Renewal at the UN

Written by . Posted on 5 October, 2009. Filed under Article. Tagged , , , . No comments.

Alan Morton-Smith
Mindreign.com
05/10/2009

The challenges facing humanity were recently discussed in a slightly dilapidated building overlooking the East River in New York. The new session of the UN General Assembly — the organisation’s main forum for debate — kicked off with its usual array of eccentric speakers, charming traditions and rampant politicking. The main topics for debate during its sixty-fourth session included climate change; non-proliferation and disarmament, and the world financial and economic crisis and its impact on development. Heads of state flock here, to the premier forum for international diplomacy. There’s no other event that offers the same opportunity to participate in face-to-face discussion with the high-level actors of the world stage.

The UN itself is undergoing major changes, not least the currently under way $1.9 billion renovation of its headquarters on Manhattan. This will restore and update the 1950s buildings, built in an internationalist style, and greatly reduce their energy consumption. The Capital Master Plan, as it is known, is due to be completed by 2013, and involves all workers temporarily leaving the 39-story Secretariat tower. This is not before time, as the building systems have been running approximately 30 years longer than their expected lifecycle. Many of the parts and pieces for the mechanical and electrical systems cannot be bought anymore, so much like NASA, who has to source parts for the Space Shuttle from eBay, craftsmen in the basement shops of the UN have to adapt parts in order to keep the systems running.

Two leaders
Mummar Gaddafi. Photograph: Jason Szenes/EPA
However, the main General Assembly chamber is still currently open for business, and over the course of the week no less than 118 heads of state and government spoke from the podium, along with dozens of ministers. At the very first session held in 1947, Oswaldo Aranha, then head of the Brazilian delegation to the UN, began a tradition that has remained to this day, whereby the first speaker is always a Brazilian. But it was the two speeches that followed which received by far the most coverage, each for rather different reasons. The individuals in question were President Barack Obama and Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, who were both giving their first addresses, after having been in power for forty weeks and forty years respectively. Things didn’t go quite according to plan when the latter spoke, when he proceeded to give a rambling speech that stretched for six times longer than his allotted time slot. As the New York Times noted: although a red warning light illuminates after the 15-minute time limit, United Nations officials said they could not remember anyone interrupting a head of state to explain that the allotted time had expired.

Gaddafi’s speech was impressive in the sheer variety of subjects covered, including questioning the assassinations of John F Kennedy and Martin Luther King, and pondering whether swine flu had been created in a government laboratory. He also denounced the Security Council — the UN’s most powerful body — describing it as the “terror council”, and demanded compensation for Africa to the tune of $77.7 trillion, for the resources and wealth that had been stolen in the past through colonialism. He was following in the fine tradition of theatrics in General Assembly speeches, encompassed by the likes of the President of Venezuela, Hugo Chávez, who in 2006 memorably compared President George W Bush to Satan: “The devil came here yesterday, and it smells of sulphur still.”

But to return to the present: President Obama’s speech also overran, and clocked in at 38 minutes. However, this was not nearly as contentious, due to him passionately asserting his country’s commitment to the UN. He went on to say that “we have paid our bills”, joined the Human Rights Council and fully embraced the Millennium Development Goals – an incredible shift from the outright hostility of the previous administration, whose stance was typified by the appointment of John Bolton as US ambassador to the United Nations. This is the individual who once said, “If the UN Secretariat building in New York lost ten storeys, it wouldn’t make a bit of difference.”

On the critical issue of climate change, Obama also distinguished himself from his predecessor, in stating that the danger posed by it could not be denied and nations’ responsibility to meet the challenge could not be deferred. Along with heads of state from over 100 countries, he attended the Secretary General’s “high level meeting” on the subject, with the intention of building momentum ahead of the World Summit on Climate Change that will take place in Copenhagen in December. Leaders of several small island nations warned that their ecosystems are already threatened by climate change effects, including rising sea levels and disappearing marine life.

