...more recent posts
A useful bit of USENET jargon for these times of intense on line debate (invoked by the agonist): Godwin's Law:
"As a Usenet discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches one." There is a tradition in many groups that, once this occurs, that thread is over, and whoever mentioned the Nazis has automatically lost whatever argument was in progress. Godwin's Law thus practically guarantees the existence of an upper bound on thread length in those groups. However there is also a widely- recognized codicil that any intentional triggering of Godwin's Law in order to invoke its thread-ending effects will be unsuccessful.
Debka (salt to taste) says:
Exclusive Middle East sources have tracked down the top Iraqi leadership's bolt-hole. It is a large 1,600-room luxury resort with 600 meters of private sandy beach in the Mediterranean coastal town of Latakiya called Cote d'Azur De Cham Resort, prepaid and chartered in toto by Baghdad.That would sure fit the rest of the puzzle pretty well (I mean the part where the U.S. invades Syria next.) What could possibly be in it for Syria?
The group may include Saddam Hussein or his sons, but this is not confirmed.
The hotel is located close to the Assad family villa.
Top Iraqi officials are reported hiding there since March 23, four days after the US-led coalition invaded Iraq. They are guarded by a Syrian commando unit armed with anti-air missiles while Syrian naval missile boats secure the port.
Keep your eye on the ball.
Echoing a wider move away from the US dollar, the Indonesian government and the central bank, Bank Indonesia, may begin to use the euro in export-import transactions and foreign-exchange reserves.Who's next? Iran?
The statement was made by Finance Minister Boediono, Bank Indonesia governor Syahril Sabirin and senior deputy governor Anwar Nasution here on the weekend in connection with state oil company Pertamina's plan to use the euro in its trade transactions.
I think the conventional wisdom is that Iraq has learned at least something from Kosovo. Here's an interesting story of how they defeated U.S. radar seeking missles with microwave ovens. Could this be true?
If it's true that we don't seem to be able to knock out Iraqi communications infrastructure, I wonder if they might be using UWB wireless. Could the U.S. even do anything about that?
Here's an old Cringley piece on ultra wide band, if you want to know what it is.
Andrew Tyndall tirelessly tracks network news broadcasts, publishing a weekly newsletter, The Tyndall Report, with an exhaustive breakdown of minutes of coverage given to all major stories. Plus some quick analysis. Especially interesting now, I think.
Last one for now. Just something to remember:
"I believe demolishing Hussein's military power and liberating Iraq would be a cakewalk."
Dick Cheney, "Meet the Press", March 16, 2003
Can anyone find a definitive link establishing the validity of this quote? (I'm sure it's accurate, I just want a link.) I'm looking too. I'll report back any findings.
[update: I believe this quote is not accurate. Discussion inside.]
I have no time for this today. Lots of work to do. But I hope to say something soon about the phrase "weapons of mass destruction" and, to a lesser extent, the term "terrorism." These two terms are very dangerous because they are much in use right now, and yet they both appear to have no meaning.
If I was editor of this website I'd assign Bruno with the linguistic backgrounder on these terms - both their use and misuse - and Frank with the (L.R.J influenced) piece on the danger of words with no meanings. Of course I wield no such power, so you'll have to suffer through my no doubt inferior take on these matters.
As soon as I get a few moments.
Sounds like the beginning of the end for Rumsfeld.
I was wondering when this story would hit. I think this is the "real" reason for the war. I've tried to make this argument in private and it's been, ummm, not well received. And while this article certain doesn't settle any questions, I'm glad to see it getting some air.
Effectively, the normal standards of economics have not applied to the US, because of the international role of the dollar. Some $3 trillion (£1,880 billion) are in circulation around the world helping the US to run virtually permanent trade deficits. Two-thirds of world trade is dollar-denominated. Two-thirds of central banks' official foreign exchange reserves are also dollar-denominated.Iraq is the only major oil exporter to clear their sales in Euros. Iran is reportedly "contemplating" a switch. There is a much longer paper about this subject. I'll dig up the link.
Dollarisation of the oil markets is one of the key drivers for this, alongside, in recent years, the performance of the US economy. The majority of countries that require oil imports require dollars to pay for their fuel. Oil exporters similarly hold, as their currency reserve, billions in the currency in which they are paid. Investing these petrodollars straight back into the US economy is possible at zero currency risk.
So the US can carry on printing money - effectively IOUs - to fund tax cuts, increased military spending, and consumer spending on imports without fear of inflation or that these loans will be called in. As keeper of the global currency there is always the last-ditch resort to devaluation, which forces other countries' exporters to pay for US economic distress. It's probably the nearest thing to a 'free lunch' in global economics.