WEEKLY BLOG COMMENTS
DATES:
2013/12/01 – 2013/12/08
ANALYST:
Domingo Trassens
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Dear
Friends:
I would
like to share with you a series of comments posted by myself in the WSJ Journal
Community and PBS through Twitter during the last seven days about the top news
of the week.
The
comments are organized in the following sections:
- United States
- Europe
- The Rest
of World
-
Education
-
Economy, Business, Technology.
DAT
December 8, 2013
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UNITED
STATES
WSJ Story: Hagel Arrives in Afghanistan
Defense Secretary Hagel Says He Won't Meet With Afghan
President Karzai to Discuss Security Deal - By Julian E. Barnes And Nathan
Hodge
My Comment: The news says that the U.S. Secretary is
visiting Afghanistan
but he will not meet Afghan President Karzai. Probably, Mr. Hagel was to this
country only to make a little tourism. (2013/12/07)
WSJ Story:
The War of the Wages
Obama
moves left on the economy to change the subject from ObamaCare.
My Comment:
The change of
the subject is a tactic that President Obama uses frequently when he doesn’t
have answers to the claims of people: Benghazi, Immigration, IRS, NSA, Syria, ObamaCare… The problem is that
all these issues remain opened.
And I
don’t believe the minimum wage to $10.00 will end with a victory for the
President because the economy is not in the best moment to force small
businesses to increase the minimum salary from $7.25 to $10.00. Perhaps, it
would be more realistic for a jump to $8.25. (2013/12/05) 4 Recommendations
WSJ
Story: Biden Condemns China Air Zone - By Yuka Hayashi
My Comment:
According to the
news, from Japan, Vice President Joe Biden
condemned the China Air Zone and now he plans to meet Chinese President Xi
Jinping.
I don’t
believe the Chinese President will say “Hello, Mr. Biden” in a really friendly
way. (2013/12/03)
My Story:
The Next GOP Crackup?
Republican
spenders want to break the annual budget caps.
My Comment:
Republicans have
to try to work together in one direction, avoiding initiatives that give them a
bad public image. If they are divided, the White House will use this situation
for its benefit. (2013/12/03) 1 Recommendation
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EUROPE
WSJ Story: Hollande Proposes Military Alliance
to Combat African Violence
France
Drawn Deeper Into Conflict Gripping Central
African Republic - By Drew
Hinshaw in Accra, Ghana,
and Stacy Meichtry
My Comment: It looks like President Hollande wants to
recover the French influence across its old colonies. (2013/12/07)
WSJ Story:
Ukraine Government Survives
No-Confidence Vote - By James Marson in Kiev and Naftali Bendavid in Brussels
My Comment:
The voting in
the Parliament shows that a big percentage of its members are not from the side
of the protesters or they don’t want to identify with the leaders of the
unrest. (2013/12/03) 2 Recommendations
WSJ
Story: Ukraine's Pivot to Moscow Leaves West Out in the Cold - By James Marson And Alexander
Kolyandr
My Comment:
A new Ukrainian
“civilian” revolution is saying to the pro-Russian government that Ukraine is Europe. (2013/12/02) 4 Recommendations
WSJ Story:
Franco's Legacy Rattles Spain - By Matt Moffett and David Román
My Comment:
It looks like in
Spain; the fascists want to
resuscitate dictator Francisco Franco.
When the
countries don’t find solutions through the normal political institutions,
extremist activists push the crowds to the streets. (2013/12/02) 1
Recommendation
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REST
OF THE WORLD
PBS-NEWSHOUR
ANALYSIS: Shields and Brooks on Mandela's influence, Obama's vow to address
inequality
My Comment: Mark Shields speaking about Nelson
Mandela said: “Nelson Mandela is that almost unique figure who is both loved
and respected virtually around the globe. “
It looks like he wants to put the former South African
president at the top of an altar.
Personally, I recognize Mandela has a hard fighter for his
ideals, but he also was a very controversial leader associated with dictators
like al-Gaddafi and Robert Mugabe. (2013/12/08)
1 Recommendation
WSJ Story: North
Korea Frees U.S.
Tourist
Merrill Newman Was Held for More Than a Month - By
Jonathan Cheng
My Comment: The North Korean experience of Merrill
Newman was a nightmare, but it was shorter than others. In the hands of Kim
Jong Un you can wait the worse.
