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anonymous

Russian Dominance in the Caucasus and the U.S. Response - 0 views

www.stratfor.com/...ance_caucasus_and_uss_response

geopolitics

shared by anonymous on 12 Aug 10 - Cached
  • As of this past weekend, it has been two years since the 2008 Russia-Georgia war.
  • The Caucasus region is no stranger to the Russian military. The region has more than its fair share of problems from the Kremlin’s perspective, including Muslim militants, a pro-U.S. Georgia, tense relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia and other regional powers attempting to challenge Russia’s domination. Because of the mountainous geography and complex political situation, the Caucasus region is difficult to control. Only through brute force has Russia asserted its dominance in the past.
  • The issues that the United States and Russia have seemed to agree upon — like sanctions against Iran and working together to modernize Russia’s economy — are not viewed with shared importance as top tier issues. But the issues regarding the balance of power in Eurasia are crucial to both states.
  • ...1 more annotation...
  • Some sort of rhetorical objection from the United States is to be expected. But the real question is whether Washington has accepted the reality of Russian dominance of the Caucasus and, if so, what might it have gotten in return. The next moves out of Washington and Moscow should give us the answer if we have an understanding of a further escalation between the two powers.
anonymous

The Roadmap to a High-Speed Recovery - 0 views

www.tnr.com/...-reset-recovery-economy-future

politics economics

shared by anonymous on 12 Aug 10 - Cached
  • Let me say first that the bailouts and stimulus programs of the last two years were not a complete mistake. Economic policymakers don’t have the luxury of hindsight in the heat of a crisis; there is tremendous pressure on them to do something. It would have been suicidal not to give the banks the capital infusions they needed when the whole financial system was on the brink of meltdown or to refuse to help states avoid laying off thousands of teachers and police and other workers.
  • this is no bump in the business cycle that we are going through; it is an epochal event, comparable in magnitude and scope to the Great Depression of the 1930s, and even more so, as historian Scott Reynolds Nelson has observed, to the decades-long crisis that began in 1873. Back then our economy was undergoing a fundamental shift from agriculture to industry. We are in the midst of an equally tectonic transition today, as our industrial economy gives way to a post-industrial knowledge economy—but by focusing all our attention of whether we need a bigger stimulus or a smaller deficit, we’re flying blind.
  • More R&D labs opened in the first four years of the Great Depression than in the entire preceding decade, 73 compared to 66. By 1940, the number of people employed in R&D had quadrupled, increasing from fewer than 7,000 in 1929 to nearly 28,000 by 1940
  • ...7 more annotations...
  • Between 1980 and 2006, the U.S. economy added some 20 million new jobs in its creative, professional, and knowledge sectors. Even today, unemployment in this sector of the economy has remained relatively low, and according to Bureau of Labor Statistics projections, is likely to add another seven million jobs in the next decade. By contrast, the manufacturing sector added only one million jobs from 1980 to 2006, and, according to the BLS, will lose 1.2 million by 2020.
  • Our whole education system needs a drastic overhaul to make its teaching styles less rote and more dynamic, to encourage more hands-on, interactive creativity.
  • Home ownership provided a powerful form of geographic Keynsianism. But that system has reached the end of its useful life. It has led to overinvestment in housing, autos, and energy and contributed to the crises we are trying so hard to extricate ourselves from today. It’s also no longer an engine of economic growth. With the rise of a globalized economy, many if not most of the products that filled those suburban homes are made abroad. Home ownership worked well for a nation whose workers had secure, long-term jobs. But now it impedes the flexibility of a labor market that requires people to move around.
  • Federal policy needs to encourage less home ownership and a greater density of development
  • Concentration and clustering are the underlying motor forces of real economic development. As Jane Jacobs identified and the Nobel Prize-winning economist Robert Lucas later formalized, clustering speeds the transmission of new ideas, increases the underlying productivity of people and firms, and generates the diversity required for new ideas to fertilize and turn into new innovations and new industries.
  • the key to understanding America’s historic ability to respond to great economic crises lies in what economic geographers call the “spatial fix”—the creation of new development patterns, new ways of living and working, and new economic landscapes that simultaneously expand space and intensify our use of it.
  • That means high-speed rail, which is the only infrastructure fix that promises to speed the velocity of moving people, goods, and ideas while also expanding and intensifying our development patterns. If the government is truly looking for a shovel-ready infrastructure project to invest in that will create short-term jobs across the country while laying a foundation for lasting prosperity, high-speed rail works perfectly. It is central to the redevelopment of cities and the growth of mega-regions and will do more than anything to wean us from our dependency on cars. High-speed rail may be our best hope for revitalizing the once-great industrial cities of the Great Lakes. By connecting declining places to thriving ones—Milwaukee and Detroit to Chicago, Buffalo to Toronto—it will greatly expand the economic options and opportunities available to their residents. And by providing the connective fibers within and between America’s emerging mega-regions, it will allow them to function as truly integrated economic units.
anonymous

