Some more insights in the latest events in Israel vs Hisbollah.
I very much appreciate that LinkTV offers us westerners some detailed insights and translations into the situation.
Stumble it!
Israel has been making serious threats against Iran’s nuclear program in recent weeks. But one has to wonder: when Israel bombed Saddam’s power plant they didn’t make a huge public announcement - they just dropped the bombs.
Iran’s threat to cut of international oil supply with a naval blockade doesn’t strike me as very smart either. Why punish your customers when you yourself defied the international community.
When you think $140 for a barrel of oil was expensive - just wait … when these idiots start another war in the Middle East the price could easily double. Petrol and food prices will skyrocket and there will be even more starvation and food riots.
If this happens Iran and Israel can very proud of themselves.
Let’s hope the next winters will be warm and mild.
I know this image is from a child bride in Afghanistan … still terrible …
BBC News: Egypt bans 92-year-old’s marriage (with a 17 year old)
The ministry of justice invoked a law which says the age gap between spouses should not exceed 25 years.
Egypt brought in the law prohibiting the marriage of elderly men to very young girls during the Gulf oil boom.
It was an effort to prevent wealthy men from the Gulf states seeking young poor brides from the Egyptian countryside.
The Middle East is still one of the worst places to be a woman. Unless they work harder on the issue and work on their own chauvinistic egos I can’t take any talk about Arab or Muslim high level of culture seriously. The same applies of course for many Turks - who still enjoy their honor killings …
Watch, learn and weep.
The more I learn about western Imperialism, the angrier I get. Here are some more bit about American involvement in Iran.
I can perfectly understand why men in the Middle East go gaga about Haifa Wehbe. She is hot, a great singer and simply delicious (with some help of plastic surgery - which seems very popular in the Middle East).
Is plastic surgery islamic?
But as usual religious fundamentalists couldn’t handle all her sexual power and banned her from performing in Bahrain. Muslim Fundamentalists would not only ban her and put her in a Burka, but ban music in general. Even cell phone ring tones are considered a disturbance of faith. I can’t wait for a fatwa against Nokia.
I am just afraid that she will be the target of an attack - like it has happened against other outspoken woman before. So much about the reference for woman is Arabic countries.
Hey Darling, you can perform in my place anyday!
Just because you have the mental strength to kill yourself, doesn’t mean everybody admires your willpower.
From the great Link.tv
With ‘putting’ Al Qaeda into the Gaza Strip America and Israel have the perfect reason to flatten it. So a new war might be coming soon - even involving Hezbollah from Lebanon and the US.
On the other side: constantly firing rockets into Israel doesn’t help either. Hamas and the other groups should be smarter than that.
Documentary / 1 hour 22 minutes / by Basil Gelpke and Ray McCormack
Oil is - like so many natural resources - only available in a limited supply. And with all limited resources we will reach an ‘ extraction / production peak’ - which means less of it will be available after that point.
Many scientists and oil people think that we have either reached or soon will reach peak oil. This is of course very bitter, because our global industrial society is just really starting to take off in many big countries like India, Brazil and China.
Watch this documentary to learn more about peak oil and it’s consequences.
More? Official Website
Walls do work. The Iron Curtain did it’s job for over 50 years, the Chinese Wall is still here and the US is building it’s homeland protection wall against those nasty Mexicans.
But in the long run all walls will fail.
I perfectly understand Israel’s idea and desire for the wall. It certainly stopped many suicide bombers and land based attacks. But the Palestinians are now shelling or shooting low tech rockets into Israel. Walls don’t stop hate and innovation.
Maybe negotiations will some day?
Click stone to see a larger version.
First of all: it’s such an irony that our key to the ancient languages was falsely named. It was found in the Egyptian town of Rashid - the French had renamed the city to Rosetta.
What was so special about this stone was it’s identical text in three ancient languages: Egyptian hieroglyphic and demotic scripts - and in classical Greek. By comparing these fragments it was only a matter of time until the code of the old Egyptian writings was cracked.
A Frenchman found the stone, but it was later taken by the British and brought to London (where it is still on display in the British Museum). The Egyptians want it back - like so many artifacts - still in the hands of former colonial powers.
More? Wikipedia
Click here to visit to visit ladies from Israel on their Tour of Duty. It is an unusual look inside the military world - usually filled with guys and testosterone. Hardly a showcase for military nuts - but more a documentation that woman can do the job as well as any guy. Plus it documents very well the camaraderie between the soldier girls. Intimate, personal and very real.
