Mark Zuckerberg’s media empire is dangerous. Under a new and innocuous name – Meta – the company will pursue its ambitions to create and control a new series of lucrative digital interfaces. The Metaverse, as it shall be known, is a step towards a digital dystopia, the kind science fiction writers have conjured up for …
Choose your Dystopia (from these approved options) Read More »
In a move firmly in the category of better (ten years) late than never, Australia’s government has cancelled its French-led diesel submarine program in favour of a British-American nuclear design. Given the program’s high risks and rising costs, the Australian government did the right thing, although the French are determined to disagree. Rather than admitting …
“They have learned nothing and forgotten nothing!” was Talleyrand’s alleged description of French elites as they returned home in the aftermath of the Napoleonic Wars and the Revolution. Unable to conceive that their own actions might have cast France into chaos, these elites oscillated between pretending the Revolution never happened and taking revenge on participants. …
In July 2021, in what is likely to be the spy scandal of the year, Amnesty International released a list of 50,000 phone numbers they claimed had been hacked by an advanced spyware program known as “Pegasus.” Many of the numbers belonged to journalists, activists, government officials, and even heads of state. Independent verification of …
Pegasus Spyware and the Globalisation of the Security State Read More »
When is the use of violence legitimate, and how much violence can be used? Unless you’re an absolutist pacifist, it is likely that you believe violence can be legitimate. For instance, in cases of self-defence, criminal arrests or the protection of loved ones, you might think a measure of physical force is acceptable, even necessary. …
On July 12, 2021, international media began to report on the protests breaking out in Cuba. The cause, it seemed, was the long-term failure of the Cuban economy, import shortages triggered by COVID-19, and the extra pressures of the Trump-era sanctions targeting both the tourist industry and foreign remittances to Cuba, among other things. Although …
At long last, Bagram Airfield lies abandoned, but the war in Afghanistan isn’t over. Rather, it is entering a new phase. From now on, forces loyal to the central government will battle the Taliban without large numbers of foreign fighters armed with NATO’s best weapons. Having failed to defeat the Taliban with thousands of foreign …
In general, to be a master politician is to be a master of the euphemism, of roundabout speech, of deception and spin. Speech is designed to conceal thought, at least according to Talleyrand’s dictum, and the successful politician’s intentions are generally hidden behind veils of wordy explanations, jargon, and truths told with bad intent. Hence, …
Observing the use of “whataboutism” has become of a speciality of mine, given it is so common in diplomacy and in general argument on university campuses. Whataboutism refers to the practice of responding to an accusation by making a counter-accusation. It amounts to charging someone with hypocrisy without directly refuting or disproving their allegation or …
Throughout February and March of 2021, a running battle was being fought on the streets of Yangon between Myanmar’s new military government and its opponents. The coup of February 1 was proving to be a less than peaceful power transition, and hundreds were killed in clashes in which police or the army used live ammunition. …
Farce Amid Bloodshed — Myanmar and the International Response Read More »
What comes after a change in international order? How can we even conceptualise this question? Rather than debate the language and meaning like a post-modernist, it is better to use recent anecdotes like a historian. To begin to answer the question, to hone our thinking, to establish something about the range of possibilities, I like …
