Posts Tagged ‘John’
April 28, 2015 | 
Author John Bowen President Management Envision Details Rewards of Working in Global Business in Interview for SarderTV
New York, New York (PRWEB) March 31, 2015
John Bowen, Founder and President of Management Envision, former Director of International Operations at Computer Aid Inc. and CIO of PPL, recently provided an interview for SarderTV, the online video learning channel. Phil Weinzimer, SarderTV correspondent, asked Bowen about his extensive career in global business, the formation of his new company, and about the critical factors he believes led to success in the international world of business. In the interview John Bowen talks about the personal and career rewards that can result from being willing to work and live in a different culture than what you have grown up in.
“John Bowen’s enthusiasm and knowledge about conducting business around the world including being able to live and work successfully in a variety of cultures offers us an insight into international business that is unique providing us with a wealth of valuable information,” said Russell Sarder, CEO of NetCom Learning and creator of SarderTV.
“We are very pleased to be able to provide this interview with John Bowen so that anyone contemplating a career in international business can learn from someone with extensive experience in the global business arena,” said Sarder.
John Bowen credits his parents in large part for his interest and his success in global business. In the interview, Bowen talks about how his family participated in student exchange programs bringing different students to live in their home while going to school. He tells the story of how as a young man he went as an exchange student to Argentina which led to his becoming proficient in Spanish, a language skill that has helped him in his entire career in global business. He also talks about how being a student and living with a family in a foreign country made him aware of the importance of understanding cultural aspects within a country and whetted his interest in learning more about different cultures and people around the world. Bowen also provides useful and critical information for anyone thinking about or already working in the field of international commerce.
SarderTV offers provoking, educational and candid interviews so that new entrepreneurs and aspiring business people can learn from them. The database is part of the international Learning Movement created by Russell Sarder to help spread knowledge and inspire a passion in lifelong learning. Operating on the premise that motivated individuals can learn from the experience, the success and the mistakes of others, SarderTV provides a unique opportunity to see and hear influential personalities talk about the subjects that matter to them. Some of the past interviewees have included Ira Neimark, former CEO of Bergdorf Goodman, Susan Davis, CEO of BRAC USA, and Dan Hoffman, President and CEO of M5 Networks.
Don’t miss this educational and inspiring interview with John Bowen at SarderTV.
SarderTV seeking additional leaders for interviews
SarderTV is also seeking leaders to interview and is targeting leaders from Fortune 500 companies, and exceptional public figures like Bill Clinton, Oprah Winfrey, Jim Collins, Bill Gates, Warren Buffet and many more. According to the National Venture Capital Association, more than 30 percent to $ 600 million this year has been invested in Web-based education. For investors seeking an opportunity to participate in a multimillion dollar idea SarderTV presents an excellent investment and is actively seeking investors. Several investors have already expressed an interest in this innovative idea. Investors interested in becoming a part of SarderTV are invited to get in touch as well, contact us at russellsarder(at)netcomlearning(dot)com.
About Sarder TV
SarderTV is a learning channel that contains a series of exclusive educational interview videos from top leaders in their industries, as well as motivational videos encouraging our public to succeed in their personal and professional lives, and many more. Russell Sarder, CEO of Sarder TV, has interviewed a series of leaders, who have shared their experiences and how they were able to achieve their success. Some of the names that Sarder has interviewed are: Ira Neimark, former CEO of Bergdorf Goodman; Russ Edelman, co-author of Nice Guys Can Get the Corner Office, Dan Hoffman, and David Hershfield, SVP Online Technology at RedCats.
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Vocus, PRWeb, and Publicity Wire are trademarks or registered trademarks of Vocus, Inc. or Vocus PRW Holdings, LLC.
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Posted in Foreign Exchange | 
Tags: Bowen, Business, Details, Envision, Global, Interview, John, Management, President, Rewards, SarderTV, Working | 
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John Lewis will still win the battle of the Christmas ads, says Oxford academic
Oxford (PRWEB UK) 28 November 2014
Professor Nancy Puccinelli predicts that the £7m John Lewis ad featuring Monty the penguin will attract customers to stores and, particularly if the actual shopping experience matches the mood of the ad, encourage them to spend money. However, Boots, Sainsbury’s, Tesco, and even Waitrose (owned by John Lewis) may struggle to attract more customers via their adverts or encourage them to spend more.
