Why are food prices rising?

Excerpts from various FT articles

Food prices have been rising steadily in the past few months and the effects are being felt globally. As agricultural commodities such as wheat and dairy trade at record highs, some governments, such as Russia, are implementing price controls on selected types of bread, cheese, milk, eggs and vegetable oil.

Rice prices have surged to a 20-year high in the latest sign of global food inflation, creating policy headaches in Asia, where more than 2.5bn people depend on cheap and abundant supplies of the grain. Asia has not known famines since the 1970s, and recent price rises for rice and other basic foodstuffs have sparked unrest.

Indeed, there is already ample evidence that political tensions are building: the World Food Programme, for example, now thinks a third of the world’s population lives in countries with food price controls or export bans.

There are now widespread predictions that there could be further price increases soon, because of growing demand for key resources. Scarcity of water and arable land means that the boom in food prices could last longer than most expect, a new study has warned. But why is food getting more expensive?

Here are the main factors I summarise from various articles: tight supplies and rising demand in emerging markets, urbanisation, changing diets in emerging market, subsidies and market distortion, the impact of climate change, rising input price, capital and resource misallocation. Click on the title link for interactive multimedia.

More related topics: http://www.ft.com/foodprices

Twenty-year high in rice prices sparks fears:

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/f40ad5ca-e975-11dc-8365-0000779fd2ac,dwp_uuid=a955630e-3603-11dc-ad42-0000779fd2ac.html

The next crisis will be over food: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/5a9b3c72-db2e-11dc-9fdd-0000779fd2ac,dwp_uuid=a955630e-3603-11dc-ad42-0000779fd2ac.html

U.S. Is Top Source of Money Sent Home by Migrants

India gets more money sent back from migrants than any country in the world, according to a new World Bank report that also showed the U.S. was the top source of remittance.
Migrants sent $27 billion to India in 2007. China came in second, receiving $25.7 billion and Mexico was a close third with $25 billion.
In many developing countries, remittances provide a life line for the poor. They are often an essential source of foreign exchange and a stabilizing force for the economy in turbulent times.
The U.S., which was the top immigration country in 2005 with 38.4 million immigrants, is by far the largest source of outflows, with $42 billion in recorded outward flows in 2006. Saudi Arabia ranks as the second largest, followed by Switzerland and Germany. The Mexico-U.S. corridor is the largest migration corridor in the world, the Worlds Bank said, accounting for 10.4 million migrants by 2005.
For 2007, recorded remittances flows world-wide are estimated at $318 billion, of which $240 billion went to developing countries. However, the World Bank notes, “These flows don’t include informal channels, which would significantly enlarge the volume of remittances if they were recorded.” –Phil Izzo

Trackback URL: http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2008/03/19/us-is-top-source-of-money-sent-home-by-migrants/?mod=WSJBlog/trackback/

Links to the original article and more information about immigration and remittance: http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/NEWS/0,,contentMDK:21692926~pagePK:34370~piPK:34424~theSitePK:4607,00.html

Asia faces 'unique and complex' terror threat

Business Times, 22 Feb 2008

THE terrorist threat facing businesses operating in South-east Asia is 'unique, complex and specific to the region', according to Lloyd's, the world's leading specialist insurance market, which also provides insurance cover against terrorism.

A new report from Lloyd's and the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), released yesterday in Singapore, warns that traditional forms of terrorism in Asia are being superseded by area-specific threats, such as criminal gangs with political agendas.

The report, entitled 'Terrorism in Asia: What does it mean for business?', outlines five practical steps businesses can take to minimise the threat from a terrorist attack:

1. gather high-quality information from the right sources - both government and academic

2. guide strategy and operations;
3. choose locations wisely
4. adopt security as business facilitator, not a burden;
5. protect supply chains; and
6. engage with local communities and understand local customs and traditions.

The report found that the main threat to businesses operating in South-east Asia are proximity to Western targets, such as embassies and hotels; kidnapping of employees; and threats to transport routes and supply chains.

Speaking at the launch of the report, Lloyd's chief executive officer Richard Ward said:

'There is no such thing as a uniform global threat, and in South-east Asia, businesses face some complex and specific regional issues. While there are fewer occurrences of Islamist terrorism in the area, criminal gangs with agendas are on the rise, with kidnappings and other forms of violent crime increasingly prevalent in some parts of the region.'

'Businesses need to be better at information gathering from the right source in order to focus on what they are actually threatened with, not reading the media headlines that usually focus on radicalism, and making decisions based on that,' he said.

Strategic Trade Routes: Seeking new ways to deliver the goods

One of the best places to appreciate the development of trade between Asia and Europe is aboard a ship in the Gulf of Suez. (Click here to look at possible routes for transporting cargo in Asia and Europe.)

According to figures from Global Insight, an economics and trade forecaster, container shipping volumes between Asia and Europe are likely to grow 17.2 per cent this year alone. Traffic this year will approach double its 2003 level – part of the reason why ships deployed on the route now are two-and-a-half times the size of the largest a decade ago.

