Thursday 1 December 2016

OGNI SPERANZA?

''The great humanity has no shade on his soil
no lamp on his road
no glass on his window
but the great humanity has hope
you can’t live without hope''
 ~ Nâzim Hikmet



https://www.youtube.com/v/Lz0FmmNrTck&autoplay=1

Monday 21 November 2016

GLEXIT = 'EXTREMISM IS ALL WE HAVE LEFT FOR US'






''Over and over, he has tried to reconcile a materialism which he could not accept with an idealism that he could not realize'' ...

http://theaimn.com/march-white-men-children/; http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/we_are_all_deplorables_20161120; http://fitzgerald.narod.ru/critics-eng/lehan-nowhere.html

Friday 18 November 2016

LEVIATHAN DETHRONED?





I need to instruct myself and the relevant world in the art of rhetoric - how we present what we ''know'' ...

Let us persuade them - our interests converge and they ''converge at this point''

Life is not geometric, ''The rule'' which Hobbes discussed. Euclid cannot supply our rule for meaning

The ''market'' as our god has clouded our vision - what ''I'' want is an absence of me - I am not fairly defined ... What we are is complex and a metaphysic construct ...

What I want, in some degree I must desire for ''you'' - the fount, or rather spring of wisdom?

Saturday 12 November 2016

''The next landscape of world politics is just beginning to be visible through the lingering twilight of the unipolar world'' - Coral Bell #tickledpink #dogsunleashed






https://www.lowyinstitute.org/sites/default/files/pubfiles/LIP21_BellWEB_1.pdf; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5XD-8lJ-PY; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojf18wT_Xtk

BEYOND ANCIENT ENMITY - FROM PARLEYING PARLIAMENT TO ''MULTI-PARTY DIALOGUE'?


''In the face of the foregoing epic changes, it’s no wonder that effective government is an increasing illusion''

http://www.msn.com/en-au/news/world/us-election-hillary-clinton-blames-fbis-james-comey-for-her-defeat-in-call-with-donors/ar-AAkdVgI?li=AAavLaF&ocid=spartanntp; http://johnmenadue.com/blog/?p=8269

GAMELAN DIPLOMACY - A NEW ASEAN DAWNS


http://johnmenadue.com/blog/?p=8260; http://danny.oz.au/gamelan/

BEHOLD YE KRATOS, SMASHER OF TRUTHS #chillwinds


THE 'DISACCURACY' OF ESTABLISHMENT POLITICS: OR, WILL MEN BE PURPOSEFULLY OBTUSE?



Forget ''truthiness'' or the closet-shop liberal world order of late night comedy, identity nostrums and officious cant. Sous La Plage of wandering appetite, lie the seafolk, lost at sea.

Neither right nor left, nor wrong nor right, they are imbalanced by the tidal balance of forgotten force.

Laws serve men, until they will not ....

Let us Rediscover that Law.

Thursday 10 November 2016

SANCTIONS REGIME

  1. CANCEL F-35 LIGHTNING PURCHASE AND MAINTENANCE
  2. ASEAN APPLICATION
  3. JOIN SILK ROAD PROJECTS
  4. CANCEL ANZUS
  5. REGISTER CONCERN WITH UNITED NATIONS OBSERVERS

AUSTRALIA MUST CANCEL F-35


LET US WALK THE PEACE AND FRIENDSHIP ROAD! - 千里之行,始於足下,


http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-11-10/keating-on-american-foreign-policy-after-trump-victory/8015028

WHY TURNBULL IS POINTLESS: WE'RE NOT LISTENING TO THEM ANYMORE

Trump, in my opinion, is a dangerous guy: According to Henry Giroux, a ''turning point'' in American history.

As part of Asia and the ASEAN region, we need not be part of that landscape. Those who fail to stand for any value other than their own success subside in failure.


