News – How it Goes in the Middle East
Middle East
According to NGO’s in Iraq, a third of Iraqis are in need of ‘immediate aid’. Meaning they’re in a bad way in terms of food and shelter. In addiction Stuart Bowen, Special Inspector General for Iraqi Reconstruction, says in a BBC interview that corruption is far too high.
Zalmay Khalilzad accuses Saudi Arabia of making moves to undermine stabilizing efforts in Iraq. Makes sense to me. The longer the US is embroiled in Iraq, the weaker we get. Many powers in the world could benefit from that. Case in point, note how much gas we burn with our war machine active in Iraq. A Saudi wet dream.
And still, we’ll sell Saudi Arabia and other Arab states some of our advanced weaponry. And, of course, because we’re selling weapons in the Middle East, Israel gets uncomfy. So we’ll offer them even more US dollars for their military. Which will likely go into funding more raids into Gaza. Gotta love how things work, don’t ya?
And to cap that off, Hamas starts to pay the overdue salaries of thousands of workers in Gaza. One of the issues that caused a great deal of unrest in that region. This is why Hamas finds sway with the people. They meet their needs, where the government consistently cannot.
Sports can be a profound morale boost to those who see little else to smile about. A brief one, but welcome nonetheless.
The rate of disability amongst Iraqis has risen considerably when you look at the number of amputations needed due to victims of bomb attacks.
The best bad plan for leaving Iraq?
Africa
Liberia allows the mining and selling of diamonds again, lifting a six year ban that was put in place at the height of their civil war. How the proceeds can go to construction rather than destruction.
The details behind the release of six foreign medics held in Libya are revealed. Prime Minister Baghdadi Mahmudi criticized Bulgaria for pardoning the six immediately when they arrived home.
Asia/Pacific
John Howard, PM of Australia, refuses to give an apology to Indian doctor Mohamed Haneef for twisting the law in order to hold him on terror charges which were recently dismissed. “Dr Haneef was not victimised and Australia’s international reputation has not been harmed by this ‘mis-start’ to its new anti-terrorism laws,” Howard says. Well, Johnny, I disagree with you. Most definitely and I do think you do even more damage to Australia’s international rep by not admitting you screwed up big time. It’s hardly a ‘mis-start’ as you so seek to term it.
China makes some moves to put a dent it their pollution problem. Moves are good, but progress is what I want to see. Will a blacklist barring companies from bank loans make them change their ways?
Americas
Look out kids, here come bible based action figures. Question is, can they crack into the market deep enough to justify the shelf space? Probably, considering the number of off brand toys you see in some stores. But I don’t think they’ll give the super heroes a serious run for their money.
Mexico allows gay inmates to have their own conjugal visits. The government went with it after the city’s human rights commission said it would help reduce discrimination. Which is true enough since all by itself it gives equality. Among prison inmates, anyway.
What stops the Republican candidates from facing the YouTube Generation?
General
An instant steam machine to help combat infections in hospitals. I love progress tidbits like that.
Experts say that pot smokers are 40% more likely to have a psychotic illness. I always wonder at the context of these sorts of studies. Never seems clear if they just took pot as the root cause or if they made sure that pot smoking wasn’t just something that people prone to illness tend to use more than those not prone to it. But that would be hard to determine, wouldn’t it?
A study says warm seas make for more hurricanes. Of course, the true argument is whether this is the normal cycle of things or an aberration from that cycle. How far must a line be crossed before it goes from normal to abnormal? And will it be too late to reverse by then? That’s why I prefer to be safe rather than sorry. We only have this one world, after all.
Social scientists use online MMORPGs like World of Warcraft and virtual worlds like Second Life as virtual laboratories. I play WoW and I’ve seen some people post up requests for info on the official forums for things like that, though I suspect they’re college students, rather than actual researchers. What is most interesting to me is seeing how differently people act on an MMORPG compared to how they are for real.
A review of The Simpsons Movie. Looks good to me.
The Blogs look at Saudi Arabia’s intrigues in Iraq, the Clinton-Obama sparring match and cats predicting death.
Today’s Papers has the latest inadvertent Internet celebrity, how Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has faced accusations over the last 10 years that he has been less than truthful when speaking out about President Bush’s behavior and his policies, a look into the divisions inside Iraq’s Ministry of Interior and more in the one page news.
Amusements
Neurotically Yours: Hot Enough For Ya?
Mark Fiore: Pickling the Poor
Bank issues their customer service representatives a manual that explains how to hardball customers into giving up on their effort to seek refunds for bank overcharges unless they are “very ill or dying”
Suppose for a moment that Ferris Bueller grew up, moved to Florida, and became a teacher. No need to get Hollywood scriptwriters, because the story would end up almost exactly like this
You know that $27.00 a month water bill you’ve been getting for the last few years? Sorry, we have been charging you the wrong rate. Please pay us $1,500.00 this month to make up for the difference. Thank you
Monster jumping fish striking people at record pace in stretch of water (with jumping fish pics)
The 100 greatest moments in British food. And the 100 greatest moment in British food hell. Guess which one the deep-fried Mars bar is in?
Fark Photoshop Challenge: Photoshop these leaves
Fark Photoshop Challenge: Photoshop this birdie
Fark Photoshop Challenge: Photoshop this wanderer