Archives for February 2013

I Don’t Care About Bradley Manning

This about Society, tagged , , was written by for on February 28, 2013 .8 Comments

No matter how you look at it, he is a traitor. He violated the UCMJ. Although he is free to make ethical arguments as to why he leaked Collateral Murder and the US Embassy cables, the US is fully within its rights to prosecute him. I’m quite consistent about this: Treason is a punishable offense, no matter […]

What Happens If The US/Israel Attack Iran?

This about Geopolitics, tagged , , , was written by for on February 26, 2013 .6 Comments

It might happen this June or later, reports RT citing Israeli media. Obama and Netanyahu are at least discussing the prospect. In previous years I was sure that it would happen eventually, probably before year end 2012. That is because that was the most convenient window between the fielding of the Massive Ordnance Penetrator (early 2012) and […]

Russia Now Produces As Many Cars As The USSR Did At Its Peak

This about Economy, tagged , , , was written by for on February 25, 2013 .14 Comments

As I write the book, I create a lot of graphs. Here is one of them. So in manufacturing terms, as far as cars are concerned, the “deindustrialization” era is decidedly over. Of course it’s also important to note that in 1985 they were producing this whereas today they are producing this as well as various […]

Much Ado About Rape: Quantifying A Big Taboo

This about Society, tagged , , , was written by for on February 23, 2013 .19 Comments

The past two days I had the pleasure of observing the blowout over a post by blogger Matt Forney about rape – or more precisely, about “how to rape women and get away with it.” It’s completely satirical, quite funny, and one can’t help but by impressed by the size of the balls (no homo) […]

Are Caucasians Stealing Russian University Places? The Data Says, “Probably Not.”

This about Society, tagged , , , , was written by for on February 20, 2013 .4 Comments

In one of the recent posts on corruption, commentator AP wrote: Kids from Moscow are having trouble getting into universities now because entrance, based on exam results, skews the chances of acceptance in favor of those students from corrupt regions where they can buy better results. Moscow is less corrupt than, say, Dagestan so Dagestani […]

The Decline Of Russian Skinheads

This about Society, tagged , , , was written by for on February 19, 2013 .25 Comments

It’s not just the gopniks who are withering away; so are racist skinheads. According to the SOVA Center – an NGO which is about as anti-Kremlin as it gets, so no point in speculating that it cooks the figures for PR purposes – racist attacks in Russia have plummeted from their peak levels in 2007-2008, back […]

Flynn Effect DOES Apply To South Korea

This about HBD, tagged , , , was written by for on February 18, 2013 .1 Comment

Regular readers of this blog may remember my comments regarding Ron Unz’s theory that East Asians have high IQ’s independent of time/nutrition/urbanization whatever it is that causes the Flynn Effect. Here is his original article on his theory of the “East Asian Exception” and my two responses are here and here. Anyway a new paper […]

Why Homosexuality Shouldn’t Be Promoted

This about Society, tagged , , was written by for on February 17, 2013 .23 Comments

I knew that gays had a maybe five or even ten times higher chance of getting AIDS and other STD’s than heterosexuals. I didn’t know the differential was actually more like 50. Something like 20% of the US gay population (which makes up 3.5% of its total population) is HIV positive. It is 5% in the […]

Russia’s Corruption In Comparative International Perspective

This about Society, tagged , , , was written by for on February 17, 2013 .18 Comments

Continuing from my previous post (which focused mostly on trends), this one focuses exclusively on international comparisons as per the results of Transparency International’s Global Corruption Barometer survey of 2010-11. The graphs represent affirmative answers to the question of whether the respondent had paid a bribe in the past 12 months to each of 9 […]

Antisocial Punishment: Why China Will Defeat Corruption, But Russia And The Arabs Won’t

This about HBD, tagged , , , , was written by for on February 15, 2013 .7 Comments

One of the books I’ve been reading lately is Steven Pinker’s massive door-stopper The Better Angels of Our Nature. Incidentally, I found it a very interesting read with tons of cool factoids, although it could have done with a third of its text and a tiny fraction of its liberal sanctimonious. But that’s for the […]

If Sunlight Is The Best Disinfectant, Why Is The Russian Mafia State Opening The Blinds?

This about Society, tagged , , , was written by for , on February 13, 2013 .52 Comments

My latest for the US-Russia.org Expert Discussion Panel. Also as usual it appears at Voice of Russia. The version printed here is a slightly longer one: There are already a lot of opinions on the topic of Russian corruption, and I see no pressing need to add more to that morass. I do however think it […]

Translation: Vladimir Kolokoltsev – “The Death Penalty is Society’s Normal Reaction”

This about Society, tagged , , was written by for on February 12, 2013 .No Comments

In an interview with Dmitry Nadezhdin, Russia’s chief police officer says that he, as a citizen – if not as a government Minister – supports the return of the death penalty for the worst crimes. Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov says that it ain’t happening. Vladimir Kolokoltsev: “The Death Penalty is Society’s Normal Reaction” The Interior […]