“This notion that somehow banning Russian oil would raise prices on American consumers is an admission that this guy, that this killer, that this butcher, Vladimir Putin, has leverage over us.”

Marco Rubio

Said Florida senator Marco Rubio (R) on Sunday’s US TV talk shows. This appears in a news item published in today's The Guardian. 

Rubio said he supported Biden’s resistance to issuing a Russian oil import ban so far. But the US could “phase that in pretty rapidly” using “reserves for the purposes of buffering that”.

“We have more than enough ability in this country to produce enough oil to make up for the percentage that we buy from Russia,” Rubio said, adding that: “This notion that somehow banning Russian oil would raise prices on American consumers is an admission that this guy, that this killer, that this butcher, Vladimir Putin, has leverage over us.”

“I think we have enough that we should produce more American oil and buy less Russian oil or none – actually, none at all,” Rubio added.

Marco Antonio Rubio is an American politician and lawyer serving as the senior United States Senator from Florida, a seat he has held since 2011. A member of the Republican Party, he served as Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives from 2006 to 2008. Wikipedia

Read the full news item here.

'Putin's personal security is very good and it will be very good until the moment it isn't.'

Eliot A. Cohen

Said Eliot A. Cohen from the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington-based think-tank in an article by Elmira Tanatarova for Mailonline and AFP.

'That's happened numerous times in Soviet and Russian history.'

The article discusses five different ways set out by Experts that Russia's invasion could develop.

 
Russian President Vladimir Putin is keeping a close eye on domestic dissent. Though not seen as likely at this stage, the possibility of Putin being brought down in a popular backlash or even a palace coup is not being ruled out.

Read the full article here.

"A coup would not stand. It would end the best way possible for the G.O.P.—with him dead or in jail. He doesn’t want either of those, so it’s a con.”

Said: William Kristol, the conservative leader of the Never Trump movement when asked "Is This a Coup, or Just Another Trump Con?" by Susan B. Glasser who writes a weekly column in The New Yorker on life in Trump’s Washington. The question asked was in reference to Donald Trump's refusal to concede defeat, and prevent Joe Biden, The President Elect, from smooth transition.

Susan, in her Nov. 13 column "Is This a Coup, or Just Another Trump Con?" in The New Yorker writes: 

On Thursday, five days into this insane impasse, I asked a dozen of the smartest Washington hands I know what to make of it all: Was this a coup in the making, or just another Trump con? Taken together, their responses were modestly reassuring. 

“A little coup, a lot of con, and a total and reckless disregard for the health of our democracy or country,” William Kristol, the conservative leader of the Never Trump movement, told me. “He couldn’t organize a one-car funeral; he sure as hell can’t organize a coup,” a leading Republican pollster, who worked with a number of the Party’s candidates this election and asked not to be named, said. “Besides, a coup would not stand. It would end the best way possible for the G.O.P.—with him dead or in jail. He doesn’t want either of those, so it’s a con.”

Don't Forget the Workers

Says Earl Anthony Wayne, Public Policy Fellow, Mexico Institute at the Wilson Center, Washington. In an article titled "Don't Forget the Workers" published on September 25, 2020, Wayne, who has served as Career Ambassador to Afghanistan, Argentina, and Mexico, suggests that as the U.S. Congress makes yet another effort to approve a new covid-19 relief package, it is urgent that the legislators include additional robust funding for re-skilling and upskilling workers. 

"Congressional action should encompass opportunities for workers still on the job as well as those who are out of work, those whose jobs will never return, and younger individuals seeking to enter the job market. If done well, such programs will boost employment, the economic recovery and the future of U.S. workers and businesses," he writes.

Wayne quoted a 2019 McKinsey study, which predicted that workers without college degrees would be four times more likely to lose their jobs to automation than those with a bachelor’s degree over the decade. "Those same workers have experienced the greatest losses of employment and income during the pandemic," writes Wayne.  

"The pandemic appears to be fueling even greater negative effects for less skilled workers across North America as companies adopt new technology to help deal with the health-related workplace challenges for manufacturing, supply chains, service provision, etc."

Wayne warns, quoting a report published in The Washington Post, that inequality seems to be widening in the United States, with higher skilled workers adapting more successfully to the downturn than less educated and less skilled workers. It is clear that the economy that emerges from this crisis is not going back to old ways, nor will it put aside the new technologies and automation now being adopted. More jobs will be transformed, requiring new skills, and some will be permanently eliminated.  

"The pandemic is more widely driving home the lessons of America’s relative underinvestment in primary and secondary education, for example, with very tough lessons for many families. As the pandemic accelerates technological transformations, the urgency of taking action to build a more skilled workforce grows," he concludes.  

"Part of what I enjoy is what I don’t know"

Said Jacob Kampp Berliner, Social Entrepreneur, in an interview with Tiger Of Sweden for their website.

Tiger of Sweden is a Stockholm-based fashion house established in 1903 with a heritage in tailoring. Since then, the brand dresses men and women for whom true style is about the confidence to be themselves. Tiger of Sweden's collections encompass men's and women's tailoring, ready-to-wear and accessories. Headquartered in Stockholm, Tiger of Sweden's collections are sold globally, both online and at over 1,200 retail stores. The Company offers jeans, suits, shirts, knit wear, underwear, waistcoats, and accessories for men, as well as jeans, dresses, blazers, shirts, skirts, shorts, and accessories for women.

