Kyle Spector's blog

Starting Monday, Passport will be back in the hands of its rightful owners--Blake and rest of the FP editors. But, before I go, here's your Friday photo:

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (right) walks hand in hand with visiting Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki (left) during their meeting in Tehran, 08 August 2007. Maliki met Iranian leaders Thursday for talks aimed at winning Tehran's unequivocal support for restoring security to his war-torn country. (ATTA KENARE/AFP/Getty Images)

What if instead of airline miles, cash back or hotel stays, your credit card paid you back in carbon offsets?

That's exactly what GE's new "Earth Rewards" card will do. One percent of your purchases go directly toward buying carbon offsets, which supposedly finance eco-friendly projects around the world designed to limit greenhouse gases and stop climate change.

It's a nice idea, but part of the problem with climate change is that we will never be able to buy our way out of it. Encouraging consumption in order to offset just one percent of that consumption is a futile effort at mitigating environmental issues. Using the GE Earth Rewards card is probably better for the environment than redeeming rewards for carbon-emitting airline flights. Still, the whole concept remains a bit ironic.

Getty Images

Piracy of intellectual property--including software, music and movies--is a huge point of contention between the US and less IP-sensitive countries. Last year, for instance, a Russian website accused of illegally distributing music files fueled a dispute between Russian authorities and the US Trade Representative's office.

Enforcement of IP laws is lax but getting better in many parts of the developing world, especially in countries that are cleaning up their act in hopes of gaining WTO membership (Ukraine, China). Beyond poor enforcement, another reason why piracy is so rampant is because the price of software in developing countries is just too high for the local market. It's easier for many to just buy priated copies at reasonable prices and take the gamble of breaking the law. Even if they are caught, the legal consequences are usually minimal.

Microsoft's South African division is hoping to gain market share and combat piracy at the same time with the introduction of a pay-as-you-go software subscription. Instead of forking over $700 for a legal copy of Microsoft Office, users can subscribe to Office for as little as $10 per month. Microsoft will also open up the subscription service to users in Romania.

Beyond just combatting piracy, Microsoft's move could also be a first strike to prevent the developing world from embracing Google Apps, a $50/year web-based software package offering many features similar to Microsoft Office.

JAY DIRECTO/AFP/Getty Images

Asia

Pakistan's President Musharraf almost declared a state of emergency, but a 2 AM phone call from Condi may have stopped him. Meanwhile, President Bush calls for free and fair elections in Pakistan, which could be a big mistake.

While the rest of the world is busy fixing an economic crisis, China's trade surplus gets bigger, reaching its second-highest level to date.

At least 57 are dead after clashes between suspected militants and military forces in the Philippines.

Middle East

The Bush administration wants the UN's help with a series of talks in Baghdad between the US and Iraq's neighboring countries.

Gaddafi's son admits that the five Bulgarian nurses and one Palestinian doctor held in Libya for eight years were tortured.

The UN warns that Gaza will face a severe economic meltdown and "disastrous consequences" if border crossing are not reopened.

Europe

The US sub-prime lending debacle went global. France's largest bank suspended three of its investment funds and the European Central Bank injected $130 billion into the economy to keep rates in check. Other central banks around the world followed suit.

Russia resumed Cold War-style air patrols over NATO and US Territory.

Sarkozy goes globe-hopping, while the Pope tries to get as far away from an anti-Semitic priest as possible.

Elsewhere

Uncertainty about the global economy tops the news. Before he heads off to Kennebunkport, President Bush says that everything should be just fine, but not everyone agrees. Paul Krugman writes there is nothing policymakers can do about this. If, like me, you are wondering just how we got into this mess in the first place, you can learn more about the liquidity crisis here.

South Africa fires its health minister, but she says it's because she criticized hosptial conditions.

Today's Agenda

• The UN's mandate in Iraq is set to expire. The security council is expected to vote today to continue and expand the Iraq mandate. 
• Discussions on the fate of Western Sahara continue today.
• Fresh talks over Kosovo's status between US, EU, Russian, and Serbian officials are planned.

