Tuesday, January 27, 2004

Information and the state - digital identity Posted here Tuesday, January 27, 2004 at 2:52:14 PM     Here is a report on digital  identity and government. Important to understand the issues because the good will of the "democratic intent" blends easily into an infrastructure between 'citizen and the state" that takes away freedom, not directly, but through taking away the capacity of a citizen to be a person unknown to the authorities. The question is, can a democracy exist in a total field of efficient information? Is part of freedom the caacity to chose to be unseen, or even to change identity? Certainly early thinkers on freedom assumed that the goal was to keep government to a small part of the total social space, not to make them isomorphic. (mapable onto each other). ********

Blame shift to intelligence. Posted here Tuesday, January 27, 2004 at 8:39:55 AM     Comment: We are seeing a tendency to blame Iraq, especially intelligence failures, on the Intelligence services.  In fact the organizations were attemtpitng more or less to put a break on the Whitehouse. The blame shift can only increase the strength of the Whitehouse and decrease that of state, CIA, etc. ********

American Empire Posted here Tuesday, January 27, 2004 at 8:21:39 AM     From Josh Marshall in the New Yorker. Despite dire predictions that every military engagement would lead to a quagmire, America found that it could strike with virtual impunity almost anywhere on the globe, and military forays became more common. Back when the superpower rivalry circumscribed America’s ability to use force directly, problems were more likely to be solved through high-stakes diplomacy or covert action. Now there is an overwhelming temptation to play to our strength. America’s diplomatic corps, already menaced by domestic enemies and falling budgets, is no better than those of other great powers. Our military, on the other hand, dwarfs everyone else’s. Hence the progressive militarization of America’s foreign policy. ********