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1. Collapse of Economy and Social Discontent in Argentina
2. Bacillus Anthracis and Bio Terrorism
3. Science and War Against Terrorism
4. Democracy in Burma
5. A Europe Without Children: Low Birth Rates and Fast-Shrinking Populations
6. Social and Public Policy Internet Research
7. Emerging-Market Economies and Environmental Protection
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Collapse of Economy and Social Discontent in ArgentinaSee yourself how a country lauded in the mid-1990s as an economic miracle could have descended into nearly complete paralysis. When looking closer the key problems involved, we find that noneconomic (political, social) rather than economic conditions are to be blamed. Today, Argentina is largely a lost cause, with a huge foreign debt of $155 billion being a product of the crisis rather than its generative force.
Portrayed as an array of financial problems including liquidity, service on the country's foreign debt and massive dollar flight due to faltering investor confidence, which saw one-third of the country's foreign investment portfolios withdrawn this past year. However, the breakdown of the economy and the flight of capital out of Argentine should be seen merely as manifestations of a profoundly leprous society. Also, people who are fortunate enough to have relatives in Europe - especially, Spain, Italy, and Germany (the historical origins of migrants to Argentine) - queue up in long lines to apply foreign visa, to leave the country for good.
In fact, while the trigger of the crisis was mainly economic, its fundamental genesis was principally non-economic. The most important causes of the fast economic decline of Argentina include long-term persistence of countywide corruption (which is killing any incentives for investments in the long run), mismanagement, widening income gaps due to deficiencies in general education and welfare provisions, and political exclusion of social movements (e.g. the labor movement) in government formation and policymaking. Read more ...
www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/business
www.latin-focus.com/countries/argentina/argentina.htm www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/ar.html www.heritage.org/library/backgrounder/bg1432es.html
coha.org/Press_Releases/01-29-Argentina.htm
www.coha.org/opeds/01-Argentina.htmBacillus Anthracis and Bio Terrorism
Anthrax is a perfect biological weapon: easily concealed, potent, and easily delivered. The small quantity of anthrax needed for a lethal inhalation dose makes concealment, transportation, and dissemination very easy. An anthrax aerosol is odorless and invisible, making it a very stealthy killer. Only a millionth of a gram of anthrax is a lethal dose. A kilogram can eradicate hundreds of thousands of individuals living in a metropolitan area. Another characteristic making anthrax an effective biological agent, is that anthrax spores can be stored for decades without losing their viability.
It is highly worth and necessary to learn more about Bacillus Athracis and other biological weapons, such as smallpox, and their impact on society, the precautions made, and the future danger implied by them.
There is no doubt that new comprehensive policy responses at home and abroad (escpecially in the Middle East) need to be sought - beginning from air travel safety and finding new ways of curing affected victims of bioterrorism at home; to ensuring a long-term decline in poverty, unemployment, social and economic exploitation of working-class members (especially migrant workers and their families), and to construct harmonious, sound Arabian societies in the Middle East. Read more ...
www.os.dhhs.gov/hottopics/healing/biological.html
www.bt.cdc.gov
www.academicinfo.net/terrorismbio.html
jama.ama-assn.org/issues/v281n18/ffull/jst80027.html
www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/biologicalandchemicalweapons.html www.acponline.org/bioterro/medicalaspects.htm www.brown.edu/Courses/Bio_160/Projects2000/Anthrax/bio_terrorism.html dmoz.org/Society/Issues/Terrorism/Biological_and_Chemical_Terrorism/ www.emergency.com/cbwlesn1.htm
www.terrorismfiles.org/weapons/anthrax_biological_warfare_agent.html www.terrorismreporter.com/bioterrorism-anthrax-biological-terrorism.html www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/rr4904a1.htm www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/00056353.htm
www.defencejournal.com/dec98/anthrax.htm
www.sciam.com/1296issue/1296cole.html
www.safety.rochester.edu/ibc/bt/
www.wmdfirstresponders.com/biological.htm
www.dhs.ca.gov/bioterrorism/
www.rand.org/hot/newslinks/terrorism.html www.health.state.ny.us/nysdoh/consumer/anthrax.htm
jurist.law.pitt.edu/terrorism.htm
www.hpdps.org/biological_terrorism.htm
www.bioterrorism.slu.edu/
www.ci.phoenix.az.us/fire/bioter.html
www.mipt.org/index.html
www.uihealthcare.com/news/news/biochemweapons.html www.ur.ku.edu/News/911index.html#terrorism
Selected Literature
Bartlett, J.G., et al. "Anthrax as a Biological Weapon." JAMA 1999: 281:1735-1745. Bartlett, J.G., et al. "Smallpox as a Biological Weapon." JAMA 1999: 281:2127-2137.
Bell, A.J., S.R. Lillibridge, and R.S. Roman. "Center for Disease Control and Prevention Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response." American Journal of infectious Control 1999: 463-464.
Dennis, D.T., et al. "Plague as a Biological Weapon, Medical and Public Health Management." JAMA 2000: 283: 2281-2290.
Science and War Against Terrorism
President Bush's science advisor, John H. Marburger, told an audience at an American Association for the Advancement of Science symposium on 18 December that the Bush Administration is dedicated to "winning the war on terrorism and employing science and technology in this endeavor."
