sábado, noviembre 15, 2008

Carta abierta a Hugo Chávez


HUGO:
OBAMA NO ES ARISTOBULO...

Hugo: Te escribo esta carta, porque veo que estás medio confundido. El otro domingo te ví por televisión, entusiasmadísimo con el triunfo del negro (como cariñosamente lo llamaste).

Yo sé que a veces uno se confunde, porque en realidad hay varias coincidencias (si te pones a ver). Por ejemplo: El papá de Obamita llegó aquí desde Kenya...que es algo así como Sabaneta. Ok. Y tanto él (Obamita) como tú, tuvieron un sueño...y a ambos se les cumplió.

La diferencia está, mi entrañable Hugo, en que este "negro" como tú lo llamas, se dejó de complejos y pendejadas, y se dedicó a ESTUDIAR. Sí... como no... jugó y juega basket, como tú jugabas beisbol, pero no se metió a militar para ver si llegaba a ser basquebolista... ni tampoco se dedicó a conspirar contra el gobierno. Se dedicó a ESTUDIAR.. Sí. Está bien. Por
allí hay otra coincidencia:

Así como tu familia vive en Sabaneta, la abuelita paterna de Obama vive en Kenya...pero sin Hummers...

De verdad que hacía falta un cambio en el imperio messmo, Hugo...pero sin odios...aunque haya racismo (porque lo hay). Y aquí va otra diferencia: En el primer discurso del "negro" como tu lo llamas, no se burló del viejo McCain, como tu te burlaste del viejito Caldera, sino que le agradeció como americano, sus luchas anteriores (las de Mc Cain) para que él (Obama)
pudiera tener un país como el que tiene. Eso mismo has debido hacer tú...porque al fin y al cabo, si no hubiera sido por Caldera... tú nunca hubieras llegado ahí.. ¿o no?

Por allí también te escuché decir que "había por fin un Chávez en la Casa Blanca". ¿Te imaginas pues, que Obama empiece a cambiarle el nombre a todo lo que se le cruce en el camino? La estatua de la Libertad ya no se llamaría así, sino "Cilia Flores en NY". El gobierno ya no sería "el gobierno de los Estados Unidos" sino la república "uashintoniana" de los Estados Unidos
de Norteamérica...Obama le daría una bola de billete a Don King para que se paseara por todo el país cantando Uh!Ah! Obama no se va!!!

Ah! Y los domingos! ¿Te imaginas todos los domingos un Hello President...? No me imagino a Obama narrando como le dieron retortijones el primer día que llegó a la Casa Blanca y le sirvieron caraotas con tropezones. haciendo "presidential chains" (sí las horrorosas cadenas) diciendo: The won't come back (no volverán) o diciéndole a los de la oposición "sons of a bitch"
o peor aún: diciéndole a Michelle -su mujer- ante medio planeta "Wait for me... I'm gonna give you, even with the bucket!!!" (Espérame.. que te voy a dar hasta con el tobo...)

Ahora lo que sí te digo, mi pana Hugo, es que aquí en el imperio messmo se ve un NEGRO POR VENIR (en Enero para la Casa Blanca) y un NEGRO PORVENIR (para ti el 23 de Noviembre en las elecciones)

Te saluda desde Miami (el imperio messmo)

El Gordo Antonini
el de los 800 mi dólares para la presidenta de Argentina.

Preferencias en relación a Obama

Según Latino-barómetro (30 de septiembre del 2008)

Las preferencias de los latinoamericanos en relación a Obama es en promedio del 28% y según países es como sigue:

República Dominicana 52%
Costa Rica 43%
Brasil 41%
Uruguay 41%

Argentina 36%
Chile 32%

México 29%
Paraguay 27%
Ecuador 27%
Colombia 27%
Venezuela 26%

Perú 23%
El Salvador 22%

Nicaragua 18%
Panamá 18%
Bolivia 17%
Guatemala 16%
Honduras 16%

El nuevo presidente Obama le prestará más atención a América Latina

El total es igual al 22%
pero por países la opinión es como sigue:

