I think if all women looked just like Laetitia Casta, the world would be a better place. Except for my wife, because she’s beautiful just the way she is,… so now I’m off that hook.

To comment on Steve’s point about how the “blonder” nations of Europe scored higher on academic tests than “darker” European nations. Could these higher scores be due to the fact that many of these tests, which were composed by white, western Europeans, pose a cultural bias. This may be comparable to asking both Canadian and American students to write identical tests on Canadian history. Gee…I wonder if the Canadian students would score better?…Just a suggestion.

Kitty —

Shhhhh, don’t tell.

Is this just another way of saying that blacks would be happier back in Africa? And we to see them go?

The most significant factor in this whole incident was the fact that the boys were charged with attempted murder, which you only indirectly addressed. Everything else is static – without the attempted murder charges, it would’ve have garnered all the attention it did. Why did you put it at the end of your piece as an afterthought, instead of immediately addressing it? Again, you blame the media, as usual. Clearly, you’re the one with the agenda.

Excellent advice, AE. I've been doing this for close to a year now and it helps on gas quite noticeably. My route to work is routine, and I've memorized the patterns of the traffic lights to the point that if it's off it throws me out of whack. I can time it at one intersection to the point that i can take my foot off the accelerator about 1000 ft in advance of an intersection, coast toward the intersection, and then have the light turn green again about 100 ft before I reach the intersection. Having a digital mpg reader is uselful in telling me what speeds are most efficient.

One excellent addition to the roadways here in Chicago is what I presume to be roadway sensors that keep the lights on the main arteries green if there is no traffic waiting at the opposing street of an intersection.
My Passat can get up to about 28-30mpg at if I travel at a steady pace between 40 and 60mph. I also drive a lot through industrial areas to get to and from work and tail 53' trailers at about 4 or 5 car lengths. My absolute maximum was 34.8 mpg doing that. Not only does it save gas, it's actually a good way to avoid tickets if I'm going 40 in a 30 one.

"Libertarians claim that prostitution, illicit drug use, and in the extreme even public sexual acts and the removal of age boundaries restricting them, should be legally allowed. They are difficult to prevent, and in any case are victimless crimes.

The harrowing sex-slave trade in Southeast Asia and the cartel-controlled cities of Mexico aside, it is bad news for locals if such activities find a home in the community. It attracts the dregs of humanity, in turn increasing crime rates, lowering property values, and freightening off other forms of investment."

You hit the nail on the head. Legalized or not, activities like drug use and prostitution are those of people of low character, and poor morals. Not the kind of people with whom extended contact is a blessing.

His famous keynote speech at the Democratic National Convention moved me to tears.

A cliche-ridden speech by a slick politician moved this “man” to tears? I bet this guy cries when his favorite singer gets voted off of American Idol, too.

The Democrats – not to mention America – need a mixed-race spokesperson who can connect to both urban blacks and rural whites,

Obama is viewed as black, not as mixed-race by most whites.

who has the credibility to challenge the status quo on issues ranging from misogynistic rap to unfair school funding.

I don’t know about y’all, but I’m not voting for a presidential candidate based on what he can do about “misogynistic rap”.

Why is there no mention of the alleged recent Chinese naval exercises? That’s the only plausible reason.

I did the test, and all four came out exactly equal.

Wow Steve, you are pretty pathetic in your passive-aggressive Obama-trashing. In a post about a completely unrelated, yet off-putting topic you feel the need to toss in a dig about a supporter being a supposed hoaxster, implications about “the lackadaisical African model” (Kenyan! – hint, hint) and Chicago (hint, hint!) corruption. Get a grip man.

This recent conflict provides further proof that the first to shoot loses.

Very simplistic and glib response there Steve. This IS the racial discussion we as a society need to have, and Loury’s essay by no means fails to address the facts of black crime rates (as you imply). He puts his biases on the table and challenges them. Do you?

I’ve read lots of your stuff over the years, and you love to think of yourself as being blunt and saying things that others won’t. And I’m sure you can point to links where you’ve addressed these topics in more depth before. But put your own biases and policy preferences out there now – continue our massively failing path of more and more punitive action and segregation? Encourage more racial self-segregation that you seem quick to recognize? Accept that genetic racial differences are so great that black/white integration in America is doomed to permanent failure? On the big questions, you’re the one who’s often coy.

Nice post – two quick comments…

I’m on twitter, too!! @siberianlight

If you check out the list of who I’m following, you should be able to pick out a few other Russia bloggers too, although I’m still quite new at twitter, so I haven’t found everyone yet either.

http://twitter.com/siberianlight

The British Helsinki Human Rights Group are an interesting organization, to say the least. I’d recommend checking out the wikipedia page about them.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BHHRG

Mike, some comparative PPP stats for 2008:

Russia: $15,800
Romania: $12,200
Moldova: $2,500

Not sure of historical figures and how they’ve shifted over the past 20 years or so.

But I don’t think your argument that Moldova used to be better off than Romania, Moldova is now poorer than Romania, therefore closer relations with Russia are the answer.

A different way to look at it would be to consider why Romania has had such a startling level of success compared with Moldova, and to attempt to emulate Romania.

Personally, I think Moldova will be (in the long term) financially better off seeking EU membership. The problem with this is that Moldova is so poor, chaotic, divided and corrupt that the EU wouldn’t touch them with a barge pole in the short term.

Which leaves Moldova with an agonising dilemna – chase after the short term and lower level financial security that Russia offers. Or chase after the EU’s pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, which they may never reach…

(PS – definitely agree that Moldova is drifting back & forth at the moment, and that such drifting will become trivial if Russia-West relations improve.)

