Daniel Aaron Lazar

Please read the official explanation of the AP Syllabus from the AP College Board.

Russia conducted airstrikes on Georgian targets on Friday evening, escalating the conflict in a separatist area of Georgia that is shaping into a test of the power and military reach of an emboldened Kremlin. Earlier in the day, Russian troops and armored vehicles had rolled into South Ossetia, supporting the breakaway region in its bitter conflict with Georgia.

The United States and other Western nations, joined by NATO, condemned the violence and demanded a cease-fire. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice went a step further, calling on Russia to withdraw its forces. But the Russian soldiers remained, and Georgian officials reported at least one airstrike, on the Black Sea port of Poti, late on Friday night.

The War is on? (from NYT)

Read Slate’s c overage from the Same Day

James Traub Interview on NPR (very good) 

In Pictures from Foreign Policy Magazine

Condi Rice Gets Tough on Russia

No Cold War, but Big Chill Over Georgia

Malcolm Gladwell talks about the importance of stubbornness and collaboration in problem-solving, and how long it takes to master any challenge. Introduced by David Remnick. View it here

…

No expert has brought as much fresh thinking to the field of contemporary copyright law as has Lawrence Lessig. A Stanford professor and founder of the school’s Center for Internet and Society, this fiery believer foresaw the response a threatened content industry would have to digital technology — and he came to the aid of the citizenry.

As corporate interests have sought to rein in the forces of Napster and YouTube, Lessig has fought back with argument — take his recent appearance before the U.S. Supreme Court, fighting the extension of copyright protection from 50 to 70 years — and with solutions: He chairs Creative Commons, a nuanced, free licensing scheme for individual creators.

Lessig possesses a rare combination of lawerly exactitude and impassioned love of the creative impulse. Applying both with equal dedication, he has become a true hero to artists, authors, scientists, coders and opiners everywhere. View his  Ted Talk Here

When Foreign Policy and Prospect magazine asked readers to vote for the world’s top public intellectual, one man won in a landslide: Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, an inspirational leader to millions of followers around the world and persona non grata to many in his native Turkey, where some consider him a threat to the country’s secular order. In a rare interview, Gülen speaks to FP about terrorism, political ambitions, and why his movement is so misunderstood.

See the list here

A Coalition of the Unwilling

Cracks Appear in Germany’s Grand Coalition

Grand Coalition in a Bind

The Coalition is Incapable of Reforms

A Wake Up Call from the Far Right

CDU Puts a New Twist on Conservative Politics

The Worst Possible Thing for the SPD

Does the SPD Still Matter? 

SPD Seeking Leadership 

Obituary for the SPD 

For the past two decades, China’s people have become richer but not much freer - and the Communist Party has staked its future that the Chinese will live with that tradeoff.That, at least, is the conventional wisdom. But with the Olympic Games opening in Beijing on Friday, training a spotlight on China’s rights record, that view obscures a more complex reality: Political change, however gradual and inconsistent, has made China a significantly more open place for ordinary people than it was a generation ago.

Read on from the IHT 

How did Barack Obama achieve superslipperiness without becoming greasy? Find out

Foreign ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said: “I hope that Amnesty International can take off the tinted glasses they have been wearing for years and see China in a fair and objective way, and do something more constructive.”

Read the full report