Strategy – Page 28 – Go Lean…Caribbean

Category: Strategy

Where the Jobs Are – Employers in the United States

Posted on September 24, 2016 in Economics, Strategy

Go Lean Commentary

There are a lot of lessons for the Caribbean to learn from the US regarding jobs. They do better at job creation than we do in our region. They have met their goal!

The goal of creating jobs in the US after the Great Recession led to the genesis of the book Go Lean … Caribbean. See the quotation here at Page 151:

How many jobs does the US economy have to generate to return to the unemployment rate of December 2007 (5.0) when the Great Financial Crisis started, by the end of President Obama’s second term in November 2016. This analysis for the number of jobs is assessed at 261,200 every month between October 2011 and 2016 to get to 16.2 million jobs.

This is the figure for the US. How about the Caribbean? How many jobs do we need to create to competitively present the Caribbean as a viable alternative to the US for our young people? To extrapolate based on the population, yields:

Population

Jobs/month

Jobs/year

Jobs in 5 years

US
310,000,000

261,200

3,134,400

16,194,400

Caribbean
42,000,000

35,388

424,661

2,194,080

They did it; the unemployment rate in the US today is 4.9% – US Department of Labor; Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Now the Caribbean needs to follow this model to create our needed jobs in our 30 member-states.

So where are the jobs in the US?

As the largest Single Market economy in the world, the US maintains a large number of jobs among the member-states. Who exactly – companies, institutions, etc. – contribute these jobs?

In almost every case in the US, a state’s government is its largest employer. However, government employment is spread across various organizations. In each state, there is one company or public institution that employs the most people. “24/7 Wall Street” reviewed data from a range of sources in order to identify the largest employers in each state. …

As the world’s largest retailer, Walmart has an outsized impact on state labor markets.

Walmart is the only company to claim the top employer spot in more than one state. In fact, the nation’s largest retailer employs the most people in 19 states.

Educational and medical institutions also frequently top a state’s list of employers. The most common largest employer across the 50 states, after Walmart, is the state’s university system. Educational services dominate statewide employment in 16 states. Organizations operating in the healthcare sector are often major employers as well. Several of these are also part of a university system.
Source: http://247wallst.com/special-report/2016/03/11/the-largest-employer-in-every-state/

The formula for creating jobs is a diverse array of companies, so as to maintain a stable and healthy labor market. Some companies, however, impact a state’s economy and labor market far more than others, as in Walmart in the foregoing. See the actual list here:

State Company Number of Employees

Alabama Walmart 37,537

Alaska Providence Health & Services 4,000

Arizona Walmart 33,838

Arkansas Walmart 51,680

California University of California 205,177

Colorado University of Colorado 30,000

Connecticut Yale New Haven Health System 20,396

Delaware Christiana Care Health System 11,100

Florida Walmart 104,228

Georgia Walmart 57,276

Hawaii University of Hawaii 10,167

Idaho St. Luke’s Health System 13,557

Illinois Walmart 51,900

Indiana IndianaUniversity Health 29,395

Iowa University of Iowa 22,827

Kansas University of Kansas 13,862

Kentucky Walmart 29,005

Louisiana Walmart 36,763

Maine Hannaford Supermarkets 10,000

Maryland University System of Maryland 38,595

Massachusetts Partners Healthcare 65,000

Michigan University of Michigan 45,397

Minnesota Mayo Clinic 64,033

Mississippi Walmart 24,741

Missouri Walmart 42,312

Montana Walmart 4,508

Nebraska University of Nebraska 13,000

Nevada MGM Grand Las Vegas 55,000

New Hampshire Dartmouth-HitchcockMedicalCenter 9,300

New Jersey Wakefern Food Corporation 36,000

New Mexico University of New Mexico 24,061

New York StateUniversity of New York 89,871

North Carolina University of North Carolina System 74,079

North Dakota Sanford Health 12,292

Ohio Walmart 46,611

Oklahoma Walmart 33,268

Oregon Intel 18,600

Pennsylvania University of PittsburghMedicalCenter 60,000

Rhode Island Lifespan system of hospitals 13,710

South Carolina Walmart 30,828

South Dakota Avera Health 13,000

Tennessee Walmart 40,398

Texas Walmart 166,131

Utah Intermountain Healthcare 20,000+

Vermont The University of VermontMedicalCenter 7,400

Virginia Walmart 42,915

Washington Boeing 77,947

West Virginia Walmart 12,454

Wisconsin University of Wisconsin 40,000+

Wyoming Walmart 4,647

Source: Retrieved 09-23-2016 from: http://247wallst.com/special-report/2016/03/11/the-largest-employer-in-every-state/2/

Examining this foregoing chart, allows us to glean certain intelligence:

Jobs come from disruptive systems of commerce – Big-Box retailer Walmart has undermined the business models of the previous delivery solutions for food, clothing and shelter (home goods). They are now the largest employer in 19 states.
The education eco-system is important for more than just enrolled student bodies; whole communities are affected. Just consider the California example here, which is indicative of all the other states where a University System is the largest employer: The University of California system, which has campuses in Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Riverside, Merced, Santa Cruz, Santa Barbara, San Diego, and San Francisco, is the largest employer in the state. The university network also includes the UCLA Health System, which consists of five medical centers, and three national laboratories.

See the detailed depictions of these two business models in the related VIDEO here:

VIDEO – The Largest Employers In Top 10 Most Populous States – https://youtu.be/fcVHwjnmqCc

Published on Jan 11, 2016 – http://247wallst.com/

The foregoing analysis on this chart is very revealing for the Caribbean. We need to move to where the world is moving, not where the world is coming from. This analysis synchronizes with the book Go Lean…Caribbean which asserts that there are 4 ‘Agents of Change’ (Technology, Globalization, Aging Diaspora, Climate Change) that is forging great change in society.

Walmart is a product of a successful optimization of globalization – manufacturing many products aboard but featuring just-in-time delivery to the retail shelves.
The Universities and their medical school/service deliveries prove the merits of a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & Math/Medicine) focus and the reality of a aging-always-in-need-of medical-services marketplace.

The Go Lean book calls for the elevation of Caribbean economics, asserting that the Caribbean region has been losing the battle of globalization and technology. The consequence of our defeat is the sacrifice of our most precious treasures, our people, especially our youth. The assessment of all 30 Caribbean member-states is that every community has lost human capital to emigration. Some communities, suffering an abandonment rate of more than 50% of the general population, while others watched as more than 70% of college-educated citizens flee their homelands for foreign shores, including these US jobs – many Caribbean Diaspora work for Walmart.

The Go Lean book doesn’t just report the problem; it also proposes solutions. The book stresses that the world now boast a New Economy, and that we must re-focus, re-boot, and optimize the engines of commerce – fix the broken eco-systems – so as to make the Caribbean a better place to live, work and play. We need the jobs of this New Economy; the book presents a plan to create the 2.2 million stated above. How?

The Go Lean book serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU) with the charter to facilitate jobs in the region. The book posits that ICT (Internet & Communications Technology) can be a great catalyst for job-creation. This would refer to the education of ICT and the delivery of ICT. This job-creation focus is among these 3 prime directives of CU/Go Lean:

Optimization of economic engines in order to grow the regional economy to $800 Billion and create 2.2 million new jobs.
Establishment of a security apparatus to protect the resultant economic.
Improvement of Caribbean governance to support these engines.

Early in the Go Lean book, the responsibility to create jobs was identified as an important function for the CU with these pronouncements in the Declaration of Interdependence (Pages 14):

xxvi.     Whereas the Caribbean region must have new jobs to empower the engines of the economy and create the income sources for prosperity, and encourage the next generation to forge their dreams right at home, the Federation must therefore foster the development of new industries, like that of ship-building, automobile manufacturing, prefabricated housing, frozen foods, pipelines, call centers, and the prison industrial complex. In addition, the Federation must invigorate the enterprises related to existing industries tourism, fisheries and lotteries – impacting the region with more jobs.

xxvii.    Whereas the region has endured a spectator status during the Industrial Revolution, we cannot stand on the sidelines of this new economy, the Information Revolution. Rather, the Federation must embrace all the tenets of Internet Communications Technology (ICT) to serve as an equalizing element in competition with the rest of the world. The Federation must bridge the digital divide and promote the community ethos that research/development is valuable and must be promoted and incentivized for adoption.

xxviii.   Whereas intellectual property can easily traverse national borders, the rights and privileges of intellectual property must be respected at home and abroad. The Federation must install protections to ensure that no abuse of these rights go with impunity, and to ensure that foreign authorities enforce the rights of the intellectual property registered in our region.

The book Go Lean…Caribbean details the creation of 2.2 million new jobs for the Caribbean region, many embracing the ICT/STEM skill-sets. The book also describes what the Caribbean region have to do in order to have a change for these jobs. It details the new community ethos that need to be adopted, plus the executions of key strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies. The following list is depicted in the book:

Community Ethos – Deferred Gratification	Page 21
Community Ethos – Economic Principle – Economic Systems Influence Choices & Incentives	Page 21
Community Ethos – Consequences of Choices Lie in the Future	Page 21
Community Ethos – Job Multiplier	Page 22
Community Ethos – Lean Operations	Page 24
Community Ethos – Return on Investments	Page 24
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Future	Page 26
Community Ethos – Ways to Help Entrepreneurship	Page 28
Community Ethos – Ways to Promote Intellectual Property	Page 29
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact Research & Development	Page 30
Community Ethos – Ways to Bridge the Digital Divide	Page 31
Strategy – Mission – Education Without Further Brain Drain	Page 46
Tactical – Fostering a Technocracy	Page 64
Tactical – Tactics to Forge an $800 Billion Economy – High Multiplier Industries	Page 70
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Commerce Department – Patents & Copyrights	Page 78
Implementation – Ways to Pay for Change	Page 101
Implementation – Ways to Deliver	Page 109
Implementation – Ways to Impact ICT and Social Media	Page 111
Planning – Ways to Improve Trade	Page 128
Advocacy – Ways to Create Jobs	Page 152
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Education	Page 159
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Housing	Page 161
Advocacy – Ways to Better Manage Food Consumption	Page 162
Advocacy – Ways to Better Provide Clothing	Page 163
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Labor Markets and Unions	Page 164
Advocacy – Ways to Foster Technology	Page 197
Advocacy – Ways to Foster e-Commerce	Page 198
Advocacy – Ways to Battle Poverty – Third World Realities	Page 222
Advocacy – Ways to Help the Middle Class	Page 223
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Youth – Usual Candidates for Fast-Food Jobs	Page 227
Appendix – Growing 2.2 Million Jobs in 5 Years	Page 257
Appendix – Job Multipliers	Page 259
Appendix – Nuyorican Movement	Page 303

Previous blog/commentaries detailed exactly where the jobs are for this New Economy. Consider these submissions here:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=8929	Where the Jobs Are – A reflection on Labor on Labor Day
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=8328	Where the Jobs Are – One Scenario: YouTube Millionaires
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=8262	Where the Jobs Are – One Scenario: Uber Model from Africa
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=6089	Where the Jobs Are – The futility of Minimum Wage
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2857	Where the Jobs Are – Entrepreneurism in Junk
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2025	Where the Jobs Are – Attitudes & Images of the Diaspora
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2003	Where the Jobs Are – One Scenario: Shipbreaking
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1698	Where the Jobs Are – STEM Jobs Are Filling Slowly

The Caribbean can be the best address on the planet, if only we had jobs …

… yet, we can create more.

We have successful models of other societies – like the US in the foregoing. But there are other examples too, think South Korea, Iceland, India, and China. All of these countries business models have also been detailed by the Go Lean movement.

Now is the time … everyone is hereby urged to lean-in to this Go Lean roadmap, so that we can start to create the new jobs our region badly needs. This is not easy; in fact the Go Lean book describes it as heavy-lifting. But it also describes that it is conceivable, believable and achievable.

Yes, we can … also … make the Caribbean a better place to live, work and play. 🙂

Download the free e-Book of Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

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Jobs, Model, Trade

ENCORE: First Day of Autumn – Time to Head South

Posted on September 22, 2016 in Industries, Strategy

Go Lean Commentary

Imagine a world – the new Caribbean – where every year at this time, the first day of Autumn, the efforts begin to move “snowbirds” down south, to the Caribbean to pass the winter months.

We welcome this!

This is the business model envisioned in the book Go Lean … Caribbean. It asserts that with the right guidance, investments and the adoption of best practices that the Caribbean region can give refuge to northern snowbirds for the winter, and profit our communities at the same time. One required investment would be a complete network of Island-hopping ferries, as depicted here.

Imagine the scenario – in the VIDEO here – but a ferry of cars and RV’s (Recreation Vehicles) arriving in one Caribbean port after another:

VIDEO – RVing on the Gulf Coast Ferry System – https://youtu.be/XlTYa83EoTM
Published on Mar 6, 2013 – … On a recent trip from New Orleans, LA to Galveston Island, TX, both Google Maps and our GPS suggested that we drive inland, along interstate 10. Since we prefer to stay on more scenic local roads whenever possible (and we were also eager to take the RV on the ferry ride to Galveston Island) we stayed along the coast instead. As a bonus, we drove through peaceful and scenic marshland and got some views of the Gulf of Mexico as well.
While researching our route, we discovered that there would be an additional water crossing required, on the Cameron-Holly Beach ferry. We weren’t sure if a large motorhome would be able to make the crossing. Were large vehicles allowed? Was there a problem with low tide causing steep approach or departure angles? A little online research showed that it wouldn’t be a problem, although we’d recommend that anyone planning to follow this route check for any updates or changes to ferry policies or conditions. The Cameron-Holly Beach ferry trip is laughably short… only 1/4 mile and about 3 1/2 minutes. …
When we arrived in Port Bolivar, TX to catch the ferry to Galveston Island, we were pleased to find that the trip was free for all ages! During the crossing we saw dolphins riding in our bow wave and were lucky enough to catch one of them on video, as you can see. Next time you’re RVing along the Gulf Coast, get off the Interstate and head out onto the water. It’s a great way to travel by RV!

Consider the original blog-commentary here from April 11, 2014. It is being ENCORED for this first day of Autumn 2016:

============

Title: Florida’s Snowbirds Chilly Welcome

To the Canadian Snowbirds, looking for warm climates and a warm welcome, we say:

“Be our guest”.

To the Caribbean Diaspora, living in Canada and other northern countries, we say:

“Come in from the cold”.

The book Go Lean…Caribbean aligns with the news story in the foregoing article. While the US may be retracting the Welcome Mats from Canadian snowbirds, after 180 days, the islands of the Caribbean extend the invitation for them to pass the wintry months here. They are invited to bring their time, talent and treasuries; (according to the foregoing article: billions of dollars).

Need an extra month? No problem.
Need access to cutting-edge medical treatment? Got it.
Need protection from crime and harassment? Got you covered.
Need video communications to interact with Embassy and government officials? Sure thing.
Need access to your Canadian dollar bank accounts? No problem.

The source news article is embedded here as follows:

Title: “Congress protects America from Canadian pensioners”
Gulfport, Florida – A chore combining carpentry with diplomacy awaits Gordon Bennett, a retired Canadian soldier, after his move to a larger mobile home near Florida’s Gulf coast. As commander of an overseas post of the Royal Canadian Legion, he likes to fly his national flag from a handy palm tree. But as a respectful guest—one of about half a million Canadian “snowbirds” who own winter homes in Florida, using special visas good for a total of 180 days in any 12-month period—he knows to follow strict protocol when mounting his flags, or face complaints from American neighbours. His Canadian flag cannot be flown on its own but must be paired with the Stars and Stripes (though never on the same pole). The American flag may not be smaller or fly lower, and must be flown in the position of honour (the right, as you emerge from a doorway).

Mr. Bennett, a genial octogenarian, does not resent the fussing. In his winter home of Pinellas County—an unflashy region of mobile home parks, “senior living” complexes, golf courses and strip malls—the welcome is mostly warm for Canadian snowbirds, who pump billions of dollars into Florida’s economy each year. His post shares premises with the American Legion, and has introduced local veterans to Moose Milk, a lethal Canuck eggnog-variant involving maple syrup. He routinely brings 50 or 60 Canadians to ex-servicemen’s parades, picnics or dinner-dances.

But once issues of sovereignty are raised, America’s welcome can chill. Visa rules force Canadian pensioners to count each day after they cross the border, typically in late October. They are enforced ferociously: overstayers may be barred from re-entry for five years. Some members of Congress have been trying to ease the rules for Canadian pensioners since the late 1990s. A law allowing Canadians over 55 to spend up to eight months in America each year, as long as they can show leases for property down south and do not work, passed the Senate in 2013 as part of a comprehensive immigration bill, but like the bigger bill, it has now stalled. In the House of Representatives an extension for Canadian snowbirds has been tucked into the JOLT Act, a tourism-promotion law introduced by Joe Heck, a Nevada Republican.

Canadian pensioners are not an obviously threatening group—few Americans report being mugged by elderly Ottawans armed with ice-hockey sticks. They pay property and sales taxes in America. They must cover their own health-care costs while down south, through the Canadian public health-care system and private top-up policies. If allowed to stay for eight months, most would stay only seven, predicts Dann Oliver, president of the Canadian Club of the Gulf Coast (staying longer would complicate their health cover and their tax status). They just want a few more weeks in the sun.

Yet even something this easy is proving hard. Mr. Heck is willing to tweak his bill to focus on two reforms: the Canadian extension and visa interviews by video-conference for Chinese, Brazilian and Indian would-be visitors, who currently face long journeys to American consulates. But many members of the House “are reluctant to do anything with the word immigration in it,” says Mr. Heck. Optimists hope the bill might come up for a vote this year. For Mr. Bennett and his wife, Evelyn, Canadians whose “bones ache” in their homeland’s cold, it can’t come too soon.
Source: The Economist (Retrieved 03/08/2014) –http://www.economist.com/news/united-states/21598680-congress-protects-america-canadian-pensioners-chilly-welcome

The book, Go Lean…Caribbean, serves as a roadmap for the implementation of the Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU) over a 5 year period. The book posits that tourism products can be further extended to attract, accommodate and harvest the market of Snowbirds. These ones bring more than they take, and therefore should be viewed as low-hanging fruit for tourism’s economic harvest. While some CU member-states may target a High-Net-Worth clientele, there is room too for the hordes of retirees who may seek more modest accommodations. In the end, billions of dollars of economic output from the Snowbird market are still … billions of dollars.

From the outset, the book defined that the purpose of the CU is to optimize economic, security and governing engines to impact Caribbean society, for residents and visitors. This was pronounced in Verse IV (Page 11) of the opening Declaration of Interdependence:

Whereas the natural formation of the landmass is in a tropical region, the flora and fauna allows for an inherent beauty that is enviable to peoples near and far. The structures must be strenuously guarded to protect and promote sustainable systems of commerce paramount to this reality.

In line with the foregoing article, the Go Lean book details some applicable infrastructure enhancements and advocacies to facilitate more Snowbird traffic:

Ferries – Union Atlantic Turnpike (Page 205)
Self-Governing Entities/Fairgrounds (Pages 105, 192)
Optimized Medical Deliveries (Page 156)
Marshalling Economic Crimes (Page 178)
Improve Elder-Care (Page 239)

The purpose of this roadmap is to make the Caribbean, a better place to live, work and play; for snowbirds too! This way we can benefit from their presence.

Download the book Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

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Canada, Sales, Ships, Tourism, Trade

[Top]

Securing the Homeland – On the Ground

Posted on September 16, 2016 in Government, Strategy

Go Lean Commentary

The issue of security in the Caribbean homeland is fully encompassing, it covers region-wide issues from military intrusions down to 911 emergencies. Yes, the concern is not World War III, but when someone’s security is threatened, the urgency is always life-and-death. So any efforts to improve homeland security must consider the emphatic view of the beholder:

Just like “beauty is in the eye of the beholder”, so too is the perception of security.

