Forums Forever

Those of you interested in the campaign (such as it is) for sanctions on Uzbek cotton should probably take the time to read this discussion (via). It's from a Uzbek message forum and offers some perspectives from real Uzbeks (I have no idea how typical they are). Lot's of interest, although I think the Iraqi situation (which is raised a number of times) probably doesn't generalise as well as is suggested. That probably merits further comment and I'll try and expand it to a complete post at some point. For the timebeing, go and read what they've got to say.

In other discussion forum related news, there's now a forum for those supporting the rights of the Chagossians forced from their island home by the British government in order to make way for a US military base. There isn't a huge amount of activity there as yet, but hopefully as the community grows this could become an invaluable resource. I'd also like to point out that the creator of the site contacted me personally, using my real name and everything which was a little surprising, but very nice (clearly *somebody* thinks I'm important!).