A fading [Olympic] flame?

The "travels" of the Olympic flame - so far to the cities of London, Paris and now San Francisco - have proven a focal point for protests against Chinese oppression of Tibetans.

The people of the world have certainly had brought to their attention the way the Chinese deal with dissent - be it the Tibetans or Chinese citizens seeking to use the internet to register a view which does not accord with that of the Chinese Government.

Amnesty International, in Australia, has just launched an interesting web site, uncensor.com.au which focuses on Chinese oppression. Go to the web site here - and then bookmark it. Look out for the Search for Freedom part of the web site [on the right side] and then check out how the Chinese deal with the topic you have chosen [for instance, Tianenmen Square] as compared to the West. Fascinating!

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Robert Fisk's predictions for the Middle East in 2013

There is no gain-saying that Robert Fisk, fiercely independent and feisty to boot, is the veteran journalist and author covering the Middle East. Who doesn't he know or hasn't he met over the years in reporting from Beirut - where he lives? In his latest op-ed piece for The Independent he lays out his predictions for the Middle East for 2013. Read the piece in full, here - well worthwhile - but an extract... "Never make predictions in the Middle East. My crystal ball broke long ago. But predicting the region has an honourable pedigree. “An Arab movement, newly-risen, is looming in the distance,” a French traveller to the Gulf and Baghdad wrote in 1883, “and a race hitherto downtrodden will presently claim its due place in the destinies of Islam.” A year earlier, a British diplomat in Jeddah confided that “it is within my knowledge... that the idea of freedom does at present agitate some minds even in Mecca...” So let’s say this for 2013: the “Arab Awakening” (the t...

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Mahler's Prodigal Son

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