Do we want to trade imagined security for real freedom?

Current discussions revolving around the recent airplane terrorist attack remind us how politicans work: as soon as something happens (or nearly happened as in this case) politicians are immediately jumping to conclusions and everybody wants to be the first to propose new "security" practices. That's a good time to remind ourselves what bad practice that is. Bruce Schneier did it excellently in a recent article. Mind you, I'm all for security but measures which largely increase inconvenience and decrease personal freedom but do not really add to our security should be abandoned. Otherwise terrorists will win because we will change the way we live and become more distrusting and locked up. Our western societies need to ask themselves whether this is the direction to go!

Nokia leaves Bochum

The decision to close the plant in Bochum has stirred up a heated debate over here in Germany. I find the media's exaggerations do the issue no good. Some politicians claim that Nokia does a kind of "rude stoneage capitalism". That's not exactly true. Apparently they found that they can make more money by assembling their mobile phones elsewhere.

However, when asked the management did not really come up with convincing monetary arguments. Also, it seems the way they informed their employees in passing by violated their own company policies. In the end, they did not do themselves a favor...

I do not think this is a case for intervention from official sides, unless it turns out that Nokia actually receives public money to open plants and close them again. That would indeed be a bad situation. And it sheds some light on the usefulness of public money subsidies...

New Orleans - again

Almost a year later than I last wrote about New Orleans things seem to get better only very slowly. And it seems, once again the hard working people are the ones who suffer most - despite all the rhetoric that stresses their importance for the country. It's sad.

Anna Politkowskaja

The assassination of Anna Politkowskaja is a tragedy and a scandal. And what happens afterwards is another scandal itself. Putin assures "everything [will] be done to clear up the murder" and states "She (Politkowskaja) had minimal influence on political life in Russia". This raises severe questions:

• Is it not normal in Russia that everything is done to find and punish killers?
• How can Putin make this promise? Can he influence the work of prosecution authorities?
• Is justice independent in Russia?
• Is the murder less outrageous because a less influencing journalist was killed?
• Or did Putin maybe state that her influence was minor because he disliked her criticism?

It becomes more and more apparent that Putin's notion of "democracy" differs largely from the one Europe and the US share. With all the efforts to mute criticism and to "reintegrate" former Warsaw Pakt countries into the Russian empire we should keep this difference in mind and remind Russia from time to time to try harder to find the way to democracy. Also, it seems a bad idea to make ourselves more dependend from Russia than necessary such as German soccer team Schalke 04...

What's happening in New Orleans?

It's difficult to keep track of things from a distance. There are different pieces of information, some suggest that certain people try to get rid of part of the population, others suggest that there's actually some progress in rebuilding the city. Most seem to agree, that official institutions failed not only when Katrina raged through Luisiana but also in the year since then. It seems, that involved parties do not focus on the city and its (former) inhabitants but use the situation to play their own games.

I hope for the inhabitants of New Orleans who are spread throughout the country that they eventually be able to return to their homes - and that measures are taken which prevent the reoccurrence of such dramatic catastrophes.