Nonbelievers around the world

Here is a map compiled by io9.com showing the percentage of atheists in the world by nation. Interestingly, China is far and away the top nation, which is also poised to rival the United States, with its many, many fundamentalist Christians, as a world power. France and Australia are no surprise, although Canada should probably not be on par with the United States in the nonbelief category, since a census showed that 16.2 percent of the Canadian population were not believers. Here is the map:

Credit: WIN/Gallup International, io9.com

Credit: WIN/Gallup International, io9.com

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Tax havens

This graphic shows part of the estimated $21 trillion in assets that is being funneled through other parts of the world by the rich in order to take advantage of lax tax codes in other nations or to dodge paying taxes in their native countries altogether:

Credit: Capital flight Illustration/Giulio Frigieri for the Observer

According to this article from The Guardian:

… some experts believe the amount of assets being held offshore is so large that accounting for it fully would radically alter the balance of financial power between countries. The French economist Thomas Piketty, an expert on inequality who helps compile the World Top Incomes Database, says research by his colleagues has shown that “the wealth held in tax havens is probably sufficiently substantial to turn Europe into a very large net creditor with respect to the rest of the world.”

In other words, even a solution to the eurozone’s seemingly endless sovereign debt crisis might be within reach – if only Europe’s governments could get a grip on the wallets of their own wealthiest citizens.

It’s both shocking and disconcerting to think about how much of that potential tax money could be used to improve the lives of the poor, boost education, create new infrastructure and support life-saving research, all so the super rich can stroke their massive egos and satiate their near limitless greed.

Read more here.

Charting global Internet usage

My first foray into the Internet was at some point around 1997-98, when I gained access at Lander University and obtained my first e-mail address from Hotmail, which is still my main address, consequently.

As it turns out, at the time, less than 5 percent were using the Internet in South America, most of Europe and Asia. Today, with the exception of parts of Africa and Asia, 31 percent or more are online.

The BBC recently released the interesting, interactive maps detailing the spread of the Internet across the world from the late 1990s to the present. Today, an astounding 298,000,000 folks are currently on the Internet  in China, as opposed to 230,630,000 in the U.S. Here’s a screenshot from the 2008 data:

Credit: BBC

And here’s another graphic on the workings of the Internet and some data on Internet users worldwide:

Credit: BBC

China one key to Afghan emergence?

Forget gold.

The real money is in copper. At least China seems to think so. As reported in The New York Times and elsewhere, Chinese workers are getting set to begin extracting some of the estimated $88 billion in copper deposits from Afghanistan on the site where al Qaeda operatives trained for the 9/11 attacks, the event which triggered the United States’ longterm presence in the region to begin with. The excavations are being prepared by the state-owned China Metallurgical Group Corporation (the official site) in the Aynak valley district just south of Kabul.

As it turns out, Afghanistan isn’t the only region in which China is bolstering its own economy, while in turn, apparently creating jobs and opportunity for destitute regions of the Middle East. It’s investing in Iraqi, gas from Iran and its also putting money into Pakistan and parts of Africa, according to the article. In the Aynak valley,

M.C.C. will dig a new coal mine to feed the plant’s generators. It will build a smelter to refine copper ore, and a railroad to carry coal to the power plant and copper back to China. If the terms of its contract are to be believed, M.C.C. will also build schools, roads, even mosques for the Afghans. — The New York Times, Dec. 29, 2009

Further, though the Chinese are obviously a world leader economically, they also apparently turn the idiom of a bull in a china shop on its head, and wear a plain, common man demeanor and dress when dealing with the local Afghans, which flies in stark contrast to the Yahoo-nature of many an American on foreign soil.

“The Chinese are much wiser,” said Nurzaman Stanikzai, a former mujahedeen and currently a contractor for the MCC. “When we went to talk to the local people, they wore civilian clothing, and they were very friendly. The Americans — not as good. When they come there, they have their uniforms, their rifles and such, and they are not as friendly.”

With the U.S. rightly focusing much of its attention on ousting the Taliban in the hills of Afghanistan and along the Pakistani border and, with Afghanistan’s rich trove of resources,

All the ingredients are there to build a modern society.

said Stephen Peters, with the U.S. Geological Survey, in an report from The Times of London. The Chinese, indeed, may be onto something in helping developing countries take new steps toward modernism. As Ibrahim Adel, China’s Minister of Mines, tersely said in the London Times article:

This is one way to control extremism.

See this story for another discussion of this topic.

***

Note: For literary types, here’s a side project. Go back and study Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels, comparing the Yahoos (possibly a predated picture of how some would come to view Americans in the modern world) with the Houyhnhnms (how many view Asian cultures, with their attention to detail, logic, cool-headed approach to life). I’m by no means implying that the analogies are rock solid — Swift was writing three centuries ago, after all — but it’s interesting to think about.

