I am fascinated by what the recent Wikileaks revelations confirm about U.S. diplomacy and foreign policy. And I often wonder how the American Founding Fathers would judge today’s course. George Washington, I believe, would be rather appalled.
In his Farewell Address of 1796, George Washington had this to say about foreign relations:
A passionate attachment of one nation for another produces a variety of evils. Sympathy for the favorite nation, facilitating the illusion of an imaginary common interest in cases where no real common interest exists, and infusing into one the enmities of the other, betrays the former into a participation in the quarrels and wars of the latter without adequate inducement or justification. It leads also to concessions to the favorite nation of privileges denied to others which is apt doubly to injure the nation making the concessions; by unnecessarily parting with what ought to have been retained, and by exciting jealousy, ill-will, and a disposition to retaliate, in the parties from whom equal privileges are withheld. And it gives to ambitious, corrupted, or deluded citizens (who devote themselves to the favorite nation), facility to betray or sacrifice the interests of their own country, without odium, sometimes even with popularity; gilding, with the appearances of a virtuous sense of obligation, a commendable deference for public opinion, or a laudable zeal for public good, the base or foolish compliances of ambition, corruption, or infatuation.
Wise words indeed! Would the America face a terrorism problem today if it had heeded Washington’s warnings? Would it have been drawn into the Cold War?
We can’t know for sure. What we do know is that George Washington’s admonitions have been ignored in the last 100 years. Read the full passage of Washington’s speech dealing with foreign relations:
Yesterday and today, the world was awash in news about the latest disclosures on Wikileaks.
The official U.S. reaction was hysterical — and predictable. A cacophony of American politicians is frothing at the mouth and screaming for blood. Wikileaks should be investigated for all sorts of crimes, including treason. Wikileaks should even be branded a “terrorist” organization. (I dare ask: who exactly is being “terrorized”?) And since this morning, the site was down due to hacking attacks so massive that U.S. cyberwar and intelligence agencies must be considered the main suspects.
Unfortunately, the heavy-handed response by U.S. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton and others did even more harm by feeding into the negative perception much of the world already harbors: that the U.S. has gotten out of control; that America has turned from a benevolent guarantor of world peace and stability into one huge, egomaniac, narcissistic, hypocritical, imperialist and gluttonous global bully.
Clinton, her posse and her government colleagues also exposed that they are hopelessly out of touch with the new realities of the 21st Century information age. The whole depth of the paradigm shift brought on by information technology has not even dawned on these people. Digital IT will change the civilized world more fundamentally than Gutenberg’s printing press from around 1440 — and much faster. Attempts to thwart the free flow of information are becoming as counterproductive and futile as book burnings once were.
I was reminded of what Plato would have said about this affair.
Even 2,400 years ago Plato knew: morality comes from full disclosure. It is human nature that without accountability for our actions, we all become compromised as time passes. Moreover, the power to conceal one’s actions leads to temptation and corruption.
To illustrate, Plato told the parable of the Ring of Gyges, which we find in The Republic.
According to legend, the wearer of the ring of Gyges can make himself invisible at will. Found in a cave tomb by this simple shepherd tending his flock, Gyges discovered the ring’s secret. Intoxicated with its powers, Gyges infiltrated the palace of the King of Lydia, seduced the queen, then conspired with her to murder the king. He topped off his coup d’état by making himself King of Lydia.
Plato observed that even a habitually just and humble man who possessed such a ring would become a thief, knowing that if he couldn’t be seen, he could not be caught.
Plato (in the voice of his character Glaucon) argues that morality is a social construction, whose source is the desire to maintain one’s reputation for virtue and honesty. Without the threat of sanctions, moral character would begin to evaporate. Those who abuse the power of the Ring of Gyges slowly but surely descend into moral bankruptcy and suffer irreparable failings of character.
Many times over, human history shows how right Plato was.
We are still slow to understand and learn from past mistakes. Ever since World War II, we have allowed the amount of information concealed by the U.S. and other democracies to increase exponentially. All for the sake of “national security”, as we are supposed to believe.
Necessary or not, the ability to keep huge sectors of America out of the view and scrutiny of Americans also handed the Ring of Gyges to the administrators of major portions of the national budget, and to ever growing sectors of government.
Today’s situation is the result. Plato would not have been surprised at all.
Just before one of the most important American holidays (and peak travel season), the ferocious debate about the new full-body scanners and manual body searches at U.S. airports shows no sign of abating.
What I find most infuriating is the perplexing amount of disinformation and blatant propaganda spewed by the TSA and its supporters, to the degree where it becomes condescending and insulting to rational human beings. Continue reading →
I have been watching in amazement how Facebook, which now has half a billion users, is evolving into a gigantic online diary. Assuming it will be around for our entire lifetime, it has the potential to become a chronicle of our lives.
CG artist Maxime Luère plays on this notion in his amazing video:
It’s been exactly 30 years today since Voyager 1 made its closest approach to Saturn. Its sister ship, Voyager 2, followed closely behind. Curious where they are now?
