WHO WILL LISTEN? Fuel Price Increase Is A Lazy Option

President John Dramani Mahama

By Kwesi Pratt, Jnr.

After almost 30 years of agitation for a change of paradigm with regards to national policy on petroleum imports, distribution and pricing I feel really frustrated by the lack of action and sheer laziness of our governments.

It appears that no government will ever listen and will all continue to see petroleum products as merchandise on which quick profits can be reaped to deal with poor cash inflows.

Whenever Governments have had problems with insufficient revenues they have all very quickly slapped increases on the prices of petroleum products without regards to the social, economic and even the political consequences.

Interestingly, all Governments over the last 30 years, whether they are of the liberal democratic variety or the social democratic hue have given the same reasons to implementing the same unattainable policy.

The reasons have ranged from removing subsidies on petroleum products, through achieving equity in the distribution of the national wealth to raising revenue for development.

Significantly, all of our Governments have rejected these reasons in opposition and promised sometimes to drastically reduce the prices of petroleum products if and when they are elected into office.

Late President John Atta Mills

Indeed, the leaders of all our Governments over the last 30 years took part in public manifestations against fuel price increases organised by such groups as the Alliance for change (AFC) the Joint Action Committee (CJA) and the Committee for Joint Action (CJA).

In the case of President John Agyekum Kuffour, he actually led demonstration to Parliament House in 1998 to call for a reduction in the level of taxes on petroleum products. President J.E.A. Mills also took part in a demonstration organised b the CJA and promised to reduce the price of petroleum products drastically if elected. President Mahama also vehemently supported claims by the CJA that there are no subsidies on petroleum products.

As the struggle against reckless fuel price increases intensified, a small group of technocrats came up with the strange idea that if the increases were small and staggered over longer periods, the people would be so dumb as not to realize the full impact of the “Full Cost Recovery” policy.

Their solution to the problem was that rather than increase fuel prices by 50 per cent at once in a two year period, it could be done several times over in 2years but at three and four per cent.

First, it must be pointed out that the objective of the policy is not just to fully recover cost. Full cost recovery is only one part of the policy because the policy also necessarily involves the raising of substantial revenue.

Secondly, the cumulative effect of several small price increases would be directly felt by consumers in the prices and fees they pay for food, housing, transportation, healthcare and other goods and services.

What is import in this discussion is that the push factors involved in petroleum price increases on the international market are beyond the control of governments such as the government of Ghana. They are dictated by the speculation of cabals whose sole motive is the maximization of profit.

Former President John Kufuor

Petroleum prices rise and fall purely out of the needless speculation about geopolitical developments which may include the threat of war or even industrial action, the ailment or death of leaders, natural disasters, and many other events.

Indeed, the Arab-Israeli war was responsible rising prices from the late 1960s to the mid 1970s. The rivalry between the US and China over access to World resources has also contributed in large measure to the escalating cost of oil. Russia’s control of vast oil and gas resources is a factor which cannot be ignored.

 No one can ignore the fact that high prices of petroleum products on the international market have a direct effect on the economic fortunes of countries like Ghana. However, it also ought to be understood that merely passing cost to consumers does not in anyway resolve the hydra-headed problems springing from high prices.

In my view concrete measures need to be implemented in order to reduce the consumption of petroleum products as a means of reducing government expenditure on petroleum purchases. Government also needs to find other sources of generating income other than petroleum taxes. In all of this, it is the plight of the masses which ought to serve as the guiding rod.

In the early 1970s studies established that close to 50 per cent of imported petroleum products were consumed by the government machinery alone. This is clearly unacceptable and has led to various government announcing measures to reduce the consumption of petroleum products. These measures have never been followed and government expenditure on petroleum products is still believed to be unacceptably high.

Former President J.J Rawlings

Some of the measures which need to be implemented include improvement in public transportation (both rail and road) less reliance on petroleum products for the generation of electricity more attention on renewable energy sources. The rehabilitation or replacement of plant and equipment to make them more energy efficient etc.

Government may want to expand the tax net as all Government have promised but failed to do as a means of maximizing revenue in addition to many anti-corruption actions which are imperative.

Some may be tempted to ask what can be done immediately while all these measures are put in place?

The truth of the matter is that there are no short cuts to dealing with the problems posed by high petroleum prices on the international market.

All Governments have to take painful decisions with their eyes on the future.

Right now war is looming in the Middle Ease and the Persian Gulf and experts say that the war could lead to a quadrupling of world petroleum prices. The question is, if that were to happen will the Government just pass on the cost to consumers and which consumer can pay those prices and survive?

Government needs to think outside the box. Period.

Editorial

FARE THEE WELL

Ghana woke up yesterday to the sad news of the passing away of one of her most illustrious sons, Alhaji Mustapha Iddris, former Foreign Minister and Northern Regional Minister under President John Agyekum Kufour.

Mustapha as he was commonly called was an extraordinary member of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) to the extent that he managed to stay above the petty partisanship of our day and maintained a very healthy relationship with even those who disagreed with his party.

He was an affable politician who sought to serve his nation to the best of his ability without any trace of vindictiveness, arrogance or other negative traits usually associated with the Ghanaian political class.

The insight joins the people of Ghana in morning the passing of Alhaji Mustapha Iddris.

He has paid his dues to his country and may he rest in perfect peace.

