This would mean the government increasing national debt just like it was in Greece.The slowing economic growth in Russia to 1.6 percent in the first quarter of 2013 has been connected to various factors including falling investment, private consumption and weak exterior demand, Vedomosti daily reports.However according to Ivan Chakarov, an analyst with Renaissance Capital quoted by the newspaper, the slowing pace of economic growth in Russia is mainly due to the so-called middle-income trap. It is common for developing economies, when a country, which attains a certain income, gets stuck at that level as it begins losing its main advantage – low costs.The analyst claims the middle-income trap strikes a country when annual per capita GDP reaches $16,000. In Russia this figure is slightly above that at $16,016. The analysts added that Russia is the first BRICS state to enter the middle-income trap. Similar economic situations were seen in the Western Europe’s economy in the 1970s, in South Korea in 1995 and in Singapore and Hong Kong at the beginning of the 1980s.In his comments Chakarov refers to the study by the US National Bureau of Economic Research, which has come to a conclusion that countries falling into the trap lose two thirds of their growth speed. This means that Russian economic growth will slow to 1.6 percent of GDP against 4.3 percent in 2010-2011. The analyst says that in the upcoming decade the Russian economy won’t be able to expand faster than 2 percent per year. In his opinion this may force the Russian government to increase the national debt and make Russia “the next Greece”.Greece has reached the annual per capita GDP mark of $16,000 in the 1980s. Over the next decade unemployment jumped two and a half times, while inflation increased one and a half times. While in the beginning of 1980s the national debt of Greece totaled 20 percent of GDP, by 2012 it has made 170 percent of GDP.Renaissance Capital forecast the middle-income trap for Russia in November last year. Back then the company estimated the state’s chances to avoid this scenario at 60 percent, noting however that the government would have to take a series of economic reforms. Russia has entered the phase of economic slowdown since the beginning of last year. By the end of 2012 GDP added 3.4 percent against 4.3 percent in 2011. In the first quarter of 2013 Russian economy grew by just 1.6 percent. The slowing pace of economic growth forced the Russian Ministry of Economic Development and international organizations including the World Bank to revise their forecasts for Russia economic development in the coming years. In April the Russian Ministry of Economic Development said that if no urgent measures are taken by the government Russia might fall into recession by the fall. Russian national debt currently accounts for 10 percent of GDP. … Read More
Zhirinovsky persona non grata in Kyrgyzstan, sees no reason
The parliament of Kyrgyzstan has ruled in favor of banning the controversial Vladimir Zhirinovsky from the country.The head of the Russian State Duma Committee on CIS affairs Leonid Slutsky called on to the Kyrgyz deputies “to be more restrained.”However, Zhirinovsky himself considers the ruling of Kyrgyz parliament an “error and delusion” and doubts that the Kyrgyz Foreign Ministry will “pursue this path.”“I think I was misunderstood. I made no official statement whatsoever. I just expressed a proposal on how to develop cooperation between our countries so that Russia could continue to help Kyrgyzstan with credits, and Kyrgyzstan in turn has means to repay the loans,” he said.“Of course, I have not spoken in the literal sense that Lake Issyk-Kul must become a gift [to Russia] – I suggested options. More specifically, we were talking about the possibility of leasing the lake for 49 years in order to develop tourism more actively,” he added.Zhirinovsky noted that he knows Kyrgyzstan very well, having lived there, and has relatives there. The last time he visited Kyrgyzstan was seven years ago, he mentioned.“I have only good feelings towards this country and its people,” Zhirinovsky insisted.The ‘Issyk-Kul incident’ emerged after Zhirinovsky commented on Russia recently writing off the $500 million national debt of Kyrgyzstan. He said that in return for forgiving the debt, Russia should claim huge lake, believed to be Kyrgyzstan’s main tourist attraction.Vladimir Zhirinovsky has had a solid reputation as the enfant terrible of Russian politics for nearly a quarter of a century now and somehow managed to disentangle himself from countless unpleasant situations, created mostly by his controversial utterances. This time, though, his trip of the tongue has fallen on the wrong ears.Was it a traditional Zhirinovsky-style joke or not, the Kyrgyz lawmakers gave the ‘demand’ some serious thought and decided to be offended for real. The opposition immediately used the situation to its profit, insisting the remark was a public offense to all Kyrgyz people and encroachment on Kyrgyzstan’s sovereignty.The initiative to ban Zhirinovsky came from opposition parliamentary fraction Ata-Zhurt. Its delegate Zhyldyzkan Djoldoshova insists that after this controversial comment, Zhirinovsky “has no moral right to come to Kyrgyzstan.”The initiative found immediate support in the Kyrgyz parliament and on May 15 Vladimir Zhirinovsky was proclaimed persona non grata, Interfax reports. … Read More
Fukushima decommissioning to last for up to 40 years – IAEA
