[BLOG] Some Monday links

[rfmcdonald]

• The Burgh Diaspora's Jim Russell takes issue with an American conservative's criticism of an anti-fracking film as state propaganda for the United Arab Emirates. No, the oil/natural gas market doesn't work that way.


• Crooked Timber's Corey Robin wonders why Matthew Yglesias sees state repression--state policies, more broadly--as key to the problems of independent unions in China but not so in the United States.


• pauldrye's False Steps examines the abortive British effort in the late 1950s to build its own space launch vehicle.


• GNXP's Razib Khan argues, in commenting on free speech laws outside of the United States, in that the repression of speech on grounds of potential harm to the community isn't done from a consistent philosophical position. Thoughts?


• James Bow recounts his experience on the last trip of the Northlander train into northern Ontario. It does sound like it had a lot of potential for tourism and whatnot that went unexploited.


• Robert Farley at Lawyers, Guns and Money shares links to commentary on China's launch of its first aircraft carrier, the Liaoning.


• Maximos discusses Australia's seasonal, El Nino-dependent, Lake George.


• Estonia as a Nordic nation, not that different from Sweden is the theme of the latest Itching for Eestimaa post.


• Eugene Volokh notes rioting in Bangladesh inspired by a Facebook image of a desecrated Koran that led to attacks on that country's Buddhist minority.