 

Arthur Kennedy’s Worry About NPP

2008 NPP Presidential Aspirant Dr Arthur Kennedy

A former presidential aspirant of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Dr. Arthur Kobina Kennedy has described his party’s reaction to party stalwart, Dr. Wereko-Brobbey’s internal criticisms as “extremist” and “paranoid”.

Dr. Arthur Kennedy raised the concerns in an open letter to Party Chairman Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey which is published unedited below;

OPEN LETTER TO NPP NATIONAL CHAIRMAN

June 3rd, 2013

Dear Sir,

RE: CONCERNS ABOUT THE NPP

I wish to respectfully address you and other leaders of our party on some recent developments.
 

For a while now, I have been increasingly concerned about our party’s conduct and its image.
 

I believe that as one who has risked my life and liberty, given so much of my time and treasure to our cause and cares deeply about our indispensable role in our country, I have an obligation to speak up.
 

My first concern is the rise of intolerance in our ranks. It seems that the party of Danquah, Busia and Dombo does not value freedom of expression. Whenever there is dissenting opinion, instead of engaging the substance of the dissenter, he/she is attacked personally. We seem to believe that anyone who disagrees with our prevailing orthodoxy is corrupt or has some evil motive.
 

After we went to court to contest the results of the 2012 Presidential elections, Mr. Kwame Pianim suggested that we should reconsider our “persistent boycott of government business in Parliament.” In response, he was attacked viciously. His membership of our party as well as his personal integrity was questioned. Even before this incident, Joy fm had reported on August 8th 2012 that Hon. Kennedy Agyapong had “suspected that Mr. Pianim benefited from the judgment debt because he praised President Mills for being incorruptible.”
 

Mr. Chairman, regardless of what our party thought of Mr. Painim’s opinions, he deserved more respectful treatment than he got. It is wrong for our party, which has rightly reached out to new people, like Dr. Bawumia and made them leaders to treat someone like Kwame Pianim who has given so much to this party for so long so shabbily.
 

Before the Pianim case some young people in our party, inspired by some misguided elders had attempted to prevent President Kufuor from attending President Mahama’s inauguration. Even though it had advance information of the President’s plans, the party was silent.
 

Mr. Chairman, this pattern of intolerance and personal attacks is once again on display in the case of Dr. Wereko-Brobby, following his comments on the validity of our case and the performance of our star witness.
 

While I disagree with his opinions and the timing of his comments, our response and the accompanying vitriol have been completely unnecessary.

Mr. Chairman, why is the party of the rule of law tripping over our regulations to suspend Mr. Wereko-Brobby when we have not had time to investigate more serious allegations? He has alleged that his warnings to those in charge of our campaign to protect our votes were ignored. He has also claimed that our polling agents were insufficiently trained and that this may have contributed to why they “slept while our Tilapia was stolen”. On the surface, these appear to be more deserving of investigations and sanctions than his unflattering opinions of the performance of our star witness. After all, Mr. Chairman, Tarzan is not a member of the Supreme Court panel hearing our petition. An organization that always has unanimity of opinion may be a lot of things but certainly, not a political party. The person who disagrees with us 20% of the time is not an enemy or an opponent; he/she is on our side.
 

This leads to my second concern, which is our fealty to principle. Mr. Chairman, I was attracted to this party by the fearlessness and willingness of men like Adu- Boahen, Sam Okudzeto and Da Rocha to speak truth to power even at great cost to themselves. The desire to attack errant members is sometimes such that we throw our own cherished principles and positions overboard. Throughout the tenure of President Mills, we fought against the efforts of the NDC to criminalize the conduct of Kojo Mpiani and Wereko-Brobby while in government. Now, in the heat of the moment, even NPP members are attacking the actions of Tarzan in government. Mr. Chairman, after we expend energy tarnishing Tarzan’s record in government, which is also the NPP record, can we defend it when the NDC attack it in 2016?
 

As Kweku Baako said, “Let us disagree with Tarzan on issues he is raising but let us not accept NDC’s propaganda that he failed at VRA and at Ghana @50 because that is patently not true.”
 

Mr. Chairman, my third concern is how paranoid we have become. Even though we are undoubtedly the party with the largest following in Ghana, we seem to think that everybody out there is trying to get us. We whine that virtually everyone in the media is in the pay of the government and is doing propaganda for the government. Members of the “coffee-shop mafia” who seemed to be our allies have turned and our explanation is that they have been bought. Would that mean, Mr. Chairman, that when they supported us, we bought them? Could it be that we are doing things that are turning people off?
 

My last point, Mr. Chairman, related to all these, is extremism. Too many of those speaking in our name are too shrill and too insulting. When we are represented in public by young and ambitious people whose only distinction is their willingness to insult others and their sycophantic attitude to leaders, we turn moderates and uncommitted voters away from our candidates. While we are many, due to the divided nature of our electorate, we cannot for the most part, elect Presidents and Parliamentarians all by ourselves.
 

Mr. Chairman, regardless of the outcome of our election challenge, the issues I have raised here will be important to our party’s success far into the future. I know that the party’s leaders cannot control the behavior or the attitude of every party member. However, we can certainly do better.
 

I suggest respectfully, that going forward; we strive to be more inclusive, both in our consultations and actions. In this respect, it is regrettable that our last campaign effectively sidelined some of your own National Executives who had been duly elected because they were not considered to be loyal to the candidate.
 