Make
tourism in North Korea is a big “cage” with a lot of jailers
is risky. (2013/12/08) 1
Recommendation
WSJ Story: Biden's Mission:
Unite Japan,
South Korea
U.S. Hopes Crisis Over China's Defense Zone Can Knit Ties
Among Allies, but Longtime Enmity Proves Hard to Overcome - By Yuka Hayashi
in Tokyo, Jeremy Page in Beijing and Jonathan Cheng in Seoul
My Comment: Japan
has to apologize for the cruelty of the Imperial Army against its neighbors,
before looking for friendship treatments with these countries. The United
States cannot help if the Japanese don’t clean
their past in the right way.
Willy Brandt – German Chancellor - apologized to Poland
for the crimes of the Nazis in one of the best attitudes of the leaders of
Post-War.
You will never close the wounds of past wars with arrogance and jumping over
the corpses of your victims.
Germany is
building good relationships with its old enemies, while Japan
continues in the middle of the route… (2013/12/07) 2 Recommendations
WSJ
Story: Mandela Leaves Divided Legacy in Africa
Former
South African President's Ties With Despots – By Heidi Vogt
My Comment:
The death of
Nelson Mandela - liberation leader of his country - puts a dramatic end to a
controversial life.
Mandela
was a hard fighter of the ideals of democracy and race equality; however his
death leaves a chapter of History opened.
In his
moment of glory, the former South African president didn't make enough efforts
across his country and the African continent to punish the corruption of
governments, stop oppressive practices against millions of human beings and
diminish the high levels of criminality.
In his
bronze, Mandela will look like a giant, but in the heart of the Africans who
till now suffer oppression and slavery, he will be only a shadow of a promise
of better life. (2013/12/06) 2 Recommendations
WSJ Story:
U.S., Allies Reach Out to Syria's Islamist Rebels
Talks
Aim to Undercut al Qaeda While Acknowledging Battlefield Gains of Religious
Fighters - By
Stacy Meichtry in Paris, Ellen Knickmeyer in Riyadh and Adam Entous in
Washington
My Comment:
In the current
circumstances, I don’t believe that it is easy to determine who is who among
the rebels.
Any
military assistance to the rebels is a double-edged sword. (2013/12/04) 2
Recommendations
WSJ Story:
Argentina's Second-Largest City Rocked by Looting
Incidents
Left at Least One Dead in Córdoba Amid Police Strike - By Ken Parks
My Comment:
Looting is not
new in Argentina. The Peronistas – followers of
Juan Domingo Peron – through the insinuation of their leader learned to take
possession of things and properties of big companies and small shops in the
1950s.
Since
those times, always when there is social unrest, the masses attack supermarkets
and food stores. (2013/12/04) 4 Recommendations
WSJ Story:
Where Is North Korea's No. 2?
Kim
Jong Un's Uncle Hasn't Been Seen in Weeks - By Alastair Gale
My Comment:
Normally, the
paranoid leaders remove from their circle everybody who can surpass them or
with better merits, experience or leadership conditions. Also they don’t want
to work with people who know their weaknesses.
North
Korean dictator Kim Jong Un looks like a paranoid with poor leadership
capacities. For this reason, it is possible that he has removed Jang Song
Thaek, his No. 2. (2013/12/03) 2 Recommendations
WSJ Story:
Iran Deal Opens Door for Businesses
European,
U.S. Firms Stand to Benefit From
Sanction-Relief Measures - By Benoît Faucon
Comment:
Now the business
people will run to Tehran to sell all they can, before the
political conditions change again… (2013/12/02)
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EDUCATION
WSJ
Story: U.S. High-School Students Slip in
Global Rankings -
By Stephanie Banchero
My Comment:
Education is
more than tests and statistics.
The
teachers have to focus their classroom work through a strong and responsible
learning process.
The good
results in the tests come as a consequence of a solid and continuous
educational effort. (2013/12/03) 2 Recommendations
WSJ Story:
The Human Wealth of Nations
The
latest Program for International Student Assessment global education scores are
a warning to both parties
My Comment:
The students of
advanced countries like the United States, Germany, France and United Kingdom didn’t achieved good scores in
the test of the Program for International Student Assessment (Pisa).
The key
issue of the education is the “learning process” that includes 3 important
steps: motivation, learning and application.
The
problem is that a lot of educators and schools don’t know how to “walk” hand to
hand with their students through these 3 steps.
