by Richard Gowan | May 4, 2009 | Off topic
New York magazine has been asking celebrities how they are warding off swine flu. To select a couple of responses at random (or, more accurately, quote the only two interviewees I’ve heard of):
Helena Christensen
“I’ve been coughing in my arm, and washing my hands a lot. But I haven’t stopped kissing certain people. It’s worth it.”
Salman Rushdie
“As long as there’s no Mexicans here, I think we’re all right.”
Nice one, Salman. Really got the tone right there.
by Richard Gowan | May 4, 2009 | North America
Kids say the funniest things!
Condoleezza Rice faced another barrage of unmerciful student probing yesterday … at the Jewish Primary Day School of the Nation’s Capital. During a question-and-answer session at the school, fourth-grader Misha Lerner asked Rice her opinion of what the Obama administration was saying about the Bush administration’s interrogation methods. Teachers had Lerner remove the word “torture” from the original version of the question.
by Charlie Edwards | May 4, 2009 | UK
Once upon a time Dad could only buy junior the Playmobil Security Check Point (btw – read loosnut’s review) but now the creative Legofesto has gone one step further (perhaps too far?) and recreated a series of torture scenes (including waterboarding below) out of lego.
According to Wired
Flickr user Legofesto (who prefers to remain anonymous) was fed up with news outlets refusing to publish images depicting torture due to their graphic nature. So she recreated the images and first-hand accounts using Lego to protest what she saw as irresponsible censorship. The use of children’s toys is at once sanitizing and horrifying and many of the images have received thousands of views.
by Daniel Korski | May 1, 2009 | East Asia and Pacific, Europe and Central Asia, Global system
At the G20 summit one prospect frightened most of the delegates more than their inability to stem the economic downturn: that China would emerge as the de facto “indispensible power”, to use Madeline Albright’s erstwhile phrase about the US.
China’s call for the Renmimbi to replace the dollar as the world’s reserve currency, and its limited fiscal stimulus were triumphs for Chinese diplomacy. And while delegates mingled in the Excel Centre, the Chinese navy was busy spelling out long-range ambitions, including plans to build large combat warships, next-generation aircraft and sophisticated torpedoes, the offensive intent of which should be clear to all.
So what should our China policy be? That is the question my ECFR colleagues John Fox and Francois Godement attempt to answer in a new report. I asked John, a former British diplomat and China expert a few questions. (more…)
by Alex Evans | May 1, 2009 | What we're watching
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKNbi-_Mxo8[/youtube]
