FT's new China blog

Financial Times' new China blog appears to have some very spot-on and sharp outlooks of China, such as the inadequacy of China's reaction to the financial crisis which articulates some shortcomings of China's economy and its stimulus package. Other posts explain why the threat of social unrest from displaced workers is not so significant and warn against the alluring vision of a gigantic Chinese consumer market.

On the "torture" allegations of the U.S.
Good point and illustrates the rampant hypocrisy of the dressing up of American interrogation techniques.
Of course, I think that it's hard to believe that any intelligence agency or military never uses torture in conducting interrogations on prisoners.

Naval might rendered powerless by pirates

About the pirate menace off the coast of Somalia which has been a major issue in the past year, Vanity Fair carries a good piece on the ordeal of the capture of a French luxury sailboat. Despite the 'happy' ending, the story vividly shows how modern naval power is made impotent by these pirates.
Utilizing a range of vessels, helicopters, planes, commandoes, frogmen and "hundreds of amphibious assault troops", all the French navy could do was arrange for a US$2.15 million ransom in exchange for the successful release of the captured ship's crew, and the eventual capture of a handful of the pirate gang. The main reason for the impotence of the French navy was of course, the reluctance to risk the lives of the hostages, as well as financial factors for the ship's company.
Then the not-so-inconsequential matter of the status of Somalia as a failed nation state with no national sovereign control or rule of law hence, no need to adhere to or fear international laws or sanctions, and by extension Puntland, the pirate haven which was formerly a part of Somalia, also contribute to the pirates' ability to act with such impunity.