Uncle Sam gets global

There are lots of good jokes about Americans’ somewhat hazy knowledge of world geography (oh go on, you must have heard them), but this week’s featured websites show a rather firmer grasp on foreign affairs.

The view from Capitol Hill ...

The Library of Congress serves both the American government and its people as a repository for all things American - it claims to be the largest library in the World (no surprise there). But you don’t have to be American to use some of their online resources, and one of the best is Portals to the World.
Pick a country, any country - what do you want to know? I chose France, and I was offered links covering everything from the geography of the country to its language and culture, taking in government, media, libraries and lots more on the way.
They even have links to French search engines - particularly useful, as there is a lot of information in French which is (for reasons I’m too polite to mention) not translated into English.
It doesn’t look exciting - no, let’s be fair, it’s a one-note symphony in tedious blueness. But if you’re going somewhere new for your holidays, or just trying to get some facts on a place you’ve never heard of, Portals to the World does the biz.

(From the Gateway to websites, select "Transport & tourism". Portals to the World is under "Tourism & travel: World".)

... and the view from Spook Central

When you select a country from Portals to the World (described above), one of the links you are offered is to what they coyly refer to as the "World Factbook". Now this is actually an old friend, the splendidly sinister CIA World Factbook. While our own beloved MI5 maintains a website merely as a PR stunt, the American cloak-and-dagger boys (OK, and girls) publish huge quantities of material about the countries they are - presumably - spying on.
The country information is very straightforward, describing the place, its location, its people, its industry and its politics. The historical thumbnail sketches are useful - there isn’t an annoyingly American slant on the information, rather it’s written in the manner of someone taking a polite interest. There is no mention on the France page of cheese eating surrender monkeys!
If it’s all part of a sinister Yankee plot to run the world - and who am I to judge? - all I can say is that glancing through the CIA World Factbook is a jolly good way to pass the time while we wait for the invasion.

(From the Gateway to Websites, select "Government & politics: national and international". CIA World Factbook is under "Worldwide government". Or get in via Portals to the World as above.)

Picture credit: click/morguefile.com