With demand in North America slowing this year, Asia-Europe trades could soon overtake trans-Pacific trades as the world’s main long-haul container trade route. The surge has led to questions all along the route of this remarkable flow of goods about how best to capitalise on the trade and how to cope with it. Operators’ strategies are constantly changing as they seek ever-cheaper, faster, more reliable means of moving their goods.

One of the most important trends at work is obvious along China’s River Yangtze, which links much of inland China to the sea at Shanghai.

The move inland has inspired hope that the rail route from Asia to Europe, via the trans-Mongolian or trans-Manchurian railways on to Russia’s famous trans-Siberian route, might be able to capture a portion of the traffic. Russian and Chinese railway officials argued at an event this year in Brussels that the faster journey time on the route compared with sea transport gave it a significant competitive advantage. In June, European Rail Shuttle, part of Denmark’s AP Møller-Maersk, operated what it said was the first train carrying imports to Europe all the way from China.

Many parts of Asia are also focusing on developing the cargo capabilities of their airports, in the hope of acting either as hubs or gateways to and from areas producing high-value electronics or other valuable goods that are expensive enough to justify the higher costs involved in air transport.

Lines can also use different strategies to improve their reliability, using small feeder vessels to call at congested ports such as India’s Jawaharlal Nehru Port then picking up the goods from a transshipment hub such as Colombo in Sri Lanka or Salalah in Oman. At the European end, lines are particularly concerned with how to cope with soaring traffic levels at relatively undeveloped ports in the Black and Baltic Seas.

Prasat Preah Vihear

Recently Preah Vihear has become a hot issue between Cambodia and Thailand again. What is special about the historic temple? You will see how great it is after seeing its photos, studying its architecture, reading its history and watching its videos.
Location
Preah Vihear Temple is located in a pleasant environment with an attractive countryside slightly east of the mid section of Dongrek Mountains. It perches on the edge of a giant cliff, about 625 meters in Preah Vihear Province, north of Cambodia, about 625km from the capital city Phnom Penh. It is also close to Thai border.
The Structure of the Temple
The temple has four levels and four courtyards comprising of five Gopuras ( entrance pavilions some times surmounted by tower )Palace Building or Gopuras on the third level.
The group of buildings was the King’s residence when he came to pay homage to the mighty God , and the two wings were the shelters for the pilgrims. The main temple are used for high-ranking supreme divinities. This mighty group of building is considered as the center of the whole temple complex.
The front stone stairway : this main passage is on the North side. The stairway is 8 meters wide and 78 meters long. The first flight has 162 steps. At the first landing is a large stone singa statue on stone block. Another 54 flight of steps, 4 meters wide and 27 meters long, leading up to the second landing is also decorated with stone signa statue.
The Nagaraj Courtyard : this stone-paved is 7 meters wide by 31.8 meters long. From here the stairway leads up to the first-level Gropura. The stair heads are in the form of seven-headed snakes called "Ngu Suang " facing North towards the Prasat. The heads and tails of nagas on both sides look like ordinary snakes, characterizing and early example of this type of animal figures. The head portion of the naga on the west side looks very impressive because it is made from a single solid stone.
The first level Gopura : this is a pavilion in Greek architecture style with cross plan on an elevated, rebates angle base on each of the roof doorway . Stone lions are placed on each of the roofs doorway.
Accessibility to the Temple
The temple can be reached by crossing the Cambodia-Thai gateway border from the Ubon Ratchantani Province of Thailand. Currently the visits are from 8.00 till 16.00 hours.The Grandeur of its site
For all the grandeur of its site, perched on the edge of a giant cliff and with a commanding view over northern Cambodia, Preah Vihear is difficult to visualize as a whole. The experience is truly a memorable one – the series of ascents over the best part of a kilometer, the ornate Gopuras and the wealth of decorative detail truly staggers one’s imagination.

Click on the title link for its history. Preah Vihear authority website: http://www.preahvihearauthority.org/contents/biograpy.php

Preah Vihear videos on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhg49PtU-ss&eurl=http://www.preahvihearauthority.org/contents/biograpy.php

Eight Healthy Reasons To Drink Beer

Eight healthy reasons to drink alcohol : heart health, stroke and hypertension and diabetes prevention, cognitive function boost, strong bone, staying a live (reduce mortality) and feeling healthier.

A decade's worth of health research shows that regular, moderate beer intake--one to two 12 ounce glasses per day for men and one for women--can be good for you, especially if you're facing some of the most common diseases related to aging.

A number of studies are showing that moderate consumption of alcohol, including beer, can have similar heart healthy effects, including making men 30 to 35% less likely to have a heart attack than those who abstain.

Alcohol in moderation raises high-density lipoprotein or HDL, known as good cholesterol. It also appears to have a favorable effect on the lining of blood vessels, making them less likely to form a clot or for a clot to rupture and plug an artery, and may help protect against Type 2 diabetes.