Furthermore, let us attack positions and ideas instead of people. We are, after all, the party that has the men and women to move Ghana forward.
 

Also, our leadership should encourage moderation and tolerance. Not long ago, our friends in the NDC were struggling to deflect the very credible charges that they were the party of violence and extremism. Today most Ghanaians believe we are wrestling them for that title and it is close. The first step in this encouragement should start with modeling moderation. A very good model here is former President Kufuor. All of us must study his moderation and gentleness of manner and learn from him. Another is you.
 

Finally we must re-invigorate our commitment to principles rather than people, no matter who they may be.
 

May God guide and guard us as we endeavour to serve our nation.
 

Convey my encouragement and best wishes to all our executives.

BETTER GHANA MANAGEMENT SERVICES LTD WINS CASE AT HIGH COURT

Elvis Afriyie Ankrah, Minister of Youth and Sports

RULING BY JUSTICE KOFI ESSEL MENSAH

On 14th September, 2012, plaintiff/applicant herein took out a writ of civil summons against the defendant/respondent herein claiming a number of reliefs including:

"An order for the payment to the plaintiff of GHC7,404.442.50 being unpaid provident fund contributions for 65,000 NYEP employees with accrued interest there on and management fees; and Interest on the said amount to date of final payment".

As a sequel to the suit, plaintiff/applicant has filed the instant application praying for an order of Mareva injunction to restrain the Defendants by itself, or by its servants or agents or any of them or otherwise howsoever, and whether in the case of the other Respondents herein their directors, officers, branch offices, servants or agents or any of them or otherwise howsoever from withdrawing or causing or permitting to be withdrawn or taking any steps to withdraw out of the other Respondents bank accounts or credit with them any of the Defendant's money standing to the Defendant's account or from disposing of or transferring charging or diminishing or in any way howsoever dealing with any of the respective money held by the said other Respondents herein and without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing, in particular.

Any sums now or hereafter standing to the credit or held on behalf of the Defendant by:

The Ghana Government, alternatively The Ministry of Youth and Sports, alternatively the National Coordinator of the National Youth Employment Programme (now Ghana Youth Employment and
Entrepreneurial Development Agency).

                        -            .

            ii.         The U.T Bank Ltd or any of its branches in Ghana.

            iii.       The Zenith Bank (Ghana) Limited or any of its branches in Ghana.

            iv.        The GT Bank (Ghana) Limited or any of its branches in Ghana.

            v.         The Stanbic Bank (Ghana) Limited or any of its branches in Ghana"

The Stanbic Bank has by letter dated 21^st November, 2012 informed the Court that the defendant/respondent is not its customer. The UT Bank has also filed an
affidavit opposing the grant of the application on grounds that defendant/respondent is heavily indebted to it in the sum of GH Ȼ41,234,886.09.
The U. T bank supported its claim with documents and a demand notice dated 12th  November, 2012.

Even before UT bank filed its affidavit together with the annexures, the defendant/respondent as part of its response to this application has brought the issue of its indebtedness to the UT bank to the attention of the court and that of the plaintiff/applicant. It was as a result of such disclosures that the Court on 23^rd November, 2012 ordered the UT bank and the Zenith bank to continue paying and or finance the payment of the salaries and allowances of employees of defendant/respondent.

The defendant/respondent has opposed the grant of the Mareva injunction just as it has reacted vehemently to the suit. A number of issues have been raised by defendant/respondent. I hold the view that most of the issues raised must not be confused with the determination of the instant application. The determination of this application must be confined to the issues whether the plaintiff/applicant has a good cause of action against the defendant/respondent; and whether by the facts and circumstances of the case, it is just and convenient to grant the order of Mareva injunction.

By the pleadings, affidavits and annexures filed, it is not in doubt that the plaintiff/applicant has been appointed the fund Manager to manage the provident fund contributions of the employees of the National Youth Employment Programme. By a letter dated 14th February, 2012, the defendant/respondent was duly informed by the National Coordinator of NYEP of the appointment of plaintiff/applicant as the managers of the provident fund.

As fund managers of the Provident fund scheme, plaintiff/applicant owes a duty to its clients to ensure the collection of the provident funds and the safety of the funds.

The provident fund contributions have not been paid by the defendant/respondent as it should. The defendant/respondent has explained away the reasons behind its inability to pay the provident fund contribution over to the plaintiff/applicant. By its excuse, the NYEP or for that matter the Government of Ghana has defaulted in the payment of its financial obligations under the contract and is currently owing defendant/respondent about GHC170, 000,000.00.

It appears to me that the plaintiff/applicant does not deny the Government's indebtedness to the defendant/respondent but it is only apprehensive that the defendant/respondent would dissipate any monies that would be paid to it by the government. Plaintiff/applicant made this point forcefully in paragraph 12 of its affidavit in support of the motion paper as follows:

" .... the plaintiff is in receipt of very reliable information to the effect that the Ghana Government is about to make substantial payments to the Defendant to clear some of the backlog of arrears it owes the Defendant.

However having regard to the Defendant's ignominious track record of having in the past collected payment from the Government and failing to transmit the' employees provident fund contribution, the plaintiff has reasonable cause to believe that the best safeguard against a repetition of the said conduct is for an order directed to the Ghana Government and its agencies to restrain them from making any payment or payments only upon retention of a minimum amount of GHȻ7,4 04,442.50 to satisfy any judgment in plaintiff's favour."

