Disasters Waiting To Happen or Just Freak Accidents?

Michael Schumacher, retired Formula 1 top ace and seven times World Champion is, together with Lewis Hamilton, one of the greatest driving legends of the 21st century.

Michael sadly remains in a coma one month after a freak accident whilst out for a playful ski holiday with his family.

Just before Sochi this reminds us that even though we cherish sports there are always dangers-even at the most unlikely times and in the most unlikeliest of places.
Lewis Hamilton was himself very lucky just a few hours ago to survive uninjured a horrific high speed crash into the safety barriers-where his car was a total write-off.
One wonders whether pushing the limits of cars for speed and weight requires further safety prechecks.
Indeed the same can be said of any vehicles-including boats-catamarans,airplanes, bicycles and bobsleighs-where the competition is very intense for limited sponsorship availability.
There appears to be a constant drive to reduce vehicle weight, improve performance and cost-benefits by introducing materials whose full long-term stresses are not yet fully understood.
Here I am going to be controversial and say that while I have every confidence in the Airbus A380, I always remember the Titanic-built by Harland & Wolff in Northern Ireland, the United Kingdom.   It was the greatest ship (luxury passenger liner) ever to sail the seas to that date. Indeed the boast of the day was that 'God himself could not sink her'. We all know what happened to the Titanic. What is more important is that recent research has revealed that it was probably likely that mis-sized welded metal rivets caused catastrophic structural failure when she struck an iceberg in the deadly icy waters of the North Atlantic on 15th April,1912.  Cost-cutting on this over-budget enterprise meant that rivets supporting the Titanic's hull were neither uniform nor able to support the vast weight of the structure above under the wrong conditions and that her demise was an accident waiting to happen even before she set sail on her maiden voyage  from Southampton,Great Britain, to New York,United States.
Today the parameters have not changed.  There is a constant requirement to operate within budget and where cost overruns occur they must be balanced out somewhere-and that somewhere is often in the most unlikeliest of areas-and ones which ultimately result in catastrophic failure of materials-some of which are themselves new composites whose stresses are not fully understood as they interact under enormous pressures and unpredictable freak electromagnetic turbulence and other conditions they were never designed to operate in nor could all possibly be factored under laboratory test conditions.
We saw something similar in the Space Shuttle Challenger Program¹- where funding pressure from above meant that design flaws in the 'O' rings were not reported higher up the administrative chain by NASA managers-who knew that Morton-Thiokol's design of the solid rocket booster (SRB) was potentially flawed.  They knew this almost 10 years before the Challenger disaster but kept it quiet for fear of losing funds or staff or both if a complete redesign of the SRB had to be initiated from scratch-just to correct a 'minor' design flaw. We all know what that 'minor' design flaw led to.   But hindsight can be a wonderful thing.   It's foresight and courage which is often required but lacking for fear of peer pressure,overwork and over-stress of project team staff, pressure of time to perform tasks and turnaround, loss of employment, blacklisting as a 'troublemaker' and status,demotion, loss of bonuses, loss of contracts, sheer fatigue,misinterpretation (or confusion) of instructions or expectations in the chain of authority, loyalty to the firm.   All these factors (and more) often contribute to many accidents and only reveal themselves where high level inquiries are initiated as to the reasons for the disaster.
So how come the freak accident of one man should prompt me to circumvent the entire spectrum of possibilities for disaster?  While doctors, brain trauma surgeons, nurses, cardiologists,therapists and ancillary staff all bravely battle to the limits of their professional abilities and capabilities to save the life of Michael Schumacher we should never forget, on the eve of the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics and the Rio 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games, that this tragic accident should alert us to constant vigilance as human factors in the most unlikeliest of ways can also intervene to connect with external  preventable events which just seem too unreal to fathom but which sadly have their own momentum.