República Dominicana 39%
Brasil 31%
Costa Rica 29%
Uruguay 29%

México 27%
Venezuela 27%
Colombia 25%

Paraguay 24%
Argentina 24%
NIcaragua 21%

Ecuador 19%
Chile 19%
Perú 16%
Panamá 15%
Guatemala 15%

El Salvador 14%
Bolivia 14%
Honduras 14%

China and Latin America


China and Latin America
[Analysis] Aggressive trade and politics
Alfredo Ascanio (askain)
Published 2008-11-15 14:46 (KST)

Edited by John Boland
Editor's Note

China has launched a trade and political offensive in Latin America. The pattern will continue in the coming years and are written in the White Paper. China is aware that the region has high potential with regard to the exploitation of natural resources.

Chinese President Hu Jintao participated in Washington, DC at the Summit on the Global Financial Crisis and then visited several countries in Latin America and Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi said that China is interested in increasing economic exchanges especially in energy resources and mining, within their programs free trade.

For example, it is known that Bolivia has the world's largest reserves of lithium - an alkaline chemical and the lightest solid element that is used especially in the heat conductive alloy in electric batteries. Its salts are used in the treatment of certain types of depression. Chile is also a major producer of lithium and copper. Venezuela is a major producer of oil, gas and gold.

The relationship between China and Venezuela has been more profound and runs deeper. Venezuela paid China US$406 million for a project of a satellite, the rocket launch, two ground stations and teleport. Everything was built with Chinese technology.

Bilateral trade between China and Latin America in 2007 totalled $103 billion. Yet China also seeks to increase security programs, defense and justice to the region and wants to detract from the commercial and political relationship that Taiwan has had with Latin America.

China also has interest in the petrochemical resources to be found in Cuba as well as the gas resources of Peru and also their mining resources of silver, zinc and lead. Costa Rica also features on the agenda as a major exporter of tropical fruit and producer of gold, limestone and clay.

The Economic Commission for Latin America (CEPAL) said that Latin America must diversify its export markets and that China is an ideal country to facilitate this policy. In 2004 Latin America to China had exported $14 billion, an increase of 34 percent compared with 2003. Continuing growth of this trade link will be important to Latin American economies.

An agreement between governments can be defined as an exchange of conditional promises, by which each party declares that it will act in a certain way on condition that the other parties act in accordance with their promises, said Fred Charles Ikle.

It is probable that these international negotiations with China will be innovative because it deals with the setting up of new relationships or obligations between the parties. It can often result in the founding of new institutions. For example, in Venezuela the setting up of a Venezuelan-Chinese bank, or with a new arrangement for controlling objects and areas, such as investing in the oil area of the Gulf of Venezuela, or the control of a mining area in a country of interest to China.

The key outcome of such negotiations will be arrangements that benefit both parties. A good negotiator should be realistic, flexible and patient and time will tell if China and Latin America have managed to reflect these qualities in their negotiations.


Alfredo Ascanio is a professor of economics at Simon Bolivar University in Caracas, Venezuela.
©2008 OhmyNews

viernes, noviembre 14, 2008

RED ROOM: el Blog de BARACK OBAMA


Aquí en este BLOG de Barack Obama aparece su Biografía, los pensamientos del presidente, los trabajos y libros publicados, los enlaces o links, las relaciones con la mas media, y un video de uno de sus shows o entrevistas.

El Triángulo de las Bermudas


En este enlace nos cuenta la historia del triángulo de Las Bermudas un área marítima misteriosa donde muchos buques y aviones han desaparecidos.

jueves, noviembre 13, 2008

The Economic


Diario digital ECONOMIC...vale la pena conocer lo que dicen. y Esto es lo que dicen de España.

THE past few months have been bittersweet for Spain. In a general election in March the Socialist Party won a clear but not overwhelming victory, giving José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero a second term as prime minister. That seemed to drain some of the partisan poison that had accumulated in the political system over the previous four years. In June Spain shook off its long-standing reputation as the permanent under-achiever of world football, winning the European championship with swift and skilful attacking play.

