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THE RANDOM MIX FILE THE RANDOM MIX FILE............................................................................................................................................1 DO NOTHING K ALTERNATIVE................................................................................................................................3 YUCCA SOVERIGNTY................................................................................................................................................6 RUSSIA NUCLEAR STORAGE C-PLAN....................................................................................................................9 NUCLEAR WAR IMPACTS........................................................................................................................................12 n/w -> ice age...............................................................................................................................................................12 A nuclear war between just two countries using less than 1% of the world’s nuclear arsenal results in rapid and long -lasting cooling .................................................................................................................................................12 n/w -> ice age...............................................................................................................................................................13 Nuclear war triggers rapid climate cooling and global devastation..........................................................................13 n/w -> ice age...............................................................................................................................................................14 Even a minor terrorist attack with nuclear weapons could plunge the planet into an unprecedented nuclear winter ...................................................................................................................................................................................14 n/w -> ice age................................................................................................................................................................15 Small nuclear skirmishes cause rapid global cooling and famine for billions..........................................................15 Smoke from a nuclear exchange leads to severe agricultural shifts as temperatures plummet below freezing across the northern hemisphere ...........................................................................................................................................16 A nuclear winter destroys civilization’s biological support systems and imminent extinction ...............................17 ......................................................................................................................................................................................18 Nuclear winter kills agro ..............................................................................................................................................18 New studies show that nuclear winter impacts will eliminate substantial agricultural growth for years ................18 POLITICS UPDATES...................................................................................................................................................19 McCain Winning - Colorado.........................................................................................................................................19 McCain Winning - Colorado.........................................................................................................................................20 McCain Winning – Florida ...........................................................................................................................................21 McCain Winning...........................................................................................................................................................22 X State Key...................................................................................................................................................................22 Obama Winning - Colorado..........................................................................................................................................23 Obama Winning – Florida.............................................................................................................................................24 Obama Winning............................................................................................................................................................26 Russia and Saudi Oil DA Updates................................................................................................................................27 COERCION CRITIQUE...............................................................................................................................................37 LINKS...........................................................................................................................................................................37 Link – Economic Incentive...........................................................................................................................................37 Link – Economic Intervention......................................................................................................................................38 Link – Incentives...........................................................................................................................................................39 Link - Incentives...........................................................................................................................................................40 Link - Incentives...........................................................................................................................................................41 ......................................................................................................................................................................................41 Link - Incentive.............................................................................................................................................................42 Link - Incentives...........................................................................................................................................................43 ......................................................................................................................................................................................46 IMPACTS......................................................................................................................................................................47 Coercion Bad.................................................................................................................................................................47 Coercion Bad.................................................................................................................................................................48 Coercion Bad.................................................................................................................................................................49 Rights Outweigh...........................................................................................................................................................50 Rights Outweigh...........................................................................................................................................................51 Value to life...................................................................................................................................................................52 MO Impacts...................................................................................................................................................................55
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Alternatives...................................................................................................................................................................65
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DO NOTHING K ALTERNATIVE Our Alternative is to do nothing in response to the Aff harms. You have to refuse every instance of liberal reformism. Zizek 2k2, dialectical-materialist philosopher and psychoanalyst, is co-director of the International Center for Humanities, Birkbeck College, University of London. (Slavoj, "A Plea for Leninist Intolerance" Critical Inquiry Winter) One is therefore tempted to turn around Marx's eleventh thesis: the first task today is precisely not to succumb to the temptation to act, to directly intervene and change things (which then inevitably ends in a cul de sac of debilitating impossibility, leaving one to ask, What can one do against global capital?) but to question the hegemonic ideological coordinates. If, today, one follows a direct call to act, this act will not be performed in an empty space; it will be an act within the hegemonic ideological coordinates: those who "really want to do something to help people" get involved in (undoubtedly honorable) exploits like Doctors without Borders, Greenpeace, feminist and antiracist campaigns, which are all not only tolerated but even supported by the media, even if they seemingly enter economic territory (say, denouncing and boycotting companies that do not respect ecological conditions or that use child labor). They are tolerated and supported as long as they do not get too close to a certain limit. Let us take two predominant topics from today's American radical academia, postcolonial and queer studies. The problem of postcolonialism is undoubtedly crucial; however, postcolonial studies tends to translate it into the multiculturalist problematic of the colonized minorities' right to narrate their victimizing experience, of the power mechanisms that repress otherness, so that, at the end of the day, we learn that the root of postcolonial exploitation is our intolerance toward the Other and, furthermore, that this intolerance itself is rooted in our intolerance toward the "Stranger in Ourselves," in our inability to confront what we repressed in and of ourselves. Thus the politico-economic struggle is thus imperceptibly transformed into a pseudopsychoanalytic drama of the subject unable to confront its inner traumas. The true corruption of American academia is not primarily financial, it is not only that they are able to buy many European critical intellectuals (myself included, up to a point), but conceptual: notions of European critical theory are imperceptibly translated into the benign universe of cultural studies chic. With regard to this radical chic, the first gesture toward Third Way ideologists and practitioners should be that of praise; they, at least, play their game in a straight way and are honest in their acceptance of global capitalist coordinates in contrast to the pseudoradical academic leftists who adopt the attitude of utter disdain toward the Third Way, while their own radicality ultimately amounts to an empty gesture that obliges no one to anything determinate. So how are we to respond to the eternal dilemma of the radical Left? Should one strategically support center-left figures like Bill Clinton against the conservatives, or should one adopt the stance of "It doesn't matter, we shouldn't get involved in these fights-in a way, it is even better if the Right is directly in power, since, in this way, it will be easier for the people to see the truth of the situation?" The answer is the variation of old Stalin's answer to the question "Which deviation is worse, the rightist or the leftist one?" They are both worse. What one should do is adopt the stance of the proper dialectical paradox. In principle, of course, one should be indifferent toward the struggle between the liberal and conservative poles of today's official politics. However, one can only afford to be indifferent if the liberal option is in power. Otherwise, the price to be paid may appear much too high-recall the catastrophic consequences of the German Communist Party's decision in the early thirties not to focus on the struggle against the Nazis, with the justification that the Nazi dictatorship is the last, desperate stage of the capitalist domination, which will open eyes to the working class, shattering their belief in bourgeois democratic institutions. Along these lines, Claude Lefort himself, whom no one can accuse of communist sympathies, recently made a crucial point in his answer to Francois Furet: today's liberal consensus is the result of 150 years of the leftist workers' struggle and pressure upon the state; it incorporated demands that were one hundred or even fewer years ago dismissed by liberals as horror.4 As proof, one should just look at the list of the demands at the end of the Communist Manifesto. Apart from two or three of them (which, of course, are the key ones), all others are today part of the consensus (at least that of the disintegrating welfare state): universal suffrage, the right to free education, universal health care, care for the retired, limitation of child labor, and so on. Today, in a time of continuous swift changes, from the digital revolution to the retreat of old social forms, this thought is more than ever exposed to the temptation of losing its nerve, of precociously abandoning the old conceptual coordinates. The media constantly bombard us with the need to abandon the old paradigms, insisting that if we are to survive we have to change our most fundamental notions of personal identity, society, environment, and so forth. New Age wisdom claims that we are entering a new "posthuman" era; postmodern political thought is telling us that we are entering a postindustrial phase in which the old categories of labor, collectivity, class, and the like are theoretical zombies, no longer applicable to the dynamics of modernization. And the same holds for psychoanalysis: starting from the rise of the ego-psychology in the 1930s, psychoanalysts have been losing their nerve, laying down their (theoretical) arms, hastening to concede that the oedipal matrix of socialization is no longer operative, that we live in times of universalized perversion, that the concept of repression is of no use in our permissive times. The Third Way ideology and political practice is effectively the model of this defeat, of this inability to recognize how the new is here to enable the old to survive. Against this temptation, one should rather follow the unsurpassed model of Pascal and ask the difficult question: how are we to remain faithful to the old in the new conditions? Only in this way can we generate something effectively new.
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Our alternative is a complete withdrawal from the affirmative principled opportunism— doing nothing in the face of the 1ac is the only means of leaving the doors open for revolution because reformism never removes capitalism Zizek 2k4 [Iraq: the borrowed kettle p. 71-2] The stance of simply condemning the postmodern Left for its accommodation, however, is also false, since one should ask the obvious difficult question: what, in fact, was the alternative? If today's 'post-politics' is opportunistic pragmatism with no principles, then the predominant leftist reaction to it can be aptly characterized as 'principled opportunism': one simply sticks to old formulae (defence of the welfare state, and so on) and calls them 'principles', dispensing with the detailed analysis of how the situation has changed — and thus retaining one's position of Beautiful Soul. The inherent stupidity of the 'principled' Left is clearly discernible in its standard criticism of any analysis which proposes a more complex picture of the situation, renouncing any simple prescriptions on how to act: 'there is no clear political stance involved in your theory' – and this from people with no stance but their 'principled opportunism'. Against such a stance, one should have the courage to affirm that, in a situation like today's, the only way really to remain open to a revolutionary opportunity is to renounce facile calls to direct action, which necessarily involve us in an activity where things change so that the totality remains the same. Today's predicament is that, if we succumb to the urge of directly 'doing something' (engaging in the anti-globalist struggle, helping the poor . . .), we will certainly and undoubtedly contribute to the reproduction of the existing order. The only way to lay the foundations for a true, radical change is to withdraw from the compulsion to act, to 'do nothing' – thus opening up the space for a different kind of activity.
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SDI 08 USEFUL CARDS FILE THEIR CLAIM THAT THE CASE OUTWEIGHS IS A LINK. Their tactics for convincing the judge to "do what has to be done because the bomb is ticking" mirror Heinrich Himmler's tactics for mechanizing the SS to liquidate the Jews. Žižek 2006 [Slavoj Zizek, philosopher and psychoanalyst, senior researcher at the Institute for Advanced Study in the Humanities, in Essen, Germany, professor at the European Graduate School. "How expendable is human life, spirit", February 12, 2006] This brings up a crucial question: What does this all-pervasive sense of urgency mean ethically? The pressure of events is so overbearing, the stakes are so high, that they necessitate a suspension of ordinary ethical concerns. After all, displaying moral qualms when the lives of millions are at stake plays into the hands of the enemy. CTU agents act in a shadowy space outside the law, doing things that "simply have to be done" to save society from the terrorist threat. This includes not only torturing terrorists when they are caught, but torturing CTU members or their closest relatives when they are suspected of terrorist links. In the fourth season, among those tortured were the secretary of defense's son-in-law and son (both with the secretary's full knowledge and support), as well as a female member of CTU, wrongly suspected of passing information to the terrorists. (After the torture, when new data confirms her innocence, she is asked to return to work. And since this is an emergency and every person is needed, she does.) The CTU agents not only treat terrorist suspects in this way -- after all, they are dealing with the "ticking bomb" situation evoked by Alan Dershowitz to justify torture in his book, "Why Terrorism Works" -- they also treat themselves as expendable, ready to lay down their colleagues' or their own lives if this will help prevent the terrorist act. Special Agent Jack Bauer, played by Kiefer Sutherland, embodies this attitude at its purest. Without qualms, he tortures others and allows his superiors to put his life on the line. At the end of the fourth season, he agrees to be turned over to the People's Republic of China as a scapegoat for a CTU covert operation that killed a Chinese diplomat. Although he knows he will be tortured and imprisoned for life, he promises not to say anything that would hurt U.S. interests. That leaves Jack in a paradigmatic situation: When he is informed by the ex-president of the United States, his close ally, that someone in the government ordered his death (delivering him to the wily Chinese torturers is considered too much of a security risk), his two closest friends in CTU organize his fake death. He then disappears into nowhere, anonymous, officially non-existent. In the war on terror, it is not only the terrorists but the CTU agents who become what philosopher Giorgio Agamben calls homini sacer -- those who can be killed with impunity because, in the eyes of the law, their lives no longer count. While the agents continue to act on behalf of a legal power, their acts are no longer covered and constrained by the law. They operate in an empty space within the domain of the law. It is here that we encounter the series' fundamental ideological lie: In spite of this thoroughly ruthless attitude of selfinstrumentalization, the CTU agents, especially Jack, remain warm human beings, caught in the usual emotional dilemmas of normal people. They love their wives and children, they suffer jealousy -- but at a moment's notice they are ready to sacrifice their loved ones for their mission. They are something like the psychological equivalent of decaffeinated coffee, doing all the horrible things the situation necessitates, without paying the subjective price for it. Consequently, "24" cannot be simply dismissed as a pop cultural justification for the problematic methods of the United States in its war on terror. More is at stake. Recall the lesson of Francis Ford Coppola's "Apocalypse Now." The figure of Kurtz is not a reminder of some barbaric past but the necessary outcome of modern Western power. Kurtz was a perfect soldier. As such, through his over-identification with the military power system, he turned into the excess that the system had to eliminate in an operation that imitated the ruthlessness of Kurtz, which it was ostensibly fighting against. This is the dilemma for those in power: How to obtain Kurtz without Kurtz's pathology? How to get people to do the necessary dirty job without turning them into monsters? SS chief Heinrich Himmler faced the same dilemma. When confronted with the task of liquidating the Jews of Europe, Himmler adopted the heroic attitude of "Somebody has to do the dirty job, so let's do it!" It is easy to do a noble thing for one's country, up to sacrificing one's life for it. It is much more difficult to commit a crime for one's country. In the book "Eichmann in Jerusalem," Hannah Arendt provided a precise description of how the Nazi executioners endured the horrible acts they performed. Most of them were not simply evil; they were well aware that their actions brought humiliation, suffering and death to their victims. Their way out of this predicament was that "instead of saying: What horrible things I did to people!, the murderers would be able to say: What horrible things I had to watch in the pursuance of my duties, how heavily the task weighed upon my shoulders!" In this way, they were able to turn around the logic of resisting temptation: Their "ethical" effort was directed toward the task of resisting the temptation not to murder, torture and humiliate. Thus, the very violation of spontaneous ethical instincts of pity and compassion was turned into the proof of ethical grandeur: Doing one's duty meant assuming the heavy burden of inflicting pain on others. There was a further ethical problem here for Himmler: How to make sure that the SS executioners who performed these terrible acts could remain human and retain their dignity? His answer was found in the Bhagavad-Gita, a special leather-bound edition of which he always kept in his pocket. There, Krishna tells Arjuna that he should carry out his acts with an inner distance and never get fully involved in them. Therein also resides the lie of "24": The presumption that it is not only possible to retain human dignity in accomplishing acts of terror, but that when an honest person accomplishes such acts as a heavy duty, this confers on him an additional tragic-ethic grandeur. But what if such a distance is possible? What if we do have people who commit terrible acts as part of their job while they remain loving husbands, good parents and caring friends? As Arendt knew, far from redeeming them, the very fact that they are able to retain their normality while committing such acts is the ultimate confirmation of their moral catastrophe.
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YUCCA SOVERIGNTY Yucca mountain takes sovereignty away from indigenous people Think and Ask October 2003 http://www.thinkandask.com/news/shoshone.html Mary and Carrie Dann sued the United States government for violating their rights. The Nevada sisters say the United States used illegal means to gain control of Native American ancestral lands slowly encroached upon by industry and private landowners. The U.S. government says it paid the Western Shoshone Nation for its use of their land in 1979, and has since privatized millions of additional acreage. The Western Shoshone Distribution Bill, HR 884, sets to relax territorial rules held by Shoshones for 150 years. Approximately 26 million acres will transition to the U.S. Government if the Senate passes HR Bill 884. This Shoshone acreage is marked by the Bureau of Land Management for mining minerals, storing nuclear waste, and for geothermal energy production. Yucca Mountain, a historical and spiritual area for Shoshones, will expand its current nuclear storage facilities during the next 5-7 years. Inter-American Commission on Human Rights found the U.S. government violated the Dann sisters' rights, although did not state that the Dann sisters owned land. The Commission suggested an "effective remedy" should ensure respect for the Danns' claim to their ranch of 70 years. The Organization of American States (OAS) human-rights commission reaffirmed land-rights use of the Western Shoshone Indian tribe, rejecting the U.S. government's claim the Danns live on public land. It was the first time both councils charged the U.S. government with violating human rights, and the case will be heard by the United Nations Commission on Human Rights.
Yucca mountain takes sovereignty away from indigenous people The New Standard, may 19 2005 http://newstandardnews.net/content/index.cfm/items/1825 May 19, 2005 – The Shoshone tribe is considering whether to appeal a federal judge's decision that rejected their attempt to stop plans for a national nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain in Nevada. The Western Shoshone National Council had challenged the US Department of Energy's proposed use of the land, which is within ancient Shoshone territory, as violating the 1863 Ruby Valley Treaty
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Yucca mountain takes sovereignty away from indigenous people Words as weapons, Last updated January 28, 2007 http://www.wordsasweapons.com/shoshone.htm The Western Shoshone Nation has been struggling since 1863 for sovereignty over their treaty-granted land throughout Nevada. Unlike many native nations, the Shoshone NEVER gave, ceded, or sold their land to the United States government, by treaty or otherwise. The United States government and multinational mining corporations have recognized the value of the land for the gold underneath and for the usage potential of the land above ground. The government continues to break the 1863 Treaty of Ruby Valley signed with the Western Shoshone Nation, and is without any doubt, committing cultural and spiritual murder throughout Nevada. For the last ten years, an organization called the Western Shoshone Defense Project has worked ceaselesly in nonviolent resistance to the mining companies and to the United States Government. Current struggles center around preventing the government from distributing money it has held in trust for the Shoshones, ostensibly as "payment" for lands taken in violation of the treaty of Ruby Valley. Distribution of this money has polarized the Shoshones, between most, who recognize the move for what it is: an attempted buyout and a relinquishing of traditional claims to the land (the government recognizes that it has no case without the payout being voted through), and others who want to cash in, even if it means exhausting their claims to their birthright. SEE RECENT UPDATES FOR NEWS ON THE DISTRIBUTION BILL.
Yucca mountain takes sovereignty away from indigenous people Words as weapons, March 2006 http://www.wordsasweapons.com/shoshone.htm “We have rights to protect our homelands and stop the destruction of our land, water, and air by the abuses of the United States government and the multinational corporations. The situation is outrageous and we’re glad the United Nations Committee agrees with us. Our people have suffered more nuclear testing than anywhere else in the world and they’re continuing underground testing despite our protests. Yucca Mountain is being hollowed out in order to store nuclear waste. We cannot stand for it – this earth, the air, the water are sacred. People of all races must stop this insanity now in order to secure a safe future for all.” - Joe Kennedy, Western Shoshone. “The Western Shoshone Nation is very thankful to the Committee members for their decision affirming U.S. discrimination and destructive policies do not go on unaccounted for. Truth is what it is – that can never change. We pray for the healing of our peoples, the land and the harassment and destruction to stop. While others are allowed the freedom of religion, we are kept from the very same right. The Newe (people) use this ancestral land for sacred ceremonies. The federal agencies prevent our access to some of these important areas. Our ancestors’ burials are being dug up and placed into local museums’ basement storage areas because of surge of gold mines and nuclear developments. This is an outrage to our people!” - Judy Rojo, Western Shoshone. “This battle has been going on for quite some time, but we’ve seen a dramatic increase in the federal government and the companies’ rush to finalize what they consider a settlement in order to get a hold of our lands for activities that are contaminating our water and our air. Again, we are very pleased that our rights are finally being taken seriously and we look forward to positive actions being taken by the U.S.” - Steven Brady, Western Shoshone. “We are Shoshone delegates speaking for a Nation threatened by extinction. The mines are polluting our waters, destroying hot springs and exploding sacred mountains—our burials along with them--attempting to erase our signature on the land. We are coerced and threatened by mining and Federal agencies when we seek to continue spiritual prayers for traditional food or medicine on Shoshone land. We have endured murder of our Newe people for centuries, as chronicled in military records, but now we are asked to endure a more painful death from the U.S. governmental agencies —a separation from land and spiritual renewal. We thank our past leaders for their persistence and courage and the CERD for this monumental step.” - Bernice Lalo, Western Shoshone.
