A hypothesis: Pirates, hackers, and terrorists are perennial actors in international relations. They will never be permanently defeated; the frontier will never be permanently settled.The underlying material reason that these actors exist is actually quite simple. Each of these (Weberian) ideal type actors emerges as a consequence of the (proto-capitalist or industrial-capitalist) overproduction and networking of standardized technologies. [I...
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Explosion in Norway (Updated/Updated Again)
A likely bombing near the PM's office in Norway. I don't have time to write at the moment, but there are a number of policies and political factors that make Norway a target for jihadists. But there are also reasons why those of other ideological stripes are very unhappy with the current red-green government. Concerns, prayers, and sympathies to our many friends in Oslo.UPDATE: Follow the news on your source of choice. The small-arms attack on...
Friday Nerd Blogging: Robopo-collapse
I am less impressed with Daniel Wilson’s new book than my frenemy Drezner appears, and quite possibly because I so wanted it to be what Wilson admits, at the end of this diavlog, that it is certainly not: World War Z for anti-zombites, a fictionalized near-future scenario that throws lights on present-day socio-political conditions through the metaphor of killer robots rather than supernatural threats. How Wilson fails so spectacularly is the...
Terror, Counter-Terror, and Insurgency in Harry Potter, or Why Harry Won
In the waning days of classes, one of my colleagues asked a student if she’d been among those celebrating outside of the White House the night that President Obama announced the killing of Osama Bin-Laden. “Of course,” she responded, “I mean, they got Voldemort!” For many readers who aged along with its titular hero, the Harry Potter series inextricably intertwines with the war on terrorism. This connection stems from more than a mere accident...
Harry Potter and Foreign Policy, or Voldemort is not Osama Bin Laden
One draft of a piece that will not be appearing anytime soon. I will post the other version, a strategic-studies analysis of the outcome of the Deathly Hallows, later on.The sixth Harry Potter film, the Half-Blood Prince (2009), opens with Harry standing side-by-side with his mentor, recently reinstated Hogwarts Headmaster Albus Dumbledore. Blinding flashbulbs illuminate Harry’s vacant stare, rendering the scene a literal, as well as...
Observations on Traffic Safety From Indonesia
A few days ago this startling report hit the newsstands in Jakarta, proclaiming Bali to have surpassed Phuket in highway "carnage":Bali’s roads have become the scene of unprecedented carnage, with 758 people dying in traffic accidents in just three months, 200 more fatalities than all of last year, police said on Friday. An average of more than eight people a day died on the resort island’s roads in March, April and May...May was the deadliest...
Six Years of Gay Marriage in Canada and the World Did Not End
Fact: 6 years after gay marriage Happy Cat is still happy.It’s the 6th anniversary of gay marriage in Canada and – financial meltdowns in Europe and America aside – the world hasn’t ended. Society has remained intact. Babies are being born, flowers are blooming, a Canadian hockey team still can’t win the Stanley Cup and otters are still cute. Actually, Canada is more than fine. In an article in the Calgary Herald, Naomi Lakritz argues: While...
Did it take you (or your assistant) five minutes to Google that?
Anyone think Kathryn Lopez (of the National Review) actually reads the social-scientific articles she links to? This is from a screed attacking college co-ed housing:And, if you want to get even more practical, W. Bradford Wilcox, director of the National Marriage Project at the University of Virginia, points out: “Needless to say, binge drinking and casual sex tend to distract students from their studies. For instance, young women who engage...
Raising the Debt Ceiling and Avoiding Economic Catastrophe
I keep meaning to write a follow up post on U.S. public opinion on climate change and how and why it matters for the world. But, the ongoing political posturing over raising the debt ceiling keeps commanding my attention. Everything I’ve read suggests that failure to resolve this by August 2nd would be what Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke called a "self-inflicted wound" on the part of the United States and potentially send the world in to...
Punishment Over Peace?: Gaddafi in a Post-Amnesty World
It has been five months since protests in Tripoli sparked widespread 'civil unrest'/war, a NATO enforced no fly zone, and partial (and unclear) international interventions. Rough death toll figures range from 10,000-30,000. Perhaps the biggest uncertainty is how this will all end. While there is some hope that rebel forces will tip the balance of power, Gaddafi's forces are strong and have made recent advances.One possibility that hasn't been...
Friday Nugget Blogging
Since I see Dan is kindly filling in on Friday Nerd Blogging while I'm on vacation, my casual Fridays post this week (if it is indeed Friday, I really have no idea...) takes a different tack, following on an old tradition from my days at Lawyers, Guns and Money... Quote of the week is from my youngest little nugget, quoted in an NPR story on how American kids are reacting to the Women's World Cup:"I've watched every one of their games. I'm...
Harry Potter, Social Misfits, and the Popular Crowd
Amanda Marcotte (via Zack Beauchamp):"Harry isn't a nerd," I said, "Harry is a jock." I mean, Harry has an existential crisis that gives him some depth, but social outcast and/or geek he's not. The opposite, in fact. I realized then that the "band of misfits" theme has so much power over the American imagination (maybe not the British, which could explain Rowling's choices) that people just sort of shove Harry and his friends into that mold,...