ulrich beck on europe January 15, 2008
Posted by Bradley in : Uncategorized , comments closedUlrich Beck at the Guardian today:
Both the federation of states and the federal super-state describe the same zero-sum game from different angles. Either there is one single state of Europe (federalism), in which case there are no national member states; or else the national member states remain Europe’s rulers, in which case there is no Europe (inter-governmentalism). Within this framework of thought, whatever Europe gains, the individual nations lose. And this is true whether one is for a given option or against it. Caught up in the false alternatives of the national gaze, we are given the choice between no Europe or no Europe.
The decline of the nation-state is really a decline of the specifically national content of the state and an opportunity to create a cosmopolitan state system that is better able to deal with the problems that all nations face in the world today. Economic globalisation, transnational terrorism, global warming: the litany is familiar and daunting. There are a host of problems that are clearly beyond the power of the old order of nation-states to cope with. The answer to global problems that are gathering ominously all around and that refuse to yield to nation-state solutions is for politics to take a quantum leap from the nation-state system to the cosmopolitan state system. Politics needs to regain credibility in order to craft real solutions.
More than anywhere else in the world, Europe shows that this step is possible. Europe teaches the modern world that the political evolution of states and state systems is by no means at an end. National realpolitik is becoming unreal, not only in Europe, but throughout the world. It is turning into a lose-lose game.
Europeanisation means creating a new politics. It means entering as a player into the meta-power game, into the struggle to form the rules of a global order. The catchphrase for the future might be: move over America, Europe is back.
And there’s an interesting set of reactions – both positive and negative. I particularly like this part of one:
The EU uses money for things that the various countries governments would not dream of spending it on, such as regional projects, culture, the arts and so on. The governments would probably just use that money to bail out banks..
um dean search January 11, 2008
Posted by Bradley in : Uncategorized , comments closedThe University of Miami School of Law is looking for a new Dean to start in the summer/fall of 2008. Information about the position, the School, and the University is available here.
national year of reading January 10, 2008
Posted by Bradley in : Uncategorized , comments closedI don’t see a lot of point in identifying years for things which should be happening all the time. The EU’s year of intercultural dialogue makes some sense to me as a way of making more visible an important issue for the EU and trying to jumpstart conversations which need to happen. But reading seems to me to be a bit different. As part of encouraging literacy, 2008 is the National Year of Reading in the UK, beginning half way through the United Nations Literacy Decade. Again, the Brownies show that they aren’t particularly ept at the PR thing. The 10 Downing Street video which introduces the reading year would have been better with more of the kids and less of the politicians:
hillary in pictures (in the uk media) January 9, 2008
Posted by Bradley in : Uncategorized , comments closedThe British media seem to have gotten very hung up on publishing horrific pictures of Hillary Clinton. Although there are some odd pictures of other candidates, such as this one of John McCain there seems to me to be a higher proportion of odd ones of Hillary Clinton. It’s worth comparing the gruesome Guardian‘s Clinton gallery from Iowa with the much friendlier McCain gallery. The pictures they have of John Edwards are mostly pretty cute. On the other hand, some of the others, such as Barack Obama don’t even seem to have any recent picture galleries up on the site, and if I were Mitt Romney, I would be a bit unhappy with my picture gallery. The first picture shows him wearing a red wreath halo, the third just shows his pants (pretty crumpled), and his face just makes it onto the edge of the fourth one, although the rest aren’t bad.
Here is a Hillary picture from tomorrow’s Guardian:
The BBC has this one:
And here is one from the Telegraph:
real world financial institutions cheat too January 8, 2008
Posted by Bradley in : Uncategorized , comments closedVirtual world financial institutions may generally be nothing more than ponzi schemes, but real world financial institutions cheat too. Take the story from today’s NY Times about Countrywide Financial Corporation, which seems to have tried to recoup escrow monies from a mortgage customer using “recreated” letters – letters that seem to have been dated years before they were in fact written. In one case a letter was addressed to the customer’s lawyer at an address he did not move to until after the purported date of the letter. Countrywide’s lawyer seems to have conceded that the letters contained no disclaimers recognising that they had never actually been sent.
