Education in an Uncertain World

Torture and the Politics of Ambiguity

Opacity has grown with complexity.

We would therefore like to avoid conceptual ambiguity in the Protocol.

In the end, the politics of ambiguity may fail Rumsfeld all those high resolution photographs from Abu Ghraib are anything but ambiguous.

Basically you believe in complexity, but not in ambiguity.

Mystery is important. You fall in love with somebody who's somewhat mysterious, in part because mystery elevates dopamine in the brain, probably pushes you over that threshold to fall in love.

Moreover, DNA has acquired a certain mystique in popular culture.

What are the ingredients? Imagination, playfulness, novelty, curiosity, mystery.

But complexity is not the only reason for obscurity.

Over the past year, however, the shroud of mystery has begun to drop.

Syria may pay a heavy price for that ambiguity.

Moreover, there are ambiguities in the trend lines for stock holding periods.

It is never a good idea to replace something with vagueness.

Part of the legend is almost invariably the mystery surrounding the circumstances of the leader s death.

Because of the ambiguity surrounding Louis Napoleon's political positions, his agenda as president was very much in doubt.

The reasons behind moving the prisoners between the two locations remain unclear.

That is the ambiguity in my life that really disturbed me, and led me to write a book called Saving Fish From Drowning.

Both Jiang and Hu have faithfully followed Deng's dictum to Hide capacity and nourish obscurity.

In face of the prevailing level of uncertainty and contradiction in the sources of the law, certain prophylactic measures are necessary.

The Treaty is especially ambiguous where it uses the language of constitutions.

The role of GFPs tends to be ambiguous and ill defined.

There was general understanding that ambiguities could provide a possible basis or excuse for manipulation by the powerful.

In doing so, remember that the vagueness versus specificity dilemma also applies to economic issues.

The solution, as always with monetary policy, is a clear, consistent, and unambiguous communication strategy.

This is a strong charge, especially given the huge uncertainties that central banks and treasury officials have been facing.

Understanding the intentions of Iran s leaders is not as difficult or as ambiguous as some believe.

Writers have, over several generations, insisted on the uncertainties which beset the topic.

The situation has highlighted the ambiguity surrounding the EU budget s role in European integration.

Israel s reluctance to rattle its nuclear saber, even in dire circumstances, adds to the mystery.

The ambiguity within this idea leads to a great deal of variation in terms of how cities carry out their attempts to become sustainable.

To take the mystery out of this, let me say that the way we look at it is as follows.

For those who benefit from the politics of ambiguity, international law is an indispensable prop.

In view of the elements of uncertainty in the sources, it is more than usually pertinent to refer to considerations of policy.

The authorities decided in 1975 to begin drafting a family code to address this legal limbo and consequent discrimination.

And, as France s recent intervention in Mali has shown, this ambiguity lies at the root of many of today s most urgent foreign policy problems.

VIENNA For those who still wondered who Vladimir Putin is, the mystery is over.

But myths are a collective and mysterious construction. Otherwise, they would be for sale.

But post modernism has itself been generated by technology, with which it has a deeply ambiguous relationship.

Of course, the situation is unclear in view of Uruguay's reaction in not accepting the donation and instead treating it as a commercial transaction.

The stunning opacity of solvency ratios encouraged regulators to turn a blind eye to banks excessive risk taking.

Such Westerners are now often just as enamored of China s paternalistic and equally opaque and impenetrable political system.

But the friction of normal life usually creates ambiguities that cannot be fully met in advance.

Against the backdrop of Russia's completely ambiguous policy in the Caucasus, this will give Rogozin an opportunity to remain at the top of public opinion polls.

The conspiracy behind the calculus myth has been suddenly, brutally and quite deliciously exposed after volumes of Newton s private correspondence were compiled and published.