MIT's Food Printer: The Greenest Way To Cook? - 0 views

www.treehugger.com/...mits-food-printer.php

layscience technology sustainability food

shared by anonymous on 13 Aug 10 - Cached
  • Cornucopia is a concept design for a personal food factory that brings the versatility of the digital world to the realm of cooking. In essence, it is a three dimensional printer for food, which works by storing, precisely mixing, depositing and cooking layers of ingredients.
  • Just imagine the impact this would have. Real food rots. It has peels. Half of it is wasted. The whole infrastructure of food stores with their refrigerated cases becomes unnecessary. And imagine, no more pesky farmers markets occupying valuable parking lots. This is truly green.
  • anonymous on 13 Aug 10
     
    "Everyone is talking about local food, farmers markets and like, cooking? Who has time for that? And really, is Michael Pollan serious with his Rule #2- 'Don't eat anything your great-grandmother wouldn't recognize as food.' Why bother even having an MIT if you are going to think that way?" By Lloyd Alter at Treehugger on January 15, 2010.
anonymous

The Geopolitical Consequences of Pakistan's Floods - 0 views

www.stratfor.com/..._consequences_pakistans_floods

geopolitics

shared by anonymous on 13 Aug 10 - Cached
  • In the past year or so, Pakistan had begun showing faint signs of improvement since the mounting of a massive counterinsurgency campaign and the retaking of large areas formerly under the control of Taliban rebels in the country’s northwest. Those efforts have been dealt a major blow by floods that have wreaked havoc on a national scale and threaten to potentially cause conditions to deteriorate further.
  • judging from the scale of destruction and the pre-existing problems that Pakistan has been facing, a number of potential scenarios can be sketched out
  • The most immediate concern is that a crisis of these proportions represents a massive logistical challenge, especially for a state with no shortage of other problems.
  • ...2 more annotations...
  • Some 60,000 troops have been deployed to deal with the flood situation, which means that the military has had to shift considerable resources away from the counterinsurgency efforts in the Pashtun areas along the border with Afghanistan.
  • Even if the floods had not happened, the security, economic, and socio-political circumstances in Pakistan demanded close observation. The floods have increased its importance especially since U.S. President Barack Obama’s entire war strategy involves stabilizing Pakistan.
  • anonymous on 13 Aug 10
     
    At StratFor on August 13, 2010.
anonymous

Our Daughter Isn't a Selfish Brat; Your Son Just Hasn't Read "Atlas Shrugged". - 0 views

www.mcsweeneys.net/...12hague.html

whimsy philosophy objectivism

shared by anonymous on 13 Aug 10 - Cached
  • When little Aiden toddled up our daughter Johanna and asked to play with her Elmo ball, he was, admittedly, very sweet and polite. I think his exact words were, "Have a ball, peas [sic]?" And I'm sure you were very proud of him for using his manners. To be sure, I was equally proud when Johanna yelled, "No! Looter!" right in his looter face, and then only marginally less proud when she sort of shoved him.
  • Since the day Johanna was born, we've worked to indoctrinate her into the truth of Objectivism. Every night we read to her from the illustrated, unabridged edition of Atlas Shrugged—glossing over all the hardcore sex parts, mind you, but dwelling pretty thoroughly on the stuff about being proud of what you've earned and not letting James Taggart-types bring you down. For a long time we were convinced that our efforts to free her mind were for naught, but recently, as we've started socializing her a little bit, we've been delighted to find that she is completely antipathetic to the concept of sharing. As parents, we couldn't have asked for a better daughter. That's why, when Johanna then began berating your son, accusing him of trying to coerce from her a moral sanction of his theft of the fruit of her labor, in as many words, I kind of egged her on. Even when Aiden started crying.
  • You should never feel guilty about your abilities. Including your ability to repeatedly peg a fellow toddler with your Elmo ball as he sobs for mercy.
  • ...1 more annotation...
  • After all, we've managed to raise a bright, self-reliant girl who achieves her goals by means of incentive and ratiocination and never—or very rarely—through the corrupt syllogism of force. We know, despite what you and a number of other parents we've met have said—as they carried their whimpering little social parasites away—that Johanna's defiant, quasi-bellicose nature only superficially resembles that of an out-of-control toddler, and in truth posits her as more of a latter-day Dagny Taggart than any kind of enfant terrible.
  • anonymous on 13 Aug 10
     