Patrick Emek

Space Shuttle Challenger Program¹
In the interests of historical accuracy there is a distinction between the Apollo and Shuttle program eras -though many of the same astronauts were still working at NASA in the wilderness period between both Programs and, because the Apollo Program captivated the imagination of the world in a way no other scientific endeavor had- this distinction was never quite apparent to many (including myself, Mom and Aunt) who had grown up with  the wonder and excitement of the Apollo Missions.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RMS_Titanic
http://scienceillustrated.com.au/blog/culture/why-did-titanic-sink/
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/motorsport/formulaone/lewishamilton/10601774/Lewis-Hamilton-suffers-high-speed-crash-on-first-day-of-Formula-One-pre-season-testing.html
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/spotlight-artificial-coma-schumacher-case-040446141.html#DCe6vLc
http://www.sochi2014.com/en
http://rio2016.com/en/the-games/paralympic/event
http://www.rio2016.org/en


Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster on  28th January 1986  at 11:38 EST (16:38 UTC) [Wikipedia]

Casualties:
Francis R. Scobee, Commander
Michael J. Smith, Pilot
Ronald McNair, Mission Specialist
Ellison Onizuka, Mission Specialist
Judith Resnik, Mission Specialist
Greg Jarvis, Payload Specialist
Christa McAuliffe, Payload Specialist

Inquiries Rogers Commission

[courtesy of Wikipedia:   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Shuttle_Challenger_disaster]
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/zoe-p-strassfield/double-feature_b_2708522.html

Syria-Another Example of 'Peace In Our Time'?

The withdrawal of an offer to include Iran as part of the peace talks does not herald well either for the Syrian people nor for long-term peace. Before I explain why, it is important to add that from an American public perspective, so long as U.S. Forces are not being ordered to fight alongside or under Al Qaeda, most could not care whether Assad stays or goes,it has now become a non-issue.

Syria's Future Under Al Qaeda/Islamic Jihadi Emirates and Caliphates

Firstly, as with Afghanistan and Iraq, the rights of ordinary people will quickly disappear from CNN, Fox and other mainstream news bulletins after Al Qaeda affiliated Islamists take power. [Women are more imprisoned now in Afghanistan than they ever were. There has hardly been a period in recent Afghan history when the rights of women have even been acknowledged let alone respected.] As far as mainstream media is concerned, their job will have been done and their editors will no longer find the rights of individuals under their new Islamic [Al Qaeda affiliated] 'government' as it works towards it's implementation of a unified Ummah-Al Qaeda style. After Al Qaeda emerges from the chaos following the removal of Assad (whenever that is) their interpretation of Shari'ah-compliant Laws will be implemented in the new Emirate or Caliphate. The most important Shia Holy Sites will be desecrated and Shias will be forced to flee the country. Likewise other [and through their eyes] idolatrous and blasphemous sites - Christian Churches, remaining Jewish graveyards and all other minority idolatrous versions of Islam will be leveled as such are the Satan's work (i.e. Western introduced and influenced) - according to their version of the Koran. Draconian Islamic codes will be introduced-as CNN and other media wriggle their way to explain to a confused Western and non-Muslim public how these changes will benefit the Syrian people. All that aside to believe that these fanatics will stop within the borders of Syria is not just a myth but shows either incredible ignorance or naivety of both Western politicians and their so-called 'think-tank' institutions. Likewise to think that they can be pacified and will continue to present an image of stability (as for example,how the Syrian opposition have been groomed to wear Western suits and trim some beards to appear 'presentable' to the unsuspecting general public at the Peace Talks) is likewise a myth. Egypt is initially too big a country for Al Qaeda to conquer-at least initially.Neither will they initially take on Israel-but it will never be far from their ultimate thoughts and objectives-long-term. So the next vulnerable countries in their sights will be Jordan,The Yemen then linking across to Somalia,Mali,Niger and Mauritania. Morocco has had a long and bitter dispute with the Polisario Liberation Front for independence in the Western Sahara. Should failure to negotiate a peace treaty because of lack of good faith on the part of the government of Morocco occur, what will transpire, I believe, will be that the Polisario Front will be transformed by the appearance of seasoned Al Qaeda fighters (under another banner name of course) and their presence will alter the course of this long and protracted war - tipping the balance against the Moroccan government and possibly leading to a coup d'état by officers anxious to do a deal to save the rest of the country from a disastrous military conflict it's armed forces are simply not professionally prepared,experienced (nor motivated) to fight and win on their own.  All of this can of course be prevented if pre-emptive action is taken to solve these regional conflicts and ensure development aid for such impoverished regions [together with better local security arrangements in conjunction with central governments] are implemented before Al Qaeda and it's affiliates take hold - and take the initiative - in the Maghreb. 
The Heart of Darkness - Eye Of The Storm

