Snacks for Thought: June 20, 2009

'Snacks for thought' is a weekly round-up of thought-provoking articles, commentaries and opinions:

1. Social media vs. the state: repercussions from the Iranian situation - http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2009/06/20/the_repercussions_of_a_twitter_revolution/
2. Chinese government bailouts helping high-rollers bet their way out of recession? - http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/economics/article6538574.ece
3. Shanghai Cooperation Organization congratulates Iran's president on victory. For those who ever doubted this was a big geopolitical tug-of-war, read this article and ponder - http://www.sptimesrussia.com/index.php?action_id=2&story_id=29285
4. Israel's Foreign Minister says "settlements are not an obstacle for peace." No, he's right, making such statements is the real obstacle to peace - http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1245184877876&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
5. Culinary integration and its 'nation-building' powers - http://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/0,1518,631213,00.html
6. Turkey's multidimensional foreign policy may be a strategic opportunity to expand the EU's influence in the Middle East - http://www.worldpress.org/Mideast/3351.cfm
7. Theories of the Chinese Revolution - http://understandingsociety.blogspot.com/2009/06/theories-of-chinese-revolution.html
8. This photo captures Latvia's fiscal and economic problems quite well I think - http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2009/06/19/friday_photo_riga_rumble