This follows reports by Russian newspapers on December 14th, 2009 that Nauru was seeking $50 million in Russian financial aid for projects on the small, one island country which had once relied heavily on the export of the islands increasingly depleted phosphate reserves mined from fossilized bird droppings.

“We have now established relations with the worlds largest nation [Russia] and the worlds smallest nation [The Nauru Republic]” claimed the Foreign Affairs Minister of Abkhazia Sergei Shamba who has in the past sought the formal recognition of other states in the neighbouring Middle East and Latin America but has been “hampered by mighty forces”, chiefly the United States and European Union.

However Temur Iakobashvili, the Georgian Minister for Reintegration (a cabinet post created to deal with the issues involving Abkhazia and South Ossetia, the two break-away regions of Georgia) has said that Russia has merely ‘bought’ the recognition of Abkhazia by foreign states.

This comes as Sergei Bagapsh, who was re-elected president of Abkhazia on December 12th, 2009 in an election which Georgia had labeled an “immoral comedy” announces his plans to visit Turkey soon claiming the need for Abkhazia to reach out to members of the Abkhaz diaspora, many of whom reside within the Turkish Republic. Bagapsh is also seeking  legislative reforms which would permit Abkhazians living outside of Abkhazia to vote in general elections.

Bagapsh has claimed that the normalization of relations between Abkhazia and Georgia is unlikely saying ” we can only negotiate with a Georgian president who accepts the independence of Abkhazia”.

The Road to Abkhaz Independence.

Abkhazia and South Ossetia both broke away from Georgian sovereignty in the early 1990’s via civil wars which followed the collapse of the Soviet Union and the independence of Georgia.

In August 2008 Georgia launched a military assault on the South Ossetia region following increasing tensions with the Georgian government which triggered a five day Russian invasion into Georgia which devastated the country leaving 228 Georgian civilians dead or missing.

Russian forces now control the borders of Abkhazia and South Ossetia who are both highly dependent on the Russian Federation for economic support and security. The Parliament of Georgia passed a resolution on August 28th, 2008 declaring the two regions “Russian-occupied territories”.

Nauru, a member of the United Nations since 1999 joins Russia, Nicaragua, and Venezuela as the only four countries to officially recognize the independence of Abkhazia from Georgia, however it has yet to join these three states in the recognition of South Ossetian independence as well. Nauru is also one of the 63 countries to officially recognize the February 2008 independence of Kosovo from Serbia despite objections from Moscow.

Chile’s membership into the OECD will be formalized in January of 2010 with a signing between the current President of Chile; Michelle Bachelet and the Secretary-General of the OECD José Gurria who added in his statement on the Tuesday of December 15th, 2009 that the accession of Chile into the OECD “is a great contribution in our drive to expand our global reach and to transform the organization into a more plural and inclusive institution that will play an increasingly important role in the global economic architecture”

Many reformations needed to be made within Chilean legislation in order for the Republic to join the OECD. Particularly in areas regarding the exchange of tax information, legal responsibility in bribery cases and corporate governance with the final pending legislation for OECD admittance, which regarded the international exchange of tax information, having passed the Chilean Congress mere weeks ago.

The admission of Chile into the OECD will likely follow the electoral victory of Sebastian Pinera who if elected President in the run-off election set for January 17th, 2010 will be the first right-wing government to lead Chile since the infamous military dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet.

Bachelet has claimed that the membership of Chile into the OECD shows that the South American nation has been internationally regarded as having a solid economic management. All of this comes as Chilean Finance Minister Andres Velasco is set to present the final economic review of Chile before the OECD later this week.

Slovakia was the last country to be admitted into the OECD in 2000 however talks regarding the membership of Chile as well as Estonia, Israel, Slovenia and Russia in the OECD began back in 2007. However Chile remains the only one of these five applicants to be granted membership into this well-known economic organization of 30 nations.

What is the Treaty of Lisbon?

