The Foreign Service Journal, July-August 2004

14 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / J U LY- A U G U S T 2 0 0 4 Tales from A Small Planet Named Best Expatriate Resource Tales from A Small Planet , the Web site launched in 2000 by Foreign Service spouses Francesca Kelly and Fritz Galt to replace their “Spouses’ Underground Newsletter,” the SUN, has been awarded top billing in Forbes magazine’s “Best of the Web” Directory in the category of “Expatri- ate Resources” ( http://www.forbes. com/bow/ ). Tales ( www.talesmag.com ) h as steadily evolved into the most com- prehensive source of information and education on what it is really like to live in a foreign country. It employs literature, humor and the arts, as well as online discussion groups, to enrich and share the experience of living abroad, including how to cope with the challenges that come along. The Forbes magazine “Best of Web” Directory also includes these sites: Transitions Abroad ( www. transitionsabroad.com ), Escape Artist.com ( www.escapeartist.com ), Outpost Expatriate Network ( www. outpostexpat.nl ) a nd Overseas Digest ( www.overseasdigest.com ). One particularly useful site, www. newsstand.com , pr ovides online sub- scriptions for hundreds of internation- al newspapers and magazines. Iraq Bellwether: Kurds at a Crossroads The Kurdish ethnic minority may have reached a crossroads. The long- oppressed ethnic group has been dealt a new set of challenges in the wake of the overthrow of Saddam Hussein — not least of which is to participate in overcoming the ethnic animosity inspired and enforced by decades of persecution by the Ba’thist dictator. While representatives from the larger Shia and Sunni populations received the two top posts in the new interim Iraqi government, Iraqi Kurds were given one of the two vice presi- dencies, the foreign ministry and the deputy prime minister’s portfolio. But crucial issues such as a constitutional safeguard of minority rights and the status of Kirkuk remain to be tackled. With the fall of the Ba’thist regime, the Kurds — who had developed a governmental infrastructure in north- ern Iraq at the end of the 1991 Persian Gulf War — were logical protectors of the vast oil reserves around Kirkuk. Saddam Hussein had, however, insti- tuted a policy of Arabization and driven most Kurds from the city — and ten- sions have recently flared anew. In Ankara, meanwhile, the thought of a Kurdish regional authority with a newfound source of wealth is trou- bling. Quoted in the Turkish daily newspaper Zaman , Turkish Foreign C YBERNOTES B egun in May 2003 by an inquisitive fact-finder, Nation Master ( www.nationmaster.com ) p ro- vides to serious statisticians and trivia enthusiasts the simple tools for comparing the national statistics of nearly every country in the world. Whether you want to learn how countries rank according to industrial growth or simply want to know which nations are the top exporters of apricots, Nation Master has the answer. Nation Master draws its data from a variety of gov- ernmental, international and private sources. Among many others, these include the CIA World Factbook , the Department of Energy, the World Health Organization and the World Bank. The Web site provides an easy and informative way to gather and compare data on every- thing from national unemployment to car thefts per capita. Near the top of the page is a “Make Your Own Graph” feature that can be used to rank countries according to a particular variable using color-coded bar graphs or pie charts. By clicking on the “Stats” link in the top corner of the page, users can see the long list of possible data. Maps and flags of every country are also available. In addition, there is a free “Forum” where users can discuss topics ranging from crime and health to sports and geography. While some of the most advanced features of the Web site, such as correlations and scatter plots, are limited to “supporters” only, all of the data are accessible free of charge. With statistics ranging from health and environ- mental to economic and governmental, Nation Master is an invaluable central resource for the curious and the scholar- ly alike. — Kristofer Lofgren, Editorial Intern Site of the Month: Nation Master