The Second Cold War

Ron Paul spoke out against U.S. involvement in Syria yesterday, pointing out Russia has a legitimate security interest and may view our interference in Syria as compromising Russian regional security. Yes, Russia turned around the attack helicopter ship, but this may have compromised Russia's ability to operate in the region. Does Russia have a legitimate interest in the region? Yes, it does. Should the United States flex its power to convince Russia not to supply Syria in this rebellion? Yes.
This may leave a bad taste in the mouths of Ron Paul supporters and I have surprised myself in my statement, but the truth is, Russia and the United States keep each other in check. If the United States did not keep Russia in check, Russia would establish bases around the world and not think twice in military interventions. If Russia did not keep the United States in check.... oh. Well, it seems Russia needs to do a little better job in this. Currently, Russia is keeping America in check on Iran, not allowing the U.N. Security Council into Iran. Trade sanctions so far have been the most effective tool used by the U.S. and the EU, limiting the funds Iran has on hand to further its nuclear ambitions. There is a danger in this that I will cover later in this post. China on the other hand is doing an excellent job in keeping us out of North Korea. The DMZ is the most militarized border on the planet Earth and could become a nuclear war zone if North Korea has developed a short ranged warhead. It is certainly in the United States foreign interests to invade North Korea. The United States is reliant on her partners around the world and uniting the two Koreas would reinforce the relationship the region has to the U.S. However, it is not China by herself that has kept the United States from invading, but it is the difference in net benefit between invasion and any other solution.  As long as the United States sees a greater gain in peaceful resolution, it will not resort to military intervention. China plays a role in maintaining a greater gain in peace.

Often, trade sanctions are used in place of military threats. Trade wars pop up from time to time and these are dangerous tools in international politics. To starve a nation of resources is to make the nation lean, efficient, better at getting more out of what they have. When a country comes out from underneath a trade sanction, the economy is actually healthier in some aspects, even if it is weaker than before. Points in the economy which were inefficient are revealed and can be addressed. The old addage, do not practice war too often against your enemies, lest they learn the art of war, applies to the conflict between the United States, a country heavily reliant on trade and inefficient, and Iran, a country  who has declared a clear goal in resource independence. In imposing trade sanctions, the U.S. is forcing Iran to improve her own economy, and become a much more deadly foe for the United States.

- Servus

Luxury Jails for Pedophiles? Professional Friends for Mass Murderers

A report on a jail in Norway, where inmates are encouraged to walk around outside unguarded and enjoy the fresh air has made the rounds. Murderers and pedophiles are treated to private rooms, TVs and showers and get their meals served on quality dinner plates. Many would consider this highly offensive, but Norwegians have defended this approach to rehabilitation of convicted persons. It may seem revolutionary to some, backwards to others and a unlikely prospect for America, but the next round of reporting on Norway's way of treating prisoners will be about Breivik, the mass murderer who set off bombs in Oslo and shot up an island, killing seventy seven victims, mostly children.

Norway likely will never let this guy mingle with other prisoners out of fear he will take hostages to trade for freedom. He is the only person in Norway held in maximum security at this time. He is isolated from the population and this will be so for an indefinite time. It sounds like the right thing to do. He did some horrible acts and is a clear and present danger to those around him. Keep him isolated, he deserves it. Norway is so serious about that, they are even hiring professional friends for him.

No, you did not misunderstand the last line in the paragraph above. This caused a little anger to flash across my mind when I read about these friends, who will play sports, chess and talk with them every day. This however fits in with Norway's commitment to human rights. He will never have normal contact in the general population and Norway cannot isolate him from humanity forever according to the principles Norway subscribes to. So Norway will enlist the help of Red Cross and hire a few people to be his professional friends.

”Many precautions taken with Breivik are taken to prevent hostage taking, which would be the only way for him to pass through the many security layers that stand between him and freedom. This makes it impossible to establish normal contact with others.” said Knut Bjarkeid, director for Ila, a prison close to Oslo.

The trial for Breivik is set to run over ten weeks and is currently in its fifth week. Criminal trials in Norway normally take place in district courts before a professional judge and two lay judges appointed by local government. Appeals from this court are heard before a panel of five judges, where two are professional and it is first in the appeals court will a jury hear a case. Ciminal sentences last no longer than six years, but commitment to mental institutions can be indefinite.

The Socialist Party Threatens Government

Enhedslisten, the party that represents the strict socialist movement in Denmark, has threatened to vote against its own budget if the sitting government does not change the bill to the support party's liking. Enhedslisten, translated as The Unity Party, has also warned the government not to go to the more conservative or European Liberal parties for their votes to pass the proposed budget, underlining the party would be a thorn in the side of the government, which is social democratic, in future negotiations.

Enhedslisten is complaining over tax cuts which it claims will be at the expense of welfare recipients and retirees and has stated it will hold the sitting government to promises it had made in the last electoral cycle. Enhedslisten role in parliament is as a support party in a coalition. The previous coalition government consisted of the largest conservative party with two support parties, where a single support party had the greatest influence and had negotiated for concessions in immigration. The influence help by Dansk Folkeparti came from the party's willingness to form a coalition government with the minority parties if the conservative Venstre did not make the desired concessions. Enhedslisten however lacks any commonality or even friendliness with the minority group.

