Dubai Forums Dubai Discussions Dubai Politics Talk Philosophy and Religion Forums

Been encouraged by this article, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6672923.stm I have decided to share my thoughts with what one can consider open minded soceity. Knowledge is the key, a good friend of mine writes two articles I would like to share with you,

Bhekuzulu Khumalo wrote,

We have seen a sustained boom in commodities markets in recent years. This boom has brought fortune to many individuals and societies. Historically during commodity booms many left leaning governments have taken control of the resources to capitalize on higher prices.

.

The current commodity boom is allowing many developing and middle income countries to increase their wealth substantially and many of these countries like Venezuela and Bolivia are taking control of the commodities and "redistributing" the wealth to the people. The same happened in the 1970’s when Zambia felt that copper prices gave it an opportunity to take the resources from private hands. However the same Zambian government found it very difficult to find a buyer for the copper assets when the commodity cycle turned downwards.

Nationalized industries tend to become rife with corruption, further eroding the potential realized value of any of the assets. They also tend to be used by these countries as a core part of a foreign policy. Venezuela is not alone in this regard with the Russian Government increasingly using their oil and gas industries as strategic leverage in Europe.

Hugo Chavez feels there is something not right for oil prices to be at record levels and the government not using it to its own advantage, a “problem” which he has undertaken to correct in recent times. However there is a serious side to the argument that is missing. Governments are acting for the present when the high commodity prices are an opportunity for real long-term reform to occur in their economies. The key being real reform rather than many of the reforms suggested by the IMF and World Bank, which are often designed to suit those who control the institutions.

High commodity prices should be a catalyst for greater market reform. This higher than expected revenue gives government the opportunity to free up the other sectors of the economy, reduce taxes as well as reduce tariffs. It means less economically developed countries can afford to privatize as well as allow for competition in sectors once deemed natural monopolies by many economists. These monopolies being power generation, telecommunications, media, mail, national parks, water systems, and higher educational institutions.

This might seem similar to what the IMF and World Bank suggests but it is not. The World Bank forces a privatization policy and the privatized entity is protected from competition like the government before it. Economic facts demonstrate that monopolies are inefficient, and a government should not give a monopoly to private investors, as the free market is about competition. The same monopoly will likely be just as inefficient in private hands as it would be in public.

The commodity boom has given countries a chance to think and plan for the future rather than get stuck in the present. Nationalization and increasing taxes is however thinking of the now and not the future. In the future, society will be increasingly knowledge intense and higher commodity prices should allow countries to create reforms that will allow a country to allow competition in terms of knowledge and to acquire knowledge from other societies, be that knowledge in the form of text books or goods and services.

One must not forget that capital is created by human beings; the basis of creating capital is knowledge. A society that follows the basic laws of knowledge will be fine when the commodity boom is finally over, whether that is next year or in ten years. Commodities are only of value because of the knowledge humans have of their usefulness. One of the saddest comments I have heard in recent years came from President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa. He stated that he would welcome a hydrogen society as it would help South Africa as the platinum needed as a catalyst in the hydrogen fuel cell would likely come from South Africa. Unfortunately he missed the point. Why does South Africa not produce the fuel cells and be a technology leader in the future hydrogen society? Ultimately it is knowledge and ideas that is the most important resource and it is the kind of thinking from Thabo Mbeki that keeps countries in Africa from reaching their full potential. http://www.righthinker.com/content/view/45/

As well as this more relevant article to the region,

Saudi Arabia is known throughout the world for its massive petroleum industry as well as the massive reserves of oil that lies underneath its desert sands. With these reserves Saudi Arabia has managed to become a global political force. However the leadership of Saudi Arabia has for years grappled with the problem of diversifying the economy.

Having been successful in exploiting its natural resources thus far, the Saudi Kingdom naturally believes the same can be done with mining.

Saudi Arabia is not just sand dunes as is the popular view.There are thousands of square kilometres of hard rock, ideal for mining, indeed mining activity in the kingdom is on the rise. To attract investment into the mining stocks that are 25% owned by Saudis are exempt from paying taxes from the day they commence commercial operations for the first ten years.