The
educators have to motivate their students with clear and simple concepts. After
that, they have to give them all the elements to learn the new knowledge. Next,
they have to help them to integrate this new knowledge with previous subjects
through application of the new knowledge with the others all together.
Sometimes,
each step requires the division of one step in a series of smaller steps.
Never
should the class have to jump to a new knowledge if there are gaps in the
previous subjects.
The real
education is not the learning of some new “tricks” to run fast through sheets
of tests, or the use of memorization techniques of some formulas without knowing
the meaning of the components of these formulas.
In
addition, the teacher has to work with all the students of his/her classroom,
no only with the brilliant brains excluding the others with learning problems.
In
summary, education is about good and responsible teachers who know how to drive
their students through the right learning process. (2013/12/04)
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ECONOMY,
BUSINESS, TECHNOLOGY
WSJ - Why Bezos's Drone Is More Than a Joke
Amazon Chief's Remarks Boosted Firm, Unmanned Aerial
Vehicles - By Farhad Manjoo
My Comment: The drones (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles)
that Amazon is developing to deliver packages look like a fantasy of a science-fiction
writer, however frequently the innovation of the technology comes from projects
that look crazy and non-realistic.
Jeff Bezos is an entrepreneur who’s made a series of
important contributions to retail business and the technology industry. Probably,
in three or four years, everybody will applaud his new initiative and others
will “clone” his drones.
By the way, during the last days, across the European media,
respectable newspapers have posted interesting headline stories about Amazon’s
drone. (2013/12/08)
WSJ Story: Squeezed by U.S.,
Lockheed CEO Aims Abroad
Defense Contractor Looks to the Middle
East for Overseas Expansion Push - By Doug Cameron
My Comment: It is very difficult to make good
businesses abroad for a military technology provider due to the U.S.
export restrictions. (2013/12/07)
WSJ
Story: U.S. Employers Add 203,000 Jobs;
Unemployment Rate Falls to Five-Year Low - By Jeffrey Sparshott And Neil Shah
My Comment:
The U.S. Labor
Department posted reasonable good numbers in its November report, but we have
to be cautious.
After
the Holidays Seasons, we have to observe the trends of the business activities
of the retail and food sectors. November and December are two special months of
the year. (2013/12/06) 3 Recommendations
WSJ
Story: Apple's Star Chamber
An
abusive judge and her prosecutor friend besiege the tech maker.
My Comment:
The story says
that Judge Denise Cote is abusive. I think Ms. Cote is using her privileges of
judge in the wrong way. Her attitude doesn’t look ethical.
Probably,
Ms. Cote and her friend don’t know that innovative products in the technology
arena change frequently the market conditions. After Apple introduced iPad, a
series of other makers launched also digital tablets based on Android and Windows
8.
It is
not against the rules of the technology business that the current generation of
digital tablets includes the “e-reader” function in the new devices. Always new
hardware and/or software include previous devices and/or programs integrating
different functions and technical features in a new scale of products or
solutions.
In
summary, this case shows that Judge Denise Cote is using “bad practices” to
punish Apple Computer or is completely ignorant about the evolution of
technology. (2013/12/06) 4 Recommendations
WSJ
Story: Daimler, Lagardère to Stand Trial in EADS Case
Trial
Relates to Alleged Insider Trading in 2006 - By Inti Landauro
My Comment:
“Corruption”
also walks through the luxurious offices of the “respectable” big companies.
(2013/12/02)
WSJ
Story: As Deadline Expires, Problems Persist With Health Site
Though
Upgrades Improve Performance, System Could Take Weeks To Fix - By Louise Radnofsky and Spencer
E. Ante
My Comment:
When a
technological system doesn’t work properly, a “political deadline” cannot fix
the problems. The technical people have to fix the problems. (2013/12/01)
WSJ
Story: Retail Sales on Thanksgiving, Black Friday Rose 2.3%, Report Finds
Increase
in Foot Traffic Contributes to $12.3 Billion in Sales - By Drew FitzGerald
My Comment:
The current
report of the retail sales on Thanksgiving and Black Friday with a 2.3% growth
compared with the previous year doesn’t show a lot of euphoria. Maybe some
families are shocked by the increase of the cost of their healthcare insurances
for next year. (2013/12/01)
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SOURCES:
1)
External Sources: Wall
Street Journal, The New York Times and PBS NewsHour
2) Own
Sources: My own
research for previous publishing projects: TTT of Comlab Corp, Spanish English
Club online.
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