Writing in The Guardian, Simon Tisdall points out that the finger of blame is pointing towards North Korea for the sinking of a South Korean naval ship last month — probably with a torpedo — killing 46 sailors.   There are suggestions that the North Korean leader Kim Jong-il is bending to pressure from his corrupt and powerful military.  The questions that matter, writes Tisdall, are:  why did the North do it, and how to respond?

The Third World War examines the debate between a soft and hard-line response

Click here: The Third World War — A Future History                                           Click here: The Third World War — A Future History

War Games by Linda Polman takes another step towards stripping away the veneer of international aid.  In his review in the Sunday Times, Dominic Lawson refers to a ‘conspiracy of silence’ on part of the aid agencies and Western governments and talks about the motives of each for keeping  ‘this farcical show on the road.’  That matches what I found when investigating the aid business recently in Uganda and India Click here: Corruption and Aid. Together with books like Dead Aid by  Dambisa Moyo, War Games, is helping to straighten out  one of the most crucial foreign policy issues — how to fix failed states. 

Click here: Democracy Kills                                                   Click here: Democracy Kills

I’m intrigued by the Amazon  scandal surrounding Russian historian, Orlando Figes, who was rubbishing colleagues’  books through Amazon reviews — then denying it, then hiring  a libel lawyer and prompting an expensive legal spat.  All  of us authors get dreadful reviews, many written for motives unconnected with the quality of the book.   I read my Amazon reviews, then move on. Whether five star or one star, they rarely effect sales. 

So don’t be shy, buy a copy and rubbish it. I won’t sue. 

Click here: Democracy Kills                                                            Click here: Democracy Kills

How I rumbled the lying professor: The story behind the discredited don who rubbished rivals on Amazon…then left his own wife to take the blame Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1268660/How-I-rumbled-lying-professor-The-story-discredited-don-rubbished-rivals-Amazon–left-wife-blame.html#ixzz0m6eMAwlz

Click here: Democracy Kills                                                                Click here: Democracy Kills

Writing for the International Herald Tribune from Yalong Bay in China, Edward Wong outlines how the Chinese military is seeking to project its naval power far into areas long dominated by the United States. It’s a policy known as ‘far sea defense’ and had taken several military strategists by surprise.

Click here: The Third World War — A Future History

Niall Ferguson in Foreign Affairs explores the speed in which American global influence might retreat.  “When things go wrong in a complex system, the scale of disruption is nearly impossible to anticipate,” he writes.

                                                                                                                          Click here: Democracy Kills                                Â
Click here: Democracy Kills

In the spring issue of China Watch, David Mahon examines the tightening up of security in China. He quotes an unamed British manager of a multinational trading company as saying:-

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Malta has a second island called Gozo, the centrepiece of which is an historic cathedral. I advise against going there. From the bus drivers to the ferry and cathedral staff there is the air of complacent rudeness of a community that exists on European Union handouts and disinterested tour groups.

In Malta, on the corner of Gort Street and Paceville Avenue, just within earshot of the thumping bars of St Julien lies the small family resturant of Kandles, run (I think) by two sisters and the walls adorned with momentoes and local artifacts.  Both the Fenek Moqli (Fried Rabbit) and Laham Fuq il-Fwar (steamed beef) was light and tender and washed down with a Maltese version of Sauvignon Blanc with a total bill of less than 40 Euros.

Kandles, 20 Paceville Avenue, Paceville, Malta  Tel:- 21353640  No website

Slightly off the beaten track heading down towards the water in Paceville, near Valletta is La Maltija and old-style Maltese sea-food restaurant  where we found the chef outside the door arranging fresh fish on the ice.  Inside we ordered a grilled seafood platter of calamari, bream and sea bass for 25 euros a head and a local chardonnay for 14 euros.  It was all quite excellent.

La Maltija has no web site. Its phone number is 21359602 and the address is 1 Church St, Paceville, Malta.

To far flung corners, Democracy Kills has won a review in the Observer in Kampala.  Click here: Observer — Democracy Kills

Hawksley fearlessly treads the no-go areas of our planet, where democracy has been tried and found wanting.

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