To simplify matters, if you take a ruler and draw a straight line from St. Louis in the North of Senegal to Mogadishu (Somalia), North of this line is territory Al Qaeda and their contracted affiliates ultimately wish to consolidate into Emirates with Emirs in Africa and a Caliphate in Iraq. What Western politicians  (who, for the most part, are pretty ignorant of the history of these regions - and are advised by individuals and institutes which, likewise,are also not up to the job) do not understand is that they will not be able to conduct their normal oil,diamonds,gold yellowcake uranium and other strategic mineral extractions with religious idealists who see no future in the 'Devils' (in Western capitalism) money because their treasure is an eternal one and their concept of trade and development can only take place within an Islamic structure independent of 'Satan' (i.e. America and it's Allies.)

The U.S. still does not get the picture - that the very forces it is working so hard to place in power in Syria will cause decades (if not more) of misery for all the peoples of the Levant and North Africa.

I am only glad I will not be around to see it all - but do not ever let them lie to you in their memoirs by saying they didn't know what the terrible outcome would be and had they known the human misery and destruction forthcoming they would have acted otherwise.

Patrick Emek

Salafism:

the real shape of things to come in the Middle East and North Africa:

http://www.islamicsupremecouncil.com/unity.htm

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=Polisario&client=firefox-a&hs=KIX&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&channel=np&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=FCDeUq_NI8GthQeu4oCgCA&ved=0CDoQsAQ&biw=1024&bih=601
http://www.statehoodandfreedom.org/en/conflict-viewpoints/polisarios-position
Declassified/General Distribution/Oak Ridge/Yellowcake/Keg Mountain Deposits
http://www.iaea.org/inis/collection/NCLCollectionStore/_Public/09/417/9417374.pdf 
[Geological and Geochemical Aspects of Uranium Deposits]
http://www.wise-uranium.org/upafr.html
Uranium Intrigue in The Niger:Ambassador Joe Wilson was setup:
Provisionally Declassified:Yellowcake in Niger/forgery documents
United States Department of State,Washington D.C. 2003:
http://www2.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB215/def_ex/DX71.pdf

What On Earth Is Happening On The Sun?

-The Maunder Minimum Returns-

[Or Is This Just The 'Silly' Season?]

 Have you noticed how cold it is in Wisconsin and Nebraska?  Indeed have you checked how warm it is in Great Britain for this time of year?  Or indeed the unusual climatic variations right across Europe in January-which are significantly at variation with previous years for the month of January?  If you have, and like myself, you are interested in the political debate about global warming and global freezing [and to be quite honest, I am very confused  and really don't know which of the scientific groups to believe], you might however want to check out an interesting technical and scientific article below about the sun's activity.   For those of you too busy to check it out, the essence of the article is a quote from one of the world's most respected solar physicists, Richard Harrison, Head of Space Physics at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in Oxfordshire, who told the BBC that in his 30 years as a physicist, he has seen nothing like it.   I must first say that even though this area is way way way outside my Ballpark (!)...but..(!)....on 15th December last year, I contacted one  of the world's renowned experts in solar and space 'weather', Jan Alvestad, [ http://www.spaceweather.com.au/ ] to ask if, during  a very specific period (in hours and minutes) between 14th-15th December, any unusual solar occurrences had transpired.  His answer was negative and I apologized profusely for interrupting his observations.   As I am not a professional in this matter and so as to the avoid ridicule and laughter of experts, I quietly but put my own observations to file and closed the case in the firm belief that I was hopelessly in error of an unusual pattern of climatic shift associated with a very specific set of my [imagined] solar events which may have 'peaked' on 'silence' in a given time frame I had [imagined I had] noted.   Having just read an article posted by News Network Limited on 19th January, 2014 at 1:36AM [http://www.couriermail.com.au/technology/science/scientists-baffled-as-sun-activity-falls-to-century-low/story-fnjwlbuh-1226805090679] someone with more scientific expertize [and journalistic courage!] has beaten me to it and boldly said that there is indeed unusual activity taking place on the sun and that there could be profound climatic implications resulting.  The article is entitled 'Scientists baffled as Sun activity falls to century low'.  The point I want to make here is that scientists should not be baffled.  The arrogance in thinking that we [humans] understand the cycle of an entity which had been in existence roughly 4.6 billion years - when we just understand the workings of the female [human] menstrual cycle, is itself beyond belief.  I don't know if there is something happening in the Sun's cycle which is a repeat of a pattern [Maunder cycle] which we can relate to from the first time of our own primitive empirical observations, or is part of a cycle which repeats every 50000 or 50 or 500 million years.  What I do know is that politicians [and private institutes] had better release more funds to further observe such events because of their direct impact on our way of life over a relatively short timescale between observation and effect.

