There is much talk about values and frequently comparisons between Western and Eastern values.  There is at least universal agreement on one value, as spelt out below:
Buddhism
“Hurt not others in ways that you yourself would find hurtful.” (Udana-Varga 5.18)
Christianity
“Do to others whatever you would like them to do to you.” (Matthew 7:12)
Confucianism
“Do not do [...]

On Wednesday, 3 March, the European Commission will launch a communication on Europe 2020. This much anticipated document has already raised much interest, with onlookers and analysts eager to see if there are real improvements and promising innovations in comparison to the Lisbon Agenda. Here is my take on the document, which offers first an [...]

Ironic that the European Commission’s positive report on Iceland’s application to join the EU, produced in just six months, should have coincided with the breakdown of talks over the €3.9 billion which the Netherlands and the UK are demanding from Iceland for the collapse of the Icesave bank. It is widely predicted that Icelanders will [...]

MEP Mairead McGuinness on the Provision of Environmental Public Goods by Farmers
Farm produced commodities fuel the food industry; provide jobs and feed EU consumers, in addition to providing unpaid for public goods in terms of the environment and animal welfare.
” Farming in Europe is about more than just growing and selling. Here, farmers play a [...]

As discussions continue on EU’s “rescuing” of Greece, one cannot help but carefully consider as to how events unfolded over the last few decades in Greece, Europe and internationally in such a way that the financial/economic integrity and existence of institutions and countries’ stability has been questioned. Greece is a “peculiar” case, with parallels in [...]

Like more than 100 other people, I attended the European Voice Health Check debate on “The right to know? Should information to patients be restricted?” this week.
As ever in this contentious topic, there were many good observations and points made. Sadly, as this issue continues to drag its heels many of the salient points will [...]

Sir,
Regarding ‘Controversy mounts over EU biofuels fall-out‘:
The Standing Committee of the Bern Convention (the Council of Europe Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats), worried that the increase of biofuel cropping systems may lead to cultivation escapes of invasive taxa with subsequent negative effects on native biological diversity, adopted advice to reduce [...]

Bharatbook added a new report on “World Food Containers” which gives in-depth analysis and forecast on the world food containers market worldwide.
World Food Containers report ( http://www.bharatbook.com/detail.asp?id=… ) assesses that the Global demand to increase 3.8% yearly through 2013, World demand for food containers is forecast to increase 3.8 percent per year to $115 billion in [...]

This story about stricter environmental rules was published by EurActiv on 26th February.
The European Parliament’s environment committee has called on the European Commission to distribute lists of member states that fail to properly implement EU legislation on waste, water and nature protection, arguing that the situation had become “absurd”.
The whole debate on implementing the EU’s [...]

 
A new populism is sweeping through the world. An investment bank is blamed for unnecesarily.
Goldman Sachs is made a culprit of the Greek debt problem. Congressional hearings are held and European regulators are fulminating against the speculators.
That is bullshit.
Goldman Sachs helped to restructure the Greek debt. It was an open transaction. The [...]

The V4+ Energy Summit held in Budapest on 24-26 February ended in a joint declaration signed by the V4 plus Austria, Slovenia, Romania, Bulgaria, and the perspective member state Croatia (along with Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina). If these countries show such unity as they had in the March 2009 economic crisis summit, it can put [...]

“By May 1928 the basic principles of guerilla warfare…had already been evolved; that is, the sixteen-character formula: The enemy advances, we retreat; the enemy camps, we harass; the enemy tires, we attack; the enemy retreats, we pursue.” (Mao Zedong, 1936).
This post is inspired by the columnist Gwynne Dyer.
“The ability to run away is the essence [...]

I had the distinct honour of speaking at and participating in a panel discussion at the European Foundation for Management Development conference at Advancia, in Paris recently. An informed group assembled to hear from entrepreneurs and academics.
I was impressed with the work of Advancia and the support it gets from the Paris Chamber of Commerce. [...]

On his CAP Reform blog Jack Thurston has a story that illustrates one of the many reasons why reforming the EU’s wasteful and protectionist farming policies is so difficult. The post centres on Henrik Høegh, Denmark’s newly appointed Farming Minister,…

A UKIP MEP disgraces himself and embarrasses a nation in his attack on the president of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy, yesterday.  His apologists try to claim that the European Parliament would benefit from being a bit less consensual and a bit more controversial, but there is a world of difference between intelligent criticism [...]

The Donostia Declaration, which was unanimously endorsed by the EU Competition and Research Ministers, in February 2010 highlights the practical role of science in economic recovery and growth. At the same time the document also highlights the role of science in social issue, primarily as a means to combat poverty. - t [...]

As I wrote in my previous article, the ones within the military who planned a coup not only do not represent the turksih army, but also are traitors against the republic and Atatürk. They are traitors against Atatürk because a coup would have only caused huge damage to Turkey. So I do believe that those [...]

Sir,
Regarding ‘Google faces new EU antitrust probe‘:
I would contend that this is a subject on which the EU should not be trying to make a ruling.
As an Internet marketer and occasional search engine optimisation consultant (SEO), I can say from experience that all websites have an equal chance of high natural search rankings in Google [...]

Sir,
Regarding ‘EU ponders ‘what to offer’ to Ukraine‘:
According to the employee of the Center for Eurasian, Russian, and Eastern European Studies of the University of Georgetown (USA), Mr. J.Kulhanek, and the scientific employee of Association of Foreign Affairs in Prague, Mr. M. Larish, after the first round of elections in Ukraine it became clear that [...]

Sir,
It must be borne in mind that the dispute started when the Geneva police briefly detained a Libyan national, who happened to be Colonel Gaddafi’s son, for alleged assault and battery against two of his staff.  In a civilised European country, no-one is above the law and no-one should be allowed to [...]