Agrégateur de flux

Au campus d'été des Républicains, les favoris des scrutins de la fin novembre ont cherché à ne pas rallumer la guerre des petites phrases assassines du précédent week-end.

Mintegy 110 fiatal vállalkozó illetve vállalkozni szándékozó fiatal vette át tegnap Magyarkanizsán a Prosperitati Alapítvány Startup-képzésének befejezéséről szóló tanúsítványt.

Évről-évre növekszik a beutazó turisták száma Bosznia-Hercegovinába, a háború emléke lassan feledésbe merül, újra turisztikai célpont ez a gyönyörű ország.

Ennek érdekében tesznek is, rendszeresen megjelennek turisztikai vásárokon, rendezvényeken, ahol próbálják megnyerni a gazdag turistákat, köztük az Öböl-menti országokban élőket is. Nem kevés sikerrel, és noha az ország lakosságának túlnyomó része muzulmán, a közösségi oldalakon egyre több és durvább kommentek érkeznek az arab turistákkal kapcsolatban, ami előtt az idegenforgalmi szakemberek is értetlenül állnak.

Az arab turisták az összes beutazó 20%-át adják, ezért sem érthető az ellenérzés irányukban, mondják a szakemberek. Hivatalosan soha senki nem tett panaszt egyetlen arab országbeli turista viselkedésével kapcsolatban sem, ellenérzésüket csak a világhálón osztják meg.

Holott az arab turisták sok pénzt hoznak a nyugat-balkáni országnak. „Az arab turisták igényes vendégek, de ugyanakkor nagyon sokat is költenek”- mondta a Bosnia Travel utazási iroda igazgatója, akik évek óta utaztatnak vendégeket az Öböl-menti országokból. „Látogatásukból minden nemzetiség hasznot húz. Ahogy megérkeznek Szarajevóba, elutaznak Jajcéba is, szállodát foglalnak a Vlasicson vagy Lukavicában”. (utóbbi három település a Szerb Köztársaság területén van - szerk.)

Az ilidzsai Hotel Hollywood szálloda kapacitásának legnagyobb részét közel-keleti vendégek – Egyesült Arab Emirátus, Bahrein, Oman – teszik ki, kisebb számban érkeznek Kuwaitból és Szaud-Arábiából.
„Nagyon élvezik a klímát, az esőt, a zöldet, a folyókat, a vendéglátást és az árak számukra nagyon megfelelőek” - mondja a szálloda igazgatója. „Sokkal többet költenek, mint más országbeli turisták, és több vendégéjszakát is töltenek a szállodában. Általában 7 – 30 napot.”

Hogy miért utaznak ide Kuwaitból? Nos, egy házaspár az alábbiakat mondta: „Itt minden van, amit csak szeretnénk – gyönyörű környezet, kellemes klíma, tiszta levegő, tiszta folyók, vendégszeretet, és kedves emberek. Boszniában úgy érezzük magunkat, mint otthon.”

Számukra fontos, hogy itt biztonságban érzik magukat, amit Európa más országairól nem mindig lehet elmondani, mondják, hozzátéve, hogy az árak is nagyon barátságosak. Évente többször jönnek Szarajevóba, tapasztalataikat megosztják a rokonokkal, barátokkal, ismerősökkel, ez a legjobb reklám. Úgy vélik, a jövőben az Öböl-menti országból érkező turisták száma jelentősen nőni fog.

„Nem értem, hogy miért is zavarnának bárkit is az arab turisták, akik nem zavarnak senkit Európában”- mondja egy idegenforgalmi szakember, és hozzáteszi, hogy korábban a hátizsákos turistákra panaszkodtak a szarajevóiak, mert régebben ők jelentették a turisták többségét. Akkor azt mondták, hogy ide nem kellenek a hátizsákos európai fiatalok, de nem igazán tudták, hogy mi ellen tiltakoznak.

Nekik köszönhetően azonban Bosznia-Hercegovina jelentős figyelmet kapott az interneten blogokban, fotókkal és megjelentek a közösségi felületeken. Az arab turisták hasonló módon bevezetés a "nagy beruházásokba, nem csak a turizmusban".