IN THE SUPERIOUR COURT OF JUDICATURE, IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE
(HUMAN RIGHTS DIVISION) HELD IN ACCRA ON WEDNESDAY, THE 5T^H DAY OF
DECEMBER, 2012, BEFORE HIS LORDSHIP KOFI ESSEL MENSAH, HIGH COURT
JUDGE

HRC 58/12

LIBERTY CAPITAL GHANA LIMITED VRS.

BEITER GHANA MANAGEMENT SERVICES LIMITED

SGD) KOFI ESSEL MENSAH

JUSTICE OF THE HIGH COURT MAREVA INJUNCTION     _

UPON READING the affidavit of WILLIAM ADJOVU of H/No. 30 Paa Grant

street Community 10, Tema, filed on the 13^th day of November, 2012 on behalf of
Plaintiff Applicant herein in support of motion on notice for mareva injunction.

UPON HEARING KWEKU PAINTSIL, Counsel for and on behalf of plaintiff/applicant herein.

AND UPON HEARING BENJAMIN AMPOMA BOATEN Counsel for and on behalf of Defendant/Respondent herein.

IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the Government of Ghana, through the

Ministry of Youth and Sports, or the National Youth Coordinator of the National Youth
Employment Programme (now called Ghana Entrepreneurial Development Agency),
withhold the payment of the sum of GH¢7,404,442.50 out of its indebtedness to
defendant/respondent to satisfy any judgement that may be entered in favour of defendant/applicant.

. IT IS ALSO ORDERED that this order does not prohibit the Government of Ghana through its named agencies and the defendant/respondent on the one hand and the UT bank on the other from honouring any loan/credit agreement or the repayment of loan/credit agreement mutually entered into by them.

IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that the Mareva Injunction is refused as against the following banks:

The U.T Bank Ltd or any of its branches in Ghana.

The Zenith Bank (Ghana) Limited or any of its branches in Ghana.

The GT Bank (Ghana) Limited or any of it~ branches in Ghana.

The Stanbic Bank (Ghana) Limited or any of its branches in Ghana

GIVEN UNDER MY HAND AND THE SEAL OF THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE, ACCRA, THIS 5^TH DAY OF DECEMBER, 2012.

ALFRED MENSAH-ATTAH

REGISTRAR

Apple’s tax dodge: The case for public ownership

Apple CEO, Tim Cook

By Andre Damon

The US Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations released a report Monday showing that electronics giant Apple Inc. uses offshore tax shelters to avoid taxes on the majority of its income and cheated the US government out of $9 billion in 2012 alone.

That same day, a tornado leveled the town of Moore, Oklahoma, killing 24 people, including seven children, who died huddled in hallways and bathrooms of their elementary school because officials lacked funds to build a storm shelter.

The juxtaposition of these two events speaks volumes about American society. Vital social needs of the people—like emergency services and decent schools—are ignored, because there is supposedly no money to pay for them. Yet the fact that one of the world’s largest corporations has systematically robbed the state of tens of billions of dollars is accepted with barely a protest by the political establishment. At a Senate hearing Tuesday on Apple’s tax evasion, none of the US senators called for a criminal investigation into the company, let alone demanded that any of the taxes it dodged be paid.

While putting questions to Apple CEO Tim Cook at the hearing, the senators prostrated themselves before his corporation. “I love Apple. I love Apple!” gasped Democratic Senator Claire McCaskill during her remarks. “Apple is a great company,” declared Democrat Carl Levin, the committee’s chairman.

Republican Rand Paul insisted, “What we need to do is apologize to Apple and compliment them for the job-creation they’re doing.”

Cook used his appearance before the Senate panel—nominally to respond to allegations of wrongdoing—to call for slashing the US corporate tax rate, from 35 percent to 20 percent. But rather than denounce him for intolerable presumption, the Senators, Republican and Democratic alike, resoundingly agreed with Cook that the way to make companies like Apple pay their taxes is to lower the corporate tax rate. This is no surprise, since half of the members of this esteemed body are millionaires themselves.

Official political life in the United States is dominated by the constant refrain that every social need must be subordinated to the need to cut budget deficits without increasing taxes on the wealthy. In the name of combating this looming budget disaster, Congress and the White House signed into law $1.2 trillion in spending cuts this year, while Barack Obama has called for at least $500 billion more in cuts to Medicare and Social Security, which would impoverish millions of elderly people.

The growth of the supposed budget crisis has paralleled the effective ending of most taxation on corporations. In 1952, corporate taxes amounted for one third of tax revenue; now, they account for less than nine percent.

Meanwhile, an ever-growing burden of financing wars and corporate bailouts has been placed on workers. Payroll taxes, which are paid for overwhelmingly by working people, account for 41 percent of all tax income in the US—up from 9.7 percent in 1952.

The size of the tax breaks and loopholes extended to corporations is enormous: according to an estimate by the Congressional Joint Committee on Taxation, if all of the “offshore” earnings of US corporations were taxed at the normal rate, it would raise $42 billion per year—half the cost of this year’s ‘sequester’ cuts that will furlough 1 million federal workers, shut down schools, and slash unemployment payments for hundreds of thousands of people.

