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The Socialist Party of Albania has won a landslide in parliamentary elections held on June 23rd. As the lead party of the broad Alliance for a European Albania, their share of the vote increased from 40.85% to 57.7% and their seats from 65 to 84. The previous right-wing government led by the Democratic Party and their Alliance for Employment, Prosperity, and Integration, saw their votes fall from 40.18% to 39.4% and their seats from 68 to 56.

Over at the excellent P2P Foundation blog, there is another interesting new post with an excerpt of a piece by Kevin Carson, titled "The Third Industrial Revolution Won’t Be As Easily Coopted as the Second".

c.f., http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/4658190.html

For those who have researched this question carefully, they would know that the author's opinion is generally correct.

Governments have a responsibility to protect their citizens against mass atrocities, war crimes, genocide, etc. That is part of international law. Where governments cannot, or will not, satisfy this responsibility, the international community must protect the lives of human beings.

Dear authors of Hitler Hipster,

I refer to your cartoon broseph-stalin (http://hipsterhitler.com/comics/broseph-stalin/), which I believe was authored around October 2011, judging by the image file URL.

Sent to http://www.danielandrews.com.au/haveyoursay/

Dear Daniel,

I will keep in brief and summary form as an initial submission. Further elaboration will be provided as this project develops.

A critical objective for a jobs plan is to have a public finance system that encourages employment. There are some existing limitations in public finance that damage capital investment in productive activity.

The new Victorian Premier, Ted Ballieu, has recently announced intention to change the Victoria's Equal Opportunity Act 2010 which ensured that religious organisations could not discriminate in the field of non-religious employment.

Much has been made of the fact that France, the has banned the burqa, l'affaire du voile, with the exception of places of worship. Earlier in the year a law was passed that scarves covering the face were banned in schools and hospitals, as well as on public transport. Women, who violate this requirement will be fined €150 Euros and given a course of lectures on the basics of the secular foundations of the French Republic. Men, who force women to wear burqa, will face up to a year in prison.

A survey of doctors in the United Kingdom has shown there is a strong correlation between those of religious faith and the types of drugs that they prescribe, with critically ill patients not being informed of strong pain killers which, whilst pallitive, can shorten life. One wonders what doctors will be like if they find themselves in such a situation - or will they use the drugs that they know about to relieve the symptoms?

... and all the right-wing apologists have been coming out of the woodwork. "Only 3,000 dead" they cry, and he "saved Chile from socialism" (oh noes!).

As if 200,000 people suffering "extreme trauma" (source: Latin American Institute on Mental Health and Human Rights (ILAS)) and the possibility of "socialism" is an excuse to engage in a military coup against an elected government.

Dear Jose,

It has been some months since we last communicated; indeed it was briefly at the launch of Dr. David Scott's book "Last Flight Out Of Dili". As promised at that meeting, I include a copy of my presentation given at Victoria University's "Cooperating With East Timor" conference in 2005 and subsequently published, entitled "Wrestling The Crocodile: IT Development in East Timor" (attachement #1).