An International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspection last week of the ruined Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Okuma has exposed certain bottlenecks in the plan to clean up the nuclear disaster. A statement by the IAEA released Monday criticized TEPCO’s progress on the cleanup.Experts of the IAEA Division of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology believe that a chain of equipment failures of the plant’s essential systems that took place over the last few weeks could become a serious problem in the future. The IAEA called on to TEPCO to maintain plant’s equipment properly to avoid potentially hazardous situations, especially disconnections of the cooling systems of the shutoff reactors and fuel storage pools.”As for the duration of the decommissioning project, it will be nearly impossible to ensure the time for decommissioning such a complex facility in less than 30 to 40 years as it is currently established in the roadmap,” said Juan Carlos Lentijo, the IAEA’s Director of the Division of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology (NEFW).The IAEA statement stressed that Japan must still develop technology and equipment to locate and remove melted uranium fuel, given the harsh conditions and strong radiation levels at the Fukushima facility.Fukushima saw a chain of incidents over the last five weeks, at least three of which were caused by rats that damaged wires in critically important electrical equipment. And on Monday, TEPCO personnel conducted an emergency shutdown of the cooling system of one of the fuel storage pools after two dead rats were found inside a transformer box.Lentijo, who headed the IAEA delegation to Fukushima, explained that water management is “probably the most challenging” task for the plant at the moment.Another issue was the multiple leakages of radioactive water from storage tanks and cooling systems, which are not only further contaminating the area around the plant, but may also be expelling radioactive pollution deep underground, where it could pollute underground water tables.Earlier, TEPCO reported that a steady inflow of groundwater in the basements of the damaged reactor buildings resulted in about 400 tons of contaminated water daily. With the Fukushima nuclear plant’s storage tanks already housing 280,000 tons of liquid radioactive waste, this means the amount of contaminated water would double within just a few years.Lentijo urged TEPCO to “implement additional countermeasures to regain confidence.” IAEA experts also noted that TEPCO needs to step up protections against “external hazards” similar to the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami that followed it, which devastated the plant on March11, 2011. “It is important to have a very good capability to identify as promptly as possible failures and to establish compensatory measures,” he said.“You have to adopt a very cautious position to ensure that you always are working on the safe side,” Lentijo added.A final report by the 12-member IAEA delegation to Fukushima is expected to be published in May. … Read More
Talkin’ SWAT on HuffPost Live
Last night I went on
HuffPost Live to discuss “swatting”
– the potentially lethal practice of faking an emergency call so
that a SWAT unit descends on a home where no crime is actually in
progress. The other guests included a California state senator, a
Florida SWAT cop, and a swatting victim. You can watch it here:
The conversation ranged a bit, but my basic role was to talk
about another way SWAT teams are overdeployed: times when they’re
sent to the “right” house, but not in response to the sorts of
dangerous situations that SWAT units were originally created
for. … Read More
N. Korea suspends access to crucial jointly-run industrial zone with South
South Korea’s Unification Ministry reports that 446 South Korean workers had been stranded at the facility, waiting to cross back into home territory since early Wednesday hours. Normally, daily entry clearance is given via telephone.North Korea could be making true on an earlier promise to close off the complex as part of the rapidly escalating war rhetoric exchanged between the two countries, also involving Washington.The Kaesong industrial zone is a jointly-operated facility established in the 2000s, and is considered to be among the major sources of income for the destitute North, as well as the only true joint venture between the warring neighbors.South Korea claims to have contingency measures in place for dealing with hostage situations in Kaesong, but their administration is keeping silent on what those might be .Pyongyang has been ramping up its war rhetoric to mirror that of Washington and Seoul, following a third nuclear test in February, which aroused widespread condemnation and a fresh round of sanctions. The country’s young leader, Kim Jong-un has taken up office in December 2011.Most experts share the belief that North Korea will confine its current actions to threats as it seemingly does not wish to incur the military wrath of those opposed to it, and that the young Kim simply wishes to cement his reputation as a solid ruler. … Read More
6 killed, 24 injured as bus carrying children crashes in central Russia
