Arab countries need to what? Hehehe...

BBC News:

"US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has called on Arab nations to reach out to Israel."

Hahahaha. That made my week.

Apparently "The Arab states must be reaching out to Israel... to show Israel that they accept its place in the Middle East," she said.

Isn't she cute? So now, apparently, it's the Arabs' turn to bring the flowers. Sure, because, when Israel said that it might consider looking at an Arab Initiative that was offered in 2002 - after 5 years of completely ignoring what is by for the most generous offer ever put on the table of the ME Conflict, apparently that was their way of 'ouverture'.

And now, since it's an equitable game, players take turns at being nice; and now to be nice, Arab nations need to show the love. :)

The best comment I read was Rami Khouri in the Daily Star: "Does Rice take us in the Arab world for robotic idiots - simply another generation of hapless Arabs who have no options and must go along docilely with every American-Israeli initiative, no matter how insulting, insincere or desperate it may be? This initiative is all three."

Okay. Enough irony. Seriously, 2 comments:
a) isn't that typical? The Arab country(ies) make a final offer. And by final, it means that this is the lowest point they can reach. The response they get is: "well, you've come this far, now you can make some more concessions, right? Come on, boys, you can do it!"

I mean, seriously, if we were in Mandell's negotiations class, Arab countries would flunk miserably, and Israel would score an A. They're playing really by the book - and they're very good at it.

But the problem is that, this is the real world. And there's a limit at which you can push your counterpart. Israel seems to consider that we're not at it yet -- i think we don't even know where our break point is. But one thing is sure: we're already past it. Beware, this can get ugly.

b) I've got nothing against 'reaching out to Israel'. Quite on the contrary. I think it makes sense for a number of reasons - economically, for one. And I'm sick and tired of this ongoing, exhausting war. Would wish for nothing more than peace, and yes, even with the cheesy photos across the border, etc.
Plus, It's not like we haven't done it in 1979! Only then, there was a deal; there were concessions on both sides, a peace treaty, a return of occupied land.

What I think is sad in this whole piece of news, is the way it's being done. You can't coerce love :)

And in this case, well, what will Arab countries get in exchange for showin' some lovin'? Let's get real. If you want a deal, you need to put something on the table. It is ridiculous to conceive that Arab countries will bend over just because they're being asked to.

These days are over, baby ;)

PS: I know some of my friends and schoolmates are reading this post (and actually doubling the traffic on my website, hehehe...) :) We should talk about that, I'd love to hear your opinion! Lunch some time? But not Sodexho, please!! :)

Constitutional Madness in Egypt

Amnesty International has condemned the amendments as the “greatest erosion” of rights in Egypt in 26 years.

BAM. GREATEST EROSION. That's gotta mean something, right?

The Government is trying (and succeeding) to pass a reform for 34 articles of the Constitution. Not all reforms are dumb. Well, they’re scrapping everything that has to do with Egypt being a ‘socialist’ country. (the constitution was drafted in 1971...)

But there’s also a lot - and I mean a LOT - of bullshit in the suggested reforms: (to read the reforms, (in arabic) click here)

The amendments include an anti-terrorism clause that enshrines sweeping police powers of arrest and surveillance in the Constitution. The amendments would allow Mubarak to dissolve Parliament unilaterally and would weaken judicial oversight of polls, which have been marred by complaints of irregularities. The amendments would also bar political activity based on religion, seen as a swipe at the Muslim Brotherhood. (from the Daily Star)

It’s quite ridiculous. The Government really thinks it owns the country -and us, by the same token.

A little significant story: while the reforms were being voted (well, being passed) in the parliament, the National Democratic Party deputies (the Gov party) were kinda falling asleep, and the opposition managed to block one of the amendments from passing, the president of the parliament decided to redo the vote and yelled at the government representatives (also known as the NDP)to ‘wake up’!

This is how ridiculous things are now...

Of course, you have people who are upset.

The craziest part about that, though, is the way the Government is reacting: it does not care. Not that it doesn’t care about people, it doesn’t care about publicly repressive.

That’s a little worrying.

