VIDEOS

The U.N. Security Council needs to be more representative and democratic if it is to survive a new Cold War, according to a former India Ambassador to the United Nations.

Dilip Sinha was head of India’s UN affairs during its membership of the Security Council (2011-2012). Photo: Sarah Graham/FCC

Created after the end of World War Two, the Security Council’s role was as global peacekeeper. In many instances, it has aptly fulfilled that role in the face of several conflicts to have taken place since its creation. But the dominance of the permanent five members – United Kingdom, China, France, United States and Russia – have brought the council to a deadlock, said Dilip Sinha, with few resolutions being made.

Addressing the March 21 club lunch, Sinha drew on his experience to explain why he felt the permanent five members had incapacitated the Council by aggressively strengthening their global dominance and protecting their spheres of influence.

He said he believed that the world could be witnessing the beginning of a new Cold War, although this one would be very different from the last, and that currently the Council was ineffective when to came to diffusing global tensions.

Watch the full talk here

China’s Great Firewall is designed to block solidarity, and not to prevent its people from knowing what’s going on in the country in the first place, says the author of a new book on censorship.

James Griffiths revealed how China’s Great Firewall works. Photo: Sarah Graham/FCC

Rather than impose a blanket ban on VPNs – virtual private networks that encrypt information such as location – Chinese authorities choose only to censor content that might lead to organised uprisings against the ruling Communist Party, said James Griffiths. What’s more, VPNs are used by many offices, banks, and embassies in China during their daily business activities, so the government is loathe to completely crack down on the networks.

China’s censorship model is one that is gradually being replicated around the world, warned Griffiths at the March 19 club lunch. Vietnam recently introduced a cybersecurity law with a similar framework to China’s, while Russia is also considering tightening up its laws, taking its lead from Beijing.

Griffiths, a senior producer at CNN and author of a new book, The Great Firewall of China: How to Build and Control an Alternative Version of the Internet, said skepticism of the internet and big tech companies could pave the way for democratic countries to introduce strict cybersecurity laws.

“This is a real danger,” he said.

He outlined two current models of internet use. The first – favoured by Silicon Valley – was based on the premise that information will set us free, and is one that is in the process of failing as it faced numerous recent challenges over privacy and the sharing of user information, Griffiths said. The second was the hyper-control model favoured by autocracies.

“Both models are unattractive for their own reasons,” he said, adding that a third model was needed.

Watch the full talk here.

Bad news sells. It’s a central pillar of journalism, and its effect on the global population, whether intentional or not, is to project an image that humanity is on the verge of collapse. This, in turn, can lead to a sense of disenfranchisement, where only the elites seem to be heard, and ordinary people feel deprived of a voice.

Frédérique Bedos believes that a positive message can be disseminated through the media. Photo: Sarah Graham/FCC

In the era of fake news, Isis, Brexit, and Trump, public distrust of institutions has never been higher. But all is not lost, says a journalist and filmmaker who is head of an NGO with the sole aim of spreading hope through journalism.

Frédérique Bedos believes that a positive message can also be disseminated through the media by highlighting the stories of humble heroes – for example, those who have overcome diversity – to inspire others into action.

“If you dream of a better world it’s up to you to build it because we are the world,” Bedos said.

Speaking at the March 18 club lunch, Bedos, a former journalist, said she was inspired to create Le Projet Imagine – The Humble Heroes by the story of her adopted parents. The couple adopted 20 children from all walks of life, some with disabilities. Bedos said she realised there were many positive stories to be told.

Le Projet Imagine is an NGO that produces short, medium-length and full-feature films that are inspirational and aim to move people to take action. The documentary, Women and Men, about gender inequality, has received worldwide accolades and was shown at Cannes in 2015. The NGO works to encourage the media to put more emphasis on stories that bring hope.

Watch the full talk here.

Russia is an increasingly weak state under President Vladimir Putin, with the country’s elites abandoning it amid a feeling that there is no hope for the future, according to a leading European scholar on Russia and Ukraine.

Dr. Marie Mendras appeared at the FCC on March 13, 2019. Photo: Sarah Graham/FCC

Thirty years ago, under President Mikhail Gorbachev – the last leader of the Soviet Union – the country was a superpower following his democratisation measures and the end of the Cold War. But today’s Russia sees elites emigrating, a shrinking middle class, and a stagnant economy. Putin’s standing on the world stage has also suffered since Russia’s military intervention in Ukraine after it voted for independence.

