Friday, September 06, 2002
No End To Idiocy (Again) As Berkeley Economics professor Carlo M. Cipolla used to say, we always and inevitably underestimate the number of stupid people in circulation.
Couple fights to name their baby Osama bin Laden
I seem to be posting No End To Idiocy blogs with a frightening frequency. This time, a Turkish couple living in Germany want to call their son Osama bin Laden. German registration officials have rejected the name, but the couple have decided to take the case to court.
posted by Carla Passino at 2:08 PM
Thursday, September 05, 2002
Don't Cry For Them, Argentina
Argentina's win against the USA basketball team means the end of an era
I grew up watching Magic and Larry fighting one of the great sporting battle of last century. I then admired MJ vaulting over any other player that ever lived. As a great fan of basketball, I have mixed emotions about yesterday's game that saw the USA lose to Argentina in the World Championship. On one hand, I am happy to see the game I love become truly global with other nations able to compete at the stellar level of the NBA players. On the other, I feel a little sad glancing back to an era of great players that made the game what it is today. Hats off to Argentina - which, by the way, sorely needed a boost of optimism, given its economic situation - for its spirit and its game. But I cannot help to compare the present US roster with that of the Dream Team of the Barcellona Olympics. Names like Magic, Larry, sir Charles and MJ are not just there anymore and the present players simply do not have enough personality to replace them.
posted by Mooraq at 5:54 PM
Al Qaeda Strikes Back? Let's hope it is not the beginning of a terror campaign to mark the first anniversary of September 11.
A bomb sets off in Kabul, killing ten people
A car bomb exploded in Kabul this afternoon, killing ten people and wounding sixteen, reports Reuters. Local police think Al Qaeda and the Talibans, together with former prime minister Gulbuddin Hekmatyar may be behind the blast.
posted by Carla Passino at 1:44 PM
Wednesday, September 04, 2002
What Happened To Arabia Felix? El Cid lived in the second half of the 11th century, when the political decline of Northern Spain's Moorish kingdoms started. Caught between the Christian kingdoms in the north and the invading armies of the Berber Almoravids, they succumbed. However, their culture - which was possibly the most advanced in medieval Europe - remained alive for another four centuries, effectively conquering Christian Spain. I can't help but wonder whatever it was that plunged a civilisation which was at the forefront of science, music, architecture and learning to today's stifling theocracy. It is not so much that Islam has not kept up with other cultures, as that it has leapt backward. According to the Arab Human Development Report 2002 (via The Economist, requires subscription), the Arab world has doomed itself to failure because of "the lamentable shortage of three essentials: freedom, knowledge and womanpower." Go tell the Saudis. ------------------------------------------------------------ Talking of books, you may have noticed that we have added a list of books we are reading or have just read on the right hand panel. We both enjoy Amazon's list so much that we thought you may like our own. And, of course, we hope you will reciprocate and send in recommendations for good reads.
Muslim culture has gone backward since the beginning of the last millennium
I have just started reading José Luis Corral Lafuente's El Cid, a fictionalised biography of Spain's medieval hero Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar.
posted by Carla Passino at 4:02 PM
Is War on Drugs A Dope? In principle the idea is good: killing the drug at its source. In reality this policy is having little to no effect. Despite USD 1.7 billion spent in the last 3 years, coca production has increased by a whopping 25% in the last year alone. Well, no wonder! If you are a farmer in Colombia, the choice is between cultivating coca, which you can sell for a monstrous profit, or coffee, which currently is not worth almost anything. I read a story a while ago about an Afghani farmer that sold his poppy crop for 2,000 USD while his neighbor across the road had to sell his 12 years old daughter for 500 USD as his wheat harvest wasn't enough to sustain his family. Given the same situation, I doubt many otherwise honest people would make a different decision from planting drug crops. It's an inevitable economic law that where there's a demand there will be a supply. Cutting the supply does not make the demand go away but it raises prices, making it increasingly more profitable to produce the goods. Thus it is easy to guess that spraying crops will not improve the situation but simply enrich more the farmers (and drug lords) that will manage to keep their production going I believe the so-called war on drug is nothing more than a political dope that does not make any economic sense and it's wholly ineffective. If you really want to reduce drug consumption (or any other consumption) you have to work on the demand side: it's not me talking here but Mr. Adam Smith.