Basically it seems to me that the Gov no longer cares about what the people think: we went from subtle scaring, silent oppression (basically if you kept your head down and your tongue in your pocket you were safe). Well, not anymore. It’s out in the open. Big Brother is here and wants to be seen.

Anyways, back to this ridiculous voting. This is how nonsensical it has become:

“Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmad Abu al-Gheit defended the hasty timeline for the vote, saying the timing is largely for the convenience of Egyptians who want to take spring vacations.” [Yeah right. As if they could afford it].

Amnesty International has condemned the amendments as the “greatest erosion” of rights in Egypt in 26 years.

Mohamed el-Sayed Said, an analyst at the Al-Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies, said the amendments amounted to a “constitutional coup”, with the elite within government abducting the reform process to augment the president’s substantial powers.

And who will take the issue to the streets? That’s right: students.

Aaaaaaaaaalright. So a lot of whining, and some arrests and stuff.

Referendum was yesterday, and guess what??

If you said that the amendments were rejected, click here.

With an official turnout of 27%, the reforms were approved. with a 75.9%.

Welcome to the newest constitutionally police state in the world! Hail to our future King, Gamal the First!

La France d'après..

(Merci - et bisous! - a Soha).

Belgium (or is it Flanders?) Rocks!

Special post for the International Day against Racism!!

I always thought Belgium was a fantastic place - I spent some fantastic 6 months there. One of the major highlights of my short life. Also fell in love there, which helps.

But today I think Belgium rocks because of this.

In response to three couples refusing to be wedded by Deputy Mayor Wouter Van Bellingen because he was BLACK. Rwandan-born, adopted by a Flemish family at birth, the man is as Flemish as a Flemish waffle. (a chocolate waffle, hahaha. Okay, very bad joke. I withdraw).

So the Flemish did... a GIANT symbolic group wedding. 700 couples. Nothing too fancy. Most were dressed casually, all seemed happy. All said 'I do' and kissed their spouse. And guess who presided the ceremony? That's right, Mr. Van Bellingen!

And on the International Day against Racism. Nice pick you guys ;)

If 1/4 of the people of Flanders hadn't voted for the racist party Vlaams-Belang (a supporter of whom murdered a black nanny and the 2-year old baby she was caring for last year), it could have been one of the best place in the world to live. It's already very cosmopolitan - but all shades of colours are not very welcome!

Still. Great news. Keep it up, Vlaanderen!

By the way - last year a 20-minutes news flash on RTBF (the French Belgian television network) ran a very realistic hoax that Flanders had proclaimed independence! They made fake interviews of stars, of MPs, of ministers... They had said (discretely) that it was a joke but a LOT of people bought into it!

Pretty damn good - and they made it pretty plausible... But perhaps it was plausible because it is a real possibility. Disgruntled Flemish, net contributors to the government budget and underrepresented in the government...

A television show that got a lot of toes curled up in their shoes, I can tell you...

If you want to see the clip (it's in French, subtitled in Flemish) - click here.

Al haaga omm el ekhtera3* : 'Palestinian invents queuing socks'

(* egyptian proverb - 'Necessity is the mother of Invention').

The previous post got me depressed! So here's something that is a little less sad..

A 22-year old Palestinian woman has invented special socks to help people suffering from swollen feet as they wait at Israeli military checkpoint.

I'd be curious to see those :) Apparently they're so big you need bigger shoes. But hey, I'm sure it's worth it: with people often waiting hours and hours standing at checkpoints, it sounds like a good idea to invest in a pair of 'watersocks' (because it's a sock that feels like a waterbed).

Oh, and she's looking for seed money. Anyone wants to fund her project? (I wish I could tell her to check out www.kiva.com or something...) (if you don't know Kiva, by the way, take a look!)

Happy four years, American-occupied Iraq!

Four. Seems that the poor number is slowly going to replace ‘13’ as being the most creepy number in our world...
Well, it already is for the Japanese: the pronunciation of 4 in Japanese (which reads ‘shi’) is a homophone to ‘death’.

And for us, well, four years is...
The American presidential mandate! (Hehehehe. :)

And now, it’s the age of the American invasion of Iraq.

I won't go into how awful the war is, how the medical magazine ‘The Lancet’ published an article on 11 October 2006 estimating 654,965 excess deaths related to the war, or 2.5% of the population, through the end of June 2006.
That’s about two thirds of a million.

