Tuesday links: Yasukuni, Sochi Olympics, Africa growth, NSA spying and more

7 January 2014 12:12

'How the Sochi Games grew so expensive is a tale of Putin-era Russia in microcosm: a story of ambition, hubris, and greed leading to fabulous extravagance'.
A look inside the ship that will destroy Syria's chemical weapons arsenal. The US ship will be guarded by a Chinese frigate.
Why Shinzo Abe will never be welcome in China. This piece of course touches on Abe's recent Yasukuni visit, which has been covered brilliantly by James Fallows and his blog readers.
Some lovely images of life for factory workers in Shanghai.
Lawrence Haddad from the Institute for Development Studies says African poverty will continue to decline strongly in 2014. (H/t @georgedarroch.)
Academic economists spend an inordinate amount of time focusing on America: 'From 1985 to 2005 over 35,000 economics papers focused on America; fewer than 20,000 focused on Europe and Central Asia combined.'
A cost/benefit analysis of NSA spying on Americans.

'Down and out down under'