[BLOG] Some Saturday links

• Bad Astronomer Phil Plait explains the potential discovery of an ancient rock from Earth among the Moon rocks collected by Apollo.
• Centauri Dreams looks at what will be coming next from the New Horizons probe after its Ultima Thule flyby.
• The Crux looks at the genetic library of threatened animals preserved cryogenically in a San Diego zoo.
• Far Outliers looks at the drastic, even catastrophic, population changes of Sichuan over the past centuries.
• Language Hat looks at translations made in the medieval Kingdom of Jerusalem.
• Language Log tries to translate a possibly Indo-European sentence preserved in an ancient Chinese text.
• Lawyers, Guns and Money notes the complexity of the crisis in Venezuela.
• The LRB Blog looks at the Mexican-American border in this era of crisis.
• Marginal Revolution notes a spike in unsolved shootings in Baltimore following protests against police racism.
• Noah Smith reviews the new Tyler Cowen book, Stubborn Attachments.
• Adam Shatz at the NYR Daily reviews what sounds like a fantastic album of anti-colonial Francophone music inspired by Frantz Fanon and assembled by French rapper Rocé.
• The Planetary Society Blog takes a look what is next for China as it continues its program to explore the Moon.
• Roads and Kingdoms interviews Monique Jaques about her new photo book looking at the lives of girls growing up in Gaza.
• Rocky Planets takes a look at how rocks can form political boundaries.
• Drew Rowsome interviews choreographer Christopher House about his career and the next shows at the Toronto Dance Theatre.
• Starts With A Bang’s Ethan Siegel takes a look at the seeming featurelessness of Uranus.
• Frank Jacobs at Strange Maps looks at a controversial swap of land proposed between Serbia and Kosovo.
• Window on Eurasia notes the controversial possibility of China contracting Russia to divert Siberian rivers as a water supply.
• Arnold Zwicky looks at the origins of Uri and Avi, a photo of apparently showing two men, one Palestinian and one Israeli, kissing.

[NEWS] Four geopolitics links: democracy, Trump and China, India and Pakistan, western Balkans

• The suggestion by David Moscrop, at MacLean’s, that between the rise of authoritarian China and the Trump ascendancy in the US, liberal democracy may face particular peril this year seems worryingly plausible.
• Evan Osnos at The New Yorker looks at how the savvy Chinese government is taking advantage of Trump’s incapacities.
• This DefenseOne essay arguing that India is facing a point where it is unable to defeat Pakistan in conventional battle is worth noting.
• This B92 essay arguing that the European Union should make special provisions for the western Balkans to avoid their protracted decay outside of the Union convinces me, at least.

[NEWS] Three links on frontiers: Liberland, Catalonia, West Bank maps

• GQ has a terribly unflattering article about the motivations and personalities behind the establishment of Liberland, a libertarian microstate on an island at the frontiers of Serbia and Croatia.
• This extended examination of the issue of Catalonian separatism in Spain, taking a look at both sides of the conflicts, suggests this conflict may be intractable. The Atlantic has it.
• Miriam Berger at Wired notes how the profound insufficiency of maps of the Palestinian-occupied areas of the West Bank forces Palestinians to turn to newcomer maps.me.

[BLOG] Some Monday links

• Far Outliers notes how the new Suez Canal helped create a network of coal-using port cities across Eurasia.
• Hornet Stories notes that Serbia’s out lesbian Prime Minister, Ana Brnabic, marched in Belgrade’s pride parade.
• Joe. My. God. notes a statement by the Pentagon that transgender troops can still re-enlist for the next few months.
• Lawyers, Guns and Money notes a fundamentally ill-thought defense of colonialism by Bruce Gilley.
• Marginal Revolutions notes that Swedish support for the far right is linked to perceptions of foreign threats to employment.
• Out There looks at the last days of Cassini at Saturn.
• Personal Reflections’ Jim Belshaw notes real estate shenanigans in greater Sydney.
• Drew Rowsome has a critical, but positive, review of closeted gay author Frank M. Robinson’s autobiography.
• The Volokh Conspiracy sums up the outcome of the controversial monkey selfie copyright case.
• Window on Eurasia suggests that Russian challenges to language legislation in Tatarstan hint at future challenges.

[NEWS] Some Thursday links

• Bloomberg notes the collapse of a Petrobras boomtown in Brazil, notes that Serbian bonds are resistant to Brexit fears because of Serbia’s non-membership in the European Union, and wonders about the future of the smartphone market.
• CBC notes soaring real estate prices in the suburbs of Toronto and Vancouver.
• The Inter Press Service notes efforts to boost research and development in Africa.
• MacLean’s notes, polemically, the importance of Canadian history in relation to current issues, like interprovincial limits on beer.
• The National Post notes a Russian initiative to try to promote Siberian settlement by offering its citizens free land, and looks at the decline of tea at the expense of coffee in the United Kingdom.
• Wired looks at the student art of Siberian indigenous students at a boarding school.

