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Liu Xiaobo and China's future

Kerry Brown
The Beijing elite’s vehement reaction to an imprisoned dissident’s Nobel award is a sign of its political vulnerability, says Kerry Brown.

A soundbite for the poor

Ivan Briscoe
How should civil society convey the countless loopholes, miseries and quiet victories of development in this digital era of time-compressed argument and ideological insinuation?

20, 2000 and 2: the three shadows of Facebook

Luis de Miranda
The eternal campus of the global middle class; the solution to the injunction to love ones fellow; a riskless replacement to reality. You could not have designed Facebook better to opiate 21st Century occidentals

Vasily Grossman's The Road

Robert Chandler
Gongadze Robert Chandler, distinguished translator of Vasily Grossman’s novels Life and Fate and Everything Flows, has now tackled Grossman’s last stories. We bring you his and his wife’s translation of The Road, the tale of a mule wrestling with Hamlet’s dilemma on the long road to Stalingrad

Wednesday 13th October

Currency wars: China buying time

Tony Curzon Price and Charles Diamond, 13 October 2010
China is being pressed to revalue the yuan; Thailand has imposed limits on money flows into Thailand; Brazil is appealing for an end to competitive devaluations ... the currency war between China and the USA will have disturbing political repercussions. (Audio conversation, 45 mins)

Anatomy of a very British 'revolution': the Spectator puts its foot in its own X-Ray

Gerry Hassan, 13 October 2010
The current issue of the Spectator claims to be investigating the political and social elites that form the "new establishment" in the UK. Yet this leading conservative journal has no interest in mapping the wider networks of real power and privilege of which it is a part.

Tuition fees just the beginning of Lib Dem troubles

Michael Collins, 13 October 2010
If the Lib Dem leadership falls behind plans to raise tuition fees, it could accelerate a split within the party.

After Life and Fate: Vasily Grossman’s last stories

Robert Chandler, 13 October 2010
Yesterday we published one of Robert & Elizabeth Chandler’s new translations of Grossman’s stories, The Road. Today, Robert Chandler writes about these stories and about Grossman’s friendship with Andrey Platonov

Vasily Grossman's The Road

Robert Chandler, 13 October 2010
Gongadze Robert Chandler, distinguished translator of Vasily Grossman’s novels Life and Fate and Everything Flows, has now tackled Grossman’s last stories. We bring you his and his wife’s translation of The Road, the tale of a mule wrestling with Hamlet’s dilemma on the long road to Stalingrad

Tuesday 12th October

Strains mount on US-Pakistani relationship after new allegations of ISI-Taliban links

Luke Heighton, 12 October 2010
The US accuses Pakistan of aiding Afghan militants - again; Are ancient weapons a testament to al-Qaida's weakness or its resourcefullness?; Tension rise in Bangkok amid fears of renewed Red Shirt protest; Chaos in Belgrade, as anti-gay protesters attack Gay Pride March. All this and more, in today's global security briefing....

Liu Xiaobo and China's future

Kerry Brown, 12 October 2010
The Beijing elite’s vehement reaction to an imprisoned dissident’s Nobel award is a sign of its political vulnerability, says Kerry Brown.

Kyrgyz elections: the birth of democracy?

Baktybek Abdrisaev, 12 October 2010
Recent parliamentary elections in Kyrgyzstan were declared free and fair, but Russia and its Central Asian neighbours feel threatened by Kyrgyz democracy. Will the country be able to juggle its relations with them and with China and USA? Baktybek Abdrisaev wonders if President Bakiyev’s dark legacy can be overcome.

A soundbite for the poor

Ivan Briscoe, 12 October 2010
How should civil society convey the countless loopholes, miseries and quiet victories of development in this digital era of time-compressed argument and ideological insinuation?
Monday 11th October

oD Drug Policy Forum: Front Line Report - Week of October 10th, 2010

Charles Shaw and Mark Weiss, 11 October 2010
Charles Shaw is currently on a 6-week speaking tour, so I have the honor of leading this week's report - and with only 22 days left until Californians go to the polls to determine the fate of Proposition 19, I lead with encouraging news from the latest Public Policy Institue of California poll.

Critical AfPak border crossing reopens to Nato convoys

Daniel C Giacopelli, 11 October 2010
Pakistan reopens critical border crossing to Nato convoys. Heir-apparent and new missiles appear at North Korean military parade. Kyrgyz voters avoid violence in parliamentary election. Budget woes constrain UN war crimes tribunals. All this and more in today’s security briefing.

The Slow Hollowing Out of Scottish Labour

Gerry Hassan, 11 October 2010
The era of Scottish Labour influence at Westminster is coming to an end.

The background to Osh: stories of conflict and coexistence

Nick Megoran, 11 October 2010
Reporting of the ethnic clashes that took place in the Kyrgyz city of Osh this summer has tended to spotlight the victimhood of either ethnic Kyrgyz or ethnic Uzbeks. This polarisation is but a reflection of competing historical narratives of Osh’s ethnic identity, writes Dr Nick Megoran.

20, 2000 and 2: the three shadows of Facebook

Luis de Miranda, 11 October 2010
The eternal campus of the global middle class; the solution to the injunction to love ones fellow; a riskless replacement to reality. You could not have designed Facebook better to opiate 21st Century occidentals

China and Liu Xiaobo: the weakness of strength

Kerry Brown, 11 October 2010
The award of the Nobel peace prize to Chinese rights activist Liu Xiaobo is a landmark moment. In January 2010, Kerry Brown assessed Liu's significance - and Temtsel Hao anticipated this moment (archive)

Simple as that

Stuart Weir, 11 October 2010
Tony Blair’s memoir makes for a weighty book, but his odd self-portrait is far less substantial as an account of 11 years in power. Stuart Weir assesses a career lost by a risk too far.

SCR 1325: just words on a piece of paper

Lyric Thompson, 11 October 2010
"SCR 1325 is a tool, and the utility of a tool depends on how it is perceived and how activists employ it. So we have this resolution. Great; so what? Tell me how we can get people fired up on the ground." Peace laureate Jody Williams talks to Lyric Thompson.
Sunday 10th October

Has the Big Society a future when Cameron sips Chateau Petrus – the most expensive wine in the world – at an estimated £1,000 a bottle?

Anthony Barnett, 10 October 2010
The Cameron government may find it hard ask everyone to share the burden when it can't stopping living the high life.

Neither Hayek or Lenin: the suitability of Cameron's conservatism

David Marquand, 10 October 2010
A short but sweeping contribution to the OK debate over the coherence and credibility of the British Prime Minister's call for a Big Society.
Friday 8th October

A lesson for Luzhkov? Tatarstan’s Shaimiev shows how to cling on to power

Oleg Pavlov, 8 October 2010
In March 2010, Minitimer Shaimiev, the two-decade figurehead of Tatarstan, resigned when prompted by the federal centre. It was the end of an era, locals thought, yet eight months on the Tatar President has yet to leave the building. Oleg Pavlov wonders whether obedient subordination and quiet diplomacy has allowed Shaimiev to avoid the fate of his opposite number in Moscow, Yuri Luzkhov
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