So in commemoration of this lovely day, I won’t go on to describe how the country is in a civil war.
Naaah. You know that stuff. I’ll just report an article that was published in BBC News today:

'Children used' in Iraq bombing

According to US Army General Michael Barbero, two adults driving a car managed to get through a checkpoint because they had 2 kids in the car. The adults then parked the car and took off - and the car exploded.

WITH THE KIDS INSIDE.

Holy fuck.

Is this where we are now? I assume the children were kidnapped. But why would someone do that?? Not that all those bombing maniacs cared about civilians, children, or women or anything.

But to actually kidnap kids, lock them inside a bomb and press the button is... I don’t know. Beyond my imagination?

It’s just... it’s appalling! How could someone possibly do that?

And am I the only one who thinks this is a new level of cruelty that is beginning in Iraq?

--------

An interesting page, again from the BBC: Animated map of city's attacks and ethnic divisions since 2003. It's scary. Ceck out the ethnic distribution of the city.

Microsoft Word is laughing at me big time. Dammit. Even him.

There is something weird with my MS Word © processor. Seriously.
Something, I think there is an Egyptian guy with a sense of humour worse than mine (yes, there is such a thing ya khafeef) sitting inside waiting for a chance to laugh at me.

Take this one for example. I was writing a cover letter for an application. The verb is underlined in green, so I right-click to know what's wrong with my conjugaison.
And this is what my Word Processor thinks of me.

Huh, so I didn't learn, huh??




And I thought that it was just a problem with my tenses... So I tried another tense. Nope.




And then I thought that he was just laughing at me. Turns out the dude has a good Egyptian sense of humour...



PS: These are really screenshots. I swear I didn't make up those, that's really the automatic correction suggestions. Word really is messed up! :) (Or maybe it's really trying to tell me something).

Yey, kids used as Human shields! How fun!!

In October 2005, the Israeli Supreme Court ruled that it was illegal for the army to use the Palestinians as human shields. The IDF would pick up someone and send them to walk on a ground, or enter an apartment they fear is unsafe; some people criticised that. In August 2005, Nidal Daraghmeh (isn’t that a beautiful name? Nidal...), a 19 years old student, was killed in one of these operations.

The mere fact that the issue was topic of contention amazes me. At least I’m glad the Supreme Court ruled against it.

But well, it hasn’t stopped. This week, Le Monde reports multiple cases of adults and kids - down to 11 years old. Eleven!! - whom the army sent first in places they feared were booby trapped or they feared to be shot.

So they sent Palestinian children. Beautiful army morals. You know, honour and all that crap.

Three days ago, Israeli telly showed images from Associated Press of a Palestinian young man - 24 years old Sameh Amira - walking in front of Israeli soldiers. He had been picked up randomly, and forced to enter houses and enter all the rooms before the soldiers.

Photos of Sameh Amira, as well as the AP news report:

Palestinian Sameh Amira, 24, stands in his home in the West Bank City of Nablus, Feb. 28, 2007. Television footage showing Amira as he is escorted by heavily armed Israeli soldiers on a door-to-door sweep in a crowded Nablus neighborhood, provided some of the strongest evidence to date that the Israeli army is still using Palestinian civilians as 'human shields' in direct violation of Israel's own supreme court. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)

Screenshot from the news report in question.

And, a short AP video report that was covering the Nablus Curfew. You can see clearly Sameh Amira being led by the soldiers (like in the photo above), walking ahead of them in various rooms... (There's an advertisement first, though).

I am taking the photos and video from Lawrence of Cyberia's blog - click on the link for more details, coverage, and photos.

So the army is planning on investigating in some cases of usage of human shields that occurred recently, in the West Bank, during ‘Operation Hot Winter’.

(this is an older one. It dates back to September 2005.)

To finish, I have two things to ask you:

a) Stand against violations of civilian rights in the war. Lobby whomever the fuck you think should be lobbied. If you are Israeli, support your Human Rights organisations which report such incidents.

b) If you have a suggestion for a cool military operation name for the IDF, please send it to them. They seem to have run out of interesting names (not unexpected, they do so many military operations...). I mean, seriously, ‘Operation Hot Winter’? and the next part is what, ‘Operation Cruel Summer’? (for the youngest among you, ‘Cruel Summer’ was a song by Bananarama a few centuries ago).

