CNE Monatsmagazin Digest
December 2006

English Summary

Liberalism is the ideology of the West, and the West tries to impose its ideology on all other regions of the world in order to supersede theirs. Both of the claims are false, say Doug Rasmussen and Doug den Uyl in their book Norms of Liberty. Liberalism to them is foremost a logical consequence deriving from the fact that many competing moral systems wish to coexist peacefully. This peaceful coexistence is the main problem for liberalism, they state. While all other political ideologies try to realize their "own and only blessing" moral system, liberalism strives for a tolerant coexistence of individual ways of life (human flourishing) by looking for universally binding metanorms.

Climate change - more than hot air? The 'greenhouse effect' cannot warm the atmosphere because "the balance of the radiation budget depends principally upon direct convective heat transfers from the earth's surface towards higher levels, above all through the intermediary of the water cycle", says Edgar Gaertner, quoting Marcel Leroux's Global Warming. Myth or Reality? The Erring Ways of Climatology. Leroux discovered that the global weather machine is not driven by tropical depressions but on the contrary by migrating anticyclones formed by the thermal deficit on the poles, so called Mobile Polar Highs (MPH).

Jungle campus: The Universidad Francisco Marroquin in Guatemala City has a simple mission statement: The mission of Universidad Francisco Marroquín is to teach and disseminate the ethical, legal and economic principles of a society of free and responsible persons. Founded in 1971 by Manuel Ayau, UFM became a private, secular, coeducational, non-residential and nonprofit university, awarding several degrees such as licentiates, masters and doctorates. This year UFM hosted the General Meeting of the Mont Pelerin Society and a conference on liberalism's challenges in the 21st century.

Liberal Visions: In December 2006 the Friedrich Naumann Foundation hosts a conference on "Liberal visions, principles and approaches of liberalism". Speakers include former Home Secretary Gerhart Rudolf Baum, Professor Hans Vorländer, TU Dresden, Johannes Vogel, Chairman of Germany's Liberal Youth, und CNE's Head of Academic Affairs, Hardy Bouillon. Bouillon will speak on the "Core ideas and different approaches of libertarian anarchism".

Kyoto Protocol survival kits: funny and serious at the same time - Citing the harm the United Nations' global warming treaty brings to developing nations, The National Center for Public Policy Research (NCPPR) and the Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow (CFACT) are distributing "Kyoto Protocol Survival Kits" at the United Nations Global Warming Conference in Nairobi. The kits contain several examples of technologies that, while impractical, would be considered "Kyoto-friendly" because they produce minimal greenhouse gas emissions, like a balsa wood airplane that represents "Kyoto Airlines".

The labyrinth of protectionism: The "Anti-Steingart" by Rahim Taghizadegan and Gregor Hochreiter explains the main flaws in Gabor Steingart's "Weltkrieg um Wohlstand (World war for wealth)". Their 64-page pamphlet is meant as a guideline for those who wish to arm themselves with arguments against warmongers and protectionists like Steingart. The cover is almost identical with that of Steingart's book and the title reminds us of Engel's "Anti-Duehring", but the contents leave no room for confusion.

Click here to view the full Monatsmagazin in German.

Dr. Hardy Bouillon is Head of Academic Affairs at the Centre for the New Europe.