9/11

Today’s a day to remember those lost on September 11th.

Even McCain and Obama put aside their differences today, returning the campaigning to its cleanest since McCain stopped giving interviews..

Today’s link: Sarah Palin’s Alaskonomics

Just how accurate are Palin’s claims of beign a conservative? Time Magazine looked into it, and said, “Not very.”

Though usually Time’s analysis can be off, its actual researching and reporting is very good. It looks like Sarah Palin, like all politicians, is a lying hypocrite.

The race is on

After returning from Beijing, I can say without a doubt that the most exciting news event during the month of August was the sporting competition available at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Despite minor revelations in American politics and even an entire 5 day war in the Caucasus, August belonged to the world’s best athletes (baseball excluded).

But now that September has arrived, the only event that will matter from here on out until November is the United States Presidential election. The tickets are finally set: on the Democratic side, we have Senators Barack Obama for President and Joe Biden for Vice President. The Republican party has nominated Senator John McCain and Governor Sarah Palin as their hopefuls for President.

Because of the significance of the US Election for world politics, this website will devote most of September, October and the beginning of November to coverage of the Presidential elections. Other issues, such as Georgia, world oil prices, etc. will still be monitored, but primary coverage will be focused on the US race.

The Modern Beijing Mall

Chinese air quality before the games

Hopefully the air will get better after it rains a bit. Last night’s opening ceremonies were spectacular.

Touchdown

Ladies and gentlemen, we have arrived in Beijing to provide coverage of the Olympic Games.

Live from Beijing: Day One

Coverage begins today. Despite the recent setbacks, including a terrorist attack on China’s western border that killed 16 security guards, here’s hoping the games go well for three reasons:

1. I’m there and I don’t want to die.

2. Antagonizing China will not help anything.

3. A bad result would not produce anything positive over a good one.

Pictures and other thoughts will follow.

One a day July complete

To the readers:

The experiment to post at least one article a day in the month of July was a (relative) success. The plan for the month of August will be themed Live from Beijing, as I plan to travel to that country for most of August. As a result, I will be providing coverage from the city of the Olympic games, including sporting events and relevant city happenings.

Welcome to The Citizen International’s 2008 August: Live From Beijing Monthly Broadcast.

July’s biggest losers (4)

1. G8: This body’s inability to address pressing global issues with any measure of success was especially highlighted during their annual summit. It’s time to change the G8 to better reflect the new geopolitical order.

2. Pakistan: India signed a nuclear deal with the United States, and now links have surfaced between suicide bombings in India and the Pakistani intelligence service. These results have cast the coutnry in a more negative light, and both are likely to make it a less welcomed member of the community of nations.

3. Microsoft: It loses one of its founders, Bill Gates, to charity work, and has to compete with the threats of open source software and a resurgent Apple. After its Windows Vista debacle, what can the company do right? Both of its choices are bad: scrap Windows and start anew in infrastructure, or continue backwards compatability, with all of the associated security risks.

4. FARC: Shown to be ineffective and weakening, FARC lost key leaders, hostages and power this month. It is unlikely to recover any time soon.

The constant need for change

Aside from being Barack Obama’s campaign theme, the need for change is always self evident. Why is it obvious? It is not because change for its own sake is good: it is because change is the necessary mechanism by which the problems of the day can be resolved. Without changes in policies and governments with new ideas, stagnation and the deepening of current problems is all but guaranteed.

This point might seem redundant, but in today’s society, with its constant push to return to “better ideas of the past”, sometimes the need for change is often forgotten. Yes, sometimes a return to a former status is better, for example returning to a United States that doesn’t torture, but too often people use the excuse to try and return to a supposedly more ideal time, like the 1950’s. What they forget, however, is that every era had their tradeoffs and even their favorite time periods were oftentimes worse than the present day.

Political parties advocating for regressive measures thus never realize that the only possible way to find a better solution is to move forward: only by trying new combinations can the best solution be found, especially since problems have persisted current solutions. Thus, we must always look towards the future, and to new ideas.