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Omerta in state intelligence, Tony Curzon PriceWho knew what in the UK about the use of torture on Guantanamo detainees? The question itself is very important. We tend to think that the power of the State in the UK has been civilised through centuries of vigilance and struggle. Has it? And are we losing it? We know what can become of a modern state that ignores the rule of law---think of the modern European totalitarianisms. I don't want anything to do with a government that facilitates torture, and I would do what I could not to live... more » Peripheral crisis, Andrei Starodubtsev"Crisis?" my colleagues from the regions used to say, "what crisis? It's just you lot in the capitals getting up to your tricks. Here, it's all calm!" But by January 2009 these comments had stopped. I was hearing more and more about forced holidays and factories stopping work, either temporarily or for good.
The regions of Russia are so different that they are almost like separate states. How are they reacting to the global economic crisis? Which... more » BBC's Russia Service axe,The first stages of our ‘campaign' - which at the beginning we did not even think of as a campaign - were astonishingly easy. Most British academics, journalists, diplomats and politicians with an interest in Russia have at one time or another contributed to the BBC Russian Service, and they are all concerned about the fate of Russian Features. Many of them travel regularly to Russia. Most have received feedback about programmes to which they have contributed, and the value of these... more » Palestine’s right: past as prologue , Prince Hassan of JordanAs the world watches the anguish in Gaza continue, I am moved to reflect on the tenth anniversary of the death of my beloved brother, King Hussein, and my family's historic involvement in all stages of the tragedy of Palestine. Prince Hassan is a senior member of the Jordanian royal family, and president of the Arab Thought Forum. His official website is here. Also by Prince Hassan in openDemocracy: "Annapolis: a view from Amman" (26 November 2007) ... more » Iraq’s elections: win, lose, learn , Joost R HiltermannThe Iraqi local elections were held on 31 January 2009, with 440 seats being contested in fourteen of the country's eighteen provinces. The results, most of which were released on 5 February, offer important evidence into current political trends. Joost R Hiltermann is deputy middle-east programme director of the International Crisis Group, based in Istanbul. He is the author of A Poisonous Affair: America, Iraq, and the Gassing of Halabja (Cambridge University Press, 2007) ... more » Can the neocons renew?, Jim SleeperThe high-end blogosphere has been aflutter over "Conservatism is Dead," the latest of Sam Tanenhaus' many long elegies in The New Republic for conservatism as a movement and an ideology. But no one has recalled, much less revisited, his dirge in a lecture at the heavily neo-conservative American Enterprise Institute in November 2007. Perhaps inadvertently, he put his finger then on American conservatism's original sin. Tanenhaus, who edits The New York Times Book Review... more » Needed: creativity, not markets, Karl-Heinz BrodbeckIn 2007 Alan Greenspan said that economists' forecasts are no better than anyone else's. He added that econometrics is no science. Why? The underlying reason is the nature of economic models. First, they assume economic agents to be mostly rational; secondly and more importantly, they assume that the rational agent maximises calculable outcomes - the assumption of the homo oeconomicus. Since Adam Smith economists have understood the economic system as a vast machine. That implies... more » |
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