Az arabok egyébként nagyon keveset tudnak Bosznia-Hercegovináról azon túl, hogy Európában van, hogy muzulmánok lakják, hogy nem olyan régen háború volt. Bosznia-Hercegovina bejött, mint új turista célpont, ahova biztonsággal lehet utazni, és meglepődnek, hogy mennyi természeti szépséget találnak.

Szakemberek azt mondják, Szarajevónak nincs sok más lehetősége a turizmuson kívül. Ipara nincs, a nagy létszámot foglalkoztató gyárak, üzemek bezártak, a lakosok tízezreinek nincs hova menni reggelente dolgozni. A kitörési pont az idegenforgalom, hiszen kevés olyan hely van a világon, ahol a téli, nyári turizmus egyaránt jelen van, és újra feléledt a gyógyturizmus is.

A legfrissebb adatok szerint júliusban több turista érkezett Ausztráliából, mint Szlovéniából, a dél-koreai turisták számukat tekintve az első tízben vannak.

És mégis vannak, akik úgy érzik, hogy az arab turisták egyre nagyobb számban özönlik el Boszniát, holott nagyságrendekkel kevesebben keresik fel, mint például Szerbiát, ahova a statisztikai adatok szerint kb. háromszor annyi arab turista érkezik, mint Boszniába.

A kommentelők többsége azt nehezményezi, hogy sokan nemcsak turistaként érkeznek az országba, hanem ott tulajdont is szereznek, letelepednek. Szarajevóban is óriás beruházásokat végeznek, a város környékén hatalmas földterületeket vásárolnak fel, ahol gigaberuházásokat indítanak el.

Nehezményezik, hogy ezek a beruházások nem a helyieknek készülnek, akik biztosan nem fogják tudni megfizetni azokat az apartmanokat, szolgáltatásokat, oda dolgozni mehetnek és „rabszolgák” lesznek a saját hazájukban.

Hogy milyen beruházásokról van szó, arról később.

fotó: Deutsche Welle

http://balkanimozaik.blog.hu/2016/08/22/ilidzsa_kuwait_city

http://balkanimozaik.blog.hu/2016/04/08/hatalmas_osszegert_vasarolnak_arabok_ingatlanokat_szarajevo_kornyeken 

The summer of 2016, between the French Euro and the Brazilian Olympics has demonstrated once more to what extent sport has become an important showcase for contemporary nation-states. Not only for the hosts, but also for the participants (ask the Portuguese or the Icelanders, the British or the Jamaicans). The historians of nationalism have well shown that already at the end of the 19th century, governments of all kinds quickly understood the benefits in terms of prestige and recognition that they could reap from this popular activity which gave centre stage to individuals or teams supposed to represent the national body.

The benefit was (and is) twofold, as sport has always served two major purposes: highlight the competitiveness and performance of the nation, as well as consolidate, with the help of sport’s emotional power, its collective identity.

This political use of sport has hardly changed over time. The vocabulary, however, has. The intangible resources of cultural influence or internal cohesion that may be accumulated thanks to the different levers of ‘sport diplomacy’ are now often referred to by the term ‘soft power’, which has made its way from political science to mainstream media.

The high-level group at work in the Berlaymont.

If virtually every more or less developed nation-state has a ‘sport diplomacy’, should the European Union have one, too? The question was put on the table by the Lisbon Treaty which gives the European Union competence in sporting matters. It is thus not surprising that over the last academic year Commissioner Tibor Navracsics set up a high-level expert group to discuss the matter in a series of meetings between October 2015 and June 2016 and submit a report with their conclusions and recommendations.

I am relieved to testify that the objective of a European sport diplomacy, if ever there will be one, will NOT be to challenge nation-states on their favourite playing field: sentiments, flags and sporting performance.

It is true that in the mid-80’s the ‘Ad-hoc Committee on a People’s Europe’ (whose final document is also known as the ‘Adonnino report’) suggested to the European Community to seize sport’s potential to move people and bring them together. Among other things, it proposed the ‘organisation of European community events’ for certain sports, the ‘creation of Community teams’, or the invitation to ‘sporting teams to wear the Community emblem in addition to their national colour’.

