Well-Made World 11

No Empires was lazy this weekend--

though did manage to take in Garth Jennings' Son of Rambow, Jeoffrey Blitz's Rocket Science, David Gordon Green's Snow Angels, Tom DeCillo's Delirious, and 5 new shorts from Sundance*--and may or may not have been hit on by Kieran Culkin--

so some of this may be "old news."

Middle East

• A recently-made video of Alan Johnston in captivity has been circulating, purportedly leaked by the group "Army of Islam". The video features Johnston half-heartedly running through a list of pro-Palestinian talking points; the BBC, of course, was quick to assume that these couldn't possibly reflect Johnston's own opinions on the conflict in Palestine/Israel.
• Fuoad Siniora is salivating at the chance to "prove himself" to his handlers in Washington and London, and so the Lebanese army is poised to sow further destruction at the Nahr el-Bared refugee camp in Tripoli, and has taken the time to publicize that they will not be distinguishing between "Islamist" combatants and innocent residents of the camp.
• Patrick Cockburn explores the state of Iraq's militias during Washington's failing "surge."
• In Jerusalem, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni has warned her British doppelganger, Margaret Beckett, that calls in the UK for an academic boycott of Israel is in conflict with "good Israeli-British relations." Also, a 20-year old settler from Nahniel, West Bank, has been acquitted of attempted murder charges stemming from his near-lynching of a Palestinian in Gush Katif in 2005.

Europe

• The head of the Church of England's education wing has declared that the teaching of intelligent design "has a place" in British curriculae.
• And here's some coverage of the ongoing debate between Alex Cockburn and George Monbiot on the science behind global warming. No Empires is eagerly keeping an eye on this.

*The only one that didn't disappoint