Great take on the ‘Russian blogs popularity contest’ theme!

I’m now gutted that I ditched the Premium News theme that GUSNews are using – if I’d kept it, would I have won?

(By the way, Krusenstern – krusenstern.ch – is another German site using the Premium News theme to great effect.)

Thanks for pointing out the glitches in the theme – I upgraded the backend recently, and hadn’t noticed them. I’ll get them fixed as soon as possible, promise!

The Premium News theme that GUS News are using might be a good way to go if you plan on writing a lot of posts – if I remember correctly, it can be configured either as a magazine style theme, or a straight blog theme, and you can switch between the two reasonably easily, depending on posting frequency.

The Thesis theme I use has the same functionality, but is a paid theme.

Totally agree, by the way, about the logo over at Siberian Light. It’s on the list of things to fix!!

Out of curiosity with the U.S census occuring next year how if at all, do those of you living in the U.S think the dynamics have changed in terms of white/asian marriage and cohabitation? I can't say as I don't live in U.S but in my country I'd predict there has been a significant increase in white male asian female couples since early 2000's and unnoticable increase or decrease in the opposite since I don't see it enough to make a comparison. I don't know exactly when the white male asian female coupling started to gain more momentum but i'd predict the term yellow fever came into common use mid 2000's. So what are your predictions for your 2010 census?

Sounds silly to think it would make *that* big of a difference, since what I was clearly getting at was how econ (a social science) jumps out from the harder sciences. But OK, let’s treat the # of google hits for “nobel laureate” and the field as being directly proportional to the # of winners in the field, the # of webpages about that field overall, and the propensity toward arguing from authority. 
 
(And that’s certainly what the title “Nobel laureate” is doing — it’s not some neutral mention of there being a Nobel Prize. It’s dignifying a particular person with the honorific “Nobel laureate.”) 
 
So taking the # of hits with “nobel laureate” and the field / (# of winners in field * # of hits for the field overall), we get the following authority-arguing propensities (would make a great German word): 
 
Medicine: 8.9 E-6 
Chemistry: 1.6 E-5 
Physics: 2.0 E-5 
Economics: 5.6 E-5 
 
Point remains: the insecure social sciences are much more inclined to argue from authority than the harder sciences.

Online collaborating and teaching can work, If you have trust and the right tools.
I recently tried http://www.showdocument.com – good app for uploading documents and working on them in real-time.
Most file types are supported and it needs no installation. – andy

This is silly. Psychiatrists came up with a genetic model geneticists don’t like because they treat patients who give family histories and can tell that it is completely impossible that schizoprenia is due to a single gene due to the inheritance pattern.

What nobody in medicine wants to look at is the true cause, which in most cases is iatrogenic exposure to mercury. Genetics only create the environmental susceptibility.

good post, off to read some more!

Israel has enemies committed to its destruction so it’s no surprise to me that theyll try to gather all the information anywhere it can be found in order to most effectively counter those efforts. From the article it sounds like even those who do it clumsily are able walk away free [although for some reason Pollard is the exception and is still serving a surprising long sentence in jail] so where is the incentive to cease? I suppose that if the US gov’t cared that the Mossad was obtaining this information they’d take steps to prevent it.It’s possible that they’re trying and are just inept but I haven’t reached that conclusion.

“Ron Paul, Peter Schiff and Andrew Napolitano are the most honest and brightest lights in America today.”
Well said. Despite gov’t interventionist intentions there will be no funding unless we seize foreign oil to pay for it. I don’t rule that out, but it’s unlikely so it seem to me we’ll wind down our foreign involvement no matter who is in charge. I agree with the writer that if it has staying power the libertarian movement spearheaded by Ron Paul will take as much time to gain real power as it took for the 60’s leftists and 80’s neo cons to become mainstream. In the meantime despite the understandable whining and anger displayed here [along with a few off the charts lunatics which contribute some spice/entertainment in a manner Glen Beck I suspect has perfected] I believe that the USA is still a great place to live

“The story about how the state of Pennsylvania has employed an Israeli “security” company to check out various subversive groups, to include greens, Catholics, and teabaggers”

That is a mighty odd list of “subversives.” I can’t see a connection to what follows.

The rest of the article makes sense. Why should anyone be surprised that Israel uses whatever tech knowledge it has for it’s own interests. If the US gov’t believes those interests run counter to those of the US it best cease outsourcing so much security infrastructure. Unless the US is dependent on Israeli tech expertise, which I doubt is the case it seems to me that it would be simple enough to stop outsourcing. If it’s not considered a problem the gov’t should explain why that is the case so the public can understand why both knowingly and unknowingly sharing so much security related info with Israel is a positive state of affairs,or if it isn’t why we are continuing a wrong headed policy.

Paleontologists have never known what’s going on–they have a severe poverty of data. Paleontologists are set up for failure, and to look like squabbling jackasses. And because that’s what the field looks like, it probably attracts jackasses who like to squabble.

This is a rather “pop cultural” view of paleontology. Sure, sample sizes are small for some taxa. . .but then we have certain species of fossil fish and trilobites for which there are literally thousands of specimens out there. For every “jackass who likes to squabble”, there are 100 good scientists who are doing the careful work out of the limelight. Pick up a publication like Paleobiology or Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology – you might be pleasantly surprised!