Today, such propositions sound somewhat naïve at best, outright counter-productive at worst.

They were based on a conceptual mistake. As we all never tire of telling our students, the European Union is a ‘sui generis’ entity: it is not, and has no ambition to become a large nation-state, and it has no interest whatsoever to take inspiration from the mechanisms of classical ‘nation-building’.

It is of course legitimate for any enthusiastic promoter of European integration to have the desire to see Europe ‘loved’ by its citizens, and it is true that without citizens’ support for a common project there will be no sustainable solidarity among them.

But the EU would be well-advised to avoid falling into the ‘identity trap’ and resist the ever-present temptation to instrumentalise sport in order to ‘build a European identity’ or ‘provoke feelings of belonging to Europe’. Its identity will derive from the legitimacy that citizens are willing to grant it, and this legitimacy will be based on a strong credibility with regard to the values it wants to embody.

A smart European sports policy would not copy or imitate what is already done by the nation-states, but provide a tangible added value to international sport. The Union definitely has the potential for it, precisely because it is not a nation-state pursuing interests of national prestige. On the contrary: it can become a respected actor, patiently defending high ethical standards and the fundamental, universal values of sport.

The report of the high-level group on sport diplomacy was handed over to the Commissioner this summer. It contains quite a few recommendations on how the EU could intelligently integrate sport in its external relations. It can be downloaded under the following address:  http://www.essca.fr/EU-Asia/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2016/07/Final-REPORT-HLG-SD.pdf

Albrecht Sonntag,
ESSCA School of Management, Angers

The post Does Europe need a sport diplomacy? appeared first on Ideas on Europe.

Pour l’ex-ministre de l’économie, invité dimanche à « Questions politiques », sur France Inter en collaboration avec « Le Monde », il y a deux blocs à gauche difficilement réconciliables.

La succession des révélations sur l'évitement de l'impôt à l'échelle internationale fait apparaître l'ampleur de l'impunité fiscale dont jouissent les plus puissants et les plus malins. Loin d'être fatale, celle-ci résulte de choix politiques. Lutter efficacement contre l'évasion des capitaux supposerait (...) / Europe, France, Criminalité financière, Banque, Droit, Entreprise, Fiscalité, Inégalités, Justice, Mondialisation, Islande, Crise financière - 2016/06

Selon le résultat obtenu ou espéré, l'opinion des commentateurs et des dirigeants politiques sur le référendum varie du tout au tout. Si ce type de consultation, longtemps rejeté par la gauche, peut apparaître comme le nec plus ultra dans une démocratie en crise, sa banalisation n'est pas sans danger. (...) / France, Démocratie, Élections, Histoire, Politique, Sondage d'opinion - 2016/08

A La Baule, l’ancien président a réitéré ses propositions très droitières. Avant lui, Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet a lancé un appel aux parrainages pour pouvoir participer à la primaire.

Photo: PEAS

Nestled in the beautiful Ugandan hills two-hours west of the capital Kampala, sits Pioneer High School. The rural secondary school, set over 10km away from the next senior school, has a thriving student base of 472 student—54% of which are female. Headteacher Francis Kyanja sits on the steps of the staff dormitory at the highest point of the school grounds, looking back over the classrooms blocks to the rolling hills in the distance and, in the foreground, students reading and playing on the grass following a day of study. The school day here is long: lesson prep often begins at 7.30am and by the time the final bell is called at 4.30pm, teachers and students alike are ready for a hearty meal and some well-earned relaxation time.

Headteacher Francis has not only ushered a regionally cutting-edge and rigorous educational program, including history, science, arts, mathematics and religion, he was able to arrange an off-grid solar electricity system installed within the school grounds, providing electricity to the community for the first time.

In Uganda, as everywhere, it is inarguable the importance of education and the need to advance societies.