Wednesday 9 November 2016

Monday 7 November 2016

Смутное время - A BETTER WAY THE NEXT DAY



''America’s idealism, optimism, and spirit of self-reliance, its celebration of concerted action, its suspicion of the abstract, its handson practicality, its recognition that in hard times people need one a nother—all these have created the unique American character, a character that has inspired people around the globe. But the America of today is in a state of confusion. We don’t see our problems clearly; or if we do, we often—out of inertia, fear, or greed—fail to deal with them. We too frequently live in the past or revel in the present i nstead of adopting the actions that would secure the future. The federal government has amassed an enormous debt in just the last ten years. Many of our state and local governments, far from being laboratories of democracy, have pursued the “free lunch,” spending lavishly on pensions and health care and then handing on the bill to future state administrations. Much of the financial sector seems unable to decide whether it wants to help build a new world or suck the life out of the declining one. The corporate sector is consumed with the short term, trapped in a financial prison of stock buybacks and quarterly earnings reports, unable to invest or hire in its own long-term interest. Ten years ago, sixty-one U.S. companies had triple-A bond ratings; today there are four. Our culture also seems excessively coarse, marked by gratuitous violence and sex without meaning. Everywhere people are making excuses for their failures, from the athletic field to the corporate boardroom, and then salving their mistakes in the warm balm of public relations. As long as you act ahair’s width within your lawyer’s definitions of the law, you get apass that exempts you from doing what is not just legal but also right'' - Bill Bradley

http://www.billbradley.com/assets/PDF/We-Can-All-Do-Better-Chapter-1.pdf; http://eastwestaccord.com/page/2/

Friday 4 November 2016

EQUAL OPPORTUNITY


MARK KENNY SPEAKS THE 'BLOODY TRUTH' #fromlindtsiegetopoliticalsiege




''People are sick of politics, sick of the growing disparity between rich and poor. They are bewildered by constant technological change and the economic dislocation it threatens, and yet bored by the mundane predictability of their lot and the hope of yet more incrementalism'' http://www.canberratimes.com.au/comment/all-noisy-on-the-western-front-but-to-what-end-20161103-gshkqy.html

HYPOTHESIS: THE REAL DISDAIN FOR THE BRICS? THE BRICK WALL IS BUILDING AND ''OURS'' IS FALLING DOWN



''Before the invasion of Zingis, China was divided into two empires or dynasties of the North and South; (22) and the difference of origin and interest was smoothed by a general conformity of laws, language, and national manners'' - Edward Gibbon

..

''Recalling all our previous declarations, we emphasise the importance of further strengthening BRICS solidarity and cooperation based on our common interests and key priorities to further strengthen our strategic partnership in the spirit of openness, solidarity,equality, mutual understanding, inclusiveness and mutually beneficial cooperation'' - Goa Declaration

..

''To understand why this should be so, we must return to 1956, when the Suez Canal was believed by the British Government of the day to be of vital strategic value'' - Correlli Barnett



Thursday 3 November 2016

Monday 31 October 2016

DIFFERENT STYLES, A COMMON SUBSTANCE? THE HAPPY MEDIUM AWAITS





''No one can understand or write the whole story about how a society is structured and how it is changing” - Prof Richard D Wolff  


''So who does own a company? The answer is that no one does, any more than anyone owns the river Thames, the National Gallery, the streets of London, or the air we breathe'' - John Kay


“The unpleasant truth of middle-class American life, he concludes, is that “most of us don’t talk to our neighbors about anything except the weather” - Morris Berman


''The idea flow from the human spirit is absolutely unlimited. All you have to do is tap into that well. I don't like to use the word efficiency. It's creativity. It's a belief that every person counts'' - Jack Welch


SUGGESTION BOX

  1. Business as Usual sucks
  2. People Need Work
  3. Work Needs Purpose
  4. A Purposeful System Produces More Purposeful Work
  5. There Is More to Life than Work

Tuesday 25 October 2016


A DEMANDING SUPPLY: EVERYONE NEEDS CAKE - IT'S HOW WE EAT IT?




What is the solution to the jobs crisis? The liberal argument is for labour market flexibility - improved supply for high-skilled labour. 
 
According to the ''left'', neo-Keynesian school, government must stimulate aggregate demand. What if we don't have to ''choose'', traditionally speaking. What if we leave the Chicago river and fresh and salt water economics behind, and try a compromise? In the old fashioned sense .. 
 
The market needs both - highly skilled available, employable and employed people of every colour and creed. 
 
So why don't we re-examine the cake, and how we choose to eat it?                                                                                              

Friday 17 June 2016

AN EMPTY STAGE - THE MAINSTREAM (Muddled?) MEDIA STILL DON'T GET IT #theendof''politics''



Why are so few watching the ''debate'' between Shorten and Turnbull on ''election eve''?

Maybe because no one cares ...

Is it possible our media class cannot understand what alternative media grasp? The old political order is falling away, and the traditional media with it ...

What opinions do you have?

Thursday 16 June 2016

IDENTITY IS A HORRID SCAPEGOAT: THE REAL QUESTION IN OUR WAR ON HUMANITY IS UNRESTRAINED CORPORATE GLOBALIZATION. DISCUSS ...




The recent attacks can hardly any longer be termed ''recent''. They are too frequent.