By the same token, if I have to sit through one more evo devo or molecular clock talk or paper by some gene squeezer who has never even considered if their results possibly correspond to historical reality, I’m going to scream! 😉

“But the most humorous line in the editorial has to be the reference to disrupting a possible “peace settlement” between Israel and the Palestinians. Can even the Washington Post really believe that fantasy? ‘

I agree with you on that but from a different perspective. Israel was willing at Oslo to agree to a Palestinian State within slightly modified 1967 borders. It seems to me that this is a religious conflict. It’s not about a Palestinian State. Before 1967 when the Jordanians controlled half of Jerusalem and the West Bank the Islamic world was not prepared to recognize a Jewish State and it likely won’t until messianic times. A truce/cold peace allowing Arabs and Jews a “normal” life while accepting the reality of occasional terror from those opposed to that scenario ,and harsh responses necessary seems a realistic short term goal. In the region Israel is a nuclear power and at present has a decent economy centered around hi tech as well. It seems to me that it’s not going way unless it self destructs. If the USA weans itself off its dependence on Mideast oil it can leave the region to work out their own problems. In the meantime the military industrial complex is doing well, the American taxpayer isn’t even getting cheap oil, and most tragically too many of our soldiers are paying for it with life and limb in Iraq and Afghanistan with no end in sight.

Oh no! The brown and black people are coming! What will we do!

I can only imagine your high-pitched squeals of terror and outrage if a congressman had said his one loyalty was to Euro-Americans.

Pollard is lucky he wasn’t sentenced to death for treason and we’ll ever know for certain the consequences resulting from his crime. No objective person can dispute that Pollard was a traitor. That said many claim that he has served over 20 years in jail for a crime for which others have served far less. I think Obama will have to weigh the situation and then decide. I don’t think he would have a problem over this issue with the voters whether he pardons Pollard or not.

Aside from Israel, Egypt and Jordan the US is spending a fortune in Iraq and Afghanistan. If it’s in order to secure our oil and whatever other perceived interests the US have in the region and our economy demands it then the citizens should know. What we’re told is that we’re fighting a war on terror and/or bringing democracy to the region.I’m for keeping the US terror free but we need to go about it in smarter and a more cost effective way .Since 9/11 things have been pretty safe here but I’m not sure that’s a result of a wise use of resources. I think more luck and we’ve often been wasteful. Iran is more of a power in the region than before 9/11. If one didn’t know better one might think Iran was behind our foreign policy. Enough to leave one scratching their head. If the US was energy independent it could leave the region to work out its own future, but voters here seem to recoil from a gas tax or even a tax on gas guzzlers, much less energy exploration off shore or spending on alternative sources. I remember when we went into Iraq pundits said that for getting rid of Saddam Hussein we’d get cheap oil to cover the cost as a spoil of war. Maybe I heard incorrectly but something to that effect and for certain it hasn’t happened. As for Israel/Palestine The US is not about to solve that mess nor should we continue to lose credibility by trying . It seems that we have neither the will nor the ability and to pretend otherwise isn’t fooling the Arabs or Israelis who seem to be taking the money and doing what they believe to be in their best interests.

I don't believe a woman has ever been nominated in this category. You apprentice by climbing ladders carrying heavy lights, so upper body strength is a prerequisite.

Or maybe they lack the visual sense, as Bret Easton Ellis claims.

“…There’s something about the medium of film itself that I think requires the male gaze.”

What would that be?

We’re watching, and we’re aroused by looking, whereas I don’t think women respond that way to films, just because of how they’re built. [emphasis mine]

You don’t think they have an overt level of arousal?

[They have one] that’s not so stimulated by the visual. I think, to a degree, all the women I named aren’t particularly visual directors. You could argue that Lost in Translation is beautiful, but is that [cinematographer Lance Acord]? I don’t know. Regardless of the business aspect of things, is there a reason that there isn’t a female Hitchcock or a female Scorsese or a female Spielberg? I don’t know. I think it’s a medium that really is built for the male gaze and for a male sensibility. I mean, the best art is made under not an indifference to, but a neutrality [toward] the kind of emotionalism that I think can be a trap for women directors."

http://calitreview.com/9109

Basically I think it’s because of the number of Russians – both rich and poor – in London. A highly visible group of people who can be both accused of being richer than us, and scrounging off us.

As a consequence, they make great targets for some of Britain’s more diminutive politicians.

“I think Hillary trusts him precisely because he is corrupt. His experience in bringing Turkey & Israel together may be what she thinks she needs in AfPak, where everyone is on the take”

No surprise. Makes sense to me and I think for Obama as well or she wouldn’t have picked him for the position.

Looking at the history of Int’l politics one learns it may be even sleazier than the domestic variety. He may be the right man for the job. It seems to me that even if they believed it was true nothing he is alleged to have done would disqualify him as far as those who hired him are concerned.
We elect the politicians who appoint those they feel will best carry out there objectives, and Marc Grossman’s appointment seems to be an example of that policy.

Maybe after medicare benefits are cut and after the retirement age is raised before one can collect social security there will be a will on the part of our elected leaders to cut foreign aid to Israel and for that matter to Egypt and most everywhere else.What about military bases all over the world? Wars with no end in sight and no clear realistic objective? it seems that as long as the politicians get elected and relected there is no incentive for them to act differently.

“It’s been said that no chess game in history was ever won without sacrificing a few pawns!”

It’s a cruel way of stating it but it seems to me A. Barot is right on target and that the US gov’t acted on a deliberate policy then and is doing so now as well. What is in the best interest of US citizens is determined by our elected representatives. In today’s internet world where information seems to be more readily available one would think there would be greater transparency. The stock line about no friends only interests when it comes to int’l relations seems to be true of all nations.