The common good

The importance of the UN as a place where leaders and their representatives can gather in one spot, exchange views and negotiate cannot be understated. In recent years its reputation has been rather battered, with the alleged fraud in the oil-for-food programme in Iraq — in which some of the UN’s top officials were implicated, as well as the son of then-Secretary General Kofi Annan. But many of the problems nations are faced with today, including the global financial crisis, climate change, and the proliferation of nuclear weapons, can only be tackled through intense international co-operation. If anything, the powers of the UN need to be bolstered, and it certainly needs to be better funded, if it is to fulfil the lofty goals laid out in its Charter. The reforms that General Assembly president Ali Treki is pushing for, including bringing the Security Council into the 21st century, from middle of the 20th, where it currently stands, are to be welcomed. But the organisation’s fate rests with its 192 member nations, and the extent to which they are prepared to work together for the common good of mankind.

Book review: The Great Gatsby

Written by . Posted on 29 September, 2009. Filed under Review. Tagged , , . No comments.

The Great GatsbyAlan Morton-Smith
Mindreign.com
29/09/2009

The Great Gatsby is a much-lauded book, and for good reason. It deals with a darker side of the American Dream, and charts the life of the eponymous Jay Gatsby — a mysterious, wealthy individual who is forever throwing extravagant parties for the great and the good at his beachfront mansion. He seems to have it all, yet is the subject of much hushed speculation by his guests. It’s through the narrator Nick Carraway that we are able to slowly piece things together, as he ends up moving next door, and eventually becomes entangled in Gatsby’s life.

The novel is set in the early 1920s, with Prohibition in full swing, and repercussions from the First World War still being keenly felt. Before he left to serve in the Army in Europe, Gatsby had fallen madly in love with Daisy, a girl from a wealthy Southern family. The aftermath of this time spent away, when he eventually gets back to the US, is what produces the tension and drives the plotline.

When he wrote this in 1924, Fitzgerald was 28 and already had two commercial and critically successful novels under his belt, and was approaching the height of his fame. Elements of the story are taken from his own life, including grand parties he hosted in Long Island that were driven by alcohol. A year of such largesse  led to him being deeply in debt, to the tune of $5,000. But he hunkered down and wrote stories to pay this off, and with the leftover proceeds eventually moved to the French Riviera to focus all of his creative energy on this work. It certainly paid off.

At one point there are some interesting (and possibly autobiographical) reflections on approaching thirty. Carraway puts it in this amusingly bleak way: “Thirty — the promise of a decade of loneliness, a thinning list of single men to know, a thinning briefcase of enthusiasm, thinning hair.” The style of writing throughout is wonderful, with many such delightful turns of phrase and reflections on humanity, often with a bracing dash of cynicism, for good measure.

During the course of its pages, we discover more about Gatsby’s extraordinary leap from rags to riches, his pursuit of a single dream, and ultimately its unravelling. It deals in a very poignant way with the longing for something that is just beyond reach, and serves as a fascinating critique on American ambition. When it was first published, it received mixed reviews and relatively poor sales. In 1939 it had even gone out of print! This unfortunately resulted to Fitzgerald’s confidence beginning to flag, and was an element in his long decline. Thankfully, the novel is now rightly considered a classic, and has often been referred to as a “Great American Novel”, which caught the spirit of life in the United States during the jazz age. It’s well worth a read, old sport.

Dubai downgraded, but not for long

Written by . Posted on 25 September, 2009. Filed under Article. Tagged , , , . No comments.

Dubai Metro

Alan Morton-Smith
Mindreign.com
25/09/2009

At 9:09:09 PM on September 9, 2009 Dubai achieved an impressive feat of engineering, by launching the world’s longest automated driverless rail system. Built in just four years by a Japanese consortium, the Red line is 52km long (comparable in length to the Northern line on the London Underground), and possesses the world’s biggest underground metro station. Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) expects 318km of metro lines to be in operation by 2020, which is just shy of the entire length of the New York City Subway.