Signed in the Portugese city of Lisbon on December 13th, 2007 the Treaty of Lisbon looks to reform the functioning of the European Union in multiple ways which include the creation of a new post known as the High Representative of Foreign Affairs to present to the international community a unified position on EU policy. Additionally, a shift is sought from a unanimous requirement as is currently needed to pass decisions in the EU, towards more of a majority system.

The Charter of Fundamental Rights would also become legally binding should the Treaty of Lisbon be enacted.

Perhaps the most well-known  reformation proposed by the Treaty of Lisbon however is the creation of a President of the European Council who would serve a term of two and a half years.

Support in the Irish Republic.

It was only 16 months ago that the Republic of Ireland, the only country in the 27 member European Union to hold a referendum on the ratification of the Treaty of Lisbon, voted the Treaty down in a 47% yes - 53% no nation-wide vote.

The change in Irish public opinion is likely due to the legally binding garuntees made by the European Union that the Treaty of Lisbon will not impede on Irish sovereignty in the areas of taxation, military neutrality, and abortion rights which were all highly contested issues brought forward in Ireland during the first referendum.

The current economic situation in Europe has likely been a motivator for this change of consensus, ias has the endorsement and support of the Treaty by all major political parties in the Irish Republic, except Sinn Fein.

The second referendum was held on October 2nd and the results announced the following day with the “no” side only winning 33% of the vote this time while the “yes” side recieved a definitive victory claiming 67% of the vote.

Opposition to the Treaty of Lisbon.

However, two countries within the European Union, the Czech Republic and Poland, have not yet ratified the Treaty of Lisbon. The parliaments of both these nations have already approved the Treaty, and Lech Kaczynski, President of Poland, is expected to ratify the treaty shortly. Vaclav Klaus, president of the Czech Republic has refused to sign the treaty until his country’s constitutional courts have ruled on the documents validity, an investigation sparked by claims from members of the Czech senate that it violates Czech law.

Opposition to the Treaty of Lisbon isn’t just present in the Czech Republic however. The national election scheduled 8 months from now will likely see Conservative David Cameron take control of government. Cameron, said on the subject, that “if the treaty is not in force when the election is held, and if we are elected then we will hold a referendum on it.” Most polls indicate that a referendum on the Treaty of Lisbon in the United Kingdom would fail to pass.

Member of Parliament, Paul Dewar (NDP) commented simply that the proposed legislation is a “first start.”

“If they’re going to put forward something that’s going to help Canadians who are hard hit, we would be irresponsible not to seriously consider and support that,” continued Dewer, speaking of a potential confidence vote.

The new legislation would cost roughly $900 million and would result in an additional 5-20 weeks of additional benefits based on how long an individual has been employed and paying in to the EI fund.

Human Resources Minister, Diane Finley said, “we believe that this is the right thing to do and that it is both fair and responsible. It would help Canadians who have worked hard and paid EI premiums for many years and who now find themselves in need of a hand up.”

NDP leader Jack Layton said that he’d leave negotiations up to the current Prime Minister, Stephen Harper. Some analysts say that this new EI package is an attempt by the Conservative party to appease opposition parties with a potential confidence vote occurring as early as Friday.

Negative option rebilling, the simple concept of which is a “free trial” which places you on a subscription list if you do not cancel, has been considered a quasi-legitimate business practice in some industries for decades. Companies in areas such as mail order book clubs or the new mail order DVDs are good examples.

A California company called “Family Products” marketed alleged “get rich quick scams,” such as the “John Beck Free and Clear Real Estate System” was targeted by the FTC for making “bogus claims through DVDs and infomercials” about the effectiveness of their product. Family Products allegedly duped over 600,000 Americans out of $300 million.

The traditional concept of negative option rebilling has effectively been outlawed in Canada, but remains a viable business plan in much of the rest of the world.

