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.

Ensaios Imperfeitos

Salmond and the elusive Euro Previously Alex Salmond has said that an "independent" Scotland would not only keep the Queen, but also the pound as its currency. He appears to have now changed his opinion:

3. "Gaza: outlines of an endgame", Ghassan Khatib (6 January 2009):http://www.opendemocracy.net/article/gaza-outlines-of-an-endgame

Minstrel Boy "The Minstrel Boy to the war is gone In the ranks of death you will find him; His father's sword he hath girded on, And his wild harp slung behind him; "Land of Song!" said the warrior bard, "Tho' all the world betrays thee, One sword, at least, thy rights shall guard, One faithful harp shall praise thee!" -- Verse from the Minstrel Boy

open democracy

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

As Mary Kaldor has argued we need to think of problems in human terms. This is a necessary step in moving from the progressive ideals of RTP and the millennium development goals, towards the protection of individuals in the most dangerous situation human beings create. Such a change can be dismissed as idealism as against the realism of the status quo. But we should be clear that the status quo is that we accept mass murder as the price of protecting our current definition of sovereignty.

If these reforms were passed there is also a danger that minority groups would attack governments in the hope of provoking a disproportionate response that can then be used to claim status as victims of genocide

Gaza: outlines of an endgame Written by Administrator   

Continuity in US foreign policy

open Democracy News Analysis - Comments opendemocracy on "Gaza: hope after attack" - So ... you ended your first comment with the thought that "the Arabs must lay down their arms for peace." You start this one with "Hamas cannot lay down ...

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Say no to the database state

Minstrel Boy

Consider the "Top Gun Effect" as excerpted fromhttp://www.opendemocracy.net/arts-Film/article_369.jsp

That doesn't justify the Palestinians' violent response, which has been both morally atrocious and wholly ineffective, but it's important to understanding why Palestinian society sees itself in a war for it's own survival, not for Israel's.

This series of pieces from OpenDemocracy provides a good sense of how control extends to vertical space. That's to say, it's not just about square footage. (The author draws a fascinating comparison between settler outposts and crusader forts.) It's also about demographics. The standard argument against a one-state settlement is that birth rates would leave the Arabs in the majority. But settler families are also larger than ones in Israel proper, culturally detached and with children claiming exemption from IDF service. That creates its own cultural splinters.

Parliamentarism in Ukraine 2009 - a window of opportunity? Andreas Umland, Ukraine's Window of OpportunityopenDemocracy, December 19 2008

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