Interview with Wafa Sultan

What she says is, in essence, exactly my position on Religion in general.
It is valid for the muslims suicide bombers and for the hypocrite God Bless America USA and for all religions and dogmas in general.
Believing in God in one thing, following life styles from books written by God (or so we are told) , killing people or doing illogical things are another that any sane person would not do.

"Arab-American Psychiatrist Wafa Sultan: There is No Clash of Civilizations but
a Clash between the Mentality of the Middle Ages and That of the 21st Century"
Video here.

Open your eyes people, this is the 21st century for Christ sake (so to speak).
Believe in God all you want, but don't let people control your life because they say they speak in His name.


Posted in: _Society

Gun Control

So, after Columbine, yet again another butchery in the USA because citizens have easy access to guns (here).
What the f*ck is so difficult to understand with this? Guns allow people to kill many other people easily an efficiently. Remove the guns from the shops and it get much more difficult to get hold of them, hence reducing the chances to have innocents shot.
Of course, you have to trust the system and believe that the police will protect you.

Eddie Izzard puts it very well:
"And the National Rifle Association says that, "Guns don't kill people, people do,” but I think the gun helps, you know? I think it helps. I just think just standing there going, "Bang!" That's not going to kill too many people, is it? You'd have to be really dodgy on the heart to have that…"

If the killer from Blacksburg had only a kitchen knife, we would not have 33 dead bodies.


Posted in: _USA ,

9/11: Press for Truth

I usually record and watch CBS 60 Minutes every week. But this week, even though the TV program said 60 Minutes was on, I ended up recording a documentary the channel aired instead called "9/11: Press for Truth".
It tells the story about 4 widows fighting for answers to basic questions. Even after the 9/11 commission published its report, more than 70% of their questions where still unanswered.
And it clearly shows how the Bush administration was their greatest adversary to get those answers.
Official site here.
Also a site put together by a journalist showing how the official time line does not add up, here.


Posted in: _911

Trees & Global Warming

Another article from The Economist, about trees and global warming, here.
It nicely explains why growing trees may be counter productive to fight global warming, at least under some latitudes.


Posted in: _Sciences

Russia and Energy as weapon

The Economist has a nice article (here) this week about Russia using it Oil and Gas as a powerful weapon in Europe and Central Asia. Definitely worth reading.


Posted in: _Geopolitics

Freedom in Rusia

You can tell when a country is really free when it starts to jail people for gathering in the streets. Russia is getting a bit less free. Nothing new but it is good to have some examples in mind.
Here and here.


Posted in: _Democracy , _HumanRights

Iraq's Situation summary

Michael Yon posted a memo from retired Gen McCaffrey which gives an insider's view about how things are going on in Iraq right now. You will find it here.
His conclusion that the latest efforts are paying off are most likely true, but the real question is 'Can the situation really be improved permanently with the current strategy, or is it so f*cked that not even all the might and brains of the US Army (assuming they don't make any new huge mistakes) can do anything about it?'


Posted in: _IraqWar

Trianon Treaty, 1920

As an example why it is not a good idea to lose a war, take the case of Hungary during the WWI.
Indeed, the Trianon Treaty (more on wikipedia here) left Hungary with a third of its territory.
A picture is worth thousand words, here.
The before 1920 version is the big light pink part reaching the Adriatic sea. The after 1920 version is the one delimited by the red line around Ungarn.


Posted in: _Europe , _Geopolitics

Funny Stuff

Click on the picture to enlarge.


Posted in: _Fun