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Yucca mountain takes sovereignty away from indigenous people Las- Vegas Review Journal, March 5 2005 http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2005/Mar-05-Sat-2005/news/25999957.html A contingent of Western Shoshones played what Yucca Mountain nuclear waste project opponents consider their ace in the hole Friday: a lawsuit based on an 1863 treaty that the tribes say doesn't allow building a repository on their native land. It is the first time the Ruby Valley Treaty, authorized by Civil War Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, has been used in a case that targets Yucca Mountain, said Reno attorney Robert Hager, who represents the Western Shoshone tribes. "I have always felt the Western Shoshone have the best claim to stop Yucca Mountain," Hager said, flanked by tribal leaders outside Lloyd George U.S. Courthouse in Las Vegas where the case was filed. Yucca Mountain is a sacred site for Western Shoshones.
Yucca mountain takes sovereignty away from indigenous people Las Vegas now, March 7 2005 http://www.lasvegasnow.com/Global/story.asp?S=3032910 There's a new legal challenge Friday against Yucca Mountain. The Western Shoshone Nation is suing the Department of Energy in federal court, claiming the proposed nuclear dump violates a land use treaty dating back to the 1800s. The chief of the Western Shoshone Nation has had just about enough. "We had hoped to, instead of doing this, enter into negotiations with the United States government." Raymond Yowell asked, begged, pleaded to discuss Yucca Mountain with the Department of Energy and has been turned down every time. "There's been nothing from the government." Shoshone council member John Wells says the tribe has history on its side. His ancestors lived on Yucca Mountain. It was their home, their land. The federal government acknowledged that 139 years ago. In 1866, Congress ratified a peace treaty with the Western Shoshone and under that treaty the federal government could use Shoshone land for agriculture, ranching, the construction of roads and railroads. The treaty said nothing about the storage of radioactive waste.
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RUSSIA NUCLEAR STORAGE C-PLAN C-PLAN. RUSSIA WILL ESTABLISH A PERMANENT NUCLEAR WASTE STORAGE FACILITY AT KRASNOYARSK-26 AND WILL AUTHORIZE STORAGE OF UNITED STATES NUCLEAR WASTE AT THIS FACILITY 1) THE COUNTERPLAN CREATES A STORAGE ALTERNATIVE TO THE AFF PLAN. THE AFFIRMATIVE CANNOT INTERPRET THE PLAN AS MAKING THIS THEIR STORAGE FACILITY BECAUSE IT WOULD NOT BE TOPICAL, THE RESOLUTION REQUIRES THE INCENTIVE THE AFFIRMATIVE INCREASES TO BE IN THE UNITED STATES. SINCE THE STORAGE FACILITY IS THE INCENTIVE THEY GIVE IT MUST BE LOCATED IN THE U.S. THE COUNTERPLAN CREATES A PERMANENT STORAGE FACILITY OUTSIDE OF THE UNITED STATES. 2) THE COUNTERPLAN SOLVES. THE U.S. WOULD STORE WASTE THERE AND IT WOULD GENERATE MASSIVE REVENUE FOR THE RUSSIAN ECONOMY US is willing to store nuclear waste in Russia, and it would help the Russian economy Mark N. Katz is a professor of government and politics at George Mason University, Space War July 17 2006 http://www.spacewar.com/reports/US_And_Russia_Building_A_Friendship_Based_On_Nuclear_Waste_999.html In early July, however, the Bush administration changed course and signaled its willingness to allow spent nuclear fuel under American jurisdiction to be stored in Russia even though Moscow has not stopped providing assistance to the Iranian atomic energy reactor program. But it has been widely reported that since Washington allowed it to store spent fuel that might be worth up to $20 billion to Moscow, the Bush administration hopes the Kremlin will become more amenable to cooperation with Washington on both Iran and North
3) THE COUNTERPLAN IS NET BENEFICIAL Krasnoyarsk-26 solves nuclear waste, Russian economy, loose WMD’s and is not prone to Earthquakes or terrorist attacks Living on Earth, April 2 1999 http://www.loe.org/series/three/international.htm GROSSMAN: At Krasnoyarsk-26, a city in the heart of Siberia, technicians board a train bound for a huge underground plutonium factory. Scientist Yevgeniy Velikhov says Russia could rent out space here for storing used fuel for other countries, until they come up with a permanent disposal plan. Dr. Velikhov is president of the Kurchatov Institute, Russia's leading nuclear research center. He says Krasnoyarsk-26 is not prone to earthquakes and already has secure storage carved from a mountain. VELIKHOV: It is no access to terrorism, no access to any accident like airplane crash or bombing, because this storage already designed and built to withstand a direct nuclear weapons hit. (Doors shut; motors hum) GROSSMAN: Dr. Velikhov's is only one of a number of competing proposals for a Russian fuel storage site. All of them would generate hundreds of millions of dollars for the cash-starved country, which could fund the clean-up of Russia's decrepit nuclear weapons industry and keep underpaid nuclear technicians at Krasnoyarsk-26, like those servicing this reactor, from taking their skills, and possibly some stolen plutonium, abroad.
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Krasnoyarsk-26 solves nuclear waste- meets international standards ITAR-TASS news agency, October 26 2001, Lexis Moscow, 26 October: The Russian Atomic Energy Ministry said in a statement today it had no plans for burying irradiated nuclear waste of either Russian or foreign origin. The ministry issued the statement in a reaction to media reports that quoted a certain group, Ekozashchita (Ecology Defence), as saying that work had been underway since 1998 to build a nuclear waste burial site some 25 to 30 km away from the Krasnoyarsk-26 nuclear centre. The ministry press-service confirmed that research had started on a granitoid geological platform, close to Krasnoyarsk-26, in 1992 to find areas for building reliable burials of radioactive waste. But the project envisioned that solidified radioactive products resulting from nuclear waste recycling would be buried there upon arrival from a new waste utilization facility in Siberia. The ministry stressed that the project had nothing to do with irradiated nuclear fuel. "It fully meets international standards for the use of stable geological formations for long-term storage of hazardous waste," the ministry said.
Krasnoyarsk-26 is safe for international nuclear waste storage Centre of Russia TV, December 7 1999 Lexis Correspondent In Russia the places considered best for the purpose are the towns of Ozersk and Krasnoyarsk-26 Zheleznogorsk , where there are big pools for safe storage. Mikheyev, captioned There are plans to modernize the existing liquid storage facility at the Mining and Chemical Integrated Works from 6,000 to 9,000 tonnes. Correspondent There are plans to accept spent nuclear fuel from all over the world, mainly from the USA. Even the so-called third world countries, which do not wish to keep spent nuclear fuel, have already found the necessary money to transport and store the fuel in Russia. They are just waiting until magnanimous Russia opens its depths to accept their nuclear rubbish. There is no need to say how dangerous it would be to have such a facility just at arm's length.
Krasnoyarsk-26 is safe to store nuclear waste BBC worldwide monitor, August 4 2001, Lexis The minister also had difficulty answering Deputy Vyacheslav Novikov's question: "Will matters be organized in such a way that each curie imported into the Territory lowers the radiation load on its territory?" If it is a question of quantities of low-grade waste, there probably will be a reduction. But in general, of course, it is planned to import a very significant quantity of spent nuclear fuel. The emphasis was placed on the fact that the storage of spent nuclear fuel at Krasnoyarsk-26 is safe. And there is no reason to reprocess it on site. And the liquid radioactive waste in tanks at the mining and chemical combine will be reprocessed at Mayak.
Krasnoyarsk-26 is safe to store nuclear waste and can withstand a nuclear attack Wall Street Journal, may 5 2005 http://www.mre.gov.br/portugues/noticiario/internacional/selecao_detalhe3.asp?ID_RESENHA=136707 Yongbyon is often described as North Korea's Los Alamos, but North Koreans who have lived there say that it actually more closely resembles Soviet underground complexes like Krasnoyarsk-26. This is a small city in Siberia built 600 feet below the surface on Stalin's orders, by Gulag prisoners later replaced by 100,000 troops. It has 3,500 rooms and halls, and a system of tunnels as big and extensive as the Moscow Metro. Inside Krasnoyarsk-26, safe even from a nuclear attack, the Soviets built three plutonium reactors plus a radiochemical facility to separate the plutonium from spent fuel rods, storage tanks and ballistic missile plants. The entrances could be sealed off and a ventilation system with air filters was intended to protect the workforce from outside radiation.
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Opening Krasnoyarsk-26 increases the russian economy, but perm would shift storage to the US New York Times November 18 1998 http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C00E3D91630F93BA25752C1A96E958260&sec=&spon=&page wanted=all The complex is so desperate it would like to make money storing nuclear waste. But Russian law forbids it from accepting nuclear waste from abroad. These days Krasnoyarsk-26 is counting on the construction of a $200 million factory to produce silicon for computer chips. The Defense Enterprise Fund, a Pentagon-financed group that is trying to help Russia convert its military industry to civilian production, has paid for some of the planning. The Russian Government has already spent several million dollars to grow silicon crystals. Krasnoyarsk-26, however, still needs to line up major Western investors. With Asia in a recession and the United States and Europe possibly on the brink of a slowdown, persuading foreign companies to sink hundreds of millions of dollars in a Siberian nuclear city is extremely difficult.
Storing nuclear waste helps Russian economy, empirically proven Mark N. Katz is a professor of government and politics at George Mason University, Space War July 17 2006 http://www.spacewar.com/reports/US_And_Russia_Building_A_Friendship_Based_On_Nuclear_Waste_999.html Since the mid-1990's, Moscow has sought to make money through storing spent nuclear fuel from other countries in sparsely populated regions of the Russian Federation. Up until recently, though, Washington has not allowed this due to its displeasure over Russian assistance to the Iranian nuclear program.
US is willing to store nuclear waste in Russia, and it would help the Russian economy and US Russian relations Mark N. Katz is a professor of government and politics at George Mason University, Space War July 17 2006 http://www.spacewar.com/reports/US_And_Russia_Building_A_Friendship_Based_On_Nuclear_Waste_999.html In Washington, the reversal of American opposition to Russia storing spent fuel under U.S. jurisdiction is seen as providing a financial windfall to Moscow which the Kremlin will value and be grateful for. Washington, then, should be able to use both the prospect of signing this agreement as well as the possibility of terminating it after it is signed as leverage for aligning Russia's policies toward Iran and North Korea with its own. In Moscow, however, this agreement is likely to be seen very differently. The Kremlin knows storing nuclear waste in their own countries is unpopular with the public in the United States and other countries. The Putin administration's willingness to store it in Russia, is therefore seen in Moscow as providing a significant benefit for which Russia deserves to be well paid. Furthermore, because America and the West benefit so much from Russia storing their nuclear waste, Moscow can hardly be expected to alter its policies toward Iran and North Korea. Given its past behavior, Moscow will undoubtedly see no reason why it cannot make money from the West for storing its spent fuel as well as from Iran for aiding its atomic energy program.
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NUCLEAR WAR IMPACTS n/w -> ice age A nuclear war between just two countries using less than 1% of the world’s nuclear arsenal results in rapid and long -lasting cooling Robock Et. Al. 2007 (Alan Robock, Professor in the Department of Environmental Sciences at Rutgers University, Brian Toon and Charles Bardeen, University of Colorado, Richard Turco, UCLA, Georgiy Stenchikov, Rutgers University, and Luke Oman, Johns Hopkins University, “Climate Effects of a Regional Nuclear Conflict”, IPRC Climate, 2007.
) With support from the National Science Foundation, we studied the following scenario: A nuclear war between two countries in which each country is using 50 Hiroshima -size (15 kilotons) weapons to attack the other’s most populated urban areas with populations that could exceed 10 million. These 100 bombs represent less than 0.03% of the explosive power of the current nuclear arsenal worldwide. In our 100 - weapon scenario, we estimate that five megatons of smoke would result from urban firestorms rising into the upper troposphere due to pyro -convection. Direct fatalities due to fire and smoke would be comparable to those worldwide in World War II. Furthermore, the megacities exposed to atmospheric fallout of long -lived radionuclides would likely have to be abandoned indefinitely, with severe national and international implications. We also anticipate substantial
perturbations of global ozone. To investigate the climate response to this massive smoke injection, we conducted simulations with a state -of -the -art general circulation model, ModelE from the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, which includes a module to calculate the transport and removal of aerosol particles. Our experience with this model shows it simulates realistically the climate response to large volcanic eruptions. Article continues. In the model, the black carbon particles in the aerosol layer are heated by absorption of shortwave radiation. This heating induces vertical motions and the aerosols are lofted close to the top of the stratosphere, much higher than is typical of weakly absorbing volcanic sulfate aerosols. As a result, the carbon aerosols have a very long residence time and continue to affect surface climate for more than a decade. The mass e -folding time for the smoke is six years; for typical volcanic eruptions, one year; and for tropospheric aerosols, one week. The global -average surface shortwave radiation in response to the aerosols decreases by up to 15 W/m2 (Figure 1). Five years after the initial smoke injection, the global -average perturbation is still at –7 W/m2. This exceeds the maximum global -average surface cooling of –4 W/m2 following the 1991 Mt. Pinatubo volcanic eruption, the largest of the 20th century. The cooling is also greater than the global average increase of 1.5 W/m2 at the surface or 4 W/m2 at the tropopause for a doubling of atmospheric CO2. The smoke cloud lowers surface temperature significantly (Figure 1). (Stratospheric temperatures are
also severely perturbed.) A global average surface cooling of –1.25°C persists for years. After a decade, the cooling is still –0.5°C (Figure 1). The temperature changes are largest over land. …article continues…Precipitation recovers faster than temperature, but both lag the forcing. For comparison, the global average net surface -shortwave forcing from a model simulation of the 1991 Mt. Pinatubo eruption is shown. 18 IPRC Climate, vol. 7, no. 1, 2007 most of the grain -growing regions, are several degrees cooler. As in the
case with the earlier nuclear winter calculations, large climatic effects are felt in regions far removed from the countries involved in the conflict. As a result of Earth’s surface cooling, evapotranspiration slows and the global hydrological cycle is weakened, with global precipitation reduced by about 10% (Figure 1). Although rainfall decreases mostly in the Intertropical Convergence Zone, as observed after the 1991 Pinatubo eruption, large areas on the continents are also affected, including the Asian summer monsoon. The temperature, precipitation, and insolation changes would affect agriculture
greatly. For example, the growing season in some regions of North America and Europe are shortened by 10 to 20 days. Such a reduction in growing season may completely eliminate crops that have insufficient time to reach maturity. And these reductions continue for several years. To put the results in a larger historical context, the greatest volcanic eruption of the past 500 years, the 1815 Tambora eruption in Indonesia, resulted in a “Year Without a Summer” in 1816 in the Northern Hemisphere. Killing frosts disrupted agriculture throughout the summer in New England and led to significant emigration. In Europe,
the wet cold summer caused a widespread harvest failure, resulting in famines and economic collapse. That climatic disruption only lasted one year. Because the black carbon aerosols in the current nuclear simulation are lofted into the upper stratosphere where their residence time is close to a decade, the climatic effects of the fivemegaton case are significantly greater and more persistent than those following the Tambora eruption.
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Nuclear war triggers rapid climate cooling and global devastation Davidson 06 (Keay Davidson, Chronicle Science Writer, “Small Nuclear War Could Severely Cool the Planet”. San Francisco Chronicle 12 Dec. 2006. ). A regional nuclear war between Third World nations could trigger planetwide cooling that would likely ravage agriculture and kill millions of people, scientists reported Monday. For many years, Western military scientists and strategists have assumed that the damage from small -scale regional nuclear wars would be limited to continents on which they occurred. Now, in a revamping of the "nuclear winter" debate of the 1980s, new and far more sophisticated computer models show that even these little nuclear wars could create global devastation. Scientists, reporting their findings at the American Geophysical Conference in San Francisco, said vast urban firestorms ignited by war would send thick, dark clouds into the upper atmosphere, blocking the sun's rays and cooling much of the planet, with severe climatic and agricultural results. The soot might remain in the upper atmosphere for up to a decade. "All hell would break loose," said Prof. Richard Turco of UCLA's department of atmospheric and ocean sciences. In some places, the planet could cool more than it did during the so -called Little Ice Age of the 17th century, when glaciers advanced over much of northern Europe, said Alan Robock of Rutgers University, speaking Monday at a news conference at the Moscone Center, where the conference is being held this week. "It would be very difficult for agriculture," he said. The scientists' research is a new twist on the nuclear winter hypothesis, which attracted attention in the early 1980s. Back then, planetary scientist Carl Sagan and others warned that a much larger nuclear war between the United States and Soviet Union would lead to extensive atmospheric cooling and agricultural failure on a much greater scale and kill far more people. The hypothesis sparked widespread scientific and political controversy. It faded from public attention toward the end of the Cold War, after which
many U.S. strategists concluded that major nuclear wars that threatened all civilization were improbable. But that judgment was premature, because of the recent emergence of small - and medium -sized nations that either have or are trying to develop nuclear weapons, the scientists warned. They said that worldwide, a regional nuclear war could kill tens of millions of people, partly because even a small number of nuclear blasts could generate enough smoke to trigger a global climate change. The nuclear explosions and smoke could also damage the ozone layer in the upper atmosphere, they said. That layer shields Earth's surface from cancer -causing radiation from the sun. Initially, about 20 percent of the soot would be washed out of the atmosphere by rainfall, said Turco, who was one of the pioneers of the original nuclear winter hypothesis. However, much of the rest of the soot would rise skyward and warm as it was baked by the sun. That warming would make the soot more buoyant and force it even higher into the sky until it penetrated the stratosphere - - just above the tops of thunderclouds - - where high -speed winds would quickly spread the soot throughout the atmosphere, Turco and his colleagues said. The climatic effects of the regional nuclear wars were computer -modeled by Turco and colleagues including another veteran nuclear winter theorist, Owen Brian Toon, an atmospheric scientist at the University of Colorado; his student colleague, Charles Bardeen; Robock; scientist Georgi Stenchikov, also of Rutgers; and Luke Oman of Johns Hopkins University. Alluding to the spread of nuclear weapons to medium -sized nations such as North Korea, Turco said: "The only way to solve this problem is through diplomacy. Force won't do it. We need to be looking forward to complete disarmament of nuclear weapons."
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Even a minor terrorist attack with nuclear weapons could plunge the planet into an unprecedented nuclear winter CNN News 06 (CNN News citing a report by the Geophusical Union in San Francisco, 12 Dec. 2006. < http://www.abcnews.go.com/Technology/Story?id -2720173&page -1>) The decline of the Soviet Union may have left many Americans feeling safer from nuclear war, but a disturbing new study argues that an attack by terrorists sponsored by a small nuclear state could be just as lethal. Nuclear wasteland Scientists say that even a small nuclear war, between small countries or carried out by terrorists could have global repercussions. Such an attack "could generate casualties comparable to those once predicted for a full -scale nuclear exchange in a superpower conflict," says the report, presented Monday during the fall meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco. Furthermore, Americans should not think of themselves as isolated from potential small -scale, regional nuclear conflicts in such distant areas as the Middle East or Asia. The impact of such an encounter would be global, probably plunging the planet into a "nuclear winter" and blanketing wide areas of the world with radioactive fallout. The report, which cautions that there are many uncertainties in its own conclusions, was produced by a team of scientists who have been long active in studying the consequences of nuclear war. The study assumes that weapons used by terrorists, or smaller states, would be much smaller than those available to the superpowers, probably on the scale of those dropped on Japan during World War II. But the results would be catastrophic because the weapons would most likely be targeted at major cities. "The current combination of nuclear proliferation, political instability, and urban demographics forms perhaps the greatest danger to the stability of society since the dawn of humanity," Brian Toon of the University of Colorado in Boulder told a press conference prior to the presentation. The number of countries known to have nuclear weapons has grown to eight, but as many as 40 have some fissionable material and could produce bombs fairly quickly, the scientists said, basing their conclusions partly on studies by the National Academy of Sciences, the Department of Defense, and their own years -long research. Toon said Japan, for example, has enough nuclear material on hand to produce 20,000 weapons, and "most think they could do it in weeks." Many of the conclusions are based on the consequences of two nations, each with 50 bombs, delivering their full complement of weapons on each other. That's not a hypothetical figure, they suggested, because both India and Pakistan are believed to have at least that many weapons. So what would happen if they had at it? About 20 million
persons in that area would die, the scientists concluded. But the weapons would send up such a plume of smoke that the upper atmosphere would become opaque, blocking out so much solar radiation that temperatures around the world would plummet. "You would have a global climate change unprecedented in human history," said Alan Robock, associated director of the Center for Environmental Prediction at Rutgers Cook College and a member of the research team. "It would instantaneously be colder than the little ice age." There would be shorter growing seasons, less rain, less sun, and starvation around the world.
