links for 2011-03-24

• Abandoned Footnotes: A Simple Model of Cults of Personality
  Cults of personality are hardly ever taken seriously enough. They are often seen as a sort of bizarre curiosity found in some authoritarian regimes, their absurdities attributed to the extreme narcissism and megalomania of particular dictators, who wish to be flattered with ever greater titles and deified in ever more grandiose ways. And it is hard not to laugh at some of the claims being made on behalf of often quite uncharismatic dictators: not only is Kim Jong-il, for example, the greatest golfer in the world, but he also appears to have true superhero powers:
  (tags: autocracy politics sociology personality faith cults power persuasion oppression)

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links for 2011-03-22

• Washington vs. the Merciless – Thomas Friedman
  The world is caught in a dangerous feedback loop — higher oil prices and climate disruptions lead to higher food prices, higher food prices lead to more instability, more instability leads to higher oil prices. That loop is shaking the foundations of politics everywhere. That’s why the world needs a strong America more than ever, and that’s why it is vital that we fix our structural problems — now.
  (tags: thomas_friedman risk world energy food global_warming politics debt markets infrastructure future usa)
• Military Interrogator Matthew Alexander On Noncoercive Interrogation Techniques : Fresh Air
  "The first step of any interrogation is to understand your detainee, understand what uniquely motivates them as an individual," he explains. "[You have to understand] why they joined al-Qaida or another insurgent group, why they decided to pick up arms. And if you can analyze them and figure out those motivations, then you can craft an appropriate approach and incentive, but not until you've done that."
  (tags: radio intelligence war torture islam al_qaeda terrorism military iraq psychology interrogation values)

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links for 2011-03-21

• Social Contract | This American Life
  ACT ONE. MISTER FIX IT.
  Richard Ravitch has helped fix three governmental crises, including when New York City nearly went bankrupt in 1975. What's changed, to make it so much harder for him to solve the state's current financial crisis? Host Ira Glass reports.

  ACT TWO. IF YOU WERE STRANDED ON A DESERT ISLAND AND COULD ONLY BRING ONE ECONOMIC PLAN…
  Why is it that Barbados and Jamaica faced almost identical financial crises, but now Jamaica is incredibly poor and Barbados is prospering? Alex Blumberg reports on the surprising strategy Barbados used to survive its crisis.

  (tags: government finance politics currency radio lessons history budget negotiation recommended policy economics crisis deficit)

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links for 2011-03-08

• An Interview With Bernie Madoff — New York Magazine
  One evening, my home phone rang. “You have a collect call from Bernard Madoff, an inmate at a federal prison,” a recording announced. And there he was.
  (tags: madoff crime interview fraud ponzi legacy prison)

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links for 2011-03-07

• The $110 Billion Question – Thomas Friedman
  When one looks across the Arab world today at the stunning spontaneous democracy uprisings, it is impossible to not ask: What are we doing spending $110 billion this year supporting corrupt and unpopular regimes in Afghanistan and Pakistan that are almost identical to the governments we’re applauding the Arab people for overthrowing?
  (tags: thomas_friedman arab middle_east revolution democracy usa war interventionism spending foreign_policy corruption)
• GAO: The Citizen’s Guide to the Fiscal Year 2010
  The Citizen’s Guide to the Fiscal Year (FY) 2010 Financial Report of the U.S. Government presents
  the Nation’s financial position and condition of the U.S. Government and discusses key financial topics,
  including continuing economic recovery efforts and fiscal sustainability.
  (tags: usa economics government budget debt deficit policy health_care taxes prediction)
• The Tyranny of Defense Inc. – Andrew Bacevich
  In 1961, Dwight Eisenhower famously identified the military-industrial complex, warning that the growing fusion between corporations and the armed forces posed a threat to democracy. Judged 50 years later, Ike’s frightening prophecy actually understates the scope of our modern system—and the dangers of the perpetual march to war it has put us on.
  (tags: to_read bacevich imperialism military foreign_policy war power politics usa interventionism spending)
• They're doing it without us – Andrew Bacevich
  If the Muslim masses demanding political freedom and economic opportunity prevail, they will do so not thanks to but despite the United States. Yet by liberating themselves, they will also liberate us. Our misbegotten crusade to determine their destiny will finally end. In that case, we will owe them a great debt.
  (tags: bacevich middle_east revolution democracy foreign_policy war usa bush interventionism neoconservatism)

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links for 2011-03-06

• A Declaration of Cyber-War | Vanity Fair
  Stuxnet is the Hiroshima of cyber-war. That is its true significance, and all the speculation about its target and its source should not blind us to that larger reality. We have crossed a threshold, and there is no turning back.
  (tags: stuxnet cyber_war nuclear foreign_policy iran war technology security israel usa)

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links for 2011-03-04

• When Irish Eyes Are Crying – Michael Lewis
  First Iceland. Then Greece. Now Ireland, which headed for bankruptcy with its own mysterious logic. In 2000, suddenly among the richest people in Europe, the Irish decided to buy their country—from one another. After which their banks and government really screwed them. So where’s the rage?
  (tags: michael_lewis ireland economics crisis finance banking debt lending investment euro government bailout recommended bubble)
• Mind vs. Machine – The Atlantic
  Once again, the question of what types of human behavior computers can imitate shines light on how we conduct our own, human lives. Verbal abuse is simply less complex than other forms of conversation. In fact, since reading the papers on MGonz, and transcripts of its conversations, I find myself much more able to constructively manage heated conversations. Aware of the stateless, knee-jerk character of the terse remark I want to blurt out, I recognize that that remark has far more to do with a reflex reaction to the very last sentence of the conversation than with either the issue at hand or the person I’m talking to. All of a sudden, the absurdity and ridiculousness of this kind of escalation become quantitatively clear, and, contemptuously unwilling to act like a bot, I steer myself toward a more “stateful” response: better living through science.
  (tags: turing argument conversation human computer consciousness mind intelligence artificial_intelligence)

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links for 2011-03-02

• Dirk Vandewalle Peers Inside Qaddafi's World : NPR
  Dirk Vandewalle, an Associate Professor of Government at Dartmouth College, gives an inside look at Qaddafi and his 42 year long rule in Libya. Vandewalle has studied and written about Libya since the 1980s. In 1986 he lived in Libya for 14 months, as the only Western scholar at the time.
  (tags: qaddafi libya middle_east autocracy history revolution radio delusion)

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