“The number of story-based advertisements this year suggests that many agencies have been eyeing previous John Lewis ads and trying to emulate them, but they haven’t understood that it’s not just about tugging at viewers’ heartstrings,” said Professor Nancy Puccinelli, Associate Professor in Consumer Marketing at Saïd Business School, University of Oxford. “Our research shows that a powerful element in communicating with consumers is getting the right fit between marketing messages and what’s driving their decision-making, whether it’s minimising risk or maximising pleasure.”
In a recent research paper, Puccinelli and her co-authors explained that “Back to School” campaigns often implicitly address the fear that children might be starting school without the right kit. People who base their decision-making on minimising risk are particularly susceptible to this sort of messaging. But at Christmas it is more profitable to appeal to consumers with a “promotion mindset” – those who respond to images of indulgence, and who will be open to switching to premium brands and to spending more to get the most out of their purchasing.
“With this in mind, I think that the John Lewis ad, which doesn’t really focus on specific products but does present an idealised, rather up-market picture of a family Christmas, will do very well,” said Puccinelli. “The current Sainsbury’s 1914 and Boots Boxing day ads are interesting because, while they both feature heart-warming stories, I don’t think they tap into the idea of indulgence, which is what will get consumers spending more in their stores – obviously the main aim of these promotions. The Boots 2011 TV ad spoke more directly to their consumers to optimize pleasure. With this year’s adverts, people will enjoy watching, but won’t necessarily feel the urge to buy much more than a chocolate bar, even if it is one in retro 1914 packaging.”
Puccinelli also believes that the Tesco’s ad, which centres on lighting up a large store car park, fails to create an indulgent feel.
She suggests that even the Waitrose ads could be improved upon. “The Waitrose ad contains a sweet story, but its message seems to be rather a utilitarian one, focusing on good customer service, or preventative one– worried about getting your Christmas baking wrong? Come to Waitrose and we’ll help. More of a focus on the celebratory could help Waitrose convert our enjoyment of the advert into more sales.”
According to Puccinelli’s research, even small adjustments to marketing messages to improve the fit with consumers’ prevailing states of mind can boost sales by up to 186%. Getting it wrong, such as emphasising cheapness (step forward Iceland) or price promotions when people are in the mood to spend money and buy the best, can even have a negative effect.
For further information or to speak with Professor Nancy Puccinelli, please contact the press office:
Kate Richards, PR Coordinator, Saïd Business School
Tel: +44 (0)1865 288879, Mob: +44 (0)7711000521
Email: kate.richards(at)sbs(dot)ox.ac.uk
Jonaid Jilani, Press Officer, Saïd Business School
Tel: +44 (0)1865 614678, Mob: +44 (0)786025996
Email: jonaid.jilani(at)sbs(dot)ox.ac.uk
Notes to Editors
1. About Nancy Puccinelli
http://www.sbs.ox.ac.uk/community/people/nancy-puccinelli
2. About Saïd Business School
Saïd Business School at the University of Oxford blends the best of new and old. We are a vibrant and innovative business school, but yet deeply embedded in an 800 year old world-class university. We create programmes and ideas that have global impact. We educate people for successful business careers, and as a community seek to tackle world-scale problems. We deliver cutting-edge programmes and ground-breaking research that transform individuals, organisations, business practice, and society. We seek to be a world-class business school community, embedded in a world-class University, tackling world-scale problems.
