Loomnie

The Berlin International Film Festival was a product of the Cold War. The US military administration wanted to bring a touch of glamour to a West Berlin that had survived the Soviet blockade. Since then, the festival has gained a reputation for championing political, provocative movies, and has been no stranger to scandal.

The Berlinale is currently on here in Berlin. For a bit of the history of the festival, check this Der Spiegel article.

Mr Roger Cohen of the New York Times writes in his column:

A strong Europe is essential to America’s recovery. The United States is too stretched — militarily and economically — to do without the cohesion of its closest allies.

There are three major European powers: Britain, France and Germany. Britain is going through a meltdown so severe that the joke there is that the country’s the next Iceland. That aside, its European credentials are always a little suspect.

And:

The recession is severe in Germany, but the country still has a savings ratio of 11 percent (it’s negative in the United States), a strong manufacturing sector and, after spending a staggering $1.8 trillion to integrate the Communist East, it has managed to get its budget close to balance.

And that is where I think America and the UK should learn from Germany. I have found it increasingly baffling that almost every economist has pointed to the need to increase consumption, the need to make people start buying again. I find it a little problematic that people do not seem to want to discuss how part of the current economic crisis was created by people buying what they cannot afford and spending money they do not have. I hear stories of people having more than three credit cards, and I simply do not get it. That is where Germans can teach Americans and the Brits a bit. An average German, for instance, spends what they have saved; and I don’t think there are many who hold multiple credit cards.

If only one lesson is taken away from the current global economic crisis, it should be that people cannot just keep spending money they do not have without eventually running into trouble. But, sadly, it seems that is not a lesson people are prepared to learn. At least that is what is shown by rhetorics of economists and policy makers who aim to get banks to start lending again, and people to start borrowing and spending again.

You can read Mr Cohen’s column here.

Xan Rice of The Guardian interviews Asad ‘Booyah’ Abdulahi, a 42 year-old Somali pirate.

Excerpts:

I am 42 years old and have nine children. I am a boss with boats operating in the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean.

… We give priority to ships from Europe because we get bigger ransoms. To get their attention we shoot near the ship. If it does not stop we use a rope ladder to get on board. We count the crew and find out their nationalities. After checking the cargo we ask the captain to phone the owner and say that have seized the ship and will keep it until the ransom is paid.

… Our community thinks we are pirates getting illegal money. But we consider ourselves heroes running away from poverty. We don’t see the hijacking as a criminal act but as a road tax because we have no central government to control our sea. With foreign warships now on patrol we have difficulties.

But we are getting new boats and weapons. We will not stop until we have a central government that can control our sea.

The full story is here

Hat-tip to Africa Works

Time Magazine reports that  South Korea’s Daewoo Logistics leased 3.2 million acres of farmland from the Madagascar government. The land would be used as a farmland, and the South Korean company hopes this would help secure food supply for their country. The lease is for 99 years.

A Daewoo manager, Hong Jong-wan, told the Financial Times that the crops would “ensure our food security,” and would use “totally undeveloped land which had been left untouched.” Land is scarce and expensive in South Korea, which makes it the world’s third-largest importer of corn. Daewoo says the Madagascar land will be leased for a price of around $12 an acre, which is a fraction of the price for farmland in the corporation’s home country.

The full story is here.

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