That alone should be incentive enough to bring in mining companies. Another incentive is that a Saudi partner is readily available; the Saudi Arabian Mining Company (Maaden) has over US$1 billion in cash and can be readily approached.
Saudi Arabia already has world class phosphate reserves. Saudi Arabia also has large quantities of gold, silver, bauxite, chrome, copper and uranium. Gold production for example has increased from around 135 000 ounces in 2000 to over 309 000 ounces.

Seemingly tiny compared to South Africa, Canada, or Australia the game however has just begun. Saudi Arabia has hardly been explored. Gold is mainly being explored around ancient mines, but there has been no full move into unexplored areas. Ancient miners mined gold were it was easy to access. Today with modern exploration techniques mines can be developed where there was no ancient mining.

Though having superb incentives for the mining sector, foreign investors have little knowledge of Saudi Arabia as a mining country, hence the difficulty of the Saudi government in attracting the large scale expertise that it is seeking. However the commitment of the Saudi government alone in terms of capital should be enough to convince mining companies from all over the world that Saudi is stable enough to be taken seriously.

Therefore eventually the majors in the mining industry will end up in Saudi Arabia. However for the small-mid tier miners, now is the time to take a look at Saudi Arabia before it becomes crowded.

The Saudi government however must give the commitment that once the mining industry takes off they will not nationalize it. What if valuable deposits are found? Will the government change its tune and nationalize these mines after the foreign firms accepted the calling of the Saudi government to come and explore. Once the mining industry becomes more important the Saudi leadership must not forget the people who answered its call.

Again though building a world class financial district, King Abdullah Financial District (KAFD) in Riyadh, the Saudi government must ensure and educate the public that this financial center is for them and that they should participate in it. This will ensure that Saudi people who participate in the mining industry will not just become employees while everything goes to finance the lavish lifestyle of the Saudi royalty.

This is one reason why Saudi is having trouble with militants. The oil industry seems only to have been created for the benefits of royalty with people not allowed to participate.

The beauty of the KAFD is that it will allow ordinary Saudi citizens as well as global players to access the vast reserves of Saudi capital. The question though is will a Saudi with no political connections only raw talent be allowed to participate in the mine boom if it ever comes.

Maybe the Saudi Arabian Mining Company should finance ordinary citizens with good skills to be come partners with foreign exploration firms rather than the government. It is all a risk after all.

The Saudi royalty should not fear its citizens, instead it should want its population to become successes through their efforts. It must be kept in mind that mining. like oil is a commodity, one day up, one day down, maybe next time having no market.

There is one concern that one must have about Saudi's drive to be a mining player which is the initial risk. That a foreign firm needs a Saudi partner in this sector may or may not be a concern to some investors but what would be unfair is if the same Saudi partners are not involved in the initial risk.

A mine has a lot of risk before one can start mining. The Saudi partner must be part of this riskiest phase rather than get involved when there is no risk, when the company now has confirmed the quantity of materials it can probably extract and is making a bankable feasibility plan. That would be unfair at the very least.

Saudi Arabia being new to the mining game needs to look at jurisdictions that have proven mineral resources, especially the successful ones like Chile, Peru, Canada and South Africa.

How can Saudi Arabia compete with these countries for expertise? Does Saudi Arabia have the capability to compete with Peru and Canada? But all this would not matter if Saudi Arabia finds a large world class deposit of gold, platinum or copper. The investors would come under most circumstances.

Still knowledge is important, though striving to be a player in natural resource production, Saudi Arabia still needs scientists outside this realm. Saudi Arabia needs technology institutions where research into the laws of the universe take place. How to design more energy efficient light bulbs, solar panels, hydrogen fuel cells, telecommunications, medicine, pharmaceuticals.

A modern society, especially one with large cash reserves like Saudi Arabia should jump into the fray. Will we ever witness a medical break through by a Saudi, or a technological break through that will ensure more powerful microprocessors for computers? What if a woman understands fuel cell technology? Would the Saudi establishment let her be or would she be rejected until proven beyond doubt like Marie Curie.

Saudi Arabia with all its incentives will prove to be an exciting mining arena and one should enter as soon as they can before the field becomes crowded. http://www.righthinker.com/content/view/125/

It is the write track for our world.

That's a good article. Thanks for sharing

Without sharing our ideas and thoughts how will we ever change the world, one must write out of passion.