[BLOG] Some Sunday links

• Dangerous Minds notes a Brazilian artist who has gotten some controversy over turning religious figurines into superheroes.
• The Dragon’s Tales notes that in the last five years, Japan’s population has shrunk by one million.
• Joe. My. God. notes an Indonesian parliamentarian who has called for homosexuals to be put to death.
• Language Hat looks at the multilingualism of medieval Europe.
• Language Log notes tablets which have problems displaying Chinese documents.
• Lawyers, Guns and Money notes Donald Trump as a con artist.
• The Map Room Blog considers if transit maps are too complicated for users.
• Marginal Revolution notes declining labour force participation among middle-aged maps.
• pollotenchegg looks at demographic changes in 2015 over Ukraine.
• The Power and the Money’s Noel Maurer wonders if Trump would wreck the relationship with Mexico and looks at the relatively moderate nature of his claims on his website, suggesting mockery is the best response to Trump.
• Window on Eurasia notes Ukrainian claims that Russia is creating military units staffed by Ukrainian citizens, and notes reports on an ethnic clash between members of a military unit in Chechnya.
• The Financial Times‘ The World notes the awkward position of Serbs and Albanians in Kosovo, the first wanting to join Serbia and the second wanting access to the European Union.

[BLOG] Some Tuesday links

• The Broadside Blog’s Caitlin Kelly describes her schedule as a freelance writer.
• City of Brass’ Aziz Poonawalla tries to start a discussion on the hijab.
• Crooked Timber considers Piketty’s analysis in inequality in the context of Australia.
• Language Hat looks at how a Chinese font is created.
• Language Log notes the old name of Serbia, “Servia”.
• Lawyers, Guns and Money notes the Mexican census’ inclusion of Afro-Mexicans.
• The Russian Demographics Blog notes the cancellation of the Ukrainian census.
• Une heure de peine’s Denis Colombi considers poverty in the holiday season.
• Window on Eurasia notes Putin’s search for legitimacy and observes Russian criticisms of the administration of Crimea.

[LINK] “Former Yugoslav States, Albania Vow to Step Up Drive to Join EU”

Bloomberg’s Jasmina Kuzmanovic and Gordana Filipovic report on the renewed push in the western Balkans for European Union membership. Certainly it’s not as if the western Balkans have any other future.

Former Yugoslav republics and neighboring Albania vowed to resuscitate their drive for European Union integration after the migrant crisis rocked the region and created the worst political rifts between Balkan states since the civil wars of the 1990s.

The heads of state for EU members Croatia and Slovenia and EU outsiders Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Macedonia, Kosovo and Albania signed a joint commitment to strengthening the stability and prosperity of the region. They also aim to strengthen ties to the U.S. and seek an expansion of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization deeper into the Balkans.

[. . .]

The western Balkans has been stretched by the flood of hundreds of thousands of migrants escaping the violence in Syria as well as refugees from as far away as Afghanistan and Northern Africa. Slovenia and Croatia strained their EU ties after Slovenia declared its intention to build fencing along the two countries’ shared border. The dispute is being echoed across the EU as governments grapple with a crisis on a scale not seen since the 1940s.

[LINK] “Serb-Croat Enmity Flares as Refugee Crisis Rekindles Anxiety”

Bloomberg reports on the breakdown in Serbian-Croatian relations over border controls imposed on account of the refugee crisis.

Croatia, an EU member, on Wednesday banned Serb vehicles from entering except those with perishable goods. In retaliation, Serbia blocked imports of Croat products. Croatia also accused Serbia of having directed migrants to its territory since Hungary erected a razor-wire fence to stop the influx. The government in Belgrade rejected the allegation, saying it can’t influence the refugees’ route.

“In order to avoid a further escalation of the new situation Brussels should mediate and civil society organizations in both countries must help,” said Gordana Delic, the director of the Balkan Trust for Democracy. “I believe the situation between Croatia and Serbia has not gone that far yet, that it would be impossible to restore the good neighborly relations”.

Croatian Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic said his nation “can’t handle such a huge inflow” and urged Serbia to take the “completely reasonable” steps of setting up registration centers and directing some of the refugee toward Hungary.

EU policy chief Federica Mogherini and Neighborhood Policy and Enlargement Commissioner Johannes Hahn are in close contact with Zagreb and Belgrade “to try and help them to find a solution together in order to restore trade flows as soon as possible,” Mina Andreeva, a spokeswoman for the 28-nation bloc’s executive, the European Commission, told reporters in Brussels on Thursday. Any trade restrictions must be “proportional, non-discriminatory and limited in time,” she said.

[BLOG] Some Thursday links

• Centauri Dreams notes how the New Horizons probe is maneuvering into mapping orbits of Ceres.
• Crooked Timber examines the decline of inter-generational mobility and class mobility.
• The Dragon’s Gaze reports on Jupiter analog HIP 11915b.
• The Dragon’s Tales notes Russian claims in the Arctic and links to a comparison of Chinese and American statements on perceived threats.
• Language Hat reports on a project hoping to map the diffusion of ideas over time.
• Language Log reports on the use of the term “mother” in comparative linguistics.
• Marginal Revolution notes the fragility of Greek foreign trade and examines economic dysfunction in Greece and the former Yugoslavia.
• Registan links to a report of an exile from Kyrgyzstan in Ukraine.
• Window on Eurasia notes how the Russian state has not found Western partners willing to partition Ukraine, unlike Stalin’s Soviet Union re: Nazi Germany.