    "When little Aiden toddled up our daughter Johanna and asked to play with her Elmo ball, he was, admittedly, very sweet and polite. I think his exact words were, "Have a ball, peas [sic]?" And I'm sure you were very proud of him for using his manners. To be sure, I was equally proud when Johanna yelled, "No! Looter!" right in his looter face, and then only marginally less proud when she sort of shoved him." By Eric Hague at McSweeney's Internet Tendency.
anonymous

Political Cartoons: The Lowest Form of Communication (Part 1) - 0 views

www.cracked.com/lowest-form-communication.html

visualization criticalthinking

shared by anonymous on 13 Aug 10 - Cached
  • Whether you agree or disagree with the message is irrelevant, as these cartoons are often shitty ass vehicles for any message. Taken on average, political cartoons are the least effective way of making a point aside from suicide bombing and Internet petitions.
  • #5. Pictures Requiring Excessive Labels
  • it doesn't matter whether you agree with the message. It's important that we not get caught up in that. The issue is that it's irritating no matter what message they're trying to convey.
  • ...6 more annotations...
  • "Technology... uh... Exists"
  • #3. Straw Men
  • If you've spent time arguing with people on the Internet, you know that "straw man" is something you can yell at people arguing with you, and you might even know what it means. If not, it means you create a caricature of your opponent and put stupid arguments into its mouth that you can easily demolish; arguments they never made.
  • Let's put that aside for a second and apply the straw man technique to a less controversial subject, like that your son Tommy should eat his vegetables.
  • It will amuse other people who already agree with you, and that's it.
  • Is that the goal? If you want to make yourself a shiny trophy saying how smart you are compared to the other guy, just go order one. They have catalogs. Why disguise it as an argument?
  • anonymous on 13 Aug 10
     
    "In theory, political cartoons should be a means to get a controversial point across in a concise, effective and humorous way. In reality, most usually convey less information than, say, grunting or gesturing." By Christina H at Cracked.com on August 3, 2010.
anonymous

Political Cartoons: The Lowest Form of Communication (Part 2) - 0 views

www.cracked.com/est-form-communication_p2.html

visualization criticalthinking

shared by anonymous on 13 Aug 10 - Cached
  • #2. Why Do You Need A Picture?
  • #1. A Child's Wisdom
  • sometimes these straight political speeches are put into the mouths of cute animals or small children, to try to give the vibe of wisdom coming from the mouths of babes.
  • ...1 more annotation...
  • This strip appears to be implying that three major religious groups are retarded and naturally inclined to violence. Which religions I'm not entirely sure because I'm not clear what major religion wants to blow up the entire planet. Probably Presbyterians. Never trusted them.
  • anonymous on 13 Aug 10
     
    "In theory, political cartoons should be a means to get a controversial point across in a concise, effective and humorous way. In reality, most usually convey less information than, say, grunting or gesturing." By Christina H at Cracked.com on August 3, 2010.
anonymous

Objectivism & "Metaphysics," Part 4 - 0 views

aynrandcontrahumannature.blogspot.com/...tivism-metaphysics-part-4.html

philosophy criticalthinking

shared by anonymous on 14 Aug 10 - Cached
  • Rand once claimed that, “ Nothing is self-evident except the material of sensory perception.” However, the Objectivist “axioms” are also regarded as self-evident, even though it is not clear in what sense axioms are “material of sensory perception” (or even what “material of sensory perception” is supposed to mean!). In dealing with the Objectivist metaphysics, “we must speak by the card, or equivocation will undo us.”
  • How is an axiom “self-evident”? What does this self-evidence rest on?
  • In other words, according to Rand, an axiom is true and self-evident because you cannot refute it without assuming its validity.
  • ...1 more annotation...
  • Positing a world from the data of sense can never be “self-evident.” The only thing that is “evident” to the self is the passing rush of datum across the mind’s sentience.
  • anonymous on 14 Aug 10
     
