Tag Archives: link roundup

Friday Link Roundup: Corruption and Unethical Business

Since Wikileaks was our Site of the Week, this Friday Link Roundup is going to focus on the topic of corruption. Corruption can be found in every area of society; from government, to corporations, to individuals.

The core similarity that they all have is the willingness of those who participate to act unethically in order to profit unfairly at others’ expense. Obviously, this makes it one of the most important things to focus on eradicating from society wherever possible – and education is always the first step towards overcoming a situation.

This week sees quite a bit of corruption raising its ugly head around the globe:

1) Brazil in shock over corruption scandal – political corruption is unmasked in Brazil, with revelations of unethical behaviour by government officials caught on tape.

2) Berlusconi trial continues along with allegations of mafia links – Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is no stranger to scandal and allegations of corruption.  His trial continues, but there have also been new allegations pointing towards involvement with the Mafia.

3) Shell accused of toxic pollution in Nigeria – Multi-national corporation Shell is being closely examined in Nigeria for allegations that it has exploited lax environmental laws in the area.

4) Rajaratnam investigated for insider trading a decade ago – the recent massive bust on insider trading that involved many prominent figures in some of the world’s largest corporations has taken a new twist.

5) Climategate scandal continues – the revelations brought out through exposed emails are still rocking the climate change establishment.  Here is a good summary of what is being discovered in the leaked emails.

I hope that you find something interesting amonst this week’s collection of links.  Unethical and corrupt behaviour continues to be discovered to an astonishing degree, and it is important to look at the information and reports available so that you have more of an idea of just what is often going on behind closed doors.

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Friday Link Roundup: War and Peace

Yesterday, I highlighted Antiwar.com as our Site of the Week.  Today’s link roundup then will focus on some recent news and commentary that relate to the themes highlghted by the Antiwar.com site.  I’ve collected up some links about the Iraq inquiry, China’s detention facilities, CIA secret prisons and some other pieces of interest.

Hopefully you will find something here that encourages you to look into these things more deeply.

1)  Iraq inquiry: Live – live coverage from one of The Guardian’s columnists, updated by the minute.

2)  Who will protest Obama’s war? – column article by Justin Raimondo of Antiwar.com, looks at current movements in Obama’s foreign policy strategy.

3)  China’s secret detention facilities – “An Alleyway in Hell” is a 53 page report by Human Rights Watch which highlights abuses within Chinese detention facilities.

4)  Iran seizes Nobel peace medal – The Iranian government has confiscated the Nobel peace medal won by Shirin Ebadi.

5)  CIA secret prison in Lithuania – Article highlighting the location of one of the CIA’s secret prisons used to hold and interrogate terror suspects.

What all of these articles have in common is that they highlight the fact that the world’s most influential and powerful governments often transgress ethical boundaries to an astonishing degree.  When seen on this scale, and with very few of the major players immune from accusations of gross misconduct, things can certainly seem quite depressing.

The saving grace is that we are still able to be informed about such events and transgressions, and we must take advantage of this fact by educating ourselves and remaining knowledgable as to what is going on in the world around us.

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Friday Link Roundup: New Religious Movements

Given yesterday’s Site of the Week, I figured that it would be appropriate to use this week’s Link Roundup to focus on cults and new religious movements.Continue Reading

Friday Link Roundup: Longevity and the Methuselarity

It is often thought that by the end of this century, medical advancements will have progressed to such a degree that we are literally gaining more than a year of life for every year that passes. Which means that we will, when speaking about natural lifespans, be technically immortal.Continue Reading

Friday Link Roundup: Stem Cell Research

This week’s selection of links touch on several aspects of stem cell research. These topics range from the controversy and ethics of stem cell treatment, to new advances in genetic research as well as current uses in society today.Continue Reading

Friday Link Roundup: The moral economy

Many people don’t quite realise just how close the global financial sector came to complete and total collapse. Now that we have seemingly emerged from the worst of it, there is a lot of discussion occurring around the world about what went wrong and, more importantly, how to stop it ever happening again.Continue Reading