What Price Oil? - Venezuela
What Price Oil? - Venezuela
A year after President Chavez seized control of the Oil assets in Venezuela from its foreign owners, the oil wealth is being sown amongst his people. PDVSA generated incomes go to facilitating cheap gasoline for all, a full tank costing $0.75. The monies are also being used for housing, health and education projects. The residents of the slums or 'popular' areas are happier than they have been in years. But, the middle class are less content and neither are the environmentalists. Venezuela being the fifth largest oil producer in the world is facing challenges to source and distribute its wealth effectively and responsibly.
Husky Sledging in Norway
Husky Sledging in Norway
Sliding across a frozen lake in the Norwegian wilderness, the stars twinkling above you as a team of huskies pulls you onwards sounds lovely, wouldn't you say?
You might even think it sounds idyllic.
Well, let me tell you: it was horrible.
Here is my cautionary tale.
Jon Ronson is a writer and documentary film maker. His first book, Them: Adventures With Extremists, was an international bestseller. His most recent book is The Men Who Stare At Goats. Them was longlisted for The Guardian's First Book Award, until it was disqualified for not being, strictly speaking, his first book.
Kenya Ethnic Violence
Kenya Ethnic Violence
The post election violence in Kenya has killed nearly 1000 and displaced 270,000. It is the most devastating violence to hit Kenya since its independence. Whilst politicians try to find solutions in Nairobi, the ethnic tensions in the Rift Valley reach new highs. Ethnic cleansing has led to killings and houses being burnt in a movement to shift different tribes out of their non-ancestral homes.
Huge parts of different cities across the valleys have been razed to the ground and the inhabitants forced to flee. In the villages, warriors from opposing tribes battle with bows and arrows, rocks and occasionally guns to gain or regain control of their land.
While the Politician’s talk, the future of Kenya will depend, not on the final results of the discussions in Nairobi, but on the ability of Kenyans to forgive and live together again. That will take much longer.
Azerbaijan - Black Gold, Broken Dreams
Azerbaijan - Black Gold, Broken Dreams
On the outskirts of the Baku in Azerbaijan, is the beginning of the $4 billion Baku-Tbilisi- Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline, that has just begun to pump oil on a 1,093-mile journey from the Caspian Sea to the Turkish mediterranean port of Ceyhan.
With oil revenues set to reach $160 billion over the next 20 years, what happens to the money and how it will be spent is what seems to be on everyone's mind in Azerbaijan these days. But many are warning that based on the problems Azerbaijan has had with combating large-scale corruption, the oil revenue could end up being as much of a curse as a blessing.
Some 40 per cent of the population live below the poverty line. Nurses and those in education earn only about $50 per month. And while the impact of the oil money can be seen in Baku - where high-class fashion rubs shoulders with begging Roma people - the areas outside the capital suffer from neglect and their decaying infrastructure.
The way to make oil improve the country's situation is through reform and the establishment of democratic and transparent government. But the outlook for Azerbaijan doing that could be bleak.