It seems to me that Israel can get by without the 3 billion in annual aid from the US, which mostly goes to US companies as does Egypt’s aid to buy military equipment. lf it can’t get it here Israel may cut a deal with China in exchange for hi tech info etc. Russia? India?whomever. They are a nuclear power an dcan take care of themselves. Other than upsetting Muslims who have many grievances with the big Satan in addition to the US supporting Israel I don’t think this is a big issue. Two wars and now a third costing over 2 billion a week, weak dysfunctional public achools and the US entitlements in big trouble are a greater priority as I see it ,but for sure a case may be made that it’s better for both Israel and the US to cut the seeming welfare. If the military industrial complex and the lobbyists can be silenced it’ll happen.

hp, we know why., “If the citizenry do not hold their officials to standards, then any government gets our of hand. So the question becomes how can we ever have a sound government, and the answer is by a principled populace.” As has been said by Jefferson and Tocqueville, in a democracy people get the government they deserve.

After the Bush/Cheney administration and the current Obama /Biden one I wouldn’t necessarily view Palin on the ticket as a step down despite her tendency to speak her mind in areas where she seems ill informed. I think the phrase that fit’s is “better to remain silent and have folks think you’re a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.”Much too early to tell but I think that a Romney/Huckabee is a strong possibility in 2012.

Yeah, I agree – at the national level the results broadly reflect public opinion.

The problem is that the Russian Gov’t still allows sycophantic regional leaders like Kadyrov in Chechnya (and several others) to blatantly present returns which show 90%+ voting in favour of the Gov’t.

Eliminating stupid practices like this would go a long way towards reducing criticism of Russian elections.

Megan Fox no less exciting

Google+ is definitely capable of doing what both Facebook and Twitter do. Circles allow you to do all the more friends-only type stuff that Facebook does and public posts are analogous to Twitter.

Time will tell what happens, but after a week and a half with it, I personally don’t want to use anything else anymore.

The author and some folks on this site seem to feel it’s not in US interests to support the Jewish State of Israel. Some reasons given are:The costs are too high as alienating a billion Muslims.We should be more “evenhanded.” If we have to fight the Muslims over oil OK, but Israel is not vital to US interests. That a Jewish State exists or not is not US business. If Israel goes and if extreme Islamists who hold power want to take on the Europeons and the US then we’ll go to battle. Maybe they will be satisfied with the US out of their countries, and we can work out a deal re the oil we need. While this view is understandable, even if in my opinion mistaken, Israel is a nuclear power that will not go away as a Jewish State unless it self destructs from within. Acccording to my understanding the bible and sages who comment lay it out well. I’m not a fan of Pam Geller, but I think the statement you mock re the relationship of God and the Jewish nation/people is true. “Never fear, Pamela. God is with you too in this coming time.”

As stated I believe it’s true ,however how being “with you/ Israel” plays out seems to be, according to the biblical prophets, dependent on the behavior of the Jews.In particular those learned enough in bible to know their responsibilities. IE. the Orthodox. Unlearned/captured Jewish souls denied their own heritage seem hardly responsible for poor choices. According the the sages all the politicians and military powers are tools in the hands of the Creator. The glorious end for mankind is known, but how we arrive there is contingent on making wise free will choices. As the author wrote in jest but I believe it,”God is with you “but being with you is painful when the wrong choices are made. Th ebible states:”I set before you a blessing and a curse, choose life” An interpreation that makes sense to me is that Either way works to get to the destination of a perfected self and world , but one way is with tough love, so we are implored to choose life, which while requiring greater effort is for certain the wiser way to travel. The journey can be very painful[as it’s been so far], or not, depending on actions taken, or not. It is written that when the Jews keep the commandments the word of the lord will go forth from Zion, all the world will recognize their positive role as a people, and Israel as a nation throughout the history of mankind. As the sages state Zion will at that time be a blessing to the righteous of all nations and peace will be over the earth. i believe that God keeps his covenant. It is one of many mysteries that the Almighty allowed Zionism which began as a consciously anti religious, socialist movement to be a force ushering in the redemption. The movement has been undergoing a steady transformation. Both the army and the general population of Israel are becoming more open to hearing and learning God’s law, and the demographics continue to be encouraging with the religious being blessed with large families. It’s still a challenge, and the forces which seek to delay, and if possible, derail the redemption do not rest.
The majority of Muslims in Europe and the US are law abiding. Still,it does seem to me that Islamophobia is based on a real threat. At times in history nations and religions have been dominated by extreme sects that have taken power and exerted a powerful negative influence on their followers. That seems to have happened in several areas under Islamic control.

Marcy,

Your entitled to your views.I know both Israeli and American Jews with similar opinions. I may be mistaken but what I’ve expressed is based on much questioning and a traditional education. I view the bible differently than you. I do agree that racism and fascism are a potential danger. It is being confronted. It seems to me it won’t easily go away as long as the political reality remains as it is. Imagine Iif during the Civil Rights movement in the 1960’s that instead of wanting equal access to the American dream the Blacks in the US wanted the whites removed from much of the land at best, and killed at worst. Do you think it may have provoked some racism and fascism?
Re your comment to Bill P Isn’t the purpose of lobbyists to get elected officials to vote in a way that furthers their interests? AIPAC bagging re controlling 400 house members and 95 senators seems a bit much. They probably have access and some degree of influence over that many,but control only in their dreams. Your comment reminds me of the Jew who when he was feeling overwhelmed and down in the dumps would buy an antisemitic newspaper in order to cheer himself up by reading the articles claiming that the Jews have all the power and control the whole world.

“The oath will include a pledge to provide one’s first born for the next war wherever that might be and whenever the White House considers it appropriate.”
If that was the case [a draft?] it seems to me that the politicians would be less willing to commit our troops. If they did deem it essential they’d probably bring them home quickly, as any other policy would likely doom their hopes for reelection.

