Rogue State Chaos
Lots of news today. Joy.
The North Korean government wants to exclude Japan from the six-party nuclear talks. According to the Norks:
Lost to shame, huh? Here's the thing: unlike all of the other countries involved in the talks, Japan refuses to provide aid to North Korea until the North Korean government comes clean about a bunch of folks that the Norks kidnapped back in the 1970's, whom they claim have since died. Here's the thing: the Norks need the food. One U.N. report says that upwards of forty percent of North Korean citizens will require food aid in the coming year. North Korea may be off the list of state sponsors of terrorism, but there's still a lot of bad mojo going on.
There have been a number of stories lately revolving around terrorists and technology. The second-greatest advantage of today's American military - the first being America's troops - is America's technology. That doesn't mean that the bad guys haven't learned to use some of our own technology against us - both by disabling it, and by using it themselves. Did you know that GPS devices are illegal in Egypt? It's an anti-terrorism measure aimed at preventing terrorists from using GPS to commit terrorist attrocities. Meanwhile, as various agencies investigate the recent Mumbai massacre, it's becoming apparent that in addition to the cocaine, the Mumbai terrorists used VOIP, and an Indian court has been called on to ban Google Earth, amid suggestions that it may have been used by the attackers to plan their attack - then again, if it's banned in India, that doesn't make much difference to terrorists who use Google Earth while training and preparing for operations in Pakistani havens. For the record, when I did a Wikimapia search on Monday, it was easier to find the Taj Mahal Hotel (which was attacked) than it was to find the actual Taj Mahal. The VOIP thing may be the most scary part of it all: if terrorists are sophisticated enough to use relatively low-tech, off-the-shelf gear, they're likely to get tougher and tougher to track and catch before and even after they do these things.
One of my favorite military news sites, SpaceWar, runs columns by this guy named Martin Walker in a series entitled "Walker's World." In Walker's latest column, as syndicated by UPI, he suggests that in the wake of the Mumbai attacks, India needs to ally with Pakistan. Saith Walker:
For those of you who are unfamiliar with South Asian history, Pakistan used to be part of India. After India became independent, Pakistan broke away to form its own Islamic paradise - something about pavement on the road to hell, anyone? Anyway, India and Pakistan have built their entire foreign policy on hating each other - or rather, Pakistan hates India, and India defends itself. They hate each other over disputed Kashmir, the angry Muslims (and there are a lot of them in Pakistan) hate the majority of Indians for being Hindus. They've built nuclear programs around the fact that they hate each other. They almost go to war, or actually go to war, with one another every few years or so. What India actually needs to do is shore up its border with Pakistan, tighten its immigration, reinstate anti-terrorism measures that it did away with a few years ago, and oust the party in power that did away with those measures in the first place. What I'm basically saying is that Martin Walker is an ignorant moron.
In two unrelated (but really semi-related) stories, Egyptians are furious because Egypt's leading sheikh shook Israeli President Shimon Peres's hand - no, seriously - and Iranian "students" are protesting Egypt's "cooperation with the Zionist siege of Gaza." Great. There are two other interesting articles about the Islamic world: a UPI piece titled While the Arab World Slept that details how much worse off the Arab world is than the rest of the world at the end of 2008, and a BBC piece about a new Sims-style virtual world for Muslims that's been introduced online.
And finally, the most ridiculous item of the day is the difference in coverage between the Jerusalem Post, which is pretty good, and the Guardian, which sucks. President Bush was interviewed by some network news talking head a day or two ago, and they asked him about his religious beliefs. Now, the Jerusalem Post piece isn't perfect, but it's a lot better than the truly insipid piece from the Guardian on the same topic. The media is trying to pass President Bush off as inconsistent and "moderate" in his religious beliefs, and a disbeliever in the truth of the Bible as a historical document. In that Guardian piece:
To the uneducated secularist morons who make up the rank and file of the media, Bush's statement that he's "not a literalist" means that his beliefs are "moderate," just like theirs! The Bible isn't the word of God, it's just some stories to live by! In reality, I'd be willing to bet cash money that President Bush's beliefs are both reasonable, and very close to the beliefs that Governor Huckabee so eloquently described during the Republican debates:
Most "professional" journalists are partisan, ignorant, and bigoted. I'm not making that up. Since mainstream journalism tends to draw secular liberals, most journalists don't seem to understand the difference between believing that the Creation story is likely poetic and figurative, and disbelieving in the historical accuracy of the Bible. It doesn't dawn on them that an omnipotent God could possibly be familiar with concepts like irony or allegory. Thus, anyone who puts any merit in the Bible as anything more as a "good source of morals" (something that's easy to dismiss out of hand), or who gives it any credit for the highly accurate historical document that it has proven to be, is a religious whack-job in their eyes. Those who have actually taken the time to objectively study the Bible admit, at the very least, that it's probably the most accurate historical document ever written, with the most reasonable and effective moral and health codes to boot. Many, like me, infer that if it's so right on those items, even having been written thousands of years ago, it stands to reason that it's probably right on its religious doctrines - and that's where the concept of faith comes in. Coverage like this is really revolting, and hypocritical, and if there's one - and only one - good thing about the Obama election, it's that the media may finally leave President Bush and his religious faith alone.
That's it for today. Check back tomorrow, folks.
The North Korean government wants to exclude Japan from the six-party nuclear talks. According to the Norks:
We will neither treat Japan as a party to the talks nor deal with it even if it impudently appears in the conference room, lost to shame.
Lost to shame, huh? Here's the thing: unlike all of the other countries involved in the talks, Japan refuses to provide aid to North Korea until the North Korean government comes clean about a bunch of folks that the Norks kidnapped back in the 1970's, whom they claim have since died. Here's the thing: the Norks need the food. One U.N. report says that upwards of forty percent of North Korean citizens will require food aid in the coming year. North Korea may be off the list of state sponsors of terrorism, but there's still a lot of bad mojo going on.
