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June 22, 2008

"The power of the powerless by Saskia Sassen

The power of the powerless, Saskia Sassen

By Saskia Sassen

Most of the rich countries in the world have been bounced or scurried into fairly extreme state action aimed at controlling immigrants and refugees. But they have responded more to the idea of growing migrations than to the actual numbers.

Notes on a post-secular society

Last year secularists and multiculturalists converged at signandsight.com to debate Islam in Europe. Both parties want a liberal society where autonomous citizens live peacefully side by side, but the slightest political provocation is enough to unleash an intellectual Kulturkampf. Jürgen Habermas considers both positions and points beyond them to a post-secular society, where religious and secular mentalities are open to a complementary learning process.

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June 11, 2008

"Future trends in PR in Europe

Future trends in PR in Europe

By Richard Bailey

EUPRERA is conducting new research into public relations and communications management in Europe. To help with this, I would encourage in-house and consultancy practitioners to complete this survey (it takes about ten minutes). The survey runs until the end of June and topics include strategic issues, upcoming communication channels, new media, corporate social responsibility, evaluation, agency relationships etc.

Habermas speaks on 'post-secularism' in Istanbul

Secularism, Islam and democracy became the main topics of a series of panels at Bilgi University last week drawing top names from the world's political science and philosophy departments.

A very nice post here:

Advice on Campus Interviews

Some time ago, I posted some ideas on preparing an application for an academic post. If you are lucky, one or more of the places you applied may ask you to come and visit, often after a phone interview. What are some key things to do and not to do during that visit? [continues below:]

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June 08, 2008

"What is known about Mohammed?

What is known about Mohammed?, Patricia Crone

It is notoriously difficult to know anything for sure about the founder of a world religion. Just as one shrine after the other obliterates the contours of the localities in which he was active, so one doctrine after another reshapes him as a figure for veneration and imitation for a vast number of people in times and places that he never knew..........


[[Today is the anniversary of Prophet Muhammad's death]]


News
Fernand Léger, Les grands plongeurs noirs, 1944, The Big Black Divers found in Fondation Beyeler Presents Today in Basel Fernand Léger: Paris - New York

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May 31, 2008

"Amnesty International Report 2008

Amnesty International Report 2008: State of the World’s Human Rights

Source: Amnesty International
From press release:

Amnesty International’s Report 2008, shows that sixty years after the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted by the United Nations, people are still tortured or ill-treated in at least 81 countries, face unfair trials in at least 54 countries and are not allowed to speak freely in at least 77 countries.

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May 11, 2008

"The World’s Most Repressive Societies 2008

Worst of the Worst: The World’s Most Repressive Societies 2008

Source: Freedom House
From press release:

Increased corruption and controls on nongovernmental organizations placed Chad on a list of the world’s most repressive societies for the first time, putting the country on par with China, Zimbabwe and Syria. The finding is part of the Worst of the Worst: The World’s Most Repressive Societies 2008, a new report released by Freedom House today.

 News

 

Frederick Trap Friis, American (1865 - 1909). Woman Floating in a River Attended by Two Female Spirits, c. 1895. found in Exceptional Group of Drawings, Prints, and Rare Illustrated Books at the National Gallery

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April 14, 2008

"Rethinking the kinetics of 1968

 

Rethinking the kinetics of 1968

Todd Gitlin

With the predictable turn of the decimal wheel, 1968 is back in our faces, up for grabs, forty years on but perennially a live if not limber subject for excavation, contention, and inquisition. Sometimes the media perform selective taxidermy, as in the annual media effort, at work as I write, to stuff the remains of Martin Luther King into a narrative of seamless American uplift....

 Average price of one hour of sexual services in selected cities

October 1 - December 31, 2007

var GridModuleID = [ModuleID,System];

Click to see the entire SEXEC Index

The SEXEC Index is a quarterly fixed quantity price index. The selected sample is limited to online references to female or male sexual service providers providing one hour of sexual services to male clients for a stated price. The sources of these references include, but are not limited to, message boards, provider directories, rating/review websites, provider/agent websites, and classified advertisements. The number of references collected in each city varies with both city size and the number of available sources and references. The data set consists of 63,412 references collected between Octoer 1, 2007 and December 31, 2007. For more information about SEXEC Index methodology, please contact us via our contact form.

