A selection of articles you may have missed.

We Had the Very Best of Intentions

“We did not go into Iraq to impose representative government on the Iraqis. We went there to manage a threat to our own safety.” Richard Perle explains why, in his view, the United States of America had to invade Iraq and topple Sadam Hussein.
commentisfree.guardian.co.uk

Diary of a Collapsing Superpower

“Gorbachev has been a persona non grata in his own country ever since. In the West he remains a hero, a respected historical figure, a man who peacefully cut a superpower down to its true size.” Newly published minutes from meetings of the Politburo reveal what really happened behind closed doors.
www.spiegel.de

What the Terrorists Want

“Defense against terrorism is to refuse to be terrorized. Our job is to recognize that terrorism is just one of the risks we face. And our job is to fight politicians who use fear as an excuse to take away our liberties and promote security theater that wastes money and doesn’t make us any safer.” Bruce Schneier is not about to give in. Are you?
www.schneier.com

Fireworks in Washington, Despair Around the World

“The president and his speechwriters have yet to confront the tension between their rhetoric about freedom, which is universally popular, and their practice of projecting US firepower, which is resented in equal measure.” Former Foreign Secretary Robin Cook on the day George Bush began his second term in office.
www.guardian.co.uk

Robin Cook is Dead

Robin Cook, one of few political figures to command my lasting respect, has suddenly died on August 6, 2005. If you are only ever going to read one political statement made to the House of Commons, read Robin Cooks’s resignation speech from 18 March, 2003.

My Personal VE Day

“Every German schoolchild knows the tales of German atrocities. But in England, Prince Harry parties with a swastika arm band.” Matthias Matussek wonders whether the time has finally come for the British to re-evaluate their stance.
www.opendemocracy.org

The Real Reasons Bush Went to War

“Oil and the dollar were the real reasons for the attack on Iraq, with weapons of mass destruction as the public reason now exposed as woefully inadequate.” A disturbingly coherent explanation put forward by John Chapman.
www.guardian.co.uk

Israel Takes a Stupid Pill

“Olmert has somehow persuaded the Israeli military to ignore strategy, think tactically, and in the process become really stupid.” Larry C Johnson asks whether anyone has really thought this through…
www.alternet.org

Power of Nightmares Re-Awakened

“The Power of Nightmares - first screened in Autumn 2004 and repeated this week on BBC2 - questions whether the threat of terrorism to the West is a politically driven fantasy and if al-Qaeda really is an organised network.” Read producer Adam Curtis’s responses to comments from viewers around the world.
news.bbc.co.uk

Mission Accomplished: Langan in Iraq

The journalist Sean Langan spent the months from November 2003 to February 2004 in Iraq filming a documentary to be broadcast on BBC television. In this interview he talks about the making of the programme.
www.bbc.co.uk

The Power and the Glory

“Divine ordination is a very dangerous idea, especially when combined with military power. With God’s approval, you need no human standard of morality.” Howard Zinn expands on the myths of American exeptionalism.
bostonreview.net

Fotoshow: Nein zum Krieg

In German

In February 2003 millions around the world were united in protest against going to war in Irak. Take a look at this gallery of pictures taken during that period.
www.geo.de

Here is a related picture that I took during February 2002.

A Global Power Shift in the Making

“The transfer of power from West to East is gathering pace and soon will dramatically change the context for dealing with international challenges—as well as the challenges themselves.” James Hoge highlights some of the main issues facing today’s foreign policy makers in the US and around the world.
www.foreignaffairs.org

Privatsphäre ist wie Sauerstoff

In German

“Der politische Stand ist eine Symbiose mit der Medienindustrie eingegangen, die aus finanziellen Gründen den Terrorismus in einem Maße ausschlachtet, das objektiv nicht zu rechtfertigen ist.” Privacy is like oxygen, argues Pär Ström. You’ll miss it when it’s gone…
www.bundestag.de

Echelon Spy Network Revealed

“It sounds like science fiction, but it’s true.” Andrew Bomford first published this article in November 1999. Will matters have improved since then?
news.bbc.co.uk

