Happy Holidays

Merry Christmas from The Zero Sum Game - In spirit of the holidays, here is a drawing of St. Nick by Thomas Nast, the German-born American political cartoonist

Hax - a solution to "noobitus"

Kudoos to my brother for showing me this video. Any CS (Counter-Strike) fans should thoroughly enjoy it >

A Middle Eastern Peace Initiative (MEPI) project

Recently in my global communications class, I, along with a few other classmates, have finished a video, Communicating Across Borders, focusing on a MEPI sponsored grant for ULL. Specifically the grant allows for a partnership between the University of Louisiana at Lafayette and Qatar University in Qatar. Anyone interested should check it out>

Made in China

So next week, I have a final due in my international economics class. Consequently, I am trying to finish this thing before my total accumulated homework reaches levels so high I have to off myself. Anyways, while researching I came up with some interesting statistics on China's exports and imports from the U.S. in the fiscal year 2008, taken from the U.S. Dept. of Commerce. Thus, provided for your reading pleasure:

Top 10 Exports (descending from most in total value to least) to China by Small and Medium Entrepreneurs (SMEs), as taken from the U.S. Dept. of Commerce:

1 - Computer And Electronic Products - $ 12,550,539,733
2 - Transportation Equipment - $ 9,098,221,864
3 - Chemicals - $ 7,552,933,303
4 - Machinery, Except Electrical - $ 6,762,352,524
5 - Food and Kindred Products - $ 2,287,831,899
6 - Primary Metal Manufacturing - $ 2,061,824,342
7 - Electrical Equipment, Appliances, and Components - $ 1,283,776,625
8 - Paper - $ 1,180,449,663
9 - Fabricated Metal Products, Nesoi - $ 1,047,373,575
10 - Miscellaneous Manufactured Commodities - $ 620,893,327

Top 10 Imports (descending from most in total value to least) from China in the fiscal year of 2008, as taken from www.census.gov (in thousands of dollars):

1 - Toys, shooting and sporting goods, and bicycles - $ 29,167,386
2 - Other (clocks, port typewriters, oth household gds - $ 27,505,367
3 - Computer accessories, peripherals and parts - $ 27,012,046
4 - Computers - $ 25,039,779
5 - Apparel and Household Goods - other textiles - $ 15,295,179
6 - Television receivers, vcr's, & other video equip. - $ 15,104,621
7 - Telecommunications equip. - $ 14,497,175
8 - Apparel and Household Goods - cotton - $ 13,382,300
9 - Furniture, Household Items, Baskets - $ 13,278,661
10 - Footwear of leather, rubber, or other materials - $ 11,632,460

Hello Again...Part Deux

Hello hello, hope everyone has been doing well. As promised, I have returned to provide you, my constituent base, with some well-deserved reading pleasure. While over at The Monkey Cage, John Side takes note of some recent research by Chris Karpowitz on Nixon's daily intake of media through staff-supplied summeries, which has subsequently sparked a fire under my ass to post again on my own recent research. On the agenda for today, I will be posting my (slightly overdue) abstract regarding my current work in progress, an examination of Nixon-Kissinger diplomacy, specifically, Sino-American rapprochement. Without further delay,

Topic: Confronting a potential rogue state: A historical analysis of Sino-American talks during the Nixon administration

The character of leaders is tested by their willingness to persevere in the face of uncertainty and to build for a future they can neither demonstrate nor fully discern.