Continuing with the series on Security Intelligence, this commentary – 3 of 3 from the movement behind the book Go Lean … Caribbean – focuses on the urgency of security threats. The consideration is given for the need to communicate urgent-emergent situations, proactively and reactively. How can we optimize Security Intelligence (military episodes, border-encroachments and police-crime scenarios) on the ground so as to better secure our Caribbean homeland? All the other commentaries in the series covered these details:

Each commentary relates to the Caribbean security apparatus being promoted in the Go Lean regional empowerment effort.

There is no doubt that the subject of Security Intelligence needs a fresh look in the Caribbean. Among the “push and pull” reasons why people have emigrated away from the region, personal security has been listed as a high rationale. As communicated in previous blog-commentaries (see list below), our concern for homeland security is not communism or terrorism – as is the case for our American neighbors – but rather it is the risks and threats of crime and the dread of emergencies. Remediation and mitigation for the Caribbean homeland must focus more on the micro, than on the macro.

For the macro, we are fortunate to be within the border vicinity of the United States. They are a militarized society – boasting the biggest, most equipped Armed Forces in the history of mankind – so we benefit from Pax Americana. This feature was previously detailed as follows:

Pax Americana is not a “de jure” policy of the US government, but rather a “de facto” policy. The spirit of the Monroe Doctrine is still imbued in US foreign policy. This implies that any European aggression in the Americas is an affront to the US. Practically, the US strong military ensures peace in the region. There is no need for massive military output by Caribbean states… Previous expressions of Pax Americana have resulted in a trade embargo for Cuba.

Pax Americana will not address all of our security needs. The American priority is America. We need our own resources to prioritize our needs and our solutions. How many satellites does the US have pointing to Caribbean neighborhoods? How many “Persons of Interest” are being surveilled for unbecoming activities? These are good questions, and the answers correspond with this point made in a previous blog-commentary:

[The US has a] security commitment to their Caribbean neighbors, but the amount they devote is such a piddling – they prioritize 0.1968% of the total security budget towards the region – that the Caribbean should not be lulled into complacency. We need our own security solutions!

For the micro, we see the need to remediate and mitigate crime; accepting that this challenge is both an “Art” and a “Science”. We have to rely on security professionals – Soldiers, Sailors and Police – to do this job. When there are failures in these executions, we all feel the pressure in society. This is not just academic, this is life-and-death. The result could be an alarming crime problem that draws the attention of local, regional and international stakeholders. This attention can dissuade inter-trade activities for our Caribbean region.

For the micro, we also see the need to optimize ‘Emergency Management’; this too is defined in the book Go Lean…Caribbean as both an “Art” and a “Science”. The book embarks on the strategy to integrate Emergency Management (Preparation and Response) into the regional homeland security efforts. Therefore the issue of Security Intelligence is of serious concern, requiring serious solutions if we want to ensure that all our stakeholders – residents, tourists, trading partners – are safe and secure within our borders.

This quest is not just a desire, it is also a job description, as related in the first submission in this series. According to the implied Social Contract between citizens and their governments, citizens are required to surrender some of their natural rights and submit to the authority of the State in exchange for added protection of their remaining legal rights. This Social Contract authorizes the State to raise a militia and establish police forces to ensure public safety and protections against all enemies, foreign and domestic.

Fulfilling this job responsibility is a BIG deal; and very expensive, where some governmental entities spend the lion-share of their budgets on their security fulfillments. This is all due to the one ingredient that is most expensive: Personnel.

The Go Lean book presents a strategy for better securing the homeland by employing new Security Intelligence tools to optimize the investment in people. While the approach is to ensure homeland security by confederating a regional force – military and police – under the guise of the Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU), most of the Security Intelligence initiatives considered here are on the State-side of the Federation/member-state separation-of-powers line. The Go Lean/CU approach is to leverage the size of the CU to deploy investments too big, out-of-reach for anyone one member-state alone.

Consider these Security Intelligence solutions that will bring great benefits, protections, to any community:

Shots Fire Monitoring	There is a myth that gun crime doesn’t matter unless it results in a homicide or a gunshot wound. But the truth of the matter is that for every homicide committed with a gun, there are more than 100 gunfire incidents. So as to make neighborhoods safe, it is essential to employ a system that delivers an accurate and real-time picture of gun crime. The US provides a fitting model with deployments in many cities. See full details on the ShotSpotter product and VIDEO 1 in the Appendix below.
Traffic Cams	Road traffic is a sore subject in many communities; it is usually the Number One killer of young people. Yet, the solution for dangerous driving is so simple: stick a police officer on the scene; everyone slows down and drives more cautiously and safely. Now technology allows this disposition all the time, without the human police officer; with the deployment of Traffic Cameras. The realities of these implementation have been detailed in a prior Go Lean blog: https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2782
Crowd-Control Drones	Drones are here to stay. There has been countless blog-commentaries depicting the tactical benefits of aerial drones (UAV’s) and the vantage point they provide for a Unified Command & Control structure. As the technology advances, the benefits of drone deployments increase accordingly. This does not only apply to UAV’s, but robotic tanks for crowd-control, hostage stand-offs, bomb-mine removals and infantry ground support. See the Photos here and embedded VIDEO 2 and VIDEO 3 in the Appendix.
Helmet & Body Cams	There are undeniable benefits when military and police personnel dawn helmet and/or body cameras. There isn’t just the accountability for justice assurance, but also the elevation of more intelligence during tactical missions. This is the benefit of Unified Command & Control. See sample Photos here.

These solutions reflect the need for regional oversight, as envisioned in the book Go Lean…Caribbean. The book serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the technocratic entire Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU). This CU roadmap is designed to elevate Caribbean society by these prime directives:

Optimization of the economic engines; growing the regional economy.
Establishment of a security apparatus to ensure public safety and protect the resultant economic engines.
Improvement of Caribbean governance to support these engines.

All of these foregoing features relate to this topic of Unified Command & Control. The Go Lean book stressed the effectiveness and efficiency of this strategy, for protecting life and property of all Caribbean stakeholders: residents and visitors alike. This is why the book posits that some deployments are too big for any one member-state to manage alone – especially with such close proximities of one island nation versus another – there are times when there must be a cross-border multi-lateral coordination. This vision is defined early in the book (Pages 12 – 14) with these statements in the opening Declaration of Interdependence:

x. Whereas we are surrounded and allied to nations of larger proportions in land mass, populations, and treasuries, elements in their societies may have ill-intent in their pursuits, at the expense of the safety and security of our citizens. We must therefore appoint “new guards” to ensure our public safety and threats against our society, both domestic and foreign. The Federation must employ the latest advances and best practices of criminology … to assuage continuous threats against public safety.

xi. Whereas all men are entitled to the benefits of good governance in a free society, “new guards” must be enacted to dissuade the emergence of incompetence, corruption, nepotism and cronyism at the peril of the people’s best interest. The Federation must guarantee the executions of a social contract between government and the governed.

xii. Whereas the legacy in recent times in individual states may be that of ineffectual governance with no redress to higher authority, the accedence of this Federation will ensure accountability and escalation of the human and civil rights of the people for good governance, justice assurances, due process and the rule of law. As such, any threats of a “failed state” status for any member state must enact emergency measures on behalf of the Federation to protect the human, civil and property rights of the citizens, residents, allies, trading partners, and visitors of the affected member state and the Federation as a whole.

xvi. Whereas security of our homeland is inextricably linked to prosperity of the homeland, the economic and security interest of the region needs to be aligned under the same governance. Since economic crimes … can imperil the functioning of the wheels of commerce for all the citizenry, the accedence of this Federation must equip the security apparatus with the tools and techniques for predictive and proactive interdictions.

xxvii. Whereas the region has endured a spectator status during the Industrial Revolution, we cannot stand on the sidelines of this new economy, the Information Revolution. Rather, the Federation must embrace all the tenets of Internet Communications Technology (ICT) to serve as an equalizing element in competition with the rest of the world. The Federation must bridge the digital divide and promote the community ethos that research/development is valuable and must be promoted and incentivized for adoption.

Unified Command & Control requires an efficient collaboration of the regional stakeholders delivering security solutions in the Caribbean. The Go Lean book describes this effort as heavy-lifting and the required oversight as agile or “lean”. The concept of “lean” is very prominent in the Go Lean book (and movement), even adapting the title, Go Lean, for this quest.

The focus of the Go Lean book has been towards economics and security from the start. While there is no plan to amass any great Army or Navy, there is the plan to “double-down” on efficient, agile, lean coordination for the homeland’s security. Notice this quotation from the book (Page 103):

Unified Command & Control with State Militias and Police
The CU is not waging a Cold War against a Super-Power, so there is no need for a military-industrial complex. There is only the need to secure the economic engines in the region, and to assuage against the regional threats that arise. As such, most CU homeland security initiatives will be targeting regional policing needs. So the CU security institutions will lock-step with the police & militias of the member-states. The CU will enhance this collaborative effort with advanced monitoring systems, crime laboratories and tactical response units – a complete unified command & control eco-system.

Previous blogs/commentaries also exclaimed societal benefits from pursuits in regional coordination for homeland security; consider this sample of previous blogs, and the submissions on drones:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=8431	Bahamas Issues a Proactive Advisory Citing American Police Violence
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=7485	A Lesson in the History of Interpersonal Violence – Street Crimes
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=7449	‘Crap Happens’ – So What Now?
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=7179	SME Declaration: ‘Change Leaders in Crime Fight’
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=7119	Security Role Model: African Standby Force
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=6103	Sum of All Fears – ‘On Guard’ Against Deadly Threats
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=5376	Drones to be used for Insurance Damage Claims
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=5002	Managing a ‘Clear and Present Danger’
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3881	Regional Coordination: Cyber Security Cooperation
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3834	State of the Caribbean Union’s Regional Society
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3713	Model of Regional Border Control
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1965	America’s Navy – 100 Percent – Model for Caribbean Regional Security
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1554	Status of Forces Agreement for Regional Security Pact
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1487	Here come the Drones … and the Concerns

The Go Lean book details a series of community ethos, strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies to better secure the Caribbean homeland and foster better regional coordination. The list is as follows:

Community Ethos – People Respond to Incentives	Page 21
Community Ethos – Economic Systems Influence Individual Choices	Page 21
Community Ethos – Security Principle – Privacy versus Public Protection	Page 23
Community Ethos – Governing Principle – Lean Operations	Page 24
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact Research and Development	Page 30
Community Ethos – Ways to Bridge the Digital Divide	Page 31
Community Ethos – Ways to Improve Sharing	Page 35
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Greater Good	Page 37
Strategy – Provide Emergency Management Arts and Sciences for Disasters	Page 45
Strategy – Mission – Embrace the Advances of Technology	Page 46
Strategy – Agents of Change – Technology	Page 57
Strategy – Agents of Change – Climate Change	Page 57
Tactical – Fostering a Technocracy	Page 64
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Homeland Security – Emergency Management	Page 76
Tactical – Separation of Powers – CariPol: Marshals and Investigations	Page 77
Implementation – Security Initiatives at Start-up – Intelligence Collaboration	Page 103
Implementation – Ways to Foster International Aid – Natural Disaster Relief	Page 115
Planning – Big Ideas – Homeland Security Pact	Page 127
Advocacy – Ways to Grow the Economy	Page 151
Advocacy – Ways to Create Jobs	Page 152
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Governance	Page 168
Advocacy – Ways to Better Manage the Social Contract	Page 170
Advocacy – Ways to Foster Cooperatives	Page 176
Advocacy – Ways to Remediate and Mitigate Crime	Page 178
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Gun Control	Page 179
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Homeland Security	Page 180
Advocacy – Ways to Mitigate Terrorism	Page 181
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Intelligence Gathering & Analysis	Page 182
Advocacy – Ways to Improve for Natural Disasters – Emergency Management	Page 184
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Emergency Management – Trauma Medicine	Page 196
Advocacy – Ways to Foster Technology	Page 197
Advocacy – Ways to Protect Human Rights	Page 220

Security in the Caribbean requires proactive and reactive measures on the regional level. The CU – with an agency within the Homeland Security Department – also doubles as the regional Emergency Management entity. Our delivery of security cannot resemble a sledgehammer, but rather it must model the precision execution of a surgical scalpel. This is demonstrated with the heavy emphasis on Intelligence Gathering & Analysis.

The promoters of the Go Lean … Caribbean book has only one goal: to make this homeland a better place to live, work and play. While the Caribbean is arguably the best address of the planet, there are societal defects as well. Our security mitigations must therefore be executed in a smart – intelligent – manner so as not to dissuade our primary economic driver: tourism, while still ensuring a safe homeland. This is important for how we live, how we work, and how we and others play here in the Caribbean.

So the issues raised in this series on Homeland Security, and the proposed Intelligence Gathering & Analysis solutions are all of serious concern. These allow for our vision of an elevated society to be fully manifested today and in the future. 🙂

Download the free e-Book of Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

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Appendix: ShotSpotter Overview

Title: Is reducing gun violence a priority in your city?

The communities most affected by gunfire are least likely to call it in. With fewer than 1 in 5 shooting incidents reported to 9-1-1 [Emergency Reporting], gun crime is vastly underreported. When 9-1-1 calls are made, unfortunately the information provided is typically inaccurate. Without knowing exactly where to respond, police waste valuable time and resources driving block by block looking for evidence as criminals escape the scene. Dispatching officers to an active shooting without all available intelligence is a threat to officer safety and needlessly places the public at risk.

Intelligence-Led Policing
ShotSpotter gunfire data enables intelligent analysis. With that, law enforcement can move from the reactive to the proactive. ShotSpotter has been called “a force multiplier” because it provides critical information for better, more timely resource allocation — especially important as agencies are being asked to do more with less.

ShotSpotter Flex instantly notifies officers of gunshot crimes in progress with real-time data delivered to dispatch centers, patrol cars and even smart phones. This affordable, subscription-based service enhances officer safety and effectiveness through:

Real-time access to maps of shooting locations and gunshot audio,
Actionable intelligence detailing the number of shooters and the number of shots fired,
Pinpointing precise locations for first responders aiding victims, searching for evidence and interviewing witnesses.

Source: Retrieved September 14, 2016 from: http://www.shotspotter.com/law-enforcement

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Appendix VIDEO 1 – ShotSpotter in San Francisco – https://youtu.be/1MiKY1ADAAU

Published on Oct 8, 2014 – ShotSpotter gunfire data enables intelligent analysis. With that, law enforcement can move from the reactive to the proactive. ShotSpotter has been called “a force multiplier” because it provides critical information for better, more timely resource allocation.

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Appendix VIDEO 2 – Top 5 Drone Inventions you Must Have – https://youtu.be/_l6CQRHIGyg

Published on Jun 22, 2015 – Drone Inventions you never knew about …

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Appendix VIDEO 3 – ROBOT TANK DRONE: Unmanned Ground Vehicle | RUN FOR YOUR LIVES! – https://youtu.be/HpECV7wGZwI

Published on Feb 24, 2016 – Estonian defense company Milrem took the wraps off its robotic Tracked Hybrid Modular Infantry System (THeMIS) – a “first-of-its-kind modular hybrid Unmanned Ground Vehicle (UGV)” that acts as a multi-mission vehicle platform to assist or replace soldiers on the battlefield.

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Securing the Homeland – From the Seas

Posted on September 15, 2016 in Government, Strategy

Go Lean Commentary

Continuing with the series on Security Intelligence, this commentary – 2 of 3 from the movement behind the book Go Lean … Caribbean – focuses on the Caribbean Sea and adjoining waterways. It addresses how we can optimize Security Intelligence (Naval/Coast Guard and police-crime issues) emanating from the seas so as to better secure our Caribbean homeland. All the other commentaries in the series covered these details:

Each commentary relates to the Caribbean security apparatus being promoted in the Go Lean regional empowerment effort. They consider the short-term, mid-term and long-term needs of our communities.

The 1,063,000 square miles of the Caribbean Sea are very important to our economic wellbeing, in addition to the banks and straits surrounding other islands in the Atlantic Ocean like the Bahamas, Bermuda and Turks & Caicos Island. There are fishery issues, commercial shipping, mineral extraction, pipelines, cruise lines and personal boat-based tourism (yachting, sailboats, etc.) issues. Island-hopping is an important activity for visitors.

The promoters of the book Go Lean … Caribbean wants to protect these activities and the homeland in general. We want to ensure that all our stakeholders – residents, tourists, trading partners – are safe and secure within our borders, on our waterways and within our Exclusive Economic Zone. This would fulfill our implied Social Contract, where citizens surrender some of their natural rights in exchange for additional protections from the State. The normal Social Contract would authorize the Caribbean member-states to deploy Naval operations and Coast Guards. The Go Lean roadmap extends the Social Contract further, empowering the Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU) and its security apparatus … for a CU Navy.

For Security Intelligence related to the seas, the focus is not only on human “bad actors”; sometimes the nemesis is Mother Nature. As related previously, the Caribbean region must be ready for when “Crap Happens“. The qualifying incidences include events and hazards that pose a ‘clear and present danger’ to everyday life for Caribbean communities. So in addition to terrorism-related events like piracy and economic crimes like fishery encroachments, the Caribbean security apparatus must also include an Emergency Management operation. This covers the communities for “911 dangers” like “Search and Rescue” plus regional catastrophes; which includes natural disasters (hurricanes, earthquakes/tsunamis, volcanoes, floods, etc.), industrial incidents (chemical & oil spills), and sea-bourn bacterial & viral pandemics; think “red tides”.

The Go Lean book serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation. This implementation would allow for the establishment of a technical efficient Navy – bleeding with cutting-edge systems and technologies – incorporating the existing Navies and Coast Guards of all the member-states. This allows for greater leverage and economies-of-scale.

Naval operations are costly to maintain; it is prudent to spread this large cost across the wider (wholesale) base of 42 million people in the 30 member-states. In addition to the pure economic metrics, the Go Lean roadmap also allows for smart, efficient and agile deployments; (lean = agile). But the focus of this commentary is not so much on naval hardware (ships, sub-marines, piers and docks), as it is a focus on software: Intelligence Gathering & Analysis, un-manned vessels, positioning and surveillance systems, like radar, GPS and e-LORAN.

These executions are a BIG deal, not just for the world of nautical arts & sciences, but also for the Caribbean historicity. Nautical failures have always plagued Caribbean maritime operations. In a previous blog-commentary, the practice of “Shipwrecking” was exposed, reflecting a bad community ethos that permeated the region at the time. The encyclopedic details are as follow:

Shipwrecking was the practice of taking valuables (cargo) from a shipwreck which has floundered close to shore; this evolved into what is now known as “marine salvage”. While wrecking is no longer economically significant, this practice was in itself an industry as recently as the 19th century in some parts of the world, and a mainstay in many Caribbean economies. The Caribbean islands, waterways and ports have to contend with a lot of hidden water hazards, like reefs. So this industry thrived on the uncertainty of shipping, (before better navigational tools and systems), but also created their own pro-wrecking incidents and threats, like false lighting and sabotage.

This history helps us to appreciate the need for good nautical intelligence.

Where are the ships/vessels?
Where are they going?
How do they plan to get there?

These simple questions can mean life-or-death. We have the unfortunate experience, just this past year, of the cargo ship El Faro, that sank of the coast of the Bahamas in the middle of a quickly developed storm, Hurricane Joaquin. See details of the incident in the VIDEO here and the full news story in the Appendix below:

VIDEO – Search for survivors of cargo ship that disappeared during Hurricane Joaquin – http://www.miamiherald.com/latest-news/article37787241.html

Posted on October 5, 2015 – U.S. Coast Guard Captain Mark Fedor addresses journalists about the search for survivors of El Faro, the cargo ship that disappeared during Hurricane Joaquin. The Coast Guard now believes the ship has sunk, but the search continues for survivors. Video by Walter Michot (wmichot@miamiherald.com).

This type of incident should NEVER happen again under the CU regime. Modeling the Air Traffic Control eco-system, the CU mandate is to know the geo-position of every vessel (of a certain tonnage) in the Exclusive Economic Zones of the Caribbean Seas.

How?