Once again the somewhere a Muslim mob goes bonkers and wants to kill someone for an insult. Once again the West shakes it’s head and tries to understand all the madness about a Teddy Bear named Mohammed. Once again we secular people try to reassure ourselves that only a few radical Muslims are willing to kill poor Gillian Gibbons. Once again the secular people in the West fail to understand that Religion can’t be tolerated, because it will always breed idiocy and violence.
Highly recommended: read some of the comments on the BBC website regarding the current situation with Ms Gibbons and Sudan. Plus: learn how governments once again play the religious card to make petty politics.
I am a big fan of Frontline and it many great documentation - not only because you can watch so many great reports online. This one is important, because it shows what really happened at Abi Graib and HOW it happened. I still can’t belief that Rumsfeld is still in Office and this Gonzales guy got even a bigger job.
I hope that one day they will be brought to justice, like Osama or any other terrorist - because what Rumsfeld ‘allowed’ was political terrorism - nothing else.
The World Economic Forum is a high profile organization - which does publish many interesting and well researched reports. The result of the Gender Gap Report 2007 is hardly surprising - it’s rather very predictable.
Woman in Nordic and European countries have the best chances to find good jobs and being treated like their male counterparts. From there it’s all downhill.
128 countries from all regions of the globe have been ranked. You would think that all western countries would rank at least in the top 50% - but even countries like Switzerland (Rank 40) and the USA (Rank 31) have lost ranks - or better say - woman lost social and economic status.
I find Japans Rank with 91 especially shameful, since it is in the company with such illustrious nations like Iran, Kuwait and Tunisia.
More? Download the Report or read the Press Release for a shorter version
Thanks to Xtine66 for sending in the link / news!
AP: Iran says it’s safe from US attack
Yeah, right. I think this must be a generational problem in Iran. All current political and military leaders have fought through the Iran-Iraq war, which was mostly a bloody ground war - almost all WWI style. This old (revolutionary) guard still clings onto their belief that they can hold their own against a US ground attack.
But the US won’t commit any ground troops. Like with Serbia it will bomb Iran back to the stone age. Sure - Iran has many missile defenses (bought from China and Russia). But the US has many missiles and bunker buster that thirst for war.
The US Army is certainly very busy and overstretched at the moment with the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan - but the US Airforce and the Navy felt a bit left out of loop and want some of the action too. This would be their chance to shine and show that all these supergimmicks they have bought in recent years are quite nice too.
The Iranian defense budget (2005 = 6 billion Dollar) is a joke compared to the American. Check out also the lists of Weapon systems of the Iranian Navy, Army and Airforce. Most stuff is actually American made and was bought by the Shah an totally outdated.
Some newer stuff is from Russia - but hardly in huge numbers or very sophisticated. It’s navy is hardly larger or as powerful as an American carrier group.
And the Americans have had a lot of practice the recent years …
This old, but still tragic events at the Spanish-Moroccan border just uncover an old truth: rich countries despise economic refugees. We Europeans can only thank nature for the Mediterranean sea - otherwise we would be ‘invaded’ by a gazillion Africans and Arabs.
Europe has tried to keep these people out - because we want to enjoy our privileged lifestyle quietly. Yeah, send them some development money and blankets when another earthquake or whatever happens. And some AIDS medicine.
The tragic is, that neither Europe nor the US has done enough to develop democratic nations ‘down there’ with a working economy. But Arabs and Africans haven’t done enough either. Corruption and cronyism are not imported ‘ideas’, but local failures. It doesn’t matter if rich Arabs rather buy at Harrods or African kings another wife, they fail their own people.
So Europe simply builds higher fences and flies those poor souls back to their shit holes. Lets hope that these people find a way to make their own nations worth staying there - and let’s also hope that Europe and the US get better at ‘helping’ these nations.
So far most of the help was a failure.
Another excellent documentation from the PBS Frontline crew! It’s about the current Iran and USA situation - and how the current Shrub administration once again missed the chance for diplomacy.
You can watch the whole show online.
See also BBC News Iran vs USA timeline for some background.
BBC News: NATO plans more Afghan resources
On one side I am really pissed off that NATO has to clean up America’s act in Afghanistan - since most resources have been sent to Iraq. But I think it’s worth the risk to TRY to make Afghanistan a normal country after several decades of war - even by using force to secure the country against the Taliban.
But I have to say that NATO has to try harder - look at some of the troop contributions stated in the BBC article. Austria just three (3!!!) fucking soldiers? Switzerland (not part of NATO) has two - wow! I am sure the Taliban are really scared of your mighty army knifes?
Germany has been unwilling so far to engage in any serious combat - they have focused mostly on rebuilding. The brunt of the fighting has been done by Canadians, Dutch and Americans (click links for some YouTube war porn).