Not only did the performance of its young team (featuring Catalans as well as the usual Madrileños in prominent positions) seem to echo Spain's flowering of creativity in everything from architecture to gastronomy; many commentators saw the footballers' triumph and the public's rapturous response to it as a welcome expression of national unity in a country that seemed to be turning increasingly fissiparous. In July Rafael Nadal, a tennis genius from Mallorca, won the Wimbledon championship. At the moment of victory he scampered across the press-box roof, clutching the national flag, to salute Spain's crown prince and his wife.

But every month since the election the news at home has become gloomier. Investment is slumping. Unemployment in August was 11.3%, a third higher than a year earlier, the biggest jump for 30 years. The economy grew by just 0.1% between the first and the second quarters of this year, the slowest pace since 1993. It is now almost certainly contracting. So sharp was the deterioration that Mr Zapatero (pictured above with Pedro Solbes, his finance minister), who had earlier refused to acknowledge that there was any economic crisis, interrupted his August break to hold an emergency cabinet meeting. "Spaniards went on holiday in party mood and came back to find there was no champagne left, nor even any decent wine," sums up Fernando Fernández, a former IMF official who is now rector of Nebrija University near Madrid.

Great while it lasted

The fiesta had indeed been splendid. Spain has undergone an extraordinary transformation since Francisco Franco died in 1975 and his long dictatorship came to an end. Democracy was swiftly consolidated. A deeply conservative Catholic society has metamorphosed into an almost self-consciously tolerant one. In the 1960s two-fifths of Spaniards still toiled on the land, many of them living in poverty. Now only 5% work in agriculture. Spain has become a vibrant, middle-class urban society.

Social and political change went hand in hand with economic progress. Between 1994 and 2007 the economy grew at an average annual rate of 3.6%. During that period unemployment fell from 24% to 8%, even though many women joined the labour force and some 5m immigrants arrived—and were absorbed with scarcely any sign of tension. For most of the past decade Spain has been responsible for creating about one in every three new jobs in the euro zone. By 2007 total employment had risen to 20m, from only 12m in 1993. When Spain joined the forerunner of the European Union in 1986 its income per person was only 68% of the club's average; in 2007 its income per person was 90% of that of the 15 EU members before its latest expansion. Living standards are now higher than Italy's.

The improvement in Spaniards' lives is instantly visible. Many elderly people are short, stunted by the hunger they suffered as children in the hard years of fascist autarky after Franco won the civil war of 1936-39. Young Spaniards are strikingly taller than their grandparents, exemplified by Pau Gasol, who measures seven feet (2.13 metres) and was voted the most valuable player when Spain won the latest world basketball championship.

Spain is not just a desirable place to live—though it is that, attracting northern Europeans who have bought second homes in order to enjoy the Spanish combination of sun, good public services and a relaxed way of life. In 2006 it was the world's ninth-largest economy measured at market exchange rates and the twelfth-largest at purchasing-power parity. It is the sixth-biggest net investor abroad.

The economic boom began under Franco, who abandoned autarky in the late 1950s. He turned the management of the economy over to technocrats from Opus Dei, a lay Catholic organisation, who opened it to foreign trade and investment. But a bigger change came in 1986 when Felipe González, a Socialist prime minister, led Spain into Europe. Foreign direct investment flooded in as multinationals set up car and other factories to take advantage of relatively low wages.

The euro effect

Money from Brussels also poured in. Spain has been the largest single beneficiary of EU regional funds. It has received a total of €186 billion, most of which was wisely spent on improving roads and railways. Under Mr González's successor, José María Aznar of the conservative People's Party (PP), Spain qualified to join the euro at its inception in 1999. Interest rates fell dramatically: the cost of mortgages, for example, came down from 18% to below 5%, unleashing a housing boom.