How do we gather this intelligence from the Caribbean Seas? Considering that maritime satellites are already in place, and weather forecasting is already a mature ‘Art & Science’, here are 3 additional deployments embedded in the Go Lean roadmap slated for the Caribbean Seas region:

Lighthouses	This 300 year old technology of a physical lighthouse is now anachronistic. With satellite-based GPS, there is no need for a flashing light to distinguish a coastal destination. This is not the case for virtual lighthouses, where a unique radio signal may constantly ping so as to establish the location. The location is established by triangulating 3 distinct signals. The CU will install e-LORAN virtual lighthouses all along coastlines in every Caribbean member-state. These sites will identify their locations and also gather radar & surveillance data of all passing vessels, then report the data back to the Unified Command & Control Centers for Maritime Operations. See encyclopedia details on e-LORAN in the Appendix below.
Buoys	Modeling the successes of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in the US, the CU will deploy advanced buoys that broadcast atmospheric data in short range burst to nearby vessels, plus transmit the data back to Maritime Operations Centers. The American example provides for dynamic data from these buoys to be uploaded to searchable websites, like this example here: http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/station_page.php?station=44013. See Photo of Buoy website below.
Unmanned vessels	While there is a jockeying for position in the race for unmanned self-driving cars on land and unmanned aerial drones in the air, there is also an “arms race” for autonomous ships. A strategy of a wide network of connected unmanned boats conducting continuous surveillance on the Caribbean Seas will enable tactical management within the Unified Command & Control structure. See Photo of Ghost Ships below.

Gathering nautical intelligence does not have to be a covert activity. This could simply be the law: every vessel – over a certain tonnage – must register with Caribbean maritime authorities when entering our waters. We must have a physical or virtual transponder to recognize them on regional radar and surveillance systems.

The previous submission in this blog series describes that the regional security pact must be instituted with a legal treaty – Status of Forces Agreement – at the launch of the Caribbean Union Trade Federation. This treaty also enables the establishment of the CU Navy and an accompanying Marine Expeditionary Force to facilitate the region’s security interest. In addition, the roadmap details the width-and-breadth of a complete Intelligence Gathering & Analysis Apparatus. Nautical data – of every ship/vessel in the area – adds to the intelligence gathering.

Imagine the presence – on radar – of a ship that has not registered its transponder – suspicious.

The Go Lean book asserts there is a constant ‘clear and present danger’ on the Caribbean waters. There is the need for remediation and mitigation. This point is pronounced early in the Go Lean book with the opening Declaration of Interdependence (Pages 11 – 12) that claims:

v.    Whereas the natural formation of our landmass and coastlines entail a large portion of waterscapes, the reality of management of our interior calls for extended oversight of the waterways between the islands. The internationally accepted 12-mile limits for national borders must be extended by International Tribunals to encompass the areas in between islands. The individual states must maintain their 12-mile borders while the sovereignty of this expanded area, the Exclusive Economic Zone, must be vested in the accedence of this Federation.

x.    Whereas we are surrounded and allied to nations of larger proportions in land mass, populations, and treasuries, elements in their societies may have ill-intent in their pursuits, at the expense of the safety and security of our citizens. We must therefore appoint “new guards” to ensure our public safety and threats against our society, both domestic and foreign. The Federation must employ the latest advances and best practices … to assuage continuous threats against public safety.

xii.   Whereas the legacy in recent times in individual states may be that of ineffectual governance with no redress to higher authority, the accedence of this Federation will ensure accountability and escalation of the human and civil rights of the people for good governance, justice assurances, due process and the rule of law. As such, any threats of a “failed state” status for any member state must enact emergency measures on behalf of the Federation to protect the human, civil and property rights of the citizens, residents, allies, trading partners, and visitors of the affected member state and the Federation as a whole.

xvi. Whereas security of our homeland is inextricably linked to prosperity of the homeland, the economic and security interest of the region needs to be aligned under the same governance. Since economic crimes, including piracy and other forms of terrorism, can imperil the functioning of the wheels of commerce for all the citizenry, the accedence of this Federation must equip the security apparatus with the tools and techniques for predictive and proactive interdictions.

The CU Security/Defense Pact establishes the Homeland Security Department with jurisdiction over the 30 member-states and the Exclusive Economic Zone. Even though there will be the need for collaboration with the formal Armed Forces of the US and their Coast Guard, the CU must take the lead for the region’s security apparatus, in support and defense of the region’s economic engines. In fact, the Go Lean roadmap stresses its prime directives with these 3 statements:

Optimization of the economic engines in order to grow the regional economy and create new jobs.
Establishment of a security apparatus to protect the resultant economic engines and the Caribbean homeland.
Improvement of Caribbean governance to support these engines.

The requirement for the Status of Forces Agreement, to empower our security apparatus, is “Step One, Day One” in the Go Lean roadmap. The Go Lean book details the series of community ethos, strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies to provide the proactive and reactive public safety/security in the region and the Caribbean Seas:

Community Ethos – Economic Systems Influence Individual Choices	Page 21
Community Ethos – Consequences of Choices Lie in Future	Page 21
Community Ethos – Privacy –vs- Public Protection	Page 23
Community Ethos – Intelligence Gathering	Page 23
Community Ethos – “Crap” Happens	Page 23
Community Ethos – Cooperatives	Page 25
Community Ethos – Ways to Improve Sharing	Page 35
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Greater Good	Page 37
Strategy – Vision – Confederating a non-sovereign permanent union	Page 45
Tactical – Fostering a Technocracy	Page 64
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Coast Guard & Naval Authorities	Page 75
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Ground Militia Forces	Page 75
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Emergency Management Agency	Page 76
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Department of Agriculture and Fisheries	Page 88
Implementation – Ways to Pay for Change	Page 101
Implementation – Start-up Foreign Policy Initiatives	Page 102
Implementation – Start-up Security Initiatives	Page 103
Implementation – Start-up Benefits from the EEZ	Page 104
Implementation – Ways to Foster International Aid	Page 115
Planning – 10 Big Ideas – #3: Consolidated Homeland Security Pact	Page 130
Planning – Ways to Make the Caribbean Better – Safer	Page 131
Planning – Ways to Improve Failed-State Indices – Escalation Role	Page 134
Planning – Lessons from the American West – Needed Law & Order	Page 142
Planning – Lessons from Egypt – Law & Order for Tourism	Page 143
Advocacy – Ways to Grow the Economy – Quick Disaster Recovery	Page 151
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Governance	Page 168
Advocacy – Ways to Better Manage the Social Contract	Page 170
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Justice – Piracy & Terrorism Enforcement	Page 177
Advocacy – Ways to Reduce Crime – Regional Security Intelligence	Page 178
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Homeland Security	Page 180
Advocacy – Ways to Mitigate Terrorism – Combat Piracy	Page 181
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Intelligence Gathering & Analysis	Page 182
Advocacy – Ways to Improve for Natural Disasters	Page 184
Advocacy – Ways to Improve for Emergency Management	Page 196
Advocacy – Ways to Foster Technology	Page 197
Advocacy – Ways to Develop Ship-Building	Page 209
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Fisheries	Page 210

Other subjects related to security and governing empowerments for the region’s defense have been blogged in other Go Lean…Caribbean commentary, as sampled here:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=8819	Lesson from China – SouthChinaSeas: Exclusive Economic Zones
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=7449	‘Crap Happens’ – So What Now?
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=6893	Meteorology Realities for Modern Tropical Life
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=6103	Sum of All Fears – ‘On Guard’ Against Deadly Threats
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=5396	‘Significant’ oil deposits changes Exclusive Economic Zone Security Needs
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=5002	Managing a ‘Clear and Present Danger’
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=4360	Dreading the ‘CaribbeanBasin Security Initiative’
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3881	Intelligence Agencies to Up Cyber Security Cooperation
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1965	America’s Navy – 100 Percent – Model for Caribbean
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1554	Status of Forces Agreement = Security Pact
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=273	10 Things We Want from the US – #4: Pax Americana

The promoters of the Go Lean … Caribbean book has only one goal: to make this homeland a better place to live, work and play. This also means stability and safety on our waterways.

The Caribbean is arguably the best address of the planet, with some of the best waterscapes; but there are societal defects as well. These must be remediated and mitigated. Our primary economic driver is tourism, including cruise tourism. There have been incidents in the past within the cruise industry, where the implementations of this Go Lean/CU roadmap would have helped to maintain business continuity. See samples/examples of previous incidences in the link here: http://www.usatoday.com/picture-gallery/travel/2016/02/09/cruise-ship-incidents/80049070/

To succeed in the region’s execution of Homeland Security on the waterways, we must lead first with nautical intelligence.

To succeed in the region’s execution of Emergency Management, we must lead first with nautical intelligence.

A safe, secure homeland and a safe, secure Caribbean Sea is important for how we live, how we work, and how we and others play here in the Caribbean. So the issues in this Homeland Security series is of serious concern. This allows for our vision of an elevated society to be fully manifested in good times and bad. 🙂

Download the book Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

———–

Appendix – eLORAN

Loran or “long range navigation” was a hyperbolic radio navigation system developed in the United States during World War II. After some evolution, Loran-C was the navigation standard for a number of decades. This system allowed a receiver to determine its position by listening to low frequency radio signals transmitted by fixed land-based radio beacons. [It has now been mostly de-commissioned] due to the expense of the equipment needed to interpret the signals, compared to civilian satellite navigation – GPS – systems introduced in the 1990s.

With the perceived vulnerability of global navigation satellite system (GNSS),^[47] and their own propagation and reception limitations, renewed interest in LORAN applications and development has appeared.^[48] Enhanced LORAN, also known as eLORAN or E-LORAN, comprises an advancement in receiver design and transmission characteristics which increase the accuracy and usefulness of traditional LORAN. With reported accuracy as good as ± 8 meters,^[49] the system becomes competitive with unenhanced GPS. eLORAN also includes additional pulses which can transmit auxiliary data such as DGPS corrections. eLORAN receivers now use “all in view” reception, incorporating signals from all stations in range, not solely those from a single GRI, incorporating time signals and other data from up to 40 stations. These enhancements in LORAN make it adequate as a substitute for scenarios where GPS is unavailable or degraded.^[50]

United Kingdom eLORAN implementation
On 31 May 2007, the UK Department for Transport (DfT), via the General Lighthouse Authorities (GLA), awarded a 15-year contract to provide a state-of-the-art enhanced LORAN (eLORAN) service to improve the safety of mariners in the UK and Western Europe.
Source: Retrieved September 13, 2016 from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loran-C#eLORAN

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Appendix – News Article: Despite warnings, lost Florida ship steamed into Hurricane Joaquin

By: Alex Harris and David Ovalle

OCTOBER 5, 2015 – When the cargo ship El Faro left Jacksonville for its regular run to Puerto Rico, its owners considered a tropical storm named Joaquin drifting near the Bahamas nothing that the rugged 790-foot vessel and its experienced 33-member crew couldn’t handle.

The forecast changed as soon as the massive ship set sail but its course — the shortest, straightest shot across the Atlantic to offload containers — never did.

In the face of increasingly ominous warnings about Hurricane Joaquin from the NationalHurricaneCenter, tracking data shows that the El Faro steered almost directly into the strengthening eye of a major hurricane, a decision that appears to have contributed to one of the worst cargo-ship accidents off the U.S. coast in decades.

On Monday, the U.SCoast Guard confirmed the worst fears of families awaiting word in the ship’s homeport of Jacksonville: The massive ship, missing since a last communication Thursday, sank. Its hull spewed so much Styrofoam packing debris from within its bowels that a Coast Guard officer said the waters off the Bahamas resembled a golf course driving range dotted with balls.

One corpse was found Sunday night, as well as an empty and badly damaged 43-seat lifeboat. There were unidentifiable human remains inside a “survival suit,” which helps crew members float and avoid hypothermia.

Despite the Coast Guard’s grim discoveries, the search will continue for possible survivors. The questions about what happened to the ship have only begun.

While much remained unclear, some commercial shipping experts said federal investigators, who will produce the final report on the El Faro’s fate, will almost certainly focus on the call to risk navigating through a hurricane rather than the captain or company deciding to take the safer, but longer route down along the more protected Florida coast.

“He was going to cross the storm at some point. In my opinion, it makes no sense to do that. When you’re a ship, you want to avoid the storm at all costs,” said Capt. Sam Stephenson, who teaches emergency ship handling at Fort Lauderdale’s ResolveMaritimeAcademy.

“A lot of questions will be about what the company and the captain knew and when, and what action was taken,” Basil Karatzas, of Karatzas Marine Advisors & Co., told the Wall Street Journal.

The 790-foot ship departed from Jacksonville on Tuesday when Joaquin was still a tropical storm. The American-flagged El Faro, which means The Lighthouse in Spanish, had a crew of 33 — 28 Americans and 5 from Poland. The captain, Michael Davidson of Maine, was a veteran. The ship was due to arrive in San Juan on Friday.

In a statement on its website, TOTE Maritime Puerto Rico, which owns the ship, said that when the crew set sail on Tuesday, the weather called for a tropical storm, not a hurricane.

“Our crew are trained to deal with unfolding weather situations and are best prepared and equipped to respond to emerging situations while at sea,” the company wrote. “TOTE Maritime Puerto Rico authorized the sailing knowing that the crew are more than equipped to handle situations such as changing weather.”

But by 11 p.m. that night, with the El Faro still not far from Jacksonville, forecasters warned that Joaquin had already hit 70 mph and would become a hurricane by the next morning. Forecasters also noted that Bahamian waters were warm and wind shear was mild, conditions that can fuel intensification. Some computer models saw Joaquin growing fiercer fast. “It should be noted, that the UKMET, GFS, and ECMWF models all significantly deepen Joaquin during the next few days, and the NHC forecast could be somewhat conservative.”

That’s exactly what happened. By 8 a.m. Wednesday, with the ship still hours from the northern Bahamas according to data from Marinetraffic.com, the NHC declared Joaquin a hurricane with 75 mph winds. Forecasters also cautioned that additional strengthening was expected. Over the next 12 hours, Joaquin exploded, wind speed leaping with every NHC advisory. By 11 p.m. Wednesday, it was a Category 3 storm with 115 mph winds.

At least one crew member expressed concern. “Not sure if you’ve been following the weather at all,” crew member Danielle Randolph wrote in an e-mail to her mother, according to the Washington Post, “but there is a hurricane out here and we are heading straight into it.”

By 7:30 a.m. Thursday — about when the ship would have been hitting the hurricane wind field of a storm on the cusp of Cat 4 — the El Faro reported losing power and taking on water. According to TOTE, the company that owns the ship, the crew reported successfully pumping the water out. The weather conditions kept the ship leaning a “manageable” 15 degrees to the side, according to TOTE. That was the last communication from the ship.

At a Monday press conference, Coast Guard Capt. Mark Fedor said that would have left the ship, unable to make headway, at the mercy of 100-knot winds and waves estimated at 50-feet high. Hulls can crack when suspended between waves. Container ships, which can be top-heavy, also are prone to capsizing. Unless the hull is found, how the El Faro went down may always be a speculation.

It’s unclear if that will happen. The ship, packed with 391 containers above deck and 294 below, sank in an area where the Atlantic runs 15,000 feet deep.

The conditions of a major hurricane — where wind and waves can be blinding — also make the process of abandoning ship dangerous. But Coast Guard rescue teams haven’t given up hope of finding survivors. Fedor said a person could survive four to five days in the 80 degree water.

“These are trained mariners,” he said. “We’re not going to discount someone’s will to survive.”

Because El Faro is an American-flagged vessel, the investigation into the sinking will be led by the National Transportation Safety Board and aided by the Coast Guard. Fedor said the Coast Guard will likely launch an independent investigation as well.

U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown of Jacksonville, a senior member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, also called for a congressional inquiry. She planned to meet with El Faro family members Monday afternoon.

TOTE Maritime Puerto Rico did not respond to calls for comment. But in a statement released Monday, President Tim Nolan expressed gratitude to the Coast Guard and dismay at the situation. “We continue to hold out hope for survivors,” he said. “Our prayers and thoughts go out to the family members and we will continue to do all we can to support them.”

But some commercial shipping experts question whether there was a push to try to cut it too close around a developing storm. The Marinetraffic.com data shows El Faro steaming along toward the Bahamas at 18 to near 20 knots — close to its maximum speed.

Giving Joaquin a wider berth and traveling south down the Florida coast might have added 200 miles, and anywhere between six and 10 hours of travel time, Stephenson said. “Prudence plays a large role in this situation.”

Capt. Mark Rupert, who worked the Jacksonville-to-Puerto Rico route for over a decade on cargo ships, agreed the route nearer to Florida was the safest option. Trying to outrun the storm by heading east could lead a ship right into the system’s nastier side.

Rupert and Stephenson said a loss of power would have led to cascading problems, breaking cargo free, worsening violent lurching in waves and adding to any list from taking on water.

“When you don’t have propulsion, you can’t do anything. You’re at the mercy of the sea,” said Rupert, a veteran shipping captain who now works as a harbor pilot in Fort Lauderdale. “It’s kind of terrifying to think of what the crew would have went through in their final minutes.”

Stephenson said the fact that the remains of a crew member were found in a survival suit also tells a story. “They knew the ship was going down.”

In the Bahamas, meanwhile, donations continued to pour as officials worked to assess the extent of the damage in its southern and central islands from Hurricane Joaquin. The government still has not confirmed any deaths from the storm. But Rev. Keith Cartwright of the Anglican Diocese of the Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands told the Miami Herald that according to Bahamian officials, a man died when the roof of his home on Long Island collapsed as a result of high winds

Downed utility poles and flooded runways continue to pose challenges, though Police Commissioner Ellison Greenslade and his team were able to land in Acklins and CrookedIslands Monday as they traveled to assess the situation.

“Please help the people at ColonelHillAirport to get to Nassau before sunset. They need airlift. 46 persons and counting,” Greenslade Twitter account read. Colonel Hill is in CrookedIsland.

Prime Minister Perry Christie also continued his tour of the devastation and his appeal for assistance. He pledged that no resources would be spared in providing assistance in the Joaquin’s aftermath but said the country cannot do it alone.

“We are going to need help,” Christie told the government news station ZNS Sunday after his second visit to Long Island in 24 hours. “We made a commitment to go all out, to bring relief in the shortest possible time, to bring restoration in the shortest possible time. We have now spread our teams around the affected areas.”

MIAMI HERALD STAFF WRITER JACQUELINE CHARLES CONTRIBUTED TO THIS STORY.

Source: Retrieved September 13, 2016 from: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/weather/hurricane/article37779879.html

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Securing the Homeland – From the Air

Posted on September 14, 2016 in Government, Strategy

Go Lean Commentary

The movement behind the book Go Lean … Caribbean wants to protect the Caribbean homeland. We want to ensure that all our stakeholders – residents, tourists, trading partners – are safe and secure within our borders.

This quest is not just a desire, it is also a job description. According to the implied Social Contract, citizens surrender some of their freedoms and submit to the authority of the State in exchange for protection of remaining natural and legal rights. This Social Contract authorizes the State to raise a militia and establish police forces to ensure public safety and protections against all enemies, foreign and domestic.

This job responsibility is a BIG deal; and very expensive. For some governmental administrations – think local municipalities – security fulfillment is the lion-share of their budgets. This is because of the one ingredient that is most expensive:

Personnel.

The Go Lean book presents a strategy for better securing the homeland by optimizing the investment in people. The approach is to ensure homeland security by confederating a regional force – police and military – under the guise of the Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU). This allows for greater leverage and economies-of-scale.

Security is costly; both on the macro and the micro (price per citizen/capita). So it is prudent to spread the large cost of security across a wider base; think wholesale versus retail. The bigger the confederation, the cheaper the cost per capita. This strategy allows us to attain our objectives while confronting the reality of Caribbean life, that the 30 member-states are mostly all Third World countries; they hover near the poverty line; we do not have money to field a Big-Bulky military or police force.

If a community wants to have the protections without the expense, then there is the need to be smart, efficient and agile: “Jack be nimble; Jack be quick”.

Agile or nimble? These are descriptors synonymous with “lean”.

