Archive for July, 2006
The edge of the abyss: battle not with monsters
This is a response to a very interesting comment by Marilyn L
the problem is that scapgoating of Jews is a litmus test of violence to come. If you can get people to hate Jews, it’s easier to get them to hate in general.
Hitler scapegoated Jews to unify Germany in his vision of German supremacy. Radical [...]
How to be an evil genius and rule the world
I SPY quoted a phrase from 1984 in a comment thread and it set me thinking, not for the first time, about the similarities between our current situation and that envisaged by George Orwell. With a bit of searching I’ve pieced together a manual for those of you who might wish to become evil megalomaniac [...]
The will to power
This is intended as a sort of postscript to The ethics of selfishness.
Most people are primarily motivated by self interest, but it’s worth considering what form this takes. The simplest self interest is to gain pleasure and avoid pain; food, sex, shelter, and safety. These are motivations crafted by evolution, and they include the satisfactions [...]
The ethics of selfishness
If a person puts their own self-interest above all other considerations, they are said to be an egoist. Someone who claims that doing what is in their self interest is morally right is an ethical egoist, and someone who claims that doing so is rational is a rational egoist. In a trivial sense, any person [...]
Censorship in the UK, torture in Uzbekistan
Craig Murray was a UK diplomat who protested Britain’s complicity in torture and human rights abuses in Uzbekistan. He was subject to a smear campaign, although eventually cleared, and lost his job. He has written a book about the issue, but sections of it were changed at the insistence of the UK Foreign Office, who [...]
War crimes in the Levant
In the current conflict in Israel and Lebanon, there are civilian casualties on both sides. Hezbollah and Hamas have targeted civilians with rockets, and Israel, it’s fair to say, has seemed indifferent to the consequences to non-combatants of its actions. As of this morning the official death toll is 320, very nearly all of whom [...]
Palestine and the awful logic of suffering
Just at the moment, the middle east seems like a microcosm of everything that’s wrong with the world. The conflict is driven by some horrible, inescapable logic, which makes the most outrageous cruelties seem inevitable.
Recent events
Tensions had been high in Gaza and Israel, because of Qassam rockets launched from Gaza into Israeli towns near the [...]
The wrong lizard
There’s only one way to understand this, and Douglas Adams said it best:
‘On [that] world, the people are people. The leaders are lizards. The people hate the lizards and the lizards rule the people.’
‘Odd,’ said Arthur, ‘I thought you said it was a democracy?’
‘I did,’ said Ford, ‘It is.’
‘So,’ said Arthur, hoping he wasn’t sounding [...]
How to flout international law
States are sovereign; they determine their own laws and regulate their own actions. Interactions between states are therefore always to some extent a matter of realpolitik. Nevertheless there is a collegial system of law based on treaties, decisions by the United Nations along with whatever enforcement the members of that body agree on a case [...]
Sibel Edmonds, Turkey, and neocons
Sibel Edmonds, the Turkish FBI translator turned whistleblower who has been subjected to a
gag order could provide a major insight into how neoconservatives distort US foreign policy and
enrich themselves at the same time. On one level, her story appears straightforward: several Turkish
lobbying groups allegedly bribed congressmen to support policies favourable to Ankara. [...]
The UN fails Darfur again
Eric Reeves writes about the latest failure of the UN to live up to its responsibility to protect the people of Darfur:
The news continues to be appallingly bleak on all fronts in Darfur, and yet the AU summit
concluded by extending for six months the mandate of an AU force that is increasingly immobile,
mounting fewer patrols, [...]
Politicians and emotional vampires
Dramas and moral panics
A small child stamps his foot and demands attention. Tantrums become less effective as he gets older, however, and there comes a point of decision. He can become self sufficient, or find more successful techniques of manipulation.
How many times have you seen this happen? Someone needs attention; they tell of their terrible [...]
Continuing occupation atrocities
A catalogue of continuing atrocity by the US in Iraq.
An AP report including allegations of a multiple murder to conceal a rape.
This seems to be passing unnoticed, but the repercussions are disastrous. The story is
here.
Update:
The story has been changed on AP, to a rather more innocuous one about casualties. The original is
linked [...]