To that fact, there are bold global goals for universal education access, namely the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals. Too often, however, education ends at primary school and millions of students are unable to continue their studies due to financial, gender or regional limitations. To help bridge that gap, UK social enterprise PEAS (Promoting Equality in African Schools) has built and manages sustainable secondary schools to allow African children receive further education that otherwise wouldn’t. The organization attempts to ensure that all of their schools are financially self-sufficient enabling them to run, independent of international aid, for the long-term.

Headteacher Francis has situated himself at an elevated position in order to gain mobile phone signal, intermittent at best in this region. He has agreed to speak with me via Skype, the first time he has ever used the platform, to discuss the impact a power supply brings to student learning.

Pioneer High School is situated in a coffee growing community, not directly in a village, and is about 50 km outside of Kampala and about 7 km away from the main road. Its purpose is to hone their students’ skills and knowledge, along with providing boarding for students. The rural area does not lend easy connection to the national grid, thus there has been no access to electricity to date. In fact the closest power line is near the main road. Francis is unaware of any future plans for extension of the transmission and distribution network, thus localized generation has smartly been turned to through a small-scale solar system. Centralized generation with high-voltage, long distance transmission lines have a place, but for small rural communities, off-grid systems are the most effective option to gain access to electricity.

Electricity is, in many ways, an additional lifeblood of an advancing community. Without electricity there are no lights, refrigeration for vaccines, charging for phones, or using computers, among the myriad of other uses in today’s world. Electricity provides a conduit to open doors instead of being trapped in the cycle of poverty. Francis noted that with the electricity, there is now the ability to connect with the outside world, as our Skype call was testament to, and to relay events domestically and globally.

The Students

As well as speaking with the Headteacher, I had the opportunity to spend time talking to two ambitious, friendly and gracious students who were excited to share their new experience. Naudrine, a confident 17 year old boarding student, wants to become either a doctor or an engineer, and her favorite subject is chemistry. She explained, as I noticed her visible happiness displayed by her facial features, how having the access to electricity and lighting provides her time to complete her studies in the evening and to prepare for class the next day. She also stated that the electricity in the school along with the fenced areas surrounding the school provide an extra sense of security.

Peter, a smiley faced 16 year old, told me his favorite subject is mathematics and desires to become a businessman. He too echoed the opening the electricity provides for night time studying, thus being able to advance his studies. He continued that the solar electric system was a living science experiment to learn from.

Both Naudrine and Peter, who have faced various challenged in their youth, were unequivocal that education and electricity have transformed their daily lives.

The System and Its Benefits

The system power house is about 10 meters from the school and near the solar arrays, which houses the batteries, electric box, invertors, and other technical system materials, with the conduit running to the school. The system has been designed to be expanded in the future and to reach the local area to provide new development opportunities, which students—including some members’ children—currently benefit from. The electricity would be sold to provide income to further sustain the school or offset school fees.

Currently, though, a very important additional benefit of the current electricity system is the ability to have better security, which is extremely comforting to the students who attend only day classes. There is 24 hour security for the compound and there are plans to continue the security efforts to build lights down the path from the school.

The system installed consists of advanced technology, thus onsite maintenance was necessary to be learned before the installers departed. New Age Solar Technologies (NAST), located in Kampala, designed, installed and does assist with the system when problems arise. However, NAST educated students on maintenance procedures so they now assist in keeping the system functioning to avoid any system disruptions.

Outside of Pioneer School

Away for the school, the region is poor and households are reliant on firewood for cooking, heating and light, without access to electricity or cookstoves. Unlike other regions, charcoal is not frequently used as well.

Gathering the firewood, almost exclusively by women—young and old, takes away from time that could be used more productively. Much of the economy is agrarian based— specializing in coffee—and the flow of money is sparse and access to markets in not readily available. Moving beyond firewood collection, more time in the day could provide, for example, the ability to start a small business and bring coffee to market. Increased income can help pay school fees and sustain attaining solar lanterns and keeping them charged, enabling openings of other aspects of socio-economic growth.