The SEXEC Index is for ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES ONLY.

Source: SEXEC.com

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April 08, 2008

"Political PR and the age of the web

Political PR and the age of the web

By Jon

Diffusion PR SloganHow should PR professionals use the web? That’s one of the issues I read up on in order to better advise political clients with regard to the websites I produce as a freelancer. My main starting point in the UK has been Daljit Bhurji’s blog (many moons ago Daljit and I used to write for the same student newspaper). His refrain is that PR firms have failed to grasp the benefits of using the web to create communications opportunities, and he’s started his own agency (Diffusion PR) to try to offer specialised services in London. He cites an article by Paul Holmes as one of the sources of inspiration for the new agency, and one line of that particularly caught my attention:


 ***

found in Battle Plan @ haha.nu.

 

 

 

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March 28, 2008

"An appreciation of Arthur C. Clarke

An appreciation of Arthur C. Clarke



"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." (Clarke's Third Law)

How do you summarize a man like Arthur C. Clarke? The 90-year-old futurist and science fiction writer, who described himself as a "serial processor", died yesterday in Sri Lanka, his long-time home. Among the authors of the Golden Age of the genre in the 1950s, Clarke is a giant whose creative ideas have found purchase in the real world -- most notably the notion of a synchronous communication satellite, which he envisioned in 1945, but which did not become a reality for 20 more years....


image

Found in tearitdown.org

Tearitdown.org is Amnesty International’s global initiative to end illegal US detentions and a major online action under Amnesty International’s campaign to Counter Terror With Justice.

 

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March 20, 2008

"Democracy in the network age:

Arthur C Clarke, writer and futurist, dies at 90

Arthur C Clarke
Arthur C Clarke. Photograph: Fiona Hanson/PA
· Heart failure kills creator of 2001: A Space Odyssey
· Author's forecasts proved uncannily accurate

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February 29, 2008

"World wide webs: Diasporas and the international system

Why blog? Self-interest as motivation...

By Philip Young

An obvious question for people taking my Intro to Weblogs module is "Why blog?" The obvious answer from my perspective is "Because you get more out of it than you put in." In PR Strategy we are looking at persuasion, and recognising that self-interest is one of the most powerful forces PR can harness.

Source Camps Replication Materials

a new resource - http://replication.tacticaltech.org

We would like to announce that we have just finished a new resource. A resource that we hope all of you might like, it is called the 'Source Camp Replication Materials'. It is a website where you can find information, templates, tips and secrets about organising Source Events.

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February 27, 2008

“Paradigm Shift” Needed in Social Science Doctoral Education

“Paradigm Shift” Needed in Social Science Doctoral Education

By Reflection Cafe

Social Science PhDs – Five+ Years Out is a survey of 3,025 individuals who received their Ph.D.s between 1995 and 1999 in six fields, including political science, to assess the quality of doctoral education in U.S. social science programs.

The survey was conducted by the Center for Innovation and Research in Graduate Education (CIRGE) at the University of Washington. Similar to a report released in January by the Carnegie Initiative on the Doctorate (see related story “Five-Year Study Calls for Change”), the CIRGE study found current doctoral education programs lacking in preparing their students for the 21st-century job market. According to the report:Social science doctoral students need better career preparation and better support for learning to manage careers...........

@ haha.nu in Playboy Towel

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February 08, 2008

"World Report 2008: Democracy Charade Undermines Rights...

World Report 2008: Democracy Charade Undermines Rights

Source: Human Rights Watch

The established democracies are accepting flawed and unfair elections for political expediency, Human Rights Watch said today in releasing its World Report 2008. By allowing autocrats to pose as democrats, without demanding they uphold the civil and political rights that make democracy meaningful, the United States, the European Union and other influential democracies risk undermining human rights worldwide.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) executive director Kenneth Roth, seen ...
Human Rights Watch (HRW) executive director Kenneth Roth, seen here in 2005, has warned that Europe and the United States increasingly tolerate autocrats posing as democrats out of pure self-interest.
(AFP/File/Ted Aljibe)

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January 27, 2008

More Davos diaries...

Turkey's Foreign Minister Ali Babacan gestures while speaking ...