Try this one from the same author

Understanding and adhering to the laws of knowledge will greatly improve any society. The game has always been about who has knowledge and who controls it. Hence in centuries gone by priests and the priestly class argued that they must be taken on faith, that way they were the center of knowledge. Even today one will find people who claim that knowledge only flows from them. This goes against all logic and facts.

Knowledge can be compared to what the priest class called the spirit. We can all have the spirit but it will never be diminished. Just like we can all have knowledge but it will never be diminished, the laws of existence will remain there. That 1 + 1 = 2 even if only one person knows this fact will remain so. Therefore societies should not fear that the world is progressing, it takes nothing away from anybody that the whole world knows how to say make a computer or a bicycle. This is nothing to fear. But for those who fear it is too bad. The global population must proceed, knowledge is there for all to take and consume and use.

The laws of knowledge are simple, Knowledge is a real factor. Knowledge is gathered by the mind; knowledge has a cause and effect and Knowledge creates a force. Where the gain of knowledge can be freely pursued it attracts thinkers thus allowing that free societies to have the greatest access to knowledge, The limit of knowledge is Konke.

This article is not meant to explain the laws of knowledge, however the last law will be explained, the limit of knowledge is Konke. Konke is a Mthwakazi/Zulu word meaning everything, Konke in the Fundamental theory of knowledge is defined as all the laws of existence plus all their uses. One can not know more than everything.

However two laws sufficiently explain the systems potential, these laws being that knowledge is gathered by the mind and where the gain of knowledge can be freely pursued it attracts thinkers, thus allowing more free societies to have access to greater knowledge.

That knowledge is gathered by the mind means that a society that acknowledges this fact will allow and encourage people to seek out knowledge. If people are not allowed to seek out knowledge then by logic it follows that society will not have as much knowledge.

The idea of a knowledge based society is to extract as much use from a single law of knowledge. Take a tree for example. If a tree was only to make chairs then the society has not fully extracted all the knowledge from the tree. However a society that desires knowledge will extract all usefulness from the tree. A tree can make boats, paper, cabins, huts, handles for hammers, cabinets and wagons, Medicines can be extracted from trees and oxygen comes from trees.


As much use is extracted from the tree as possible until the society has more knowledge and the tree is replaced by better materials and planes no longer need wooden bodies, boats are made from steel, and plastics have replaced most of the tree uses in making tools.

However for a society to extract as much as possible from a single law of knowledge a society must avoid saying that knowledge can only come from one source just like the priests of old. Galileo went to jail for opposing the priest class. Many people were executed in Europe, America and India for being called witches and wizards, only because they challenged those who claimed knowledge only comes from them. Knowledge is with those who actively seek it out. Knowledge is there for the taking.

A product represents knowledge; the more variety of products a society creates the more knowledge that society has. The reason being that products do not exist in nature, a cell phone does not exist in nature, but a cell phone cannot defy the laws of the universe. If you mix materials in a certain manner, no matter where you are you will end up with a cell phone, that is reality.

This knowledge is not hidden, it is there all over the world. One merely studies a cell phone and true they will have the knowledge of how to make a cell phone, it is not as if it is a secret.

Medicine, there is no magic to it, people merely give substances to mice extracted from nature and see the effects. Then they publish a paper and we have a new medicine. This process can be done in Los Angeles, Johannesburg, Riyadh, Moscow, Sydney or Kigali in Rwanda. The substance will have the same effects on mice in all these regions if indeed it is the same substance. There is no magic to it.

Recognizing that knowledge is there to fully have a high systems potential, a society needs to have the principle of equality before the law. Competition brings out the best; better cell phones, better products because people actively research the laws of the universe to seek out how to make the products better. However once society says only so and so can seek out this or that, that society is already limiting itself. Note around the world, the more equality in a society the more that society has access to greater knowledge and more laws of existence are known to that society.

There is no mystery with knowledge that creates products. A society must simply adhere to the laws of knowledge and its systems potential will increase. That the whole world knows something does not diminish anybody or make anybody else greater in terms of knowledge. All societies have the potential if they desire to play the knowledge game effectively.

http://www.righthinker.com/content/view/119/

There is no other way to change the global soceity except by engaging with people.