What follows are responses to some of the questions that arise in discussions of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Some of these questions reflect biases that impede the understanding of the conflict. 1. What is the official position of Hamas regarding a resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict? As you can read in this Wall Street Journal article, the official position of Hamas as of 2009 is to accept a Palestinian state along the 1967 borders (roughly 20 % of historic Palestine), which is also the international consensus on how to resolve this conflict. 2. Hamas’ founding charter called for the destruction of…
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Commentary
This section contains posts that comment on issues, events, and ideas of interest to the authors of this blog.
How to help the people of Gaza
According to this report, 38 aid agencies are now warning of a humanitarian crisis if the military assault on Gaza is not stopped immediately. And yet according to this Democracy Now interview with the Gazan human rights lawyer Raji Sourani, Israel has just dramatically escalated its bombing campaign on the trapped population in Gaza. Whether or not this escalates into a full-fledged ground invasion remains to be seen (here are Finkelstein’s thoughts on the relevant factors behind’s Israel’s decision-making at the moment). International pressure must obviously be brought to bear on Israel to force it to end this murderous campaign,…
How to stop Israel
With the latest cycle of violence in Gaza thoughts naturally turn once again to the important question of how to bring an end to Israeli aggression, the Israeli stranglehold on Gaza, and the illegal occupation of the Palestinian territories. There is obviously no realistic military solution to this problem, and a diplomatic settlement is virtually impossible given the position of the U.S. government, which would veto any attempt of the UN security council to constrain or even criticize Israel. One alternative approach is for people of conscience from around the world to put pressure on the Israeli government by boycotting…
Spinning the latest assault on Gaza
As reported in the Guardian’s Middle East blog (a source for updates on the latest Israeli-Palestinian conflict), the basic facts of the conflict as of Nov. 14, the first day of the conflict, were as follows: • Israel killed Hamas military leader Ahmed al-Jaabari in an airstrike on his car in Gaza. Israel followed the assassination with sustained air and naval strikes across Gaza, concentrating in the north. Hamas vowed to avenge the act. • Israeli officials said the offensive, called “Pillar of Defense,” was meant to stop the launch of hundreds of rockets on civilian populations in southern Israel in recent months.…
The Science of Morality (CBC radio interviews)
One of the jewels in the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation is the radio series Ideas, which does a good job of providing Canadians with in-depth journalism on issues of scientific or cultural significance. Here are links to a two-part series on the new science of morality (Part 1; Part 2). The series provides a nice introduction to the field and investigates what light science is shedding on our moral beliefs and behavior. The series features interviews with Frans de Waal, Paul Bloom, Jon Haidt, Joshua Greene, and Sam Harris.
Canada shames itself once again in support of Israel
First a few background points on the legality of the Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian territories (from Wikipedia): 1. The international community considers the settlements in occupied territory to be illegal. Israeli neighborhoods in East Jerusalem and communities in the Golan Heights, areas which have been annexed by Israel, are also considered settlements by the international community, which does not recognise Israel’s annexations of these territories. 2. The United Nations has repeatedly upheld the view that Israel’s construction of settlements constitutes violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention. International humanitarian law prohibits [an] occupying power [from transferring] citizens from its own territory to the occupied territory (Fourth Geneva Convention, article 49). 3. The International Court…
Affluent people and trickle-down economics
When the latest republican president, George W.Bush encouraged people to go shopping and introduced massive tax cuts on corporations and the wealthiest he acted as perfect role model for conservative economic politics. Mitt Romney is now running for president by promoting the same ideas and further tax cuts. These conservative policies are often justified by recourse to “trickle-down economics,” the idea that tax breaks or other economic benefits provided by the government to businesses and the wealthy will result in further investment by the rich, leading to more jobs and hence benefiting the poorer members of society. But does money really trickle down? The…
Evidence of the existence of God?