There have been a number of stories lately revolving around terrorists and technology. The second-greatest advantage of today's American military - the first being America's troops - is America's technology. That doesn't mean that the bad guys haven't learned to use some of our own technology against us - both by disabling it, and by using it themselves. Did you know that GPS devices are illegal in Egypt? It's an anti-terrorism measure aimed at preventing terrorists from using GPS to commit terrorist attrocities. Meanwhile, as various agencies investigate the recent Mumbai massacre, it's becoming apparent that in addition to the cocaine, the Mumbai terrorists used VOIP, and an Indian court has been called on to ban Google Earth, amid suggestions that it may have been used by the attackers to plan their attack - then again, if it's banned in India, that doesn't make much difference to terrorists who use Google Earth while training and preparing for operations in Pakistani havens. For the record, when I did a Wikimapia search on Monday, it was easier to find the Taj Mahal Hotel (which was attacked) than it was to find the actual Taj Mahal. The VOIP thing may be the most scary part of it all: if terrorists are sophisticated enough to use relatively low-tech, off-the-shelf gear, they're likely to get tougher and tougher to track and catch before and even after they do these things.
One of my favorite military news sites, SpaceWar, runs columns by this guy named Martin Walker in a series entitled "Walker's World." In Walker's latest column, as syndicated by UPI, he suggests that in the wake of the Mumbai attacks, India needs to ally with Pakistan. Saith Walker:
Behind the terrorist outrages of Mumbai's tragedy lies a simple and deeply ironic reality. It is now plain that India's deepest national interest requires it to support and strengthen the elected and civilian Pakistani government.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with South Asian history, Pakistan used to be part of India. After India became independent, Pakistan broke away to form its own Islamic paradise - something about pavement on the road to hell, anyone? Anyway, India and Pakistan have built their entire foreign policy on hating each other - or rather, Pakistan hates India, and India defends itself. They hate each other over disputed Kashmir, the angry Muslims (and there are a lot of them in Pakistan) hate the majority of Indians for being Hindus. They've built nuclear programs around the fact that they hate each other. They almost go to war, or actually go to war, with one another every few years or so. What India actually needs to do is shore up its border with Pakistan, tighten its immigration, reinstate anti-terrorism measures that it did away with a few years ago, and oust the party in power that did away with those measures in the first place. What I'm basically saying is that Martin Walker is an ignorant moron.
In two unrelated (but really semi-related) stories, Egyptians are furious because Egypt's leading sheikh shook Israeli President Shimon Peres's hand - no, seriously - and Iranian "students" are protesting Egypt's "cooperation with the Zionist siege of Gaza." Great. There are two other interesting articles about the Islamic world: a UPI piece titled While the Arab World Slept that details how much worse off the Arab world is than the rest of the world at the end of 2008, and a BBC piece about a new Sims-style virtual world for Muslims that's been introduced online.
And finally, the most ridiculous item of the day is the difference in coverage between the Jerusalem Post, which is pretty good, and the Guardian, which sucks. President Bush was interviewed by some network news talking head a day or two ago, and they asked him about his religious beliefs. Now, the Jerusalem Post piece isn't perfect, but it's a lot better than the truly insipid piece from the Guardian on the same topic. The media is trying to pass President Bush off as inconsistent and "moderate" in his religious beliefs, and a disbeliever in the truth of the Bible as a historical document. In that Guardian piece:
With his time in office running out, Bush has been discussing what religion means to him. Here's the précis: he does not believe in the literal truth of the Bible, did not invade Iraq because of his Christianity and does not believe his faith is incompatible with evolution. Bush will not even assert that the Almighty – who, he believes, is much the same one as is worshipped by other religions – chose him to become president.
The insights came last night in a pre-recorded interview for ABC's Nightline show. Here are some of the key quotes:
I think evolution can - you're getting me way out of my lane here. I'm just a simple president. But it's, I think that God created the earth, created the world; I think the creation of the world is so mysterious it requires something as large as an almighty and I don't think it's incompatible with the scientific proof that there is evolution.
No, I'm not a literalist, but I think you can learn a lot from [the Bible].
To the uneducated secularist morons who make up the rank and file of the media, Bush's statement that he's "not a literalist" means that his beliefs are "moderate," just like theirs! The Bible isn't the word of God, it's just some stories to live by! In reality, I'd be willing to bet cash money that President Bush's beliefs are both reasonable, and very close to the beliefs that Governor Huckabee so eloquently described during the Republican debates:
Most "professional" journalists are partisan, ignorant, and bigoted. I'm not making that up. Since mainstream journalism tends to draw secular liberals, most journalists don't seem to understand the difference between believing that the Creation story is likely poetic and figurative, and disbelieving in the historical accuracy of the Bible. It doesn't dawn on them that an omnipotent God could possibly be familiar with concepts like irony or allegory. Thus, anyone who puts any merit in the Bible as anything more as a "good source of morals" (something that's easy to dismiss out of hand), or who gives it any credit for the highly accurate historical document that it has proven to be, is a religious whack-job in their eyes. Those who have actually taken the time to objectively study the Bible admit, at the very least, that it's probably the most accurate historical document ever written, with the most reasonable and effective moral and health codes to boot. Many, like me, infer that if it's so right on those items, even having been written thousands of years ago, it stands to reason that it's probably right on its religious doctrines - and that's where the concept of faith comes in. Coverage like this is really revolting, and hypocritical, and if there's one - and only one - good thing about the Obama election, it's that the media may finally leave President Bush and his religious faith alone.
That's it for today. Check back tomorrow, folks.
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