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ticktockaura · 1 month ago

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Seoul wants N Korean troops to leave Russia immediately

South Korea has summoned the Russian ambassador, seeking the "immediate withdrawal" of North Korean troops which it says are being trained to fight in Ukraine.

About 1,500 North Korean soldiers, including those from the special forces, have already arrived in Russia, according to Seoul's spy agency.

In a meeting with the ambassador Georgiy Zinoviev, South Korea's vice-foreign minister Kim Hong-kyun denounced the move and warned that Seoul will "respond with all measures available".

Mr Zinoviev said he would relay the concerns, but stressed that the cooperation between Moscow and Pyongyang is "within the framework of international law".

It is unclear what cooperation he was referring to. The ambassador did not confirm allegations that North Korea has sent troops to fight with Russia's military.

Later on Monday, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters the cooperation between the two nations is "not directed against third countries".

He added it "should not worry anyone", according to Russian state news agency Tass.

Pyongyang has not commented on the allegations.

South Korea has long accused the North of supplying weapons to Russia for use in the war against Ukraine, but it says the current situation has gone beyond the transfer of military materials.

Some South Korean media reports have suggested as many as12,000 North Korean soldiers are expected to be deployed.

"[This] not only gravely threatens South Korea but the international community," Kim said on Monday.

Moscow and Pyongyang have stepped up cooperation after their leaders Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un signed a security pact in June, will pledges that their countries will help each other in the event of "aggression" against either country.

Last week, Putin introduced a bill to ratify the pact.

Pyongyang's deployment of troops to fight with Russia "would mark a significant escalation" in the conflict, Nato Secretary-General Mark Rutte said on Monday.

In a phone call with Rutte on Monday, South Korea's President Yoon Suk Yeol urged the alliance to explore "concrete countermeasures", adding that he will take steps to strengthen security cooperation between South Korea, Ukraine and Nato.

British Foreign Minister David Lammy, who is visiting Seoul, called Russia's actions "reckless and illegal", adding that London would work with Seoul to respond, according to Yoon's office.

The United States and Japan have also condemned the deepening military ties between North Korea and Russia.

Meanwhile, in response to a BBC question about the alleged North Korea-Russia cooperation, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said that China hopes all parties will work to de-escalate the situation and aim for a political solution to the Ukraine crisis.

Some defence experts told BBC Korean that North Korea's involvement could complicate the war.

"North Korea’s involvement could open the door for greater international participation in the conflict, potentially drawing in more countries," said Moon Seong-mok from the Korea National Strategy Institute.

"The international community will likely increase sanctions and pressure on both Russia and North Korea, but it remains to be seen whether North Korea’s involvement will truly benefit either country," Dr Moon said.

But others believe the Russian military units will have difficulties incorporating North Korean troops into their frontlines.

Apart from the language barrier, the North Korean army has no recent combat experiences, they said.

Valeriy Ryabykh, editor of the Ukrainian publication Defence Express, said the North Korean soldiers could be asked to guard sections of the Russian-Ukrainian border, which will free up Russian units to fight elsewhere.

"I would rule out the possibility that these units will immediately appear on the front line," he said.

#gaza #free gaza #gaza genocide #gaza strip #gazaunderattack #palestine #palestine genocide #world war 3

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jeioptics4154545 · 1 year ago

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Discover the Allure and Advantages of Korean Eyeglasses: A Blend of Style and Quality

Korean eyeglasses have emerged as a captivating trend that seamlessly combines style and quality. With their unique designs, exceptional craftsmanship, and attention to detail, Korean eyeglasses have garnered significant attention on both local and global stages. If you're seeking the perfect pair of eyeglasses that not only enhance your vision but also elevate your style quotient, delve into the benefits of Korean eyeglasses.

Innovative Design Aesthetics: Korean eyeglasses are renowned for their innovative and cutting-edge designs. Korean eyewear designers often push the boundaries of conventional styles, incorporating bold colors, intricate patterns, and unconventional shapes. This daring approach to design allows wearers to express their individuality and fashion-forward sensibilities.

Quality Craftsmanship: Korean eyeglasses are synonymous with meticulous craftsmanship. Manufacturers in South Korea uphold a strong tradition of producing high-quality products, and eyewear is no exception. From the selection of premium materials to the precision in manufacturing, Korean eyeglasses are built to last while maintaining their visual appeal.

Attention to Detail: Korean culture places a strong emphasis on attention to detail, and this principle is reflected in their eyewear industry. From small embellishments to finely-tuned hinges, every element of Korean eyeglasses is carefully considered to provide users with a comfortable and aesthetically pleasing experience.

Versatile Selection: Whether you're searching for a sophisticated pair of prescription glasses or a trendy set of sunglasses, Korean eyeglasses offer a diverse range of options to suit various preferences and occasions. From classic and timeless frames to avant-garde statement pieces, there's a Korean eyeglass design for everyone.

Affordable Luxury: While some designer eyeglasses can come with exorbitant price tags, Korean eyeglasses provide a welcome balance of affordability and luxury. You can enjoy the craftsmanship, style, and quality associated with high-end eyewear without breaking the bank.

Global Appeal: The allure of Korean pop culture (K-pop) and Korean television dramas (K-dramas) has contributed to the global popularity of Korean fashion, including eyewear. Many international fashion enthusiasts are drawn to the distinct charm of Korean eyeglasses, making them a sought-after accessory around the world.

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ouyangzizhensdad · 3 years ago

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Do you think that making Chinese food is cultural appropriation? I'm white and started making some of the foods I saw in the shows I've watched since the untamed, but now I'm worried I'm appropriating the culture.

Hi anon,

As a fellow white person, I am also someone who needs to critically reflect on how I engage with different cultures. I can't give you the definitive answer you seek, the clear absolution from any potential wrongdoings; in its stead, I can only offer to share my current thought process on this topic. I’d still encourage you to seek other perspectives, and many people have written or spoken on this topic.

I believe we must first acknowledge that, on the terrain of the internet, discussions regarding cultural appropriation have reached a certain... extreme where some people view all forms of cultural exchanges as inherently suspect. They purport that so long as you stay within the bounds of ‘your’ culture, you will problematic behaviours. That perspective is inherent flawed. That is, it relies on a vision of culture as ‘bounded entities’ that exist in themselves. In reality, the ‘stuff’ that makes culture is emergent, existing only relationally, dialectically--it is a not a ‘thing’ that moves through time but an idea which is constantly negotiated and reproduced in relation to power and changing material realities to remain relevant and intelligible. The boundaries of cultural and ethnic groups are fuzzy, overlapping, and constantly being reworked and made meaningful. As an illustration, many of the food I grew up eating was influenced by ingredients and recipes immigrants brought in the 19th and 20th centuries, yet these dishes were understood as 'typically ours’. And it needs to be acknowledged that most of what is currently considered ‘white people food’ relies on ingredients that were introduced to our diet through colonialism and the violent dispossession of indigenous peoples (and, often, the current day exploitation of workers in the South and of migrant workers). No food can be truly ‘traditionally ours’, whatever the purported ‘we’ ends up being brought into the equation, and no eating behaviours can avoid the historical legacy and continuity of violence and power.

Of course, as people who exist in the world, we know that there are cultural differences. Bakhtin’s insights on language through the tensions between centripedal (ie towards uniformity, a common meaning) and centrifugal (toward diversity and change) forces can be expanded to help us conceptualise how we make sense of the way a ‘culture’ is perpetuated through time as something meaningful in our daily lives. Uniformity allows intelligibility, sense-making, but diversity and change are inescapable by-products of individuals and groups repeatedly going through life, meeting and trying to create intelligibility and sense together in a world that cannot stay the same. It is at the intersection of these two conflicting forces that something can be different yet considered the same--that we can create continuity out of change. But something perhaps less emphasized in Bakhtin’s discussions is how much power and material realities work on these forces. Power influences both centripedal and centrifugal forces, if only in orchestrating circumstances that shape how one encounters ‘different cultures’ or reproduces their 'own' culture.

We live at a moment where the world seems to have reached an apex of connectivity--where goods, people, ideas (and viruses) move across distance and borders at speeds that defy comprehension. Yet the way goods, people and ideas move (through which canals and systems? in which direction? to the benefits of whom? at the expense of whom? to what reception or use? in the service of which institutions and ideologies?) or are, inversely, incapable or unwilling to move, is influenced by power and material realities. It is inescapable.

In a roundabout way, what I’m trying to say is that it's useless to try to live life in 'your lane' by turning to a baseline 'culture' because we simply do not have a baseline culture to return to that is 'safe' from the influences of other cultures or the taint of the historical legacy and continuity of violence. So how do I personally reconcile that with how I engage with content that is produced from different cultural contexts, and how I engage with cooking food that is influenced by different cultural contexts? For me the guidelines I take into consideration are respect, attribution and avoiding forms of dehumanisation. These emerged out of witnessing how other white people have acted as well as critically reflecting on how I have acted in the past, and trying to do better (including of course, by listening to different perspectives on the topic). [just in case, warning for examples of racism/micro-agressions] I've been in China with white people who would praise the cooking we were eating in the same breath they were making jokes about dog meat. I've witnessed in Japan a dude decide not to come to an izakaya with Japanese colleagues, fucking off on his own to Akihabara instead, because he was disappointed he couldn’t talk about anime with them--too obsessed with the idealised version of Japan he’d created in his head to treat the Japanese people he met as people. The internet is full of white people telling you how to cook food from places they've never been and taking credit for 'popularising' that dish or 'making it better'. That's not even talking about the tendency for food to become a mark of a cosmopolitan, metropolitan identity in the West--the open-minded, the liberal, the traveler, the hip white person up with the times and beyond the mainstream. Hell, I've even seen people who act as if eating ‘ethnic’ food prepared by immigrants is the singular proof that they were people who cared about immigrants' well-being.

Food is rarely just about food, even when consumed at home. At the same time, we’d be remiss in all these discussions of power to dismiss how food is also one of oldest things we, as humans, want to share with others--including strangers. Feeding is nourishing and giving, eating is accepting into ourselves something made by others. Most people appreciate it when the value of a dish that holds importance for them is recognised by others--although, of course, many might understandably also resent that they have been discriminated against or mocked for eating that same food. Every time I’ve been invited in an immigrant household or at events with mostly immigrants, I’ve felt this sense of almost trepidation emanating from them, waiting for my reaction, and satisfaction once I was seen eating and appreciating the food they had served me--as if the acceptance of the food that was tied to their identity was a form of acceptance of who they were. Of course this can’t be disentangled from past experiences where other people might have been disrespectful, dismissive or outright racist: but the excitement they had in sharing food that had meaning to them and seeing others appreciate it was genuine.

Beyond situations of clear cultural sharing, where we get closer to what appears to be ‘cultural appropriation’, I believe that we cannot act as if there is something inherently sacrilegious in the idea of adapting recipes or using a specific ingredients in new ways--that’s centrifugal forces at play, and they have provided us with many dishes we love today: from immigrant creations like butter chicken to things like spicy kimchi. We cannot work with the assumption that people will only react with hostility at the idea of other people cooking the food they grew with, even in ways that are different from how they’re traditionally used and are thus “not authentic”. I still remember an interaction I had in a Korean grocery store, once upon a time when I lived in a metropolitan city. A man in front of me at the cash register who had been buying snacks and chatting with the employee in Korean looked at my stuff and suddenly asked me if I knew the name of the leafy green I was buying. I wasn’t necessarily surprised because I had overheard in the past customers and employees commenting in Korean about being surprised about the ingredients I, a white person, was purchasing, thinking I couldn’t understand them. I confirmed to him that I knew I was buying mustard greens. He then asked me what I was planning to do with them, and I explained that while I didn’t think it’s a traditional or common way of using it, I personally liked to add them to kimchi jjigae because it compliments their bitter/strong taste and I like leafy greens in my soups and stews. He said it was interesting, and that he was kind of impressed. The employee chimed to tell me I should be honoured at the compliment because the man was actually a chef who owned famous Korean fusion restaurants in the city. That was clearly someone who took Korean food very seriously and clearly had a certain degree of suspicion regarding how white people interacted with it, but he was also curious and interested in seeing how I approached ingredients without having grown up eating them.

Another point of contention is also that we cannot ignore that food is a sensual experience and that, while tastes are greatly influenced by our environment, they are not solely so. I grew up hating most of the food my parents would serve me, and started cooking in my early teens to avoid having to eat it. Before I started cooking, I would often just eat rice with (in hindsight horrible) western-brand soy sauce instead of the meal my mom had made. When I ate Indian food for the first time during a trip at the ripe age of 16, it blew my mind that food could taste like this. Of course I never wanted to look back, and with each years I discovered that a lot of Asian cuisines fit my palate better than what I grew up eating or other cuisines I had tried. When I was a teenager we visited my mom’s friend in France and I hated what she served us so much I’d simply choose to nibble on bread, prompting her to try to stage an intervention for my ‘obvious’ anorexia. Yet, being in China made me realise ingredients I thought I hated had just been cooked in ways I disliked. Do my taste buds absolve me from any need to think critically about how I interact with food? Of course not. But sometimes the reason we want to cook certain recipes and foods is just that it tastes great to us, and we want to reproduce the recipes we enjoyed with the ingredients and the skills we have. Or, really, sometimes we just want to try new tastes because we do a lot of eating throughout our lives, and it seems a waste to limit ourselves to a narrow number of dishes for decades to come.