Even the claim that untaxed corporate profits are kept outside the country is shallow fraud: while Apple’s subsidiaries are incorporated in Ireland, they hold their board meetings in California and keep their assets in New York banks. These tax loopholes are intentionally created by the big business politicians as a pretext to slash the actual amount of taxes paid by US corporations.

Yet far from using their enormous profits to hire workers, conduct research, and expand production, corporations are merely hoarding up their vast piles of cash. At the end of the fourth quarter of last year, US corporations were sitting on a $1.73 trillion cash hoard. A good chunk of this belongs to Apple: the company is holding $150 billion in cash, enough to pay for this year’s sequester budget cuts twice over.

Meanwhile, hundreds of millions of people throughout the globe are out of work, and billions more labor in the types of sweatshop conditions that lead Apple’s suppliers to set up anti-suicide nets around the roofs of their factories in China.

The most pronounced attribute of contemporary society is the disparity between the vast, idle wealth piled up by the ruling class on one hand, and the misery, poverty and chronic joblessness among the working people whose labor creates the wealth of society.

Social inequality has exploded since the crash of 2008, which was used by the corporate and financial elite to escalate a program of social counter-revolution to destroy the achievements won by the working class through generations of struggle. Throughout the world, social opposition is growing, but the most important question is the building of a new leadership of the working class in opposition to the trade unions and pseudo-left organizations that want to keep workers tied to the corporate-controlled parties.

Nothing will be done to address this gaping disparity by a political establishment that replies to massive corporate tax evasion with calls to lower business taxes. The vast corporate looting operation will continue until the working class takes up the struggle to reorganize society.

This struggle must be animated by the socialist perspective, not merely of the patching over of the existing society, but of reorganizing it on the basis of social need, not private profit.

Giant corporations like Apple must be put under the democratic control of the working class, and the vast cash hoards they have piled up must be seized and used to satisfy the needs of society: to build schools, roads and bridges, and provide all people with the right to housing, health care, education, and everything else needed to live decently. This is the program fought for by the Socialist Equality Party.

Russia deepens ties with Latin America

Russia Foreign Minister Lavrov takes cue from President Putin

By Ivan Nechepurenko

Russia has demonstrated its widening relations with Latin America with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov meeting representatives of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States in Moscow on Wednesday.

The foreign ministers of Cuba, Costa Rica and Haiti and the deputy foreign minister of Chile discussed trade, political dialogue and a visa-free regime with Lavrov, with everyone in agreement that Russia's relations with the region are ripe enough to establish "a permanent mechanism for political dialogue and cooperation in a Russia-CELAC format," a statement from Russia's Foreign Ministry said.

CELAC was founded in 2010 as a counterweight to the U.S.-led Organization of American States. It consists of 33 states representing almost 600 million people and producing $7 trillion in annual GDP.

"This is a serious attempt by Latin American states to counter U.S. economic and political influence in the region," said Mikhail Belyat, an independent Latin American expert and lecturer at the Russian State University for the Humanities.

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov discusses trade and a visa-free regime with the foreign ministers of Cuba, Costa Rica and Haiti.

In the aftermath of the Cuban Revolution, the Soviet Union rapidly increased its economic and military assistance to Latin America but that relationship was not firmed up following the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Apart from Latin America, Russia has recently reinvigorated its efforts to reach out to other parts of the world.

To that end, Russia has been actively promoting the concept of a multi-polar world, playing an active role in such organizations as the BRICS and the Eurasian Economic Space, which is planned to be transformed into a full-fledged Eurasian Union in 2015.

"Our friends have expressed their desire to make permanent contacts between the CELAC and BRICS. Particularly on the sidelines of various meetings. We believe this is a very attractive suggestion and we will definitely discuss it with other states that are members of this association," Lavrov said at the news conference that followed negotiations.

BRICS consists of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, representing large, fast-growing economies with an increasing influence on global affairs.

Just like BRICS, CELAC countries have enjoyed strong economic growth of 4.5 percent on average over the last three years, which in turn drives these states to look to distant markets.

"Like Russia, these countries want to diversify their economies and export markets so that their goals complement each other," Belyat said.

Trade between Russia and Latin America reached $16 billion in 2012 alone.

In order to complement the exchange of goods with the exchange of people, the sides have agreed to put their efforts into establishing a visa-free regime between CELAC countries and Russia.

Although Russians already enjoy visa-free travel to most countries of Latin America, including Brazil, Argentina and Chile, Costa Rica and Panama still require Russian citizens to apply for entry clearance in advance.

Russia has been negotiating visa-free entry for its citizens for some time now, with the most well-known process taking place with the EU.

Russia has noted that the EU already grants visa-free access to such countries as Brazil, Mexico and Venezuela countries which enjoy a similar level of economic prosperity as Russia.

"We used to have hectares full of Lada cars along the Panama Canal, while our tractors were plowing Mexican lands," Belyat said. "So I predict Russia will become more prominent in Latin America, and we will see more Latin American goods in our stores."

The USA: The birth of a superpower 

By Yuri Sosinski-Semikhat

The act of the unconditional capitulation of Germany was signed in a suburb of Berlin on May 8, 1945. The Second World War ended. The Third Reich collapsed under the onslaught of the Soviet Army and Anglo-American troops that were advancing from both the East and the West. Italians, French, Germans, Poles and Belgians were celebrating the victory over fascism.

