Links July 27th to August 6th

Links from my del.icio.us account for July 27th through August 6th:

• Mauritania army stages coup; junta takes charge - Yahoo! News - A new coup!


• Inside the Pakistan-Taliban Relationship: Six Questions for Ahmed Rashid, Author of Descent Into Chaos—By Scott Horton (Harper's Magazine) - Great stuff on India-Afghanistan-Pakistan-Taliban rivalries


• The Daily Star - Editorial - The US is colluding in the trampling of democracy in Egypt - "Disappointed" doesn't cut it for the Daily Star


• YouTube - Egypt's Facebook Face Off - Egypt - Completely over-the-top reporting on Egypt, but has some good stuff


• "This Time, It's Different: Global Pressures Have Converged to Forge a New Oil Reality" By Steven Mufson - Long story on rising third world demand and dwindling supply of oil

Comments

[MC]

Ok. I only skimmed through that Daily Star article on Saad Ibrahim being sentenced (redux!), but .... but what a piece of crap. Clearly the editorial situation ain't what it might be these days.

"Democracy in Egypt was dealt another fatal blow..." how many fatal blows can something actually take? I would have thought one would be about it, no?

"...one lone man with a microphone and a keyboard..." Huh? Makes the guy sound like a panhandler. And a hundred bucks to the person who can tell me the last time they saw Saad at a keyboard!

"... a period in which Egypt has started to move in reverse on the path to democracy..." "started"? When was Egypt ever "on the path to democracy" except to run as fast as it could herd its cats in the direction of tin pot dictatorocracy?

"Bush and Rice are unlikely to come ... to the defense of democracy." Who could look at that sentence and not draw a red pen through it?