 |
| If the man on the street can't tell the difference, why not pay less than a third for the fake? |
Land Rover is weighing up its options in regards to the new Landwind X7 SUV, which appears to be a very close copy of the Range Rover Evoque, one of Land Rover's best-selling models. The Landwind X7 had its global debut at the 2014 Guangzhou Auto Show last week and Land Rover's most senior employee, CEO Ralph Speth, is none too pleased. "The fact that this kind of copying is ongoing in China is very disappointing," Land Rover's CEO told UK-based Autocar.The funny thing is, there are no real remedial actions Jaguar-Land Rover (JLR) can take in present-day China to contest their intellectual property rights. Where is the State Administration for Industry and Commerce (SAIC) in this case? An oddity is that JLR has a deal with Chinese automaker Chery to build copies there. Would Chery be better able to enforce JLR's IP rights? If not, JLR's best hope may be to limit export sales of the knock-offs absent any real action it can take in the PRC:
Although it's unlikely much will be achieved within China, where the Landwind X7 is now on sale for about one third the price of a Chinese-built Evoque, Speth is not going down without a fight to protect the company's intellectual property (IP). "The simple principle is that it is not something that should happen; the intellectual property is owned by Jaguar Land Rover, and if you break that IP then you are in breach of international regulations that apply around the world," stated Speth.
Legal action is unlikely, and virtually impossible within China, as most major companies are have partial government-ownership. The best Land Rover can hope for is that the vehicle is not exported to one of the Evoque's major markets.Lip service aside, I do not think the Chinese are making any strides in enforcing intellectual property at all. Sure the PRC can bash Alibaba for political reasons, but I do not really think this represents a crackdown on fakes given the ready availability of knock-off cars and virtually everything else on the streets of major cities.
The plot looks set to thicken however, as Land Rover has formed an alliance with Chery Automobile in China, which means the Range Rover Evoque is also built on the Chinese mainland by said company. Essentially, Chinese motorists can choose to buy the Landwind X7 for around $A23,000 (120,000 yuan), or the Range Rover Evoque for roughly $A76,000 (400,000 yuan), both of which look virtually identical "I will talk to our officials and I will talk to our partners at Chery to find a way around this situation," the Land Rover CEO said in relation to both cars being offered in China.
“Her message is that the economy’s getting better but there’s still a ways to go in terms of job creation,” New York Senator Charles Schumer said today in an interview on Capitol Hill. “That worry seems, in her mind, to be paramount and that’s why she is not going to raise rates immediately.”GDP Expectations Fall Short
The Fed upgraded its assessment of the U.S. economy in a statement on Wednesday after a meeting of its policy-setting committee, while adding a reference to “international developments” which investors took as a sign of mounting worry about weakness overseas.
Yellen shared “some concern about the foreign situation,” said Virginia Senator Tim Kaine, who said her comments were “pretty positive about the fundamentals here.”
Economists said the confident tone of the statement from the Federal Open Market Committee signals it is on track to raise interest rates this year, while making the point it is not ignoring the weaker performance of the global economy.
The Canadian dollar plunged below 79 cents US today after data showed Canada’s gross domestic product contracted in November as manufacturing dropped the most since January 2009 and on declines in mining and oil and gas extraction.
Output shrank by 0.2%, the most in 11 months, to an annualized $1.65 trillion, Statistics Canada said Friday in Ottawa. The median forecast in a Bloomberg economist survey was for output to be little changed.
Manufacturing declined by 1.9% in November, with losses ranging from machinery and equipment to plastics and rubber.
The Bank of Canada unexpectedly lowered borrowing costs last week for the first time since 2009, saying the move was meant to provide insurance as the slump in crude oil, the nation’s biggest export, weighed on the economy.
Greece will no longer co-operate with the “troika” of international lenders that has overseen its four-year bailout programme, the country’s finance minister said.Germany Prepared for Negotiation But Won't Negotiate
Yanis Varoufakis also said Greece would not accept an extension of its EU bailout, which expires at the end of February, and without which Greek banks could be shut off from European Central Bank funding.
