Archive for the ‘World current affairs’ Category
The American presidential election (42)
June 12th, 2008 by Roger Darlington
Five outrageous and untrue smears about Barack Obama are demolished on this new web site.
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Why are oil prices rising so fast? (1)
June 7th, 2008 by Roger Darlington
The BBC web site has a short piece which manages to suggest no less than seven reasons: Rising demand from China, the Middle East and Latin America – but we’ve known this for months and even years Doubts about future demand – which seems to contradict the first reason Israeli threats to strike on Iran […]
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The American presidential election (41)
June 5th, 2008 by Roger Darlington
So, now that at last we are sure who the Democratic and Republican candidates are, who will Barack Obama and John McCain choose for their running mates? A review of eight possibilities for the Democrats is here and a look at five possibilities for the Republicans is here. All I know for sure is that […]
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The American presidential election (40)
June 4th, 2008 by Roger Darlington
It’s taken five months hard campaigning and voting in all 50 states – not to mention 40 postings on this blog – but finally the longest and closest and most expensive primary campaign in US history has resulted in the adoption of the first ever African-American as the candidate of a major party. It is […]
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Food for thought
June 3rd, 2008 by Roger Darlington
On the day that sees the opening in Rome of a special summit organised by the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), some compelling facts on food.
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“The Gods That Failed”
June 2nd, 2008 by Roger Darlington
This is the title of a forthcoming book and a web site to promote discussion on its themes. The book is by Larry Elliott and Dan Atkinson and the gods are globalisation, communication, liberalisation, privatisation, competition, financialisation, speculation, recklessness, greed, arrogance, oligarchy and excess. The central argument of the book is that the world’s bankers […]
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The American presidential election (39)
June 1st, 2008 by Roger Darlington
An American contact has drawn my attention this article which was recently in the “Washington Post” and elsewhere. The piece makes comparisons between the presidential candidacy of Jimmy Carter in 1976 and that of Barack Obama in 2008. It makes the point that both were complete outsiders when they started their presidential bids and wonders […]
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Forgotten World (135): The Gambia
May 30th, 2008 by Roger Darlington
The Gambia is the smallest country in mainland Africa with a size of only 4,361 sq miles and a population of a mere 1.7 million. Unlike many of its West African neighbours, it has enjoyed long spells of stability since independence from Britain in 1965. President Yahya Jammeh seized power in a bloodless coup in […]
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Forgotten World (134): Texas
May 29th, 2008 by Roger Darlington
Texas is the second largest state in the US (after Alaska) at 268,601 square miles and the second most populous (after California) with 24 million residents.The name Texas comes from the Hasinai Indian word tejas meaning friends or allies. It is the only state to enter the United States by treaty instead of territorial annexation […]
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The republic of Nepal
May 28th, 2008 by Roger Darlington
Five years ago, Vee and I spent a few days in Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal, at the conclusion of a holiday in the Indian sub-continent [my account here]. At the time of our visit, for six years there had been an insurgency by Maoist rebels which had already claimed almost 8,000 lives, most of […]
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