Not only natural and military sciences are meant to help fulfilling this task, but also social sciences, especially political science, sociology, economics, and history. Make your own picture on the subject ...
www.cspo.org/s&pp/121101.html
www.aaas.org/news/terrorismsymposium.html
www.fas.org/
www.isis-online.org/publications/terrorism/
www.sciencefriday.com/
www.nature.com/nature/news/011025.html
www.worldscientist.com/
www.sosig.ac.uk/roads/subject-listing/world/milsci.html
Democracy in Burma
The country of Burma is lush, rich in natural resources and home to dozens of peoples and cultures. But due to a military government established in 1962 of isolationist economic mismanagement, the 45 million people there live without their human rights and in extreme poverty. Read more on the Burmese democratic movement and its policy objectives and achievements ...
www.burmaformula.org
www.ibiblio.org/freeburma/
www.freeburma.org/
www.burmaproject.org/latest_news.html
www.burmapeacecampaign.org/
www.derechos.org/human-rights/seasia/burma.html
www.irn.org/burma/ http://
www.bangkokpost.net/031101_News/03Nov2001_news26.html www.burmacampaign.org.uk/ www.state.gov/www/global/human_rights/000516_sconres113.html usinfo.state.gov/regional/ea/burma/
www.abc.net.au/foreign/s221137.htm
www.worldviewrights.com/
www.malaysia.net/aliran/ms980731.html www.geocities.com/toekyi/aungsansuukyiprofile.html www.ahrchk.net/hrsolid/mainfile.php/1998vol08no02/1326/ http://
www.voa.gov/burmese/
www.angelfire.com/al/homepageas/
www.envirolink.org/orgs/fcg/sdb/
www.chro.org/links.html
www.idea.int/
newton.uor.edu/Departments&Programs/AsianStudiesDept/burma.html
www.usaid.gov/regions/ane/newpages/one_pagers/burma01a.htm www.refugees.org/world/countryrpt/easia_pacific/burma.htm www.ndi.org/worldwide/asia/burma/burma.asp www.oneworld.net/themes/country/country_104_46.shtml www.laborrights.org/press/burma120997.htm
www.hrw.org/wr2k1/asia/burma.html
www.arcweb.org/campaigns/burma/burma_women.html www.ibb.gov/pubaff/burmese003.html www.mcdpolitics.org/resources/archives/campaigns/burma/welcome.htm www.burmafund.org/pathfinders/nld/nld.htm
www.politicalresources.net/burma.htm
A Europe Without Children: Low Birth Rates and Fast-Shrinking Populations
The population in many European countries has virtually stoped growing. Mothers/parents chose to have less children and the first child at a much higher age. To stop a decline of the population of a certain country, on an average birthrate of 2.1 children per woman is required.
In recent years, average birthrates of less than 1.3 children per woman have become common across countries of the European Union. Italy, a country that is known to be proud of its love for children, has become a country with one of the lowest birthrates in Europe, due to absence of adequate and sufficient housing facilities, child day care facilities, and job opportunities causing young families to cancel their plans of having a second or third child, or one at all.
Sweden, on the other hand, managed to become a pioneer in terms of welfare provision and child day care provision. Thus, enabling young families to fully meet their ambitions in raising children. Sweden now shows a birthrate of a little less than 2 children per women, which is extraordinarily astonishing since Sweden is also the country with one of the highest female labor force participation rates in the world.
What can other governments in Europe do to provide its citizen a healty, agreeable environment to raise their progeny? How significant is the impact of welfare measures applied in Scandinavia, and can they successfully also be implemented elsewhere? And how is the issue of migration relate to the problem of declining birthrates in Europe? Here is some more information on the topic ...
Social and Public Policy Internet Research
Despite the rapidly growing uses of the Internet there has been little systematic empirical research on its direct impact on society. Consequently public policy issues and choices are poorly understood.
Particularly interesting questions in relation to the use of internet and its impact on society are: (1) Who is and is not accessing the internet, how much, when, and for what reasons? (2) How large is its impact on existing societal infrastructure and way of life, including leisure time and work relationships? (3) What impact does is exert on the economy, politics, and societal systems, such as the family and the community? (4) Does the internet help to alter existing gender relationships, and in which ways? (5) Does the internet bring the world together, as the ultimative universal media of the world and, thus, enhances democracy and peace around the globe? (6) And, what new forms of societal organization and interaction (e.g. friendship relationships, social movements, and religious communities) stem from the frequent use of the internet?
Please find out by yourself how far the gap is between existing and necessary research on the new phenomenon of the internet that is rapidly changing our society ...
www.communitytechnology.org/aspden/aspden_talk.html
Emerging-Market Economies and Environmental Protection
www.epa.gov/oia/crp.htm
www.epa.gov/owow/oceans/yoto/
www.aei.org/shop1/shops/1/7152-X.htm
www.wri.org/climate/us_policy.html
www.unrisd.org/engindex/publ/news/17eng/business.htm
www.unrisd.org/engindex/publ/news/17eng/flaherty.htm
www.nrel.gov/icap/pdfs/factsheet.pdf
ideas.uqam.ca/ideas/data/Papers/woputstec9617.html
netec.mcc.ac.uk/WoPEc/data/Papers/woputstec9617.html
www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/envir_e/issu2_e.htm
www.acrecycle.org/NPSA/conf_2000_PAPERS/ANDREASEN.pdf
sdgateway.net/topics/98.htm
sdgateway.net/topics/249.htm
www.greenyearbook.org/ngo/eeb.htm
www.interconnection.org/resources/links.htm
www.mofa.go.jp/policy/oda/category/environment/2000/principle.html
www.unfpa.org/swp/2001/presskit/english/consumen.htm
ehs.sph.berkeley.edu/krsmith/Publications/publications.htm
www.foundation.novartis.com/multinational_companies.htm
www.panda.org/resources/programmes/epo/dev_co_op/dev_co.cfm
www.env.go.jp/en/pol/leaflet1.html
www.sei.se/centres.html
www.rff.org/intersections/sust_devt.htm
climate.volpe.dot.gov/links.html
jin.jcic.or.jp/access/environ/warming.html
www.greenpeace.org
www.environmentaldefense.org/issues/Kyoto.html
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