Turkey's Foreign Minister Ali Babacan gestures while speaking during a working session at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Saturday Jan. 26, 2008. Business leaders and ministers will focus their attentions Saturday on the issue of trade and discuss the chances of getting a breakthrough in the WTO's Doha round of negotiations for a global trade deal. Seated left is Denmark's Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen.
(AP Photo/Michel Euler)

 

Important revelation by Babacan on Turkish-Armenian relations - Hürriyet

Ertuğrul Özkök reports from Davos, Switzerland

Foreign Minister Ali Babacan has made an important announcement to Hürriyet writer Ertuğrul Özkök on Turkish-Armenian relations. Babacan stated that 70 thousand Armenians had immigrated to Turkey with the aim of seeking employment.

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January 24, 2008

"Davos rediscovers economics

British actress and writer Emma Thompson reacts as she attends ...

British actress and writer Emma Thompson reacts as she attends a session of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos January 24, 2008.

REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth (SWITZERLAND)

Davos rediscovers economics

The World Economic Forum is a giant schmoozefest, but this time the forum's members rediscover their economic purpose.

 

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January 23, 2008

"Introduction to Global Citizen Media

Introduction to Global Citizen Media

Source: Global Voices

Publishing Advice for Graduate Students

Publishing Advice for Graduate Students
Source: Social Science Research Network (SSRN)

Graduate students often lack concrete advice on publishing. This essay is an attempt to fill this important gap. Advice is given on how to publish everything from book reviews to articles, replies to book chapters, and how to secure both edited book contracts and authored monograph contracts, along with plenty of helpful tips and advice on the publishing world (and how it works) along the way in what is meant to be a comprehensive, concrete guide to publishing that should be of tremendous value to graduate students working in any area of the humanities and social sciences.

 

Continue reading ""Introduction to Global Citizen Media" »

January 22, 2008

"Information overload in the Facebook-ABC presidential debates?

 

Information overload in the Facebook-ABC presidential debates?

MANCHESTER, N.H.--It sounded like a good idea at first: let Internet users be part of, virtually speaking, the Democratic and Republican presidential debates on Saturday evening by posting comments on a special Facebook message board.

But it turned out to be one of those ideas that may be better in theory than in practice. During the East coast broadcast of the debates, Facebook users posted around 35,000 "Soundboard" messages, meaning that at perhaps 50 characters each, that's some 1.75 million characters to read during an approximately three-hour period. All of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, by contrast, is only 700,000 characters....................

 

13152914 6C7Ef66B67

In Top 10 Worst Logos: In case you can’t tell - it is a Japanese house in front of the rising sun. what else could it be?

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January 10, 2008

New Hampshire Primaries winners: Clinton and McCain

It's Clinton and McCain

By Blake Hounshell

NBC and the Associated Press are now calling the New Hampshire primary for Hillary Clinton, who leads Barack Obama 39 to 36. On the Republican side, John McCain was long ago called the winner, though his lead over Mitt Romney has narrowed to just five or six points. Ladies and gentlemen, we have ourselves a real race. This is going to be exciting. More in the morning.....

 

Live Blogging on the New Hampshire Primaries

By Henning Meyer 

Update 04.45 GMT (Henning)

The unexpected has happened with the victory of Hillary Clinton in New Hampshire. This result again shows how carefully opinion polls before elections need to be interpreted. There will be some headscratching amongst pollsters now and there are some suggestions that the issue behind the huge error margin is race. People might lie to pollsters because they don’t want to come across as racist but vote differently in the secret ballot. Have also a look at Paul Krugman’s latest book “The Conscience of a Liberal” if you are interested in the issue of race in US politics...................

 

Ten issues that will shape the election after New Hampshire

 

The world's top think tanks

........

James G. McGann of the Foreign Policy Research Institute has published a report (pdf) on "the global go-to think tanks." Here's the list, which was compiled from a pool of 228 nominees using input from a panel of more than 50 international experts:

  1. Centre for European Policy Studies, Belgium
  2. French Institute of International Relations, France
  3. German Institute for International Politics and Security, Germany
  4. Institute of World Economy and International Relations, Russia
  5. International Crisis Group, Belgium
  6. International Institute for Strategic Studies, United Kingdom
  7. Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies, Israel
  8. Japan Institute of International Affairs, Japan
  9. Royal Institute of International Affairs, United Kingdom
  10. Shanghai Institute for International Studies, China

Continue reading "New Hampshire Primaries winners: Clinton and McCain" »

January 02, 2008

the NYT's Notable Deaths of 2007 and more...



