Articles on global issues

What lessons MUST the EU learn going forward? Supercilious attitudes and one-size-fits-all policies cannot maintain themselves over the long run.The Future of the EU?What lessons MUST the EU learn going forward? Brexit, after all, is nothing more than the canary in the coal mine; an indicator that the supercilious attitude and one-size-fits-all policies of Brussels cannot maintain...

Constitutionalism means the limitation of the power of the sovereign vis-à-vis the unalienable rights of the individual.THE FUTURE OF CONSTITUTIONALISM: CONSTITUTIONALIZE BEFORE YOU DEMOCRATIZE EXECUTIVE SUMMARYThis article is about the future of democracy based on constitutionalism. What do we mean when we say democracy, fair elections, and constitutionality? What has been...

The 21st century promises to be the American Century to an even greater extent than the 20th

The following appeared on the Op-Ed page of the Los Angeles Times (August 27, 2013) regarding the situation in Egypt

I am not opposed to the death penalty in principle. I am, however, opposed to it in practice.

Environmentalists are either Human Centered (anthropocentric) or Nature Centered (biocentric) which denigrates policies based on primary concern for humanity.

Putin plays chess; Obama plays marbles”; What am I missing? Hasn't anyone noticed that Putin just lost Ukraine?

When Obama says he wants to pivot from Middle East to Asia he is reflecting decades of American policy reevaluation.The following is a thought experiment: an attempt to understand the Iranian deal by way of logical speculation regarding the issues and facts as perceived by the Obama administration.I am assuming that Obama is not a Marxist/Islamist/Kenyan, consumed by post-colonial resentment...

nergy is the grand strategic joint of human civilization in the twenty-first century. What is a joint? According to the great British military theoretician Basil Liddel Hart, it is the point that, when attacked, will provide the greatest benefit for the least effort. It must be both vital and vulnerable. Reducing energy use provides the greatest benefit to humankind because it is multidimensional....

Prophets of doom are everywhere. We are headed for global catastrophe: climate change, population growth, shortages of water, deforestation, food shortages, and the end of oil are all converging to destroy the planet and modern human civilization as we have known it! We must stop economic growth in order to ‘save the planet’ and survive as a species!There are even calls to ‘de-develop&rsquo...

PART I: FROM POST-MODERNISM TO NEO-MODERNISMModern Utopianism and the development of utopian thought were coeval with the advent of “Modernism” and the “Idea of Progress” itself and reflected the Enlightenment belief that human beings could create rational and just societies.  Thomas More’s Utopia was a first attempt to depict such a society. Francis Bacons...

While the postmodernist social scientist often uses words to obfuscate, ‘hard sciences’ scientists often use mathematics to obfuscate

ABSTRACT:This is a letter to the late Christopher Hitchens, disputing his take on the historical role of the concept(not the reality) of monotheism as being utterly evil. It posits that monotheism played a vital role in the development of science, constitutionalism and social justice – that Occam’s Razor (vital to the development of both science and constitutionalism) is historically...

The revolution in material science now taking place—specifically “smart materials”—shows that there are no limits to growth.

Countries with natural resources invest in resource development. Countries without natural resources invest in their citizens to generate wealth.

The handicapped are seen as needy objects of concern, rather than autonomous subjects capable of managing their own lives.

Environmentalists in 2099 were worried about the impending manmade Ice Age and the disappearance of the world’s deserts.

The so-called ‘War on Terror’ is a ludicrous concept. Terror is a tactic and you cannot wage war on a tactic. You can wage war on an ideology or a policy but you cannot wage war on a tactic. The enemy is not terror, it is the Jihadist campaign to conquer the entire world; it is a ‘War on Islamism’; or as PM David Cameron put it on August 29th 2014 “poisonous...

he aggregate turnover and cash flow of religious activities globally make religion a major world business sector.Even though there are no statistics on the economics of religion one might reasonably assume that if one calculated the aggregate turnover and cash flow of all the religions and religious activities globally – their aggregate buying power and the goods and services they produce...

The 19th century was European; the 20th century was American; the 21st century could be the women’s century.Originally posted: Apr 21, 2012 on The Center for Strategic Futurist ThinkingThe 19th century was the European century; the 20th century was the American century and the 21st century could be the women’s century. This is a conclusion drawn from a combination of several factors:...