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Some are born to dominate, some to submit. Let's follow the way leading to power play...
Before collectivization people in Russia had potatoes but no socialism. Later, they had socialism but no potatoes... The overall impression is that the Council on Foreign Relations isn't just a think thank, it's a do tank:

Foreign Mood Disorders: one-stop shop about all things international
At a time when so many hip, glossy magazines with deep pockets aren't very aggressive on the Web, it's refreshing to see an 83-year-old nonprofit thrive online. The Council on Foreign Relations and its venerable publication, Foreign Affairs, have kept themselves more than just relevant in the digital age, they are a model for quality online publishing.
Collectively, CFR.org and ForeignAffairs.org have done a terrific job of capitalizing on the Council's resident expertise, as well as extending the shelf life of the scholarly articles in the magazine. The overall impression is that the Council isn't just a think thank, it's a "do" tank.
· Foreign Affairs Backgrounders By Sree Sreenivasan [ courtesy of SreeTips]
· See Also TerrorismAnswers.com: a terrorism encyclopedia

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'Where the Chemicals Roam
Salon and Rolling Stone team up to investigate chemical-weapons dumps in the U.S. The article quotes an organizer for a coalition of citizens living near the sites, who says that for all of the U.S. government's finger-pointing at Iraq and other countries, our country is riddled with similar weapons that our government itself can't even find.
· Our Leaders Misreading Machiavelli

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This ones may have escaped your notice: McCarthyism Watch...

Watching the Watchdogs
Mark Gillispie of the Cleveland Plain Dealer analyzed police overtime records to find that members of the Cleveland police Internal Affairs department were among the biggest recipients of overtime pay - something they are charged with policing themselves. The head of Internal Affairs through last fall, Lt. Robert Klimak, averaged more than $43,000 a year in overtime, which helped make him the highest-paid police officer in the city during the last few years.
· During Klimak’s watch, Internal Affairs was one of the biggest overtime users in the department
· See Also Not-So Supreme: dumb new proposal to veto the Supreme Court
· See Also MoveOn.org: Democracy in Action
· See Also We locked you up in jail for 25 years and you were innocent all along? That’ll be £80,000 please
· See Also The end of history? Not quite yet. We've still got plenty of time for authoritarianism

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Marking the one-year anniversary of the invasion of Iraq, crowds of sign-waving, slogan-chanting demonstrators climbed Mountains, Big Bens and marched through cities...

Global protests mark invasion anniversary
David Corn introduces a report prepared by the Democratic staff of the House Government Reform Committee, that identifies 237 specific misleading Iraq-related statements made by President Bush and four top advisers, in 125 separate public appearances.
· A searchable database includes Urgent Threat
· Protests
· See Also Apparat: Bush's back-door political machine
· See Also Soros
· Unsavory Record: Vance International, a firm that specializes in, among other things, Secret Service-like personal protection, surveillance, and corporate security during labor disputes


Taken for a Ride: one year anniversary of the war
Spinning the Past, Threatening the Future... But what was he saying? Surely he didn't mean that everyone was obliged to support all of his policies, that if you opposed him on anything you were aiding terrorists. Now we know that he meant just that. - from another great column by Paul Krugman.
· Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists
· See Also The Spannish conservatives thought blaming ETA would help them politically as Communist thought that Iron Curtain would keep dissidents out
· You would think a government determined to introduce democracy to Iraq could tolerate a little dissent in its own backyard... [ via SMH]
· Bin Laden reward doubled
· See Also My Publisher based in Canada Got it Right on Iraq
· Mass rape atrocity in west Sudan ]

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Obey the inner voice telling you 'we can't put this in the paper: Ex-Watergate writer laments 'idiot culture' Their interest in truth is secondary to their interest in huge profits. Good journalism should challenge people, not amuse them

Little Book Makes Big
The reality of the publishing business these days is that it's the rare little book that gets any traction in the marketplace. All the more remarkable then, for Matthew Sharpe’s stunning, offbeat coming-of-age novel, The Sleeping Father, which, though rejected by 20 publishers and published by a small press for only a $1,000 advance, has become a hit.
· The two-book deal with a big publisher is supposed to be the Holy Grail, But it turned out, in this case, that the Grail was made of Cold River [ courtesy of New York Observer 03/17/04 ]
· See Also The 21st Century Media Dragon Niche Goes Mainstream
· See Also Vt. editor "naive" about freebies?
· See Also Media Roundup from the Road: Complacency, Bureaucracy, and Fear
· Claims of Fabrication: Aboriginal author Sally Morgan's My Place is one of the most successful Australian books ever published
· See Also Based On A (Not Really) True Story: How much fictionalization should be tolerated...
· Blurbs: you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours
· Jewish Book Week Online Archive