Eben Alexander recently wrote this article in Newsweek magazine describing the amazing experiences he had while in a coma, experiences which he claims prove that consciousness survives the brain, that there is life after death, that heaven is real, and that there is a divine and all-loving God. He writes, for instance, the following: In the fall of 2008, however, after seven days in a coma during which the human part of my brain, the neocortex, was inactivated, I experienced something so profound that it gave me a scientific reason to believe in consciousness after death… There is no scientific…
Earthship Biotechture 101
Here are a few helpful links for those who are interested in learning more about earthships and perhaps building one of their own. In the first place, there are existing earthships that can be rented as hotel rooms on a weekly or nightly basis. There is this earthship in France which one can rent or buy and these rentals in New Mexico. For those who want to learn, there are internships opportunities as well as an Biotecture Academy offering training and degrees. Here’s a website keep track of progress on an earthship being constructed in Manitoba of all places. And the following…
Sustainability and freedom
Although it does snow in New Mexico, most people who watch the Garbage Warrior or witness the biotecture communities sprouting up in places like Taos probably think that earthships are fine for hot dry climates but wouldn’t really work in places like Canada. This short video clip nicely debunks that idea. The Potter’s earthship is in Bancroft Ontario which gets extremely cold in the winter, going as low as -35 Celsius. But as the Potters attest, they are perfectly comfortable in their home. And after building it, for very little money, they discovered that it not only sheltered them and…
On most metrics, the US is a dog
The provocative title of this post is not an opinion but a quote from a recent book by Howard Steven Friedman, a statistician and health economist for the United Nations and an adjunct professor at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs. The book, entitled “The Measure of a Nation,” compares the US’ standings on a variety of metrics concerning health, safety, education, democracy and income equality to those of 13 carefully chosen competitor OECD nations: Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Japan, Portugal, the Netherlands, South Korea, Spain and the UK, all of whom have populations of at least ten…
Criticism of The Spirit Level
Earlier this year the RSA hosted a debate on The Spirit Level, the highly influential book by Kate Pickett and Richard Wilkinson. That book and the subsequent TED lecture by Wilkinson provided what seemed to many like an extraordinarily strong case for the idea that income inequality is the driving force in social dysfunction and that reducing income inequality will benefit virtually everyone in wealthy societies, even those at the top of the economic pyramid. The sobering RSA debate presents evidence and arguments to the contrary, from Christopher Snowdon and Peter Saunders. The main critique that Snowdon and Saunders advance, a…
Why the US and Israel are the greatest threats to peace
One of the most remarkable things about Noam Chomsky is his ability to distance himself from conventional assumptions and biases. Throughout his career, not only in his political writings but also his work in linguistics and the philosophy of language, he engages in thought-experiments which ask what conclusions an objective observer, a Martian, for instance, would draw were he to examine the problem at hand without the usual biases and presuppositions. This strategy is on display once again in a characteristically insightful piece by Chomsky recently posted on Alternet entitled “Why the US and Israel are the greatest threats to…
The Israeli lobby and how it operates
In his blog post entitled “The Israel lobby and how it operates,” Lawrence Davidson provides a simple, step-by-step account of how the Israel Lobby works its magic on the US Congress. This account provides a clear and compelling answer to a question that perplexes many observers of US foreign policy, the question of exactly why the American political establishment doggedly supports the state of Israel even though Israel is pursuing objectives that run contrary to US national interests. Davidson ends with an apt quote from Cicero: “Nihil tam munitum quod non expugnari pecunia possit,” translated as: “No fortification is such that…
Anonymous leaks alleged governmental surveillance data
The Anonymous collective recently released one million and one Apple UDIDs, the unique device identifiers used by Apple for its iPhones, iMacs, iPads, etc. Within their release-statement, Anonymous gave detailed information on the origin of these UDIDs, claiming that they came from an FBI computer. In fact the database they accessed had information on and from more than 12 million devices. Before publishing this information Anonymous edited out personal data such as names, cell numbers, addresses zip codes, etc. leaving only the data columns, which would enable users to look up whether their devices are listed or not. According to…
CO2 emissions drop, but natural gas won’t save us
Last month, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported a drop in U.S. carbon emissions to a 20 year low, basically matching the carbon emissions of 1992. The media’s coverage of this report was brief and rather one-sided. Here are a few representative samples: Kevin Begos from the Associated Press: Many of the world’s leading climate scientists didn’t see the drop coming, in large part because it happened as a result of market forces rather than direct government action against carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas that traps heat in the atmosphere. While conservation efforts, the lagging economy and greater use of renewable…
Applying the laws of robotics to smart phones
The Three Laws of Robotics are a set of rules devised by the visionary science fiction author Isaac Asimov. In his books and stories these rules were introduced to ensure robots would serve the goal to maximize human well-being, serving their direct masters in the first place and secondarily any other human being. These rules read as follows: A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.A robot must obey the orders given to it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.A robot must…
The culture wars come to Korea
The Unites States has had a heavy influence on Korea ever since the end of the Japanese colonial period following WWII. Along with a temporary US military government and a large contingent of US troops has come a heavy dose of American ideology and religion. Not surprisingly, South Korea now finds itself mired in an American style battle between science and religion. Gallup surveys have found that around 40 percent of Americans do not believe in evolution. A 2009 South Korean survey found that about one-third of Koreans don’t believe in evolution and, more shockingly, that 40 percent of biology teachers believe…
Democracy Now
Democracy Now News Feed
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- "This Militaristic Approach Has Been a Failure": Meet Hala Rharrit, First U.S. Diplomat to Quit over Gaza May 3, 2024
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- "Workers Have Power": Thousands Rally in NYC for May Day, Call for Solidarity with Palestine May 2, 2024
- Amnesty Int'l: Biden Must Halt Weapon Sales to Israel After U.S. Arms Used to Kill Civilians in Gaza May 2, 2024
- Former Brandeis President on Gaza Protests: Schools Must Protect Free Expression on Campus May 2, 2024
- "People Could Have Died": Police Raid UCLA Gaza Protest, Waited as Pro-Israel Mob Attacked Encampment May 2, 2024
Online Now
The description to this video reads “Journey into the world of contemporary online social interaction” and could be seen as a short, but compelling cinematic interpretation of many issues and concerns outlined in Sherry Turkle‘s groundbreaking “Together Alone: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other“. This video will resonate with many of the so-called “digital natives”. In light this video’s targeted viewers, it is very interesting to read some of the comments made by reddit users after it was posted there. The comments vary along the entire spectrum: Even without their devices, I’ve seen coworkers ignore…
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