Excerpts from the interview:

So, what do you do, in your own words?

I invest and run businesses that all have a social purpose. The goal is always to do something better, or to do something that hasn’t been done before.

What do you mean by social?

Most of the projects I’m involved in is with more than one partner. And there’s always some social aspect of how we make decisions. And a lot of the projects are circled around Copenhagen. Somehow, they’re built like small families. I like the idea of thinking global when you do something but acting local.

Is that how you chose your businesses?

No, all of the businesses I’m involved in are all about doing something better or doing things in a new way. Like working with food in an organic way instead of a conventional way. But it’s always about make a progression of something that has already been invented.

So would you say that being an entrepreneur is this social aspect of it?

Yeah. But I’m not a big fan of the word entrepreneur. It’s like a boss word nowadays. I think the most important part is to create something that has a benefit somehow. Very often a business is just about making a profit and not actually something society gains from. But if it’s something everyone actually burns for, it will end up being a business. I’m not focused on smart ideas, I’m focused on a problem and how we can find a solution for it.

What is success in these social businesses then?

I think on a personal level success is ending up creating your own work life and that you create a lot of other people’s work-life. And you end up seeing someone go to start their own business. It’s to put ripples on the water somehow.

How do you see the potential?

It can be a business that’s dying out, like the record business a few years ago, and to find another way to do it. There’s always room for a niche.

Can you tell me something about a project you felt failed?

I’ve tried lots of projects that didn’t work out. Of course something can be a failure in the moment, but often it’s about the learning and the experience you gain from it. So I don’t feel afraid of doing something that doesn’t work out. The goal is not to do projects that are an extreme success. The goal is actually to projects that evolve yourself or you learn something new. I wasn’t great at school, and the failure of not getting an education I found out is the strongest thing I have now. I don’t know how to do things so I just do them. Sometimes you just have to do something first and then you find out. What I often bring to the table is energy.

So what inspires you? Someone you look up to?

No not really. If you’re able to rethink an idea and don’t try to copy what you did before, people who can do that I think are interesting. I went home early from my dad’s party the other week, but my dad went on to another party with my friends, and they sent me pictures of him dancing on the table. He’s like 65. I just like the idea that if you think less about what the norm is, what you can do and not do, that energy I think is important. I look up to people who don’t think too much about how they should fit in.

What are you curious about right now?

The wheat business. Gender. Africa. And sustainability.

We’ve been talking about confidence. What do you think that means?

Confidence is about being curious. To be open to new ideas and new solutions. To not rely on what is already said.

What do you wish you’d had known when you started out?

Nothing really. Part of what I enjoy is what I don’t know.

Read More..... Story Of Jacob Kampp Berliner

"Consider all verbal orders as circulars or face consequences"

Said Gotabaya Rajapaksa, President of Sri Lanka, on 25 September 2020 as reported by Sri Lanka's Daily Mirror Online (DMOL). 

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has directed the officials to treat all of his verbal orders issued for the common good of the people as circulars to be implemented or face stern action if failed to do so.

According to the DMOL, the President made these directives at the "Discussion with Villagers" forum which commenced at Velanwita village in Haldummulla, Badulla. The DMOL quoted President as saying: “I expect public officials to consciously comprehend the problems of the people and provide solutions. I will always stand by the officials who make the right and unwavering decisions on behalf of the people. State institutions take a long time to address people's issues. If a written inquiry from one institution does not receive a reply from the other institution within 14 days, consider it as approved.” He warned that  “Those who neglect this will face stern action.”

Gotabaya Rajapaksa was elected as the 7th Executive President of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka following the Presidential Election held on 16th November 2019.

"Citizenship has acquired an enormous economic value"

Branko Milanović

Said Branko Milanović, in a blogpost titled "Is citizenship just a form of rent?" 

Branko Milanović is a visiting presidential professor at The Graduate Center, CUNY, and a senior scholar at the Stone Center on Socio-economic Inequality.

In a globalised world, composed of countries with vastly unequal mean incomes, citizenship has acquired an enormous economic value, argues Milanović. 

"The existence of the welfare state in a world of enormous income differences between the countries has drawn a wedge between citizens of rich countries that enjoy these benefits and citizens of poor countries that do not. It has created a “citizenship rent” for those who are lucky to be citizens of the rich countries; and “citizenship penalty” for others. Two otherwise  identical citizens of France and Mali will have entirely different sets of income-generating rights which stem from their citizenships alone."

Prof. Milanovic continues: "Our French and Malian citizens can be equally educated, experienced, and hard-working, but their wages will differ by a factor of 5 to 1, or even more, simply because one of them works in a rich and another in a poor country. In fact, around 60% of our lifetime incomes is determined by country of citizenship."

Prof. Milanovic’s paper "Global Inequality of Opportunity: How Much of Our Income Is Determined by Where We Live?" was published in May 2015 in the Review of Economics and Statistics (vol. 97, no. 2. pp. 452-460). The author has provided the above link for those who wish to read this paper.