Operation Short Change, as the movement is called, was announced between the FTC and the Justice Department yesterday and includes dozens of cases brought forward in at least 13 states.

A quick Google search demonstrates to reporters that “weight loss” is another niche heavily effected by negative option rebilling. With products like “Nature’s Colon Cleanse” (do not order from this site — at least, not without reading the terms) which appears to sell little more than the concept of doing a “cleanse” offering “limited” free trials to customers in exchange for adding them to their rebill list. Some of these companies provide proper customer support to allow users to cancel, but the majority do not.

Attorney General of North Carolina, Roy Cooper, told the Associated Press that he has received a huge upswing of complaints regarding these scams. “In the down economy, the scam artists crawl out from under rocks. If they want money up-front, then they’re up to no good.”

The industry giant will add $30 billion of aid from the US and $9.5 billion from Canada to the $20 billion it received in January of 2009. In exchange the US government will now own 60% of the company, the Canadian government will hold 12.5%, and the United Auto Workers Union will receive 17.5% of the shares. This leaves only 10% for the previous stockholders, who will probably be forced out of the picture by the restructuring. The governments will sell off their portion of the shares over the next several years.

GM has promised that in this time all operations will continue to run, including warranty coverage, services, manufacturing and customer service. All employees and suppliers will continue to be paid, and the pension plans for the workers are in no danger.

However, they have stated that 9 plants will be closed and 3 more will be mothballed for the time being. Only 4 brands will survive with the new company - Chevrolet, Cadillac, Buick and GMC. The sale of Hummer has already been finalized and Saturn is expected to come soon as well. The downsizing will cut the workforce employed by the company by more than a third.

The impact on markets can been seen clearly, as shareholders try to sell before they are wiped out completely. One year ago the stocks were work almost $20 a piece. The shares fell as low as $1.07, but rebounded to $2.65 after the bankruptcy filings were made.

As GM moves through bankruptcy court, it is uncertain if the company will even survive the amount of restructuring that needs to be done. If it does, that does not necessarily mean that it will ever be the industry heavyweight it once was. If GM takes its time through court, it may push many of its suppliers over the edge and crumble the entire industry.

In the United States there are two kinds of bankruptcy that a company can file for - chapter 7 and chapter 11 under the Bankruptcy Code. Chapter 7 consists of selling off company assets to cover debts and closing the entire operation down whilst chapter 11 allows for a massive restructuring under the control of the courts.

GM is the second of the Detroit three to be pushed into considering Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the past month. They have already approved the closure of the Pontiac brand, which will cost upwards of $2 billion USD to complete. Chrysler filed on April 30th which resulted in the European automaker Fiat taking a 20% share in the company. Fiat has plans to reorganize Chrysler into a company that can compete in the smaller car market that exists in North America today.
After a major restructuring earlier in the year, Ford is still floating under its’ own steam, having not accepted any money from the massive bail-out earlier this year.

GM’s board of directors meets soon to decide whether it is worth keeping the company alive, although the return on selling the company off is likely to be minimal in the current economic crisis.

Along with issues concerning climate change, energy and sustainability, the environment and international peace and security the Canada - EU Summit is set to center around the subjects of the International Financial Crisis and economic partnership between Canada and the 27-member European Union.

Significant commercial seal hunts along with population culls of local seal populations take place in Canada, Greenland, Namibia, Norway, Russia, as well as Sweden and Finland who are member nations of the EU.

Support for the Ban

This EU legislation follows intensive lobbying from various animal welfare groups who have long lobbyed against commercial seal hunts the largest of which taking place off the east coast of Canada which kills roughly 300,000 seals annually.

Labour MEP, Arlene McCarthy, who helped to draft the legislation claims that “the vast majority of people across Europe are horrified by the cruel clubbing to death of seals” adding “this law will finally put an end to the cruel cull of nearly 300,000 seals a year” while Rebecca Aldworth of the Canadian Branch of the Humane Society International called “this is a historic moment in the campaign to stop commercial seal hunts around the world” .