In the Financial Times European Business School ranking (Dec 2013) Saïd is ranked 12th. It is ranked 14th worldwide in the FT’s combined ranking of Executive Education programmes (May 2014) and 23rd in the world in the FT ranking of MBA programmes (Jan 2014). The MBA is ranked 7th in Businessweek’s full time MBA ranking outside the USA (Nov 2014) and is ranked 5th among the top non-US Business Schools by Forbes magazine (Sep 2013). The Executive MBA is ranked 21st worldwide in the FT’s ranking of EMBAs (Oct 2014). The Oxford MSc in Financial Economics is ranked 7th in the world in the FT ranking of Masters in Finance programmes (Jun 2014). In the UK university league tables it is ranked first of all UK universities for undergraduate business and management in The Guardian (Jun 2014) and has ranked first in ten of the last eleven years in The Times (Sept 2014). For more information, see http://www.sbs.ox.ac.uk/
ENDS
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Vocus, PRWeb, and Publicity Wire are trademarks or registered trademarks of Vocus, Inc. or Vocus PRW Holdings, LLC.
Louis C.K., John Mulaney, John Oliver, Bruce Springsteen, Brian Williams & More to Perform at 8th Annual Stand Up for Heroes at Theater at Madison Square Garden, Nov. 5
New York, NY (PRWEB) September 17, 2014
Stand Up for Heroes, New York’s most impactful night of comedy and music, returns to the Theater at Madison Square Garden, Wednesday, Nov. 5, at 8 p.m. Presented by the Bob Woodruff Foundation (BWF) and New York Comedy Festival (NYCF), the star-studded occasion honors the sacrifice of returning service members, veterans and their families.
The charitable event will feature performances by Louis C.K., John Mulaney, John Oliver, Bruce Springsteen, Brian Williams and other surprise guests. Now in its 8th year, Stand Up for Heroes has raised more than $ 21 million in funds to help post-9/11 injured service members and their families thrive long after they return to the home front.
Tickets for Stand Up For Heroes go on sale today at 12:00 NOON EST through bobwoodrufffoundation.org or http://www.nycomedyfestival.com. Corporate sponsor packages and VIP benefit packages can be purchased by emailing jasmin.guerra(at)bobwoodrufffoundation(dot)org.
“Lee and I are so humbled by the generous contributions of the talent, sponsors, and variety of organizations in honor of our nation’s heroes and their families. Each year the show gets bigger and better, demonstrating the unwavering support of all those involved,” said Bob Woodruff, ABC News Journalist and co-founder of the Bob Woodruff Foundation. “We, as well as the show’s talented performers, want to show our appreciation for and give back to the brave men and women who served our country and have come home injured. We are inspired and moved by the grand presence of all these groups on such an incredible night for us to commend and remember our heroes.”
“We’re thrilled to be partnering with the Bob Woodruff Foundation for the eighth consecutive year for Stand Up for Heroes,” says Caroline Hirsch, Bob Woodruff Foundation board member and founder of the New York Comedy Festival and Carolines on Broadway. “It’s a testament to the tireless work of everyone involved with Stand Up for Heroes and to the support of all of the great performers who have donated their time and considerable talents to this worthwhile event over the years,” Hirsch adds.
Stand Up for Heroes, brought to you by VOWS, a consortium of financial firms and the Steven & Alexandra Cohen Foundation, and supported by founding sponsor GFI Group, Inc. is one of the centerpiece events of the 11th annual New York Comedy Festival, running Nov. 5-9, 2014, at venues throughout New York City. The NYCF’s schedule will consist of more than 200 comedians — including Maria Bamford, Hannibal Buress, Dane Cook, Bill Cosby, Chris D’Elia, Bill Maher, Marc Maron, Tig Notaro, Nick Offerman, and Amy Schumer, performing in over 60 shows at iconic New York City venues such as Carnegie Hall, the Beacon Theatre, Town Hall, and the NYU Skirball Center.
This year’s sponsors for Stand Up for Heroes include: Veterans on Wall Street, the Steven & Alexandra Cohen Foundation, GFI Group, Inc., Toyota, Havas PR & Havas Health, Hero Miles, Jack Daniels, JetBlue, JWT, and Starbucks.
About the Bob Woodruff Foundation:
The Bob Woodruff Foundation (BWF) is the nonprofit organization dedicated to ensuring injured service members and their families are thriving long after they return home. A national organization with grassroots reach, the Bob Woodruff Foundation complements the work of the federal government —diligently navigating the maze of more than 40,000 nonprofits providing services to veterans—finds, funds and shapes innovative programs, and holds them accountable for results. To date, BWF has invested more than $ 22 million in public education and solutions, reaching more than 2 million service members, support personnel, veterans and their families. The Bob Woodruff Foundation was co-founded in 2006 by award-winning anchor Bob Woodruff and his family, whose own experiences inspired them to help make sure the nation’s heroes have access to the high level of support and resources they deserve, for as long as they need it. For more information about the Bob Woodruff Foundation, please visit bobwoodrufffoundation.org.
