Provocations
Short-take commentaries and conversation starters
9/11—Five Years On
Mon 11 Sep 2006 • Responses: 2 • by David Aikman
“It might be said that in the U.S. little has changed. The nation goes about its business with little external indication that it is at war. But overseas the ripple effects of 9/11 continue to have global impact.”
As anniversaries go, it’s not a happy one. Five years ago 19 young Arabs hijacked three airliners and crashed two of them into the World Trade Center in New York, causing the deaths of some 3,000 people. The vicious terrorist act precipitated a retaliatory U.S. attack on Afghanistan, which had given shelter to the al-Qaeda perpetrators of the terrorism. For nearly five years the U.S. and other NATO forces have continued a military presence in Afghanistan, attempting to suppress the still-persistent unwillingness of the ousted Taliban to admit defeat—and permit Afghanistan to enter the twenty-first century.
Ethics in Guerrilla Warfare
Fri 08 Sep 2006 • Responses: 1 • by David Aikman
“Just war principles work successfully only among nations that acknowledge the same moral laws at work.”
In Israel, from which I have just returned, I saw the effects of the explosions of 30,000 ball-bearings when Hezbollah warheads carrying them crashed in among or near civilian residences. In Haifa, Israel’s third-largest city, steel guardrails on roads were peppered with holes shot clean through them, entire halves of three-story houses were demolished. Dozens of Israeli civilians were killed by these random—but deliberate—assaults.
How do you fight a war against fanatical fighters who hide themselves and their weapons amid civilians and deliberately aim those same weapons against civilians in another country?
Do Business Programs Produce Slaves to the Market?
Mon 21 Aug 2006 • Responses: 5 • by Vigen Guroian
“Are we in many if not most of our colleges and universities training young men and women to be mules of the marketplace, deprived of a moral imagination?”
American society is business oriented and has been so for some time, with obvious benefits. The vast majority of American citizens enjoy material comforts unimagined even by the very wealthiest in former ages. While some people lament the hedonism of American life—no one expects the basic structure or influence of the American economy to change any time soon. How does education fit into this scenario?
In the not-so-distant past, we founded and built land-grant and agricultural colleges to service the needs of an agricultural economy, and some of our great state colleges and universities carry that legacy. For the past fifty years, however, and especially over the last quarter century, colleges and universities have responded to the manpower needs of America’s businesses by establishing or expanding business schools and programs. Are such programs threatening the business culture and enslaving business leaders?
