August 6: Winds of Change Daily Round-Up

News and views from around the web.

• Captive Nations Week is over, but Glenn Frazier and I are continuing our efforts surrounding Iran until... well, until the revolution, basically. The Winds of Change Open Letter to the Iranian People is just the beginning of ongoing coverage here at Winds of Change, therefore, and Glenn Frazier continues to be a clearing house for news and views with the "Iranian Liberty Index" page.
  

• Riots across Iran yesterday. Fred has the goods on that, and on some other things besides.
  

• Glenn notes that "Winds of Change" is also a book by Reza Pahlavi, the late Shah of Iran's son. The New Republic did an excelent article about him, explaianing how he lost his taste for monarchy and became a committed democrat who works to see that system realized in his homeland. I'd be very proud to share a name with his work, and hope we can celebrate together when the winds of change finally sweep away the evil clerics and their henchmen who currently run the place.
  

• Top-ranked chess player Gary Kasparov has some thoughts on how America should deploy its strategic pieces.
  

• Back in the Cold War days, there was a 'Team B' who bucked the official line of accomodation with the Soviet Union, and pushed instead for a vigorous challenge at a time when the CIA saw the Soviet economy getting stronger. Of course, 'Team B' was right, Reagan more or less followed their thrust, and todays it's "Soviet whoion?" Looks like a similar process is in motion re: Saudi Arabia, which is finally being identified as the main enemy in Washington circles. Tonecluster reports.
  

• Gideon's Blog is in very fine form as he contemplates the future of NATO, and discussed what he sees as its current purpose: to keep Europe from becoming a significant military power.
  

• Technologists working on the future of artificial intelligence are turning to the ancient Asian game of Go for inspiration. (NY Times, registration req'd)
  

• Barry Farber has a plane conversation while flying between New York and Toronto. In "Those who Hate Us," he writes: "I liked political and religious insanity better when I had to cross an ocean or two and an Iron Curtain to get it from the expectably indoctrinated." (Thanks to LGF for the pointer)
  

• (10:00am) A Vietnamese immigrant to the USA becomes a scientist, and she works hard to bring a "ray of sunlight" to Osama and the boys.
  

• (11:00) Jacob Profitt points to a web page describing pretty much the coolest tree house ever. These kids have one amazing dad!
  

• As opposed to the latest Arab News feature from Saudi Arabia, which is definitely not cool. I don't care now nice their eyelashes are - leave them camels alone!