Lee Kwan Yew: A case of a wise, benevolent dictatorship achieving what democracy could not

March 23, 2015

I have great admiration for what Lee Kwan Yew achieved for Singapore and for Singaporeans as a virtual dictator. I do not see that any “open democracy” could have achieved anything remotely similar. He became Prime Minister in 1959, campaigned for the merger with Malaysia which took place in 1963 and then oversaw the separation from Malaysia in 1965. He stepped down in 1990 and continued as an advisory “Senior Minister” till 2004 and then as “Minister Mentor” till 2011. He was effectively the Dictator of Singapore for over 40 years. The comparisons with Malaysia provide a picture of what “democracy” would not have brought – and could not have brought – to Singapore.

As part of a “democratic” Malaysia, the ethnic-Chinese would have been stifled by the Malays and their success would have rankled and they would have been constrained if not repressed. It would have been a case of oppression of a very able minority by a much less capable majority as is the case in Malaysia today. The separation from Malaysia ensured that the ethnic-Chinese majority in Singapore were not stifled by being a minority in Malaysia. That, with Lee’s vision, provided a lift not only for themselves but also for the Malaysian economy.

The one thing I feel that escaped him was the establishment of a pluralistic democracy to succeed him. If he had ensured that he could only be succeeded by equally able dictators, it would not matter.

Lee Kwan Yew built Singapore. He also put in place all the trappings of a multi-party democracy but was effectively the benevolent dictator who controlled every aspect of life for over 40 years (31 years officially as Prime Minister and for a decade afterwards).

But the institutions he set up for legislative representation and the judiciary are all somewhat nullified when the current reality is one of a single party, ruling in a quite authoritarian style under the cloak of a pluralistic democracy. The ruling party has been quite ruthless in using legalities and a compliant judiciary to exclude rival political parties as soon as they begin to show any signs of becoming popular.

What he leaves behind is a one-party “democracy”, “but Lee Kwan Yew’s legacy will not be so easily  overturned when the majority perceive – as they do – that they have it “pretty good”  and maintaining the status quo is far better than the uncertain benefits of an increased level of freedom”.

This is not meant to be an obituary for Lee Kwan Yew. There are plenty of those: here and here for example. What his death reminds me is that there is nothing intrinsically wrong with a dictatorship as a political system. And it is not certain that any democracy must be “better” than a dictatorship. In fact I am inclined to think that any democracy needs subordinated “dictatorships” to be able to function.

In any situation where there are many courses of action, there has to be a course of action that is “best”. The “best” course of action – by any definition – in any type of society or gathering of humans is – per force – a minority view. A “democracy” in any gathering gives no assurance that the “best” actions will guide or lead that gathering – only that the majority view will prevail. It can only be a very rare coincidence that the “majority view” coincides with the “best view” of actions to be taken. Every corporate manager is required to be something of a dictator. It is his selection which determines whether he is one of the “best” for the situation he is to manage. The good managers are those dictators who lead and manage to carry their constituencies along. The US President is given some dictatorial powers for the duration of his term. It is the selection of the President which must determine whether he is any good but the democratic process does not necessarily select the “best”. It is the fundamental weakness of democracies that the “majority views” which prevail have no necessary connection to the “correct view” or the “best view”.

Maybe Lee Kwan Yew was just an accident – the right person for the times. But he surely was a wise and benevolent dictator. So I am led to conclude that while democracies avoid the worst they will almost never provide the best. Democracies are great levellers – but they level down. Like evolution, they do not drive towards excellence; they settle for the “good enough”. It is with a dictatorship – however constrained – that one may get a chance for the best.

 

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Swedish King rides to the rescue of the damsel Minister in distress?

March 22, 2015

Swedish foreign policy has blundered badly by not analysing or understanding the Saudi Arabian reaction to the “morally superior” and sanctimonious statements made by the Swedish Foreign Minister about the status of “human and women’s rights” in the Kingdom. The debacle is transforming into high farce as the Swedish King – who has no powers at all – offers to ride to the rescue.

In a most unusual statement, the Swedish King, Carl XVI Gustaf, has offered his “help to contribute in finding a solution to the situation”. The Swedish monarch has no political powers whatsoever but felt compelled to say something as the crisis with Saudi Arabia and the Arab world created by the Foreign Minister, Margot Wallström, continues to escalate. While more Arab countries are expressing their condemnation of Wallströms ill-judged  statements, even the Danish government has indicated that they feel she went too far.