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Small nuclear skirmishes cause rapid global cooling and famine for billions Oman Et. Al. 07 (G. Oman, 1Department of Environmental Sciences Rutgers University, A. Robock1, 1Department of Environmental Sciences Rutgers University, L. Stenchikov1, 1Department of Environmental Sciences Rutgers University, O. B. Toon2, 2Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences and Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics University of Colorado, C. Bardeen2, 2Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences and Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics University of Colorado and R. P. Turco3, 3Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences University of California, “Climatic consequences of regional nuclear conflicts” Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics. Published: 19 April 2007. < http://www.atmos -chem -phys.net/7/2003/2007/acp -7 -2003 -2007.pdf.>)
We use a modern climate model and new estimates of smoke generated by fires in contemporary cities to calculate the response of the climate system to a regional nuclear war between emerging third world nuclear powers using 100 Hiroshima -size bombs (less than 0.03% of the explosive yield of the current global nuclear arsenal) on cities in the subtropics. We find significant cooling and reductions of precipitation lasting years, which would impact the global food supply. The climate changes are large and longlasting because the fuel loadings in modern cities are quite high and the subtropical solar insolation heats the resulting smoke cloud and lofts it into the high stratosphere, where removal mechanisms are slow. While the climate changes are less dramatic than found in previous “nuclear winter” simulations of a massive nuclear exchange between the superpowers, because less smoke is emitted, the changes are more long -lasting because the older models did not adequately represent the stratospheric plume rise. Introduction The casualties from the direct effects of blast, radioactivity, and fires resulting from the massive use of nuclear weapons by the superpowers would be so catastrophic that we avoided such a tragedy for the first four decades after the invention of nuclear weapons. The realization, based on research conducted jointly by Western and Soviet scientists (Crutzen and Birks, 1982; Aleksandrov and Stenchikov, 1983; Turco et al., 1983, 1990; Robock, 1984; Pittock et al., 1986; Harwell and Hutchinson, 1986; Sagan and Turco, 1990), that the climatic consequences, and indirect effects of the collapse of society, would be so severe that the ensuing nuclear winter would produce famine for billions of people far from the tar - Correspondence to: A. Robock ([email protected]) get zones, may have been an important factor in the end of the arms race between the United States and the Soviet Union (Robock, 1989). …article continues…A global average surface cooling of −1.25 C persists for years, and after a decade the cooling is still −0.5 C (Fig. 3). The temperature changes are largest over land. A map of the temperature change for the Northern Hemisphere summer one year after the smoke injection is shown in Fig. 5. A cooling of several degrees occurs over large areas of North America and Eurasia, including most of the grain -growing regions. As in the case with nuclear winter calculations, large climatic effects would occur in regions far removed from the target areas or the countries involved in the conflict. Northern Hemisphere winter temperature changes are also large (Fig. 6). Snow feedbacks enhance and prolong the climate response, as seen in areas of snow and sea ice changes - 22 - 486 487 Figure 4. …article continues… As a result of the cooling of the Earth’s surface, evapotranspiration is reduced and the global hydrological cycle is weakened. The resulting global precipitation is reduced by about 10% (Fig. 3). Figure 8 shows maps of precipitation change for the Northern Hemisphere summer one year after the smoke injection.
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Smoke from a nuclear exchange leads to severe agricultural shifts as temperatures plummet below freezing across the northern hemisphere Robock et. Al. 2007 (Alan Robock, Department of Environmental Sciences, Rutgers University, Luke Oman, Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Johns Hopkins University, and Georgiy L. Stenchikov, Department of Environmental Sciences, Rutgers University, “NUCLEAR WINTER REVISITED WITH A MODERN CLIMATE MODEL AND CURRENT NUCLEAR ARSENALS: STILL CATASTROPHIC CONSEQUENCES” Journal of Geophysical Research – Atmosphere, Apr. 2007, < http://www.envsci.rutgers.edu/~gera/nwinter/nw6accepted.pdf>) Twenty years ago, the results of climate model simulations of the response to smoke and dust from a massive nuclear exchange between the superpowers could be summarized as “nuclear winter,” with rapid temperature, precipitation, and insolation drops at the surface that would threaten global agriculture for at least a year. The global nuclear arsenal has fallen by a factor of three since then, but there has been an expansion of the number of nuclear weapons states, with additional states trying to develop nuclear arsenals. We use a modern climate model to re -examine the climate response to a range of nuclear wars, producing 50 and 150 Tg of smoke, using moderate, and large portions of the current global arsenal, and find that there would be significant climatic responses to all the scenarios….article continues…The effects of the smoke cloud on surface temperature are extremely large (Fig. 2). Stratospheric temperatures are also severely perturbed (Fig. 3). A global average surface cooling of –7°C to –8°C persists for years, and after a decade the cooling is still –4°C (Fig. 2). Considering that the global average cooling at the depth of the last ice age 18,000 yr ago was about –5°C, this would be a climate change unprecedented in speed and amplitude in the history of the human race. The temperature changes are largest over land. Maps of the temperature changes for the Northern Hemisphere summers for the year of smoke injection (Year 0) and the next year (Year 1) are shown in Fig. 4. Cooling of more than –20°C occurs over large areas of North America and of more than –30°C over much of Eurasia, including all agricultural regions. There are also large temperature changes in the tropics and over Southern Hemisphere continents. Large climatic effects would occur in regions far removed from the target areas or the countries involved in the conflict. As examples of the actual temperature changes in important grain -growing regions, we have plotted the time series of daily minimum air temperature for grid points in Iowa, United States, at 42°N, 95°W, and in Ukraine at 50°N, 30°E (Fig. 5). For both locations (shown in Fig. 4), minimum temperatures rapidly plummet below freezing and stay there for more than a year. In Ukraine, they stay below freezing for more than two years. Clearly, this would have agricultural implications. As a result of the cooling of the Earth’s surface, evapotranspiration is reduced and the global hydrological cycle is weakened. In addition, Northern Hemisphere summer monsoon circulations collapse, because the driving continent -ocean temperature gradient does not develop. The resulting global precipitation is reduced by about 45%.
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A nuclear winter destroys civilization’s biological support systems and imminent extinction Ehrlich Et. Al. 1983 (Ehrlich PR, Harte J, Harwell MA, Raven PH, Sagan C, Woodwell GM, Berry J, Ayensu ES, Ehrlich AH, Eisner T, “Long -term biological consequences of nuclear war” Pub Med, < http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/6658451?ordinalpos -1&itool -EntrezSystem2. PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum>) Subfreezing temperatures, low light levels, and high doses of ionizing and ultraviolet radiation extending for many months after a large -scale nuclear war could destroy the biological support systems of civilization, at least in the Northern Hemisphere. Productivity in natural and agricultural ecosystems could be severely restricted for a year or more. Postwar survivors would face starvation as well as freezing conditions in the dark and be exposed to near -lethal doses of radiation. If, as now seems possible, the Southern Hemisphere were affected also, global disruption of the biosphere could ensue. In any event, there would be severe consequences, even in the areas not affected directly, because of the interdependence of the world economy. In either case the extinction of a large fraction of the Earth's animals, plants, and microorganisms seems possible. The population size of Homo sapiens conceivably could be reduced to prehistoric levels or below, and extinction of the human species itself cannot be excluded.
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Nuclear winter kills agro New studies show that nuclear winter impacts will eliminate substantial agricultural growth for years Robock et. Al. 2007 (Alan Robock, Department of Environmental Sciences, Rutgers University, Luke Oman, Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Johns Hopkins University, and Georgiy L. Stenchikov, Department of Environmental Sciences, Rutgers University, “NUCLEAR WINTER REVISITED WITH A MODERN CLIMATE MODEL AND CURRENT NUCLEAR ARSENALS: STILL CATASTROPHIC CONSEQUENCES” Journal of Geophysical Research – Atmosphere, Apr. 2007, < http://www.envsci.rutgers.edu/~gera/nwinter/nw6accepted.pdf>) The amplitude of the climate changes from the 5 Tg, 50 Tg and 150 Tg cases are compared to those from global warming of the past century in Fig. 8 and climate change of the past 1000 yr in Fig. 9. In both cases it is clear that all cases would produce unprecedented long lasting climate change. The 50 Tg and 150 Tg cases produce cooling as large or larger than that experienced 18,000 yr ago during the coldest period of the last Ice Age. Harwell and Hutchinson [1986] clearly described the impacts of nuclear winter. They assumed that there would be no food production around the world for one year and concluded that most of the people on the planet would run out of food and starve to death by then. Our results show that this period of no food production needs to be extended by many years, making the impacts of nuclear winter even worse than previously thought. Agriculture would be affected by many factors, including temperature changes, precipitation changes, and changes in insolation [e.g., Robock et al., 1993; Maytín et al., 1995]. As an example, Fig. 10 shows changes in the length of the freeze-free growing season for the third full growing seasons in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. Such large reductions in growing season would completely eliminate crops that have insufficient time to reach maturity. Also, global ozone loss is likely [Toon et al., 2006], with effects on downward ultraviolet radiation [Vogelmann et al., 1992] and atmospheric circulation. Further analysis of these and other effects, which is beyond the scope of this paper, is needed.
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POLITICS UPDATES McCain Winning - Colorado McCain is winning Colorado and gaining in swing states US News, 7/25/2008 (Bonnie Erbe, staff writer, The Barack Obama-John McCain Race Is Too Close to Call, http://www.usnews.com/blogs/erbe/2008/7/25/the-barack-obama-john-mccain-race-is-too-closeto-call.html) What else could explain yesterday's Quinnipiac poll showing McCain gaining in the important swing states of Colorado, Michigan, and Minnesota? Arizona Sen. John McCain has inched ahead of Illinois Sen. Barack Obama in Colorado; come within inches in Minnesota and narrowed the gap in Michigan and Wisconsin, according to four simultaneous Quinnipiac University polls of likely voters in these battleground states, conducted in partnership with The Wall Street Journal and washingtonpost.com and released today. The Colorado poll, in particular, is problematic for the Obama campaign, since Democrats have great hopes this year of making headway in traditionally Republican western states. McCain winning Colorado – energy policy Telegraph Media, 7/25/08 (Henry Samuel in Paris and Alex Spillius in Washington, Barack Obama meets Nicolas Sarkozy as Obamania hits Paris, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/uselection2008/barackobama/2460482/BarackObama-meets-Nicolas-Sarkozy-as-Obamania-hits-Paris.html) A poll published by Quinnipac University however showed the terrain is less friendly for Mr Obama back home than in Europe, with his Republican opponent Senator John McCain closing the gap in four swing states. In Colorado, he now leads by two percentage points having trailed by five a month ago. In Minnesota he has narrowed the gap to two points from 13. The poll, which was taken from July 14-22 and only overlapped slightly with Mr Obama's nineday foreign tour, showed Mr McCain's supporting growing among white male voters. "Senator Obama's post-primary bubble hasn't burst, but it is leaking a bit," said Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. Energy policy was a more important issue for voters than the Iraq war, suggesting Mr McCain may have benefitted from proposing an extension of off-shore drilling in an attempt to reduce dependency on foreign oil, and reminding Mr Obama that for voters domestic issues have supplanted overseas affairs.
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McCain Winning - Colorado McCain leading in Colorado – independents, men, and oil drilling LA Times, 7/24/08 (Don Frederick, http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2008/07/john-mccain-pic.html) In Colorado, the one state among the four that President Bush carried in 2004, the poll showed McCain ahead by 2 percentage points. That lead is within the poll's margin of error, but it represents a positive trend for the Arizona senator; in a Quinnipiac survey a month ago, Obama led in the state by 5 percentage points. The poll found McCain making even greater strides in Minnesota, host of the convention where McCain will formally become his party's nominee in early September. Obama's advantage over McCain there now is negligible -- 2 percentage points -- compared with a 17-point lead the same survey gave the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee in June. Here are the new results:
Colorado (nine electoral votes): McCain 46%, Obama 44% (in June, Obama 49%, McCain 44%). Michigan (17 electoral votes): Obama 46%, McCain 42% (in June, Obama 48%, McCain 42%). Minnesota (10 electoral votes): Obama 46%, McCain 44% (in June, Obama 54%, McCain 37%). Wisconsin (10 electoral votes): Obama, 50%, McCain 39% (in June, Obama 52%, McCain 39%).
McCain "has picked up support in almost every group in every state, especially among independent voters and men voters." Summarizing the change over the last month, Peter Brown, the poll's assistant director, says that Obama's "post-primary bubble hasn't burst, but it is leaking a bit." The Quinnipiac release on its poll notes that
Brown's comment contrasts starkly with his summary ... ... of the results a month ago. At that point, as The Ticket reported, he said: "November can't get here soon enough" for Obama. "He has a lead everywhere, and if nothing changes between now and November he will make history."
A change that could explain McCain's gains, Brown says, is the energy issue. He notes that the new survey found "increased support for additional drilling, which McCain supports and Obama opposes. Roughly one in 10 voters say they have changed their minds and now favor drilling because of the jump in energy prices." McCain is winning Colorado The Washington Times, 7/27/08 (Donald Lambo, http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2008/jul/27/mccain-backers-obama-adblitz-bust/) McCain campaign officials say their own polls show that for all his spending, "Obama's numbers haven't budged a bit." Instead, a Quinnipiac University poll of likely voters in four of these states, taken July 14 to 22, showed Mr. McCain has picked up support "in almost every group in every state, especially among independent voters and men," the polling group reported last week. In Colorado, a usually Republican Western state that has turned into a tossup, Mr. McCain now leads his opponent by 45 percent to 44 percent, compared with a 49 percent to 44 percent Obama lead last month.
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McCain Winning – Florida McCain leading in Florida - polls US News, 7/23/08 (http://www.usnews.com/usnews/politics/bulletin/bulletin_080723.htm) McCain Retakes Lead In Florida An American Research Group poll of 600 likely Florida voters taken July 19-21 shows McCain leading Obama 47%-45%. A similar survey taken in mid-June showed Obama leading 49%-44%. Obama will lose in Florida – the Wilder Effect Herald Tribune, 7/27/08 (LLOYD DUNKELBERGER, http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20080727/ARTICLE/807270346/2055&title=Will_race_s way_state_on_Obama_) Although Obama appears highly competitive with McCain in recent Florida polls, skeptics point to what is known as the "Wilder Effect" -- the phenomenon of non-white candidates falling well short of pre-election polls in the actual vote. It is based on the premise that some voters essentially lie to pollsters when it comes to race. The phenomenon was named after Douglas Wilder, a black Democrat who narrowly won election as Virginia's governor in 1989 although pre-election polls had shown him with a sizable lead over his opponent. A poll last month by Quinnipiac University showed only 5 percent of Florida voters were "less likely" to vote for Obama because he is black. Some 88 percent said it did not make a difference. But acknowledging the potential for a Wilder Effect, Peter Brown, one of the Quinnipiac pollsters, said it was "not unreasonable to be skeptical about those numbers." "There are certain issues and questions that are tough to get at in a poll and racial discrimination is one of them," he said.
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McCain Winning McCain winning – identification and experience Chavez, 7/25/08 (Linda, author, Creators Syndicate, Yahoo News, http://news.yahoo.com/s/uc/20080725/cm_uc_crlchx/op_206842) Yet despite the sycophantic media frenzy, average Americans aren't yet convinced Obama's "change" is what they need. When it comes to identifying with the candidates' values, far more likely voters in the NBC/Wall Street Journal poll, 58 percent, say they could identify with John McCain's background and values than with Obama's, 47 percent. And when it comes to their assessment of his knowledge and experience or his ability to be commander in chief, Obama's deficits in voters' minds are so great it's hard to imagine he can ever reassure them. Only 19 percent said he was the more knowledgeable and experienced candidate, and only one in four said he would make a better commander in chief.
X State Key Their national evidence don’t apply, state counts aren’t reflected Birmingham Weekly, 7/24/08 (M. Underwood, Electoral College Scoreboard, http://www.bhamweekly.com/article.php?article_id=00895) In the Weekly’s running Electoral College tally, Democrat Barack Obama has increased his lead over Republican John McCain since our last snapshot of the race two weeks ago, adding three electoral votes to his total and expanding his margin from 96 to 102 votes. Even so, our poll averages show race that is increasingly dynamic on a state-by-state basis, with gains and losses by each candidate that may not be reflected in the overall electoral vote count from one analysis period to the next. A close look at these numbers reveals some trends suggesting that the November election, while breaking decidedly in favor of Obama at this stage, still could turn out to be highly competitive.
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Obama Winning - Colorado Obama leading in Colorado Birmingham Weekly, 7/24/08 (M. Underwood, Electoral College Scoreboard, http://www.bhamweekly.com/article.php?article_id=00895) In terms of key electoral battlegrounds, the same 10 states that were categorized as tossups two weeks ago remain too close to call. In keeping with our ground rule of awarding each tossup state to the current leader there, this column finds Obama and McCain each carrying five states: Obama leads in Colorado, Indiana, Montana, Ohio and Virginia, earning a total of 56 electoral votes, while McCain gets 61 votes by leading in Florida, Missouri, Nevada, North Carolina and North Dakota. Obama will win Colorado – Latinos Kyodo News International, 7/24/08 (accessed through TMC from Japan Economic Newswire Via Acquire Media NewsEdge, http://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/-two-thirds-hispanics-support-obama-as-us-president/2008/07/24/3566398.htm) Two-thirds of Hispanic voters surveyed support Democratic candidate Barack Obama for president over his Republican rival John McCain, according to a new poll released on Thursday. The nationwide telephone poll by the Pew Hispanic Center said the first-time Illinois senator garnered support from 66 percent of a sample of 892 registered Hispanic voters, against 23 percent backing McCain, an Arizona senator. The survey said Obama's strong popularity marks a dramatic about-face from the Democratic primaries in which he lost the Hispanic vote to New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton by a nearly 2-to-1 margin, fueling speculation that Hispanics are reluctant to vote for a black candidate. The poll found that 53 percent of respondents said Obama being black will not affect Hispanic voters, compared with 11 percent who said it will have detrimental effects. Hispanics, who account for 15 percent of the U.S. population and 9 percent of the electorate, could turn out to be a key determinant in swing states such as Florida and Colorado.