Voyager 1, which was launched on Sept. 5, 1977, is currently about 17 billion kilometers (11 billion miles) away from the sun. It is the most distant spacecraft launched from Earth. Voyager 2, which was sent on its way on Aug. 20, 1977, is travelling at a distance of 14 billion kilometers (9 billion miles) from the sun.
Both craft have reached the outer regions of the Solar System and are still returning useful scientific data. (Where exactly we should consider the Solar System to end and interstellar space to begin is subject of scientific controversy. Some astronomers take the position that the solar system extends quite a bit further. If the Voyagers continue to radio back measurements, they might contribute to the debate).
The Voyagers were built by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, which continues to operate both spacecraft.
A Pentagon official, taken by surprise, called the incident “bizarre”. The U.S. military seems stumped, and nobody has been able to offer any explanation so far.
Last night just before dusk, a KCBS news helicopter captured footage of what appears to be a large missile launched about 35 miles off the coast of Los Angeles. The launch site, destination and who launched it are part of a mystery.
Of course, this could just be a strange visual illusion — most likely the con trail of a passenger jet, illuminated by the sinking sun. But if it is not, we should be seriously concerned.
If it was indeed a missile — could it be American? Theoretically, yes, but not likely. California is home to several weapons test sites. And the state is home to several U.S. Navy surface ships and submarines capable of executing such a launch, which can be done from a submerged sub. However, the U.S. Navy has denied that any exercise or test took place in the area last night, and has denied any involvement. A spokesperson of Vandenberg Air Force Base, on the coast a little further up north, denied that the con trail originated from there. Neither Navy, nor the Air Force, NORAD or the Defense Department have been able to come up with an explanation so far. And the Federal Aviation Administration had not approved any commercial launch activity in the area on Monday, a spokesman said.
A secret weapons test seems highly unlikely because such tests are not usually conducted in plain sight of a major metropolis, and not in one of the busiest shipping routes along the U.S. West Coast. And firing a large rocket in an unrestricted, civilian airspace would be a violation of all kinds of aviation regulations. And very stupid. Furthermore: judging from the video footage, the con trails seems far too big to come from an amateur rocket.
All the above seems very improbable. Whoever did this must have anticipated (or even desired) the incident to be seen. In the absence of other likely explanations, there are not many plausible scenarios left. But all the remaining ones are all rather disconcerting.
(1) It could have been an accidental firing off a U.S. Navy vessel. (Again, highly improbable, and it would be unwise to attempt a cover-up).
(2) It could have been a demonstration of a hostile foreign nation such as North Korea, which may have secretly developed a submarine-based launch system of their own. In addition to the U.S., Britain’s Royal Navy and the French and Russian navies have the capability as well. And while the first two are allies without a need to conduct such an exercise, Russia would seem disinclined to provoke an international incident with a silly stunt. Besides, the official Russian military has no need to demonstrate their abilities in this area either. Which leaves China and India, both of which have very limited submarine-based missile capability. Both have some new systems believed to come online this year. (Obama is in India at the moment, on his first official visit there. Could this have something to do with it?)
(3) The missile may have been launched from a surface ship disguised as a cargo or shipping vessel — possibly by a terrorist organization or other cartel using a commercial weapons system clandestinely brought close to the American shore. The possible purpose? A demonstration, test or exercise of some sort.
Such systems do exist. The most dangerous I know of is a Russian system developed by Concern Morinformsystem-Agat.
Known as the “Club K Container Missile System”, it consists of 4 surface-to-surface missiles and their launch tubes, concealed in a standard 40-foot shipping container. Such containers are ubiquitous around the world. Tens of millions are traveling on ocean ships, trains and trucks at any given moment. Their sheer number means that they cannot be effectively monitored.
The Club K system is unique in that it appears to be quite autonomous and automated. Concealed within their standard shipping container, the missiles and their launch system could travel, undetected, around the world. Any regular container ship, truck or flatbed train car are possible carriers. Once the container comes within 136 miles (220 km) of its intended target (as determined by GPS), the launch system inside the container activates, erects the launch platform and fires off the missiles. And after that, there is no defense. Ingenious — and very, very difficult to neutralize.
To show how this works, here is a video simulation:
This will be a fascinating story to follow. Clear is only: unless the Pentagon knows something it is not telling the public (and that too would not be unheard of), there is a flurry of major investigations going on right now.
I am fascinated with robots. One day, they could relieve us of most menial and dangerous labor and give us the freedom to dedicate more of our time to meaningful pursuits. In fact, in order to take care of the aging population in industrial countries, we might not have any other choice but to deploy robots in great numbers.
Japanese institutes and companies are making great strides in robotics and have taken the lead in android development. This video presents a Japanese android singer, along with a troupe of human performers.
The song is not just a recording. It is actually “sung” or synthesized by the machine, which could theoretically sing any song. Sure, the look and sound are not ready for Broadway just yet. But if this technology develops as fast as the automobile did since 1910, guess where we will be in 100 years!
