For those who might be unfamiliar with the Alien vs Predator franchise, here's what you need to know: Predators are a race of creatures who hunt anything and everything in the universe, and whose society is built for the greater glory of the kill. Aliens, on the other hand, have acid for blood, are vicious killing machines, and were created by Predators to be worthy opponents. The tagline of the Alien vs Predator movies is this: "Whoever wins, we lose."

Which is what came to mind this morning as I flipped through the Financial Times, which announced that Wal-Mart was going to roll out a new range of stores in Phoenix, Arizona under the brand name "Marketside", in an attempt to rip the throat out of the UK supermarket giant, Tesco. The British company is churning out "Fresh and Easy" stores that are, quite successfully, taking market share from Wal-Mart. ... read more »

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Posted on 14 January, 2008 - 18:06

The Financial Times carries a story in the King Kong Vs Godzilla vein. Wal-Mart, the world's largest private employer, is jumpy about the arrival of Tescos, the UK's largest supermarket chain, into the US market. The Walton empire is pondering how to develop new 'Wal-convenience' stores, along the same lines as the smaller 'Tesco Extra' stores in the UK, to fend off what is likely to be a very aggressive push from the UK firm. But just like the old Tokyo disaster movie, regardless of whether one or other side wins, the battleground is home to millions of ordinary people, whose architecture and lives are likely to be severely remodelled in the deathmatch. ... read more »

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Posted on 27 August, 2007 - 08:49

The New York Times recently carried the following story on protests in India:

NEW DELHI, Feb. 22 (Reuters) — Demonstrators waving banners and shouting slogans marched on government buildings here Thursday to protest the entry of Wal-Mart, the world’s largest retailer, into India.
Demonstrators in New Delhi Thursday protested the joint venture that will bring Wal-Mart to India.
Wal-Mart and a venture partner, Bharti Enterprises, are working on a deal that could change the face of the country’s $300 billion retail sector and has aroused fears of mass job losses. ... read more »

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Posted on 24 February, 2007 - 18:28

Here's something I've been keeping an eye on - the rising price of food in Mexico. There's a great deal more going on than recent coverage suggests. It's not simply a case of corn biofuel purchasing in the US causing a price rise in Mexico. The market isn't operating that straightforwardly. Here's one of the better analyses about it in English. It's up at Portside but I've re-posted it here, in full. I'm hoping to be able to plug the gaps in this analysis, with articles in La Jornada like this one by Alejandro Nadal. In the meantime, though, here's the basic 411.

Update
Here are some more links to relevant articles in La Jornada, here, here, here, here and here, courtesy of Peter Rosset, whose latest book, after selling out the first print run, is now available again. ___________________ ... read more »

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Posted on 2 February, 2007 - 07:14

Wal-Mart has just announced that it's moving into India, partnering with Indian telecoms giant Bharti Enterprises. The Financial Times today reports that

Allowing in Wal-Mart through the back door will test the government's determination to open the economy. By some
estimates, the Indian retail sector is worth $250bn, roughly a third of India's entire gross domestic product.
With sales of more than $312bn last year, Wal-Mart benefits from massive scale economies and an ability to procure
globally, squeezing suppliers.
Indian "mom and pop" stores, by contrast, tend to be below 50 sq ft in size, run from stalls and mobile handcarts ... read more »

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Ch. 8. Supermarkets | India | supermarkets | Wal-mart

Posted on 28 November, 2006 - 17:08