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Obama Winning – Florida Obama winning - Florida Angus Reid Global Monitor, 7/25/08 (http://www.angus-reid.com/polls/view/31022/florida_electoral_college_2008) Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain are almost even in Florida, according to a poll by Rasmussen Reports. 46 per cent of respondents in the Sunshine State would vote for the Illinois senator in this year’s United States presidential election, while 45 per cent would support the Arizona senator. Obama will win Florida – Latinos Kyodo News International, 7/24/08 (accessed through TMC from Japan Economic Newswire Via Acquire Media NewsEdge, http://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/-two-thirds-hispanics-support-obama-as-us-president/2008/07/24/3566398.htm) Two-thirds of Hispanic voters surveyed support Democratic candidate Barack Obama for president over his Republican rival John McCain, according to a new poll released on Thursday. The nationwide telephone poll by the Pew Hispanic Center said the first-time Illinois senator garnered support from 66 percent of a sample of 892 registered Hispanic voters, against 23 percent backing McCain, an Arizona senator. The survey said Obama's strong popularity marks a dramatic about-face from the Democratic primaries in which he lost the Hispanic vote to New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton by a nearly 2-to-1 margin, fueling speculation that Hispanics are reluctant to vote for a black candidate. The poll found that 53 percent of respondents said Obama being black will not affect Hispanic voters, compared with 11 percent who said it will have detrimental effects. Hispanics, who account for 15 percent of the U.S. population and 9 percent of the electorate, could turn out to be a key determinant in swing states such as Florida and Colorado. Obama leading in Florida – foreign policy The New Republic, 7/23/08 (Nate Silver, The Plank, http://blogs.tnr.com/tnr/blogs/the_plank/archive/2008/07/23/today-spolls-for-better-or-for-worse-florida-s-back.aspx) But now, just has his numbers in Ohio have fallen, his numbers in Florida may be on the rise. According to new data from Rasmussen, Obama now holds a 2-point lead in Florida. Obama had trailed significantly in all prior Rasmussen polling of the state, including a survey conducted in late June that had McCain ahead by 7. Our model now rates both Florida and Ohio as toss-ups. Are we looking at noise in the data, or are there any reasons why Obama should be gaining ground in Florida while losing it in Ohio? Exit polling from 2004 might provide a clue. In Florida, 41 percent of voters identified a foreign policy issue (Iraq or terrorism) as their #1 concern, as opposed to 29 percent who identified an economic issue (jobs, health care or taxes). But in Ohio, just 30 percent picked foreign policy, while 35 percent picked the economy. This is, I suppose, just common sense: Ohioans tend to vote on pocketbook issues, whereas Floridians -- with their particular concerns on Israel and Cuba -- are more engaged in foreign policy. So, it seems plausible that Obama's international trip is helping to reassure voters in Florida, while at the same time it distracts him from focusing on the economic concerns that might be of most interest to Ohio.
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Obama is gaining in Florida Palm Beach Post, 7/26/08 (http://www.palmbeachpost.com/politics/content/local_news/epaper/2008/07/26/m1a_fla_prez_0 727.html) When presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama arrive in Florida this week for the first time in more than a month, they'll find a tight race for the state's precious electoral votes. Obama appears to have closed the gap on McCain - taking the lead in several recent polls for the first time - following a glut of campaign hires, a swarm of organizing and, perhaps most importantly, his first flood of targeted television ads, particularly in North Florida. Zogby pollsters and Karl Rove, President Bush's former top political adviser, put Florida in the tossup column last week, and McCain campaign officials acknowledged that the race in Florida has tightened.
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Obama Winning Obama winning – resources Huffington Post, 7/25/2008 (Daniel Nichanian, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/daniel-nichanian/polls-the-old-swingstate_b_114926.html) It looks like there already are signs that the unlikely erosion of the GOP electoral base is forcing McCain to invest time and money -- a victory for Obama. McCain has been campaigning in… Arizona this month, staging campaign events and directing his staff to pay attention to the state. This is startling given that Arizona is a lean Republican state to start with and it is McCain’s home state. There have been hints for a while that Arizona could be closer than expected, but keep in mind that this isn’t even one of the states Obama has been investing in.
the Obama campaign has substantially more resources, so that it can spend in Alaska and Montana while also heavily investing in the more traditional battleground states. In fact, The Hill’s article emphasizes just how big an organizational edge Obama is gaining in states in which McCain is supposedly concentrating in: By the end of the week, Obama will have 18 offices in Ohio and 20 in Virginia, compared to 8 and 6 for the McCain campaign! In Missouri, Obama is planning on sending 150 paid staffers and has 50 presently; McCain is described by The Hill as only having “a handful” and planning for 50. These organizational discrepancies will have a very concrete effect come Election Day: they will impact voter registration, turnout and enthusiasm. These factors might not be determining in blow-out elections, but in close campaigns they can easily account for the 1% to 2% differential that could have gotten Al Gore and John Kerry in the White House. In 2004, the Kerry turnout operation in Ohio ended up being swamped by Bush’s, and that alone appears to have swung the election towards the Republican. And keep in mind that
Obama winning – Latinos AFP, 7/24/08 (Majority of Americans believe Obama will win election: poll, http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5gUIVIUUbNo4fYVug2x1yHg5_agqQ) Another poll by the Pew Research Center found that two-thirds of Hispanic voters support Obama for the White House, while less than one quarter back McCain. The findings marked a positive turn for Obama's fortunes with Latinos: he lost the Hispanic vote in the Democratic primaries to Clinton by nearly two-to-one, Pew noted. Obama winning – swing states irrelevant MSNBC, 7/25/08 (Mark Murray, http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/07/25/1223199.aspx) According to Karl Rove's new electoral map, Obama is leading McCain, 272-183 -- with 83 electoral votes in the toss-up category. Note that the map is as of July 23, so it doesn't take into account the recent Quinnipiac polling in Colorado, Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. But per this map -- right now -- Obama could lose every toss-up state (Ohio, New Hampshire, Florida, Nevada) and still win the presidential election.
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Russia and Saudi Oil DA Updates
Russia DA Uniqueness Russia’s economy is surging because of high oil prices but inflation has also risen making the economy vulnerable to any sudden change Emirates Business 24/7 July 11, 2008 (“Russian Economy flourishes like UAE’s”, http://www.business247.ae/Articles/2008/7/Pages/RussianeconomyflourisheslikeUAE%E2%80%99s.aspx) With oil prices remaining high, Russia is enjoying a similar economic boom to the Emirates, and has amassed $500 billion (Dh1.83trn) in foreign currency reserves. GDP has been rising sharply at around seven per cent per annum for the past seven years. And as emerging stock markets like China and India have sold down rapidly since last October, 48 and 35 per cent respectively, the Russian bourse hovers near an all-time high. Last week came the news that Dubai World and OAO Roskommunenergo are to bid $5.3bn for Russia’s biggest wholesale power producer before price caps end in 2011. This will be the first Russian Energy investment by a GCC oil state, and part of a $34bn sale of electricity generation and distribution assets since 2006. Dubai-based entities have a mixed record for buying foreign assets in recent years. Property giant Emaar bought UK estate agency Hamptons just in time for the market to slump, and acquiring the second-largest US housebuilder John Laing was arguably even worse on timing. But then Madame Tussauds in London proved an excellent buy and was sold on for double the sale price. Then again last August Dubai World agreed to invest $5.1bn in Kirk Kerkorian’s MGM Mirage company in Las Vegas as part of Dubai’s diversification plans. Since then Las Vegas has gone into an unprecedented slump with tourism falling in a city once thought recession proof. OGK-1 has four plants in European Russia and two in Siberia, and supplies electricity to Moscow and the oil-rich Tyumen region. Only time will tell if this is the right time to buy. It is only too easy for foreign investors to become the latecomers to any investment party. But the omens are very fortuitous in post-Putin Russia. The economic transformation runs deep and is being overlooked by the Cold War mentality of some observers in the West. Arriving back in Russia after a year’s absence
, the most apparent change is that inflation has surged in Russia, usually a sign of economic strength or possibly overheating. The cost of the train ticket from Moscow to St Petersburg has doubled in a year, similarly ballet prices have shot up and even the price of art on the streets is double what it was two years ago. Even gas at the pumps sells for US prices these days. last week there is an immediate sense of economic prosperity in the air, and none of the near panic seen in the UK, US and parts of Europe. Indeed
Russia’s economy to grow 8% this year, but isn’t infallible Istock analysis July 10, 2008 (“Russian Economy could grow 8% in 2008”, http://www.istockanalyst.com/article/viewiStockNews+articleid_2387619&title=Russian_Econo my_Could.html) Russian GDP could grow about 8% in 2008, Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Zhukov said at a meeting with members of the Association of European Business in Moscow on Thursday. “Based on my appraisals and the appraisals of the Economic Development
. Industrial production could grow by more than 6%,
Ministry, GDP growth could close in on 8% in 2008,” he said he said. The government’s official forecast for GDP growth in 2008 currently stands at 7.6%, while the forecast for industrial production is 5.7%. The Economic
According to the Economic Development Ministry, Russian GDP grew 8.3% in the first half of 2008, while industrial production increased 6.6%. Zhukov noted that Russia has maintained a rather high level of economic growth “despite the continuing financial crisis throughout the world,” although there have nevertheless been some negative consequences. As an example, he cited inflation, which was already up to 9% for the year on July 7, or three Development Ministry will present an updated forecast for 2008 to the government at the end of July.
percentage points higher than in the same period of last year.
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Russia DA Uniqueness The Russian economy is strong and getting stronger, although some problems plague it Moscow News 7/6/08 (“World Bank Chief praises Russian economy”, http://mnweekly.ru/world/20080619/55333975.html ) Zoellick was generous with his praise for the Russian economy. He congratulated President Dmitry Medvedev and his colleagues on Russia's strong economic growth, and said that this is a very interesting time for Russia and its relations with the World Bank. Zoellick was much more diplomatic than the authors of the World Bank's early June report on the Russian economy. They too commended Russia for its economic growth rates: 8.1 percent in 2007, and 8.7 percent in the first quarter of this year. But they again criticized the Russian government for persistent inflation (which reached 7.7 percent from
. Importantly, for the first time World Bank experts spoke about the overheating of the Russian economy, which they define as a situation where consumer demand outstrips the supply of goods and services. Graphic evidence of this is the faster growth of wages and salaries than labor productivity. This situation threatens even higher inflation, which could eventually slow down January to May of this year, and was up to 8.1 percent by June 9)
economic growth rates. Nevertheless, the experts have concluded that all macroeconomic indicators, except for inflation, point to the strength of the Russian economy.
Russia DA I/L oil prices key to economy The Russian economy is strong now solely because of oil prices it’s the only thing masking the underlying problems McClatchy Newspapers July 17, 2008 (“Russia worries about its high inflation”, http://www.mcclatchydc.com/100/story/44620.html) inflation generally was thought to be fueled by the infusion of cash into the economy as well as the higher prices of oil and gas. But lurking beneath everything, he said, is the fundamental problem that the country's infrastructure was never fully rebuilt after chronic underinvestment by the Soviets, followed by the collapse of the Soviet Union and then the 1998 economic crisis. For instance, the total volume of agricultural production in Russia in 2007 was roughly 25 percent less than in 1989, said Sorokin, the deputy director of the economics institute at Russia's academy of sciences in Moscow. Why, then, is Russia's gross domestic product — about $1.29 trillion last year — so high? "The answer is obvious. It's because of high oil prices, which have given us money, but not products," Sorokin said. "I call it a GDP made of air; it's not true growth." Dmitry Sorokin, a prominent economist in Moscow, said Russia's
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Islamic Bank Add on A. Currently High oil prices are giving money to help Islamic banks who will invest that in helping Africa because there are people who will only take sharia products- plan takes away the income The Guardian July 23, 2008 (“Centres fight for Islamic finance as oil booms”, http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/feedarticle/7672824) From Africa to Paris to Britain's former industrial heartland, Islamic law-compliant investment products are springing into existence as financial centres try to compete for a slice of the Middle East's colossal new oil revenues. With conventional sources of cash depleted by the credit crunch and fears of recession around the developed world -- and with high oil and food prices limiting growth -- oil-rich Gulf markets are one of the few reliable sources of finance. With dollar crude prices soaring to almost double their level of a year ago -- and Western financial woes seen deepening -- a new intensity has gripped Islamic finance growth. Estimates of the total size of assets held under Islamic finance rules vary, but the Asian Development Bank estimates it at around $1 trillion, with growth of 10 to 15 percent a year. It is no surprise then that cities with substantial Muslim populations and connections as diverse as Singapore and Hong Kong, London and Birmingham and even Paris are vying to act as key centres of expertise in the new boom. "The French have lagged the British...but recently the French government signalled a change in attitude," ratings agency Standard & Poor's said this week. "By preparing the ground for Islamic finance, France can help financial innovation and benefit from the deep pockets of Middle Eastern investors as liquidity has dried up elsewhere in the global financial markets." It is unclear to what extent, if at all, the vast sovereign wealth funds being built up by Gulf oil produces might be managed under the strictest principles of Islamic law, which prohibits the use of interest -- and therefore
more and more takers have been coming forward with products to target those who demand sharia products. In June, investment bank Investec announced a partnership with a Saudi investment provider to produce the first sharia-compliant fund targeting Africa. Other funds are following. For now, two thirds of the worldwide Islamic sukuk bond investment in conventional banks, alcohol or pornography producers. But
market -- an estimated $100 billion -- is based in Malaysia where the industry first took off.
B. There is a huge population of Muslims in Africa and their numbers are only increasing Hunwick 96 (John, Dr. Hunwick holds a joint position as professor of religion and professor of African history. His research has concerned aspects of the intellectual and social history of Muslims in West Africa, especially in Mali and Nigeria, “Africa and Islamic Revival: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives”, http://www.uga.edu/islam/hunwick.html) One thousand, three hundred and fifty-five years ago, in A.D. 641, the Arab commander 'Amr ibn al-'As led his army across what we would now call the
The move constituted Islam's first footsteps in the African continent, and opened up an era of continuous expansion for the faith, both as a spiritual enterprise and a political kingdom. Today approximately one quarter of the world's one billion Muslims live in Africa-that is about 250 million. In the countries of the northern one third of the continent they are a majority-up to 99% of the population in some cases. This includes all the countries we would nowadays recognize as "Arab" countries in Africa (Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Mauritania and, to some extent the Sudan), as well as a second tier of countries where Islam is either the majority religion, such as Somalia, Chad, Niger, Mali, Senegal and Guinea, or is the religion of approximately half of the population, such as Nigeria, Eritrea and Ethiopia. Most other African countries have minority Muslim populations, i.e. less than 50% of the inhabitants, and these include Gaza Strip and into Egypt.
some with sizeable minorities such as Ghana, Ivory Coast, Sierra Leone, Kenya and Tanzania; others have smaller numbers.
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Islamic Bank Add on C. Muslims in Africa are at a Unique risk of contracting AIDS without assistance, they don’t believe it affects them when it does Royal Tropical Institute 2003 (“"Positive Muslims" leadership in South Africa”, http://www.kit.nl/exchange/html/2001-3-postive_muslims.asp ) One of the difficulties Positive Muslims faces is convincing the Muslim community that AIDS is something that also affects them. Many Muslims believe that AIDS is a homosexual disease or a disease that affects black people only. This attitude stems from the belief that the Islamic way of life protects people from contracting HIV and, second, that most Muslims believe they have not seen or touched a fellow Muslim living with HIV/AIDS. Islam, like many other religious traditions, advocates abstinence from any sexual activity before marriage. The reality is that many Muslims have sex before marriage and engage in extra-marital affairs. The belief that the Islamic way of life protects Muslims is therefore unrealistic and leads to a false sense of security in the Muslim community. Being able to see and touch something often makes it more real for people. Since most Muslims believe that they have not touched or seen a fellow Muslim who is HIV-positive, they conclude that AIDS does not affect them. The reality is that one cannot see who is HIV-positive or negative, and so many Muslims have come across someone who is HIV-positive. Due to the secrecy surrounding HIV/AIDS, Muslims are unwilling to reveal their status while alive and families are afraid to say how their loved ones died. The denial and taboos surrounding HIV/AIDS result in people questioning Positive Muslims' leadership in this field. People challenge our legitimacy and purpose as an organisation, questioning the type of leadership we provide and asking whether Muslim leadership on HIV/AIDS is required in the first place. Probably, one of our greatest challenges has been to establish ourselves and our ability to lead in a community that believes it does not require leadership in the face of the AIDS pandemic. We continue to grapple with
through our awareness and education campaigns, Muslims will realise the importance of HIV prevention, before they are able to see and touch fellow Muslims whom they know are HIV-positive. this, hoping that
D. The impact is extinction Muchiri 2k [Michael Kibaara Staff Member at Ministry of Education in Nairobi, “Will Annan finally put out Africa’s fires?” Jakarta Post, March 6, LN] The executive director of UNAIDS, Peter Piot, estimated that Africa would annually need between $ 1 billion to $ 3 billion to combat the disease, but currently receives only $ 160 million a year in official assistance. World Bank President James Wolfensohn lamented that Africa was losing teachers faster than they could be replaced, and that AIDS was now more effective than war in destabilizing African countries. Statistics show that AIDS is the leading killer in sub-Saharan Africa, surpassing people killed in warfare. In 1998, 200,000 people died from armed conflicts compared to 2.2 million from AIDS. Some 33.6 million people have HIV around the world, 70 percent of them in Africa, thereby robbing countries of their most productive members and decimating entire villages. About 13 million of the 16 million people who have died of AIDS are in Africa, according to the UN. What barometer is used to proclaim a holocaust if this number is not a sure measure? There is no doubt that AIDS is the most serious threat to humankind, more serious than hurricanes, earthquakes, economic crises, capital crashes or floods. It has no cure yet. We are watching a whole continent degenerate into ghostly skeletons that finally succumb to a most excruciating, dehumanizing death. Gore said that his new initiative, if approved by the U.S. Congress, would bring U.S. contributions to fighting AIDS and other infectious diseases to $ 325 million. Does this mean that the UN Security Council and the U.S. in particular have at last decided to remember Africa? Suddenly, AIDS was seen as threat to world peace, and Gore would ask the congress to set up millions of dollars on this case. The hope is that Gore does not intend to make political capital out of this by painting the usually disagreeable Republican-controlled Congress as the bad guy and hope the buck stops on the whole of current and future U.S. governments' conscience. Maybe there is nothing left to salvage in Africa after all and this talk is about the AfricanAmerican vote in November's U.S. presidential vote. Although the UN and the Security Council cannot solve all African problems, the AIDS challenge is a fundamental one in that it threatens to wipe out man. The challenge is not one of a single continent alone because Africa cannot be quarantined. The trouble is that AIDS has no cure -- and thus even the West has stakes in the AIDS challenge. Once sub-Saharan Africa is wiped out, it shall not be long before another continent is on the brink of extinction. Sure as death, Africa's time has run out, signaling the beginning of the end of the black race and maybe the human race.
A2: Russian Oil Production Peaked
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Russia will still be able to increase production by 2010- Their evidence doesn’t assume new findings The Guardian UK July 23, 2008 (“Russia oil output seen up at 10.3 mbpd in 2010”, http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/feedarticle/7672661) Russia expects its oil output will rise by 4.6 percent in 2010 compared to 2007, an energy ministry document showed on Wednesday, stopping short of making predictions for 2008-09. A government source quoted the report, issued by Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko to Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, as saying that oil output in Russia will reach 514 million tonnes (10.3 million barrels per day) in 2010, up from 491.5 million tonnes last year. The report did not include the ministry's forecasts of oil production for this year and 2009. Oil production in Russia, the world's second largest oil exporter after Saudi Arabia, fell by 0.3 percent in the first half of this year, prompting some analysts to say the fall might become a trend until the country launches production at new deposits in East Siberia and the Far East. Shmatko said earlier this month that Russian oil output will be at least flat this year despite a drop in the first half and will certainly rise next year. Last year, Russian production rose by 2.3 percent, a notch up from 2.2 percent in 2006, but much lower than huge spikes in previous years -- including a
The government made maintaining output and exploring for more oil top priorities for the strategic oil sector and approved a number of tax breaks for the oil industry from 2009 to allow firms to fund new projects. record 11 percent in 2003.
A2: Russia DA Oil prices wont Collapse Econ The Russian government is making the economy impervious to oil prices Istock analysis July 10, 2008 (“Russian Economy could grow 8% in 2008”, http://www.istockanalyst.com/article/viewiStockNews+articleid_2387619&title=Russian_Econo my_Could.html) Zhukov noted that Russia has maintained a rather high level of economic growth "despite the continuing financial crisis throughout the world," although there have nevertheless been some negative consequences. As an example, he cited inflation, which was already up to 9% for the year on July 7, or three percentage points higher than in the same period of last year. He also said the government has set the goal of "using the favorable situation on the global energy market to switch the Russian economy to an innovative development model, raise the competitiveness of Russian business, retain a high level of investment, carry out several large infrastructural projects, steadily develop the banking system and increase its contribution to economic growth." The innovative development model will make it possible to maintain average GDP growth rates at 6.5% per year for the period until 2020 even if oil prices fall, he said.