TheLocal.se: The king is seemingly distressed about Sweden’s escalating spat with Saudi Arabia. The row began when Saudi Arabia blocked Wallström’s speech on democracy and human rights as a guest of honour addressing the Arab League, and resulted in Sweden limiting its military ties with the Saudis.

Tensions heightened when Saudi Arabia responded by recalling its ambassador to Stockholm and announced it would not issue any new visas for Swedish business people.

On Saturday, the royal palace announced that the king would meet Sweden’s top diplomat on Monday “to help contribute in finding a solution to the situation”. The king also said that: “It’s important to have a good dialogue and good relations between countries,” but noted that he hadn’t been in contact with the Saudi royals.

In Saudi Arabia, the Justice Minister has also added his voice to the wide-spread Arab condemnation of  Wallström’s statements.

ArabNews: Justice Minister Walid Al-Samaani strongly condemned recent statements from foreign parties targeting the country’s judicial system. ….. 

Al-Samaani’s statement came in the backdrop of Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom’s pronouncements against the Kingdom’s Shariah laws that led Saudi Arabia to recall its envoy to Stockholm. The minister said that such accusations are unwarranted and uncalled for, since the Saudi law is derived from the Book of Allah and the teachings and practices of His Prophet (peace be upon him). 

The Saudi law, the minister emphasized, guarantees the dignity of all its citizens irrespective of race, religion, sex and language. “Everybody before our law is equal,” he reiterated.

 

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A prosecutor who admits lying to influence opinion and the outcome of a trial

March 21, 2015

A trial in the media run in parallel to a trial in court is becoming – for both defence and prosecution – a necessary way of influencing the atmosphere in which the legal process is carried out.

Ajmal Kasab was the baby-faced terrorist who participated in the 26/11/2008 Mumbai bombings, was convicted on 80 charges in 2010 and was executed on 21st November 2012.

On 3 May 2010, Kasab was found guilty of 80 offences, including murder, waging war against India, possessing explosives, and other charges. On 6 May 2010, the same trial court sentenced him to death on four counts and to a life sentence on five counts. Kasab’s death sentence was upheld by the Bombay High Court on 21 February 2011. The verdict was upheld by the Supreme Court of India on 29 August 2012. Kasab was hanged on 21 November 2012 at 7:30 a.m. and buried at Yerwada Jail in Pune.

A remarkably rapid legal process by Indian standards. The speed of the process was undoubtedly influenced by public opinion and the outrage that the attack had generated. However sensationalised media reports during 2009, about Kasab’s “tears”, his assumed emotions and his apparent remorse during the trial created some sympathy especially among those opposed to the death penalty. This sympathy wave was then followed by a counter-wave in the media where it was reported that a remorseless Kasab was demanding “mutton biriyani”!  “Why feed terrorists biryani?” became a catch phrase and the trial process was even further speeded up.

But the biriyani story was entirely concocted by the Special Prosecutor who disseminated it in the media. He admitted this himself at a conference this week on counter-terrorism in Jaipur. He had taken it upon himself to mould public opinion such that his own case in court could be favourably influenced:

Economic Times: 26/11 Mumbai terror attack accused Ajmal Kasab’s demand for mutton biryani in jail was just a myth and was “concocted” to stop an “emotional wave” which was being created in favour of the militant, claimed Ujjwal Nikam, public prosecutor in the case.

“Kasab never demanded biryani and was never served by the government. I concocted it just to break an emotional atmosphere which was taking shape in favour of Kasab during the trial of the case,” Nikam told reporters on the sidelines of international conference on counter-terrorism.

Ujjwal Nikam is a high profile lawyer who – even when a trial is ongoing and is presumably sub judice – has few qualms about talking to the media. Already in 2009, he was being criticised by other lawyers about his propensity to prosecute his cases in the media:

Indian Express: Published on:July 28, 2009

Special public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam has come under criticism from his own legal fraternity over what they allege his attempts to conduct trial outside the court for the 26/11 Mumbai attacks.

