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Theme : globalchange
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Europe's still a wimp
Giscard's draft constitution has failed to give the EU the platform it needs to flex its muscles on the world stage, says Robert Lane Greene, and the US remains the world's only superpower. He may be right that the convention has been a largely inward-looking exercise, and that the constitution does not really address Europe's role in the world. But as both Robert Cooper and Theo Veenkamp et al have argued, Europe is unlikely to project its power and influence in conventional ways. Cooper sees...
from : pauljoseph
17th July 2003
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Landmark decision on affirmative action
Yesterday the US Supreme Court by a narrow margin ruled in favour of affirmative action. The court case itself as well as the ruling are proof of the continuing divisive nature of the issue of race in the US. To read more click here and/or here.
from : juliahuber
24th June 2003
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Playboy hits the big five zero
The LA times is running an editorial today hooked on the fact that Playboy Magazine is about to reach the grand old age of 50.It comes across as a fairly glowing endorsement of Hefner's empire... which made me wonder about the differences in the way porn is viewed stateside, in Europe and in the UK. What do we reckon?Click here for the article (registration required).
from : paulmiller
29th May 2003
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Our Final Century?
Following his excellent contribution to the Demos seminar for Black Sky Thinking Sir Martin Rees has been doing a lot of interviews publicising his book Our Final Century. This one on Edge.org is one of the more in depth that I've seen. His position can be summed up in the quote, "I am concerned about the threats and opportunities posed by 21st century science, and how to react to them. There are some intractable risks stemming from science, which we have to accept as the downside for our...
from : paulmiller
20th May 2003
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Only a game?
The Olympic TruceThe Olympic Games were originally formed as a movement for peace in the year 776 B.C. Representatives from the warring Peloponnese region contacted the oracle of Delphi to ask his advice on how to end the cycle of violence thatcharacterised the region. His answer was an athletic event in celebration ofpeace during which all hostilities should cease, naming it ekecheira, itsmodern translation; the Olympics, literally meaning the holding of hands.Throughout ancient and modern...
from : alistairdavidson
7th May 2003
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McShift- the real battle for hearts and minds
As Maccie D's has admitted its need to revamp street cred in line with more holistic and Euro friendly models of practice - can we assume dubbya is the next all - American brand to follow? More importantly, will there be organically produced shwarma with bottled water shipped in from the other side of the world coming soon on forthcoming happy meal menus?the real battle for hearts and minds:click here
from : alistairdavidson
17th April 2003
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Achille Lauro
So the ringleader of the Achille Lauro hijacking has been grabbed in Baghdad. The 1985 commandeering of the cruise liner and murder of American tourist David Klinghoffer prompted John Adams, the composer, to write a controversial opera which challenged simple conceptions of terrorism. A film of the opera is coming out this year.And speaking of simple conceptions.
from : alistairdavidson
16th April 2003
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Second Superpower Semantics
An interesting linguistic twist has been performed on the web in the last few weeks around the term 'second superpower', which was initially coined in the New York Times to describe the global anti-war protests. This article in The Register tells the tale well.
from : paulmiller
7th April 2003
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Texting and Terrorism
Quite a few papers report on the Government's announcement that it's exploring ways of using text messaging to warn people about terrorist attacks. Interesting link with the work we're doing on the future of mobile britain.Guardian Unlimited -Text alerts to counter terror attack
from : paulmiller
3rd April 2003
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Baghdad Blogger
Who is Salam Pax? Check out this blog that offers a view of everyday life in the Iraqi capital and a possible antidote to the military view of the war we're currently seeing. But as popularity for the site grows, so do doubts about its authenticity... for a Guardian article click here.
from : alistairdavidson
28th March 2003