Yet with a suddenness that has taken officials by surprise, economic boom has turned to bust. When the European Central Bank raised interest rates last year, the housing bubble burst. Higher oil prices also cut disposable income, as well as pushing inflation to a new high of 5.3% in July. And international financial turmoil has caused a credit squeeze at home.

Mr Zapatero points out that so far Spain has fared no worse than several other large European economies, and that the country's financial system is stronger than that of many of its counterparts: to date, no Spanish bank has got into difficulties. In an interview for this special report Mr Zapatero conceded that the economy faces a period of stagnation, but insisted that "once calm returns to the international system, we will return to growth without the Spanish economy having suffered structural damage." The government forecasts that after a year of almost no growth a recovery will start towards the end of 2009.

This strikes many as far too optimistic. Economists and businesspeople complain that the government was slow to respond to the economy's swift descent into recession. One of the country's most experienced bankers reckons that even if the outside world rights itself fairly quickly, recovery will not begin for at least two years. Some are even more pessimistic, arguing that in addition to the liquidity squeeze and the housing bust Spain suffers from an underlying lack of competitiveness. The symptoms are a current-account deficit that topped 10% of GDP in the first half of this year and an inflation rate that has been about one percentage point higher than the average for the euro zone for most of the past decade.

Fixing this will not be easy. When recession struck in the past, as it did in the early 1980s and again in 1993, the key to recovery was devaluation. But with Spain in the euro that option is no longer available. Unless the government rams through structural reforms to make the economy more competitive, the argument goes, adjustment to a harsher economic environment will involve a big rise in unemployment and years of stagnation. Instead of going into a V-shaped recession, with a swift recovery, the economy could be heading for an L-shaped depression.

Spain's prosperity is due partly to good luck, in the form of EU entry. But for most of the past 30 years it has also managed its affairs far better than its southern Mediterranean peers have done. Despite some corruption, particularly in local government, Spanish politics is generally fairly clean. The country's economy is relatively open and flexible—halfway between Britain and the rest of continental Europe. Economic management has been mostly competent and stable: since 1993 Spain has had just two finance ministers (Italy has had four since 2001 alone). Mr Solbes, who has held the job since 2004, had an earlier spell in 1993-96 under Mr González before moving on to become the EU's commissioner for economic and monetary affairs. Under Mr Aznar the incumbent was Rodrigo Rato, who subsequently became the IMF's boss.

Officials reel off other reasons why Spain is now a different and stronger country than it was when recession last struck. For example, in 1993 the government had a budget deficit of 7% of GDP; in 2007 it had a surplus of 2.2% and public debt was just 36.2% of GDP, down from a peak of 68% in 1996 (compared with Italy's figure of 104% in 2007 or Britain's of 44%). Even more importantly, over the past 15 years a clutch of powerful Spanish multinationals has emerged. In 2000 the Financial Times list of the world's 500 biggest firms by market capitalisation included only eight from Spain; by 2008 the figure had risen to 14.

A generation of young Spaniards that has grown up knowing nothing but rapid economic growth may now have to contend with unemployment. This will put Spain's political system, as well as its economy, to its most severe test since the early years of its transition to democracy. This special report will weigh the country's strengths and weaknesses and assess its prospects for renewed economic growth. It will argue that Spain can avoid Italy's fate of seemingly remorseless decline. But there are some grounds for concern in politics.


Copyright © 2008 The Economist Newspaper and The Economist Group. All rights reserved.

Vean esto que se puede trasladar a otros países


Es una crítica de la cultura ciudadana en países en vías de desarrollo....

miércoles, noviembre 12, 2008

Primer satélite venezolano Simón Bolívar


El presidente de Venezuela, Hugo Chávez, y su homólogo de Bolivia, Evo Morales, celebraron ayer el lanzamiento del primer satélite venezolano Simón Bolívar desde China, cuya construcción fue encargada a ese país asiático. Morales fue uno de los invitados de Chávez a esta ceremonia, que se celebró en la localidad de Luepa. En este lugar existe una base de control del satélite desde la cual se presenció el lanzamiento y puesta en órbita realizados en China.

