The Putin Parody Andrei Piontkovsky The history of authoritarian rule in Russia displays a certain depressing regularity. Such regimes rarely perish from external shocks or position pressure. As a rule, they die unexpectedly from some internal disease – from irresistible existential disgust at themselves, from their own exhaustion. Czarist rule withstood many harsh tests during…
Experiments smashing success The live stream is now over, video is now available on CERN website. The Large Hadron Collider in Geneva, Switzerland, performed the first-ever proton collision of this magnitude earlier today; It’s a big day for science, and you don’t have to miss any of it if you have a laptop with Wi-Fi…
Is China the Next Global Resource Glutton? UPDATE: Gold has continued its appreciation today. Overall commodities and emerging markets were the main driver. The key chart today is copper which broke out to make new highs on the year (and since August 2008 for that matter). Indicator suggests CHINA RISK RISING Given what we have…
Over the past decade, Western media have repeatedly portrayed images of Muslim women as victims. We have read about the Taliban publicly beating young women who laugh in the street; we have read about the targeted killings of professional Iraqi women – doctors, journalists, lawyers – who represent an opposing view to an extremist agenda….
Karzai’s China-Iran dalliance riles Obama By M K Bhadrakumar Great moments in diplomatic timing are hard to distinguish when the practitioners are inscrutable entities. Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s visits to China and Iran within the week rang alarm bells in Washington which were heard in the Oval Office of the White House. Karzai’s two days…
How much authority does Pope Benedict XVI still enjoy? Vatican faces test of moral credibility in this expanding abuse scandal. The Catholic Church can never recover as long as its Holy Shepherd is seen as a black sheep in the ever-darkening sex abuse scandal. Allegations that Pope Benedict XVI may have had detailed knowledge about…
Amusing Bill Maher to Democratic Party: “Your poll numbers may have descended a bit, but so did your testicles.” New Rule: You Can’t Use “There Will Be No Cooperation for the Rest of the Year” as a Threat If There Was No Cooperation in the First Half of the Year Even before the Democrats got…
Drugs, terrorism and shadow banking Mar 26, 2010 11:28 EDT banking | drugs | terrorism The trouble with moving big amounts of cash, from a criminal’s point of view, is threefold. It’s bulky, it’s heavy and it smells. A stash of $1 million in mixed bills weighs around 100 pounds (50 kilos). Specially-trained dogs can…