With the GP just 12 days away, I'd say there's a 70% chance that the race will be canceled. Matt Hardigree wrote an excellent piece on the subject yesterday. I need to get off my duff, synthesize the information a kind researcher at Human Rights Watch gave me, and write a post about why we should boycott the race.
Showing posts with label Geopolitics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Geopolitics. Show all posts
The Taliban morality police is back
Unfortunately, when NATO finally pulls out of Afghanistan, these asshats will be back in charge.
Aung San Suu Kyi and Benazir Bhutto
To almost everyone's surprise, there is an election in Burma tomorrow.
The image of Suu Kyi waving from the sunroof of her Montero/Pajero is ominous. You see, after years of house arrest, Suu Kyi reached an understanding with the military government and is running for office.
Benazir Bhutto, after years of exile, reached an understanding with the military government but was killed two weeks before an election.
2012 Nuclear Security Summit captions
Leaders from over 50 countries convened in Seoul to talk nuclear security. Here are some photos from the talks:
When did Jordan's King Abdullah II become William Shatner?
Am definitely not a fashionable guy, but I've always dug the cut of Medvedev's suits and his tie knots.
Say what you will about Kazakhstan's Nazarbayev, but he did unilaterally give up his young nation's entire nuclear weapons stockpile.
No matter how powerful you are, you always feel like an outsider at social functions.
I guess the Polish environmental minister memorized the chapter about bowing in Asian cultures on the flight over.
I now pronounce you man and Sheila!
How did Chile get to stand in the middle of the whole photo op? Did they draw straws?
Obama-Medvedev hot mic exchange
This happened in Korea yesterday. They were talking about nuclear arms reduction and the European missile shield. It's a brief and interesting glimpse at political realities (and Medvedev's proficiency in English). Obama's opponents are interpreting this as proof that after November 2012, Obama is going to sell us out to the Russians.
Tibetan self-immolation photo
Around 30 Tibetans have set themselves on fire in China within the last year. Their remoteness and the power of the government have so far prevented images of those fires from being shared abroad.
This is Jampa Yeshi, 26, a Tibetan refugee in India this week.
Bashar al-Assad likes New Order too!
While Assad was butchering his people, he also had time to download songs on iTunes. The list is fairly eclectic. But what is most sobering is that he downloads stuff just like you and me in his spare time, except he's a brutal dictator.
Among the files he downloaded, as uncovered by The Guardian:
- Bizarre Love Triangle by New Order (see above).
- Don't Talk Just Kiss by Right Said Fred.
- Can't Go Wrong by The Cover Girls.
- Harry Potter Deathly Hallows, Part II
- various Harry Potter apps.
- Steve Jobs biography.
I guess what really sent chills up my spine is that I've been on a huge New Order kick recently, especially after I got the Slacker Radio app. Here are my most listened to channels:
- New Order
- Erasure
- Mitch Hedberg
- Chris Rock
- Dave Attell
- The B-52s
- Toad the Wet Sprocket
- Public Enemy
- 10,000 Maniacs
- Bjork
- Mazzy Star
- Cowboy Junkies
Christian fundamentalists offer free labor to Jewish fundamentalists
"One of the volunteers, Mike Clayton, a former preacher from Seminole, Okla., reads out of the Bible from Isaiah 61:5: 'The son of the foreigner will come and tend your vines.'
Then he adds: 'Well, a few days ago, myself and my son got off a plane ... and I got to watch as I handed my son ... a pair of pruners, and I took a picture as he walked out there. He fulfilled scripture. ... Is the Bible true? Is all this happening? I saw it with my own eyes.'"
Story with audio here.
Medvedev was a seat holder after all
Over the last four years, Medvedev did just enough to make a few people question whether he was actually independent from Putin. But now, it's clear that he was just holding the Presidency for Putin. I guess we will see Medvedev serve as president again in 2020, after Putin completes two more terms.
Car flagpoles for sale
Edvin shared this article about the inauguration of the Finnish president. Dozens of diplomatic cars from all over the world showed up and were identified by a car-loving journalist/photographer. The photo gallery of the cars got me thinking about getting a flagpole mounted on the front fender/bumper.
I found a company in Sweden that sells flagpoles to diplomatic missions. Apparently, you can drill a hole in your fender and install a fixed flagpole or simply buy a magnetic flagpole. The store also has a large assortment of flags. If everything weren't so expensive, I'd buy a magnetic pole and a NATO flag for the Phaeton's entry at the Concours d'LeMons.
Uyghur discontent spills into Pakistan
It is just as difficult to get news out of Xinjiang as it is out of Tibet. This week, a small but serious riot broke out near the city of Kashgar in far western China. The numbers are all over the place-- between 12 and 20 people were killed. The ethnic composition of the victims is also in dispute. Some reports say the majority of the victims were Han civilians. Others say the majority were knife-wielding Uyghurs killed by Chinese security forces.
I did not post this earlier because there was simply no photographic or video footage of the rioting or the gruesome aftermath. The photograph above is one of a couple to have trickled out. Plus, I was waiting for more accurate figures to emerge, which never happened.
The latest development is worrisome. A Han Chinese woman in a Peshawar market (it's unclear if she was a tourist, a trader, or someone else) was shot dead. The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility. It was supposedly retaliation for the violent treatment of Uyghurs by the Chinese in Xinjiang.
The Chinese government has always been quick to link unrest inside Xinjiang to foreign terrorist influences, despite the lack of evidence. This attack by a non-Uyghur terrorist on a Han Chinese in Pakistan brings forth a whole new element to the conflict.
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