"People should realize that a little bit of alcohol on a regular basis decreases the risks of aging," says Ellison, who specializes in researching, among other things, the relationship between moderate alcohol consumption and chronic diseases.

And earlier this month researchers at the National Institutes of Health released a study showing that frequent drinking in moderation may protect men from death due to cardiovascular disease. Men who reported drinking 120 to 365 days a year had a 20% lower cardiovascular death rate than those who drank one to 36 days a year.

Beer may also give your brain a boost. Adults over age 65 who drank one to six alcoholic beverages over the course of the week turned out to have a lower risk of dementia than non-drinkers or heavier drinkers. Likewise, a 2006 report that appeared in an American Heart Association journal showed that a drink or two a day might be linked to better cognitive function in women.

Click on the title link for detail. Link to resons to drink beer: http://www.forbes.com/2008/03/14/beer-drink-health-forbeslife-cx_avd_0317health_slide_2.html?thisspeed=20000

Trade wars can lead to shooting wars

This is a very long article, which requires a strong general knowledge of various fields to comprehend. It is one of the most interesting, sophisticated, informative, balanced, and complete articles I ever read. The commentary is really worth reading. The below summary is just some notable excerpts from the original article ( with some edition). Click on the link title for a complete version.

Excerpts from Asia Times by Henry C K Liu

Within US policy circles, the rapid rise of China as a major force in the global economy is provoking a reconsideration of whether free trade is still in the US national interest.

The prospect that China can be a major economic power is feeding widespread paranoia in the United States. The fear is that developing nations, led by China and India, may out-compete the advanced nations for high-tech jobs while keeping the low-skill, labor-intensive manufacturing jobs they already own. China already is the world's biggest producer and exporter of consumer electronics and it is a matter of time before it becomes a major player in auto exports. Shipbuilding is now dominated by China and aircraft manufacturing will follow.

The fear of China by Western World dates back to almost two centuries of racial prejudice, ever since Western imperialism invaded Asia beginning in the early 19th century, and it has been accelerating with these facts: It is the country with the world's largest population, an ancient culture and long history would again be a big player in the world economy as it modernizes, the fear that China might soon gain advantages of labor, capital and even technology. Chinese culture commands close affinity with the peoples of Asia, the main concentration of the world's population and a revived focal point of global geopolitics.

The US is waking up from its self-delusion to the reality that free trade never leads to balanced trade. Free trade always works against the weaker trading partner, even with the principle of comparative advantage. The US was happy to promote free trade when unbalanced trade was in favor of the stronger US economy. Balanced trade between unequal partners requires managed trade at the expense of the stronger partner, which is achieved by the weaker economy resorting to government interference for more favorable terms of trade.

While the narrowing of the wage disparity will slow the job drain to China, the resultant rise in Chinese aggregate national wealth will threaten US economic dominance in the world. In a neo-liberal free-trade regime, the US has a choice of losing jobs or losing economic dominance and geopolitical power to China. That is the key dilemma in US economic policy toward China.

A market economy is a feeble weakling compared with a wartime command economy. That a war in Asia would relocate manufacturing jobs back to the United States in large scale to get the US economy moving again must have occurred to the neo-con warriors who have been controlling US policy since 2000. The hawks in this group are betting that China's nuclear deterrence against attacks from the US can be neutralized by the US strategic defense initiative (SDI), and that the US mainland will again be safe from attack.

Henry Kissinger, arguably the greatest living master of geo-realpolitik, wrote on June 13 in the Washington Post: "Military imperialism is not the Chinese style. [Karl von] Clausewitz, the leading Western strategic theoretician, addresses the preparation and conduct of a central battle. Sun Tzu, his Chinese counterpart, focuses on the psychological weakening of the adversary. China seeks its objectives by careful study, patience and the accumulation of nuances - only rarely does China risk a winner-take-all showdown."

US fear of China is a reaction to the destabilizing effect on existing, established geo-economics from the natural rise in economic power of a modernizing nation with a large population. It was this natural advantage of a large population that permitted the US and the USSR to exploit geopolitical opportunities to catapult themselves into superpower status after World War II.

China, similarly to the US experience, will go through several series of historic policy debates over the choice between isolationism and international engagement as its economy develops. Developing countries should not misconstrue isolationism as an effective strategy of anti-imperialism. Quarantine is a strategy that deprives the subject of any chance of developing effective immunity against invading viruses that eventually exposes it to more serious vulnerability. Hostility breeds counter-hostility, and protectionism breeds counter-protectionism. Isolation between hostile nations leads inevitably to war.

The decline of China that began in early 19th century was traceable in part to Chinese self-imposed isolationism, in contrast to Japan's forced opening to the then more technologically advanced West that led to the Meiji Reformation. Immigration is the fountainhead of economic development and sustained prosperity. The developmental history of the US is one of immigration. Germany benefited greatly from the immigration of Jews and lost much from Nazi prosecution of its Jewish citizens.