The idea of ‘Peak Oil‘ is pretty simple: there is a limited amount of oil in the ground and there will be the day when we will see a decline in production (sucking it out). Have we already reached that point? The Guardian thinks so.
Almost all big countries have been lying about their reserves - and we can’t be sure how many big fields are still undiscovered (but it can’t be that many and none as big as those in Saudi Arabia).
But there is also another factor: once an oilfield is seriously depleted it will yield less and less black gold. The pressure drops and therefore production. Pumping salt water down helps a bit.
So we already reached a point where production is less than demand. So no surprise prices are up and up and up. At the moment we are at $80 a barrel - but a $100 or more is pretty realistic in the near future. Especially if President Shrub bombs Iran.
Again and again in recent years the Muslim world exploded. Once again pride is more important then sanity. Once again people say ‘we have to respect religion’. Once again flags are burned and artists are threatened. Once again the west doesn’t ‘respect’ Islam.
I am sick and tired of this - and I guess this is also a growing feeling here in Europe from what I have read in European news and blogs.
Sure we Europeans have a long and troubled past with the middle east - because of religion and later colonialism. France and Britain have retreated from the region and the Arabs got to run their own countries. But the cold war and oil once again drew in other superpowers and foreigners. The current trouble spots Iran (read about operation Ajax) and Iraq (more about the troubled history) are a result of foreign intervention, especially by the US. It is a big historic joke that the US tries to bring democracy to a region where it’s oil interests kept totalitarian regimes in power for so long.
Another great success of American foreign policy
Overall Europe continued to trade and support these tyrants and bad regimes as well. Nobody protested against Saddam as long as he was in power, nobody really cared in Europe. But we continued to allow exiles into the EU. Especially London and Paris were full of middle east exiles and rich visiting Sheiks as well. Ayatollah Khomeini planned and executed the Iranian revolution from France. Many other radical islamists went to Europe and stayed underground - because their home countries prosecuted for various reason. Over time many Muslim communities sprang up all over Europe: Turks, Kurds, Iranians, Iraqis and many more. Many of them could live here while their home countries were at war. They were allowed to run businesses, build Koran schools and mosques.
Riots of the underprivileged people are nothing new.
Sure there are a lot ’second class citizen’ ghettos in Spain, France, Britain and Germany. But poverty not only hits illegal immigrants, but also second generation Muslims and so called native citizens. The french riots last year showed that integration isn’t perfect, but poverty and lack of jobs is a problem for almost everyone in Europe and not just a ‘tactic’ against Muslims.
Modern Europe was always interested to see the middle east grow and get on it’s feet. Sure, there was always a certain amount of guilt, because of the colonial past. We also tried to forget about the terrible crusades and the long history of wars between Muslims and Christian Europe. Nobody here in Europe would seriously consider to recapture Jerusalem or Istanbul - instead many hope that Turkey will join the EU one day. The EU has supported many peace initiatives, supported for example the Palestinians although they blew up the Olympic Games here in Munich. Europe was always more interested in long term talks, understanding and trade. We called this soft power in contrast to hard military invention - or in current terms old European ‘weaselism’ against the new American century.
European tourism to the middle east before the Age of Enlightenment
But still there is religion and huge amount of anger against Europe or any infidel in the Muslim world. It doesn’t matter if we sent help to Iran or Pakistan after earthquakes or pay for the Palestinian elections (so radical Hamas can win them in a democratic way). For the radicals and uneducated masses any reason is good enough to burn flags (never though I see a Danish flag on fire) and threaten Europe with bombs again.
The attacks in Spain and London are certainly ‘understandable’, because these countries supported the war on Iraq - which a huge amount of Europeans despised and tried to stop. But any ‘understanding’ stopped with murders like against Theo van Gogh or the bombing of tourists.
The current Holy Anger against some old cartoons from Denmark show how Europe and the Middle East have really progressed. Europe has left behind religions fanaticism and developed stable democratic societies - we are currently trying to transcend the nation state. Yes, Europe has progressed better and more since the middle ages then the Middle East.
House of Saud - power, sand and oil - but no democracy in sight.
Yes, you can call me an European cultural snob any day - I would be proud to wear that title! I prefer the rule of law over tribal loyalty. I prefer equal rights over woman in bee keeper suits. I prefer democratic elections over Kings, Sheiks, Mullahs, Royal Families and old hereditary or religious traditions. I prefer a freedom of press and disgusting jokes over Fatwas against Artists and Newspaper Editors - or raging protests against a simple beauty contest (yep, that was in Nigeria - but still the same frame of mind). Give me a corrupt Silvio Berlusconi over a President Ahmadinejad or terror leader like Yassir Arafat.
