Contradictory accounts of the Tibetan self-immolations—now numbering over 35—reveal rival conceptions of Tibet’s borders by the Chinese state and the Dalai Lama’s exile government, with control of critical resources in the background.
An April 9 report on WNYC Radio informs us that last year, 21 bicyclists were killed in vehicle crashes in New York City—but only two drivers were arrested. Local district attorneys, when pressed to cite convictions for cyclist deaths, gripe… Read moreWHY WE FIGHT
Just before last month’s notorious purge of Bo Xilai, populist Chinese Communist Party chief in Chongqing, World Bank President Robert Zoellick lectured the People’s Republic at a Beijing meeting that its economic model is “unsustainable.”
In the wake of last month’s kill-spree in southern France, lines across the blogosphere are drawn predictably, indicating the near-complete polarization and lack of any dialectical spark in contemporary thinking on the question of Jew-hatred.
Reactions to the passing of Pope Shenouda III, leader of Egypt’s Coptic Christians, reveals much about the country’s ominous but still tentatively hopeful political situation. Compass Direct News, which documents persecution of Christians around the world, on March 23 noted… Read moreEgypt: now the Muslim Brotherhood are the moderates…
Amid official optimism about Iraq that surrounded the Arab League summit in Baghdad, the insurgency continues; Kurdistan has again halted oil exports in a dispute with the national government, and the fugitive vice president has fled to Qatar.
Peru’s Nobel Laureate Mario Vargas Llosa addresses an elite right-wing confab in Lima, intoning against the threat of “populism” and warning that “the radical left has found in ecology a new banner.” He also boasts that he has no cell phone.
Ongoing protests are again being held in the highland city of Cajamarca, Peru, after charges were brought against leaders of the struggle against the US-backed Conga gold mine.
WikiLeaks and Anonymous team up to target Stratfor, winning favorable alterno-coverage. Predictably, nobody is talking about WikiLeaks’ continued silence on charges of complicity with grave human rights abuses in Belarus.
Just as the presidential horserace starts to gain velocity, so do oil prices. Are the Koch brothers manipulating prices to undermine Obama in November? Their recent dabblings in “contango” oil market speculations indicate this may be the case…
Unsettling findings. From e! science news, Feb. 23: Classic Maya civilization collapse related to modest rainfall reductions A new study reports that the disintegration of the Maya Civilization may have been related to relatively modest reductions in rainfall. The study… Read moreClimate lessons in Maya collapse: study
A new report by British scientists finds that the current level of carbon dioxide emissions will wipe out about 30% of the world’s marine species by the end of the century. Released carbon dioxide is leading to acidification of the oceans.
