Kablam! A News Update!
Here are a few more recent news stories; I'll try to alternate between retroactive news updates and targeted news analysis over the next few days until I've caught up.
A senior congressman is proposing reinstatement of the draft. Who? The same guy who's proposed it before, and been unequivocally shot down by the House of Representatives: Charlie Rangel. Americans don't want conscription, American generals don't want conscription, President Bush and former-SecDef Rumsfeld don't want conscription. So I wonder, why does Rangel?
Everyone's favorite wacky dictator, Colonel Muammar Qaddhafi, has warned Sudanese leaders not to allow a United Nations peacekeeping force to enter the Darfur region because it's nothing more than an attempted oil grab by Western nations. I obviously disagree with Colonel Qaddhafi on this one, but you have to give him credit: right or wrong, he's just so darned entertaining!
My very dear friend Elareia is in Mauritania, where the people just had a historic election. I've posted every possible story I could get my hands on regarding Mauritania in the last year and a half, since Colonel Vall and his accomplices staged a bloodless coup while the former Mauritanian dictator, President Taya, was in Saudi Arabia for the funeral of King Fahd. Between the implications for the war against terrorism, and my friend's presence in the country, Mauritania has become a fascinating case study for me.
And in yet another story that should show everyone just how credible Human Rights Watch is, they've put their stamp of disapproval on Saddam Hussein's trial, claiming that it was so fraught with procedural error that the entire trial should be rendered moot. That's right, folks: the same organization that routinely decries the actions of American soldiers abroad is defending Saddam Hussein.
And in personal news, I did something that's somewhat uncharacteristic of me: I bought Carrie Underwood's album. I'm sick of the adverts on the primary radio station in the area, and only about a quarter of their music selection is any good, so I've actually started listening to country music from time to time out in the field, and her newest single is kind of catchy. Maybe having disposable income is a bad thing?
Right then, time for a Guinness. Tomorrow I'll try to put together a post about Germany and Japan.
A senior congressman is proposing reinstatement of the draft. Who? The same guy who's proposed it before, and been unequivocally shot down by the House of Representatives: Charlie Rangel. Americans don't want conscription, American generals don't want conscription, President Bush and former-SecDef Rumsfeld don't want conscription. So I wonder, why does Rangel?
Everyone's favorite wacky dictator, Colonel Muammar Qaddhafi, has warned Sudanese leaders not to allow a United Nations peacekeeping force to enter the Darfur region because it's nothing more than an attempted oil grab by Western nations. I obviously disagree with Colonel Qaddhafi on this one, but you have to give him credit: right or wrong, he's just so darned entertaining!
My very dear friend Elareia is in Mauritania, where the people just had a historic election. I've posted every possible story I could get my hands on regarding Mauritania in the last year and a half, since Colonel Vall and his accomplices staged a bloodless coup while the former Mauritanian dictator, President Taya, was in Saudi Arabia for the funeral of King Fahd. Between the implications for the war against terrorism, and my friend's presence in the country, Mauritania has become a fascinating case study for me.
And in yet another story that should show everyone just how credible Human Rights Watch is, they've put their stamp of disapproval on Saddam Hussein's trial, claiming that it was so fraught with procedural error that the entire trial should be rendered moot. That's right, folks: the same organization that routinely decries the actions of American soldiers abroad is defending Saddam Hussein.
And in personal news, I did something that's somewhat uncharacteristic of me: I bought Carrie Underwood's album. I'm sick of the adverts on the primary radio station in the area, and only about a quarter of their music selection is any good, so I've actually started listening to country music from time to time out in the field, and her newest single is kind of catchy. Maybe having disposable income is a bad thing?
Right then, time for a Guinness. Tomorrow I'll try to put together a post about Germany and Japan.
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