DISQUS

*Bangladesh (not Indonesia)

Thanks for blogging about this. Read a little piece about it in WSJ or Newsweek and thought it was fascinating how smart minds can do little things to educate the less educated. Your buddy from Indonesia was also recently mentioned in the WSJ from 7/30 or 7/31. It referenced the Gates foundation trying to imitate his successes with local banking, etc in developing nations as part of its efforts to eliminate poverty. Feature article in WSJ, don't know if you have access though.

Check this recent NYT article out. Interesting blend of capitalism and giving. Returns in investment not based in $, instead returns are measured by the growth of your own community. Also, not a zero sum practice as mentioned in the article. Would be interesting to apply a similar model to the global community as developed countries would not be dragged down by helping underdeveloped countries. This may be the approach that the EU takes when it stimulates countries in the Balkans in the hopes of having a more stable continent. Unfortunately beyond being a physical neighbor, I doubt this approach would work . Don't know if increasing the living conditions of say Azeris, provides benefits to French companies. Just some rambling, contradictory thoughts that I can't even get a hold of.... http://dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/07/24/ve...

Last section on Al Qaeda makes me think of an article I was reading in this weeks Economist. In the article "How to Win the War within Islam," a prominent Al Qaeda member is referenced providing techniques to the West on how to combat Al Qaeda. Check it out here (specifically the last paragraph of the article) http://www.economist.com/opinion/displaystory.c.... Although much of these actions could be done by a centralized group I feel the effectiveness of something such as mobilizing religious leaders would be increased if it was more decentralized and more casual. Less government force could make the leaders of these movements feel more empowered and independent and make the movement against Al Qaeda and company all the more successful.

"those attached to natural gathering points like online newspapers are (with apologies to WaPo) primitive." Zittrain also said this in the online discussion that was hosted by Washington Post. Why does somebody like Zittrain volunteer to be available on one of those online newspapers that he abhors? Is it to attract people to what he is doing so these people can explore the Internet better? Even in this apparent hypocritical stance of his he does seem to value the pull and power that some of these "natural gathering points" still have today.

This reminds me of James Shikwati's argument in an interview found here: http://www.spiegel.de/international/spiegel/0,1...

Dumping foreign aid on Africa does little to support infrastructure or encourage Africa to solve its own problems. Similar to Easterly, Shikwati even says that it has negative impacts on the African economy, whose small farmers can't compete with programs such as the UN food program. It's terrible that people in developing countries can feel forced or be guilted to donate aid money to countries that aren't benefiting from the aid. Instead only the donating agencies themselves are able to survive off of this transaction between developed nations and developing African countries. I agree and think that it is time for the unhelpful intermediaries to end. Developing nations can provide help but I think it is far more important for them to share information and knowledge so that Africa can decide for itself what is best for its development.

do you know if China loosened up media restrictions after the recent earthquake. I vaguely remember reading an article stating that and if that is actually the case, it will be interesting to see how the Chinese respond to strict controls after experiencing a degree of openness.

Well then you did your job. I couldn't find it either but definitely recognized it. Makes me think of Gorbachev with his policies of perestroika and glasnost. Probably no connection though.

I think you quote "freedom after speech" for a reason. I don't know if anyone in particular uses the phrase but if they do it might be worth mentioning and linking to whoever came up with it.

Agreed. There is definitely real value in the way you review these books. Don't be afraid to be a little more detailed. Just like Alex, I will undoubtedly read a blog over a book if I can get a couple paragraph analysis of a book that I am somewhat interested in but don't necessarily have the time to read. In my mind, nothing can replace reading a book but a blog (hopefully yours) can surely help ameliorate the gap between reading and not reading. This is especially so if the person would never have read the book in the first place. Depending on the book, it might be worth linking to a chapter or two if it provides valuable insight and is freely distributed online....

I'm more and more impressed with Dodd these days. Thanks for posting his comments regarding telecom immunity. I know you probably appreciated his criticism of figures in power... -your roommate