Luis Suarez

If this world cup 2014 will be remembered for 'The Bite' then it is the gift of Luis Suarez. After the bite on Chiellini, Suarez now is facing a dilemma. The dilemma arises from various Companies arriving to grant sponsorship to him.

KKolg8 a well renowned international Toothpaste brand said it's sales had shot up 100% after it ran commercials that Suarez used their toothpaste regularly as seen in the team hotel at Brazil. "Children are impressed by the bite marks he left on his opponent. They want to leave such bite marks too to scare bullies. We will also target women in developing countries who can give Suraez-bite to ward off unsocial elements. " The increase in sales is being obeserved in India especially among the kids, Women of all ages and some weakling men.

The above images have left a deep impression on the vulnerable. Meanwhile it is rumored that Apppple plans to hold a conference meet with its lawyers to find out the possibility if they could sue Suarez for the destruction of their Logo. Apppple at present believes that he is responsible for the bite on their trademark something that harmed their Global image. The Chairman of Creative Design section argued that "We did not notice that the complete apple was never present. In our attempt to provide suitable products to customers we overlooked that. The Bitten Apple represents an incomplete product being presented to consumers something that we strongly abhor and is against our company ethics." The Legal notice though has been sent to the Legal representative of Luis Suarez.

ITV, witnessed a revolution of sorts when users switched over world wide to watch the SUAREZ BITE. This phenomena which has sucked in consumers from all the countries is unseen. They plan to provide a portion of their profit to Luis Suarez for making them a worldwide success. They too are in the Hunt to meet him to provide him sponsorship.

McDonalds meanwhile plans to sue Suarez. Post this incident they have been left fuming as customers have alternatives to better nutritious and cheap food as represented by the menu below. 

Their Trade leader said "This world cup has harmed our prospects for better sales and hurt our economic viability in the long run. We must be compensated." 

Though Snickers and Nando have seen it as an opportunity to increase their product outreach and earn more profits as seen from their advertising. Both are delighted at the opportunity to offer free products to Suarez. They believe this would result in increased popularity. Furthermore Snickers representative anonymously said "This is a classic case of turning Lemons into Lemonade we can use this as a business example in the Management Schools to earn more money."

 

Fans of the Film Jurassic Park have got a new lease of life they say there are plans to open a Suarez Park based on the Jurassic Park theme. The Franchise too has been open to this idea,  they believe that this would give a new lease of life to their franchise and would make their park appear more interesting. "Being surrounded by Dinosaur gets boring after some time it becomes monotonous. In Suarez Park, one can never be bored, we will leave customers wanting for more."

Evolution experts are celebrating. "Let the champagne roll on now." said Kar-Yu. They are celebrating the fact that one of the dinosaur has survived extinction and evolved into a modern day footballer.

Modification

Edward Lucas in his forthcoming book "The New Cold War." believes that Russia- Ukraine tensions would herald the start of a new War. A sentiment shared , but differed on the nature of the war itself. While i believe it might give impetus to a new phase of Cold war he asserts it as the start of new World War 

EDWARD LUCAS: I hope I'm wrong but historians may look back and say this was the start of World War III

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2605578/Edward-Lucas-I-hope-Im-wrong-historians-look-say-start-World-War-III.html#ixzz30dwqQOay

However Russia is too smart to start a new war by annexing the highly industrialized Donetsk in the manner similar to German annexation of the industrial part of Czechoslovakia known as Sudetenland before World War 2. There would not be a repeat of the Munich. Russia aims to go for Federalization of Ukraine with more power being devolved to Russian speaking minorities. This would cause Ukraine to be away from the NATO bloc and give Russia the buffer that it desires against NATO.

Post the collapse of USSR, the new Soviet Republics due to faulty division had various Russian speaking minorities located in them. This was not done intentionally but in a federation as USSR was it had no consequence in the times preceding the 1991. However now with the accession of Crimea into Russia it was natural that countries that surround it would have insecurities that have russian population and share borders with it. Hence the presence of US troops in those countries. Estonia is long known to have high Russian speaking population in it. There have been some Media Reports that these population have felt dis-empowered as Russian is not a language and as second class citizens. The deployment of US troops there is meant to soothe the nerves of Estonia Government against a possible Russian invasion. Ditto for Poland that witnessed the deployment of US troops, which in the World War 2 had to face attack on both the fronts against Germans and Soviets.

 

Amidst the lingering fears in EU about Russian expansion into Europe it must be always remembered that sharing a long running boundary with NATO is the last desire of Russia rather it is fine with having buffer states that share boundary with NATO. This would reduce the chance of NATO interfering into Russia and reaching it directly.

