Three Nights in Dubai: Staying in a Hotel with reservations

The plane came in over the desert sands, the far off towers gleaming in the evening light. It was our first trip to Dubai, and I was anticipating a unique experience. As tourists, I knew that we might be unable to appreciate all the challenges we had read about, which are faced by the exploited foreign workers, wealthy expatriates and aloof Arabs, but I hoped to get a genuine taste of the local culture in our brief stay there.

Arriving late at night, our first challenge was to get to our hotel, the newly opened Atlantis at the Palm Jumeira. We were disappointed that even though the hotel knew our flight details, they hadn't arranged transportation, and we had to find our own way there. Fortunately, the airport staff were friendly and helpful, and we only had to wait a couple of hours for a shuttle heading our way.

Soon after midnight, we passed through the huge brass doors of the hotel, adorned by sea-horse and other marine motifs, into a lobby of polished marble floors, filled with colorful murals and amazing glass sculptures. It was like entering into a dream – which we soon did for real, after the rigours of the journey. As I feel asleep, I wondered if Dubai's reality would match its reputation.

We were woken before dawn the next morning by a siren – the fire alarm was going off! We'd heard that the opening of the hotel some weeks earlier had been delayed by a major blaze, and were worried about a repeat performance. Fortunately, a voice with a strong Australian accent came over the tannoy, telling us that “the situation is now under control. Elevators are running again. We apologise for the conven... uh, inconvenience.” Reassured, we went back to sleep.

I'd booked us into the Atlantis in Dubai for a few days, on a stop over for a trip to New Zealand. I had followed the hotel's construction details, starting with the creation of a completely artificial island, the “Palm” (one of three such man-made archipelagos off the coast.) Hotelier Sol Kerzner had left behind the wildly successful Sun City and Lost City resorts he'd created under the apartheid regime in South Africa, to build a new gambling complex in the Bahamas, with a strong aquatic theme.

He continued this theme with the Atlantis in Dubai (minus the gambling of course), and again invested heavily in displays of marine life, and an incredible re-imagining of an archaeological reconstruction of what the fabled lost city of Atlantis might have looked like. Marshalling a team of artists, sculptors, architects, marine biologists and creative engineers, Kerzner has produced a unique artistic statement, which repeats mythical and nautical themes throughout the décor and interior furnishings of the 2,000+ room hotel.

The centerepiece is the lost city itself, which includes a massive sea-water tank with a huge variety of sea-life, swimming around the reconstructed throne room of the sunken kingdom. Selected rooms of the hotel abut directly onto one wall of the tank, so well-heeled guests may be observed at their slumbers by a plethora of marine life. A labyrinth of mysterious artefacts and ancient scrolls in unknown scripts, and murals depicting long-lost gods and goddesses round out the illusion, including crystal power sources and dozens of marvellous living aquaria.

In addition to the indoor marvels, the hotel boasts a 160,000m2 water park, including a remarkable ziggurat water slide taking its riders down underneath a shark-filled lagoon, and 2.3 km of tidal river rapids in a tropical setting – highly incongruous in dry and dusty Dubai. These attractions and the hotel's shopping precinct bring in thousands of visitors every day, most of them families with young children, who seem delighted by the attractions.

We found our basic room (which had already stressed our limited budget) comfortable and well-appointed, with a sea-facing balcony and great attention to detail in the furnishings and fixtures. Navigating the warren of corridors was a little daunting, but eventually we discovered landmarks of unusual wall coverings or art work, leading us back to the central lobby with its massive glass sculpture, looking like a fountain of translucent serpents, illuminated and with trickling water.

A selection of restaurants awaited our palates, from the traditional middle eastern (complete with a too-thin blonde belly dancer) to the upmarket Nobu and European mainstay of Ossiano. I found most of the dining options quite expensive compared to other hotels we have stayed in, although the food of course was a very high standard. We were particularly impressed by the effort made by staff of the cafeteria restaurant, who kindly prepared a travel meal for us, as we had to catch an early flight before breakfast was to be served.

Training my binoculars on the far-off Dubai cityscape, the dominant feature of the Burj Dubai tower was impressively prominent, soon to open as the planet's tallest building. The city inspires a sense of vibrancy and energy, with evidence of construction everywhere you look. The latest model cars race around streets that might be seen in a PlayStation game, with mile after mile of aseptic concrete, steel and glass. This is a city that never really followed the slow evolution of European metropolises, but rather sprang as if fully formed like Athena from the brow of Zeus, its towers spearing into the air from the hot dry sands, pushed up from underneath by subterranean oceans of oil.

