entered Mumbai, and the aftermath

We reported the recent Mumbai terror earlier (Nov26 refWrite blog entry), and now in the title link we are able to convey the spooky, movie-like opening of the story, how the operatives from Pakistan came ashore in Mumbai's commercial capital (Keith Bradshaw "Armed teams sowed chaos with precision," Nov28,2k8, NYT).

The takeover and then the counter-seige of India's commandos took three days, ending Saturday morning (Nov28), as detailed by Somini Sengupta and Keith Bradshaw (same date, NYT):

Soldiers were still combing the [Taj Mahal] hotel, going room to room in search of remaining gunmen, but the siege appeared finally to have ended, J. K. Dutt, director general of the National Security Guard, an elite commando force, said in the news conference at 9 a.m. Firefighters were permitted to begin pouring water over the flames that had burned out of control in the hotel’s lower floors for as much as an hour while the commandos battled the terrorists.

It was the third day of a siege that has shaken India, raised tensions with neighboring Pakistan and prompted questions about the failure of the authorities to anticipate the tragedy or to react swiftly enough as it unfolded.

Also under assault, adding up to a total of 10 sites, was the Oberoi hotel, the Leopold café, and Nariman House (a hospitality center maintained by a Hasidic Orthodox group serving the 4,000-10,000 Jews of India and, of course, Jews visiting Mumbai from anywhere around the world). The assault on the House was thwarted from above, when Indian commandos rapelled down on ropes from helicopters onto/into the House, already on Thursday, clearing it out before the Taj could be cleaned out--which took another fateful day.

Yet, as soon as I heard that Nariman House was a Jewish site, I felt earlier speculation that the attackers might be extremist Hindus, whose leading badmouther, Narendra Modi, had arrived outside the Taj to stir the throng against the government; I neverthless discarded the notion that blame here belongs to Hindu far-out politics (SS, "Crisis may shift India's political landscape," Nov28,2k8). India's nationalist Hindu extremists do not seem to be fixated against Jews, not purveyors of anti-Judaism: yet certainly they are anti-Islamic. Most of India's (1.3 billion) Hindu population, hopefully, are neither anti-Jew nor anti-Muslim. But some Hindus are vociferously anti-Islam. Since India's general population is 1.3 billion, we should note that Hindus constitute 80.4%, Muslims 13.4%, Jews 0.4%. [After Muslims, Christians are the largest community (2.3%), and while seeming also to be statistically insignificant, a process of persecution has been underway against them by Hindu extremists, now for sometime.] My statistics are from Wikipedia.

India: terror in Mumbai

What has emerged since the Terror at the Taj is simply that the attackers were anti-India, Islamic extremists from Pakistan and perhaps Kashmir. It is said that there were only 10 terrorists, but that figure seems based on the count of the eye-witness of the original landing at the dock, and is probably true about that group. Nevertheless, the figure 10 seems definitively settled, "India faces reckoning as terror toll eclipses 170 (SS & KB, Nov29,2k8, NYT):

The police chief in Mumbai, Hasan Gafoor, said nine gunmen were killed, the last of whom fell out of the terrace of the Taj Hotel on Saturday morning as the siege ended. ... A man who is suspected to be the 10th gunman was arrested; the police say he is a 21-year-old Pakistani, Ajmal Amir Kasab.

Already, Kasab seems to be spilling his guts, at least to some extent.

However, days before the Mumbai terror, from Pakistan Daily via UPI, came word that India's extremist Hindus are not at all sublimely pacifist. "India shocked by discovery of 1st Hindu terror cell" (unsigned, Nov23,2k8).

Returning to our main theme of the Mumbai assault, Kasab is a Pakistani Muslim and an operative of LET, which works out of the Muslim majority population of Kashmir, struggling ostensibly for Kashmir's independence and definitely in active hostility toward India. "5 Lessons from the deadly Mumbai terrorist attacks," Alex Kingsbury (Dec1,2k8, US News & World Report):

While it's too early to know for sure how many terrorists were involved in the three-day shooting spree in Mumbai, counterterrorism officials in the United States and India are already sifting through the evidence in search of clues.

