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    <title>As I Please | Big Think</title>
    <link>http://bigthink.com/blogs/As-I-Please</link>
    <description>&lt;p&gt;Mark Seddon, the former United Nations Correspondent and New York Bureau Chief for  Al-Jazeera English TV, offers irreverent commentary on the&amp;nbsp;major events that shape the lives of people in Europe.&amp;nbsp; As I Please aims to speak truth to power, however uncomfortable that&amp;nbsp;may sometimes be.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;div style="font-family: Gill Sans, Gill Sans MT, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-transform: uppercase;"&gt;CONTACT AS YOU PLEASE&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;p&gt;If you have  any questions, news or comments, please feel free to &lt;a href="http://mce_host/admin/blogs/As-I-Please/seddonm@verizon.net"&gt;email&lt;/a&gt; me.&lt;/p&gt;</description>
    <lastBuildDate>Mon, 13 Feb 2012 10:39:06 -0000</lastBuildDate>
    <copyright>Copyright Big Think. This work is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.</copyright>
    
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      <title>Democracy Crushed; Elected President Arrested; World Wrings its Hands</title>
      <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/bigthink/blogs/as-i-please/~3/j3Y7Uo3uHC8/42379</link>
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      <pubDate>Thu, 09 Feb 2012 14:49:35 -0500</pubDate>
      <m:thumbnail url="http://assets2.bigthink.com/system/idea_thumbnails/42379/313/Mohamed-Nasheed.jpg?1328817039" type="image/jpeg" />
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        <![CDATA[ <em>Bernard Savage, Head of the EU Delegation to Sri Lanka and the Maldives said: “At this stage, given our information, we would not say that there has been any legal infringement of constitutional forms. We are not taking sides but, as the High Representative Cathy Ashton has made clear, what we</em> ...<br><br><a href='http://bigthink.com/ideas/42379'>Read More</a>]]>
      </description>
      <dc:creator>Mark Seddon</dc:creator>
    <feedburner:origLink>http://bigthink.com/ideas/42379</feedburner:origLink></item>
    <item>
      <title>What is a Newt?</title>
      <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/bigthink/blogs/as-i-please/~3/hQJnVcfLDwo/42086</link>
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      <pubDate>Mon, 23 Jan 2012 10:05:01 -0500</pubDate>
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        <![CDATA[&#xA0;&#xD;
In all of the hyperbole surrounding Newt Gingrich's storming victory over Mitt Romney in South Carolina, little or no attention has so far been given to the slippery amphibian that bares the same name as the far Right Republican President wannabee.&#xD;
&#xA0;&#xD;
Readers may therefore be somewhat surprised ...<br><br><a href='http://bigthink.com/ideas/42086'>Read More</a>]]>
      </description>
      <dc:creator>Mark Seddon</dc:creator>
    <feedburner:origLink>http://bigthink.com/ideas/42086</feedburner:origLink></item>
    <item>
      <title>Maldives: A Moderate Islamic State or a Taliban State?</title>
      <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/bigthink/blogs/as-i-please/~3/Xhix0MuByPQ/41851</link>
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      <pubDate>Sun, 08 Jan 2012 14:19:35 -0500</pubDate>
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        <![CDATA[The dramatic decision by the Maldives Government to close down tourist hotel health spas &#x2013; following recent noisy protests that claimed they were &#x2018;un Islamic&#x2019; - provoked fairly predictable headlines in some of the Western media. Best was the tongue in cheek concern in the London Evening Standard ...<br><br><a href='http://bigthink.com/ideas/41851'>Read More</a>]]>
      </description>
      <dc:creator>Mark Seddon</dc:creator>
    <feedburner:origLink>http://bigthink.com/ideas/41851</feedburner:origLink></item>
    <item>
      <title>Crisis Averted. World Slumbers</title>
      <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/bigthink/blogs/as-i-please/~3/hBrnzu6p1h0/41707</link>
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      <pubDate>Tue, 27 Dec 2011 20:16:18 -0500</pubDate>
      <m:thumbnail url="http://assets3.bigthink.com/system/idea_thumbnails/41707/313/163659802.jpeg?1325034968" type="image/jpeg" />
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        <![CDATA[It was an innocuous enough statement. The fact that it referred to an event that had occurred while much of the World &#x2013; and particularly the Western media &#x2013; was on holiday, explains why it received such little coverage. But then good news, especially if it is associated with the United Nations ...<br><br><a href='http://bigthink.com/ideas/41707'>Read More</a>]]>
      </description>
      <dc:creator>Mark Seddon</dc:creator>
    <feedburner:origLink>http://bigthink.com/ideas/41707</feedburner:origLink></item>
    <item>
      <title>North Korea, More Isolated Than Ever</title>
      <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/bigthink/blogs/as-i-please/~3/gDFr4Cklgzs/41625</link>
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      <pubDate>Wed, 21 Dec 2011 09:54:46 -0500</pubDate>