Around 20 lawyers at a meeting in the city passed a resolution criticising Nikam and advising him not to sit on judgment in the case before the final verdict is out. A copy of the resolution has been sent to the State Government,urging it to put a gag on Nikam in order to maintain the fairness of the trial.

“Some of the comments made by the special public prosecutor during his briefings to the media are objectionable and do not reflect the seriousness of the trial. You get the feeling that he is conducting a trial outside the court when he should actually be taking up those points before the judge and not before the media,” said advocate Sushil Mancharkar,who was present at the meeting.

But I don’t suppose that Ujjwal Nikam is going to change his methods of conducting his prosecutions in the media as an enhancement to his prosecutions in court. Especially, as has been fairly obvious in the recent Delhi rape cases, trials in court are not immune to public opinion.

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We missed the eclipse (in its totality)

March 20, 2015

It has been overcast with low cloud and a drizzle all day. The sky has remained the same dull, diffuse, even. grey with no sign of any letting up.

And so we missed the great theatrics that were taking place above the cloud as the moon danced around the earth and obscured the sun. That the theatrics took place is entirely a matter of faith because under the thick cloud cover it was not even possible to discern in which quarter the sun lay – let alone whether any eclipse was taking place.

Totality as seen above the Faeroe Islands (screenshot of BBC film)

Totality over the Faeroe Islands (BBC)

 

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WHO delayed Ebola emergency declaration by 2 months – for political expedience

March 20, 2015

In October last year it was revealed that the complacency of the WHO African country heads (mainly political appointees) and who “seem to have been unwilling to even acknowledge that there was a problem on their turfs” had caused avoidable delays.

Now the Associated Press reports (NY Times) that the WHO leadership delayed declaring an emergency by 2 months for reasons of political expediency; to avoid upsetting some African countries, to avoid economic damage and to avoid any interruption to the annual Haj pilgrimage to Mecca. The emergency was declared on August 8th 2014 but from emails obtained by AP, it should have been declared 2 months earlier. That probably means that about 1000 deaths might have been prevented. The death toll from the outbreak is now estimated to have reached over 10,000.

Ebola deaths in West Africa (Data: WHO / Chart CC BY 4.0: JV Chamary / Source: http://onforb.es/1sCVxE1)

The Hindu:

Among the reasons the United Nations agency cited in internal deliberations – worries that declaring such an emergency akin to an international SOS could anger the African countries involved, hurt their economies or interfere with the Muslim pilgrimage to Makkah. ….. 

In public comments, WHO Director-General Margaret Chan has repeatedly said the epidemic caught the world by surprise. ……

But internal documents obtained by AP show that senior directors at the health agency’s headquarters in Geneva were informed of how dire the situation was early on and held off on declaring a global emergency. Such an alert is meant to trigger a surge in outside help, or, as a WHO document put it, “ramps up political pressure in the countries affected” and “mobilizes foreign aid and action”.

When WHO experts discussed the possibility of an emergency declaration in early June, one director viewed it as a “last resort”.

The delay in declaring an emergency was one of many critical problems that hobbled the agency’s ability to contain the epidemic. When aid agency Doctors Without Borders warned Ebola was spiralling out of control, WHO contradicted it, even as WHO’s own scientists called for backup. When WHO did send staffers to Africa, they were of mixed calibre. Fellow responders said many lacked Ebola experience; one WHO consultant who got infected with Ebola broke his own agency’s protocol, putting others at risk and getting WHO kicked out of a hotel, the AP found.

……..  The vacuum of leadership at WHO was so damaging the U.N. created the Mission for Ebola Emergency Response to take over the overall fight against the disease.

….. By the time WHO declared an international emergency, nearly 1,000 people were already dead. Overall, more than 10,000 are thought to have died in the year since the outbreak was announced.

NYT: 5 Key Findings

1. WHO officials privately floated the idea of declaring an international health emergency in early June, more than a month before the agency maintains it got its first sign the outbreak merited one — in late July — and two months before the declaration was finally made on August 8, 2014.

2. WHO blamed its slow response partly on a lack of real-time information and the surprising characteristics of the epidemic. In fact it had accurate field reports — including scientists asking for backup — and it identified the unprecedented features of the outbreak. The agency was also hobbled by a shortage of funds and a lack of clear leadership over its country and regional offices.