“This position enabled us to win the trust of the Greek people,” Mr Varoufakis said during a joint news conference with Jeroen Dijsselbloem, chairman of the eurogroup of eurozone finance ministers, who was visiting Athens for the first time since a leftwing government came to power this week.
He also blasted the deeply unpopular bailout monitors from the European Commission, IMF and ECB, also known as “ the troika”, saying: “We are not going to co-operate with a rottenly constructed committee.”
Mr Dijsselbloem warned the new government against taking unilateral steps or ignoring arrangements with lenders, saying “the problems of the Greek economy have not disappeared overnight with the elections.”Gaming Theory
Wolfgang Schäuble, German finance minister, warned Athens on Friday against trying to “blackmail” Germany with its financial demands.
Mr Schäuble said Germany was ready to co-operate but only on the basis of current agreements. “We’re prepared for any discussions at any time but the basis can’t be changed,” he said. “Beyond that, it is hard to blackmail us.”
Martin Jäger, the German finance ministry spokesman, said any request for an extension of the existing financing programme would only be acceptable when it was “tied with a clear readiness of Greece to implement the agreed reforms”.
Varoufakis was a gifted and popular university teacher in Sydney. I know because I taught side-by-side with him for a number of years. He was also a thoughtful and productive researcher.Nobody's Right If Everybody's Wrong
His research was first focused primarily upon game theory. But he also developed an expansive intellectual reach across what may be called “political economy” in the generic sense, particularly focused on the evolution of capitalism as a global system.
Hesitant politician
Varoufakis has described himself as an “accidental economist”. He is perhaps even more an accidental finance minister.
There is no reason to doubt the sincerity of his earlier expressed ambivalence about entering politics and the party-political fray. It is the vacuum created by the failure of the mainstream parties of the centre-left and centre-right that calls forth this participation.
The media’s referring to the new Greek government as “far left” or “radical left” is just an intellectually lazy acquiescence in the language of the European political and policy establishment.
In truth, the position of Syriza is not so way out. Syriza is merely left-wing, whereas the mainstream European parties supposedly of the centre-left are no longer left-wing at all.
New Game to Play
I mentioned above that Varoufakis’s earliest academic research was concerned with game theory, albeit from a rather critical standpoint. He has already broken down the realities of one Greek election using game analogies.
Game theory as a method of research in the social sciences is first and foremost about the logic of strategic interaction between players. The situation that is being played out now, between Greece (as well as others of the “south”) and the political establishment in Europe, is without doubt a strategic situation. It is a game of high-stakes policy poker with the players on both sides, perhaps engaged in an element of bluff.
It is interesting that a game theory expert should find himself, now, at the centre of this situation. There is a great deal at stake, for the welfare of the people of Greece, the other high-debt States and Europe as a whole, as well as for the viability of the European Union and the euro.
Euro area annual inflation is expected to be -0.6% in January 2015, down from -0.2% in December 2014 according to a flash estimate from Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union. This negative rate for euro area annual inflation in January is driven by the fall in energy prices (-8.9%, compared with -6.3% in December). Prices are also expected to fall for food, alcohol & tobacco (-0.1%, compared with 0.0% in December) and non-energy industrial goods (-0.1%, compared with 0.0% in December). Only prices for services are expected to increase (1.0%, compared with 1.2% in December).HICP vs. Year Ago
New official figures from Germany show that prices have fallen, by 0.5%, over the previous 12 months.Denmark Peg
Meanwhile the Danish Central Bank has cut one of its main interest rates for the second time in a week.
It is a rate paid to commercial banks for excess funds parked at the central bank. It was already below zero. Now it is even lower - minus 0.5%.
It means banks have to pay to leave money at the central bank, above certain specified limits.
Negative interest rates are another example of the strange financial world that has emerged in the aftermath of the financial crisis.
