turmoil

Startling that there seem to be three relatively full-fledged civil wars going on in the middle east - all either in or directly adjacent to large oil producers - and yet no sense of impending doom or panic.  Am I missing something?  For example, not to see conspiracies, but that these are somewhat regulated conflicts where the ending is both preordained and better for the west?

Intellectual Property and China

Perhaps it is cases like this (Huawei sues ZTE for infringement) that will lead the way to a maturing perspective on IP in China.  Not "us vs. them" but rather an evolution to creating enough value that it is worth protecting.

Not quite sure what had been done by March

From this, it looks like President Obama was shortlisted by March - perhaps less than two months into the presidency.  Wow.  The committee's chair wasn't kidding when he said: "We would hope this will enhance what he is trying to do."  Notwithstanding claims that this was for actions over the past year, I think it clear that this is meant to help direct the foreign policy of the United States.  Wow.

Qaddafi

Whether one thinks he is serious or joking, Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi's proposal to create a single Israeli/Palestinian state is actually the kind of out-of-the-box thinking that can square a circle.

Among the most intractable problems in that conflict have been the crazy-quilt arrangement of settlements and control of holy sites. By having a single country, if there were actually general support (and, interestingly, Israel and Palestine are two of the rare middle-east examples of a meaningful popular vote that can actually gauge popular support), everyone could declare victory. I know this won't happen but it opened my eyes to a path I hadn't really considered.

I am generally against combining separate peoples into a single political group but, in thinking about it, that may be more because historic examples have been forced (see: nearly all of sub-saharan africa) and lack popular support than because of some inherent problem. Legitimacy counts for a lot (but, here, is unlikely to overcome longstanding enmity).