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O Asia Times publicou hj um artigo do Pepe Escobar mostrando como a falta de sensibilidade cultural americana prejudica o trabalho de reconstrução do Iraque. Escobar conta que o Paul Bremer já perdeu o apoio de 3 importantes líderes shiitas, incluindo o moderado Ayatollah Ali Husseini al-Sistani que declarou fatwa contra a nova constituição proposta pelos americanos... O pior é que os representantes do baby Bush estão perdendo o canal de contato direto com os líderes shiitas. O enviado especial da ONU, Sérgio Vieira de Mello, está tendo que cuidar desse meio de campo espinhoso...

Vieira de Mello is now fully aware of the balancing act that he will have to perform to bridge the gulf between not only the Sunni community, but between the dominant Shi'ites (62 percent of the population) and the "occuliberators" (as the Americans have been dubbed by observers). Even though Shi'ite religious leaders are still talking about cooperation with the Americans and a strategy of non-violence, there is now a completely different ball game.

The best indication is the fact that al-Sistani told Vieira de Mello to deliver "a message to Paul Bremer" - implying that direct contact was not welcomed any more. The UN special envoy did not - and certainly could not - elaborate, but the message was almost certainly news about the fatwa declaring that an Iraqi constitution written by the Americans or even by Iraqis appointed by the Americans would be "illegitimate". Al-Sistani is clear: a new constitution can only be written and approved by popularly-elected Iraqis.

A alternet traz uma reportagem sobre a conexão do pré-candidato Democrata para substituir o baby Bush, Howard Dean, e o moveon.org, a mais bem sucedida iniciativa de mobilização política da internet.

Se o Dean conseguir ganhar as primárias, será um dos mais importantes "cases" de sucesso do uso político da internet...

O Compaq d220 é um celeron 2.0, 128 megas de DDR (double data rate) SDRAM (synchronous dynamic RAM), 40 gigas de winchester, um CD ROM por U$349 e o Mandrake 9.1 instalado. A versão com ruindows XP Home custa U$ 429. O objetivo é atender as necessidades de pequenas e médias empresas. Veja mais detalhes na infoworld e nessa nota).

Um dos editoriais do New York Times destaca a demissão do jornalista colombiano Fabio Castillo despedido por fazer denúncias de corrupção contra o Ministro da Justiça e do Interior, Fernando Londoño Hoyos.

Mr. Castillo, who is more or less Colombia's Bob Woodward, is better off than many other reporters there: he is alive. Around 30 of Colombia's journalists have been murdered in the last 10 years. Mr. Castillo's prominence helps protect him, although losing the backing of what has historically been the country's second most important newspaper makes him a much more vulnerable target for the numerous powerful people he has alienated in his decades of investigative reporting. So far he has received no threats. "They have already gotten what they wanted," he said. "I am censored."

Na semana passada, a Índia mudou sua relação com o FMI. Durante anos, pedindo empréstimos como nós, agora estão virando credores. Parte do primeiro empréstimo indiano está vindo para Basil. O India Times de hj discute a contribuição deles para o FMI.

For the borrower-turned-lender, there has been the comfort of the rising foreign exchange reserves — $83bn at the last count. But the donning of a new role is intended to signal that the country "has arrived on the scene" as a government official put it.

For the record, India had borrowed from the IMF first during 1981 to 1984 and later during 1991 to 1993. The entire borrowing aggregating $2.5bn were completely repaid a couple of years ago. The transition to a lender will help bolster the country's case for an increase in its quota in the IMF when the next review is scheduled to take place after two years. China, is ahead after the last review — with 2.99% of the total quota compared to India's 1.99% which puts the country in the 13th position quota-wise.

Eles deviam pouco e conseguiram virar a mesa... Será que existe algum meio para pagar a nossa dívida?