What is the connection between falling prices - or deflation - in Germany and the Danish central bank? It is about Denmark's 35-year policy of tying its currency, the krone, to the euro, and before that to the German mark.
That peg has come under increasing strain as the European Central Bank, the ECB, has taken steps to combat deflation.
According to an IFOP 2017 presidential poll released Thursday, Marine Le Pen would come out clearly in the lead if the first round of presidential elections was held on Sunday.Too Early Too Worry
Le Pen would get 29 to 31% of the vote. No rival would exceed 23%. Nicolas Sarkozy, Manuel Valls, and Alain Juppé, each have around 23%. François Hollande would get 21%.
Francois Bayrou would obtain 7 to 9%, Mélenchon 8%, Cécile Duflot and Nicolas Dupont-Aignan between 3 and 4% and the far left between 2 and 3%.
Prime Minister Valls would do better than Francois Hollande, with 23% of the vote.
Armed Forces General Staff has information about the participation of soldiers of the army of the Russian Federation in the conflict in eastern Ukraine.Video Translation
This was announced during a briefing Armed Forces Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Victor Muzhenko.
"To date, we have only the involvement of some members of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, Russian citizens as part of illegal armed groups in the fighting. Fighting units of the regular Russian army today we're also not. We have enough forces and means in order to inflict a final defeat even illegal armed formation "- he said.
"At this time, we have only proof of participation of individual members of the Russian Federation armed forces and Russian Federation citizens in the illegal armed formations (and) in military operations. Also, at this time we are not engaged in military operations against regular Russian army units."Even if one believes there are "Russian Regulars" in Ukraine, its probably a number of "trainers" not the alleged 15,000.
By "illegal armed formations", he is referring to the DNR/LNR.
In the Belgorod-Dniester district of Odessa region reserve servicemen were banned from leaving the area. The ban applies even to those who have not yet received a summons.Mobilization 2015: In Transcarpathia Entire Villages Go Abroad
Businesses commissar requires organizations to dismiss employees receiving a summons and to ensure the attendance of recruits at the points specified in the mobilization orders.
In addition, citizens, businesses and organizations required to hand over to the military conscription office all serviceable vehicles.
In 2015, only 6% of persons subject to mobilization, are volunteers according to Oleg Boyko, Main Directorate of Mobilization. This compares to 20% in the first wave of mobilization in 2014.Mindless!
"The biggest problem in mobilization activities in the Transcarpathian region," - he said.
According to Boyko, sometimes whole villages leave the country. "There is a report of the Chairman of the Kosovo village of the district, according to which the local population has hired two buses and drove them to the Russian Federation."
In the Ternopil region, there continues a mass escape of the male population abroad. "Strange as this may seem, people flee to the Russian Federation", said Boyko.
A representative of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine appealed to the government to formulate a bill to prevent citizens of Ukraine from leaving the country.My Advice
In particular, he suggested that the Government develop a change in the law "On the departure of Ukrainian citizens abroad, subject to conscription in a special period."
A representative of the General Staff proposed to revise downward the list of enterprises, institutions and organizations that are exempt from equipment mobilization for the needs of the army.
He noted the need to amend border crossing rules due to the fact that during the current mobilization phase, entire villages go abroad to avoid conscription. In particular, they head to the territory of the Russian Federation.
According to the Ternopil military commissariat (draft board) "the population of Ternopol province is quitting their jobs en masse, with the goal of avoiding the draft. Draft eligibles are also leaving the country en masse. In the Ternopil region, two buses of the local population went to the Russian Federation."
