Shunkouliu

A cigarette gets you in the door,And with the wine you hear the deal,But if you want the problem solved,It’s gotta be a great big meal. This Chinese “slippery jingle” via translator Perry Link, author unknown.One more, also translated by Perry: Officials are addicted to moneyWhile the people labor and sweat.If something else counts, then…

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Letter from a Cairo Jail

Writing from Tura Prison near Cairo, former Egyptian MP Ayman Nour pens a letter on the future of Egypt, the usefulness of Islamic fundamentalism in justifying authoritarianism, and the impact of the Iraq War on reformers in the Arab world. “Although legitimate dreams usually turn to be terrifying nightmares in our country,” Nour writes, “the…

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USA: Serious Doubts on U.S. Voting Machines

Partisan politics and closed-source technology collude to leave American democracy in questionable hands. Many election reform activists are voicing deep concerns about electronic voting machines being used in the next presidential election. Election reform activists (here, here) ask whether the political leanings of the companies developing the new electronic voting machines will have anything to…

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