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By Jonah Lehrer, Scientific American, December 30, 2008
To celebrate the end of the year at Mind Matters, we’re going to highlight a few of the posts that we featured over the past 12 months. Although our articles have covered a wide variety of subjects, from visual illusions to borderline personality disorder to the limitations of free will, many of our most popular posts dealt with the intersection of neuroscience and everyday life.
This fact is, perhaps, a testament to the increasing relevance of neuroscience and psychology to society. As scientists break open the black box of the mind, and begin to unravel the neural processes that define our behavior, it’s becoming clear that who we are—and what we decide to do—is ultimately shaped by the quirks and constraints of these three pounds of flesh inside the head.
Consider a September Mind Matters article on how the brain responds to calories, and why it can so hard to stop eating even when we’re no longer hungry. The article summarized a recent experiment in which a strain of mice was created that was missing the taste receptor for sweetness. As a result, these mice demonstrated no preference for sugar water, unlike control mice. Something interesting happened when the mutant mice were given sugar water for six straight days, however: they learned to like it, even if they couldn’t taste it. As the scientists note in their Mind Matters post, “There seems to be something inherently pleasurable about ingesting food that contains calories.” This result helps explain why we keep on stuffing our face even when we’re sated and the food isn’t particularly delicious—the brain just likes the taste of energy.
Posted by CNP Webmaster as Health Sciences, Mental Health, Recent Posts, Science on December 31, 2008 - ד' טבת תשס"ט at 11:22 pm
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Reprinted from IRIN, December 30, 2008
KINSHASA, 30 December 2008 (IRIN) – Tens of thousands of civilians have fled their villages in northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) after 189 people were killed in attacks blamed on the Lord’s Resistance Army, a Ugandan rebel group, according to the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
“The entire population of Faradje [80km from the Sudanese border], some 30,000 people, has left. Most have taken refuge in Tadu and Kpodo,” said Ivo Brandau, head of information for OCHA in the DRC, referring to villages 37km and 11km from Faradje respectively.
Brandau said there were concerns among humanitarian agencies that large numbers of other civilians would take flight for fear of new attacks.
The armies of the DRC, Uganda and Southern Sudan have been conducting joint military operations against the LRA in northeastern DRC since shortly after the rebel group’s leader, Joseph Kony, failed once again to show up in early December for a scheduled signing of a final peace accord.
Posted by CNP Webmaster as Middle East, Recent Posts on December 31, 2008 - ד' טבת תשס"ט at 9:59 pm
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By Rami G. Khouri, Daily Star, December 27, 2008
The worst ramifications of the Middle East’s dysfunctions – terrorism, illegal migration, ethnic strife, corruption, police states, and assorted atrocities perpetuated by both state and private actors – are only occasional irritants for the rest of the world, not pressing strategic threats. We have marginalized ourselves as serious players on the global political stage, and now assume the role of nagging irritants and miscreants.
A year-end look at trends in the Arab world during the past 12 months reveals little to be optimistic about. The core weaknesses, distortions and dysfunctionalities of the Arab world all seemed to worsen during the past year. Here are the major trends that I believe define our region these days, and will persist for some years to come.
First, a strange combination of self-assertion and reliance on foreign actors is the major characteristic of the Arab world, reflecting the massive polarization of our societies into two opposing camps.
On the one hand many in our region continue to look abroad for protection or salvation, in the form of countries, ethnic groups, or political movements that rely on foreign patronage for their survival more than they do on their own people. We remain deeply mired in a colonial-era mentality in many respects. The massive attention paid to awaiting the new Middle Eastern policies of the Obama administration in the United States is the most dramatic manifestation of this trend.
On the other hand, the single most important change in the Arab world in the past two decades has been the attempt by several hundred million people to break away from this vassals-of-the-West mentality, and instead to assert one’s own identity and interests. The various Islamist movements in the region have been the main vehicles for such self-assertion, but these movements have not been able to translate their proven credibility into coherent state-building momentum. Islamists remain primarily defensive and reactionary movements – very effective in confronting Western powers, Israel and some domestic forces, but lacking any proven capacity to address mass needs such as job creation, environmental protection and political modernization.
Posted by CNP Webmaster as Islam, Middle East Report, Opinion, Recent Posts on December 31, 2008 - ד' טבת תשס"ט at 3:00 pm
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By Michael Ledeen, Pajamas Media , December 29, 2008
It was only a matter of time before Israel lashed out at Hamas in Gaza. Even the appeasers in Israel, of whom there are many, could not indefinitely accept thousands of rockets landing in civilian centers, especially after the battle against Hezbollah in 2006, which was widely viewed as a fiasco for the Israeli Army and for the leaders in Jerusalem who are facing an election in two months. Defense Minister Barak says it’s “all-out war,” which suggests ground operations. The usual rule in these cases is that Israel doesn’t have much time to accomplish its objectives; the “international community” rallies to the side of Israel’s enemies, and Israel’s leaders invariably convince themselves that if they play ball, they’ll be rewarded for it. But that never happens. So far the Brits and the Vatican have already demanded an end to operations against Hamas, and by the time I finish typing this there will be more.
