Archive for February, 2006
Rumsfeld and the Propaganda War
Donald Rumsfeld, in a recent speech made some extremely provocative comments about the new media and public relations: Our enemies have skillfully adapted to fighting wars in today’s media age, but for the most part we, our country, our government, has not adapted. Consider that the violent extremists have established media relations committees – these [...]
It Never Worked
To: William F. Buckley Jr, National Review Hi I read your article It Didn’t Work with interest, and I agree with the general argument which you are making. I was, however, somewhat taken aback by your reference to US policies in the rest of the world: “… our policies in Latin America, in Africa, [...]
In: observations, world
Hope of meaningful intervention in Darfur
Bush seems to be moving towards serious support for a UN peacekeeping force in Darfur. Save Darfur Coalition hopes he is for real this time… exactly. John Bolton, US ambassador to the UN, is taking the opportunity to score some points off Annan, even though the US only days ago (when Annan was in Washington) [...]
In: observations, world
Victory handed to Al Quaeda
The Times (London) points out that Bin Laden has gained far more from a couple of attacks and a few thousand lives lost than he could ever have hoped. Bush and Blair have made him into a major world power by their over the top response to what could have been just a police and [...]
In: observations, world
Newsman avoids news
The one high profile figure in the mainstream media who has for a long time been working to raise the profile of the situation in Darfur is Nicholas Kristof of the New York Times. Perhaps he’s the only reporter with compassion in the big end of town… But he’s been in a fight with the [...]
Tattooed on your forehead
Something has been creeping up on us for the last couple of months, perhaps because the mainstream media is just not horrified about it, and they should be. Compulsory ID cards in UK at huge (5 billion pounds) cost. Draconian “Anti-Social Behaviour Orders” which also restrict the right to protest Australian ID card proposed by [...]
In: observations, society
Citizen arbitration: an utopian suggestion
This is the third part of a series examining the morality of the behaviour of groups, corporations and governments. The first two talk about the Psychology of tribes, and Meme systems and category mistakes. This time I’m really going out on a limb, making a suggestion about what could be done to balance the power [...]
In: law, philosophy, society, theory
Who owns the politicians?
Australian current affairs television program Four Corners had a program called Greenhouse Mafia about the way the coal industry had total control of Australian government policy in relation to climate change. The executives in that industry and the politicians in government have vested interests in continuing and extending the status quo which overcomes their common [...]
In: environment, observations, society
Why libertarianism is not anarchism
This post by Dr biobrain is a fantastic description of exactly why the right wing “libertarians” are not truly in favour of individual liberty. By the way don’t stop before you read the comments too. If you’ve been reading my stuff about the morality of groups you may be thinking I’m advocating a heavily regulated [...]
In: observations, society
Nuclear weapons and international law
What follows are my notes on a recent talk by Prof. Dr. Michael Bothe, Chairman of the specialized committee for humanitarian international law, German Red Cross, Chairman, German society for international law, Em. Professor Johann Wolfgang Goethe University Frankfurt am Main. It was given at the Law School, University of Tasmania, 14 February 2006. The [...]
Alternative Social Forum
Bristling Badger has another really interesting post from his friend at the World Social Forum in Venezuela. in the last days of the forum i finally made it to the f.s.l. (“forum social libertario” – the alternative/libertarian social forum) the official social forum was amazing, but i noticed some sharp political differences, for example when [...]
Meme systems and category mistakes
This is the second part of a series of articles which will make up an examination of the morality of behaviour of groups, corporations and governments.Disclaimer This article buys into a lot of the same territory as the film “The Corporation”, but hopefully in a way which is a little less simplistic. It was a [...]
In: philosophy, society, theory
The psychology of tribes
This is the first part of a series of articles which will make up an examination of the morality of behaviour of groups, corporations and governments. Morality of Groups 1: the psychology of tribes When acting in ways which relate primarily to their membership of a group, a person’s behaviour changes to reflect the beliefs [...]
In: philosophy, society, theory
No privacy for search histories
Search engines, including Google, AOL, MSN and Yahoo, keep records of each search performed and and can associate each one with an IP address and possibly also a cookie. It appears that the search engine companies can be compelled to provide this information to the US government when it may be pertinent to a prosecution, [...]
Roundup: January
Roundup: NASA attempts to muzzle scientist on climate change. The UN and US continue to posture in respect of Darfur, but show no signs of real determination to Khartoum’s continuing genocide. The AU mission is failing to protect the millions of people who have now been driven from their homes and suffer ongoing killing, rape, [...]
In: observations, world
