Keep an open mind

Just forget what you think you know for a moment, and keep an open mind while you read this article. Seriously, just forget your biases, forget the idea that "everyone knows" men are more aggressive and physically stronger than women, and are always the abusers. Now, read the article, think about it for a while, and then post. Read first, think for a while, post much later (if you so desire). Shooting from the hip just will not work here, okay?

In other news, it appears the Taliban is coming back strong, and we might be losing the war in Afghanistan. Of course, some people might argue that we've been losing the war in that theater of operations since we let ourselves distracted by the invasion of Iraq, but the news of mass casualties of this scale from suicide bombings in Afghanistan, the forgotten war, is frankly disturbing.

On a lighter note, if you haven't seen Persepolis yet, you should go out and see it. It's based on a series of graphic novels by an Iranian-born Frenchwoman named Marjane Satrapi. No Spill.com rating yet, but I'll say it's definitely full price. It helps if you understand French; although there are subtitles, you really miss some of the subtleties that having a decent command of the language affords one. For instance, you can tell which adults are being condescending to Marji by both the tone of voice and the fact that they use the "tu" form instead of the "vous" form to address her. Except for the parents, who know her best, the only people who should be using the "tu" form are really, really close friends. Even her grandmother uses the "vous" form, although she does it out of respect, and because she likes to talk to Marji as an equal. Just thought you should know.

It also helps if you understand Iranian history as well. Not the propaganda that "everyone" here in the U.S. supposedly knows, but the deeper history, the stuff that explains the deeper causes of the Islamic Revolution in 1979. Stuff that's actually closer to the truth. Anyway, you really should see this movie; even if your knowledge of French and Iranian history is somewhat lacking, you will still see a heartfelt, heartbreaking, uplifting story of a young girl who grows up to be a young woman during a time of upheaval in a part of the Middle East most Westerners don't know as much about as they should.

Random Stuff

Quote of the day: "You are now about to witness the strength of street knowledge." --Ice Cube, speaking as one of the NWA cru at the beginning of Straight Outta Compton.



Really funny: check out the Jumper review from Spill.com. Best part: "Jumper 2: Toilet paper hangin' out your ass." LOL. Weirdest bit: Co-host 3000 and .... boobs! Uh, you have to see it to get it, I guess.

Fucking awesome: George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead. You like horror movies with intelligent subtext? You have to see this in the movie theatre. To borrow the Spill.com review system, I give this movie Full Price. If you are a fan of George Romero's Dead movies, then this movie is definitely Better Than Sex. Unfortunately, there is no Spill.com rating yet, but check out Rotten Tomatoes, where you can see that many critics don't know dick about what makes a good horror movie.

I extend a warm welcome to the newest nation in the world

...Kosovo! Congratulations on your newfound independence, and good luck holding on to it. Here's to hoping you become a republic which respects the rule of law, the rights of your people, and the ideals of western-style democracy. Most importantly, I hope you recognize the need to share power between your president (or whatever you will call your head of state) and representatives elected by the people for the people. True democracy is such a fragile and rare thing in the world, and it is so easy for one man to rise up and take all the power for himself: just look at what happened in China and what is still going on in Russia.

Anyway, best of luck to you, Kosovars! May you live long and prosper, as a free people!

The New Cold War?

So, here's an interesting bit of international news, this time concerning Bolivia, and possibly by extension, Latin America. Article courtesy of ABC News. Kind of a strange concept, asking Fulbright Scholars and Peace Corps volunteers to spy on citizens, some of them from a country where democratic elections are held regularly, as if they were communists from the Soviet Union or China. Since when was Venezuela, or Cuba for that matter, an existential threat to the (so far) lone superpower in the world (at least, until China and possibly India come into their own)?

Kudos to those mentioned in the article, especially John Alexander van Schaick, for not doing what they were asked to do, and respecting the rights of other non-Americans to exist relatively free from U.S. surveillance and interference. Of course, the U.S. Government does have other methods at its disposal to gather intelligence. Check out Noam Chomsky's website for more information.

Anyway, same shit, different day. Such is the great game of espionage, some people might say; after all foreign nationals spy on us all the time, right? Still doesn't make it right, though.

A Public Health Crisis in Baghdad

Courtesy of Juan Cole's blog: 4 Killed 17 Wounded in Tal Afar Mosque Bombing; Crisis of Water, Sewage in Baghdad.

I'd like to draw your attention to the AFP report that Baghdad's water treatment system is in such dire straits that there is a shortage of clean drinking water while they are literally "drowning in sewage" according to an Iraqi official. Not surprisingly, there is an accompanying cholera "crisis" (it's not really an epidemic yet) to go with the lack of clean drinking water. Apparently, the situation is being exacerbated by the U.S. military blockage on trucks, from Jordan, carrying chlorine for water purification purposes.

Although I understand the desire to avoid a suicide bombing that would result in the deaths of hundreds or thousands from direct contact with chlorine, I wish there could have been an accompanying effort to supply an alternative so that there isn't this public health crisis. If nothing else, U.S. forces could allow transport of clean drinking water in from some source outside of the city!

What really gets me is the claim that there is a lake of raw sewage so big, that you can see it on Google Earth! I saw several black spots last time I looked; I suspect the one the official is talking about is located at: 33 degrees, 24'N and 44 degrees, 20' E, although I am not absolutely certain.

Wait, what?!? What is going on here?

So, uh, it looks like President Bush authorized a missile strike on a spy satellite that is expected to re-enter the Earth's atmosphere very soon. Um, the thing may be the size of a school bus, but there is a good chance all of it, including the fuel tank which is the cause of concern behind the President's authorization of use of force, would burn up in the atmosphere. So, WTF is up with the missile strike? Is this a pretext for the Navy to test out the missile defense system? Is there some kind of alien virus* attached to the satellite that could do really funky things to people, if it survived intact? Did the spy satellite pick up some kind of information that would be really bad for national security if it fell in the wrong hands? What is it with people and blowing shit up in space with missiles? Inquiring minds would like to know.

UPDATE: There may be a good explanation that answers most of the questions posted above. See this article, courtesy of Alternet and TomDispatch.com.

*you're welcome

Shout out to Juan Cole

I will be the first person to tell you that it is important to keep up with international news as well as keeping informed of events here at home. It is bad enough that certain people can't even find the U.S. on a freaking map:

Which says a lot about how they think about their place in the wider world. Kind of a sad statement on some Americans; they care so little about the larger world that they can't even figure out where they fit in, map or no map.

Now, the natural question to ask here is: Well, if you're so damned smart, why don't you post more stuff on international affairs? And the answer is, a) because there's a lot going on here, in the U.S. that is worthy of discussion, b) I only have so many *minutes* in the day to devote to blogging, and c) because there are people who are much better at discussing foreign affairs than I'll ever hope to be.

Thus, I present to you Juan Cole, president of the Global Americana Institute and professor of Middle East and South Asian studies at the University of Michigan. He blogs extensively about Iraq and Afghanistan particularly, and is the main source of much of my information about Middle East current affairs (it also helps that he is an expert on the Arab language too). If you want to know more about what's going down in the Middle East, and if you care about our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan - and if you care about avoiding war with Iran - you should visit his blog regularly (preferably daily).