    "Central to the Objectivist metaphysics is the notion that there are certain premises or "axioms" that are "self-evident." This notion of self-evidence is at the very root of Rand's foundationalism and must be challenged before we go any further." By Greg Nyquist at Ayn Rand Contra Human Nature on August 13, 2010.
anonymous

Animal and human behaviour: Manager's best friend - 0 views

www.economist.com/...16789216

shared by anonymous on 14 Aug 10 - Cached
  • anonymous on 14 Aug 10
     
    "There are plenty of studies which show that dogs act as social catalysts, helping their owners forge intimate, long-term relationships with other people. But does that apply in the workplace? At The Economist on August 12, 2010
anonymous

Experiencing Teen Drama Overload? Blame Biology - 0 views

www.npr.org/...story.php

layscience neurology

shared by anonymous on 16 Aug 10 - Cached
  • Parents wanted higher self-esteem for their kids and closer relationships with them. Fear-based, power-coercive relationships went the way of the rod in classrooms. So it's no wonder that today's teens feel much more free to act out than their predecessors ever hoped. And they do. Just ask any parent of a teenager, who will likely complain about rudeness, ill manners, constant criticism and even being yelled at by their teenager.
  • Teens may actually not be able to help engaging in questionable behavior. And their reactions may be, in large part, due to dramatic changes in their rapidly developing brains.
  • "She's really a beautiful person," says Cregon. "I see her with small children at camp and her little cousins and stuff, and she's fabulous. And she's really sweet with her uncle, her aunt, my mom. It's just me!"
  • ...6 more annotations...
  • "I'm good. You're bad," says Kastner. "And they're both doing that at the same time." Kastner describes it as the worst time in any intimate relationship.
  • About half of the "thinking" neurons in certain regions of the brain, Chattra says, are literally "wiped out."
  • "Sometimes, parents say, 'What were you thinking?' " says Kastner. "And the joke's on us. They weren't thinking. They were running like wildebeests in the canyon. Just go, go, go. You know, they were flooded and excited and not really thinking through the consequences of their actions."
  • "It will be small, medium or large, based on the quality" of the self-critique and how much the parents believe their children learned from the mistake, she says. Parents might even have the teenager suggest their own discipline. And there's an added benefit to the teens' writing. It engages the "thinking" part of the brain, and gets the teenager away from the emotional frenzy of the night.
  • And forget having the last word, she says. "Let them have the last word," Kastner says about the kids.
  • "We need to let that riffraff go," she says, "and cease-and-desist because it's going nowhere." Kastner likens such a cease-and-desist reaction to the protocol exercised by police, firefighters and pilots: Don't think. Just follow protocol, which is — first and foremost — cool down. She says, "We don't want to drive under the influence of alcohol, and we don't want to talk to our loved ones under the influence of extreme emotion."
  • anonymous on 16 Aug 10
     
    "Back in the days of authoritarian parenting in the '50s, obedience and propriety were high values. Digressions from good manners, respect and good behavior were often met with punishment. But then in the '60s and '70s, things changed." By Patti Neighmond at NPR on August 16, 2010.
anonymous

Russia, Denmark: Warming Relations and Moscow's Intentions - 0 views

www.stratfor.com/...lations_and_moscows_intentions

geopolitics russia

shared by anonymous on 16 Aug 10 - Cached
  • Given Denmark’s strategic location, it is no surprise that Moscow has in the past year dedicated considerable attention to Copenhagen.
  • anonymous on 16 Aug 10
     
    "Russia and Denmark will soon discuss holding joint naval exercises, Russian Baltic Fleet Commander Vice Adm. Viktor Chirkov said Aug. 13. The exercises can be seen as part of a series of overtures Moscow has made toward Copenhagen. Denmark's geographic position gives it control over traffic entering and leaving the Baltic Sea, and thus makes Denmark crucial to Russia militarily and economically. Furthermore, Denmark's position as a relative outsider within the European Union makes it an attractive target for Moscow's diplomatic attentions." At StratFor on August 13, 2010.
anonymous

