Category: World Affairs
-
Ukrainian-Russia Links
Links related to Ukraine-Russia conflict. Collected by Texas blogger Robert Nagle
-
More nominations for the Nobel Peace Prize
So the winner of this year’s Nobel Peace Price is …. the EU? What the heck? Who’s going to be awarded the 2013 peace prize — the Nobel Peace Prize committee itself? The Nobel Peace Prize for 2014 will be awarded to the word “peace” … for its undeniable power to help people express their…
-
Waltz with Bashir: Do perpetrators tell better stories than victims?
Waltz with Bashir is a serious animated film which tells the autobiographical story of an Israeli soldier during the Israel attack on Lebanon. This was a serious film tackling important questions in an innovative way. At the same time, I was uncomfortable with how it dramatized political events. It raises an interesting ethical and aesthetic…
-
Israel’s brazen actions go unpunished….again
I really hate to blog about topical events, but this one irks me in particular. I have been totally overlooking the festering wound in Gaza. If you are looking for reliable sources on the Palestinian side, try Juan Cole’s Informed Consent blog and the blog of Ali Abunimah of the always great Electronic Intifada). What…
-
China and Freedoms
Here is an amazing 90 minute panel about China and Internet freedoms in anticipation of Clinton’s speech. Video streaming and mp3 download. Hilary Clinton gave a groundbreaking speech on Internet censorship a few days ago. Well worth reading in its entirety. A data point: Now, these examples of progress can be replicated in the lives…
-
And I thought I was so cool (the incredible speed of Internet memes)
I had been having a back-and-forth about global warming with a friend in Japan. Just on a lark, I sent a silly music video that was a remix of an infomercial . It is absurd and yet it’s hard to resist rewatching (“Stop having boring tuna!”). My friend in Japan is a bit crazy, but…
-
Surgical Strikes are not surgical and are not precise
Matt Duss scolds the New York Times for this bellicose editorial advocating Iranian bombing. He notes this passage: Incentives and sanctions will not work, but air strikes could degrade and deter Iran’s bomb program at relatively little cost or risk, and therefore are worth a try. They should be precision attacks, aimed only at nuclear…
-
Attention Larry King, Attention US publishers!
Glen Greenwald deconstructs a New York Times piece on the wrongful Gitmo imprisonment of a Sudanese journalist. Greenwald writes: By stark contrast, the American public is, as Stelter notes, almost completely ignorant of what our government has done in this regard. And why is that? Because the same media that fixates endlessly on the imprisonment…
-
Denialism, Denialist Blog and Health Care
I am way behind on blogging. Facebook microblogging has taken a lot of wind out of my blogging sails. Joe Romm on denialism. This is one of the fiercest denunciations of denialism I have seen. Skeptics can be convinced by the facts, but not the deniers and delayers. Skeptics (and real scientists) do not continue…
-
Fun with Bank Graphs
I enjoyed this graph in the financial times. It’s market capitalization of the world’s 20 largest banks. Here’s the best part. At the bottom of the graph is a a slider, so you can see how the listing changes over a 10 year period. Fun games you can play: Look at Citigroup’s capitalization over time.…
-
Why Europeans disagree with Obama
From a NYT discussion about Obama at G20: Twelve reasons why Obama’s G20 quest will fail. A European perspective: 1. The historical economic nightmare of the U.S. is depression; the historical economic nightmare of Europe is hyperinflation. 2. Europeans are renters; they have not defaulted on their home loans and are not responsible for the…
-
We need to compensate the Uighurs for ruining their lives
My comment on the NYT about the imprisonment of the Uighurs. William Glaberson and Margot Williams have written a news report about the problem, and the NYT contains a discussion about possible solutions. Why does the US government feel absolutely no sense of urgency in solving this problem? It’s hard for me to understand why…
-
Great Global Warming Video at 350.org
Wow, the 350.org people have produced a great nonverbal video about global warming. (More info) Remember my money quote from a week ago: US produces 6.0 million metric tons annually and EU produces 4.0 million metric tons annually, China+ Taiwan produces 7 million metric tons annually, and both Russia and India over around 1.5 million.…
-
Tiny Iranian threat
Fareed Zakaria on whether Iran actually poses a threat to the US: Iran has an economy the size of Finland’s and an annual defense budget of around $4.8 billion. It has not invaded a country since the late 18th century…. Israel and every Arab country (except Syria and Iraq) are quietly or actively allied against…
-
Man Held at Gitmo…for owning a cheap Casio watch!
After William Glaberson’s excellent wrapup of improper detentions in Gitmo, I took a review of the wiki articles on Gitmo prisoners. (This is one of the distributed knowledge tasks for which Wikipedia does excel). I skimmed through several of the profiles of Gitmo prisoners, spending a little bit more time on Abdullah Kamel Abdullah Kamel…