      <m:thumbnail url="http://assets3.bigthink.com/system/idea_thumbnails/41625/313/Kim_Jong_Un2.jpg?1324479224" type="image/jpeg" />
      <description>
        <![CDATA[News of the demise of Kim Jong Il, leader of the &#x2018;hermit kingdom&#x2019;, or the World&#x2019;s last Stalinist State, North Korea, shouldn&#x2019;t have come as a surprise; after all, he had been quite ill for some time. But his death comes at a highly inconvenient and potentially dangerous time, with his son and heir ...<br><br><a href='http://bigthink.com/ideas/41625'>Read More</a>]]>
      </description>
      <dc:creator>Mark Seddon</dc:creator>
    <feedburner:origLink>http://bigthink.com/ideas/41625</feedburner:origLink></item>
    <item>
      <title>The Iranian Spark That Could Start a War</title>
      <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/bigthink/blogs/as-i-please/~3/q_0Gw_pYcAk/41093</link>
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      <pubDate>Mon, 14 Nov 2011 06:06:08 -0500</pubDate>
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        <![CDATA[A former British Prime Minister, James Callaghan, once warned that sudden squalls could blow into major storms and often from unexpected places. Not very long afterwards, the Argentinians began to make bellicose noises towards the British ruled Falkland Islands, which they claimed as the Islas ...<br><br><a href='http://bigthink.com/ideas/41093'>Read More</a>]]>
      </description>
      <dc:creator>Mark Seddon</dc:creator>
    <feedburner:origLink>http://bigthink.com/ideas/41093</feedburner:origLink></item>
    <item>
      <title>Speaking Truth to Cameron on the Eurozone Crisis</title>
      <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/bigthink/blogs/as-i-please/~3/msum_Acdicc/40897</link>
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      <pubDate>Mon, 31 Oct 2011 10:07:15 -0400</pubDate>
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        <![CDATA[Much of the traditional British media seems to be wilfully missing the  political story that lies behind the attempts to save the Eurozone from  itself. The Right wing media is banging a Eurosceptic drum, replete with  pictures of assorted loonies burning EU flags. Meanwhile much of the  liberal ...<br><br><a href='http://bigthink.com/ideas/40897'>Read More</a>]]>
      </description>
      <dc:creator>Mark Seddon</dc:creator>
    <feedburner:origLink>http://bigthink.com/ideas/40897</feedburner:origLink></item>
    <item>
      <title>Occupy St Pauls Cathedral!</title>
      <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/bigthink/blogs/as-i-please/~3/gl7oFKzZpss/40855</link>
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      <pubDate>Thu, 27 Oct 2011 16:35:23 -0400</pubDate>
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      <description>
        <![CDATA[Occupy St Paul&#x2019;s! This isn&#x2019;t the slogan of those who have followed in the wake of the Wall Street protestors, but London&#x2019;s eponymous cathedral is now surrounded by a tent city of anti capitalist protestors.&#xD;
In truth, there just isn&#x2019;t the room outside the Bank of England, or the &#x2018;Old Lady of ...<br><br><a href='http://bigthink.com/ideas/40855'>Read More</a>]]>
      </description>
      <dc:creator>Mark Seddon</dc:creator>
    <feedburner:origLink>http://bigthink.com/ideas/40855</feedburner:origLink></item>
    <item>
      <title>Euro Zone Crisis Sets Off Referendum Demand</title>
      <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/bigthink/blogs/as-i-please/~3/jCyfuXK1EJs/40820</link>
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      <pubDate>Tue, 25 Oct 2011 17:06:16 -0400</pubDate>
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        <![CDATA[Before history is quickly re-written and the essentials forgotten, the vote that took on Monday night in the House of Commons on whether British voters should be allowed a referendum on membership of the European Union came about because a petition of over one hundred thousand electors demanding ...<br><br><a href='http://bigthink.com/ideas/40820'>Read More</a>]]>
      </description>
      <dc:creator>Mark Seddon</dc:creator>
    <feedburner:origLink>http://bigthink.com/ideas/40820</feedburner:origLink></item>
    <item>
      <title>Inside Libya and other tales</title>
      <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/bigthink/blogs/as-i-please/~3/1d4I00tCBLQ/40465</link>
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      <pubDate>Sun, 02 Oct 2011 08:36:38 -0400</pubDate>
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      <description>
        <![CDATA[&#xA0;&#xD;
More form&#xA0;Mark Seddon's new book; 'Standing for Something - Life in the Awkward Squad', published this week,&#xA0;is available by buying the book&#xD;
<a href="http://www.bitebackpublishing.com/books/Standing%20for%20Something/">http://www.bitebackpublishing.com/books/Standing%20for%20Something/</a>&#xD;
&#xA0;&#xD;
March 2011: Perched in the offices of 'Big Think', just up from the Flat Iron ...<br><br><a href='http://bigthink.com/ideas/40465'>Read More</a>]]>
      </description>
      <dc:creator>Mark Seddon</dc:creator>
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