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Article about how Indonesia is not as perfect as it is said to be in relationship to the problems it is having with Islam

This article talk about the corruption in the Indonesian government and it's relations to Islam. The article shows how the extremists are looked away from when they commit horrendous acts.

Pros, cons, models of international aid. See references to Jeffrey Sachs, who we saw in the Commandin Heights documentary! source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"The agreement reached in September would have allowed workers to take time off up to three times each year for a routine medical appointment without risking disciplinary action, but many workers said that the concession was insufficient and that it did not address the deeper issue underlying their concerns: a business model that seeks to minimize labor costs and results in chronic understaffing."

- China's consumption boom is not enough to succour the world economy. - Today, rising from the once-modest streets is a gaudy building intended for a new kind of model citizen: consumers.

Definitely has a lot of interesting insights, particularly the relationship between tourism and consumption in China

It is interesting to note the effects of China's one child policy and how it affects the workforce and overall economy. In fact, it seems only logical that China's economy continues to struggle through the generations of only children. In my opinion, that was a obvious and significant flaw of the one child policy and I wonder how the government has prepared to address it in coming years as the work force continues to shrink.

Through this article I have gained a deeper insight in how public expenditures and public goods promote wealth equality in a society. "Public services are an important antipoverty tool."

Cool theory in regards to "the tipping point". Interesting, and solid criticism of large social expenditures. Wonder how socialists view this, as opposed to free-market economists.

"Public services are an important antipoverty tool. Their benefit doesn't show up in income data, but they appear to play a key role in reducing material hardship." INteresting to see the statistics and how social expenditures help reduce poverty and the wealth gap.

Something worth thinking about.

I wish I had time to fully understand all that Baudrillard writes in this piece. I guess he is arguing that the biggest institution of all--globalized anything--is the cause of terrorism. He writes, "In this way it is indeed a World War, not the third one, but the fourth and only truly World War, as it has as stakes globalization itself. The first two World Wars were classic wars. The first ended European supremacy and the colonial era. The second ended Nazism. The third, which did happen, as a dissuasive Cold War, ended communism. From one war to the other, one went further each time toward a unique world order. Today the latter, virtually accomplished, is confronted by antagonistic forces, diffused in the very heart of the global, in all its actual convulsions. . . . . It is a conflict so unfathomable that, from time to time, one must preserve the idea of war through spectacular productions such as the Gulf (production) and today Afghanistan's. But the fourth World War is elsewhere. It is that which haunts every global order, every hegemonic domination; -if Islam dominated the world, terrorism would fight against it. For it is the world itself which resists domination." I think there's a lot more that he says, so I'll have to return to this one. Maybe you can share your read on this in class, Wendell. Thanks!

Yeah, this article is definitely difficult to understand without an extensive background on his social theory (what he's written about what he calls symbolic exchange, the exclusion of the dead, the procession of the model or simulacra). What he's arguing is definitely that globalization is creating the seeds of its own destruction, but terrorism is but one example of this process. To clarify, when he says "the spirit of terrorism" and "Then let us be immoral ourselves and, if we want to understand something, let us go somewhat beyond Good and Evil. As we have, for once, an event that challenges not only morals, but every interpretation, let us try to have the intelligence of Evil.", he's not trying to advocate for murder or anything but rather is suggesting that the strategy taken by terrorists is something theoretically important. The last things he published were "The Intelligence of Evil" and "The Agony of Power" where he more or less argued that it is impossible to assimilate singular individuals, cultures, and ways of life under a universal (which he refers to as the Good in the article ^) and that attempts at assimilation only make "Evil" more powerful and make it more likely for the Good to collapse in on itself. He thinks this process is occurring across all planes of social existence and is inevitable. He wrote about a possible attack on the twin towers decades in advance and the Spirit of Terrorism was sort of like a "I told you this would happen" to the academy. The thing about Baudrillard is that he takes a very pessimistic outlook on the trajectory of modernity/post-modernity and was probably looking forward to the collapse of globalization/capitalism/the world order. While that's obviously a controversial and morally dubious opinion, he's still definitely very interesting to read about. Andrew Robinson wrote a bunch of articles describing his social theory/what he means for activism and the world today. While they are pretty dense and probably requir