© Patrick Emek


Additional Reference [2014/01/28]:Sun Scientists Debate Whether Solar Lull Could Trigger Another 'Little Ice Age' -The Huffington Post-  By Macrina Cooper-White http://www.spaceweather.com.au/tag/jan-alvestad/
http://www.spaceweather.com.au/
http://www.startribune.com/local/238780081.html 
http://newsfeed.time.com/2014/01/05/blaze-turns-historic-nebraska-opera-house-into-icy-winter-wonder/
http://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/rare-snows-in-north-africa/61172
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2523259/Historic-snow-fall-turns-Holy-Land-scenes-Christmas-cards.html [13th December,2013]
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2013/12/snow-in-cairo-for-first-time-in-over-100-years.html
[12/13/2013]

Egypt In Turmoil (Part II):

Kangaroo Media Announce Constitutional Election Results

Egyptian radio and TV have announced that 99.999999% of the population voted in favor of the Military Council-produced new Constitution. (A nationwide hunt... is currently underway... for the one terrorist and traitor,the Muslim Brotherhood traitor, who voted against it.) [If you want to see what happened in Part I of this glorious Arab Democratic Spring revolution in Egypt-where the Muslim Brotherhood,also, as they claimed, supported by 99.999999% of the patriotic Islamic population, brought freedom,peace and democracy to 99.999999% of the population - and they too,on that occasion, were engaged in a nationwide hunt... for the one terrorist and traitor, the Christian traitor, who voted against it-read my earlier Blog 'Egypt In Turmoil' to get the full, unbiased, picture!]                         Patrick Emek

Egypt In Turmoil (Part II)(Latest)
Kangaroo Judiciary to put Donkey (already in custody with Jackals and Hyenas on more serious charges-see Part I) on trial for 'insulting the Judiciary' because....he called it: 'a Kangaroo Judiciary.'

A Cold Day In 'Political' Hell (!)