An internationally engaged China will be a positive force for world peace and prosperity. US hostility and preemptive strategy toward a peacefully rising China may be forced to fall back on ineffective US unilateralism, devoid of willing partners even from among its residual Cold War allies. Everywhere else in the world, from Asia to Latin America, from the Middle East to Africa, sympathy for China's effort to regain its natural prominence in the world and positive response to its effective development strategy are mounting while appreciation for unilateral US security and economic policies is falling.

Neo-communism in China is largely a strategic response to and the resultant consequence of expanding global neo-liberalism. If neo-liberalism should fail and the global trading system freeze, the future of Chinese neo-communism will also be put in jeopardy. Thus US isolationism is the unwitting ally of Chinese orthodox communism.

"The general dogma that anything that expands globalization is good for everyone isn't right," Samuelson said. And as all political scientists know, when the majority loses, the politics turns ugly in a democracy.

China is significant not only because it is the most populous nation with the fastest-growing economy, but also because it is one of the poorest and thus has much prospect and room for basic growth. The whole world now wants to trade and interact with the Chinese economy because under the current trade regime, trade with China benefits the foreign trading partners more than its does China itself. Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan warned senators in public testimony not to let their misguided frustrations with China's economic policies breed reactions that would do the US economy more harm than good.

The danger of trade wars

US geopolitical hostility toward China will manifest itself first in trade friction, which will lead to a mutually recriminatory trade war between the two major economies that will attract opportunistic trade realignments among the traditional allies of the United States. US multinational corporations, unable to steer US domestic politics, will increasingly trade with China through their foreign subsidiaries, leaving the US economy with even fewer jobs, and a condition that will further exacerbate anti-China popular sentiments that translate into more anti-free-trade policies generally and anti-China policies specifically.

A war between the US and China can have no winners, particularly on the political front. Even if the US were to prevail militarily through its technological superiority, the political cost of military victory would be so severe that the US as it currently exists would not be recognizable after the conflict and the original geopolitical aim behind the conflict would remain elusive, as the Vietnam War and the Iraq war have demonstrated.

US policymakers have an option to make China a friend and partner in a peaceful world for the benefit of all nations. To do so, they must first recognize that the world can operate on the principle of platitude and that prosperity is not something to be fought over by killing consumers in a world plagued with overcapacity.

Why business ignores the business schools

By Michael Skapinker, FT.com sitePublished: Jan 07, 2008

The three Democratic front-runners in the US presidential primary campaigns are lawyers. Even the spouses of Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and John Edwards are lawyers. Mike Huckabee and John McCain are not lawyers, but Rudy Giuliani and Fred Thompson are.
Business schools have a thing about lawyers. First, they seem to run the US. Of America's 43 presidents, 25 have been lawyers. Only one has been an MBA (Bush).
Law schools seem to have an impact on their own profession that business schools cannot match. When law schools publish journals, lawyers read them. When law schools put on conferences, lawyers turn up. Chief executives, on the other hand, pay little attention to what business schools do or say.
In article after article in the Academy's Journal, the business school professors lament their inability to research and write about their work in a way that real-life business people understand.
The reason that real-life lawyers, doctors and engineers have no problem with their research is not because they are smarter than business people, but because the research assists them in what they do. In contrast, the way people behave in the office is far more mysterious. What works in one company may not work in another.
Managers tend to be practical rather than theoretical, proceeding by trial and error: this works, that doesn't. Rather than building on competitors' achievements, the best often seek to do something different.Business schools can describe what innovative companies have done: Harvard's case study method does just that. But this is, by definition, backward-looking. Business school professors will struggle to tell us what innovators will do next. If they knew, they would surely do it themselves.

I agree with most of the arguments in this article. Businessmen tend to learn more from their practices rather than B schools. Many great businessmen and millionaires are not business graduates; they are entrepreneurs. They don't even follow business books most of the time. Business graduates, in average, MAY score better in doing business. The dynamics of business world, however, have been changing rapidly due to globalization, sophistication in doing business and cut-throat competition: B education will be more useful eventually.

World's Billionaires

By roatha007

Here are the latest updates and special reports of the world's billionaires from Forbes. Gates is now not the richest man any more. Although the US still ranks first in terms of the number of billionaires, more and more billionaires are from BRIC, especially Russia and India. Moscow tops the list as number one billionaire city with 74 , following by New York. It's a surprise that Japan produces few given its economic power.

The ranking bases mainly on the market value of their stock which is vulnerable to fluctuation due to their companies' performance and economic forces. Most get their windfall from oil, telecommunication and IT related businesses, investment and trading. Even though some new comers make into the list due to oil fortune, some former super rich from the middle east are toppled. Hong Kong has most billionaires in Asia (30) and ranks fifth in the world. Li Ka-sing from HK is Asia's richest man (11th in the world). Cambodia may have few. Perhaps, Forbes forget to include!

See who the richest men are, their nationality, how they make a fortune, which countries/ cities have most billionaires, billionaire trend and more. Click on the name to see more details about each billionaire.

