Democracy, Tibet Style

Xinhua news is reporting that Zhang Qingli, a Shandong native who recently worked in Xinjiang, has been "elected" secretary of the "Communist Party of China (CPC) Committee of the Tibet Autonomous Region. Recently Mr. Zhang spoke with the German SPIEGEL Magazine where he claimed that the 1989 Nobel Peace Prize recipient Dalai Lama has "deceived his motherland" and "did many bad things later on that contradict the role of a religious leader." When the magazine metioned that "The Dalai Lama enjoys a great deal of sympathy in America, Europe and in Asia, also because the Chinese Communist Party is not particularly democratic," Zhang did not comment about the issue. Is a man who only speaks "a few words of Tibetan," well qualified for the job?

From Annan to Ban

When Kofi Annan steps down as head Secretary-General of the UN at the end of the year, he will be replaced by South Korean leader Ban Ki-Moon, age 62. Depsite having about 65% of the world's population (and a high percentage of the world's major military conflicts in recent years), Ban will be the first Secretary-General from Asia in 35 years. Moon's term will last for five years.

How will his appointment affect US and South Korea's negotiations with North Korea? With many possible military conflicts in Asia (Pakistan-India, China-Taiwan, North Korea-South Korea), Iraq/Iran, Palestine-Israel), will the world be better served with the UN being headed up by an Asian?

Peace to Yunus

Bangladeshi microcredit pioneer Muhammad Yunus and his Grameen Bank were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for their work in advancing economic and social opportunities for the poor, particularly women. The economist and the bank he founded will share the prize. They were cited for their efforts to help "create economic and social development from below" in their home country by using innovative economic programs such as microcredit lending.

Grameen Bank has been instrumental in helping millions of poor Bangladeshis, many of them women, improve their standard of living by letting them borrow small sums to start businesses. Loans go toward buying items such as cows to start a dairy, chickens for an egg business, or mobile phones to start businesses where villagers who have no access to phones pay a small fee to make calls.

Tragedy at the Nepal Border

BBC is reporting that policeman Steve Marsh was resting at a camp on the Tibetan side of the Himalayan peak of Cho-Oyu at the beginning of the month when he saw border guards shooting dead a Tibetan refugee in a group trying to flee to Nepal. He spoke of his shock at the incident, which he said scores of other mountaineers also witnessed. Tibet welfare groups say the Tibetan who died was a young nun, and add that a boy might also have been killed. Click the link to watch the video.

North Korea Nukes & TV

On October 9th, North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported the country had performed a successful underground nuclear test.

MAD TV has a parody of Kim Jong-Il with his own TV show. On his show, he shows guest Donald Trump his version of the Apprentice:

Columiba Prof wins Econ Nobel

Columbia University professor Edmund Phelps on Monday won the 2006 Nobel prize in economics for pioneering work on the relationship between employment and inflation, which has influenced central banks around the world. Phelps, 73, is the first solo winner of the $1.37 million prize since 1999.

During the 1960s, Phelps built on what is known as the Phillips Curve, which held that when unemployment fell, there was a one-time rise in the rate of inflation.

Phelps felt that view didn't take into account the fact that consumers and businesses operate with incomplete information. He theorized that inflation depends on unemployment and expectations for future inflation.

As a consequence, the long-run rate of unemployment is not affected by inflation but only by the functioning of the labor market. Cutting interest rates or taxes to stimulate employment works temporarily, but can lead to higher inflation.

Further, policies that promote low inflation today will produce lower inflation expectations, aiding policymaking in the future. Phelps also looked at economic trade-offs, showing that deferring consumption in the short run to fund research, education and other business investment can improve economic conditions in the longer run.

The Devil was Here

On the way to class the other night I saw a flyer recommending the city to go protest Bush's speech at the United Nations on Tuesday. I didn't go, but one protester was a day late. Venezuelean President Hugo Chavez spoke at the UN today, calling Bush "the devil".

Since the whole world knows that Chavez is crazy and hates Bush, this was not a big surprise. What was a surprise to me, was Democrat representative Charles Rangel's response when Chavez repeated his sentiments in Harlem. Rangel, known for his criticism of Bush, said, "You don't come into my country, you don't come into my congressional district and criticize my president."

Darfur

Over the past week, the NYU campus has been covered by fliers urging students to go to the Save Darfur Rally at Central Park tomorrow afternoon. For those who might know, the region of Darfur in Sudan has been the site of immense violence over the past few years. Some estimate that close to 1/2 million people have been killed and more than 2 million civillians have fled their homes. The rally is being held in order encourage world leaders, specifically US President George Bush and UN Secretary General Koffi Anan to intervene.

This story also has an international aspect relating to China. The Washington Times ran an editorial a couple weeks ago claiming that Darfur is exposing Chinese hypocrisy. China holds enormous leverage over Sudan due to its investment in Sudanese oil fields. And, despite Wang Guangya, China's UN representative to the UN, claim that China supports sending peacekeepers to Sudan, they have been lobbying against the resolution to send in peacekeepers.