By Nick Li

This is a comment on the section "The False Choice of Pacifism" in Sam Harris’ book, The End of Faith. Sam Harris writes:

Pacifism is generally considered to be a morally unassailable position to take with respect to human violence. The worst that is said of it, generally, is that it is a difficult position to maintain in practice. It is almost never branded as flagrantly immoral, which I believe it is. While it can seem noble enough when the stakes are low, pacifism is ultimately nothing more than a willingness to die, and to let others die, at the pleasure of the world’s thugs. It should be enough to note that a single sociopath, armed with nothing more than a knife, could exterminate a city full of pacifists. There is no doubt that such sociopaths exist, and they are generally better armed.

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By Nick Li

This is a comment on the section Perfect Weapons and the Ethics of "Collateral Damage" in Sam Harris’ book, The End of Faith. Continue reading →

By Richard Norman

A blogger writes:

Belgium, as many of you will know, was established in 1830 for two reasons: to host the main international conflicts of the 20th century; and to provide a viable, long-term basis for Belgian jokes.

Every article on the subject these days seems to start with a similar joke and I was too tired to make up my own. The potential division of Belgium has been in the news a lot lately: for the last three months politicians from all parties have been unable to form a government. News of the turmoil even featured on the front web-pages of both the New York Times and Washington Post over the weekend. The possibility of violence is highly unlikely, the global significance of Belgium limited–so why, as the Economist asks, should anyone care? Continue reading →

By Richard Norman

President Bush received a fair amount of flak (though no more than usual) this week when he compared the potential consequences of withdrawing from Iraq to those of leaving Vietnam, saying, "One unmistakable legacy of Vietnam is that the price of America’s withdrawal was paid by millions of innocent citizens, whose agonies would add to our vocabulary new terms like ‘boat people,’ ‘re-education camps’ and ‘killing fields’." After years of the most abysmal communication, pathetic rhetoric, and plain historical ignorance, the U.S. government is finally making a strong argument in defence of its Iraq policy. Continue reading →

By Otto Spijkers

The Power of Nightmares (BBC documentary) "explores how the idea that we are threatened by a hidden and organised terrorist network is an illusion. It is a myth that has spread unquestioned through politics, the security services and the international media. At the heart of the story are two groups: the American neo-conservatives and the radical Islamists. Both were idealists who were born out of the failure of the liberal dream to build a better world" (that’s taken from the BBC website). I guess most people know this documentary already (it is three years old), but those who do not: you can watch the documentary on Google video. See below for links. Continue reading →

By Richard Norman

Michael Ignatieff, currently the deputy leader of the Liberal party of Canada, reconsiders his initial position on the war in Iraq in this weekend’s New York Times Magazine:

Having left an academic post at Harvard in 2005 and returned home to Canada to enter political life, I keep revisiting the Iraq debacle, trying to understand exactly how the judgments I now have to make in the political arena need to improve on the ones I used to offer from the sidelines. I’ve learned that acquiring good judgment in politics starts with knowing when to admit your mistakes.

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By Richard Norman

There was a time when the Bush Administration held up Libyan WMD concessions as an example of a (lonely) diplomatic triumph, and Tony Blair visited Muammar Gaddafi in Tripoli to hail a "new relationship." For a time, increased economic and political ties followed. But when five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor, speciously accused of deliberately infecting children with HIV at a hospital in Benghazi, were sentenced to death by Libya’s Supreme Court, Col. Gaddafi’s regime again became isolated. Continue reading →

By Richard Norman

A few interesting things about Gordon Brown today (actually from a few weeks ago). This series of articles in Prospect Magazine about Brown as intellectual are worth looking at for those interested in his background and philosophical evolution over the years. There’s something for both people who like him and dislike him. Some quotes after the jump. Continue reading →

By Richard Norman

Attention turned to the House of Lords this week as Patrick "Obstruction of Justice" Fitzgerald brought down one of its members on felony charges. Lord Black will no longer be allowed to sit as a Tory, but he is allowed to keep his peerage. In Canada, a lot of the resentment and dislike of Lord Black stems from the fact that he turned in his Canadian citizenship in order to sit in the British upper chamber. While Lord Black may have been found guilty by a jury of his peers, his conviction (if it stands) should not be allowed to sully the reputation of peers in general. There are many deserving and qualified member of the House of Lords out in the world doing good works. Among them Lord Ashdown of Norton-sub-Hamdon. Continue reading →

By Richard Norman

On Monday, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced that the Canadian military would be building between six and eight Arctic patrol vessels. "Canada has a choice when it comes to defending our sovereignty over the Arctic," Harper said. "Either we use it or we lose it. And make no mistake ? this government intends to use it." Harper’s commitment has been on the books since the last election (in slightly different form), but comes a week after Russian President Vladimir Putin laid out Russia’s claim to vast amounts of Arctic territory, including the North Pole. The American government responded to both announcements with dismay–they consider Arctic waterways and the region around the North Pole to be under the purview of no single country. Continue reading →