• Al Jazeera’s live telecasts
• Al Jazeera’s twitter feed for its reporters
• Al Jazeera’s Mar 6th live blog; it’s a different page from day to day, so going to the live feed page and looking for the link to the current one is a good idea after today.
• The Guardian’s Libya site and updated map of the fighting.
• BBC’s live blog on Libya with video

Coming Anarchy also highlights multiple historical places with the same name; Albania, Iberia, Alexandria,  various African nations, and Guinea.  They don’t have one for Galicia, but they ought to.

The governments of Mali and Algeria are teaming up to smush a local Al Qaeda spinoff in the western Sahara.  Of course, Algeria has been sponsoring Polisario in the Western Sahara for decades, but *that’s* the terrorists that they like.

The endless ethnic nationalist guerilla war against the central Burmese government goes on, as noted in this ( Read more... )

LJ: cedarseed is in Ethiopia; I’ve always been intrigued by the classical end of Ethiopian civilization (I need to pick up a Budge book on Ethiopian magic one of these days) and love looking at classic Ethiopian art.    Some good photos; check it out and her LJ in general.

Jay Lake and his family (especially his daughter, who, like mine, originated ( Read more... )

I’d forgotten about this: The American Service Members Protection Act of 2002, courtesy of Messrs Bush and Helms.  It authorizes the US President to use any and all means to yank US citizens and soldiers out of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, including invading the Netherlands on a rescue mission.   It also prohibits any office ( Read more... )

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The Bank of Zimbabwe is now producing 50 billion Zimbabwe dollar notes.  This will buy maybe two loaves of bread, if you can find the money or the bread.   Or three newspapers.

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Zimbabwe is a complex subject, and the complexities have gotten a whole lot rougher on the inhabitants as time passes by.   Europeans under Cecil Rhodes marched in in the ned of the 1800s and took control of the land from the local chiefs, and passed out all sorts of claims to white settlers, who set up solid and profitable ranches and farms all ( Read more... )

If anyone around has a good background history on Carthage, suggest away.  I’m looking for something NOT a rehash of the Rome-Punic Wars, but information on Carthage and how it worked at its height.  Thanks!