So that’s where I currently am in my thinking about this topic, as a white person who cooks dishes influenced by a number of different places but who is also not trying to cook in a way that is necessarily authentic. Some things that I keep in mind that you can ask yourself now that cdramas and cnovels have made you interested in Chinese cooking is: are you taking this as an opportunity to support immigrant businesses when getting your ingredients? are you supporting white creators when looking for chinese recipes (some suggestion of youtube channels: Made with Lau, Chinese cooking Demystified, Family in Northwest China, 西北小强 Xibeixiaoqiang, 小高姐的 Magic Ingredients)? are you being respectful (not reproducing harmful stereotypes in how you talk about chinese food and the people who eat it)? do you use your interest in Chinese food to create a narrative about China and Chinese people that denies them, in some way, of their complexity and humanity? are you using your interest in Chinese food to create a narrative about yourself?

In conclusion I will leave you with a picture of some misshapen baozi I’ve made.

#anon ask #caution: word vomit ahead

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quiveramount68-blog · 5 years ago

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Element Prioritisation For Strategic Buying And The Case History Of A South Korean Escalator Manufacturer

What Is actually An Instance Of A Production Company?

You need to determine what is actually an example of a producing firm prior to venturing in to this business. This is actually quite crucial given that the best firm to benefit will definitely have certain capabilities and also expertises that are a really good match for you. The incorrect provider could be a true drain on your funds and time. Some of one of the most necessary things to know when starting up in this sector is actually that a lot of companies do not possess any kind of sort of expenditure in tools or even items.

Consequently, all they yearn for from you is your organisation. If this sounds terrific to you, the only issue is actually discovering a company that can provide that kind of service. Therefore what are some things to seek in a producing business?

The first thing you need to try to find in a producing company is actually the adventure of the owners. Ask yourself: the number of organisations does the proprietor of the business have been involved along with in the past?

A great manufacturing provider should have a number of years of experience under their belt. as Suppliers reports manufacturing firm that has been actually around for 10 years will definitely possess a fair bit of knowledge within this organisation. The owner needs to additionally be actually a knowledgeable business owner.

Any producer that can easily supply you along with a ton of what you need at a realistic price must manage to offer you along with factory devices and also materials. The fact that the business is supplying you factory resources is an indication that they are actually delivering a valuable company.

Also, you should ask your own self whether the company is actually dependable and also sincere. Just how is the firm provided along with the Better Business Bureau? Are they accredited to perform organisation in your state?

Look at the institution that the manufacturer isassociated along with. Most of the times, this is actually the International Manufacturers Affiliation (IMA). The ISO stands for the Northern American Specialty Products Affiliation.

The IMA and the ISO are professional institutions that function as a discussion forum for makers to deliver high quality standards for their members. Thus, if the supplier belongs to these companies, they need to be actually dependable.

Now, carry out certainly not register with the 1st supplier that comes along. Find out about the produces record and also credibility and reputation. This is actually really crucial given that it will offer you a really good suggestion of what to anticipate from them down the road.

It may be alluring to merely choose the very first supplier that comes, but take a while to explore the maker. Inquire your friends and family participants regarding the maker and also find what they think of the firm. Consider that it is actually commonly simple to compare makers due to the fact that they will definitely all of be actually specified on the exact same business standard.

The basic rules that apply to all manufacturers are actually to give factory tools, provide quality materials, supply a reasonable cost and also offer excellent client service. These are the essentials of a good production business.

As soon as you comprehend what is an example of a manufacturing company, you can easily start to figure out additional regarding the company. To aid you learn even more concerning the firm, usage online search engine like Google, Yahoo or MSN. You will definitely manage to find relevant information including a call amount, website address, contact number and also a checklist of what is offered.

#wholesellers #wholesellers Blog #wholesellers website

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misamilo-blog · 5 years ago

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USA vs China

Current situation

China vs Usa has been an ongoing war since Trump’s election in 2016. Trump has been keeping an eye on China’s effect on American economy before being elected as the president of the United States (Valuetainment 2019; China Briefing 2019.). He is determined to make a change in US economy, which has lead to a trade war and actions that many claim to be extremely aggressive. The trade war was officially started by USA’s actions on raising tariffs and making business harder for Chinese companies to balance out the existing annual trade deficit of approximately 500 billion USD. This of course is claimed to have an influence on USA’s economy, but the equation in all of this is still much more complex than that. USA has strictly started to limit China’s “grip on USA” by having raised tariffs previously and wanting to implement similar restrictions in the future as well, at least two times before the end of this year (CNN 2019). USA specifically has started to protect their intellectual rights as China has forced foreign companies operating within their borders to give information on their operation, which has caused companies to worry about about their intellectual property rights and a sense of security in this matter. Therefore USA wants China to clear some of these internal rules and restrictions inside their own market in order to make it a more even playing field for American companies (CNN 201.). Additionally, there’s back and forth, as an example with USA disabling Huawei’s right to operate within USA and as of recently Huawei cannot do any business with American companies at all as it has been put on the entity list, which means that it is considered a national security risk in USA. This obviously hurts both countries economically. (Techradar 2019; China Briefing 2019.)

Actions that have been taken

The trade talks properly began in 2017 after Trump’s election and promises on fixing USA’s problematic trade deficit. USA and China started out with a trade deal where China granted better access in agriculture, energy and financial markets in exchange for China being able to sell cooked poultry to US. This wasn’t enough though as US Trade Representatives initiated an investigation on some of the policies inside the Chinese markets questioning intellectual property rights and other things related to intellectual property in technology transfer. After this a WTO case was filed and Trump had intentions of increasing tariffs and restricting markets. This was immediately followed by many different tariffs imposed by both countries; various metal elements, agricultural products, automotive industry, chemicals, technology and many other things. All of this was imposed on products worth hundreds of billions of USD. Each category of products and lists had different percentages of tariffs imposed by both countries. At a couple of points the trade war was put on hold in 2018 and later on as well but always continued as both parties couldn’t come to an agreement. Thousands of products are being put on many different lists as products under tariff, most of them under a 20-25 percent tariff by the USA. USA and China have engaged in a dozen meetings over these years but progress has been reported to be most of the time to be nearly nonexistent to very little progress. A recent example of slight progress is the Sanghai trade talks on the 31st and 32nd of July 2019, where representatives of both countries met and decided on goodwill gestures, which consisted of China’s promises of buying more American agricultural and other products and US’ promise to ease restrictions on Huawei. On several occasions throughout this whole trade war process Trump has threatened China with more tariffs on the rest 200+ billion worth of goods if progress didn’t happen according to certain expectations he holds China accountable to. The trade talks usually proceed with the process of Trump imposing tariffs to China answering afterwards; usually not as hard as US but still in a relatively significant manner. Most of tariffs set by China were around 10% but as of this summer a lot of the tariffs were bumped up to 20-25% range to match USA. As of 6th of August China has been accused of currency manipulation by USA as the value of Chinese yuan has dropped more than it ever has, in theory to offset the influence of set tariffs and strengthen their exports. US Treasury accuses China of manipulation and wanting to gain an unfair advantage through currency manipulation. China’s responses were vague with denying the claims and claiming that the value of yuan is determined by market supply and demand. Most recently US had announced on 13th of August to impose tariffs on 300 billion worth of Chinese goods on the 1st of September, 1st of October (later changed to 15th of October as a gesture of goodwill) and 15th of December. China replied to this with tariffs on 75 billion worth of US goods scheduled the same way as USA’s tariffs and filing a dispute through WTO challenging tariffs imposed by the USA. The intentions of USA in the trade war is not always reported to the public but initially in 2018 it was reported that Trump’s intents with China is to reduce the trade gap by 200 billion over two years, which would reduce USA’s trade deficit but clearly they’ve not come to an agreement and China hasn’t concurred with this. (China-Brief 2019.)

How is the trade war influencing countries involved and the world economy?

China and USA

Both USA’s and China’s exporting has fell since trade war started and even more so now as tariffs naturally discourage companies from doing international business and purchasing products from each other. This has caused USA’s total exports to decrease 1% in August comparing it to previous year despite analysts predicting a growth for August following a successful July. For USA specifically, it has hurt small companies as the confidence of small businesses in USA has been the lowest since 2012. Some of the reasoning for this has been explained by small business owners’ expectations of economic decline over the next years in USA. Recently Trump has urged companies to switch doing business with China to another country, which isn’t an option for some companies that are heavily reliant on Chinese suppliers. (Wall Street Journal 2019; Trading Economics 2019). China has slumped harder than the USA in economic progress as both China’s imports and exports have dropped; imports 5,6% on-year in August and exports to the US specifically by 16% year-on-year as well (CNBC 2019). Trade surplus between USA and China still has decreased by approximately 9,1% percent in Jan-July compared to previous year’s surplus. The surplus overall had increased by about 11,7% from 2017-2018 (Census 2019). The trade war has caused countries to be cautious when doing business with China, which has resulted in a slight decrease in exports, China’s global exports went down by 1% year-on-year in August 2019 (Trading Economics 2019; ABC News 2019; Census 2019).

Picture: Census 2019: Trade in Goods with China (2018 vs 2019). Click to enlarge picture

Global scale

Tariffs have influenced many industries and small business owners and even corporations with tariffs not only in China and USA but elsewhere in the world too. This has caused companies to try and find ways to offset the additional costs caused by the trade war in order to retain competitiveness. Japanese and South Korean companies have had trouble maintaining their supply chains as exporting has dropped by double digits to China from Japan. These Japanese and South Korean companies have factories in China where they face increasing difficulties to purchase materials and sell goods through US. This has caused manufacturing activity to decline and have less resources invested in it than in the previous year in both of these countries. Some other countries though have significantly benefitted from the trade war as companies seek to re-allocate some of their manufacturing to some low-cost Asian countries like Vietnam; Vietnam’s economy has grown by 7% this year. On the other hand, there’s increasing concern with Europe in certain aspect because of its deep reliance on exporting which is roughly 40% of European Unions GDP. Especially the European auto industry has taken a hit recently as the trade war has escalated and there have been threats by Trump on increasing tariffs on European cars. As China’s yuan drops in value this strengthens their exporting but in return hurts countries like Germany who is hurt by a decrease in their own exporting as this influences their margins and profitability directly. Despite this there have been talks of China becoming more closer with Europe as they want to transition some of their business with America to Europe (Wall Street Journal 2019; Atlantic Council 2019).

Conclusions on what is happening

The global economy is continuously more intertwined as supply chains are more often international than not. As companies are affected by this, it influences some industries and companies directly which then influences various countries and economies. Some benefit but more often than not most companies and officials are worried about the future and uncertainty in everything they do and the decisions they have to make based on the shakeup caused by the trade war. Supply chains have to adapt to it as a tariff of 20% influences a company’s profitability tremendously. USA is paying the short term price and going for long term gains in what they do, there still might not be an agreement for even years to come. Trump and USA seem to be so deep and committed in their plan already that they are most likely aiming to reduce the trade deficit and reduce some economic tension with China. That undoubtedly is not entirely beneficial for USA due to their reliance on China. WTO and Europe have to work as middlemen in this matter to push the discussion forward.

Sources:

https://edition.cnn.com/2019/09/06/business/us-china-trade-war-talks/index.html

https://www.forbes.com/sites/wadeshepard/2017/11/05/how-the-usps-epacket-gives-postal-subsidies-to-chinese-e-commerce-merchants-to-ship-to-the-usa-cheap/#50436a9c40ca

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxN12jzHrqI

https://www.china-briefing.com/news/the-us-china-trade-war-a-timeline/

https://www.hs.fi/talous/art-2000006228275.html

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/09/08/chinas-exports-to-us-fell-16percent-in-august-as-trump-escalates-trade-war.html

https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/new-atlanticist/the-winners-and-losers-of-the-us-china-trade-war

https://www.thebalance.com/how-does-china-influence-the-u-s-dollar-3970466

https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/chinas-august-export-sink-amid-us-trade-war-65462089

https://www.apnews.com/430bfb5fc12b40758fb41a57e4c9495f

https://time.com/5670570/u-s-china-trade-war-unwinnable/

https://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/balance/c5700.html

https://wsj.com/articles/u-s-china-trade-wars-global-impact-grows-11567466809

https://tradingeconomics.com/china/exports

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famedroleplayarchive · 8 years ago

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ASHTON KWON, better known as TAEYONG, is the LEAD VOCAL AND LEAD DANCER of KNIGHT under BC ENTERTAINMENT. He was born on DECEMBER 24, 1995. He looks a little like JEON JUNGKOOK OF BTS.

