Archive | April, 2012
Posted on 30 April 2012. Tags: A Song of Ice and Fire, Arya Stark, Bran Stark, Brienne of Tarth, Catelyn Tully, Cersei Lannister, commentary, Daenerys Targaryen, Dragons, Game of Thrones, George R.R. Martin, Harrenhal, HBO, Jaqen H'ghar, Jon Snow, Jorah Mormont, King's Landing, Loras Tyrell, Melisandre, Merchant Prince of Qarth, Night's Watch, Qarth, Recap, Renly Baratheon, Review, Stannis Baratheon, Synopsis, tv, Tyrion Lannister, Wildfire, Wildlings, Xaro Xhoan Daxos
After giving birth to a shadow in the last episode, we return to Renly’s camp to see what has to become of Melisandre’s magic. In a parlay between Catelyn and Renly, Renly offers to recognize Robb as King of the North so long as Robb swears fealty to Renly as King on the Iron Throne. [...]
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Posted in Life & Arts
Posted on 30 April 2012. Tags: AMC, analysis, Bernard Malmud, Codfish Ball, commentary, Don Draper, Emile, Episode 7, Joan Holloway-Harris, Ken Cosgrove, Mad Men, Megan Draper, Megan's family, Menahem Mendel Beilis, New York City, Pauline Francis, Recap, Review, Sally Draper, Season 5, Synopsis, The Fixer, tv, Yakov Bok
Sally and Glen have remained friends, even though she has moved away and he is apparently in some sort of private school. Pauline trips over the phone cord and hurts herself while bellowing through the halls for Sally and Bobby to prepare the dinner table for her. Megan’s family comes to visit in order to [...]
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Posted in Life & Arts
Posted on 29 April 2012. Tags: Afghanistan, Asia, CCCP, Central Asia, Drug trade, drugs trafficking, Dushanbe, Emomali Rakhmon, former Soviet Republic, Heroin, institutionalized corruption, opiates, Opium, patronage networks, Russia, Silk Road, Soviet Union, Tajikistan, Tajikistan's Drug Control Agency, UN Office on Drugs and Crime, United Nations, USSR
Less than two decades after the collapse of the Soviet Union, former Soviet republic Tajikistan can best be classified as an economic catastrophe: Tajikistan is dependent on remittances from Tajiks living abroad and this is equivalent to roughly 45% of GDP. Further, poverty is extremely widespread, with half of the country’s population of eight million [...]
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Posted in Global Economy
Posted on 28 April 2012. Tags: Argentina, Carlos Menem, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, Economics, Eskenazi Family, European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso, Leftist, Nationalization, Natural Resources, Oil, Peterson Group, Privatization, Repsol, Socialism, South America, Sovereign Debt, State Owned Enterprises, Yacimientos Petroliferos Fiscales, YPF
Argentina’s move to seize control of national oil giant YPF (Yacimientos Petroliferos Fiscales) has cheered domestic supporters of embattled Peronist President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, but the move has angered Argentina’s trans-Atlantic friends in Spain. What began as a business issue has now become a full-blown diplomatic incident. The proposed nationalization of YPF follows Kirchner’s previous [...]
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Posted in Global Economy
Posted on 26 April 2012. Tags: Aristocracy, Asia, Bo Guagua, Bo Xilai, Bo Yibo, China, Chongqing, Cultural Revolution, Gu Kailai, Mao Ze Dong, Neil Haywood, People's Republic of China, Politburo, Politburo Standing Committee, PRC, Princelings, Privileged Class, Red Songs, Scandal, Wealthy
The voice of the Communist Party of China has come through loud and clear in the Bo Xilai case: Bo is stripped of all titles and factional battles are alive and well within the Chinese Politburo. PRC internet sources are alive with rumors regarding the most public downfall of a powerful Chinese politician in recent [...]
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Posted in World Politics
Posted on 26 April 2012. Tags: Asia, Biological Weapons, Biological Weapons Convention, Chemical Weapons, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, DPRK, Kim Dynasty, Kim Il-sung, Kim Jong-il, Media, North Korea Kim Jong-un, North Korean Nuclear Weapons, Propaganda, South Korea, Weapons Development Programs
Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un’s first speech to the public has drawn the hermit kingdom back into the spotlight with a focus on his youth and deadly nuclear arsenal. Propaganda in North Korea has raised the youngest Kim to the heights of supreme status shared only by his father, the late Kim Jong-il, and grandfather, the [...]
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Posted in World
Posted on 26 April 2012. Tags: Argentina, Brazil, Business & Finance, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, Economics, Hugo Chavez, Leftist, Nationalization, Natural Resources, Oil, Paris Club, Privatization, Repsol, Socialism, Sovereign Debt, State Owned Enterprises, Venezuela, YPF
The move is widely considered an economic catastrophe for Argentina but the nationalization of former state oil enterprise YPF, a hallowed mark in Argentina, will not only address energy and cash shortages but may also shore up the president’s popularity. Yet, many find this most recent move by Cristina Fernández disturbing because, like Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, [...]
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Posted in Global Economy
Posted on 23 April 2012. Tags: A Song of Ice and Fire, Arya, Cersei Lannister, commentary, Epic, Episode 4, Fantasy, Game of Thrones, Garden of Bones, House Greyjoy, House Stark, King's Landing, Recap, Review, Season 2, Synopsis, tv, Tyrion
We return to the battlefield in this installment of Game of Thrones. Robb launches a night attack on the Lannister camp to bring slaughter down upon them. When next we see the soldiers on the field of battle we see death and destruction. Robb helps a field nurse tend to a wounded soldier who needs [...]
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Posted in Life & Arts
Posted on 23 April 2012. Tags: AMC, analysis, commentary, Don Draper, drama, Heinz, Howard Johnsons, Jon Hamm, Mad Men, Megan Draper, Peggy Olson, Recap, Review, Synopsis, Television, tv
Peggy and her beau are having problems in their relationship because of Peggy’s work schedule. On top of everything, Peggy is being superstitious about having misplaced some lucky charm that Don had given her. She needs it to help her with the Heinz presentation. At the last minute, Don takes Megan to Howard Johnson’s and [...]
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Posted in Life & Arts
Posted on 16 April 2012. Tags: 1966, AMC, Charles Whitman, Don Draper, Jaguar, Joan Holloway-Harris, Jon Hamm, Lane Pryce, Mad Men, Pete Campbell, Rebecca Pryce, Recap, Review, Trudy Campbell, University of Texas Sniper Shootings, World Cup 1966
Opening with a montage of car wrecks, we notice Pete Campbell studying up for his driver’s license while eyeing a young blond girl at the same time. A dripping faucet in the kitchen keeps him from going to sleep and it is already evident that this is probably going to be a Pete themed episode. [...]
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Posted in Life & Arts