Afghanistan’s Special Envoy: Ashdown’s rejection?

Right man for the job? Ashdown’s refusal is certainly Afghanistan’s loss.Do you not think that Paddy Ashdown’s decision to remove himself from the running of the UN’s special envoy to Afghanistan is a set-back that would have, certainly, improved the lot of the people of that war-sheltered land? From his personal perspective, and from how [...]

Wind turbines rejected on Isle of Lewis

The Scottish Government has rejected controversial proposals for a £500-million, 181-turbine wind farm on Lewis. MarKat (Scotland) believes that environmental concerns won the day. SNP ministers refused the application on grounds that: “It would have a significant adverse impact on a site protected by EU wildlife and habitat directives”.
The rejection is a victory too, for [...]

Pakistan, FATA and Al-Qaeda

Pakistani insurgents join forces on Afghan borderThe Globe and Mail12/17/2007By Saeed ShahISLAMABADMilitant groups in Pakistan’s wild northwest region have come together in a single organization for the first time, threatening to step up operations against the Pakistan army and NATO forces in Afghanistan.
The insurgents have named Baitullah Mehsud, a tribal chief from the Waziristan area, [...]

Terrorism and the Internet:

Preventing radicalism?

The British government’s counter strategy for fighting ‘terrorism’ is categorised within four main areas – protecting, preparing, pursuing and preventing: colloquially and collectively known as the “4 Ps“.
Of the categorisation, Prevention, is widely accepted as being the most challenging. In the world to which we face, it can be defined as the effort to [...]

Political cost of oil prices?

… At the beginning of January (2008) the price of crude oil broke through its psychological barrier of $100 a barrel again.
Npower, one of the UK’s major energy utility companies, reacted with double-digit increases for some of its customers in both its electricity and gas tariffs. It is firmly believed that other suppliers in a [...]

Confucius (2)

CONFUCIUS (LATIN FOR ‘the Master K’ung‘) was born into a family of poor aristocrats in the state of Lu, now the province of Shantung.
Articles published previously on MarKat (Scotland) highlight the degree of importance to which Confucius has contributed to historical issues such as the ‘The Golden Rule’ and the ‘Qin Emperor Book Burning Episode’. [...]

Examination of the effects of large cities on local climates:

Preface to the article
The whole field of microclimatology is taking on an importance that is providing valid arguments in the context of environmental concerns, no more so than global warming and atmospheric pollution. Microclimatology is the combination of meteorology and climatology.The effects of large dense populated cities on local climates is a fairly straight forward [...]