Berkeley economics professor Pradab Bardhan has an interesting piece about the recent rise of Russia's and China's economies, and how they affect the attitudes of developing countries toward democracy.

Given the dominance displayed at the Olympic Games by China and America, we asking you (and ourselves) whether their dominance is a mirror image of our current geopolitical environment. In October 2007, Why Democracy? posed this question to famous athletes, authors and academics. Have a look at their responses...

It is only a matter of days before Beijing opens its doors and gives the world a glimpse into the Oriental superpower. Over the last few decades China has become a force in international politics and financial markets. Despite positioning itself as a global hegemon, a veil of secrecy

My post yesterday ruminated briefly on the United States's declining global image, and so I was interested to read Thomas L. Friedman's column in the New York Times that reflected upon the potential consequences of a less-influential US.

Ongoing hearings in the US have revealed much about the interrogation techniques employed at various US-administered prisons in the world (the main focus of the Why Democracy film Taxi To The Dark Side). The latest information, which might have seemed shocking just five years ago, is that classes on Guantanamo interrogation methods were informed by Chinese Communist methods in the Korean War.

From the New York Times:

Climbers brought the Olympic flame to the top of Mt. Everest, a location that China had no trouble keeping under control. Indeed, Kerry Brown at OpenDemocracy observes that, with the coming weeks entirely stage managed, China has acheived a PR coup by getting the bad news over with before the event, and as such lowering expectations.

After an ignominious world tour, the Olympic torch arrived in China, where there will probably be less bad press, but not necessarily less badness.