Now back to your article: Re Taliban tossing
I agree tossing a jihadist or two would likely titillate the crowd ,but I suspect after a couple of drops it would get boring. IAs post game tailgating and traffic congestion will last an hour or more what do you think about possibly moving the water boarding, which you suggested as part of the pregame festivities to post game?

Re: “If there were strong evidence of some form of life after death then this would certainly argue strongly against the sufficiency of neuroscientific materialism.”

I would say it certainly would argue against materialism, but not necessarily against the materialist view of the brain. It would just require a God to re-image the previously extant brain model, much like installing software on a new computer.

“But with the ability to address molecular mechanisms in the natural world, we can truly begin to understand how all of these factors interact to generate the biological diversity that motivated the early scientists and continues to inspire us today.”

I would add that models are still very important (possibly indispensable) tools to “address molecular mechanisms”, but these models can be in vitro, in silico as well as in vivo.

I think I understand that the authors believe in the idea of obtaining “hypotheses generating” data from sequencing projects in natural environments. On the other side of this coin, it will not always be possible to test hypotheses in this setting.

Singing! Am I the only one who wondered how LOTR was considered true to the books when it had no singing?

It seems to me unlikely to me that the US would start a war with Iran even if Santorum or Romney instead of Obama were in charge. It would not have the support of most Americans. Even in Israel were the perceived threat is greater many[if not the majority] as you write are against a preemptive strike.As in the US there are differing opinions and if those in power attempt to strike militarily at Iran it will be based on information which I don’t believe you or anyone writing here is fully aware.It’s hard to imagine Israel going it alone against Iran or even with US support given the likely casualties all around unless they had reason to believe a nuclear Iran was an imminent danger. I’ve read that China and India would both welcome greater military ties with high tech Israel if US support waned.In international politics it’s been said there are no friends just interests so that would not surprise me.

I believe that Paul is supported by kooks and ignoramouses as well as by many who are tired of Washington status quo, and who who are articulate and well informed on the issues. Paul’s honesty and consistency re his positions on the issues win him the respect of many on both sides of the aisle which is a reason he does well with independents.I’d guess that if Romney sews up the nomination early more people will vote for Paul to give him more input in the Republican party platform. Obama will be tough to beat and without a decent % of Paul supporters I think Romney will have little chance of victory.

It appears from the comments that there are differing opinions between Mormons over what beliefs and actions the Mormon church expects of its members. President Obama, with a Muslim father, stepfather and later as a member of the church of the Reverend Jeremiah Wright raised concerns as to how those experiences what would influence his decisions.They were answered to the satisfaction of enough voters to get him elected.Mitt Romney if nominated will also be further scrutinized by the voting public.I may be mistaken, but I suspect his religion will not be a negative factor if he is in fact the nominee, which is looking less probable for the reasons stated near the end of PG’s article.
A comment re “Christian” Zionism. As I understand it the idea that God is regathering the Jews in Palestine seems obvious , and it’s possible the dawn of the messianic age is at hand, but that does not require Jew,Mormon or anyone else to automatically support specific Israeli government policies. One just has to observe the vibrant differences within the Orthodox “religious” Jewish population in Israel itself. There, virtually all but a tiny minority of extremists are committed to the Jewish State’s survival,but there are differing opinions supported by various sages as to what is permitted regarding policies relating to the land of Israel.

I’ve been fascinated to see Putin’s support solidify throughout the campaign, and although I was predicting a few months ago that Putin would slip just below 50%, I now think he’s going to finish comfortably above it.

I also think Prokhorov is going to do quite well – better than he’s polling at the moment. Not because he genuinely has the support of 9% of all Russians, but because I think the people who will support him will be more motivated to come out the polls than those who support the other ‘also-rans’.

Putin – 58
Zyuganov – 16
Zhirinovsky – 9
Prokhorov – 9
Mironov – 6
Invalid – 2

Although Putin has genuine support, the most frustrating thing for me has been the lack of any genuinely strong and interesting opposition candidate. It’s daft for people to expect someone to come from nowhere, and Prokhorov never really stood a chance of living up to the hype.

It’ll be interesting to see if someone genuinely popular does emerge in the next few years, but I don’t see it happening until Zyuganov goes and either someone re-invigorates the Communist Party or someone else with broader appeal comes in and picks over the post-Zyuganov Communist Party’s carcass.

Or, to put it another way, Zyuganov is a big a block to contested elections in Russia as Putin is.

PS – the table is broken at the moment. It’s too wide and Putin’s name is hidden behind the sidebar. Or was that intentional…?

I’m amazed that the SuperJob poll is still up on the wikipedia page. It was fun to see the results, but the sample was absurdly biased!

No two countries have identical interests all the time. Neither the US or the Israeli position seems firm and there is plenty of disagreement over what policy is in their best interest inside both governments. It seems that Netanyahu in Israel believes it’s vital not to permit Iran to develop nukes, and Obama in the US believes the military option to prevent Iran from continuing their nuclear program is too high.That seems to me to be a conflict of interest.Throw in the Saudis and other Gulf States concerns re a nuclear Iran,US and Int’l oil business interests threatened by Iran, exacerbated Sunni/Shiite balance of power shifts,uncertainties what governments will emerge as a result of the recent upheavals in the countries effected by the Arab Spring, the bloated US military and industrial complex concerned about their budgets and careers, and one begins to see the myriad forces that come into play on the president and congress when formulating US policy in the region.

