David Cameron and Tony Blair clash over cause of riots | UK news David Cameron has reaffirmed his belief that the riots were symptomatic of moral decline in Britain as Tony Blair dismissed this argument as a "highfalutin wail" that ignored the true cause of the problem. In a relatively rare intervention in the world of domestic policy, Blair said that there was no problem with moral standards in society generally. The riots, he said, were primarily caused by a minority of disaffected and alienated young people who were outside the social mainstream and who constituted "an absolutely specific problem that requires deeply specific solutions". Cameron and Blair set out their rival analyses in articles in Sunday newspapers. They clashed as Scotland Yard revealed that 3,296 offences were committed during the rioting in London, leading to 1,875 arrests and 1,073 people being charged. More than 1,000 of those offences involved looting. In an article for the Sunday Express, Cameron said that the riots illustrated the need to "reclaim" society.
SACSIS.org.za » News » The World » Why Iceland Should Be in the News, But Is Not Picture credit: may15internationalorganization.blogspot An Italian radio program's story about Iceland’s on-going revolution is a stunning example of how little our media tells us about the rest of the world. Americans may remember that at the start of the 2008 financial crisis, Iceland literally went bankrupt. As one European country after another fails or risks failing, imperiling the Euro, with repercussions for the entire world, the last thing the powers that be want is for Iceland to become an example. Five years of a pure neo-liberal regime had made Iceland, (population 320 thousand, no army), one of the richest countries in the world. Contrary to what could be expected, the crisis resulted in Icelanders recovering their sovereign rights, through a process of direct participatory democracy that eventually led to a new Constitution. Protests and riots continued, eventually forcing the government to resign. What happened next was extraordinary. They should look to Iceland.
These riots reflect a society run on greed and looting | Seumas Milne David Cameron talks to acting borough commander superintendent Jo Oakley during a visit to Croydon to view the destruction from the riots. Photograph: Wpa Pool/Getty Images It is essential for those in power in Britain that the riots now sweeping the country can have no cause beyond feral wickedness. This is nothing but "criminality, pure and simple", David Cameron declared after cutting short his holiday in Tuscany. We can't be ordered to police in a certain way Now is not the time for police to use water cannon and baton rounds, writes Sir Hugh Orde, president of the Association of Chief Police Officers When his predecessor Ken Livingstone linked the riots to the impact of public spending cuts, it was almost as if he'd torched a building himself. We'll hear a lot more of that when parliament meets – and it's not hard to see why. But it's also a nonsensical position. This time, the multi-ethnic unrest has spread far further and faster. Now the unrest has gone nationwide.
Bill would encourage foreigners to buy U.S. homes Reporting from Washington and Los Angeles — American consumers and the federal government haven't been able to bail out the sinking U.S. real estate market. Now wealthy Chinese, Canadians and other foreign buyers could get their chance. Two U.S. senators have introduced a bill that would allow foreigners who spend at least $500,000 on residential property to obtain visas allowing them to live in the United States. The plan could be a boon to California, which has become a popular real estate market for foreigners, particularly those from China. Nationwide, residential sales to foreigners and recent immigrants totaled $82 billion in the 12-month period ended March 31, up from $66 billion the previous year, according to the National Assn. of Realtors. "Overall, Los Angeles is the perfect place for investors," said YanYan Zhang, an agent with Rodeo Realty in Beverly Hills, who travels to China several times a year to meet potential clients. The program would come with several restrictions.
__________________________________________________ 8 Reasons Young Americans Don't Fight Back: How the US Crushed Youth Resistance Traditionally, young people have energized democratic movements. So it is a major coup for the ruling elite to have created societal institutions that have subdued young Americans and broken their spirit of resistance to domination. Young Americans—even more so than older Americans—appear to have acquiesced to the idea that the corporatocracy can completely screw them and that they are helpless to do anything about it. A 2010 Gallup poll asked Americans “Do you think the Social Security system will be able to pay you a benefit when you retire?” Among 18- to 34-years-olds, 76 percent of them said no. Yet despite their lack of confidence in the availability of Social Security for them, few have demanded it be shored up by more fairly payroll-taxing the wealthy; most appear resigned to having more money deducted from their paychecks for Social Security, even though they don’t believe it will be around to benefit them. How exactly has American society subdued young Americans? 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
Club Kids: The Social Life of Artists on Facebook Facebook is the platform on which our generation negotiates its artists’ respective brands and the tenuous connections between them. Facebook is tactically governed by a kind of silent populism– the subtle linking of identities through ‘Likes’, ‘Shares’, and brief but favorable commentary. Silence, in this case, is fitting because the formation of social ties is a gradual process on the part of the Facebook viewer, who accumulates an understanding of which artists are in lockstep with whoever else through incremental calculations based on memory, viewership, and discussion. The murky edges of who is in what clique form over time and are highly permeable. Silent populism’s faintly projected image of communal support is solidified through one’s placement in group exhibitions. If Anton Vidokle suggested we are entering a period of “Art Without Artists”, we are instead suggesting we are present in a moment of Artists Without Art. But what is it that we call “work?”
China’s Top 15 Social Networks China’s social networking landscape is diverse and thriving. No single player is nearly as dominant as Facebook in the U.S. and there’s a long tail of networks for different users (urban and rural) and different purposes (social, dating, and games). Here is China’s SNS universe for the top 7 sites. And here is a table of the top 15 social networks in China. Please note this table is more a work-in-progress than a finished product. The Top 15 (in words) Qzone - China’s largest social network is built on the back of the 637 million active accounts for Tencent’s QQ Messenger.