Author: Milan

In the spring of 2005, I graduated from the University of British Columbia with a degree in International Relations and a general focus in the area of environmental politics. In the fall of 2005, I began reading for an M.Phil in IR at Wadham College, Oxford. Outside school, I am very interested in photography, writing, and the outdoors. I am writing this blog to keep in touch with friends and family around the world, provide a more personal view of graduate student life in Oxford, and pass on some lessons I've learned here.

American midterm elections today

Those looking for more polling data than they will know what to do with, for today’s midterm elections in the United States, should have a look at Pollster.com. For first year M.Phil students nervous about the quantitative methods test, it might be worthwhile reading as well.

I will definitely be watching the news closely between now and whenever the House and Senate races are settled. Hopefully, none of the quite justified concerns about problems with electronic voting machines will manifest themselves. Unfortunately, the vulnerabilities exposed by the Princeton study and others could be exploited in ways that could never be detected by electoral officials. Anyone who thinks that electronic votingi s secure, with paper ballots and automatic auditing of part of the vote, should watch this short video produced by the Princeton team.

No matter which way this election goes, fixing the mechanics of the electoral system should be a huge priority before the 2008 elections. Relevant previous posts:

Also well worth a look:

Saddam to be hanged

Ceiling of the Merton College Chapel, Oxford

Reading the news that Saddam Hussein, former president of Iraq, has been sentenced to die by hanging created a ambivalent combination of feelings. On the one hand, he is certainly guilty: if not of the particular atrocity for which he was tried than for crimes against humanity in general. Likewise, launching the Iran-Iraq War probably constituted ‘conspiracy to wage aggressive war’ – the crime for which the subjects tried at Nuremberg were hanged.

Problems with the trial

That said, there are procedural issues that draw the result into question. One major legal problem is the genesis of the Supreme Iraqi Criminal Tribunal (formerly known as the Iraqi Special Tribunal). This body, where Saddam Hussein is on trial, was not established by an elected Iraqi government, but by the Coalition Provisional Authority: a bureaucracy composed of and supported by the occupying army. To say that this is domestic Iraqi justice is therefore somewhat disingenuous.

Other serious problems have been the lack of security for those involved in the trial: including witnesses, judges, and lawyers. By the end of the trial, Saddam Hussein only had one legal representative left: Khalil al-Dulaimi (largely because others were dismissed, though three were killed). The absence of a stable security situation in Iraq, and Baghdad in particular, further reduces the changes of a free and fair trial being conducted, at an internationally certifiable level of due process.

A further problem is the absence of an adequate process of appeal. There is only a ten-day window in which an appeal can be launched, and it is widely expected to end in failure within weeks. Related is the issue that it is over-hasty to execute Saddam Hussein on the basis of one set of allegations, relating to 148 killings in Dujail in 1982, when so many more charges remain to be considered. The importance of being systematic and fair lies in generating an accurate accounting of the various crimes committed by Saddam Hussein and his regime. If the stated objective of the coalition in “drawing a line” under the Saddam era is genuine, such a comprehensive accounting seems like an important step.

Problems with the death sentence, generally

In general, the international community has condemned the sentence of death. The European Union has spoken against it. As have India, Ireland, The Netherlands, and New Zealand. Even Tony Blair said that he is opposed.

Personally, I don’t feel that execution is an option that should be available to any court. As a form of justice, it is little more than crude retribution. While the danger of convicting innocent people does not apply in this case, the general moral and pragmatic position against the death penalty seems very strong to me.

That said, imposing what has become the international consensus upon the Iraqi court carries problems of its own. To grant the new Iraqi governments powers and then circumscribe their usage does not conform to the project upon which the coalition has supposedly embarked. While it is clearly legitimate for outside actors to urge a reconsideration of the death sentence, it would probably be illegitimate to force the hand of the court in any significant way.

Primarily because of the flawed trial process, the insufficient appeal system, and the importance of rigorously cataloging the misdeeds of the former regime, Saddam Hussein should not be put to death.

All that said, I encourage someone to argue the opposite.

On mass leaching of images

Hotlinkers beware! Whenever you generate more than, say, 25,000 requests to my server, you will get the pancake face of doom. It may be a small fraction of my total bandwidth allotment, but when it begins happening at such a scale it transcends ‘annoying’ and becomes ‘rude.’

The saga of my interactions with the MySpace hotlinkers began here. Here is one of the many offending sites. This one has generated 700 image requests during the last thirty days.

Halfway through a stack of short-loan books

Happy Birthday Christina Porte

After a foggy day of reading, I have decided that I cannot efficiently carry out the tasks of graduate student life in the absence of caffeine. As such, I am lifting my personal prohibition, while being mindful of the three to four hour half-life (λ) of caffeine and my continuing efforts to develop a stable and efficient sleep pattern.

