Featuring Mono Lake

News.

Fox: U.K. Ex-Soldier Faces 5 Years in Jail for Turning in Discarded Gun - Leave it to the British government to punish a former soldier for trying to obey the law.

CNN: U.S., China compete in Africa

Australia mulls Scientology probe (BBC, Times) - Australia could become the second country to investigate and/or prosecute the Church of Scientology under criminal laws, following France's lead a few weeks ago.

BBC: Soviet lessons - Echoes for Nato in the Soviet exit from Afghanistan - You know, it's getting really annoying to read all of the headlines attempting to compare Afghanistan (and previously Iraq) with Vietnam, and with the Soviet experience in Afghanistan. Much love to Father Time, but the sooner the Baby Boomers die out (and thus, the living memory of the Vietnam War with them), the better off American national security will be. (It would also help with entitlement reform, but that's another problem altogether.

BBC: Afghans 'blame poverty for war'

BBC: Obama 'close' to Afghan decision - Sure he is. Didn't they say that about three months ago?

BBC: Verbal war over Egypt-Algeria tie - Conflict over soccer. Unbelievable.

Times: French village to honour veteran piper's bravery

Times: Which Queen? Which speech? Who cares? - The point that this article makes is pretty profound, and pretty legitimate: people don't care enough about politics to pay attention, for a variety of reasons. That's a critical weakness for any society, because when people don't care, they don't notice when bad things start happening.

AFP: Web security company warns of 'cyber arms race' - Yawn.

UPI: Rejavi: Iran overhauls security service - Maryam Rajavi is the head of the MEK, and what she says carries a lot of weight.

Michael Yon: FYI: Paperwork for Afghanistan Media Embed

Satellite image of the day: Mono Lake. I used to pass by Mono Lake (which is featured in today's Astronomy Picture of the Day) on my way from Zoo Station to Hometown, and it's really a beautiful area. Please, do yourself a favor and look at both the APOD picture, and the satellite image.

Have a great Wednesday Thursday - thanks, Sam-Wise!