***

And yes, I’m aware that it’s been more than a week since I wrote anything. Hampered by a bout of bronchitis, I was down for the 10-count for a few days, mostly staring at the walls, pushing the dog away and eating chicken noodle soup. Then came the holidays and a much-needed respite from work and a return to frag-laden play in Counter Strike: Source. But I’m back and gnawing on multiple ideas for future topics.

I write things. And sometimes they make sense. If you got this far, I’ll send you a candy cane via parcel post. – js.

Greatness has its drawbacks

Thomas Friedman’s Feb. 24 New York Times column from South Korea read thusly:

For all the talk in recent years about America’s inevitable decline, all eyes are not now on Tokyo, Beijing, Brussels or Moscow — nor on any other pretenders to the world heavyweight crown. All eyes are on Washington to pull the world out of its economic tailspin. At no time in the last 50 years have we ever felt weaker, and at no time in the last 50 years has the world ever seen us as more important.

It seems there comes a price with all those years spent touting America as the world leader in well … everything, from economics to military might to democratic freedoms. Many of our leaders (i.e. Carter, Reagan, Bush version 1 and 2, Clinton) have led the charge in spreading democracy abroad, regardless of whether the people of the receiving countries desired it or not. Since the years following the Great Depression, our country’s pendulum has swung upward economically and in world influence. Now, that’s not necessarily a bad thing (OK, taking over a country and by brute force leading that country toward democracy when no one asked for our help probably is a bad thing, but I digress …) as long as we are willing and able to meet the challenges that come with such responsibility.

Or as Friedman poignantly quoted in his column a “senior Korean official:”

“No other country can substitute for the U.S. The U.S. is still No. 1 in military, No. 1 in economy, No. 1 in promoting human rights and No. 1 in idealism. Only the U.S. can lead the world. No other country can. China can’t. The E.U. is too divided, and Europe is militarily far behind the U.S. So it is only the United States … We have never had a more unipolar world than we have today.”

Is this a scary thing or a positive? At face value, it’s a touch scary. We aren’t exactly the most progressive country (though we seem to be increasingly headed that way, paragraph 6) in the world if you think about some of our present or past ideals. Some among us, about 49 percent, according to a recent poll, favor a “comprehensive government health care system,” and 10 percent would like to see such a system with “limited” government. The Obama administration, perhaps and finally, may be able to get this done, but what of the last few decades?

Just yesterday, I spoke with a man whose wife was diagnosed about a year ago with ALS. He has liver cancer and chemo was ineffective (and actually made his condition worse). He is waiting on a transplant. He can’t work, can’t pay the bills and he’s taking care of his wife by himself, when someone should be taking care of him. He’s behind on his mortgage and is near foreclosure. Universal health care could help these folks at least be able to not worry about the medical stuff and focus on making the house payment, buying food and the like. Or, perhaps, Obama’s housing plan could provide similar relief. But our love affair with big business, pharmaceutical companies and their lobbying efforts have proven our idealisms are, or at least have been, ill-conceived.

We were one of the last to jump off the “slavery” ship (Most developed European nations abolished it before us, including Russia, France, Denmark, Sweden, the British Empire [except in some colonies], etc.) After that, the country limped through Reconstruction, the Black Codes, Jim Crow, lynchings and segregation before finally deciding that our black fellow-countrymen were actually, and not just in writing, our equals. Further, it’s well documented that we aren’t exactly trailblazers when it comes to education either. 

So, I think there’s many areas in which, in fact, we aren’t leading and have lagged behind ideologically. Militarily, of course, we are leading, and maybe this is the area that matters most. Or, perhaps our one-month sojourn under a new administration has made folks forget about the last eight years of failed policies. Lest we forget, with the exception of George Bush and his administration, many of those folks who supported those ideologies (Sanford, Perdue, Palin, Jindal and the like) are still in Congress; they just don’t hold the majority.

Make no mistake, today, this is a great nation, regardless of our previous moral lapses. But if one measures greatness by the average life span of the populous or by quality of living or by educational achievement, etc., we simply have a long way to go. Because of our military might and our insistence on carrying the world banner, folks look to us. And that’s fine. Obama seems to be up to the task. I just think it’s peculiar that given our many shortfalls, the eyes are still all on us. And perhaps that speaks even more to our standing, and in turn, our immense responsibility.

2012 Olympics go intergalactic?

l apologize in advance for adding yet another opinion piece to the already over-loaded annuls of writing on the Olympics. But I’m egged on, however, by the sheer colossal nature in which the Games rocketed into our living rooms.

Rarely do I keep track of all the heart-tugging stories surrounding the athletes and their families. We’ve heard them all before: How Gustavo trained for the javelin throw by launching carved Brazil nut tree branches heavenward on some sun-soaked South American coast. How Ludwig worked on endurance by carrying his trusty Bavarian mountain scenthound backpack-style high into the Swedish mountains. How John from San Diego biked into the Nevada desert only to be greeted by a pack of unsympathetic wolves. How he slew them with a miniature pocketknife, carved out a souvenir from one of the beasts and appeared at the Games sporting a wolf fang necklace. How folks have sold off their own parents to afford the plane ride to the far reaches of the earth to compete.