Just the name of the book – Go Lean … Caribbean – is a clue to this strategy: to provide a nimble, agile security solution in conjunction with economic empowerments. So when we think of lean security, do not think sledgehammer, think scalpel, or surgical precision.

There is a primary functionality that the CU can provide that is surgical? Intelligence.

The Go Lean book provide comprehensive details on Intelligence Gathering and Analysis. See this sample here from Page 182:

The [enlarged] size of the CU market will allow it to afford cutting edge equipment, systems and training to facilitate the intelligence gathering functionality for all CU defense initiatives.
The CU’s law enforcement agencies will work in conjunction with the Homeland Security apparatus. Even though the CU jurisdiction extends to economic crimes and regional threats, the CU will provide intelligence gathering and analysis for domestic and foreign security entities. The CU will also extend grants to local agencies to acquire and maintain surveillance equipment: CATV, dashboard cameras for police cars and helmet “cams” on tactical (SWAT) team members.

Security Intelligence is the focus of this series of commentaries. There is the need to optimize military intelligence and police-crime intelligence to better secure the Caribbean homeland. This commentary is 1 of 3 from the movement behind the book Go Lean … Caribbean, in consideration of Security Intelligence. The other commentaries detailed in this series are as follows:

All of these commentaries relate to the Caribbean security apparatus being promoted in the Go Lean regional empowerment effort. They consider the short-term, mid-term and long-term needs of our communities.

As related in previous commentaries – see list below – there is the need for overt and covert security in the region. These previous submissions describe that the regional security pact must be instituted with a legal treaty – Status of Forces Agreement – at the launch of the Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU). The Go Lean book therefore serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the CU. The security apparatus within the CU would be established by all sovereign powers of the 30 Caribbean member-states to empower the region with this Security / Defense Pact (Armed Forces) with a fully-empowered Naval Force and adequately manned Expeditionary Marine Forces to facilitate the region’s security interest. For covert empowerments, the book details the width-and-breadth of an Intelligence Gathering & Analysis Apparatus to fully round-out the security efforts.

For this consideration, we should answer the question: how can we secure the Caribbean homeland from the air?

Hardware and software…

So hardware refers to the following military equipment (satellites, planes, air-ships, etc). While software refers to intelligence, communications and computer applications. Today’s military establishment is part-soldier, part-sailor, part-aviator and part-computer-programmer!

Satellites

The Caribbean owns no satellites! Yet, the Go Lean book details that Security Intelligence can still be fulfilled by engaging other satellite solutions providers:

The Bottom Line on DigitalGlobe
In addition to skilled people, overt intelligence gathering is accomplished by systems architecture (hardware, software & communications) and applications. The combination of DigitalGlobe and GeoEye creates a global leader in earth imagery architecture and the means by which to perform geospatial analysis. They now boast 5 advanced satellites with harmonized collection programs, a collection capability of 3 million square kilometers per day. This provides a worldwide infrastructure for optimized data upload/offload operations and shorter delivery timeframes. A partner client of DigitalGlobe is the Washington, DC-based non-government organization (NGO) Fund For Peace Institute that performs threat assessment and conflict analysis. (Annually, they publish the FSI – Failed State Index). The following is their published statement (Fundforpeace.org):
“As part of our quest to find new and innovative methods for conflict analysis, we have begun working with DigitalGlobe’s Analysis Center, which has access to real-time and archival satellite imagery captured by DigitalGlobe’s own fleet of satellites that have been made famous for their role in the Satellite Sentinel Project over Sudan and South Sudan. We are exploring these new forms of data to watch human patterns change and understand the impact on potential for conflict, or how a change in patterns may be an indicator of conflict. We also want to see how digital imagery – and data generated from the analysis of it – can be integrated into our data, both that used for the high-level FSI and other more granular analysis”. – Go Lean book Page 182.

See the VIDEO here on the GeoEye system:

VIDEO – GeoEye – https://youtu.be/oUhYndAfKyA

Uploaded on Jan 13, 2009 – Learn about GeoEye 1 – the world’s highest resolution commercial earth imaging satellite.

Continuing the theme of “Other People’s Satellites”, the Go Lean roadmap also identified the reality that many Caribbean member-states are overseas territories of major military powers, with their own array of satellite offerings. Consider this list:

Military Power	Dependent Territory
USA	Puerto Rico
	US Virgin Islands
United Kingdom	Anguilla, Bermuda, Cayman Islands, Montserrat
	Turks & Caicos, British Virgin Islands
Netherlands	Aruba, Bonaire, Curaçao, Sint Maarten, Saba
	Sint Eustatius
France	Guadeloupe, Martinique, Saint Martin, Saint Barthélemy

Planes

There is no need for the Caribbean to deploy or maintain intercontinental ballistic missiles, long-range bombers and fighter jets. But still, many of our allies – see above list – maintain such a readiness. We would welcome their placement in the Caribbean region, whether from ground-bases or aboard aircraft carriers. The Go Lean roadmap allows for a role of these above-identified Military powers in securing the Caribbean homeland from the air. The book implies this at (individually at Pages 245, 246, 247, 248):

The CU Security Pact will allow American/UK/France/NATO forces to patrol, train and visit Caribbean waters [, airspace] and CU ports.

The primary responsibility then for the CU Security Pact in securing the homeland from the air will be the Unified Command and Control of all the intelligence activities from these other powers. This point was stressed in the book on Page 180 – Ways to Improve Homeland Security:

CU Defense Pact
The CU region has enemies, examples being narco-terrorists, and sworn enemies of the CU‘s allies and legacy nations (US, Britain, France, and Netherlands). As a result, the collective security agreement will create a Homeland Security Department, to defend the member states against all enemies, foreign and domestic. This Department will coalesce with the US/British, French and Dutch military liaisons to coordinate the public safety needs of the region against systemic threats. The CU, by the sheer size of the market, will fund the acquisition of cutting edge equipment and defensive weapons – i.e. Un-manned Aviation Vehicles (Drones), anti-aircraft systems, and Attack helicopters.

The Go Lean roadmap does not only call for use of other people’s planes for communications and surveillance, we can and should deploy some of our own as well. How about cutting-edge Un-manned Aerial Vehicles (drones) designed to stay aloft for weeks, months, years at a time. This is now reality…

… see the VIDEO here of a sample UAV, developed with support from Facebook, designed to remain aloft for indefinite periods of time. (In addition, see this related news article here on this breakthrough accomplishment; retrieved September 13, 2016 from: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/jul/21/facebook-solar-powered-internet-plane-test-flight-aquila):

VIDEO – Facebook’s drone Aquila project tries to bring internet to the rest of the world – https://youtu.be/v5_kGZS3yr8

Published on Jul 31, 2015 –

Mark Zuckerberg the CEO of facebook on his facebook shares this:

I’m excited to announce we’ve completed construction of our first full scale aircraft, Aquila, as part of our Internet.org effort.

Aquila is a solar powered unmanned plane that beams down internet connectivity from the sky. It has the wingspan of a Boeing 737, but weighs less than a car and can stay in the air for months at a time.

We’ve also made a breakthrough in laser communications technology. We’ve successfully tested a new laser that can transmit data at 10 gigabits per second. That’s ten times faster than any previous system, and it can accurately connect with a point the size of a dime from more than 10 miles away.

This effort is important because 10% of the world’s population lives in areas without existing internet infrastructure. To affordably connect everyone, we need to build completely new technologies.

Using aircraft to connect communities using lasers might seem like science fiction. But science fiction is often just science before its time. Over the coming months, we will test these systems in the real world and continue refining them so we can turn their promise into reality. Here’s a video showing the building of Aquila.

For more information, see website: http://www.hackindo.com

——–

First flight – June 28, 2016 …

“We’re proud to announce the successful first test flight of Aquila, the solar airplane we designed to bring internet access to people living in remote locations. We look forward to the rest of the journey toward making the world more open and connected.”

Accompanying VIDEO: https://youtu.be/lKdmLbxK5dQ

Air-ships

The Caribbean is an ideal market for modern air-ships.

Gone are the days of the Hindenburg – the German hydrogen-powered air-ship that crashed in the US state of New Jersey in 1937. Now the “lighter than air” class of dirigibles feature stable and secure operations – powered by safe helium – with solar-paneled embedded frames/coverings to enable continuous high-end electronic surveillance. They can remain afloat for weeks at a time. Imagine an inter-connected network of constantly flying air-ships circum-navigating the Caribbean skies-and-waters, always watching, always on guard to protect the homeland from the skies. See a sample air-ship here in this VIDEO:

VIDEO – Lockheed Martin – P-791 Hybrid Airship – https://youtu.be/isJRgEu7DQo

Uploaded on Sep 10, 2010 – Success in the war on terrorism depends on knowing where the enemy is hiding and having resources in place to act on that knowledge quickly. In a war where the adversaries of freedom can strike at any time and from any point, our servicemen and women need the most sophisticated intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance assets available. Their lives and the lives of innocent civilians may hang in the balance.

—————

Considering the foregoing solutions to secure Caribbean intelligence from the air, there is one consistent adjective: not labor-intensive.

Yes, we want the advanced security options.
No, we do not want high maintenance costs. We want lean, technocratic options … only.

There is the need to reform and transform the societal engines of the Caribbean. This refers to economics, security and governing aspects in the homeland of the 30 member-states of the Caribbean region: all the Caribbean islands, plus the 2 member-states on the South American mainland (Guyana and Suriname) and 1 member-state on the Central American isthmus (Belize). Despite our difference, “we are all in the same boat” and must band together to ensure our homeland is protected.

We know that “bad actors” abound now; and we expect even more … to come.

The Go Lean book asserts that once we remediate and mitigate our broken economic engines, we most assuredly should expect more security challenges, as economic success brings “bad actors” looking to exploit the environment for their own illicit gains; (Page 23). This point is pronounced early in the Go Lean book with the Declaration of Interdependence (Page 12) that claims:

x. Whereas we are surrounded and allied to nations of larger proportions in land mass, populations, and treasuries, elements in their societies may have ill-intent in their pursuits, at the expense of the safety and security of our citizens. We must therefore appoint “new guards” to ensure our public safety and threats against our society, both domestic and foreign. The Federation must employ the latest advances and best practices … to assuage continuous threats against public safety.

xii. Whereas the legacy in recent times in individual states may be that of ineffectual governance with no redress to higher authority, the accedence of this Federation will ensure accountability and escalation of the human and civil rights of the people for good governance, justice assurances, due process and the rule of law. As such, any threats of a “failed state” status for any member state must enact emergency measures on behalf of the Federation to protect the human, civil and property rights of the citizens, residents, allies, trading partners, and visitors of the affected member state and the Federation as a whole.

xvi. Whereas security of our homeland is inextricably linked to prosperity of the homeland, the economic and security interest of the region needs to be aligned under the same governance. Since economic crimes, including piracy and other forms of terrorism, can imperil the functioning of the wheels of commerce for all the citizenry, the accedence of this Federation must equip the security apparatus with the tools and techniques for predictive and proactive interdictions.

The CU Security/Defense Pact would be established by the 30 member-states to empower the region, above and beyond any offerings from our neighboring Super-Power, the US. We are responsible for our economic engines, and must also be responsible for our own security apparatus. In fact, the Go Lean roadmap stresses these 3 statements in the Go Lean/CU prime directives:

Optimization of the economic engines in order to grow the regional economy and create new jobs.
Establishment of a security apparatus to protect the resultant economic engines and the Caribbean homeland.
Improvement of Caribbean governance to support these engines.

Community Ethos – Economic Systems Influence Individual Choices	Page 21
Community Ethos – Consequences of Choices Lie in Future	Page 21
Community Ethos – Privacy –vs- Public Protection	Page 23
Community Ethos – Intelligence Gathering	Page 23
Community Ethos – “Crap” Happens	Page 23
Community Ethos – Cooperatives	Page 25
Community Ethos – Ways to Improve Sharing	Page 35
Community Ethos – Ways to Promote Happiness	Page 36
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Greater Good	Page 37
Strategy – Vision – Confederating a non-sovereign permanent union	Page 45
Tactical – Fostering a Technocracy	Page 64
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Coast Guard & Naval Authorities	Page 75
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Ground Militia Forces	Page 75
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Emergency Management Agency	Page 76
Implementation – Ways to Pay for Change	Page 101
Implementation – Start-up Foreign Policy Initiatives	Page 102
Implementation – Start-up Security Initiatives	Page 103
Implementation – Ways to Foster International Aid	Page 115
Planning – 10 Big Ideas – #3: Consolidated Homeland Security Pact	Page 130
Planning – Ways to Make the Caribbean Better – Safer	Page 131
Planning – Ways to Improve Failed-State Indices – Escalation Role	Page 134
Planning – Lessons from the American West – Needed Law & Order	Page 142
Planning – Lessons from Egypt – Law & Order for Tourism	Page 143
Advocacy – Ways to Grow the Economy – Quick Disaster Recovery	Page 151
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Governance	Page 168
Advocacy – Ways to Better Manage the Social Contract	Page 170
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Justice – Policing the Police	Page 177
Advocacy – Ways to Reduce Crime – Regional Security Intelligence	Page 178
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Homeland Security	Page 180
Advocacy – Ways to Mitigate Terrorism	Page 181
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Intelligence Gathering & Analysis	Page 182
Advocacy – Ways to Improve for Emergency Management	Page 196
Advocacy – Ways to Foster Technology	Page 197

Other subjects related to security and governing empowerments for the region’s defense have been blogged in other Go Lean…Caribbean commentary, as sampled here:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=8819	Lesson from China – South China Seas: Exclusive Economic Zones
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=7449	‘Crap Happens’ – So What Now?
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=7345	ISIS and Terrorism reaches the Caribbean Region
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=7119	Security Role Model: African Standby Force
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=6720	A Lesson in History – During the Civil War: Principle over Principal
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=6103	Sum of All Fears – ‘On Guard’ Against Deadly Threats
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=5183	A Lesson in History – Cinco De Mayo and Mexico’s Security Lapses
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=5002	Managing a ‘Clear and Present Danger’
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=4360	Dreading the ‘Caribbean Basin Security Initiative’
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3881	Intelligence Agencies to Up Cyber Security Cooperation
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1965	America’s Navy – 100 Percent – Model for Caribbean
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1554	Status of Forces Agreement = Security Pact
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=535	Remembering and learning from Boston
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=273	10 Things We Want from the US – #4: Pax Americana

The promoters of the Go Lean … Caribbean book has only one goal: to make this homeland a better place to live, work and play. This also means stronger and safer!

The Caribbean is arguably the best address on the planet; but there are societal defects that must be remediated and mitigated. Our primary economic driver is tourism, and tourists do not visit “hot-spots” with civil war, genocides, active terrorism and rampant crime. We cannot allow these threats to arise and must be prepared to mitigate them at the earliest signs of trouble.

We must lead first with intelligence … gathering and analysis.

A safe, secure homeland is important for how we live, how we work, and how we and others play here in the Caribbean. So the issues in this discussion is of serious concern. We are not preparing for war; we are preparing for peace; preparing to secure our homeland. 🙂

Download the free e-Book of Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

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Charity Management: Grow Up Already!

Posted on September 13, 2016 in Ethos, Government, Social, Strategy

Go Lean Commentary

“Don’t be a stock on the shelf” – Bob Marley: Pimpers Paradise – Album: Uprising – 1980.

What does the lyrics of this song mean? (See VIDEO here). The analysis is that it is poetic and prophetic. The song has a personal indictment and a community indictment. The lyrics directly address a young girl who stumbles into a party lifestyle; being victimized by abusers or “pimps”. The warning is that she would be considered nothing more than a commodity – to be counted on for illicit profits – rather than a real human with hopes and dreams. As for the community indictment, this submission on SongMeanings.com conveys an insightful point:

General Comment
I’ve always had the impression that this song is about Jamaica, Bob’s mother-country, and its contradictions, described through the technique of personification. If this were the case, most of the girl’s attributes and actions would refer to the whole community of Jamaicans and not to a single person, as it first appears. What makes this song so beautiful is the sadness, tenderness and pride of Marley’s lyrics and voice, as he describes his people’s use and abuse of drugs, its innate tendency to smile, have fun and carry on in spite of the poverty, violence and harshness which characterizes life in that country, and above all its vulnerability to the lies, deception and empty promises of politicians and elites in general, a vulnerability which forces most people into a lifelong submission and which gives this song its title.
By: dettawalker on April 19, 2015

There is a vulnerability to lies, deception and empty promises in the Caribbean. Other people have raised money under the guise of helping our region, but then only kept the monies for themselves … mostly. There is the need for philanthropy, charitable donations and community development, but we need to take the lead for this ourselves, rather than the potential of being victimized by others.

This is not a theory; this is a fact! Remember the $500 million raised by the American Red Cross to benefit Haiti after the 2010 Earthquake; the money mostly disappeared with little manifestation in Haiti. 🙁

Perhaps this is a by-product of the attitude of depending on “other peoples money”; this is so familiar in the Caribbean. For the past 50 years of Caribbean integration movements (West Indies Federation, Organization of Eastern Caribbean States and Caribbean Community or CariCom), the focus had been on soliciting aid – begging – from the richer North American and European nations.

Today, our message to Caribbean stakeholders is: Grow Up Already!

Truly, at what point is it expected that we would mature and take care of our own responsibilities?

Answer: Now! Half-pass now!

This point was eloquently conveyed in a previous blog-commentary, where it related how Caribbean member-states use “development funds” (International Aid) for budgetary support for the governments to fulfill their responsibilities in the Social Contract. As a reminder, this implied Social Contract refers to the arrangement where citizens surrender some of their freedoms and submit to the authority of the State in exchange for protection of remaining natural and legal rights. This contract authorizes the State to raise revenues from taxes and fees, but “one cannot get blood from a stone”. The 30 Caribbean member-states are mostly all Third World countries; they hover near the poverty line.

Yet still, the book Go Lean … Caribbean asserts it is high-time for this region to grow up and adapt best-practices to elevate our society. We can improve all societal engines: economics, security and governance. This theme is weaved throughout the Go Lean book which serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU). This Go Lean/CU roadmap has the vision of elevating Caribbean society by optimizing these engines. Observe the prime directives as published in the book:

Optimization of the economic engines in order to grow the regional economy to $800 Billion & create 2.2 million new jobs.
Establishment of a security apparatus to protect the resultant engines and mitigate internal and external “bad actors”.
Improvement of Caribbean governance to support these engines, including a separation-of-powers between the CU federal government and the member-states.

The Bible states …

… “anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand!” – Matthew 11:15; New Living Translation.

This does not mean that gleaning the wisdom of the fallacy of other people taking the lead for our development will eliminate our poverty. No; we are still a region of Third Word countries; that same Bible translation continues that “you will always have the poor among you” – Matthew 26:11. We simply need to take the lead ourselves of soliciting aid, collecting the aid and managing the distribution of that aid and the resultant accountability. This is no “rocket science”; in fact, it is no science at all. It is mostly an art, and there are competent role models who perform these functions well; we only need to adapt their best-practices.

Consider this company Brewco Marketing; they consider themselves “the marketing vehicle for America’s most trusted brands”. This is a fitting analysis as this company currently conducts marketing campaigns to raise money to benefit impoverished people in several Caribbean countries, the Dominican Republic for example.

Brewco Marketing Group – see Appendix VIDEO below – is a leading experiential marketing company specializing in strategy, design, in-house fabrication, activation and program management. They provide these marketing services for other companies: for-profit corporations and not-for-profit charities. One such client is Compassion International, a Christian child sponsorship organization dedicated to the long-term development of children living in poverty around the world. They are headquartered in the US city of Colorado Springs, Colorado; but they function in 26 countries such as Bolivia, Colombia, Mexico, Haiti, Kenya, India and the Dominican Republic. According to the Wikipedia page on this charity, (retrieved September 12, 2016), this organization provides aid to more than 1,700,000 children.

Bravo Compassion International! See an example here of the type of faith-based advocacy Compassion International is conducting in our Caribbean region; in this case, the Dominican Republic: http://changetour.compassion.com/experience-dominican-republic/

But, consider that Compassion International outsources to a for-profit marketing firm – Brewco – to solicit funding. What is Brewco’s motivation? Simple: Profit.