This legislation requires the agreement of EU ministers still before it can take effect, and looks to be implemented before the 2010 hunting season begins.

Seal products are already banned in Belgium and Holland while Canadian seal products have been banned in the United States since 1972.

Opposition to the Ban

Both Canada and Norway have previously stated that they will challenge the ban at the World Trade Organization (WTO) while a delegation from the Canadian Inuit administrative region of Nunavut attempted to persuade Members of the European Parliament not to back the ban.

Despite exemptions in the legislation which protect the continued import of seal products from the traditional hunts of Canadian and Greenland Inuit communities the delegation from Nunavut pointed out that similar exemptions didn’t stop “the market collapse, hardship and the suicides” which followed the 1983 ban on white coat and blue back seal pelts.

Meanwhile the Canadian province of Newfoundland & Labrador’s Minister of Fisheries, Tom Hedderson claims that the vote was far from a surprise but nevertheless a bad move adding that at least 6,000 people in his province earn at least half of their livelihood from the annual seal hunt.

The Canadian seal hunt is the largest in the world which, as previously mentioned, kills roughly 300,000 harp seals a year and exports an estimated $2.5 million dollars worth of seal products to the European Union alone, while most of its seal hunts products are sold in Russia and Asia claims Hedderson.

Canada is now threatening to launch a complaint with the World Trade Organization while Canadian International Trade Minister Stockwell Day says that the European Union’s legislation must include exemptions for nations like Canada who “follow strict guidelines for humane and sustainable sealing practices”

The seals are not only hunted for their fur but for meat, oil blubber, organs and Omega-3 fatty acid supplements.

The ban does not apply to smaller scale culls mainly for fish stock management in the EU member nations of Sweden, Finland and the United Kingdom which falls under “sustainable management of marine resources.”

Neither the state-run journal The New Light of Myanmar nor the Burmese government held any ceremony to commemorate the victims; the one year anniversary of the disaster did not even earn a brief mention.

One year after Cyclone Nargis the humanitarian situation on the Irrawaddy Delta remains dire

Reconstruction has hardly begun in the area while half a million survivors still remain in make-shift shelters, though many of the area’s rice paddies and its water supply remain contaminated with ocean water from the storm’s tidal surges. The tidal surges caused by Nargis were as high as three and a half meters and reached as far inland as 40 kilometers.

While charities and foreign governments have provided roughly $315 million in food aid and emergency assistance for the victims, several international organizations are requesting an additional $690 million over a three year period to assist in the rebuilding of the region and assistance of survivors: amongst them the United Nations, the Association of South East Asian Nations, and the Burmese government.

The military government of Burma was heavily criticized in the days following the arrival of Cyclone Nargis primarily due to its tight restrictions on allowing international relief agencies access to the victims; the Burmese government continues to maintain that only 85,000 people were killed in the cyclone, whereas UN estimates place the number closer to 140,000.

The embargo has taken many forms over the years, restricting travel to the tiny island as well as trade. One law passed in 1963 prohibited companies that did business in Cuba from doing business in the United States. The result of the blockade was decades of Cuban poverty as the economy adjusted from the shock of losing a major trading partner. It also led to the mass exodus of hundreds of thousands of Cubans to the state of Florida, including more than 10,000 people who left during the Mariel Boatlift in 1980.

The sanctions that are going to be repealed are numerous. All restrictions on remittances and travel by Cuban-Americans will be removed, allowing them to send money to the island for the first time. Certain businesses will be allowed to offer services to Cuba, such as telecommunications firms. These actions come days before the Summit of the Americas, which is expected to call on Mr. Obama to remove all sanctions on Cuba and to restore diplomatic relations with the country.

There are still many other restrictions for the United States Congress to change, including travel for other Americans and opening up trade for the entire business world. Hopefully these new moves push them in the right direction.

