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22-11-2020In engaging in their Faustian pact with Donald Trump, many Republicans at the national level long ago subjugated whatever moral codes they retained to their lust for power, conservative judges, lower taxes, or whatever. In all likelihood, few of these Republicans foresaw the day when abiding by this pact would lead them to condone, or actively participate in, a blatantly antidemocratic effort to abrogate an election in which more Americans voted than ever before. That is where they are today, though. And the vast majority of them, unlike some of their colleagues at the state and local level, simply don’t have the character to do the right thing.
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24-11-2020MÄNNERHASS IST EINE BEFREIENDE FORM DER FEINDSELIGKEIT
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03-12-2020Nearly one week since the high-profile assassination of Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh on the outskirts of Tehran and the world is waiting to see how Iran’s rulers respond. … Fakhrizadeh, a brigadier general with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and a key figure in Iran’s nuclear program was ambushed and killed on November 27 in what many observers have described as an “extraterritorial targeted killing.” Iranian authorities have reflexively blamed the attack on Israel, a narrative that has been bolstered by a New York Times report quoting an anonymous Israeli politician saying the world should “thank” Israel for the scientist’s killing.
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08-12-2020Beyond that, my sense is that a growing number of people have come to appreciate something that breathless talk about global competition tended to obscure: We have met the enemy, and they are us. This is very much true when it comes to economic issues: Conflicts of interest within countries are much more important than conflicts of interest between countries. And although it’s a terrible thing to say, recent political events have taught Americans, at least, to fear the rising power of some groups within this country more than we fear some hypothetical threat from abroad.
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09-12-2020Seven European cities are facing off to host an agency that will hand out billions of euros in cybersecurity funding — and bring much-needed jobs. Brussels, Munich, Warsaw, Vilnius, Luxembourg, Bucharest and León, Spain are all vying for the prize — the European Cybersecurity Competence Center (ECCC), which will be distributing EU money for research into technologies like encryption and network security. While the ECCC is not a formal EU agency, it does promise to bring dozens of jobs to the winner — about 30 to start, and up to 80 according to some guesses. It should also help boost business for local cybersecurity companies and burnish the host country's reputation on cyber.
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Die demokratische Krise11-12-2020Corona, Corona, Corona. Die polyzentrische Welt ist monothematisch. Worüber sonst sprechen, jetzt? Trump ist noch nicht, aber wird, Geschichte; mir gehen die Themen aus. Lockdown? Silvesterknaller? Luschet?
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13-12-2020In a world where people feel increasingly lonely, the promise of these AI relationships is in their ability to provide always-available, nonjudgmental emotional support. While such relationships can be ethically complicated, the latent demand is real: over 7 million people use Replika today, for example. Over time, virtual worlds populated with emotionally intelligent AI characters will be able to create truly lifelike social experiences.
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17-12-2020Then Bono stopped … asked for quiet [and] began to snap slowly. The audience was confused. After a few snaps into the silence, he finally spoke: »Every time I snap my fingers, an African child dies«. Suddenly, from somewhere in the darkness, a man with a hardcore British accent shouted, »Well bloody stop snapping then!« Don’t get me wrong, I respect Bono. … But I recount this joke because I think it illustrates so succinctly one of the most interesting – and problematic – things about modern philanthropy: As currently practiced, philanthropy preserves existing power structures and dynamics that have caused much of the suffering it seeks to alleviate … .
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The democratic crisis27-12-2020Corona, Corona, Corona. The polycentric world is monothematic. What else to talk about, now? Trump is not yet, but will be, history; I'm running out of topics. Lockdown? New Year's Eve bangers? Armin Laschet?
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18-12-2020Then Bono stopped … asked for quiet [and] began to snap slowly. The audience was confused. After a few snaps into the silence, he finally spoke: »Every time I snap my fingers, an African child dies«. Suddenly, from somewhere in the darkness, a man with a hardcore British accent shouted, »Well bloody stop snapping then!« Don’t get me wrong, I respect Bono. … But I recount this joke because I think it illustrates so succinctly one of the most interesting – and problematic – things about modern philanthropy: As currently practiced, philanthropy preserves existing power structures and dynamics that have caused much of the suffering it seeks to alleviate … .
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18-12-2020Then Bono stopped … asked for quiet [and] began to snap slowly. The audience was confused. After a few snaps into the silence, he finally spoke: »Every time I snap my fingers, an African child dies«. Suddenly, from somewhere in the darkness, a man with a hardcore British accent shouted, »Well bloody stop snapping then!« Don’t get me wrong, I respect Bono. … But I recount this joke because I think it illustrates so succinctly one of the most interesting – and problematic – things about modern philanthropy: As currently practiced, philanthropy preserves existing power structures and dynamics that have caused much of the suffering it seeks to alleviate … .
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20-12-2020Last week Germany blocked the sale of a satellite and radar firm to a Chinese state-backed buyer, the latest in a cooling of corporate relations between the two countries. China Aerospace and Industry Group (CASIC) had tried to buy IMST, a Duisberg-based firm founded in 1992 and known for a series of radar module innovations helping enable 5G and 6G telecommunications rollouts. The company is also a key partner to the German Aerospace Center (DLR) – a key reason Berlin vetoed the move on national security grounds, according to a document seen by Reuters. The block marks a high point in tension between Berlin and Beijing, as the former takes steps to prevent Chinese takeovers of German firms with sensitive technology or information.
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21-12-20202021 might be the year we finally begin building this new public media system. But first we must give up the fantasy that benevolent billionaires, new startups, or the Facebook/Google duopoly will save journalism. We wasted a decade searching for some whiz-bang app or ingenious business model. But a viable business model for local news no longer exists — and besides, journalism shouldn’t be seen as a business, but as a public service. Trusting the market to deliver the news that we need is a fool’s errand. To be sure, some for-profit outlets will survive — even thrive — but the majority of our information needs must be served by the nonprofit and public sectors. We must face the fact that the commercial era for local journalism is over.
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23-12-2020Complete clusterf---’: Trump leaves Washington in limbo No one in the White House or on Capitol Hill appears to know what Trump’s plan is — or even if there is one.
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27-12-2020Young people in Japan seem to have lost interest not only in babies, but in marriage (marriages fell from 800,000 in 2000 to 600,000 last year), dating, and even sex. The Japanese government is concerned, to put it lightly, and with good reason—the country’s economy and the well-being of its people are at stake. Last week Japan’s Cabinet Office announced it’s putting 2 billion yen ($19.2 million) towards an initiative it hopes will give a much-needed boost to dating, marriage, sex, and babies: artificially intelligent matchmaking. … Yes, the whole thing is fairly dreadful. But on some level, it’s working—in the US, online dating is now the number one way couples meet.