The NYT's Paul Krugman offers his assessment of why the U.S. financial system is coming perilously close to going off the rails -- again.

He began by explaining how things went wrong in the 1929-1931 period, how the U.S. Congress subsequently passed laws to prevent the same situation from happening again -- and how Wall Street manoeuvred around those restrictions.

From the NYT:

Faced with a sharp escalation of suicide bombings in urban areas, the leaders of Pakistan’s new coalition government say they will negotiate with the militants believed to be orchestrating the attacks, and will use military force only as a last resort.

That talk has alarmed American officials, who fear it reflects a softening stance toward the militants just as President Pervez Musharraf has given the Bush administration a freer hand to strike at militants using pilotless Predator drones.

Many Pakistanis, however, are convinced that the surge in suicide bombings -- 17 in the first 10 weeks of 2008 -- is retaliation for three Predator strikes since the beginning of the year. The spike in attacks, combined with the crushing defeat of Mr. Musharraf’s party in February parliamentary elections, has brought demands for change in his American-backed policies.

CBC's The National previewed a bit of freelance journalist Julian Sher's documentary Sunday -- Afghanistan: Between Hope and Fear.

The parts highlighted tonight are alarming, showing evidence of a Taliban parallel government (not strictly news; the Senlis Council talked about this some time ago). You can see Taliban checkpoints operating, Taliban collecting taxes and operating sharia courts.

Sher travelled to Afghanistan, but said much of his footage came from Afghans who were given cameras before they went deep into Kandahar and Helmand provinces.

Looks like it will be worth checking out.