What's Happening in the Real World?

This is not, it seems, a question that the people who gave me these proofreading tasks seem to worry about. The pieces are constructivist, and based upon the philosophy of language. As my former artist flatmate had it "that is so passé." And as my good friend and philosophy genius Stephen has it, "philosophy of language is a pile of poo." I couldn't put it better myself.

So what is happening in the world? Well, in a remarkable and very welcome move, the North Koreans have announced their preparedness to prove that they do not have a uranium-based weapons programme, and that they are interested in rejoining the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). And in contrast, the Iranians are adamant that processing at Isfahan will continue, but the enrichment plant at Natanz (necessary for turning the uranium hexafluoride gas produced at Isfahan into an atomic weapon) is still under seal, and still on the negotiating table. Most of the negotiators (essentially the EU3, but with the USA on the margins) have already walked away from the table in disgust. Maybe they'll come back, but the new hard-line cabinet in Iran is hardly welcoming or flexible.

And what would a constructivist say to that? Well, if past experience is any guide, he'd take 9 months or so to study the discourse, and then produce some jargon-filled article, of which more than half consists of discussing, comparing, criticising, and tweaking theoretical models, and which no policymaker would properly understand, and ten other constructivists would later criticise. Why bother?