December 2009
Mackenzie Pipeline Gets Thumbs-Up
According to Nathan VanderKlippe, A decades-old northern dream has taken a major step forward after the panel tasked with reviewing the Mackenzie Valley natural gas pipeline concluded that it should go forward. The joint review panel, which has spent the past half-decade assessing the pipeline, has concluded that the $16.2-billion project “would deliver valuable and [...]
Read MoreObama's Bow: To be Lauded or Laughed At?
Evidently there has been some criticism of President Obama related to the extent of his bow to Emperor Akihito of Japan. For those of you who are not aware, the relative “deepness” of the bow between two individuals is demonstrative of a sign of respect. Literally taken, the person who bows most deeply is said [...]
Read MoreRussia Emerges From Recession and Loses Economic Reformer
RUSSIAN FINANCE MINISTER Alexei Kudrin announced in a speech to the Russian Parliament on Wednesday that Russia was officially out of recession. After experiencing three straight quarters of severe economic contractions dating back to the eruption of the financial crisis last fall, Russia witnessed growth in the third quarter of this year, and the fourth [...]
Read MoreBUILDING CULTURAL BRIDGES IN DUBAI
According to Matthew Knott and Peter Knegt, Dubai appears to have an almost fanatical prediliction for world firsts and records, and on Sunday they added an unlikely honor to an ever growing list, when their film festival apparently became the first ever “to feature a queen and a neuroscientist on the same stage”. Such was [...]
Read MoreHoliday Shopping in the Chinese Market
The Metan Development Group reports that they get this nervous anxiety that suddenly hits and it roots all from one thing – shopping. The mere thought of fighting crowds and parking spaces at crowded shopping malls all for the sake of Christmas shopping simply makes me lose my appetite. In the spirit of consumerism, this [...]
Read MoreChina Negotiating Strategy
Love these simple and succinct China Negotiating Strategies set forth by Andrew Hupert: 1 – Set the stage for trust, or you will poison the potential relationship from the start. Test orders are an American concept while systematically building relationships is Chinese. Americans assume that the relationship will grow from successful transactions. Chinese assume that [...]
Read MoreThe Abu Dhabi Bailout Could Spell Opportunity for Washington
ABU DHABI SAVED DUBAI from a financial free-fall Monday when it provided its fellow Emirate with $10 billion to help pay the bond obligations of Dubai’s state-owned company Nakheel, the real estate arm of Dubai World. The bailout arrived just in time as Nakheel’s $3.52 billion sukuk, or Islamic bond, matured on Monday. Dubai is [...]
Read MoreTHE GAME OF DIPLOMACY GETS A NEW BOARD IN OBAMA GIFT TO HU: Obama gives Wei-Chi board (Go Ban) to Hu Jintao
Sorry for the delay in blogging about this. Given the recent short-comings of Sarah Palin’s cross-cultural consultants in advising her of the inappropriateness of the title of her new book in other English-speaking cultures, it seems even more appropriate now to blog about the cultural sensitivity of the curren Presidential Administration. I do not consider [...]
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