Will the Kings from the east be as benevolent as those from the west?

It is no secret. The global balance of power is shifting from the west to the east. Martin Jaques has an intriguing book title 'When China Rules the world: The end of the western world and the birth of a new global order'. Studies show that the west is undergoing a steady decline especially in economic terms and the in contrast countries such as China and India are on the rise.
And with the loss of economic predominance so too goes global influence and cultural leadership.
But this diatribe is not about the rise of the east and the fall of the east. Its about who would be a more benevolent global leaders, the Chinese or the europeans for instance.
In Uganda, Vice president Gilbert Bukenya recently urged Ugandans to learn chinese.
European values have ruled the world in the last century. With China becoming an economic power one wonder what kind of global leader China will be. What values will it profess to the world.
Bill Gates was in China recently to talk to some Chinese millionaires about donating to global causes. He didnt get many converts.
Some would say that the west gives to poor countries out of guilt of a history of colonialism and imperialism and that China doesnt owe the poor world anything.
Would human rights, democracy, the rule of law, liberty be the dominant ideal in a world led by China?
For all the west's failings, the world in the past two centuries has grown to expect some sense of 'western' justice in the conduct of human affairs. With Asian countries emerging as global power houses will european values still prevail.
As africans we have grown used to western philanthropy,albeit with its strings attached' but will a world ruled by Asia in the next fifty years continue with a western value system?
Can Asia provide a compassionate leadership of the world? Can it guarentee a 'just' world order.
Will international law systems such as the United Nations still play the role they do today? Will diplomacy still be chosen over war?
Can the world depend on Asian global leadership the way the west has done in past centuries?

Witzenhausen: The Tale of a small town

They told us it was a small rural town in the heart of Germany. Well, there was nothing terribly rural about this delightful, albeit,small river town famous for its cherries. Pardon me, I am from Kampala and 'rural' town is a relative term. It took us about two and half hours to get here by taxi from Frankfurt International. It could take marginally less time when you taken the bullet train from Frankfurt.
Witzenhausen, we were told is a university town to a satelite campus of organic agricultural sciences of the University of Kassel. It is a tourist delight(and we came across american and english tourists) with buildings from the middle ages. We visited a cathedral from the times of Martin Luther and the reformation. I was amazed that back then they would bury aristocrats in cathedrals. Middle age paintings are still there for all to see and there are not many places in the world you can still say that about.
We visited a tower north of the town where prisoners would be secluded from society. Above the tower you have an imposing view of the town.
We were to be guests here for fourtneen days. Twenty six people from more than fifteen countries.
I took up residence at the Deula. One of us says we are at' Am sande 2',strasse, the German word for street.
In Witzenhausen, business closes at six pm in the evening and these folk do keep time-almost to a fault. Sunday is a complete shut down, the shops are closed.They need the rest. After all, they have been building this nation for centuries while we did the hunter-gather gig...
There is a delightful tarmarcked foot path along the river in the town that is absolutely gorgeous for nature walks and introspection.
We were to be students in a medieval monastery later turned into a German colonial administration school (the irony was not lost on me) and currently an agricultural school.
Witzenhausen, a small, intimate town in the heart of Germany

HIV/AIDS is still a disease of international emergency

Recent trends suggest that international attention on HIV/AIDS is waning and so is the funding. The global commitment to combat HIV/AIDS internationally is in some form of down turn.

An emerging perception is gaining currency that HIV/AIDS is no longer the threat it was in decades past(especially in the west) and that budgets, programmes and efforts lined up globally to respond to it should be down sized (in corporate speak).

International funding for HIV/AIDS in the developing world has been scaled down according to the international press and from the actual providers of HIV/AIDS care such as Dr Peter Mugyenyi, Head of the Joint Clinical Reseatch Centre (JCRC) in Kampala,Uganda.
PEPFAR the most important funder of HIV/AIDS treatment in Sub Saharan Africa is 'flat funding' AIDS programmes in Africa according to the International Treatment Preparedness Coalition (ITPC)2010 report and a Medicine San Frontiers report of 2009. The implication is that AIDS treatment centres in Sub saharan Africa cant enroll new patients because they have no budget lines to support their life-long treatment due to funding 'flat-lining'.

The global financial crisis is the first excuse thrown about to explain the declining funding from western donors for the HIV/AIDS response in countries which cant cope unaided but reports show that political factors in western donor countries are equally at play.

It has been reported in 'The New York Times', 'The Boston Globe' and in the 'Huffington Post' in the US that the Obama administration is intent on scaling down on PEPFAR funding in favour of promoting a proposed new maternal and child health initiative in the developing world. It is understood that Dr Ezekiel Emmanuel has been pushing this line within the Obama administration. Politically speaking,PEPFAR was a Bush administration initiative with enormous success and the Obama administration is in need of a similar international success.

Clearly, maternal and child health too is a continental emergency and the recent July 2010 AU summit in the Ugandan capital was called solely on the subject. However, to cut AIDS treatment funding at the moment and to renege on promises to incrementally scale up funding to treat the increasing number of patients in need of anti retroviral therapy would be nothing short of tragic.

In Uganda, 100,000 new patients are added to list of those in need of AIDS treatment(ART) , in a country where only a half of those eligible for treatment get it(a continental record nevertheless). HIV/AIDS prevalance rates in some Sub Saharan African countries such as Uganda are on the increase and more not less funding is needed from international donors but also from African governments which should do more to shoulder the burden of treatment of their own citizens. The World Health Organization (WHO)issued new guidelines requiring that patients be put on AIDS treatment earlier than initially recommended hence increasing the treatment burden further.

