Good governance in Afghanistan

I spent part of the afternoon in a public discussion about the future of Afghanistan after the departure of ISAF, the international military deployment. End 2014 is around the corner and security remains a major challenge. But some of the Afghan participants told us that more important than the security transition – the transfer of responsibilities from the NATO-led force to the national army – is the political transition that is scheduled for next year. In about 14 months there will be presidential elections and a new leader will take over from President Hamid Karzai. The credibility of those elections is still a matter to be addressed. And, more importantly, as the NATO representative in the discussion said: “we need a good, honest government in Kabul”.

Well, this is indeed a big challenge.

Men and diamonds

Eight men have shown, last night, that diamonds are not just girls’ best friends. These men love them too. They dressed for the occasion, with clothes roughly cut as police uniforms, and rather inelegantly cut through the chicken wire that surrounds part of the Brussels airport perimeter and drove in two cars to the footsteps of a commercial airliner bound to fly to Zurich. This was a scheduled flight, ready to take passengers and also a few boxes containing many shining stones.

The fellows took the stones and left the area through the same hole in the wire. The catch’s worth is estimated at 50 million dollars. Not bad for a five-minute job. 

All that happened at 20:00 hours, not in the middle of the night. At the international airport of Europe’s capital.

Fortunately, they did it for the beauty of the stones. Imagine they were a terrorist group intended at attacking the airliner and a couple of VIP passengers…

One should feel very concerned.

 As for the airport authorities, they should also feel very embarrassed. 

To be frank, they do not seem to be getting the message. Or at least, they pretend to ignore its gravity. They tell us there are three types of police forces at the airport, so we should consider ourselves safe. But that is exactly the point. When we have different forces in charge of bits of the security of a key facility there is also a serious risk of poor or no coordination among them. In addition, there is too much concern about passenger control and too little about perimeter security. Lack of resources cannot be an acceptable explanation. It is just that the emphasis is too much on checking if I carry any soft cheese – I love Camembert – and not enough on men crazy for diamonds. 

Paris and the young Japanese

I spent many hours walking the avenues and also the little streets of Paris. It was a sunny day, a beautiful day after so many awful days of grey. Paris is always a delight particularly when the weather is fine. It is a city that was conceived by people with great sense of ambition and personal glory and that transmitted that to the many palaces, monuments, squares and gardens that make the place an architectural wonder.

Just a first impression after a very long day: one sees plenty of young tourists from Japan in Paris. As I walked the avenues I was asking myself if visiting Paris is a rite of passage for the young men and ladies of today’s Japan. And then I thought, maybe this will make the youth of that far away land a bit more romantic and more interested in love…I am told they desperately need to boost the romanticism in the Japanese society…

To be prepared for the right questions

Yesterday’s question – the key question a leader should prioritise and try to respond to – raised a number of reactions among the blog’s readers. That was, actually, the whole point of the question: to get people to think about the possible answers to it. Because quite often we tend to forget the important questions and give answers to matters that are not particularly relevant.

The many leaders I met – the true ones – where people that new how to ask questions. They would look at you and raise a point for you to respond to. And many times I felt embarrassed because I had not thought deeply – or at all! – about it and had no good answer to provide. I would then feel dwarfed by my interlocutor. And that is a feeling you cannot allow people to get you to experience if you have aspirations and want to been perceived as a match.

An incomplete question

Is it a good time, on a Saturday evening, to remind all of us that the key question a leader should ask himself/herself is ….?

Today's word in Spain

There is one word in today’s Spain that has plenty of currency among the ordinary people. It is a word that expresses the disgust and displeasure of almost everyone with present-day politics and the politicians. It is also an indication that the crisis in Spain is much deeper than the economy, the banking situation and the skyrocketed rate of unemployment. No need to guess. The word is … corruption!

Complexities and the deficit of confidence

  The dynamics of geopolitics and key international events are moving faster than our capacity to forecast, grasp their meaning or measure the intensity of their impact. We live at present in a world that is in constant flux and too complex.

Above all, there is a major inadequacy between the global nature of many challenges and the mechanisms to respond to them. That’s why the reform of the UN System is more urgent than ever.

But there is also a very serious crisis of confidence in the leaders and in the institutions. And that makes some places even more dangerous. 

Obama's great speech

President Obama’s speech on the State of the Union is inspired by a progressive outlook and modernity. It is highly advisable to read it carefully. It is a great lesson on politics and public speech. The style is direct and conversational. It has a strong human touch, with several references to real people. And above all, it proposes a number of directions and this is the trademark of a leader: to set the ambition!

Its references to clean cars that will move on alternative fuels, not on oil, to women’s rights and full empowerment, to the need to stop the violence against women,  and also the observations about development co-operation are remarkable paragraphs in a statement that is full of extraordinary reflections.  

Leadership, play, mysticism...and keep smiling!

As I perused my old personal notes about leadership, I came across one written almost fifteen years ago that says that there is bit of “ theatre” – representation – included in the practice of leadership. And just after that line, the following reads that there also a touch of mysticism in a leader. 

I would add that a good leader has also a good sense of humour.

Then I looked at some of the men that are in charge of Europe today – Angela Merkel is a different ball game – and couldn't find the actor ( with the exception of Berlusconi, of course, but he has no mysticism, all in him is fake and paid for, you can ask Ruby) and also couldn't think of anyone who inspires people.

An example is poor François. He is not comfortable in his role, as if he were the wrong cast for the job of President, and he can’t fire the flame that the European left had hoped he would. But at least, he seems sincere.

Can we say the same about many others?

The Pope, Syria and Berlusconi

My editor had to rearrange this week’s magazine, which was about to be finalised and sent to the printers, after the announcement by Pope Benedict XVI of his resignation. In the magazine as in all media outfits the news arrived as a major earthquake. It has shaken all the other items. Space being a rare commodity in all types of media, particularly in the magazine type, the Pope’s decision has chased out many other pieces of information and editorial comments on other matters. From what I know, it is the Syrian crisis and the Italian elections articles that paid the highest price. They moved out of the pages and focus, or were given just a token space. The Pope took precedence. The matters of God won over the tragedy of people in Syria and the comedy of Berlusconi in Italy.