Confession Of An Economic Hitman

MOSCOW. (RIA Novosti) - From a speech by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov at the 15th meeting of the Russian Council for Foreign and Defense Policy, held on March 17, 2007.

Global developments, Russian diplomatic moves of the past few years, and the speeches made by President Vladimir Putin on foreign policy issues, notably in Munich, clearly demonstrate that the Russian political leadership has a well thought-out and tested foreign policy strategy.

The dissolution of the Soviet Union seemingly made Russia a candidate for another territorial and political re-division, a situation it had faced in the early 18th century, when the problem was solved through an accelerated modernization of the country. This time, we are fighting the challenge with radical political and economic reforms.

A History of the Gold Standard

It appears that we are slowly drifting into a period of monetary turmoil. Turmoil leads to change, and ideally the result of a widespread desire for change will be the establishment of a new gold standard. Indeed, there are some indications that this may be achieved by the end of this year, although it may seem unlikely at this moment.

It follows that anything whose value is linked to that of gold must, by definition, be as stable in value as gold.

US Department’s Report on Respect for Human Rights in Bulgaria ...

A number of domestic and international human rights groups generally operated without government restriction, investigating and publishing their findings on human rights cases. Human rights observers reported uneven levels of cooperation from various national and local government officials during the year. In 2005 after a one-year delay and two failed attempts, the National Assembly appointed the country's first national ombudsman. By law the ombudsman receives and reviews complaints filed by individuals of rights or freedoms abridged by government institutions. The ombudsman can request information from state authorities, act as an intermediary in resolving disputes, make proposals for terminating existing practices, and refer information to the prosecution service. Since January the office received over 2,000 complaints on violations of citizens' rights and freedoms by the administration.

Cement this deal

Perhaps liberal economic commentators are missing a point about the North Block versus cement industry battle: it is doing some good, too. Witness how summarily the ministry has abolished countervailing duty and special additional duty on cement. This is a blow on behalf of an open economy, and of those advocating less protection and more efficiency. Good going: how we wish other industries would get into similar spats with the ministry in these times of official panic over inflation. If auto makers provoke the government, perhaps import duties will come down. No doubt, European trade negotiators would hope that IMFL and Indian wine producers take a few mis-steps and are forced to adjust to sharp cuts in import duties. Of course, classical liberal economics suggests that duties be rationalised across the board with nothing but economic and revenue efficiencies in mind.

AFX NEWS BRIEFING: Macroeconomics highlights to 10:10 BST

TOKYO (XFN-ASIA) - East Asia's economies, flying high a decade after the regional financial crisis, now face huge challenges to cope with a widening rich-poor gap, severe pollution and ever-more crowded cities, the World Bank said.

LONDON (AFX) - UK house prices rose above expectations in March, supported by a solid economy and a shortage of properties on the market, the country's biggest mortgage lender said today.