However, all is not well in the state, which is one of the seven members of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). It has been hit by one of the steepest fall in property prices worldwide — a 47% decline in a year, according to Knight Frank’s Global House Price Index — as well as having been battered by the global financial crisis. As a result, its economic boom came to an abrupt end in 2008 after several years of windfall oil revenue. According to figures released by Fitch Ratings on September 24, the Dubai Government’s debt will have tripled from last year, to reach $30 billion by the end of 2009. This is nearly 40% of GDP, and has resulted in firm downgrading the ratings of seven banks, including the country’s largest lender by assets, and the largest bank by market value. Although it is the stated intention of the federal UAE government to support financial institutions, the ratings agency said that their ability to do so has deteriorated. In addition, Fitch has placed the country’s largest telecoms firm Etisalat on watch, with a view to potentially downgrading it as well.

Prestige projects

However, these short-term financial difficulties aren’t putting the brakes on the numerous prestige projects which have been announced in the UAE in recent years. Take Al Maktoum International Airport, for example, which is currently under construction. With no less than six parallel runways, a cargo capacity treble that of Memphis International Airport (today’s largest cargo hub) and 100,000 parking spaces, it’s a project on a staggering scale. This in turn is merely a constituent part of a complex which will eventually cover an area of twice that of Hong Kong Island, and will be home to 750,000 people. It’s all part of the emirate’s strategy to diversify its economy and wean itself off the oil and gas sector, which provides around a third of the UAE’s Gross National Product. The aim is to transform itself into a regional headquarters for banking, technology, media, shipping and aviation. Not that they need to hurry — the UAE has proven oil reserves which, at the current rate of extraction (2.5 million barrels a day) will last for at least another 150 years.

Dubai in particular has been building on past successful ventures, including the Jebel Ali Port, built in 1979 and the biggest such facility in the Middle East. The country is now the third most important re-export centre in the world, behind Hong Kong and Singapore. There was a significant amount of controversy in 2006 when the owner of Jebel Ali Port, Dubai Ports World, purchased the British firm P&O — who at the time were the fourth largest ports operator in the world. This opposition arose because P&O had port management businesses in six major US seaports, and various American political figures argued that the takeover would compromise US port security. But given that the UAE is a long-standing ally of the United States, this seems very unlikely indeed. However, Dubai Ports World eventually sold P&O’s American operations to American International Group’s asset management division for an undisclosed sum. AIG was subsequently one of the major financial institutions which had to be bailed out by the US federal government.

It can certainly be argued against the above xenophobic sentiment that the UAE is one of the most liberal countries in the Gulf. But this is still far removed from Western norms — for example, there are regulations banning things such as kissing in public and wearing skirts above the knee. According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the constitution of the UAE provides for freedom of speech and of the press, but in practice, the government uses its judicial and executive powers to restrict those rights. Journalists regularly suffer from several forms of intimidation and harassment. Given the high-profile attempts to lure international media outlets to Dubai, as well as the focus on promoting itself as a tourism hub, clashes between traditional sensibilities and a modern outlook can only increase.

Post credit-crunch

Realistically, Dubai really has nothing to worry about, despite what a credit rating agency may say. The federal United Arab Emirates government is buying Dubai’s bonds and is still aiming for a nationwide growth rate of 3% for 2009. Once the credit crunch fully subsides and the global economy emerges from recession, it will most likely be a case of ‘business as usual’. Some of the more interesting developments will come from how the country squares its stated desire to become a major trade and tourism destination with the conservative values it espouses. The native population is already hugely outnumbered by foreign workers, with only 15-20% of residents being UAE citizens. According to a projection by Dr Abdul Khaleq Abdullah, Professor of Political Science at the Emirates University, this percentage will reach 10% by 2015, and 0% by 2025, which would be unprecedented. What would happen in a country with such a demographic make-up? As long as it’s good for business, the country’s rulers are unlikely to object.