-Henry Kissinger, White House Years


In successfully initiating diplomatic talks with Mao Zedong (Mao Tse-Tung), China's leader, and Zhou Enlai (Chou Enlai) [1], China's Prime Minister, some thirty years ago, Nixon and his National Security Advisor (NSA) Henry Kissinger, set a precedent in US diplomacy previously unheard of — namely, the rapprochement of US relations with a country, which was simultaneously viewed, both as an emerging super power as well as a potential rogue state. This epoch, while not only providing scholars with an invaluable compilation of historical records, has also shed light on the overall delicacy required for such talks to prove fruitful. Ranging from prior diplomatic blunders, to the establishment of secret back channels, and especially the famous Shanghai communiqué, Nixon and Kissinger constantly found themselves walking a diplomatic tightrope during Sino-American talks. Other factors that were of great importance were the ad hoc political ideologies of these two countries — was Nixon, an outspoken enemy of communism, to trust Mao, a known communist revolutionary? Or would the extraordinary negotiating tactics of Zhou Enlai, hardened from exposure to political infighting during the New Culture Movement, pose a challenge even to those of Kissinger? There is no doubt that such thoughts crossed the minds of both Nixon and Kissinger - both men knew that for the sake of U.S. security (and possibly even the stability of the world stage itself), they had to engage in diplomatic initiatives with a nation state that they knew little-to-nothing about. As Margaret Macmillan stated, "such questions matter in international relations, especially between two countries when each is convinced that it is the more important" (Macmillan xxi).
Today, despite the numerous efforts by transnational entities such as the United Nations, and the international community in general, to highlight a critical need for interstate diplomacy, conflict still exists. Yet this phenomenon simultaneously accentuates the delicacy involved in diplomatic talks. Underlying factors such as competing ideologies or shifts in regional balances of power, along with the expansion of terrorist regimes and rogue states, must all be equally considered. Not to mention, the special attention directed to the official dialogue utilized during diplomatic exchanges. Each of these elements are equally important, and have revitalized a crucial need to study the diplomatic accomplishments of yesterday, in the hope that drawing generalizations with the circumstances of today can benefit nations of tomorrow

[1] From Xia, xv: Chinese names and places are rendered throughout the text in the Hanyu Pinyin system of transliteration. Some names are more familiar to Western readers in their traditional Wade-Giles form. In such cases, the Wades-Giles is given in parentheses after the first use of the Pinyin, e.g., Jiang Jieshi (Chiang Kai-shek) and Zhou Enlai (Chou Enlai)

Hello Again

Sorry everyone for the abrupt cessation of posts - school has been rather intense (on top of an extremely eventful Halloween weekend). But I promise posts shall return shortly. Until then, hablas luego

Truely A Zero-Sum Game

Currently I am working on my undergrad thesis (abstract should be up shortly) regarding the Sino-American relations under the Nixon Administration. Subsequently this leads to how the Nixon White House initiated diplomacy with China, whom at the time, was considered by some to be a potential rogue state. After completing a historical analysis, I can then hopefully draw generalizations on how the Obama Administration can carry out diplomacy with current day rogue states. But this brings up another point which can be contemplated. We can hypothetically view the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as a two player, zero-sum situation, contending that both players can take three possible actions, A, B, or C. Yet, due in part to us not knowing the exact intentions of these two states (one possibility being Israel's usage of it's nuclear weapon capabilities), we can further contend that these two state would operate as rogue states. Needless to say, if we were to run this scenerio utilizing a zero-sum model, the winning of one player would in turn, come as a loss to the other (Pareto efficiency/optimality).

But in reality, I think an option these two countries have at their disposal is one that won't attain Pareto optimality; that option is dialogue. Avi Shlaim, an Israeli historian, has recently claimed in an interview over at the Economist.com, that Israel is the "stumbling block to peace." This point has been reiterated countless times by countless scholars, yet conflict still exists. But I believe the best answer is diplomacy. Not back-door diplomacy, but a combination of numerous diplomatic initiatives - economic, formal, even global. As media has drawn international attention to this conflict, global diplomacy has already been accomplished. The politcal leaders of these two countries should then initiate open, formal diplomacy. And free trade would, in turn, force a policy of détente. Not Israel establishing security forces across the West Bank, or Hamas increasing it's attacks on Israeli forces, just plain old school diplomacy (with a modern twist).

man it is late (or early depending on your locale)... Adios

No! Not Gravy!! Nooooo!!!