“As of 1:00pm, the number of those injured in the road accident in the Vologda region grew to 24 people, with up to six people killed. Eighteen people, including 14 children, have been hospitalized,” Interfax reported, quoting Russia’s Emergency Situations Ministry (EMERCOM). Earlier reports confirmed that the 6 dead are adults.The bus was traveling from St. Petersburg to Vologda when the accident occurred, about 10 km from the town of Cherepovetz.A truck was driving on the wrong side of the highway when it crashed head-on with the bus, which burst into flames after the collision, according to a preliminary investigation conducted by the local emergency service.Both drivers died instantly, according to LifeNews tabloid, citing a local traffic police representative.Six emergency crews have been dispatched to the scene of the accident; medical centers in Moscow have said they are prepared to treat any injured who are in grave condition.”Currently, the injured are getting medical treatment, their health condition is being checked. If they need to be treated in federal hospitals in Moscow, they will immediately be transported there,” Russian Health Ministry spokesperson Oleg Salagay said, according to RIA Novosti.Russia’s EMERCOM has sent a Mi-8 helicopter to the scene of the accident. A crew of 59 rescuers in 16 vehicles is engaged in a post-accident cleanup effort, the ministry said in a statement. … Read More
Look! Up in the sky! 10,000 drones in US by 2020
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) predicts that thousands of unmanned aircraft systems could be taking to the skies of America in the next five years, attracting concern from rights groups.The agency responsible for regulating American skies foresees 10,000 active commercial unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) by 2020.Looking at aeronautical trends up to 2032, the FAA projects rapid growth of the UAS industry.“In the United States alone, over 50 companies, universities, and government organizations are developing and producing some 155 unmanned aircraft designs,” according to the agency.In February, the FAA said it had issued 1,428 permits to domestic drone operators since 2007, a number that far exceeds previous certifications. Meanwhile, some 327 permits are still listed as active. This has rights groups expressing concern over privacy issues and the potential for abuse of power.Mission creepThe American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) in Dec. 2011 published a study entitled, ‘Protecting Privacy from Aerial Surveillance’ that warned of the possible “mission creep” associated with the use of drone technology.“Based on current trends—technology development, law enforcement interest, political and industry pressure, and the lack of legal safeguards—it is clear that drones pose a looming threat to Americans’ privacy,” the ACLU stated.The report then provided a disturbing glimpse of a future where unmanned aircraft systems take front and center in the law enforcement’s tool box:“Fleets of UAVs, interconnected and augmented with analytics software, could enable the mass tracking of vehicles and pedestrians around a wide area,” the study revealed. “The use of drones could also be expanded from surveillance to actual intervention in law enforcement situations on the ground.”The ACLU suggested that the new airborne technologies could even be used to “dispel protesters (perhaps by deploying tear gas or other technology), stop a fleeing vehicle, or even deploy weapons.”US Attorney General Eric Holder recently defended the use of lethal military force against an American in his home country, saying it would be considered legal and justified in an “extraordinary circumstance.””The President could conceivably have no choice but to authorize the military to use such force if necessary to protect the homeland,” Holder added.See Rand RunMany people are familiar with UASs from what they know of the US military’s use of them in war zones, where the aircraft can spy on enemy targets, as well as target them with weapons.At present the majority of American drone strikes have been carried out in Pakistan – 365 strikes, according to a study by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism of the UK. The secret campaign has killed an estimated 4,700 people in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia; one quarter of the victims are estimated to have been civilians.The London-based organization added that drone strikes killed between 474 and 881 civilians – including 176 children – in Pakistan between 2004 and last year.Such attacks, which by their very secretive nature lack transparency, have placed a strain on US relations with its allies in the region. It has also made Americans very suspicious as to what purpose their government will use this technology, especially after the Obama administration said it reserves the right to kill Americans who are believed to pose a threat to national security – without any due process whatsoever.Although nefarious bad guys, like al-Qaeda, are regularly identified as the target of extra-judicial assassinations, critics wonder if the new sweeping powers may one day apply to other groups that become a headache for Washington.On March 6-7, Senator Rand Paul conducted what the Washington Post said was the 9th-longest filibuster in an effort to protest the use of drone strikes against American citizens.“Are you going to just drop a hellfire missile on Jane Fonda? Are you going to drop a missile on Kent State,” he asked in the course of his epic 13-hour marathon delivery during the nomination process of John Brennan as the new director of the CIA. ”You can’t be judge, jury and executioner all in one.”Rand cited the Fifth Amendment of the US Constitution in his criticism of what he believes to be the abuse of the executive office.“The Fifth Amendment protects you, it protects from you a king placing you in the tower, but it also should protect from you from a president that might kill you with a drone.” … Read More
