Of note in Joanna Lillis' Eurasianet article describing the outcome of a recent summit meeting in Moscow of the heads of government of the different countries signed up to the Eurasia Union project is that the smaller member-states are becoming more skeptical of this. Opposition in Kazakhstan, particularly, seems to be growing. (I suspect that the ( Read more... )

• Charlie Stross mourns fellow and recently passed Scottish writer Iain (M.) Banks.
• Crooked Timber, Lawyers, Guns and Money, and New APPS all take a look at the disgusting self-justifying behaviour of philosopher Colin McGinn towards a female grad student of his.
• Daniel Drezner wonders about the extent to which ideology will become important in ( Read more... )

• Bag News Notes isn't impressed by the scandal aroused by Arne Svenson's photos of New York City condo dwellers taken through their windows--they are open, aren't they?
• Beyond the Beyond links to an interview with Chinese science fiction writer Fei Dao about that genre in China.
• Burgh Diaspora's Jim Russell writes about the problems of rural America ( Read more... )

The Daily Beast:

• In his article "Don't Judge the Chechens Yet", historian Charles King argues that the Tsarnaev brothers' alleged acts can be best fit into a specifically American history of American domestic terrorism, with few direct links to Chechnya on their part, and warns that playing to stereotypes of North Caucasian violence could worsen ( Read more... )

• Beyond the Beyond's Bruce Sterling is skeptical that plans to archive vast quantities of archived data accumulated over decades, even centuries, are going to be viable.
• The Burgh Diaspora notes that for southern Europeans, Latin America is once again emerging as a destination--this time, the migration is of professionals seeking opportunities they ( Read more... )

• Crooked Timber's Niamh Hardiman writes about the tensions between democracy and effective supranational governance in the European Union, in Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti's statements.
• Eastern Approaches' T.J. profiles one of the first prominent Sikh immigrants in Slovenia, a business-owner.
• The Global Sociology Blog gives a qualified positive ( Read more... )

• In a guest post at Charlie Stross' blog, Kari Sperring takes issue with the idea of of a primeval Celtic paradise for women, based purely on myth and imaginings
• blogTO's Chris Bateman explains how different Toronto neighbourhoods--Parkdale, Rosedale, and so on--got their names.
• Eastern Approaches notes the ongoing scandal in Poland over that country' ( Read more... )

• 80 Beats notes suggestions that odd carbon-14 ratios in classical Japanese manuscripts and records of a red cross in the night sky from Anglo-Saxon England indicate that there may have been a supernova visible from Earth in 774.
• Extraordinary Observations is skeptical about the prospects for farming in urban areas in the United States, taken in ( Read more... )

• Andrew Barton is unimpressed by much of the recent fuss over surveillance in airports in Canada, on the grounds that airport security is defensible and there are better things to fight against.
• The Burgh Diaspora builds from a brief Demography Matters post I made, about the likelihood of the resumption of patterns of migration from Mediterranean to ( Read more... )

• Andrew Barton at Acts of Minor Treason writes about how the CBC's innovative programming let him learn and enjoy things he'd otherwise not have. The cutbacks will not do good things for the national broadcaster.
• Jeff Jedras at A BCer in Toronto pins the blame for the massive cost overruns in Canada's share of the vastly overexpensive F-35 fighter ( Read more... )