Three highly useful political websites (probably moreso for the Eurospags)

[Cain]

http://www.neoconeurope.eu/Neocon_Europe

The Neocon Europe website is designed to help people find out more about the Neoconservative networks operating in Europe. It is an attempt to monitor and publicise the sometime covert and not always visible activities of Neoconservatives attempting to internationalise their movement.

http://www.spinwatch.org/

Spinwatch is an independent non-profit making organisation which monitors the role of public relations and spin in contemporary society. Spinwatch was founded in 2004 and promotes greater understanding of the role of PR, propaganda and lobbying through its website (http://www.spinwatch.org) and through other outreach and campaigning activities, including media appearances, book and pamphlet writing, 'Spinwalks' and investigative reporting.

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=SourceWatch

SourceWatch is a collaborative project of the Center for Media and Democracy to produce a directory of the people, organizations and issues shaping the public agenda. A primary purpose of SourceWatch is documenting the PR and propaganda activities of public relations firms and public relations professionals engaged in managing and manipulating public perception, opinion and policy. SourceWatch also includes profiles on think tanks, industry-funded organizations and industry-friendly experts that work to influence public opinion and public policy on behalf of corporations, governments and special interests. Over time, SourceWatch has broadened to include others involved in public debates including media outlets, journalists, government agencies, activists and nongovernmental organizations. Unlike some other wikis, SourceWatch has a policy of strict referencing, and is overseen by a paid editor.


If you really want to get deep into politics, these three sites are incredibly useful.

[Jenne]

The first link reminds me of the time when Europeans were a bit smug that America was alone in its political bowl-circling, and I used to believe they were right.  Mighty Yurp had socialism, after all.  Till that whole Muslim backlash thing happened, and I remembered the plight of the pied noirs.

The other 2 links, major --those are awesomeness supremo.

[Triple Zero]

we're just as fucked as you.

we can only be smug about getting fucked in slightly different orifices with slightly different objects for slightly different reasons by slightly different people.

but only slightly.

I will check out the links, Cain. Thanks. I don't want to get "deep" into politics (too time-consuming, I can't read fast enough), but I do like to keep an eye on what's (really) going on. Will these sites also help with that?

[Cain]

Ours are generally more subtle than the Americans, too.  Maybe because your political system is a bit more transparent and clearly designed, whereas ours are a mix of tradition and modern innovation, in uneasy alliance, making the networks of power more diffuse and harder to see.  Equally, our politicians tend to be more slippy, and rely less on rhetoric and much more on dog whistles.

Trip, they will do, yes.  Spinwatch is usually best for day to day things, and transatlanic relations, sourcewatch is usually good if you want to know the background of a company, organization or individual and Neoconeurope is more for finding out who links up with who and how.

[Reginald Ret]

These might also be of use.

http://www.corpwatch.org/

We seek to expose multinational corporations that profit from war, fraud, environmental, human rights and other abuses, and to provide critical information to foster a more informed public and an effective democracy.

http://www.prwatch.org/

The Center for Media and Democracy was founded by John Stauber in 1993 as an independent, non-profit, non-partisan, public interest organization. CMD's mission is to promote transparency and an informed debate by exposing corporate spin and government propaganda and by engaging the public in collaborative, fair and accurate reporting.

(I got those from a great book: A Short Course in Intellectual Self-Defence by Normand Baillargeon)

[Cain]

Good stuff.  PR Watch seems to be another project of the people behind Sourcewatch, I'll see how Corpwatch is later.