The political and economic situation in Somalia is anything but stable. Since 1991 a civil war has been raging as different warlord factions attempt to take control of the country. What’s more, a number of states within Somalia have self-declared themselves as autonomous, yet not independent. There is no government, and as much as 73% of the country is thought to be living on less than $2 US a day. The conflict is now between several Islamist military factions, African Union military troops and clan militias. The condition of the area is dire at best.

It is no wonder, then, that as many as 1,000 men now run in pirate gangs along the coast. Somalia is situated on the Horn of Africa, making it a prime area to attack passing ships. At first the intent was to deter fishing boats from poaching in Somali waters, but as time progressed it became its own lucrative business. It does, however, threaten the stream of humanitarian aid into the region, with as much as 90% of the World Food Programme’s deliveries are moved via ship, which now require a costly military escort. This rise in cost of transporting the food means that there is less to spend on the food itself.

The first reported incident of piracy was April 10, 2005, when a Hong Kong ship was held for ransom and promptly returned upon receipt. One more unsuccessful attack was made that year, and another was completed in 2006. After that the number of piracy incidents exploded, with eight in 2007 and 38 in 2008 not including ships that managed to evade capture. This was due to the Ethiopian invasion of Somalia in December 2006.

In 2009 so far there have been 19 ships that have succumbed to the pirates’ invasions. The latest of these attacked happened on April 8, 2009 with the hijacking of the US container vessel Maersk Alabama. The 20 person crew is believed to be safe. Among the cargo was UN aid food for Somalia and Uganda. The ransom request is yet to be issued, but it is thought to be about the same as previous hijackings – about $1 million US.

The pirates currently hold 9 ships captive. The success of the pirates can be directly linked to the fact that once a ransom is paid, they turn over the ships and crew quickly and generally unharmed. It has also been said that the pirates even hire caterers to cook western style dishes such as spaghetti for the captives while they are waiting to be ransomed.

Another aspect of the state of affairs in Somalia has been the existence of thousands of tons of nuclear and toxic waste. European and Asian companies signed contracts with the ruling warlords of the time and had been dumping the waste there for years. In December 2004 a massive tsunami hit the coast, stirring it all into the ocean. This has lead to an increase in respiratory problems in the population and

The current solution to this menace has been the deployment of the Combined Task Force 150, a US initiative that has become the patrol force of the Horn of Africa after 9/11. The task force is composed of many different countries including Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Pakistan, the United States and the United Kingdom, although other nations have participated in the past. It serves as support for Operation Enduring Freedom – Horn of Africa as well as Operation Iraqi Freedom. The CTF-150 established the Maritime Security Patrol Area on August 22, 2008 as a special force within the CTF-150 to attempt to combat piracy, especially off the coast of Somalia. They also now perform procedures called “Visit, Board, Search and Seizure”, which aim at further deterring piracy.

The sum of this request can be broken down to $75.8 billion for the Pentagon and more than $7 billion for foreign aid; with $1.8 billion to be spent on Pakistan, $3.6 billion to be spent on the Afghan National Army, and $350 million to be spent on improving security along the U.S.-Mexico border and combating drug gangs.

The funding is intended to help pay for the reduction of U.S. forces present in Iraq to 140,000, and to increase the troop number in Afghanistan to 45,000 in accordance with Mr. Obama’s new Afghan strategy.

In his letter Obama claimed, “the Taliban is resurgent and Al-Qaeda threatens America from its safe haven along the Afghan-Pakistan border,” with White House spokesman Robert Gibbs adding that this extra funding “will be the last supplemental for Iraq and Afghanistan”.

This supplement would bring the total amount of military spending approved for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq in 2009 to about $150 billion, in comparison to totals of $188 billion in 2008 and $171 billion in 2007.

Since the terrorist attacks of September 11th, 2001 the United States Congress has passed 17 separate emergency funding bills totaling approximately $822 billion for the Afghanistan and Iraq wars and should this extra funding be approved the cost of these two wars will have reached almost $1 trillion dollars.

