of volcanos and flowers

Sent to me by one of my students, this BBC posting provides a fascinating glimpse into the logic of the world food system, as thousands of farm workers in Kenya are laid off as a result of the eruption in Iceland:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8629079.stm

agribusiness in Brazil

An excellent video article from the Financial Times on agribusiness in Brazil, the superpower of the new agricultural countries.

http://www.ft.com/cms/1644d08e-f450-11dc-aaad-0000779fd2ac.html?_i_referralObject=16029375&fromSearch=n

a history of modern Sudan

An excellent piece of reportage to place this week's elections in Sudan in context has been produced by The Economist. Sudan is far too often thought of these days in the context of Darfur. Yet Sudan's history of conflict goes back 4 decades, and has seen at least 2 million deaths in addition to the 300000 dead in Darfur. More than 9 million Sudanese rely on food aid; and in the south of the country, an area twice the size of Italy, there are only 50 km of tarmac roads. We need to pay more attention to Africa's biggest country.

the whirled bank

I have just come across a defunct site that I think was put up by the 50 Years is Enough campaign. The site mirrors the registered site of the World Bank, but tells a very, very different story. Check it out:

http://www.whirledbank.org/

I particularly liked the interactive banking game that lets you drag your country ever deeper into a debt quagmire.

a short, recent history of Congo

More from The Economist's excellent videographics: in 5 minutes anyone can understand why the world's worst war since World War II in the Congo is ultimately about the control of resources for our cellphones.

global fertility

The Economist offers some remarkably accessible videographics that explains some of the key international development issues. This one, on global fertility patterns, demolishes the Reverend Thomas Malthus in 3:32, demonstrating how there is no 'population bomb'.

walking with the comrades

I have just read an excellent article by Arundhati Roy, the famed Indian novelist, entitled 'Walking with the comrades', in which she tells of her visit to armed Maoist insurgents in eastern India this year. The full article can be read here:

http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/world/22-walking-with-the-comrades-aj-07

The article has provoked an interesting debate on an excellent website called Run from big media. You can review the debate here:

http://kafila.org/2010/03/22/response-to-arundhati-roy-jairus-banaji/#comments

These resources give an interesting insight into what Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh calls 'the gravest security threat' facing India today.