STUMBLING?

It probably seemed a good idea at the time. But Russia’s attempt to create a joint gas venture with Nigeria could become one of the classic branding disasters — after the new company was named Nigaz.

The venture was agreed last week during a four-day trip to Africa by Russia’s president, Dmitry Medvedev. The deal between Russia’s Gazprom and Nigeria’s state oil company was supposed to show off the Kremlin’s growing interes t in Africa’s energy reserves.

Instead, the venture is now likely to be remembered for all the wrong reasons, as a PR blunder worse than Chevrolet’s Nova, which failed to sell in South America because it translated as “doesn’t go” in Spanish.

Alert users of Twitter first highlighted the unfortunate English connotations of Nigaz, which appeared to have eluded Medevedev’s Russian-speaking delegation. Writing on Monday, shunty 75 observed: “Nigaz is the name for the new Gazprom Nigeria venture. They need a new PR outfit. NO WAY!! Haha!!” Other twitterers also derided the name.

247- REALLY CHEAPCAR PARTS

When my friend was searching through web for Cheap Car Parts he came across the site 247spares.co.uk. During this recession period it’s very hard to spend money on Car Parts but 247spares helps to buy products in a cost effective manner. Used parts i.e. second-hand parts from 247spares save lot of money that saves agent commission too. One can visit the site for cheap car parts for best deals. They have great selection of car breakers, imported car parts, van parts, recon engines & gearboxes. We have something to complete online to find cheap car parts on 247spares.co.uk. Good to have this valuable information from my friend.

OUTRAGEOUS GROWTH

Last year, Nick Carr wrote a forceful article for the Atlantic magazine, arguing that Google was making us stupid (http://bit.ly/google32). It’s not just Google, of course, but the whole chaotic wave of technology that seems to be sweeping us into the future, surrounded and sometimes battered by the flotsam and wreckage of old certainties. And that was before Twitter hit the big time.

This month’s issue of the magazine has a riposte by Jamais Cascio, who has spent a long time in the future, and who believes that technology has already made us enormously smarter (http://bit.ly/google33). This won’t happen, he says, because of the kind of dramatic stuff that crops up in conventional speculation, like digital brain implants. No, it is all around us already, in the web and all the things that it lets us do. The trouble is the things the web lets us do aren’t actually all that intelligent. Cascio gets round this by redefining intelligence as “fluid.”

DEBT CONSOLIDATION MADE EASY

As a businesswoman who knows how the economy works, the truth is that I am experienced and acknowledged enough to assure you that with the current financial downturn it is extremely important that all our debts are consolidated.

Keeping this in mind, if you ever find yourself in trouble just like I did some years ago, then you definitely need to get some important and experienced help to consolidate all your debt problems. In fact, debt consolidation should be one of the main focuses of anyone facing that situation, simply because there is no better way of protecting your future other than starting by consolidating your debts. Moreover, on the website above you will be given all the needed advice and help on debt consolidation, making it all easier for you to get out of any difficult financial situation that you may face.

IRAN TROUBLE

So Dick Cheney was right. In the end, the Iraqi people did respond to American soldiers with flowers. The only trouble was, it was their shipping out, not their digging in, that the Iraqi people celebrated. On Tuesday, as U.S. forces marked their formal withdrawal from the towns and cities they invaded more than six years ago, the Iraqi people showed the kind of spontaneous joy the former Vice-President once imagined would welcome the 173rd Airborne Brigade. There were str eamers and balloons, pop concerts in the park and, yes, flowers — garlanding the abandoned checkpoints of the U.S. military in petals.

Now, as Iraq recedes, it is the country next door that looms ever larger. Handled the wrong way, Iran threatens to define Barack Obama the way Iraq defined George W. Bush.

There are some who believe Mr. Bush’s mistake was not to have shifted his aim eastward: that if he was looking for an oil-rich state in the Persian Gulf with links to terrorism and dreams of weapons of mass destruction then Iran, not Iraq, should have been his target. That kind of talk makes others nervous. They fear that the U.S. might one day repeat the Iraq calamity, with the ayatollahs cast in the role of Saddam Hussein.

I LOVE ESQ

My husband and I are celebrating our tenth anniversary this year and I really feel like it is a big deal. I want to get him something that he will really love and want to keep around for at least as long as he has kept me around ;) I started thinking about the perfect gift for him and I decided that I would get him a really nice watch. After doing some research I found that I really like ESQ Watches and their fine quality. I want this timepiece to be something that he can keep forever.
I found an excellent store online that carries these watches along with many other kinds at www.BlueDial.com. I was happy to have found this store because they make shopping an absolute breeze! I will include a picture of the watch that I think that I am going to buy my wonderful husband at the end of this post, I think it will be perfect! I know that he will love it and I believe it is a classy piece that will go with just about anything that he wears.
I cannot wait to see his face when I get to give him this awesome gift. I only have to wait another 2 months!

PROSCRIPTION!!!

The question of banning the Communist Party of India(Maoist), which established a reign of terror in the Lalgarh area of West Bengal, has generated far more heat than light. Statements by some politicians, seeking to extract partisan advantage from the extremist violence, have not only confused the issue but also, given the nature of the facts, exaggerated its importance. In effect, the CPI(Maoist) has been proscribed under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act ever sin ce it was formed in 2004. The Schedule of the Act listed the two groupings that merged to form it — the People’s War and the Maoist Communist Centre (MCC) as well as all their formations and fronts — as terrorist organisations. Section 41 of the Act makes it abundantly clear that “a mere change of name” is not enough to conclude that an organisation ceases to exist. So the Centre’s recent announcement that the CPI(Maoist) was banned under the UAPA was at best a reaffirmation, a move to address a possible, but improbable, ambiguity. Since any such proscription under the Act applies to the whole of India, the only practical issue that remains is how it is enforced in a State.