In class yesterday, our professor was using the example of the presence of mafias in certain countries to indicate a weak rule of law. So we covered the usual suspects – Italy, Russia, China and some Eastern European countries. Then the professor asked, “Does the US have a mafia?” Some people said yes, in the …
I knew McCain was a dashing Navy officer, heavily decorated for his service including his time as a Prisoner of War (POW). I learnt from [this Arizona news website](http://www.azcentral.com/news/election/mccain/articles/2007/03/01/20070301mccainbio-chapter5.html) that: He was married to his first wife Carol for 14 years, but they grew apart. He admitted to extramarital affairs. Finally he met his future …
Good stuff! Even though McCain’s probably going to lose the election, he is able to carry off a lot of funny lines. Obama won’t get me roaring with laughter, but when McCain’s more his maverick self he can be likeable. This is a side of him that the electorate didn’t see enough of during this …
I love cool gadgets like these. Hang on to your seats, world. An exciting new President is coming in!
More action is happening on my [INSEAD blog](http://vantan.org/insead/), and even more action is happening in the library (boo!) but I thought I should pen down some quick thoughts about current situations: On the current economic crisis Tempting as it is to watch with an odd combination of amusement and dismay as our stock prices fall …
To wrap up my French revision for the night, I went to [Lemonde.fr ](http://www.lemonde.fr/)to read a spot of news in the beautiful language. Not surprisingly, the home page had a photo of Barack Obama and his newly-announced running mate Joe Biden. What was more interesting was that the headline said, “[Biden, choix par défaut pour …
Whenever I had the time to read the entire Straits Times from cover to cover I would occasionally chance upon a typo somewhere. However, I had much higher expectations of international and British newspapers. I was thus surprised to find TWO typos in yesterday’s Financial Times. Can you spot them? First, a political piece: And …
I have relatives in the US who are staunchly Republican. That’s fine by me; I also believe in free trade and less aid, even if I’ve supported Democratic candidates for the past decade. What I don’t appreciate is receiving messages on how Barack Obama is a Muslim. That is so old hat that it’s laughable …
Finally, Barack Obama has [clinched the Democratic nomination](http://edition.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/06/03/election.democrats/index.html). At the start, he wasn’t expected to win. Hillary Clinton was viewed as the presumptive nominee. She had the Clinton name recognition and a popular former president as husband. This campaign was hers to lose, and short of appealing at Denver, it appears that she needs to …
Look at [Digg’s US Elections page](http://digg.com/2008_us_elections), and it’s all about [Barack Obama](http://www.barackobama.com/) at the moment. It’s generally positive news about him, and if there is mention of Hillary Clinton, it’s negative. The hottest article right now is one by the New York Post which states that [Obama received more votes than initially reported](http://www.nypost.com/seven/02162008/news/regionalnews/obama_robbed_in_ny_97932.htm?date=20080217). If you …