out of (and back into) the shadows

Time: a tsar is born. (can't top that title.) i like how the article casually refers to one of his advisors as his "ideologist." also, unironically starts a paragraph: "Vladimir Putin gives a first impression of contained power..."
still working on the consolidation bit: Petraeus is runner-up for person of the year. "And yet Petraeus has not failed, which, given the anarchy and pessimism of February, must be considered something of a triumph."

Salon: different nominees from the same war "Both men represented the best of America's democratic tradition, where even in wartime, enlisted soldiers have a right to their opinions."

Salon: teenage insurgent in Iraq - complete with all the inconsistencies of adolescence

Salon: testimony from 19 months in a CIA "black site"
"After 19 months of imprisonment and torment at the hands of the CIA, the agency released him with no explanation, just as he had been imprisoned in the first place. He faced no terrorism charges. He was given no lawyer. He saw no judge. He was simply released, his life shattered."

NYT: community still divided, justice still evasive in Chiapas 10 years after a massacre

Econ: local elections in India - results due out today

Econ: turnover in South Korea
NYT: and, in rebuke to the military junta, potentially in Thailand
Econ: (background here)
NYT: and Kenya too: "[the liberal candidate] even played left wing in soccer."
Econ: ANC party leadership shifts to Zuma "Yet despite this victory, Mr Zuma is by no means assured of the national presidency in 2009."

NYT: housing protest turns violent in New Orleans
WP: new mayor in Philly tries to address violent crime with new policing strategies
"While the homicide rate among black men age 18 to 24 has dropped dramatically from the highs of the early 1990s during the height of the urban crack war, the group's murder rate is still about 10 times higher than for white men the same age, and far higher than the rate for any other group of black people...A pair of black activists has put out a call to 10,000 black men to step forward and become mentors, big brothers and community observers on the lookout for bad behavior."

WP: Afghan art and national treasures exhibit at the National Gallery in DC
"In 2003, a group of boxes from the museum was unexpectedly located in a sealed vault under the presidential palace. A year later, a team of international experts and Afghan officials began opening them...Jawad added that the Kabul government also hopes to bring some of the officials who hid the museum pieces, so they can tell their stories. "They could have gotten passports and fled like other people, but they stayed and saved these treasures," he said. "They are the real heroes."

The Onion: Bush warms up to science
plus, an update on Rove's activities: "Longtime political adviser and Republican strategist Karl Rove announced Aug. 13 that he would step down from his role as White House deputy chief of staff to spend more time in the shadows and devote his energy to the things he really cares about, such as creeping, slithering, and disappearing for all time into an ever-darkening realm shut off from hope and goodness."