[Site updated on 9 February, 2010]--
SEE NOW OUR "WORLD VIEW" as at February 2010 - tab to the left
WHY VISIT THIS SITE? Because, for many years now, we have (alas) proved to be correct in our analysis of world affairs. For example see tab: our letter to The Independent of 10 September 2002. So we submit that it is quite likely our current concerns are worth considering!
This web site was suggested by a client who thought that much of our reporting for our correspondents should be available to a wider audience. So you will find in the following pages sometimes slightly edited versions of our work. They are not copyright.
You can also see most of our blogging topics of the day that we put on other websites
We have worked for business interests, NGOs, media, as well as for the UK Government.
We recently completed an assignment and are now seeking further work requiring diplomatic expertise (see below)
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JP is a former British diplomat. He has served in, worked in, or had diplomatic or professional responsibilities regarding: US, China, Russia (ex-Soviet Union), France, Germany, Italy, Austria, Croatia, Bosnia, Cuba, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, N & S Korea, S. Africa, ex-French Africa as well, of course, the UK.
JP was part-educated in the US and is a graduate of the London School of Economics. He has lived in the US and several European countries, as well the Far East (Singapore, Laos; Cambodia, Vietnam; & briefly Hong Kong).
He was a founder and the first Director of the Cambodia Trust which specialises in prosthetics, particularly for victims of anti-personnel mines.
One of his outside interests is international poetry. He is currently attempting to arrange for re-publication or new publication of the best poetry in leading languages together with literal translations to help readers with only a limited grasp of the language concerned. He would welcome hearing from others who share this interest in making the world's best poetry more readily available. .
Another of his interests is Chinese art, pictures (painted and embroidered), Ming furniture, porcelain - and indeed China itself were he has been 12 times.
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Our particular interest is in assisting those (probably in the media, academia, and in NGOs) who are encouraging the new U S administration to lead towards establishing at last that new era in international cooperation made possible by the end of the Cold War.
We believe that the planet cannot support this era of waste that began soon after Word War II. That means that capitalism - so effective in getting economic results - must be directed (by making it worthwhile) towards producing what is socially required to meet the existential challenges humanity now faces. Undirected capitalism leads to a reckless search profit from socially harmful activities. It is also largely responsible for the unsustainable age of waste we have lived through since World War II.
If the world is to move on from confrontation to cooperation and avoid the "endless wars" the Pentagon predicts over diminishing world resources, it will be essential to get the media to appreciate he issues. In all countries, politicians, the media and the public alike need to be persuaded of the need to get beyond the outmoded categories of "right or left", "progressive or conservative" and move away from traditional ideologies to a much more pragmatic world outlook. With the world for the first time facing existential challenges there must be a major effort to educate young and old alike - through the media, through schools and universities, through discussion with people of power, and in other ways. Much lobbying will also be needed.
While all countries have a fundamental national interest in working to resolve the immense and unprecedented challenges to humanity that all nations face, it will be hard indeed to avoid serious collisions in the jockeying for position. Further pinpointing areas of potential future conflict are urgently needed now.
And in particular, the U.S. will need a partner in a Europe - a post-Lisbon Europe with a single voice on the great matters - if Russia, China and the other major powers are to be persuaded that the policies of confrontation that have marked the last 8 years, are over, and that a cooperative approach to common problems must be pursued.
So high priority needs to be given for all measures leading towards European consensus in foreign affairs.
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