And so while browsing The Monkey Cage, I came across a post regarding an article over at Slate online, which addresses the recent bipartisan coalition that has been formed against the H1N1 vaccination. This consequently reminded me of a quote from Mel Gibson's Conspiracy Theory (hence the title of this post) where Jerry Fletcher (Mel Gibson) cries out in despair to Dr. Jonas (some guy) that he doesn't want the dreaded gravy, which happens to be an injection of some type of wacked-out-mind-altering drug. Now, not that I have trust issues (cough*) with the Health and Human Services (HHS) regarding the actual beneficial nature of the vaccine, but I couldn't help but wonder - why should the government even be worrying about the swine flu in the first place? I mean, to date, H1N1 has only caused a total of 76 deaths anyways. What has been bothering me though, is how our government is actually promoting - through various channels of the media - a nationwide scare about something that is, in my opinion, not even a serious threat. This then carries further implications, namely how quickly the government has provided us, the citizenry, with this "panacea," which we need to take, in order to immunize ourselves from the all-evil swine flu. Whether HHS is actually trying to help, or set some precedent that will allow future mandatory vaccinations, I for one, will pass on the gravy.

STOP SEN. TOM COBURN'S AMENDMENT 2631 TO H.R. 2847!

To all my readers who are unaware of Sen. Tom Coburn's proposal for amendment 2631 to H.R. 2847, which would cut all public funding to the National Science Foundation (NSF), please contact your local Senator and or Representative in an attempt to stop this amendment as soon as possible. To cut the funding of the NSF, which provides scholarship opportunities to Poli Sci students (in addition to countless other social sciences), would be a slap to the face of not only our local academic institutions, but the progress of science and education on a national scale. Below is a link in which you can contact your Senator now:
http://www.petition2congress.com/2/2508/keep-nsf-political-science-program/

How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Bomb

A recent article I stumbled upon while at the Economist.com, entitled "Spinning dark new tales," discusses a possible scenerio where Iran and North Korea, among other states with nuclear capabilities (namely Pakistan and Syria) are currently collaberating to provide North Korea with a working centrifuge machine (which would ultimately provide Kim Jong Il's regime with operational nuclear weapon capabilities). Yet all the international media hype caused by this interesting cadre, has led me to another point - do we (as members of the academia, as well as ordinary citizens) necessarily even have to worry about these potential rogue states causing nuclear war? With the recent onset of information and communication technologies (ICTs), media across the globe has already zeroed in on the nuclear activities of states such as North Korea and Iran. In an unlikely event where one of these countries would actually launch a nuclear missile at a strategic target (for example, the U.S.), the consequences of such an attack, namely the responses of other G20 nations, total amount of media coverage (domestic and international), along with second strike capabilites, would be so great that it would completely make void any benefits which the attacking nation would gain (unless the only reasoning behind the attack was to cause terror). Now this is all just hypothetical speak, but in the words of Dr. Strangelove, "Deterrence is the art of producing, in the mind of the enemy, the fear to attack - and I believe that ICTs have the potential to do exactly that.

Washington, Washington...

As you all (should) know, George Washington, one of America's great founders, was our first president under the newly formed U.S. Constitution. Yet, there might be a few things you didn't know about him - in which case you should probably watch this video in order to properly educate yourself on this great American political figure.

d20 System - RL version

Dungeons & Dragons fans enjoi

China's External Investments

The above graph, which can be found at the Council on Foreign Relations' site, displays the individual sectors of China's economy to which foreign investors have taken a particular interest in. Kudos to the Center for Geoeconomic Studies for creating a graphic representation of such findings.

To all those Call of Duty fanboys out there...

Props to my friend Andre for finding this >

Greeks in American Politics

Sorry for the momentary hold on my posts of lately; this past week being formal RUSH week for UL's fraternities, coupled with an already intense semester, has been keeping me rather busy. So with fraternal organizations on my mind - greeks in particular - I stumbled across a piece on Google books (click the title of this blog to redirect to the corresponding article) which mentions the percent of Democrats/ Republicans/ Independents, who in addition to holding high political offices, are also greek. While the article pertains to the 70's and 80's, such information is still useful in raising a few questions - do greek organizations inspire potential leaders (early while in undergrad or graduate studies) to pursue a more professional career, namely one which involves high office? Also, additional information as it pertains to the percent of U.S. Presidents who were also greek would be similarly interesting.