I love love love the new word. It takes some learning, and its easier to b***h than learn I get that, but it is incredibly powerful. You can program macros right in. For instance if I type /epsdt it outputs a full tabe that I use frewuently where I can fill in the relevent parts. I write mostly medical notes an use a custom dictionary so that it spell checks even the most absurd words. You can edit the autocorrect to be whatever you want. Aa becomes arteries on mine. If I really wanted aa then I hit backspace 1 time and it reverts. As word grows more powerful the learning curve is sharper, but if you’re stuck in the dark ages with hipster open officei can totally see it would be overwhelming. Typed this on my phone- excuse the many errors.

I heard that they stiffed the hookers paying far less than agreed previously.That gives the USA a black eye among the locals and could lead to a lack of support for the USA. The Secret Service like all other gov’t employees are representing the USA and need to act honorably. If alcohol and prostitution are legal, at least do it in a way that serves the USA honorably

Saddam Hussein and Bashir Assad are I believe evil and corrupt dictators, but neither seemed/seem to me to be a serious threat to The US or their allies.After the experience is Iraq and Afghanistan we don’t seem capable of effecting positive regime changes even if one could make a case that it’s in US interests. Israel for certain seems better off with Assad then the likely Islamist alternative. Saddam was a minor problem to them, as oppossed to Iran which is likely a real potential danger. The Saudis and other gulf States likewise did not want a too powerful Saddam, but a nuclear Shiite Iran is of far greater concern. In Syria does it matter to them who is in control? Given all of the above who other than some vague military industrial establishment stands to gain from another intervention?

I think it likley given our policies that either “we have “descended to such stupidity” or the true reasons for our policies are being hidden from the voting public, and they make sense based on classified information.Seems unlikley but can’t rule it out. If Obama fails in his bid for a second term seems to me that Romney may have a long honeymoon as expectations will be minimal given the previous two administrations.

Simaion,when it gets dull an article about Israel/Palestine juices it up a bit.Particulary as they have a signifigant readership in the US Jewish community and some following in Israel,so it’s an interest beyond the political influence which is substantial in Congress which does merge with Us politics.
What many folks , Jews included don’t understand is that being part of the Jewish people is like being part of a family.If one has a Jewish mother or is converted by an Orthodox Jewish court then even a sabbath desecrating atheist is [while for certain living in errorsin in Hebrew means mistake] just as much a Jew as any Orthodox Rabbi. There is no obligation for a Jew to believe in Zionism. The Reform historically were afraid of the dual loyalty charge [which according to Jewsih law would be a sin as Jews are obligated to be loyal to the country where they live as long as they can follow their religion]and as stated in the article in the past were often anti Zionist.The majority of pre world war 2 Orthodox Jewish leaders were anti Zionist because it was a largely secular movement seeking to replace Judaism with nationalism. After the holacaust the majority of all Jews realized the overpowering need for a Jewish State so today there is only differing opinions as to what are the best policies. Only the extreme fringes of the Jewsih people oppose having a State, and leaving the Jews as vulnerable as they were in the past. Opposing Israel as a Jewsih State today makes little more sense then advocating giving the USA to the Indians who do seem to me to have a more legitimate claim to it, than ant Arabs do to Palestine, which was given under certain conditions [keeping the commandments]to the Jews and again some of the land was given by the UN.May the redemption come speedily in our days when Israel will be recogniozed by all and the righteous of all nations will livein peace and harmony.Until then some sort of truce where there flare ups and periodic but limited blooodshed may be the best we can realisticly expect.

No doubt good pizza in NJ, and with the big man as gov it would not surprise me to see the state make a real turnaround for the better. It won’t be the same face as years back but that’s true of the whole country like it or not.

What about the russianvoices.org domain, which is available. Perfect if you’re looking at this as a non-profit and you could probably pick up the .com at a later date.

I see it as Rand having to throw the republican establishment a bone every now and then. I was troubled by his “an attack on Israel is an attack on the United States”comment though. Still, his foreign-policy views are far superior than the rest of the GOP.

New flowers makes a valid point. Our invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq may have been poor policy, but until Boston no further terror occurred on US soil. We should reevaluate our foreign policy which should be ongoing in any case, but as citizens who have limited access to what are the dangers and alternatives supporting gov’t policy usually seems to me to to make more sense than opposing it

You can’t comment on IQ and race because your IQ somewhat correlates to your earnings potential, and in our equalist society, that would go against everything we’ve been taught I.e. ” if you work hard or have the right upbringing, you can be anything”.

sheesh…you all are a bunch of ignorant racists

When reading that blacks of Miami Gardens are suffering a disproportionate amount of “abuse” at the hands of the police officers, first thing that came to mind was that blacks commit a disproportionate amount of crimes.

I’m convinced there are American leading men out there but they just don’t get the opportunities. Case in point: Jeremy Renner and Jon Hamm. Both guys came out of nowhere around age 40. And both had been in Hollywood since their early 20s. How does a guy with Jeremy Renner’s acting talent(watch “The Town”) remain unknown for years? Or how about Bryan Cranston of “Breaking Bad”? The guy didn’t gain fame till his mid 50s and he’s now considered one of the best American actors out there. Imagine the great roles he missed out on.

Along those same lines, I think movie studios have become more risk adverse in their casting as their industry has declined recently. They want more known, bankable stars for the fewer films that are being made. And even when they cast those “bankable stars”, a lot of those movies are flopping.

The real acting opportunities nowadays are on television. And that’s why so much of the talent is coming from there. George Clooney made his name on the television show “ER” in the 90s, for example.

Exactly. A guy with his talent should never have to give up acting.

And actors are not being nurtured or developed like they used to, also. Look at how good of an actor Mathew Mcconaughey has become with experience.

Re Syon, Iranians are indoeuropeans, they are mostly white, they probably would have achieved more in science, etc, if they haven’t been imposed Islam by the force by the arabs

also, internet being about 20 years into the future, there was no place where to download it for everywhere to see it

Empathy: the conscious sympathetic awareness of life beyond our own.