Billionaire list: http://www.forbes.com/lists/2008/10/billionaires08_The-Worlds-Billionaires_Rank.html
Special reports: http://www.forbes.com/home/lists/2008/03/05/richest-people-billionaires-billionaires08-cx_lk_0305billie_land.html

Russia and China’s challenge for the west

By Gideon Rachman
October 23 2007

Dmitry Peskov, official spokesman for the Russian president, likes a joke. Visitors to his Kremlin office last week noticed that the screensaver on his computer is a series of revolving quotes from George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four: “Big Brother is watching you”, “war is peace”, “freedom is slavery”, “ignorance is strength”.

Mr Peskov speaks with the relaxed good humour of an American spin-doctor. But listening to some of what he had to say, I experienced a strong sense of déjà vu – and it was not the US that was brought to mind. It was China.

During the cold war, it was natural to lump Russia and China together. Now the two countries are once again occupying similar ideological terrain. They no longer espouse communism. But both Russia and China have nonetheless separately arrived at very similar political doctrines. At home, the formula is authoritarianism, combined with rapid economic growth and nationalism. Internationally, both see their rising economic power as the basis for righting past humiliations. They preach a doctrine of absolute respect for national sovereignty.

Russian and Chinese nationalism – backed by economic strength – poses obvious foreign policy dilemmas for the west. The issues involved are both practical and philosophical. Was it wrong to suppose that globalisation and economic growth would eventually mean that Russia and China would become liberal democracies? If that was too glib, are the new China and Russia threatening to western interests?

It is too soon to answer these questions definitively. China and Russia once again pose an ideological challenge to the west. But authoritarian nationalism, backed by massive foreign reserves, may turn out to be simply a phase on the long march to liberal democracy. Or it may turn out to be something more durable – and Orwellian.

Gold King Again

Gold passes $1,000 an ounce for the first time, and it is widely expected to shoot even higher in the near future.

By roatha007 with references to the Economist articles

The recent gold's rise, in one sense, is part of a surge in commodity prices that has seen oil break above $100 a barrel, and wheat reach a record high on supply shortages and rising demand from the world's meat-eating middle classes. It may sound circular, but inflationary fears are one of the reasons gold prices are rising.

The trend has been seen as vindication by those who believe that gold is the only real store of value and that paper money is doomed to decline to its intrinsic worth, zero. Indeed, one of the main reasons why gold is priced in four digits is related to the problems of the dollar. The greenback dropped below 100 yen on Thursday, its lowest level since 1995.

Gold acted as a safe haven in the sense that it did tend to rise when stock markets fell sharply, but this characteristic lasted for only 15 days. So if you were worried about a sudden collapse in the stock market, buying gold could have acted as an insurance policy, but only if you were quick on your feet.

The unprecedented hike enables gold holders make a good fortune. Gold has proved to be a best alternative investment when dollar depreciates; it tends to appreciate when the US or the world economy is in trouble. It is perceived to be a useful anti-inflation and declining-dollar hedge. The very-long-term record of gold has been pretty good relative to most currencies. High demand in emerging economies and speculation also play a vital role.

In Cambodia coupled with the global trend, the surge may due to oversupply of dollar through the influx of foreign capital, tourist dollar and under-the-pillow money, mainly the corrupt one. Those, esp low-income people, making a fortune from selling land flock to buy gold whether for ornament or as deposit, as they think it is safer than keeping dollar at home: The mentality in many cash-based poor economies, where people do not prefer using banks. The soaring demand for gold in Cambodia during price hike is somehow unusual(?). Though, the trend may not last long when there is no windfall from real estate boom any more (if there is no external shock). Here are other related articles:

Gold is a useful hedge—but only for a fortnight
thttp://www.economist.com/finance/displaystory.cfm?story_id=8984177
Gold is enjoying a speculative surge
http://www.economist.com/finance/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10809383
Links to gold websites:
World Gold Council http://www.gold.org/
Kitco http://www.kitco.com/charts/livegold.html
Seekingalpha http://seekingalpha.com/sector/gold-precious

10 Wonders of the New China

National Grand Theater in Beijing

China's current building boom driven by 2008 Olympic is doing more than sucking up the world's supply of steel; it's creating a stage for some of today's boldest architecture and engineering. Stunning economic boom and communist rule enables the middle kingdom do anything the world thinks impossible. Take a tour of the 10 of the most intriguing examples. Click on the link title for slide shows of more wonders.

How to Develop Strategic Thinking Skills in Business

Strategic thinking is a process in which you develop a vision for your business and then work backwards to develop a plan to accomplish that vision. Without vision, a business will have no direction, but it's impossible to achieve a vision without a strategy. Strategic thinking involves developing skills in creativity, problem solving, teamwork, critical thinking and flexibility। Strategic thinkers are able to see the big picture, as well as how to attain it.