Israeli minister ordered massacre of Egyptian POWs

Alright, alright! Seems people not very excited about the sex and politics series. Fine!

Here’s some abstinent politics :) !!

A television documentary that aired on the Israeli channel 1 about the June 1967 war mentions that Benyamin Ben Eliezer, current MK and minister of the cabinet, was responsible for killing 250 Prisoners of War (POW). Egyptians, is supposed to have said the documentary, according to Egyptian media. Only here is the thing: the director of the film says that the film makes no such claim.

So two things in this story:

a) how come we’re not even able to agree on what came in the film?! It shouldn’t be that complicated! Someone get the damn documentary, watch it, and tell us whether Ben Eliezer said that he killed Egyptian soldiers or Palestinian soldiers!! Not that either makes him less of a weasel in any event, but let’s agree on the facts! It appears that the confusion comes from the fact that MK weasel pretended they were of the other nationality so he could justify his action to his superiors. But still. The thing has been under the spotlight for 10 days or so now. Can someone actually WATCH the film before making their grand theories?
Lisa Goldman makes a nice post of that nonsense.

(I was reading Al-Ahram Al-Arabi, which featured this photo of the chap. My Sierra-Leonean colleague Idrissa spotted the man and, without knowing what the article was about since it was in Arabic, said: “in my village, when someone has a facial expression like this, we know he is a wicked person”. You are so right, my good friend...)

b) I won’t go in the detail of this particular incident as long as I don’t know what it said exactly. But the problem of the Israeli army killing POWs remains just as true and vivid. 1956, 1967, 1973. In every war, the IDF has managed to backstab unarmed Egyptian soldiers who were totally at the mercy of their jailers. They would have them lie in the sun, face down, the hot sand burning their faces, and shoot them in the back of the head. Mass graves were still being found as late as 1995 - and God know how many are left in the sands of the Sinai.
This is utterly disgusting. Al-Ahram Al-Arabi makes a good summary of some of those killings (in Arabic).

It should be simple, though: killing POWs is against the law of War and the Geneva Conventions.

Oops, sorry. I almost forgot: you can’t say the words ‘Law’ or ‘Geneva Conventions’ when you’re talking about the IDF. My bad.

Tune in to next post...

Sex and Politics. Again.

This blog is starting to look like some London tabloid or something...
but well, just another sex scandal, this one is faaaaaaaaarr too good to be real!

BBC NEWS: "Liberia's top government minister, Willis Knuckles, has resigned over a sex scandal, the president has said."

I'm a little mad that the whole thing put President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf (my alum, yey!!) in a bad position. Just what she needed.
Willis, you're an idiot. And for that, you deserve to be EXPOSED (yes, more than in your national newspapers: on the INTERNET!

And the scandal in question, is BIG (well at least it's fat): a newspaper published a photo of the man doing the deed with two women (none of them his wife, they checked.) And it's GRAPHIC. The Playboy bunny would need to shut his eyes.
And it was in the NEWSPAPER. Now everyone knows, ehemmm, how much cellulite the minister has on his hips.

And since this blog is uncensored and I think this idiot brought it on himself, but I still have some shred of decency in me, if you are interested feel free to click on the button below to find the photo in question.
Let me warn you: it's bloody graphic. Actually closer to porn than anything else... The Liberian press is going completely over the top!
So click on your own responsibility, don't blame me for exposing sensitive eyes to 'bad things' :)

So if you are at the office, I suggest you make sure you don't have a colleague looking over your shoulder...

Okay. I assume that virtually all of you did click on it. :)
Welcome to African politics - and the (unexpected) freedom of the press!
My only question though: WHO took the photo??

UPDATE:
According to Liberia Ledger, "The Press Union has suspended the newspaper that printed the Willis Knuckles orgy photo, and they also suspended Radio Veritas for simply describing the photo on the air! Apparently freedom of speech is not a high priority of the news media in this country."

And an article on 'Who framed Knuckled up?' On AllAfrica.com...

