[PHOTO] St. Patrick's Day at Woody's

Post-Parade, I went with friends to Woody's.

[BLOG] Some Monday links

• Centauri Dreams features a guest post by anthropologist Cameron M. Smith speculating on the kinds of evolutionary change that could occur among humans via long-distance, long-duration interstellar flights and later pplanetary colonizations.


• Geocurrents notes that politics in Kenya, as evidenced by the recent election, are still strongly marked by the polarization of different ethnic groups behind different candidates.


• John Moyer is bored by the over-the-top superhero genre.


• Marginal Revolution's Tyler Cowen seems appalled by the weekend decision to impose a haircut on depositors in Cypriot banks.


• Noel Maurer, writing at The Power and the Money, notes the division of Japan on east-west lines by incompatible national electricity grids. Eastern Japan including Tokyo, hit hard by the aftermath of the tsunami and nuclear plant closures, stayed afloat thanks to rolling blackouts.


• Strange Maps charts the frontiers, exclaves, and territorial disputes of the Vatican City.


• Torontoist notes the growing popularity of Gaelic footballs in Toronto. It's useful for networking for new immigrants from Ireland, too.


• Towleroad reports on a Turkish campaign, led by the prime minister, against the two lesbian foster mothers of a Turkish child taken into custody at six months of age. (He's now 9.)


• The Volokh Conspiracy's Eugene Volokh notes that the Catholic cardinal of Durban in South Africa, Wilfrid Fox Napier, has said that pedophile priests who in turn raped children shouldn't be considered criminally responsible.


• At Window on Eurasia, Paul Goble reports that Vladimir Putin defended the Winter Wage waged against Finland.

[LINK] "Cyprus: a sunny place for shady people"

Alex Spillius' article in The Telegraph, syndicated in--among other papers--the National Post--outlines the ties of sentiment and ethnicity that contributed to the ongoing Cypriot financial meltdown. It's open to question whether or not the Russo-Cypriot relationship will survive the depositors' enforced haircut.

[W]hat went wrong? Not so long ago, Cyprus was being hailed as the home of a minor economic miracle. The International Monetary Fund described the country’s performance before 2008 as a “long period of high growth, low unemployment, and sound public finances”. It suffered a recession in 2009, but it was the mildest in the eurozone.

Tourism was booming, with British visitors still flocking to the former colony’s beaches and snapping up seaview properties, while the banking sector flourished. But as with the other troubled states of southern Europe, the success story hid grave ills and vulnerabilities.

Throughout the past decade, Cyprus gained a reputation as a centre for money-laundering. Among those booming numbers of foreign visitors were thousands of Russians, attracted by political connections with Moscow that went back decades, a shared Orthodox faith, and a banking sector that not only didn’t ask too many questions, but commonly pays interest rates of six per cent and upwards.

Over the past decade, many such Russians settled in Cyprus or bought second homes. The city of Limassol, the financial centre, became known as “Lima-grad”: it now boasts expensive boutiques for Muscovites, rental firms offering Porsches rather than Fiat Pandas, and three Russian-language newspapers.

Like Monaco, then, Cyprus has become something of a sunny place for shady people. “There are girls with legs that go on forever and men who insist on wearing sunglasses throughout the gloomy Cypriot winter,” says Smith. “They have vulgar villas, which cause a lot of consternation – blocking other people’s views and so on – but they tend to throw their money around and get their way.”

It is estimated that some 20 billion of the 70 billion euros on deposit in Cyprus – a country of only 800,000 people – belongs to Russians. Those deposits helped the banking sector grow beyond all reason, just like in Iceland. By 2011, the IMF reported that the assets of Cypriot banks were equivalent to 835 per cent of annual national income. Some of that was down to investment by foreign-owned banks, but most was Cypriot.

This imbalance might have been sustainable had the country’s two largest banks not made loans to the Greek government worth 160 per cent of Cypriot GDP. It has never been clear whether that risk was taken out of ethnic solidarity, or from a presumption that the Greeks knew what they were doing. But in any event, it was disastrous.

[LINK] "Euro zone hopes Latvia is no Cyprus on the Baltic"

The relationship between Russia and Latvia, as I mentioned earlier here, is predicted on any number of things: the continued participation of post-Soviet, European Union member-state Latvia in a Russophone cultural sphere; the presence of a large Russophone minority; Latvian tourist attractions; and, Latvian financial institutions. As Latvia prepares for Eurozone entry while watching the ongoing catastrophe in Cyprus, Alan Wheatley and Aleks Tapinsh's Reuters article points out that Latvia and its financial institutions are being subjected to the kind of close inspection that their Cypriot counterparts were not.7

[T]he euro zone, Germany in particular, is worried that low-tax Cyprus has become a conduit for money-laundering by Russians, who in turn have been withdrawing cash from the island's banks in case they are asked to contribute to the bailout, possibly via a tax on deposits.