The Danger of Mental Auto-Pilot - 0 views

critical-thinkers.com/...he-danger-of-mental-auto-pilot

criticalthinking

shared by anonymous on 16 Aug 10 - Cached
  • The same thing can happen when we listen to the thoughts, opinions, or beliefs of someone we trust.  Trust can shift your brain from critical thinking into auto-pilot.
  • We also shift into mental auto-pilot when we are highly emotional or filled with fear. It is for that reason that people who wish to deceive you will use inflammatory language to stir up those emotions and disturb your critical thinking ability.
  • anonymous on 16 Aug 10
     
    "Have you ever driven somewhere, arrived at your destination, and realized you can't remember many things you passed along the way or anything on the radio? While you are driving safely, you mind can shift into auto-pilot and not actively attend to your surroundings." By Breanne Potter at Critical-Thinkers on August 16, 2010.
anonymous

Amusing Ourselves to Death - 0 views

www.acceleratingfuture.com/...amusing-ourselves-to-death

utopia dystopia media

shared by anonymous on 16 Aug 10 - Cached
  • anonymous on 16 Aug 10
     
    "Aldous Huxley and George Orwell… which was right?" By Michael Anissimov at Accelerating Future on July 27, 2010.
anonymous

Artificial meat? Food for thought by 2050 | Environment | The Guardian - 0 views

www.guardian.co.uk/...ficial-meat-food-royal-society

layscience technology longnow predictions

shared by anonymous on 16 Aug 10 - Cached
  • Artificial meat grown in vats may be needed if the 9 billion people expected to be alive in 2050 are to be adequately fed without destroying the earth, some of the world's leading scientists report today.
  • A team of scientists at Rothamsted, the UK's largest agricultural research centre, suggests that extra carbon dioxide in the air from global warming, along with better fertilisers and chemicals to protect arable crops, could hugely increase yields and reduce water consumption.
  • Instead, says Dr Philip Thornton, a scientist with the International Livestock Research Institute in Nairobi, two "wild cards" could transform global meat and milk production. "One is artificial meat, which is made in a giant vat, and the other is nanotechnology, which is expected to become more important as a vehicle for delivering medication to livestock."
  • ...1 more annotation...
  • seven multinational corporations, led by Monsanto, now dominate the global technology field."These companies are accumulating intellectual property to an extent that the public and international institutions are disadvantaged. This represents a threat to the global commons in agricultural technology on which the green revolution has depended," says the paper by Professor Jenifer Piesse at King's College, London.
  • anonymous on 16 Aug 10
     
    "Leading scientists say meat grown in vats may be necessary to feed 9 billion people expected to be alive by middle of century" By John Vidal at The Guardian on August 16, 2010.
anonymous

Identity Matters: Tradeoffs - 0 views

fpwatch.blogspot.com/...dentity-matters-tradeoffs.html

politics culture

shared by anonymous on 16 Aug 10 - Cached
  • hen you and/or the people with whom you identify and spend time experience discrimination and marginalization on a regular basis, it affects the way you view politics. Ann's point is that calls for interest groups to sacrifice "their" issues for the sake of "the greater good" of the progressive movement also have an implicit background in identity - usually a comparatively advantaged one.
  • The standard progressive line that "labor rights are tied to gay rights are tied to women's rights are tied to immigrants' rights" is all well and good (and in my view entirely accurate). The problem is that most people don't see it that way.
  • None of this is to suggest that Ann is wrong in saying that "all politics are identity politics." It's just to say that, contrary to what many progressives wish to believe, the goals of different identity groups are usually in more tension than they are harmony.
  • anonymous on 16 Aug 10
     