Brit Hume - On The Chris Christie Debacle

Ariel Sharon - On His Demise and Debacle

Brit Hume's Candid Comments On The Feminization Of Modern  Society
With regard to the current 'Witch Hunt' against aspiring Republican Presidential Candidate Governor Christie,recently Brit Hume said it as he see's it on Fox News: "I would have to say that in this sort of feminized atmosphere in which we exist today, guys who are masculine and muscular like that in their private conduct, kind of old fashion tough guys, run some risk.... This guy is very much an old fashioned masculine, muscular guy, and there are political risks associated with that. Maybe it shouldn’t be,but that’s how it is." NJ's charismatic Governor Christie, a staunch supporter of Israel, is also firmly in the sights of the Muslim extremists-whom, by stealth, are targeting all known supporters of the Jewish State in a hate campaign directed toward the next U.S. Presidential election.  Prime Minister Netanyahu remarked during Christie's first overseas official trip in 2012 that "There is much in common between Israel and New Jersey. Your territory and ours are similar, as are the number of residents, though it's possible that the residents of New Jersey have better neighbors." (He might well have also been talking about the internal politics in both States!)
Ariel Sharon-On The Road To Damascus
As Israel is in the news I cannot but remark on the death of Ariel Sharon that he was a true patriot and friend of the United States.  The great blemish on this War Hero's historic reputation will always be Sabra and Shatila-where Christian Arab Phalange butchers went on a frenzy of house to house slaughter of Muslims- regardless of age-men,women,babies children and the elderly . In a period of two days between 16-18 September, 1982, during the Civil War in the Lebanon, Christian Arabs went on a frenzied slaughter of Muslims-mainly women,the elderly,babies and children in these two Palestinian refugee camps.  The massacre was in reprisal for the assassination of yet another extremist,the Christian leader of the Phalange, Bashir Gemayel, and indeed they wrongly blamed the Palestinians for this killing.  As Israel was in occupation of Lebanon and had given the green light to the Phalange to 'flush out' any remaining Palestinian fighters who had not evacuated the camps, Israel was responsible for the actions of it's ally at that that time-the Phalange Christian fighters.  Sharon has been falsely accused of organizing this massacre.  This is historically and factually incorrect. What is not inaccurate is the fact that he should have know better than to give Christian Militias a free hand in their nemesis-Palestinian refugee camps-which was an invitation to slaughter. I noted the absence of many European dignitaries at the funeral of this War Hero and freedom fighter. Joe Biden, fittingly, represented The President of The United States at this State funeral. The Wall Street journal quotes a settler leader,Zeev Hever,as saying that the settlers were 'pained' by Sharon's later doubts about the wisdom of the settlements in the occupied territories,but that the settlers,nonetheless,would continue never to give up (their hold on this territory), as Sharon had originally, (and much earlier in his life) believed and had said.   In fact the truth was that Ariel Sharon was himself pained with doubt about the wisdom of incorporating so much Arab territories and populations within Israeli administrative rule-this no doubt was shaped in part by his knowledge (and sad experience) of what extremism ultimately leads to (i.e. the hatred of man and women for their fellow men and women which led to the Holocaust,the massacres in Sabra and Shatila and,on another continent in another place and time, events which initiated Operation Solomon-the Israeli Air Force rescue in a little more than 24 hours,one single night, of the entire Ethiopian Jewish population from starvation,intended hostage-massacre,and discrimination at the hands of their Ethiopian Christian fellow-citizens, ; the Holocaust of Tutsi people in the African country of Rwanda- that the hatreds causing these tragedies were no different, Sharon finally realized, and could see this monster for what it really was, very late in his life.)  Before his untimely stroke,Sharon was on the verge of a monumental policy shift with regard to Israel and Palestine,one which might have taken the world, maybe,on a very different course it is on today.    It's so difficult to say, as in the film 'The Time Machine'...'but what if....'... because none of us can go back and change the past...but we can shape the future.  I believe it was similar to the George Wallace  'conversion' to desegregation in the United States.  Indeed such conversions, which are not at all unknown - those of Gerry Adams and The Reverend Ian Paisley (Northern Ireland), the transformations in what was once Apartheid South Africa ('Pik' Botha and Nelson Mandela) and all involving monumental paradigm shifts-appear to be 'the norm'  when a 'higher level of thinking' intervenes.
An Eye For an Eye-Everyone Goes Blind
One thing that I am certain about is that Zeev Hever is wrong and the future is not shaped in hatred,no compromise and no surrender-an attitude also bedeviling the mentality of the Arab world today.  I recently attended a function with a prominent politician where he pledged support for the besieged Christian Arab population in Syria but was quite adamant that it would be a mistake to support their exodus to Christian lands.  So what myself and Zeev Hever both do have in common,despite our diametrically opposing views and perceptions,is that in a world of compromise, not a single Jewish settlement requires uprooting from the so-called 'Occupied Territories'-but for very different and, to many readers, incomprehensibly opposite reasons:  One day both Israeli and Palestinian Arab Authorities themselves may well have to learn, the unthinkable, from scratch. That is, how to administer Jews and Arabs societies based on plurality rather than sectarianism. Sadly, our reality will probably be that this will only happen, 'When Hell Freezes Over'.

