Expert Roundtables: Middle East, Food, Pandemic, Business, Consciousness

London, UK - 16th February 2011, 23:30 GMT

Dear ATCA Open & Philanthropia Friends

[Please note that the views presented by individual contributors are not necessarily representative of the views of ATCA, which is neutral. ATCA conducts collective Socratic dialogue on global opportunities and threats.]

The following expert roundtables are now underway on the ATCA 24/7 platform, with multiple responses from distinguished participants that can only be accessed online. Expert roundtables are the newly launched ATCA 24/7 Q&A private exclusive club service. They seek to become the killer application in strategic intelligence by delivering an unprecedented competitive advantage to our distinguished members. The expert roundtable questions are:

Middle East Clashes

. Critical: What questions should we be asking in regard to the fast-paced developments in the Middle East? Defining the questions is now key.

. Now that the riots are spreading to Libya too -- post Iran, Bahrain, Algeria and Yemen -- in the wake of Egypt and Tunisia, does it appear that we are heading for a geo-political earthquake that could eventually redefine the national boundaries of many of the Arab and Islamic countries? Many national boundaries in the Arab-Islamic world are artificial creations anyway and they did not exist less than a hundred years ago.

. Why should or shouldn't the rest of the world be bothered about fast paced developments in the Arab world? Apart from the obvious oil link, what else does the Middle East have by way of a connection that may have global repercussions?

. Given that the Iranian government brutally crushed the first digitally driven revolution attempt in the world in 2009... what hope in 2011?

. Whilst others are rightly concerned about Saudi Arabia as a potential petro-regime that could follow the revolutions in Egypt and Tunisia, we are much more concerned about Iran: 1. An attempt was made in 2009 to dislodge the incumbent regime in Iran and is being made again in the wake of recent Arab revolutions in 2011. 2. What Saudi Arabia is to Sunnis, Iran is to the Shia community to some extent. 3. Iran, like Saudi Arabia, is one of the major oil producers and the consequences for the world oil market could be to cause massive volatility -- just a slightly lighter shade of what an insurrection in Saudi might do. Do you agree/disagree with our concern for Iran being somewhat at par with Saudi in terms of global ramifications?

. Will the revolution reach Pakistan? An unpopular government that is often considered incompetent and out of touch with the people. A nation that has been devastated by floods with massive destruction to its infrastructure, resulting in a catastrophe to people that in both numbers and degree of damage makes Haiti seem like a walk in the park. Where political unrest already exists and extremists camp. And oh yes, they have a nuclear weapon. Is Pakistan immune to this revolution and, if not (as is reasonable to expect) when will it occur, what will it look like and what will the consequences be?

. Does Brussels have the capacity to fathom this crisis before it is too late?

ATCA’s Expert Roundtable

Food

. What can we do to try to persuade food commodity 'investors' and 'speculators' not to put their profits before humanity's needs?

. Why does the US Fed feel that it can print money or carry out quantitative easing without causing worldwide inflation in food and fuel etc?

Pandemic

. What are the chances of a global viral pandemic re-surfacing in 2011?

Business

. Three key business questions we tried to answer at our last strategy meeting were the following: 1. Why do your customers buy from you? 2. Why do some potential customers buy from your competitors? 3. What do you have to do make them come to you? It would be useful to have perspectives from other business experts on these key questions.

. Must See VIDEO: How Big is the US Debt? Prof Davies explains how total US debt and unfunded obligations exceed World GDP http://ow.ly/3WWf3

. What are opinions about the Euro? Despite the search for new havens, housemade problems are too big and the Euro may collapse?

Consciousness

. Gentleman with all due respect-we can talk all day and night about many issues at hand, but the bottom line of most issues, be they 3rd world, 2nd world or 1st world is pure unadulterated greed which creates tons of dishonest deals without integrity. How do the common citizens have a chance?

. What's wrong with the world? What can we do about it? If we're totally interconnected what's right with the world? How big are we? I am all!

[ENDS]

Q1: How to become a privileged member of ATCA 24/7 to participate in the expert roundtables?

A1: i. If you are a distinguished member of ATCA 5000, ATCA Open, The Philanthropia or HQR affiliated groups you may be allowed to become a privileged member of this new and exclusive private club.

ii. If you are pre-invited, visit the private intelligence network -- PIN -- by going to https://www.yammer.com/atca [Note: In https:// 's' is for security and encryption]

iii. If you don't have membership of the PIN yet, email the mi2g Intelligence Unit at intelligence.unit at mi2g.com for an exclusive invitation.

Q2: How to participate in the expert roundtables and get domain-specific strategic intelligence questions answered?

A2: Access the ATCA 24/7 Private Intelligence Network -- PIN -- online and ask or answer a strategic intelligence question, no matter how complex. Receive expert answers within 24 hours or get pointers from:

i. ATCA 5000 experts who are online;
ii. ATCA Research and Analysis Wing; and
iii. mi2g Intelligence Unit.

Q3: Why is the ATCA 24/7 Q&A Exclusive Club special?

A3: ATCA 24/7 has now created an exclusive private intelligence watering hole and expert roundtable at the highest level where interesting and sophisticated questions are being asked from around the world, and intelligent answers are being provided, almost always by experts who have deep domain-specific knowledge. Come and check out the exclusive club, take it for a strategic test drive, which sign-of-intelligent life are you waiting for?

To learn more about "The Expert Roundtable: ATCA 24/7 Q&A Club" email: intelligence.unit at mi2g.com and if you are already a member visit https://www.yammer.com/atca

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