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Friday, November 15, 2002
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Donivan Bessinger writes: Early societies needed to be cognizant of "survival ideas" only within their immediate environs. That meant being aware of the need to limit hunting, fishing, or gathering to just those amounts needed for survival. It meant moving on when the agricultural capacity of a clearing was exhausted, or to allow the grazing capacity to recover. Now, however, human society has reached the point at which there is only one civilization. Now the "immediate environs" are global. Humans can now encompass the view of their homeland in one glance, one small blue globe seen from space. Though there are many languages, and though there are a few isolated primitive communities, humans at all points of the earth and space may be reached by communications, and all languages may be inter-translated. Further, there is a worldwide economy, in which the moneys of individuals, corporations, and nations all mingle in international banks. Trade extends throughout the globe. Commercial satellites of many nations have been carried into space. There is a common global defense interest. There are many warring factions, and there are adversary blocks of nations, but human society must now defend itself in common from its own weapons systems. We have reached the point that civilization is synonymous again with humanity. The immediate environs of the new civilization are now the total biosphere. It is no longer practical to move on. Our survival ideas, our life ideas, must encompass all that lives. The survival of civilization is contingent on ideas held in common. Survival of the biosphere is dependent on the "ideosphere". (11/15/02) | |
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Yulia Latynina writes: English bobbies and Irish terrorists share no common ground. They have nothing to say to one another and interact only with bullets. Chechen field commanders and Russian authorities, by contrast, speak a common language of criminality. Russia needs Chechnya as a house needs a toilet. The first Chechen war was financed not from Russia as a whole, but from Moscow. In other regions of Russia the police helped local gangsters do battle with their Chechen competitors. The career of former Krasnoyarsk Aluminum head Anatoly Bykov began in Krasnoyarsk with a victory over gangsters from Chechnya who had moved into the area. Thanks to Bykov, the Krasnoyarsk region did not bankroll the first Chechen war. But Moscow did, because Moscow is on good terms with Chechen gangsters who have proven a financial boon to the city's cops. The main Chechen business is kidnapping. But is it purely Chechen? Some Chechens abducted the daughter of a big-time businessman. They abducted her because he had started to get in the way of his Russian partners in crime. The policemen assigned to the case just happened to be on very good terms with those same Russian partners and when they arrived in Chechnya, they handed over the ransom money but somehow forgot to bring the girl home. Being Chechen in Russia is a profession. If you need someone locked up, go to the cops. But if you need someone annihilated, go to the Chechens. Being Russian in Chechnya is also a profession. Why is our army fighting in Chechnya, you may ask? To bring the war to an end? Not quite. Any military operation in reality achieves two goals: allowing the brass to write off huge quantities of diesel fuel and ordnance, and multiplying the number of terrorists. Which is to say that these operations ensure more work for the army, and more profit for the generals. (11/15/02) | |
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New York Times -- Congress directed the Environmental Protection Agency to determine by July 2000 which cities had failed to meet air quality standards that were set in 1997, but the agency has not done so. In a settlement just reached with several environmental groups, the agency has agreed to now name the cities by April 2004. (11/15/02) | |
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Raymond F. Dasmann was a field biologist who helped shape the modern environmental movement with more than a dozen books. ... Dr. Dasmann began emphasizing the need for environmental conservation in the 1950's, and his 1965 book, "The Destruction of California," became a staple of ecology courses in universities in the 1970's. "Environmental Conservation" (1959) remains in print. He promoted the idea of "ecodevelopment," in which a community's growth is not dependent on exploiting its natural resources, and he insisted that indigenous people have a central role in ecological solutions. He taught ecology at University of California at Santa Cruz from 1977 through 1989. He died on November 5th, 2002. (11/15/02) | |
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New York Times -- Starting on Dec. 1, captains of ships longer than 164 feet will have to avoid certain areas in the protected zone and will be prohibited from anchoring in some other places. Nautical charts produced throughout the world will show the protected zone and reflect its requirements. Violators will face fines up to $100,000 per violation per day. Samuel W. Bodman, deputy commerce secretary, called the agreement a triumph of cooperation between federal officials, the shipping industry and the International Maritime Organization, a United Nations group that regulates the shipping industry. "This rare international form of protection now awarded to fragile Florida Keys coral reefs is an example of how federal resource managers can work closely with industry to protect vulnerable natural resources while simultaneously supporting shipping and economic growth," Mr. Bodman said. "Both ship trade and the tourism tied to the Keys coral reefs have vital economic significance to the state and region." The proposal has been supported by the Coast Guard, the State Department and environmental groups in Florida. (11/15/02) | |
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New York Times -- VIGO, Spain, Nov. 13 (Reuters) — Emergency workers struggled to tow a sinking tanker loaded with 77,000 tons of fuel oil away from Spain's northwestern coast today and prevent an environmental disaster. (11/15/02) | |
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New York Times -- William Safire writes: If the Homeland Security Act is not amended before passage, here is what will happen to you: Every purchase you make with a credit card, every magazine subscription you buy and medical prescription you fill, every Web site you visit and e-mail you send or receive, every academic grade you receive, every bank deposit you make, every trip you book and every event you attend — all these transactions and communications will go into what the Defense Department describes as "a virtual, centralized grand database." To this computerized dossier on your private life from commercial sources, add every piece of information that government has about you — passport application, driver's license and bridge toll records, judicial and divorce records, complaints from nosy neighbors to the F.B.I., your lifetime paper trail plus the latest hidden camera surveillance — and you have the supersnoop's dream: a "Information Awareness" about every U.S. citizen. This is not some far-out Orwellian scenario. It is what will happen to your personal freedom in the next few weeks if John Poindexter gets the unprecedented power he seeks. (11/15/02) | |
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Amrozi, the Javanese mechanic accused of the Bali bombings, waves to the media in Denpasar. Seated is Indonesian national police chief Dai Bachtiar. Photo: Kate Geraghty
The Age -- The chief suspect in the Bali bombing joked and laughed with Indonesia's police chief last night during a bizarre public interrogation in which he told of his "delight" at the carnage caused by his crime. Amrozi, the 40-year-old mechanic from Java detained over the bombing earlier this month, spoke of his role in the attack in a taped interview at Denpasar police headquarters. During the 50-minute interview with police chief General Da'i Bachtiar, both men frequently smiled and laughed. Most of the conversation was inaudible to dozens of journalists and photographers who watched from behind glass, but at one moment Amrozi pointed to Western journalists and said in Indonesian: "Those are the sorts of people that I wanted to kill," prompting laughter in the room full of police. General Bachtiar told reporters later that Amrozi had spoken of his pleasure when he heard that his bomb had exploded successfully. ... Amrozi has previously been reported to have told police that he regretted killing so many Australians, having intended to kill Americans. (11/14/02)
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2002
Timothy Wilken.
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