CHARACTER INFORMATION

faceclaim: jeon jungkook, bts

legal name: ashton taeyong kwon

stage name: taeyong

pronouns: he/him

birth date: december 24, 1995

hometown: san francisco, california

position: lead dancer and lead vocalist of knight

claims: my person - moonlight drawn by clouds ost

BIOGRAPHY

Ash Kwon’s parents swore he came out of the womb singing and dancing, but he always said his dad had one too many Christmas Eve drinks before his mom went into labor. Still, it couldn’t be denied that Ash had a touch for the musical from a young age. He was obsessed with every piece of music he could get his hands and he was singing before he could walk.

It was obvious to his parents that they needed to give Ash some kind of outlet for all of his musical energy, so he started taking piano lessons at four. His teacher, a stiff old woman named Suzanne, even broke her gruff facade after his first recital to tell his parents he was a natural. At age seven, he finally got up the courage to ask to take dance classes, and his parents were happy to comply. If it’d keep him from dancing around the house all the time, it couldn’t hurt. Ash then fell in love with dancing. As he got older, his days were spent being carted between school, piano lessons, dance lessons, and eventually guitar lessons. Anyone could see he was going to be a performer, but in what sense, they probably couldn’t have predicted.

Ash didn’t know much about Korean pop music until he was in middle school. Neither of his parents had been born in South Korea and his family led a pretty Americanized life. His parents cooked Korean food every now and then and celebrated Korean holidays sometimes, but Ash knew very little of the language, so despite being a music lover, he’d never sought out Korean music. It was a normal day searching the internet when he first stumbled upon a hit song by a first generation girl group. It that drew him in and he slowly discovered more and more. It was interesting to him, but not something he considered as a career until he saw a notice for a BC Entertainment audition in Los Angeles a few months later.

Ash knew there were other American-born artists in the Korean music industry and he knew the appeal; the presence of Asian-Americans in the western music scene was practically non-existent. He knew he wanted to do music, so he figured giving it a go couldn’t hurt. His parents were hesitant when he told them he wanted to audition, but they wanted to see him succeed, so they let him. Ash spent hours practicing his audition material and trying to learn basic Korean, just in case everything went right.

To his surprise, after going through the rounds of auditions, Ash was offered a contract with the company. It felt like a whirlwind, and after he finished his school year, Ash and his family moved to South Korea so he could begin training.

Ash tried his best to fast track his learning of Korean, but trying to learn a new language wasn’t that easy, and he showed up as a trainee with a very limited knowledge of the language everyone else spoke. It isolated him, and while that made it easier to focus on his training, he felt like he’d made a mistake. Who in their right mind would pack up and move to a country they barely spoke the language of just for the slight chance of becoming an underpaid performer? There were multiple occasions that Ash rethought his decision, but he managed to persevere through. Slowly but surely, he learned the language, but at that point, it felt natural to remain isolated. It was only when he was put into the lineup of BC Entertainment’s new boy group, Knight, that he started to come out of his shell. Ash took on his middle name, Taeyong, as his stage name in an effort to make his status as a foreigner a little less obvious.

Little by little, Ash opened up to the other boys and he saw debut on the horizon. It was an idealistic, shining light, and the reception the group was met with upon debut blew him away. It didn’t take long for the illusion to be dashed though. Ash tried to be more outgoing like his company told him to, but instead he was criticized by some for being rude and for talking more than others even though his Korean wasn’t up to par.

Ash resigned himself to more of a background role and his image formed itself into the brooding and artistic type. He wouldn’t have ever called himself brooding at all. Introverted? Yes. Brooding? No. But it was what his company deemed best for him, so he accepted it. Instead, he focused on practicing and reaping the rewards of being in one of the hottest boy groups in the world. Besides the attitude scandals netizens loved to come back to sparingly, he had a pretty good image.

Ash watched as members were removed from the group for ruining the image and he slowly saw as the world started to take Knight off its pedestal as scandals rocked his fellow members. He thought he was immune to the brunt of bad press, but that ended in February 2016. He didn’t see it coming, and, really, how could he? It was mostly fabricated and was released without warning. By all accounts, it was an article capitalizing on Knight’s name for clicks. There’d been plenty before and there’d be plenty again, but this one got blown out of proportion.

It was an article filled with paparazzi photos of Ash leaving the residences of several female idols and perfectly manipulated pictures of him hanging out with female idol friends. The story run with the pictures was a creatively woven tale about his disgusting, womanizing ways and suddenly he was the serial playboy of the industry. It wasn’t Ash at all. Some of the photos were incriminating, yes, but most of them were completely innocent.

BC Entertainment was good at covering things up, but even they couldn’t control how things spiraled out of control. Less reputable sources stole the story and twisted it even further until more falsehoods got mixed in. Before he knew it, what should have been an attention-seeking article quickly silenced by his company became a twisted web of a scandal. Even loyal fans started to believe it and Ash’s image took a huge hit. Originally preparing to make his drama debut in a minor role (one he hadn’t wanted to make in the first place), he was pulled from the role and replaced. He knew it could have been worse. He could have been from a company that couldn’t do their best to quell the rumors or he could have not had the benefits of being a top male idol, but that really didn’t make the whole thing any easier to take for him.

Since the scandal destroyed his image, Ash has been working to fix things. He got placed in Knight’s sub unit, which gained him some fans back. At this point, Ash isn’t sure he really cares about winning the fans back, though. He appreciates them supporting him, but he’s not sure he wants to be an idol anymore. He’s forced to be someone he’s not with a constant magnifying glass on his every action and no artistic freedom. That’s not what Ash had wanted when he was a young kid just looking to perform and now there’s no way out.

#fmdfollow #knight #whiteknight #bcentertainment

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quillshears97-blog · 5 years ago

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Part Prioritisation For Important Buying And The Study Of A South Korean Lift Maker

What Can I Get Out Of a Supplier?

The primary thing you require to learn about discovering an appropriate organisation is exactly how perform I find a producer. Lots of people think they can be honorable to the supplier yet this could cost you a fair bit. You need to become cautious when discovering a manufacturing company.

Manufacturing plant straight is actually a condition utilized when a manufacturing provider does certainly not need to advertise to earn money. There are a lot of benefits to this, for example the maker are going to certainly not must spend a great deal funds marketing and also it will certainly set you back the company less over time. The company will certainly have even more of its own product back in the end of the day due to the fact that it carried out certainly not need to pay for transport costs or the manufacture in their city. Therefore, it will definitely be selling for a lower price.

The second perk is the reason a manufacturer may tell you that they possess lesser cost. Most suppliers possess a certain quantity of expenses, that includes things like employees, transport, taxes, material and the price of components. The overhead costs is actually where the manufacturer begins to see their revenues decrease.

This carries out certainly not indicate the firm manager is two-timing, it only implies that the business manager needs to find a method to cut some prices. Despite the fact that the price of the item will be actually reduced in the end, the expense of obtaining the item to the consumer is actually much more pricey.

As a result, the business owner is actually not receiving all of the profit that he or she could have possessed, thus typically this might place the company in a monetary problem. Not just performs this avoid the business from increasing, it likewise indicates the provider is actually not able to spend workers what they ought to have.

A fringe benefit is the truth that business owner can save opportunity. They do not must take a trip to cities as well as countries to seek the most ideal product to sell or move their products.

Manufacturing facility direct means that there are actually no nearby costs. The moment your business produces it right into a higher level, the price of producing items has actually climbed, nonetheless the item may be sold online in various countries. The firm proprietor has not spent any more funds than they will possess without manufacturing facility direct.

If your business owner makes the decision to tackle a bigger job, they will still be able to offer directly. Having said that, if the business selects a much smaller venture to accomplish, they are going to have to purchase every one of the materials so as to get begun. Your business owner can easily acquire the products wholesale to save loan.

Factory direct methods that they are going to have to pay attention to selling, which could possibly include local area purchases along with sales to on the internet clients. In many cases, nearby purchases could be done via the business personally. Nonetheless, since the business does certainly not have to journey to various other countries, the price of the item will certainly be actually more affordable.

Firms will definitely vary in the products they can easily provide. Consequently, the company needs to take into consideration the prices of the item to become a benefit. It is needed for a firm to prepare the price to be one thing that is budget-friendly to the client.

As get it from here of the affordable price of the items, it is important for the business owner to look at advertising and industrying the item. The company should choose to have the most ideal item at the very best cost. This are going to make certain the firm manages to receive the quality they wish to make, and maintain the rate the very same.

Exactly how perform I discover a producer? Is Factory Straight the response to a productive service?

#Best wholesellers website #Wholesellers Lead #Number one sellers Website

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bigyack-com · 5 years ago

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A New Front for Nationalism: The Global Battle Against a Virus

As they battle a pandemic that has no regard for borders, the leaders of many of the world’s largest economies are in the thrall of unabashedly nationalist principles, undermining collective efforts to tame the novel coronavirus.The United States, an unrivaled scientific power, is led by a president who openly scoffs at international cooperation while pursuing a global trade war. India, which produces staggering amounts of drugs, is ruled by a Hindu nationalist who has ratcheted up confrontation with neighbors. China, a dominant source of protective gear and medicines, is bent on a mission to restore its former imperial glory.Now, just as the world requires collaboration to defeat the coronavirus — scientists joining forces across borders to create vaccines, and manufacturers coordinating to deliver critical supplies — national interests are winning out. This time, the contest is over far more than which countries will make iPads or even advanced jets. This is a battle for supremacy over products that may determine who lives and who dies.At least 69 countries have banned or restricted the export of protective equipment, medical devices or medicines, according to the Global Trade Alert project at the University of St. Gallen in Switzerland. The World Health Organization is warning that protectionism could limit the global availability of vaccines.With every country on the planet in need of the same lifesaving tools at once, national rivalries are jeopardizing access for all.“The parties with the deepest pockets will secure these vaccines and medicines, and essentially, much of the developing world will be entirely out of the picture,” said Simon J. Evenett, an expert on international trade who started the University of St. Gallen project. “We will have rationing by price. It will be brutal.” Some point to the tragedy playing out around the world as an argument for greater self sufficiency, so that hospitals are less reliant on China and India for medicines and protective gear.China alone makes the vast majority of the core chemicals used to make raw materials for a range of generic medicines used to treat people now hospitalized with Covid-19, said Rosemary Gibson, a health care expert at the Hastings Center, an independent research institution in New York. These include antibiotics, blood pressure treatments and sedatives. “Everyone is competing for a supply located in a single country,” Ms. Gibson said.But if the laudable goal of diversification inspires every nation to look inward and dismantle global production, that will leave the world even more vulnerable, said Chad P. Bown, an international trade expert at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington.President Trump and his leading trade adviser, Peter Navarro, have exploited the pandemic as an opportunity to redouble efforts to force multinational companies to abandon China and shift production to the United States. Mr. Navarro has proposed rules that would force American health care providers to buy protective gear and medicines from U.S. suppliers.“We just don’t have the production capacity,” Mr. Bown said, noting that Chinese industry is restarting, while American factories remain disrupted. “Just as you don’t want to be too dependent on China, you don’t want to be too dependent on yourself. You have now walled yourself off from the only way you can potentially deal with this, in your time of greatest need, which is relying on the rest of the world.”