While not impugning any bad motives to Brewco or Compassion International, this commentary asserts for self-sufficiency, that “charity begins at home”. This is a basic prerequisite for a mature society.

This consideration aligns with the strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies of the book Go Lean…Caribbean. The declaration is that the Caribbean must be front-and-center in providing for our own solutions. The alternative of someone else taking the lead for our solution, despite how altruistic the motives, seems to be lacking…every time! Consider this encyclopedia detail on criticism of “Child Sponsorship” charities:

Critics have argued that child sponsorship could alienate the relatively privileged sponsored children from their peers and may perpetuate harmful stereotypes about third-world citizens being helpless. They also claim that child sponsorship causes cultural confusion and unrealistic aspirations on the part of the recipient, and that child sponsorship is expensive to administer.^[8][9] This latter problem has led some charities to offer information about a “typical” child to sponsors rather than one specifically supported by the sponsor. In some cases charities have been caught sending forged updates from deceased children.^[10]

The Effective Altruism community – social movement that applies evidence and reason to determining the most effective ways to improve the world – generally opposes child sponsorship as a type of donor illusion. Givewell – American non-profit charity evaluator – describes sponsorship thusly:^[11]

Illusion: through an organization such as “Save the Children“, your money supports a specific child.

Reality: as “Save the Children” now discloses: “Your sponsorship contributions are not given directly to a child. Instead, your contributions are pooled with those of other sponsors to provide community-based programming for all eligible children in the area.”

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child_sponsorship retrieved September 12, 2016

This – reality of Big Charity – is just another example of Crony-Capitalism. See the running inventory list of all the Crony-Capitalism models that proliferate in the US, here at https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=5529.

Considering this reality, we exclaim to the Caribbean: Grow up already!

The Go Lean book declares (Page 115) that:

“Haiti [in particular and the Caribbean in general] – should not be a perennial beggar; the Caribbean should not be perennial beggars, but we do need capital/money, especially to get started”.

The Go Lean movement (book and blogs) posits that the Caribbean must not be vulnerable to these American Crony-Capitalistic forces.

We do not need some external entity fleecing the public in our name – under the guise of charities but retain vast majorities of the funding as administrative costs – executive salary and bonuses – rather than the intended benefactors.

The Caribbean must do better!

The book Go Lean…Caribbean pursues the quest to elevate the Caribbean region through economic, security and governing empowerments. This includes oversight and guidance for Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO’s) in the region. The Go Lean/CU roadmap provides for better stewardship for the Caribbean homeland; and it describes NGO’s as additional Caribbean stakeholders. Governance to this vital area is part of the maturity our region must show; it is not about independence, but rather it conveys the community ethos of interdependence. This point was pronounced early in the Go Lean book, in the opening Declaration of Interdependence (Pages 11 & 14) with these acknowledgements and statements:

xi. Whereas all men are entitled to the benefits of good governance in a free society, “new guards” must be enacted to dissuade the emergence of incompetence, corruption, nepotism and cronyism at the peril of the people’s best interest. The Federation must guarantee the executions of a social contract between government and the governed.

xii. Whereas the legacy in recent times in individual states may be that of ineffectual governance with no redress to higher authority, the accedence of this Federation will ensure accountability and escalation of the human and civil rights of the people for good governance, justice assurances, due process and the rule of law. As such, any threats of a “failed state” status for any member state must enact emergency measures on behalf of the Federation to protect the human, civil and property rights of the citizens, residents, allies, trading partners, and visitors of the affected member state and the Federation as a whole.

xxxiii. Whereas lessons can be learned and applied from the study of the recent history of other societies, the Federation must formalize statutes and organizational dimensions to avoid the pitfalls of [other] communities.

This is the quest of CU/Go Lean roadmap: to provide new guards for a more competent Caribbean administration … by governmental organizations and non-governmental organizations. Under this roadmap, NGO’s would be promoted, audited and overseen by CU administrators. The CU would be legally authorized as “deputies” of the member-state governments.

The Go Lean book stresses key community ethos, strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies necessary to turn-around the eco-systems of Caribbean governance. These points are detailed in the book as follows:

Community Ethos – Deferred Gratification	Page 21
Community Ethos – Economic Principles – Respond to Incentives in Predictable Ways	Page 21
Community Ethos – Economic Principles – Economic Systems Influence Individual Choices	Page 21
Community Ethos – Economic Principles – Consequences of Choices Lie in the Future	Page 21
Community Ethos – Security Principles – Intelligence Gathering	Page 23
Community Ethos – Security Principles – “Crap” Happens	Page 23
Community Ethos – Governing Principles – Cooperatives	Page 25
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Future	Page 26
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact Turn-Arounds	Page 33
Community Ethos – Ways to Improve Sharing – Emergency Response	Page 35
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Greater Good	Page 37
Strategy – Vision – Confederate all 30 member-states/ 4 languages into a Single Market	Page 45
Strategy – Mission – Prepare for the eventuality of natural disasters	Page 45
Strategy – Agents of Change – Climate Change	Page 57
Tactical – Ways to Foster a Technocracy	Page 64
Tactical – Growing the Economy – Post WW II European Marshall Plan/Recovery Model	Page 68
Tactical – Separation-of-Powers – CU Federal Government versus Member-State Governance	Page 71
Tactical – Separation-of-Powers – Treasury Department – Shared Property Recording Systems	Page 74
Tactical – Separation-of-Powers – State Department – Liaison/Oversight for NGO’s	Page 80
Tactical – Separation-of-Powers – Interior Department – Housing & Urban Authority	Page 83
Implementation – Assemble All Regionally-focus Organizations of All Caribbean Communities	Page 96
Implementation – Ways to Pay for Change	Page 101
Implementation – Ways to Foster International Aid	Page 115
Planning – 10 Big Ideas – Cuba & Haiti Marshall Plans	Page 127
Planning – Ways to Make the Caribbean Better	Page 131
Planning – Ways to Improve Failed-State Indices – Governance and the Social Contract	Page 134
Advocacy – Ways to Grow the Economy	Page 151
Advocacy – Ways to Create Jobs	Page 152
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Housing – Optimizing Property Registration Process	Page 152
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Governance	Page 168
Advocacy – Ways to Better Manage the Social Contract	Page 170
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Homeland Security	Page 180
Advocacy – Ways to Improve for Natural Disasters – Enhanced local response and recovery	Page 184
Advocacy – Ways to Develop a Pre-Fab Housing Industry – One solution ideal for Slums	Page 207
Advocacy – Ways to Impact the Dominican Republic	Page 237
Advocacy – Ways to Re-boot Haiti	Page 238

These subjects – Charity Management, Philanthropy and International Aid – have been a source of consistent concern for the Go Lean movement. Consider the details from these previous blog-commentaries:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=8243	Facebook Founder’s Philanthropy Project Makes First Major Investment
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=7989	‘Getting over’ with ‘free money’ for societal transformations
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=7896	The Logistics of Disaster Relief
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=6129	Innovative Partnership Aids Farm Workers
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3432	OECS diplomat has dire warning for Caribbean countries
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1763	Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Philanthropy Efforts

So the Caribbean experience with Charity Management in the past and at present is not ideal. How do we apply this insight to impact our future executions?

The primary strategy for improving Charity Management is to keep the administration local; this includes the fund development and the decision-making.

Looking at the great models and samples from Compassion International and Brewco Marketing, can we deploy mobile trailers and immersive exhibits? Can we deploy smart phone apps or tablets with walk-along narration to convey the desperate need for international aid in the Caribbean? Can we foster an eco-system with monthly billing, credit card transactions, or text-message billing?

Yes, we can …

… and this is the “grown up” thing to do, after being burned so often by outsiders.

When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things. – 1 Corinthians 13:11 – New Living Translation

The Go Lean roadmap seeks to empower and elevate Caribbean societal engines. We have a lot to do, the Go Lean book describes it as heavy-lifting. We see the American Crony-Capitalism in action. We do not want to follow their lead. We want to learn from their good and bad examples and models. (It is out-of-scope for the Go Lean movement to fix America). We simply want to fix our Caribbean society to be more self-reliant, both proactively and reactively.

Our quest is simple, a regional effort to make the Caribbean homeland a better place to live, work and play. 🙂

Download the free e-Book of Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

———–

Appendix VIDEO – Brewco Marketing Group – https://vimeo.com/101107626

The company’s offerings: from long-term experiential brand strategy to overall program execution and management. Engaging audiences where they work, live and play.

———–

Appendix VIDEO – Interactive Tour Immerses Visitors Into Daily Life in a Foreign Country – http://vimeo.com/73958461

Preview of The Compassion Experience from The Compassion Experience on Vimeo.

Retrieved September 12, 2016 – A self-guided tour will immerse visitors in the lives of the children. Through the use of an iPod, a headset and over 1,700 square feet of interactive space, visitors will see the children’s homes, walk through schools and markets, and hear life-changing stories of hope—all from the perspective of a child whose life began in poverty. This free event is appropriate for all ages and is an excellent opportunity for anyone who has never had the chance to travel outside the U.S. to get a small glimpse of what life can be like in developing countries. See more at http://changetour.compassion.com/

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Crony-Capitalism, Model, Power, Transform

[Top]

Proclaim ‘International Caribbean Day’

Posted on September 12, 2016 in Ethos, Social, Strategy

Go Lean Commentary

There are some special non-Holidays on the calendar; consider:

March 17th – St. Patrick’s Day
May 5th – Cinco De Mayo

These dates are special in that they celebrate culture; the culture of the Irish and Mexicans. Now, there is a movement to add August 1st to that non-Holiday Culture Celebration tradition; this effort is to establish Caribbean Day. (This date was originally codified as Emancipation Day in 1834 for all slaves in the British Empire).

The Caribbean Day colors are blue yellow and black, as demonstrated in the logo here,
to depict the Caribbean sun against the blue sky touching the deep blue Caribbean Sea.

The petition is being made to the Caribbean Community (CariCom) Secretariat for the Caribbean member-states to resolve to recognize August 1, every year, as the International Caribbean Day. The petitioners want the Caribbean governments to do their part, then they will take the lead to advocate this as an International Cultural Day, in the mold of St. Patrick’s Day and Cinco De Mayo.

Petitioners? Advocates?

There is a whole movement. Consider the actual petition here from Change.org, and the Letter to the CariCom Secretariat in the Appendix below:

In Caribbean history the extraordinary importance of the 1st August 1834 is inescapable as the date which restored human dignity to the mass of Caribbean inhabitants. Today we are many people living together in harmony, respect and one love. Our descendent Caribbean children across the world are a rainbow of races, colours, and nationalities, however there is the ever growing risk that identities become diluted and confused. Therefore our movement say: on this one day people of Caribbean heritage should join in thanks giving and celebration to recognize our joint history, future and the warm fact that we all belong!

Sign this petition

This petition – along with below letter – will be delivered to:

Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Secretariat
CARICOM (15 heads of Caribbean nations)

Adviser, Public Information Unit CariCom
Mr. Leonard Robertson

Source: Change.org Petition; retrieved September 10, 2016 from: https://www.change.org/p/caricom-15-heads-of-caribbean-nations-proclaim-international-caribbean-day

A champion of this movement is Attorney Hamilton Daley. As a lawyer, he is a “member of the Bar” in Jamaica and in the UK. He is a member of the Caribbean Diaspora; and a role model for enacting change and empowerment for the Caribbean image.

See an interview in the Appendix-VIDEO below where he explains the fundamentals of the movement. Also see an assortment of his commentaries here: http://jamaicans.com/author/hamiltondaley/.

The Caribbean Diaspora, broadly interpreted, contains all those born in the Caribbean region but now live abroad. The term legacy – a subset of the Diaspora – refers more to those born abroad but known to have Caribbean ancestry.

This subject of Caribbean Diaspora is also an important consideration in the book Go Lean … Caribbean . It relates a societal elevation plan for the Caribbean region that accepts the premise that the member-states have experienced too high an abandonment rate. Far too many Caribbean citizens have fled their tropical homes and created a new life on foreign shores. Yet, the love and affinity they hold for their homeland is undeniable. They must be factored in as stakeholders of any effort to pursue change in the region. The quest is simple, to make the Caribbean a better place to live, work and play, so that future generations of Caribbean citizens do not have to flee as well. Then to incentivize the people who have left – the Diaspora – to consider a return … someday.

As Diasporas go, our experience is not the first, nor the worst. We have the Irish history and example to glean lessons from. Their Diaspora is considered over 100 million people, while the island population is below 10 million. Despite any desire to do better, our current disposition so parallels Ireland’s history. Just like the Irish, our Diaspora love their country and culture, but have to live abroad; they want conditions to be different (better) at home to consider any repatriation.

Over the centuries, the Irish Diaspora endured a lot of misery, resistance and discrimination in their foreign homes. As related in a previous commentary, the usual path for new immigrants is one of eventual celebration, but only after a “long train of abuses”: rejection, anger, protest, bargaining, toleration and eventual acceptance. But now today, people the world over wear green on March 17^th as a statement of acceptance and celebration of Irish people and culture. This is now viewed as a proud heritage for what they have endured and accomplished. The Caribbean Day movement wants to model this success for persons of Caribbean heritage.

Ditto for the Go Lean movement. Just like the Caribbean Day movement, both efforts are inclusive of all language groups, not just the English-speaking Caribbean. This is demonstrated by first petitioning CariCom, which now includes Dutch-speaking Suriname and French/Creole-speaking Haiti. The Go Lean movement takes their effort further by targeting the Dutch Antilles, French Antilles, US Virgin Islands and the neighboring Spanish Caribbean territories (Cuba, Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico), in addition to CariCom. The Go Lean book relates that these 30 member-states – with 42 million people – all share the same societal abandonment disposition. The book considers Puerto Rico, for example, that had an on-island population of 3,725,789 in 2010, but Puerto Ricans living abroad in the US mainland was 4,623,716; (Page 303).

The Go Lean book serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU), a technocratic federal government to administer and optimize the economic/security/ governing engines of all 30 member-states. The quest is to provide a better direct stewardship, applying lessons-learned from global best practices.

There are a lot of lessons for the Caribbean to learn from these other cultures: Ireland … and Mexico. There is a constant need for better societal engines: economic, security, and governance. Fulfilling these needs is the underlying theme behind this Go Lean movement, to “appoint new guards” for all of the region to make the Caribbean homeland a better place to live, work and play. This Declaration of Interdependence is pronounced at the outset of the Go Lean book (Page 11):

xi. Whereas all men are entitled to the benefits of good governance in a free society, “new guards” must be enacted to dissuade the emergence of incompetence, corruption, nepotism and cronyism at the peril of the people’s best interest. The Federation must guarantee the executions of a social contract between government and the governed.

The Go Lean movement declares solidarity with the Caribbean Day movement. This alignment is more than just feelings, but words and actions as well. The promoters of the Go Lean movement conducted a structured interview with the identified promoter of the Caribbean Day movement, Hamilton Daley (or HD; Author = Bold). Consider his responses here as related to these parallel tracks to elevate Caribbean image and reality:

Tell me your story:

HD: I am the founder of Caribbean Day Movement International, which started as a social media based movement to establish recognition of 1st August as a date of cultural significance for the international Caribbean community – CARIBBEAN DAY. I am a dual qualified lawyer simultaneously practicing in both London, UK and the Caribbean, Jamaica. I maintain offices and homes in both jurisdictions.

Though your aspiration is to unite Caribbean people through out the world, how would you feel if your children return to a Caribbean destination for permanent residency?

HD: I would be very pleased.

Considering all your travels, where in the world would you consider the best place to live?

HD: I am obviously biased in my opinion. But this has always been a motivation for the Caribbean Day movement, to convey to the world that our Caribbean homelands are the best addresses in the world. This “fact” is not always recognized, accepted or valued in the world.

But our Caribbean people have obviously abandoned their homeland, for good reasons, what we call “push and pull”: defects in the region’s economic, security and governing engines. How do you feel about the Caribbean economy?

HD: There is much room for beneficial improvement with some coordination, which sadly is lacking at the moment.

How do you feel about Caribbean security?

HD: Personal security is an issue of concern in some places, more so than in others. This is definitely a societal defect that needs to be remediated and mitigated.

Accepting that the Caribbean in general and Jamaica in particular is your homeland, what would you want to see there in … 5 years?

HD: I would hope to see all generations of Jamaicans from kindergarten to grandparents celebrating their Caribbean heritage on August 1st. I would also want to see Jamaica become a successful trading partner and better realize it’s full potential within the Caribbean family of nations and in doing so, develop its global brand.

What would you want to see in Jamaica in … 10 years?

HD: I would want to see the issues which perpetuate crime, violence and corruption to become tamed or made historical in keeping of a greater developed nation. I would want to see strong ties and bonds with the broad global Caribbean community.

What would you want to see in Jamaica in … … 20 years?

HD: I would want to see Jamaica established and reaffirmed as a safe, progressive “diamond” destination – stable, beautiful and valuable – and a strong player in the region and inclusive Caribbean Diaspora.

Thank you for your responses and your commitment to the Caribbean. We see you; we hear you and we feel your passion. We entreat you to look here, going forward, for more on solutions.

The Go Lean movement has collected the complaints of the Caribbean Diaspora like Hamilton Daley. This book was the response. The book declared that the Caribbean is in crisis, but posits that a “crisis is a terrible thing to waste” (Page 8). The book asserts that the solution for the Caribbean crisis is within reach:

The Go Lean movement is not affiliated with the CariCom or any of its agencies or institutions. This movement is not an attempt to re-boot the CariCom, but rather a plan to re-boot the Caribbean. This movement was bred from the frustrations of the Diaspora, longing to go home, to lands of opportunities. But this is not a call for a revolt against the governments, agencies or institutions of the Caribbean region, but rather a petition for a peaceful transition and optimization of the economic, security and governing engines in the region.

The Go Lean book details a 5-year roadmap, with turn-by-turn directions, for transforming our homeland. The following is a sample of the assessments, community ethos, strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies to impact the Caribbean region for this turnaround:

Assessment – CariCom Single Market & Economy Hope and Failure	Page 15
Assessment – Dutch Caribbean – Integration & Secessions	Page 16
Assessment – French Caribbean – Organization & Discord	Page 17
Assessment – Puerto Rico – The Greece of the Caribbean	Page 18
Prologue – New CariCom Model Urged	Page 20
Community Ethos – Economic Principle – Economic Systems Influence Choices & Incentives	Page 21
Community Ethos – Economic Principle – Consequences of Choices Lie in the Future	Page 21
Community Ethos – Job Multiplier	Page 22
Community Ethos – Lean Operations	Page 24
Community Ethos – Ways to Promote Happiness	Page 36
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Greater Good	Page 37
Strategy – Vision – Confederating a Non-Sovereign Union	Page 45
Strategy – Mission – Keep the next generation at home	Page 46
Strategy – Mission – Invite & Incentivize Diaspora Repatriation	Page 46
Tactical – Fostering a Technocracy	Page 64
Tactical – Tactics to Forge an $800 Billion Economy	Page 67
Tactical – Separation of Powers	Page 71
Implementation – Ways to Pay for Change	Page 101
Implementation – Ways to Deliver	Page 109
Implementation – Reasons to Repatriate to the Caribbean	Page 118
Implementation – Ways to Promote Independence – Interdependence	Page 120
Planning – 10 Big Ideas – A Single Market in the G-20	Page 127
Planning – Ways to Make the Caribbean Better	Page 131
Planning – Ways to Better Manage Image – Not Unwanted Aliens	Page 133
Advocacy – Ways to Grow the Economy	Page 151
Advocacy – Ways to Create Jobs	Page 152
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Governance	Page 168
Advocacy – Ways to Impact the Diaspora	Page 217
Advocacy – Ways to Impact the BritishTerritories	Page 245

The efforts of the Caribbean Day movement is needed and very much welcomed by the promoters of the Go Lean movement. Even for the Diaspora living abroad, this Caribbean Day movement will have positive effect on Caribbean image. This subject has been a source of concern for the Go Lean movement. Consider the details from these previous blog-commentaries:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=8724	Remembering Marcus Garvey: His Image and Perception is relevant today
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=8099	Caribbean Image: ‘Less Than’?
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2025	Image of the Caribbean Diaspora – Butt of the Joke
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=857	Caribbean Image: Dreadlocks

In addition, the subject of “push and pull” resulting in an increased Diaspora has been examined further in many related Go Lean blog-commentaries; see sample list here:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=8155	Gender Equality Referendum Outcome: Brain Drain Bound
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=7866	Switching Allegiances: Athletes move on to represent other countries
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=7682	Role Model Frederick Douglass: Single Cause – Death or Diaspora
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=7151	The Caribbean is Looking for Heroes … ‘to Return’
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=5759	Bad example of Greece – Crisis leading to abandonment of Doctors
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=5733	Better than America? Yes, We Can!
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=5695	Repenting, Forgiving and Reconciling the Past
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=5088	Immigrants account for 1 in 11 Blacks in USA
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2547	Miami’s Success versus Caribbean Failure
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2251	The Reality of Names of Caribbean people
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1433	Caribbean loses more than 70 percent of tertiary educated to brain drain
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=273	10 Things We *Don’t* Want from the US – Discrimination of Immigrations

The Go Lean book posits (Page 3) that the Caribbean islands are among the greatest addresses in the world. But instead of the world “beating a path” to these doors, the people of the Caribbean have “beat down their doors” to get out; despite the absence of any famine, or war for that matter. This is classic societal abandonment – plain an simple.

