- The UN report confirming the use of sarin gas in Syria on 21 August.
- A new Suharto memorial and what it says about Indonesia.
- A new inventory of the world's nuclear weapons.
- Are free trade agreements about stakeholders or shareholders? A sceptical take on the TPP.
- Global trade is down 2% in the last quarter.
- Detailed content analysis shows Arab media surprisingly positive towards Obama. (Thanks Alex.)
- Via Marginal Revolution, a thought provoking post about the decline of 'stuff':
If I did an inventory of how much steel, aluminium and the like I consume it has likely gone down a great deal and is comically less than what my parents consumed. Sure I spend a fair bit on services – publication subscriptions, Evernote, gym membership, Fitbit, going out to eat, etc – but the central fact of my existence is that the material content has gone down markedly all the while my quality of life has improved markedly...This is by and large what productivity is all about. The green revolution was about increases in output per unit of land, the industrial about increasing output per worker. It may not be much fun for incumbent industries getting displaced – and there are many – but this story is as old as the hills and the central narrative of human progress and creative destruction.