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There’s an interesting article by Alfred W. McCoy, professor of history at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, on TomDispatch. It is prepended by a commentary by Tom Engelhardt, so for the article, it’s best to read it on alternet.org. McCoy thinks that the American decline in world influence has already started (triggered by Bush’s ill-advised . . . → Read More: Decline and Fall of the USA With all but one seat now counted, the results of the British elections look like this (ignoring the smaller parties): British election results after 649 seats have been counted With the Liberal Democrats likely to be an important coalition partner in the new government, there is hope that the archaic “first past the post” . . . → Read More: Democracy in action? … according to the Economist, who have redrawn the map of Europe, putting similar countries together. In the case of the UK, its components have been placed down by Portugal and Spain as the UK’s finances are in a similar state to those of its southern European compatriots. In place of Britain, the . . . → Read More: England’s in the wrong place… Today’s El País contains a cartoon, of a minister saying: Ampliaremos la edad de jubilación a los setenta, pero no os preocupeis, a partir le los cuarenta ya no os contrataremos (“We’ll raise the retirement age to 70, but don’t worry, we won’t hire anyone over 40.”) Which is reflects perfectly the current . . . → Read More: Broken down If you thought the current financial crisis was bad news, things are looking even worse for 2030, says an article in the Guardian today: A “perfect storm” of food shortages, scarce water and insufficient energy resources threaten to unleash public unrest, cross-border conflicts and mass migration as people flee from the worst-affected regions, the . . . → Read More: More disturbing news Naomi Klein in yesterday’s Guardian: It’s time. Long past time. The best strategy to end the increasingly bloody occupation is for Israel to become the target of the kind of global movement that put an end to apartheid in South Africa. I agree and I have been boycotting Israeli fruit and other products for . . . → Read More: Time to boycott Israel The US National Intelligence Council (NIC) published a report this week assessing how the relationship between the USA and other parts of the World will probably develop by 2025. The report is written every four years for the incoming government and is thus relatively easy non-technical reading. It predicts that US influence will . . . → Read More: The NIC report The Economist asks what would the outcome of the November presidential election in the USA be, if all those likely to be affected by the outcome could vote. They extend the electoral-college system to include every country in the world. Roll up and register your vote here! Actually, The Times puts a different slant on this article (Why Microsoft and Intel tried to kill the XO $100 laptop), but it is a very interesting account of the problems that Nicholas Negroponte faced and overcame to produce a laptop which at the moment actually costs $188, but which will be cheaper – . . . → Read More: The history of the $100 laptop The Observer claims to have obtained a confidential report commissioned by the Pentagon: Climate change over the next 20 years could result in a global catastrophe costing millions of lives in wars and natural disasters. A secret report, suppressed by US defence chiefs and obtained by The Observer, warns that major European cities . . . → Read More: Pentagon: Britain will have “Siberian” climate in 12 years time |
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