The Varsavsky Foundation http://english.varsavskyfoundation.org/ Copyright 2008 Sun, 29 Apr 2007 18:48:04 +0100 http://www.movabletype.org/?v=3.2 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Dinner with Japan´s Finance Minister Koji Omi and the STS Forum Last night I had dinner with Japan´s Finance Minister Koji Omi at the home of Ambassador Motohide Yoshikawa in Madrid. During dinner we spoke at about the coming STS Forum in Kyoto that Minister Omi chairs and I will attend. This global conference --whose objective is to raise awareness on key challenges to the sustainability of our planet-- has already been held 3 times before. Around 30% of the participants are Japanese and the rest from all over the world.

Personally, I found Minister Koji Omi to be a man with a strong sense of moral commitment to improve the state of the planet. His interest is to transcend beyond Japanese politics and to have global impact. This is good because Japan currently has an developmental model that is more friendly to the environment than the United States and its environmental footprint per dollar of GDP is among the lowest in the world.


koji-martin.JPG

]]> http://english.varsavskyfoundation.org/general/dinner-with-japanas-finance-minister-koji-omi-and-the-sts-forum-.html http://english.varsavskyfoundation.org/general/dinner-with-japanas-finance-minister-koji-omi-and-the-sts-forum-.html General Sun, 29 Apr 2007 18:48:04 +0100 French Elections
]]> http://english.varsavskyfoundation.org/politics/french-elections.html http://english.varsavskyfoundation.org/politics/french-elections.html Politics Sun, 22 Apr 2007 13:32:28 +0100 When Will The US Government Make The Connection? Between the widespread availbility of firearms and mass murders.

]]> http://english.varsavskyfoundation.org/general/when-will-the-us-government-make-the-connection.html http://english.varsavskyfoundation.org/general/when-will-the-us-government-make-the-connection.html General Tue, 17 Apr 2007 14:03:02 +0100 We Fear China For The Wrong Reasons In this video I talk about my conversations with top Taiwanese and Chinese entrepreneurs and my own tentative conclusions. I describe paradoxes presented by the Taiwan/China situation. One for example is that presently many more people migrate from Taiwan to China, that is from democratic to undemocratic, than the other way around. Another paradox is that after talking to many people in Taiwan and China I have come to the conclusion that China should be feared more for its desire to be like America rather than its alleged desire to antagonize America. Many in the West are concerned that China will become a military power that will eventually clash with the United States. I used to think that as well. But after my conversations with different business leaders in the region I have changed my mind. I believe that it is unlikely that China will seek military confrontation and instead what worries me is not only China does not hate America but the opposite is true. The Chinese love America and especially the American way of life and that is a threat to the planet. China likes America so much that it is copying the American model. Unfortunately it is not copying what is good about America, democracy, but it´s copying what is bad about America, its unsustainable developmental model. By copying America´s developmental model China is making the planet already shaking from America´s incredibly high pollution per person, even less sustainable. To me the greatest risk about China has little to do with business, little to do with politics, even less to do with geopolitics and a lot to do with the environment. As Al Gore frequently argues America´s disregard for the environment is already creating the world greatest threat to our survival. Now that China has chosen to develop along the American model the damage created by these two powers combine will greatly accelerate the problems that European and Japanese among others are trying to manage.


]]> http://english.varsavskyfoundation.org/general/we-fear-china-for-the-wrong-reasons.html http://english.varsavskyfoundation.org/general/we-fear-china-for-the-wrong-reasons.html General Sat, 07 Apr 2007 06:02:42 +0100 Gapminder: Just In Case You Think The World Doesn´t Suck One of the toughest problems of humanity is that most of the people who can vote global problems out of existence don´t vote. Many don´t vote in their own countries because they are not democracies, but most can´t vote these problems out of existence because humanity is a very weak concept. As schooling in America, humanity is about being born in the right side of the tracks. Unfortunately "humanity" as a value is a distant second to the extremely to nationality. Income distribution among nations reflects that.

]]> http://english.varsavskyfoundation.org/foundation/gapminder-just-in-case-you-think-the-world-doesnat-suck.html http://english.varsavskyfoundation.org/foundation/gapminder-just-in-case-you-think-the-world-doesnat-suck.html Foundation Sat, 24 Mar 2007 17:21:18 +0100 Is Israel worth the attention? I am in Israel now. In Tel Aviv. I came to attend Kinnernet, Yossi Vardi's tech fest.

]]> http://english.varsavskyfoundation.org/general/is-israel-worth-the-attention.html http://english.varsavskyfoundation.org/general/is-israel-worth-the-attention.html General Thu, 15 Mar 2007 09:35:16 +0100 Three Years After March 11th : Regional Challenges for a Globalizing World - Safe Democracy´s International Conference My foundation Safe Democracy --co-organizer of the International Summit on Terrorism, Democracy and Security in March of 2005 and host of the Atocha Workshop 11-M-- will bring together a diverse group of academics and experts specializing in various disciplines from all over the world on Saturday, March 10th, in Madrid. Guests will debate and work in 9 parallel groups towards solutions to the main challenges facing different regions of the world.

]]> http://english.varsavskyfoundation.org/safe-democracy/three-years-after-march-11th-regional-challenges-for-a-globalizing-world-safe-democracyas-international-conference.html http://english.varsavskyfoundation.org/safe-democracy/three-years-after-march-11th-regional-challenges-for-a-globalizing-world-safe-democracyas-international-conference.html Safe Democracy Fri, 02 Mar 2007 17:35:09 +0100 One Mexican and One American Student Attacked by Skinheads in Madrid I am very sad to report that two female students who collaborate in my foundation were attacked by Spanish Neo Nazis this weekend in the Madrid metro station of Bernabeu. One of them is badly injured with a broken jaw. They are in their mid 20's and were identified as foreigners by the skinhead gang because of their accent (they were both speaking in Spanish).

