An unnamed German publisher has agreed to publish The Jewel of Medina, a novel about the prophet Muhammed and his child bride.  The book was passed over by Random House over concerns that it might incite anger among Muslims.  Though the author claims the story honors the prophet and his wife, the book was withdrawn from shelves in Serbia after local imams protested, saying the book was insulting to Islam.       

[NY Sun via Gawker]

While reading about the recent crisis in South Ossetia, Paul Krugman wondered if the second wave of globalization will share the fate of the first: world war.  A world in which the US isn't the only military force, argues Krugman, is a dangerous one.  Russia has proven itself willing to use gas as a political weapon, and China, emboldened by Russia's example, might invade Taiwan.  These nationalism-powered conflicts threaten the stability of our globalized world. 

I'm skeptical. 

French energy firm Gaz de France recently canceled its bid to become the seventh member of Nabucco pipeline consortium.  
 
The French gas company’s involvement with the Nabucco pipeline was contentious.  Turkish energy officials opposed Gaz de France’s involvement with the Nabucco pipeline because of the French National Assembly’s approval of a bill which made it a crime to deny that Armenians suffered at the hands of the Ottomans during the First World War.  
 
Despite resistance, however, France continued to show interest in participating as recently as last month.  Details of the cancellation were not given, though Jean Sirelli of Gaz de France-Suez said that it would consider rejoining if the pipeline was extended to France.   
 
My take on it is that it doesn't really matter.  Nabucco has enough leadership; what it needs are the actual supplies.  Dubbed 'a pipeline without gas,' the Nabucco pipeline project has floundered in the absence of a natural gas source.  Azerbaijan, the onetime hope for the pipeline’s leadership, is no longer “feasible” as a supplier.  In the absence of a single gas source, Nabucco leadership is deliberating a more multilateral approach for the pipeline, potentially supplying Europe an amalgamation of Middle Eastern, Northern African, and Eurasian gas.  This would raise the multi-billion dollar price tag on Nabucco even higher, but at the very least save its face.      

Here’s a good article by Barbara Bodine, former US Ambassador to Yemen and director of the Scholars in the Nation’s Service Initiative at Princeton University.  She argues that the next president should stop the practice of filling over 30% of ambassadorships with presidential appointees, those loyal to the party or to campaigns.  The positions should instead be filled by career diplomats.  I think her article makes some good points but I would also add a few things:   
 

In what has been dubbed as the city's "brain gain," New Orleans has benefitted from the stream of young professionals moving to the city in the wake of Hurricane Katrina in August 2005.  Many are compelled to move by a sense of wanting to help the city, either directly by working in disaster-related industries or simply trying to reverse the trend of net emigration since the 2005 disaster.   

These 20- and 30-somethings work primarily in disaster relief work, but can be found in fields as diverse as business or politics.  They come mostly for opportunity, and for the chance to feel part of something greater.  They can see the impact of their work, be part of rebuilding a broken city, and a share sense of camaraderie and purpose with their fellow city residents.  Personally, I wonder if these new residents seek some of the romanticism and raw energy associated with a rising American city - Gold Rush-era San Francisco, Atlanta during Reconstruction, or even 1950's New Orleans, as portrayed in A Streetcar Named Desire.    

Berlin is getting ready for Barack Obama’s visit this Thursday.  Today's Tagesspiegel predicts what Chancellor Merkel and Obama will discuss beforehand (the economy), Germany’s Social Democratic Party has made clear they do not want any call for more German troops in Afghanistan, and the current cover story of Der Spiegel explores how much “change” Europe can expect from the popular candidate.  

Yes, if campaign officials select the new favored location for Obama's July 24th speech, the Berlin Siegessäule (Victory Column). 

Putting Obama’s speech at the Siegessäule would be a smart public diplomacy for three key reasons:

1) "Change" - After the Brandenburg Gate proved to be contentious, other ideas tossed around by the campaign were Tempelhof Airport, site of the Berlin Airlift, Checkpoint Charlie, the only East/West Berlin checkpoint through with non-Germans were allowed to pass, and Schoeneberg Town Hall, the site of John F. Kennedy's "Ich bin ein Berliner" speech as well as a rally immediately after the fall of the Berlin wall.  All these places evoke Berlin's Cold War History.  By picking a monument that is both symbolic of Berlin and commemorative of another history (Prussian military victories), Obama's speech would now symbolize an intentional break with Berlin's Cold War past, and, consistent with the theme of his campaign, ushering in a new era for German-American/EU-American relations. 

The Bold
Serchilo is a new tool that allows a user to navigate several search engines at once and quickly be taken to the final destination. The website works by allowing you to place short commands before your search to tell the engine where to look for what you want. For example, users interested in searching wikipedia will type a "w" before their search terms, and be taken directly to the wikipedia page on that topic. The simple commands don't save you much more time than going to the website itself - Serchilo really shines when it comes to more sophisticated functions.  For example, someone wanting to quickly search an exchange rate need only type in "eur-usd 115," and they will get a currency conversion.

With almost 300,000 employees, the DC area surpasses Silicon Valley in number of high-tech jobs, according to a report released by the American Electronics Association.  Adding over 6,000 jobs in 2006, the DC area also had the second-largest growth in the US after The Big Apple.  Other leading metro areas by high-tech employment were the New York City region (#1), Boston (#4) and Dallas-Fort Worth (#5).   
 
The study’s definition of “high tech jobs” encompassed a variety of fields.  While New York City’s is a hub of internet services, Silicon Valley remains the national leader in semiconductor manufacturing.  Washington DC’s tech cluster is based around computer system design.        
 
The first city-level report created since the burst of the dot com bubble, the study also warned that stringent visa requirements barring skilled foreigners to work in the United States and lack of qualified American graduates would hinder high-tech competitiveness in the long-term. 
 
Further Reading
American Electronics Report releases Cybercities 2008 
Cybercities 2008 on the Business Innovation Technology Society blog

As I've written  before, our generation of 'digital natives' is also using the internet to change public service.  Here are some innovative non-profits I’ve come across recently.     

Creative Commons
Operating under the motto of "share, remix, reuse – legally," Creative Commons seeks to further idea sharing and creative thinking by providing an alternative to traditional copyrights.  Founded in 2002 while Stanford law professor Lawrence Lessig was arguing Supreme Court case Eldred v. Ashcroft, Creative Commons licenses fall between the private domain (all rights reserved) and the public domain (no rights reserved).  By selecting the degree of restriction, creators are able to maintain their rights while inviting derivative works based on their own.