Blogs & Ecology

Following the death of Zambian President, Levy Mwanawasa, Zambian Economist produces a list of kingmakers in the country.

Robert Koehler criticizes the South Korean government for arresting a most renowned economist for speaking out against capitalism under the excuse of violation of the National Security Law.

Kotaji gives some political background about the anti-president Lee Myung-Bak demonstration by thousands of Buddhist Monk.

Thai Twitter users are commenting about the huge rallies led by anti-government groups in Thailand. One user, bodychan, writes: “I don't want Samak say this word ‘No one died in Government House'.”

A teacher who is based in a province in Thailand is surprised that people are not talking much about the huge rallies in Bangkok which forced the Prime Minister to seek protection in a military compound.

MrPavee notes that Bangkok protesters who stormed the government house were mostly 45 year-old middle class individuals. He also writes that the rallies “showed the government is really losing its grip and is actually really weak.”

Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim will become Member of Parliament again after winning in a recent election. No Kacau, Don't Kacau sees a better political landscape for Malaysia.

The beatroot writes that “Poland - in the shape of its government and particularly its president, Lech Kaczynski - has been using the conflict between Moscow and Tbilisi to nail their colours to the mast of “protecting freedom and democracy” of the brave young George against the might of an imperialistic old dragon in the Kremlin.”

“Hungary's reaction to the Russian-Georgian conflict is in line with that of the European Union,” Hungarian Spectrum reports. “Given Hungary's energy needs and its reliance on Russian gas and oil the country can't afford to lash out against Russia.”

Joe Biden on a bus in 1976 (love the hat and sportsjacket matchup) and in 2004 on a train

Shortly after he was elected to the senate in 1972, Joe Biden's wife and daughter were killed in a car crash. To take care of his two sons he commuted an hour and a half from Washington to Wilmington, Delaware by train and has continued to do so ever since.

Not surprisingly, he is a big supporter of Amtrak and rail transport. In 2002 he said:

ESWN translated an article by Li Punman at my1510 about an older generation peasant's view on the Beijing Olympics. Nationalism is still a pervasive frame.

Palestinians are rejoicing today in the release of 199 prisoners from Israeli prisons. The release was announced last Monday, and was likely timed according to Condoleezza Rice's arrival in Israel.

The release process was held up several times by the Israeli cabinet, which held three separate votes on the issue. Among the freed prisoners were Said al-Attaba, Israel's longest serving Palestinian, imprisoned in 1977, and Mohammed Ibrahim Abu Ali, imprisoned in 1979.

By Ben Block

Biofuels offer the promise of a low-carbon fuel that could power vehicles and stimulate the world's rural economies.

Yet biofuels are also among the most vilified of environmental technologies. Ethanol refineries are not always clean. The labor on biofuel farms is not always fair. The diversion of feedstocks from food to fuel may be driving up global commodity prices. And the forests, fields, and peat bogs cleared to make room for biofuel crops may release more carbon into the atmosphere than they would save from vehicles not burning fossil fuels.

Willis Carrier with his first air conditioner

We have written often how electricity-sucking air conditioners caused the massive post-war transfer of people and votes to the sunbelt; Edward McClelland of Salon thinks that air conditioners make people vote Republican.

Ali Kordan, Iran's new Minister of the Interior, has recently been under fire for presenting a “fake” Ph.D. degree from the prestigious Oxford University in the United Kingdom. Several websites, including the conservative Alef have published a scan of Kordan's “Oxford Honorary Doctorate of Law Degree”.