Word: premiers
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...images of Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin toasting Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao during his visit to China this week conjured up memories of the Sino-Soviet alliance during the early years of the Cold War. But despite the bonhomie and talk of common interests, the neighbors are now most aligned by the bottom line. After signing $3.5 billion in deals and approving a framework for the export of a huge quantity of Russian natural gas to China during an Oct. 12-14 summit, the two countries have shown that what links them closest is the almighty deal...
...lost for Blair. Here's one fulsome tribute: "Tony Blair has all the right credentials." Unfortunately, that endorsement comes from Italy's embattled leader Silvio Berlusconi. Another supporter is Ireland's former Premier, Bertie Ahern. "Tony's a good friend of mine, and I'd like to see him get [the job] if he really wants it. I'm positive that he does," says Ahern, adding, "Tony is not going to walk into this without a lot of stuff going on in the background. There will be games going on." (Read a Q&A with Bertie Ahern...
...Ironically, this very outcome was predicted by China's Premier, Wen Jiabao. In a statement following the conclusion of the National People's Congress in March 2007, Premier Wen acknowledged that the Chinese economy looked extremely strong on the surface, especially in terms of GDP and employment growth. Yet, beneath the surface, he cautioned, such strength was far more questionable. In the case of China, he warned of an economy that was increasingly "unbalanced, unstable, uncoordinated and unsustainable." Little did he realize at the time how those "four uns," as they were later to become known, would pose an immediate...
...over instability, he was also cautioning of the perils of overreliance on energy, industrial materials and base metals. In an era of booming global growth, the threat of the so-called commodity supercycle and its ever higher price structure was a crushing burden on resource-intensive developing nations. The Premier urged China to focus more on what he called a "scientific development" strategy that would be based on improved efficiencies of resource consumption. Similarly, by warning of a lack of coordination, Wen was highlighting the fragmentation of the Chinese system - not just its banks and companies but also a system...
...decision must all be white-haired Norwegian gentlemen so cut off from reality they could have never anticipated the shock their selection would cause. First off, four of the committee members are women, with chairman Thorbjørn Jagland, the only male in the bunch. Like Jagland - a former premier and foreign minister of Norway - most members have had held cabinet posts or have otherwise been involved in politics; their ages range from 58 to 68. But it's hard to draw any theories about how that group works when the Nobel website also notes that in deciding the peace...