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Saturday, February 08, 2003
posted by gbarto at 1:01 PM:
As Reynolds says, "interesting." Are Iraqi soldiers despondent about fighting the US? Approving of a US attack as long as we minimize casualties?* * *
posted by gbarto at 12:30 PM:
Arafat Ready to Talk With IsraelisPalestinian leader says he welcomes discussions with high-level contacts
Sorry, Yasser, we're talking to Hamas now.
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posted by gbarto at 12:24 PM:
S. Korea: U.S. Getting 'Emotional'Statement comes after Bush leaves open possibility of N. Korea strike
We'll suggest again that if South Korea is so frustrated with us, we could be moving our troops from the DMZ to the Gulf. I wonder how South Korea would respond to such an offer to work on establishing genuine brotherhood with their fellows to the North without US interference. Like the UN, South Korea is relying on the US to be the bad guys who protect them from their own naivete.
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posted by gbarto at 11:55 AM:
Blix in 'Substantial' Talks With IraqisTop U.N. inspector meeting face to face with officials in Baghdad to demand Saddam's regime reveal weapons details
For those who don't read diplomat-speak, that's code for "please don't make us act, just let us negotiate until capitulation's the only remaining option." Here's some more deciphering:
Hans Blix characterized the meetings as "useful discussions on substantial issues."See above.
After more than four hours of meetings, ElBaradei reported the Iraqis had presented unspecified "explanations on some of the issues." Asked if this was the last chance for peace, ElBaradei replied: "This is an important chance. Not the last chance. There will be other chances.""We think we've agreed on what to call each other which is good because now we can talk. I'd tell you more but you'd be unimpressed. So I'll just say something about peace and hope nobody does a reality check."
"The Iraqi side is providing explanations of some of the issues," including those of U-2 surveillance flights and private interviews with scientists, "as well as outstanding issues" in the fields of missiles, biological and chemical weapons, Blix said.Note, again, the lack of details. They talk about "substantial," but they aren't giving us anything "substantive" because there isn't anything. Watch:
ElBaradei and Blix were looking for quick Iraqi concessions on practical matters in the disarmament effort, such as clearance to fly American U-2 reconnaissance planes in support of their inspections.But it doesn't say they got them.
But they also wanted more: documents, testimony or other evidence to clear up discrepancies in Iraq's accounting for weapons of mass destruction produced and weapons destroyed over a decade ago.But it doesn't say they got any documents, and Gen. Amin doesn't say who the Iraqis hope to make the talks a success for. Anyone want to guess?
Baghdad will "do our best to make his (Blix's) visit successful," said Maj. Gen. Hossam Mohamed Amin, head Iraqi liaison to the inspectors.
Iraqi officials allowed inspectors to privately interview an Iraqi scientist for the first time on Thursday, a concession long-sought by U.N officials. Three more scientists were interviewed on Friday. On Saturday, a U.N. official told Fox News that a fifth Iraqi scientist would be interviewed later that day.Though they'd be more candid if they knew whether that Iraqi would-be defector was still alive. (That's the guy circled in red.)
Adnan Abdul Karim Enad: Is he still alive?
The Iraqis know they have to concede something to show a change in attitude, said a senior U.N. official, speaking on condition of anonymity.That UN officials have to speak anonymously to reveal what everyone knows - that Iraq better change its tune damn fast or the UN won't be able to hold off the US - sort of says it all about where the UN stands in this. Hoping and praying that they won't be embarrassed into having to do something and hoping they can convince Saddam to spare them the awful choice.