The New Face of Espionage

While browsing the net earlier, I came across two articles that caught my attention. The first hailing from The Council on Foreign Relations, addresses the current legal debacle facing the CIA; namely a demand for greater transparency in the American Intelligence Community. Sanford V. Levinson's article notes that upon entering office, President Obama promised to investigate the intelligence gathering technics utilized by the Bush Administration (i.e. torturing), yet has seemed reluctant to follow through. And then I realized, why reform the intelligence community when conventional espionage has become a thing of the past? The recent global recession has highlighted better than ever the new playing field for government hosted black ops - national economies. As with the situation facing Prague (Czech public), this article by the International Relations and Securities Network notes intrusions into Czech's economic sector by Russian government officials ("economic hitmen") in a maneuver to takeover state owned holdings of resources. Parallel this with US holdings of oil in Iraq, and we can see the overall picture - why bother with the inconveniences of geopolitics such as traditional borders? Or even in the case of the CIA, why risk being accused of torturing when a state government can just as easily cripple a country's economic sector from the inside - only to simultaneously profit from such actions?

Lagniappe

Tip of the hat to my friend Mal for coming across this. Labeled "The best fight scene of all time," this YouTube video is guaranteed to please>
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxkr4wS7XqY

Arrrrrr...

Earlier while visiting the porcelain throne, I happened to come across an article in The Economist relating to software piracy. Apparently when the citizens of Georgia aren't fighting Putin for independence, they're busy utilizing the fruits of Kazaa >

Only the weak fear the bear

Currently investors are facing a bear market, i.e. stocks are on the downturn and investors are being cautious. Yet this isn't necessarily a bad thing - while hard times on the market means many companies are merging with each other, striking deals for survival, it simultaneously presents investment opportunities that wouldn't normally arise under the status quo. One such oppurtunity is a company I've been monitoring - Yasheng Eco Trade Corp. NYSE: YASH, Yasheng Eco Trade specializes "on the acquisition, exploration, and development of undervalued assets. The company is focused on financial services, mergers and acquisitions, accounting, real estate development, and natural resources exploration." Sounds promising enough, yet the interesting part is that this company has just made a move to buy another company - diluting their stock pool, thus lowering the IPO of their common stock. Here's a 6 month chart on their stock prices:













Currently YASH's stocks are @ .10 a share...that's right - only 10 cents. Yasheng recently acquired several other companies, resulting in this swift drop in their share pricing. But if we look back a year, let's see what YASH's IPO used to be >













Yep - over $100 a share. So while a bear market means most companies are on the decline, it also can open up a great opportunity to invest (at least for those who enjoy taking risks)

Wireless Electricity

It's 2:07 AM... I should be sleeping but instead I am having a social gathering with some friends. Needless to say, my friend Michael here has informed me of an advanced median of transport for electrical energy - wirelessly. John Joannopolous Nicknamed such "Witricity," check it > http://plooms.com/witricity-wireless-electricity/

Boiler Room Part Deux

So an interesting article - http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2009/09/04/madoffs-startling-prediction/ - has surfaced up @ The Wall Street Journal's website pertaining to Bernard Madoff. Apparently Madoff made a prediction that Rep. Christopher Cox was to be appointed as the next chairman of the Security and Exchanges Commission (SEC), only for Cox to be chosen several weeks later. interesting

So here's to becoming an internet phenomenon...

Hello everyone,

Being that this is The Zero-Sum Game's first official post, I believe that I just gave everyone a semi-valid excuse to party - go ahead, grab that frosty beverage and drink it - you deserve it America. Basically the reasoning behind setting up this blog is to share my thoughts to the world. And no, I will be wasting the internet's precious space with useless babble (at least most of the time). Most of the time I shall try to concentrate on legitimate economic, political, and technological advancements/declines that are currently occuring across the globe. And in case you, the valued reader, are wondering exactly where I derived the blog title, "The Zero-Sum Game" from, I encourage you to look into applied mathematics (specifically Game Theory). In a nutshell, a Zero-Sum Game is a game, where in order for one player to win, the other must lose. And being that life is ultimately a huge game where only some people win, with the rest usually loosing (from a pragmatic viewpoint at least), I figured it is only fitting that I used such for the title of this blog. That is it for now, until next time - Adios!