On an interesting side note, the half-life of caffeine (the time it takes for half of the concentration initially in the blood to be metabolized) varies enormously on the basis of certain factors:

λ for caffeine, normal adults: 3-4 hours
λ for caffeine, adult women taking oral contraceptives: 5-10 hours
λ for caffeine, pregnant women: 9-11 hours

For those with longer half-lives, the effect of the drug will be less marked, but will last for dramatically longer. [Update: This may be wrong. See this comment.] To quote Lisa Simpson:

As intelligence goes up, happiness goes down. See, I made a graph…”

*Despondent*

“…I make a lot of graphs.”

With an eleven hour half-life, you would still have about one quarter of the caffeine from the previous morning’s coffee in your blood as you sat down with the next morning’s brew. With a three hour half-life, less than half a percent of the caffeine from the previous day would still be present.

On a related note, Green’s Café is no longer being seriously considered as a thesis HQ, because it closes far too early. Instead, I am working in the Jericho Café. They are open until a rather more useful 9:30pm. They are also closer to my house, and have a wider collection of food available. Thankfully, I am on track to have my reading for this week’s developing world seminar done by then; that means that I will not have to worry about it when I go to London on Wednesday.

Merton Chapel and Fauré’s Requiem

Merton College Chapel, Oxford

Happy Birthday Lindi Cassel

I went to Merton tonight, to see Claire sing in Fauré’s Requiem. This was the first time I had been inside the Merton Chapel, and I was thoroughly impressed by the architecture. I particularly like the transept, with its unadorned arches, illuminated from below so as to enhance the sense of depth. Not for the first time, I found myself somewhat regretful that I followed Sarah P’s suggestion, rather than her example, in choosing a college.

Despite having been here for more than a year, there must be dozens of such amazing buildings in Oxford that I have never seen from within. Over the course of the next few months, I shall try to see more. Having never seen the inside of anything at Christ Church or Magdalen, those would probably be good places to start. Are there any other essential Oxford edifices I have been missing?

The music itself was very beautiful, complimenting the otherwise unfamiliar setting. Despite the apparent fame of the piece, it is not something that I can recall hearing before, though I certainly recognized the short Bach piece that a cellist played during the service.

All told, it was enormously more enjoyable than my last Guy Fawkes night, which I spent on a cold and fruitless search for somewhere where I could actually watch the fireworks, instead of just hearing them explode in all directions.

On impeachment

In their leader on the midterm elections, The Economist says that: “talk of impeaching Mr Bush is dangerous” but offers no reasoning for the claim. While impeachment is obviously an extreme response, it is one that has been contemplated several times in the last century. It seems to me that a case can be made that wiretapping, torture, the denial of legal rights to American citizens, and the widespread rejection of international law create at least the possibility that this administration is as criminal as that of Richard Nixon. The list certainly makes Bill Clinton’s crime of lying under oath seem reasonably trivial.

Perhaps they mean that talk of impeachment is dangerous to the Democrats, because it risks turning a reversal of the Congressional majority into an opportunity to settle political scores. The Democrats obviously need to become a solid-seeming alternative before the 2008 elections, and too many inquiries and accusations could be a distraction. This is an argument with which I have some sympathy, but if the Democrats are likely to be elected more out of anger directed towards the Republicans than because of their own ideas – as seems to be the case – then it is perhaps exactly such inquiries that they are being elected to conduct.

Let’s just hope that a Democratic congress, if such a thing arises on Tuesday, will be able to generate some better policies, instead of just recriminations.

Seeking a first ‘real job’

Milan Ilnyckyj in the Wadham College Library

In addition to the thesis project, I am now starting to work seriously at finding a job for the period following this degree. I am looking for something related to international relations – environmental politics ideally – but non-academic. I am happy to work in Canada, the US, or the UK, provided the job will pay enough to live on and fund interest payments on my student loans. More far-flung possibilities will certainly be considered; indeed, an opportunity that allowed me to see part of the world that is unfamiliar to me would be particularly alluring.

I would expect to remain in this position for one or two years, at which point I would re-evaluate the merits of carrying on to do a PhD. I know that’s not a great length of time, but something along the lines of a paid internship seems in keeping with the timescale under consideration.

As long as the job experience is relevant, I doubt that PhD selection committees will think worse of me for not coming directly. Indeed, having more time to prepare for the GRE, accumulate references, come up with a new research plan, and submit applications would be quite useful.

All those with ideas are appreciatively requested to bring them forward. This includes places to look, people to talk to, and options to consider.