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posted by gbarto at 2:24 AM:
Doublechecking before closing up shop for the night, I was disturbed to see the words "Colombia blast." It's a bomb in a South American country, not a shuttle story, but it's still depressing to see. On that note, good night from me and good morning to you.* * *
posted by gbarto at 2:21 AM:
The other day, Welch reminded us not to forget about the awful Prince Bandar of the land where American victims of parental kidnappings are dismissed with a wave of the hand and the production of suicide hijackers in depressing numbers is deemed disturbing but not worth inquiring about. So just a reminder: As we prepare to deal with Saddam, set aside a moment to ask why Saudi Arabia hasn't been more helpful, and then maybe you should even write a letter to your congressperson asking why we're supporting this plutocratic bunch of Islamofascist manqués.* * *
posted by gbarto at 2:13 AM:
Bjørn's been summing up Norwegian reaction to Powell's presentation. Lots of interesting stuff.* * *
posted by gbarto at 2:03 AM:
A Dog's Life further frustrated with the Chron's Mark Morford. I do wish he'd be careful with the generalizations, though:One would expect the San Francisco Chronicle's readership to move their lips while they read. What's surprising is that the editors do, too.Those of us in Silicon Valley can't read the Merc every day; sometimes the Chron is a refreshing change of pace. But I've only read one Morford column; that was enough for me to avoid him. But they do have the always excellent Deb Saunders, and - guilty pleasures - Leah Garchik's "The In Crowd" gossip column isn't half bad most days. Plus they have two crosswords.
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posted by gbarto at 1:58 AM:
Cicero has a good point about Clintonian unilateralism and its use for making international orgs tag along.* * *
posted by gbarto at 1:52 AM:
Here come your French news headlines:Le Monde leads with the "Terrible Bombing in Columbia." Le Monde also notes that the big news out of the Ivory Coast is, "Ghabo, peace and exactions." The president has accepted the principles of the Marcoussis accords, but death squads are simultaneously moving in on his opponents.
We've gotta give you the Figaro headline in French: "Irak: Bush fait le forcing." My Petit Robert tells me "le forcing" has been in French since 1912, but boy, it still feels funny. Anyway, we'll translate that, "Bush ratchets up the pressure," a figurative rather than strictly literal rendering but one which should do the job. Also, this editorial worries about the growing gulf between the US and France, doing its best to argue that France is reasonable and Bush is "messianic." But one senses, in reading, that what worries most for the French is that however convinced they are of their self-righteousness, they also know that a rift between the two countries is a lot worse for France than the US.
Finally, Libé has up top Chirac's insistence that a peaceful resolution to Iraq is possible. But it's not looking good, and Chirac seems to be pleading with Saddam to show up the US while running the risk that Saddam will hang him out to dry, profiting from Chirac's desire to be the other leader of the West to forestall attack and mess up US efforts while doing nothing to keep Chirac from appearing like a stooge for third world tyrants.
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posted by gbarto at 1:29 AM:
McConnell, Graham Released From HospitalMcConnell, the No. 2 Republican in the Senate, was undergoing a routine screening last Friday when arterial blockages were found. He consulted with Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., a heart and lung transplant surgeon, before undergoing the procedure. [my italics]Which just goes to show, no matter how far you get as a doctor, your friends and acquaintances are still going to be looking for free medical advice. Though I suppose Frist did have an interest in the health of his second-in-command.
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posted by gbarto at 1:21 AM:
House Minority Leader Decries Coble Remarks on WWII InternmentsBut has the House Speaker? This one ought to be a no-brainer. Mssrs. Hastert and DeLay should make it clear that rounding up people is a very bad idea of the sort that only Democrat presidents would take seriously and leave it at that.
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posted by gbarto at 1:17 AM:
Colombia Blast Kills At Least 20Powerful bomb rocks exclusive club in Bogota; 100 injured from attack
But it's leftists, not Islamofascists. Stark comfort for the victims, no doubt. Still, it's all of a piece and we should be offering support to Columbia. The detonation of civilians for political ends is - pardon the implications of the adjective - gauche, regardless of motive or cause.
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Friday, February 07, 2003
posted by gbarto at 9:56 AM:
Terror Alert Level Raised to 'High'Muslim holy period beginning Sunday, preparations for Iraq war, increased terrorist 'chatter' said to be behind move
There's the link for the item three posts down. Have a good day.