Sex Diplomacy: Ambassador found drunk, naked, in bondage gear

From CNN.com: "Israel recalls El Salvador envoy after drunken episode"

"Israel has recalled its ambassador to El Salvador after he was found bound, drunk and nude, according to information reported Monday by Israeli media and confirmed by a government spokeswoman.
(...)

Two weeks ago, El Salvador police found Raphael in the yard of his residence, tied up, gagged and drunk, Israeli media reported. He was wearing several sex toys at the time, the media said. After he was untied, Raphael told police he was the ambassador of Israel, the reports said."

BBC News gives a little extra precision: (Israel recalls 'Naked ambassador')

"Reports say he was able to identify himself to police only after a rubber ball had been removed from his mouth". (Quite a detail !!!)

(My comment: WHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!)

Starting a new category: Weird news

There is some weird sh*t out there. Some of these news are sooo good they deserved their own tag, and a place on this blog!
Because it's always healthy to laugh at weird people. That's why they're here, right?

Reuters.com: Serial Lingerie thief Arrested
"Police believe that Shigeo Kodama, 54, amassed the 3,977 panties, 355 bras and 10 pairs of stockings over a six-year period."
That's all he stole. Underwear.

The Axis of Evil Comedy Tour!

Earlier tonight I watched ‘The Axis of Evil Comedy Tour’ on Comedy Central. It’s 4 American-Middle Eastern dudes - An Irani (Maz Jobrani), an Egyptian (Yeah baby!) (Ahmed Ahmed), a Palestinian- Italian (Dean Obeidellah) and a Palestinian-Mormon (huh??) (Aron Kader). (and they are looking for a North Korean.)

Was absolutely GREAT.
For those interested, it’s playing again on Tuesday March 13 at 10:00. Otherwise, you can check their website and you can always look them up on YouTube, lots of clips. And the DVD will be out soon!!

The basic topic of their show is how it’s become awkward being of Arab heritage in America; since September 2001 people we are no longer ‘Americans’ but ‘Arabs’. And we’re being ‘randomly searched’ in the airport, ‘even if you just went there to drop a friend’ :) And people look at us funny. And how GWB is so implausible as a president that ‘anytime I expect Ashton Kutcher to come out and say ‘you’ve all been punked!!’ and Osama will come running from a cave, saying ‘I was on it too!’
And how ‘Arabs are the new Blacks’ which Dean seems to like: he’s hoping kids will start ‘Acting Arab’, calling each other ‘Yo A-rAb’, showing chest hair and wearing traditional headgear!

Well, you know how it is :)

So their message is: hey, I have a funny name but I’m just as American as you are! Pretty classy message, in my opinion. And they’re excellent comedians!

There’s a bunch of brilliant Arab-American Comedians out there. I’m just starting out but a good resource to begin with is here.


The only downside of my evening was the show that played afterwards - a stand up comedian named Carlos Mencia. The guy is funny: but he is just such a racist son of a bitch! The kind of guy who makes cheap jokes in the name of political incorrectness... including a loooong long one about a handicapped guy in a wheelchair. Sorry, but there are things, and people, who deserve some respect.
So our friend Mencia goes on this 10-minute skit on terrorists but in his version, there is the terrorist - named Akhmad (with a KH, otherwise it doesn’t sound Arab) on one side; and all other Americans (that is, white, black, hispanic, chinese, etc) on the other. And the Akhmad dude tries to attract other minorities to his (evil) side but the others remain patriotic.
That’s America according to him: it doesn’t include Arabs who are, by default, terrorists. Screw you, Mencia. Isn’t it a crime to incite to racist hatred or something?? Someone should report this ignoble person!
Boycott racist humour!
And go Watch the Axis of Evil Comedy Tour!


UPDATE: Other great comedians I've been recently made aware of (thanks Shaykhspeara, Sherif):
"Allah Made me Funny" : Three American Muslims, non-Arabs -- which is even better! Because Muslims are mainly non-Arab, and Blacks are a main pillar of it - there are Black Muslims of 4th, 5th generation...

"Funny Sherif": my homeboy! Geat comedian on the rise, keep an eye on his work!!

Boy meets girl....

... in Palestine (him)/Israel (her).