Zero-Sum Mentality

For seven decades after World War II, the notion that global trade enhances security and prosperity prevailed across major economies. When people exchange goods across borders, the logic goes, they become less likely to take up arms. Consumers gain better and cheaper products. Competition and collaboration spur innovation.But in many countries — especially the United States — a stark failure by governments to equitably distribute the bounty has undermined faith in trade, giving way to a protectionist mentality in which goods and resources are viewed as zero-sum.Now, the zero-sum perspective is a guiding force just as the sum in question is alarmingly limited: Potentially vital supplies of medicine are in short supply, exacerbating antagonism and distrust.Last week, the Trump administration cited a Korean War-era law to justify banning exports of protective masks made in the United States, while ordering American companies that produce such wares overseas to redirect orders to their home market. One American company, 3M, said halting planned shipments of masks overseas would imperil health workers in Canada and Latin America. On Monday, 3M said it struck a compromise with the government that will send some masks to the United States and some overseas.In recent weeks, Turkey, Ukraine, Thailand, Taiwan, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Pakistan, South Africa and Ecuador have all banned the export of protective masks. France and Germany imposed bans on masks and other protective gear, lifting them only after the European Union barred exports outside the bloc. India banned exports of respirators and disinfectants.Britain has prohibited exports of hydroxychloroquine, an anti-malarial drug now being tested for potential benefits against the virus. Hungary has banned exports of the raw material for that drug and medicines that contain it.“The export bans are not helpful,” said Mariangela Simao, assistant director general for medicines and health products at the World Health Organization in Geneva. “It can disrupt supply chains of some products that are actually needed everywhere.”President Trump has been especially aggressive in securing an American stockpile of hydroxychloroquine, disregarding the counsel of federal scientists who have warned that testing remains minimal, with scant evidence of benefits.India is the world’s largest producer of hydroxychloroquine. Last month, the government banned exports of the drug, though it stipulated that shipments could continue under limited circumstances.“In this situation, each country has to take care of itself,” said Satish Kumar, an adjunct professor at the International Institute of Health Management Research in New Delhi. “If we are not able to take care of our population, it will be a very critical situation.”After Mr. Trump demanded that India lift the export restrictions on Monday night while threatening retaliation, the government appeared to soften its position.“In view of the humanitarian aspects of the pandemic,” said India’s foreign ministry spokesman Anurag Srivastava, the government would allow exports “to some nations who have been particularly badly affected” — an apparent nod to the United States.Arithmetic suggested that a policy of stockpiling for national needs might leave other countries short. India is likely to require 56 metric tons, but now has only 38 metric tons, said Udaya Bhaskar, director general of the Pharmaceuticals Export Promotion Council of India, an industry body set up by the government to promote exports of Indian medicines.One manufacturer, Watson Pharma, owned by Teva Pharmaceuticals and based in the western Indian state of Goa, was seeking to triple its production of hydroxychloroquine over the next two weeks.

Genomics and Geopolitics

As global pharmaceutical companies explore new forms of treatment for the coronavirus — a complex undertaking even under ideal laboratory conditions — they are having to navigate an additional layer of real-world intricacy: geopolitics.Companies steeped in genomics and the rigorous demands of manufacturing must find a way to develop new drugs, begin commercial production and also anticipate how the predilections of nationalists running major economies may limit supplies.One of the most closely watched drugs, remdesivir, is made by Gilead, an American company. Though clinical trials have not yet been completed, the company has been ramping up manufacturing to meet global demand in advance of the drug’s approval.Like many newer drugs, remdesivir’s formula includes “novel substances with limited global availability,” according to a statement on the company’s website.Gilead is increasing production in part by expanding beyond its own facilities in the United States, contracting with plants in Europe and Asia, in a move that appeared to hedge its bets against trouble in any one place. “The international nature of the supply chain for remdesivir reminds us that it is essential for countries to work together to create enough supply for the world,” said Daniel O’Day, Gilead’s chairman and chief executive, in an April 4 statement.Gilead says it has enough of the drug to treat 30,000 patients, while aiming to amass enough to treat one million by the end of the year. But outside experts questioned whether that would be sufficient.“There is going to be a real fight over the allocation of the remdesivir supply if indeed it proves effective,” said Geoffrey Porges, an analyst for SVB Leerink, an investment bank in Boston.Another drugmaker, the New York-based Regeneron, is preparing a U.S. plant to produce a cocktail of antibodies developed in genetically engineered mice, with tests planned for hospitalized patients and as a preventative treatment. A similar antibody cocktail proved effective against Ebola.The company is planning the extraordinary action of shifting the production of some of its most profitable drugs — one that treats eczema, another for eyes — to a factory in Ireland to make room for the experimental treatment.Regeneron’s chief executive, Dr. Leonard Schleifer, said the decision to make the new drug cocktail in the United States was both geopolitical and practical.“You want to make it close to where the need is, and we anticipate there will be great need in the United States,” he said.He acknowledged that making products overseas now posed risks that they could be subject to export bans in that country. In addition, Regeneron is receiving federal funds to expand its manufacturing of the vaccine, which carries the expectation that the company will prioritize the American market.“It just made good sense to us to do this in the United States,” Dr. Schleifer said.

China’s Moment

China has seized on the pandemic as an opportunity to present itself as a responsible world citizen, in contrast to Western democracies that failed to reckon with the threat — not least the United States, now the epicenter of the outbreak.Ever since President Trump took office, unleashing tariffs on friends and foes alike, China’s paramount leader, Xi Jinping, has sought to exploit the American abdication of global leadership as a chance to crown himself champion of the rules-based trading system.Given that China is ruled by an unelected Communist Party that subsidizes state-owned companies and tolerates the widespread theft of intellectual property, those claims have strained credulity.China’s reputation has also suffered as it pursues its Belt and Road Initiative, a $1 trillion collection of infrastructure projects stretching from East Asia to Europe and Africa that has been engineered to spread Beijing’s influence and generate business for Chinese companies. Some recipients of Chinese credit have come to see the terms as predatory, prompting accusations that China is an ascendant colonial power.China has dispatched doctors and ventilators to Italy while offering aid to France, Germany and Spain. Last month, as the European Union banned exports of protective gear, Serbia’s president, Aleksandar Vucic, embraced China’s largess, even kissing the Chinese flag.“European solidarity does not exist,” Mr. Vucic declared. “I believe in my brother, my friend, Xi Jinping, and I believe in help from China. The only country that can help us now is China.”Chinese factories make 80 percent of the world’s antibiotics and the building blocks for a huge range of drugs. Chinese officials have pledged to continue to make these wares available to the world. Such moves may bolster China’s standing, yet appear unlikely to pacify the Trump administration.“Certainly, it would help in projecting China’s soft power,” said Yanzhong Huang, a senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations. “But I don’t know whether this would ease concerns in the West, particularly the United States, on the need to diversify the supply of the manufacturing of active pharmaceutical ingredients.”President Trump has long obsessed over the trade deficit with China as a supposed scorecard of American victimization. But given China’s role as a dominant supplier of hospital gear and medicines, American health effectively depends on being able to buy more from Chinese factories.“Right now, the brightest shiny hope that we have is imports of this stuff,” said Mr. Bown, the trade expert. “We’d like to run the biggest trade deficit we could possibly find.”“It’s not that we are buying this stuff from China that’s made us vulnerable,” he added. “It’s that we are buying this stuff from China, and we decided to start a trade war with them.”

The Quest for Vaccines

China aims to become the first nation to crack the code for a vaccine, a milestone that could cement its status as a world superpower, resonating not unlike the United States’ putting a person on the moon.“Its importance lies in being able to display our scientific and technological prowess to other countries,” said Yang Zhanqiu, a virologist at Wuhan University, in the central Chinese city where the coronavirus first emerged.About 1,000 Chinese scientists are now engaged in creating vaccines for the virus, with nine potential versions in development, according to the government. The government is considering bypassing some phases of planned clinical trials to rush potential vaccines into emergency use as soon as this month.But one element appears in conspicuously short supply — international collaboration.In 2003, when another coronavirus, known as SARS, spread through China with deadly impact, officials from the American Centers for Disease Control and Prevention deployed to Beijing to help the government forge a containment strategy. In the years that followed, Chinese and American authorities collaborated on epidemics in Africa.But in recent years, American public health authorities have sharply diminished their presence in Beijing at the direction of the Trump administration, said Jennifer Huang Bouey, an epidemiologist and China expert at the RAND Corporation.“Given the overall sentiment that any scientific research will be helping China, the United States is really trying to reduce any collaboration with China,” said Ms. Bouey. “That really hurts global health.”“There’s a lack of trust,” said Mr. Huang at the Council on Foreign Relations. “Nationalism remains very strong among the Chinese public.”Some international collaboration is taking place. Dr. Seth Berkley, the chief executive of the Gavi Alliance, a nonprofit group started by Bill and Melinda Gates that works to get vaccines to the world’s poor, noted that one of the best Ebola vaccines was discovered by a Canadian public health lab, transferred to an American drug maker and then manufactured in Germany.“That’s how science is done, and we really ought to follow that paradigm,” he said. “Nothing illustrates the global nature of this problem better than Covid-19, which started off in Wuhan and spread to 180 countries within three months. This is a global challenge that requires a global response.”But even before a vaccine is confirmed, national governments are already seeking to lock up future supply.In Belgium, a company called Univercells is preparing to manufacture two vaccines that are under development even before clinical trials are completed, according to its co-founder, José Castillo. Univercells expects to begin production by September, with the eventual aim of making as many as 200 million doses a year at a pair of plants south of Brussels.One country — Mr. Castillo declined to disclose it — has already ordered half of the supply of vaccines that his company will initially make, a share that would decline to 10 percent as production increases.Some countries will most likely fail to secure enough vaccine. “It’s really a matter of scarcity,” Mr. Castillo said.More than overwhelming demand explains the anticipated shortfall. Though the science behind developing vaccines has advanced substantially, making them often involves labor-intensive techniques that are not designed to quickly produce billions of doses.“The bottleneck is to produce it, to make it in very large quantities,” Mr. Castillo said.The sense of urgency appears to have inspired President Trump to try to persuade a German company that is developing a possible vaccine to relocate to the United States. The company, CureVac, has denied it was approached by the United States, and said it had no plans to move.The president has other weapons. He could cite the Defense Production Act to force American companies to give the United States government priority over other buyers for potential vaccines.A little-known unit within the Department of Health and Human Services, whose mission is to protect American residents from bioterrorism and pandemics, gives grants to companies to speed their vaccine development. It also often comes with the requirement that recipients supply the government with a stockpile, said James Robinson, a vaccine manufacturing expert who sits on the scientific advisory board of the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, an international consortium dedicated to making vaccines available worldwide.That division, the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, recently gave nearly $500 million to Johnson & Johnson to help it develop a coronavirus vaccine and set up a U.S. manufacturing facility.Johnson & Johnson declined to say whether its arrangement with the government would require it to set aside vaccines for American use. It said it currently had the ability to produce as many as 300 million doses a year at its facility in the Netherlands, was preparing to manufacture a similar number in the United States, and was working with outside partners to add capacity elsewhere.“If the current administration is still in place when the vaccines are available, they are going to be really merciless in terms of privileging the U.S. for supply versus the rest of the world,” said Michel De Wilde, a vaccine research consultant, and a former executive at Sanofi, a French vaccine manufacturer.Around the world, 50 potential vaccines are now in the early stages of development, according to the W.H.O. If history is any guide, scientists will eventually produce an effective version.What is less certain is whether the benefits will be shared.“I’m worried about every country that has the potential to manufacture the vaccine,” said Dr. Richard Hatchett, the chief executive of the vaccine consortium. “They all have the ability to impose export controls. They all have the ability to nationalize their vaccine industry.”If that is what happens, the dangers proliferate.“If there are epidemics out of control in parts of the world,” said Dr. Berkley, of the Gavi Alliance, “we will never get control of this because the virus will come back and continue to spread.”Reporting was contributed by Hari Kumar, Karan Deep Singh, Kai Schultz, Javier Hernandez and Andrew Jacobs. Read the full article

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anikabdsylhet-blog · 5 years ago

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How To Save Money with THE 8 BEST TOOLS FOR FINDING COMPETITOR KEYWORDS?