Patrick Emek

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/13/chris-christie-feminized-fox-news-masculine-bully_n_4589119.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/02/chris-christie-israel_n_1396661.html
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/brit-hume-fox-news-christie-too-tough-feminized-atmosphere

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303595404579318163204215566?mg=reno64-wsj&url=http%3A%2F %2Fonline.wsj.com%2Farticle%2FSB10001424052702303595404579318163204215566.html

http://www.irishcentral.com/news/Ian-Paisley-rushed-to-hospital-for-tests-237878641.html

http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/article/20120608/NEWS/120609818#gsc.tab=0    
(Son says former Gov. George Wallace repented for past)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabra_and_Shatila_massacre 
Operation Solomon: The Daring Rescue of the Ethiopian Jews
by Stephen Spector, published by Oxford University Press Inc,Madison Ave,NY 10016,
[2005] ISBN-10: 0-19-517782-7
Fiction films (but based on real events-the first more so than the second) you might wish to watch- typifying many African countries even as at today: Hotel Rwanda 
Tears of The Sun (the only film starring Bruce Willis I would ever recommend you to watch!)
The Wild Geese

Panama In Crisis

In a move over the past few days, which has received little attention from the world media because of the holidays,the President of Panama has unilaterally (and possibly unconstitutionally) reversed the country's long-standing status as a tax haven.   The fact that the status is reversed-and companies registered in Panama must pay tax on all assets generating profit overseas,is not an issue in itself.    (Indeed the U.S. government,more specifically,the firm,has for many decades,utilized the services of Panamanian banks and other registered organizations for the conduct of business outside the territorial jurisdiction of the United States.  This situation has been changing over the past decade to 15 years and Panama no longer provides such services on behalf of U.S. government agencies.)   What appears to be the issue is not the fact that Panama,as from 31st December 2013,is no longer a tax haven,but the unconstitutional way in which President Martinelli,has,without legislative approval,introduced these changes to the Panama taxation code.     (From what I understand,the legislators were away for the Christmas festive holiday when the President,already accused as dictatorial in  style of governance,without accountability nor consultation,changed the tax status.)    Does this matter to anyone but the rich and super rich?  The issue appears to be the fact that there will be a flight of capital out of Panama-which could potentially either destabilize the country or make it vulnerable to heading down the path to becoming a failed state-and the geostrategic implications of this for the entire region-especially for neighboring Colombia,Nicaragua and the highly unstable Guatemala,Honduras and potentially, the British Commonwealth Territory of Belize (an unintended consequence of instability and territorial disputes with neighboring countries which could also, potentially,as fallout consequence,be also on the verges of economic collapse.)    So there is the potential for a dominoes effect throughout the entire region if the Panamanian economy topples overnight.   The only winners in this case will be the drug barons and cartels-who will extend their influence into a flailing Panamanian economy and ultimately create the same crises Colombia has been dealing with for several decades.
Genesis of The Crisis
For some time Panama has been experiencing a huge hidden financial deficit.    The Panamanian press on the other hand have portrayed Panama as a central American 'Tiger' economy.    To a great extent Panama has been a miracle growth economy and the gap between  wealth and poverty has lessened over the past two decades.   This is also, in part,however,the same fallacy which bedeviled the Irish 'Celtic' Tiger economy-fueled as it was by excessive borrowing based on unrealistic property and financial services-related inflated-led growth and not on 'real' (capital goods) export-led growth.    In the case of the Panamanian economy a similar credit boom has inflated the economy-which is now on the verge of collapse.   The President has been accused of all kinds of illegal and criminal activities-by his political enemies of course.  This over-simplifies a very complicated situation-which the President's appointed financial advisors in part created through fiscal mismanagement but which is more in part due to the bad hand he was dealt when he assumed Office.   (Remind you of  someone you know in Washington?)
Standing By Friends In Times of Crises
Panama has been a stalworth ally of the U.S. through many crises and has acted as an honest  broker in other difficult circumstances.   The economy is potentially on the brink of collapse.   What I am about to say is entirely speculative.   I believe that President Martinelli was briefed during the course of the year 2013 by close advisers that the country would run into default sometime in 2014 if drastic steps were not taken to address the huge gap between taxation income and Government expenditure.   With a hostile and bellicose legislature the President was left with few options.    He could either be called a dictator (which,as soon as the world gets wind of this he most certainly will be) or his re-election prospects could go down the toilet with the economy.   In short, I believe he was snookered.    It's true that the Government of Panama is overspending-but so was the U.S. as were most European governments-especially France-which is also on the verge of economic collapse-and has just introduced a 75% rate of taxation on high net worth individuals in an attempt to stave off bankruptcy of the French economy.   (There is a joke in Europe that if the Germans (German capital-heavy industry) ever stop working,the Euro and the EU will collapse overnight!)    The only countries in Europe which are financially stable are Great Britain,Germany, Switzerland,Austria,Liechtenstein,Andorra,Monaco,Sweden and Norway and of those, the one to which most of the world (Christian and non-Christian) is flocking to invest for reasons of political religious and social stability and a business-friendly proactive environment (similar to Panama in terms of Government incentives to foreign investors) is Great Britain.  In the Americas, investors worldwide are likewise flocking to the United States-not because of the recession but because of political stability and the cost of entry investment is at a historically ridiculously low level not seen since the 1929 depression.
Panamanian economic growth,has,unlike the Republic of Ireland,been private sector-growth-led, together with investment from the Government.   Foreign sector investment however has not been enough in the present world financial crises to sustain it's GDP level-which was  surpassing most other countries in the region by between 4.8%-7.00% over the past decade-with a considerable narrowing of the debt to GDP ratio.    In addition to this,for some time,Panama has not been viewed as the taxation haven it used to be-so revenues for company registration,administration and returns (which have been some of the highest in the world) have also been steadily drying up.
The Rocky Road Ahead
Panama is still one of the safest (from a personal safety viewpoint) countries in Central America.
From an investment viewpoint I have never heard any negative comments only positive ones with regard to the ease of doing business without fear of organized crime rackets-which exists in many Central American countries (similar to those operating in Moscow,Russia.)   I cannot say the same of Guatemala,Mexico and Colombia where you are, in addition, most certainly unsafe walking the capitol city at night-and I am talking about the so-called 'safe' areas.)   From a business viewpoint,it has had a reputation for being proactively business-friendly.   When government resumes after the Christmas break (shortly) there will be uproar (if not pandemonium) in Panama City and legislators en masse will be demanding President Martinelli's resignation.    Before you join the frenzied mainstream media-driven chorus,get all the facts you can.
Panama is in crisis but you know what, I can think of few parts of the world at present which are not.  
If I can rework a phrase I've heard in another context,it's not the crisis which counts,it's the way you handle it.


