[BLOG] Some Wednesday links

[rfmcdonald]

• Bag News Notes takes a look at the political iconography surrounding Chinese first lady, and patriotic singer, Peng Liuang.


• BCer in Toronto Jeff Jedras doesn't like suggestion like the one made by Liberal leadership candidate Joyce Murray that, in order to bring down Harper, the NDP and Liberals should consider not running candidates in ridings where one party or another might break through against Conservatives. He favours a distinctly Liberal vision (which is?).


• Beyond the Beyond's Bruce Sterling notes the recent finding that up to a third of American counties have declining populations.


• Daniel Drezner suggests that Europeans were never as strongly wedding to multilateralism as many, including Europeans, alleged.


• Eastern Approaches notes the failure of European Union-mediated talks between Kosova and Serbia, a consequence of Serbian resentment at the loss of Kosova.


• Geocurrents' Martin Lewis maps global cell phone usage, which maps poorly with GDP per capita or wealth. Eastern European countries often have higher rates of cell phone ownership per person than western Europeans, for instance.


• Joe. My. God notes that the Irish Roman Catholic Church has threatened to respond to a legalization of same-sex marriage in that country by no longer solemnizing marriages, forcing couples to engage in a separate state ceremony. (This could backfire.)


• Personal Reflections' Jim Belshaw argues that his home region of New England, in coastal eastern Australia, is an important political bellweather for his country.


• At the Planetary Science Blog, Marc Rayman writes about how his team is preparing for the Dawn probe's upcoming encounter with Ceres in two years.


• Torontoist notes the happy news that Toronto sex shop Come As You Are has avoided closing down thanks to a successful online promotional campaign.


• Window on Eurasia's Paul Goble notes various sources claiming that the 900 thousand ethnic Russians of Uzbekistan are increasingly unhappy living in a country where the Russian language is dropping out of general usage, the Russian colonial past in Uzbekistan is being criticized, and the only thing keeping many from leaving for Russia is a lack of means.