The BBC introduces us to the four nations it thinks will be kicking our economic asses by mid-century. A four-part series on the BRICs: Brazil, Russia, India and China.

The global change in economic power (Sept. 19)

1. New players challenge world economic order (Sept. 23)

2. Boom times await new players (Oct. 4)

3. New muscles in the marketplace (Oct. 10)

Word leaked out last week that the U.S. had come into possession of a letter from Ayman al-Zawahiri, ostensibly to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

Now John Negroponte, the U.S.'s director of national intelligence, has it posted on his website; here's a link to the english translation (.pdf file).

Update:

The Guardian wrote extensively on this 'letter', but the question I'm not seeing specifically asked is this:

Given how security-conscious al Qaeda is and how they normally practice good tradecraft, does anyone in the world find it strange that a letter from Zawahiri to Zarqawi wouldn't be written in code? Unless I've got my head way up my ass, everything I've seen suggests it was written in regular Arabic.

I hate to be cynical about these things, but given that the NY subway threat was apparently a hoax, and given how this letter nicely buttresses Dubya's evil Islamist empire speech, is it not within the realm of possibility that this letter isn't authentic?

Skeptical minds want to know.

The Guardian does touch on this. One Arab editor it quoted said the writing style is similar to Zawahiri's, and they also included this:

Neil Quilliam, an analyst at security consultants Control Risks, thought the letter should be treated with caution. "It's a very interesting time for it to be released," he said, referring to concerns about Sunni participation in Iraq's constitutional referendum on Saturday. The letter seemed to be urging Sunni militants to engage politically with other elements in Iraq.

"At a time when people are trying to get the Sunnis to buy into the political process, the letter suggests a coincidence of interest between Zawahiri and the ongoing political process."

Law professor Bill Quigley rants about about how the poor of New Orleans are getting screwed again in the aftermath of Katrina.

Ward Harkavy at the Village Voice's Bush Beat blog took a shot at the NYT's Judith Miller (OK, the Voice kicking the NYT's ass is a bit reflexive, but this post raises some interesting questions).