Shares Go Up and Down – Economy Going Nowhere

“Western capitalism will be able to cope with instability in the markets. But at what price in terms of economic and social stagnation? The danger is that our wider aspirations and horizons are falling further while we remain fixated with the ups and downs of share and property prices”, writes Mike Hume.
www.spiked-online.com

Open Secrets

“Enron proves that in an age of increasing financial complexity the idea that the more a company tells us about its business, the better off we are, has become an anachronism.” Malcolm Gladwell on why Woodward and Bernstein would never have broken the Enron story.
www.newyorker.com

Ego Makes Entrepreneurs?

“While conventional wisdom assumes entrepreneurs have great risk tolerance compared to the rest of us, we consistently found that they aren’t really that different. In some cases, they’re even more risk averse.” Researcher Brian Wu finds overconfidence to be the vital ingredient.
www.opendemocracy.org

10 Truths about Trade

“Is globalisation sending the best American jobs overseas? If you get your news from CNN's Lou Dobbs, the answer is ‘of course’.” Brink Lindsey puts some commonly made assumptions about the US American economy to the test. Useful reading even if, like me, you do not live in North America.
www.reason.com

A Cloud over Civilisation

“Wars are a major threat to civilised existence, and a corporate commitment to weapons procurement nurtures this threat.” Economist John Kenneth Galbraith argues that companies control the state.
www.guardian.co.uk

Darwinian Markets

“I’m struck by the work of some of the anti-globalization protesters, which has been admirably out-of-the-tunnel in terms of motivation, but naively ill-informed about how the world economy works.” Economist Paul Seabright on how human beings developed a complex system of cooperation and specialization between unrelated individuals.
www.reason.com

Low Taxes Do What?

Was Ross Perot right in suggesting that NAFTA would result in a “giant sucking sound”, with US jobs fast disappearing over the border to Mexico? Or did the number of jobs increase after NAFTA went into effect? Thomas Sowell is in search of the facts.
www.hoover.org

Analysis of Microsoft’s Suicide Note

“If Windows XP was Microsoft’s attempt to embed a browser into the operating system then Vista is the attempt to embed Digital Rights Management.” Oliver Day worries that Windows Vista is of real benefit only to content producers, not consumers.
badvista.fsf.org

A Cost Analyis of Windows Vista Content Protection

“Windows Vista includes an extensive reworking of core OS elements in order to provide content protection for so-called ‘premium content’.” Peter Gutmann looks at the many ways in which Vista will increase the cost of using computers.
www.cs.auckland.ac.nz

Linux Inc.

“Little understood by the outside world, the community of Linux programmers has evolved in recent years into something much more mature, organized, and efficient. Put bluntly, Linux has turned pro.” Steve Hamm takes you on a tour of what has become the Linux phenomenon.
www.businessweek.com

Linux: The Thinking Person’s IT Solution

“It is ironic that a fear of technology has sent thousands of companies hurtling into the arms of an IT vendor that has some of the most complex, resource hungry and insecure server technology on the market.” Malcolm Cartledge prefers low cost and high reliability.
www.biosmagazine.co.uk

Upgrade Rage

“Future archaeologists will be able to identify a Vista upgrade layer when they go through our landfill sites.” Tim Dowling considers the implications of upgrading the software on his current computer.
www.guardian.co.uk

Joined-up Experiences

“Is it worth trading choice for simplicity? The problem is that vertical integration gives suppliers so much control that they can manipulate prices.” Jack Schofield looks at manufacturers’ attempts to dominate our digital lifestyles by selling us experiences instead of products.
www.guardian.co.uk

Per Anhalter durchs Pluriversum

In German

With services such as MySpace and YouTube dominating headlines everywhere, Joe Public has finally begun taking over the Internet. Thomas Gross reports on the seven rules that he thinks will govern the Web 2.0.
www.zeit.de

Invasion of the Identity Snatchers

Kelly Martin has become the victim of identity theft. A security professional by trade, he reflects on the many ways that personal data, stored on your computer, can fall into the wrong hands.
www.theregister.co.uk

Who’s Behind That Web Site?