A Pakistan-based militant group, Lashkar-e-Taiba (Army of the Pure), or LET, is the top suspect in the three-day terrorist rampage that left more than 170 people dead, U.S. officials say. "While it's too early to jump to any final conclusions on who may have been responsible for the Mumbai attacks, there are some solid indications that people associated with [LET] were involved," says one U.S. counterterrorism official.

The brazenness of the incident combined with its potential to destabilize the region already has the counterterrorism world searching for lessons learned.

I'm sure we'll soon hear more about Kasab and LET.

Update (Dec4,2k8):

TIME mag's Simon Robinson outlines 4 terrorist networks possibly involved

US backs India's claim against Pakistan intelligence agency (ISI)

Politicarp

Politics: Fiji: New strategy proposed for coping with constitutional and military crisis in the Fiji Republic

Fiji Daily Post carries an Editorial that deserves thawtful consideration from friends of the island Republic around the world, "State of emergency brings peace to the nation" (May16,2k7). Hat Tip for the heads-up from correspondent Dr. Bruce Wearne. The Editor-in-Chief of the independent and courageous Fiji Daily Post is Dr. Robert Wolfgramm.

The decision to extend the state of emergency decree is a wise one. Without the furtherance of the decrees, the nation would surely disintegrate into violence of a scale sometimes warned about by our traditional prophets and doomsday commentators, but (thankfully) not witnessed on these shores in the past.

Every passing day brings more economic slowdown and unrelenting signs of a military clamp-down on free speech of some of our alleged dissidents. Qarase remains island-bound and his court case appears moribund in the administrative and legal processes of the courts.

The SDL case likewise appears becalmed. The combination of an economic downturn with no sign of a speedy return to democracy, coupled with the selective repression of the freedoms of some, is a recipe for turning patience into anger. And if the bubble of security is going to burst, the question is when and what will trigger it. The Interim regime knows that and so it is to their great credit and for the safety of all citizens that we must all put up with more, not less, state of emergency. It is the only way to keep a lid on potentially growing dissent and mounting opposition to Interim control. That is to say, we are as far from satisfying the doctrine of acquiescence as we ever have been and may be even further now than we were on December 5.

Yes, there are a few scattered voices raised here and there in support of the interim regime, but their influence and representativeness, is far from known or acknowledged. On the other hand, anti-Interim websites proliferate. Until the conditions which give rise to opposition to the Interim regime are moderated or allayed completely - that is, until democracy is restored and in its train assistance packages refurbished to our ailing economy and the rights of dissidents respected - a state of emergency is the best option for the foreseeable future.

We must get back top democracy as a priority, but not if an all-out war between the political factions that currently divide the nation is allowed to erupt. The state of emergency may not be pleasant, but like a leash on a dog, it restrains tempers and lets most people walk the streets and sleep safely at night. It allows for a sense of well-being for most and ensures the nation is at peace.

I chime in, thinking Dr Wolfgramm has alerted us in the past to the antidemocratic and unconstitutional actions of the military in dismissing the elected governmtment of Quarase, while replacing it with an illegal "Interim" government by the self-appointed "guardians"--namely, the military. At this distance, I find myself trusting editor Wolfgramm, a principled Christian-democratic thinker.

The fleeting glimpses the Editor-in-Chief gives us of the economic downturn (resulting from the withdrawal of aid packages from New Zealand, Australia, and the European Union -- if I recall correctly); and of the understandable rise of militant blogging against the military regime; both of these glimpses lead on to certain geostrategic considerations that make the overall picture in Fiji grim, to say the least.

