A year in blogging (part 2)

In July, famine in Niger. 4 more posts on Africa (Tanzania, South Africa, Rwanda). At least people were beginning to talk about  addressing global poverty. 3 posts on this (one, two, three) and 3 on the environment (one, two, three).

By the end of August, Iraqi politicians had agreed a draft constitution. The news continued to be one of almost daily terrorist attacks, but there was considerable political progress, signalled by the three elections, in the last of which significant numbers of the Sunni community took part. 43 posts on Iraq  (one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen,  fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty, twenty-one, twenty-two, twenty-three, twenty-four, twenty-five, twenty-six, twenty-seven, twenty-eight, twenty-nine, thirty, thirty-one, thirty-two, thirty-three, thirty-four, thirty-five, thirty-six, thirty-seven, thirty-eight, thirty-nine, forty, forty-one, forty-two, forty-three)

8 posts on elsewhere in the Middle East and Arab world (Egypt - one, two; Algeria - one, two; Ba'athism, Morocco, democracy, dress). 3 posts on human rights (one, two, three).

In September hurricane Katrina struck and caused chaos in New Orleans (maybe somewhat exaggerated by initial reports). Smug comments from Europe about American racism were shattered by the riots that started the following month in Paris and other French cities. 6 posts on the US (one, two, three, four, five, six).
18 posts on France (one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen,  fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen), plus 3 on the headscarf (one, two, three) and 2 on Les Nouveaux Imposteurs (one, two).
Just 5 posts on Afghanistan this year (one, two, three, four, five), plus some comments here.
Tariq Ramadan was appointed to a British government committee: 4 posts on him (one, two, three, four). 6 more on Islamic issues (one, two, three, four, five, six).

On the 3rd of October, it was agreed to start talks for Turkish entry into the EU: 5 posts on Turkey (one, two, three, four, five).

In November,   Angela Merkel was finally confirmed as new German chancellor, bringing to an end 6 months of uncertainty: 7 posts on Germany (one, two, three, four, five, six, seven).

In December, David Cameron became leader of the Conservatives in Britain. Of course, we also had the election in May, bombs in July: 14  posts on  the UK  (one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen).

As for the rest, there were 5 posts on women's issues (how patronising! one, two, three, four, five)  and  one on sexual behaviour (that's even worse!). There were 3 on socialism (one, two, three) and one on unions.  There were 2  on blogging (one, two) and one on the Internet.

On linguistic subjects, there were 4 (neo-pessimism,  sad, ungoogled,  began/begun);  on literary topics, 15 (Orwell, FT Mag, 1935 Congress / Sartre, Proust, John Le Carré; 2 on Ian McEwan - one, two;  the NYT / think tanks; 2 on book reviews - one, two; Vasily Grossman, Sarah Kane, Slavoj Zizek, C.S. Lewis  / J.K.Rowling, Bleak House).

There were 5 posts on terrorism (one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen) and, getting onto fairly philosophical matters, 8 on 'Relativism' (one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight), one on 'liberals' and one on 'degenerates'.

The year in brief: by mid-year, 'Europe' had almost caught up with Iran and was not too far behind Iraq; but then the previous pattern re-asserted itself. Uzbekistan was also covered fairly heavily after May.