I'm fascinated by the narratives of the financial crisis that basically cast it as a mass deception. Clearly we need to develop a scale of deceptive practices and think about how this all relates to the social construction(s) of reality(ies). At the simple end there are the flat-out lies, for example those told by the peddlers of certain types of mortgages, but things quickly get more complicated. There are the accounting tricks used by big...
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My plans for the weekend
Making the World Better through Online Gaming?
The World Bank Institute last month launched an online game, Evoke. It lasts for ten weeks, with Missions each week that include such global issues as solving water scarcity or thinking about the future of money. I haven't signed up or played yet, but it raises interesting questions about social innovation. Is global crowd-sourcing likely to lead to new solutions to existing problems? How likely is it that innovations would be implemented?...
Making Factories Disappear during War
[Cross-posted at Signal/Noise]Noah Brier links to some incredible pictures at Sociological Images that show the "efforts to camouflage the Lockheed Burbank Aircraft Plant during WWII. The plant was essentially covered in netting made to appear, from the air, like a residential neighborhood. The aim was to keep it from being found by pilots and bombed."Before:After:The post includes some close ups as well as some views from underneath the...
Garzon’s Reign in Spain Falls with Mainly Who to Blame?
It was announced last week that Judge Bathazar Garzon will be investigated for over stepping his authority for knowingly taking on a case that was outside of his jurisdiction. Garzon is, of course, famous for indicting Chile’s General Pinochet for crimes against humanity in the 1990s which lead to his arrest in London (although he eventually was let go on medical ground – and died).Since 2008, Garzon had apparently been turning to domestic...
Would you like to map a pandemic?
SupraMap is an on-line tool that traces the mutation and spread of virues around the world. Fascinating.
The Robin Hood Tax
Since we in the US are thinking of taxes today....A tax on currency transactions was proposed in 1972 by economist James Tobin (hence, it is often referred to as a Tobin tax). Wait, don't roll your eyes at a post on tax and finance! This gets better. Tobin argued that imposing this tax would slow down the speed of financial flows, discourage speculators, and cushion small bankers, which would help them adjust. After multiple financial crises,...
Geopolitics and Empire
Gerard Toal and Gerry Kearns (both of Virginia Tech) threw a great little academic bash today: GEOPOL 2010, keynoted by a lunchtime presentation by Derek Gregory on "War Cultures" that was, among, other things, a marvelous demolition of the idea that "our" techno-strategic wars are clean and precise while "their" new wars are messy and imhumane. I had to leave before the day was over, but this morning I was on a panel entitled "Geopolitics and...
Is Putin the Right Man to Head Smolensk Crash Investigation?
Vladminir Putin has personally taken charge of the investigation of the plane crash that killed Polish President Lech Kaczynski and most of his upper government and top brass this weekend.I'm sure this is meant to signal solidarity with and support for the Polish people and government. But how likely is it to be perceived as such? Conspiracy theories about Russia's possible involvement in the crash began swirling about shortly after news broke...
The Johnny Foreigner’s Guide to the UK Election (in where I demonstrate a very poor knowledge of UK politics.)
So, in Duck ex-pat news it was announced that a general election (a big national election) will be held on 6 May 2010 this week in the UK. At stake are 13 years of Labour rule, debate as to how the economic “recovery” should be protected.Yet, despite the relative importance of the election, coming as it is during a time of insecurity, I have to say that it feels like basically no one is inspired by it. Politicians here have been hit by a year...
Nuclear Arms Control
Yesterday, in Prague, President Obama signed a new START deal with Russian President Medvedev. In strategic and military terms, the treaty does not make much difference. I think it is generally good to reduce nuclear overkill, but the treaty allows both states to retain 1550 strategic nuclear weapons. That's plenty for deterrence purposes and still a long way from zero. Potentially, the 30% cut in nuclear weapons is symbolically important as...
New Nuclear Posture
Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Defense presented its latest Nuclear Posture Review Report. I haven't had a chance to read the entire document yet, but media reports have focused on a new policy declaration that is of great interest to states and scholars alike. The statement garnering the greatest attention is included in the "Executive Summary" of the NPR (p. viii): The United States will continue to reduce the role of nuclear weapons in...