A ‘mature’ society must be able to cope with different ideas, even insults and threats in a civilized manner. That includes any nation. Burning the Danish flag because one of it’s newspaper published a stupid cartoon is rather strange. Threatening to bomb and kill people over a stupid joke is simply daft.
Kemal Atatürk showed the world that a modern country and Islam can exist side by side.
While Europeans demonstrate against wars in the Middle East and against Terrorism - the people in the Arab world seem more to protest for war and revenge - and support even terrorism. Still many Muslims dream about recreating the old Caliphate. But dreaming such dreams of old empires and conquest are out of date. Hitlers ‘Lebensraum’ idea didn’t work, neither did the communist dream of a united workers planet.
I am sure there are many people in the Middle East and Muslims who only want peace and do not support radical ideas - but it’s about time these people start to show us that they are in control and support a peaceful global society.
Muslims have to give up their conspiracy theories about Europe (and to a certain degree America) and start building their own stable societies and economies. Most of all they have to take responsibility and don’t hide behind your religion to build a better world for everyone. Once Damascus and Baghdad were on top of the world and leading centers of wisdom and enlightenment, highly tolerant and global trade powers. My dear Muslims, if you want that to happen again, then start to teach your kids, build up your economies and use your brains instead of guns and explosives.
*repost from 2006*
So Mr Bush is threatening war again - against another ‘evil’ country. Iran is producing weapons of mass destruction and supporting terrorists. Deja vu anyone?
Yes, Iran is run by a theocratic upper class that suppresses democracy, woman’s rights and free speech. Yes, Iran’s economy is down on it’s knees - if it weren’t for all the oil money (thanks for the high prices to the Iraq war) the country would be unable to sustain itself. Yes, Iran supports terrorists and is working on nuclear weapons. But so many countries push ahead their strategic interests, allies and defences.
But NONE of these facts gives ANY other country right to invade it or threaten it with a military attack to take out some of it’s ‘evil’ assets.
Let’s look back in history: the Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi was supported both by the British and Americans and he supplanted a democratically elected president. It was the bad regime of the Shah that caused the people to raise up and kick his butt! Instead of supporting the people’s revolution the Americans fought it (more details here).
Once the mullahs were in charge the Americans supported their enemies like Saddam Hussein. During the VERY bloody Iraq vs Iran war the US supplied arms and military intelligence. The Iranians didn’t loose the war, because the used massive amounts of suicide bombers (mostly teenagers).
Anyone surprised that the people of Iran consider the US of A their biggest enemy?!
But the people of Iran suffered under the Shah and now under the followers of Ayatollah Khomeini. Maybe some day there will be a another revolution and maybe the people of Iran will get it right this time and find the right balance that suits their culture and needs.
But the Iranians should change their society - not someone else.
Wikipedia: Iran
The modern Anti-G8, Anti-WTO and Anti-Globalization movement is very mobile and well organized. These people travel all over the world to make their voices heard. Excellent!
May I suggest to you to fly to Saudi Arabia and Zimbabwe next? These countries could use some real democratic protests and stone throwing. Make these governments realize their mistakes! The tickets are hardly more expensive then flying from London to Seattle or Genoa. I know you guys like to travel - I understand it’s for a good cause. Stone throwing is eco friendly, since it’s a sustainable form of violence. Stones get recycled.
A Saudi women - she can’t leave the house without a male, she can’t vote and she certainly can’t protest like you.
Saudi Arabia is still the richest and the most oppressive regime on this planet. Women’s rights are almost nonexistent. Saudi Arabia’s money supports terrorism all over the world. Saudi Arabian oils fuels global pollution. Plus Saudi Arabia sponsored terrorism - terrorism breeds war and causes even more waste of oil, dropped landmine’s …
Zimbabwe - or better say Mr Mugabe - basically plays the same stupid game like Mao/Stalin, trying to force his ideas onto a nation. But all he created is poverty and hunger on a grand scale. He could use some ‘green’ advice on how to build a functioning agricultural state. Why don’t you help your brothers and sisters down there with some protest advice and try to start a revolution there?
This is a HUGE smog cloud over China - any western protesters going there?
China - now there we have a colossal eco killer. The sky over China is so polluted you can see it in satellite pictures. According to the WHO about 100.000 Chinese citizens die from pollution each year. China’s industry could certainly use a lot of ‘green’ advice how to built an eco friendly industry and agriculture. Plus China is buying loads of assets in Africa - securing it’s share of resources - and they don’t care about any politics or human rights. They sell weapons whoever wants them and has something to trade.
So - next stop China, Saudi Arabia or Zimbabwe? I also recommend visits to Iran and North Korea.