No one can do what Countrywide Can.SM
Update Jan. 11, 2008: Calculated Risk suggests that it probably did not occur to the person who produced the letters that they “would be construed by any normal person as an implied claim that they had in fact been sent years ago.”
second life banking announcement January 8, 2008
Posted by Bradley in : Uncategorized , comments closedLinden announced today:
As of January 22, 2008, it will be prohibited to offer interest or any direct return on an investment (whether in L$ or other currency) from any object, such as an ATM, located in Second Life, without proof of an applicable government registration statement or financial institution charter. We’re implementing this policy after reviewing Resident complaints, banking activities, and the law, and we’re doing it to protect our Residents and the integrity of our economy.
Some of the language in the announcement suggests that the policy has a broader application than activities which are described as banks. For example, the new policy applies to the “offering of … a rate of return on L$ invested” and Linden says:
We will not apply this policy to companies who submit a registration statement, charter, or other applicable license from a governing regulatory authority, or who are merely conducting marketing or education, but not accepting payments.
The change in policy seems to arise out of the collapse of Ginko Financial this summer and claims to be about banking law, but it also seems to relate to securities law. I argued in a recent paper that real world securities laws apply to offerings of “securities” in virtual worlds. I would have preferred a solution that would have allowed virtual world securities activity (i.e. exempted it from real world securities regulation) subject to conditions. Linden’s FAQ on this issue suggests that stock exchanges may or may not be subject to the policy (and see Robert Bloomfield’s comments at Terranova). Comments posted to the Linden announcement include those which approve of the new policy (some say it came a bit late) and those which regret the intrusion of real world law into the virtual worldspace.
I saw this story first via Virtually Blind.
happy 2008 January 1, 2008
Posted by Bradley in : Uncategorized , comments closedThe state of the world economy, and the outcome of the US Presidential election, are uncertain, but the Olympics will be held in Beijing this year. Slovenia (a member state of the EU since 2004) holds the Presidency of the EU’s Council for the first half of 2008, and 2008 is the European Year of Intercultural Dialogue. Malta and Cyprus have adopted the euro, which is at its lowest rate against the dollar since the euro was introduced in 1999.
christmas messages December 26, 2007
Posted by Bradley in : Uncategorized , comments closedThe Queen just gets better with time. The contrast between the Queen’s inclusive and compassionate Christmas message and the Downing Street Christmas tree setup video is dramatic.
merry xmas December 24, 2007
Posted by Bradley in : Uncategorized , comments closedWith Spiffworld and Jonathan Coulton:
us gambling regulation December 21, 2007
Posted by Bradley in : Uncategorized , comments closedJust days after the EU and US announced they had reached an agreement to compensate the EU for the US’ attitude to the regulation of gambling, the Remote Gambling Association announced that it was filing a complaint with the Commission. In other gambling-related news financial trade associations have been objecting to the Fed and Treasury’s proposed implementation of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Act. The BBA asks for more clarity. SIFMA’s comment states:
The proposed rule provides that the term “unlawful Internet gambling”means a bet or wager involving the Internet that is unlawful under federal or state law where the bet or wager is initiated, received or otherwise made. It is not clear what types of gambling transactions over the Internet, if any, might be lawful. The Agencies have determined not to further define gambling-related terms because the Act itself does not specify which gambling activities are legal or illegal. SIFMA is concerned that if the Agencies themselves are unwilling or unable to provide additional guidance to financial institutions regarding what constitutes unlawful Internet gambling, financial institutions run the risk of both processing unlawful Internet gambling payment transactions that should not be processed and preventing transactions that are lawful. Without additional guidance, financial institutions may, out of an abundance of caution, implement procedures that identify and block all gambling-related transactions, including lawful transactions. Although the Act would permit such an approach since it contains a safe harbor for blocking transactions, we do not believe that was the intent of the Act. Such an approach would also take resources and focus away from other compliance efforts. Accordingly, SIFMA urges the Agencies, in conjunction with the Department of Justice and State Attorneys General, to provide additional specificity and guidance to financial institutions regarding the legal status of certain Internet gambling transactions.