And the lullaby turns into a totally, totally different story.


(thanks to Sandmonkey).

How sexy is your name?

Okay, that will change us from the damn politics... :)

Your Name Is Damn Sexy! :) Your name scored 169 in the "How Sexy Is Your Name Test"

How Sexy Is Your Name?

Write your score in the comments section!

Face2Face: Great idea, but...

I first heard about that in the Daily Star and I googled around.

The idea of the Face 2 Face Project (official website here) is to take photos of Palestinians and Israelis making goofy faces, print them HUGE - that is, 7 X 4 metres - and placard them in Israel and Palestine.

The photographer is a Frenchman (a JR, no last name) who is some sort of street activist.

Okay, watching their little video is cute and you kinda get the idea behind it: getting people who lead similar lives -same profession, same age, etc - and put the photos next to one another. It’s a nice human touch. And Idiot The Wise seems to dig.

I like it too. I would buy the book if there was one (well, there will be in June! See the website!).

The video btw has a lovely interview of an Imam, a Rabbi and a Priest who are talking about how Man was made at the image of God, and how admiring and loving the beauty of a Man is a way of loving God. In a sense this should've been the central issue of the exhibition: this is how they should've framed it...

Because as much as I like the concept, I don’t like the way it was applied... The large photos posted in a way where they HAVE to be seen - whether people want it or not.

The Daily Star article interviewed Israelis and Palestinians. While the Israelis interviewed seemed to appreciate the project, the Palestinians didn't quite - and I would feel the same as well...

I mean, putting myself in Palestinian shoes... This is what I'd think: I’m not sure if I want a giant face of an Israel doing a silly face - laughing at me, is he?? - staring down from the Separation/Apartheid wall. It’s NOT funny. Because this effectively turns the wall from an ugly physical structure, but which remained a large construction - into an Israeli person laughing at me. It’d have been more effective to have it printed in normal poster size and put it all over town rather than effectively coercing me to see them on the wall, thereby giving a face to what was already a constant, hateful physical expression of oppression.

Great idea. Bad application. Sad waste of effort...

But the photos are worth enjoying - click here! (from Idiot the Wise)

Happy (?) International Women's Day

(in honour of Shaykhsperea who asked for this post!)

Happy International Women’s day, everyone! I know, it’s one day late (March Eight) but being recently single again (yes, I am once again accepting full frontal nudity pictures) I’m hoping you’ll forgive the omission :)

So I had the purple ribbon all day around my arm. I ate purple-wrapped Hershey Kisses (btw, the dark chocolate ones are the best. The milk chocolate ones taste like glue.). We.. celebrated.

Or did we?

I mean, that’s it?? I just learned earlier today that International Women’s Day is a national holiday in Kazakhstan, and the ladies receive flowers and gifts. (guys, don’t freak out. They don’t celebrate Valentine’s so it’s not like you’ll have to do the whole thing twice within a month).

But what’s the idea of celebrating for one day? Women remain the largest oppressed minority (well, majority actually, we’re talking 51%+) of the globe.

(no, I’m not trying to score feminist points here. This is serious. Hear me out).

Well, we do have the The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women which has 185 signatories (and, ehemm, the US of A is the only country that has signed but not ratified! For shame!!).

But the fact remains that women are still subject to abject discrimination.

Women are still being beaten, being sold, being assaulted as a tool of war. They are subject to legal discrimination because of their gender. Check out Human Rights Watch for more.

Not sure if all this is worth celebrating.

But if you still think it is, well, happy women’s day. Oh wait, that was yesterday. We can go back to our discrimination now.

It’ll take so much more than just a day and a purple ribbon to fix it all. So we’d better get started.

I'm leaving the 'KSG for Obama' facebook group.

Quote from Yediot --

“Barack's recent speech to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) in Chicago at the beginning of March has, at the very least, secured his position as a genuine friend of the State of Israel, Jewish leaders have told Ynetnews.”

Not that I’m surprised whatsoever - seems that the ‘bend over at AIPAC’ ceremony is a compulsory step for anyone who want to get elected in this country - but for a split second I thought Obama had a bit of decency. Sigh.

US Soldiers in Iraq mimic torture techniques from '24'. Yes, for real.