I jest, but rarely do I get so enthralled that I pay much attention to stories like these. This year was no different. I was terribly unenthralled. I did, however, catch the occasional swim meet, volleyball match and track event. Michael Phelps? He made the case as the greatest Olympian ever, and the split-second win against Serbia’s Milorad Cavic was a site to behold. Usain Bolt? He crushed the 100- and 200-meter dashes.

But as this is not the sports section, I’ll move on.

Most of the opening and closing ceremonies, for me, were spent with my bottom lip somewhere between my mouth and the floor, which presented a problem as snacks were often present. “They are going to blow up the Bird’s Nest,” I thought to myself, as a seemingly endless train of snaps, crackles and pops enveloped the TV screen. During portions of the ceremony, we saw a giant, unfurling screen depicting various aspects of Chinese fine arts; a living representation of the movable type press and various performances geared toward presenting glimpses into traditional Chinese culture.

Forward 17 days. The closing ceremony, which was a depiction of where Chinese culture might be headed in the future, was equally as explosive. Hundreds proceeded to beat drums in perfect synchronization; ride glowing circular, bicycle-looking things; flip; dance; sing; and form symbolically poignant circles. There were more drummers dangling from the ceiling, glowing people, unearthly gadgets being wheeled all about, and of course, that eternally catchy song, “Beijing Beijing, I Love Beijing.”

Was it just me, or did anyone else think the Death Star was going to touch down at any minute during this wild, phantasmic hullabaloo? Given the enormity of the scenes and imagery presented, the Death Star would have fit right in. Darth Vader would have beamed down, choked out the overhead announcer with his mind, breathed heavily into the microphone and said, “Yao Ming, come join … (labored breathing) … the Dark Side.” Then, Luke Skywalker, Master Yoda, Mace Windu and the gang would envelope the Bird’s Nest, save the basketball star from certain peril and strike up another round of “Beijing Beijing, I Love Beijing,” as the whole galaxy celebrated, just like at the end of “Return of the Jedi.”

Or at least that’s how I imagined it. In all seriousness, the competition part was good, but “spellbinding” doesn’t quite describe the beginning and end. Was China trying too hard to impress during its galactic, $100 million show? To some degree, yes. Case in point: The country actually tried to manipulate the atmosphere to prevent rainfall during the ceremonies, firmly pushing weather patterns, God or what have you out of the way. Will merry ol’ London attempt to top it? Not a chance. If it does, the land venerated land of Shakespeare and Milton would have to go truly intergalactic. I’m thinking: London/Moon 2012: A Space Odyssey. But I don’t see tea-sipping, bookish gents summoning the cosmos any time soon.

Regardless, NBC currently has DVDs of the opening ceremonies available, and my wife and I are actually considering coughing up the $30 in the near future. That way, we can visit Ming, Phelps, Usain, Gustavo, Lugwig, Luke, Yoda and the gang any time I like.

2008 Olympics opening ceremony

The Telegraph
The Telegraph

If you didn’t catch the opening ceremonies on the newsreels or on NBC’s coverage, I suggest going to YouTube and checking it out. It was — and I don’t use this word often to describe anything — phenomenal.

Those in the media have described the four-hour long spectacle as China’s “coming out party,” but I don’t know that I would quite categorize it like that. It was, without a doubt, an unmatched, supreme display of China’s seeming willingness to be a major player on the future world stage and to also bring the message of unity and good sportsmanship that the Olympics symbolize. But to say it was the country’s “coming out party” takes it a bit far, at least in my mind. First, coming out from what? China’s been a major industrial power for years, and anyone who’s paid attention to the news knows this. Second, as numerous commentators have said, China is wrapped in paradoxes, claiming to be a major superpower in the world, yet at the same time, shrouded by Communist Party and state controlled news outlets; the problem of Tibet; stifling growth amidst a huge pollution problem; seemingly opening its arms to the world, yet a tightly-wound government offering little in political freedom as enjoyed in most other industrialized nations.

China reportedly spent 1.5 percent of its annual GDP on the Olympics. The opening ceremonies, to me, were a colossal success and will probably be unmatched by any other event on any scale, in our lifetime, but does pageantry and grandiosity define a country? No. Actions, not fireworks, are the great deliverer. Is China, or will it soon become, a formidable country in the world? Most likely, yes. But a certain level of humanity that is fleeting in this country can never be replaced by any momentous level of theater … no matter the scale. The Olympics will be an awesome event for us to watch. But we must remember — it’s just an event. China’s day of reckoning will come when we learn what it’s made of policy-wise: if it’s willing to step up and take strong measures to control its mounting pollution problem, if it will address it’s humanitarian concerns (i.e. Tibet) and if it will join with the U.S., Britain and other countries to advance measures of social injustice. That remains to be seen.