Where might television be headed?

Written by . Posted on 22 September, 2009. Filed under Article. Tagged , , . No comments.

Alan Morton-Smith
Mindreign.com
22/09/2009

This year’s Emmy Awards were held in Los Angeles on September 20, in recognition of excellence in prime-time television. Started in 1949 to honour shows made locally in the LA area, it has subsequently expanded into a national event, and is considered to be the television equivalent of the Oscars. Many news outlets commented on the fact that the event was light on surprises. The awards for best drama series, best comedy series, best lead actor in a drama, best lead actress in a drama and best lead actor in a comedy all went to the same winners as last year. This, it might be argued, is indicative of the rather conservative approach of the academy members who actually decide the winners. The best example of this might be the satirical “fake news” programme The Daily Show, fronted by Jon Stewart. A very worthy winner, but also the recipient of the award for best variety, music or comedy series for the seventh year in a row. As the Guardian put it, “it takes them a very long time to notice shows, which makes it hard for anything new or less hyped to break through”.

The power of the web

In the context of a significant proportion of the population with broadband across Europe and North America — ranging from 85% in the Netherlands to 60% in the USA — this approach might need to be radically rethought. People are accessing more TV content online than ever before, through sites such the BBC’s hugely successful iPlayer; Hulu.com, backed by News Corp, NBC Universal and Disney, and also via less legal means, such as The Pirate Bay. The ability to access content on demand, not bound by any TV channel schedules, is an idea which has been much-lauded for many years but is only now being fully realised. Combined with the ability to share clips and links in a very short timeframe, individuals and shows can rocket from obscurity to global recognition at dazzling speeds. Susan Boyle is the most impressive example of this, with videos of her — from her appearance on Britain’s Got Talent,  various interviews, and her 1999 rendition of Cry Me a River — having been watched online over 100 million times since April, when she first arrived on television.

Indeed, the power of emerging media was recognised at the Emmys, with Dr Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, a musical short film produced exclusively for internet distribution, winning an award. It consists of three acts of approximately 14 minutes each. They were first released online as individual episodes, with two-day intervals between each one being made available. Directed and financed by Joss Whedon, the creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, it cost just over $200,000 to make, which he had recouped by November of last year through sales on DVD and via the iTunes store. In a blog post, Whedon stated that, “We’ve been able to pay our crew and all our bills”.

Another interesting aspect of how power is shifting online is that, according to Bloomberg, television programmes such as The Simpsons and CSI are for the first time commanding higher advertising rates at web sites including Hulu.com and TV.com than on prime-time TV. Marketers are willing to pay more because these sites provide committed viewers who actively seek out shows. There are fewer adverts, and consumers are twice as likely to recall web ads, according to David Poltrack, chief research officer at CBS. That said, whilst web viewing and online advertising sales are increasing, they are still too small to replace traditional revenue sources.

Transition

Although the internet is undoubtedly becoming a considerable force in the television industry, we are still in a transitional phase, and a great deal of work lies ahead in establishing new, profitable ways of doing business online. The problem of how to do deal with illegal filesharing, for so long a problem for the music industry, is now becoming more critical for the TV networks as well. One key problem is the considerable time-lag between when series are broadcast in different countries, which often leads to fans, impatient to see the latest developments, taking things into their own hands. This could potentially lead to a similar approach taken by the film industry, where movies are increasingly given a single worldwide release date, in a bid to combat piracy.

Despite the success of Joss Whedon’s short film, with its low budget (by television standards) there will arguably always be a market for high quality, lavish productions by the likes of HBO, responsible for such series as The Sopranos and Band of Brothers. It will also be intriguing to see how public sector broadcasters, such as the BBC, recast themselves in this rapidly shifting environment. One thing is for sure, though: the great and the good who cast their votes for Emmy awards in years to come will have a far greater array of programmes to choose from than ever before. Here’s hoping they can keep up.