Fact x Importance = News (Dec 1)

Mumbai has dominated the news, but what other stories have we been reading?:

• 'Al-Qaeda' has switched its focus from Iraq to Pakistan.


• Some al-Qaeda supporters are unhappy with the international media's pro-Obama bias.


• Vladimir Putin may be considering a return to the presidency.


• Meanwhile Russian warships have been deployed to the Caribbean for the first time since the end of the Cold War, as guests of Venezuela.


• And a Russian investigator claims that Georgia employed foreign female mercenary snipers during last summer's conflict.


• Fewer than 1% of airline passengers singled out by TSA screeners for suspicious behaviour are arrested.

A Europe Apart from America?

Giles Scott-Smith of our Holland Bureau writes for our big-sibling website, Libertas about the latest article from two leading Dutch intellectuals, Karel van Wolferen and Jan Sampiemon: "‘After the triumph of Obama, Europe must abolish NATO."

Scott-Smith concludes:

Here we have two figures on the moderate right who go further in their critique than the Maoist-inspired Socialist party, which has given up its rejection of NATO over the past few years. WolfSamp’s value comes from posing the persistent question: What are the alternatives for a post-US world order from a European perspective?

The Power of Enduring America: The Times Gives Up the Empire

Who says there is no power in the blog?

Enduring America, 30 November 2008: " “How tacky that The Times of London still calls it Bombay.”

The editorial page of The Times, 1 December 2008: "From today, The Times stops using the name Bombay in favour of Mumbai."