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posted by gbarto at 9:55 AM:
Hamas: We're Ready to RuleTerror group wants to take Palestinian leadership role from Yasser Arafat
They haven't already taken the leadership role? I thought they'd set a helluva lot more policy than Yasser these last few years.
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posted by gbarto at 9:54 AM:
What we've all been waiting for:Bush Tells U.N. to 'Make Up Its Mind'
U.S. will move on Iraq anyway, he says
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posted by gbarto at 9:52 AM:
I see they've raised the threat level this morning, so y'all be careful out there.* * *
posted by gbarto at 1:41 AM:
More on the UN's shame: The family of the man handed back to the Iraqis after he tried to talk to a UN inspector is trying to ascertain if he is still alive. Blix says he may bring it up this week. (via Instapundit)* * *
posted by gbarto at 1:31 AM:
A Dog's Life is unimpressed by Alterman.* * *
posted by gbarto at 1:25 AM:
Here come your French news headlines:Le Monde: "Gulf: Deployment of American Forces." And all of a sudden, M. Villepin and the French objectors have lost their top-headline status. At least at France's newspaper of record.
Le Figaro: "Air Lib: The Causes of Failure." Note that Libé was leading with this last night.
Libé: "Bush: The Game's Up." Incidentally, Libé also has "The letter that has ended by undermining Europe," about the letter(s) from folks in the EU or future EU backing the US and by extension twitting the French and Germans. The letter came even as meetings were underway on how to form a "European" foreign policy; none of the signatories mentioned that the letter was coming, so that France and Germany were caught flat-footed. It's ominous for Europe because it reveals the division between those who want a bigger, better European Economic Union and those who want a superstate. It's particularly vexing for the Franco-German sphere, since counting signatures on finds that France and Germany have the dominant position in today's EU of 15, but will be outvoted when new members to the east join a few years down the road.
Considering that the EU was first created as a way to check the periodic muscle flexing of France and Germany and their tendency to take their conflicts Europe-wide, knocking these troublemaking Goliaths down to size by marginalizing them seems to me to be a perfect, if surprising, development.
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posted by gbarto at 1:08 AM:
Pyongyang Threatens 'Total War'Are these guys nuts?
Oh yeah.
Anyway, Bush is a little busy to be drawn into another war. What's really frustrating for these guys is they can't even get on the White House's calendar at a moment. Let's hope they don't force themselves on, but this looks like an act of sheer desperation, trying to retake some headlines and maybe get some talks going where they have the upper hand. Note to Kim Jong-Il: the strategy isn't working big fella.
Who'd a thunk it? North Korea's so backward they can't even play the part of pariah effectively.
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posted by gbarto at 12:54 AM:
Bush: 'The Game Is Over'President says he would welcome second Security Council resolution to authorize use of military force to disarm Iraq
It sounds like given the less than enthusiastic response to Powell's talk by France, China, etc., the US and Britain have decided to proceed anyway. And wisely. It's been widely noted that all the skeptical responses were read from statements prepared before Powell's presentation, debunking the idea that any of these nations can be taken seriously as wanting the UN to stand for anything.
Interestingly, Den Beste makes an argument that is the flipside of what we have said, and yet the same:
The same is true of the UN. From the French point of view, a dead UN and one which is still twitching where France has little practical influence are essentially the same. If despite everything the UN now rubberstamps American plans, then it means that it has ceased to be a place where France can still attempt to wield substantial influence and where its pronouncements can't easily be ignored. The UN only is useful to France if it gives France the ability to prevent America from doing things; once that is not possible the UN no longer has any value to France. The damage has already been done there, too.The TurkeyBlog, of course, has maintained that the French could be brought around if the alternative was making a joke of the UN, the only place where they have a lot of real authority anymore. Steve's point is well taken, and it will be interesting to see which view the French take: screw the UN if they can't control it or save the UN so at least they'll have a platform for another day. I'll have more on this in the French news (which you've already read if you're reading this the morning of the seventh, but which I haven't written yet).
