The End

It has been an intense few months of campaigning & the US has a new president. Or rather, the old one continues with a fresh lease of life. Here are two contrasting thoughts from two people whose writings I follow online: Andrew Sullivan, a Democrat & Jerry Pournelle, a Republican. Yours to make of it what you wish to. And just for kicks, the real winner in this election was Nate Silver. This is why.

Sanctions are “genocide”

During the course of the third US Presidential debate, both “leaders” wanted tougher sanctions against Iran. Here’s a take from a former UN official, who says Iraq sanctions are “genocide”. As an aside, I watched the debate live on the internet, & followed along on Twitter (for some interesting real-time perspectives)

China & US Jobs

During the 2nd US Presidential Debate, Mitt Romney said that China’s currency currency manipulation and intellectual property theft has allowed it to become the largest manufacturer in the world, causing the loss of 500,000 American manufacturing jobs in the last four years. Anthony Tao defends China:  Even now, when China’s per [capita] GDP is still nearly six times less than the US’s, China is just artificially keeping its currency down cause it really wants to stick it to Americans, right? Because there are just so many Americans who dream about working in an iPhone-assembling factory.

Understanding in Debates [link]

Lest we in the rest of the world naively believe that the US-promoted style of democratic electing a government is the best in the world, here’s the Memorandum of Understanding that the campaigns signed. A carefully constructed document that ensures that the candidates sponsors interests’ never come up as questions. And if you didn’t get a chance to watch the 2nd debate, watch it here.