A las 12.24 hora de Venezuela, el cohete que contenía el satélite venezolano de telecomunicaciones Simón Bolívar fue impulsado al espacio desde la base de Xichang, en China, en un acto trasmitido por cadena nacional. A los cinco minutos del lanzamiento todos los sistemas funcionaban a la perfección. A los diez minutos, el cohete atravesaba el Océano Pacífico con toda normalidad. La etapa del lanzamiento es una de las que comportan el mayor riesgo, según explicó el coordinador de Ecuación del Centro de Investigaciones de Astronomía de Mérida, Johnny Cova, especialmente por la cantidad de combustible que llevaba el cohete que desplegaría el satélite, que tiene una altura equivalente a 18 pisos y pesa alrededor de 277 toneladas.

A los 28 minutos el satélite se despegó del cohete y desde ese momento pasó a ser independiente y la operación se calificó de exitosa. El Simón Bolívar se situará a 36.000 kilómetros de la superficie terrestre, lo que permitirá que su señal de 1300 megahercios se extiendo desde el sur de México hasta la mitad del territorio de Argentina y Chile. En aproximadamente diez días podrá ser manejado desde la estación de El Sombrero, centro de operaciones de la Agencia Bolivariana de Actividades Espaciales (ABAE) y puerto de salida de servicios de telefonía, televisión digital e Internet de alta velocidad.

El costo total del proyecto fue calculado en 406 millones de dólares. Incluye el cohete de lanzamiento, dos estaciones terrestres y el telepuerto. Estos dos últimos construidos por Venezuela con tecnología china.

martes, noviembre 11, 2008

Latin America May Have to Wait


Latin America May Have to Wait
Hope exists for the region, but it is not Obama's priority
Alfredo Ascanio (askain)
Published 2008-11-11 13:18 (KST)
Edited by Carlos Arturo Serrano

A journalist said yesterday: "I can not believe what is happening in the world: in Bolivia we have an Indian as president, in Brazil we have a mechanical turner, in Paraguay a retired priest, and now in the US an African-American."

"Obama has a democratic left discourse that causes stir in Latin America because it helps to legitimize a leftist approach to the detriment of the conservative one," said Mexican historian Lorenzo Meyer.

"Obama will be received as the Pope when he traveled to Latin America," said Mexican Jorge Castaneda, former foreign minister, "and the new President should influence the Congress of his country to achieve a radical reform of the problem of immigration."

On Nov. 4 the Institute Latino barometer conducted a research in 18 Latin American countries to inquire about their reactions to Obama's victory and the result was that enthusiasm was mixed with some skepticism. Even leaders in Latin America expressed low expectations. "Our hope is for the President-elect to abandon the unilateralism that characterized the Bush administration, and help give a new impulse to multilateralism," said Marco Aurelio Garcia, advisor of President Lula of Brazil.

Brazil bets on a better relationship between the US, Cuba and Venezuela and hopes to end the embargo against Cuba. Social Democrat Manuel Cuesta Morua, from the Cuban opposition, noted that this action by the new government of the US would "collapse the pretexts that have been used in Cuba for the past fifty years to limit the restrictions on freedom."

Pressing issues at home

But the priority for Obama will be the 10.1 million unemployed in his own country, a situation the labor market had not experienced in 14 years. During his first press conference in Chicago on Friday, Nov. 7, the president-elect had to react to the news of the day: there were 240,000 jobs lost in October.

In one year, the United States has destroyed over 1.2 million jobs, including 520,000 during the months of September and October. The unemployed figure was the highest in the last 25 years. With an unemployment rate of 6.6 percent -- for 18 months the rate was 4.1 percent-- analysts are trying to find out whether this trend will reach 8 or 9 percent.

President Obama has devised a program in two stages. First, address the emergency situation, and present a strategy to overcome "the greatest economic challenge of our time." He promised prompt action, even though "some options will be difficult."