About the New York Comedy Festival:
Now in its eleventh year, the New York Comedy Festival is produced by Carolines on Broadway in association with COMEDY CENTRAL. The festival has featured the country’s top comedians, including Louis C.K., Bill Maher, Ricky Gervais, Larry David, John Mulaney, Kevin Hart, Sarah Silverman, Aziz Ansari, and Wanda Sykes, to name a few. In 2007, the festival launched the “Stand Up for Heroes” event to benefit The Bob Woodruff Foundation, which has featured performances by Bill Cosby, Robin Williams, Jon Stewart, Jerry Seinfeld, Lewis Black, Ricky Gervais, Conan O’Brien, Bruce Springsteen and John Mayer, among others. To date, the “Stand Up for Heroes” events have raised over $ 21 million. For more information please visit the NYCF website, http://www.nycomedyfestival.com, like the NYCF Facebook page, http://www.facebook.com/newyorkcomedyfestival, and follow the NYCF on Twitter, @NYComedyFest.
About Veterans on Wall Street:
In December 2010, in an unprecedented move, several of the world’s largest financial institutions launched Veterans on Wall Street (“VOWS”), a confederation of firms who are committed to help support, educate and recruit military veterans and their families as they transition in to the civilian workplace. By organizing ourselves, sharing best practices and, importantly, engaging our corporate and investing clients, VOWS strives to make a material difference in the experience of our veterans as they transition out of the military. In addition to our efforts to support charitable organizations focused on our transitioning military and their families, VOWS is committed to lowering the exceptionally high unemployment rate among our military veteran community. Through a combination of educational initiatives, mentoring, outreach to the military, employee affinity groups, and an annual conference, VOWS promotes career development, support, and retention of veterans throughout the global financial services industry. Central to the VOWS mission is the recognition that many of the skills veterans developed in the military–leadership, fast and accurate decision–making, operational focus, and the drive to accomplish a mission–have a direct application in the financial services industry. VOWS also recognizes that the cultural values our veterans have developed in the military—passion, drive, commitment, and teamwork—mesh with the corporate values sought after and practiced in financial services. VOWS works with military organizations, veterans groups, industry associations and vendors to build awareness and understanding of how these skills and cultural attributes make military veterans outstanding employees.
About the Steven & Alexandra Cohen Foundation:
The Steven & Alexandra Cohen Foundation is committed to achieving lasting and meaningful change in our community through four main areas of focus: education, children’s health, veterans, and the arts. The Foundation places an emphasis on improving the lives of children through education reform and healthcare initiatives, providing help to our returning heroes with mental health and employment programs for veterans, and supporting the arts that inspire us all.
About GFI Group Inc.:
GFI Group Inc. is a leading intermediary in the global OTC and Listed markets offering an array of sophisticated trading technologies and products to a broad range of financial market participants. More than 2,500 institutional clients benefit from GFI’s know-how and experience in operating electronic and hybrid markets for cash and derivative products across multiple asset classes, including fixed income, interest rates, foreign exchange, equities, energy and commodities. GFI’s brands include Trayport®, a leading provider of trading solutions for energy markets worldwide and FENICS ®, a market leader in FX options software.
Founded in 1987 and headquartered in New York, GFI employs over 2,000 people globally, with additional offices in London, Paris, Brussels, Nyon, Dublin, Madrid, Sugar Land (TX), Hong Kong, Tel Aviv, Dubai, Manila, Seoul, Tokyo, Singapore, Sydney, Cape Town, Santiago, Bogota, Buenos Aires, Lima and Mexico City.