So how do you honestly discover those key phrases that your competition is focused on of their paid and natural search campaigns? Here are 8 competitor key-word research gear and techniques you may use to discover competitor key phrases, so you can keep up with the Joneses (or go away them in the dust). It's time to discover which key phrases are burning your budget. Get a free account audit with our Google Ads Performance Grader today! 1. BuzzSume We’ve pointed out BuzzSumo numerous times in the beyond, and that’s due to the fact it’s notable. (And no, BuzzSumo didn’t pay me to mention that.) For content marketers, it’s pretty lots the perfect tool for aggressive evaluation, and one of BuzzSumo’s strengths is identifying capability competitors you can not have been aware of. For example, maximum digital entrepreneurs are acquainted with Moz. They produce wonderful content material, develop their personal suite of excellent gear, and also lay on a pretty first-rate annual conference, too. If you run a search engine marketing weblog or publish search engine optimization-associated content material, you almost surely already recognize that Moz is among your most fierce competition. But what about smaller, unbiased sites that are additionally doing properly? Enter BuzzSumo. In the instance search below, I entered “search engine optimization” as my initial question – an incredibly extensive-term with thousands and thousands of ability consequences. Here’s what BuzzSumo unearthed for me: Obviously, we’re not inquisitive about the top two consequences, as they each pertain to South Korean actress Park Seo Joon. But what approximately the following two outcomes? Both have been published through Mike Johnson at a domain known as get started. Net – a website I’d by no means heard of prior to conducting this search. Check out those social proportion numbers, though – more than 35,000 shares for every article! This offers us a superb the starting point for our competitive intelligence studies, but we need to go deeper. Fortunately, BuzzSumo’s aggressive evaluation gear is top-notch. We’re going to apply BuzzSumo’s Domain Comparison device to compare unique domains throughout various parameters. For the sake of example, I’ve selected to evaluate the Content Marketing Institute’s web site against Copyblogger: BuzzSumo will then provide you with a breakdown of a way to two domains evaluate to one another. There are more than a few reviews available within the Domain Comparison device, but two of the maximum exciting are the Average Shares via Content-Type and Average Shares by using Content-Length reviews: As you can see, the maximum famous content kind for each the Content Marketing Institute and Copyblogger are lists, followed intently via how-to articles. This is already proving to be valuable information, however, we will go deeper to look at which articles are being shared the most by means of length: Now we’re getting a far clearer picture of what’s operating for these publishers. As the graph above illustrates, long-shape content performs well in phrases of social shares, even at lengths of 3,000- 10,000 words. But what approximately precise content and those sweet, sweet keywords? Let’s dive into BuzzSumo’s Content Analysis tool: In the instance search above, I’ve selected to examine CMI’s internet site. First, we’re furnished with an overview of content at the area we’ve specified, which incorporates a detailed summary of that domain, together with the variety of articles analyzed, overall and common social stocks, and average stocks by way of platform and content material kind as we noticed in our area comparison query earlier: This evaluation is certainly thrilling, but it’s no longer what we’re looking for – we want to realize which individual articles have finished strongly throughout the beyond 12 months. We can see this fact by means of scrolling down beyond the dashboard precis to the Top Pieces of Content file: The pinnacle end result – 50 Best Social Media Tools From 50 Most Influential Marketers Online – is away and away the most famous article published by using CMI in the beyond 12 months with greater than 10,000 stocks, twice the percentage quantity of the second-maximum popular article. Armed with this knowledge, we will use the URL of that article in another key-word tool to look at which precise keywords CMI’s most popular article contains. Sneaky, huh? When it comes to aggressive key-word studies, BuzzSumo doesn’t offer a wonderful deal of keyword-unique facts. It has, however, given us an exquisite start line for in addition to research. 2. SEM Rush Our next competitive intelligence tool is SEM Rush, an excellent suite of key-word research gear that will let you pick out competitor key phrases quickly and easily. You can seek via key-word or URL, clear out consequences via geographical vicinity or country, specify special fit sorts for PPC keywords, and examine domain analytics facts for whole websites. Let’s say we want to retain the research we began in BuzzSumo to locate CMI’s pinnacle competitors. We can do this with the aid of choosing the “Competitors” dashboard, which may be located thru the Domain Analytics > Organic Research menu: For this instance, we’re reading CMI’s organic keywords from Google.Com data for desktop searches inside the United States. You can trade this to localized British, German, or French Google outcomes if needed, and you can also select among desktop or mobile visitors' information. Next up, I want to look at how CMI stacks up in opposition to similar publishers in phrases of their organic key phrases with regards to their organic search traffic. I can discover these records by using inspecting the graph that SEM Rush generates as part of this record. As you could see below, CMI may be very near content material advertising productivity app CoSchedule’s web site in each natural keyword quantity and organic search traffic. We can also see that there are greater than 51,000 natural key phrases throughout the CMI website, as well as traffic facts and the anticipated price of attracting that site visitors: This fact is actually beneficial, but I need extra – specifically, how CMI’s competitors rank for their keywords. This fact can be determined beneath the reports above, inside the Organic Competitors file: This is where matters get really interesting. As the table above suggests, CMI’s pinnacle organic competitor is Curata. If we observe the traffic/key-word assessment graph above, Curata seems to be of little hazard to CMI; it ranks lower for each volume of organic key phrases and organic search traffic, but it’s listed as the pinnacle organic competitor inside the above table. Why? Because SEM Rush doesn’t just factor in organic keywords and organic seek traffic – it additionally factors in what number of keywords a competitor’s web page has in not unusual with yours, as well as the variety of paid key phrases on the site (in Curata’s case, simply one), in addition to the traffic price, the estimated cost of those key phrases in Google AdWords. We also can see that Curata has about 15,300 seek engine keywords on its web page. What if we want to peer what those key phrases are? All we ought to do is click at the data we want to examine: That’s more like it! With only some clicks, we will now see a wealth of aggressive key-word facts for Curata, which include the keywords themselves, their common organic position in the SERP, approximate seek quantity, the key-word’s difficulty (how tough it will be to rank for that unique key-word), average CPC, the share of visitors driven to the website by means of a selected key-word (displayed as a percentage), as well as costs, competitive density, extent of results, trend facts over time, and an example SERP. Incredible. 3. SpyFu SpyFu is another famous competitive intelligence tool that can help you locate competitor key phrases. Unlike comparable tools, however, SpyFu is a tool committed entirely to aggressive intelligence studies. An overview of the area dashboard within SpyFu It’s surely quite notable how a lot of statistics SpyFu can offer, even for primary or cursory searches. Data on the whole thing from local and global monthly search extent, CTR, ad spend, advertisement history, ranking history, backlinks, and ad companies are ready to be had, imparting useful perception into your competitors’ keyword strategies. Let’s hold our studies by way of deciding on “Competition” from the menu to the left of our area review as seen above. This brings us to a novel and really cool characteristic of SpyFu known as Kombat, which permits you to pit Keyword studies are the foundation upon which all top search advertising and marketing campaigns are built. Targeting relevant, high- intent keywords, structuring campaigns into logical, applicable advert groups, and disposing of wasteful negative keywords are all steps advertisers must take to build strong PPC campaigns. You also want to do keyword studies to tell your content material advertising efforts and force natural visitors. Sometimes, though, you actually need to discern out what your competitors are up to. What key phrases are my competitors using? Competitive key-word evaluation is one in all the only approaches to compete in a crowded space and gain a critical benefit over other groups for your industry. Read more

#best tolls #keyword seo seo2020

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fullspectrum-cbd-oil · 5 years ago

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Pentagon’s Esper Says It Is Crucial South Korea Pays More for U.S. Troops

U.S. Secretary of Defense Mark Esper pressed South Korea on Friday to pay more for the cost of stationing U.S. troops in the country and to maintain an intelligence-sharing pact with its other Asian ally, Japan, that Seoul is about to let lapse.

Speaking after a high-level defense policy meeting with his South Korean counterpart, Jeong Kyeong-doo, Esper also said the two countries have to be flexible with their joint military drills to support diplomatic efforts to end North Korea’s nuclear program.

But he stopped short of announcing any new reduction in exercises that North Korea has sharply condemned.

North Korea said on Thursday it had turned down a U.S. offer for new talks ahead of a year-end deadline Pyongyang has set for Washington to show more flexibility in negotiations.

As uncertainty hangs over the troubled peace push, the United States and South Korea are simultaneously scrambling to clinch an agreement in the coming weeks to cover next year’s costs of maintaining a 28,500-strong U.S. military presence aimed at deterring North Korea.

South Korea, Esper said, “is a wealthy country and could and should pay more” for the U.S. military deployment.

“It is crucial that we conclude the (defense pact) … with increased burden sharing by the Republic of Korea before the end of the year,” Esper told a news conference.

Jeong said he and Esper shared the view that the cost-sharing pact being negotiated should be fair and mutually agreeable, but it was unclear if they shared any sense of what a fair amount might be.

A South Korean lawmaker said last week that U.S. officials demanded up to $5 billion a year, more than five times what Seoul agreed to pay this year under a one-year deal.

NORTH KOREA: US SEEKING TO “PLUNDER” OTHERS

U.S. President Donald Trump has rattled South Korea with his insistence it take on a greater contribution for the deterrence against North Korea.

A survey by the government-affiliated Korea Institute for National Unification released last week showed 96% of South Koreans were against paying more for the U.S. military presence.

North Korea said in a commentary from state media KCNA on Friday that the U.S. demand for a greater South Korean contribution to defense costs was an “attempt to plunder others” and strengthen its military dominance in the region.

The South Korean foreign ministry announced another round of defense cost talks would be held on Nov. 18-19 in Seoul.

After his talks with Jeong, Esper warned that South Korea’s decision to end an intelligence-sharing pact with Japan, called GSOMIA, would impact military readiness – presumably by slowing the ability of the U.S. allies to directly share information about North Korean military activity.

“The only ones who benefit from expiration of GSOMIA and continued friction between Seoul and Tokyo are Pyongyang and Beijing,” Esper said.

Jeong said both South Korea and Japan would make efforts to narrow differences before the pact expires on Nov. 23. But there was no sign of an imminent breakthrough.

Relations between the neighbors plunged after South Korea’s top court last year ordered Japanese firms to compensate some wartime forced laborers. Japan restricted exports of key industrial materials to South Korea in July.

(Reporting by Phil Stewart, Joyce Lee and Hyonhee Shin; Editing by Lincoln Feast, Robert Birsel.)

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bountyofbeads · 5 years ago

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In New Talks, U.S. May Settle for Nuclear Freeze by North Korea https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/30/world/asia/trump-kim-north-korea-negotiations.html

Bolton pushes back on North Korea negotiations report: "A reprehensible attempt by someone to box in the president" https://t.co/yO1T4VDHtW

You couldn’t make it up. John Bolton was sent to Mongolia while Tucker Carlson was one of those accompanying Trump to the DMZ.

Remember that Bolton, who said last month that recent North Korean weapons tests violated UN Security Council resolutions, was not at the DMZ for Trump’s sit down with Kim. He was on his way to Mongolia.

In New Talks, U.S. May Settle for a Nuclear Freeze by North Korea

By Michael Crowley and David E. Sanger | Published June 30, 2019 | New York Times | Posted July 1, 2019 |

SEOUL, South Korea — From a seemingly fanciful tweet to a historic step into North Korean territory, President Trump’s largely improvised third meeting on Sunday with Kim Jong-un, the North Korean leader, was a masterpiece of drama, the kind of made-for-TV spectacle that Mr. Trump treasures.

But for weeks before the meeting, which started as a Twitter offer by the president for Mr. Kim to drop by at the Demilitarized Zone and “say hello,” a real idea has been taking shape inside the Trump administration that officials hope might create a foundation for a new round of negotiations.

The concept would amount to a nuclear freeze, one that essentially enshrines the status quo, and tacitly accepts the North as a nuclear power, something administration officials have often said they would never stand for.

It falls far short of Mr. Trump’s initial vow 30 months ago to solve the North Korea nuclear problem, but it might provide him with a retort to campaign-season critics who say the North Korean dictator has been playing the American president brilliantly by giving him the visuals he craves while holding back on real concessions.

While the approach could stop that arsenal from growing, it would not, at least in the near future, dismantle any existing weapons, variously estimated at 20 to 60. Nor would it limit the North’s missile capability.

The administration still insists in public and in private that its goals remain full denuclearization. But recognizing that its maximalist demand for the near-term surrender of Mr. Kim’s cherished nuclear program is going nowhere, it is weighing a new approach that would begin with a significant — but limited — first step.

American negotiators would seek to expand on Mr. Kim’s offer in Hanoi in February to give up the country’s main nuclear-fuel production site, at Yongbyon, in return for the most onerous sanctions against the country being lifted. Mr. Trump, under pressure from his secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, and his national security adviser, John R. Bolton, rejected that proposal, because so much of the North’s capability now lies outside the vast Yongbyon complex.

The idea now is to get Mr. Kim’s new negotiating team to agree to expand the definition of the Yongbyon site well beyond its physical boundaries. If successful — and there are many obstacles, including the North accepting intrusive, perhaps invasive inspections — it would effectively amount to a nuclear freeze that keeps North Korea from making new nuclear material.

But a senior United States official involved in North Korean policy said there was no way to know if North Korea would agree to this. In the past, he said, its negotiators have insisted that only Mr. Kim himself could define what dismantling Yongbyon meant.

To make any deal work, the North would have to agree to include many facilities around the country, among them a covert site called Kangson, which is outside Yongbyon and is where American and South Korean intelligence agencies believe the country is still producing uranium fuel.

A president embarking on a re-election campaign — and who complained repeatedly on Sunday that he receives no credit from the media for de-escalating tensions with North Korea and for the freeze on underground nuclear tests and test-launches of intercontinental ballistic missiles — would most likely cast this as a victory, as another restraint on Mr. Kim. It would help Mr. Trump argue that he is making progress, albeit slowly, on one of the world’s most intractable crises.

And it would be progress after three face-to-face meetings — first in Singapore a little more than a year ago, then in Hanoi, then in an hourlong discussion at the DMZ on Sunday — that have produced warm exchanges but no shared definitions of what it meant to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula. A year after that first meeting, the North has yet to turn over an inventory of what it possesses, claiming that would give the United States a map of military targets.

On Sunday evening, the State Department’s envoy to North Korea, Stephen E. Biegun, said that this account of the ideas being generated in the administration was “pure speculation” and that his team was “not preparing any new proposal currently.”

“What is accurate is not new, and what is new is not accurate,” he said.