In the mean time, I think one of my big points from the last few weeks (best made here) stands: Messing around with the UN was not a waste of time, but an extremely worthwhile exercise. But the value of the exercise was not cravenly seeking UN approval but putting the UN on the spot and forcing it to either be a serious body that would work with us or a joke we could safely discard. Not so long ago, the general public wasn't so sure it could back an invasion without UN approval. Powell's presentation may not have gone anywhere at the UN, but it hit its main mark well: it got the main points of the case against Iraq splashed across every major front page in the US, with a sidebar showing the American public what a joke the UN is and why its support is not so meaningful as widely assumed. The Chinese ambassador's statement, written before Powell's speech and indifferent to all the speech contained did more - with the outraged op-eds it led to, etc. - to damage the argument we need UN approval than any presentation the White House could have made.
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Thursday, February 06, 2003
posted by gbarto at 1:29 AM:
Instapundit has thoughts from a reader on a Community of Democracies that would replace the UN. That community includes the Baltics, who are now on board along with most of Eastern Europe. Looks like France is becoming isolated. The idea of dumping the tyrannies and creating an association of free peoples sounds to me like a great idea.* * *
posted by gbarto at 1:20 AM:
A Dog's Life takes the Chron to task. Of course some of their columnists are execrable; others, like Jon Carrol are best when they stay away from politics. But then, they do have the marvelous Deb Saunders.* * *
posted by gbarto at 1:16 AM:
Cicero does some of his own French news, looking at one Alain Madelin, who says it's Bush or Saddam and Bush looks like the better pick to support. Madelin is still smarting from an anti-American crack he made during the Presidential contest last year - a remark that was distinctly out of character, and worse, did nothing to rev up the xenophobic right on his behalf - he garnered somewhere around one percent in the first round. He's the UMP deputy from Ille-et-Vilaine, notes Cicero, which brings a smile to the TurkeyBlog. He used to live in those parts back in '93 - when the Right came to power in the Assembly for the first time in quite a while and the groundwork was laid for the ascent of... Chirac. Oh well. Chirac, for his part, isn't as bad as he seems, and certainly isn't the ghastly Mitterand. But like political men of the right throughout the democracies, he has a tendency to fight hard for the little things while letting the big stuff slide, lest he be accused of being a fascist. Too bad he's worried about the charge; his predecessor actually worked for the Nazis but got a free pass because the press is largely the same throughout the democracies too.* * *
posted by gbarto at 1:08 AM:
Now that we've taken a gratuitous swipe at the French below, here come your French news headlines:Le Monde: "Skepticism before American proofs." Apparently, France wants "disarmament through peace." I thought that's what we'd been trying the last ten years. Anyway, Le Monde is properly balanced in noting that those close to the US thought the evidence convincing and those who were opposed to military action decided more inspections were needed - with the implication that responses were based on already formed opinions, which, of course, they were.
The Gaullist side of Le Figaro's conservatism is showing with the headline, "Powell doesn't win the battle of the proofs."
Libé leads with a Europe story: "Imca throws in the towel [actually, the sponge], Air Lib's planes will remain grounded." The investor group was going to try to rescue the carrier from bankruptcy.
On the Powell story, the headline is, "The war between the lines of Powell's dossier." Libé is alone in stressing that for all its emphasis on inspections, France still hasn't taken a definitive position against war.
And something the TurkeyBlog has been hammering shows up in Libé:
Iraq, Ivory Coast: Can Chirac manage? Drawn into Africa but firm on UN inspections, Paris is at pains to lay out a clear foreign policy.The article, however, focuses on Chirac's "let inspections work" with only passing reference to the Africa question. Still, it's good to see the headline.