We took a taxi to visit one of the largest shopping malls in the world at the base of the Burj tower, with over 600 retailers covering 12 million square feet. Size isn't everything however, as I discovered few bargains in the Dubai Mall, with mostly well-known brands and luxury goods which may be found in almost every airport duty free store. Taxis leaving the mall are in high demand – if you depart at a peak time, be prepared to queue for more than an hour.

One highlight which delighted my wife was a perfumery nestled in the Gold Souk within the mall. Eschewing the traditional western brands, this small shop is a treasure house of garish bottles and jars, replete with mysterious herbs and tree barks, essences and attars, merging into a harmonious olfactory note which soothed and uplifted. We observed middle-eastern women dressed head to toe in black burkas, attended by an Indian serving girl, taking tea and sampling the wares.

My impressions of the city were consistent with my understanding of its culture. Dominated by expatriates and low-wage guest workers, Dubai has many faces. To the tourist, it is a shopping mecca, and fantastic children's holiday destination, lacking the sleaze of Las Vegas or the sophistication of Paris. To the labourers and domestic servants subsisting on near slave salaries under harsh conditions, the city recites a litany of broken promises and shattered dreams, especially as the realities of the global economic crisis have closed down all but the most well-funded construction projects. To the less than twenty percent of locals, the emirate presents a Disneyfied face of Arab culture and opulence, untempered by economic modesty yet trammelled by Islamic mores.

I had the sense that there is a darkness at the heart of Dubai, hidden behind a thin veneer of opulence, and characterised by stark inequalities of consumption and excess, both of consumer items and natural resources. The Atlantis stands out as a triumph of engineering and artistry, demonstrating a dominance over the natural world, rather than an efficient stewardship of resources. One cannot fail to be impressed by the grandeur, the excitement and beauty of the surroundings, yet at the same time feel guilt over the exploited under-classes, who must have suffered in building this temple of excess and the city that surrounds it.

Would I go back? Probably yes. As an experience, Dubai is remarkable for its unflinching focus on tomorrow, its apparent disregard of market forces and its steadfast determination to find a new economic reality based on tourism rather than the rapidly depleting oil reserves of the region. The Palm symbolizes the triumphalism of man's expropriation of Nature's bounty, and yet it retains a unique beauty and impressive artistry, that celebrates the latest pinnacle of Marx's concentration of capital. The Atlantis hotel is a meeting place, of Western and Middle Eastern cultures, of economic power and mythical legend, that entertains and sustains the weary soul – until the money runs out.

A Delicate Balance: A Visual Guide to Secured Business

Unisys have released a great high-level booklet on managing risk in large enterprises, which is surprisingly easy to read and helpful. Although I was not involved in writing it, I certainly concur with the conclusions, and would be pleased to discuss its implications and application to different industries.

A Delicate Balance: A Visual Guide to Secured Business Operations

Publish at Scribd or explore others: Brochures & Catalogs security risk

SECURING CONSUMER TRUST AS THE RECESSION TAKES HOLD

The International Monetary Forum recently forecast that the global economy will shrink this year for the first time in more than 70 years. Appropriately dubbed the ‘Great Recession’, the current financial crisis is causing unrest across the world for consumers, businesses, governments and financial institutions. Paul Gillingwater, European lead, Fraud and Risk Intelligence at Unisys, examines the growing link between this time of unrest and a rise in financial fraud and provides insight for businesses and governments on how to tackle growing consumer fears.

Over recent years we have seen a significant rise in financial fraud across Europe. This form of fraud, which primarily encompasses identity theft and credit card fraud, is now the number one consumer complaint and billions of Euros are lost each year to unscrupulous operators, hackers and gangs.

And how are consumers reacting to this burgeoning offense? According to research from Unisys - poorly. The Unisys Security Index, a bi-annual global study, shows that nearly two thirds (61 per cent) of Europeans believe that the world financial crisis will increase the risk that they will personally fall victim to financial fraud.

According to fraud prevention agency CIFAS, in 2008 fraud levels increased by 16 per cent compared to the previous year. Facility takeover frauds – when a fraudster takes over a victim's bank, credit card or catalogue account - increased by 207 per cent. Specifically, a survey conducted by MessageLabs directly following the bank chaos which began in August 2008, reveals that phishing attacks rose by 16 per cent between August and September before a surge of 103 per cent the following month.

So why is this happening? During a time of financial unrest when banks are making global headlines, it makes sense for spammers to use the credit crunch as a hook to exploit the worried and confused customers who have been shaken by recent events and are looking for a way out.

And how can we explain the sudden increase in the number of perpetrators of these attacks? Hand in hand with a recession comes insecurity. It is this insecurity which increases the motivation for some employees and consumers to commit crimes in order to maintain their existing lifestyles, replace lost funds, or meet increasingly challenging sales targets. In short, difficult economic times can foster the criminally opportunistic and create desperate individuals who embark on desperate measures to deal with personal debt. An overall rise in white-collar crime is in turn seeing attacks such as identity theft and credit card fraud explode.

