Beijing-based Chinese artist, Ju Duoqi makes art out of cabbage and other ordinary vegetables, like the cucumber.

He specializes in transforming the unsexy cabbage into sexy, seductive women.

New York will soon ban the sale of shark fin.

Sale of shark fins is already banned on the West Coast.

Shark fin soup is a delicacy among the Chinese and a shark fin soup, like the wedding cake in the West, is a staple in a Chinese wedding, as it is believed to bring good luck to the wedded couple.

One wonders what doesn’t bring good luck to the Chinese—shark fins, whale tail, crows feet, chicken gizzard—the list of body parts from dismembered animals is endless.

The story of the emergence of the “Chinese” Oreo, reminded me of one of my favorite (non-fiction) books: Antonio Negri and Michael Hardt’s Empire.

Empire  asks, in this era of globalization where power is globally dispersed and has no one or two centers, what is the dominant form of power?

Till yesterday it was the “West” and before that it was imperialism. Today’s form of power say the authors, have no name or discernible identity, yet a power there is that makes the world do what it wants.

It’s global/International finance, or simply put, cash. Capital is the dominant form of power, but it isn’t capital that’s generated in the West first and then travels elsewhere, to other markets. It’s a capital that bears sole allegiance to itself, not to nation states or geographical entities like the “West” or “Asia” or “East”.

Present day capital is acutely multicultural and can become “Chinese” in China and “Indonesian” in Indonesia. 

Kraft is an agent of this capital: The giant American multinational reshapes its quintessentially American products to suit the tastes and preferences of the local consumers (Altria, which owns Kraft, made a Chinese Marlborough).  

The Oreo has been Sinocized. The Chinese couldn’t enjoy the Oreo in its American form, so Kraft decided to make it Chinese. The Chinese Oreo is rectangular, cylindrical and has green-tea filling, among other Chinese inserts. 

The Chinese Oreo is a whopping success in China. Capital succeeds in perpetuating itself this way. It’s mien is to convert nations into markets.

If needs be—for the sake of creating more markets and selling more Oreo worldwide—Oreo will sell gulab jamun Oreo in India… 

What everyone in the world wants is a good job.

That is the premise of Gallup Chairman, Jim Clfton’s book The Coming Jobs War.

Clifton defines a good jobs as a “formal job” with a “paycheck from an employer and steady work that averages 30-plus hours per week.”

The job war is an International/global war where the will of the world is pitted against governments and corporations that refuse to create employment opportunities because of their desire to adhere to the principle of the bottom-line.

The primary will of the world is no longer about peace or freedom or even democracy; it is not about having a family, and it is neither about God nor about owning a home or land. The will of the world is first and foremost to have a good job. Everything else comes after that.

According to data amassed by Gallup, of the world’s 5 billion people of working age (above 15), 3 billion said they worked or wanted work, but only 1.2 billion had full time or “formal” jobs.

Clifton says that neither political nor military forces will be the global leaders of the future that is upon us, but economic forces:

[…] the world will be led with economic force — a force that is primarily driven by job creation and quality G.D.P. growth.

It’s easy to guess who the projected leader would be winning this jobs war: China, of course.

Why?

Simply because China has invested massive amounts of money on developing its infrastructure, like roads, education, bridges and a humongous mass transit system. 

the world will be led with economic force — a force that is primarily driven by job creation and quality G.D.P. growth

(Source: The New York Times)