Patrick Emek
January 2014



Crisis? What Crisis?
Latest Update (as at 6th January 2013):
Cabinet Approves Bill To Revoke Law 120 of 2013

''The Cabinet Council revokes law establishing taxable income outside Panamanian territory:Panama Administration will continue local-source taxation.  The Panama Administration accepted its mistake in trying to impose worldwide taxation instead of the local-source taxation system in place under Article 694 of the Tax Code of 1957.''

''The Panama Cabinet approved a bill to revoke Law 120 of 2013 which had eliminated tax benefits to Panama companies and individuals performing transactions which take affect outside of the country.''

[in an Extraordinary Cabinet Session (held on 2nd January 2014) article 694 of the Tax Code is completely reestablished stating that: “it is object of this tax the taxable income produced, in any way, inside the territory of the Republic of Panama, regardless of the place received”] [The project will be presented on Monday, January 6th when the National Assembly retakes their regular period of sessions.] 

 ''The President Ricardo Martinelli blamed current Revenue Authority (ANIP) administrator Luis Cucalon for the passage of Law 120 of 2013, while Vice-Minister Luis E. Camacho assumed responsibility and current Minister of Economy Frank De Lima (author of restrictions to bearer shares on behalf of the OECD) said more consultations were necessary.   The fact remains that several dozen legislators of the government Cambio Democratico party approved the law in its 3rd reading and failed to predict the onslaught of public opinion opposing this change to the Tax Code. '' 

 http://mypanamalawyer.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/panama-administration-will-continue.html

http://mypanamalawyer.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/panama-cabinet-votes-to-revoke-law-120.html
Earlier references (as at 31st December 2013-1st January2014):
PDF]
http://www.gacetaoficial.gob.pa/pdfTemp/27443_A/44901.pdf
http://www.presidencia.gob.pa/5183-Articulos-2-y-3-de-Ley-120-seran-derogados
(English translation available at the Presidential Website) 
Disrupting Drug Trafficking Networks – Progress in 2013 by: Michael Swanson
http://www.treasury.gov/connect/blog/Pages/Disrupting--Drug-Trafficking-Networks-.aspx