3. Politics appear to have clouded WHO’s willingness to declare an international emergency. Internal emails and documents suggest the U.N. health agency was afraid of provoking conflict with the Ebola-stricken countries and wary that a declaration could interfere with the economy and the Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca.

4. An Ebola-infected WHO consultant in Sierra Leone violated WHO health protocols, creating a rift with Doctors Without Borders that was only resolved when WHO was thrown out of a shared hotel.

5. Despite WHO’s pledges to reform, many of the proposed changes are recycled suggestions from previous outbreaks that have never taken hold. Any meaningful reform to the organization would likely require countries to rewrite the constitution, a prospect many find unpalatable.

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US is not amused at the rise of AIIB as rival to World Bank

March 20, 2015

The US is not amused.

The list of countries signing up to the Chinese-led initiative which would rival the World Bank is growing as Japan and Australia have now indicated that they too will join. In the last week the UK, Germany, Italy, France and Luxembourg indicated that they too would sign up to the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) in spite of dire warnings from across the Atlantic. South Korea is also expected to sign up now that the UK and Japan have.

(Reuters) – Japan signaled cautious approval of the China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) on Friday and said for the first time that, if conditions were met, it could join the institution that the United States has warned against.

Australian Treasurer Joe Hockey said there was “a lot of merit” in the bank and the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper reported that Canberra could formally decide to sign up when the full cabinet meets on Monday.

Japan, Australia and the South Korea, all major U.S. allies, are the notable regional absentees from the AIIB. The United States, worried about China’s growing diplomatic clout, has questioned whether the AIIB will have sufficient standards of governance and environmental and social safeguards.

The US  (US Treasury department and the US Congress) was not amused in October last year when “India along with 20 other countries today signed an agreement to become founding members of the China-backed Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) to aid the infrastructure development in the Asian region and reduce the dependence on Western-dominated World Bank and IMF.”  The authorised capital of AIIB is to be USD 100 billion and the initial subscribed capital is expected to be around USD 50 billion. The paid-in ratio will be 20 per cent. The AIIB is to be headquartered in Beijing and it is hoped that it will be operational by the end of 2015.

It was the US opposition to allowing any reform of voting rights at the International Monetary Fund which had irritated and annoyed China and other Asian countries which had led to the Chinese initiative. The proposed – relatively mild – reforms for the IMF were agreed at a G20 meeting in 2010 and have been ratified by all European countries. But the US has not yet ratified these changes. It has not been prepared to permit any weakening of its dominance in the World Bank and the IMF.  The founding members of the AIIB members in October 2014 were China, India, Vietnam, Uzbekistan, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Qatar, Oman, the Philippines, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Brunei, Cambodia, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Mongolia and Myanmar.

The US has followed a strategy of criticising the possible environmental and social irresponsibility of the new institution which is intended to focus on transport, energy and telecommunications infrastructure. The US has also raised doubts about the transparency and governance of the proposed new institution and warning other countries not to join. But what was a relatively minor and mainly regional matter has been blown-up by the US opposition. The US strategy of “bad-mouthing” the AIIB seems to have back-fired. Some of the support now coming from countries traditionally seen as US followers can be considered a direct reaction to the bad-willed US opposition. 

From all accounts, the Obama administration has expended serious energy trying to dissuade its allies from joining ……. With the defection of the UK, however, it appears likely that Washington’s carefully constructed coalition will gradually unravel—both Australia and South Korea are apparently reconsidering their earlier reluctance to join the bank and could well use the UK’s decision as political cover for deciding to join the bank.

The European countries (and Japan and South Korea) have realised that their companies must have the chance of bidding for future AIIB infrastructure projects. For at least the next two decades – and maybe longer – there has to be a massive infrastructure investment in Asia. The US will eventually have to join the AIIB or to step aside and to let it proceed. US companies hoping to bid for Asian infrastructure projects would prefer that the US join. But now the US administration has the additional task to do some “face-saving” while it backs away from its ill-considered strategy of opposition.

 

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Left/Green sanctimony is causing a debacle for Swedish foreign policy

March 19, 2015

The 2005 defence cooperation agreement between Sweden and Saudi Arabia was renewed in 2010 and was coming up for a natural termination or a mutual renewal again this year. Currently there is very little being done under this agreement. It could have been allowed to die quietly. But that was not loud enough and self-righteous enough for the Greens and the left of the ruling Social Democrats.

