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  1. 2013 World Economic Forum (the Davos)

    Saturday, February 16, 2013


    By Zale Chen, YAIC Weekly
    February 16, 2013


    Davos 2013─Welcoming Address by the Executive Chairman

     For over 40 years, the World Economic Forum (the WEF, or the Davos) has served as a global platform where selected politicians, representatives from academia, chief executives and leaders from all walks of life gather together to exchange ideas regarding global issues. The WEF is held in Davos, Switzerland in every January.

    the World Economic Forum

    the Davos, Switzerland

    Founded in 1971 by Klaus Schwab, a business professor at the University of Geneva, the WEF was originally named as the “European Management Forum”. Later in 1987, it changed its name into the “World Economic Forum” with the ambition to provide a platform for discussing global issues and trying to find resolutions. Moreover, it broadened its focus from management to economic, social and political issues.

    Professor Klaus Schwab

    The mission of the WEF is fully manifested in its motto: “committed to improving the state of the world.”

    “The World Economic Forum is not a decision-making body. It is a platform for initiatives, programs and taskforces. It gives each of our participants the possibility to shape their own opinion based on the latest strategic insights,” said Schwab.

    This year, the WEF lasted from Jan.23 to Jan.27 with the theme of “Resilient Dynamism”. Defined by Merriam-Webster Dictionary, “resilience” means the ability to become strong, healthy or successful after something bad happens and “dynamism” refers to the energy and strong desire to make something happen.

    Therefore, the purpose of the WEF 2013 annual meeting: “Resilience Dynamism” was to calling upon leaders and people to shove worries aside and root out outdated ideas in order to be brave to develop future plans for changes and to keep moving forward.

    In 2012 annual meeting, the WEF focused much on the issue of the European debt crisis. However, through the economic development last year, the European debt crisis has eased up. The 2013 annual meeting therefore concentrated more on the fiscal cliff in the United States, the possibility of war of exchange rate in Asia, the role Mainland China plays in global economy and the threats the emerging economics has brought to the environment.

    Also, according to Global Risk Report 2013 released by the WEF, the global society is now faced with three major risks which are: wealth gap (severe income disparity), unsustainable government debt (chronic fiscal imbalances) and rising greenhouse gas emissions.

    This generation is the most complicated and yet interconnected one in the human history in which we are faced with dreadful challenges as financial crisis and value conflicts. As Schwab said, leaders in 2013 should be both “resilient” and “dynamic” to face these challenges. Through the WEF, we could make more people be aware of these global issues and make changes to improve the state of the world in 2013.

    References:
    Executive Summary, World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2013.
    http://www3.weforum.org/docs/AM13/WEF_AM13_ExecutiveSummary.pdf
    http://www.weforum.org/events/world-economic-forum-annual-meeting-2013
    http://www.weforum.org/issues/global-risks
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki

    Posted by YAIC weekly at 10:27 AM | 0 comments | |

  2. Tension in Northeast Asia rises

    Saturday, February 09, 2013

    By Cheryl Yu, YAIC Weekly 

     February 9, 2013
    According to Time Magazine, the status of Mainland China in both politics and economy enhanced through the past years; therefore, the tension between countries in Northeast Asia have escalated. The condition in Northeast Asia now resembles that of Europe in 1914: a powder keg.
    Former prime minister of Australia, Kevin Rudd
    Kevin Rudd, the Former Prime Minister of Australia, said “The region increasingly resembles a 21st-century maritime redux of the Balkans a century ago - a tinderbox on water. Nationalist sentiment is surging across the region, reducing the domestic political space for less confrontational approaches. Like the Balkans a century ago, riven by overlapping alliances, loyalties, and hatreds, the strategic environment in East Asia is complex.''

    The relationships between countries in East Asia are at stake.

    Japan and China: The conflict has continued since Japan's cabinet secretary announced the government had purchased Diaoyu islands from a Japanese citizen on September 11. The nationalism on both sides of the East China Sea has intensified over this dispute. The conflict between China and Japan has actually started hundreds of years ago. The history makes everything more complicated.

    Leader of North Korea, Kim Jong-un
    North Korea’s military exercise: Kim Jong-un, the leader of North Korea, has led the relation between itself and South Korea and Japan in to a tense situation. Missiles have been launched for five times ever since Kim Jong-un takes the position as the leader of North Korea. Besides the launch of missiles, the nuclear tests have brought Pacific region in to nerves. The US and South Korea warned North Korea recently of "further consequences" if it carried out a third nuclear test.

     World War I began because of a build-up of tension between Britain, Italy, France, Germany, the Austria-Hungarian Empire and Russia. Northeast Asia must cooperate and respect more instead of focusing on countries’ own interests to prevent another World War from happening.

    More Information:
    Japan, China, and the Tide of Nationalism
    Rudd tells of risks over Asia divisions
    North Korea
    US warns of N Korea nuclear test 'consequences'
    Photos taken in order:







    Posted by YAIC weekly at 12:43 AM | 0 comments | |

  3. Is world peace possible?

    Thursday, February 07, 2013

    By Jim Liu, YAIC Weekly
    February 7, 2013

    Psychologist and cognitive scientist Steven Pinker at Harvard University thinks it is completely predictable that wars between countries might go the way of slave auctions, debtors’ prisons and other barbaric customs.There are some parts to the brain that impel us to carry out violence, such as the thirst for revenge, feelings of tribalism, or the quest for dominance. 