Credit: Daily Mail

In the case of Crimea i believe it was different, Russia acceded it due to its strategic value and proximity to the Black Sea. Something that Russia has always valued and acknowledged by the President himself in his State Address. With Russia being the largest country in the World and sharing the largest border in the world (along with various border disputes) itself being a Herculean challenge it will have very less incentive to start a new War , more over it will have even lower incentive to let this tension get out of hand into a new World War as the Author Edward Lucas claims. Rather it will go for increasing friendships towards Asia , especially reaching out to China (which finds itself mysteriously flooded with new friends), India (after the present elections are over), Belarus, Armenia (will be given gas discounts, security), other like minded countries, to avoid getting isolated in the International Scene.

Russia would also have its mind occupied with exploiting the Polar region resources something that the Economist Conference displayed. There would be tension will be played out there as well as other non-Arctic countries eg China, India too would be keen to use its navigation facilities and reduce the reliance on the Suez Canal.

By 

INSTA IR EXPERT :o)

Too Much to ask???

Too much to ask………..?

Hundred years before in 1914, a minor problem between Austria and Serbia was caused by   the assassination of Archduke., At that time it was thought to be a central European problem. Many banks and economists disregarded it as a minor problem and continued with business in a normal way and they behaved as if they were unaffected by it, even after the war escalated by involving various member states of Europe. It was believed to be a local problem as common sense of finance would make a long drawn out war unsustainable. Long drawn out war between European nations was also thought to be unviable as the inflation that accompanied the war ended up damaging the value of currency, a task that the Central Banks held quite dear considering that it was the era of Gold Standard wherein value of currency was tied to the gold. In fact JM Keynes disagreed with anyone who was of the view that the war would be long drawn out. The financial integration of Europe, prevalence of economic prosperity based on the Gold Standard and realisation that war gave pyrrhic victory in nature as illustrated in Daily Mail by Norman Agnell. His theory that war had no benefits as it damaged financial and commercial linkages between nations, damaged international credit; thus war in Europe if present must come to a swift end, was widely accepted view among  the elites, administration and organisation of various countries.

The war continued by relying heavily on war-time finances which included  taxes, borrowings and other means possible by  belligerent nations which resulted in severe inflation. This war among the member nations gradually involved in various other countries and colonies located on the other continent. At nascent stage of this war, people were not aware about its genesis or the reason for war. However, the fighting continued with many lives being sacrificed.  The war long drawn out between Allied and Axis powers drew public attention only when it caused many deaths and resources were drained out. At the end of this war the unavoidable outcome, inflation and the world lay in ruins. Known as the Great War by then, it was believed that this war would end all the other wars. Moreover, due to the World War II that broke out again in Europe, the earlier war was termed as the World War I. World War II was followed by Cold War between USA and USSR along with their allies which caused tensions at the World Stage.

These two wars exposed the belief that nations would be sane to consider the high cost of war. In 1914 Germany and Russia were the rising powers who found themselves in war with each other. It was based on the conflict between the concepts of Pan Slavism and Pan Germanism. Pan Slavism followed by Russia which believed that all the Slavs must be united under the leadership of Russia who was to function as the protector of Slavs, Pan Germanism endorsed by Germany was the belief that all Germans must unite under the guidance of strong Germany. Thus a localised conflict between Serbia and Austria dragged in Russia and Germany.   Britain then was a fading power that wanted to keep a grip on the centre stage of the world. 

(Wikipedia)

Fast forward to 2014, we find that Russia has re-emerged, China is the rising power and US in the same position as that of Britain which wants to keep its influence on the world scene. The international commentators were awash with the speculation that US’s manoeuvres on the Pacific that was seen to counter China might prove the flash point to stoke the embers of another conflagration that would draw in many nations. However, in an unlikely scenario, post the toppling of previous Ukraine Government Russia has integrated with Crimea, an isolated Peninsula in Black Sea, as reported by Reuters. Similar to Pan Slavism and Pan Germanism at present there also could be the case made out for Pan Russianism a concept wherein Russia acted with interest to secure the rights of the Russian speaking people. Post to the collapse of USSR there exists Russians as minority in the Republics that formed out of USSR. This was the cause to the present action undertaken by Russia in Crimea. While the presence of nuclear weapons emerges as a strong factor for avoiding of the occurrence of all out war, the probability for Cold War to restart yet persists. 

The arrival of US troops in Poland to begin the Military Trials as reported by RT

and the presence of Russian troops at the Russian border would only serve to attenuate the Crisis.  

(Reuters)

It remains to be seen, if it is too much to ask for faith in the rationality of nations.

PS:
This blog is dedicated to Praveen Swami, who i believe is the best wrt International Relations.