Conspiracy Central

Bush did it with Iraq. NGO's do it with their crisis's (no links, I'm saving my thunder). And I just did it with the title.

Conspiracy theorists do more than oversell a point, they just make shit up to explain that which is hard to believe, or that which differs from their world view.

A good mix of conspiracy theory, news and ugly rhetoric is alJazeera Magazine. At least they have the courtesy of labeling things conspiracies.

Sample headline:
"The stupidity of the Baghdad puppets beggars belief."
...and I thought my rhetoric was juvenile.

CBC, wrong. Wrong.

"I think we can see a pattern here: Iraq, Palestine, Somalia. They don't want an Islamic state," the young Somali expat said from a London internet cafe. Thank the CBC for this wonderful bit of news.

It's not so much that the opinion is wrong (it is, somewhat), it's that it was presented without any juxtaposition or context.

Why it's wrong:
Iraq was not an Islamic state under Saddam.
"They"? The rallying cry of self-pity is rather old. That weak liberal-minded peoples would seek to encourage it with this ideological drivel is worse. An expat has earned their ignorance, wherever it might fall.

Why it's correct:
You're correct. Who wants to see a theocratic state? A Margaret Atwood looking world?

Saddam Hussein, Dead.

So Saddam Hussein has been executed (and here, here).

While a variety of people - HRW and The Economist por ejemplo, find it cruel, inhumane or unjust - make agreeable arguments though the simple truth is this: A genocidal dictator was executed. This is justice.

If anyone ever attempted to find execution as their end, it was Saddam Hussein. I shan't bother listing the litany of facts against him - read Samantha Power's book A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide for the case against him.

Neither celebration nor hand-wringing (or weeping and wailing for that matter) is appropriate.

Hey, even dictators dance:

Survival Tactics

Islamist gunmen have left their posts in Mogadishu, blending into the civilian population as transition government forces approach the city.

Nobody believes this is the end of trouble in Somalia.

On a related note dude's book (picture below) is a good backgrounder. Apparently he returned to Somalia a while ago to research his next.

Help Us Help Ourselves

...is essentially the message in Sudan. Sudan 'backs UN plan on Darfur' is the headline at the BBC. Yes, please help us stop ourselves from killing predominantly Black Africans in Darfur.

It's not like the resolution actually has teeth either.

Am I the only one who finds this funny?



Learn more here and here.

This is the post-Christmas funk:


Christmas - Beatlefied (Ritmono) or otherwise - is about Love, straight or mystic.

I'm really not sure how the aforementioned thoughtlines match up with this, but uh, surely there's something to it.



Y'know, letting people know they're special.

Merry Christmas.

Some Guys Have all the Fun

"A hardline Somali Islamist has called on foreign Muslims to take up arms in a 'holy war' against Ethiopia," reports today's Guardian. It must be a festive and giving spirit that would prompt people to make sacrificial moves.

Anyways, Somalia looks like it will get messy again. Does it need to?


Of note - Burberry lining and scarf, rev.
chic at its finest.

"Sudan must allow a team of UN personnel into Darfur and formally accept an international force for the area by January, or face unspecified US steps next year, a US special envoy has said." Well, that's something, right?

Wrong.

The ethnic cleansing in question has been going on since forever. The nice part about this story is you can be slow to catch it and guess what, it's still there.

Again, if you think people who do bad things sit around sweating their deeds and just waiting to confess, wrong. Spin began a long time ago. Any nation that'd seek to intervene is a neo-colonial power. It's not just homegrown morons thinking that either. Thank-you Khartoum.

Whatever.

Oppression got an AK.

When did it become a bad thing to eliminate the Taliban? When did people start forgetting that reconstruction can't really happen so long as there's somebody waiting to destroy whatever you're trying to build?

Oakland Ross breaks down separating the sheep from the fascistic (my words) Taliban.

I'm not the only one who thinks it's worthwhile. My man Dan had to agree (from Pound, May 23, 2004).

"Faced with mounting inequality and rising street protests, China is turning to Canada as a source of ideas on how to defuse ethnic conflicts and build a social safety net," is the lead in today's Globe.

Do you think the politicians in China know Canada's biggest weakness is our overwhelming ability to stop and congratulate ourselves for multiculturalism and forget everything else that's going on?

The piece, riddled with diplomatic bullshit, lacks balance. Try this for context.

Question, how's your Uighur heart?



Okay, so Falun Gong's are the most popular organs. I'm sure Uighurs' are still quite nice.

War - duh duh - what is it good for?

Absolutely nothing sounds better than good books, but the latter is true.