For More Information
Media Contact:
FRANK PR | 646.861.0843
Clare Anne Darragh | clareanne(at)frankpublicity(dot)com
Lina Plath | lina(dot)frankpublicity(dot)com
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Cindy Tanenbaum
Havas PR
917.538.1259
cindy.tanenbaum(dot)gmail(dot)com
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Vocus, PRWeb, and Publicity Wire are trademarks or registered trademarks of Vocus, Inc. or Vocus PRW Holdings, LLC.
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Iris Data Services Announces Two Key Appointments to Sales Division – Leading Electronic Discovery Services Company Promotes Irvin Marchand and John Stanton
Kansas City, MO (PRWEB) April 22, 2014
Iris Data Services, a major provider of discovery solutions, is pleased to announce the promotion of Irvin Marchand and John Stanton as the new Vice Presidents of Sales. Iris Data Services is a leading supplier of discovery solutions including electronic discovery, managed litigation services and document review technologies, including kCura’s Relativity, which comprises Relativity Analytics and Relativity Assisted Review.
Irvin Marchand’s tenure and success is testament to his strong leadership skills and consistent ability to exceed client expectations. As Vice President of Sales, Marchand will focus on consulting with law firms and corporate legal departments who are exploring litigation support sourcing options in the Eastern region. John Stanton’s continuous effort to build and maintain a strong and dynamic sales team has helped Iris in several key areas. As Vice President of Sales, John is responsible for driving new business growth and managing the Iris sales team in the Western region.
“Irvin Marchand and John Stanton are incredibly talented individuals with extensive knowledge in electronic discovery and litigation technologies,” said Damon Goduto, Iris Co-Founder and Senior Vice President of Sales. “Their commitment to excellence and their experience in providing exceptional solutions to clients will further Iris’ continued success and vision.”
About Irvin Marchand
Irvin Marchand has been in litigation support sales for over 12 years and in technology solutions his entire career. Marchand joined Iris in 2008 and was the Southeast and West Coast Regional Director. Prior to joining Iris, Marchand worked for a national electronic discovery company in the Detroit market as a Sales Manager for their Michigan sales force. He also acquired valuable experience working for Unisys in their Global Network Services group as an Information Technology Sales Specialist.
About John Stanton
John Stanton has provided services to the legal industry for over 10 years and has worked for several Fortune 500 companies. He has significant experience developing cost effective strategies for large scale and complex electronic discovery engagements. Stanton also has extensive sales management experience leading teams of account executives who provide services to case teams. Stanton joined Iris in 2012 and has been the Midwest Regional Director. He has a Bachelor of Arts degree from Bentley University in Waltham, Massachusetts.
About Iris
Iris Data Services is a leading supplier of discovery solutions including electronic discovery, managed litigation services, and document review technologies. Led by recognized experts in electronic discovery and document review, Iris continually strives to defensibly reduce the amount of reviewable data on every matter. As an Orange-level Best in Service Hosting Partner and Certified Reseller of Relativity by kCura, Iris’ extensive document review expertise includes complex search consulting, computer-aided review technologies, and experienced attorney review teams. Iris’ discovery experts, project management team, and use of technology have combined to make it one of the fastest growing companies in the industry. In 2011 Iris Data Services made the Inc. 500 list of the fastest–growing private companies in America, making Iris the fastest growing eDiscovery company in the United States. Iris’ U.S. headquarters is in Kansas City and its European headquarters is in London. Iris maintains offices throughout the United States, Europe, India and China. For more information about Iris, please visit http://www.irisds.com and follow Iris on Twitter at http://twitter.com/IrisDataService.
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John Oswald Announces Release of ‘The Complete Debt Relief Manual’
Lake Worth, Fla. (PRWEB) August 23, 2013
Drowning in debt and divorced in 2006, author John Oswald started his journey to debt-freedom, which included getting swindled by a debt settlement company, lawsuits, an IRS repayment plan, debt settlements, Chapter 7 bankruptcy and recovery of his good credit rating. He learned that avoiding his own mistakes and dealing with debt problems, credit card companies, collectors, the IRS and attorneys would have been profoundly simple if he had known the secrets and methods that he reveals in his new economic book, “The Complete Debt Relief Manual: Step-By-Step Procedures for: Budgeting, Paying Off Debt, Negotiating Credit Card and IRS Debt Settlements, Avoiding Bankruptcy, Dealing with Collectors and Lawsuits, and Credit Repair – Without Debt Settlement Companies” (published by AuthorHouse).