Learn to Think Strategically
Step 1: Examine the status quo. Strategic thinking skills require you to examine how things have always been done critically in order to determine if that is the way things should be done. Strategic thinkers are willing to look outside of the norm to find more efficient and creative ways of doing things.
Step 2: Look at the forest, not the trees. Strategic thinkers are not mired down by the details of managing day-to-day issues.
Step 3: Focus on the future. Strategic thinking is goal oriented and guided by a vision for the future of a company. When you are developing strategies for business growth, those strategies must have clearly defined goals that contribute to the overall vision for the company.
Step 4: Consider external forces such as governmental regulations, legal developments, market conditions, economic factors and technological developments that can affect how you plan for the future.
Step 5: Get feedback from within your industry. Market research, particularly in product-driven industries, can help you match the vision for your company to consumer expectations.
Step 6: Check the facts. Even though strategic thinking involves making predictions about the future, those predictions must be realistic. Gather hard data, including your organizations financial reports and analysis of your industry.
Step 7: Consider the organizational structure of your business and assess how that team fits into your strategies for the future. You may have to reorganize your team to achieve your goals.
Step 8: Anticipate challenges. An important part of thinking strategically is being able to predict what issues will arise and devising a plan to confront those issues ahead of time.

Six Ways to Stop Memory Loss

I found this article useful for those using their brain lots, especially scholars. Our brains are like machines. They need care and break. One should know how to balance brain use: use it to sharpen your cognitive skill but don't use it too much.

With the wave of elder boomers looming, scientists are hard at work on ways to prevent dementia and ordinary mental decline. The research is beginning to bear fruit: it's clear that a healthy lifestyle and mental exercise can measurably improve cognitive functioning. Here are six brain-sharpening recommendations that mindful folks of any age can follow.

1. Go Aerobic: an impressive lineup of research suggests that exercise promotes new neurons in the hippocampus, the area of the brain responsible for some aspects of memory. Neuroscientist Arthur Kramer at the University of Illinois found that after only six months people over 60 who exercised three times a week for an hour had the brain volumes of people three years younger.
2. Be a Player: Software has been used for years to help people who have suffered strokes or traumatic brain injuries regain specific mental abilities. Healthy folks have their choice of a host of products, including one, Posit Science's Brain Fitness Program.
3. Fat Factor: Omega-3 fatty acids, which are plentiful in flaxseed, walnuts, wild salmon, cooked soybeans and halibut, among other foods, are not only mood-boosters but can improve concentration, according to work at the University of Siena in Italy.
4. Take Folic Acid: Research published last year in the British medical journal the Lancet found that adults ages 50 to 70 who took 800mg a day of folic acid for three years did much better on cognitive tests than a placebo group.
5. Bottoms Up: Among seniors with mild memory and cognitive problems, those who had one alcoholic drink a day, typically wine, had a slower progression of their dementia over a three-year period than the teetotalers.
6. Relax: Seniors with higher levels of the stress hormone cortisol in their blood have a smaller hippocampus and do worse on memory tests, according to researchers at Douglas Hospital. Stress may also act as a trigger to poor memory in people with a gene associated with Alzheimer's. You can find the American Academy of Family Physicians' tips on managing stress here.

Asia’s Dangerous Divide

Beijing and Washington are building new alliances throughout the continent. Is it a good or bad news for Cambodia?

Later this month, the navies of the United States, India, Japan, Australia and Singapore will get together in the Bay of Bengal for one of the largest peacetime joint military exercises ever. Dubbed Malabar 07, the exercise stems in part from Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's recent push to strengthen ties with India and other Asian democracies.

His motivation for the move isn't hard to understand. Around the same time Abe was in India, 6,500 troops from Russia, China and four Central Asian countries converged on the Siberian city of Chelyabinsk to show off their own armed prowess. The "Peace Mission 07" exercise was held under the auspices of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).

Yet the underlying message was clear enough. Taken together, the Malabar and Peace Mission exercises point to a potentially dangerous reality taking shape: the emergence of two competing security camps in Asia. On the one hand stands the United States, still the area's dominant military power; traditional allies such as Japan and Australia; and a few new friends, such as Mongolia and, potentially, India. On the other stands China, which is using its rapid economic growth and accelerating defense spending, as well as close ties to Russia, Pakistan, the Central Asian states, Burma, and Cambodia, to raise its own profile and to develop a sphere of influence. As the competition accelerates, more and more states are finding themselves forced to choose sides.

This is unlikely to result in a stark new cold war; for economic reasons, especially, countries in both spheres should remain more integrated than the Soviet and U.S. blocs were during the second half of the 20th century. And a number of states—including South Korea, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, and Vietnam—seem determined to sit on the fence. Still, the security situation is growing increasingly tense as the sides jockey for influence. Apart from anti-Western ire, another powerful glue binding the Chinese camp is energy security. Both the U.S. and China are driven increasingly by a fight for energy supplies (vital ports and strategic routes).

Despite the many warning signs, however, some scholars advise against gloomy predictions. They argue that the SCO, for example, shouldn't be taken seriously, since its members, while sharing some interests, are divided by others. Economic interconnections also greatly complicate the picture. China is integrated into the West and the global economy in ways that the Soviet Union never was. India is also very eager to do business with China, and signed an economic-cooperation and border agreement with its giant neighbor in 2005. Economic factors also help explain why a number of states have refused to align with either security camp. South Korea, once a stalwart U.S. ally, has lately seemed to be tilting toward China, which—here again—recently became Seoul's pre-eminent business partner.

