Competition for immigration

More and more qualified migrants decide not to go to the US or Europe, being more attracted by the opportunities that Asia offers them.

The Economist has a piece on "Migration after the crisis"

http://www.economist.com/node/21526777

The innovator's DNA

A short paper from the Harvard Business Review about what separates innovators from the rest of us. The qualities you're supposed to have, and to exercise if you want to improve your innovating skills, are:

-questioning

-observing

-experimenting

-networking

-associating

Apparently travelling a lot and living in different countries helps too

http://www.epicentret.dk/hbr.pdf

China's investments in Europe

Following on the previous post, a paper from the European Council on Foreign Relations about China's investements in Europe.

European countries are dividing themselves into two camps: a group of countries that seeks to obtain in China as much freedom of investment as China enjoys in Europe; and a group of cash-strapped countries, eager for China to invest in their countries and buy their bonds.

This disunity is proving damaging to Europe's interests.

http://www.ecfr.eu/page/-/ECFR37_Scramble_For_Europe_AW_v4.pdf

The Chinese in Africa

A Report on this week's Economist about China's economic presence in Africa

http://www.economist.com/node/18586448

While you were watching Egypt....

Eastern Approaches, a blog by a journalist from the Economist, has a round-up piece on recent developments in the Balkans.

http://www.economist.com/blogs/easternapproaches/2011/02/crises_balkans

more on Sudan

Following from an earlier post on Sudan, the BBC has an article on internal violence in the soon-to-be-independent Southern Sudan
Most interesting is the interactive map at the bottom of the page, showing the differences in development between North and South Sudan
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-12430115

Small Arms, Big Problems | Foreign Affairs

Today I read this article from the current edition of Foreign Affairs. It uses the example of the war in Afghanistan to show some of the workings of the global arms trade. I was surprised to learn how old are the rifles used by the insurgents - many were built in the Soviet Union in the 1950s-1960s, with one exemplar dating from 1915! (a Lee Enfield used by the armies of the British Empire).

Small Arms, Big Problems | Foreign Affairs