http://rot.blogsome.com All is not well beneath the shiny surface. Sun, 11 May 2008 05:00:05 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en I think it’s a no-brainer that the case for invading Burma to alleviate the consequences of a massive humanitarian crisis is much, much, stronger than the humanitarian cases for invading Iraq and Afghanistan were. (Let’s leave aside reasons involving WMDs and the war on terror.) Simon Jenkins of The Times ... http://rot.blogsome.com/2008/05/11/liberal-interventionism-and-burma/ Obviously, no one is going to invade Burma to provide humanitarian help. The political costs are too great. But I find it an interesting theoretical question to consider if the French government’s suggestion of invoking the ‘responsibility to protect’ principle to forcibly enter Burma with aid should apply here. The ... http://rot.blogsome.com/2008/05/10/pondering-the-responsibility-to-protect/ You are considering your options for tertiary education. Education. What do you care more about? Whether a university can provide you with a good education, or whether it is perceived to be ‘good’ (in any number of probably extremely vague respects)? It seems obvious that reputation and quality of education provided ... http://rot.blogsome.com/2008/05/02/priorities/ Take a gander at this heartening headline: Public will be given full account: Wong Actually read the article, though, and you’ll find out that “details involving the Whitley Road Detention Centre” will not be made public, for security purposes. That pretty much seems to rule out any explanation of how Mas ... http://rot.blogsome.com/2008/03/17/full-for-a-given-value-of-full/ I am watching CNN now and the sensationalistic, information-poor coverage has disgusted me enough to make a brief remark about American politics and the media, namely: Do your math. http://rot.blogsome.com/2008/03/05/why-i-should-not-watch-tv/ Two anti-Obama shots in the ST’s Insight Section today: the first a syndicated opinion piece from Kathleen Parker deriding the support for Obama as a religious craze: So what is the source of this infatuation with Mr Obama? How to explain the hysteria? The religious fervor? The devotion? The weeping and ... http://rot.blogsome.com/2008/02/23/st-against-obama/ From Matthew Parris’ comments on Rowan Williams’ suggestion that Sharia law be allowed in Britain: The State, not family, faith or community, is the guarantor of personal liberty and intellectual freedom, and it will always be to the State, not the Church, synagogue or mosque, that the oppressed individual needs look. There ... http://rot.blogsome.com/2008/02/10/why-i-am-suspicious-of-family-values/ Am I the only one finding the States Times’ sentimental tribute/farewell articles on Suharto rather distasteful? The guy was hardly a saint, after all. Perhaps they are merely preparing the ground for the inevitable death of our own Dear Leader? Which would explain why there have been so many editorials ... http://rot.blogsome.com/2008/01/29/aww-pak-harto/ I was recently at a talk organised by A*Star to promote its AGA scholarships with partner universities. They had gotten professors from the overseas partner universities to come down and interact with potential PhD students. Each university gave a talk selling itself to the audience. NTU’s talk was plain embarrassing. The ... http://rot.blogsome.com/2008/01/25/embarrassment/ Looks like we can’t rely on the States Times to give correct information for even a simple MRT route. In their print edition today, they published an example[pdf] of an onerous route from someone’s home in Ang Mo Kio to her former workplace Pasir Panjang. Part of the route has ... http://rot.blogsome.com/2008/01/19/51/