Presumably, Mr. Trump’s freeze would have to be a permanent one, or he will have gotten less from Mr. Kim than President Barack Obama got from Iran in a deal Mr. Trump dismissed as “disastrous.” And even a successful freeze would constitute a major retreat from the goal of the “rapid denuclearization of North Korea, to be completed by January 2021,” as Mr. Pompeo put it last fall.

But it does have the benefit of being vastly more achievable.

More than two years ago, on his first trip to Seoul, Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson rejected a similar idea. He said it would “leave North Korea with significant capabilities that would represent a true threat, not just to the region, but to American forces, as well.”

But Mr. Trump, who prizes his personal relationship with Mr. Kim, would most likely argue that a freeze was groundbreaking. (He has also described Mr. Tillerson, who he dismissed early in 2018, as “dumb as a rock” so he would most likely not be limited by his past declarations.)

In fact, this approach has been attempted before: It bears strong similarities to the nuclear freeze President Bill Clinton negotiated with Mr. Kim’s father in 1994. But that was a dozen years before the North’s first nuclear test, and before it possessed either nuclear weapons or the capability to deliver them.

Mr. Clinton’s deal held for five or six years, until it became obvious the North was cheating by seeking a new approach to the bomb — uranium enrichment. The North broke out of it in 2003. George W. Bush negotiated a partial freeze at Yongbyon in 2007; it too fell apart.

The approach raises the larger question of whether Mr. Trump really cares about striking a tough denuclearization deal, or whether, as many critics charge, he is mainly interested in the illusion of progress to present himself to voters as a peacemaker.

“The president constantly takes credit for the fact that the prospect of war has receded,” said Richard Haass, the president of the Council on Foreign Relations, who was involved in the Bush administration’s confrontations with the North. “But it went up not because North Korea was doing anything differently, but because the administration was threatening war. And it went down not because the threat had lessened, but because the administration seemed content with the chimera of denuclearization.”

Mr. Trump’s more limited expectations may, however, mesh perfectly with Mr. Kim’s plans. While Mr. Kim is eager to shed all the economic sanctions on his country, some North Korea analysts believe he would happily accept only partial sanctions relief along with lowered expectations that he might actually surrender his arsenal.

“I do think Kim could offer just enough on the negotiating table, such as the Yongbyon nuclear facility plus yet another suspected nuclear facility, in order to secure an interim deal with Trump and at least some sanctions relief,” said Sue Mi Terry, who served at the C.I.A. and the National Security Council under Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama.

Mr. Kim “may calculate that this is still not a bad deal because it would allow the North to keep its nuclear and missile arsenal — and it would give Trump an opportunity to claim he had achieved something none of his predecessors had,” Ms. Terry said.

At the core of Mr. Trump’s argument is that his friendship with Mr. Kim alone constitutes diplomatic success; on Sunday, the president asserted that the “tremendous danger” from North Korea he inherited when he took office has passed. “We’re a lot safer today,” Mr. Trump said before a meeting with South Korea’s president, Moon Jae-in.

Adam Mount, a senior fellow at the Federation of American Scientists, said, “Several times he spoke as if friendship with Kim Jong-un is an end in itself.”

Mr. Trump may once have warned of “fire and fury” if Mr. Kim failed to surrender his weapons, but he “now embraces that these meetings aren’t about getting to denuclearization but instead having a good one-to-one relationship with Kim Jong-un,” said Van Jackson, a former senior country director for Korea at the Department of Defense during the Obama administration

“That’s legitimation of a nuclear state,” Mr. Jackson said.

If so, the outline of the next year or so of negotiations may be taking shape: A series of on-and-off negotiations that creep forward, punctuated by feel-good presidential meetings like Sunday’s, while the world grows use to an arsenal of North Korean weapons the way it grew accustomed to Pakistan’s, or India’s or Israel’s.

“Despite all the reality show-like optics of the Singapore and Hanoi summits and this meeting today, what substantive progress have we made in denuclearization?” asked Yun Duk-min, a former chancellor of the Korea National Diplomatic Academy who now teaches at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies in Seoul. “Not a single nuclear warhead or missile in North Korea has been eliminated. The North’s nuclear facilities are still in operation.”

On Sunday, Mr. Trump was ushered into the Demilitarized Zone by President Moon of South Korea — who then sat outside while Mr. Trump and Mr. Kim met. It was a stunning bit of symbolism for those who argue the South has been sidelined in these talks.

Despite the imagery, Mr. Moon’s government sounded optimistic, at least officially.

“Through their meeting today, the South and North Korean leaders and the American leader made history,” Yoon Do-han, Mr. Moon’s chief presidential press secretary, said in a statement following the border meeting.

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michaelfallcon · 5 years ago

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World Barista Champion Coach Federico Bolanos: The Sprudge Interview

Contrary to how it may appear, barista competitions are a team sport. While the competitor is the only person to take the stage for that fateful 15 minutes, they do so representing not just themselves but often a group of people that helped shape their run; baristas are, in short, the tip of the spear.

Even in the niche world of coffee competition, one that creates very big fish in a small, somewhat obscure pond, coaches remain relatively unknown. Save for a handful of World Barista Championship winners like Hidenori Izaki, Sasa Sestic, and Pete Licata, who made names for themselves on the grandest of coffee stages and used that momentum to kickstart a successful post-WBC career, coffee competition coaches are not household names.

Coffee competition coaching is a fairly esoteric gig, and most non-competitors have no idea what coaches do. Sure, we know they “help make the routine” and maybe they help decipher the day-of-competition flavor calls, but beyond that, it’s all just a black box, especially at the World stage of competition, where the stakes are higher and the demand for a new, noteworthy routine is paramount. A competitor goes in, bursting with talent and potential, and comes out the other side a more complete package, hopefully a champion. That’s pretty much the beginning and end of the rest of the world’s knowledge of coaching.

If there is anyone who does know, though, it’s Federico Bolanos. His may not be a household name (even among coffee obsessives), but Bolanos is one of the most prolific coffee coaches in the history of the World Barista Championship. His resume includes five Semi-Finalists, none more notable than Costa Rica’s Maria Elena Rivera in 2019, who placed 13th without “exotic auction coffees, an experimental processing method, rocket science, or a revolutionary technology,” as she stated in her routine, itself an impressive feat. Bolanos has also coached two Champions: the 2011 Champion from El Salvador Alejandro Mendez—the first winner (of two total) from a producing country—and Jooyeon Joon, the 2019 Champion from South Korea, whose routine was one of the most memorable in competition history.

Who better to ask about the world of barista coaching than the person a little over a month removed from a wildly successful season behind the scenes? Sprudge has previously interviewed Bolanos about his pioneering work in Salvadoran cafe culture as the founder of Viva Espresso, but when we speak with him this time, it’s all about competition, the life of a coach, what he looks for in a trainee, and everything in between.

Federico Bolanos and 2019 World Barista Champion Jooyeon Jeon.

This interview has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.

For those of us who have never experienced that side of competition, can you give us an introduction into what a Barista Competition coach does?

I can’t speak for other coaches, but I help baristas in all aspects of their preparation for a championship. I structure a tailored training program for the needs of a barista and the available time frame. A complete training program includes: sourcing and coffee selection, presentation concept/theme ideas, signature drink creation, finding the best brewing parameters, developing roast profiles, technical skills, presentation action steps, speech development and refinement, reference material/accessory design, and competition coaching and support during competition week.

Can you give examples of these things in action and how you help coach them?

I help competition baristas improve their technical skills by perfecting their movements and making them work more efficiently, purposely, and consistently. With regards to presentation action steps, I help them structure their actions and decide on the strategy of what should be achieved, when it should be done, and how it should be performed.

I also help competitor write and refine their speech. This is usually a three-step process. The first step is a sort of “pre-speech”, which involves deciding what should be talked about and when it should be said. The second step is writing the speech itself, which involves the how it should be said. And the third step is refining and improving the speech.

How did you get into coaching?

Everything began after attending my first SCAA Coffee Expo in 2006. I was working at an exhibitor booth when I heard a loud crowd cheering across the expo floor. I asked someone what was going on and the guy responded that it was the national barista competition. I had never heard of or seen a barista competition in my life, so I decided to go and check it out. I still remember like it was yesterday, the moment I walked up to the comp area and saw a barista making her presentation… I felt an amazing energy coming from the people on the stands cheering and watching attentively every move and word of the barista. I immediately knew this was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life and right then and there I had a dream: to win the World Barista Championship!

Everyone I told this dream to said I was crazy or that it was near impossible to achieve. This didn’t discourage me… it actually had the opposite effect, it made me more passionate to pursue this dream. So, next year I was a sensory judge at the US Barista Championship, and with that experience I returned home full of answers and highly motivated to keep following my dream. The following year, El Salvador was going to organize its first ever barista championship. So, I immediately began training myself and my wife to compete. My wife won first place and I finished in fourth. This is how I found out I was better at guiding others than performing.

You have coached people from all over the world. How do these relationships come to be? How do you decide who you want to work with? What are you looking for in a potential trainee?

In most cases, the company where the barista works contacts me by email or thru social media (Instagram: @federicobp). We then get in touch and organize a video call.

There are many things I take into consideration before deciding who to work with. I like to work with baristas that compete for a higher purpose and greater good, not personal benefit, fame, or glory. I also like to work with companies that understand that great results are not overnight miracles; they take time and are the result of a long process.

The most important trait I look for in a trainee is a good-hearted person with an academic and scholarly approach to coffee. I also seek and value modesty, passion, drive, intelligence, and a good working ethic.

Is this how your relationship with Jooyeon Jeon began?

I met JooYeon’s boss, Hyunki, in 2013 during his coffee sourcing trip to El Salvador. He then got in touch with me and I agreed to prepare her for the South Korean Barista Championship. A few months later, we began training together. Since the moment I met her, I knew she was someone really special… someone that was made from the stuff champions are made, someone with huge potential and that had everything I look for in a trainee. So, since the very beginning of our journey together I told her I believed she could become a World Barista Champion.

What does coaching international competitors look like? Is it all mostly digital or do you spend time in person as well?

The training is in person. I always travel to do the trainings at the barista’s company facilities, except for the sourcing and coffee selection process, which requires traveling to coffee-producing countries. The duration of the training varies from barista to barista, since each one chooses the length of the training time. A training can last anywhere from one week to several months. More time means better results, which is why I recommend four to five training sessions a week, leaving two to four weeks between each session. Between sessions, I leave the barista with “homework” and follow up their progress digitally until the next training session.

How are routines and themes decided? Do competitors normally have the idea and you help shape it or do you have a more active role in figuring these things out?

It depends. If the barista already has a presentation concept/theme, I always make an assessment to determine if it has potential. If it doesn’t, I give them other ideas and if it does, I help them shape it and develop it. Up to this point, I have never worked with a barista who doesn’t need help in this area of their presentation.

Photo for Sprudge by Charlie Burt.

Jooyeon Jeon’s routine is truly the most memorable one I have ever experienced. Walk us through it from her coach’s perspective.

To me, form is just as important as substance. We created a concept with an in-depth scientific content (substance). So, we balanced this by developing a friendly delivery (form) that would lighten the presentation to make it more enjoyable and fun to experience.

We wanted to change the “you” (judges) and “me” (competitor) setting to a “we” (friends) environment. So, right from the beginning, the judges were asked to stand inside JooYeon’s space, instead of outside with a table separating them. This would make them feel intrigued for what would follow next. Judges were then asked to sit on the table where they could be relaxed, feel closer to JooYeon, and enjoy her coffee as friends. This playful and casual setting would surely increase their expectation and create the perfect atmosphere to introduce the concept/theme of the presentation.

While preparing her signature drink espressos, she spoke about the coffee’s origin with a focus on how carbohydrates developed at the production/farm stage and the impact it would have in the cup. During the milk bev preparation, the speech was about how she achieved a higher concentration of carbohydrates by freezing and melting the milk, plus talking about how carbohydrates were affected during the processing and drying stages and their influence in this would have on the cup. Following came the espresso course, so the focus was to talk about how her coffee was roasted and again on its effect on carbohydrates of green coffee and the connection to the taste they would enjoy.

Next up came the sig drink. Judges were invited to move to the edge of the other presentation table (standing up this time) where the sig drink would be prepared, explained, and served. Again, the focus of the drink was carbohydrates to continue reinforcing the connection with concept/theme and its importance. I’m particularly proud of the sig drink we created because it had perfect synergy with her coffee: it reincorporated the carbohydrates her coffee lost during roasting, plus it revealed the polysaccharide sweetness from her coffee’s espresso puck that had never been extracted ever before. We wanted her presentation to finish with a climax, so I thought it would be a great idea to ask judges to raise their glasses and celebrate her coffee and the whole experience with a toast!

Photo for Sprudge by Charlie Burt.