“We’re about to get slightly technical here—but this is basic information you need to know.” John Locke explains the dangers of surfing the web and what you can do to control the risks.
www.freesoftwaremagazine.com

The Platter that Matters

“If I’m right, the next few years are going to see a lot of anguish from computer users who have suddenly realised that hard disk failure involves more than just inconvenience and loss of face”, writes John Naughton.
www.observer.co.uk

A Laptop, a Coffee, and Disaster Recovery

“Last week, my laptop died a sudden, spectacular death-by-drowning, as a full cup of coffee poured into its keyboard.” John Locke reflects on the importance of having an effective backup strategy.
www.freesoftwaremagazine.com

Leaner Computing: Less Might be More

“How much power does the average user nead in a PC?” Rare article by D’Arcy Lemay, offering much needed perspective on what hardware is really required for which job.
www.devhardware.com

Understanding Email Netiquette

“Internet life carries its own versions of courtesy, privacy and security issues that all users need to know.” This article discusses basic email etiquette and explains the proper use of the To, CC and BCC fields when sending emails.
www.bestprac.org

Spam Bots - and How to Avoid Them

“Once your email address is in the hands of spammers, regaining control of your inbox is a very, very difficult job indeed.” Nobody likes to receive spam, but what can you do to avoid it? Essential reading for anyone keen to ‘throw a spammer’ in the works.
www.bestprac.org

Why You Shouldn’t Use HTML Email

“Spammers use HTML emails to confirm your address.” There are other drawbacks to using HTML-formatting when sending and receiving emails. Consider this list of potential pitfalls that Martin Favreau has compiled for you.
www.freeantispam.org

Microsoft’s Sacred Cash Cow

“Recently, I’ve had a crisis of faith. Perhaps I’ve rebooted Windows one too many times.” Former Microsoft employee Jeff Reifman tells on why addiction to Windows revenue, mediocre products, and missed opportunities could spell doom for the software giant.
www.seattleweekly.com

Forscher Warnt vor Googlesierung der Ausbildung

In German

Academics warn of an increasing divide between those able to pay for online educational content and those who are not.
www.heise.de

Who Cares about the Truth?

“Caring about truth means that you have to be open to the possibility that your own beliefs are mistaken. It is a consequence of the very idea of objective truth.” An article by Michael Lynch.
www.chronicle.com

More Sorry than Safe

“If everything we did had to be absolutely safe, risk-free, proven to have no adverse outcomes for anyone or anything, we’d never get anywhere.” Professor Sir Colin Berry talks to Brendan O’Neill on why the precautionary principle is making life more dangerous for all of us.
www.spiked-online.com

Combating HIV/AIDS in Developing Countries

“Combating HIV/AIDS requires more than prevention and treatment. It requires improving the conditions under which people are free to choose safer life strategies and conditions.” Editorial reflecting on what changes are necessary to prevent AIDS from spreading further among those most at risk.
www.bmj.com

Off The Record

“Record company insiders are aghast at the demise of what was their golden goose. And some of them know that they were partly responsible for killing it.” Robert Sandall looks at reasons for the decline in the value of recorded music over recent years.
www.prospect-magazine.co.uk

Sony Walkman—Music to Whose Ears?

“Music, made portable, is removed from any frame of reference. It becomes a utility, undeserving of more attention than drinking water from a tap.” Norman Lebrecht reflects on how, starting with the introduction of the Sony Walkman, the way we listen to music has changed forever.
www.scena.org

Overload

“The brain is like a hybrid engine, constantly switching back and forth between reasoned calculation and rapid intuition. But what determines how we will handle a particular problem in life? How do we know what part of our cognitive repertoire will be in play today?”
www.newsweek.com

Miracle on Probability Street

“In the course of any normal person’s life, miracles happen roughly once a month.” US Americans can expect to see about 295 miracles every day, according to Michael Shermer.
www.sciam.com