Additionally, consumers are an easier target for credit card fraud during a recession – leaving themselves more open and vulnerable to fraudsters. As they desperately shop online for bargains, they are not as cautious as they might have previously been.

Finally, there has been a serious breakdown in the relationship between financial institutions and their customers. Consumers have lost faith in banks and no longer trust them to protect their livelihood and money. As faith in financial institutions declines, consumers become a prime target for online attacks such as fraudulent mass e-mail campaigns designed to lure customers into providing personal financial information such as passwords or account information – phishing attacks.

Revisiting Unisys Security Index results from March 2009, the survey reveals significant disparity across Europe, with only one third (32 per cent) of Dutch consumers believing that there is an increased risk of fraud during the recession, compared to 83 per cent of Spaniards. Interestingly, the Spanish were more concerned than their German counterparts over this issue, with just over half (56 per cent) of German consumers thinking that the global crisis will increase the risk of ID theft. This figure falls as income rises – Germans with monthly household incomes of 4,000 Euros or more worry the least. Surprisingly, the research places Germany as one of the least worried nations over this issue, coming fourth out of the five countries questioned.

Perhaps the impact of the financial crisis has not yet filtered down from company level to consumer in Germany, or perhaps the German public planned well for it.

Despite the Belgians relatively low levels of concern in the overall Security Index, residents are clearly worried about this issue, as two thirds (63 per cent) think that their personal risk of ID theft and credit card fraud will increase in light of the recession.

The British are also extremely anxious about ID theft, with a clear majority (72 per cent) believing their personal risk will increase. This puts the UK as the second most worried European country, at 11 per cent below Spain.

While there is disparity across all of the regions surveyed in Europe, these results underscore the urgent need for companies to address this burgeoning fear. Banks and financial service providers in particular must now do everything to win back the trust of their customers. These include strict security measures to protect data, identities, credit cards and cash cards.

It is important that any company doing business online or handling sensitive data take note that the current financial crisis has deepened consumer fear and intensified risks. Outside of the financial services industry, all organisations in both the public and private sector must demonstrate good security practices, ensuring that the high profile security breaches and customer data losses of the past 12 months become a thing of the past. Although cyber criminals will continue to attempt to access our private information, consumers, companies and governments can all work together to combat the threat and reduce the risk of fraudsters succeeding.

While the debate rages on about the mechanics of government bailouts and optimal interest rates, one thing is certain: there will be no return to economic stability without increased trust and rising consumer confidence. Restored trust among banks will open the flow of credit and boost deposits. Stronger trusts between governments and citizens will promote the sense that economic growth and fair markets can be sustained over the long term. And importantly, secure operations and high-quality customer experiences will help inspire the confidence necessary to boost consumer spending.

For more information about the Unisys Security Index and full European results, visit http://www.unisyssecurityindex.com.

Automation of Bank Card Fraud

I was interested to read about an old scam resurfacing with modern technology, as reported in the Police blotter of the Denton, Texas Police Department.

The scam is as follows. An automated calling system is programmed with an "Interactive Voice Response (IVR)" (set of audio menus, to which the callee must respond by pressing digits on their phone.) Such calling systems are cheap and easy to set up, e.g. using the great open source software Asterisk.

The initial call is made using a message that identifies itself as coming from a local Bank (which is of course a lie.) The message tells the callee that there is a problem with their credit card, and that it has been blocked. (More lies.)

In order to solve the problem, the callee is invited to enter their credit card number, expiration date, CVE code and other confidential details, and to record their name and address. This might be done using the touch-tone system (for the numbers), and with simple audio recording for the name and address.

The scammers will often use a phone link which is able to block caller ID (typically by routing using SIP through a VOIP provider over an anonymous relay,) or they will spoof the Automated Number Identification to pretend that they are originating from the genuine business.

As soon as the hapless victim falls for the scam, their credit card details will usually be sold on via an aggregator, to the next stage in the criminal chain who will then use the stolen information to order goods over the Internet. These goods are then usually laundered through yet more victims, who think they are working at home for a real business.

The insidious aspect of these crimes is that the originator is very hard to track down (and may be operating off-shore.) Furthermore, because the process is automated, they can program the system to call tens of thousands of targets without any additional effort -- and if even 1% of the victims fall for the scam, then the criminals are making money.

What can be done? In the absence of good technical solutions that can make it easier for law enforcement to track down such criminals, and the lack of strong international Policing cooperation, such criminals can operate with relative impunity. Therefore, our only option is to get the word out, and educate the intended victims to never give confidential information over the phone, especially to automated calling systems.