Most Europeans had very little idea of ​​what the post-war world will look like. The Second World War, which lasted for six years, became the most destructive war in the history of mankind. More than 60 countries with a population of 1.7 billion people were involved in that war. About 100 million people were struggling against fascism. During the war years, Germany, England, the United States and the Soviet Union produced about 653,000 planes, 287,000 tanks and 1,041 million guns.

The United States played a certain role in military operations against Nazi Germany on the Western Front. Washington was preparing to take on a leadership role in the creation of the new Europe. Owing to military supplies and loans, the U.S. received high profits and made many countries dependent on its economic aid.

Two months after the defeat of Nazi Germany, a special event took place in the world that radically changed the entire system of international relations. On  August 6 and 9, 1945, U.S. heavy bombers dropped atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The use of nuclear weapons was  brutal retaliation for Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor and a stern warning to potential U.S. adversaries.

A response from the Soviet Union did not take long to follow. Soviet scientists accelerated the work on the atomic bomb. The world saw the beginning of a massive arms race. In the event of a direct military conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union with the use of atomic weapons, consequences for all forms of life on Earth could be catastrophic. The USA and the USSR were struggling for world domination.

The confrontation between the two systems led to the break-up of Germany into two states - East Germany (German Democratic Republic) and West Germany (Federal Republic of Germany). West Germany turned into a huge military base for the U.S. and its allies for decades. The USSR was controlling domestic and foreign policy of the GDR, providing the country with considerable economic support without expecting anything else in return. In fact, neither America nor the Soviet Union were ever focused on the complete destruction of each other. The creation of the new world order was based on the well-known principle "divide and conquer."

As is well known, the Truman Doctrine marked the beginning of the new foreign policy of the United States. On March 12, 1947, U.S. President Harry Truman delivered his famous speech to the joint session of the Senate and the House of Representatives. It happened shortly after Stalin's refusal to join the Bretton Woods Agreement, under which the dollar would become the world's reserve currency, replacing gold and securing global economic dictate of the United States.

The main points put forward by Truman were as follows: "The United States should support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures. ... I believe that our help should be primarily through economic and financial aid, which is essential to economic stability and orderly political processes."

In essence, the Truman Doctrine was relevant to U.S. foreign policy in the XXI century as well.

In the postwar years, Washington skillfully used economic leverage over Europe with a goal to strengthen its military and political influence on the continent. On June 5, 1947, U.S. Secretary of State George C. Marshall during his speech at Harvard University suggested European countries should follow a new program of reconstruction and development after World War II, with the help of American money. France, UK, Italy, Belgium and several other countries agreed to take part in the "Marshall Plan."

The agreements signed in April 1948, included such conditions as encouraging U.S. private investment, cooperation in the reduction of customs tariffs and shipments of scarce goods to the United States. In three years, the U.S. spent about $ 17 billion on the "Marshall Plan," with the bulk of funds delivered to the United Kingdom, France, Italy and FRG. England and France, weakened by the war, could not challenge the leadership of the United States in the capitalist world. By 1948, the share of industrial production of the U.S. accounted for 55 percent of the West.

The end of World War II marked the beginning of a new era. The West began to realize how great the military power of the Soviet Union was. Washington was not going to give up its positions on the European continent. In the new bipolar world, the UK and France had to play the role of U.S. allies. The Second World War ended, and the collapse of the once powerful colonial empires was a foregone conclusion. During the 1940s and the 1950s, the United States strengthened its military and political influence in Europe and in the Asia-Pacific region, consolidating the status as a leading world power. The "cold war" between the East and the West dragged on for decades.

The Soviet Union was showing resistance to the US-European expansion, until, by definition of Western experts, a new organizational weapon was used against it, targeting vulnerabilities in the Soviet system.

Pythagoras and his theory of reincarnation

Pythagoras

By Igor Bukker

The name of Pythagoras is known to all from school, but many people associate this name with a theorem in geometry. Meanwhile, this ancient Greek philosopher, mathematician and mystic was the first man, who coined such terms as "philosopher" and "philosophy" (in our modern sense). He was also an advocate of the doctrine of reincarnation - the transmigration of souls. In some ways, he even shadowed forth ideas of communism.

Pythagoras was born in Samos, a town located on the island of the same name in the Aegean Sea, which was one of the most prominent and well-known centers of the Hellenic world in the VI century BC.. Most authoritative encyclopedias do not state the birth year of Pythagoras. Pretty approximately, historians say that he was born in "about 570 BC". Herodotus, who lived after Pythagoras, and spent many years in Samos, pointed out that the mystic's father was Mnesarchus. The author of biographies of many ancient philosophers, Diogenes Laertius, added: "Pythagoras, the son of Mnesarchus, the rockmender." Ancient people used this word to refer to those who carved stones that were often used in signet rings.

Iamblichus, in contrast to other ancient authors, gave a different spelling of the name of Pythagoras' father - Mnemarh. Probably, it was a clerical error. Some sources mention his mother. There is nothing to prove that, but it is quite possible that the woman's name was Parfenida, and it was her husband that gave her a new name - Pifaida. The author of a recently published biography of Pythagoras, Igor Surikov, wrote: "That is extremely doubtful! The Greeks actually did not have the practice of renaming people, especially the grown-ups."