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Non-Unique Oil Prices are falling and the Russian economy is just getting stronger RussiaToday July 17, 2008 (“Oil Prices Wont Affect Russian Economy”, http://www.russiatoday.ru/business/news/27632) Fears of an economic slowdown in the US keep kept oil markets volatile on wednesday - with a sharp downward movement of 6 dollars a barrel for the second day running. At around 135 dollars, it’s a sign the markets are not sure strong levels of demand can persist. However, Ron Smith of Alfa Bank says long-term, fundamental demand for oil remains strong. If this trend continues in the next ten days or two weeks we should see another run at higher prices. At the same time there is reason to believe this might be a bubble, and if this trade ever turns, if the hedge funds and everyone else who’s piled into suddenly start
. Russia, the world’s second-biggest oil exporter, remains little affected for now. With petro-dollars flowing into the country, any hope that lower prices will slow inflation are also vague. Inflation has topped 9 per cent so far this year. But the falls in the oil price of this week wont have an immediate impact on inflationary pressure according to Roland Nash of Renaissance Capital. Its to small a move to have a big impact on the inflation rate in the short term. You need to see the oil price fall for a considerable period of time. While the clouds continue to gather for the leading developed economies, investors are increasingly looking to Russia as a safe haven. So the to think that prices are going to go down then that will become a self fulfilling prophecy and they will go down
decision by ratings agency Moody’s to lift its investment rating of Russian government debt is a timely signal to investors.
A2: Russia DA Oil prices wont Collapse Econ Arguments that the Russia Economy is too dependant on energy exports are wrong- 2 reasons Business Week July 18, 2008 (“A rougher road for emerging market stocks”, http://www.businessweek.com/investor/content/jul2008/pi20080718_363030.htm?chan=search) While the Russian economy is arguably too dependent on energy exports, we believe two factors mitigate this risk. First, rising incomes and credit growth have led to strong Russian household consumption, which is supporting service and manufacturing growth, and is helping to diversify the economy. Second, although increasing speculation has made a short-term correction in raw material prices likely, in our view, we believe a secular increase in emerging market demand, combined with tight global capacity, will keep the long-term commodity uptrend intact.
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A2: Russia and Saudi Arabia Non Unique Non-Unique- oil prices just fell Iran News July 22, 2008 (“Oil prices fell again after iran deadlock, Gulf storm”, http://www.iranmania.com/News/ArticleView/Default.asp?NewsCode=60171&NewsKind=Curr ent%20Affairs) Oil prices fell again after Iran and world powers announced resumption of talks to put an end to the nuclear standoff; Traders said that prices also slipped on prospects that slowing economic growth would cut demand for crude, Iran Daily reported. Talk might be cheap, but in the case of Iran, talk might lead to cheaper gas at the pump. Traders were watching developments in the Middle East after what appeared to be a shift in US policy toward Iran announced last Tuesday, which left much more impact on the oil market. Talk might be cheap, but in Iran’s case, talk might lead to cheaper gas at the pump. While certainly not the only reason for sky-high oil, unnecessary tensions over Iran’s civilian nuclear program have helped fuel the surge in
The cost of a barrel of oil shot up nearly 8 percent in a single day in June after a senior Israeli official raised the specter of an attack on Iran, CHN reported. But the price has dropped to $131 from a record $147, not only because Americans are driving less but because gas prices that is altering American lifestyles.
the Bush administration has finally come to its senses to talk to the Islamic Republic of Iran over its civilian nuclear program instead of demanding that the country suspend its nuclear enrichment before any face-to-face negotiations.
Non- Unique- Steepest four day decline of oil prices in history and nothing to do with supply and demand The Huffington Post July 23, 2008 (“Oil Prices in steep decline: be afraid be very afraid”, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/raymond-j-learsy/oil-prices-in-steep-decli_b_113994.html) Oil prices tumbling "in the steepest four day decline in history."
Here we go again. The sense of relief throughout the land is palpable. For a moment the fact that we are still at levels over 160% above prices of only a year and a half ago -- prices unheard of
And silenced for the moment is the inane commentary of President Bush, of our stalwart Secretary of Energy Sam Bodman, not to speak of our Chairman of the Federal Reserve Ben Bernanke, of myriad oil company before -- seems lost in the ebullient moment.
poobahs, and of course our ex-Wall Streeter, Secretary of the Treasury Henry Paulson who understands that when his cronies on Wall Street are bleeding
All this while our regulatory commission, the CFTC, has become more of a casino huckster than vigilant overseer, forever whitewashing the commodity exchanges, proclaiming "We see no evidence of manipulation or undue speculation" -- as if an eighteen dollar plunge in four trading days had everything to do with "supply and demand" -- thereby shamelessly providing this administration, especially our Energy Secretary, talking points to rationalize doing nothing. it's because of the manipulation of the "short sellers", but when it's you and I paying through the nose at the pump "it's all about supply and demand".
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A2: Russia: Impact inevitable Russian economic decline inevitable inflation Istock Analyst July 22, 2008 (“Russian economy still growing, but could be slowed by high infation”, http://www.istockanalyst.com/article/viewiStockNews+articleid_2423563~title_RussianEconomy-Still.html) The Russian economy continues to grow, however high inflation will certainly lead to a slowdown in economic growth, Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said. "It can't be said for now that economic growth rates are declining," he told journalists on Tuesday in comments on the low growth levels in fixed capital investment and a reduction in retail growth rates in June. Economic trends cannot be based on a single month, he said. At the same time, he said that "a slowdown in economic growth always occurs when inflation is high." Inflation in Russia stood at 9.1% as of July 14. The problems facing the Russian economy are not connected with the global financial crisis, he said. "Russia's problem is inflation," he said. Inflation is the main factor behind the decline in retail turnover, rising interest rates and lower investment levels, he said. At the same time, he noted that investment has yet to decline but could do so.
"In the end, inflation leads to a decline in economic growth rates. There is a basic impression in Russia that high economic growth rates can be achieved when inflation is up," he said. In recent years, when inflation was on the decline, economic growth was high and investment increased, he said
. Now, investment is not coming into the economy when inflation is high, he added.
Russia’s is growing so fast its overheating boom will turn into bust, the Status Quo leads to nuke war inevitably, its try or die for the aff The International Herald Tribune July 22, 2008 (“Some fear Russia's boom could turn to bust as economy growing too fast”, http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/07/22/business/EU-RussiaOverheating-Economy.php) Fears are growing that Russia's oil and gas fueled economy is running too hot — and about to boil over in the kind of mess that has scalded smaller East European neighbors. Some of the most vehement warnings have been coming from the normally bland Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin, who says gross domestic product is growing too fast and any ill-conceived stimulus measures such proposed tax cuts will lead to intolerable inflation and a sudden stall in growth. Kudrin startled audience at a recent tax conference when he compared the issue to nuclear war. Cut taxes, Kudrin warned, and Russia won't maintain its thousands of atomic warheads. "The 33 percent share of the budget spent on defense and security is our guarantee that there won't be a nuclear war," the minister said. His opponents, including Economic Development Minister Elvira Nabiullina, are clamoring for the sharp tax cut to wean Russia off its addiction to imports, which are growing at an annual rate of over 40 percent. The government is walking a tightrope. With all the government and private sector spending, inflation is reeling out of control — food prices are soaring at an annual rate of 25 percent — and threatens to submerge hundreds of thousands of people below the poverty line.
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A2: Russia DA: No Impact Russia’s economy wont decline their evidence is old and doesn’t assume Russian measures to prevent a crisis The International Herald Tribune July 22, 2008 (“Some fear Russia's boom could turn to bust as economy growing too fast”, http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/07/22/business/EU-RussiaOverheating-Economy.php) Concerns over Russia's economy coincide with the approaching 10th anniversary of the 1998 financial crisis, when the country defaulted on domestic debt and devalued the currency, causing a shock wave on international markets. Millions of Russians lost their savings. Economists stress there is no chance of a repeat crisis. Russia has wisely used the oil windfall to tuck away hundreds of billions of dollars in strategic reserves and sovereign wealth funds — "rainy day" funds that it can use as a buffer against any short-term shock such as a precipitous drop in oil prices.
Saudi DA- Uniqueness Currently the Saudi Economy Relies completely on oil revolving around weak governance and private sector Reuters News July 24, 2008 (“Trouble looms for oil producers –report”, http://africa.reuters.com/wire/news/usnL24200465.html ) Oil producing countries need to fix the rest of their economies to prepare for inevitable falls in exports, a report by a British think tank said on Wednesday. The survey of the economic prospects of 12 oil-producing countries by Britain's Royal Institute for International Affairs -entitled "Ending Dependence, Hard Choices for Oil-Exporting States" -- described its own conclusions as "rather depressing". Only three of the 12 countries -- Indonesia, Malaysia and Norway -- were "well on the road to moving towards a non-hydrocarbon-dependent economy." The others -- Algeria, Nigeria, Angola, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Timor Leste (East Timor), Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Iran -- "face serious barriers and constraints. "These revolve around weak governance, poorly performing private sectors and an inadequate programme of economic and political reform." Although many of them will be able to sell oil for decades, they face a plateau period long before oil runs out, when the rate of production stops increasing while growing domestic demand means exports slow and revenues shrink. "Time, not oil, is running out," it said.
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A2: Saudi DA: Impact inevitable (If you have oil adv.) Impact inevitable in Status Quo, plan solves The Economic Times July 3, 2008 (“World oil market in fear of terror attack in Saudi Arabia”,http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/Economy/Indicators/World_oil_market_in_f ear_of_terror_attack_in_Saudi_Arabia/articleshow/3190779.cms) An attack -- or even an attempted attack -- by Islamic extremists on Saudi Arabia's oil sector would have disastrous consequences on the world market and the price per barrel, analysts warn. Of more than 700 people arrested in the course of the last six months in Saudi Arabia, dozens had been part of cells charged with preparing attacks against oil sites, according to authorities in Riyadh. With the price per barrel rising constantly and the capacity to increase global production almost non-existent, apart from in Saudi Arabia, the world market has never been so vulnerable to an offensive by Jihadists in the kingdom, they said. Michael Klare, head of the University of Massachusetts's peace and world security programme and author of the book "Resource Wars", said that even if an attack caused little damage, the impact would still be enormous. "There would be a tremendous psychological effect because the market is already prepared to expect terrorist events like this. It would have an immediate effect on prices," he said.
A2: Saudi DA: Non Unique Non Unique demand is falling in the Status Quo causing prices to go down Emirates Business 24/7 July 25, 2008 (“Demand for oil falling due to high prices”, http://www.business247.ae/articles/2008/7/pages/07252008_d150dc86aab547d6961a1c7e51988274.aspx) A surge in oil prices above $100 over the past few months has started to destroy strong demand and this was evident in the recent price collapse, said a report. With the exception of the world's oil giant Saudi Arabia, the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) as a whole has remained reluctant to increase production because it wants to drive prices even
the London-based Centre for Global Energy Studies (CGES), which is run by former Saudi oil rebuffed OPEC claims that the sharp rise in crude prices has been a result of speculation and the weak US dollar, saying supply shortage is the main reason for the surge. "The world has been short of oil since the middle of 2006 and remains short now, although demand destruction is gathering pace and prices have fallen by more than $17 a barrel in the past three days," CGES said. "Producers argue that they are supplying higher, said the report by
minister Sheikh Ahmed Zaki Al Yamani. In its monthly report for August, sent to Emirates Business, CGES
every barrel that their customers want to lift, but demand is a function of price also and, in the case of crude oil, it is a function of price differentials as well as absolute prices."
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COERCION CRITIQUE LINKS Link – Economic Incentive Economic incentives are a tool of the government to regulate our lives The British Journal of Sociology,1992 (Nikolas Rose and Peter Miller, Vol. 43, No. 2 (Jun., 1992), pp. 173-205, “Political Power beyond the State: Problematics of Government” access JSTOR on July 16, 2008)
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Link – Economic Intervention Any economic government intervention leads to coercion and restricts solutions Dorn, July/August 2005 (James, PhD in economics @ Towson University, “Why Freedom Matters,” The Freeman: Ideas on Liberty, Cato Institute, http://www.cato.org/pubs/wtpapers/dorn-080105.pdf access 7/22/08) The lesson is that the virtues of the market require constant practice if they are to survive and flourish. Government policy must be market-friendly and transparent; it cannot be muddled. Markets discount future effects of current policy changes. If those changes are in the direction of greater economic freedom, they will be immediately rewarded and wealth created. Illiberal trade policies, higher tax rates, increased government spending, erratic monetary policy, and wageprice controls undermine private property rights, send negative signals to the global capital markets, and destroy the wealth of nations. The failure of central planning in the Soviet Union and China has moved those countries in the direction of greater economic freedom, but the ghost of communism still haunts Russia, while the Chinese Communist Party has yet to abandon its monopoly on power. Leaders of emerging market economies need to recognize that economic freedom is an important component of personal freedom, that free-market prices and profits provide useful information and incentives to allocate resources to where consumers (not politicians or planners) deem them most valuable, and that markets extend the range of choice and increase human welfare. Most important, leaders must understand that ultimately economic liberalization requires limited government and constitutionally protected rights. Emerging market economies, especially in Asia, have discovered the magic of the market; they have also found that chaos emerges when the institutional infrastructure necessary for free markets is weakened by excessive government. When politics trumps markets, coercion and corruption follow.
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Link – Incentives Market incentives mask coercive forces Grant, April 2002 (Ruth, Professor of Political Science and Philosophy @ Duke University, “The Ethics of Incentives: Historical Origins and Contemporary Understandings,” from Economics and Philosophy,http://journals.cambridge.org/download.php?file=%2FEAP%2FEAP18_01%2FS026 6267102001104a.pdf&code=648c0775ce861befb810d4d41529542f access July 23, 2008) Today the situation is altogether different. The term `incentive' has become abstracted from the ethical and political issues in which it was once embedded. Particularly when the term appears within economic discourse, the ethical and political issues are concealed, and incentives take on the positive ethical patina associated with the free market. In the market, we have only equal, individual rational actors whose choices are constrained by impersonal forces, which, like the force of gravity, operate equally upon us all. A trade will occur only if both parties act voluntarily for their own benefit. To the extent that the operations of incentives have become assimilated to our thinking about market forces and we do speak of `market incentives' today, they appear to be implicitly ethical or, at least, benign. By analogy, the voluntary and egalitarian characteristics inherent in market relations are assumed too readily and uncritically to characterize all sorts of incentive structures as well. We do not examine too closely what sorts of choices are truly voluntary; the threat of force, for example, is sometimes treated simply as one kind of disincentive. Moreover, the power relations involved with incentives are often rendered invisible. We speak of incentives in the passive voice `What are the incentives in this situation?' even when incentives are offered by someone to someone with a clear and deliberate design. And generally, the one doing the offering has less to lose if his offer is rejected than the one doing the choosing has to lose by refusing the offer. The equality of the parties involved ought not to be assumed. When the sense of incentives is broadly understood within the framework of the market, the political character of relationships where incentives are employed deliberately to alter what would otherwise be automatic outcomes is entirely lost to view.
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Link - Incentives The tool of incentives is a form of manipulation Grant,April 2002 (Ruth, Professor of Political Science and Philosophy @ Duke University, “The Ethics of Incentives: Historical Origins and Contemporary Understandings,” from Economics and Philosophy,http://journals.cambridge.org/download.php?file=%2FEAP%2FEAP18_01%2FS026 6267102001104a.pdf&code=648c0775ce861befb810d4d41529542f access July 23, 2008) We are now in a position to identify a core understanding or a distinctive meaning of the concept of incentives; what we might call incentives `strictly speaking'. Incentives are employed in a particular form of negotiation. An offer is made which is an extrinsic benefit or a bonus, neither the natural or automatic consequence of an action nor a deserved reward or compensation. The offer is usually made in the context of an authority relationship ± for example, adult/child, employer/employee, government/citizen or government/organization. The offer is a discrete prompt expected to elicit a particular response. Finally and most importantly, the offer is intentionally designed to alter the status quo by motivating a person to choose differently than he or she would in its absence. If the desired action would result naturally or automatically, no incentive would be necessary. An incentive is the added element without which the desired action would not occur. For this reason, it makes sense to speak of `institutional incentives' when referring to arrangements designed to encourage certain sorts of responses. `Perverse incentives' is also an expression that implies that incentives are meant to direct people's behavior in particular ways. Central to the core meaning of incentives is that they are an instrument of government in the most general sense. The emergence of the term historically within discourses of social control is illustrative of this point.
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Link - Incentives Incentives are a form of control and should not be masked in a positive market ideology Grant, April 2002 (Ruth, Professor of Political Science and Philosophy @ Duke University, “The Ethics of Incentives: Historical Origins and Contemporary Understandings,” from Economics and Philosophy,http://journals.cambridge.org/download.php?file=%2FEAP%2FEAP18_01%2FS026 6267102001104a.pdf&code=648c0775ce861befb810d4d41529542f access July 23, 2008) Incentives are one of the various ways in which people can get other people to do what they want them to do. They involve relations of power; power which is exercised in a manner distinguishable from persuasion as well as from coercion. In some situations, of course, incentives are the preferred alternative to coercion. But in others, where persuasion might be an effective alternative, it is an insult to be offered an incentive: it implies either that you are crass ± that is, that there is no good reason to do the thing you are being asked to do, but that your compliance can be bought; or that you are stupid and would not be able to appreciate the good reasons for doing what you are being asked to do so that an appeal to your selfish interests must take the place of argument; or that you are not well-intentioned and must be induced to do the right thing by extrinsic benefits.59 I am suggesting that incentives be considered, along with persuasion and coercion in their various forms, as a member of the set of ways in which power and influence are exercised ± that is, as a form of control, rather than simply as an alternative to it. There is an abundant store of highly developed argumentation on the problem of distinguishing legitimate from illegitimate uses of power and influence. For those interested in ethics and economics, this is the place to turn in considering the ethics of incentives. In the case of incentives, it is more fruitful to use the tools of political and philosophical analysis to understand economic phenomena than vice versa. When incentives are understood within the horizon of market economics, first, the concept becomes so broad as to lose its distinctive character and analytic utility, and second, the ethical problematic involved in the use of incentives becomes obscured. By uncovering the history of the term `incentives', I hope to have placed the use of incentives in both a clearer and a different light.
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Link - Incentive Economic incentives coerce individuals and mold their values and re-entrenches market capitalism Carvalho and Rodrigues, September 2006 (Luis and Joao, Department of Economics and DINAMIA, ISCTE Lisbon, “On Markets and Morality: Revisiting Fred Hirsch” from Review of Social Economy, http://www.informaworld.com/index/758256824.pdf, accessed July 24, 2008) In fact, this hegemony of the ‘‘market model’’ was fuelled by neoliberal economic theory, which, according to Chang (2003), emerged as an alliance between neoclassical economics and the Austrian-libertarian tradition, based on a more or less clear division of labour: the former provided the analytical tools with a universalistic ambition, encompassing in its analysis all kinds of human behaviours and social interactions; the latter supplied a robust moral and political philosophy able to create a ‘‘common sense’’ discourse about the desirability of a ‘‘new freemarket capitalism’’. One can therefore conceive neoliberalism as a renewed theoretical effort to justify and argue for the universalization of market-based social relations, with the corresponding penetration in almost every single aspect of our lives of the discourse and/ or practice of commodification, capital accumulation and profit making (Wood 1997). Furthermore, in line with Le Grand (2003), one can argue that this project was successful inasmuch as it was capable of inducing a change in the views and beliefs of policy-makers and other institutional designers about human nature and the dominant motivations of human behaviour. By this we mean that public choice theorists and other neoliberal intellectuals were capable of turning a particular view of individuals into the hegemonic understanding what it means to ‘‘take men as they really are’’. Thus, it is not surprising that an agenda emphasizing markets and monetary incentives has become the dominant policy menu of our epoch, contributing, in a kind of perverse selffulfilling prophecy, to mould individual values to dangerously fit the abovementioned dismal portrait. The contemporary political success of this project allows us to speak, in line with Polanyi (1957), of the unfolding of a second great transformation, in the sense of a new utopian and ultimately unsustainable effort of turning the market and self-interest into the only foundations for social order. Fred Hirsch, writing precisely in the midst of the transitional phase that would lead to the dominance of neoliberalism, was able to foresee some of its key features and troublesome implications. It should be noted that Hirsch, although sceptical about the survival possibilities of post-war Keynesianism, probably had in mind a quite different historical outcome—he even considered a ‘‘reversion’’ to the liberal-conservative approach (of, say, Hayek) as ‘‘morally and politically unthinkable’’ (Hirsch 1976: 189). Nevertheless, by identifying the tendency to market expansion and the corresponding commodification of increasing spheres of social life, while simultaneously acknowledging its potential adverse consequences on the motivational appeal of social and moral norms, Hirsch unintentionally offered a work which resonates in the contemporary debates and which may give valuable contributions to them.
