Sunday Links

Here are a few noteworthy thing I have come across in the last few days, ranked in order of importance.

1) Natalia Antonova on Russia and Georgia. Under the best of circumstances (i.e. no artillery shelling between countries) eastern European politics are a vast mystery to me. I have been trying to read up on this South Ossetia situation. Ms. Antonova has an interesting commentary. (h/t: Sarah)

2) Prophet Muhammed Novel Scrapped. Regardless of its quality (or lack thereof) or its possibilty to offend (and it seems that this book would be offensive) it is a terribly sad and frightening day when art of any kind is stifled, or in this case, halted, on dual grounds that someone might find it offensive or there may be violent repercussions should that art be exhibited. For society to not only progress, but to even survive, there must be the free flow of the exchange of ideas, and that includes ideas that can make us uncomfortable.

3) Sherman Alexie, for reasons I still don't quite understand, gave testimony in support of keeping the Sonics in Seattle. He wrote about it and gives us the quote for today:

" If a country were governed like the National Basketball Association, we'd be sending in UN peacekeeping forces."