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posted by gbarto at 12:50 AM:
The Case Against IraqSecretary of state presents U.N. Security Council 'undeniable' proof that Saddam's regime is hiding weapons in Iraq
But the French don't care. Wup de doo. Nor will they, so long as they see this as a contest over who gets to stand for Western Civilization and its attempts to bring order to the world. But that's ok. They're busy with the Ivory Coast. We ought be hearing more about that on this side of the pond, lest people get the impression that what offends the French is meddling in other countries, per se, when it's in fact meddling in other countries if you aren't France that raises their hackles.
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posted by gbarto at 12:47 AM:
Estrada Filibuster in WorksSenate Democrats plan to torpedo Bush's Court of Appeals nominee
Apparently they don't like Hispanics. Racist bastards.
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posted by gbarto at 12:46 AM:
North Korea Restarts ReactorsCommunist nation's nuclear standoff with U.S. ratchets up yet another notch
Hmmm... should have eliminated it earlier, a la Osirak. But going into negotiations has the same problems it's always had - you can't put the nutcases in charge. Incidentally, those who have been saying that we have to work with North Korea because Kim Jong-Il is just crazy enough to start a war seem to have failed to notice that he laid the groundwork for this confrontation back when negotiations were thought to be working. North Korea didn't start nukes because the US cut off oil; they'd been working on the nukes and taking our oil until the Bushies said we wouldn't help meet their energy needs if they weren't abiding by their agreements. People seem to forget this. Perhaps the best thing to do at this point would be to suggest to South Korea that we can be off the Korean peninsula in six weeks if they believe that we're getting in the way of peace and harmony with the North. I'd be curious to hear how they responded.
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Wednesday, February 05, 2003
posted by gbarto at 2:06 AM:
Did the Columbia go down because of environmental correctness? If you were just skimming Instapundit, you might have missed it. Start there for the links.* * *
posted by gbarto at 1:51 AM:
Lots of great stuff at Common Sense and Wonder. Start at the top and make sure you at least get to the bit about McDonald's.* * *
posted by gbarto at 1:42 AM:
Den Beste has been thinking about the French too.* * *
posted by gbarto at 1:25 AM:
Down below, you'll find out that the UN gave France authorization to act in the Ivory Coast. Lucky for them, we're not the lousy bastards we could be. We should have said it gave the appearance of the Western world running roughshod over smaller countries (which a lot of folks in the Ivory Coast are saying) and that we would veto the authorization until we had better information justifying French involvement.* * *
posted by gbarto at 1:22 AM:
Here come your French headlines:Le Monde: The UN Intervenes in the Ivoirean Crisis. They've given France and the West African Economic Community authorization for a military intervention to cool things down. Let's see if we read that right... Yup, the peaceful, give negotiations a chance, we can't rush things nation of France has, only months after the crisis started and only weeks after the very first diplomatic effort fell through, decided to get the military involved. Makes the US look like the very model of patience. Of course there is a difference: it is an effort of the superior French civilization for the good of all, not the backward barbaric American cowboys for oil... that's their logic anyway. Too bad the folks in the Ivory Coast don't see it that way. They believe they consider it - as we understand it - French imperialism. But as Reuters might say, one man's peace lover is another's hyper-colonialist.
Hee hee. Along the same lines, Le Figaro quotes Iraq's Foreign Minister - Tariq Assiz: "Bush wants to make a colony of Iraq." Yeah, and France wants to make a colony of the Ivory Coast. And life in the third world would be hunky-dory if the imperialists of times past would just leave the strongmen in place and the antagonists of democracy alone. The TurkeyBlog, for the record, is offering a provisional pass to France on the Ivory Coast matter: we don't withhold the possibility that they're doing the best or only thing one could do there. But we do reserve the right to snicker every time they strike a pose they'd condemn the US for taking and the right to chortle every time something goes wrong with their ambitions if they would criticize the US for having similar ambitions.
Call it the Silver Rule: Do unto others as they in fact do unto you.
