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A Thought, Security, Bad Logos?

Where non-proliferation and nuclear energy meet, from China’s Xinhua news service:

Nuclear energy is one of the most important energies for humans in the future. The world community can safely control the "double-edged sword" and contribute to the world's enduring peace and common prosperity as long as countries work closely based on the principles of protecting mankind's common interests and mutual benefits.

Doesn’t get much simpler than that.

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After President Obama’s Nuclear Security Summit, NEI hosted a companion meeting with global leaders from the nuclear industry to take the first steps in an action plan that industry will develop with government.

[nEI President and CEO Marvin] Fertel emphasized that the industry would work with governments to ensure security of nuclear materials.

“This meeting is part of an ongoing engagement by U.S. industry—with our colleagues from around the world—to provide input to government policy, share lessons learned in this area, and ensure that we continue to operate our commercial facilities in a manner that prioritizes nuclear safety and security above all other matters,” he said.

Much more here, with some video of the press conference following the conference.

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We were amused by the New York Post column by Michael Goodwin that notes the similarity between the Nuclear Security Summit’s logo and the crescent symbol of Islam.

No, I am not suggesting President Obama is a secret Muslim. But I am certain the crescent-like design of the logo is not a coincidence, especially at an event where Iran's nuclear ambition and al Qaeda's search for a bomb are prime topics.

Well, the only way to be certain about something is to know it is the truth, and Goodwin doesn’t, so that’s hooey. (And the rest of the article is just as illuminating.) But in investigating further we made our own startling discovery.

Here’s the Nuclear Summit logo (with the President is Chinese President Hu Jintao):

nuclear security summit

and here’s the NEI logo:

home_branding_logo

NEI’s is pretty crescent-like, and that ball coming at you, does it suggest something sinister? It’s possible that both logos, in their different ways, represent an electron speeding around a nucleus – that might be logical given the subject matter and all – but how can we know that? In the absence of common sense, shouldn’t we always jump to the conclusion that most supports our prejudices?

Comments

Greg Molyneux said…
When dealing with abstraction you can almost always find what you are looking for if you look hard enough. In this case I that thinking certainly applies. That said, I find the Nuclear Security Summit logo to be far less sinister; I view it symbolically as how nuclear energy is about to come full circle. Of course, I am most likely seeing that because that is precisely what I want to believe.
Finrod said…
The NEI logo has some vague similarity to the Blake's 7 logo. I therefore conclude that NEI is secretly dedicated to the eventual establishment of a militaristic interstellar totalitarian state whose elite civilian and military administrators are all poms.
DailyShowFan said…
As always Jon Steward has the best comment on the issue, see the video at the bottom here: http://rawstory.com/rs/2010/0415/stewart-fox-news-logo-nazi-propaganda/

Another comment of his concerning nonsense around the nuclear arms reduction treaty reporting: http://vodpod.com/watch/3395378-the-big-bang-treaty
Steve said…
Mark, you watch too much Fox News.

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