Jooyeon’s routine had the judges constantly in motion: first standing before her during the intro, then sitting on the bar, then moving around another bar. It really took advantage of the customizable stage setups. What was the thinking behind keeping the judges active in that way?

We wanted to keep the judges engaged. Sitting down on the tables was different, casual, and fun, but moving them to a different space would add another layer of engagement and excitement to the presentation.

Of all the routines you helped coach that didn’t win, which one is the most memorable?

I would have to say the presentation of William Hernandez in 2013 that helped us finish in 3rd place. It stands out because it was focused on the aromatics of coffee how it complemented the sensory experience. The espressos were served in a wine glass that had been placed upside down over the espresso and then over the ground coffee used to brew them to capture both the aroma and the fragrance. Judges were led on the tasting of the espressos sip by sip to really enjoy its complexity and structure. The signature drink was created making the aromas a key component of the beverage. I also loved that the presentation was full of wonderful moments and details, like the playful and fun way of explaining the new processing method applied to the coffee… many people still remember the happy-faced sun used to visually represent the sun drying.

If you can give one piece of advice to someone who has competed in the past but is having trouble making that next step, what would it be?

I would recommend to keep going and keep learning. Most of the time what separates a world champion from the other competitors is that the champion failed more times than the other competitor has even competed.

Thank you Federico!

Zac Cadwalader is the managing editor at Sprudge Media Network and a staff writer based in Dallas. Read more Zac Cadwalader on Sprudge.

All images courtesy of Federico Bolanos unless otherwise noted.

The post World Barista Champion Coach Federico Bolanos: The Sprudge Interview appeared first on Sprudge.

World Barista Champion Coach Federico Bolanos: The Sprudge Interview published first on https://medium.com/@LinLinCoffee

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shebreathesslowly · 5 years ago

Text

World Barista Champion Coach Federico Bolanos: The Sprudge Interview

Federico Bolanos and 2019 World Barista Champion Jooyeon Jeon.

This interview has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.

For those of us who have never experienced that side of competition, can you give us an introduction into what a Barista Competition coach does?

Can you give examples of these things in action and how you help coach them?

How did you get into coaching?

You have coached people from all over the world. How do these relationships come to be? How do you decide who you want to work with? What are you looking for in a potential trainee?

In most cases, the company where the barista works contacts me by email or thru social media (Instagram: @federicobp). We then get in touch and organize a video call.

Is this how your relationship with Jooyeon Jeon began?

What does coaching international competitors look like? Is it all mostly digital or do you spend time in person as well?

How are routines and themes decided? Do competitors normally have the idea and you help shape it or do you have a more active role in figuring these things out?

Photo for Sprudge by Charlie Burt.

Jooyeon Jeon’s routine is truly the most memorable one I have ever experienced. Walk us through it from her coach’s perspective.

Photo for Sprudge by Charlie Burt.

Of all the routines you helped coach that didn’t win, which one is the most memorable?

If you can give one piece of advice to someone who has competed in the past but is having trouble making that next step, what would it be?

Thank you Federico!

Zac Cadwalader is the managing editor at Sprudge Media Network and a staff writer based in Dallas. Read more Zac Cadwalader on Sprudge.

All images courtesy of Federico Bolanos unless otherwise noted.

The post World Barista Champion Coach Federico Bolanos: The Sprudge Interview appeared first on Sprudge.

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chestnutpost · 6 years ago

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US commander warns of 'little to no verifiable change' in North Korea's military capabilities

“I remain clear-eyed about the fact that, despite a reduction in tensions along the DMZ and a cessation of strategic provocations coupled with public statements of intent to denuclearize, little to no verifiable change has occurred in North Korea’s military capabilities,” Gen. Robert Abrams, commander of US Forces Korea, said during a hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Abrams said North Korea’s “conventional and asymmetric capabilities” continue to put the US, South Korea and allies at risk, making it is necessary for the US military to “maintain a postured and ready force to deter any possible aggressive actions.”

That assessment comes as Trump is under pressure to demonstrate progress in his diplomatic opening with Pyongyang ahead of his second summit with Kim scheduled for February 27 and 28 in Vietnam.

Despite saying after his first meeting with Kim last June that the nuclear threat from North Korea had been eliminated, the regime is continuing to develop its nuclear program.

In an effort to move towards its stated goal of complete, verifiable, irreversible denuclearization, US negotiators have asked North Korea for a list of the nuclear scientists working on their weapons programs, a source familiar with the talks told CNN Tuesday, adding that the US intelligence community knows more about North Korea’s nuclear program than it does about its scientists.

The request was first reported by South Korean media.

The US wants to monitor the scientists because they believe they could potentially hide materials.

Some experts suggest that should the denuclearization process begin, the international community should pay the scientists to dismantle the program they helped to build to stop them being hired by countries like Iran or Syria to work on their missile programs.

Still a threat

While the US and South Korea suspended several large joint military drills as part of an effort to ease tensions with Pyongyang following the first Trump-Kim summit, Abrams told lawmakers that he has seen no significant changes in North Korea’s own exercises.

“For instance, we are watching the ongoing Korean People’s Army winter training cycle, including a slate of full spectrum exercises which is progressing along at historic norms, meaning that we have observed no significant changes to size, scope or timing of their ongoing exercises compared to the same time period over the last four years,” he said.

Abrams warned that North Korea remains a potent military threat despite the regime’s recent shift in tone toward the US and a lack of missile and nuclear tests in recent months.

“The only observable change has been a reduction in the attention and bellicosity the regime layers onto its military activities. Since the end of 2017, Pyongyang has reduced its hostile rhetoric and halted media coverage of Kim Jong Un attending capstone events such as large-scale, live-fire training or special operations raids on mock-up aliance targets. It is, however, too soon to conclude that a lower profile is indicative of lesser risk,” his opening statement for the committee said.

Those comments come after Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats testified last month that North Korea “will seek to retain its WMD capabilities and is unlikely to completely give up its nuclear weapons and production capability because its leaders ultimately view nuclear weapons as critical to regime survival.”

Coats told Senate lawmakers that the intelligence community’s “assessment is bolstered by observation of some activity that is inconsistent with full denuclearization.” His CIA counterpart, director Gina Haspel, said Pyongyang “is committed to developing a long-range nuclear-armed missile that would pose a direct threat to the United States.”

On Monday, scientists at Stanford University released a new report which estimates that North Korea has increased its arsenal of nuclear weapons from 30 to 37 since last year.

The study notes that the current threat posed by these weapons is less than it was last year due to North Korea’s halt on testing but indicates that assessment would change should those activities start again.

‘Palpable’ reduction of tensions

Abrams also injected some cautious optimism into his testimony Tuesday, touting the “palpable” reduction of tension on the Korean Peninsula. He also highlighted the announcement of a second summit between Trump and Kim as a positive sign.

“If you have not been on the peninsula in a while, along the DMZ there has been significant reduction that has enabled nascent confidence building measures … its decreased the chance of mistakes, miscalculation, and its continued to preserve space for the main effort, the Department of State to continue along this road of negotiations and discussion with the DPRK,” Abrams said.

“I think, my personal opinion is the announcement of a second summit between President Trump and the Supreme Leader Kim is a positive sign of continued dialog because it certainly beats the alternative of what we were living with in 2017,” he added.

During his testimony last month, Coats also acknowledged that North Korea seems to have halted, for now, its missile and nuclear tests, a development Trump has touted as evidence of successful diplomacy.

In that same hearing, Haspel indicated that Kim does “value dialogue” with the United States, and the US sees “indications” that he is “trying to navigate a path for some kind of better future” for the North Korean people.

Trump has sought to emphasize the economic benefits of denuclearization since his last summit with the North Korean leader, but with their next meeting nearing, some in the administration worried Trump could raise the future of US troops in South Korea as another incentive to prod Kim along.

The President has long publicly lamented the cost of stationing US troops around the world and has privately pressed his advisers about the possibility of withdrawing US forces from the country.

While Trump insisted earlier this month that he has “no plans” to withdraw US troops from South Korea, it was clear Tuesday that several Senate lawmakers remain concerned about that possibility despite the Pentagon’s announcement that Washington and Seoul have reached an agreement over the costs of US troops stationed on the Peninsula.

Pressed repeatedly on the strategic implications of such a move, Abrams consistently reaffirmed the need for US troops to remain on the Peninsula but also highlighted the need for balance when it comes to ensuring military readiness of the forces stationed there and avoiding escalation.

“We must continuously strike a balance between the clear need to train and exercise military capability and the requirement to create space for and support strategic diplomacy,” he said.

Diplomacy in the works

The special Representative to North Korea, Steve Biegun, recently spent a few days in Pyongyang with his counterparts to work out the basic logistics for the upcoming summit in Vietnam, namely date and location.

This was his first solo trip to North Korea since taking over the post more than five months ago.

Despite solidifying a date and location for the second summit, all indications suggest that there is still a long way to go on the working level discussions between the two countries.

The White House is not yet saying what it hopes to accomplish during the second meeting between Trump and Kim.

Biegun and his counterparts have agreed to meet for another round of working-level talks ahead of the Hanoi summit.

CNN’s Jamie Crawford contributed to this report.

The post US commander warns of 'little to no verifiable change' in North Korea's military capabilities appeared first on The Chestnut Post.

from The Chestnut Post https://www.thechestnutpost.com/news/us-commander-warns-of-039little-to-no-verifiable-change039-in-north-korea039s-military-capabilities/

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topbeautifulwomens · 6 years ago

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One particular could unable to locate in which Manipur lies! Intellectuals include been even overwhelmed on several instances on where concerning this state is as a international nation. Their assumptions seem a desire come true toworking day! The youths and teens are design cognisant and that also not Indian clothes, but foreign life-designs. The business of fashion in Manipur is a lot more sophisticated than other towns of India, leaving people metropolitans.

Manipur is an excessiveordinary place, entire of charm, cosmetic and imagination. It lies in the North-Jap region of Indian Sub-continent, in between 2three.5 oN-twenty five.3 oN Latitude and ninety three.four oE-ninety five.3 oE Longitudes, bbuying Myanmar in the east, Nagaland state in the north, Assam and Mizoram in the west. Encircled by 9 hill amounts, Manipur is marked out by a picturesque valley in the midst. The total area of Manipur is 22,32seven sq. km. Out of this entirely 2,238 sq. Km are valley whilst the left elements are covered with hilly tracts.

Manipur, a tiny state which lies on a melting pot of lifestyle is considered one of the entire world’s beauty spots. The Rasa Lila, a classical dance of Manipur is world well-known for its gentleness and serenity. Modern day polo was very first performed here as royal sport. As a result, the world credited the state as the residence for polo recreation.

Exactly where of surpassing attractivenesss incorporate superb panorama of evergreen hill ranges, the soil of Khongjom moist with sacred blood of martyrs, the first struggle of Anglo-Manipur war of 1891 at Kangla, the erstwhile money of Manipur Kingdom. The Loktak lake-the premier freshwater lake in the North East, natural habitat of Brow-antlered deer at the Keibul Lamjao Countrywide Park-the only floating National Park in the world, the I.N.A. Memorial at Moirang where the first tricolour flag of Indian Freedom was hoisted by Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, the Siroi Lily located only on the Siroi Hills, the symmertical two 2nd Entire world War cemeteries, beautiful handloom and handicraft items of world fame.

Manipur is famous for the ‘Ema Keithel’ – women’s marketplace at Khwairamband bazaar- the only and the largest market in the world operate by women, the gaged-domed Shri Govindajee Temple, the Saheed Minar, the Khonghampat Orchid Garden, the Tharon Cave at Tamenglong, the Kholdhui Cave at Ukhrul, the Kangla Park and the Moat surrounding the old historic palace of the Maharajas of ore-British season.

Manipur just isn’t only the gateway to the North Eastern region but also a exciting location for discerning travelers. Legends say that the discovery of Manipur is the influence of the pleasure the Gods took in dancing. It is this remarkable bid that provides Manipur a distinct identification of her own. Bsignificantly lessed with a salubrious local climate, famous for its distinctive cultural trend and its evergreen scenic beauty, stretch the tourists a cordial invitation to visit Manipur.

The retailers and malls located here are flooded with foreign goods. Towards trousers, shirts to footwear and even caps – all are significantly stylish with outstanding top quality. Many thanks to various motives – distant spots, border area, indefinite blockades and of training course, the tension from revolutionaries.

Two main buying malls are very common in Manipur. Gambhir Singh Buying Arcade was set on July seventeen, 1998. The mall is a four-storey establishing with distinct plot sized shops. Not like Mumbai and Delhi, it really is not own by one proprietor or retail expert. Every single shop owner is the owner of his own shops or plots. The first floor has close to 25 shops with a vast area of 28 sq.} metres each and every. Cost smart, each shop has retail benefit of Rs 7-ten lakhs. Second floor housed around sixty scaled-down shops with an area of 12 square metres. The top floor housed several divisions and a cable operator, ISTV which is the sole cable channel in Manipur.