Hybrid cooking

The age-old controversy has been settled: you can make very fine vegetarian quesadillas using Double Gloucester in place of Cheddar. Given the limited ingredients required (tortillas, beans, tomatoes, cheese, hot sauce) and the ease of preparation, this is an ideal choice for a semi-involved student supper.

A simple student supper, on the basis of my experience, is something like pre-prepared soup reheated or sandwiches. An involved student supper – such as one might actually serve a guest – varies enormously depending upon the capabilities of the student making it. As the paragraph above suggests, my abilities are very limited, though they are growing slowly.

Fall ruminations

Lower reading room, Bodleian Library

Four acquaintances of mine have become engaged during the span of the last three days. In the Oxford case, my speculation is that the recent cold snap is generating nesting-type behaviour in people: making them think about the safe, warm, and comfortable parts of life rather than the dashing about on sunny days parts.

As I’ve said before, this is the period where things in life start becoming truly optional. That applies to everything from education to where you live, which people you’ve known all your life you will continue to know, and how you spend your days, weeks, and months.

To some extent, it goes to show how people are generally better at making decisions within narrow frames than beyond them. To take a trivial example, people are better at playing video games than at deciding whether or not to play. People are better at passing exams and writing essays than at deciding which educational programs to enroll in. When things become really wide open, the limitations of our ability to collect and filter information become most apparent. The correct combination of heuristic approaches to decision making – what non-economists call ‘judgment’ – can certainly be a scarce commodity. I am personally quite concerned about whether I am seeing all the possible options, understanding each in a reasonably accurate way, and engaging in patterns of behaviour that make the most desirable options more likely to transpire.

As is often demonstrated in matters romantic, there is also an enormous element of chance that shapes the paths of human lives. Being adaptable enough to identify and seize the good chances is perhaps the most critical skill for living an extraordinary life, in contrast to one that is merely happy or successful.

My best wishes to all the newly-committed couples. I hope the marriages proceed as planned, and that they all reflect upon the decision in ten or twenty years’ time as one of the best choices they have made.

PS. Cycling home with a bag full of ripe grapes, tomatoes (I bought the gorgeous on-the-vine expensive ones), bananas, and apples, I noted with appreciation the incredible capacity of global markets. It is, after all, now getting dark around 4:00pm here, and it is below freezing at night. Of course, the thought of all those fertilizers, tractors, machines, trucks, and aircraft was also a reminder of how much goes into the operation of those markets, and how concealed huge expenditures of effort and resources can be.

Conservatism and the environment

In the northern lower reading room of the Bodeleian, I read a really interesting chapter on ecology and conservatism by Roger Scruton, from the University of Buckingham.1 He makes a surprisingly solid argument that a greening of conservatism would be more of a return to its roots than a departure into uncertain territory. He evokes the position of Burke that all living people are involved in a trusteeship involving both the living and the dead. The moral onus is to maintain, resist damage, and pass along that which has been inherited.

The problems with this position are twofold, and both problems arise from the parochialism of conservative environmentalism. I have always admired the sensible conservative caution about grand projects and the building of utopias. That said, encouraging enclaves to behave in environmentally responsible ways does nothing to protect those within from their neighbours (or those across the world) who do not behave similarly. When the greatest environmental threat in the world (climate change) arises from collective economic activity, a love of one’s home and country, and the fervent desire to protect both, will come to nothing without international cooperation and the changing of behaviour, using some combination of consent and coercion.

The second problem is that of material equality. Protection of what you have inherited for those who are to follow may be a noble individual pursuit (think of the shame attached to those who squander fortunes and wreck empires), but it is not a path towards greater global justice. Now, greater global justice may be exactly the kind of Utopian project that conservatives are smart to be wary about. That said, there can be moral impulses strong enough to make us embark upon difficult and uncertain projects, simply because it would be profoundly unethical to behave otherwise. When it comes to extreme poverty and the deprivation and danger under which so much of the world’s population lives, I think those impulses are justification enough.

Strategically, it seems essential to foster an emergence of green conservatism in the political mainstream. We cannot oscillate between relatively responsible governments and those that act as wreckers. Moreover, once both sides of the mainstream have accepted how vital the environment is, and the sacrifices that must be made to protect it, there is a better chance that the debate and policy can move forward. If one group is forging ahead with more far-thinking ideas, they risk excessive electoral punishment. If, however, the thinking of both politicians and the population as a whole evolves towards a more serious way of thinking about environmental management, there is a much greater chance that the push will be sustained and effective.

[1] Scruton, Roger. “Conservatism.” in Dobson, Andrew and Robyn Eckersley. “Political Theory and the Ecological Challenge.” Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 2006.