Amazing Results

As we come to the end of our discussion, Headteacher Francis talks a little about his own experience. He has worked with PEAS for 5 years and his passion for the project is clear. He has acquired various additional skills such as: leadership and administrative skills and feels touched to work with the organization that has such a great mission and vision. He says solar has given them a great opportunity to improve the community’s outlook.

Francis stated the area is thankful for PEAS providing the opportunity, for the students and himself, to have the chance to deliver secondary education and for the school to have an off-grid solar system to provide electricity to bring the associated benefits. He knows the combination will enable great benefits to the region.

After the inspiring chat, I was left with the impression that Francis, Naudrine and Peter will be able to attain their goals thanks to their ability to attend Pioneer School and having new access to electricity.

The post Pioneer School Providing An Amazing Opportunity appeared first on Foreign Policy Blogs.

Ever heard of ‘L’Arlésienne’, a short story written by French novelist Alphonse Daudet in 1869 and included in his famous ‘Letters from my Windmill’? The title refers to a lady from the city of Arles, who is central to the plot, but never appears on the stage. No one ever sees her, and yet everyone talks about her. Over the years, the term ‘l’Arlésienne’ has become a household expression for someone or something that everyone seems concerned about and talking about, but which is simply not there.

It seems to me that before Brexit eventually jumps on the stage (in 2019? 2020? later?), it will remain a genuine ‘Arlésienne’ for quite a while!

In the meantime, keen Brexiters will have gone through a learning process, realizing that the EU had more advantages than disadvantages for Britain, and that after all, being part of the EU as the least committed member state, negotiating all sorts of exemptions, blocking many decisions it disliked, offered both a comfortable position and a convenient shelter. At that stage it will however be too late to revert to these good old days of bottom line commitment.

Some form of ‘soft Brexit’ is likely to materialize in a few years’ time to keep loud-barking Brexiters quiet and the Remain camp not too disenchanted. But in the process, a lot of feathers, even teeth, will have been lost completely unnecessarily.

Jean-Marc Trouille is Jean Monnet Chair
in European Economic Integration
at Bradford University School of Management, UK.

The post Brexit, the new ‘Arlésienne’? appeared first on Ideas on Europe.

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe says the decision by judges to allow anti-government protests to go ahead showed a reckless disregard for peace.

Former Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff talks with  President Michel Temer at the Planalto presidential palace in Brasilia, March 2, 2016.

In Canada, a country considered one of the least corrupt in the world, there are several scandals taking place involving government funds going to special interest groups. The offense felt by the general public over a pay-for-play system is very apparent. A system where those with influence and money have excessive power in choosing government policies that benefits them or their organization runs against basic democratic values.

It is unacceptable that the wealthy should have special access to political leaders, when average people end up with the bill and years of burdens from bad policies. In many countries there are similar issues, and the public sentiment likely mirrors that of those in my own community. One of the worst cases of this type of corruption is currently taking place in Brazil, and their President will likely be impeached because of it.

There is not a clear legal case for the impeachment of elected Workers Party (PT) leader and Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, as the main charge over breaking budget rules is a meek accusation. The Senate hearing is using the budget rules issue as a catalyst for her impeachment, placing the responsibility of an entire corruption scandal involving mostly her PT party as well as other professional political agents on her Presidency.

With mass protests taking place against her government for the last two years and low approval numbers, the Senate seems to be making a political decision on her personally by way of scandals in her PT party. It has been predicted that her ouster as President will be successful, and the rest of her mandate will be taken up by the leader of an opposition party, Mr Temer.

President Rousseff has been fighting for her political career, claiming that this move by the other branches of government is tantamount to a coup. While the separation of powers in democracies does allow for other branches of government to check the power of the executive branch, a clear legal case might not be present in judging Rousseff’s actions personally. While there is no doubt her party is deeply involved in an atrocious corruption scandal, removing the President by means of a weak legal case may cause more political divisions than are required in this type of political scenario.

Rousseff should be aware that while the case against her is as much partisan politics as it is an unclear constitutional process, the extreme corruption that took place under the Petrobras scandal and damage to average Brazilian citizens has delegitimized her PT party greatly. Protests for Dilma and against her may take place several times before the end of the 2018 presidential term of office, but keeping her in office would be an awkward move considering many in her PT party may be removed promptly due to scandals.