    In Asia, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, abbreviated as DPRK, has recently done nuclear tests. The picture on the below is a nuclear test site and water cooling plant. It showed that DPRK started to warn countries not to interrupt them to start the war with South Korea. The enmity between DPRK and South Korea could trace back to the Korean War and therefore the revenge between DPRK and South Korea still have a long way to improve the situation.

    In the Middle East, there were many uprisings two years ago. People in the Middle East are eager to get the right of freedom and the most important problem is the poverty gap.

    The first uprising was in the Tunisia. A street vendor Mohamed Bouazzi committed the suicide because of the high unemployment rate of teenagers in Arab, rising food price and a lack of freedom which result in the series of uprisings. Most importantly, the country’s president, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, has governed the Tunisia for 23 years in power. However, the Tunisia government did not take care of the potential threat. As a result, country’s people topple the government. 

    Egypt, Bahrain, Libya, Syria and Yemen successively start the demonstrations because the long regime, poor economy and a lack of freedom. 

    When the street vendor Mohamed Bouazizi set himself on fire in Tunisia, this suicide ended up a series of events that would entirely change the Arab world forever and ever. 

    Although the world seems that it was not peaceful at all, many countries’ people have empathy and reason that allow us to see violence as a problem to be solved. For this reason, we still try hard to reach the world peace.



    Despite the fact that now the goal of the world peace is not carried out, we now are on the way to peaceful world.


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    Posted by YAIC weekly at 7:42 PM | 0 comments | |

  4. Daily Shower Can Be a Killer

    Friday, February 01, 2013


    By Yusra Cheng, YAIC Weekly

    February 1, 2013



    In a morning, an old man, Jared, escaped from a dangerous situation. Neither a armed robber broke into his house nor did he find himself face to face with a ferocious dog during this bird walk. What he survived was his daily shower.

    Falls are a common cause of older people. Among his wife's and his circle of close friends over the age of 70 ( he is 75 now ), one became crippled for life, one broke the shoulder and one broke a leg in falls on the sidewalk. One fell down the stairs, and another may not survive a recent fall.

    Life expectancy for a healthy American man of Jared's age is about 90. If he's to achieve his statistical quota of 15 more years of life, that means about 15 times 365, or 5475, more showers. But if Jared were so careless that his risk of slipping in the shower each time were as high as 1 in 1000, he'd die or become crippled about five times before reaching his life expectancy. He has to reduce the risk of shower accidents.


    This calculation illustrates the biggest single lesson : the importance of being attentive to hazards that carry a low risk each time but are encountered frequently.

    Studies have compared Americans' perceived ranking of danger with the rankings of real danger, measured either by actual accident figures or by estimated number of averted accidents. It turns out that we exaggerate the risks of events that are beyond our control, that cause many deaths at once or that kill in spectacular way -- crazy gunman, terrorists, plane crashes, nuclear radiation, genetically modified crops. At the same time, we underestimate the risk of events that we can control and of events that kill just one person in a mundane way.

    However, Jared has become constructively paranoid about showers, stepladders, staircases and wet or uneven sidewalks. As he drives, he remain alert to his own possible mistakes ( especially at night ), and to what carelessness other drivers might do.

    Jared's hyper-vigilance doesn't paralyze him or limit his life : he doesn't skip his daily shower and he keeps driving. He enjoys all those dangerous things, but he keeps the risks of accidents far below 1 in 1000 each time.

    Actually, this is not only just for the elders but also those people like you and me. Several weeks ago, I was fainted in the bathroom. Thanks God there were other people found me and sent me to the hospital. After this horrible experience, I become more careful about whether my health is in good condition. Above all, just be aware of any tiny danger around you because it may be a lethal.


    News adopted from Jared Diamond
    Published in The New York Times on January 29
    Pictures by Alex Nabaum







    Posted by YAIC weekly at 11:52 PM | 0 comments | |

  5. By Marco Teng, YAIC Weekly

    February 1, 2013

          UN came out a resolution about last month unauthorized DPRK (hereafter Democratic People's Republic of Korea) long-ranged missile launch test. The Security Council unanimously passed the resolution, which also expands the existing sanctions. North Korea implied their feeling of unfairness and anger through the passage: - the three-stage rocket put a communications satellite into space. But later, its neighbors and the US turned down DPRK's  delcaration: the move constituted a test of long-range missile technology banned under UN resolutions passes after Pyongyang's nuclear test in 2006 and 2009. These words apparently showed the positions of DPRK's neighbors and US. They thought the object launched was a long-ranged missile.

          Nuclear Weapons are extremely dangerous. In the past, DPRK has conducted two nuclear tests. Therefore, I strongly believe that there is something behind the launch. Inside the Security Council, DPRK supposed to demonstrate the object launched was a satellite, not a missile and try to convince or negotiate with other member states. However the government of DPRK hasn't proposed any official announcement to prove it was not a missile today. 

    North Korea's rocket lifts off on 12 December 2012      There are three primary neighboring countries of DPRK , South Korea, China and Russia. China and Russia are DPRK's allies while South Korea is inclined to stand with the US. However China and Russia don't want to offend other member states of the UN, thus they don't fully countenance DPRK's speaking. Honestly, letting North Korea to hold nuclear weapon will not threaten China and Russia, but South Korea. This is because that will make the military proportion within the Korean Peninsula into a state of unbalance and maybe will cause the war between within the peninsula later on. that was the reason why South Korea and US welcome the resolution.

    References:
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-21137136
    http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/285240-3

    Posted by YAIC weekly at 12:18 PM | 0 comments | |