Older blog entries for badvogato (starting at number 344)

15 Nov 2006 (updated 16 Nov 2006 at 05:17 UTC) »

growing pain in the arse. Chinese is not allowed by the new robogato? at least, not work the way i used to cut-paste from my firefox on mac mini...

also i still don't like multiple posts. Author should be able to combine multiple write-ups in one entry within approximate time lapses. Isn't that make more sense for recentlog to accomodate more history on more people? Besides, if author deliberately doesn't need the spotlight of recentlog, he can cover it up with another placeholder entry...

27 Oct 2006 (updated 30 Oct 2006 at 11:03 UTC) »
Kokkalisfoundation.gr

Princeton‛TM]s Richard Falk on the uncertain future of American foreign policy Falk Richard Falk, Albert G. Milbank professor of International Law and Practice and professor of Politics and International Affairs at Princeton‛TM]s Woodrow Wilson School, was recently in Athens and lectured on the future of American foreign policy. The lecture was co-organized by the Kokkalis Foundation and the Princeton Club of Greece, on Thursday, December 5, 2003 at the Museum of Cycladic Art in Athens.

The focus of American interests in this century, Falk stated, has been moved from Europe to the Middle East and this is due both to oil interests and to Islam and Israel. Further, the War in Iraq, the prominent scholar stressed, is not a consequence of the strikes on 9/11 nor is it a war against the Al-Quaeda network; it has not been caused by the fear that Iraq will obtain weapons of mass destruction. After all, Falk went on to show, Iraq is a weak country and a less dangerous one in comparison with the first Gulf War.

The present administration and its advisors support the continuation of Cold War US foreign policy, including the Reagan administration‛TM]s foreign policy, Falk argued. The dominant role of the United States has been achieved through great military power and its distance from the Mrs. Kokkalis and Falk countries that could question its hegemonic role. There has been an effort to connect world security with U.S. national security and this effort is fueled by the creation of a political organization that more closely resembles a global empire than global governance. This empire does not have the traditional capability to exert direct political influence on other countries, but the capability to impose its geopolitical rules in the world, Falk added.Professor Falk suggested four approaches to depict the organization of the post-Cold War world. The first is based on the ideas of Fukuyama‛TM]s  eend of history†and purports that the post-Cold War world will rely on the principles of liberal democracy and the free market. The idea of the end of history in essence means that there is no need for conflict between different countries because what counts is economic geopolitics. The second approach is that adopted by George Bush, Sr. who favored and relied on the crucial role of the U.N. in conflict resolution. George Bush, Jr. has adopted the third approach based on the belief that U.S. domination will impose peace in the world. The last approach to world order has emerged as result of civil society movements during the 1990‛TM]s and refers to the establishment of a global democracy regime, where governments are legitimized only if they preserve a minimum of human rights, as well as political, economic, and social rights. According to this approach, the international community is to assume responsibility when a country is faced with a big disaster, such as genocide, anarchy, or a plague, and when there is the possibility of intervention to confront the wrongdoings of any foreign government.

Finally, referring to terrorism and the imperative of its extinction, Professor Falk made a clear distinction between visionary terrorism and violent terrorism, the latter of which is due to conflicts like the Israeli-Palestinian one. In the first case, there are no negotiation possibilities because terrorism is a means of conflict between the  eforces of the Good†that fight the  eforces of the Evil.†Cases like this include the Al-Quaeda and the Greek November 17 group. In the second case, where Falk includes the Palestinian issue and Northern Ireland, an end to terrorism might be obtained through negotiations between the opposing parties.

9 Oct 2006 (updated 9 Oct 2006 at 00:54 UTC) »

wow! luke, the daddy. i had no idea you are expecting an angel in the family. congratulation!

29 Sep 2006 (updated 29 Sep 2006 at 17:17 UTC) »

thank you for getting in touch. deeshaa , transforming rural India

The Concept of God in Hinduism and Islam In the light of sacred scriptures.

i can't even put my little finger on the concept of MAN, let alone GOD.

斯宾格勒(Oswald Spengler, 1880─1936年)在《西方的没落》(the decline of the West)

335 older entries...

New Advogato Features

New HTML Parser: The long-awaited libxml2 based HTML parser code is live. It needs further work but already handles most markup better than the original parser.

Keep up with the latest Advogato features by reading the Advogato status blog.

If you're a C programmer with some spare time, take a look at the mod_virgule project page and help us with one of the tasks on the ToDo list!