The Greens are new to government (and it shows in many areas) but they are implacably opposed to Sweden having any defense industry of any kind. The Greens and the left are utterly opposed to the “anti-feminist and anti-democratic” nature of Saudi Arabia. But the Greens and the left of the Social Democrats forgot that they were actually in government and were not just an irresponsible lobby group like Greenpeace or the WWF indulging in publicity pranks.  They were so mesmerised by the idea of showing off their moral credentials that the intention to terminate the defense agreement was announced in a great blaze of self-righteous publicity.  The Prime Minister Stefan Löfven (an old trade unionist with a good understanding of the importance of jobs) actually wanted to extend the agreement. But he was over-ruled by his far left and the Greens. His Foreign Minister, Margot Wallström (who, unlike the Greens, is old enough to know better), was more obsessed with demonstrating how Swedish foreign policy was feminist and green and occupied the moral high ground than in promoting Swedish interests and values. And so she forgot about her duties as a Foreign Minister and sharply criticised Saudi Arabia in most undiplomatic language. It verges on incompetence that the consequences of her statements were not analysed. She received a swift diplomatic “punch on the nose” when she was barred from speaking to the Arab League.

But the Greens and the left (and the Swedish media – who are all very politically correct and morally upstanding) basked in the warmth of their own sanctimonious self-indulgence. If they thought they were promoting Swedish values, they seem to have failed spectacularly. Instead they have fuelled the opposing views from the region about Swedish moral degeneracy and decadence.

But now the whole affair is becoming a foreign policy debacle. Saudi Arabia and the UAE have called their ambassadors home. Fifty seven other nations have backed Saudi Arabia in criticising Margot Wallström for “denigrating Saudi Arabia’s social norms, judicial institutions and political institutions”. Swedes are not being issued visas for Saudi Arabia any longer.

Sweden is left floundering with a foreign policy being made by children and governed by childishness. A policy built on trying to demonstrate a self-proclaimed moral superiority and which talks down to others smacks of the playground. It diminishes Sweden. Business will suffer and jobs will suffer. And it will take a long time to repair the damage. Right now almost the entire Islamic world has taken umbrage and Sweden’s voice has never been as irrelevant in the region.

(Soon after the left/green government took over they had recognised Palestine as a State – also to demonstrate their moral superiority. Needless to say Israel was not amused and they are not the flavour of the month with Netanyahu. And he is going to be around for a long time yet).

But the Greens and far left are still basking in their moral superiority and don’t even realise that they have done something very silly. That they have managed to earn the contempt of both Israel and the Arab World  – simultaneously – seems to be of little consequence.

Swedish Radio:

Saudi Arabia has informed the Foreign Ministry that they will not issue any new business visas to Swedes. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has confirmed that they received notice about this and say they will continue trying to resolve the issue bilaterally.

Companies that are in procurement or planning projects will not be able to send employees to the country. 

The Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Löfven had just received the information and said, “We do not want this situation with Saudi Arabia. We have been clear all the time that we want a good relationship with Saudi Arabia and we work seriously and systematically with it”.

Swedish Industry Minister Mikael Damberg also believe that the news is negative. “It is clear that this not good and we are working both to normalize relations with Saudi Arabia and to make sure that it does not spread to more countries. We are very careful to emphasize that what the government did was not to extend a military Terms of Collaboration with Saudi Arabia. And there was a very strong political majority in parliament not to extend”, says Mikael Damberg.

Tonight, the Minister and the Foreign Minister, Margot Wallström will meet with executives from Swedish industry regarding Sweden’s relations with Saudi Arabia. “I will talk about what the government is doing but also to listen to those companies that are active in the region to see if they have encountered a problem and if there are misunderstandings so that we can help each other” says Mikael Damberg.

On being asked what actions the government would take, he said “We are working very hard to normalize relations with Saudi Arabia. Both through diplomatic contacts here in Stockholm but also in place in Riyadh and in countries in the region. The work is intense.. We are also working together with Swedish companies in place in these markets. We take note that this has happened but we have no interest to implement some kind of retaliation or to escalate this”, says Mikael Damberg.

