[#BLOGS] Some Thursday links

[rfmcdonald]

Another backlog of links is being cleared today, everything from speculation about the future course of Canada's new government to the role that queers apparently played in the prediction of apocalypse last Saturday.

• At Acts of Minor Treason, Andrew Barton reflects on the United Nations, its role in promoting world peace, and the possible explanations for its incomplete success.


• A BCer in Toronto's Jeff Jedras seems to argue that despite its majority, the Conservative government of Canada is unlikely to shift to a new radicalism.


• The Dragon's Tales' Will Baird reports that paleontologists suspect the mammalian brain grew so much so it could accommodate an improved sense of smell.


• Daniel Drezner reflects on the astounding--and deteriorating--male-biased sex ratios of modernizing China and India, and wonders if this proof that modernization does not necessarily lead to Westernization.


• Eastern approaches argues that Poland is shifting from a strong alliance with the United States to a concentration on regional affairs, especially the European Union and Germany.


• Far Outliers' quotes from Kapuscinski in his description of the rise of Uganda's Idi Amin and Rwana's Habyarimana.


• Geocurrents maps the shifting patterns of inequality in South Africa.


• The Global Sociology argues, drawing from William Robinson, that a 21st century fascism is emerging based on unrestricted economic globalization and massive inequality.


• The Planetary Society Blog notes that the predicted lightning has not been found on Titan. Without this energy source, the prospects for life on that world are reduced.


• Gideon Rachman suggests that, despite certain elements of Chinese geopolitical thinking, China is likely to be embarrassed by the Pakistani statement that China will be establishing a naval base on the Pakistani coast.


• Slap Upside the Head points out that, surprise surprise, the crew who predicted the Rapture's arrival this Saturday past blamed the gays.


• Finally, Wasatch Economics' Scott Peterson argues that the balanced sex ratio of the United States represents an advantage over China and India, in that human capital is used more efficiently.