SouthWest Pacific > Fiji

Undoubtedly there are countries who would want a SouthWest Pacific listening post and puppet showcase--Russia, even more so China, and not forgetting the India-heritage population-segment now in Fiji for generations, let's add India to this list. One or all of these could suddenly prioritize Fiji by offering an aid package that could outdo whatever the island Republic was receiving from elsewhere. To my mind, what argues against this scenario is the military leadership's apparent adulatory cultivation of American politicians and Survivor-escape tourist ventures. But, I don't think these affinities are enuff to push aside the constraining American reliance on the New Zealand + Australian sphere of influence in the SouthWest Pacific. [I've further thawts on all these countries in relation to Fiji, from the stamdpoint of world geostrategic reflection, but that's for another time; and I would pursue them in my Neo-Constantinian Horizons blog, not here in my refWrite frontpage column.]

Rookmaker Club geostrategic analysis

As to the proliferation of militant regime-overthrow bloggers (I may be forecasting instead of reporting by using the term "regime-overthrow" here, as such trends sometimes develop an inner dynamic all their own, sometimes becoming dominated by forces without a peaceful democratic society honestly in mind as their goal and at heart as their envisioned norm), Dr Wolfgramm states simply that "anti-Interim websites proliferate." Who is financing them, just the irate citizens that have had enuff? Or do we look to countries or corporations that would have an interest in financing such dissidents and which have a new or old interest in Fiji--an interst in Fiji not for its own sake, but for its value as a stepping stone to other countries in the region? Does China want a capitalist-communist pro-China base--a Hong Kong?, a Macao?, a Cuba--nearby its prized customers / espionage targets New Zealand and Australia? Just asking. Or, turning the question about, is such worriment precisely what the Interimist-military complex fosters and seeks to use as leverage in furthering its own ends. So the residual questio: whether only an Interimist fictional scenario is behind anti=Interimist support for anti-regime bloggers?, or whether a real political praxis by an expansive Chinese communo-capitalist state (for instance) is behind much / some / a few of the dissident bloggers?

Dr Wolfgramm concludes:

Until the conditions which give rise to opposition to the Interim regime are moderated or allayed completely - that is, until democracy is restored and in its train assistance packages refurbished to our ailing economy and the rights of dissidents respected - a state of emergency is the best option for the foreseeable future.

Sadly, I have to concur. I do so out of a Christian-democratic neo-Constantinian anti-revolutionary framework of political values and geostrategic thinking. But the anti-revolutionary component has its limits, as does the neo-Constantinian.

Yet, we should keep in mind, sometimes the doctrine of acquiescence is definitively blocked in a potentially revolutionary situation, and intransigence prevails past its shelf-date. If one can't retreat from Fiji and the kairos moment comes when the peace on the street is broken, even for the general public of the island once-upon-a-time Republic, what criteria could be proposed for direct action to preserve / restore the Republic in democratic fullness? By peaceful means only, in the first instance? How to coalesce bloggers calling for direct action yet wanting peaceful democracy in an independent Republic distinct from any bloggers who may turn to revolutionism that really works toward a dictatorship alternative to the military-Interimist regime? How to discern the spirits if direct action becomes a cause? How to configure a coalition that isolates out from the circle of democratic and Christian-democratic co-belligerents, those others following a revolutionistic path pure and simple? Fiji is not Nepal, but....

Could Christian-democratic discussion clubs focused on these issues help in this situation at this moment?

Speaking in regard to action, one could ask: How to divide the bloggers who are authentic Fijian patriots from those who are serving foreign interests (whether foreign states or mega-corporations which may be the root of the military's coup, or may be a new force seeking to wedge its way into influence / power in this moment of weakness for all Fijian democracy and constituitonality)?

I will be posting further on the Fiji dissident bloggers on refWrite refBlogger Insert--a reformational blog which is devoted to exposing blog abuse and to supporting bloggers who are repressed, denied at least a modicum of freedom of speech in various represssive countries. As regular readers will know, I do not believe in an absolute freedom of speech, but there is a time and place for much expression that you or I may detest and consider to be quite anti-normative. In that lite, we must search for guidelines for our communal Christian reformational stance, an intelligence-fortified basic argument to defend the freedom of speech / blogging by the new Fijian extra-parliamentary opposition (a very mixed designation, I'd guess), freedom of speech within normative limits, and opposition to any imposed illegal extra-constitutional regime--that principled core of ideas remains de rigeur.