Blog
Categories
Calendar
| <<
December 2007
|
| S | M | T | W | T | F | S |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
1 |
| 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 |
| 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 |
| 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 |
| 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 |
| 30 | 31 | | | | | |
Archive
Feeds
Join
|
Jack Welch on Kirchner et al
November 15th, 2006, 7:59
GE’S JACK WELCH SPEAKS IN SANTIAGO, CHILE
(November 15, 2006) Former CEO of General Electric and “Business Man of
the Century” Jack Welch visited Chile on Monday to speak in front of
1,200 business people in Santiago’s Espacio Riesco conference centre.
Welch praised President Bachelet on several counts, but criticized her
government’s gender-equality policy. “She included the policy in her
campaign, she won and she has the right to implement it,” said Welch.
“Do I agree with it? Of course not! Not at all! I believe in
meritocracy.”
Welch also stressed the need for flexibility in a company’s structure
and the importance of worker’s rights to compensation. “Greater
flexibility in the work place increases the chances for meritocracy and
creates companies that win results,” he said.
At them same time, he stressed that companies have a responsibility to
their workers and acknowledged the need for social safetynets. “If you
make the mistake of hiring a bad worker, you should pay for it,” he
said. “Indemnity payments are part of doing business.”
When speaking of other Latin American leaders, the American businessman
was less complimentary. In reference to Argentina’s President Néstor
Kirchner he said, “His ability to lead depends on who you ask: whether
it’s a businessman, whose prices he fixes and therefore they don’t like
him, or a normal, average person.”
Of Hugo Chávez, Welch was even more scathing. “I have absolutely
nothing to say about him,” he said. “His comments about the U.S. were
outrageous.”
As a Republican, Welch was disappointed by the results of last week’s
election, but he didn’t see any reason worry about the economy under
greater Democratic influence.
Welch, who turns 71 this week, put his success down to “luck, the
ability to choose employees well and enjoy watching them develop, as
well as enjoying a challenge.” He managed GE for twenty years between
1981 and 2001, during which time he increased GE’s market value by
US$400 billion.
SOURCE: LA TERCERA
By Beatrice Karol Burks (editor@santiagotimes.cl)
|
|
Future President of Argentina, Kirchner or Kirchner?
November 10th, 2006, 7:57
From MercoPress, Nov. 10
Argentina’s
First Lady, Senator Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner is positioned to
become the government’s candidate for next year’s presidential
election, wrote analyst Joaquín Morales Solá in his Thursday column of
La Nacion.
 |
|
Considered
the best informed analyst of the Argentine political scenario and who
regularly airs his comments on paper, radio and television, Morales
Solá reveals that President Nestor Kirchner has personally mentioned
his wife’s name to several political allies with whom he is building an
electoral alliance for the challenging 2007.
“I’m leaving. But Cristina will stay on”, was Kirchner’s message.
Furthermore, a similar confession was done to Spain’s Secretary for
Ibero-America, Trinidad Jimenez, (a woman) who recently visited
Montevideo and Buenos Aires. .
“The next Argentine president will be a woman”, he assured the visiting minister.
According to Morales Solá the president’s current decision to drop his
own re-election bid can be traced to the recent landslide rejection
from the electorate of one of Argentina’s poorest provinces which
against all odds, voted down a reform to enable the local governor,
--and Kirchner ally--, an “indefinite re-election”.
A political instrument recourse pioneered by the Kirchners in their Santa Cruz province.
If the Misiones attempt had been successful, other governors from
politically heavyweight provinces were lined up to follow suit,
including the all powerful Buenos Aires province.
But the 700.000 voters of dirt poor Misiones led by a bishop, with the
Catholic Church blessing, organized a “dignity front” causing one of
the Kirchner administration’s greatest political defeat.
However Morales Solá also points out that Mr. Kirchner has proved to
have a sharp political talent and the idea of floating the First Lady’s
name could give him breathing space. Opinion polls show him garnering
the re-election bid in the first round, but not so Mrs Kirchner.
Besides the collapse of the “indefinite re-election” proposal leaves
the governorship of the crucial province of Buenos Aires open and
several hopefuls from the Kirchner first line have tossed their hats
into the ring, and why exclude Mrs Kirchner’s, a very popular senator
for the much coveted province with 14 million citizens.
Morales Solá nevertheless ends his column recalling that President
Kirchner is quick to respond when “reality says no” and, not let us
forget that Mr. Kirchner has the purse strings of an economy booming
for the fourth straight year, plus the fact there’s no organized
opposition on sight. |
|
Small Province Big Lesson
November 1st, 2006, 8:22
From the Buenos Aires Herald, Nov. 1, '06:
A
graveyard silence reigned among national government officials yesterday
as opposition leaders celebrated an electoral defeat of an ally of
President Néstor Kirchner’s in an election on Sunday in Misiones. Kirchner
chose to extend his stay in his native province Santa Cruz yesterday
following the failure of Carlos Rovira, the governor of Misiones, to
win a Constituent Assembly election in a bid to reform the provincial
Constitution. Kirchner’s leading spokesmen, Cabinet chief Alberto
Fernández and Interior Minister Aníbal Fernández, avoided speaking to
the press about the unexpected defeat which saw a coalition led by
Bishop Emeritus Joaquín Piña win by more than 13 points.
