World AIDS Day

Thomas Friedman asks where are the Pakistani protests are about Mumbai. Fair enough question. If only he would look. This is the English language stuff. I’m trying to figure out how to post the Urdu language material, you know, the actual language of most Pakistanis. —– Information about vigils: DEC 4: Karachi, London, & Boston, Worcester (MA) & Providence, RI DEC 6: San Fransisco Already held: Dec 2, UPenn Forthcoming: Dec 4 (TODAY): – KARACHI: 5.00 pm, Karachi Press Club, Pakistan India Peoples Forum for Peace and Democracy (PIPFPD) & Peace Karachi, candle lit vigil for Peace against carnage in…

Cornell West has a brave op-ed piece on the moral disaster that is the Middle East: As we witness another sad chapter in the Middle East — the loss of precious human beings, the presence of deep hatred and revenge, and the absence of Socratic questioning and empathy for all — the spirit of Spinoza haunts us. Where are the courageous thinkers who ask the hard questions that shatter our simplistic and sentimental frameworks of pure Israeli heroes and impure Arab villains (or vice versa) in the conflict? Is it possible for Jews to reject the ugly Israeli subjugation of…

First hat-tip here. The NYT is not allowing perma-links on the issue. Try to check out their coverage. Tajikistan, the country with which I’m most familiar, has a great deal of potential in terms of human capital. It would be a shame if the corruption of the government kept it from realizing its potential. While the initial blush of post-Soviet headiness in the international community has faded, I believe there is enough aid and interest in Tajikistan that it still has a short window in which it could develop a sustainable economy.