IRAQI BLOGGER MOHAMMED looks at the third anniversary of Iraq’s liberation from Saddam.

THE CARNIVAL OF THE CAPITALISTS IS UP. So is the first edition of the Radical Progressive Carnival. This week’s Blawg Review is up, too. Plus, the Carnival of the Cats!

JOHN FUND EMAILS THIS LINK ON YALE’S TALIBAN PROBLEM and says it’s the single best thing on the subject — which is saying a lot, given that Fund has been all over the topic himself.

Even though she’d be a legacy, I don’t think I’ll encourage my daughter to apply to Yale.

SO WHILE WE WERE IN THE MOUNTAINS (described at more length here), I did manage to take some pictures with the new camera (a Sony DSC-W7) and even to compare them with some other stuff when I got home. Verdict — the new camera is somewhat better than the old one in terms of imaging quality, but I think it has more to do with its having a better lens (a Zeiss instead of a Sony) than with the extra megapixels (going from 5 to 7.2). Blown up, the images from my Nikon D70 look better than the ones from the Sony even though the Nikon has 6.2 megapixels instead of 7.2. I’m sure the Nikon’s CCD is better, but I suspect that the big difference is in the glass here, too. The Sony was comparatively cheap, and also shoots video though. And it fits in your pocket. Both are awfully good at what they do, of course. If only everything improved as much as electronics.

The one downside of the new Sony — although it fits in my pocket better than the old one, it fits in my hand less comfortably, because it’s smaller, and I have big hands. Oh, well. Since my hands are bigger than most people’s, that’s a problem most users won’t have.

TIMOTHY GARTON ASH: Belarus needs you!

Last night, thousands (estimates of exactly how many varied considerably) of people turned out in freezing cold on Minsk’s October Square to protest at what they saw as a rigged election and to call for freedom. Some of them carried the European flag. A key question now (Monday midday) is: will they turn out again tonight, as opposition leaders have called for? In larger numbers or smaller? And will the KGB (still so called in Belarus) treat the protesters as “terrorists”, as its boss has threatened?

How do you think those who live in democracies – especially the democracies of Europe – should react? I’ll be writing about this in my Guardian column on Thursday. I’d appreciate your comments.

I’d like to see Belarus go the way of Ukraine. Lukashenko — and Putin — feel differently.

UPDATE: StrategyPage has more on Belarus.

ANOTHER UPDATE: A cautionary response from Ivan Lenin.

OVER AT THE SPECULIST, they’ve got a podcast interview with Tobias Buckell, author of Crystal Rain, which I enjoyed.

FUTURISMIC is a pretty cool blog about the future.

MORE ARMY OF DAVIDS REVIEWS, from Jason Clarke and Jim Geraghty.