If someone calls you claiming to be from a Bank with whom you do business, then ask for a number and call them back -- but even this might not be enough, so check on the Internet whether that number is listed for your bank.

Sumitomo: Anatomy of $423m Fraud that failed

The Register offers a fascinating analysis of one of the most audacious Bank heists of the past few years, and the story of the patient investigation which led to the conviction earlier this year of most of its suspects.

It has elements of a classic heist -- the inside man, recruited with thoughts of greed to compromise internal security controls (in this case, tampering with cameras and giving the criminals access to the bank at weekends), the hackers, and the money launderers.

The technology used was simple and readily available -- a commercial keystroke logging software package, installed on critical PCs in a trading room to capture account details and passwords. The target was the Swift system -- the world-wide and widely trusted system for transferring money between banks around the world. Sumitomo was the victim -- and if it wasn't for a crucial lack of vital information, the crooks would have got away with it.

Accomplices around the world -- in Spain, Dubai, Turkey, Israel, Singapore and Hong Kong -- were ready to assist with laundering of the money, seeking to withdraw the large sums from counterparty banks. Luckily, the banks never received the wire transfers, because the Swift forms had not been correctly filled out, and the bank's internal controls prevented the losses.

The lesson here is that insiders can always be compromised, but robust internal controls with strict separation of duties can prevent most issues. The criminals were unlucky (or incompetent) because they failed to fill out the Swift forms correctly -- had they done so, it is likely they would have made a great deal of money. Another lesson is that username/password pairs are not enough -- at least two-factor authentication should be used.

Most importantly however, is that Sumitomo Bank made the correct decision in reporting this crime as soon as possible to the authorities, and diligent police work led, four years after the fact, to the successful prosecution of most of those responsible.

Cyberstalking and You

A brief guide to staying safe online

Email, instant messaging and social media websites are ubiquitous, convenient and useful forums for networking, doing business or just staying in touch. But there is a dark side, which may often be very upsetting for the victim--that of being stalked or harassed online. Anyone who uses the Internet can be subjected to Cyberstalking, which can occur in many ways. According to Wikipedia, Cyberstalking may be defined as

the use of information and communications technology, particularly the Internet, by an individual or group of individuals, to harass another individual, group of individuals, or organization. The behavior includes false accusations, monitoring, the transmission of threats, identity theft, damage to data or equipment, the solicitation of minors for sexual purposes, and gathering information for harassment purposes. The harassment must be such that a reasonable person, in possession of the same information, would regard it as sufficient to cause another reasonable person distress.[1]

It's very easy for an anonymous person to forge emails, making it look like messages are being sent by someone else. If the messages contain personal details combined with insults or obscene images, it can be very upsetting for the recipients, especially if they think the mail is genuine. Furthermore, it's possible to make anonymous phone calls over the Internet which are untraceable (without the resources of major governments or law enforcement agencies).

Usually, the person being Cyberstalked (if not a celebrity) knows their stalker, or has engaged in online discussions which triggered that behavior in some stranger. Examples might include the ex-partner from a relationship gone bad, political antagonists, fired ex-employees, or predatory individuals with a sexual motivation.

The results of Cyberstalking can often be very distressing for the victims and their family, and in extreme cases have led to serious mental health issues, including attempted suicide. Where the subject of the attacks is a minor, their physical safety may also be at risk, especially if grooming is being used by suspected pedophiles.

Young people don't always use social media sites in responsible ways, and parental guidance and regular monitoring of online activities is often recommended. Parents need to inform themselves of the risks of online activities, and educate their children in keeping themselves safe. Some simple guidelines might include:

• Don't exchange emails and photographs of yourself with people you've never met
  
• Don't assume that the person you meet online is who they say they are -- digital identities are malleable
  
• Don't use a webcam like a bathroom mirror
  
• Never open unknown attachments from strangers, and use up-to-date anti-virus software
  
• If you with to meet someone you know from online, take a friend or parent
  
• Educate your child about the risks of "stranger danger"
  
• Always assume that if you send someone naked pictures of yourself, they are likely to be shared with strangers
  

Young people are likely to have a false sense of security when online. They may engage in attention-seeking behavior, where they seek to validate their sense of self-worth by craving the approval of others, even strangers. Blogging and twittering are popular social communications, but have their extreme cases. Some people seem to invite unwanted attention, such as the case in January 2009 of "Boxxy", a young woman with plenty to say. Her videos on Youtube generated tens of thousands of fans, and many others who couldn't stand her, with escalation of hostilities between the two camps leading to death threats, Cyberstalking, flame wars and distributed denial of services attacks on web sites (such as the popular message board 4chan.org, that originated the LOLcats meme.)