Destroying coca plantations in Colombia will not make any difference at all
Good report on the NYT on the latest development on the war on drugs waged in Colombia. Recently sworn president Uribe - elected on the promise to use the iron fist against the terrorist forces that wreak havoc in Colombia - is going to allow a major step up in the US policy of aerial spraying of coca crops.
posted by Mooraq at 11:11 AM
Tuesday, September 03, 2002
Powell's Decline And Fall? Powell's voice sounds increasingly isolated within the cabinet and in front of the public. Not being part of Bush's inner circle (as opposed to Donald Rumsfeld) he was always an outsider in a group where personal loyalty to the President seems the main requirement. From the discussion about rebuilding Afghanistan to the US role in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the approach to Iraq, Powell has been increasingly confronted by the hawks in the administration. So far, the response of the General has been to stay clear of controversy, but this is now resulting in his marginalisation. Vice-president Cheney and Defense Secretary Rumsfeld appears to drive the foreign policy agenda at the moment. I don't know how much longer Powell will put up with this. After all, he is supposed to be the one doing that job - rather than shuttling around the world and smiling at cameras. As a great admirer of General Powell and his personal and professional history, I am sad to see him relegated in the background. On a more political level, I find it a shame that his extensive (to say the least) experience in foreign affairs and military matters is not put to better use. In an administration that sees the whole world through a thick American lens, Mr Powell could provide a much needed international perspective.
The increasing isolation of the Secretary of State doesn't bode well for US foreign policy
In Johannesburg, more the 100 head of states are meeting to discuss the future of this planet we live in. Notably absent is the head of the most important nation, the USA. In his stead, the US are represented by Colin Powell. At a first glance, it seems right that the Secretary of State attends the conference. But a closer look suggests that Powell is often sent on errands which this administration consider second rate.
posted by Mooraq at 4:54 PM
Sudan Harbours Al Qaeda's Gold For an Islamic dictatorship with a track record in harbouring terrorists, Sudan is surprisingly little known. The country is torn by a thirty-year-long civil war which sees black Christians and Animists pitted against Arab Muslims. Back in 1997, James Miller, a war correspondent for Frontline Television, went to East Sudan where he shot a documentary on the rebels. Here is what he said to the Conde Nast Traveller Online on his return: "They [the rebels] have recovered a lot of villages from the government and, from what I could see, people were really happy to be liberated." Will it be another Afghanistan?
Terrorists' treasure was recently shipped to Khartoum
Sudan is likely to rise a few notches up the pecking order of rogue nations, now the Washington Post has revealed that it is Al Qaeda's favourite coffer. Undisclosed sources told the paper that Al Qaeda and what remains of the Talibans have recently shipped their gold (via Iran and the United Arab Emirates) to Sudan, where bin Laden lived from 1991 to 1996 and where he apparently retains business associates.
posted by Carla Passino at 1:35 PM
Monday, September 02, 2002
London Buses Aren't Getting Better Meanwhile, he has embarked on a grand publicity bout, whose aim is to make us believe that London buses are better than ever before. Does the mayor realise that buses use the same roads as cars and are just as likely to get caught up in a gridlock? Today, it took me half an hour from Victoria Station to Westminster - while it should not take more than ten minutes. Incidentally, the ticket cost me £1, making it one of the most expensive bus rides in Europe.
Why mayor Ken Livingstone is fully responsible for the British capital's traffic chaos
London mayor Ken Livingstone appears to have deliberately set out to make Londoners' life a misery. A self-confessed car hater, he has given the thumbs up to a series of contiguous roadworks, which have effectively disrupted traffic in central London.
posted by Carla Passino at 10:12 AM
Sunday, September 01, 2002
US And Europe: A War Apart
Why Americans and Europeans don't see eye-to-eye on Iraq
Is this the world's first audioblog? It may not be, but it's the first I know of. Click here to listen to my view on the American/European divide (you will need QuickTime) - and let me know what you think of the concept of audioblog.
posted by Carla Passino at 5:44 PM
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