Politicians themselves have become targets for supposedly nihilistic violence. But is this violence nihilistic?

Mark Ames and Morris Berman indicate that workplace and racialist/identity-driven violence are on the increase. Dramatically since the 1980s when Reagan was elected.

As incomes fall, automation intensifies and parliaments hollow into nothing, perhaps we are seeing an inchoate rage against the system of corporate globalization which has left many physically and economically redundant?

.. ''I do not see how a normal human being could take pleasure in telling other normal human beings that their country is ill'' - Emmanuel Todd


IMAGINARY CHINESE RESPONSE TO STEPHEN CONROY: THE '6 OBJECTIONS'

''Don't build a new ship out of old wood'' - Chinese Proverb


  1. We do not agree with a unilateral 'principled order' in the China Sea since we have not committed aggression
  2. We understand the chief architects of this proposed order are themselves confronted by problems closer to home
  3. We realise that Mr Conroy was a very unpopular minister, and although it is hardly our concern, in this instance we must point to dysfunction within the ranks of his own party and political system
  4. Western scholars and officials have themselves failed to confront acts of gross interference and even aggression in sovereign territory
  5. Parties to the 'Nine Dash Mile' dispute have collectively failed to negotiate bona fide toward a viable solution for right of passage
  6. We feel it incumbent upon us to promote an open, multilateral system of cooperation and mutual respect consistent with public statements

Thursday 26 May 2016

SOMETHING I WROTE ABOUT AUSTRALIAN BUSINESS THAT STILL MAKES SENSE #GENEROSITY=VALUE


We must become the change that we wish to see in the world – Mahatma Gandhi

 

A good life is one that is characterised by complete absorption in what one does – Jeanne Nakamura and Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

 

 

 

A VALUE-DRIVEN APPROACH

 

The next step for upping the ante in Australian business? Inspiring a VALUE-DRIVEN approach to performance, assessment and promotion.

 

In a highly regulated and stable business environment, Australian businesses (such as the banks) achieved high ROE off cost synergies and sales growth.

 

The new normal landscape in South-East Asian led growth, nevertheless, switches us to the pole of quality relationships.  

 

Employees, broadly, are going to be exposed to Asian and non-Anglo investors/customers, an evolving regulatory framework and different workplace and cultural norms.

 

THE PROBLEM

 

“You Get What You Measure”: From my experience, Australian business currently tends to measure heavily according to compliance and volume from target-driven growth. (Setting sales and profit metrics which translate down to strict sets of KPIs for individual business units).

 

This made some sense in a period of heavy inorganic expansion, with easy corporate and household credit and a stable domestic legislative framework.

 

But the new environment requires us to INNOVATE. And that means Australian employees, in order to be successful, will have to shift rapidly to customer-focussed growth and away from transaction-based growth. In this environment, ideas count.

 

Employees should optimally – and, in fact, practically – be assessed on the strength and implementation of their ideas. This requires employees to collaborate, initiate and execute creative projects in a rapidly shifting economy. There are no simple path-driven routes to success in such a fluid landscape.

 

In other words, Australian business needs to start measuring succinctly for LEADERSHIP.

 

VALUE IS DRIVEN ‘AROUND’ KPIs AND BY QUALITY THINKING

 

Though it is essential to measure targets the business sets for its staff – and through its managers – it is now critically important to assess accurately ‘how’ employees contribute to valuable growth toward their business mission.  And, equally, managers above all should be measured by how they ‘grow’ their employees in the soft skill set requisite to creative team development.

 

This necessitates business seniors “looking behind” formal results to the substance of team activity and how that drives valuable business development.

 

This conceptual target, if you will, must take precedence over the simple numbers, processes and outcomes, crucial as they are. And yes, we should be looking for ‘simple’ processes. Even childishly simple, if businesses can pull it off.

 

REWARD CREATIVE SOLUTIONS AND CREATIVE ‘SOLVERS’

 

I have to be frank, here. Australian business will need to become much more attuned to employee engagement and reward good employees appropriately. The ‘dollar and cents’ attitude to containing business overhead by saving on employee expense will soon become redundant. And possibly a liability.

 

As Montesquieu stated, ‘What cowardice it is to be dismayed by the happiness of others and devastated by their good fortune’.

 

In a War for Talent – this compound noun is capitalised deliberately – Australian business needs to prioritise the message, ‘find, grow, retain’ as a corporate mantra to avoid stagnation. Employees are themselves conduits to customers and knowledge, and as brand ambassadors provide access to new markets.

 

 

SO BE GENEROUS, GET OUT THERE AND WIN!!!!