North Korea happiness “index:” China is the world’s happiest country

On Friday I came across a Chosun Ilbo article that reports that according to a global happiness index compiled by North Korean “researchers,” China is the happiest country in the world followed by North Korea, as reported on MSNBC. What is that supposed to mean?

Transition economies: The case of Bulgaria

Abstract: Nowadays Bulgaria is known as a former communist country that went through a transition period to a free-market economy. On November 10, 1989, a day after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Central Committee of the Bulgarian Communist Party made the decision to strip Todor Zhivkov of his power. Bulgaria and the German Democratic Republic were not the only then communist countries whose governments collapsed in November 1989. Other Eastern Bloc countries went through the same in that month and the months after. What is the transition period? Does it vary on a case-by-case basis? If yes, which kind of transition is the best, if any? How are transition countries compared? What happened in Bulgaria during its transition period from a socialist economy to a free-market economy? How did the Bulgarian economy transition compared to some of the other transition economies?

This paper aims at answering these and similar questions. Part one explains the two different approaches on transition – shock therapy and gradualism – including how successful they were in several countries – Russia, China and Poland, picked on a random basis as positive or negative examples of one of the two approaches. Part two discusses the case of Bulgaria compared to other transition economies. Part three draws a conclusion on the case of Bulgaria from the conducted research.

Pat Buchanan supports Barack Obama??? So do I.

Pat Buchanan surprised me with his Townhall column entry where he expressed support for President Obama’s stance on what is happening in Iran. I didn’t expect that, as on a Hardball issue several weeks ago he supported former Vice-President Richard Cheney on his speech against the same person he is now defending.

China and its ridiculous regulations – when will they stop???!!!

 

Today I came across with this news article. Can you believe it???!!! Not only have the owners of Baidu managed to clean up their search engine of porn websites after a crackdown – they also oficially apologized to their netizens.

Climate Change – Past, Present, Future

How many times have you heard or read about climate change and what we are supposed to do in order to prevent future air pollution and other undesirable outcomes? Energy has never been very big an issue, and among the reasons for this were the rising gas prices during the first half of this year – and especially the U.S. presidential campaigns. Americans have come across with numerous infomercials about alternative fuels, articles and news about them, and everything in between. The result so far, of course, is next to nothing.

North Korea’s existence is in the hands of China

The Secret State is in the middle of a crisis. Actually, after the fall of communism in the late 1980s and early 1990s it has always been in crisis. Having isolated itself from the rest of the world in general and having suffered food shortages because of floods throughout the years, this poor country is far from what it used to be during the Cold War.

Gas Prices or the Prices That Control Prices

Gas prices have always been an issue since the beginning of the use of gas-operating devices. They have always been not just a political issue but also an economic, a financial and one that concerns the security of a country, that is, the most important issue for its existence.

My Impression on the Current Events in Tibet

Tibet is located in southwest China. The people who live there are of different ethnic groups but as many might infer, the Tibetan culture is predominant in that region. There are Tibetans outside the territory of Tibet as well. As journalist Adrienne Mong has pointed out in her blog on the MSNBC website, in Aba Prefecture, neighboring Sichuan province, half of the people there are Tibetans. This makes, according to her data about the net population in Aba Prefecture, about 420 000 people.