Economists, referred to in Denmark as Wise-men (Vismænd), have both praised and criticized the finance reform. While criticizing the omission of reforms in property tax, pointing out the government could have received a few billion kroner in tax money, they have praised moving tax brackets so fewer pay the top tax and increasing the employment deduction, which is given to those in gainful employment and not those who are receiving income insurance or pensions. The Wise-men have also praised the intent of allowing wages to increase a little faster than pension or income insurance.

Enhedslisten criticized the reforms, pointing out taxes will cost those on income insurance 13,000 Kr a year. Tax cuts, according to the reform plans, will in part be financed by cuts to income insurance payment periods, reducing the current period from four years down to two years from 2013 and forward. Verner Kirk, director for AK-Samvirke, which organizes income insurance organizations in Denmark, has noted it will not be as easy as it was before to convince people to buy unemployment insurance. Ældre Sagen, the pensioner advocacy group for Denmark, has also criticized the reform, noting while the Elder Check may be raised by 4,500 a year, the base payment in public pension will be cut by over 13,000 a year.

-Servus

To Physorg_com

Wanted to point you guys to a pretty interesting effect discovered in thin film experiments. Voltage differences appear out of no where. The article describes an experiment in Århus where cryocooled N2O deposited on a gold lattice had its own electric field. The scientists, post docs Andrew Cassidy and Oksana Plekan and Professor David Field discovered the effect and theorize it appears when dipoles align spontaneously. My theory is, virtual particles depart enough energy to switch the dipoles randomly and the electricity measured is proportional to the energy density attributed to virtual particles. But, I think this implies a new type of radiation, required to account for otherwise created energy.

The Daily Comment - Talent Search Shows Suck, But One Just Got Interesting

So I read in the news today, Britney Spears was just hired to be a panel judge in a star search talent show. Yawn. Saw it before with America's Idol and other generics. Getting Spears to be a judge isn't big news and wont make a show any more exciting or boring... unless she was a judge on a foreign language show... in a major European market... and expected to understand the contestants in their native languages. Do I have your attention now?

Daily three for 3-5-12

This is a bit of an important period for America. We have three current events playing out that set the stage for relationships across the globe.

The first one is Wired's opinion regarding an upcoming trial for a 9/11 plotter. The mastermind wants to die and according to Wired, it is out of egoism and not guilt. The symbolic danger of allowing him to die is how the rest of the world would perceive his death. While Europe will condemn America for another death sentence carried out, the Islamic world would see his death as a glorious sacrifice and he would consider it a victory, assuming he is put to death before the Islamic world moves on. People can remain on death row for decades appealing their sentences. Even though steps were taken to ensure appeals would be less likely in this case, this man will still be put to death first when the next generation has picked new figureheads to follow. The symbolic power of the sentence being handed down though can still rally the public though, so while we try to maintain the separation between justice and politics, political factors should be taken into consideration before a death sentence is handed down. Another option is to keep the sentence secret, lock him away from public view and just make him... disappear. The problem with that solution is how it can be applied to others in the public. Perhaps the best sentence of all is life in a super max facility. That is the deepest, darkest hole we can legally sentence any person to. No matter what the out come is though, the devil will be having a BBQ when he is put to rest.

The US had hidden a Chinese blind lawyer from abuse in China. This man was exposed to abusive conditions under house arrest and his family has been threatened by the province authorities. China has promised to investigate the case, but chastised the US Embassy in Beijing for meddling in domestic affairs. This can put a further strain on US/Chinese relations and make trading a bit more difficult for America. On the other hand, human rights is an issue on the table for most European trading partners, so China will be pressured to both act on its human rights issues and give assurances to its trading partners this is an exception, not the norm, if it is to not concede too much in treaties. Is China in the right for complaining about America's part in this? Yes, because China was just taken down a small notch in future negotiations. America should do it again.

NATO is visiting Chicago in the near future to discuss security issues. This is a well covered story already, but I asked Anders to visit my mom in Woodridge. Since my dad died, Lars Smedskjaer, one of only two Danes to ever do research at Argonne, she has felt isolated and a visit from a Dane would cheer her up so. So Anders, if you are reading this, please do stop by for a cup of coffee.

- Servus

The fudemental flaws

There are good ideas. There are bad ideas. Any campaign that involves Facebook likes, Twitter followers or the Internet as an advertising medium falls firmly into the latter of the two. While it was unknown at the time, the gold of ad revenue is only found in context of the platform. If your platform is the go to index for content on the internet, you have rich veins of ad revenue ready for you to mine because people are intentionally looking for unknown content and only want the best content to enter their mind space. If your platform, in contrast to Google, is a social networking website or dependent on the opinions of a few online, you will be wasting your time and money on a resource that can be bought for next to nothing and has been demonstrated to have no correlation to one's market share. The Pepsi Refresh Project is a prime example.