Both Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have called their ambassadors home from Sweden. The reason is because of the statements made by Foreign Minister Margot Wallström about Saudi Arabia in connection with the Swedish government cancelling a controversial trade agreement.

At the same time 57 states have closed ranks behind Saudi Arabia in their criticism of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Margot Wallström. This means that almost the entire Muslim world is critical of Wallström’s statements.

“In its opinion Wallström has humiliated Saudi Arabia and its social norms, legal systems and political institutions,” says a statement on the website of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (IOC).

 

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“For Allah” inscribed on a 9th century Viking ring

March 19, 2015

A new paper in Scanning reports on SEM studies of a 9th century Viking ring found in Birka. The contact between the Vikings and the Islamic world (mainly the Abbasid Caliphate) were rather more extensive than is generally admitted. It was not just the occasional tales of Arab historians (Ahmad Ibn Fadlan – “handsome but filthy Vikings”) but quite extensive trade links with traders from both communities often visiting the others. The ring is of high grade silver (94.5/5.5 Ag/Cu) and is inscribed with Arabic Kufic writing, here interpreted as reading “il-la-lah”, i.e. “For/to Allah”. The “violet stone” is now found to be glass rather than an amethyst as was once thought. Glass from Egypt and Mesopotamia was prized in ancient Scandinavia as long as 3,500 years ago . The Vikings too prized glass and silver (rather than gold). However the inside of the ring is not much worn which suggests that the woman with whom the ring was buried (who wore Scandinavian dress and was presumably Swedish) had obtained it fairly new and not long before her death.

KTS Sebastian et al, Analysis and interpretation of a unique Arabic finger ring from the Viking Age town of Birka, Sweden, Scanning, DOI: 10.1002/sca.21189

Birka viking ring (Statens historiska museum / Christer Åhlin)

Birka viking ring (Statens historiska museum / Christer Åhlin)

 

Abstract: In this work we used non-destructive SEM imaging and EDS analysis to characterize the material composition of an Arabic finger ring, which was found in a 9th c. woman’s grave at the Viking Age (A.D. 793–1066) trading center of Birka, Sweden. The ring is set with a violet stone inscribed with Arabic Kufic writing, here interpreted as reading “il-la-lah”, i.e. “For/to Allah”. The stone was previously thought to be an amethyst, but the current results show it to be coloured glass. The ring has been cast in a high-grade silver alloy (94.5/5.5 Ag/Cu) and retains the post-casting marks from the filing done to remove flash and mold lines. Thus, the ring has rarely been worn, and likely passed from the silversmith to the woman buried at Birka with few owners in between. The ring may therefore constitute material evidence for direct interactions between Viking Age Scandinavia and the Islamic world. Being the only ring with an Arabic inscription found at a Scandinavian archaeological site, it is a unique object among Swedish Viking Age material. The technical analysis presented here provides a better understanding of the properties and background of this intriguing piece of jewelry.

I have only just started reading Farhat Hussain’s 3 volume “The Vikings and the Islamic World“ which looks at this little addressed area of Viking history across 2 centuries:

The substantive links between the Vikings and the Islamic world resulted in very insightful writings by a number of Muslim travellers, scholars and many others, of the Vikings and many aspects of the Viking Age ranging from physical descriptions of Vikings and their places of habitation in Scandinavia and elsewhere to Viking customs, commercial activity and much else as addressed in this work. Moreover this work provides a vast range of archaeological in addition to historical evidence of the vast links between the Vikings and the Islamic world – a relationship that served to contribute to the Viking Age and served to enrich the Islamic world and the many lands and peoples that were also a part of this unique story. Islamic artifacts unearthed in Iceland, Faeroe Islands, Ireland, Britain, Scandinavia, Russia and the Ukraine all feature in this rich study of the Vikings as masters in trade between the Islamic world and much of northern and western Europe in the 9th and 10th centuries in addition to serving as intermediaries in trade between Byzantium and the Islamic world. ….

Volume 2 provides substantive and rich insight into the significance of Viking links with the Islamic world for Scandinavia itself in a variety of areas from economy to textiles, glass, language and much else. This unique volume also deals with the influence of Islamic civilization upon other parts of northern Europe via the Vikings including Britain, Ireland, Iceland, Greenland and beyond. Indeed volume 2 makes clear that quite aside from the influence of Muslim Spain upon Europe the Vikings served as intermediaries of Islamic civilization via northern Europe. …..