Some of that money is washing up in Latvia, which has long catered to Russians and other foreigners.

As Latvia waits to hear whether its application to join the euro in January 2014 is accepted, its large offshore banking sector is thus under the microscope.

"It's very important to explain to our partners in the euro zone that, in the case of Latvia, this doesn't create any new risks similar to Cyprus," said Roberts Zile, a former finance minister and now a member of the European Parliament.

Cyprus's banks have assets worth more than eight times the island's gross domestic product, dwarfing the equivalent figure for Latvia of 130 percent. But half of Latvia's bank deposits are held by non-residents, compared with 37 percent for Cyprus.

A senior banker said he looked on offshore banking in Riga with "scepticism and suspicion" but acknowledged that Latvia's EU membership and low taxes gave it a comparative advantage as an asset manager, especially serving Russian clients.

[URBAN NOTE] Two links on social networks and migration from Ireland to Toronto

The theme of contemporary Irish migration to Toronto, in the wake of Ireland's economic collapse, is something I touched on in a November post at Demography Matters. A weekend Torontoist post, Sarah-Joyce Battersby's "An Irish Sport Gains Popularity in Toronto", mentions that the sport of Gaelic football provides a useful framework for contemporary Irish migrants to Toronto.

[W]ith a new wave of Irish immigrants coming to find work in Canada, the sport has taken on a special role.

“The Toronto GAA has taken it on to make our best efforts to take care of people coming over,” spokesperson John Creery told us. “When you come over, the most important thing is to find work and a home. The Irish community in general is good, and they’re realy helpful, but the GAA community in particular is great for that.”

That’s how Creery got settled when he moved to Canada in 2001 from Lugan, a small town in County Armagh. Creery had been playing Gaelic football all his life. Soon after moving to Toronto, he met a team coach. “When he heard my accent he wanted me to come play for him,” said Creery.

Most of Creery’s friends are people he met through the Gaelic football community. And he said people involved in the sport look out for one another, helping new recruits find out about job prospects, apartments, and the Canadian way of life.

The support is helpful not only to the players, but also to their families in Ireland. “This way,” Creery said, “families back home know their loved one is being welcomed and taken care of, and has someone here to look in on them.”

A Toronto Star article even mentions that the St. Patrick's Day parade was a convenient venue for some Irish looking for employment in Canada.

Damien Lenihan could use some of that mythical luck of the Irish.

The 33 year old Dublin native, who came to Toronto last September, is looking for work — and a future in Canada.

“Every time I ring home, everyone says ‘Don’t come back, things are really bad, you’re not missing anything,’ ” he says. “Everyone seems really depressed.”

On Sunday, he shivered in a light leather jacket and hoodie as Toronto’s 26th St. Patrick’s Day passed on Queen St. W. Lenihan recognized Mayor Rob Ford, and seemed to approve of the floats and bands. But he spent most of the parade asking questions about jobs and life in Canada.

“I don’t think the media portrays just how bad it is (back home),” he laments.

[. . .]

“I know people who have been out of work for four years,” says Lenihan. “They’re struggling to get by. It is scary.”

Still, as cold as it was on Sunday, Lenihan was basking in the warmth of a new group of friends, thanks to a meet-up organized online by the Irish Association of Toronto.

“It’s like they’re strangers in a strange land, and they’re coming in the hundreds and thousands because the economy is so awful there,” explains Leah Morrigan, a proud holder of dual citizenship and the association’s vice-president. “This is good fun because a lot of the Irish don’t have anybody to latch on to. We like to be a bit of a welcoming committee for them.”

[LINK] Two links on the genetically engineered future

Some days ago, Razib Khan at GNXP wondered about the future of genetic engineering, specifically genetic engineering as applied to human beings, after listening to a NPR broadcast. Might it occur, but just not in the West?

[S]ome animal geneticists are actually moving to places like Brazil to do their work because of disquiet about the nature of their research. In this specific case it had to do with replicating the anti-bacterial properties of human milk for goats using trans-genic methods (I presume). The host naturally expressed difficult to suppress revulsion at the idea of “human genes” in “animals.” To be pedantic of course we are ourselves animals, and what is a “human gene” supposed to even mean? A substantial portion of the human genome does not derive from humans.

On the one hand it’s sad when American researchers have to go abroad when their work really isn’t that objectionable. If, for example, they were modifying goat milk with cow genes that would not arouse as much concern, even though fundamentally the process is the same. Intuitive folk biology and a moral sense of the special character of humanity which is somehow ineffably tied up into our form and genetic character bubble up unbidden. But in nations like Brazil where diarrhea is major public health concerns these wisdom-of-repugnance intuition lack as much relevance. There is often the presumption that genetic engineering will be accessible only to the rich. And yet I wonder perhaps if being “wholly organic” might become a sort of signal of affluence and conspicuous consumption, with those closer to the margin of poverty engaging in various transformations which are ethically, morally, or aesthetically disquieting.

