Development summarised (somewhat)

I saw this link this at C'est vrai. Absolutely fantastic. The World Bank and IMF should watch this (and probably NGOs).

It is a cartoon book that summarises the western development idea and the real outcomes.

Have a look at "New cartoon book that satirises 'development'"

Picture: Book cover from Survival International

The status quo principle and the Middle East

Catallaxy writes an interesting peice, illuminating various schools of ideas surrounding the middle east crisis.

Some excerpts are as follows:

"The west exported Marxism and nationalism to the rest of the world with truly disastrous consequences. Can we find a way to export better ideas? Do we have better ideas?"

"Just as some would now depict Israel as the embodiment of all that is wrong with the world, for these supporters it has become the foremost fighter for what is right. As a consequence they sometimes make it seem that, if you want to defend democracy and civilisation, then you have to support bombing raids on Lebanon. In similarly shrill fashion, leading supporters of Israel insist that the drunken outburst by Hollywood star and Catholic crackpot Mel Gibson, about how ‘the Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world’, is somehow proof of a rising tide of anti-Semitism in the Western world."

Read on here

Good people do nothing

"All that is necessary for evil to succeed is that good men do nothing." Edmund Burke

Alexcia write's a refreshing piece covering the Israel-Lebanon crisis, amongst other issues. The post starts:

"As the tiny nation of of Israel pounds all its fears and frustrations on another tiny nation and inchoate democracy in Lebanon, the "Good people" of the world do nothing, say nothing and even engage in "i told you so" self righteousness and "you brought it on yourself" crap. Last I heard, the kawa citizen of Lebanon was being asked to get rid of the Hizbollah "terriosts" by himself or be bombed and punished."

...Read on here