This must stop … now! We must fix the defects that “push” our people away, and dissuade the “pull” factors that lure unsuspecting Caribbean citizens to believe that life is better “there”, wherever.

We wish Hamilton Daley and the Caribbean Day success, while we work in our quest to make our homeland a better place to live, work and play.; thusly keeping more of our citizens at home and away from the Diaspora. 🙂

Download the free e-Book of Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

——–

Appendix- VIDEO: Hamilton Daley (Caribbean Day) || Exclusive Interview || The Sylbourne Show – https://youtu.be/5SQlsDpIRN8

Published on Aug 22, 2016 – Joining us on the red chair we have Hamilton Daley. Mr Daley has held an illustrious career as a lawyer in both the UK and Jamaica and is the founder of the Caribbean Day Movement International. He wants to see August 1st to be declared CARIBBEAN DAY!

——–

Appendix – Actual Open Letter to CariCom:

We look forward to being still together to see this Day, here is our case:

We, the undersigned are representative of the views of persons and organisations based in or associated with countries of CARICOM membership, and expatriate Caribbean communities in the UK, USA and Canada, and other world destinations where people of Caribbean heritage may reside. Our sole purpose and cause of this our gathering is to request that CARICOM place on its agenda for regional consideration and approval, the issue of proclaiming international Caribbean Day to be on the 1st August each year.

The reason we make this request is that the Caribbean and its people have to date no single date to recognise their identity as one connected community. We make this request in recognition that CARICOM reflects the interest not only of the people resident in its member states, but also the hopes of millions of expatriates, their offsprings, relatives and associates, residing outside CARICOM’s geographical region. In common, we all, regardless of our Caribbean ancestry, age, race, creed or nationality, harbour only positive ambitions for the success and development of the Caribbean region.

During any Cricket World Cup tournament, people of Caribbean allegiance across the globe rally behind our united international sporting icons the West Indies Cricket team.

Further, we observe that for the English-speaking Caribbean, we share a degree of common representational politics in the form of the region’s international institution CARICOM. We have a Caribbean Court of Justice, and a regional University with its campuses situated across three CARICOM countries. The framework for a Caribbean Single Market Economy is in place and the region has introduced a CARICOM passport. We note also at the CARICOM heads of government summit held in Antigua in July 2014, those discussions announced the formulation of a five year strategic plan for “repositioning the Community and identifying priorities and activities that would meet the challenges of the international environment”. Amongst other things, the said plan included building economic resilience, social resilience and strengthening the CARICOM spirit of community.

We remind you that on the 25 March 2007, the 15 independent member nations comprising CARICOM agreed by resolution to synchronize a minute’s silence in commemoration of the 1807 Abolition of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade. The significance of this synchronized one minute, we say, is now historical in defining a moment in time when the Caribbean first sought to synchronise a sentiment across all peoples of its nations. It is maintaining and building upon this foundation that we invite CARICOM to proclaim an international Caribbean Day.

The vision of an international ‘Caribbean Day‘ is linked to the concept of celebrating the ‘rebirth’ of our Region on the 1st August. Many countries of the English-speaking Caribbean, including Jamaica, Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago already celebrate Emancipation Day on the 1st August. However, with respect whilst it is important that we should each never forget our history, we implore that as a developing region, the emphasis on going forward for the next 200 years should now be to create annual dynamism, rather than a day of reflection to reminisce the date colonial slavery ended.

In truth, whilst not forgetting our history, it is also right to free our minds if devotion to remembrance might keep us on the ground – instead of just keeping us grounded. For, it is our destiny that we as a people will forever rise and be greater than our past.

Therefore, we say; the past does not define our future, and we look to the words of a great man who did a good thing, after 25 years of personal sacrifice for the cause of his fellow men: “The time for the healing of the wounds has come. The moment to bridge the chasms that divide us has come. The time to build is upon us.” – Nelson Mandela

A vision of a ‘Caribbean Day’ would be an international day of celebration by Caribbean people of all races, colours and faiths, as part of one Caribbean family. It would be a day which forever promises to present the opportunity for those who reside overseas to pamper their nostalgia, as well as provide a boost to regional tourism whereby our visitors could annually island hop through the celebrations.

A ‘Caribbean Day’ would be a day in the yearly calendar when the Caribbean diasporas would gather in their communities, wherever they may congregate across the globe. It would be an immense family day, where inter-Island relationships and our children’s children would at last enjoy a day to celebrate their common Caribbean heritage.

We consider the concerns of the Caribbean diasporas, whom with each generation born overseas loses sense of ties to the Caribbean. We consider also the quantitative effect of brain drain on the region’s developing economies because the flow of talent may forever be lost to the region. We are of the view that a Caribbean Day would create job opportunities, commercial incentives and re-invigorate community ties regardless of geography and generational distance.

If the World can readily recognise dates like 14th February, 1st April and 25th December, surely it can come to recognise our 1st August Caribbean Day.

We implore upon the heads of CARICOM to endorse the proclamation of an international ‘Caribbean Day’.

Thank You.

CARIBBEAN DAY MOVEMENT FOR ITS ESTABLISHMENT

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CariCom, Diaspora, Jamaica, Model

[Top]

Lessons from China – WeChat: Model for Caribbean Social Media

Posted on August 31, 2016 in Implementation, Industries, Strategy

Go Lean Commentary

“In one country, 90 percent of adults use mobile money to conduct commercial transactions” – previous 60 Minutes report: “M-Pesa, the Future of Money”.

That country is Kenya on the African continent. That penetration rate – 90% – was believed to be one of the highest acceptance rate in any large country.

And now we are learning about the business model of WeChat … in China …

… it is a Social Media SuperApp, messaging and digital assistant with an electronic payment functionality similar to M-Pesa. This is the Smartphone answer to a basic phone’s utilitarianism.

See the story in the VIDEO here and the encyclopedic reference that follows:

VIDEO – How China Is Changing Your Internet – http://nyti.ms/2bhgH5s

Posted August 9, 2016 – What was once known as the land of cheap rip-offs may now offer a glimpse of the future — and American companies are taking notice. By JONAH M. KESSEL and PAUL MOZUR. Photo by Damir Sagolj/Reuters.
———

Reference Title: WeChat

WeChat (literal translation: “micro message”) is a cross-platform instant messaging service developed by Tencent in China, first released in January 2011.^[10] It is one of the largest standalone messaging apps by monthly active users.^[11][12]

The app is available on Android, iPhone, BlackBerry, Windows Phone and Symbian phones. Web-based OS X^[13] and Windows^[14] clients also exist; these however require the user to have the app installed on a supported mobile phone for authentication, and neither message roaming nor ‘Moments’ are provided.^[15] As of May 2016, WeChat has over a billion created accounts, 700 million active users;^[16] with more than 70 million outside of China (as of December 2015).^[17][18]

WeChat provides text messaging, hold-to-talk voice messaging, broadcast (one-to-many) messaging, video conferencing, video games, sharing of photographs and videos, and location sharing.^[19][20] It can exchange contacts with people nearby via Bluetooth, as well as providing various features for contacting people at random if desired (if these are open to it), next to integration with social networking services such as those run by Facebook and Tencent QQ.^[21] Photographs may also be embellished with filters and captions, and a machine translation service is available.

For work purposes, companies and business communication, a special version of WeChat called Enterprise WeChat (or Qiye Weixin) was launched in April 2016. The app is meant to help employees separate work from private life.^[22] Except the usual chat features, the program lets companies and their employees keep track of annual leave days and expenses that need to be reimbursed, employees can ask for time off or even clock in to show they are at work.^[22][23] Security has been upgraded and companies must register before their employees can use the service.^[24][25]

Security concerns
WeChat operates from China under Chinese law, which includes strong censorship provisions and interception protocols.^[51] WeChat contains the ability to access the text messages and contact books of its users and users’ locations through the GPS feature.^[51] Countries and regions such as India, the United States, China and Taiwan all fear that the app poses a threat to national or regional security for various reasons.^[51][52][53] In Taiwan, legislators were concerned that the potential exposure of private communications was a threat to regional security.^[51] In June 2013, the Indian Intelligence Bureau flagged WeChat for security concerns. India has debated whether or not they should ban WeChat for its possibility in collecting too much personal information and data from its users.^[53][54][55]Source: Wikipedia Online Encyclopedia – Retrieved August 30, 2016 from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WeChat

This push for emergence of Internet & Communications Technologies is a familiar advocacy for the movement behind the book Go Lean…Caribbean. The book identifies a possible universe of 130 million active users; this is huge from a Caribbean perspective, but actually small compared to other source countries. The book detailed the full inventory of global Social Media sites around the words with greater than 100 million active users as of November 2013. See the list here:

Rank	Name	Registered users	Active user accounts	Date of stat	Date launched	Country of origin
1	Facebook	1+ billion	1 billion	October 2012	February 2004	United States
2	Tencent QQ	784+ million	712 million	September 2012	2003	China
3	Skype	663+ million	280 million	January 2013	August 2003	Estonia
4	Google+	500+ million	235 million	December 2012	June 2011	United States
5	Twitter	500+ million	200+ million	December 2012	March 2006	United States
6	LinkedIn	200+ million	160 million	January 2013	May 2003	United States
7	Tencent Qzone	597 million	150 million	September 2012	2005	China
8	Sina Weibo	400+ million	100+ million	February 2013	August 2009	China
9	Dropbox	100+ million	100 million	November 2012	September 2008	United States
10	Windows Live	100 million	100 million	December 2012	November 2005	United States
11	Instagram	100+ million	100 million	February 2013	October 2010	United States

Notice that 3 of these 11 sites are based in China. (WeChat is a product from China-based Tencent; see Appendix).

This commentary completes the series on China; this is commentary 6 of 6 in consideration of the good and bad lessons from China. The other commentaries detailed in this series are as follows:

History of China Trade: Too Big to Ignore
Why China will soon be Hollywood’s largest market
Organ Transplantation: Facts and Fiction
Mobile Game Apps: The new Playground
South China Seas: Exclusive Economic Zones
WeChat: Model for Caribbean Social Media – www.MyCaribbean.gov

All of these commentaries relate to nation-building, stressing the community investments required to facilitate the short-term, mid-term and long-term needs of our communities. This last commentary admires how the China-based WeChat online product is all-encompassing for all daily activities, facilitating value-added experiences for its users. It brings the benefits of the virtual world to the real world.

The WeChat experience in China is unique in that access is blocked from foreign access – no inputs nor outputs; this is referred to as the Great Firewall of China. (See more details here: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/10/technology/china-homegrown-internet-companies-rest-of-the-world.html?smid=fb-nytimes&smtyp=cur&_r=1).

So the lesson for the Caribbean is how to regulate technology in our society. With the Great Firewall and all the security threats, we do not want to invite WeChat to the Caribbean region. Rather we want to model WeChat for our own homegrown Social Media product, identified in the Go Lean book as www.myCaribbean.gov, (but without the Great Firewall features).

The Go Lean book serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU) and the Caribbean Central Bank (CCB) as regional stewards of Cyberspace and the economy, or better stated: electronic commerce. e-Commerce will drive change in payment systems, to include options depicted in the foregoing VIDEO.

The CU oversight is to be executed in conjunction with the Caribbean Postal Union (CPU), the administrator of the www.myCaribbean.gov Social Media site and network. The purpose of the CPU charter is the efficient and effective facilitation of postal mail and messaging. To be consequential in 2016, no postal initiative can launch without an online/email solution. This implementation is embedded in the Go Lean roadmap, as detailed here in the book on Page 108:

The CU will include e-delivery of government operations so as to integrate and consolidate services that are usually a cost center. The resultant economies-of-scale will result in Postal operations (CPU) emerging as a logistics Profit Center rather than Cost Center.
…
Cyber Mail Assistance (First Leg & Last Leg)
E-mail is a reality that should be embraced. The CPU will coordinate and collaborate with the www.myCaribbean.gov portal to offer email to all 42 million citizens, [10 million Diaspora and 80 million visitors]. The CPU will offer products, for a fee, like “last leg” postal mail for emails that need to be delivered on paper, or “first leg” postal for paper mail that can be scanned and delivered as email.

The CU, CPU and CCB are all organs of the new Caribbean elevation initiative. The CCB will facilitate transactions settlement for the new payment eco-system. The Go Lean roadmap calls for a regional currency for the Caribbean Single Market, the Caribbean Dollar (C$), to be used primarily as an electronic currency. This scheme will impact the growth of the regional economy in both the domestic and tourist markets. Economic growth is only one of the objectives of the Go Lean/CU roadmap; in fact, the Go Lean roadmap has these 3 prime directives:

Optimization of the economic engines in order to grow the regional economy to $800 Billion & create 2.2 million new jobs.
Establishment of a security apparatus to protect the resultant economic engines.
Improvement of Caribbean governance to support these engines.

To be counted on the world stage, the Caribbean region must conquer Cyberspace – for our own people – to elevate the interactions among the business and consumer virtual communities. When we say interactions, we mean payment transactions as well.

The benefits are undeniable: instant access, safer transactions, expanded networks, and an expanded money supply.

This last one, expanded money supply refers to the feature in Economics of M1. Electronic payment schemes causes a shift in the measurement of M1 and M0. M0 refers to the “cash currency” (paper notes & coins); M1 refers to the measurement of overnight bank deposits plus the “cash” in circulation (the M0). The Go Lean book explains the money multiplier effect, how M1 increases allow central banks – in this case, the CCB – to create money “from thin-air”.

A mission of the Go Lean roadmap is to prepare the Caribbean region to adapt and thrive in the new global marketplace. This goal requires strenuous currency management and technocratic oversight of the region’s technological initiatives. This need was pronounced in the opening Declaration of Interdependence (Pages 12 – 14):

xv. Whereas the business of the Federation and the commercial interest in the region cannot prosper without an efficient facilitation of postal services, the Caribbean Union must allow for the integration of the existing mail operations of the governments of the member-states into a consolidated Caribbean Postal Union, allowing for the adoption of best practices and technical advances to deliver foreign/domestic mail in the region.

xxiv. Whereas a free market economy can be induced and spurred for continuous progress, the Federation must install the controls to better manage aspects of the economy: jobs, inflation, savings rate, investments and other economic principles. Thereby attracting direct foreign investment because of the stability and vibrancy of our economy.

xxvii. Whereas the region has endured a spectator status during the Industrial Revolution, we cannot stand on the sidelines of this new economy, the Information Revolution. Rather, the Federation must embrace all the tenets of Internet Communications Technology (ICT) to serve as an equalizing element in competition with the rest of the world. The Federation must bridge the digital divide and promote the community ethos that research/development is valuable and must be promoted and incentivized for adoption.

The Go Lean book details a series of community ethos, strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies to foster the proper guidance for the deployment of an advanced Social Media network (and accompanying e-Payments scheme) in the Caribbean region:

Community Ethos – Economic Principles	Page 21
Community Ethos – Money Multiplier Principle	Page 22
Community Ethos – Security Principles – Privacy versus Public Protection	Page 23
Community Ethos – Governing Principles – Lean Operations	Page 24
Community Ethos – Governing Principles – Cooperatives	Page 25
Community Ethos – Promote Intellectual Property	Page 29
Community Ethos – Ways to Bridge the Digital Divide	Page 31
Community Ethos – Ways to Improve Sharing	Page 35
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Greater Good	Page 35
Strategy – Mission – Fortify the monetary needs through a Currency Union	Page 45
Strategy – Mission – Facilitate modern communications with postal enhancements	Page 46
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Central Banking	Page 73
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Postal Operations: CPU	Page 78
Implementation – Assemble Central Bank Cooperative	Page 96
Implementation – Assemble Caribbean Regional Organs – like CTU	Page 96
Implementation – Ways to Improve Mail Services – CPU Deployments	Page 108
Implementation – Ways to Deliver	Page 109
Planning – 10 Big Ideas – #2: Currency Union / Single Currency	Page 127
Anecdote – Caribbean Currencies	Page 149
Advocacy – Ways to Grow the Economy	Page 151
Advocacy – Ways to Create Jobs	Page 152
Advocacy – Ways to Mitigate Black Markets – Benefit of e-Payments	Page 165
Advocacy – Ways to Foster Cooperatives	Page 176
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Cruise Tourism – e-Payment scheme	Page 193
Advocacy – Ways to Foster Technology	Page 197
Advocacy – Ways to Foster e-Commerce	Page 198
Advocacy – Reforms for Banking Regulations – Central Banking Efficiencies	Page 199
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Main Street – Downtown Wi-Fi – Time and Place	Page 201
Appendix – Assembling the Caribbean Telecommunications Union – As Regulator	Page 256

As depicted in the foregoing VIDEO and these previously Go Lean blog-commentaries, those involved in retail commerce – in general – must now adapt to this new electronic commerce/payment world … or perish:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=7991	Transformations: Caribbean Postal Union – Delivering the Future
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=7297	Death of the ‘Department Store’: Exaggerated or Eventual
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=7034	The Future of Money – M-Pesa Model
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=6635	New Security Chip in Credit Cards Unveiled
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=5668	Move over Mastercard/Visa… here comes a Caribbean Solution
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=4425	Cash, Credit or iPhone …
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3889	Caribbean banks are ready to accept electronic payments transactions
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2488	Chinese Role Model Jack Ma brings Alibaba to America
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2074	MetroCard – Model for the Caribbean Dollar
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1416	Amazon – Role Model for Caribbean e-Commerce & Logistics
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1350	PayPal expands payment services to 10 markets
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=906	Bitcoin needs regulatory framework to change ‘risky’ image of payments
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=528	Facebook plans to provide mobile payment services

The world of Social Media networking and electronic payment systems is here. China has demonstrated a successful model for us in the Caribbean to emulate.

The lesson from China is that a low-technical population can assimilate high-tech solutions, provided that solutions are real. China has a population of 1.3 billion people; WeChat has 700 million active users. All those people cannot be “Geeks”. Many are just plain folks, the sort that comprise the 42 million in the Caribbean.

And then imagine the “Geeks”; imagine the opportunities: jobs and entrepreneurship. Imagine…

The lesson from China is that the business axiom is true:

Build a better mousetrap and the world will beat a path to your door.

This gives us confidence that the Caribbean Social Media network, www.myCaribbean.gov, can be fully accepted in the marketplace.