There are also problems with the mobilization of equipment for the needs of the army.
 |
| In a fight between Alibaba and the PRC, I'd bet on the PRC to win. |
Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. revenue missed estimates as the e-commerce giant’s push into mobile curbed its advertising sales growth. The shares fell. Revenue was 26.2 billion yuan ($4.2 billion) in the third quarter, compared with the 27.6 billion-yuan average of 25 analyst estimates. Ads on mobile phones generate less money than on desktop computers because of smaller screens, and transactions on the Tmall platform grew at a slower pace, the Hangzhou-based company said Thursday.Even if its most recent results have been well below market expectations, the Chinese government has undoubtedly treated its homegrown technology firms better than foreign ones. The objective, of course, is to encourage the emergence of PRC-based alternatives to the likes of Amazon, e-Bay, Google, etc. However, Alibaba now alleges that heavy-handed tactics government regulators have more frequently used on Western firms are now being applied to it:
Alibaba, which connects consumers and businesses across its platforms, has a “credibility crisis” fueled by its failure to crack down on shady merchants, counterfeit goods, bribery and misleading promotions, the Chinese government said Wednesday. The report by the State Administration for Industry & Commerce [SAIC] accused Alibaba of allowing merchants to operate without required business licenses, to run unauthorized stores that co-opt famous brands and sell fake wine and handbags.Apparently, Alibaba's leadership is not taking SAIC's clampdown in stride, accusing their own government of heavy-handedness:
“The scale of the revelations could leave Alibaba with substantial reputational damage,” said Cyrus Mewawalla, managing director of London-based CM Research. “We still see several risks in this stock that may in the coming months overshadow the earnings growth.”
Vice Chairman Joseph Tsai criticized the findings during Thursday’s earnings conference call and reaffirmed a commitment to ethical business practices. The company decided to file a complaint against the SAIC official who oversaw a meeting with Alibaba representatives in July to discuss the claims.
“We believe the flawed approach taken in the report, and the tactic of releasing a so-called ‘white paper’ specifically targeting us, was so unfair that we felt compelled to take the extraordinary step of preparing a formal complaint to the SAIC,” Tsai said.
Alibaba said in its IPO prospectus there were allegations in the past, and likely would be in the future, that the company’s platforms were selling goods that were counterfeit or infringed on other copyrights including music. The company takes a “very draconian” approach to counterfeits, Tsai said in an interview with Bloomberg Television on Thursday. “There’s nothing more important than the trust consumers have in our platform,” he said.Now this is far more interesting than missed earnings: Alibaba complaining of unfair treatment from its government. My general take is that the Chinese government, which otherwise is a large champion of Alibaba, is wary of its forays into telecoms, financial services and what else have you since over-diversification may be an unwise strategy at a time the Chinese economy is being cooled down. Of course, Chinese government officials also have to consider the interests of other PRC industrialists whose turf Alibaba is muscling into. Hence, the government may be giving a not-so-veiled message that Alibaba should not expand so much so quickly into other industries and areas.
By Thursday both sides backed down a little, with the SAIC quietly removing the White Paper [on Alibaba's allegedly lax attitudes towards counterfeit goods] from its website and Alibaba taking down the initial rebuff directed at the director. Yet this gesture doesn’t mean Alibaba is giving in – during the earnings call on Thursday, executive vice chairman Joe Tsai said that the company was preparing to file a formal complaint. Alibaba shares plunged 8.8% in the aftermath due to investors’ concerns over slowed growth, political risks and lack of information transparency.UPDATE 2: Quartz has a translation of the now-famous White Paper which SAIC has since taken down. Here's an excerpt:
As an article reprinted by Xinhua News Agency stated, this incident is “the most heated confrontation between the government and an enterprise in the era of Internet economy” and may prove to “have milestone implications.” Alibaba, with its prominence in China’s internet ecosystem, global status and not the least, politically connected investors, may be uniquely positioned to challenge a state-level government entity.
Poor supervision on products information. On the platform of Taobao Net and Alibaba, products and service information shows there is an invasion of others exclusive rights to use registered trademarks, trade of substandard quality products, and trade of products without lawful import sources, are banned by the state, or are pyramid schemes.UPDATE 3: Alibaba may also be facing heat Stateside over non-disclosure of the PRC's investigation concerning its tolerance of counterfeiting.