Empathy is a true natural brain centered emotion – different cultures empathize different emotions to their children. The emotion “empathy” has to be stimulate by parents and culture, or it will become dormant.

In Western culture the intellectual idea that “life is sacred” flows out of our biologically created emotional empathic nature. It is good that people are digging onto the make-up of empathy.

arguably that makes India the birthplace of pacifism – what happened?

Empathy as expressed in the West is not pacifist. Clearly we all care about ourselves – we are not laid back about our future – we put effort into our wellbeing. To “love your neighbor as you love yourself” is a clear statement of empathy towards others – this requires effort.

Good is not the absence of bad – an empathic world requires concerted effort. Empathy for our fellow human beings as express in the private philosophical Christian West is the reason for its advancement.

Jesus did say to “love your enemy” – this is a pacifist idea.

Still – it is easy to say that Western philosophy and culture is more aggressively empathic then is Eastern philosophy. Democracy (an empathic method of human organization) came out of the West. To say that Christian philosophy had no role in that would be unjust.

If I may, doesn’t Easter philosophy have more to do more with seeking harmony with nature then interest in building a future. In the West the philosophical goal is to build a better future for all. An very empathic notion.

There is nothing wrong in the private employment of the empathic idealistic Christian philosophy for living. Of course we cannot say that of many religious Christians and the tribal Western state.

The thinking on Christianity has to evolve – we have to see the good. For humanity to move forward it has to begin to intellectually separate the Christian philosophy for living from its religious patrimony.

Those Egyptians were Caucasoids, sometimes with light hair.

Not Europeans, but closer to them than blacks.

Born in Guatemala, his real name is Oscar Isaac HERNANDEZ

Going to the outdoors is basically a european thing, even a northern european thing at that. I always thought this has to do with the lack of dangerous animals in European forests (save bears and wolves, but you don’t have to do with crocodiles, venomous reptiles, insects, etc, that you do in Africa, Asia or Central and South America). White Americans of course inherited this from Europe, but to a lot of minorities this outdoor thing might seem downright weird.

Muslims are relatively few in France (10% according to most estimations – the French government has been very careful in banning the census to ask such questions) but they are growing much faster than the native population, both through immigration and through higher fertility. Demographic growth is not unlike compound interest, in that given enough time it grows much faster than you realize. As Houellebecq admits in the interview, the scenario in the novel is very unlikely in 2022 but is quite probable in, say, 2042

In the West today, what is akin to a blasphemous statement, that goes against the official beliefs and could potentially put you in jail, is no longer the mockery of the gods, but saying something across the lines, “Men and Women are different by nature”, “Intelligence is highly inheritable”, “Races exists and they have quite different abilities”

I read the essay by this Canfield guy, and he seems to be an extremely hateful character. He is basically saying the victims had it coming for being white and “racist”

Re microagressions, irony seems to me very much a western thing. Even East Asian cultures (which one can hardly regard as uncivilized) seems to lack it.

Razib, there was a recent article in The Economist, comparing Bangladeshi and Pakistani immigrants in Britain that makes some similar points than you do.

http://www.economist.com/news/britain/21644155-britain-bangladeshis-have-overtaken-pakistanis-credit-poor-job-market-when-they-arrived

Have you read it, any thoughts?

What is the point of the Republican Party? These guys serve the donor class and that’s it.

Sexual mores are changing among Indians in Britain and the US. In both countries, 1.5/2nd generation Indian women are now more likely to intermarry than Indian men. That represents a major change from the past, when Indian men were more likely to intermarry.

Intermarry with whom?

Steve, something tells me that Noah Smith is a regular (though silent) reader of your blog

Some good points. Okay column. But a few points:

1) GDP isn’t wealth as measured by net assets or living standards. Ex: UK & Italy now include drugs, whores, overeating, in their GDP calculations. A more accurate measure is net financial assets per capita. See for ex, Allianz Annual Global wealth reports.

2) Singapore is a first world city in a 3rd world squalor. Unlike Boston, SFr, Paris… Although mass non-white migration is taking us there. Also, due to shallow safety net, singaporeans work harder. Hence 2300h/yr. Further, what is the histogram across workers. Is the lower German & US hrs due to Pareto principle in part?

3) In yellow Asia, Japan was the first to industrialize from 1868. And since Nobel awards began, it has won 19 in sciences. Korea zero, Greater China 8, ASEAN zero, inner-asia (mostly Turkic) zero.

This is because, there is a lag time between wealth acquisition, r&d investmemts and finally awards.

4) culture: is subjective. Singapore is now a fine cuisine paradise. Food is art & culture. There is a determined push to make a center of Buddhism, taoism. High culture comes after 3 or 4 generations of wealth. Ex: most japanese high culture, painting, calligrapgy, prose, came from elite samurai class.

Wait 50 years.

East Asians are not copycats in the most existential questions. Ex: immigration. Is very low in east Asia. And most of that is intra-yellow. Filipinos, vietnamese in Korea, Koreans, Chinese in Japan, etc.

In sharp contrast most immigration in Europe & north america is not intra-white. And the scale is massive. It is non-white and extremely destructive.

“By abolishing local and regional cultures, and by creating an ersatz national culture in their place, these movements helped to pave the way for the deracinated individualism that is now the norm in most Western societies.”

Not convincing at all. Japan had strong local and regional cultures (Kyushu, south Honshu, kanto, north Honshu, Hokkaido, Shikoku), identities, well until 19th cen. But wider political consolidation did not lead to deracinated individualism.