Mnesarchus gave that name to his wife after visiting the oracle of Apollo in Delphi to inquire about a voyage to Syria. The oracle said that the voyage would be successful and profitable. She also said that his wife was pregnant and that she would give birth to a child that would stand out among all others who ever lived before. The child will be beautiful, wise and it will bring good to people at all times. When his wife delivered the baby in Sidon, Phoenicia, he named his son Pythagoras, because Pythia foretold his birth. There is another interpretation of his name. "Aristippus of Cyrene in the book "About Physics" says that the child was named Pythagoras, because he was saying infallible truth, like Pythia did," said Diogenes Laertius.

Igor Surikov explains why such interpretation is unlikely, "Pythagoras is a common ancient Greek name, which appears for the most part without any connection with Apollo and Delphi. It should be noted that ancient Greek personal names typically have some meaning that one can transfer to other languages - "translate" that is, with a certain degree of accuracy. The first element of this name is most likely derived from the root 'pyth-', which means 'knowledge gained through questioning.' The second root, '-agor-,' is related to speech, most often public speech. Thus, the very name of "Pythagoras" can be roughly understood as "the person who speaks about what he learnt."

It is unlikely that the name of the philosopher's mother can be found in ancient sources. The ancient Greeks would rarely mention the names of women, especially from decent layers of society, in contrast to names of courtesans. Thucydides quoted Pericles, who lived a century after Pythagoras: "The woman deserves greatest respect, if she is least spoken about by men." It is possible that Pythagoras had brothers, but they did nothing to become famous, and we know nothing about them. One of them was named Tirrena, which means "Etruscan." Sources often point out that Mnesarchus was not a Greek, but an Etruscan man, so he named his son in honor of the people, to whom he allegedly belonged.

At the age of about 40 years, Pythagoras left Samos and moved to Italy. Maybe he went there because it was the land of his ancestors? The Etruscans had the reputation of mysterious people already in ancient times.

In antiquity, it was believed that it was Pythagoras, who started using the words "philosophy" (literally, "love of wisdom") and "philosopher" (literally: lover of wisdom). He taught that "only God, not man, could be wise." For it was premature to call philosophy "wisdom" and those who practice it - "wise men." A philosopher is someone who feels attracted to wisdom. According to another legend, Pythagoras' teachers were not only Middle Eastern priests and astrologers, but also famous mathematician of Miletus (Asia Minor), Thales. Pythagoras, of course, visited Miletus, but Thales died either before the birth of Pythagoras, or when he was a child.

There were numerous legends about Pythagoras' disciples of too. There is a story told by Herodotus about Zalmoxis, a disciple and servant of Pythagoras, who, once free, returned home and tricked "a few silly" fellow citizens of his. Having invited most illustrious citizens to dinner, he argued that "his guests and even their distant descendants would never die, but go to a shelter, where they could expect eternal life and bliss." He then took refuge of the Thracians for three years in the dungeon, and suddenly appeared before them during the fourth year of his seclusion, and the people "believed in his teachings."

The origins of the legend have the following explanation. Zalmoxis is a Thracian deity, whose cult had mystical and shamanic features. "And perhaps this is why he was wrongly associated with Pythagoras, - writes biographer Igor Surikov. - His views and practices contained elements of shamanistic beliefs."

Philosopher Porphyry wrote that Pythagoras had the son, Arimnest, a mentor of Democritus. "Others write that Theano, a woman from Crete, became the mother of Pythagoras' son Telavg and daughter Mia. Others mention his daughter Arignota, who even preserved Pythagorean writings.

As we know, Pythagoras left his native Samos and settled in Italy, which in ancient times was known as Vitalia. According to Timaeus, Pythagoras was the first one to say "Friends share everything" and "Friendship is equality." The "communist" principle of equality in the Pythagorean brotherhood was conducted fairly consistently. No Pythagorean was allowed to own private property. They even shared such personal items as utensils for eating. It seems that even Soviet communal apartments or dorms did not have such rules. The origins of the communist utopia can clearly be seen from Plato's "The Republic"

In turn, Plato was heavily influenced by Pythagorean teachings. For the Pythagoreans, the authority of their teachers was unquestioned. His statements, proven or not, were treated as ultimate truth. The Greeks loved to challenge everything (dispute begets truth), trying to find "for and against" arguments. However, when it came to the statements of Pythagoras, they fully accepted the words of their philosopher, similarly to how Christians accept the words of Christ and Muslims - the words of Muhammad. The Pythagoreans, according to Iamblichus, "ascribed Pythagoras to the rank of gods, as a good and humane demon."

"According to Pythagoras, the human soul can migrate from one human body to another, but also to the bodies of other creatures, such as animals or even plants. With each new incarnation, the soul loses the memory of the past. So every time we all live our lives as if we live for the first time.

The man known as Pythagoras died in 497 BC. in Metapontum, a town in southern Italy.

Mass Media and Its Influence On Society

In the last 50 years the media influence has grown exponentially with the advance of technology, first there was the telegraph, then the radio, the newspaper, magazines, television and now the internet.

We live in a society that depends on information and communication to keep moving in the right direction and do our daily activities like work, entertainment, health care, education, personal relationships, traveling and anything else that we have to do.

A common person in the city usually wakes up checks the tv news or newspaper, goes to work, makes a few phone calls, eats with their family when possible and makes his decisions based on the information that he has either from their co workers, news, tv, friends, family, financial reports, etc.