Libé: Jacques Chirac's Balancing Act. Said balancing act being to rebuff Blair and Bush and still have a say in what the latter two actually do.
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posted by gbarto at 1:06 AM:
Columbia mourned, Powell speaks tomorrow... but you already know this. If I come across anything remarkably insightful on either matter, I'll let you know. But I don't think there's a lot to add to either story at the moment.* * *
posted by gbarto at 1:03 AM:
Yugoslavia, we hardly knew ya, and here you are already gone...Sun Sets on Yugoslavia
Parliament abolishes Balkan nation, creates union of Serbia-Montenegro
But not likely to be missed.
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posted by gbarto at 1:01 AM:
My thought for the night (a propos of the below): Maybe the universe is expanding to fill the vacuum caused by the empty space left when everything was condensed before the big bang.Someone has surely already had this idea and it's just as surely been debunked. But it's a thought.
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posted by gbarto at 12:58 AM:
A look at a book:Faster Than the Speed of Light: The Story of a Scientific Speculation, by Joao Magueijo, has gotten decidedly mixed reviews, the most charitable saying that the introductory part on the history of the theory of relativity was pretty good but the part about academic backbiting and the process of getting something published in academic journals was too bitter, sarcastic, etc. I'm still reading the history of relativity and am so far charmed. Because of the reviews, I've looked ahead and mostly found myself nodding, having been around the academy awhile. I should have more once I'm finished, but in the meantime, my favorite part:
While Einstein lived in Bern, working as a patent office clerk, he did his research work in a small study away from his home. In this study he kept a large number of cats, of which he was very fond. However the cats at times could be rather burdensome, scratching persistently at closed doors, demanding to roam freely throughout the house. He could not leave all the doors open, so he decided to cut holes in the bottoms of the doors, producing cute little cat doors.
In that year he had roughly equal numbers of large and small cats. Therefore, quite logically, he cut out two holes in each door: a large one for the large cats, and a small one for the small cats. It made perfect sense.
One may gather from this that Einstein's contorted mind already demanded that "nothing" be "something." A hole should have a meaningful existence, and the small cats might be offended if a personalized nothing was not prepared for them. If you are ready to go down this surreal path, then perhaps the rest of [this] argument will feel natural to you...
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Tuesday, February 04, 2003
posted by gbarto at 11:07 AM:
Pilates, Prayer Not Mutually ExclusiveBut Vatican says Christ must come first
I'm not fully clear on the distinctions they're drawing, but I think if you're in lotus, you have to chant, "Hail Mary, full of grace..." instead of "Om mani padme hum." But this is just the draft ruling, anyway, so lobby your priest if you want broader possibilities for yogic practices.
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posted by gbarto at 1:16 AM:
Den Beste says things are looking down for Gerhard Schroder - which means they're looking up for Bush. And there's some delightfully nasty commentary on the French.Researching Victor Hugo, I can report that French chauvinism goes back before the Fifth Republic (Hugo's notes postulate Paris' every defeat as a lost opportunity for history to drink from the waters of pure civilization). Of course, it's really worse. Forget about Louis XIV ("The Sun King"); the French have been insufferably on the side of self-righteousness since Saint Louis the Ninth's participation in the Crusades.
Woops! Forgot about their participation in the sack of Constantinople, presumably because raping the center of Eastern Christianity was necessary to freeing the Holy Land. That was a little after 1200, I think.
Anyway, it's a wonder these folks can even find the nerve to try to speak for truth, justice, etc, given their history - even as they criticize our intemperance.
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posted by gbarto at 1:04 AM:
Beautiful Lileks piece.* * *
posted by gbarto at 12:48 AM:
Leonard Pitts on the Sopranos inspired dismemberers:Don't blame TV for mindless crime
Amen. What's next? Johnny blew up a local building but he got the idea from the news? One kid did, in fact, fly a plane into a building in Atlanta after 9/11. Ugly things happen in fiction and reality; imitating either, however, depends not merely on seeing the ugliness but on sympathizing with it. And if you're at that point, you either need help or are beyond it.
