Tuesday, October 22, 2002

[Colin Glassey 11 AM] Great essay by Christopher Hitchens about how the Left has lost its moral compass. Its called So Long Fellow Travelers. I find myself in agreement with Mr. Hitchens. Here is a quote: Instead of internationalism, we find among the Left now a sort of affectless, neutralist, smirking isolationism. In this moral universe, the views of the corrupt and conservative Jacques Chirac -- who built Saddam Hussein a nuclear reactor, knowing what he wanted it for -- carry more weight than those of persecuted Iraqi democrats. In this moral universe, the figure of Jimmy Carter -- who incited Saddam to attack Iran in 1980, without any U.N. or congressional consultation that I can remember -- is considered axiomatically more statesmanlike than Bush. 10:48:53 AM     [Colin Glassey 11 AM] Great, though long and technical, essay by Steven Den Beste on Cell Phone Technology. Boring subject you might think? But no, Steve explains why Europe looked good for a while in the 1990s but now is stuck with inferior technology thanks to a too early adoption of a single standard, while the U.S. let the free market play out. Impressive analysis. Steven Den Beste writes the brilliant Blog USS Clueless. 10:22:38 AM     [Colin Glassey 11 AM] Theophrastus on the Future (continued from yesterday) I am not a big fan of the United Nations, the World Bank, the World Trade Organization, in their present form. I do think that some of these institutions have the chance of becoming valuable to the World of 2100 but it will take effort. Organizations for the Earth 2100 will need to have the following characteristics: • Representative of the people of the Earth, elected not appointed by nations. The point here: ultimately, the World Government of 2100 is not and cannot be a tool of various nations. Instead it must be the supporter of all humans on Earth. It should be the tool of last resort but it must be there, available, when all other options have been tried and failed. • Open, transparent organzations. What they do, the choices they make, the reasons for decisions, will all have to be available to public view (on the Internet naturally). • They will need to defer, whenever possible, to local, state, and national laws when possible. Yes, nations will not cease to exist, nations will have lost total freedom but they will still operate with a large degree of autonomy. Just like States operate with a great deal of freedom within the context of the United States, so to nations will need to operate within the context of the Earth Government. 10:09:32 AM

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