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Link - Incentives Economic incentives masks manipulation Tsakalotos, June 2003 (Euclid, Department of International and European Economic Studies, Athens University of Economics and Business, Homo Economicus and the Reconstruction of Political Economy: Six Theses on the Role of Values in Economics, http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=904515 access July 25, 2008) These examples should not be taken to mean that neoclassical bias is only to be found in the boundaries of the traditional concerns of economists. Take the role of incentives in economic theorising. The homo economicus assumption naturally leads to an emphasis on monetary incentives as opposed to relying on such factors as loyalty or professional ethos (Sawyer, 1992, p.32). Hirschman (1985, pp.9-10) has argued that instead of taking the demand schedule for pollution as given, and relying on market incentives to reduce pollution, policy makers can contribute to a ‘civic culture’ that is less favourable to pollution. In other words the present use of incentives in economics assumes that they are just one more way that individuals can enter mutually beneficial trades within a market economy, and within this discourse incentives ‘take on the positive ethical patina associated with the free market’ (Grant, 2002, p.131). Grant (2002, p.129) quotes Edward Lazear’s pithy formulation ‘[i]ncentive contracts arise because individuals love leisure. In order to induce them to forgo some leisure, or put alternatively, to put forth effort, some form of compensation must be offered’ (Lazear, 1987, p.744). It is not that such a conceptualisation is wrong but that it is one-sided – it ignores the fact that the alternative to incentives is not just coercion, thereby placing incentives in the best possible ethical light, but also persuasion. As Grant (2002, p.112) concludes ‘[i]ncentives attempt to circumvent the need for persuasion by giving people extrinsic reasons to make the choices that the person or institution offering the incentive wishes them to make. When incentives are employed, there is no need to convince people that collective goals are good or to motivate them to pursue those goals by appeals to rational argument, personal conviction or intrinsic motivations. Experts and powerful elites can thus direct institutions and shape peoples’ choices without the sort of public discussion and consent that characterises democratic processes of decision making’ (Grant, 2002, p.112). Once again the neoclassical approach by disguising the fact that the analysis is not considering alternatives can hardly claim to be adhering to the kind of neutrality assumed by the normativepositive divide.
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New “green” practices transform conventional forms of sovereignty to be able to control the environment, populations, and other systems. Goldman 2001 Michael, assistant professor of Sociology at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, ‘Constructing an Environmental State: Eco-Governmentality and Other Transnational Practices of a 'Green' World Bank,’ Social Problems, Vol. 48, No. 4, Special Issue on Globalization and Social Problems, (Nov., 2001), pp. 499523, jstor The World Bank represents its recent interventions in the Mekong Region, and Laos in particular, as reflecting its new modus operandi: "environmentally sustainable development." Over the next two decades, the multilateral banks and the Lao government plan to build more than a dozen hydroelectric dams on the Mekong river, converting Laos into the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) of Southeast Asia.' Unlike the TVA, however, these plans are being implemented through new ideas and tools of conservation, preservation, and sustainability. When a whole range of actors, from World Bank lawyers to international conservation scien- tists, are commissioned to rewrite national property rights laws, redesign state agencies, and redefine localized production practices based on new global norms, they transform conven- tional forms of state power, agency, and sovereignty. I argue below that these new "green" practices are impacting the production of, first, national and global truth regimes on nature; second, rights regimes to more effectively control (and increase the market value of) environments, natural resources, and resource-dependent populations; and third, new state authorities within national boundaries and in the world sys- tem. Hence, the World Bank's practices are facilitating the birth of environmental states in the Global South, but not in the way that ecological modernization theorists suggest, i.e., that states are unified, rational actors and eventually graduate into eco-rational modernity (Frank, et al. 2000; Mol and Sonnenfeld 2000; Schofer, et al. 2000; Spaargaren and Mol 1992).2 Instead, the environmental states that are emerging around the world today are marked by new global forms of legality and eco-rationality that have fragmented, stratified, and unevenly transnationalized Southern states, state actors, and state power.3 These changes affect what Foucault called the "art of government" (Dean 1994; Foucault 1991), a concept he deployed to decenter the traditional notion of the state as the main site of modern societal power ("the transcendent singularity of Machiavelli's prince"). He preferred to emphasize the multiplicity and widely dispersed "forms of government and their imma- nence to the state" (Foucault 1991:91) that had been left undertheorized in political theory. Foucault argued there were three basic types of government and each was connected to a par- ticular science or discipline: self-government or morality/ethics, the proper way to govern the family from which emerges the modern science of economy, and the science of state rule or politics. For our purposes, the art of government also includes, on the one hand, the making of the modern rational subject4 and the efficient state that s/he would help build, and, on the other hand, the intensified regulation of the relation of these subjects to their natural terri- tory. I call these productive relations of government-with their emphasis on "knowing" and "clarifying" one's relationship to nature and the environment as mediated through new insti- tutions-eco-governmentality. That is, in the process of analyzing this new type of global green governmentality, I engage Foucault's question: "What rules of right are implemented by the relations of power in the production of discourses of truth?" (Foucault 1994). We can learn a lot about relations of power through an inquiry into the co-production of regimes of territorial rights and discourses of environmental truth.
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Environmental influence is used to control nature and society. Goldman 2001 Michael, assistant professor of Sociology at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, ‘Constructing an Environmental State: Eco-Governmentality and Other Transnational Practices of a 'Green' World Bank,’ Social Problems, Vol. 48, No. 4, Special Issue on Globalization and Social Problems, (Nov., 2001), pp. 499523, jstor The World Bank's influence in Laos is not limited to the visible means of restructuring and environmentalizing the state described in the preceding sections; indeed, the very same analytical and methodological tools that the World Bank and its partners invent and use, and the classificatory systems they establish in pursuit of environmentally sustainable development, represent an exercise of power. These tools, methodologies, and classification systems serve to create a new cognitive mapping of Lao nature and society, state and citizen, through new forms of knowledge production and institutional collaborations. They are a powerful set of discourses of norms, rights, and truths of global eco-rationality that seeks to build upon and replace prior formations that have dealt with the "subjects" of these new policies: hill tribes, forest dwellers, scientists, and development officials.31 Any positive benefit that the affirmative claims is only as a result of the state’s violent oppression. Campbell 2005 David, Professor of Cultural & Political Geography at Durham U, The Biopolitics of Security: Oil, Empire, and the Sports Utility Vehicle, projectmuse As an imagined community, the state can be seen as the effect of formalized practices and ritualized acts that operate in its name or in the service of its ideals. This understanding, which is enabled by shifting our theoretical commitments from a belief in pregiven subjects to a concern with the problematic of subjectivity, renders foreign policy as a boundary-producing political performance in which the spatial domains of inside/outside, self/other, and domestic/ foreign are constituted through the writing of threats as externalized dangers. The narratives of primary and stable identities that continue to govern much of the social sciences obscure such an understanding. In international relations these concepts of identity limit analysis to a concern with the domestic influences on foreign policy; this perspective allows for a consideration of the influence of the internal forces on state identity, but it assumes that the external is a fixed reality that presents itself to the pregiven state and its agents. In contrast, by assuming that the identity of the state is performatively constituted, we can argue that there are no foundations of state identity that exist prior to the problematic of identity/difference that situates the state within the framework of inside/outside and self/other. Identity is constituted in relation to difference, and difference is constituted in relation to identity, which means that the “state,” the “international system,” and the “dangers” to each are coeval in their construction. Over time, of course, ambiguity is disciplined, contingency is fixed, and dominant meanings are established. In the history of U.S. foreign policy— regardless of the radically different contexts in which it has operated—the formalized practices and ritualized acts of security discourse have worked to produce a conception of the United States in which freedom, liberty, law, democracy, individualism, faith, order, prosperity, and civilization are claimed to exist because of the constant struggle with and often violent suppression of opponents said to embody tyranny, oppression, anarchy, totalitarianism, collectivism, atheism, and barbarism.
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Incentives control Milchman and Rosenberg in 2 Alan, Professor of political science at Queens College of the City University of New York, Alan, Assistant professor of philosophy at Queens College of the City University of New York, (2002) 'Marxism and Governmentality Studies: Toward a Critical Encounter', Rethinking Marxism, 14:1,132 — 142 Rose designates this political problem space “etho-politics.” Within this regime of practices of government, he finds an economic dimension: “Human capital and social capital, then, introduce ethopolitics into economics through the capitalization of morality in the service of national economic advantage . . . Economic health is to be governed indirectly . . . through fostering an ethos of human enterprise and moral responsibility . . . Each individual is to see it as their moral duty to invest in their own capacities, to subscribe to the commitments of waged labour” (1999b, 484– 85). The capitalization of the subject through community and morality thus becomes a leitmotif of this political rationality and its attendant governmental programs and technologies. Among these technologies are those that Rose designates “control technologies,” technologies for the control of others and oneself on the basis of which those who were once dependent on the welfare state, “through the rational reconstruction of the will, and of the habits of independence, life planning, self-improvement, autonomous life conduct . . . can be re-inserted into family, work and consumption, and hence into the continuous circuits and flows of control society” 1992a (270). For those individuals who cannot be so inscribed or re-inscribed, “control will take the form of more or less permanent sequestration” (270).4
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IMPACTS
Coercion Bad Coercion kills individual autonomy, a fundamental human right Blake, 2001 (Michael, Ph. D. in philosophy, Associate Professor of Philosophy and Public Policy, University of Washington “Distributive Justice, State Coercion, and Autonomy,” Philosophy and Public Affairs (Summer 2001) access Project Muse on July 15, 2008) The principle I defend, therefore, mandates the following: that all individuals, regardless of institutional context, ought to have access to those goods and circumstances under which they are able to live as rationally autonomous agents, capable of selecting and pursuing plans of life in accordance with individual conceptions of the good. There are, I think, several methods by which people might be denied the circumstances of autonomy; famine, extreme poverty, crippling social norms such as caste hierarchies—all of these structures seem comprehensible as violations of a liberal principle devoted to the defense of the circumstances of autonomy, although I cannot here defend these claims in detail. It is enough in the present context to notice that a consistent liberal must be as concerned with poverty abroad as that at home, since borders provide no insulation from the demands of a morality based upon the worth of all autonomous human beings. There is much more to be said in the above context, but I want now to turn to the issue of coercion. People can be denied their autonomy by being starved, deeply impoverished, or subjected to oppressive and marginalizing norms, but they can also face a denial of autonomy that results from outright coercion. I will refrain from offering a complete theory of coercion in the present context;14 I will only note that, as I have insisted upon throughout this exercise, whether an individual faces a denial of autonomy resulting from coercion cannot be read off simply from the number of options open to her. Coercion is not simply a matter of what options are available; it has to do with the reasons the set of options is as constrained as it is. Coercion is an intentional action, designed to replace the chosen option with the choice of another. Coercion, we might therefore say, expresses a relationship of domination, violating the autonomy of the individual by replacing that individual’s chosen plans and pursuits with those of another. Let us say, therefore, that coercive proposals violate the autonomy of those against whom they are employed; they act so as to replace our own agency with the agency of another. Perhaps the most obvious form of coercion we might examine is that of state punishment. Coercion by criminal penalties, writes Joseph Raz, is a global invasion of autonomy; incarceration, after all, removes “almost all autonomous pursuits” from the prisoner.15 This is not to say that such punishment cannot sometimes be justified—very few people think that all criminal punishment is, by its very nature, morally prohibited— but it is to say that it is necessarily an affront to autonomy, and as such something standing in need of justification. Coercive acts and practices are prima facie prohibited by the liberal principle of autonomy.
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Coercion Bad Individual liberty is paramount – every intrusion must be resisted Petro – Professor of Law at Wake Forest University – 1974 (Sylvester, University of Toledo Law Review, Spring, p.480) However, one may still insist, echoing Ernest Hemingway – “I believe in only one thing: liberty.” And it is always well to bear in mind David Hume’s observation: “It is seldom that liberty of any kind is lost all at once.” Thus, it is unacceptable to say that the invasion of one aspect of freedom is of no import because there have been invasions of so many other aspects. That road leads to chaos, tyranny, despotism, and the end of all human aspiration. Ask Solzhenitsyn. Ask Milovan Djilas. In sum, if one believes in freedom as a supreme value and the proper ordering principle for any society aiming to maximize spiritual and material welfare, then every invasion of freedom must be emphatically identified and resisted with undying spirit. Coercion is not justified to even decrease the net violation of rights Pilon 2001 (Roger, Vice President for Legal Affairs and Director of the Center for Constitutional Studies at Cato, “Two Kinds of Rights,” 12-6-2001, www.cato.org/current/terrorism/pubs/pilon011206.html) As the Declaration of Independence says, the main business of government is to secure rights, but legitimate government can't do it by any means. It can't violate rights in the name of securing them. That frames the issue. Between those boundaries—and given a world of uncertainty—the devil is in the details. Governments too restrained leave rights exposed. By contrast, societies that trade liberty for security, as Ben Franklin noted, end often with neither.
Government coercion destroys dignity - - it should be rejected regardless of potential benefits Machan 1995 (Tibor, Professor of Philosophy, Auburn University, Private Rights and Public Illusions, p. 68-69) All governmental action that does not serve to repel or retaliate against coercion is antithetical to any respect for human dignity. While it is true that some people should give to others to assist them in reaching their goals, forcing those individuals to do so plainly robs them of their dignity. There is nothing morally worthwhile in forced giving. Generally, for a society to respect human dignity, the special moral relations between people should be left undisturbed. Government should confine itself to making sure that this voluntarism is not abridged, no matter how tempting it might be to use its coercive powers to attain some worthy goal. Obviously, this idea is neither accepted nor widely promulgated in our times. Most institutions are oriented in the opposite direction, where the state acts as the tool to foster a variety of special goals and produce desired ends for millions of disparate individuals and groups. It will help us to briefly sketch the background for the welfare statist position and then contrast it with the individual rights approach developed most fully (until recently) by the philosopher John Locke.
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Coercion Bad Individual rights should never be violated – regardless of the benefits that government action might produce Machan 2003 (Tibor R., Professor Emeritus Of Philosophy at Auburn and research fellow at the Hoover Institution, The Passion for Liberty, p.96-97) All in all, then, I support the principled or rights-based approach. In normal contexts, honesty is the best policy, even if at times it does not achieve the desired good results; so is respect for every individual's rights to life, liberty, and property. All in all, this is what will ensure the best consequences—in the long run and as a rule. Therefore, one need not be very concerned about the most recent estimate of the consequences of banning or not banning guns, breaking up or not breaking up Microsoft, or any other public policy, for that matter. It is enough to know that violating the rights of individuals to bear arms is a bad idea, and that history and analysis support our understanding of principle. To violate rights has always produced greater damage than good, so let's not do it, even when we are terribly tempted to do so. Let's not do it precisely because to do so would violate the fundamental requirements of human nature. It is those requirements that should be our guide, not some recent empirical data that have no staying power (according to their very own theoretical terms). Finally, you will ask, isn't this being dogmatic? Haven't we learned not to bank too much on what we've learned so far, when we also know that learning can always be improved, modified, even revised? Isn't progress in the sciences and technology proof that past knowledge always gets overthrown a bit later? As in science and engineering, so in morality and politics: We must go with what we know but be open to change— provided that the change is warranted. Simply because some additional gun controls or regulations might save lives (some lives, perhaps at the expense of other lives) and simply because breaking up Microsoft might improve the satisfaction of consumers (some consumers, perhaps at the expense of the satisfaction of other consumers) are no reasons to violate basic-rights. Only if and when there are solid, demonstrable reasons to do so should we throw out the old principles and bring on the new principles. Any such reasons would have to speak to the same level of fundamentality and relevance as that incorporated by the theory of individual rights itself. Those defending consequentialism, like Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, have argued the opposite thesis: Unless one can prove, beyond a doubt, that violating rights in a particular instance is necessarily wrong in the eyes of a "rational and fair man," the state may go ahead and "accept the natural outcome of dominant opinion" and violate those rights.1 Such is now the leading jurisprudence of the United States, a country that inaugurated its political life by declaring to the world that each of us possesses unalienable rights, ones that may never be violated no matter what!
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Rights Outweigh Individual rights are key to human dignity- this is the biggest impact in the round Kateb – Professor of Politics and Director of the Program in Political Philosophy at Princeton – 1992 (George, The Inner Ocean p.4-5) Why make so much of individual personal and political rights? The answer, as I have said, is that respect for rights is the best way of honoring human dignity. Why make so much of human dignity? I do not find much to say. I am not even sure that much should be said. Suppose we carry on at length about why governments should treat people in certain ways (by actions and abstentions), and in these ways unconditionally and as a matter of course, and should do so because people deserve and are entitled to such treatment, rather than because governments may find it prudent to treat people in these ways in the spirit of extending revocable privileges. I am afraid that we may jeopardize human dignity by laboring to defend it. What sort of attack would merit an answer? Is a long and elaborate theory needed to establish the point that people should not be treated by the state as if they were masses, or obstacles or instruments to higher purposes, or subjects for experiments, or pieces in a game, or wayward children in need of protection against themselves, or patients in need of perpetual care, or beasts in need of the stick? With what right does anyone maintain that people may be regarded or used in these nonhuman or subhuman ways? With what truth? Unabused and undegraded, people have always shown that they deserve better. They deserve guaranteed rights. When their rights are respected, all that their dignity, their human status, requires is achieved. People are enabled to lead lives that are free, modest, and decent—provided, of course, socioeconomic circumstances are not hopeless. To tie dignity to rights is therefore to say that governments have the absolute duty to treat people (by actions and abstentions) in certain ways, and in certain ways only. The state's characteristic domination and insolence are to be curbed for the sake of rights. Public and formal respect for rights registers and strengthens awareness of three constitutive facts of being human: every person is a creature capable of feeling pain, and is a free agent capable of having a free being, of living a life that is one's own and not somebody else's idea of how a life should be lived, and is a moral agent capable of acknowledging that what one claims for oneself as a right one can claim only as an equal to everyone else (and relatedly that what one wants done to oneself one should do to others). Respect for rights recognizes these capacities and thus honors human dignity. We have a moral imperative to protect liberty Crane 1996 (Edward H., President of the Cato Institute, Vital Speeches of the Day, “Civil Society v. Political Society,” 7-15-1996, vol. 62, no. 19, p.597) Those are words that we need to hear more of. It's true, freedom and morality do, ultimately, depend on each other for their existence. But as government grows year in and year out, under Democratic and Republican administrations, as regulations multiply, politically correct public education expands, and our tax burden gets ever greater, I can't help but think the reservoir of morality in America is much deeper than our reservoir of political liberty. The crisis we confront is a political crisis - one that merits our immediate attention. We have, it seems to me, a moral imperative to challenge the political status quo and to roll back the 20th century's legacy of statism. It is our heritage as Americans to live in a civil society - not a society that is increasingly politicized. If we want a more moral society, then, as Barry Goldwater said, liberty must be our main interest. Thank you.