Yesterday on Passport

• China threatens the "nuclear" option
• Private equity: "It's kind of like sex"
• No carbon here: Abu Dhabi's carbon-free city

WATHIQ KHUAZIE/Getty Images

If you were curious about what kind of thoughts run through the mind of an Iraqi living in Baghdad, read this:

When will I die? That's the question circling in my head when I awake on Wednesday. I'm sweating, as usual. My muscles ache from another long night of no electricity in weather only slightly cooler than hell. As I dress for work, other questions assail me: How will I die? Will it be a shot in the head? Will I be blown to pieces? Or be seized at a police checkpoint because of my sect, then tortured and killed and thrown out on the sidewalk?

That's the opening paragraph of a piece posted by "Dr. Mohammed" in last Sunday's WaPo. Dr. Mohammed, who runs the Last of Iraqis blog, goes on to write:

In the end, we all agree: The only losers are honest, patriotic Iraqi people. For them, democracy, liberation and freedom are just myths. All we want is to live a normal life.

Of course, these words do not represent the views of all Iraqis, and Dr. Mohammed hints in his writings that he is wealthier than most other Iraqis. Still, the piece provides an interesting look into a week in Iraq from an often-ignored perspective.

loan Barbulescu/Flickr

Although it would seem a more natural fit for an eco-conscious country like Norway, whose government pledged to be carbon-neutral by 2050, the world's first carbon-free city will actually be built in Abu Dhabi, the oil-rich Gulf emirate.

By 2009, Abu Dhabi hopes to complete construction of Masdar, a 3.7 mile enclosed city devoid of cars and carbon. To produce energy, Masdar will rely on a combination of wind, solar power and geothermal energy. The city—whose name means “source” in Arabic—is slated to be the centerpiece of The Masdar Initiative, which, according to their website, is “a global cooperative platform for open engagement in the search for solutions to some of mankind's most pressing issues: energy security, climate change and truly sustainable human development.”

According to this, some of Masdar’s main investors are automobile manufacturers and oil companies. British Petroleum, Fiat, and Mitsubishi are all involved. Why? Masdar is guaranteed to produce an excess of carbon credits traded on international markets either for profit or for the right to produce more emissions during other activities, such as oil production or auto manufacturing.

While their intentions might not be completely altruistic, the fact that oil and car companies are investing heavily in a project whose very mission is to consume no oil and use no cars means that carbon trading schemes might be having their desired effect. That is, incentivizing investments in carbon-reducing initiatives. Although, not everyone is playing by the rules. There is some evidence that Chinese companies are actually polluting more in order to make a buck (or about 7.5 Renminbi) off carbon credits.

The cover of the latest U.S. News and World Report features a story chronicling the life and death of Army Staff Sgt. Darrell Ray Griffin, Jr. The writer met Griffin during an embed assignment in March, only to find out that a sniper's bullet took Griffin's life a few days later in Sadr City.

Using interviews, photographs and his personal diary entries, the story rebuilds Griffin's own internal battle about the war and his own sense of purpose. It's a striking contrast to the political rhetoric coming from both sides of the spectrum, with Republicans and Democrats alike claiming to know how the troops feel. The real story is much more complex. 

In one diary entry, Griffin reveals his conflicted feelings about the war:

My heart finally broke for the Iraqi people. I wanted to just sit down and cry while saying I'm so, so sorry for what we had done. I had the acute sense that we had failed these people. It was at this time, and after an entire year of being deployed and well into the next deployment that I realized something. We burst into homes, frighten the hell out of families, and destroy their homes looking for an elusive enemy. We do this out of fear of the unseen and attempt to compensate for our inability to capture insurgents by swatting mosquitoes with a sledge-hammer in glass houses.

More diary entries and pictures are linked from the main story.

At a discussion yesterday featuring U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman on the global economy, U.S. Congressman Barney Frank had this to say:

The most influential economic spokesman in America today is Lou Dobbs, who regards the rest of the world somewhat suspiciously in terms of the negative impact he believes it has on America's middle class and working Americans.

Granted, Frank was only trying to make the point that Americans are starting to feel like the global economy is a losing proposition for U.S. workers and therefore are now taking on a more protectionist stance. Though Frank admitted he doesn't agree with most of Dobbs' positions, it's still a stretch to think that one CNN anchor holds so much sway over the American public.

That's Thomas Friedman's take as well:

I would greatly dispute Barney Frank's statement that Lou Dobbs is the most important economic voice in this country … People aren’t stupid. They want the truth. They understand the world they are living in.

Who's right?