Tag Archives: United States

Unsere letzte, beste Hoffnung

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Der Mann, der das Treppenhaus vor meiner Mietwohnung fegt, erklärte mir vor ein paar Jahren, warum er 2005 die FDP gewählt hat: Da gibt es mehr Netto vom Brutto. Einige meiner linken Freundinnen möchten gerne den Handel mit Derivaten auf Lebensmittel verbieten, weil man mit manchen Sachen einfach nicht handeln sollte und weil das für die Armen besser wäre. Achso, und auf einem meiner abonnierten Blogs, steht (glaube ich) manchmal, dass wir weniger Wachstum brauchen oder weniger arbeiten müssen oder sowas.

Mehr Netto vom Brutto
Juli 2009, Berlin

Naja. Ich weiß es auch nicht so genau, aber irgendwie scheinen mir diese Fragen komplizierter zu sein. Vielleicht deshalb, deshalb, und deshalb.

“Die Politik gleicht der Sphinx der Fabel: Sie verschlingt alle, die ihre Rätsel nicht lösen.” — Antoine de Rivarol

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Failure in Iraq: It’s Hobbes First, Then Jefferson/Madison

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On May 1st, 2003 when then President George W. Bush, declared the end of major combat operations and the mission Iraqi Freedom to be “accomplished” aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier, much of the failure and dying in Iraq still lay ahead.

Mission Accomplished Banner on USS Abraham Lincoln

Mission Accomplished Banner on the USS Abraham Lincoln

The invasion, starting on March 19, 2003, had been a remarkable military success, on schedule and with comparatively few casualties (139 US troops and approximately 7,500 civilians before May 1, 2003 according to CNN and Iraq Body Count estimates, respectively).

In the insurgency that followed (and has recently slightly abated), more than 4,000 US troops and 60,000 Iraqi civilians were killed (ibid.). To this date, seven years after “major hostilities” ended, the country is still plagued by sectarian violence and crime, marred by economic hardship and destruction and paralyzed by deeply divided politics and dysfunctional government. The vision and partial casus belli of the “Coalition of the Willing”, to turn Iraq into a role model liberal democracy for the Middle East, has not materialized. Instead, the suffering and dying continues.

What happened?

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“If it bleeds, it leads” – On a culture of fear and urgency

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Text message received from UCI’s text alert system

Text message received from UCI’s text alert system

I just got these messages on my cellphone from UCI’s text alert system, just like everyone else enrolled at or otherwise affiliated with the university. 

January 20th 2008, 20:48 
6:30PM ARMED ROBBERY IN 4069 MESA CT 2 MALE ASIAN SUSPECTS 18-20 5’7’’ TO 5’9’’ W/BANDANAS, 1 W/BLK HANDGUN, FLED SCENE W/DUFFLE BAG STAY INSIDE LOCK DOORS

January 20th 2008, 23:37
*zotAlert* Update on armed robbery – no signs of suspects on campus, but appr. safety measures should be taken. If you have any info call UCIPD at 949-824-5223

I am sure this alert system, in principal, has many potential benefits, and I do not mean to negate the violence suffered by the victims of this particular incident and the hypothetical threat it posed to other community members. Still, these messages got me thinking whether we are indeed focusing our attention and resources on the right things, when we are letting our fears guide us.
The question is not, as some conservative critics may respond, whether or not the fear of assaults on campus, or other fears – of terrorism, of child abduction or of sex offenders – are well-founded. These risks, like many others, are not merely constructs, but are real threats, and our fear of them can be very functional to protect us from harm.