Readers will learn from Oswald’s mistakes as he shows them how to eliminate all their debt in the fastest and safest way possible. With detailed procedures to help readers make a budget and decide the best strategy based on their situation, “The Complete Debt Relief Manual” has been written to keep readers away from creditors, the IRS, attorneys and debt consolidation companies.
“My book will help readers get out of debt quickly and repair their credit rating without wasting money,” he says. “I want readers to be able to change their mindset on budgeting and debt altogether.”
An excerpt from the book:
“If you’re reading this book, you are probably struggling to pay your mortgage and loan payments, medical bills, taxes, insurance, etc. You may be desperate enough to pay an attorney or debt consolidation firm to help you fight lawsuits or negotiate settlements with the credit card companies or other creditors. Or maybe you’ve already paid someone a bunch of money for help, only to be frustrated by continued phone calls from creditors, Sheriffs serving you court summonses, and your shrinking bank balance.”
“The Complete Debt Relief Manual”
By John Oswald
Hardcover | 6 x 9 in | 116 pages | ISBN 9781477297551
Softcover | 6 x 9 in | 116 pages | ISBN 9781477297568
E-Book | 116 pages | ISBN 9781477297544
Available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble
About the Author
John Oswald is a mechanical engineer and a certified professional procedure writer. His passion is to help people avoid his mistakes, eliminate their debts and steer clear of the predatory debt settlement and consolidation companies. He has three more books in the works, as well as a website.
AuthorHouse, an Author Solutions, LLC. Inc. self-publishing imprint, is a leading provider of book publishing, marketing, and bookselling services for authors around the globe and offers the industry’s only suite of Hollywood book-to-film services. Committed to providing the highest level of customer service, AuthorHouse assigns each author personal publishing and marketing consultants who provide guidance throughout the process. Headquartered in Bloomington, Indiana, AuthorHouse celebrated 15 years of service to authors in Sept. 2011. For more information or to publish a book visit authorhouse.com or call 1-888-519-5121. For the latest, follow @authorhouse on Twitter.
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Vocus, PRWeb, and Publicity Wire are trademarks or registered trademarks of Vocus, Inc. or Vocus PRW Holdings, LLC.
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DEADLY DIAMONDS, the Fourth Novel in the Knight-Devlin Legal Thriller Series by John F. Dobbyn, Releases September 3, 2013
Longboat Key, Florida (PRWEB) August 14, 2013
DEADLY DIAMONDS by John F. Dobbyn releases in Hardcover (ISBN 978-1-60809-092-1, Thriller, 304 Pages, List $ 26.95) and all eBook/Digital platforms (ISBN 978-1-60809-093-8, List $ 14.95) nationwide on September 3, 2013.
In DEADLY DIAMONDS, the protagonists, Michael Knight and Lex Devlin take on the Italian Mafia and Irish Mafia of Boston, remnants of the IRA in Ireland, and the deadly child army of Sierra Leone. Can they stop the enormously profitable trade of ‘blood diamonds’, the tainted stones mined by enslaved children, and smuggled into the mainstream for cash to buy weapons and drugs?
The author, John F. Dobbyn had this to say about ‘blood diamonds’ as a result of his research for DEADLY DIAMONDS:
“Say the word, ‘diamond’, and you conjure visions of brilliance, purity, and romance. Combine it with the word, ‘blood’, as in ‘blood diamond’, and it screams of acts so horrific that only Satan himself could originate them.
“Consider what the lust for diamonds has done to the little west African country of Sierra Leone. Just as liquid wealth gushes out of the ground in Dubai and into the living standards of its people, so too, Sierra Leone had the potential for one of the highest standards of living of any country in the world, courtesy of the abundantly rich deposits of rough diamonds on and under its soil. And yet, in a recent United Nations ranking of 170 countries in terms of levels of poverty, Sierra Leone hit the bottom rung. It was ranked 170th. Why the derailment of this glorious potential?