“If you look back 20 years, the new president of Russia had many partners. He had strong partners in the European Union. And after 9/11 he had a strong partner in George W Bush,” said Dr. Marie Mendras, currently a visiting scholar at HK Baptist University.

Watch the video to hear Dr. Mendras on Vladimir Putin and Russia.

Today’s young people should cherish the opportunities they are given, says a top financier who was one of the so-called “lost generation” who missed out on education during China’s Cultural Revolution.

Weijian Shan speaking at the FCC on March 5, 2019. Photo: Sarah Graham/FCC

Weijian Shan is Chairman and CEO of PAG, one of Asia’s largest private equity firms. But growing up in China during the 1960s he found himself at the beginning of a decade of turmoil in China’s history, kicked off by Mao Zedong’s bid to take control of the Communist Party, a move which eventually led to the death of tens of millions through starvation.

Education was abandoned as schools and universities closed amid chaos, with gangs of young ‘Red Guards’ rampaged through city streets after Mao urged them to destroy China’s old culture and custom. During the first chaotic years of the revolution, Shan said, he witnessed teachers being beaten to death.

Shan told how, after Mao sent young urban dwellers out into the countryside for re-education, he was sent to work in the Gobi Desert to try to turn it into fertile land to grow crops for the country. Food was sparse, the winters were freezing cold, and the summers hot.

Showing photos of himself during that time which appear in his book, Out of the Gobi: My Story of China and America, Shan said: “When I look at this picture I realise how stupid I was at that age. At the time, I thought I knew everything.”

After the Cultural Revolution ended with the death of Mao, a new economic relationship formed between the U.S. and China which resulted in an open door policy. Shan was selected by a Congressional-sponsored foundation to go to America as a visiting scholar. He eventually became a professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania before embarking on a career in finance.

He recalled how, on a visit to a kindergarten funded by his company, he broke down in tears at the freely available books and learning tools for the children. Shan said youth today should treasure their opportunities.

Watch the video to learn more about Shan’s journey.

Inequality is on the rise in America, fueled by a new form of capitalism that, instead of encouraging competitive free markets, has seen monopolies and oligopolies dominate, according to the co-author of a new book.

Author Denise Hearn discussed the myth of capitalism at the FCC on February 27. Photo: Sarah Graham/FCC

The capitalism that lifted millions out of poverty no longer exists, rather it has become the antithesis of competitive marketplaces, said Denise Hearn.

Although it appears US consumers have endless choice when it comes to products and healthcare, this is an illusion: many of the smaller companies they purchase from are owned by much bigger conglomerates.

The figures are astounding: five banks – Citigroup, JP Morgan Chase, Wells Fargo, and Bank of America – own more than 50 per cent of the nation’s banking assets. Four airlines – American, Delta, United, and Southwest –  control around 80 per cent of American domestic airspace. Almost every industry is dominated by “robber barons”, she said.

Waves of mergers and acquisitions are contributing to the death of competition which ultimately will result in higher prices for the consumer as it allows big business to set market prices, thus squeezing smaller businesses out of the market.

Hearn, co-author of The Myth of Capitalism: Monopolies and the Death of Competition, told the February 27 club lunch: “Inequality is the symptom, it’s not the disease.”

Her book explores how the US arrived at the point where so much of the economy is dominated by the few.

Hearn also revealed some astonishing little-known facts about some of America’s big companies. Amazon, for example, doesn’t only provide an e-commerce platform but it also manufactures products that are available on its website. Hearn explained that the tech firm collects data from sellers, such as the type of customer buying from them, and then uses that data to enhance its own products – and undercut the competition.

Perhaps the most shocking story of all though involved a mortuary and supermarket chain Costco. But you’ll have to watch the video below to hear it.

Who owns the seas to our south?

Author, journalist, and former FCC President Philip Bowring’s new book, Empire of the Winds The Global Role of Asia’s Great Archipelago, delves into the history of the world’s largest archipelago to examine the now 400 million non-Chinese people who occupy most of the coasts of the South China, Java, and Sulu seas. The former editor of the Far Eastern Economic Review appeared at the club on February 21 to share insights from the book.

Watch the talk below.