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Chicago: tale of two cities Written by Charles Shaw    There have always been at least two Chicagos wrestling within America's great heartland metropolis. The election of Barack Obama and the recent criminal indictment of Governor Rod Blagojevich have once again shown how the city's angels are never far away from its demons. The iconic struggles of race, class and culture have been played out in street and park, back-room and boardroom, City Hall and union hall, and of course, in the headlines and in the hot air from which the "Windy City" gets its name.

Written by Mary Kaldor Marika Theros    Friday, 12 December 2008 17:10 Human security ought to be the goal of any Obama surge in Afghanistan, not defeat of Al Qaeda

ISN - The protest wave in Greece following the police shooting of a student should be seen in the light of the country’s post-1973 history, writes Kostas Gemenis for openDemocracy

Web Debate as Self-Obsessed Point-Scoring Internet | The problem with much Internet debate: “What is striking is that few of the comments really engage with the piece they are supposedly commenting on. Instead, most commentators just engage with each other, often with a viciousness that takes your breath away.” It’s narrow, insular point-scoring rather than a reflective exchange of ideas that might inform a wider audience, an essay says. [Open Democracy]

openDemocracy

The political tensions of the Caucasus are reflected on the ground in a range of obstacles - from roadblocks and closed markets to polarized attitudes, Thomas de Waal writes for openDemocracy.

Three regular guys Written by Jim Gabour    Where will the Republican Party go in the age of Barack Obama? The political swamps of Louisiana offer a clue, says Jim Gabour.

“* a huge demonstration and riot in Guzhou province, southwest China. As many as 30,000 people mobilised in response to claims that police had covered up the alleged rape and murder of a teenage girl; cars and government buildings were set on fire (see Li Datong, “The Weng’an model: China’s fix-it governance”, 30 July 2008).

This may be the case with both Indi and Dinidu and their respective blogs. But the comments to Indi’s post at the time of writing and Dinidu’s analysis strengthens the argument made by Evgeny Morozov on openDemocracy.net, Many less radical institutions - governments, NGOs, think tanks - are struggling to address the same challenge, unable to respond to the rapidly shifting balance of power between the individual and the institution radically disrupted by the Internet. In today’s ultra-networked world, an unaffiliated individual with a laptop and an Internet connection is often more influential and resourceful than an organization with a staff of twenty and a fax machine was only twenty years ago.

Indi and Dinidu

Gaza: outlines of an endgame Written by Administrator   

Continuity in US foreign policy

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