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posted by gbarto at 12:41 AM:
French news headlines:Le Monde: "Record deficit for the Bush administration." $3.7B, in fact, due to increases for anti-terror fight and smaller tax receipts. When's the last time France's budget made the front for the NYT though?
Le Figaro: "Retirement: Raffarin issues call to 'get past self-centeredness.'"
Libé: "Raffarin stirs the retirement pot." Says Libé, apocalytpic speeches have given way to modest proposals.
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posted by gbarto at 12:20 AM:
I fear there's not much hope left for Elizabeth Smart, but her family hopes, and they're looking for this man:
If, perchance, you see him or have seen him, they'd love the info. Here's the story:
Smart Family Releases New Sketch
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Monday, February 03, 2003
posted by gbarto at 1:22 AM:
I noted a few posts down that the people who actually get in shuttles have to be looked too for some guidance on safety issues. The astronauts were well aware of the risks. This profile of Kalpana Chawla appeared in the Merc today (Sunday):A long route from India to Sunnyvale to space travel
There were a couple paragraphs we have to keep in mind as the safety debate goes forward:
[Her friend,] Sarin always saw Chawla as a strong-willed person. Still, he said, he was struck by the way she dealt with the possibility of a mishap.And:
``I asked her, `Are you scared?' '' he recalled of their last conversation. ``She said, `Well, you don't think like that.' That sort of stuck in my mind.''
Yet, Sarin said, his conversations with Chawla often returned to the cerebral. She once told him she wanted to be aboard the first manned flight to Mars, even if she was told ahead of time that the technology did not exist to bring her back. ... (my italics)This was a person who knew the risks and had dealt with them in her own mind. I suspect that there is something of that in all these people. We need to keep that in mind before deciding it's just too difficult to explore the last frontier.
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posted by gbarto at 1:05 AM:
Here comes your French news headlines:Le Monde: "Shuttle: America wants to understand." All about the multiple inquiries, etc.
Oh, and Paris makes a "solemn call" to Ivoirean President Ghabo to respect the Marcoussis accord, though his supporters view it as something forced on them by France and are declaring it invalid. They even imply France was acting imperialistic, from what I gather. Nah. Only the US would do such a thing.
Le Figaro: "The Reasons of the Drama." The picture is the helmet; the lead-in is other things discovered - heart, leg, fingers (one with a ring)... ugh.
Also, "A Double Reversal for Schroder." The CDU picked up two seats yesterday, one in Chancellor Schroder's old stomping grounds. Analysts suggest it's either a resurgence of the right or a verdict against Schroder. Preferring the latter possibility, some are suggesting the Chancellor step aside just months after barely hanging on to the post.
Libé: "A tragic flight calls manned flights into question."
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posted by gbarto at 12:52 AM:
NASA Defends Safety ProceduresDocuments criticizing program before Columbia disaster to get second look
Here's a possibility: NASA's safety procedures are poor but weren't a factor in this case. But that doesn't make for very exciting Congressional hearings, I suppose.
Question, though: If they're really a complete and total mess, why are these highly educated experts in the field scrambling to get to go on missions? I'm not saying an inquiry is unnecessary, but we do have to weigh the intelligence of folks with masters and doctorates in aeronautics, engineering and astrophysics versus that of our legislators in deciding what are acceptable risk tolerances, how much can really be done to improve safety, etc.
In other words, do have hearings, but don't make a circus of them.
As if.
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posted by gbarto at 12:44 AM:
No New Concessions From BaghdadChief inspectors head to Iraq for talks
Read a George Will column today discussing the luck Bush has had with Iraq. Here's the next part: as hard as Europe tries to hold back, Iraq is just itching to make the case for why Bush is right to act.
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posted by gbarto at 12:43 AM:
Havel Bids Presidency AdieuDissident playwright led peaceful revolution in former Czechoslovakia
He will be missed. For all his flaws, he did an incredible thing in shepherding the Czech Republic into freedom.
