Sunday, March 8, 2009

Five Good Reads for a Sunday Afternoon




Shawn of Asia Logistics wrap has begun a series of posts that will address the importance of a secure global supply chain.

Shawn explains his series:

In this series of posts starting with this introduction, I will do the following:

1. Explain Dr. Barnett's "Ten Commandments of Globalization" in the context of Asia-Pacific maritime security and trade.

2. Describe the current, key concerns supply chain managers have in regards to maritime security in the Asia-Pacific.

3. Summarize the potential "flashpoints" that would threaten maritime security and their potential impact on key supply chain nodes in the Asia-Pacific.

4. Comment on the role of security in existing cross-border, government-level discussions of logistics integration in Northeast Asia (China, Korea, and Japan).

5. Speculate on the possibility of a formal, comprehensive maritime security regime coming to fruition in the Asia-Pacific.

Despite the fact that I have no experience in the military, the military-market nexus is intriguing and of strong interest to me in the development of my supply chain knowledge. As a result, I look forward to the process of writing on these topics.

Read more: Maritime Security and Trade in the Asia-Pacific, Introduction

Shawn continues with this post that adds detail to his introduction.
Maritime Security and Trade in the Asia-Pacific, The Ten Commandments of Globalization.


The Bellum: A Stanford Review Blog. makes these observations about North Korea.

The Hermit Kingdom has been getting awfully crabby in recent headlines, and Bellum proposes that it’s time to step back and formulate a recourse to the inevitable: Parallel to intimating that it will shoot down South Korean aircraft that enter its airspace during the course of war games with the United States and that it will confront the “puppet state” on its disputed western sea border, North Korean authorities claim that they will soon launch an innocuous “communications satellite” that it has been preparing since January. Of course, as with most snarky announcements out of DPRK’s state-run Korean Central News Agency, the noise has got analysts up in arms on suspicions that the object-in-question may instead be a malevolent Taepodong-2 missile capable of reaching the western United States (and thereby picking up where Yasuyo Yamazaki left off in 1943, harrying Aleut-Americans just trying to go about their business). Upon further inquiry, NK’s spokesman betrayed juche by responding with a Buddhist coan, legacy of an earlier subjugated age: “One will come to know later what will be launched”. Zen indeed.

Read more:


And finally China based Shanghaiist has these two posts that add a measure of levity to the weight of confronting the really serious issues of the day.

The Adult Care Expo is in town and we, being the naughty naughty chlidren we are, decided to give it a look see earlier this morning. Was it everything we hoped it would be? Unfortunately, no. As one vendor informatively told us, the expos in Hong Kong and Macau are much bigger and rowdier - the Shanghai market for sex-related goodies just hasn't matured yet. Still, there was plenty to giggle at and we've documented it for those of you too prudish to go yourselves.

Read more:

and for those under eighteen or too prudish to see the humor in the above post:

Pssst, guess what? The six story monolith to America's favorite representation of unattainable beauty standards has now been fully realized! Today, the 3400-square-foot Barbie flagship shop on 555 Huai Hai Zhong Road opened its doors officially and let in the public. The Barbie-adoring masses were greeted with a building that not only contains dolls and their clothes, but a fashion design center, a runway chock full of models dressed up in Barbie clothes, a Barbie day spa, and even a cafe.

Read more:


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