Japan is still very cohesive, intensely conscious of its uniqueness. 2nd only to Jews, the gold standard of nationalism and cohesion.

I tend to think that europeans are innately prone to atomistic individualism. And the spectacular rise of the Jewish emasculation of white identity did the rest.

2000 years of christianity reinforced these turn the other cheek, dont rock the boat, mind your hedonistic business, individúalistic tendencies and hardened them. Calcified them.

Gradually Germanic vitality, that had rejuvenated a spent Europe under christianized Rome, succumbed to christianity, which is nothing but atomistic mutant of Judaism.

“Americanization is much more advanced in Korea than elsewhere in east-asia.”

Is it a coincidence that christianity by adherents is also much more advanced than elsewhere in properous parts of east-asia? (Philippines is not prosperous).

This column reminds of that NYT quote from Israeli strategist Alon Pinkas. “Let them both bleed, hemorrhage to death.”

The hostile elite want eastern and western Europe to fight each other, bleed, and die out.

Wars, mass immigration, sexual liberation led low fertility, mass offshoring of jobs, crushing taxes, endless QEs. And finally extinction.

Is mass immigration (evolutionary warfare) part of this index?

Israel (39) is lower than UAE, Costa Rica, Chile, Uruaguay, but it protects and advances the evolutionary interests of Jews.

Why bother with an Index that won’t measure your evolutionary survival?

New Zealand, the top country in this index, can import hordes of law abiding, aquisitive, smart Chinese, and still remain No. 1, but what price evolution?

There is no point in blaming the Jews. Jews are advancing their evolutionary interests. They are cohesive, aggressive, talented, well mobilized and intensely committed.

Same with cohesive Chinese, Japanese, and Turks, Punjabis (who have raped almost a million British girls with impunity and still roaming free).

If White Europeans do not wish to be used like cattle and cuckolds, they will have to abandon the addiction to hedonistic, atomistic individualism.

That is why whites buckled so easily, as Buchanan laments. A small cohesive nation, triumphant, over a relatively large atomistic nation.

Before Jewish Bolsheviks, the mongols, turks, and even poles. Non-stop invasions tend to break your will power.

Genocidal invasions are horrific for national IQ. Chinese lost a large number of smart people after the collapse of Han, tang, and song empires to Japan, and some to Vietnam.

Japan has 19 Nobel science laureates. China 8 so far.

Good point. But if u spend 90% of the time criticizing the outgroup, and 10% time organizing your ingroup, u won’t get very far.

Even the criticism of outgroups has been atomistic, haphazard. No organization like ADL or WJC to defend the whites.

Not one.

Infiltration has been going on even before that. Late roman empire, medieval netherlands, Spain. Even Poland, Austria, Hungary, ukraine.

Britain, Ireland, Scandinavia had the fewest Hebrews but even they have succumbed now.

They are the greatest teachers of espionage. You have to admire their abilities.

Organize first.

Wise policies and blessings of luck are more consequential than IQ.

This unhealthy obsession with racial IQ. Despite the clearest example of north vs south Korea.

Same people, same culture, same language.
Yet heaven vs swamp outcomes.

Does IQ debate matter? Will high IQ east Asian immigration save dying whites from final extinction? Has it in Canada, where fertility has dropped below 1.5 for whites?

This IQ debate is a massive distraction designed to poison the minds of readers and divert attention from the national questions.

This entire post is riddled with false assumptions, metrics and analysis.

1) GDP isnt success. It includes prison economy, obesity economy, depression & narcotic economy, whore economy, bloated legal paperwork economy, hedge fund economy.

2) policies weigh more than IQ. Even in a low median IQ country there must be some high IQ people. If these high IQ people design, implement good policies, IQ loses its predictive and causal power.

3) north Korea vs south Korea: high mean IQ is worthless with bad policies. Same people, same genetics, same language, same heritage. But huge differences in outcomes.

4) cheap land: borrowing costs, access to capital and kmow-how, regulations and policies, and implementation speed weighs perhaps as much or more than cheap land.

5) geography: california with 12% US pop. is earth quake prone. And Katrina? Japan’s geography has advantages. Natural barrier to mass immigration, secluded location in one corner of the world (do your own thing), surrounded by competent, genetically similar neighbors.

6) financial windfall: vague term. What do you mean? Stock market? Bond market? Currency trading market? Tax free safe haven? Insurance market? Real estate trust market?

This post is as bad as CNN & fox. I thought Unz.com would be different.

Bad Nobel chart. Literature, peace, economics, are worthless in these measurements, highly politicized.

Measure only sciences.

Chile has fewer % Jews than Argentina. And that may have something to do with perpetual currency crisis in Argentina, and the solution to GDP riddle.

Also, number of patents may not correlate well with quality of patents or their industrial impact.

In all these years working in high tech, my overall impression has been that japanese are refined, aristocratic, understated, whereas Koreans tend to be pompous, conceited, and very often overestimate their abilities. Chinese tend to be malicious and not quite trustworthy.

Informal chats with many colleagues & friends confirmed these assessments.

Of all the nobels in sciences, japanese have won 19, yet not a single Korean, and only 8 Chinese.

If you read carefully, I do not argue against average IQ differences.

Its that in the overarching equation, IQ might not be a major factor.

As for Airbus, Germans are the prime movers, and Francé etc offer a European veneer and collaborative posture. Due to historic tragedies.

Also, one need not conflate high-tech with material success. New zealand sells butter around the world. Does it require a 105 average IQ?

With good policies, primary and tertiary sectors, and low tech manufacturing can thrive even in modest IQ populations, generating high GDP.

Ex: Barbados is 95% black. Due to reasonably satisfactory policies, it has fairly high human development index.