Michel Temer, the current President was not elected himself, and the question of his party’s legitimacy without an election will give rise to more divisiveness in Brazil when a strong and legitimate government is needed to clean up politics and the economy.

An election is needed to confirm the right to lead in Brazil. While Temer may take advantage of his two years in power to put in austerity measures, whether they are needed or not, legitimacy in taking such actions should be confirmed by the people of Brazil. While the PT may opt for an election as opposed to impeachment, the reality is that many of the political leaders under scandal will not be returned to government.

As those of us outside of Brazil would want our pay-for-play political leaders removed from positions of power, Brazilians should be able to not only have those political leaders removed once a crime is discovered, but be able to replace them with legitimate alternatives chosen via a direct democratic method.

The post Impeachment Should be Legitimized by an Election in Brazil appeared first on Foreign Policy Blogs.

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As the peak of El Niño wanes, it seems to signal the arrival of La Niña, and the impacts are having an extremely serious effect. Average global temperatures for July hit the 15th consecutive record-breaking surge: 0.87 ℃ higher than the average for the 20th century. This trend in global warming has heightened the probability of catastrophic natural disasters, challenging the risk management capability of governments.

In the Southern Hemisphere, one of the worst regional droughts in 35 years swept over southern Africa, leaving 23 million people in urgent need of humanitarian assistance, according to the Southern African Development Community (SADC). The international community, in response, pledged $2 billion worth of contributions to El Niño-affected countries. Yet, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reports that $4 billion more is needed to make up for the total damage.

Meanwhile, the flood-inducing El Niño in North America bombarded Baton Rouge, Louisiana, with 6.9 trillion gallons of rain in just one week, causing 13 deaths and $20.7 billion worth of damage to more than 110,000 homes. Battling with the worst natural disaster since the superstorm Sandy, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) urged affected residents to register for federal disaster relief funds for which more than 95,000 residents had applied as of 19th of August.

Nevertheless, FEMA’s limited resources, epitomized by the maximum grant of $33,000 per household, barely provide a safety net for the applicants. What is making the picture gloomier is the fact that only 42% of the FEMA-designated high-risk flood areas in Louisiana are insured through the National Flood Insurance Program; the number drops down to 12.5% in the neighboring vicinities.

Governments in the regions exposed to natural hazards are on the verge of failing to cope with the recent natural disasters’ enduring impacts on human life. The burdens, however, could be significantly lessened by action from the private insurance companies, namely their active engagement in the climate and natural disaster insurance industry in terms of workable Public-Private Partnership (PPP)-based arrangements.

The benefits of successful PPP in climate and natural disaster insurance are, in theory, synergetic. It ensures that governments at all levels can be certain of formal risk-transfer mechanisms upon the occurrence of contingent events, allowing for effective management of governmental budgets. In the insurance market, private insurance companies’ locally tailored products not only efficiently provide financial liquidity to insured individuals during the ex-post recovery process but also pre-emptively reduce the risks by altering these individuals’ ex-ante behaviors.

With well-functioning market mechanisms, the price (the rate) is gradually set and stabilized in a more transparent way, which incentivizes governments to set up more fairly priced policies. Partnering private insurance companies also benefit from taking advantages of the scale of PPP; it allows them to reduce operational and premium costs and to competitively enhance their capacity to deal with high volumes of client profiles and large-scale data analysis. In the end, insured individuals best-minimize their exposure to risks.  

Despite the assumed benefits, the engagement of private insurance companies with the climate and natural disaster insurance industry has, overall, been unenthusiastic. Whereas the average global weather-related losses rose by ten times from 1974 to1983 ($10 billion per year) compared with 2004 to 2013 ($131 billion per year), the average percentage for the losses that are insured dropped almost half over the last four decades. Attributing the decline to the increasing chance of being exposed to catastrophic natural disasters under intensifying climate change and urbanization, pundits propose that PPPs in climate and natural disaster insurance should be either reformed (in the case of existing PPPs) or updated to reflect the changes.