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How News Spreads on the Internet: Blogjam Spreading Sport and Good Will
On my rough count, there are 100 times as many political bloggers in Australia as there are sports bloggers. Therefore, I unsyllogistically conclude that Australians are 100 times more interested in politics than sport.
· Webdiary: Tim Dunlop [ via RoadToSurfdom ]
· See Also Lord Sedgwick of Strathmore (OA, DFC, DSC, VC, KPMG, WTF, IOOF)

Are you afraid of the wages of sin?? If so, you don't want to visit my spooky Media Dragon!
Since the word is already out, I guess I might as well confirm it: Yes, I have sold out to The Man™ and will soon be blogging for cold, hard cash.
Which is pretty cool, isn't it? What's even better is that I'll be blogging for the Washington Monthly, a magazine I admire ...
· POLITICAL ANIMAL?....
· See Also How News Travels on the Internet [link first seen at DayPop ]
· Jesse Ruderman: Experience Google's new look [link first seen at Google ]
· Can Jason Calacanis challenge Nick Denton’s blog kingdom? Either way, he’ll pay for it
· Richest Writer

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Publishers strive to monopolize distribution and commoditize talent. But blogs commoditize distribution, restoring the writer's monopoly on talent.

Kos Kudos: Turtleneck is an Internet-only celebrity
He runs a hugely influential website called "Eschaton," at atrios.blogspot.com. It's a "blog" -- a sort of news junkie's online diary. He started the site back in April 2002, because it's better than yelling at the TV set. These days, he says, 40,000 viewers visit Eschaton every day, including bigwigs like columnist Michelangelo Signorile and New York Times attack pundit Paul Krugman.
· Atrios specializes in scoops that reporters should be digging up but don't
· Steve Outing gets credit for scooping everyone but Glenn Reynolds by reporting that Instapundit is now selling blogads
· Hey Bloggers -- Especially You Popular Political Types -- Why the Hell Don't You Accept BlogAds?
· See Also Weblogs
· See Also Blogads

Don't dismiss blogs as the online rantings of B-list writers. Interlinked and meritocratic, seething with fierce debate and rivalries, they're the best thing to hit journalism since the rise of the political pamphlet. If Adison and Steele, the editors of The Spectator and The Tatler, were alive and holding court at Starbucks, they'd be WiFi-ing into a joint blog...
On the surface, the battle between Andy and Atrios is a minor spat between a drama queen and a shrinking violet, but it has deeper rippes.
[ courtesy of All kinds of people at the keyboards are blushing now ]
· See Also Joshua Marshall: The indispensable political blog

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Thicker than Oil: Iraq on the brink
Australia and America are arm-in-arm in Iraq. Mainly in a force protection role, 850 Australian soldiers and defence personnel are still in harm's way in the Middle East. This week, Sunday's Ross Coulthart returns to Baghdad nearly a year on from the war — an angrier Baghdad and an Iraq teetering on the brink of civil war.
· Ross Coulthart [ via Roscco]
· Vigilantes Take on the Resistance
· See Also Each week we learn how European companies were knee-deep in the foul stream of forbidden supplies that flowed to Saddam in violation of their hallowed U.N. statutes.
· See Also How much sovereignty must we give up for ANZUS?

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Maiden Blogjam
Welcome to the first instalment of a Blogjam which we hope will be a weekly round-up featuring what the blogs are talking about. With an election likely in Australia this year, and one due in the United States, and little matters like Iraq on the agenda, this is going to be a big year for politics and therefore a big year for the political blogosphere as well.
· Blog Jam [ courtesy of Road TO Surfdom]

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Clare Short caught Tony Blair short by revealing that No.10 was bugging Kofi Annan who was bugging Blair over the UN's opposition to George W. Bush's plan to bomb Baghdad. Serves Blair right for promoting Short to a ministry in the first place. CAN you keep a secret? Blowing doors open with grenades rather than knocking...

Task Force Ceja
This is unprecedented. We've never had such a large group of serious drug prosecutions tied in with such a large group of police corruption charges against the investigating police. For legal reasons, this week's program, The Speed Trap, will not be shown in Victoria.
· Controlled Chemical Delivery [link first seen at Four Corners]
· See Also Social dimension of corporate citizenship

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Be that as it may, Americans owe Harry Truman a great deal for overseeing the rebuilding of Europe, his prescient understanding of the danger of Soviet expansionism, and preservation of the Democratic party from the forces of appeasement — and worse — from its extremist Left.

Political Bush Tucker Man: I am the voice of reason!
Advertising agency's attempt to grab people by the throat...
The case for Bush is the case against him. Let his record speak for itself. I know exactly where I want to lead this country. The ad, along with three others that began airing today, concludes with his official campaign theme: President Bush. Steady leadership in times of change...
· No substitute for victory: Confidence Man
You are living proof that power corrupts and whoever leads you will become just as... [ via War and Election: Who lost China and Eastern Europe? ]