Backing an Islamic Party: A picture is worth a thousand slogans and not just in Lebanon.


A list of the 50 most loathsome people in America...

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November 23, 2007

"EU and the global hollywood

EU and the global hollywood

In a harsh critique of EU film policy, Hans Erik Næss claims that European funding programmes that focus on "European cultural identity and cultural heritage" are totally misguided.........


Houses With Great Views

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October 31, 2007

"15 reasons why social network Facebook may be worth $15bn and "20 Best Places to get Free books...........

 
Foto muhabiri
VIA 
 
Guardian A self-defeating hegemony Francis Fukuyama: Four key mistakes made by the Bush administration have made anti-Americanism one of the chief fault lines of global politics...
 

Secularism confronts Islam, Olivier Roy The vigorous debate about Muslims in Europe and their relationship to the west's understanding of itself needs to be informed by an understanding of history's duality and the present's fluidity

All for one, one for all Simon Tisdall The rare alignment of Europe's big three presents an opportunity for the EU to make a fresh start.

Top dollar? 15 reasons why social network Facebook may be worth $15bn

20 Best Places to get Free books

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September 08, 2007

"US Army's strategy in Afghanistan: better anthropology

Transatlantic Trends 2007 -- View the 2007 Key Findings Report 

Rembrandt to Thiebaud: A Decade of Collecting Works on Paper at the Legion of Honor

News

Rembrandt Harmensz van Rijn (Dutch, 1606–1669) The Shell (Conus marmoreus), 1650.

 

Quick guide: US elections

 

 Tim Burton at Venice Film Festival

Burton is unveiling his latest film at the festival

Venice honours director Burton

Director Tim Burton is honoured with a career award at the Venice Film Festival...

Tears of an intellectual warmonger

Linda McQuaig: Michael Ignatieff's apology for supporting the invasion of Iraq is a hollow attempt to avoid blame for the disaster.

The Times Rising tensions between allies in action There are half a dozen disagreements between Britain and the US over tactics in Afghanistan Bronwen Maddox

US Army's strategy in Afghanistan: better anthropology Counterinsurgency efforts focus on better grasping and meeting local needs.

ACLU Releases U.S. Army Documents That Depict American Troops’ Involvement in Civilian Casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan
Source: American Civil Liberties Union

 

From our files: An interview with Luciano Pavarotti

In 1972, the Monitor spoke with the legendary tenor, who died early Thursday morning in his hometown of Modena, Italy.

RIP Pavarotti The critical buzz on Luciano Pavarotti and Tim Gunn's Guide to Style.
Blake Wilson

Luciano Pavarotti, King of the High Cs, is dead at the age of 71... NYT ... Phil Inq ... Time ... Chic Trib ... London Times ... IHT ... BBC ... AP ... Telegraph ... WP ... Boston Globe ... LATimes ... SF Chron

 

New EUA report highlights challenges for doctoral education in Europe

Source: European University Association

A letter on boredom and academia. Literary boredom: Why is academic writing so boring? Academics love a dull read

Continue reading ""US Army's strategy in Afghanistan: better anthropology" »

September 04, 2007

"Military anthropologist starts blogging about his experiences

Military anthropologist starts blogging about his experiences

By Lorenz

One of the anthropologists who is working for the military has started blogging about his experiences with the U.S. Army. His name is Marcus Griffin, professor at Christopher Newport University, Virginia (USA). He now works at Ft. Hood, Texas, for the time being participating in a simulation of activities that prepares Army personnel "to work effectively in Iraq" as he calls it....

 

Heatmap showing where test participants looked on the homepage of www.census.gov
The areas users looked at the most are colored red;
the yellow areas indicate fewer views, followed by the least-viewed blue areas.
Gray areas didn't attract any fixations.

in Fancy Formatting, Fancy Words = Looks Like a Promotion = Ignored

 

The cult of the amateur and how internet changes our culture

Ewan McIntosh

"Audio podcasting won't take over the world"

By Lorenz

Podcasting - publishing mp3-interviews on websites - has become more popular in the social sciences, including anthropology. But as Paul Ayres writes in an article for ALISS Quarterly, the journal of the Association of Librarians and Information professionals in the Social Sciences, content producers have already started to move on to video....

