Subject: February Newsletter from Blue Star Strategies
From: "Blue Star Strategies" <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 14 Feb 2012 10:05:10 -0500 (EST)

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Blue Star Strategies [http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=dgxbm4dab&et=1109276270619&s=956&e=001zW4kdeNFSBpXKHU7y-MB0HIABbIag6jk6yCs3aZ8SIPbJ1tGDD1zefIDjNFSNXU0ixw7HIcDpWpkIVfN-sVmu5gcU5G2LvQKJpMv68zHbNQJtOwCrNyuFCAzbVNVwbR_]
is a dynamic interdisciplinary government affairs firm based in Washington, DC and
servicing the world.

Watch Karen Tramontano discuss the unemployment rate and the economy with Allen 
Sinai on Bloomberg News here [http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=dgxbm4dab&et=1109276270619&s=956&e=001zW4kdeNFSBpUk9rGCf2otTRdpBS9-U8La8iQpwHM7fTUprKQ6qKxtZQ8HNRNOqE0s8PG_VMbCXYR9NjsK4KuVcagWst-uslWIszA-Dm7GRzWazQGIS3ojGZVI_781fT3YRz7VsGozYY=].

IN THIS ISSUE

Foreign Policy and the Republican Primary
The Rise of Regulation in Global Securities Markets
Does Capriles have a chance to beat Chavez?

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Foreign Policy Advisors to the Republican Presidential Candidates

As the roller coaster contest to determine a Republican presidential candidate continues
to work its way across the country, it dominates the evening news, political blogs,
and daily lives of those lucky enough to be living in states that hold an early 
and visible primary election.

The television commercials and commentators are relentless as they describe the 
candidates and seek to offer a glimpse into the psyche of the person that could 
be the next president of the Unites States.  In the middle of this political whirlwind
are the candidates themselves. They spend each day doing the obligatory glad-handing
and stump speeches, while occasionally stopping to sample a local delicacy and pose
for a photo op. In the midst of all of the distractions, one fact remains: the men
remaining in the race are asking for a chance to be considered for the office of
 President of the Unites States. This is no small request and candidates know that
their ideas will be subject to intense public scrutiny.

While this is true, it seems clear that no candidate can be expected to be an expert
in every issue that a president might face while in office. The 2012 Republican 
presidential campaign provides an opportunity to examine how candidates inform themselves
on the issues and how they shape their message and potential policies. Each of the
three leading candidates in recent polls, former governor of Massachusetts Mitt 
Romney, former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, and former Pennsylvania senator
Rick Santorum has a distinctive strategy for developing their foreign policy plans
and positions with hopes that the strategy will contribute to their success on the
road to the White House...

Read the full article here [http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=dgxbm4dab&et=1109276270619&s=956&e=001zW4kdeNFSBqLFbouYvWQiDAwndn0_whDb9JArpafmBqSczgqmyGhpbe1o9QVg8c08dsauLOvOCj_0oE8PRhAbMO7C6ZkPekXfIgY0-euyeu9g4H8hHBvqfZm5XnAnIo0J0TsUCZVE5ZEaSfKlvyHrkXfyUw5xebsQmM9KmFiH6p7aB_HksTBrw==].
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The Failed Deutsche Börse/NYSE Mega-Deal and the Rise of Regulation in Global Securities
Markets

On February 1st, 2012, the European Commission announced that it was vetoing a proposed
merger between the world's two largest derivative exchange markets, Deutsche Börse
and NYSE Euronext. Deutsche Börse, whose market capitalization stands at $11 billion,
and Euronext, which is currently worth $7 billion, would have combined to create
 the world's largest derivative market in a deal worth $7.4 billion.

While the companies argued that combining their forces would have streamlined derivatives
trading, leading to increased liquidity, greater reliability, and lower costs, European
regulators disagreed, citing fears of a "near-monopoly" and continuing a recent 
trend of greater government regulatory intervention into derivatives markets in 
the aftermath of the global financial crisis.

Indeed, the past months have seen the implosion of a number of high profile merger
or acquisition deals in the financial services industry due to resistance from regulators,
shareholders, client banks, or a combination of all three. Since October 2010, out
of an attempted five deals between eight trading companies worth at least $3 billion,
only one remains viable...

Read the full article here [http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=dgxbm4dab&et=1109276270619&s=956&e=001zW4kdeNFSBqmYFKoDZxkP9FYwbB2MDpH8hGcCkBuXryIzT5BawMdyNPXid07BVU2qVPurmCOyICIoh0g1h9nKBpGybgZq2tYf95rUuUF9ge5EtnLhV0HModaqvW3dvIJbyfejALN5iVDnfwoGORYVv2xejAHLJuRsnMy9-O87IraT5zFeukyHA==].
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Venezuela's elections: Does Capriles have a chance to beat Chavez?

Henrique Capriles, governor of the state of Miranda, is young, popular, and charismatic,
not unlike Chavez when he successfully ran for president in 1998. Capriles recognizes
that there is a certain strategic advantage in being compared to Venezuela's leader,
perhaps attracting votes from those who had long harbored doubts about the opposition's
ability to viably challenge Chavez.

The Venezuela opposition has never been as united as it is today. Their various 
platforms in the last 12 years have focused on simply opposing Chavez's policies
 without introducing tangible plans of their own. They even backed a 2002 coup that
nearly toppled the Chavez government, but such a thing would be unheard of today.

Chavez argues that the opposition is controlled by oligarchs and retrogrades from
the 1980s and 1990s, when party elites dominated the political scene and generally
excluded the masses that now overwhelmingly support Chavez. But Capriles, at 39 
years of age, does not fit within Chavez's claims because he was too young to be
 part of the old guard that Chavez uses as a specter to frighten his supporters.

Capriles has fashioned himself not as a center-right alternative to Chavez, but 
rather a center-left one. He has embraced the course that former Brazilian president
Lula charted-promoting robust social programs while following an orthodox economic
model that liberalizes trade, bolsters private sector growth, and welcomes investment
without imposing heavy taxes...

Read the full article here [http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=dgxbm4dab&et=1109276270619&s=956&e=001zW4kdeNFSBrrylU-xGIJinvCdF80OxN_vBkzXabv07PMpHeDCZPDQNLrypJTNeNmbXgjLA8u7aZ0jjBWyfcJrjk8FjOsHk8axFLb-JMeNSzRZCJ7RyvXCTPRw_0nicECxLcP3Gm4XHhRIIr_wCrJHgAiI2gU5zznav_a-BcIe8oQgNICqz6cNA==].

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