Obama’s motion is likely to be passed by the Democrat-controlled Congress with House Republican leader John Boehner suggesting Republicans are likely to support this additional funding as well.

Since the employment rate peaked in October of last year, net job losses have totaled around 357,000, increasing each month — Statistics Canada has said the five-month decline is the most severe since the 1982 recession. Of all industries hit by the crisis, manufacturing is reportedly suffering the heaviest losses, with a 6.8 percent unemployment increase since October alone, the equivalent of 134,000 job cuts. In addition to manufacturing, losses have similarly been reported in finance, insurance, real estate and leasing, construction and natural resources.

Economists had previously, for the most part, predicted full-time job losses of around 50,000 for last month, whilst more fearful estimates pegged the number at around 90,000 — in actuality, 79,500 full-time jobs were lost, with 18,200 part-time positions created in their place. Similar trends have been seen over the past five months across all employment sectors, and only the public sector seems to remain relatively unscathed internationally.

No province is free from the increased unemployment, with British Columbia seeing the largest decline of 23,000 jobs; Alberta suffered 15,000 cuts and Ontario an additional 11,000 — the three provinces have accounted for the steepest drop in employment over the past five months. The natural resource sector was hit badly in recent months, in particular in Alberta where gas, oil and coal extraction play an important part in the economy.

TD Bank economist Grant Bishop predicted that the three-month contraction of jobs totaling 272,000 thus far in 2009 is only a portion of the total losses expected before the end of the year, which Bishop predicts could eventually exceed 520,000. Another school of thought on the issue suggests that though things may progress over the year, the rate at which they are doing so has decelerated.

This vote was prompted by the ruling in the Iowa Supreme Court that stated that not allowing same-sex marriage was against the American Constitution. There are many states that have enacted bans on same-sex marriages in last November’s general elections, including California, Arizona and Florida.

To overturn a veto in the United States by a State Legislature requires a vote ratio of 2 to 1. This means that this passed by a single vote; the overturning vote was that of Jeff Young, who changed his vote from last week to support the bill. Vermont is fourth state to allow same-sex marriage, but the first state to legalize same-sex marriage through Legislature and not the Courts. It was also the first state to legalize same-sex unions in 2000.

Most action for gay rights has been in the North and East of the United States, in the States of Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Hampshire, and Connecticut. Both New Jersey and New Hampshire have civil union laws for same-sex couples, but activists in other states say that they do not want this intermediate step, as it carries with it an undertone of equality.

The British bank, which is part-nationalized, has been the subject of controversy of late, with Sir Fred Goodwin’s infamous £16 million pension - one of many high-level bankers claiming bonuses, including the ever-developing AIG scandal. In announcing the possibility of the job losses, RBS Chief Executive Stephen Hester also stressed that compulsory redundancies were an absolute last resort, should other initiatives to return RBS to sound financial health fail.

The move has been dubbed a cost-cutting measure to try and boost the British lender out of the current recession, an initiative which chiefs have said aims to eliminate $3.73 billion in costs over the next three years. The potential 9,000 job losses discussed today are in addition to 2,700 previously announced job cuts thus far this year, though natural turnover and redeployment will reportedly reduce the effect to a minimum, with 650 new job opportunities already identified.

With unemployment welfare claims already at a record high in the U.K., trade unions are outraged by this, the latest revelation in the financial crisis. The tenure of Fred Goodwin was largely responsible for the beginning of nationalization of the bank, which needed government financial assistance. Where the lender was 58 percent state-owned before today, the government’s stake in the company rose to 70 percent today, rapidly approaching total nationalization.

Shares in the bank were 10.4 percent lower at 26.7 pence by 1500 GMT, while the FTSE 100 share index was down 1.3 percent. RBS currently commands a workforce of 170,000 worldwide, with around two-thirds situated in the U.K.