Politics & Current Affairs — December 26, 2009

Drums of War

The New York Times is accused of beating the drums of war by printing an editorial advocating a military strike against Iran.

bigthinkeditor

“Just a few of the latest incidents: we’ve been leaked the news that Barack Obama is almost powerless to stop Israel from attacking Iran, should it choose to do so. Yet more supposedly secret and hitherto overlooked documents have surfaced, purporting to contain evidence of a weapons program in Iran. And, most significantly, the US House of Representatives has overwhelmingly approved new sanctions against Iran. (The Iran Refined Petroleum Sanctions Act was co-authored by Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, a representative with apparently very flexible parameters when it comes to condemning ‘terrorism’.) I raise the subject again now because of a nagging suspicion, deep down, that all this is rather more than just a random collection of discrete incidents. True, Cheney, Rumsfeld and Bolton are no longer in a position to act, but it still seems as if this conversation is heading right back to the same conclusions that those gentlemen were advocating back in 2007.”

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Neuropsych

25 years since Columbine: We’re closer to decoding mass-shooter psychology

Public mass shooters almost always have worldviews shaped by the "3 Rs": rage, resentment, and revenge.

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Thinking

Everyday Philosophy: “Is there anything wrong with trauma dumping?”

When does "oversharing" become an issue?

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Leadership

Adam Grant on how to identify and develop high-potential leaders

The ability to toggle between abstract and concrete thinking is a key differentiator of high-potential leaders.

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Business

Want true success? Be more philosophical about “good” and “bad” failure.

Bob Dylan gave us the paradoxical gem "there's no success like failure, and failure's no success at all." He had a point.

Starts With A Bang

The idea that matter is mostly empty space is mostly wrong

Practically all of the matter we see and interact with is made of atoms, which are mostly empty space. Then why is reality so... solid?

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