Yes, this Go Lean roadmap is conceivable, believable and achievable. The benefits are too enticing to ignore: fostering more e-Commerce, increasing M1, growing the economy, creating jobs, enhancing security and optimizing governance. Now is the time for all stakeholders – people and businesses – of the Caribbean to lean-in to this roadmap. 🙂

Download the free e-Book of Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

————–

Appendix VIDEO – Preview WeChat for Android – https://youtu.be/y2uRA9qji_I

Published on Apr 25, 2016 – WeChat is a free messaging & calling app used by 700 million people that allows you to easily connect with family & friends across countries. It’s the all-in-one communications app for free text (SMS/MMS), voice & video calls, Moments, photo sharing, and games.

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China, e-Commerce, ICT, Jobs, Model

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Lessons from China – South China Seas: Exclusive Economic Zones

Posted on August 30, 2016 in Government, Planning, Strategy

Go Lean Commentary

There is a risk for war, right now, on the other side of the Earth. Have you been paying attention? Do you understand the issues?

Understanding the geo-political issues affecting China means understanding the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

This is an old international maritime law that dates from the days of piracy all the way down to today with modern updates and trends. This is the international convention that governs the 200-mile Exclusive Economic Zone along the coastline of a country. There is a hot issue in the South China Seas region right now involving China and its neighbors.

This issue is so urgent and emergent that many analysts believe dysfunctions in this regards can lead to war.

See photos in Appendix B below.

There has now been an update in this case. This update is furnished by the Hague Tribunal for the UNCLOS.

This news story here speaks of the ruling in the Hague about the disposition of China’s claims regarding their Exclusive Economic Zone in the South China Seas. See story here:

VIDEO – South China Sea Ruling: 5 Things to Know – https://youtu.be/qOeEMsdYzm4

Published on Jul 15, 2016 – China’s South China Sea ambitions have been denied! The ruling by a United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea tribunal in the Hague said China’s claims to the South China Sea have “no legal basis.” Is this a victory for the Philippines? The United States? Or will this lead to war? Find out on this episode of China Uncensored!

MORE EPISODES:

Indonesia “Attacks” China in South China Sea
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WS5qi…

China Defends South China Sea from Japanese Aggression
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pg7BM…

US Sends Destroyers to South China Sea — Is War Next?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nC8wR…

Will China Provoke War in South China Sea
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxU6w…

Why is this discussion about conflicts in the South China Seas – see Appendix A – important to us in the Caribbean region?

The focus is on the concept of an Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ); see Appendix C. This is an applicable reference for the Caribbean as we have a similar quest, to extend oversight for the Caribbean Sea. This point had been detailed in a previous blog-commentary regarding the Association of Caribbean States (ACS); an excerpt follows:

One agenda adopted by the ACS has been an attempt to secure the designation of the Caribbean Sea as a special zone in the context of sustainable development; it is pushing for the UN to consider the Caribbean Sea as an invaluable asset that is worth protecting and treasuring. The organization has sought to form a coalition among member states to devise a United Nations General Assembly resolution to ban the transshipment of nuclear materials through the Caribbean Sea and the Panama Canal. … The Go Lean roadmap aligns with this agenda with the implementation plan of an Exclusive Economic Zone for these seas.

This commentary is part of a series on China. This is commentary 5 of 6 in consideration of the good and bad lessons from China. The other commentaries detailed in this series are as follows:

History of China Trade: Too Big to Ignore
Why China will soon be Hollywood’s largest market
Organ Transplantation: Facts and Fiction
Mobile Game Apps: The new Playground
South China Seas: Exclusive Economic Zones
WeChat: Model for Caribbean Social Media – www.MyCaribbean.gov

All of these commentaries relate to nation-building, stressing the community investments required to facilitate the short-term, mid-term and long-term needs of our communities. But this one commentary identifies China as a “bully” in the neighborhood of the South China Seas. So the lesson for the Caribbean is how to deal with a bully.

What empowers China as a bully in this conflict? Their size! China, with its 1.3 billion people, is the largest country bordering on the South China Seas. Truth be told, China is the largest country in the world. That 1.3 billion population is … 1.3 billion. It is hard for those observing-and-reporting from North America to comprehend the perspective. The US has 320 million people; the Caribbean, as a consolidated region is 42 million. Size does matter!

This is the guidance from the book Go Lean … Caribbean. It serves as a roadmap – turn by turn directions – for the introduction and implementation of the Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU). This confederation treaty is designed to leverage the 30 member-states of the Caribbean so as to get some economy-of-scale. The book asserts that some problems in the region are too big for anyone member-state to contend with alone. An integrated Single Market of all 42 million people across the 30 member-states allows us to stand-up more forthrightly to bullies in our region. And we do have bullies.

This is the strategy for the Caribbean region to elevate its society. In fact, the roadmap has these 3 prime directives:

Optimization of the economic engines in order to grow the regional economy to $800 Billion & create 2.2 million new jobs.
Establishment of a security apparatus – with oversight of the EEZ – to provide public safety and protect the resultant economic engines of the Caribbean homeland.
Improvement of Caribbean governance – with oversight of the EEZ – to support these engines.

The implementation of the CU allows for the designation of more Exclusive Economic Zones, the consolidation existing EEZ’s and the deployment of a security apparatus to ensure protections in these zones.

“Where does an 800 pound sleep? Anywhere he wants” – Old Wives Tale

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” – Quotation from Martin Luther King, Jr.

“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing” – Edmund Burke; 1729 – 1797

It is important to remember from this commentary, the primary lesson from China is the undeniable size of their market, population and military. Without even trying, China can be a bully!

The Caribbean does not need to stand-up to China – but we stand up on the side of justice. We are not a world Super-Power, nor do we aspire to be. We leave that role to our allies in NATO (the North American Treaty Organization including the US and Western European states). Nonetheless, our region will be stronger with the 42 million; while no billions as in China, our consolidated size will allow us to stand-up to regional threats: border encroachments, narco-terrorism and piracy. This need for security strength was pronounced in the opening of the Go Lean book, with these statements in the Declaration of Interdependence (Pages 11 – 13):

v. Whereas the natural formation of our landmass and coastlines entail a large portion of waterscapes, the reality of management of our interior calls for extended oversight of the waterways between the islands. The internationally accepted 12-mile limits for national borders must be extended by International Tribunals to encompass the areas in between islands. The individual states must maintain their 12-mile borders while the sovereignty of this expanded area, the Exclusive Economic Zone, must be vested in the accedence of this Federation.

x. Whereas we are surrounded and allied to nations of larger proportions in land mass, populations, and treasuries, elements in their societies may have ill-intent in their pursuits, at the expense of the safety and security of our citizens. We must therefore appoint “new guards” to ensure our public safety and threats against our society, both domestic and foreign. …

xi. Whereas all men are entitled to the benefits of good governance in a free society, “new guards” must be enacted to dissuade the emergence of incompetence, corruption, nepotism and cronyism at the peril of the people’s best interest. The Federation must guarantee the executions of a social contract between government and the governed.

xii. Whereas the legacy in recent times in individual states may be that of ineffectual governance with no redress to higher authority, the accedence of this Federation will ensure accountability and escalation of the human and civil rights of the people for good governance, justice assurances, due process and the rule of law. As such, any threats of a “failed state” status for any member state must enact emergency measures on behalf of the Federation to protect the human, civil and property rights of the citizens, residents, allies, trading partners, and visitors of the affected member state and the Federation as a whole.

xvi. Whereas security of our homeland is inextricably linked to prosperity of the homeland, the economic and security interest of the region needs to be aligned under the same governance. Since economic crimes, including piracy and other forms of terrorism, can imperil the functioning of the wheels of commerce for all the citizenry, the accedence of this Federation must equip the security apparatus with the tools and techniques for predictive and proactive interdictions.

The Go Lean book, and previous blog/commentaries, stressed the key community ethos, strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies necessary to provide better homeland security to the Caribbean region, and to foster development, administration and protections in the Caribbean EEZ. These points are detailed in the book as follows:

Community Ethos – Deferred Gratification	Page 21
Community Ethos – Economic Principles – All Choices Involve Costs	Page 21
Community Ethos – Economic Principles – Economic Systems Influence Individual Choices	Page 21
Community Ethos – Economic Principles – Voluntary Trade Creates Wealth	Page 21
Community Ethos – Economic Principles – Consequences of Choices Lie in the Future	Page 21
Community Ethos – Security Principles – Anti-Bullying and Mitigations	Page 22
Community Ethos – Security Principles – Intelligence Gathering	Page 23
Community Ethos – Security Principles – “Crap” Happens	Page 23
Community Ethos – Governing Principles – Lean Operations	Page 24
Community Ethos – Governing Principles – Return on Investments	Page 24
Community Ethos – Governing Principles – Cooperatives	Page 25
Strategy – Agents of Change – Globalization	Page 57
Tactical – Fostering a Technocracy	Page 64
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Homeland Security Department	Page 75
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Coast Guard and Naval Authority	Page 75
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Militia	Page 75
Implementation – Ways to Pay for Change – EEZ Exploration Rights	Page 101
Implementation – Security Initiatives at Start-up	Page 103
Implementation – Start-up Benefits from the EEZ	Page 104
Advocacy – Ways to Grow the Economy – Enterprise Zones & Empowerment Zones	Page 151
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Governance	Page 168
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Homeland Security	Page 180
Advocacy – Ways to Mitigate Terrorism – Piracy	Page 181
Advocacy – Ways to Better Manage Natural Resources	Page 183
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Emergency Management	Page 196
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Fisheries – Model of Alaska EEZ	Page 210
Appendix – Cape Cod Wind Farm – Model for Caribbean EEZ	Page 335

Other subjects related to security, anti-bullying and justice empowerments for the region have been blogged in previous Go Lean…Caribbean commentaries, as sampled here:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=7896	The Need for Local Administration: The Logistics of Disaster Relief
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=7449	‘Crap Happens’ – Planning and Execution
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=7345	ISIS reaches the Caribbean Region
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=7119	Role Model for the Caribbean: African Standby Force
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=6247	Tragic images show Mediterranean Sea Refugee Crisis
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=6103	Sum of All Fears – ‘On Guard’ Against Deadly Threats
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=5462	Case of American NGO Bullying: Red Cross’ Missing $500 Million In Haiti Relief
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=5183	A Lesson in History – Cinco De Mayo and Mexico’s Security Lapses
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=5002	Managing a ‘Clear and Present Danger’
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=4360	Dreading the ‘CaribbeanBasin Security Initiative’
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1965	America’s Navy – 100 Percent – Model for Caribbean
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1554	Status of Forces Agreement = Security Pact
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1076	Regional Threat: Trinidad Muslims travel for Jihadist training
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=809	Muslim officials condemn bullying and abductions of Nigerian girls
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=535	Remembering and learning from Boston’s Terror Attack
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=273	10 Things We Want from the US – #4: Pax Americana

The Caribbean sorely needs the empowerments in this roadmap to mitigate threats and ensure protections on our seaways and waterscapes. The key is the Exclusive Economic Zone designation.

This is an important lesson being learned from consideration of China. EEZ dimensions should not be left up to vague interpretations. There is need for surety! In fact, the Go Lean book (Page 101) asserts that this surety will subsequently have long-ranging economic implications:

EEZ Exploration Rights
Representing the member-states, the CU will petition the UN for an Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) for the areas between the islands. All economic activity in these non-state areas (underwater cables, oil/gas drilling, mines, etc.) will be awarded & regulated by the CU.
Exploratory rights are awarded for license fees upfront.

We have this and other important lessons from China. Their large population makes them a venerable threat to all their smaller neighboring countries. There is the need for security and justice mitigations in their region.

There is the need for security and justice mitigations in our region, too. Justice takes a constant effort – a sentinel. This is the role envisioned for the CU and its security apparatus.

“On guard” … for threats against justice.

Now is the time for all of the Caribbean – the people, institutions and governments – to lean-in for these justice assurances described in the book Go Lean … Caribbean. This effort will make the Caribbean homeland a better, safer, place to live, work and play. 🙂

Download the free e-Book of Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

————-

Appendix A – South China Sea

The South China Sea is a marginal sea that is part of the Pacific Ocean, encompassing an area from the Karimata and Malacca Straits to the Strait of Taiwan of around 3,500,000 square kilometres (1,400,000 sq mi). The area’s importance largely results from one-third of the world’s shipping sailing through its waters and that it is believed to hold huge oil and gas reserves beneath its seabed.^[2]

It is located^[3]:

south of mainland China, including the island of Taiwan, in the east;
east of Vietnam and Cambodia;
west of the Philippines;
east of the Malay peninsula and Sumatra, up to the Strait of Malacca in the west and
north of the Bangka–Belitung Islands and Borneo

The minute South China Sea Islands, collectively an archipelago, number in the hundreds. The sea and its mostly uninhabited islands are subject to competing claims of sovereignty by several countries. These claims are also reflected in the variety of names used for the islands and the sea.

…

Geography

States and territories with borders on the sea (clockwise from north) include: the People’s Republic of China (including Macau and Hong Kong), the Republic of China (Taiwan), the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei, Indonesia, Singapore, and Vietnam.

Major rivers that flow into the South China Sea include the Pearl, Min, Jiulong, Red, Mekong, Rajang, Pahang, Pampanga, and Pasig Rivers.
Source: Retrieved August 30 from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_China_Sea

————-

Appendix B – Photos of Military Escalations

————-

Appendix C – Exclusive Economic Zone

An Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) is a sea zone prescribed by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea over which a state has special rights regarding the exploration and use of marine resources, including energy production from water and wind.^[1] It stretches from the baseline out to 200 nautical miles (nmi) from its coast. In colloquial usage, the term may include the continental shelf. The term does not include either the territorial sea or the continental shelf beyond the 200 nmi limit. The difference between the territorial sea and the exclusive economic zone is that the first confers full sovereignty over the waters, whereas the second is merely a “sovereign right” which refers to the coastal state’s rights below the surface of the sea. The surface waters, as can be seen in the map, are international waters.^[2]

Generally, a state’s EEZ extends to a distance of 200 nautical miles (370 km) out from its coastal baseline. The exception to this rule occurs when EEZs would overlap; that is, state coastal baselines are less than 400 nautical miles (740 km) apart. When an overlap occurs, it is up to the states to delineate the actual maritime boundary.^[3] Generally, any point within an overlapping area defaults to the nearest state.^[4]

A state’s Exclusive Economic Zone starts at the landward edge of its territorial sea and extends outward to a distance of 200 nautical miles (370.4 km) from the baseline. The Exclusive Economic Zone stretches much further into sea than the territorial waters, which end at 12 nmi (22 km) from the coastal baseline (if following the rules set out in the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea).^[5] Thus, the EEZ includes the contiguous zone. States also have rights to the seabed of what is called the continental shelf up to 350 nautical miles (648 km) from the coastal baseline, beyond the EEZ, but such areas are not part of their EEZ. The legal definition of the continental shelf does not directly correspond to the geological meaning of the term, as it also includes the continental rise and slope, and the entire seabed within the EEZ.

The following is a list of the largest Exclusive Economic Zones; by country with a few noticeable deviations:

Country	EEZ Kilometers²	Additional Details
United States	11,351,000	The American EEZ – the world’s largest – includes the Caribbean overseas territories of Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands.
France	11,035,000	The French EEZ includes the Caribbean overseas territories of Guadeloupe, Martinique, Saint Martin, Saint Barthélemy and French Guiana.
Australia	8,505,348	Australia has the third largest exclusive economic zone, behind the United States and France, with the total area actually exceeding that of its land territory. Per the UN convention, Australia’s EEZ generally extends 200 nautical miles (370 km) from the coastline of Australia and its external territories, except where a maritime delimitation agreement exists with another state.^[15]The United Nations Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf confirmed, in April 2008, Australia’s rights over an additional 2.5 million square kilometres of seabed beyond the limits of Australia’s EEZ.^[16][17] Australia also claimed, in its submission to the UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf, additional Continental Shelf past its EEZ from the Australian Antarctic Territory,^[18] but these claims were deferred on Australia’s request. However, Australia’s EEZ from its Antarctic Territory is approximately 2 million square kilometres.^[17]
Russia	7,566,673
United Kingdom	6,805,586	The UK includes the Caribbean territories of Anguilla, Bermuda, Cayman Islands, Montserrat, Turks & Caicos and the British Virgin Islands.
Indonesia	6,159,032
Canada	5,599,077	Canada is unusual in that its EEZ, covering 2,755,564 km², is slightly smaller than its territorial waters.^[20] The latter generally extend only 12 nautical miles from the shore, but also include inland marine waters such as Hudson Bay (about 300 nautical miles (560 km; 350 mi) across), the Gulf of Saint Lawrence and the internal waters of the Arctic archipelago.
Japan	4,479,388	In addition to Japan’s recognized EEZ, it also has a joint regime with Republic of (South) Korea and has disputes over other territories it claims but are in dispute with all its Asian neighbors (Russia, Republic of Korea and China).
New Zealand	4,083,744
Chile	3,681,989
Brazil	3,660,955	In 2004, the country submitted its claims to the United Nations Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS) to extend its maritime continental margin.^[19]
Mexico	3,269,386	Mexico’s EEZ comprises half of the Gulf of Mexico, with the other half claimed by the US.^[32]
Micronesia	2,996,419	The Federated States of Micronesia comprise around 607 islands (a combined land area of approximately 702 km² or 271 sq mi) that cover a longitudinal distance of almost 2,700 km (1,678 mi) just north of the equator. They lie northeast of New Guinea, south of Guam and the Marianas, west of Nauru and the Marshall Islands, east of Palau and the Philippines, about 2,900 km (1,802 mi) north of eastern Australia and some 4,000 km (2,485 mi) southwest of the main islands of Hawaii. While the FSM’s total land area is quite small, its EEZ occupies more than 2,900,000 km2 (1,000,000 sq mi) of the Pacific Ocean.
Denmark	2,551,238	The Kingdom of Denmark includes the autonomous province of Greenland and the self-governing province of the Faroe Islands. The EEZs of the latter two do not form part of the EEZ of the European Union.
Papua New Guinea	2,402,288
China	2,287,969
Marshall Islands	1,990,530	The Republic of the Marshall Islands is an island country located near the equator in the Pacific Ocean, slightly west of the International Date Line. Geographically, the country is part of the larger island group of Micronesia. The country’s population of 68,480 people is spread out over 24 coral atolls, comprising 1,156 individual islands and islets. The land mass amounts to 181 km² (70 sq mi) but the EEZ is 1,990,000 km², one of the world’s largest.
Portugal	1,727,408	Portugal has the 10th largest EEZ in the world. Presently, it is divided in three non-contiguous sub-zones: Continental Portugal 327,667 km² Azores 953,633 km² Madeira 446,108 km² Portugal submitted a claim to extend its jurisdiction over additional 2.15 million square kilometers of the neighboring continental shelf in May 2009,^[44] resulting in an area with a total of more than 3,877,408 km². The submission, as well as a detailed map, can be found in the Task Group for the extension of the Continental Shelf website. Spain disputes the EEZ’s southern border, maintaining that it should be drawn halfway between Madeira and the Canary Islands. But Portugal exercises sovereignty over the SavageIslands, a small archipelago north of the Canaries, claiming an EEZ border further south. Spain objects, arguing that the SavageIslands do not have a separate continental shelf,^[45] citing article 121 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.^[46]
Philippines	1,590,780	The Philippines’ EEZ covers 2,265,684 (135,783) km^2[41].
Solomon Islands	1,589,477
South Africa	1,535,538
Fiji	1,282,978	Fiji is an archipelago of more than 332 islands, of which 110 are permanently inhabited, and more than 500 islets, amounting to a total land area of about 18,300 square kilometres (7,100 sq mi).
Argentina	1,159,063
Spain	1,039,233
Bahamas	654,715
Cuba	350,751
Jamaica	258,137
Dominican Republic	255,898
Barbados	186,898
Netherlands	154,011	The Kingdom of the Netherlands include the Antilles islands of Aruba. Bonaire, Curacao, Saba, Sint Maarten and Sint Eustatius
Guyana	137,765
Suriname	127,772
Haiti	126,760
Antigua and Barbuda	110,089
Trinidad and Tobago	74,199
St Vincent and the Grenadines	36,302
Belize	35,351
Dominica	28,985
Grenada	27,426
Saint Lucia	15,617
Saint Kitts and Nevis	9,974

(Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exclusive_economic_zone)

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China, Foreign Policy, Power, Security

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Lessons from China – Mobile Game Apps: The New Playground

Posted on August 29, 2016 in Ethos, Industries, Strategy

Go Lean Commentary

Oh the games people play now
Every night and every day now
Never meaning what they say now
Never saying what they mean
Song Lyrics: Joe South, “Games People Play” – 1969

Games are just a way of life. We start playing them as children and we do not stop…even into old age; think “Shuffle Board” for the elderly. Where there are games and play, there must also be playgrounds, whether physical or virtual.