In the U.S., the debate over FEMA’s National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) reform is becoming heated prior to next year’s reauthorization of the program. In the aftermath of post-Sandy, controversies over fraudulent claims as well as partnering private insurance companies’ moral hazards of exploiting marginal profits, both policymakers and pundits are looking for solutions to reduce the program’s $23 billion deficit and to improve its efficiency.

Some of the suggested reforms are highlighted here: the introduction of risk-based rates, the provision of assistance to socio-economically vulnerable residents in high-risk areas, including the provision of the right to be informed about records held on property, the strengthening of the program’s accountability in monitoring, evaluating, and enforcing the program’s provisions, the modernization of the PPP’s outmoded bureaucratic technology, and, lastly, the sharing (diverting) of the risk through the private insurance market (including reinsurance).

All these options, however, require the market to function effectively. For instance, calibration of current government premium rates in high-risk areas to risk-adequate ones should be well-designed to offer private insurance companies incentives to attenuate their market exit, while encouraging the residents living in high-risk areas to move to safe areas. Also, the ability of the reinsurance market to assume the NFIP’s risks through the purchasing of the primary policy provider’s coverage plans should be carefully assessed.

The successful market-based modernization of some of the world’s mature disaster management PPPs such as the NFIP should bring a positive message about the role of the international insurance market; for example, in helping developing countries to minimize their climate-related risks through the use of innovative financial products like catastrophe bonds.

Although the climate and natural disaster insurance industry is still in the inchoate phase of its development in many developing countries, several pilot programs (involving trials of innovative insurance products) are being administered in areas that are susceptible to natural disasters. Microfinance is one of the products that has been designed to protect people on low incomes in exchange for a premium that is tailored specifically to their needs. Weather index insurance is another that pays out benefits based on a predetermined event index, rather than on loss itself.

The post Time for Public-Private Partnership Innovations in Natural Disaster Insurance? appeared first on Foreign Policy Blogs.

In this virtual roundtable of six podcasts hosted by Professor Sarwar Kashmeri, the Foreign Policy Association aims to shed some light and serve as a catalyst for developing awareness, understanding and informed opinions on the key issues that face American policymakers as they seek to peer over the horizon to manage the U.S.-China relations.

In the fourth installment of the virtual roundtable, Professor Toshi Yoshihara, John A. van Beuren Chair of Asia-Pacific Studies and professor at the U.S. Naval War College, discusses the U.S.-China relations in the light of the ruling against China’s claims in the South China Sea by the permanent court of arbitration in The Hague.

Asked about the significance of the ruling, Prof. Yoshihara responded “I think the tribunal’s ruling is a big deal because it sets the record straight in terms of the international law’s view of China’s claims which is that […] their historical rights in the South China Sea were superseded by the laws of the sea treaty.”

He went on to elaborate: “On the one hand, this represented a major diplomatic and legal setback for China. On the other hand, China is standing firm and has articulated that it will not back down from its claims, that it does not recognize the jurisdictional authority of the tribunal and that it will do nothing to enforce the court’s ruling.”

http://foreignpolicyblogs.com/wp-content/uploads/T-Yoshihara-WCOPY-081716.mp3

For more analysis on the U.S.-China relations, listen to the other podcasts of the virtual roundtable.

The post Prof. Toshi Yoshihara on the Hague’s Ruling Against China’s Claims appeared first on Foreign Policy Blogs.

A l'occasion du G20 qui se tient en Chine, Jean-Claude Juncker, le président de la commission européenne a jugé bon de « recadrer » les pays membres tentés d'empiéter sur ses prérogatives. Il a remis les choses au clair à l'égard du Royaume-Uni d'un côté, de la France et de l’Allemagne de l'autre.

Dans une interview au Journal du Dimanche, l'ex-ministre de l'Economie Emmanuel Macron, qui a démissionné pour se consacrer à son mouvement En Marche!, a détaillé sa vision de la France et reproché à Hollande sa frilosité politique.