Just for the sake of levity, I’d like to post links to some of the 50-odd stories WORLDMEETS.US has posted about the U.S. election from around the world in the past 72 hours: Did U.S. Republicans take a page out of Ukraine’s election playbook?: Izvestia, Russia Where Did the Idea of ‘Joe the Plumber’ Come From? … Ukraine! Looking to the stars of little help, according to the Sri Lankans: The...

Nicolas Sarkozy has high hopes that with help – the global financial system can be overhauled for the 21st century. And according to this article from France’s Liberation – the reason he’s so hopeful is that George W. Bush – that opponent of global governance – is on his way out, and Barack Obama is on his way in. For Liberation, Alain Duhamel describes an attempt next month...

According to this article from northwest France’s Les Dernières Nouvelles d’Alsace, the U.S. presidential election belongs to the world as much as it does Americans – and the race is reviving our image – lost during eight years under the Bush Administration. For Les Dernières Nouvelles d’Alsace, Olivier Picard writes in part: “The global financial crisis has served to mask the...

Well, anyone who has been paying attention knew this was coming. President Dmitry Medvedev has declared that Russia formally recognises the independence of the breakaway Georgian regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. The move follows a vote in both houses of parliament on Monday, which called on Moscow to recognise the regions. The move, in defiance of a specific plea from the US president, provoked a wave...

Just as it seems that the Bush administration is on the point of signing off on that draft security agreement with the Iraqi government (WSJ), there are disturbing allegations that a cornerstone of the surge—the success of the “awakening groups”—may be on the point of collapse (McClatchy).

Where I live, the southern drawl can be so thick that I can’t make out what is being said. It’s part of what I like about the place. In 28 years in NYC I never picked up an accent. There is no Manhattan accent. (Try telling that to a southerner!) Recently Megan McArdle wondered: It’s odd that an entire American accent disappeared virtually overnight: the upper class American accent that covered...

While we here in the US are speculating over Presidential running mates a number of events unfold overseas. In Pakistan the death toll from the double suicide attack on an armaments plan continues to rise and may exceed 100. This attack was carried out by a Pakistani branch of the Taliban and is hardly helpful with the recent resignation of President Musharraf already an issue in the country. Nearby in Kashmir...

After Barack Obama or John McCain leaves the White House, where will future generations go to tour the boyhood home that shaped a president? Hawaii? Indonesia? The Panama Canal Zone? For a long time, I lived near Hyde Park, where FDR was born and spent his years before moving into the White House. “All that is within me cries out to go back to my home on the Hudson River,” he said as he was making...

OTB has done the heavy lifting for those who want to understand what’s going on in the escalating conflict.

We all tend to focus on stories in our own country so I thought I’d post just a few of the stories that are making news overseas. In Brazil while the economy around the world remains sluggish the people of this South American nation are enjoying a boom thanks in part to efforts to balance the left and the right in management of the economy. But the government does make mistakes, like releasing convicted...

Despite being ruled by the “glorious and wonderful government” of Than Shwe and his cronies things continue to get worse and worse in Myanmar. According to the United Nations there is still little progress towards fixing the damage caused by Cyclone Nargis earlier this year. Officially at least 140,000 people died but many believe the true death toll may actually be closer to 500,000. According to...

So far it looks like British PM Gordon Brown will hold on to power despite a recent series of election losses. The most recent loss was in a district that was considered one of the safest in the country for Labour but it went to the Scottish National Party. With those losses there had been speculation that Brown would be tossed out as party leader but some MP’s are starting to hedge on that prospect, pointing...

According to a report by Amnesty International things have actually gotten worse in China with the approach of the Olympics. According to the report the government has been working overtime to make sure that not a whiff of dissent will arise from the ‘people’ of the glorious ‘Peoples Republic’. Anyone with a sign of criticism has been imprisoned or shipped off to the hinterlands.

The Olympics are only a few weeks away and the friendly leaders of the ‘Peoples Republic’ of China are getting ready for things in their usual friendly and loving manner. They have anticipated the fact that there will be people from countries who are used to having human rights, so they are setting up ‘protest pens’. You will still have to apply to the government for permission to enter...

If the arrival of The Beatles in the 1960s helped boost the backpacker traffic to India, it is now the turn of Americans to help in increasing, what is described as, ‘executive tourism’ to India. “India is now nearly as popular a destination for Americans as Spain,” reports The Canadian Press. “Travel to India from the United States increased 10 per cent between 2006 and 2007,...

[Cartoon Caption: 'Nicolas Sarkozy says to store attendant in Japan, 'It's too small!! - let's try a size G-13!!'] So what message have developing countries received now that the 2008 G-8 Summit of the largest economies has ended? Rolf Kuntz writing for Brazil’s Estadao newspaper sums up the proceedings this way: “Out of everything that was said during the summit, which ended yesterday in Hokkaido,...

It’s fair to say that at the just-concluded G-8 Summit in Japan, the world’s leading industrialized nations haven’t covered themselves in glory. Pierre Rousselin writes for France’s Le Figaro newspaper: “Confronted with skyrocketing oil prices, the rising cost of food, the financial crisis, chaos in the money markets and finally, global warming, the powerful have no convincing...

I have, on occasion, heard complaints about the state of democracy in America. Some may, in fact, be thinking about moving to a better democracy… and we hold up a few examples of our efforts to spread democracy (with a small “d” please) around the globe. Let’s see if you can fill the bill for the following. In order to be a full citizen, you can: 1. Have lived in the country prior to...

The Bicycle Ride Across Georgia: The Bicycle Ride Across Georgia (BRAG) is an annual road-cycling tour across the US state of Georgia. It began in 1980 as an offshoot of RAGBRAI. The route covers approximately 400 miles over 7 days with options for longer distances. Mid-week, the tour stays two nights in one town allowing riders to either rest or ride a century with lesser mile options. Rest stops are every...

This is a French write-through on the latest massive Pew Global Attitudes Project poll of 24,000 people in 24 countries. Beyond revealing a slight uptick in America’s public image over a range of counties [but not all] over the past year, it also reveals intense interest in the U.S. presidential elections. For Le Monde, Bérengère Guy writes in part: “The study reveals how much the U.S. presidential...

How excited are Kenyans that Barack Obama stands a good chance of becoming President of the United States? According to this news item from the Kenya Times, people cut out of work and school and partied all day and night after news arrived of Obama’s victory. Here are a few quotes from this write-through which was published in yesterday’s Kenya Times: “We as a family are thrilled to be directly...

Sara P., YouTube Film: Today is Pangea Day, a global event dedicated to bringing people together through film. With its eclectic mix of movies, live music and passionate speakers, Pangea Day aims to help us see life through the eyes of others. There are live events taking place right now in Cairo, Kigali, London, Los Angeles, Mumbai and Rio de Janeiro. But don’t worry if you live far from any of these...

I ask this because frankly, what’s happening there is scaring the crap out of me. There are some incredibly knowledgeable folks who blog here who know far more about the current state of global politics than I do. What are we thinking? What do we do? What can we do? I do a lot of shlepping and have just good old analog FM in my car, so I’m mostly listening to NPR. Some of you may know that Diane...

Look at these faces.  While the rest of the world wrings its hands and waits helplessly on the sidelines, Burma’s government says it will accept aid, but that it doesn’t want the help of foreigners in getting it to the people. (BBC News)  The UN is pretty sure the government’s own unaided efforts won’t be enough.  The UN says that up to 1.5 million people may have...