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| If the man on the street can't tell the difference, why not pay less than a third for the fake? |
Land Rover is weighing up its options in regards to the new Landwind X7 SUV, which appears to be a very close copy of the Range Rover Evoque, one of Land Rover's best-selling models. The Landwind X7 had its global debut at the 2014 Guangzhou Auto Show last week and Land Rover's most senior employee, CEO Ralph Speth, is none too pleased. "The fact that this kind of copying is ongoing in China is very disappointing," Land Rover's CEO told UK-based Autocar.The funny thing is, there are no real remedial actions Jaguar-Land Rover (JLR) can take in present-day China to contest their intellectual property rights. Where is the State Administration for Industry and Commerce (SAIC) in this case? An oddity is that JLR has a deal with Chinese automaker Chery to build copies there. Would Chery be better able to enforce JLR's IP rights? If not, JLR's best hope may be to limit export sales of the knock-offs absent any real action it can take in the PRC:
Although it's unlikely much will be achieved within China, where the Landwind X7 is now on sale for about one third the price of a Chinese-built Evoque, Speth is not going down without a fight to protect the company's intellectual property (IP). "The simple principle is that it is not something that should happen; the intellectual property is owned by Jaguar Land Rover, and if you break that IP then you are in breach of international regulations that apply around the world," stated Speth.
Legal action is unlikely, and virtually impossible within China, as most major companies are have partial government-ownership. The best Land Rover can hope for is that the vehicle is not exported to one of the Evoque's major markets.Lip service aside, I do not think the Chinese are making any strides in enforcing intellectual property at all. Sure the PRC can bash Alibaba for political reasons, but I do not really think this represents a crackdown on fakes given the ready availability of knock-off cars and virtually everything else on the streets of major cities.
The plot looks set to thicken however, as Land Rover has formed an alliance with Chery Automobile in China, which means the Range Rover Evoque is also built on the Chinese mainland by said company. Essentially, Chinese motorists can choose to buy the Landwind X7 for around $A23,000 (120,000 yuan), or the Range Rover Evoque for roughly $A76,000 (400,000 yuan), both of which look virtually identical "I will talk to our officials and I will talk to our partners at Chery to find a way around this situation," the Land Rover CEO said in relation to both cars being offered in China.
“Her message is that the economy’s getting better but there’s still a ways to go in terms of job creation,” New York Senator Charles Schumer said today in an interview on Capitol Hill. “That worry seems, in her mind, to be paramount and that’s why she is not going to raise rates immediately.”GDP Expectations Fall Short
The Fed upgraded its assessment of the U.S. economy in a statement on Wednesday after a meeting of its policy-setting committee, while adding a reference to “international developments” which investors took as a sign of mounting worry about weakness overseas.
Yellen shared “some concern about the foreign situation,” said Virginia Senator Tim Kaine, who said her comments were “pretty positive about the fundamentals here.”
Economists said the confident tone of the statement from the Federal Open Market Committee signals it is on track to raise interest rates this year, while making the point it is not ignoring the weaker performance of the global economy.
The Canadian dollar plunged below 79 cents US today after data showed Canada’s gross domestic product contracted in November as manufacturing dropped the most since January 2009 and on declines in mining and oil and gas extraction.
Output shrank by 0.2%, the most in 11 months, to an annualized $1.65 trillion, Statistics Canada said Friday in Ottawa. The median forecast in a Bloomberg economist survey was for output to be little changed.
Manufacturing declined by 1.9% in November, with losses ranging from machinery and equipment to plastics and rubber.
The Bank of Canada unexpectedly lowered borrowing costs last week for the first time since 2009, saying the move was meant to provide insurance as the slump in crude oil, the nation’s biggest export, weighed on the economy.
Greece will no longer co-operate with the “troika” of international lenders that has overseen its four-year bailout programme, the country’s finance minister said.Germany Prepared for Negotiation But Won't Negotiate
Yanis Varoufakis also said Greece would not accept an extension of its EU bailout, which expires at the end of February, and without which Greek banks could be shut off from European Central Bank funding.