Organizations and cults are often high-profile targets for abuse, such as the Church of Scientology (along with some of its most prominent converts like Tom Cruise and John Travolta). Such organizations often employ professionals who track down and use legal threats to silence their critics, although the actions in 2008 of the international group that call themselves "Anonymous" showed that it's easy to hide your identity on the Internet.

Usually, however, Cyberstalking is more personal, with a single individual attempting to harass or threaten their intended victim. The target of such harassment has few options. Unless there is evidence of a direct physical threat to safety, it is rare for a complaint to the Police to be useful. However, establishing a paper trail through an official complaint might be useful later when seeking to take out a restraining order against a particular individual.

Targeted individuals may sometimes have their accounts or email hacked, especially if they use poor password selection policies. Immediate complaints to the abuse departments of the relevant websites can sometimes help, but will likely take weeks or months for action. Sometimes, the better choice is to create new accounts, and contact all friends personally to let them know that correspondence from the old accounts should be ignored. Related to this is the important step of making backup copies of all contact information and personal documents, which is good practice under any circumstances.

In general, it's best to ignore communications coming from a Cyberstalker, and refrain from giving them validation through attention. Don't attempt to reply -- simply delete such messages, which can be handled automatically by some email systems based on filters. For those who spend a lot of time online, it's a good idea to check how much personal information can be found about yourself through search engines. Use your social security number, name, email addresses or user names to discover whether you have "leaked" personal information online. If you can find such data, then it's likely that other people can too, so try to remove it if possible. As a rule, avoid entering private information (such as your birth date or passport details) into any web site. If it's not "official", then just make up fake data.

Some popular websites, like Facebook or Bebo, request personal information, that most people are happy to provide. While mechanisms exist on many sites to restrict the privacy of such information, mistakes can be made, and have led to leaks of private data (including birth details, names and addresses, and phone numbers or credit card details.)

In a world where life is increasingly being experienced online, some basic common sense should be applied to protect your privacy, and respect that of others.

Recycled: Essay on Capital Punishment

Another old essay written back in my university days.

The Hand of a Killer -- An Essay on Capital Punishment

by Paul Gillingwater

for LLN210 Methods of Research (Webster University, Spring I) April 1995

"No man is an Iland, intire of it selfe; any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in Mankinde; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; It tolls for thee."

John Donne, Devotions upon Emergent Occasions (1623-1624)

Last week, Nicolas Ingram was executed in Georgia, U.S.A., after 12 years on death row. Despite considerable publicity and appeals for clemency from secular and religious leaders, the electric chair was again used to end the life of a convicted killer. Is such state-enforced killing justified? When we are faced with this question, we are challenged to define our moral position in relation to society. To what extent do the laws relating to capital punishment reflect our individual ethics? Laws are formulated in Western countries to maintain civil order and to protect society from criminal behaviour. To this end, penalties are devised which are intended to punish those who break the laws. Is execution an appropriate form of punishment in modern society? There are many arguments for and against execution. This paper will review some of the important ones, and show that capital punishment is unjustifiable, not only because it is both ineffective as a deterrent and can cost more than long-term detention, but also because it is ethically wrong by the standards of developed Western nations.

Ethics is about the relation of human beings to each other, especially in the field of moral questions. John Donne's poem (cited above) about the interconnectedness of all humanity holds true in more than just a philosophical sense, as suggested by findings from the field of ecology which show how the actions of one group of pople can have their effect on another group. Each person in society contributes to public opinion, which influences the official attitudes to moral questions in a democracy. Any argument for or against capital punishment eventually arrives at the question of the morality of taking one life in exchange for another. My view is that the deliberate decision to end the life of a human being is equally wrong, whether made by an individual contemplating murder or by a court passing sentence, because life is inherently the thing that each one of us values the most.

A clear distinction exists between lawful and unlawful killing. Since modern society universally condemns murder as morally wrong, we'll confine our discussion only to that form of official penalty known as "capital punishment", (named thus because early forms of execution involved beheading.) Individually, most of us have never participated in a killing, however in a democracy, all citizens are responsible for the laws enacted by our representatives in government, so it may be said that we are all individually implicated in any state execution. To understand this, it may be useful to consider the analogy of the hand, that symbolizes how each member of society participates in the processes leading to an official execution. Whether the finger of a killer pulls the trigger to unlawfully end another human life; or the hand of a doctor administers the lethal injection during the state-authorized execution; the result is the same, and it is the human hand that carries out the intent.