Volume 3 addresses a rich array of subject and issues pertaining to Vikings links with the Islamic world including trade in various goods such as falcons, flow and decline of Muslim silver coins into Russia and Scandinavia and the impact of this decline upon the fortunes of Viking trade centres such as Birka in Sweden and Danish settlement in England, medicine, geography and much else.

 

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Solar Impulse 2 is more fossil than solar

March 18, 2015

The BBC reports that the much hyped, Swiss Solar Impulse 2 is crossing India on its way to Myanmar:

BBC: The solar-powered plane attempting to fly around the world is in the air again, crossing India and hoping to make it to Myanmar on Thursday. Solar Impulse, with Andre Borschberg at the controls, took off from Ahmedabad at 07:18 local time (01:48 GMT).

It is heading to Varanasi in India’s Uttar Pradesh region, where it will make a short “pit stop” before pushing on over the Bay of Bengal. The leg to Mandalay in Myanmar (Burma) will be flown by Bertrand Piccard. The two pilots are taking it in turns to guide Solar Impulse on its circumnavigation of the globe.

So far, they have covered about 2,000km in two segments since beginning the adventure in Abu Dhabi. It will likely be another five months before they return to the United Arab Emirates, having crossed both the Pacific and Atlantic oceans in the process.

It is surely a challenging piloting exercise but it is worth noting, as Pierre Gosselin points out, that some tens of thousands of litres of aviation fuel will be burned to keep Solar Impulse 2 in the air. For safety reasons the batteries on board will probably be fully charged at each take-off. It is not clear as to what extent the batteries will be topped up by using electrical power (which will be predominantly fossil fuel based) at each of the stops.

NoTricksZone: According to an audio report by SRF Swiss Radio and Television the Solar Impulse 2 mission involves the substitute pilot, a technical ground crew “of dozens of people” and tonnes of equipment and logistical supplies that have to be flown behind using conventional charter flights. The “fossil fuel-free” Solar Impulse 2 journey is in fact being made possible only with the use of tens of thousands of litres of aviation fuel. This is a fact that is being almost entirely ignored by the media.

The SRF reporter tells listeners:

“It is so that the entire group, the team members, are multiple dozens of men and women, have to fly behind in charter planes. This naturally is the less sustainable aspect of the entire project, but it just isn’t possible any other way. This involves one cargo plane for transporting all the equipment, and a small passenger plane on which the entire group travels to the destinations.”

A promotion video here shows how the aircraft was transported from Europe to its start point in Abu Dhabi earlier this year: With a Boeing 747!

Global map

source Solar Impulse via BBC

Five months, no cargo and no luggage beside the 2 pilots, a large support staff and a great deal of fossil energy somehow seems much less impressive than Jules Verne’s story (published in 1873) envisaging Phileas Fogg and Passepartout circumnavigating the world, with all their luggage and later an Indian princess, in just 80 days.

Green has become the colour of deception.

 

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Who killed Internet Explorer?

March 18, 2015

The headlines today are all about Microsoft killing Internet Explorer with Windows 10. The yet unnamed browser from Project Spartan will ship with Windows 10.

The Internet Explorer name is synonymous with web browsers that are provided to users on Microsoft’s Windows operating system. It has been around for a very long time but it looks like Microsoft has decided to retire that branding once and for all. The company has recently confirmed that the Internet Explorer brand will be going away, and as for the new name, it seems Microsoft has yet to determine what it might be.

But of course for Microsoft it not so much a strategic choice as a forced  – and defensive – reaction. Ultimately it the MS strategy which is responsible for the demise of IE in the marketplace. In the last 5 years IE market share has plummeted from near 70%  to just over 20%. The simple fact is that Internet Explorer has lost the browser war. The clear advantage it once had with being embedded with Windows has ultimately led to resentment against the monopoly and it is the backlash which has killed it.

I have not used IE for over 10 years even though 3 of my 5 devices use Windows. On these 3, I use Chrome while on my two Apple devices I use Safari (and occasionally Chrome).

Usage share of web browsers (Source StatCounter)

Usage share of web browsers (Source StatCounter)

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Posted in Development | Comments Off on Who killed Internet Explorer?

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