A crisis of authority in Iran - The Economist podcast

Ali Ansari speaks on The Economist Podcast about the Iranian Elections and the ensuing unrest.



The bottom-line is: this is not an unrest that is going to throw over the government, but it is a strong signal to the rulers it cannot mess with the people. It tells also the outside world, Iran is much more diverse that usually assumed.

More from The Economist:
Comfort with Obama,
Democracy in America - podcast review,
Issues of Race,
The primary system,
The Economist in New Hampshire.

More Iran:
The Iranian Elections - KQED Forum,
Iran Today - LSE podcast,
Iran in 2009 - UChannel Podcast,
Iran Podcast,
Iran - to strike or not to strike.

Aaf Brandt Corstius - Simek 's Nachts

In Elseviers versie van Simek 's Nachts was de vriendin van Gijs Groenteman te gast. Op de RVU hadden we al de moeder van Gijs gehad. Voor wie het nog niet wist, Gijs Groenteman is een van de langstmeelopende redacteuren van Simek 's Nachts. Het zette Martin in een lastig parket.

Maar Martin Simek, zou Simek niet zijn als hij niet toch nog met Aaf Brandt Corstius een prima gesprek zou hebben. Aan het eind ropet hij dat het te klef wordt en al daarvoor had ik het gevoel dat hij niet goed wist wat te vragen. In wezen komt het er op neer dat hij zijn gaste de resultaten van eerdere interviews voorhoudt en daarop laat reageren.

Vanuit het perspectief van professionaliteit en originaliteit is daar natuurlijk van alles op aan te merken, maar Aaf Brandt Corstius gaat vrolijk mee en praat gemoedelijk en openhartig. Zo wordt het een leuke uitzending met de nodige primeurs. Simek zal het er moeilijk mee gehad hebben, maar het resultaat zal de luisteraar bevallen en daar gaat het ten slotte om niet waar?

Overigens, Simek heeft een afvloeiïngsregeling bij de RVU gekregen. Er moest wel een rechter aan te pas komen. En passant leren we dat hij 1000 Euro per interview ontving. Niet slecht zou ik zeggen. (bron: Volkskrant)

Meer Simek 's Nachts:
Freek de Jonge,
Kees van Kooten,
Connie Palmen,
Dhyan Sutorius (RVU),
Louis Tas (RVU).

The Reith Lectures 2009 - Michael Sandel on new Citizenship

For those who have heard Michael Sandel on Philosophy Bites will recognize a lot in the first of four lectures Michael Sandel held at the BBC. These are the Reith Lectures of 2009. The Reith Lectures are held each year and have had illustrious speakers such as Bertrand Russell, Robert Oppenheimer and Jonathan Sacks. (feed)

Michael Sandel speaks and will speak in three more lectures (the second was published today) about a new kind of citizenship. This is going to be about the common good and about morality in politics. Yet, as in Philosophy Bites, his entry point is to speak of Markets. The reason for this is that modern political system holds the market in great esteem. Market seems to be believed in as the best road to the common good.

Sandel disagrees. The market does not automatically serve the common good and doesn't automatically lead to good outcomes. He argues that some of the market should be held out of certain public and private spheres. He shows this with schooling, refugees, warfare, the prison system and more. The questions from the audience are a very good addition. This podcast is an exciting experience.

Media revolution and the effect on power - Clay Shirky on TED

This video was recorded before the Iran elections and doesn't use it as an example. The examples are from Nigeria, the US and China, but you can think of any place else in the world. Twitter, SMS; Web2.0 is changing the world. It changed how the message is conveyed, it is changing the power of the state to control the message, it is bringing a new kind of democracy. Hopefully for the better.



More TED:
Shay Agassi's visionary plan to bring electric cars to the world,
Elizabeth Gilbert,
Bill Gates,
Stephen Petranek,
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi.

The Iranian Elections - KQED Forum

The radio program KQED Forum with Michael Krasny has paid attention yesterday to the Iranian elections . Thanks to podcast, you can all hear it.



What is exciting about this cast are the presence of both specialists (Scott Peterson, Juan Cole and Abbas Milani) as well as live callers with good questions ad remarks and live updates of the protests in Teheran as they occur. I was especially impressed by Abbas Milani, director of the Iranian Studies Program at Stanford University, who gave much more background information than I had ever picked up from regular media so far, including what clear indicators there are for fraud. In the words of Milani: "They operated so clumsily, it was obvious." And then he gives a number of facts, such as the immense speed at which the results were announced.

More KQED Forum:
Irvin Yalom,
Susan Jacoby,
Christopher Hitchins.

More Juan Cole:
Juan Cole on Media Matters.

More Iran:
Iran Today - LSE podcast,
Iran in 2009 - UChannel Podcast,
Iran Podcast,
Iran - to strike or not to strike.

The power of an atom bomb - Ran Levi

A fascinating and unusual podcast came in the series עושים היסטוריה! עם רן לוי (Making History with Ran Levi). Ran Levi interviewed Dr. Yehosha Sokol of the Academic Forum for Nuclear Awareness (AFNA) about the actual dangers involved in a nuclear strike.

Dr. Sokol delivered a couple of facts about nuclear arms that are simply not spread and are probably not even considered as nuclear arms seem about the grimmest in our arsenal and are surrounded by a mindscape of hell on earth. The facts show that in actuality, a nuclear strike, though by no means small and insignificant, is far from the world's end as we tend to think.

For those who know Hebrew this is about the warmest recommendation I can give for a podcast ever. Here is everything you needed to know on the subject, especially if you live in Israel and worry about the threat from Iran. If you don't know Hebrew, at least get on the website of AFNA which contains information also in English and Russian. And find out what Dr. Sokol's comparison in the end: an atom bomb is as destructive as the 9/11 attack with additional radiation for about 48 hours. That's bad, but it is certainly not as lethal as I thought it would be.

More Making History with Ran Levi:
Robert Heinlein,
Diamond Rain and other phenomena,
Blood,
Myths and pseudo-knowledge,
What goes up, must come down.