Just now I came across, via io9's George Dvorsky, Aleks Eror's VICE article "ChinA Is Engineering Genius Babies". The interview with geneticist Geoffrey Miller is ... something.

At BGI Shenzhen, scientists have collected DNA samples from 2,000 of the world’s smartest people and are sequencing their entire genomes in an attempt to identify the alleles which determine human intelligence. Apparently they’re not far from finding them, and when they do, embryo screening will allow parents to pick their brightest zygote and potentially bump up every generation's intelligence by five to 15 IQ points. Within a couple of generations, competing with the Chinese on an intellectual level will be like challenging Lena Dunham to a getting-naked-on-TV contest.

VICE: Hey, Geoffrey. Does China have a history of eugenics?
Geoffrey Miller: As soon as Deng Xiaoping took power in the late 70s, he took the whole focus of the Chinese government from trying to manage the economy, to trying to manage the quality and quantity of people. In the 90s, they started to do widespread prenatal testing for birth defects with ultrasound, and more recently, they've spent a lot of money researching human genetics to figure out which genes make people smarter.

What do you know about BGI Shenzhen?
It’s the biggest genetic research center in China, and I think the biggest in the world, by a considerable margin. They’re not just doing human genetics; BGI is also doing lots of plant genetics, animal genetics, anything that’s economically relevant or scientifically interesting.

[. . .]

What does that mean in human language?
Any given couple could potentially have several eggs fertilized in the lab with the dad’s sperm and the mom’s eggs. Then you can test multiple embryos and analyze which one’s going to be the smartest. That kid would belong to that couple as if they had it naturally, but it would be the smartest a couple would be able to produce if they had 100 kids. It’s not genetic engineering or adding new genes, it’s the genes that couples already have.

And over the course of several generations you’re able to exponentially multiply the population’s intelligence.
Right. Even if it only boosts the average kid by five IQ points, that’s a huge difference in terms of economic productivity, the competitiveness of the country, how many patents they get, how their businesses are run, and how innovative their economy is.'

[URBAN NOTE] "Attempting to Remember the War of 1812"

The weekend before last, Torontoist's Ross Fair blogged about an effort to celebrate the centenary of the War of 1812 with a statue in Toronto. In the end, all that developed was a plaque on Parliament Hill in Ottawa.

On May 25, 1909, some 200 men gathered at the University Avenue Armouries to march north to Queen’s Park. There, veterans of the 1866 Fenian Raids, the 1885 North-West Rebellion, and the 1899-1902 South African War decorated their respective monuments to honour the fallen. Afterwards, the men regrouped at the front steps of the legislature for speeches. Lieutenant-Colonel William Hamilton Merritt, a veteran of both the North-West Rebellion and the South African War, reminded the crowd that Queen’s Park had no monument “to the brave men who saved Canada in 1812 to 1814 and who laid deep and strong the foundation stone of this great Dominion.”

More than 100 years later, that is still the case.

In his speech, Merritt said that centennial commemorations of the war were being organized, and that it was “no secret” that Ontario’s premier, Sir James Pliny Whitney, “was in sympathy with the idea of erecting a suitable monument.” Shortly after, Toronto’s Army and Navy Veterans Association wrote to the Globe to remind Merritt and Torontonians that the city already had a memorial to those who had fought in the War of 1812.

It had little effect. Merritt would continue to campaign for a monument at Queen’s Park doggedly.

The monument to which the letter-writers referred was Walter Allward’s sculpture of the “Old Soldier,” unveiled in January 1907 at the centre of Toronto’s old military burial ground (now called Victoria Memorial Square). Bronze plaques affixed to each of the pedestal’s four sides honoured those who gave their lives in the War of 1812; the monument also honoured the British soldiers who had died while stationed in Upper Canada and were buried at that location.

Had Merritt listened, that letter might have spared him some harsh lessons, learned in the course of a years’ long campaign. The Victoria Square monument had cost just $4,000, but it had taken five years to complete partly because of delays in fundraising. (Some $200 remained outstanding when it was unveiled in 1907.) And Merritt’s ambitions were much greater.

Planning for War of 1812 centennial commemorations began in the summer of 1909, with two Toronto-based organizations emerging to arrange events that would be both spectacular and national in scope. A provisional committee of “The Centenary Celebration Association 1812-1912″ organized a public meeting at City Hall in December 1910 to discuss plans for a grand historical pageant, a national monument, and an invitation for King George V to visit Canada. But grand ambitions did not yield well-organized plans: the Toronto Daily Star dubbed it “A Peaceful But Tangled Meeting.”

[DM] "On multicultural Cyprus"

I've a post up at Demography Matters taking a look at the case of Cyprus. An ethnically-riven island, demographic figures and trends are quite important. Right now, the important ones aren't the traditional ones associated with the Greco-Turkish rivalry, but rather with more recent links with Britain and Russia.