“Begin with a ‘government’, in the loosest usage of that term, whose sole claim to accomplishment is its commitment to graft and greed-fired corruption. That alone could short-circuit the flow of the land’s flow of bountiful benefits to the people. But combine it with the following, and the result is inevitably the past and current state of the people of Sierra Leone.
“In 1991, a rebel band calling itself the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) took training from neighboring Liberian forces in the art of terroristic inhumanity and crossed into Sierra Leone, apparently as a revolt against the government’s seizing of the diamond resources for its own benefit. The motive soon degenerated into its own addictive lust for those same diamonds.
“RUF tactics were straight from hell. Mobs of their renegade teen-agers, illiterate and drugged beyond the reach of conscience, would course through a jungle village in a topless pickup truck spraying death randomly out of the barrels of AK-47s. Men, women, and young children fell like stalks of wheat before a thresher. I’ll not be more specific in terms of their signature brands of torture of those left alive. The RUF’s personal nicknames, such as General Babykiller, and operation names, such as Operation No Living Thing, will bring you as close to the level of personal nightmares as you want to come.
“Young boys, from fifteen down to eight years old, would be taken, forced to kill with the ubiquitous AK-47, sometimes of their own families, and then claimed as part of the drugged up army of killers.
“And why this total degradation of any spark of humanity? One reason. To serve their own impelling drive for control of the diamond-rich pits in eastern Sierra Leone. Once they had control, rough diamonds would be mined by slave labor in the fetid water of the pits, smuggled across the compliant border of Liberia, and exchanged with any of the horde of ‘diamond merchants’ there for more AK-47s and more drugs. And the cycle would continue.
“One estimate places the annual profit to the RUF from its illicit trade in rough diamonds somewhere between twenty-five million and one hundred and twenty-five million dollars. And remember, that profit was snatched from the national resource that could have lifted the people of Sierra Leone from its condition of squalor, hunger, and disease.
“Once the RUF passed the rough diamonds into the hands of the waiting merchants, and they were cut and polished, these ‘blood’ or ‘conflict’ diamonds blended indistinguishably with the ‘legitimate’ flow of diamonds, ultimately reaching the jewelry stores from which Americans buy eighty percent of the world’s gem diamonds without thinking to question their provenance.
“Late in 2000, an eventual agreement of ceasefire between the RUF and the government was put together. The provision was for the disarmament of the RUF during 2001, and on January 18, 2002, the rebel’s war was declared ‘officially ended’. The abomination of the previous eleven years of decimating hostilities finally came to rest. What was left was the shambles of the butchered and impoverished populace with little hope for a way to recover.
“The RUF’s leadership, turned its energies to a political approach with little success. One has to wonder what the rank and file of the previous teen-age thugs and murderers have made their lives’ work in areas of the country not famously open to public view. In a broader view, the extent to which the seizure of diamond pits by armed forces in other central and west African countries continues is still open to question.
“Diamonds are a unique form of wealth. It is said that it is possible to hide enough diamonds to insure a lifetime of luxury on one’s naked body. The profits, thanks to the accomplishment of the De Beers company in keeping the price of diamonds at an immensely exaggerated level, are a staggering temptation to illicit trade.
“One recent observation of the state of the people of Sierra Leone after these thirteen post-war years is that the ‘legitimate’ mining and sale of Sierra Leone diamonds is highly profitable to the companies of foreign countries that engage in it behind formidable security barriers. The ‘government’ quite likely gets a cut. But the impoverished state of the people of Sierra Leone has sadly shown little visible improvement.”
John F. Dobbyn is a professor of law at Villanova Law School. He has had twenty-seven short stories published by Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine and Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, and he is the author of four legal thrillers featuring Michael Knight and Lex Devlin. Dobbyn is a Boston native and now resides in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, with his wife Lois.
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Vocus, PRWeb, and Publicity Wire are trademarks or registered trademarks of Vocus, Inc. or Vocus PRW Holdings, LLC.
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Posted in Foreign Exchange | Tags: 2013, DEADLY, DIAMONDS, Dobbyn, Fourth, John, KnightDevlin, Legal, Novel, Releases, September, Series, Thriller | No Comments »