Our hands, with their opposable thumbs, serve to distinguish us from, and elevate us above, the animal kingdom. Human beings rarely use anything else to kill. It is the hand which must grip the weapon, sign the death warrant, pull the trigger or administer the fatal dose. By way of contrast, in the wild no mediation is required between predator and prey, unlike in our human world, where most of us isolate ourselves from the reality of death in the slaughter-house by butchers and supermarkets. Similarly, those who favour executions are rarely willing to pull the trigger themselves, preferring that the State develop the mechanisms to kill the condemned: out of sight, out of mind. How and why did these mechanisms develop?

A brief consideration of the history of capital punishment shows that public killing has long formed a part of law, as early as the Code of Hammurabi (1750 B.C.E.) In early societies, the punishment of wrong-doers was the prerogative of the individual or the tribe, and was usually undertaken as an act of vengeance. It often consisted of forms of torture or execution, which today would be deemed excessive and disproportionate by most educated people. As society became more complex, the right to punish was taken over by the state, which used each execution as a public spectacle "to encourage the others." [1. Voltaire] Since the 1950's, many developed Western nations have joined an international convention against capital punishment. Even in those countries which continue the practice, such as the U.S.A., executions are largely private affairs with public participation limited to the trial and sentencing. It's interesting to speculate as to why executions are no longer held in public --- could it be that the sight of a deliberate killing is somehow deleterious to society? Regardless of the possible negative effects that public executions may have on society, it is clear that certain countries still consider that executions per se have a deterrent effect, as evidenced by their continued popularity; however most Western criminologists believe that there is no conclusive evidence that the death penalty is any more effective as a deterrent than life imprisonment. [2. Microsoft]

Proponents of capital punishment would argue that the deterrent effect of capital punishment, whether public or not, is far stronger than the threat of life imprisonment, a view which is shared by the majority of the U.S. public opinion. This view does not accord with the evidence. [2. Microsoft] In one study, it was shown that two adjacent states (one with capital punishment and the other with life imprisonment) showed no significant differences in the murder rate. In fact, states that use the death penalty seem to have higher murder rates than those which do not, (although this does not necessarily imply a reverse causal relationship, as many other factors are involved, including the influences of demography and poverty.) Similarly, no change was seen when one state first abolished then reintroduced the death penalty, and no reduction in murders has been found in cities where executions have recently taken place. Thus it may be seen that capital punishment has no statistically significant effect on the rate of murder in a state, from which we can deduce that the deterrent effect of executions is negligible. Unfortunately, neither capital punishment nor imprisonment seem to be capable of slowing the growth of crime in modern society.

Since deterrence is no longer a convincing argument in favour of capital punishment, we may turn briefly to consideration of the economics of death. At first glance, it would seem that simply killing an offender may be cheaper than keeping him or her in gaol for life. This is true in some countries, such as China, which has a policy of "one execution, one bullet." In Western countries, however, the extensive legal proceedings of indictment, trials, appeals and their associated expenses have been shown to cost more than the projected costs of life-long incarceration. This apparatus is necessary to reduce the likelihood of mistakes in the administration of justice, since more innocent people would be executed if matters were speedier. Advocates of capital punishment who claim that long-term use of imprisonment costs taxpayers more than executions not only fail to provide evidence for their arguments, but also commit the fallacy of an appeal to greed (lower costs may potentially mean lower taxes), at the expense of compassion. Such logic can lead to the view that public health services should be denied to the elderly or to smokers, because they're more likely to die than others on whom limited funds could more effectively be spent. A further danger of this type of thinking is that once capital punishment is commonly used for murderers, it may more easily be extended to other crimes. For example, China has recently begun a series of executions of people who have defrauded the government of V.A.T. (Value Added Taxes.) Should tax evasion also be considered a capital crime?

A third area which has been used to attack capital punishment is that of bias in its application. Although advocates of capital punishment would argue that there is nothing inherent in the laws of capital punishment that causes racist, sexist or class bias in its application, research has shown [2. Microsoft] that all of these biases have been demonstrated. For a start, women are responsible for 20% of all homicides, yet proportionally far fewer women are executed than men --- a bias which works in the women's favour, but discriminates against men. Secondly, when considering sentencing of convicted murderers, racism is clearly a factor in determining the death penalty, with statistics showing that black men are far more likely to be executed for similar crimes than white men. Finally, defendants without the money or influence to buy experienced (and often expensive) legal counsel are more likely to be executed than well-educated and wealthy murderers. From the above, it may be seen that any suggestion that capital punishment is unbiased fails to meet the same standard of evidence that might be applied in judging a defendant. Now let us consider the most abstract, yet to many, the most compelling argument against capital punishment --- the ethical one.