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Rights Outweigh Public policymakers have a moral obligation to protect individual rights and respect sovereignty Kateb – Professor of Politics and Director of the Program in Political Philosophy at Princeton – 1992 (George, The Inner Ocean p.2) The background assumption is that most people in a society of rights are disposed to be lawabiding and that government's mere existence sustains their disposition. But because some persons inevitably transgress against their fellow citizens, government can never lose the status of protector; in particular, protector of life and property, the usual objects of transgression. If, then, rights are rights against the state, the theory of rights does not ignore the obvious fact that the state exists to prevent, deter, or punish crime or mayhem. (I prefer to see crime not as a denial of the victim's rights but, instead, as legally culpable immorality; neverthe¬less, it is sometimes sensible to speak of individuals violating one an¬other's rights.) Government exists to preserve individuals. The point is that it must do this work, and its other work, in a way that does not violate rights, including the rights of transgressors and those accused of transgression. If the Bill of Rights is the core, its silences and deliberate omissions required that it be supplemented over time. Freedom of speech, press, religion, and association; due-process rights for suspects, defendants, and the legally guilty; and respect for a person's freedom from arbitrary invasions of security and privacy—all go far in protecting the dignity (or integrity) of individuals. But their dignity needs more—above all, three further rights: first, the right to vote and take part in politics; second, the right to be spared from utter degradation or to be saved from material misery; and third, the right to equal protection of the laws (in the language of the Fourteenth Amendment). The two last-named rights do not call for mere governmental abstention, as do the rights of speech, press, religion, association, security, and privacy. Nor do they call for only procedural justice, as do some other main rights in the Bill of Rights. Rather, the right to be free of degradation and misery answers to a minimal samaritanism as morally obligatory on society and looks to government to carry it out. It is a right to be given something, to be enabled to begin to live a life. Samaritanism is obligatory on society, and obligatory samaritanism would be the foundation of a right to life which was expanded beyond its present constitutional interpretation in the United States. I believe that this right, more than any other, stands in need of expansion through positive governmental action, despite all the serious risks involved in charging governments with the task of fostering life. And the equal protection of the laws may necessitate governmental action against, say, official or social racial discrimination. Naturally, in saying that the state, which must always be kept under suspicion, must also be entrusted not only with the fundamental task of preserving individuals against transgressors but also with the positive function of promoting some of the rights that are indispensable to human dignity, one admits that there will be an inevitable ambivalence toward the state. It is an enemy, the worst enemy, but it is not the only enemy and it is not only an enemy. My emphasis, however, is on the antagonism that government shows to rights by its initiatives rather than by its neglect. Throughout this book I rarely refer to rights that need government's positive contribution. The latter rights, no matter how fundamental, cannot be the norm in a society devoted to individual rights. Different individuals may use or need the several rights variably, but when government refuses to respect rights, it not only makes people suffer, it injures everyone's human dignity.
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Value to life The calculative analysis of the affirmative results in a trap with death. Weeks and Maurel 99 Marc, Frederic, “Voyages Across the Web of Time; Angkarn, Nietzsche and Temporal Colonization, Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, September 1st, 1999 It becomes particularly significant when we realize that the fear of death (thanatophobia), though it pushes death into the margins of cultural consciousness, is absolutely critical in determining the prodigious hyperactivity of postmodemity. As Norman O. Brown suggested some four decades ago in the United States in a book entitled Life Against Death, the exaggerated and apparently limitless desire for more material wealth, more noise and more activity is an unconscious phobic overreaction to the absence, silence and passivity of death which lurks within the uniquely temporal human psyche. [33] Appearances to the contrary, it is Thanatos, not Eros, which primarily drives the hyperactive consumer culture. So when Angkarn's "The Eye of Time" alludes to the seduction of humans by precious objects towards which they "rush to their deaths", we should remember that, ironically, it may be the individualized person's knowledge and fear of death, and the vain desire to defeat mortality through material self-aggrandis ement (or through mindnumbing, time-destroying freneticism), that actually render the human so vulnerable to that seduction. There is an important sense, then, in which Angkarn's aesthetic temporal philosophy, though not immune to nostalgia, presents a more profound alterity to the increasingly pervasive market and productivity-centred global culture than does Nietzsche. The German writer is clearly at odds with the culture of unlimited consumption that was gestating in Europe in the latter part of the nineteenth century. His philosophy of the will represents, among other things, a response to the will-less, unrestrained desire of a human conceived principally as producer-consumer. Yet Nietzsche's promotion of the superhuman individual who relentlessly pursues the mastery of time, the domination of death, epitomizes that culture in which the individual is at war with time, with mortality. As we have attempted to demonstrate here, that same psychological war plays a significant role in driving the irrational and exponential growth of a globalizing free market.
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The focus of calculative analysis leads to a world devoid of meaning. The greatest impact is the attempt to avoid nuclear war to fall into ontological damnation. Zimmerman 1994 Michael E. Professor of Philosophy at Tulane, Contesting Earth’s Future: Radical Ecology and Postmodernity,
Heidegger asserted that human self-assertion, combined with the eclipse of being, threatens the relation between being and human Dasein. Loss of this relation would be even more dangerous than a nuclear war that might “bring about the complete annihilation of humanity and the destruction of the earth.” This controversial claim is comparable to the Christian teaching that it is better to forfeit the world than to lose one’s soul by losing one’s relation to God. Heidegger apparently thought along these lines: it is possible that after a nuclear war, life might once again emerge, but it is far less likely that there will ever again occur an ontological clearing through which such life could manifest itself. Further, since modernity’s one-dimensional disclosure of entities virtually denies them any “being” at all, the loss of humanity’s openness for being is already occurring. Modernity’s background mood is horror in the face of nihilism, which is consistent with the aim of providing material “happiness” for everyone by reducing nature to pure energy. The unleashing of vast quantities of energy in nuclear war would be equivalent to modernity’s slow-motion destruction of nature: unbounded destruction would equal limitless consumption. If humanity avoided nuclear war only to survive as contented clever animals, Heidegger believed we would exist in a state of ontological damnation: hell on earth, masquerading as material paradise. The affirmative’s call to act against the harms of the case diverts attention from the evils of the capitalist framework Zizek, 94 (Prof. of philosophy @ the European Graduate School, 1994 Slovoj, “The Spectre of Ideology,” from Mapping ideology, Ed. Slavoj Zizek, London ; New York: Verso, p. 1 By way of a simple reflection on how the horizon of historical imagination is subjected to change, we find ourselves in medias res, compelled to accept the unrelenting pertinence of the notion of ideology. Up to a decade or two ago, the system production-nature (man's productiveexploitative relationship with nature and its resources) was perceived as a constant, whereas everybody was busy imagining different forms of the social organization of production and commerce (Fascism or Communism as alternatives to liberal capitalism); today, as Fredric Jameson perspicaciously remarked, nobody seriously considers possible alternatives to capitalism any longer, whereas popular imagination is persecuted by the visions of the forthcoming 'breakdown of nature', of the stoppage of all life on earth — it seems easier to imagine the 'end of the world' than a far more modest change in the mode of production, as if liberal capitalism is the 'real' that will somehow survive even under conditions of a global ecological catastrophe . . . . One can thus categorically assert the existence of ideology qua generative matrix that regulates the relationship between visible and non-visible, between imaginable and nonimaginable, as well as the changes in this relationship.
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Life is worthless under the threats of death from the governance. Dillon 2005 Michael, Lancaster U, “Cared to death: The Biopoliticised Time of Your Life” http://www.foucaultstudies. com/no2/dillon.pdf. In posing an intrinsic and unique threat to life through the very ways in which it promotes, protects and invests life, ‘care for all living’ threatens life in its own distinctive ways. Massacres have become vital. The threshold of modernity is reached when the life of the species is wagered on its own (bio) political strategies. Biopolitics must and does recuperate the death function. It does teach us how to punish and who to kill. Power over life must adjudicate punishment and death as it distributes live across terrains of value that the life sciences constantly revise in the cause of life’s very promotion. It has to. That is also why we now have a biopolitics gone geopolitically global in humanitarian wars of intervention and martial doctrines of virtuous war.Here, also, is the reason why the modernising developmental politics of biopolitics go racist: “So you can understand the importance – I almost said the vital importance – of racism to such an exercise of power.” In racism, Foucault insists: “We are dealing with a mechanism that allows biopower to work.” But: “The specificity of modern racism, or what gives it its specificity, is not bound up with mentalities, ideologies or the lies of power. It is bound up with the techniques of power, with the technology of power.” In thus threatening life, biopolitics prompts a revision of the question of life and especially of the life of a politics that is not exhaustively biologised; comprehensively subject to biopolitical governance in such a way that life shows up as nothing but the material required for biopolitical governance, whether in terms posed by Foucault or Agamben. Emphasising care for all living - the promotion, protection and investment of the life of individuals and populations – elides the issue of being cared to death. Being cared to death poses the issue of the life that is presupposed, nomologically for Agamben and biologically for Foucault, in biopolitics. Each foregrounds the self-immolating logic that ineluctably applies in a politics of life that understands life biologically, in the way that Foucault documents for us, or nomologically, in the way that Agamben’s bare life contends. When recalling the significance of the Christian pastorate to biopolitics, Ojakangas seems to emphasize a line of succession rather than of radical dissociation. One, moreover, which threatens to elide the intrinsic violence of biopolitics and its essential relation with correction and death.
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MO Impacts Clough 2004, Patricia, professor of sociology, coordinator of the women's studies certificate program, and director of the Center for Research on Women and Society at the Graduate Center, City University of New York. Future Matters: Technoscience, Global Politics, and Cultural Criticism, proquest
Gilles Deleuze referred to societies of control in order to mark the diversification and diffusion of forces of state power throughout social space, including the reappropriation of these forces for and by the state. Control therefore is an intensification and transformation of what Michel Foucault had referred to as the "governmentalization of the state" in disciplinary societies.29 As Foucault argued, in disciplinary societies, the "governmentalization of the state" enabled the state to extend its disciplinary practices through institutions such as the church, the school, the prison, the family, [End Page 13] and the union, "the enclosures of civil society."30 The state is thereby able to move deep into the lives of individual subjects through disciplining, but it does so through complex strategies of socialization that the institutions of civil society deploy in managing sociality and the moral order. Although aimed at the production of "docile bodies," disciplining is a deployment of biopower that nonetheless engages bodily matters through a politics of representation, by which familial and national ideological apparatuses function to constitute subject identities, and where resistance to these identities, and the transgression of the institutional norms that support them, is possible, even enabled, by the instability of the strategies of disciplining. The institutions of civil society have constituted the space for a whole range of oppositional identity politics focused on gender, sexual, ethnoracial, class, and national differences. The shift from disciplining to biopolitical control refers to the transformation of governance and a politics of representation occurring under the conditions of the reconfiguration of the relations of power across international organizations, the nation and civil society, the state and the economy, and the public and the private spheres. Such a reconfiguration is due in part to the disorganization of nationally organized capital, effected since the 1970s by globalization and structural adjustment and the increased complexity added with flexible accumulation of capital and flexible employment of labor power, and the globalization of information technologies, as well as to the ongoing social and political responses to these changes locally and globally. Control addresses the added complexity, as the turbulence arising with the reconfiguration of governance across community, national, regional, and international organizations is being turned over to risk management, militarism, and policing.31 Control is a deployment of biopower dispersed over networks of information and communication, where the targets of control are not subjects or their behavioral expression of internalized social norms; rather, control is aimed at populations, a never-ending modulation of moods, capacities, affects, potentialities statistically assembled in genetic codes, identification numbers, ratings profiles, preference listings, risk statuses, that is, bodies of data and information (including human bodies as data and information). Control works at the subindividual, molecular level of bodies and not necessarily, or only, human bodies. Control therefore points to the increasing abandonment of support for socialization and education of the individual subject through interpellation to and through national and familial ideological apparatuses. The production of normalization is not only, or even primarily, a matter of socializing the subject; increasingly, it is a matter of directly bringing bodies and bodily affective capacities [End Page 14] under an expanded grid of control, especially through the marketization of affective capacity
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The state uses environmental social responsibility to control peoples. Ingersoll 1992 Richard, Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley, Formerly Associate Professor at Rice University, The Ecology Question, Journal of Architectural Education (1984-), Vol. 45, No. 2, (Feb., 1992), pp. 125-127, jstor. Most designers today probably do not feel comfortable with a term like "social responsibility" in reference to the built environ- ment-especially after the last decade of history, one would have to suspect it to be inherently contradictory. Looking at the roster of sup- porters for this New York chapter, the identity seems to be located somewhere between "socialite responsibility" and "socialist responsibility"-between the patronizing liberal and the grassroots radical. The happy median is that those who identify with the term "social re- sponsibility" are essentially people of conscience, who believe in the possibility of justice for all people. The crisis of the welfare state during the last twenty-five years, however, has brought ever more doubt to the matter of how to follow one's conscience. Michel Foucault, and other social philosophers of our times, have opened our eyes to the fact that most social institu- tions become tools of systematized repression, and thus what previ- ously might have been justified as social responsibility eventually reveals itself to be social control. As much as I admire Foucault's cri- tique, I am also disconcerted that the atmosphere of relativism that has followed it has often turned out to be less humane than what was being criticized. There were scattered instances of alternatives based on Foucault's theories that are excellent models of social reintegration: the Democratic Psychiatry movement in Italy in the 1970s, which shut down asylums and opened publicly funded centers for mental hygiene in the central cities, or the German Green Party, which prac- tices a non-hierarchic organization, rotating its leaders, might serve as examples. But these are small tokens of resistance compared to the re- venge that free enterprise has taken on public welfare.
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Controlling the environment is no different than exploiting the social being. Ingersoll 1992 Richard, Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley, Formerly Associate Professor at Rice University, The Ecology Question, Journal of Architectural Education (1984-), Vol. 45, No. 2, (Feb., 1992), pp. 125-127, jstor. There are others, however, who see the attempt to restore the ecological balance of the biosphere as having profound social rel- evance. In effect, the very means for exploiting and controlling the natural environment are no different than those that have exploited and controlled the social one. By calling it the "Ecology Question," I mean to make direct allusion to Engels's "The Housing Question." This latter served as one of the most powerful critiques of late nine- teenth-century capitalism and was instrumental in mobilizing a con- sciousness of social responsibility among designers, predicated on fair and healthy housing for all. supercede The famous social failures of public hous- ing in our own times, which have alerted us to functionalist fallacies, should not blind us to the fact that the demand is still there. We can anticipate, however, that the ever-worsening environmental crisis will probably matters such as housing, and in the near future the housing question will be absorbed into a greater ecology question. This will occur with the awareness that the costs of high entropy have become greater than the benefits from exploiting nonrenewable re- sources. The "Ecology Question" has the potential of generating one of the most effective critiques of late twentieth-century capitalism, es- pecially since the demise of official Marxism in Eastern Europe and elsewhere.
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Biopolitics legitimizes violence and war Campbell 2005 David, Professor of Cultural & Political Geography at Durham U, The Biopolitics of Security: Oil, Empire, and the Sports Utility Vehicle, projectmuse
Michel Foucault argues that biopolitics arrives with the historical transformation in waging war from the defense of the sovereign to securing the existence of a population. In Foucault’s argument, this historical shift means that decisions to fight are made in terms of collective survival, and killing is justified by the necessity of preserving life.16 It is this centering of the life of the population rather than the safety of the sovereign or the security of territory that is the hallmark of biopolitical power that distinguishes it from sovereign power. Giorgio Agamben has extended the notion through the concept of the administration of life and argues that the defense of life often takes place in a zone of indistinction between violence and the law such that sovereignty can be violated in the name of life.17 Indeed, the biopolitical privileging of life has provided the rationale for some of the worst cases of mass death, with geno- cide deemed “understandable” as one group’s life is violently secured through the demise of another group.18 However, the role of biopolitical power in the administration of life is equally obvious and ubiquitous in domains other than the extreme cases of violence or war. The difference between the sovereign and the biopolitical can be understood in terms of the contrast between Foucault’s notion of “disciplinary society” and Gilles Deleuze’s conception of “the society of control,” a distinction that plays an important role in Hardt and Negri’s Empire. According to Hardt and Negri, in the disciplinary society, “social command is constructed through a diffuse network of dispositifs or apparatuses that produce and regulate customs, habits, and productive practices.” In the society of control, “mechanisms of command become ever more democratic, ever more immanent to the social field, distributed throughout the brains and bodies of the citizens.” This means that the society of control is “characterized by an intensification and generalization of the normalizing apparatuses of disciplinarity that internally animate our common and daily practices, but in contrast to discipline, this control extends well outside the structured sites of social institutions through flexible and fluctuating networks.”19 Network is, therefore, the prevailing metaphor for social organization in the era of biopolitical power, and it is a conception that permits us to understand how the effects of our actions, choices, and life are propagated beyond the boundaries of our time-space location.20 It is also a conception that allows us to appreciate how war has come to have a special prominence in producing the political order of liberal societies. Networks, through their extensive connectivity, function in terms of their strategic interactions. This means that “social relations become suffused with considerations of power, calculation, security and threat.”21 As a result, “global biopolitics operates as a strategic game in which the principle of war is assimilated into the very weft and warp of the socio-economic and cultural networks of biopolitical relations.”
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BIOPOWER IS THE ROOT CAUSE OF WAR Clifford 1 Michael, Professor of American Studies and the English Language Political Genealogy after Foucault: Savage Identities , Routledge, pg. 4345
The private autonomous individual serves, or can serve, a very important political function in the modern state, a function tied to the state's new (i.e., beginning roughly with the Treaty of Westphalia) historical status as a nation in competition with other nations. The competition between nations takes many forms, not the least of which is war. Thus, the state has need of soldiers, to protect its interests, to serve as the instruments of its preservation and the index of its strength. The state has recourse to disciplinary mechanisms required to turn individuals into good soldiers, at least from a technical point of view. Yet is this enough to ensure that these individuals will “lay their life on the line” for the sake of the state? The soldier is not to be understood as simply a body trained in the tactics of warfare, but rather as someone who “fights for his country.” Through discourses of patriotism and nationalism, which are disseminated through institutional channels to individuals from at least the time they are able to “pledge allegiance, ” disciplinary
power binds the individual to the nation, and in so doing helps to preserve the integrity of the nation itself. 23 One instrument for this integration, but by no means the only one, is the linking of the nation conceptually with the preservation of the individual's rights and freedoms. Through the notion of the private autonomous individual the state is able to mobilize the masses in the service of its own protection and preservation. 24 Here is precisely where the discourse of rights and freedoms is brought into play and the nation becomes an enunciative modality for the emergence of political subjects. In fact, as we shall see in the next section, much of modern political identity is informed by reference to a national identity, either positively or negatively. 25 Moreover, this identity is structured and animated by the discourse of threat that we saw take shape in Enlightenment political philosophy.
The attempts to control, manage, and ensure safety of the population is based on the power of death and its underside, the power to warn and strike fear. This form of control is the root of all 20th century atrocities as the sovereign sword has diminished in favor of the violence of the population. Michel Foucault, The History of Sexuality – Volume One, 1978 Yet wars were never as bloody as they have been since the nineteenth century, and all things being equal, never before did regimes visit such holocausts on their own populations. But this formidable power of death – and this is perhaps what accounts for part of its force and the cynicism with which it has so greatly expanded its limits – now presents itself as the counterpart of a power that exerts a power that exerts a positive influence on life, subjecting it to precise controls and comprehensive regulations. Wars are no longer waged in the name of a sovereign who must be defended; they are waged on behalf of the existence of everyone; entire populations are mobilized for the purpose of wholesale slaughter in the name of life necessity: massacres have become vital. It is as managers of life and survival, of bodies and the race, that so many regimes have been able to wage so many wars, causing so many to be killed. And through a turn that closes the circle, as the technology of wars has caused them to tend increasingly toward allout destruction, the decision that initiates them and the one that terminates them are in fact increasingly informed by the naked question of survival. The atomic situation is now at the end point of this process: the power to expose a whole population to death is the underside of the power to guarantee an individual’s continued existence. The principle underlying the tactics of battle – that one has to be capable of killing in order to go on living – has become the principle that defines the strategy of states. But the existence in question is no longer the juridical existence of sovereignty; at stake is the biological existence of a population. If genocide is indeed the dream of modern powers, this is not because of a recent return of the ancient right to kill; it is because power is situated and exercised at the
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level of life, the species, the race, and the large-scale phenomena of population.