The Global fund on AIDS,Malaria and TB is finding difficulty raising funds from western donors and is incapacitated in calling successive rounds of funding AIDS treatment in poor countries.
Now is not the time to play politics with human lives in Sub Saharan Africa. For millions of patients who depend on PEPFAR and the Global Fund monies for their drugs,this is a matter of life and death.

PEPFAR may go down as one of the few successes of the Bush administration and failing it inorder to promote a new global health initiative for political expedience is failing humanity needlessly.

The World Cup and Gross Domestic Product(GDP).

You would wonder what in the world, the FIFA World Cup has to do with Gross Domestic Product(GDP)figures of countries but, come to think of it, it has evertything to do with it.
Consider this: the top three finalists at this 2010 World Cup Finalists are Germany,Netherlands and Spain. Its no coincidence that these countries are countries with some of the highest GDP figures acording to the World Bank.
Many have decried the poor perfomance of African countries at this World Cup and other earlier editions (save for Cameroon in 1990 , Senegal in 2002 and Ghana in this World Cup). The truth is that historically, the best perfoming countries at the World Cup have also been some of the wealthiest. All countries that have won the World Cup have been major industrial powers(save for the Latin American countries). England,Italy,France,West Germany have each won the world cup.
There would seem to be a corelation between GDP and success at the World Cup finals. Can this be pure coincidence?
Many pundits agree that hosting the World Cup on home soil is an advantage. Think here of the French in 1998 or the English in 1966 or even Uruguay in the maiden competition.
Not every country has the economic muscle to host a World Cup. FIFA recently revealed that there were not many countries in Africa which would have been able to host the prized competition even if they wanted. Investing billions of dollars in perfunctory stadiums, many of which will not be used much after the World Cup, is not every country's cup of tea. In Africa, not even Nigeria can afford such hefty investments despite the billions in pay offs that come with hosting such a global show piece. South Africa is reported to bag close to 3 billion dollars as an off-shoot of hosting the World Cup in terms of increased Tourism interest, trade and commerce.
Besides all the economics, it takes money to afford the best training possible for a competing team, hiring the best coaches money can buy, paying competitive player bonusses(many African teams self-destruct on account of unpaid bonusses at competitions).
If African countries want to win the World Cup may be the Holy Bible comes in handy' Seek first the economic kingdom and the rest will follow'.

Larry King Live Makes 25 years

CNN is marking 25 incredible years of Larry King Live. Donald Trump turned the tables on Larry King in a commemorative interview on CNN fielding questions from a diverse audience of people he has interviewed over the years from Lionel Ritchie to Marlon Brando. Questions regarding his favourite interview, why he favours suspenders, his endurance on the show were all put to the 'King of talk television'. They showed a snippet of an interview he had with Marlon Brando a few days before he died.Marlon Brando had been out of the public eye for ages at the time and we see him give Larry a kiss,presumably for the unique rapport he strikes with his guest.
I first watched Larry in 1992 when CNN broadcasts were pionnered in Uganda. I became an instant fan even when when I was just a teenage secondary school kid.
Larry King is a gifted interviewer and there is no one like him on television. Even years of training would not produce a Larry King. He simply has got it. He is comfortable talking to a rocket scientist as he is talking to Snoop Doggy Dogg. His staying power is truly remarkable.

The East African Com mon Currency and the Greek Cautionary Tale

Greek tragedies are eminent in world literature and now, they seem instructive for common currencies around the world. Advocates of an East African Common currency (who now include the IMF)should take pointers from Greece and the european union.
Greece's national debt is threatening to bring down the eurozone (and the rest of the global economy)analysts have already written eulogies for the euro. Harvards' Niall Ferguson has penned an article in he has entitled 'The End of the Euro'. Greece is reportedly in debt by as much as 15% of GDP.
It would seem that the British have, for now, been vindicated for passing up the euro in favour of the pound. The fear is that if of one of the common currency countries has a messy fiscal and economic policy then the economic impact will spread to other members like a cancer. That when in a common currency, its not enough to worry about your own books but your neighbour because he could unwittingly bring you down.
Greece has already accepted a billion-dollar IMF loan and a German-led rescue loan to save it from financial catastrophe which even its severly austere measures have not been able to cure in the short term.
For East Africans, its time to look at the downside of a common currency given the Greek lesson and to be cautious in fast tracking the East African common currency. All East African member countries have to be prudent economic policy managers and fiscal disciplinarians otherwise the sins of own will be borne by all. If Burundi, for instance, is grappling with a huge national deficit then this will impact on other East African common currency countries.
The Greek tragedy is a cautionary tale for East Africa's planned common currency.

Scaling down International AIDS Funding is Tragic.

The International Treatment Preparedness Coalition (ITPC) has released an April 2010 report that shows that internation funding for AIDS treatment has been scaled down or 'flat-lined' by the most important global funders who include the Global Fund and the PEPFAR(US President's'Emergency Fund for AIDS relief.
But national governments in Africa too are to blame for not meeting their own Health Spending targets set in Abuja in 2001 for funding health funding commitments of at least 15% of their annual budgets.
Dr John Mugyenyi of the JCRC(Joint Clinical Research Council) of Uganda has reported that many AIDS treatment providers across Africa are not enrolling any new patients on anti retroviral treatment programmes(despite the increase in demand for treatment). He also reports that rationing of ARVs is already in effect by some ART providers which compromises treatment and drug adherence and therefore raises fears of drug resistance. Millions of lives are at risk unless funding is matched with the incremental need for AIDS treatment.
Drug resistance is an even graver threat because it calls for second-line drugs that are much more costly and are not as readily available in developing countries, even commercially.
Cut backs in funding from international donors due to cited 'global credit crunch' and a lack of political will in African countries risks the lives of millions which may result in needless deaths.