Links for 26-08-2007

• Stadium designer blasts China Olympics (Youtube)
  The man behind the design of 2008 Beijing Olympic Stadium - which will host the opening and closing ceremonies - says he will boycott the games because of the insincerity of the government; the city is being beautified only for the Olympics, not for the Chinese people.
  

• Economist: Somalia is still a failed state
  The article makes the obvious point that there's a good chance for Somalia to stay stateless, despite the TFG's futile efforts. A great article except for the map which is grossly in accurate.

• BBC: Iraq violence: monitoring the surge
  Statistics and graphs on the effectiveness of the surge in Iraq. Interesting.

• BBC: 'Blasphemous' balls anger Afghans
  When will they learn? Coalition forces distributed balls with the name of Allah - Saudi Flag - on it, before they know there were demonstrations on the streets of Kabul. Before they do something like that why didn't they at least ask someone, anyone. Dimwits.
  

• Mugabe's ally speaks out (Youtube)
  Former Zambian president, Kaunda says Mugabe must be given a chance. He counts on Mugabe's genuine wish to bring his country back up, Kaunda also blames the West for Zimbabwe's current economic problems. Mugabe should be blamed for making his country so weak and dependent on foreign aid, so when the West cuts off the supplies the country is marching for collapse.