ninme

The Times - Greenland: pole position Greenland is poised to become a new superpower

For most people, the first view of Greenland’s icy mountains is from 36,000 feet as they cruise over the world’s largest island en route to Los Angeles. It looks chillingly inhospitable: a snowscape, stretching across 836,000 square miles, with no roads, […]

Categories: Geography and Foreign Affairs

I’m going with funny, because otherwise it would just be scary. And the fact that someone actually noticed this is hilarious. That and the arrows. The little arrows kill me.

Categories: Geography and Foreign Affairs

The Times - Stop indulging African dictators The elections in Zimbabwe and Kenya have shown how democracy is in a parlous state, by Ishbel Matheson (a former BBC East Africa correspondent)

It is tempting to conclude that while Zimbabwe continues on the road to perdition, Kenya has pulled back from the brink. Tempting but wrong. […]

Categories: Geography and Foreign Affairs

The stories about Jimmy Carter’s travels to embrace various Palestinian leaders is pretty much wall-to-wall on LGF. Interrupted by this story:

BBC - ‘World peace’ hitcher is murdered

An Italian woman artist who was hitch-hiking to the Middle East dressed as a bride to promote world peace has been found murdered in Turkey. […]

Categories: Geography and Foreign Affairs

The Times - The flame of democracy fading Demonstrations over the Olympics remind us that freedom is losing out to authoritarianism, by Gerry Baker

The 2008 version of the battle is lower key but this little struggle is a mirror on the most important simple political fact of our times - the global struggle for […]

Categories: Geography and Foreign Affairs

Pencils ready?

Telegraph - Tony Robinson: my top 10 train trips

and

Telegraph - Pictures - 10 Great Rail Journeys

Everything from the “Northern Belle” (why wasn’t I told?!) to the Shinkansen.

Categories: Geography and Foreign Affairs

The Times - Mugabe’s joke is no laughing matter Is Thabo Mbeki’s quiet diplomacy’ part of the running gag in Zimbabwe? By Tim Hames

This is the moment to be ready to adopt the only course of action that might humiliate Mr Mbeki into finally taking decisive measures. Britain should overtly open a direct dialogue […]

Categories: Geography and Foreign Affairs

Indicative of the entirety of the Road to Hana:

My guidebook (”Maui Day by Day”) says,

Just after MM (mile marker) 25 is a narrow 3-mile (4.8 km) road leading from the highway, at about 1,000 feet (300m) elevation, down to sea level. Nahiku. This remote, stunningly beatufiul area was once a […]

Categories: Geography and Foreign Affairs

Lucky Philip.

Now, seriously, people. This is a major crisis.

Carla Bruni, fashion model, seen nude by most of Europe, is now the First Lady of France. If this isn’t a desperate reason to keep Hillary Clinton out of the White House, I don’t know what is.

Categories: Geography and Foreign Affairs

Just about two years ago, I posted Free Tibet, which linked to an Alice Thomson column about her trip to see the Dalai Lama, which was probably one of the most memorable articles I’ve read. She’s bringing it up again:

Telegraph - Gordon Brown must back Tibet’s freedom fight, by Alice Thomson

The last image […]

Categories: Geography and Foreign Affairs

Home-bound China-business-traveller Brett McS is going to try to swing past the Terracotta Army in between flights today.

Unfortunately, those are the ones at the BM:

Times Online - Tibet protesters target Terracotta Army exhibition at British Museum

The British Museum’s exhibition of China’s Terracotta Army was today targeted by pro-Tibetan protesters who hung placards […]

Categories: Geography and Foreign Affairs

Poor Brett:

The Chinese system of Internet censorship and media propaganda may have a lot of holes, but when tested by events like the Tibet unrest this past week, so far it’s holding up well enough for the regime’s purposes.

They sure got to me, didn’t they!

Links at the link. For other sources of […]

Categories: Geography and Foreign Affairs

The Times - Security forces stand by as the worst riots in 50 years are fuelled by Tibetans fighting for recognition

Throughout the afternoon groups of people came out from various houses. Sometimes just one or two teenage youths armed with traditional Tibetan knives, sometimes large groups of dozens, attacked Chinese shops, most ethnic […]

Categories: Geography and Foreign Affairs

The Times - Winds of change gather pace as President Robert Mugabe’s hungry masses dare to voice their anger

He should just try to invade Colombia.

Categories: Geography and Foreign Affairs

Apparently, “more than one-in-ten 16-24 year-olds questioned believed that George Bush was the leader of the Commonwealth.“

Great!

Categories: Geography and Foreign Affairs