Israeli leaders say they want to bring an end to the rocket and missile attacks from Gaza. But, as opposition leader Netanyahu said, that can’t be done without regime change.
Our goal should be twofold – stopping the attacks on our cities and eliminating the threat of rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip…Stopping the attacks can be done within a short period of time, while eliminating the threat of rocket attacks from Gaza will entail toppling the Hamas rule over the Strip and uprooting the Iranian base there.
The last five words are key, because, as others have said, this is one more battle in the terror war in which we have been engaged since 2001. The Battle of Gaza cannot be understood as a thing in itself, but only as part of a broader whole: the war against the terror masters. And Iran is the most lethal, the most dangerous, and the most aggressive terror master in the world today.
Posted by CNP Webmaster as Middle East Report, Opinion, Recent Posts on December 30, 2008 - ג' טבת תשס"ט at 7:19 pm
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Press Release, American Jewish Congress
December 29, 2008 — The American Jewish Congress today stated its support for Israel’s defensive measures in the Gaza Strip. The attacks against Hamas leadership, facilities, rocket launching sites, and weapons-smuggling tunnels have been precise and effective. No sovereign nation is required by either international law or morality to put up with attacks on its civilians as Israel has done. Any nation would act to put a stop to such attacks. Neither is a sovereign nation required to avoid the use of force by simply acceding to the demands of those who are less scrupulous.
In a June 8, 2008 statement, we cautiously backed the cease fire Israel had reached with Hamas, albeit “with tremendous concern and trepidation.”
We wondered whether Hamas would “live up to the terms of the deal, and control not only its own activists but those affiliated with other factions. A cease-fire in which Islamic Jihad or others continue regular rocket fire is no cease-fire.”
We now know that Hamas not only failed to control terrorist attacks by other factions, but countenanced them as well.
We were “wary that Hamas may use this opportunity not to reach out a hand in friendship but in fact to regroup, restock, rearm and prepare for further aggression.”
We now know that Hamas did precisely that, multiplying the smuggling of weapons and fighters through tunnels under the Gaza-Egyptian border.
Posted by CNP Webmaster as Judaism, Middle East Report, Opinion, Recent Posts on December 29, 2008 - ב' טבת תשס"ט at 10:33 pm
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Editorial, National Post, December 29, 2008
Israel enters 2009 as it seems to enter every year — as a target of unquenchable Arab hatred, and the subject of global hypocrisy. The West can do little about the former pathology. Let us at least have the moral clarity to renounce the latter.
When Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005, the Jewish state gave the local Palestinians political autonomy for the first time since the pre-Roman era. The hope was that the Palestinians would use their newfound freedom to build a free and prosperous state — one that would live in peace, if not friendship, with its Jewish neighbour.
That didn’t happen. Hamas took over Gaza and renounced all previous Palestinian-Israeli agreements, reiterating its rejection of the Jewish state’s right to exist. Rather than build up local infrastructure and a consumer economy, Hamas forged ties with Iran and dug weapons-smuggling tunnels into Egypt. A variety of groups — including Hamas itself — began raining missiles on Israel. Predictably, Israel did what it could to stanch this flow of weaponry, even as it ensured that a baseline of humanitarian supplies made it into Gaza.
Effectively, Hamas turned Gaza into one giant launching pad for jihad, the welfare of the local Palestinian population be damned. It is thus ridiculous — comical, almost — to hear Hamas officials play the pity card in the wake of Israel’s ongoing military operation in Gaza. It is Hamas, not Israel, which seeks to “martyr” Palestinians in furtherance of a religious war.
Posted by CNP Webmaster as Middle East Report, Opinion, Recent Posts on December 29, 2008 - ב' טבת תשס"ט at 5:07 am
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Assaf Wohl presents Gaza operation speech he wrote for our United Nations ambassador
By Assaf Wohl, YNet News, December 29, 2008
Members of the United Nations,
Democracies, dictatorships, republics, and the honorable secretary-general:
Within a few hours, media outlets in your countries shall present horrific photos of blood, fire, and rubble from the Gaza Strip. The Palestinians will be screaming, in front of the cameras, about the massacre undertaken by the State of Israel. Initially, you may show understanding for our operations in the Strip, yet once the photos of wounded civilians reach you, you shall press us, as is your custom, to stop defending ourselves.