Immanuel Wallerstein RIP: Nonproliferation


@ haha.nu.

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August 22, 2007

"Turkey vote goes to second round

Still in Bayburt, still in an internet cafe and now waiting for the second round of presidential elections. Under normal conditions Mr. Gül will be elected in the third round. I am now ready to go back to Istanbul but my plane leaves tomorrow from Erzurum. My 'Eastern' tour will end up in Erzurum, where I have never been before...

Turkey vote goes to second round

The frontrunner for Turkey's presidency, Abdullah Gul, fails to win the presidency outright in a parliamentary vote.

Turkish power balance shifts

Turkey's Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul has a second, improved, chance at the presidency, says the BBC's Sarah Rainsford.

Who liked Sezer?

By EMRE AKÖZ, SABAH

President Ahmet Necdet Sezer has put his home in Ankara on the market. The real estate agent selling the house says, “We won’t give the house to anyone wearing a headscarf.”

DTP wants a constitution recognizing Kurdish reality

The Democratic Society Party's (DTP) parliamentary group leader Ahmet Türk yesterday said they would like to see a peaceful solution to the Kurdish problem and their search for “dialogue...

Differing inclinations conflict in DTP

By METİN METİNER, BUGÜN

There is widespread conviction that the Democratic Society Party (DTP) is a “political branch” of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). That is to say, an organic relationship between the two is described as “an open secret.”

Alevi MP asks Halaçoğlu to resign

President of the Turkish History Institution (TTK) Yusuf Halaçoğlu's statement on the roots of Kurdish and Alevi persons sparked a debate here. The ruling Justice and Development Party's (AKP)...

Turkey and history: shoot the messenger by Taner Akçam

I am a historian of Turkey and the author of many books and articles on the subject of Turkish nationalism and the Armenian genocide of 1915, among them From Empire to Republic: Turkish Nationalism and the Armenian Genocide (Zed Books, 2004) and A Shameful Act: The Armenian Genocide and the Question of Turkish Responsibility (Henry Holt, 2007)

 

JTW News - Turkish lesson number one: centers and peripheries in Turkey

Continue reading ""Turkey vote goes to second round" »

July 23, 2007

"Turkey: Human Rights Concerns in the Lead up to July Parliamentary Elections

 Turkish result: Your views

BBC's Have your say...

Turkey's governing AK Party have claimed a comprehensive victory in the country's general election. Send us your reaction....

EU talks to thrash out new treaty

The European Union launches talks on drafting a new treaty to reform the 27-member bloc.

tons of links below:) 

Continue reading ""Turkey: Human Rights Concerns in the Lead up to July Parliamentary Elections" »

July 03, 2007

Useful European databases

Continue reading "Useful European databases" »

June 29, 2007

Global Unease With Major World Powers

Pew Research Center:

Global Unease With Major World Powers

Rising Environmental Concern in 47-Nation Survey

 

Environment and US policy top global fears · Worldwide support for withdrawal of Iraq troops · But Putin scores worse than Bush in huge survey...

June 26, 2007

Newsweek Global literacy test

How much do you know about politics, technology, health, film and more? Test yourself.

 

Well to my suprise I haven't done well in the first questions (!)

June 14, 2007

"Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000: Trafficking in Persons Report 2007

The US gov't report on human trafficking can be found here.

Piece on Turkey narrated here.  

June 12, 2007

Austria and Slovakia join club for a social EU

Austria and Slovakia have become the latest member states to join an informal group of governments promoting social Europe and the balance between economic freedom and social rights.

 

Serb leader jailed for war crimes


Milan Martic in court

Milan Martic was found guilty of persecuting non-Serbs

The international war crimes tribunal in The Hague has sentenced a former Serb rebel leader to 35 years in jail for atrocities carried out in Croatia.

 

Key documents thru EU Observer

11.06.2007 - 20:10 CET | By Helena Spongenberg

Europe diary: MEPs and motors

BBC Europe editor Mark Mardell on the appeal of fast cars, the damage they do to the climate, and moves being debated in Europe to limit car emissions and put a health warning on car advertisements.