Increasing biopolitical control through security makes violence inevitable. Agemben in 2 Giorgio Agamben, prof of philosophy, “Security & terror,” Theory & Event, vol 5:4) Today we are facing extreme and most dangerous developments of this paradigm of security. In the course of a gradual neutralisation of politics and the progressive surrender of traditional tasks of the state, security imposes itself as the basic principle of state activity. What used to be one among several decisive measures of public administration until the first half of the twentieth century, now becomes the sole criterion of political legitimation. Security reasoning entails an essential risk. A state which has security as its only task and source of legitimacy is a fragile organism; it can always be provoked by terrorism to turn itself terroristic. We should not forget that the first major organisation of terror after the war, the Organisation de l'Armée Secrète (OAS) was established by a French General who thought of himself as patriotic and who was convinced that terrorism was the only answer to the guerilla phenomenon in Algeria and Indochina. When politics, the way it was understood by theorists of the "Polizeiwissenschaft" in the eighteenth century, reduces itself to police, the difference between state and terrorism threatens to disappear. In the end it may lead to security and terrorism forming a single deadly system in which they mutually justify and legitimate each others' actions. The risk is not merely the development of a clandestine complicity of opponents but that the hunt for security leads to a worldwide civil war which destroys all civil coexistence. In the new situation -- created by the end of the classical form of war between sovereign states -- security finds its end in globalisation: it implies the idea of a new planetary order which is, in fact, the worst of all disorders. But there is yet another danger. Because they require constant reference to a state of exception, measures of security work towards a growing depoliticization of society. In the long run, they are irreconcilable with democracy. Nothing is therefore more important than a revision of the concept of security as the basic principle of state politics. European and American politicians finally have to consider the catastrophic consequences of uncritical use of this figure of thought. It is not that democracies should cease to defend themselves, but the defense of democracy demands today a change of political paradigms and not a world civil war which is just the institutionalization of terror. Maybe the time has come to work towards the prevention of disorder and catastrophe, and not merely towards their control. Today, there are plans for all kinds of emergencies (ecological, medical, military), but there is no politics to prevent them. On the contrary, we can say that politics secretly works towards the production of emergencies. It is the task of democratic politics to prevent the development of conditions which lead to hatred, terror, and destruction -- and not to reduce itself to attempts to control them once they occur.
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Biopolitics and governance allows extinction and violence to be inevitable. Duffield 2004 Mark Duffield, Department of Politics and International Relations, University of Lancaster, 2004 , Carry on Killing: Global Governance, Humanitarianism and Terror Bio-politics emerged with modernity to form the basis of state power.
It is concerned with validating, supporting
and promoting the life of the nation (Foucault 1998). For the purposes of this paper, bio-politics is the regulation of life at the aggregate level of population. Bio-politics exists in the governmental technologies that both discover and act upon the varied biological, demographic, health, social and economic factors and mechanisms that constitute life as
Global governance, however, is a specific form of bio-power. It is a power over the life of populations conceived as existing globally rather than nationally or territorially. More specifically, it is a power aggregated species-life.
over populations experienced as territorial or local illustrations of a particular global species-type. This is how we know, for example, ‘refugees’, ‘economic migrants’, ‘internally displaced’ the ‘chronically poor’, and so on. In relation to global governance, those technologies and strategies that constitute ‘development’ are an essential expression of
Biopolitics, however, contains an intrinsic and fateful duality. As well as fostering and promoting life it also has the power to “…disallow it to the point of death” (Ibid: 138 orig. emph.). In making this bio-political distinction, racism plays a formative role (Foucault 2003; Stoler 1995).” This not only includes its nineteenth and early twentieth century biological forms, it also involves its contemporary cultural, value and civilisational re-inscriptions (Duffield 1984). Race and its modern codings underpin the division between valid and invalid life international bio-power.
and legitimates the measures deemed necessary to secure the former against the later. In this sense, bio-politics is intrinsically connected with the security populations, including global ones. This duality moreover underlies the paradox of bio-politics: as states have assumed responsibility for maintaining and developing life, wars have become increasingly more encompassing, devastating and genocidal for the populations concerned. The awesome power to unleash limitless death presents itself as a cynical counterpart, …of a power that exerts a positive influence on life, that endeavours to administer, optimize, and multiply it, subjecting it to all precise controls and comprehensive
. Wars are no longer waged in the name of a sovereign who must be defended; they are waged on behalf of the existence of everyone; entire populations are mobilised for the purpose of wholesale slaughter in the name of life necessity: massacres have become vital (Ibid: 136). As the managers of species-life, since the end of the nineteenth century states have been able to wage total wars that have pitched regulations
entire populations against each other in cataclysmic struggles to the death.
What is at stake in modern war is the existence
of society itself. Genocide consequently emerges as a strategy “…because power is situated and exercised at the level of life, the species, the race, and the large-scale phenomena of population” (Ibid: 137). Although the ending of the Cold War raised hopes of a ‘peace dividend’, the diagrammatic form of bio-power was to be re-inscribed in the ‘new wars’ of the 1990s and confirmed with the declaration of war on terrorism. This re-inscription has taken in its stride the shift in the locus of threat from the Soviet Union, one of the world’s largest and most centralized war economy, to its very opposite, that is, the new security cartography of failed states, shadow economies and terrorist networks. However, as the Guardian columnist quoted above has grasped, despite this radical re-ordering the bio-political principle of state power has remained the same: in order to carry on living one has to carry on killing (Ibid). As well as departing from a realist conception of power, the idea of global governance as a design of bio-power also breaks with the conventional view of what global governance is. That is, as an essentially benign undertaking involving state and non-state actors in a collective pursuit of global security, an open and inclusive economic system, effective legal and political instutions, global welfare and development, and a shared commitment to conflict resolution (Biscop 2004).
It becomes an ethico-political response to pre-existing or externally motivated threats. Global governance as a design of bio-power, however, rather than responding ‘out of the blue’ to external threats, directly fabricates its own security environment. In distinguishing between valid and invalid global life, it creates its own ‘other’ – with all its specific deviancies, singular threats and instances of mal-development – to which it then responds and tries to change. Consequently, it also shapes the terrain over which the bio-political logic of living through killing must operate. It is in relation to this constitutive function of global governance that the place of sovereignty within it can now be examined. From this perspective, security threats are usually seen as emerging independently of global governance and, indeed, despite its best intentions.
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Biopower lends itself to racism – allowing the state to inflict violence on the other. Foucault in'76 [Michel, Society Must be Defended: Lectures at the College de France, 1975-1976, p. 254-257 Trans. David Macey] What in fact is racism? It is primarily a way of introducing a break into the domain of life that is under power's control: the break between what must live and what must die. The appearance within the biological continuum of the human race of races, the distinction among races, the hierarchy of races, the fact that certain races are described as good and that others, in contrast, are described as inferior: all this is a way of fragmenting the field of the biological that power controls. It is a way of separating out the groups that exist within a population. It is, in short, a way of establishing a biological type caesura within a population that appears to be a biological domain. This will allow power to treat that population as a mixture of races, or to be more accurate, to treat the species, to subdivide the species it controls, into the subspecies known, precisely, as races. That is the first function of racism: to fragment, to create caesuras within the biological continuum addressed by biopower. Racism also has a second function. Its role is, if you like, to allow the establishment of a positive relation of this type: "The more you kill, the more deaths you will cause" or "The very fact that you let more die will allow you to live more." I would say that this relation ("If you want to live, you must take lives, you must be able to kill") was not invented by either racism or the modern State. It is the relationship of war: "In order to live, you must destroy your enemies." But racism does make the relationship of war-"If you want to live, the other must die" - function in a way that is completely new and that is quite compatible with the exercise of biopower. On the one hand, racism makes it possible to establish a relationship between my life and the death of the other that is not a military or warlike relationship of confrontation, but a biologicaltype relationship: "The more inferior species die out, the more abnormal individuals are eliminated, the fewer degenerates there will be in the species as a whole, and the more Ias species rather than individualcan live, the stronger I will be, the more vigorous I will be. I will be able to proliferate." The fact that the other dies does not mean simply that I live in the sense that his death guarantees my safety; the death of the other, the death of the bad race, of the inferior race (or the degenerate, or the abnormal) is something that will make life in general healthier: healthier and purer. This is not, then, a military, warlike, or political relationship, but a biological relationship. And the reason this mechanism can come into play is that the enemies who have to be done away with are not adversaries in the political sense of the term; they are threats, either external or internal, to the population and for the population. In the biopower system, in other words, killing or the imperative to kill is acceptable only if it results not in a victory over political adversaries, but in the elimination of the biological threat to and the improvement of the species or race. There is a direct connection between the two. In a normalizing society, race or racism is the precondition that makes killing acceptable. When you have a normalizing society, you have a power which is, at least superficially, in the first instance, or in the first line a biopower, and racism is the indispensable precondition that allows someone to be killed, that allows others to be killed. Once the State functions in the biopower mode, racism alone can justify the murderous function of the State. So you can understand the importance-I almost said the vital importance-of racism to the exercise of such a power: it is the precondition for exercising the right to kill. If the power of normalization wished to exercise the old sovereign right to kill, it must become racist. And if, conversely, a power of sovereignty, or in other words, a power that has the right of life and death,
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wishes to work with the instruments, mechanisms, and technology of normalization, it too must become racist. When I say "killing," I obviously do not mean simply murder as such, but also every form of indirect murder: the fact of exposing someone to death, increasing the risk of death for some people, or, quite simply, political death, expulsion, rejection, and so on. I think that we are now in a position to understand a number of things. We can understand, first of all, the link that was quickly-I almost said immediately-established between nineteenth-century biological theory and the discourse of power. Basically, evolutionism, understood in the broad sense-or in other words, not so much Darwin's theory itself as a set, a bundle, of notions (such as: the hierarchy of species that grow from a common evolutionary tree, the struggle for existence among species, the selection that eliminates the less fit) naturally became within a few years during the nineteenth century not simply a way of transcribing a political discourse into biological terms, and not simply a way of dressing up a political discourse in scientific clothing, but a real way of thinking about the relations between colonization, the necessity for wars, criminality, the phenomena of madness and mental illness, the history of societies with their different classes, and so on. Whenever, in other words, there was a confrontation, a killing or the risk of death, the nineteenth century was quite literally obliged to think about them in the form of evolutionism. And we can also understand why racism should have developed in modern societies that function in the biopower mode; we can understand why racism broke out at a number of .privileged moments, and why they were precisely the moments when the right to take life was imperative. Racism first develops with colonization, or in other words, with colonizing genocide. If you are functioning in the biopower mode, how can you justify the need to kill people, to kill populations, and to kill civilizations? By using the themes of evolutionism, by appealing to a racism. War. How can one not only wage war on one's adversaries but also expose one's own citizens to war, and let them be killed by the million (and this is precisely what has been going on since the nineteenth century, or since the second half of the nineteenth century), except by activating the theme of racism? From this point onward, war is about two things: it is not simply a matter of destroying a political adversary, but of destroying the enemy race, of destroying that [sort] of biological threat that those people over there represent to our race. In one sense, this is of course no more than a biological extrapolation from the theme of the political enemy. But there is more to it than that. In the nineteenth century-and this is completely new-war will be seen not only as a way of improving one's own race by eliminating the enemy race (in accordance with the themes of natural selection and the struggle for existence), but also as a way of regenerating one's own race. As more and more of our number die, the race to which we belong will become all the purer.
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Incentives naturalize the individual and are rooted in racism. Zuss 98 Mark, Ph.D., City Univ. of New York, 1/1, Reading Culture Hybridly', Review of Education, Pedagogy, and Cultural Studies, 20:4, 353 — 364 The cultivation of a distinctive individual character, in Norbert Elias's terms, homo clausus, an identity fashioned and marked by interiority, and emblematic of the ascendant European bourgeois subject, was realized through an accelerated pedagogical scrutiny and regulations of sexuality through enculturating practices. These practices made manifest first in the European theater what was latent and dangerous to its own developing cohesion and class interests. As Stoler's readings of Foucault's College de France lectures on race indicate, racial discourses that came to be developed within colonial enterprises emerged from the nature of Europe's developing cohesion along lines of class interests, alliances, and rivalries. The formation of what Fichte identified as 'internal frontiers' crystallized gradually through processes which Stoler and Gilroy consider a racial grammar developed in the colonial laboratory. These grammars, racial codifications, and disciplinary knowledges were pronounced through new policies, prohibitions, and incentives that were intended to naturalize the unstable category of European identity. These practices, which Foucault would call 'technologies of the self or forms of biopower, were devised under the perceived threat of hybridization, creolization and a metissage that represented nothing less than the specter of contamination, miscegenation and, hence, the attendant degeneration of European racial purity in its variously developing imperial largesse.
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Alternatives THE CURRENT FIELD OF BIOPOLITICS MAKES EXTINCTION INEVITABLE—THE ONLY WAY TO BREAK THIS TYPE OF THINKING IS THROUGH POLITICAL RESISTANCE Bernauer in 90 James Bernauer, Professor of Philosophy Boston University, Flight of Foucault, 1990 p. 140-143
It is within the field created by the functioning of this bio-power that the issues that cluster around the quality-of-life theme arise, and that medical discourse assumes political standing. Bio-politics permits us to understand how movements could appear that make sexual repression the object of a critique that is advanced as political. Sex as a political issue was made possible because it is located at the pivot of the two dimensions along which this power of life developed;
it is involved both with the disciplining of the body and with considerations relating to the control of populations. For the modern period, sex "was a means of access both to the life of the body and the life of the species."74 The notion of a political-sexual critique is consistent with the system of power within which it operates, and such a critique cooperates in blocking a comprehension of the actual mechanisms of power in our society. To take repression, specifically sexual repression, as the fundamental form in which power acts creates the illusion that in merely speaking about it, in violating taboo, one is challenging power. The very concept of sex as naturally given serves this illusion; an object is defined in such a manner that constituted along with it is both the possibility of its repression and the chance to win freedom by rising against this force of prohibition. The "irony" of modernity's discourses on sex and its repression consists in "having us believe that our 'liberation' is in the balance."75 Here Foucault finds the beginning of an answer to his question of how it was possible for generations to tolerate the formation of a disciplinary society.
Power is
acceptable only when the most substantial part of it is hidden. For it to function throughout a society, power must hide its pervasiveness beneath a web of identifiable repressions. For those caught within its grasp, would such pervasive power be acceptable "if they did not see it as a mere limit placed on their desire, leaving a measure of freedom-however slight-intact? Power as a pure limit set on freedom is, at least in our society, the general form of its acceptability."76 This capacity of power to conceal itself cannot cloak the tragedy of the implications contained in Foucault's examination of its functioning. While liberals have fought to extend rights and Marxists have denounced the injustice of capitalism, a political technology, acting in the interests of a better administration of life, has produced a politics that places man's "existence as a living being in question.'77 The very period that proclaimed pride in having overthrown the tyranny of monarchy, that engaged in an endless clamor for reform, that is confident in the virtues of its humanistic faith-this period's politics created a landscape dominated by history's bloodiest wars. What comparison is possible between a sovereign's authority to take a life and a power that, in the interest of protecting a society's quality of life, can plan, as well as develop the means for its implementation, a
Such a policy is neither an aberration of the fundamental principles of modern politics nor an abandonment of our age's humanism in favor of a more primitive right to kill; it is but the other side of a power that is "situated and exercised at the level of life, the species, the race, and the large-scale phenomena of population."78 The bio-political project of administering and optimizing life closes its circle with the production of the Bomb. "The atomic situation is now at the end point of this process: the power to expose a whole population to death is the underside of a power to guarantee an individual's continued existence."79 The solace that might have been expected from being able to gaze at scaffolds empty of the victims of a tyrant's vengeance has been stolen from us by the noose that has tightened around each of our own necks. 2. THINKING AS AN INSTRUMENT FOR POLITICS That noose is policy of mutually assured destruction?
loosened by breaking with the type of thinking that has led to its fashioning, and by a mode of political action that dissents from those practices of normalization that have made us all potential victims A prerequisite for this break is the recognition that human being and thought inhabit the domain of knowledge-power relations (savoirpouvoir), a realization that is in opposition to traditional humanism. In the
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light of SP and VS, man-that invention of recent date--continued to gain sharper focus. By means of that web of techniques of discipline and methods of knowing that exists in modern society, by those minute steps of training through which the body was made into a fit instrument,
The same humanism that has invested such energy in developing a science of man has foisted upon us the illusion that power is essentially repressive; in doing so, it has led us into the dead end of regarding the pursuit and exercise of power as blinding the faculty of thought.81 and by those stages of examining the mind's growth, the "man of modern humanism was born."80
From the moment life became accessible as an object of political power, its role has been ambiguous: conducive to freedom and oppression, security and danger. No one has shown the ambiguities of a power focused on life better than Foucault, who went so far as to describe the dream of modernity as genocide (Foucault 1978: 137).1 The paradoxes of a modern power at once devoted to and contemptuous of life provides one explanation for the twentieth century's attention to human rights. Emerging from fear rather than hope, the enunciation of rights which would once, as Arendt remarks, have been seen as an inviolable part of the human condition, results from the ways the most minimal conditions of being human are endangered by politics (Ignatieff 1997: 18; Arendt 1973: 297). 1. Since World War II, human rights have undergone an extraordinary expansion. We can now recognize an international rights regime formed by international rights declarations; regional and international courts; NGOs and other groups who monitor rights; and new norms of state behavior giving human rights greater weight. The proliferation of references to human rights in and of itself implies the presence of the bearer of such rights -- the human being, or 'man,' (Douzinas 1996: 122). That referent, however, has become more than a discursive object. At least since the end of the Cold War,
humanity has emerged as a material political group in the same manner that the "people" became a concrete group with the rise of the representative nation-state.2 2. What political power represents humanity is less apparent. The United Nations, as the closest thing to an international political organization, appears such a power. But the decisions of the U.N., as well as its capacity to act, remain wholly circumscribed by the nation-states composing the U.N. Global or world civil society is also often treated as the political voice of the human. Such groups do indeed wield political influence on the actions of states. But they lack the power to enforce human rights. That task falls ultimately to the existent sovereign powers. As those powers become increasingly involved with humanity, they can no longer be fully captured by the concept of a nation-state sovereignty committed to
Given the novelty of this emerging form of sovereignty and of humanity, we have few tools for understanding the meaning of each term, or the relations between them. 3. Indeed, that such a relationship could exist between humanity and political power has long been doubted. Since the French particular peoples.
Revolution, the sheer breadth and presumed anonymity of humanity has resulted in skepticism about its political effectiveness. Arendt, who had a profound investment in the possibility of universal rights, found herself compelled to acknowledge that whether or not humanity could guarantee the rights of individuals belonging to it "is by no means certain" (p. 298). Such hesitations have been less evident since the end of the Cold War. Nearly by default, the main explorers of the emerging international rights regimes have been Kantian inspired cosmpolitanists. Those scholars have been readily inclined to treat international human rights as a globalization of the rights and dignities accorded by liberal democracies and as a limitation of sovereign power. Yet how the globalization of rights which emerged out of the modern sovereign state should limit the very power they owe their existence to is far from obvious. 4. Standing against Kantian visions of a cosmopolitan humanity is the profound skepticism of Carl Schmitt. Expanding his scathing critique of liberalism to the international field, Schmitt insisted any political formation of humanity would prove impossible (1996: 55). For Schmitt, the characteristics of humanity would undermine the features defining politics: the role of the sovereign exception and the friend-enemy distinction. Schmitt was clearly wrong to insist humanity could constitute no political group. At the same time, he astutely foresaw
into an indifferent value.
such a world would risk turning life