When we execute a convicted person, what are our reasons? Are we killing him or her to exact vengeance on behalf of those wronged? Such retribution does nothing for them --- it certainly won't bring back the victim of a murder. Do we want to remove the offender from society, eliminating any chance that he or she will reoffend? In this case, it could be argued that life imprisonment should be sufficient, especially when it is accompanied by attempts at rehabilitation. Admittedly, there are problems with this argument, for example, if a prisoner escapes, he or she often returns to a life of crime. Furthermore, some prisoners who are paroled lapse back into offending. Such failures, however, point more to a failure of the current system of rehabilitation rather than any fundamental error in the rationale for opposing capital punishment. Surely, each person deserves a second chance? When such persons reoffend, society has the right to deny them liberty, but not to deny them their lives.

Will executing criminals reduce crime? Unfortunately, as already argued, not even the threat of death is enough to slow the growth of crime in our increasingly sick society. Whatever the reason, it is important to consider the effect that the execution has upon those who carry it out. Given that the act of killing can desensitize the finer human feelings of compassion and forgiveness (as may be seen in times of war and in slaughter-house workers), society has a moral obligation toward those who carry out the punishment on its behalf. Someone has to pull the trigger, throw the switch or inject the poison that ends a life. The chain of responsibility continues back to prosecutors, judge and jury, through to the legislators who voted for capital punishments as an option, and eventually to each of us. Each person who supports, condones or does not actively oppose capital punishment is in some small way contributing to its continuation, and to the debilitating effect this has upon society. That this effect is real was shown by a recent Time [3] magazine article, in which a judge in the Philippines formed a club for judges who have imposed the recently reintroduced death penalty. He explained that some form of support group was needed by those who had to give such terrible sentences. How much worse must the effect be on those who have to carry out the execution? Moral philosophy might provide an answer to the question of whether we have an ethical obligation to our fellow citizens. Once such an obligation is recognized, we might then accept responsibility in a personal sense for permitting society to kill on our behalf, whether in time of war or through execution of murderers.

Recognition of personal responsibility for the death of others was first suggested by John Donne, who talked about no man being an island, existing apart and separate from society. Donne's view, although radical in his day, is now increasingly seen to be true. (Depth ecology [4. Lovelock] takes this idea further, suggesting that all life on earth is somehow interconnected by ties of mutual dependence, as demonstrated by environmental problems knowing no political boundaries.) Social philosophers such as Bertrand Russell suggested that each individual must participate fully in the life of society, and that personal ethical decisions should be made for the good of society. In a contrasting view, Hegel argued that moral choice was not the result of a social contract as outlined by Hobbes, but a natural outgrowth of healthy family life. In either view, human beings must make choices that dictate their place in, and the operation of, the society in which they live. Such a choice is made when we determine that people who seriously transgress our laws are to be denied their freedom. These choices link each of us in an inextricable web of moral responsibility, in which the serious offender may be seen as one who is threatening the health of society. A common analogy is that if we consider society as a single body, then criminals are similar in effect to disease organisms, which can cause suffering to the whole body. (Of course it must be acknowledged that criminals are often a product of illnesses that afflict the whole of society, such as poverty, racism and poor education.) When something threatens our health, we generally act to destroy it, isolate it or control its effects. In the case of habitual criminals, we seek to reduce their negative impact on society by denying them freedom.

In the past, this denial of freedom was achieved in one of several ways: either by imprisonment, mutilation, banishment or death. Today, banishment is no longer practical, and mutilation by the state is considered cruel and unusual punishment by all but the most fundamentalist of Islamic states (although the senate of one U.S. state has just allowed for the surgical castration of sexual offenders), leaving us with two options --- imprisonment or death. Incarceration alone, however, is not sufficient for an ethical society. Penal science advocates rehabilitation --- the training and reeducation of offenders so that they may potentially contribute once again to, and enjoy the privileges of, a free society. Such a choice means that a price must be paid, in the form of higher taxes to pay for the construction and maintenance of prisons --- but greed should not be an acceptable argument for the use of capital punishment, as earlier discussed.

In summary, I have dealt with capital punishment in terms of its failure to deter, its economics and its inherent unfairness. A serious consideration of the ethical basis for eliminating execution as a means of combating crime has shown that there is a wider picture that must be grasped. That wider view may be analogous to the holistic view of medicine, which states that when an individual part of the body is sick, then the whole person is ill. Similarly, when an individual chooses to commit crimes such as murder, this is a sign that the whole of human society is somehow sick. If it is your finger that pulls the trigger, is it enough to simply cut it off? No, because the whole person is responsible. By analogy, when one person runs amok, we need to look at all of the factors influencing this behaviour, including education, racism and poverty.

Just as the hand may be seen as symbolically responsible for killing, it may equally be used to prevent death. If you feel as I do that termination of human life is wrong, then pick up a pen and write a letter --- to your congressman, political party, newspaper or judge. Make your feelings known, that every time a state chooses to end someone's life, such an act is against your will. Eventually, public opinion may be educated to the point when it recognizes that executions are both barbaric and unnecessary, in the same way that we now condemn slavery, torture and murder.

