Crackdown on Southpark in Russia
In Kommersant, “Today they are going after Kenny, tomorrow they will go after you!” Hat Tip: Natalie Vogel (The Russian state authorities are also looking into cracking down on “emo…
Foreign Affairs
Discussion of Georgia and Relations with Russia
After Vladimir Bukovsky’s outstanding presentation and an afternoon excursion to the Livadia Palace at Yalta, where Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin divided up the world and handed much of Europe over…
A Little Empirical Research Can Avoid a World of Mistakes
Peter Leeson in the New York Times Freakonomics blog on “Democratic Dominoes.”
Andrei Illarionov’s Evaluation of Russia’s Invasion of Georgia
Preliminary Conclusions From The War In Georgia Note: Georgia accuses Russia of cutting rail line, starting fires
The Reasons for Russia’s Invasion of Georgia
The U.S. ambassador to the U.N., Zalmay Khalilzad, told the Security Council that Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov had told U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice that Saakashvili “must go.”…
Let Cooler Heads Prevail
Russian forces battle Georgians Let us hope that this does not turn into general war, but will be contained. The situation is very, very frightening and very, very dangerous.
Rights in China
I frequently run into cases in which people attack China for its human rights abuses, but are unaware that, overall, things are much, much, much better than in the past….
The Bare Truth About Sanctions
Sanctions: How successful are they?, by Paul Reynolds , World affairs correspondent, BBC News Sanctions sometimes have the appearance of being more about making those who impose them feel better…
How They’re Doing It
Inside Mugabe’s Violent Crackdown: Notes, Witnesses Detail How Campaign Was Conceived and Executed by Leader, Aides
Al Hurra Not So Free at $350 Million
U.S. Network Falters in Mideast Mission Other people cited al-Hurra’s strange mix of programming: old documentaries with Arabic subtitles, a program about a Jewish singing group on tour in Australia,…