The minute floor shops are rented for Rs 7fifty -one thousand per month. Aside from apparel and lifestyle cloths, there are beauty saloon, cosmetics and cafes inside the Gambhir Singh Shopping Arcade. The name ‘Gambhir Singh’ is focused to the amazing kings of Manipur Kingdom who free of billed its folks from the clutches of Burmese (existing day Myanmar) invasion. Thus, people here used to say, the shopping mall freed from normal and orthodox existence. Ever because the mall came, teenagers and youths here are fashion acutely aware and they could contend with any types and actors from Bollywood.

The other shopping mall is Leima Shopping Plaza at Governor Street, guiding the Polo Floor. The phrase ‘Leima’ refers to ‘revered girl’ in local language. Undoubtedly, the plaza is intended for women in all round. It has around 35 shops and other individuals are in the final stage to be open up for the community. The Leima shopping Plaza was earlier a substantial online video theatre with modern day Dolby program and other modern centers, referred to as ‘Pals Mini’. Hollywood box office grosser like ‘The World is Not Ample’ and Bollywood superhit ‘Hum Aap ke Hai Kaun’ have been the previous videos the Manipur cinemagoers could keep in mind. Yet because of to the revolutionaries ban on Hindi films in the state since last 4-512 monthss, people finish observing cinemas. The homeowners of the theatre experienced then transformed it into the current plaza. Such as the previous shopping mall, it is the hunting floor for the foreign fashion.

As soon as a teenager wears foreign outfits, in a natural way the seems have to be transformed to suit with his gownes. For this, several saloons and parlour exists inside the plaza. One might wonder how this fashion traits commences in this small state. Achieving Manipur is not one’s cup of tea. It accepts nearly 3 times from Delhi by rail till Guwahati, then one more night time trip by bus. Reaching Imphal by airline could cost weighty expenditure, around Rs.12,000-Rs.fifteen,000 per individual. Absence of conversation and mistaken touch with other part of the region is hampering the Indian fashion to attain the thoughts of Manipuris youth being here. And after films and other supply of Hindi serials have been forbidden from the youth’s life, where do they obtain enthusiasm of newest fashions?

Though bans from viewing Hindi and its movies, these youths crave to imitate Indian models and actresses. They really like to be like the King Khans and the quite priety Zinta! Furthermore, recent renaissance of Manipuri films has paved the way for fashions to revive yet again. Nowadays virtually two films are designed every month and the quality and the customs of these kinds of miniature attempts are the greatest in entire North East India. Large gamers like Assam couldn’t match the quality, fashion and customs that are revealed in Manipur cinema, though mega and super malls which includes the Hub, Sohum and the Vishal Malls are located in Guwahati. Audience frequency are meanly for business and shopping needs only. Unlike the massive malls in other cities of the country the two malls at Imphal have a optimum conversion share of business volume, nearly seventy nine%.

Credits are given to the small city fashion designers who return back again to Imphal from metro cities to experiment. The profitable trends of organising beauty pageants and fashion show since last a long time have welcomed the fashion to mingle with the Manipuri youths. They observe the MTV Asia and other foreign channels like Koreans, Japanese, Arirang and other South Asian media to imitate their latest fashions. What is actually refreshing to Indian fashion trends is outdated one for these fashion aware youths. Illustrations can be cited from Manipuri youths staying in various states of India. One could very easily notice that the dress they wear and the fashions they adhere to are only foreign trends. Scarcely they buy from Indian Malls for their shoes, denims and T-shirts. Explanation currently being Indian Apparels are unnecessarily high priced and deficiency of new trends in West, suggests couple of learners reading through in Delhi.

Previously goods manufactured in Thailand and Singapore came to Manipur. These kinds of goods are excellent in quality and the materials are well knitted. Manipur designers and fashion professionals desire such apparels to Indian makes. In accordance to exchangers in the Gambhir Singh Shopping Arcade, now the production devices and factories have been shifted to Beijing. This also is the reason why Nepal acquired foreign marketplaces. Chinese made products are flooding the country, some are faked, others actual and good quality. Such goods arrived at Manipur by way of a long voyage, from siliguri to silchar. Fast bandhs and blockades on National Freeway No. 39 compelled the retailers and business buyers to look out for Indo-Myanmar direction.

Rajesh, an engineer student from Imphal, primarily based in Delhi has explained, ” Every time I wear any T-shirts introduced from Manipur, and attendees will question is it from US or UK. I truly feel happy to response them that its from Imphal. Seeking at the price, they’ll request to order for them too.” Indeed, the quality and cost factor is one key factor that forced the Manipuri youths to opt for foreign goods. Fashions need to sustain on modifying. Clean product launched in the market is latest fashion. Regrettably this kills the brand picture. Nobody can predicts which is the best brand after every 3-4 months. Recent trends will arrive anytime and earlier fashion will dumped. Here’sn’t going to come about frequently for Indian goods. Shirts like Park Avenue or Arrow will cling on its own ending and lowers, that too for several months. In addition, price retains on climbing. The MRP of Purple Tape and Picasso shoes in neighbourhood mall at Guwahati ranges from Rs 1395-2095 and Rs 1495-1595 respectively, while All Stars and Valentino from Franch are accessible in the margin of Rs two hundred-Rs seven-hundred in the Gambhir Singh Arcade. Elegant youths will select up these shoes which are latest in trends and new to them at inexpensiveer rates.

The earlier mentioned desk displays some brands of shoes which are available in possibly the Shopping malls and latest trends currently. Ladies’s shoes are quick, so some opt for Indian brands. Listed here, it is worth to mention that branded organizations too established their small shops in and around Imphal to fulfill the requirements of the people. There are stores of Nike, Reebok and Adidas. But the volume of business is not audio as in comparison to foreign shoes. Ida is the latest trends of women’s shoe these days. Between men, All Stars is the highest vendor.

Most of these trousers are Bangkok or Singapore made. Among men’s brand, Phat Farm is the highest seller, adopted by Nuts Fish and Sha Bao Lu Denims. ADL tops the women’s brand. Women Tops are mostly mixture of imported and Indian brands. Common among women shirts consists of Ether from Bangkok, Sea Red, Tip and ANJ, Seems, Udare and Madame from India. Ether is available for ladies from 12 a long time to centre aged housewives. This is the highest marketing brand these days.

Evidences of the teenagers choosing up latest in fashion much just before their counterparts in other cities of India are considered from latest Bollywood movies. The Cargo pant that Saif Ali Khan in Hum Tum and his new attire in Salam Namaste usually are not new to the Manipuri teenagers. They’ve been putting on the shipment trousers since 3 year. Some brands of cargo pants which are very fashionable and trendy in the region includes GAP, AND, DYD, US Military. And the spending budgets are very cheap, which starts from Rs 380 – Rs 650. Ladies Pencil shoes like Tipper from Thailand are the models delight for a catwalk on ramp.

Evidently the teenagers add the frequency of visits in both malls, contributing to the security and risk-free to shop. Manipur, a land under fireplace due to the black rules of the govt as well as the threats from revolutionaries usually lag behind in progress. If these two malls weren’t opened, then the fashion business might not been what we’re witnessing right now. Roads shops and brand shops are frequently frequented by Women who seek out big bargaining selections and the aged men who can’t part absent their teenaged memory since their early days. An additional reward of shopping in the mall is that these teenage can hang out and enjoy their time in café or restaurant after the shopping has been complete. A extensive selection of wanted apparels is also possible in such malls only. Manipuri girls are very gorgeous and conscious of latest fashions. This has marketed the opening of several beauty parlours inside malls.

Buyers never see the brands, they look for latest trends in fashion. The stretchable women jeans from Bangkok are excellent in cut and fabric. The finishing is well made and it cannot be found in any other Indian brands. “Teens mostly depend on fashion. What is latest fashion in Singapore and Bangkok comes shortly here. In such ailment brand image building is a hard to them,” said Romeo Sairem, owner of Wise Geared up Dress in Clothing. The likely customers are teenagers. They shell out around Rs. 10,000 in the course of lean seasons. This could goes up to Rs. thirty,000 during festive seasons like Holi, Ningol Chakouba, New Time and other group celebrations. Among men, brand is top precedence; they look for brands in their selection of selections.

In the latter part of ninety’s, a effective motion was instituted to abolish the improper highway markets from the congested Imphal city streets. Such replaced of the city coverage necessitates the opening of malls. Another reason was the independence and rest from frequent tensions from targeted traffic law enforcement officers who are exploiting those shop owners. Earlier it was unorganised retail mode of business. Now the malls are a good revenue to a large part of businessmen dwelling in Manipur.

The Gambhir Singh Shopping Arcade and the Leima Shopping Plaza has been able to deresider what people needs with good space to shop and international specifications apparels. Teenagers could dress fashionably like the Westerners and other South Asian youths. Viewing dresses and fashion trends in Manipur, one cannot decide the financial breakdown of this state. All has been made possible due to less expensive apparels at cheapest possible price range.

The marvellous mélange of assortment is a major part of Sunday markets together the street of Imphal city. Some shops keep branded products in apparels, cosmetics or lifestyle add-ons. Other people more typically offer no matter what’s trendy, the entire latest consumer desire and seeking for. Serendipity waits at stalls where consumers always locate a stunning item they never thought they essential, but were out of the blue sure they could never live with no. And such market is much more tourist welcoming, with adequate space for favourable bargaining.

What one seen in Manipur is that specific wonderful factors of attraction developed very quickly, specially among youthful people. They tend to absolutely take over a place, and after a while they lose consideration. Thus, swift to new trends always happen in this small state!

Gambhir Singh Shopping Arcade is really critical because it launched the thought of retail buzz by enclosing the mall. What is lack in these malls are modern escalators and all other stuff which can create a very stimulating surroundings, so that ultimately there was anything almost as exciting as the city! But one never bothers for such facilities when one could get what he wants after growing dozens of staircases.

Prior to the mall concept, Indian goods rule the Imphal market. Political and economic conditions were also not a big headache for the businessmen and retailers. Foreign goods enter here, but in less and volume. Fashions and apparels were not so important in last few years.

It is not straightforward to provide foreign fashions in this high inform state. The game is a difficult one if one does not take rigid methods in this business. Romeo included, ” We listened to about the Free of charge Exchange Contract with other South Asian international locations. We also learnt about BIMSTEK and trade marketing guidelines. Unfortunately, we are spending 50 p.c of the total expenses in lifeless costs. Excise officials and police authorities take undue rewards from us.” “Nonetheless, we are satisfied with our business ventures and earnings,” he ongoing.

Such goods are dropped frequently in the arms of corrupt officials. Introducing additional complications from the revolutionaries and other gangs who desire hefty taxes and ransoms. One has to fly to Bangkok to order the goods in vast majority. Although it is legal to import such goods, in accordance to new trade policy, retailers need to follow standard and risky way to procure such products. In Bangkok, a retailer will order his choice of products and returns back. The nervous person will carry all duties to transportation the goods till Myanmar border. From here, the owner will import goods. Bringing from border to mall shelf is a battle for these bad retailers. “This is the only way we do business, no other route to bring foreign goods,” Kennedy, owner of Design Zone lamented. He further added, if we were based in other Indian states, our business would do great profits. “Army who are posted along the highway tortured us and confiscated our goods every time they like. We do not have other means than putting up to their tyranny. If we are to do business, we’ve to endure,” Kennedy added. Another proprietor named, Mani expressed his anger from the state and centre government for not permitting free trades. ” The government does as opposed to to see us thrive, which is the reason why they do not open the orders bodily. In media and in entrance of international conferences, these converse of a free trade policy and economic co-functions. Why they’re exploiting us then?”

Ad and media marketing campaign are absolutely nil, owners does not need to spend their investment on such strategies. This is a reward to them. Anand, another shop owner from the Leima shopping plaza said, ” Our goods are the best, so we don’t need extra effort to reach the customer. It truly is simply word of mouth. Anytime a new fashion arrives, people throngs in and it starts undertaking business.”

Unlike big bazaar and mega mart, which offers freebies, reductions and buy one get one free promotional plan, the malls in Manipur does not offer anything except the very best quality at honest amounts. Annually, both the malls rejoice their Inauguration Date where shop owners offer some worthwhile presents to every buyers, be it T-Shirt or Women’s Tops.

Anand continued, “What we lack is full aid from government in our trade. We might like to do business throughout India. We need to build a familiar system for publishing /retailing such foreign apparels to other Indian cities.” Exactly, if the business of fashion is supported by the changing Indian trade policy, foreign goods could be flooded to every part of Indian cities. By doing so, Indian fashion predicament gets a new blend of South Asian origins, much cheaper and more fashionable than the present image of fashion.

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