March 7, 2013

The Swedish (more 'socialist' than the US) stock market has doubled since January 2009.

Mixed economies can do just fine for investors but, as in the case of Sweden, distribute the financial gains more fairly in the society. Sweden has the most equitable distribution of income in the world even though their stock market does just fine.

http://www.tradingeconomics.com/sweden/stock-market

All of this nuance would confuse a tea partier who likes his 'facts' in short, simple sound bites. The real world is always more complicated than the 'sound bite' version.

Anyone who thinks the US is a 'socialist' country isn't using his head for anything other than a place to put his cowboy hat.

March 5, 2013

Great interactive graphic - on the prevalence of certain diseases, injuries around the world

and over time.

Disease and death around the world visualised

What kills people around the world - and how does it vary by country? The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation have published their latest report in to the global burden of disease today and alongside the release have launched a range of visualisations showing how the data breaks down by country. Explore one of the new interactives below and see how causes of death have changed over time. Use the drop down menu to view data by a specific country and to change indicator.

How has the burden of different diseases, injuries, and risk factors moved up or down over time?

Explore ranks and changes for causes or risk factors based on deaths, years of lives lost (YLLs), years lost to disability (YLDs), and disability-adjusted life year (DALYs) for 1990 and 2010. You can explore these ranks by age group, sex, region, and country

http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/interactive/2013/mar/05/disease-death-world-data-visualised

In developed countries the big killers are heart disease and stoke. In the developing world: respiratory diseases and diarrheal diseases.
Information is compared between 1990 and 2010, with gender and age distinctions.

March 5, 2013

Russian trial against dead lawyer (who exposed massive tax fraud involving state officials) proceeds

Trial against dead Russian lawyer to proceed
Critics say trial meant to discredit Sergei Magnitsky, who exposed massive tax fraud involving state officials.

A Russian court has ordered the trial of a dead anti-corruption lawyer to proceed next week, ignoring calls by his family and lawyers to abandon a case they say is absurd and politically motivated.

Defense lawyers said the 37-year old's trial will be the first for a dead person in Russia. "The trial is indeed absurd," said lawyer Alexander Molokhov after the court rejected his application to defend Magnitsky. The court had already appointed a legal team to defend Magnitsky after his own lawyers refused to take part in a trial, which his relatives say is politically motivated.

Magnitsky died while in custody in 2009, after he had complained repeatedly of being denied medical treatment. His death has damaged Russia's image and triggered an ongoing diplomatic row with the United States.

The case against Magnitsky was initially closed after his death in November 2009, but authorities reopened it in 2011 as international criticism over his death - and Russia's apparent reluctance to hold anyone criminally responsible - mounted.

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/europe/2013/03/2013342239999306.html

If you expose government corruption in Russia, the government will go after you even after you die in their custody.

March 1, 2013

I dare say that Assad's bombers, artillery, tanks and missles have attacked civilians way, way, way

more than 20 times. Most human rights organizations believe that his forces has killed more than 90% of the civilians who have died in Syria. Using bombers, artillery, tanks and Scud missiles in attacking urban areas leads to many civilian casualties - collateral damage perhaps in the eyes of the government.

Assad's position is exactly the opposite of Al Nusra: "You are with me or you are with the terrorists." (Kind of reminds me of our recent republican president.)

Juan Cole has written that the jihadists are the most effective fighter man-for-man but only represent 10-20% of opposition fighters in Syria now though that percentage increases as the civil war drags on. The Free Syrian army is composed of soldiers who defected and Syrian civilians who took up arms still represent 80-90% of opposition fighters according to Cole, but the civilians, in particular, are not very effective fighters.

Assad's government is based on a minority of the population, similar in percentages to the white government of apartheid South Africa back in the day. The majority (70%) of Syria's population is Sunni just as the similar percentage of South Africa's population was Black (70% Black, 20% white, 10% Asian and mixed.

I understand that for Assad's sect to continue to rule Syria, force is his only option. He never could, and cannot now, negotiate any opening up of the political system or he is history. I also understand the fear of retribution that his and other minorities in Syria have. Decades of repressing the majority has caused a lot of ill will and this last-gasp military campaign does not seem likely to lead to a happy ending. (The current civil war is something like what many predicted would eventually happen in South Africa. Fortunately, the minority government there was replaced without a civil war and subsequent retribution - thank you, Mr. Mandela and others.)

As you said, "No matter who wins, the people of Syria lose." I agree. If Assad wins, he has to rule by force as he (and his father before him) always has or he is gone. If the opposition wins, there jihadists are not going to go away quietly and the minorities in Syria will be endangered.