“This position enabled us to win the trust of the Greek people,” Mr Varoufakis said during a joint news conference with Jeroen Dijsselbloem, chairman of the eurogroup of eurozone finance ministers, who was visiting Athens for the first time since a leftwing government came to power this week.
He also blasted the deeply unpopular bailout monitors from the European Commission, IMF and ECB, also known as “ the troika”, saying: “We are not going to co-operate with a rottenly constructed committee.”
Mr Dijsselbloem warned the new government against taking unilateral steps or ignoring arrangements with lenders, saying “the problems of the Greek economy have not disappeared overnight with the elections.”Gaming Theory
Wolfgang Schäuble, German finance minister, warned Athens on Friday against trying to “blackmail” Germany with its financial demands.
Mr Schäuble said Germany was ready to co-operate but only on the basis of current agreements. “We’re prepared for any discussions at any time but the basis can’t be changed,” he said. “Beyond that, it is hard to blackmail us.”
Martin Jäger, the German finance ministry spokesman, said any request for an extension of the existing financing programme would only be acceptable when it was “tied with a clear readiness of Greece to implement the agreed reforms”.
Varoufakis was a gifted and popular university teacher in Sydney. I know because I taught side-by-side with him for a number of years. He was also a thoughtful and productive researcher.Nobody's Right If Everybody's Wrong
His research was first focused primarily upon game theory. But he also developed an expansive intellectual reach across what may be called “political economy” in the generic sense, particularly focused on the evolution of capitalism as a global system.
Hesitant politician
Varoufakis has described himself as an “accidental economist”. He is perhaps even more an accidental finance minister.
There is no reason to doubt the sincerity of his earlier expressed ambivalence about entering politics and the party-political fray. It is the vacuum created by the failure of the mainstream parties of the centre-left and centre-right that calls forth this participation.
The media’s referring to the new Greek government as “far left” or “radical left” is just an intellectually lazy acquiescence in the language of the European political and policy establishment.
In truth, the position of Syriza is not so way out. Syriza is merely left-wing, whereas the mainstream European parties supposedly of the centre-left are no longer left-wing at all.
New Game to Play
I mentioned above that Varoufakis’s earliest academic research was concerned with game theory, albeit from a rather critical standpoint. He has already broken down the realities of one Greek election using game analogies.
Game theory as a method of research in the social sciences is first and foremost about the logic of strategic interaction between players. The situation that is being played out now, between Greece (as well as others of the “south”) and the political establishment in Europe, is without doubt a strategic situation. It is a game of high-stakes policy poker with the players on both sides, perhaps engaged in an element of bluff.
It is interesting that a game theory expert should find himself, now, at the centre of this situation. There is a great deal at stake, for the welfare of the people of Greece, the other high-debt States and Europe as a whole, as well as for the viability of the European Union and the euro.
Euro area annual inflation is expected to be -0.6% in January 2015, down from -0.2% in December 2014 according to a flash estimate from Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union. This negative rate for euro area annual inflation in January is driven by the fall in energy prices (-8.9%, compared with -6.3% in December). Prices are also expected to fall for food, alcohol & tobacco (-0.1%, compared with 0.0% in December) and non-energy industrial goods (-0.1%, compared with 0.0% in December). Only prices for services are expected to increase (1.0%, compared with 1.2% in December).HICP vs. Year Ago
New official figures from Germany show that prices have fallen, by 0.5%, over the previous 12 months.Denmark Peg
Meanwhile the Danish Central Bank has cut one of its main interest rates for the second time in a week.
It is a rate paid to commercial banks for excess funds parked at the central bank. It was already below zero. Now it is even lower - minus 0.5%.
It means banks have to pay to leave money at the central bank, above certain specified limits.
Negative interest rates are another example of the strange financial world that has emerged in the aftermath of the financial crisis.