"Everybody has concerns about China, but the closer you are to China the less you're able to articulate them out loud," says the CSIS's Glosserman. "I think everyone is hedging in every direction." And it will probably be some time before China and its new friends pose a serious military threat to the United States and its camp. But they're trying—and if trends continue in the current direction, they may well someday succeed.

Pioneers of the Pacific

Beyond the Blue Horizon: How ancient voyagers settled the far-flung islands of the Pacific
By Roff Smith
Much of the thrill of venturing to the far side of the world rests on the romance of difference. So one feels a certain sympathy for Captain James Cook on the day in 1778 that he "discovered" Hawaii. Then on his third expedition to the Pacific, the British navigator had explored scores of islands across the breadth of the sea, from lush New Zealand to the lonely wastes of Easter Island. This latest voyage had taken him thousands of miles north from the Society Islands to an archipelago so remote that even the old Polynesians back on Tahiti knew nothing about it. Imagine Cook's surprise, then, when the natives of Hawaii came paddling out in their canoes and greeted him in a familiar tongue, one he had heard on virtually every mote of inhabited land he had visited. Marveling at the ubiquity of this Pacific language and culture, he later wondered in his journal: "How shall we account for this Nation spreading it self so far over this Vast ocean?"

That question, and others that flow from it, has tantalized inquiring minds for centuries: Who were these amazing seafarers? Where did they come from, starting more than 3,000 years ago? And how could a Neolithic people with simple canoes and no navigation gear manage to find, let alone colonize, hundreds of far-flung island specks scattered across an ocean that spans nearly a third of the globe?

Click on the link title for answers. Here are video links to amazing discoveries of some of the foremost mysteries http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/video/player?titleID=1415669776

Armies of the Enlightened

Throughout Asia, Buddhism is growing fast, playing an increasingly political—and, in some spots, militant—role.

In recent years, massive groups of fervent believers have taken to the streets of Asia with angry political demands. They've railed against government corruption, condemned the onslaught of Western values and decried the erosion of traditional morals. Having built an extensive network of grass-roots aid groups, their numbers are exploding. Some have even picked up arms to defend their beliefs. Sound familiar? It should—only the faithful in question aren't Islamic fundamentalists or conservative Christians. They're Buddhists: members of what used to be Asia's quietest religion, one usually associated with pacifism and contemplation.

Some buddhist organizations are now wading straight into the rough-and-tumble of everyday politics, suggesting last year's monk-led protests in Burma weren't an anomaly. In Thailand, an ultraconservative Buddhist faction helped topple Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra in 2006. In India, the populist leader of a rapidly expanding Buddhist-supported party is now being touted as a future prime minister. And in the most dramatic cases, some Buddhists have even begun advocating violence—such as Sri Lanka's fiercely nationalist Jathika Hela Urumaya party—or have started picking up guns themselves, as in southern Thailand.

Buddhists are adopting a tough-minded new profile, which can be explained in part by their numbers. The religion is growing fast. Though it's hard to nail down exact figures, scholars say there are now some 100 million Buddhists in China alone. In India, the birthplace of Buddha, there were only 8 million in 2001, but experts now set the total at 35 million. And in Taiwan, the number of Buddhists grew from 5.5 million in 2001 to 8 million in 2006.

The boom reflects several factors. In China and Taiwan, the growth of the faithful reflects the loosening of political control. In recent years, Beijing has significantly eased restrictions on all the country's faiths, not least because religious values (once attacked during the Cultural Revolution) are now viewed as a vital bulwark of the "harmonious society" touted by the government. Meanwhile, as Asian societies grow richer, Buddhism's powerful critique of materialism is resonating among the new middle classes. Akash Suri, for instance, is a 25-year-old banker in New Delhi who once lived a lavish lifestyle, splurging on clothes, restaurants and expensive holidays. But a couple of years ago he began thinking "that all this fancy lifestyle was not making me happy. Instead there was anxiety and stress." Buddhism and meditation calmed him.

Click on the link title for more.

Photos taken in PP, the Southwest and Northeast

Naga World rising above Buddhist Institute. It also dominates other nearby landmarks: The new Ministry of Foreign Affairs and new National Assembly. Ironically, it may be built to give convenience and entertainment to Cambodia's richest and most powerful. The PM, high-ranking officials and parliamentarians could do shopping, gamble...after meetings. What a clever idea(sic).

Poipet town in Bantey Meanchey: The paradise in the hell. The town is dusty and hectic in general. There seem nothing to see besides few casinos and hotels, just few meters from Thai border. There seem to be few gamblers even on Sunday. The business is gonna collapse soon, I guess. Cambodia's uttermost Wild West.