The first signs of this phenomenon can already be seen. Calls to “end the violence” from across the world are being heard loud and clear – yet they are only being heard now, after years of violence, and after Israel finally decided to respond. The European Union already rushed to declare that it condemns Israel’s “disproportional use of force.” Several news networks have brought together panels whose members are scrutinizing the law books at this very moment in order to ascertain whether the Jewish State violated some international law.
I do not intend to deal with the question of where were these condemners and critics for the past seven years, when Hamas’ murderers set the timers of their rockets to coincidence with the end of the school day in Israel, because of a declared aim to kill as many children as possible. The question we should be discussing at this time is as follows: Why do the countries of the world and global media outlets obsessively engage in strict criticism that is only directed at Israel? After all, there is not even one country out there that is required to adhere to the moral criteria which the world demands of us – of us of all people, the ones who as opposed to the rest of the world face threats of extermination.
Posted by CNP Webmaster as Middle East Report, Opinion, Recent Posts on December 29, 2008 - ב' טבת תשס"ט at 4:57 am
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Jordan Times – 29/12/2008
(MENAFN – Jordan Times) The Arab League delayed until Wednesday an emergency meeting of Arab foreign ministers called to take a common position on Israeli raids which killed nearly 300 people in Gaza on Saturday.
Arab League Secretary-General Amr Musa told reporters the meeting was postponed because many ministers were busy in separate meetings of two Arab regional groups – the Gulf Cooperation Council and the Maghreb Union.
“The time worries us very much because of the delay in holding the ministerial meeting but we will not remain silent and consultations are continuing,” he added.
Earlier on Saturday, Arab League officials said the ministerial meeting would take place on Sunday evening, unusually soon after the events to which it would respond.
Musa said he would present to the ministers a request from Qatar and Syria that the Arabs hold a summit meeting, and the ministers would decide on the proposal.
In parallel with these Arab meetings, the Arab League has asked Libya to seek an emergency session of the UN Security Council, of which Libya is now the only Arab member.
Arab countries unanimously condemned the Israeli attacks on Gaza and call for an end to the violence.
Posted by CNP Webmaster as Middle East Report, News Articles, Recent Posts on December 28, 2008 - א' טבת תשס"ט at 8:14 pm
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International reaction to the situation in Gaza
Posted by CNP Webmaster as Middle East Report, News Articles, Recent Posts on December 28, 2008 - א' טבת תשס"ט at 7:38 pm
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by Hillel Fendel, Arutz Sheva, December 28, 2008
“This is not a foreign country that we took for ourselves, nor do we rule what belongs to others. No, it is the land of our forefathers that was conquered unjustly by our enemies some time ago, and we, when the opportunity came, took back our fathers’ land.”
(IsraelNN.com) Tzafrir Ronen, 53, a fighter for the Land of Israel and the Jewish People from deep within the secular left, suffered a fatal heart attack over the Sabbath. Survived by his wife and three daughters, aged 13 to 20, his funeral will be held on Sunday afternoon in his hometown Moshav Moledet near Afula.
A founder of the secular nationalist Nahalal Forum and a frequent contributor to Arutz-7’s Hebrew and English opinion pages, Ronen was raised on the ideals of the Labor party and the secular Kibbutz movement. He served as senior campaign advisor for Yitzchak Rabin in the 1992 elections, and was a founding member of Kibbutz Gilgal in the Jordan Valley. His change in thinking came in the wake of the Oslo Accords, signed by Rabin in 1993.
Quotes Simon the Maccabee
In early 2005, shortly before the Disengagement/expulsion from Gush Katif and northern Shomron, Ronen and others started the Nahalal Forum, explaining, “We cannot remain silent in light of the rampant insanity of uprooting Zionist pioneers.” They quoted a letter written during the miraculous Chanukah wars by Simon the Maccabee to Syrian-Greek King Antiochus over 2,000 years ago: “This is not a foreign country that we took for ourselves, nor do we rule what belongs to others. No, it is the land of our forefathers that was conquered unjustly by our enemies some time ago, and we, when the opportunity came, took back our fathers’ land.”
“We Gained a State, and Lost our Identity!”
At last year’s Jerusalem Conference, Ronen delivered an impassioned speech in which he said, “If, during our long years in Exile, a rabbi had gotten up and said he no longer needs the Land of Israel, he would not have remained the rabbi for another minute! But now, we have a government that has been saying for 40 years that they are just ‘waiting for a phone call’ – from Hussein, or from Arafat, or whomever – to give away parts of our land… Even Bibi [Netanyahu], who is famous for saying, ‘If they give, they will get’ – what he means is that if they give us a little quiet, they will receive our land! … We have lost our identity!”
Posted by CNP Webmaster as Judaism, Middle East Report, News Articles, Recent Posts on December 28, 2008 - א' טבת תשס"ט at 12:59 pm
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