Wolfowitz in Hot Water

Paul Wolfowitz, noted neocon and recent head of the World Bank, has come under fire for giving his partner a promotion and large pay raise without the approval of the executive board. The New York Times explores the background to the scandal, especially given the relationship between the United States and the rest of the West.

You should check out this documentary entitled 'Death of a Nation' - it overviews the demographic crisis that Russia is currently facing, and how it plays into xenophobic attitudes toward those ethnic groups seen to be having many children. The part with the Cossacks is particularly frightening. On a similar topic, Russia has banned all immigrant vendors from working - even those who are legal immigrants. Now that only ethnic 'Russians' can sell goods, the people are paying the economic cost of that decision in higher prices and shortages. Oh, and if you want to protest this legislation, you should think twice. A key opposition leader, Garry Kasparov, has been arrested after attempting to organise a rally against the Putin regime.

Also:
- Slate overviews the French Presidential election.
- Spiegel published the results of a Dutch study on European Islamic terrorism.
- The White House 'accidentally' lost millions of emails, many of which could have been used in proving Republican wrongdoing.
- 13 detainees at Guantanamo Bay are being force-fed.
- If you have Google Earth, check out their new coverage of Darfur.
- The CSM gives great coverage of how Chiquita had Columbian paramilitaries on salary.
- Who killed JFK? Apparently a French assassin hired by LBJ.
- You can now listen to the 2007 Reith Lectures, delivered this year by Jeffrey Sachs.
- Which came first, the chicken or the Tyrannosaurus Rex?
- The Mozart effect is just a placebo.
- Do we really need 8 hours of sleep?
- The hardest Super Mario level... ever... (he never finishes 1-2, so you can stop after 1-1)