Saturday  2004-01-24   World

1984 doubleplusgood

 
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Saturday  2004-01-17   World

Neither Shahs nor Ayatollahs nor foreigners

The last Shah of Iran went to exile 25 years ago on 1979-01-16 leaving the country to a group of embittered reactionary clerics lead by Ayatollah Khomeini. Soon America the Shah's master would be humilated and infuriated by the spector of its citizens taken hostage in Teheran. Iran went on to waste the 1980s by devouring its young in a futile decade-long war that Iraq's Saddam started and Khomeini kept on. The next decade saw the US ally of the 1980s Iraq's fall from grace after its transgression in Kuwait and its subsquent punishment (that continues on to this day) and Iran's halting, sporatic and sadly incomplete regeneration. After a quater century since the Shah's dethronement and five decades since the Shah's enthronment, what lessons have we learned over these decades?

 
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Sunday  2004-01-04   World

The worst thing is to starve

"The worst thing is to starve, the next worst thing is to beg." So says the prime minister of Ethiopia, a country worse off then it was 20 years ago during the peak of the famine.

 
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Monday  2003-12-15   World

Bill of Rights Day

Today 12-15 is called Bill of Rights Day in the United States of America in honor of the Bill of Rights (see its original here).

 
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Sunday  2003-08-03   World

Oil is good lubricant

Even thouth the report has been completed before the war in Iraq, the Cogressional Joint Inquiry on 9/11 has been released only recently with 28 pages censored. Much speculation on the missing pages has been focussed on alledged complicity of suspect Islamic charity organizations from Saudi Arabia on the attack and US stauch ally Saudi government's regrettable lax policing of these organizations.

Apparently it is far much worse: The very top levels of the Saudi royal family are alledgedly involved. "If the 28 pages were to be made public, I have no question that the entire relationship with Saudi Arabia would change overnight." So says an official who read the classified portion.

 
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Monday  2003-03-17   World

Soldiers' cartoonist

Bill Mauldin, the famous creator of cartoon characters Willie and Joe, passed away a few months ago. Stars and Stripes has an archive.

"Joe, yestiddy ya saved my life an' I swore I'd pay ya back. Here's my last pair of dry socks."

Is there a Bill Mauldin for the next war?

 
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Sunday  2003-03-16   World

Just a reminder

"I'm determined that the United States will remain the strongest of all nations, but our power will never be used to initiate a threat to the security of any nation or to the rights of any human being. We seek to be and to remain secure--a nation at peace in a stable world. But to be secure we must face the world as it is. [...] This situation demands careful thought, steady nerves, and resolute action, not only for this year but for many years to come. It demands collective efforts to meet this new threat to security in the Persian Gulf and in Southwest Asia. It demands the participation of all those who rely on oil from the Middle East and who are concerned with global peace and stability. And it demands consultation and close cooperation with countries in the area which might be threatened. [...] Let our position be absolutely clear: An attempt by any outside force to gain control of the Persian Gulf region will be regarded as an assault on the vital interests of the United States of America, and such an assault will be repelled by any means necessary, including military force."

Above foreign policy doctrine is named after a former resident of the White House. For discussion on the current one, see "The Bush Doctrine and War with Iraq" by Jeffery Record (PDF version here).

 
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