What is the connection between falling prices - or deflation - in Germany and the Danish central bank? It is about Denmark's 35-year policy of tying its currency, the krone, to the euro, and before that to the German mark.
That peg has come under increasing strain as the European Central Bank, the ECB, has taken steps to combat deflation.
According to an IFOP 2017 presidential poll released Thursday, Marine Le Pen would come out clearly in the lead if the first round of presidential elections was held on Sunday.Too Early Too Worry
Le Pen would get 29 to 31% of the vote. No rival would exceed 23%. Nicolas Sarkozy, Manuel Valls, and Alain Juppé, each have around 23%. François Hollande would get 21%.
Francois Bayrou would obtain 7 to 9%, Mélenchon 8%, Cécile Duflot and Nicolas Dupont-Aignan between 3 and 4% and the far left between 2 and 3%.
Prime Minister Valls would do better than Francois Hollande, with 23% of the vote.
Armed Forces General Staff has information about the participation of soldiers of the army of the Russian Federation in the conflict in eastern Ukraine.Video Translation
This was announced during a briefing Armed Forces Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Victor Muzhenko.
"To date, we have only the involvement of some members of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, Russian citizens as part of illegal armed groups in the fighting. Fighting units of the regular Russian army today we're also not. We have enough forces and means in order to inflict a final defeat even illegal armed formation "- he said.
"At this time, we have only proof of participation of individual members of the Russian Federation armed forces and Russian Federation citizens in the illegal armed formations (and) in military operations. Also, at this time we are not engaged in military operations against regular Russian army units."Even if one believes there are "Russian Regulars" in Ukraine, its probably a number of "trainers" not the alleged 15,000.
By "illegal armed formations", he is referring to the DNR/LNR.
In the Belgorod-Dniester district of Odessa region reserve servicemen were banned from leaving the area. The ban applies even to those who have not yet received a summons.Mobilization 2015: In Transcarpathia Entire Villages Go Abroad
Businesses commissar requires organizations to dismiss employees receiving a summons and to ensure the attendance of recruits at the points specified in the mobilization orders.
In addition, citizens, businesses and organizations required to hand over to the military conscription office all serviceable vehicles.
In 2015, only 6% of persons subject to mobilization, are volunteers according to Oleg Boyko, Main Directorate of Mobilization. This compares to 20% in the first wave of mobilization in 2014.Mindless!
"The biggest problem in mobilization activities in the Transcarpathian region," - he said.
According to Boyko, sometimes whole villages leave the country. "There is a report of the Chairman of the Kosovo village of the district, according to which the local population has hired two buses and drove them to the Russian Federation."
In the Ternopil region, there continues a mass escape of the male population abroad. "Strange as this may seem, people flee to the Russian Federation", said Boyko.
A representative of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine appealed to the government to formulate a bill to prevent citizens of Ukraine from leaving the country.My Advice
In particular, he suggested that the Government develop a change in the law "On the departure of Ukrainian citizens abroad, subject to conscription in a special period."
A representative of the General Staff proposed to revise downward the list of enterprises, institutions and organizations that are exempt from equipment mobilization for the needs of the army.
He noted the need to amend border crossing rules due to the fact that during the current mobilization phase, entire villages go abroad to avoid conscription. In particular, they head to the territory of the Russian Federation.
According to the Ternopil military commissariat (draft board) "the population of Ternopol province is quitting their jobs en masse, with the goal of avoiding the draft. Draft eligibles are also leaving the country en masse. In the Ternopil region, two buses of the local population went to the Russian Federation."
