Mossy Wittenberg, Author at Cambridge Globalist

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29 October, 2014 by Mossy Wittenberg Leave a Comment

British Virgin Islands Financial Services Commission [source: Wikipedia]

Above a certain amount, cash ceases to be useful. Anyone making serious profits from criminal activity needs the money in a less suspicious, more amenable form—in a bank account to start with, and then perhaps invested in something more exciting: a helicopter (Arnoldo Aléman, corrupt ex-President of Nicaragua), or a $15 million New York apartment… Continue Reading ➤

When should governments intervene to protect, subsidise or promote culture?

15 January, 2014 by Mossy Wittenberg, Lucy Wark and Raffi Salama

Matthew Ridley When should a government intervene to protect culture? The case for intervention does not only rest on a culture’s value to society. Culture should only be subsidised or protected if there is an externality present – if that value to society is greater than the amount people are, in total, willing to pay… Continue Reading ➤

Uneconomical Nomads in the Negev

27 November, 2013 by Mossy Wittenberg Leave a Comment

Wadi al Na'am, a Bedouin Village [Source: Eliyahu Hershkovitz]

In September 2011 the Israeli government embarked on a five-year economic development programme aimed at the Bedouin: a traditionally nomadic Middle Eastern people with a significant population in the country’s Negev Desert. It claims that the Prawer-Begin Plan will raise living conditions, improve access to services, and help the long-term prospects of what has long… Continue Reading ➤

The first step in any recovery programme is admitting there is a problem. Aceh, Indonesia’s northern, gas rich, conservative province, however, has struggled to do so. Ironically, these problems were caused by the very solutions created in the aftermath of the Boxing Day tsunami in 2004 to address the three decades of separatist conflict and… Continue Reading ➤

Brexit is just one of the many destabilising influences that face an increasingly precarious system of European cooperation. In fact, the haste with which the EU wishes to reach an agreement with Britain is largely driven by the need for Europeans to concentrate on more existential threats. Issues such as rising discontent over the migrant… Continue Reading ➤

The current 2016 USA presidential election cycle is set to be the most exciting in living memory. Outsiders have hijacked the primary races of both major parties in stunning fashion. While Donald Trump does what he does best, stealing the spotlight with insidious pandering, his left-wing counterpart is quietly rocking established dogma. Winning 6 of… Continue Reading ➤

It was late one August evening and Parliament had voted to declare war on its own integrity. In refusing to come to the aid of the Syrian people, Britain became a nation of apathy, isolationism and cowardice, unwilling to stand for the principles of international law, the cries of Arabic suffering unintelligible to English ears…. Continue Reading ➤

One year on, and we still keep hearing about the Russian annexation of Crimea. Doubtless the situation in Eastern Ukraine has continued to add fuel to the fire and keep the story in the press, but the media still concentrates a lot on the situation in the peninsula. Illegal as it may have been, however, there… Continue Reading ➤

In mid-January, I had the honour of receiving an invitation from Lucy Cavendish College, Cambridge to report on the ‘Women of Achievement’ lecture series organised in celebration of the College’s 50th anniversary. Once or twice a week, students, members of faculty, and guests all gathered in the Wood-Legh Room of Strathaird House – a beautifully… Continue Reading ➤

Received wisdom tells us that small business is important. Political parties representing all shades of opinion clamber to show that they are the ones who have the interests of small businesses at heart, even if they have more mixed opinions of large corporations. The Conservatives describe small business as the “lifeblood of our economy”; Labour promise… Continue Reading ➤

China is not always known for its adherence to the rule of law. The judiciary is controlled by the Communist Party, and criminal trials, which 98% of the time result in convictions, “often amount to mere sentencing announcements”, according to Freedom House. The law that exists is flouted with impunity; provisions against torture do little… Continue Reading ➤