Dinner with Japan´s Finance Minister Koji Omi and the STS Forum
Last night I had dinner with Japan´s Finance Minister Koji Omi at the home of Ambassador Motohide Yoshikawa in Madrid. During dinner we spoke at about the coming STS Forum in Kyoto that Minister Omi chairs and I will attend. This global conference --whose objective is to raise awareness on key challenges to the sustainability of our planet-- has already been held 3 times before. Around 30% of the participants are Japanese and the rest from all over the world.
Personally, I found Minister Koji Omi to be a man with a strong sense of moral commitment to improve the state of the planet. His interest is to transcend beyond Japanese politics and to have global impact. This is good because Japan currently has an developmental model that is more friendly to the environment than the United States and its environmental footprint per dollar of GDP is among the lowest in the world.
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Posted at General el 29 April de 2007 | # Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
French Elections
Posted at Politics el 22 April de 2007 | # Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
When Will The US Government Make The Connection?
Between the widespread availbility of firearms and mass murders.
Posted at General el 17 April de 2007 | # Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
We Fear China For The Wrong Reasons
In this video I talk about my conversations with top Taiwanese and Chinese entrepreneurs and my own tentative conclusions. I describe paradoxes presented by the Taiwan/China situation. One for example is that presently many more people migrate from Taiwan to China, that is from democratic to undemocratic, than the other way around. Another paradox is that after talking to many people in Taiwan and China I have come to the conclusion that China should be feared more for its desire to be like America rather than its alleged desire to antagonize America. Many in the West are concerned that China will become a military power that will eventually clash with the United States. I used to think that as well. But after my conversations with different business leaders in the region I have changed my mind. I believe that it is unlikely that China will seek military confrontation and instead what worries me is not only China does not hate America but the opposite is true. The Chinese love America and especially the American way of life and that is a threat to the planet. China likes America so much that it is copying the American model. Unfortunately it is not copying what is good about America, democracy, but it´s copying what is bad about America, its unsustainable developmental model. By copying America´s developmental model China is making the planet already shaking from America´s incredibly high pollution per person, even less sustainable. To me the greatest risk about China has little to do with business, little to do with politics, even less to do with geopolitics and a lot to do with the environment. As Al Gore frequently argues America´s disregard for the environment is already creating the world greatest threat to our survival. Now that China has chosen to develop along the American model the damage created by these two powers combine will greatly accelerate the problems that European and Japanese among others are trying to manage.
Posted at General el 7 April de 2007 | # Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Gapminder: Just In Case You Think The World Doesn´t Suck
One of the toughest problems of humanity is that most of the people who can vote global problems out of existence don´t vote. Many don´t vote in their own countries because they are not democracies, but most can´t vote these problems out of existence because humanity is a very weak concept. As schooling in America, humanity is about being born in the right side of the tracks. Unfortunately "humanity" as a value is a distant second to the extremely to nationality. Income distribution among nations reflects that.
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Posted at Foundation el 24 March de 2007 | # Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Is Israel worth the attention?
I am in Israel now. In Tel Aviv. I came to attend Kinnernet, Yossi Vardi's tech fest.
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Posted at General el 15 March de 2007 | # Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Three Years After March 11th : Regional Challenges for a Globalizing World - Safe Democracy´s International Conference
My foundation Safe Democracy --co-organizer of the International Summit on Terrorism, Democracy and Security in March of 2005 and host of the Atocha Workshop 11-M-- will bring together a diverse group of academics and experts specializing in various disciplines from all over the world on Saturday, March 10th, in Madrid. Guests will debate and work in 9 parallel groups towards solutions to the main challenges facing different regions of the world.
Posted at Safe Democracy el 2 March de 2007 | # Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
