Below are simple links to other interesting stuff I've come across on the web in the last day or two; they may or may not concern literature or photography, or indeed the arts at all. You can click here to learn more about how I compile this list and what software I use, if you're interested.

The Obama Doctrine is official: "No new messes in Middle East"
Yesterday I was talking about how Obama's speech today in Egypt will actually be much more important than a symbolic speech may seem at first; and that's because he was set to introduce a new "doctrine," or a philosophical statement by a President that then is translated into a thousand smaller legally binding actions by underlings of the federal bureaucracy (new laws, treaties, partnerships, etc). And now his speech is over, summed up here by the always great GlobalPost.com, and here seems to be the new "Obama Doctrine" that naturally comes out of it: that it's now the official US policy not to create any new military bases or other new messes in the Middle East, to finish our current engagements there and then pull out for local self-rule once and for all, and to let the international community take charge of "policing" the area when future need arises. And like I said, it's called a "doctrine" because you already picture the ways such a sweeping statement might affect a thousand smaller things -- the way Muslims are treated at airports, what the size of our future military might be, the future availability of cultural and scientific visas, etc etc etc.

P2G: Regarding the rise of social media to connect with governments
On the eve of President Obama's historic Middle East trip, a fascinating article on the changing State Department under his new technology initiative, and how they are using social media more and more to help the general American populace communicate more directly with them, and vice versa. Includes this interesting tidbit: that Obama's YouTube message last March wishing Muslims fortune on their holiday Nowruz has now been watched by more people in Tehran than in San Francisco, despite the Iranian government poo-pooing and trying to downplay it. They use it as an example of what kinds of things even Presidents can now do with this kind of direct media, versus when all of us used to have to rely on official state television networks and the like; it's not just the average person actually watching the end result who benefits.

Anti-Bush groups awkwardly change missions in Obamian Age
A really interesting article at Politico today, on the changing face and mission of so many of these liberal activist groups put together in the 2000s, specifically to fight Bush, or at least the ones who became famous during those years: MoveOn is moving back to issue advocacy, for example, VoteVets has moved from Iraq War issues to climate change, and lots more. An interesting look at what happens to groups when their original mission was too focused and is suddenly achieved one day.

Will apathy over EU elections result in landslide for radicals?
It's election time this week for the members of the EU Parliament, not the politicians from any particular country but rather the ones who meet in Brussels and decide EU-exclusive things, regarding the euro and trade and finance and immigration, etc etc. And as of a few months ago, voter apathy was at an all-time high, with only something like 30 percent of the European population planning on voting; so that's brought out an international awareness campaign about the elections, in that general apathy is the exact situation that lets radical fringe parties win giant elections. (And there's more and more radical thought about the EU within Europe these days; as this article points out, for example, there's a hugely growing movement within Britain to quit the EU altogether.) It'll be interesting to see where all the dust settles, after the elections are finally over in another three or four days.

Did Bill O'Reilly call for murder of abortion doctor?
Did you know that FOX News host Bill O'Reilly has over a dozen times now on-air referred to recently slain doctor George Tiller as "Tiller The Baby Killer" and "George Tiller, Acquitted Murderer of Babies?" No, neither did I; but apparently it's become of much higher interest among law enforcement officials recently, after Tiller's actual murder by a self-admitted O'Reilly-listening FOX News fan. Will we see criminal charges filed against O'Reilly for his part in all this? Only time will tell, I suppose.