links for 2009-10-26

• Choike – Brave new world emerges from IMF and World Bank Istanbul meetings
  "The IMF /World Bank 2009 Annual meetings were, as every three years, held outside of Washington, this time in the city of Istanbul. The meetings came on the heels of the recent summit of the Group of 20 in Pittsburgh, giving follow up to several of its decisions.

  Some of the outcomes were perplexing. Around this same time last year, the world was grappling with the potentially catastrophic consequences of a crisis in which developing countries had no responsibility but that would significantly set back their progress towards the MDGs. Several leaders spoke of a New Bretton Woods, anticipating a shake-up of global governance structures. But to take the global governance results from Istanbul as a benchmark, there is little progress and, some might say, even some signs of retrogression. "

  (tags: imf worldbank economic-crisis economy economics neoliberal development finance aid)
• Waiting for a Trickle – bt – Full Story
  "A new study has revealed that Ali is [..] one of many of poor Egyptians who have been shut out of the countrys economic revival. The boom, spurred by private and foreign direct investment, has paid off primarily for the countrys richest, according to the new report by the General Authority for Investment (GAFI).

  [..The] GAFI board of trustees, the independent body that issued the report and sets the strategic direction of Egypts investment authority.
  [..]
  Between 2005 and 2008 a red-hot investment climate drove GDP growth rates to over 7% annually. But the overall poverty rate increased as inflation drove down the purchasing power of most Egyptians. About 44% of the people in this country live on less than $2 (LE 11) a day as of 2008[..].
  The GAFI report blamed official corruption, underdeveloped infrastructure, low literacy levels and lack of professional training for the shortfall.

• Inanities: The Gamal Show
  The Gamal Show aired online tonight, and I watched it live with loads of people on Twitter. Was fun.

  The Gamal Show is Gamal Mubaraks attempt to convince us that hes Barack Obama. He appears in a studio with a load of hand-picked young people in a dialogue, on this occasion moderated by Lamis El-Hadidy, a television presenter married to Amr Adeeb, brother of Emad Adeeb, head of the executive board of newspaper Nahdet Misr, which recently published a story in which it stated that all Egyptian Bedouins (except direct descendents of the Prophet Mohamed) are criminals.

  (tags: gamalmubarak egypt mubarak ndp youth internet comedy)
• Going back to 350 – Almasry Alyoum
  Aliens peering down on Earth yesterday would have possibly thought humans collectively worship the number 350. Indeed, the figure was at the heart of over 5000 events in 181 countries. What these curious aliens might not have known, however, was that 24 October is the International Day of Climate Action.
  In the case of Cairo, 24 October saw Rawabet Theater present a sci-fi/documentary called The Age of Stupid, as well as several speakers discussing climate change. The event drew some 150 of Egypts youth and kicked off with a short stand-up comedy gig where [..].
  The highlight, however, was The Age of Stupid, an hour and a half long film meshing documentary elements with potentially non-fictional science fiction. It starts 13 billion years ago and quickly fast forwards through the history of the universe and life on Earth, finally stopping in the freshly post-apocalyptic year of 2055 AD.
  "
  (tags: 350 climate-change environment egypt Copenhagen2009 climate global-warming)
• VDARE.com: 10/08/07 – A Farewell To Alms: Why Did The Industrial Revolution Happen Where It Did?
  (tags: economics history economy neoclassical neoliberal development)