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posted by gbarto at 12:02 AM:
A gruesome and fascinating business, this:Some Astronauts' Remains Recovered, Being Analyzed
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Sunday, February 02, 2003
posted by gbarto at 2:08 AM:
And more LGF poetry here. The source for "slipping the surly bonds of earth."* * *
posted by gbarto at 2:06 AM:
Charles Johnson has a very special helmet, a mission patch and the thoughts of many fine souls on today's events.* * *
posted by gbarto at 1:51 AM:
At the end of this post is a poem one of LGF's readers wanted to share. It starts:The PhoenixYou can read the rest on her blog if you are interested.
In a tower of flame in Capsule Twelve,
I was there.
I know not where they laid my bones,
it could be anywhere,
but when fire and smoke had faded,
the darkness left my sight,
I found my soul in a spaceship's soul
riding home on a trail of light.
* * *
posted by gbarto at 1:03 AM:
Here comes your French news round-up:Le Monde leads with "Disappearance of Columbia, opening of an inquiry."
Le Figaro headlines: "Catastrophe in the American Sky."
And Libé says: "Columbia lost in flight with seven astronauts."
And there's this editorial in Le Monde: "Beyond Iraq, the failure of the Arab World," by Eric Le Boucher
Excerpts:
It is not clear whether one must believe the US when it says that "regime change" in Iraq is destined to provide a model for reorganizing the political systems in the Middle East one by one. But one thing is sure: The Arab world needs it. The economic failure of the 22 countries that extend from the Gulf to the Atlantic is patent. Only sub-Saharan Africa presents a sadder picture.There's more:
...[With the rest of the world opening up,] rather than choosing economic and political openness, the regimes of the region have, to the contrary, reinforced their introverted statism, a mix of protectionist nationalism and bureaucratic socialism.
Without a doubt, distinctions must be made between Quatar and Tunisia, Yemen and Egypt, and, above all, between the oil producers and the others. But the policy of staying closed up is a common trait. Here is a group of countries that form a strong cultural community, that share a language, that profit from a demographic boom (76 million inhabitants in 1950, 280 million today), that, above all, are burbling with oil and that waste all these marvelous advantages.
...the voluminous investments [of the state] are also wasted. Public money "is diverted toward bad uses," according to [a] report on the Arab world, that was just published at the Davos World Economic Forum. A record of useless roads, questionable great works, sumptuous setups, "white elephants," as they're called in Africa. Rather than helping economic development these "Keynesian" expenditures block it: productivity is backsliding everywhere but Egypt, Oman, Syria and Tunisia (these countries come out better than the others)... Education [is failing because] teaching is too focused on religion and too little on learning basic work skills. As for the better students, they go abroad as soon as possible, to England or the US, and don't come back.In other words, the Arab world is a mess in need of changing, but is this the way and can Bush pull it off? We certainly hope so, but it is interesting to see the case made in a French paper (in Le Monde, no less!) that Iraq and the Arab world are fundamentally unhealthy and need to be dragged out of bureaucratic socialism into something newer and better, if only we knew how.
...
To [its] failures, source of widespread dispair, governments have added - to defend themselves - a discourse that turns resentment abroad, Israel, America, the West, making [their countries hotbeds of] Islamist utopia.
In this context, can the departure of Saddam Hussein from Baghdad open up to an "Iraqi model" of political and economic liberation, copyable in the region? One sees both the urgent necessity and the extreme difficulty. The dangerous intricacy between the social situation and the psychology of victimization make Bush's bet high stakes. Does the American president have the right touch for this?
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posted by gbarto at 12:14 AM:
Questions:Did the shuttles have anything equivalent to a black box?
Would it be anything other than scrap metal at this point?
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posted by gbarto at 12:11 AM:
Den Beste is back to war possibilities. Interesting and important stuff there.* * *
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