Amusingly enough, I'm sharing a post on a topic I just was discussing on the intranet of my 'Human Rights and US Foreign Policy' class.. Who'd have known one of my classes would be interesting enough to be mentioned on my blog :))

"From MSNBC/Newsweek.

"TV's Guide to Torture" - An American soldier describes how he and fellow interrogators in Iraq were influenced by harsh techniques gleaned from hit series like '24.'

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17369550/site/newsweek/

AND from the New Yorker: "Whatever it takes - The Politics of the man behind '24'".

http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/articles/070219fa_fact_mayer?page=1 "


The professor -- that would be Samantha Power, winner of the Pullitzer Prize for her book "a Problem from Hell - America and the Age of Genocide" (and my 2006-2007 academic crush) has mentioned in class that in 24, the good guy - Jack Bauer - has actually been using torture against his enemies, breaking with a long televisual tradition where only the bad guys would torture other people. Setting the whole show against a 'ticking bomb' scenario allows more easily to get into a more lenient mentality towards what we normally deem beyond the limits of human behaviour.
And apparently, US soldiers have been watching -- and copying.
Says the soldier interviewed on the MSNBC/Newsweek piece: "we were told that the Geneva Conventions didn't apply any more. So our training was obsolete, and we were encouraged to be creative." So they turned to the telly. Smart kids.

The question now is: can we blame the television? If so, can we control the content by issuing guidelines of what they can or cannot show? But if we do, aren't we falling back on censorship - which is probably our worse option?

Perhaps they should add on the show disclaimer 'forbidden for children below the age of 12, and easily-influenced American soldiers on duty'.

Someone Save Liechtenstein from the Swiss Occupation!

Three a days ago a Swiss batallion accidentally occupied its little, weak and army-less neighbour Liechtenstein!!

170 Swiss infantry soldiers walked in (accidentally) into Liechstenstein - for a full mile!
So funny :)

I mean, if it was coming from any other country I could've been worried, but well, it's Switzerland :-P
(I know, Zahra, you're peace-loving people. I know.)
, what i assume to be the website
For more info on this great country, click here -- http://www.liechtenstein.li , what i assume to be the website that is managed by the entire adult population of the country or something :)

Here's a question (or a few) for the readers:
a) Have you met anyone from there??
b) Do you know what Liechtenstein's capital is?
c) Can you actually write the country's name properly?

Please leave answers in the comments section!! :)

"Hosni Mubarak's regime won't delete Egypt's bloggers"

Yey to Egyptian bloggers!!

Quote from the article:
""Mubarak does not own Egypt and he does not own Islam, the bloggers will continue to remind him. And they cannot be silenced. Not just because they know how to hopscotch over blocked IP addresses, but because it is impossible to silence youth. It will always find a way to have the last say."""

(no, I do not consider myself or my blog anywhere near our giant blogging idols. But I'm a supporter - and it's supporters that make the leadership what it is, right?)

UNIFIL tries to win the hearts and minds of the Southern Lebanese

I think this is smart.

When we first had talks about an italian leadership for UNIFIL after the war, many of the comments rotated around the ideas that the Italian peacekeepers left a good impression back in 1982 - they even taught people how to make spaghetti.
The Axe commercial had it right: 'First impressions last'.

Now UNIFIL is kinda hoping for a second impression. Says the Spokesman Liam McDowell, UNIFIL has created the Quick Implementation Projects (QIPs) with an overall budget of $500,000 to spend on projects of up to $25,000, such as digging wells, repairing electricity cables and providing street lighting.
There are mobile health clinics, treating up to 4,000 Lebanese a month; UNIFIL vets helping people take care of their livestock, etc.
The Indian peacekeepers have been teaching kids yoga.
The Spanish have been teaching them Spanish.

It's a bright idea. Not only does it make it more enjoyable for everyone (and it's a small liability on the UNIFIL's budget) but it actually makes things safer for the UNIFIL guys too.

What is important is that people be aware of what UNIIFIL are and are not. Though people are quite aware that UNIFIL is only here a monitor - and keep their faith in the Resistance's power, so it seems that there is nothing to worry so far. But all must keep an eye on this issue.