    By Matt Eckel at Foreign Policy Watch on August 16, 2010.
anonymous

D.C. teams boosting focus on charitable giving - 0 views

www.washingtonpost.com/...AR2010081402783_pf.html

generations sports

shared by anonymous on 16 Aug 10 - Cached
  • That impulse is part of what experts say is a huge shift in professional sports philanthropy. For reasons idealistic, self-serving or practical, athletes and teams are putting a greater emphasis on donating money, volunteering and helping local communities -- with more commitment to providing real impact rather than just photo ops.
  • On Monday night, he hosted a concert, auction and dinner that raised about $200,000 for the ZiMS Foundation and gave a $30,000 check to the local chapter of an organization fighting multiple sclerosis. Zimmerman said he hopes the event will get bigger every year, eventually filling the ballpark with donors and spreading the word about the disease his mother has been fighting.
  • There has been a huge jump in the number of athletes who want to create their own charitable legacies, said Marc Pollick, who started the Giving Back Fund to advise celebrity philanthropists 14 years ago after reading a Washington Post story about shoddily run athlete foundations.
  • anonymous on 16 Aug 10
     
    By Susan Kinzie at The Washington Post on August 15, 2010.
anonymous

Are Pro Sports Growing More Alturistic? - 0 views

blog.lifecourse.com/...sports-growing-more-alturistic

generations sports

shared by anonymous on 16 Aug 10 - Cached
  • Now, some twenty-odd years later, it seems that another attitude shift is under way, once again with some of the most interesting signals coming from professional sports.  The tide is beginning to turn on the fighting, the profanity, the performance drugs, the super-lux seats, and the renting of stadium names.  And, as this story shows, pro teams everywhere (though this story in mainly about the DC area) are starting to focus a lot more on how they can give back to the community.
  • Sure, you can say it’s hypocritical and just another way for the franchises to win the popularity of local crowds and national audiences.  But I’m sure many of the athletes and managers are sincere, and in any case why wasn’t this a formula for winning over crowds and audiences ten or twenty years ago?
  • You could also say it’s just the impact of the Great Recession.  People are tapped out, they don’t want to be reminded of things they can’t afford, and they are aware their communities have bigger needs but smaller public resources to handle them.  This is also true.  But it’s got to be more than that. 
  • anonymous on 16 Aug 10
     
    "Now, some twenty-odd years later, it seems that another attitude shift is under way, once again with some of the most interesting signals coming from professional sports. The tide is beginning to turn on the fighting, the profanity, the performance drugs, the super-lux seats, and the renting of stadium names. And, as this story shows, pro teams everywhere (though this story in mainly about the DC area) are starting to focus a lot more on how they can give back to the community." By Dave Sohigian at Lifecourse Blog on August 16, 2010.
anonymous

The U.S. Withdrawal and Limited Options in Iraq - 0 views

www.stratfor.com/...rawal_and_limited_options_iraq

geopolitics

shared by anonymous on 17 Aug 10 - Cached
  • This is all the more important since 50,000 troops will remain in Iraq, and while they may not be considered combat troops, a great deal of combat power remains embedded with them.
  • The United States invaded Iraq in 2003 with three goals: The first was the destruction of the Iraqi army, the second was the destruction of the Baathist regime and the third was the replacement of that regime with a stable, pro-American government in Baghdad.
  • The first two goals were achieved within weeks. Seven years later, however, Iraq still does not yet have a stable government, let alone a pro-American government. The lack of that government is what puts the current strategy in jeopardy.
  • ...10 more annotations...
  • The fundamental flaw of the invasion of Iraq was not in its execution but in the political expectations that were put in place.
  • And from the American perspective, this government did not have to be pro-American (that had long ago disappeared as a viable goal), but it could not be dominated by Iran.
  • For Iran, a strong Iraq is the geopolitical nightmare.
  • At this point, the Iranians do not have the ability to impose a government on Iraq. However, they do have the ability to prevent the formation of a government or to destabilize one that is formed.
  • The Iranians understand the weakness of America’s position in Iraq, and they are confident that they can use that to influence American policy elsewhere.
  • The American problem is that a genuine withdrawal from Iraq requires a shift in Iranian policy, and the United States has little to offer Iran to change the policy.
  • Two strategies follow from this.
  • The first is that the United States will reduce U.S. forces in Iraq somewhat but will not complete the withdrawal until a more distant date (the current Status of Forces Agreement requires all American troops to be withdrawn by the end of 2011).
  • Another choice for the United States, as we have discussed previously, is to enter into negotiations with Iran.
  • Given all that has been said about the success of the Petraeus strategy, it must be observed that while it broke the cycle of violence and carved out a fragile stability in Iraq, it has not achieved, nor can it alone achieve, the political solution that would end the war. Nor has it precluded a return of violence at some point. The Petraeus strategy has not solved the fundamental reality that has always been the shadow over Iraq: Iran. But that was beyond Petraeus’ task and, for now, beyond American capabilities. That is why the Iranians can afford to be so confident.
  • anonymous on 17 Aug 10
     