The list doesn't house a whole lot in the way of new reading suggestions, but does skip some obvious choices.

So what is peace? What exactly is this thing we're imagining?

Is peace the absence of guns and violence? Is is said absence instituted by a dictatorship or some sort of fascistic regime, say, of the sort that's taken over Somalia and made drivers follow simple driving rules?

Was pre-invasion Iraq a country of peace?

I mean, that's not even up for discussion. If that's peace then you're already lost. You'd believe the Mormon technique for masturbation avoidance is the way to go.

Separated at Birth:

Malcolm Gladwell


Steve Powers


Kid of Kid 'n Play

"A powerfully addictive drug, cocaine usually makes the user feel euphoric and energetic. Common health effects include heart attacks, respiratory failure, strokes, and seizures. Large amounts can cause bizarre and violent behavior."

It's also been known to wreak havoc on one's judgement, turn otherwise tolerable people into chattering morons with "informed" opinions on everything and yes, occasionally kill people (much to everyone's surprise).

Cocaine also brought us this:

Say merci,

What was the defining moment for Chechyn rebels in terms of crossing the line? I mean, let's ignore Putin's assertion that they're terrorists in the same vein as Al Qaeda, but have they become more militant and lost any of their validity as freedom fighters?

Has that happened?

If not, how long before it does, Militant Islam swelling their ranks as Moscow locks Chechnya down and the world looks the other way (if only because it's hella locked).

When homeboy (David Duke) is a speaker, considered a researcher well, your little conference is in trouble.

"Experts."

Christopher Hitchens points out the obvious in a review of a recent Stanford-medical-school study, that men generally wield their vastly superior humour in order to secure the affections of attractive women.

Novel.

Anyways, Hitchens, whom I happen to think is brilliant in general, and correct specifically regards to his feelings on militant islam is actually kinda humourless. Some kid created a Hitchens profile on Myspace which was kind of funny just because it existed.

It wasn't incredibly well done, which is to say it wasn't fooling anybody. Then someone - I'm guessing, some sycophantic little prick, the type who shows up and cheers at Hitchens' readings or debates or at political functions for that matter (like say, Liberal Convention, let's dance!) - someone must have reported the kid 'cause the profile is down.

Now that's weak.

Dating and distracting myself.

Noted Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaia was executed October 7, 2006, presumably for her reporting on Chechnya.

This war has only been going on for oh, close to 15 years. Online ground zero for research on the Chechen conflict appears to be the Kavkaz Center.

The videos section will ruin your sleep.

Note: Putin would have you believe all terrorists are the same. Clearly, they are not, shouts of allah akbar aside.

An absolutely ridiculously
hot follow-up to 45.33, linked to by dude .


John Ibbitson's comment in today's Globe - which you can't read unless you're registered or a subscriber (typically Canadian in its tightness, comparable papers south of the border don't do this) is interesting for its forthrightness. He's saying social conservatives - Christians - need to get back to saving souls and helping the needy and poor, and leave the rest to Caesar.

I happen to agree, though it's a joke to use the Great Commission ('go ye into all the world and preach the gospel') to single Christians out. Christians, sadly, are as much a special interest group as anybody else.

I need to stop reading stories like this over my morning cappucino and Nutella'd toast. It's just not healthy for my constitution.

At any rate, I have nothing articulate to say about it, it's just the type of story that prompts lumpy throats.

Is Canada Peaceful?

I happen to think we're peaceful. Yes, this not in spite of, but including our presence in Afghanistan.

Why?

Because we have a relatively (when compared to countries in the hemisphere) generous welfare system, which I suspect would be considered fighting poverty (though I fear it doesn't, in practice).

Further thoughts on my beloved country:
Canada is a relatively pussy country and we'd generally prefer to chew our own arms off before offending anybody.

So while our actions are peaceful, our collective mindset veers more towards incredibly passive aggressive which, I'm sure you'll agree, really isn't that peaceful.

At any rate, enough accurate flippancies, Somalia's popping up again as militant islamists introduce "peace" to the country and Mogadishu in particular.

Canadians might remember this - war is war, valid or debatable, united or uh, singular.

The first time I saw this pic I found it somewhat humourous, the Warholian type picture reaching for Trudeau status, you know, a return to Liberal domination in a funky setting.

Ignatieff never did go swimming for cameras, never let his wife (is he married?) hang out with rockstars and catch STDs.

Oh well.

And Los Liberales have settled on the constantly bemused and red-faced Dion, the loyal foot-soldier.

It's politics mang, foot soldiers? Loyal?

Oh Lordy.