The immediate priorities are three: the adoption of measures to overcome unemployment, a new rescue plan for the middle classes, and to protect savings in order to avoid a banking collapse. The plan should focus on "the taxpayers and not just financial companies." If that plan is not approved before his inauguration, Obama said, "This will be the first thing I will do as president."

He is also intent on protecting the auto industry, which is the backbone of the US economy with 4.5 million jobs, 2.9 percent of the country's total.

Alfredo Ascanio is a professor of economics at Simon Bolivar University in Caracas, Venezuela.

lunes, noviembre 10, 2008

Hoy Recibí desde Mèxico mi libro publicado allí


Hoy recibí de la Editorial Trillas de México el ejemplar de mi libro que se ha terminado y dentro de poco ya estará para la venta en las principales librerías de América Latina y España.

El libro tiene 200 páginas y cubre por completo la evaluación del proyecto hotelero privado y explica igualmente la evaluación desde el punto de vista social de la colectividad como un todo.

El libro tiene 14 capítulos y todos los conceptos se explican con casos de la experiencia real, haciendo los estimados correspondientes y las evaluaciones del flujo de efectivo.

El libro ha sido prologado por el Maestro mexicano Ramón Enrique Martínez Gasca, Vicepresidente para Norteamérica y Presidente del Capítulo México, de la Confederación Panamericana de Escuelas de Hotelería, Gastronomía y Turismo (CONPEHT). El Maestro Martínez es también Director de la Escuela de Turismo de la Universidad Intercontinental en la ciudad de México.

Los que quieran comprarlo vean estos datos donde lo pueden hacer:

MIGUEL CONCHA,S .A.
SANTIAGO, CHILE
TEL: (562) 655 15 45
FAX: (562) 274 66 55 y 274 05 08
E-MAIL: miguelconcha_sa@internacional.cl
AT'N SR. MIGUEL CONCHA

EDITORIAL TRILLAS COLOMBIA, LTDA.
BOGOTA, COLOMBIA
AT'N SR. ALFONSO LOPEZ
TEL: (571) 232 83 36 ó 232 83 05
FAX: (571) 285 89 05
E-MAIL: trillas@etb.net.co

DIAZ DE SANTOS, S.A.
MADRID, ESPAÑA
TEL: (34 91) 743 48 90
FAX: (34 91) 743 40 23
E-MAIL: compras@diazdesantos.es
AT'N SRITA. CARMEN LOPEZ

DIAZ DE SANTOS,S.A.
BARCELONA, ESPAÑA
TEL: (34 93) 212 86 47
FAX: (34 93) 211 49 91
E-MAIL: barcelona@diazdesantos.es
AT'N SR. JOAN M. BARTOLOME

EDITORIAL MAD
ALCALA DE GUADAIRA, ESPAÑA
TEL: (34 90) 245 29 00
FAX: (34 95) 563 07 13
E-MAIL: mbernal@mad.es
AT'N SRITA. MAYTE BERNAL

En Argentina y Brasil no contamos con distribuidores, pero si tiene alguna persona interesada en su libro, nosotros podemos hacerle la cotización con los gastos de envío.

Así mismo le informo que su libro ya lo tenemos disponible y el precio de lista es de $15.00 dólares. (ESTE PRECIO NO INCLUYE LOS GASTOS DE ENVIO)

De necestiar mayor información, con mucho gusto estamos a sus órdenes.


Atentamente

Irene Yépez Serna
Coordinación Comercial
del Exterior

E-Mail: laviga@trillas.com.mx
Tel: 56 33 09 95 y 56 33 11 12
Fax: 56 34 22 21 y 56 33 08 70
CALZ. DE LA VIGA No. 1132
COL. APATLACO
09439 MEXICO, D.F.

domingo, noviembre 09, 2008

El Diario de Corea: THE HANKYOREH


En este diario de Corea del Sur escrito en inglés aparece un interesante reportaje sobre Barack Obama que se titula: Barack Obama ushers in new progressive era.