Archive for the ‘World current affairs’ Category
The American presidential election (58)
August 28th, 2008 by Roger Darlington
I know that I’m viewing (on CNN) the Democratic National Convention almost a day after the actual proceedings but I’m really enjoying seeing and hearing the key speeches in full. Day Three was wonderful stuff: – the roll call of the state delegations with Hillary Clinton halting the process once it was clear that Barack […]
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The American presidential election (57)
August 27th, 2008 by Roger Darlington
I’ve now caught up with Day Two of the Democratic National Convention in Denver. The day’s highlight was, of course, the speech of Senator Hillary Clinton which was preceded by a video and attended by her husband and daughter. It was a powerful and eloquent address that gave as much support to Barack Obama as […]
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The American presidential election (56)
August 26th, 2008 by Roger Darlington
I’m watching as much of the Democratic National Convention as I can on CNN. There were two massive highlights in Monday’s session. First, Caroline Kennedy – daughter of JFK – introduced Senator Edward Kennedy, there was a video on the Senator, and then – in spite of his brain cancer – he made an emotional […]
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Who won the Olympics?
August 26th, 2008 by Roger Darlington
We all know that the host nation China won the largest number of gold medals (51) which, in the official ranking, puts them top. But, if you count all the medals, then the USA leads with 110. But, suppose you didn’t count all the medals equally. Say you gave three points for a gold, two […]
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The American presidential election (55)
August 24th, 2008 by Roger Darlington
“The Democrats are starting to struggle in a presidential race which they should be dominating. America is beset by economic troubles, mired in an unpopular foreign war and facing an unpopular Republican party. A stunning 80 per cent of Americans think that the country is heading in the wrong direction. Yet Obama and McCain are […]
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The American presidential election (54)
August 23rd, 2008 by Roger Darlington
So Barack Obama has chosen his Vice-Presidential running mate just days before the Democratic National Convention opens in Denver. The choice – Senator Joe Biden – is seen as balancing the ticket, mainly in terms of bringing strong knowledge of foreign affairs, although his older age and Roman Catholic affiliation are also viewed as complementary […]
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The American presidential election (53)
August 21st, 2008 by Roger Darlington
Things have been quieter in the race while Barack Obama was in Hawaii – and I was in the Baltic States (!). Now we await announcements on the Vice-Presidential running mates and the respective party conventions. In the meanwhile, polls suggest a tightening of the race to a current neck and neck position. Obama ought […]
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What does it mean to be Russian?
August 17th, 2008 by Roger Darlington
This week I have felt the pain of the people of Georgia even more than I would have done last week. This is because I have spent the past week in the Baltic States and two of them – Estonia and Latvia – have substantial Russian minority populations. Many of the local people with whom […]
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Barack’s books
August 8th, 2008 by Roger Darlington
For my 60th birthday, I received lots of books. I started by reading the two written by the Democratic candidate for the White House Barack Obama: “Dreams Of My Father” [my review here] and, the one I have just finished, “The Audacity Of Hope” [my review here]. I have been blogging about Barack Obama for […]
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10 years of al Qaeda
August 7th, 2008 by Roger Darlington
Although the terrorist group al Qaeda was probably established in 1988, the organisation came to the world’s attention exactly 10 years ago today with the bombing of the American embassies in the East African capital cities of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania and Nairobi, Kenya. The decade since then has been a bloody one, in terms […]
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