Stung Sangke in Battambang town. I have longed to see the river. A bit disappointed cus it's small and seems not charming like in Sin Sisamot songs. The town itself is big and nice, anyway. Have no time to roam around. Just passed by and took a pic from inside my brother-in-law's pick-up. Not a nice work at all.

Kamping Peouy Reservoir in Battambang lying between two mountains. It may be the second biggest in Cambodia after West Baray, giving the surrounding area a year-round harvest. One of the greatest ( and costliest) achievements of KR regime. The location is superb, and the water is very clear. However, it will soon be polluted by thoughtless picnickers.

New Cambodian National Assembly. The building's design is one of the clumsiest I ever seen. It's not worth its huge cost and doesn't fit the surrounding at all, not to say the nearby Naga. Much worse than the Buddhist Institute, the Royal Palace and Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The more I look closer, the more I wonder who on earth comes up with such horrible design.

The swirling cloud at Bokor National Park in Feb. There is mist down the cliff most of the time. It was said that many gamblers jumped off the cliff. The road up the mountain top has been renovating by Sokha company. There is a big plan to turn the plateau into a premium resort, including hotels, casinos and golf courses.

A stream flowing from Mount Bokor along national road 3 from Kampot to Kampong Som. With many nice streams, sea breeze and mountain view, travelling along road is relaxing. The land on both sides is skyrocketing due road upgrade, speculation and rumors of development projects.

The so-called National Museum in Siem Riep is owned by PM's daughter and a Thai businessman. Why can't the government build a real national museum given an enormous amount of money from tourism there and the potential revenue the museum could generate. http://www.andybrouwer.co.uk/blog/2008/03/feedback-for-angkor-national-museum.html

Tips to develop alliances

Here are ten tips to develop work alliances that will help you accomplish your work mission:

1. Treat your allies as equals.
2. Effective communication forms the foundation for a positive work alliance.
3. Exhibit total professionalism: Never participate in gossip or in discussing the business of coworkers behind their backs.
4. Spend time with your allies: Be available to listen, to strategize and to occasionally eat lunch together.
5. When working on a project together, always put forth your best efforts.
6. Choose your battles wisely: Learn to give in sometimes.
7. Keep your promises: It is a matter of developing trust.
8. Resolve any conflicts or disputes at your earliest opportunity.
9. Be an ally: Support your colleague’s ability to accomplish his or her mission, too.
10. Never back-stab or blind-side an ally. If you have a problem with their actions, talk to your ally directly.

The tigers that lost their roar

Other emerging economies are producing world-class companies by the dozen. Why aren't the countries of South-East Asia?

It is easy to forget, now that China and India are all the rage, that until ten years ago South-East Asia was the world's fastest-developing region.

The region has 570m people and had a head start in economic development over much of the rest of Asia. So why does it still have no global consumer brands of the stature of South Korea's Samsung and LG? Where are its equivalents of India's world-conquering Tata Steel, Ranbaxy and Wipro? Or China's market-devouring Huawei and Lenovo? Ask an investor in London or New York to name globally respected South-East Asian firms and the answer is unlikely to consist of much more than Singapore Airlines.

In a recent book, “Asian Godfathers”, Joe Studwell examines this failure in stark terms. The region's business scene remains dominated by old-fashioned, mediocre, sprawling conglomerates, run at the whims of ageing patriarchal owners. These firms' core competence, such as it is, is exploiting their cosy connections with governing elites. Their profits come from rent-seeking: being handed generous state contracts and concessions, or using their sway with officialdom to keep potential competitors out. If they need technology, they buy it from abroad. As a result the region has “no indigenous, large-scale companies producing world-class products and services.”

Corruption is another great burden on business. That is true elsewhere in Asia too, but several South-East Asian countries—notably Indonesia—are afflicted by corrupt and unreliable judicial systems, making it difficult to enforce contracts.

Although it is hard to generalise across Asia, another obstacle to developing world-class businesses is that the five main South-East Asian economies do worse than might be expected—that is, relative to their national incomes—in promoting technology and higher education. Both the lack of fair competition between businesses and the failure to widen access to education may have a common underlying cause: that South-East Asian countries remain in the grip of narrow elites.

The rise of China and India, with their huge home markets, may mean that it is too late for South-East Asia to become big in manufacturing. But it does still have the prospect of producing world-leading firms in other areas where it has an edge. Tourism and hospitality are obvious examples, especially as the region's neighbours become richer. South-East Asia could become both “the Mediterranean and the Caribbean of Asia”, enthuses YTL's Mr Yeoh.

Natural resources are another promising source of future world-beaters. Following Brazil and, closer to home, Australia, South-East Asia is beginning to build global businesses by making the most of what nature has provided. The region already dominates some types of agricultural produce.

The reasons why South-East Asia has been slower than other regions to produce world-class businesses are complex and open to debate. But they do seem to be linked to the perseverance of narrow elites and to the countries' sluggishness in overcoming old rivalries and building an integrated regional market. As a handful of promising companies are showing, not all is lost. Even in today's fierce jungle, South-East Asia can still breed tigers.