Mike Davis

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InternacionalEconomía

When my old gang and I were 14 or 15 years old, many centuries ago, we yearned for immortality in the fiery wreck of a '40 Ford or '57 Chevy. Our J. K. Rowling was Henry Gregor Felsen, the ex- Marine who wrote the 1950s bestselling masterpieces "Hot Rod," "Street Rod" and "Crash Club."

His books — highly praised by the National Safety Council — were deterrents to unsafe driving, meant to scare my generation straight with huge dollops of teenage gore. In fact, he was our asphalt Homer, praising doomed teenage heroes and inviting us to emulate their legend.

One of his books ends with an apocalyptic collision at a crossroads in a small Iowa town, and the deaths of the teens are graphically described.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoOriente Próximo

Last Wednesday, following the car bomb massacre of nearly 200 people in Baghdad, Senate majority leader Harry Reid, a Democrat from Nevada, paid a visit to the lunatic asylum known as the White House to inform its chief inmate that "the war is lost". He referred to the "extreme violence" in Baghdad as proof that US military strategy was now bankrupt.

Reid's declaration is unprecedented in modern US politics, but the senator is no gloating peacenik. Indeed, he angered fellow Democrats last year with his endorsement of the administration's plan for a troop "surge" in Baghdad. If he now risks predictable Cheney-Rove accusations of counselling "surrender", it is because he carries moral power of attorney from influential Republicans as well as Democrats.…  Seguir leyendo »

InternacionalSalud Pública, ,

Just when most of us thought it was safe to go back into the water (or at least eat chicken and turkey), H5N1 raises its black dorsal fin and reminds us that it has unfinished business with the human race. Although hypotheses abound, virologists have yet to understand avian flu's enigmatic behaviour: burning like a wildfire one season, going to ground the next. However, since the original outbreak in Hong Kong in 1997, one trend remains consistent: after each hibernation or disappearance, H5N1 re-emerges with its virulence intact and its geographical and species ranges extended.

A decade of breakneck research, driven by the fear that another 1918 influenza catastrophe (50-100 million dead in three months, the most murderous event in human history) was close at hand, has provided little solace.…  Seguir leyendo »