There are also problems with the mobilization of equipment for the needs of the army.
|
| In a fight between Alibaba and the PRC, I'd bet on the PRC to win. |
Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. revenue missed estimates as the e-commerce giant’s push into mobile curbed its advertising sales growth. The shares fell. Revenue was 26.2 billion yuan ($4.2 billion) in the third quarter, compared with the 27.6 billion-yuan average of 25 analyst estimates. Ads on mobile phones generate less money than on desktop computers because of smaller screens, and transactions on the Tmall platform grew at a slower pace, the Hangzhou-based company said Thursday.Even if its most recent results have been well below market expectations, the Chinese government has undoubtedly treated its homegrown technology firms better than foreign ones. The objective, of course, is to encourage the emergence of PRC-based alternatives to the likes of Amazon, e-Bay, Google, etc. However, Alibaba now alleges that heavy-handed tactics government regulators have more frequently used on Western firms are now being applied to it:
Alibaba, which connects consumers and businesses across its platforms, has a “credibility crisis” fueled by its failure to crack down on shady merchants, counterfeit goods, bribery and misleading promotions, the Chinese government said Wednesday. The report by the State Administration for Industry & Commerce [SAIC] accused Alibaba of allowing merchants to operate without required business licenses, to run unauthorized stores that co-opt famous brands and sell fake wine and handbags.Apparently, Alibaba's leadership is not taking SAIC's clampdown in stride, accusing their own government of heavy-handedness:
“The scale of the revelations could leave Alibaba with substantial reputational damage,” said Cyrus Mewawalla, managing director of London-based CM Research. “We still see several risks in this stock that may in the coming months overshadow the earnings growth.”
Vice Chairman Joseph Tsai criticized the findings during Thursday’s earnings conference call and reaffirmed a commitment to ethical business practices. The company decided to file a complaint against the SAIC official who oversaw a meeting with Alibaba representatives in July to discuss the claims.
“We believe the flawed approach taken in the report, and the tactic of releasing a so-called ‘white paper’ specifically targeting us, was so unfair that we felt compelled to take the extraordinary step of preparing a formal complaint to the SAIC,” Tsai said.
Alibaba said in its IPO prospectus there were allegations in the past, and likely would be in the future, that the company’s platforms were selling goods that were counterfeit or infringed on other copyrights including music. The company takes a “very draconian” approach to counterfeits, Tsai said in an interview with Bloomberg Television on Thursday. “There’s nothing more important than the trust consumers have in our platform,” he said.Now this is far more interesting than missed earnings: Alibaba complaining of unfair treatment from its government. My general take is that the Chinese government, which otherwise is a large champion of Alibaba, is wary of its forays into telecoms, financial services and what else have you since over-diversification may be an unwise strategy at a time the Chinese economy is being cooled down. Of course, Chinese government officials also have to consider the interests of other PRC industrialists whose turf Alibaba is muscling into. Hence, the government may be giving a not-so-veiled message that Alibaba should not expand so much so quickly into other industries and areas.
By Thursday both sides backed down a little, with the SAIC quietly removing the White Paper [on Alibaba's allegedly lax attitudes towards counterfeit goods] from its website and Alibaba taking down the initial rebuff directed at the director. Yet this gesture doesn’t mean Alibaba is giving in – during the earnings call on Thursday, executive vice chairman Joe Tsai said that the company was preparing to file a formal complaint. Alibaba shares plunged 8.8% in the aftermath due to investors’ concerns over slowed growth, political risks and lack of information transparency.UPDATE 2: Quartz has a translation of the now-famous White Paper which SAIC has since taken down. Here's an excerpt:
As an article reprinted by Xinhua News Agency stated, this incident is “the most heated confrontation between the government and an enterprise in the era of Internet economy” and may prove to “have milestone implications.” Alibaba, with its prominence in China’s internet ecosystem, global status and not the least, politically connected investors, may be uniquely positioned to challenge a state-level government entity.
Poor supervision on products information. On the platform of Taobao Net and Alibaba, products and service information shows there is an invasion of others exclusive rights to use registered trademarks, trade of substandard quality products, and trade of products without lawful import sources, are banned by the state, or are pyramid schemes.UPDATE 3: Alibaba may also be facing heat Stateside over non-disclosure of the PRC's investigation concerning its tolerance of counterfeiting.