Not all games are physical, requiring an actual playground; we must also count board games, games of chance and the new phenomena of electronic games (Video and Smartphone). This focus of Smartphone games or Apps seem to be all the rage. Considering just one country China, we glean so much insight about their “flourishing market” for Mobile Game Apps:

… the biggest in the world, in fact. In 2015, that market was worth 7 billion dollars, with 400 million gamers consuming 10,000 games released that year alone. That’s about 27 new games a day. – Except from below article.

From a perspective of China, there is a lot of business opportunities in the business of games. Considering the economic laws of “supply and demand”, there is a lot of demand in … China.

“There is gold in dem there hills”. – Outcry for the California Gold Rush of 1849

The “hills” in this case refers to the 1.3 billion people in China. That’s a lot of people, and a lot of demand. This is commentary 4 of 6 in consideration of the good and bad lessons from China. The other commentaries detailed in this series are as follows:

History of China Trade: Too Big to Ignore
Why China will soon be Hollywood’s largest market
Organ Transplantation: Facts and Fiction
Mobile Game Apps: The new Playground
South China Seas: Exclusive Economic Zones
WeChat: Model for Caribbean Social Media – www.MyCaribbean.gov

All of these commentaries relate to nation-building, stressing the community investments required to facilitate the short-term, mid-term and long-term needs of our communities. But this one commentary stresses the viability of Mobile Game Apps (applications), positing that if any entity (individual, company or community) that invest in the development of Mobile Game Apps – the new playground – for China and other markets, that there would be some definite returns, reaping of the benefits.

With 1.3 billion people, the entities that foster innovation for electronic games for China will surely enjoy the resultant economic benefits – those who sow will reap – such as entrepreneurship and jobs. This fact is among the lessons, good and bad, for the Caribbean to learn from China. This is a fine model for economic empowerment; consider the experiences of the Mobile Game App Candy Crush Saga below in Appendix A – $633,000 in revenue per day! Wow!.

The book Go Lean…Caribbean recognizes the emergence of this new playground; it seeks to make the Caribbean homeland a better place to live, work and play. It makes the claim that innovation and economic growth can result from a progressive community ethos. The book defines this “community ethos” as the fundamental character or spirit of a culture; the underlying sentiment that informs the beliefs, customs, or practices of society; dominant assumptions of a people or period. The book thereafter recommends the ethos of Entrepreneurship (Page 28), Intellectual Property Promotion (Page 29), Bridging the Digital Divide (Page 30) and fostering Research and Development or R&D (Page 31).

The landscape for Mobile Game Apps in China is not easy; it is heavy-lifting with all the government rules, regulations and restrictions. But for the “champion” that endures and traverses the obstacles and deliver: Gold! Consider the story here, from this VIDEO:

VIDEO Title – Did China Just Kill Its Mobile Game Industry? – https://youtu.be/8sSeOShvXik

Published on Jul 13, 2016 – Mobile Video Games are a huge industry in China, whether Android or iOS. But insane new censorship laws might spell game over for the industry.
Contribute! Join the China Uncensored 50-Cent Army!
https://www.patreon.com/ChinaUncensored

China Uncensored is a weekly satire show produced by NTD Television. The views expressed do not necessarily represent those of Epoch Times.

See the full transcript of the VIDEO in Appendix B below.

The foregoing news story, about Mobile Game Apps, validates the strategies, tactics and implementations of the Go Lean book, which had placed a priority on Mobile Applications – The book defines the mastery of time-&-space as strategic for succeeding in mobile apps development and deployment for the region (Page 35), specifying this encyclopedic detail:

The Bottom Line on Mobile Applications
A mobile application (or app) is a software application designed to run on smart-phones, tablet computers and other mobile devices. They are usually available through application distribution platforms, which are typically operated by the owner of the mobile operating system, such as the Apple App Store, Google Play, Windows Phone Store, and BlackBerry App World. Some apps are free, while others must be bought. Usually, they are downloaded from the platform to a target device, such as an iPhone, BlackBerry, Android phone or Windows Phone, but sometimes they can be downloaded to laptops or desktops. The term “app” is now popular; in 2010 it was named “Word of the Year” by the American Dialect Society.

Mobile apps were originally offered for general productivity and information retrieval, including email, calendar, contacts, and stock market and weather information. However, public demand and the availability of developer tools drove rapid expansion into other categories, such as mobile games, factory automation, GPS and location-based services, banking, order-tracking, ticket purchases [and sharing services]. The popularity of mobile applications has continued to rise, as their usage has become increasingly prevalent across mobile phone users. [The resultant mobile commerce is obvious] as many choose to think of Mobile Commerce as meaning “a retail outlet in your customer’s pocket.”

Due to these conditions, consumer sharing applications have now become intuitive; supplying demand at the right place and right time, dynamically or pre-scheduled.

The book, Go Lean…Caribbean, serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU). This administration must ensure that there is accountability and transparency in the governance of the Information Technology Arts and Sciences. The book stresses that the current community spirit/ethos must change. What can motivate people to change their values and priorities? Compelling external and internal drivers! The roadmap commences with the statement that the Caribbean is in crisis, and that “a crisis is a terrible thing to waste”. The region is devastated from external factors: globalization and rapid technology changes. The book then posits that to adapt, there must be a new internal optimization of the region’s strengths. This is defined in (Page 14) of the Declaration of Interdependence:

xxvii. Whereas the region has endured a spectator status during the Industrial Revolution, we cannot stand on the sidelines of this new economy, the Information Revolution. Rather, the Federation must embrace all the tenets of Internet Communications Technology (ICT) to serve as an equalizing element in competition with the rest of the world. The Federation must bridge the digital divide and promote the community ethos that research/development is valuable and must be promoted and incentivized for adoption.

In line with the foregoing story, the Go Lean book details some applicable community ethos, strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies to better foster these qualities and their resulting benefits. See the sample list here:

Community Ethos – Deferred Gratification	Page 21
Community Ethos – Economic Principles – All Choices Involve Costs	Page 21
Community Ethos – Economic Principles – Consequences of Choices Lie in the Future	Page 21
Community Ethos – Governing Principles – Return of Investments	Page 24
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact Research & Development	Page 30
Community Ethos – Ways to Improve Sharing	Page 35
Strategy – Agents of Change – Technology	Page 57
Strategy – Agents of Change – Globalization	Page 57
Tactical – How to Grow to an $800 Billion Economy – Trade and Globalization	Page 70
Tactical – Separation-of-Powers – www.myCaribbean.gov Portal	Page 74
Tactical – Separation-of-Powers – Caribbean Postal Union	Page 78
Implementation – Assemble Caribbean Postal Union – Facilitator for www.MyCaribbean.gov	Page 96
Implementation – Ways to Deliver	Page 109
Implementation – Ways to Impact Social Media	Page 111
Planning – 10 Big Ideas – # 8 – Cyber-Caribbean	Page 127
Planning – Ways to Better Manage Image – Jamaican Yardies Example	Page 133
Advocacy – Ways to Grow the Economy	Page 151
Advocacy – Ways to Foster Cooperatives	Page 176
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Communications – Foster new ethos	Page 186
Advocacy – Ways to Foster Technology	Page 197
Advocacy – Ways to Foster e-Commerce	Page 198
Advocacy – Reforms for Banking Regulations – Foster e-Payments	Page 199
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Main Street	Page 201
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Urban Living – Mobile Apps – Time & Space	Page 234

There is a lot to learn from the analysis of market conditions for Mobile Apps in China and other communities. The lessons of successes and failures of these deployments were further elaborated upon in these previous blog-commentaries:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=8262	Uber App: UberEverything in Africa
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=5648	Taylor Swift withholds Album from Apple Music App
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=4793	Truth in Commerce – Learning from Yelp and India’s Model
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3974	Google and Mobile Phones – Here comes Change
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1416	Amazon’s new FIRE Smartphone and Apps
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=486	Temasek firm backs Southeast Asia cab booking app

The roadmap posits that the CU will incubate a Mobile Apps industry, forge entrepreneurial incentives and facilitate the infrastructure upgrades so that innovations can thrive. As related in the foregoing story, with some collaboration with a local Chinese company, we in the Caribbean can even gain access to the 1.3 billion potential customers in China.

That’s a lot of low hanging fruit:

Imagine the jobs.
Imagine the entrepreneurial opportunities.
Imagine the generated foreign currency.
Imagine the …

We need a lot of imagination … to conceive, design and develop Video Games and Mobile Game Apps. Where do we look for this imagination? Clue: Not from the generation of people playing “Shuffle Board”.

Video Games and Mobile Apps are designed for and by the generation identified as Millennials.

Millennials are also known as the Millennial Generation^[1] or Generation Y, abbreviated to Gen Y). They are the demographic cohort between Generation X and Generation Z. There are no precise dates for when the generation starts and ends. Demographers and researchers typically use the early 1980s as starting birth years and use the mid-1990s to the early 2000s as final birth years for the Millennial Generation.

This question of who do we look for to champion our cause in fostering a Video Game and Mobile App industry must consider the Caribbean youth or Millennials. This population has always been identified as critical stakeholders in the Go Lean/CU roadmap. The book identified and qualified the challenge of reaching this group with these opening words:

Our youth, the next generation, may not be inspired to participate in the future workings of their country; they may measure success only by their exodus from their Caribbean homeland.

The promoters of the Go Lean movement conducted a structured interview with a Millennial Mobile Game App Designer and Developer, Faisal Kahn (FK). He is also a student matriculating in Asia (Karachi, Pakistan) and makes the following contributions to this discussion on China’s vision of Mobile Game Apps; (he is also the Web Designer / Social Media Coordinator for the Go Lean movement; see a sample of his portfolio at www.goleancaribbean.com). Consider these responses here related to his insights and experiences regarding Mobile Game Apps:

Considering China’s government regulating impressions of Chinese people, is it important to depict different ethnic groups?

FK : No, it is not important, except from a marketing point of view then. As you know, the game industry wants to sell more and more games, so they add different ethnic groups in the game story to make the game more fun and to add more violence to the game.

Is it important to portray different political, religious and cultural scenarios?

FK: No, its not important because it can spread hate between politics, religions and cultures. But there is a new trend in the Gaming Industry to add more religious and political themes. I think this is unfortunate and unbecoming.

How important is “violence” in your game design? How important is “sex” in your game design?

FK: Game designers are always looking for ways to make their games more interesting and increase the amount of time people will spend playing them. So they add Adult Content (for ages 18+) like “violence” and “sex”. Even though it is rated for adults, that makes teenagers more eager to purchase the game and play it. These days teenagers think that without “violence” and “sex” the video games are boring.

Do you plan for multiple languages? In spoken words? In written text?

FK: Yes, if we want to target the whole world and get them all interested in the game, then we have to add languages like Italian, French and Spanish. All-around the world, except for China, most people understand and play games in English; the exceptions are the Italians, French and Spanish; those language groups normally don’t understand English well enough to consume these games, and they try to learn English. China is a special exception because the government there doesn’t allow the sale of games made in America, especially those games in which there is war between China and America.

Do you plan for In-Game Purchases in your game design?

FK: Teenagers spend their money on games and for in-game purchases; they want more fun out of their games and they don’t mind spending few more bucks to buy special items or new Downloadable Content (DLC). If they will not get new items and new DLCs, then they will be bored from the ones they are using again and again. So yes, in-game purchases are vital for success in any video game design.

Do you plan for Social Media interactions in your game design?

FK: Yes. And this is a simple, obvious question. Absolutely yes … because Social Media is the best way to market games to reach out to the targeted users, the teens and “gamers”.

We have so much to learn about the Mobile Game App industry; we have so many lessons to learn from China. Their large population creates a viable market for Mobile Game Apps. A specific lesson we learned from China is the need for balance in governmental stewardship. China does not want games that denigrate Chinese culture, politics or people, so their approach is more totalitarian in scope. We want to be more balanced in the Caribbean region, but we do need to be “on guard” for defamations against the Caribbean image; for example, the game Grand Theft Auto use of the Uptown Yardies (Jamaican) is a negative depiction of a Rasta Gang that should be mitigated.

So the ideal is a Mobile Game App industry that reflects positively of a free society, yet still fosters commerce, electronic commerce and entrepreneurship. We can tailor Mobile Apps with diverse languages (like Mandarin) to appeal to foreign markets, like China.

Sample Video Games Popular on the Market today.

The Caribbean is hereby urged to lean-in to this Go Lean confederation roadmap. These efforts can help our region, create jobs and entrepreneurial opportunities, to help make the Caribbean homeland a better place to live, work and play. 🙂

Download the free e-Book of Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

—————

Appendix A – “Candy Crush Saga” Reception

Candy Crush Saga is a mobile match-three puzzle video game released by King on April 12, 2012, for Facebook, other versions for iOS, Android, Windows Phone, and Windows 10 followed. It is a variation on their browser game Candy Crush.^[1]

According to review aggregator website Metacritic, the game received an average review score of 79/100, indicating generally positive reviews.^[5] Ellie Gibson of Eurogamer referred to Candy Crush Saga as 2013’s “Game of the Year”.^[6]

Candy Crush Saga had over ten million downloads in December 2012.^[7] In July 2013, it was estimated that Candy Crush Saga at the time had about 6.7 million active users and earned revenue of $633,000 per day in the US section of the iOS App Store alone.^[8] In November 2013, the game had been installed 500 million times across Facebook and iOS and Android devices.^[9] According to Business Insider, Candy Crush Saga is the most downloaded iOS app for 2013.^[10] In 2014, Candy Crush Saga players spent over $1.33 billion on in-app purchases which was a decline from the previous year, since in the second half of 2013 players spent over $1.04 billion.^[3]

Candy Crush received particular mention in Hong Kong media, with reports that one in seven Hong Kong citizens plays the game.^[11] The game is also featured in [Music Artist] Psy‘s music video “Gentleman“.^[12] In December 2013, King entered the Japanese market with a series of television commercials in Japan, and by December 4 it had become the 23rd most downloaded game in Japan on Android devices and number 1 most downloaded from the App Store.^[13]

Source: Retrieved 08/28/2016 from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Candy_Crush_Saga#Reception

—————

Appendix B – Transcript – China Uncensored: Did China Just Kill Its Mobile Game Industry?

By Chris Chappell

Your princess isn’t in another castle. She’s been kidnapped by…Chinese censors.

Video games makers are no strangers to censorship. Now there are a lot of different opinions about the degree to which video games should or shouldn’t be censored—mainly over the level of violence. But as of the beginning of this month, China has taken video game censorship to a whole new level.

For years, the Chinese regime had banned video game consoles. Although that ban has now been lifted—restrictions apply. And it’s left a void that allowed a flourishing mobile game market.

The biggest in the world, in fact. In 2015, that market was worth 7 billion dollars, with 400 million gamers consuming 10,000 games released that year alone. That’s about 27 new games a day.

But this is about to be a thing of the past. As of this month, Chinese censors will need to approve every mobile game before it’s released. Games that are already released will have to retroactively get approval before an October deadline.

The government organ in charge of this is the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television. And now apparently games? The guidelines allow the Chinese authorities to ban pretty much any game they want.

For example, some developers in China have reported their games got canned because they contained English words. Not politically charged words. Pointless video game words like “mission start” and “warning.” Others have reported similar problems with games containing traditional Chinese characters—that’s what they use in Hong Kong and Taiwan, but not the Mainland.

Doesn’t stop there. The Cyberspace Administration of China is the agency responsible for censorship and control over China’s Internet. Starting August 1st, mobile app developers will be required to give users’ personal information to the agency. That’s crazy! I much prefer to voluntarily give all my information up.

But this isn’t just about censorship. It’s also about business. And this is going to kill the indie game scene in China. The mobile game market in China is super competitive. According to one developer interviewed by Sixth Tone, “If you’re lucky a game will make you 1,500 yuan.”

That’s about 200 bucks. But getting your new game approved can cost over 2,000. Why so much? Well, for one, don’t expect the censors to download your game. They don’t have time! You, the developer, have to send them a phone with an active sim card and data plan, and your game pre-installed. Two phones if you’re publishing on iOS and Android. It’s a pretty sweet gig, being a Chinese censor. It also can take up to 3 months to get your game approved. If you’re an indie developer, working alone, investing your own money into a project, that’s a long wait for a return on investment. That is, if everything works smoothly.

This basically means most indie game makers won’t be able to survive. Instead, they’ll get stomped on—like proverbial goombas—by big corporations like Tencent and Netease, companies with close ties to the government.

Now these new restrictions don’t apply to foreign game makers. They were taken care of back in February. Foreign companies are required to work with domestic content providers. And they now need to get approval from… SAPPRFT… for online publication of any “creative works.”

Wait, so does that mean they don’t need approval if their games aren’t very creative? There might be a future for Great Giana Sisters after all!

So what do you think about the future of gaming in China? Is there room for a sequel? Or will it be…game over? Leave your comments below.
Source: The Epoch Times Magazine – Posted 08/13/2016; retrieved 08/28/2016 from: http://www.theepochtimes.com/n3/2114481-china-uncensored-did-china-just-kill-its-mobile-game-industry/

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	Population	Jobs/month	Jobs/year	Jobs in 5 years
US	310,000,000	261,200	3,134,400	16,194,400
Caribbean	42,000,000	35,388	424,661	*2,194,080*

*State*	*Company*	*Number of Employees*
Alabama	Walmart	37,537
Alaska	Providence Health & Services	4,000
Arizona	Walmart	33,838
Arkansas	Walmart	51,680
California	University of California	205,177
Colorado	University of Colorado	30,000
Connecticut	Yale New Haven Health System	20,396
Delaware	Christiana Care Health System	11,100
Florida	Walmart	104,228
Georgia	Walmart	57,276
Hawaii	University of Hawaii	10,167
Idaho	St. Luke’s Health System	13,557
Illinois	Walmart	51,900
Indiana	IndianaUniversity Health	29,395
Iowa	University of Iowa	22,827
Kansas	University of Kansas	13,862
Kentucky	Walmart	29,005
Louisiana	Walmart	36,763
Maine	Hannaford Supermarkets	10,000
Maryland	University System of Maryland	38,595
Massachusetts	Partners Healthcare	65,000
Michigan	University of Michigan	45,397
Minnesota	Mayo Clinic	64,033
Mississippi	Walmart	24,741
Missouri	Walmart	42,312
Montana	Walmart	4,508
Nebraska	University of Nebraska	13,000
Nevada	MGM Grand Las Vegas	55,000
New Hampshire	Dartmouth-HitchcockMedicalCenter	9,300
New Jersey	Wakefern Food Corporation	36,000
New Mexico	University of New Mexico	24,061
New York	StateUniversity of New York	89,871
North Carolina	University of North Carolina System	74,079
North Dakota	Sanford Health	12,292
Ohio	Walmart	46,611
Oklahoma	Walmart	33,268
Oregon	Intel	18,600
Pennsylvania	University of PittsburghMedicalCenter	60,000
Rhode Island	Lifespan system of hospitals	13,710
South Carolina	Walmart	30,828
South Dakota	Avera Health	13,000
Tennessee	Walmart	40,398
Texas	Walmart	166,131
Utah	Intermountain Healthcare	20,000+
Vermont	The University of VermontMedicalCenter	7,400
Virginia	Walmart	42,915
Washington	Boeing	77,947
West Virginia	Walmart	12,454
Wisconsin	University of Wisconsin	40,000+
Wyoming	Walmart	4,647