    "It is August 2010, which is the month when the last U.S. combat troops are scheduled to leave Iraq. It is therefore time to take stock of the situation in Iraq, which has changed places with Afghanistan as the forgotten war." By George Friedman at StratFor on August 17, 2010.
anonymous

Comparing China and Japan as They Change Rank - 0 views

www.stratfor.com/...ina_and_japan_they_change_rank

geopolitics

shared by anonymous on 17 Aug 10 - Cached
  • As these two economies change rank, what is more remarkable than their respective growth rates is what is concealed by the comparison.
  • China has a rapidly growing economy based on investment in new productive capacity and exports to meet foreign demand. It has grown at double-digit rates since embracing economic reform nearly three decades ago, and has maintained this pace throughout the 2008-2009 global economic crisis, mainly through government-directed investment and massive boosts in lending by state-owned banks.
  • By contrast, Japan’s economy is mostly characterized as being in an extended state of malaise since its asset bubble burst in 1990.
  • ...2 more annotations...
  • The contrast with China is stark. China’s rapid ascent was made possible through massive annual production that makes up a much greater proportion of its overall worth than it does for other major economies.
  • Government spending will have to make up for both lost foreign demand and weak domestic demand. And, unlike Japan, China will face greater social fragmentation and unrest.
  • anonymous on 17 Aug 10
     
    "apan's Cabinet Office released economic statistics for the second quarter of 2010, showing that the country's gross domestic product (GDP) for the first half of the year reached $2.77 trillion, not much higher than China's previously announced GDP of about $2.54 trillion for the same January-June period. The news spurred a new round of discussions about China's gradual surpassing of Japan to become the world's second biggest economy." At StratFor on August 17, 2010.
anonymous

In defence of equality - 0 views

www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/...in-defence-of-equality

society layscience

shared by anonymous on 17 Aug 10 - Cached
  • In our book The Spirit Level, Kate Pickett and I demonstrated that, first, many problems which are more prevalent lower down the social ladder are worse in societies with bigger income differences, and second, that almost everyone would benefit from reduced inequality.
  • Writing in the August 2010 edition of Prospect, Matthew Sinclair from the Taxpayers Alliance claimed our research was “simply untrue.”
  • While Snowdon is described as a “public health researcher,” in actual fact he has no public health qualifications and appears never to have published research in a peer-reviewed journal. Instead, his main contribution to public health is a diatribe against tobacco control and a denial of the ill effects of second-hand smoke.
  • ...4 more annotations...
  • What The Spirit Level shows is that more equal societies enjoy better physical and mental health, lower homicide rates, fewer drug problems, fewer teenage births, higher maths and literacy scores, higher standards of child wellbeing, less bullying in schools, lower obesity rates, and fewer people in prison.
  • This left us with 23 rich market societies. We took our data from the best sources, such as the World Health Organisation, the United Nations and the World Bank. To double-check our findings, we then repeated our analyses for the 50 US states, to see if more unequal states showed the same consistent tendency to have more of these health and social problems. In almost 30 different cross-national analyses, we show the same tendency for one problem after another to be significantly worse in societies with bigger income differences.
  • Our critics also ignore the fact that these relationships have been widely demonstrated by other researchers. For example, as early as 1993 in the Criminal Justice Review, Hsieh and Pugh reviewed 34 studies of income inequality and violent crime and found a consistent correlation between the two—the authors estimated that it would need 58 new studies which found no effect in order to overturn this result. But studies since then have continued to confirm the link.
  • Similarly, our review of research papers published in peer-reviewed journals found that the tendency for health to be worse in more unequal societies has been demonstrated well over 100 times (see Social Science and Medicine, 2006).
  • anonymous on 17 Aug 10
     
    "In response to recent criticism, the authors of The Spirit Level defends its claim that there is always a link between social problems and inequality." By Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett at Prospect Magazine on August 10, 2010.
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