Rovira himself said that the result cannot be argued with. "It must be accepted."
Unlike
the Kirchner camp, members of the opposition jumped on the chance of
celebrating a rare low point in the President’s popularity.
Raúl
Alfonsín, the ex-president, said the electoral result was not a
political victory, "It was a defence of the republic, of dignity, in
the words of Piña."
One of Piña’s main campaign arguments was that
Rovira’s attempt to clinch the right to unlimited re-elections goes
against democracy itself. In the days prior to the election, Piña — who
has said he respects and admires many of Kirchner’s policies — said he
hoped the President would realize it was a mistake to support Rovira.
|
|
Weapons for Beef
August 9th, 2006, 20:50
Bad news picked up on Internet today. Venezuela's Chavez and Argentina's Kirchner seem to be playing with fire. Why? I'm sure it is not just to spite the United States. Perhaps they wish to back up their hegemonic plans for the South American continent with more than words. Chavez has already suggested creating a Mercosur Army after visiting Iran. The article:
Thursday, August 10, 2006.
Russia, Argentina in Talks on Arms Deal
By Anna Smolchenko
Russia is negotiating its first-ever arms sales to Argentina in a deal that could see Russian arms being swapped for Argentine beef.
The news came less than two weeks after a controversial $3 billion arms deal between Russia and Venezuela that has been widely seen in Moscow as the trigger for U.S. sanctions on Russian defense firms.
The potential deal includes military helicopters, high-speed patrol boats and rifles, Interfax reported Wednesday, citing a source in the Russian military.
Selling arms to Argentina, led by President Nestor Kirchner — an ally of Venezuela's leftist leader Hugo Chavez — could risk further upsetting the United States. Chavez has sought to strengthen defense and trade ties between Latin American countries.
Buenos Aires daily La Nacion reported Monday that Russian officials had offered to swap weapons for Argentine food products.
A spokesman for state arms trader Rosoboronexport declined to say whether an arms deal was in the works, saying "the question is political."
Russian officials, including the deputy head of the Defense Ministry's defense procurement service, have met at least three times this year with Argentine Defense Minister Nilda Garre.
At the latest meeting on Aug. 2, Garre met with Yury Korchagin, Russia's ambassador in Buenos Aires, and discussed "technical-military cooperation," according to a statement from Garre's ministry.
Speaking by telephone from Buenos Aires on Wednesday, Korchagin said the meeting was "very good." He declined to give further details, but said a bilateral agreement in 2004 had laid the groundwork for military cooperation.
Garre's meeting with Korchagin was her third with Russian officials this year. On Jan. 18, she met with Korchagin, and on April 7 with Alexander Fomin, deputy head of the Defense Ministry's Federal Service for Military and Technical Cooperation, Garre's ministry said.
During the meeting, Korchagin said Russia already had military deals with Peru, Mexico, Uruguay and Venezuela, among others, but said that, as far as Argentina was concerned, "in 123 years of relations between our countries, that path has not been trodden," the Argentine Defense Ministry's statement said.
Garre said Argentina had "maintained a low level of armament purchases in the last few years, due to, among other reasons, the economic situation of the country," the statement said.
The Federal Service for Military and Technical Cooperation declined to comment Wednesday. The service is responsible for Russia's defense deals.
Russia hopes to sell Argentina a wide range of weapons, including Mi-17 and Mi-35M helicopters, high-speed missile boats and patrol boats, Buk-M1-2 and Tunguska air defense systems, Igla shoulder-fired missiles, military vehicles and rifles, Interfax said.
If such a deal were to be struck, it might not be large, the Rosoboronexport spokesman said on condition of anonymity. "But the main thing is to begin," he said.
Beatriz Higuchi contributed to this report.
|
|
Just Who IS Nestor Kirchner?
August 8th, 2006, 16:40
Kirchner was governor
of the Patagonian Province of Santa Cruz, a vast area stretching from
the Atlantic Ocean to the Andes. It is cold and for the most part a
barren province. But it has oil. And it has very large ore deposits. It has
priviledged fishing along the South Atlantic coast and lots of good sheep grazing on its plains. A lot more sheep than people. The
population is just under 200,000.
As Governor, Kirchner changed the
province's constitution so he could be re-elected over and over
again. He was the virtual owner of the province and exerted his
dictatorial powers accordingly. Kirchner muzzled the media and members
of his family were (and still are) in all top government positions.
Kirchner's
wife, Cristina Fernandez, was senator for Santa Cruz, but soon after her
husband became president with 22% of the votes, she was magically
transformed into Senator for the Province of Buenos Aires, the richest
in the country.
Kirchner now rules by decree, violating the
constitution and totally by-passing Congress. Opposition is weak, almost
non-existent. From dictator ruling over 200,000 souls, he is now Dictator of a nation of 38-million.
|
|
Powered by ZoomBlog.com
|
Blogroll
Clinicucha
Friends
link2
|