We are all extremely concerned about this xenofobic anti American incident. One of the victims is of Mexican origin and lives and studies now in Madrid. The other one lives in the States, studies at Syracuse, and is currently studying for 5 months in Madrid. Police reported that skin heads attacks on foreigners is becoming more and more common.

]]> http://english.varsavskyfoundation.org/safe-democracy/one-mexican-and-one-american-student-attacked-by-skinheads-in-madrid.html http://english.varsavskyfoundation.org/safe-democracy/one-mexican-and-one-american-student-attacked-by-skinheads-in-madrid.html Safe Democracy Sun, 25 Feb 2007 22:13:28 +0100 When Civilians Are More Militaristic Than The Military I grew up in Argentina in the 70s. At that time the military had staged a military coup and committed tremendous atrocities, including killing my cousin David Varsavsky and nearly killing my father, a Harvard trained physicist whose only crime was to stand for democracy.

]]> http://english.varsavskyfoundation.org/general/when-civilians-are-more-militaristic-than-the-military.html http://english.varsavskyfoundation.org/general/when-civilians-are-more-militaristic-than-the-military.html General Sun, 25 Feb 2007 11:49:18 +0100 Why Is It That Immigrants Have So Many Children? El Pais, Spain's leading newspaper, reveals today that while 10 years ago 1.81% of all new babies were born out of immigrant families, the figure last year was 17.6% and is rapidly rising. Since immigrants represent only 8.5% of the population, these figures show a huge difference between the number of babies that native-born Spaniards and immigrants have.

]]> http://english.varsavskyfoundation.org/general/why-is-it-that-immigrants-have-so-many-children.html http://english.varsavskyfoundation.org/general/why-is-it-that-immigrants-have-so-many-children.html General Sat, 17 Feb 2007 21:08:25 +0100 Can The US Elect A Muslim/Atheist now Christian President? Bruce Feiler the best selling author of a series of wonderful non religious books about religion such as Abraham and Walking the Bible has a provocative post in his blog today entitled Muslim Blood in the White House? In this post Bruce, an expert in religious relations describes Obama´s complex family background and wonders if somebody who was partly raised as a Muslim can be elected president in a country that is at war with Muslims. Moreover the subject becomes more complicated by Obama´s own description of his upbringing which was a complicated mix of Islam, Atheism and Christianity.

]]> http://english.varsavskyfoundation.org/politics/can-the-us-elect-a-muslimatheist-now-christian-president.html http://english.varsavskyfoundation.org/politics/can-the-us-elect-a-muslimatheist-now-christian-president.html Politics Mon, 29 Jan 2007 18:44:08 +0100 World´s View of USA From Bad To Worse :( Many of us share the perception that the world´s view of the United States was much better in the 90s than now. Now BBC has released a poll entitled "World View of the US goes from Bad to Worse" that shows that respondents in Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Chile, China, Egypt, France, Germany, Great Britain, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Italy, Kenya, Lebanon, Mexico, Nigeria, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Russia, South Korea, Turkey, United Arab Emirates and the very United States agree on this

]]> http://english.varsavskyfoundation.org/general/worldas-view-of-usa-from-bad-to-worse-.html http://english.varsavskyfoundation.org/general/worldas-view-of-usa-from-bad-to-worse-.html General Fri, 26 Jan 2007 12:01:20 +0100 What should USA Do In Iraq? My view on the Huffington Post.

]]> http://english.varsavskyfoundation.org/politics/what-should-usa-do-in-iraq.html http://english.varsavskyfoundation.org/politics/what-should-usa-do-in-iraq.html Politics Fri, 26 Jan 2007 11:56:04 +0100 One Voice at Davos: a Message From Daniel Lubetzky I am on the board of One Voice a not for profit organization that promotes understanding between Palestinians and Israelis. Right now there´s a live session going on at Davos that is called Enough is Enough: Israel and the Palestinian Territories. What follows is an email from the founder of One Voice, my friend Daniel Lubetzky. You can watch the session here.

]]> http://english.varsavskyfoundation.org/wef/one-voice-at-davos-a-message-from-daniel-lubetzky.html http://english.varsavskyfoundation.org/wef/one-voice-at-davos-a-message-from-daniel-lubetzky.html WEF Thu, 25 Jan 2007 16:43:43 +0100 DLD, if you are in New Media, why go on to Davos? Media mogul Hubert Burda and Klaus Schwab of WEF are good friends. For years the best parties at Davos have been Hubert Burda´s parties. But for the last 3 years Hubert Burda has hosted the best pre Davos parties as well. I am talking about DLD a party turned conference that is now delivering the three essential components of a successful event: fun, content and networking in just the right dosage. The original concept of the conference was to get people together in Munich to talk about New Media on their way to Davos. This year the question is becoming, if you are in new media and don´t have a week to spare, why go on to Davos?

]]> http://english.varsavskyfoundation.org/wef/dld-if-you-are-in-new-media-why-go-on-to-davos.html http://english.varsavskyfoundation.org/wef/dld-if-you-are-in-new-media-why-go-on-to-davos.html WEF Mon, 22 Jan 2007 08:27:59 +0100