China is building the prototype for a high-tech police state. It is ready for export. Naomi Klein on top form
China is building the prototype for a high-tech police state. It is ready for export. Naomi Klein on top form
Russia has 119,000 (dollar) millionnaires? Ick.
The Telegraph writes on bloggers in Iran - but both its examples are blogging in English. Great research, guys.
Russia has allowed the extradition of a mercenary to Colombia. Between this and Bout, it seems the US have decided to apply the thumbscrews.
Death of grass: a major wheat disease, on top of the current grain crisis.
guide to some Chinese policy wonks
New Yorker profile of Benazir Bhuttor, from 1993.
It'd take a lot to make me defend scientology - but German attempts to ban it just might.
The Telegraph makes up to Musharraf after the kerfuffle when they called him 'our sonofabitch'. At least, that's the only reason I can imagine for him getting off so lightly in this 'analysis'
US world human rights report for 2006. God, but it's huge
Several interesting items from Boingboing: France bans non-journalists filming acts of violence; China blocks Livejournal and stops new internet cafes opening
toot - Arab blogs
Consider my hat eaten: Okruashvili claims he really is going abroad to take some courses, before returning to politics. Case of Saakashvili managing to come up with a compromise offer, or did I just misread the entire situation?
Can't link to this enough; "Contentions" by Abdal-Hakim Murad (Timothy Winter)
A $5m prize for Africa's best head of state? Sounds like a good idea to me. The critics who say that corruption isn't about just one person are right, but this is better than nothing.
Photographs of female conscripts in the IDF. Very good photos, going heavy on the 'human trapped in a uniform' approach.
State Department list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs). I'm surprised at how short this list is; only 42 organizations.
There are a million unexploded cluster-bomblets scattered around Lebanon [NYT]
Hadn't realised how many television channels are now streaming for free online. Beeline TV is a list of some of them. Shame about the language barrier - watching Kurdish and Chinese television would be totally fascinating.
Journalists and other political types being disappeared in Pakistan
High-ranking British officers in Afghanistan say they need more air power to assist ground troops, who are facing increasing violence. (BBC)
This balance between air and ground power has serious political and humanitarian consequences - I just wish I was enough of a military geek to think it all through.
No, I'm not impressed by headlines like US-led forces 'kill 65 Taleban'. You don't win a war just by killing as many people as you can.
Half a million displaced in Assam: Nearly a million people have been displaced by flood waters in the north-eastern Indian state of Assam.
Half a million? Nearly a million? Learn to count, BBC! But half a million displaced is still massive; makes me feel guilty worrying about 10,000 in Ramadi.
The Non-Aligned Movement includes 114 member states; I had no idea it was so big - and therefore hard to ignore. No idea if their take on Iran will achieve anything, though.
It may be by Tariq Ali, and it may be yet another summary of why not to attack Iran. But despite that, this article isn't bad at all.
I don't understand why Bush praises Arab governments when they do something he likes. Doesn't he realise how much more suspect that makes them in the eyes of their citizens?
This one should have 'oil politics' written all over it: China offers to help stabilise the Middle East. This is based on comments by Hu Jintao during a visit to Saudi Arabia; I don't know whether there's anything new her, because the papers won't tell me and I don't know much about China.