What we need to be aware is that most of our decisions, beliefs and values are based on what we know for a fact, our assumptions and our own experience. In our work we usually know what we have to do based on our experience and studies, however on our daily lives we rely on the media to get the current news and facts about what is important and what we should be aware of.

We have put our trust on the media as an authority to give us news, entertainment and education. However, the influence of mass media on our kids, teenagers and society is so big that we should know how it really works.

How mass Media Influence works

Of all the media distribution channels the most influential has been the television, we are constantly exposed to thousands of images of violence, advertising, sex, celebrities and much more, in fact a its known that a child is exposed to about 40,000 ads a year.

But who owns the media, which are the companies or people that shape our values, beliefs and decisions? The media is basically dominated by five major companies they are:

Time Warner

VIACOM

Vivendi Universal

Walt Disney

News Corp

Those 5 companies own 95% of all the media that we get every day. They own the major entertainment theme parks, entertainment movie studios, television and radio broadcast networks and programing, video news and sports entertainment.

They also own integrated telecommunications, wireless phones, video games softwares, electronic media, the music industry and more.

Years ago there was more diversity in companies, but they have merged so now they are just a few and they have the power to shape the opinion and beliefs of us and our kids. So its important to be aware of what your kids are exposed to every day and you should also try to look at things from different perspectives and not just from the one the media gives you.

How does mass media influence young people?

The media makes billions of dollars with the advertising they sell and that we are exposed to. We buy what we are told to be good, after seeing thousands of advertisings we make our buying decisions based on what we saw on Tv, newspapers or magazines to be a product we can trust and also based on what everyone else that we know is buying and their decision are also base don the media.

These are the effects of mass media in teenagers, they buy what they see on Tv, what their favorite celebrity advertise and what is acceptable by society based on the fashion that the media has imposed them.

There are some positive and negative influences in young people.

Here is a positive influence example, if there is a sport that is getting a lot of attention by the media and gains popularity among your friends and society, you will more likely want to practice the sport and be cool with all your friends. The result is that you will have fun with your friends and be more healthy because of the exercise your are doing.

However a negative influence in teenagers is the use of cigars by celebrity movie stars, the constant exposure of sex images, the excessive images of violence and exposure to thousands of junk food ads.

Young people are in a stage of life where they want to be accepted by their peers, they want to be loved and be successful. The media creates the ideal image of a beautiful men and women and tells you what are the characteristics of a successful person, you can see it in movies and tv. Its a subliminal way to tell you that if you are not like them you are not cool yet so its time to buy the stuff they buy and look like they look.

Another negative influence in teenagers that has grown over the last years are anorexia and obesity. There are millions of adolescents fighting obesity, but at the same time they are exposed to thousands of advertisements of junk food, while the ideas image of a successful person is told to be thin and wealthy.

Also more women are obsessive with losing weight even when they are not obese, there are many thin women that want to look like the super models and thin celebrities so they engage in eating disorders which leads to severe health issues and even death.

Effects of violence in the Media

When we watch Tv or a movie we usually see many images of violence and people hurting others. The problem with this is that it can become traumatic especially in our children as we see it more and more. Our kids that are starting to grow and are shaping their personality values and beliefs can become aggressive or they can lose a sense of reality and fiction of what they are seeing.

In the past years there have been some cases of kids carrying a gun at school and even hurting others with it. Those kids have been linked to excessive use of violent video games and war images.

Another problem is that real war is used as a form of entertainment by the media, we should make our kids and teen aware that war is not a form of entertainment and that there is no win or lose like in video games, in real war everyone lose.

How media influence public opinion

As i have said above, the media has a huge impact on society and also in public opinion. They can shape the public opinion in different ways depending of what is the objective.

For example, after the attacks of 911 the media gave a huge coverage of the event and exposed Osama guilty for the attack as they were told by the authorities. This shaped the public opinion to support the war on terrorism, the same happened with the war on Iraq. The problem is that if media received un accurate information then the public opinion supported a wrong cause, this is the power of public opinion influence.

Other ways to influence are with polls and trends, especially in political campaigns. The candidates that can pay for more tv and media exposure have more influence on public opinion and thus can receive more votes.

 Constructing Public Opinion

Watch:

Starsuckers is a feature documentary about the celebrity obsessed media,  that uncovers the real reasons behind our addiction to fame and blows the lid on the corporations and individuals who profit from it. Made completely independently over 2 years in secret, the film journeys through the dark underbelly of the modern media. Using a combination of never before seen footage, undercover reporting, stunts and animation, the film reveals the toxic effect the media is having on us all and especially our children.

Chris Atkins presents Starsuckers as a series of five lessons on fame in the modern world: how children are persuaded that fame is something they want, how television and the media reinforces the importance of celebrity and the efforts to attain it, how the mind and body reinforces our need to follow the activities of well-known people and strive to join their number, how the press became addicted to celebrity coverage, and how the art of promoting fame has led to celebrities and their handlers controlling the press instead of the press having say. Along the way, Atkins demonstrates how celebrity news with no basis in fact gets into print, why newspapers will run press releases almost verbatim, how parents will eagerly sign away the image rights to their kids, how certain mass scale charity events end up helping the performers far more than the causes they designed to support, and how publicists keep accurate but unflattering stories out of the news.