China's Algerian Adventures and Other Stories

Hey, folks. Just news today - I had other projects to work on last night.

AP: Iran Hangs 13 Members of Sunni Muslim Rebel Group (Jundallah)

BBC: Will history repeat itself in Afghanistan? - This article was actually pretty good, not too in-depth, just enough to give some background on why the current war in Afghanistan isn't really comparable to Britain's prior engagements in that country. I saw another article that was somewhat similar to this a while back, but it was talking about how the Coalition engagement in Afghanistan wasn't like the Soviet-Afghan War, and conversely, why that war isn't really a direct corollary to Vietnam like some people have said. Anyway, this one's worth reading.

China issues alert in Algeria (BBC, Guardian) - Following up on yesterday's articles about the al Qaeda threat to Chinese workers in North Africa, China has issued warnings and threat advisories to those folks. Also, from the Times of London: China must decide how to deal with al-Qaeda - Politicians and businesses met few enemies as they spread across the African continent, but that may be about to change. I've been meaning to write an article about what amounts to de facto Chinese colonialism in Africa for a while now, so I'm following this emerging story with some interest.

BBC: Chechnya ambush leaves four dead - Of course, you can absolutely trust Russia when they claim that combat operations in Chechnya have come to a close.

BBC: World's oldest mum dies in Spain - A few years back, a woman lied about her age by more than a decade in order to get fertility treatment from a clinic in California. Once she gave birth to twins, she made the claim that since her mother lived well into her nineties, there was the possibility that she (the pregnant woman) could easily live to see her grandchildren. Well, she was diagnosed with cancer soon after (maybe because she screwed with her body to get unnaturally pregnant in her sixties?) and died less than three years later, leaving her twin toddlers as orphans to be cared for by her family. Way to go, you selfish idiot.

Guardian: Conflict looms in Kurdistan: Whether growing tensions between Iraq's Kurds and Baghdad turn bloody depends on Barack Obama's negotiation skills - Let's hope that there are three or four standby teleprompters at the negotiating table. *snicker*

Times: The Martian Sims - Cosmonauts take 105-day trip to Red Planet without leaving Moscow

Times: Buzz Aldrin: ‘We could be on Mars by 2030s’

That's it, folks. Thanks for stopping by.