References:

1. This is a quote from Voltaire, who wrote of England that "it is good to kill an admiral from time to time, to encourage the others." (Pour encourager les autres.) The reference is to Admiral John Byng, who was executed in 1757 for failing to relieve Minorca.
2. Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia, article on Capital Punishment.
3. Time Magazine, March 1995
4. Lovelock, J. The Gaia Hypothesis

The totem animals of the United Nations Bureaucrat

Many years ago, I used to work for the United Nations. While bored at the office one day, I composed the following essay (1996)...

It was a quiet night in November. I was working late in the United Nations building, finishing off a document for a forthcoming conference, when I decided to take a break for a cup of machine coffee. Heading back to my cubicle, I nearly bumped into an elderly man shuffling around the corner. His UN Retiree’s pass fell off, and I automatically reached down to pick it up. He must have been more agile than he looked, because our heads bumped as he ducked too. Laughing, we agreed to head back to the coffee area, where we sat on some low chairs, and he started talking.

He told me this story, which he said was told to him by a friend of a friend. His eyes twinkled, as he asked me whether I knew about the three totem animals of the U.N. Pleading ignorance, I smiled, and he continued.

The first totem animal of the UN bureaucrat is the
three-toed sloth (Bradypus Tridactylus). A native of South America, this animal has long puzzled Biblical scholars, due to its amazing abilities. How could a pair of these intrepid animals have made the incredible journey from their home in the wilds of the Amazon basin, all the way to Mount Ararat in time for Noah to take them on board the ark? Clearly, they must have a prodigious capability for anticipation of important events. Calculating a daily distance travelled of around 3 km, the pair must have known about the forthcoming inundation over 30 years before the first drops fell. Imagine the sneers of the other sloths as these two visionaries departed on their epic adventure.

The hardships of the journey are almost beyond belief, with intervening stretches of desert, ocean, ice-floes and predators all too capable of running down an animal whose best defence consists in hanging upside down in a tree, nearly motionless. It is this motionlessness which fits the sloth for its place at the bottom of the UN totem pole, as staff members have sometimes been known to avoid the predatory glance of internal auditors through remaining absolutely still at their desks.

Our second totem animal also spends considerable time in trees. Evolving in the great southern land of Australia, the koala bear (Phascolarctos cinereus), is blessed with the ability to sit motionless on a branch for dozens of hours at a stretch, occasionally reaching for a new handful of gum leaves to chew. This unique talent is so well-developed that the koala has actually evolved a hard bony plate in its rear, which it uses to sit on the durable wood of the gum trees. Any UN bureaucrat worth his or her salt would immediately recognise the advantages of such an adaptation, given the long meetings, conferences, sessions and plenaries that fill our days, not to mention long hours in front of a desk.

For the third and final totem animal, we turn to that great reservoir of mysterious life, the ocean. The humble sea squirt, (Cnemidocarpa finmarkiensis), in its juvenile form frolics in the clear warm waters of the Mediterranean, crawling around the bottom of the sea, called by an unknown impulse to find a suitable rock on which to perch. When the rock is found, a subtle alchemy occurs within the metabolism of the sea-squirt, as it undergoes a sea-change, from animal to a kind of sea vegetable. To facilitate the process, the sea-squirt glues itself to the rock in much the same way as oysters do, its permanent post now assured. It immediately begins the next stage of its transformation. The rudimentary brain it used to find the rock is now superfluous, so the sea-squirt starts to absorb it, effectively digesting its own brain. Sadly, the parallel is in some cases all too clear, as the staff member with the permanent post is no longer obliged to engage in creative thought.

My new friend got up to leave, his eyes still twinkling. “Don’t worry too much about the Bureaucratic totem animals. They’re only as true as you want them to be. Perhaps we’ll meet again someday, and I can tell you of the feeding frenzies that follow the release of the hy… --I mean delegates—as they leave their great meetings. But that’s another story.”

More random twitterings

After literally years of procrastination, I have taken the plunge into the world of micro-blogging. I may be found on Twitter here: http://www.twitter.com/ahbleza/

I've been very careful about joining various social media sites -- I decided long ago to avoid MySpace, Bebo, Facebook and the like. I am active on LinkedIn for professional purposes, and occasionally maintain my old personal web site -- http://www.gillingwater.org -- but that's down at present until I get a chance to update it.

Twitter is a lot of fun, and functions wonderfully as a disintermediation device between various minor (and a few major) celebrities and their stal^H^H^H^H fans. If you've not joined up, I recommend it!