More on inconsistent US opinions about the IAEA: we want an IAEA ruling against Iran. “Maybe if you let us do our job in Iraq…” The thing is, international agencies just don’t have much moral weight if one and only one country has veto power over them. Even if that country is moral and just. Fair? No, but true.
It looks like the whole looting question (original) has been more or less cleared up. Various people were quick to jump on reports that only a handful of artifacts were missing. Turns out that there are only a handful missing… now. Because Customs did its job and found thousands of missing items (mostly manuscripts, some artifacts). Praise is due to the US for making a strong and serious effort to fix the initial mistake. People who can’t wait for the full story to be in before mocking those who mourned the initial loss might want to consider getting a little more patient.
Dear Raed is back, with the assistance of Diana Moon. (Via Metafilter.)
So, this cartoon (original). It’s from a newish online comic strip, which has found an audience by being fervently right-wing. The art isn’t bad. OK, all well and good. Occasionally I see right-wing bloggers chuckling at a strip and I can usually see why. But, y’know, that cartoon. I gotta ask. Is the artist aware that the Dems are in fact blocking only a handful of nominees? Jeff Sutton got through, no problems. Deborah Cook just got through. Michael McConnell got through. Dennis Shedd got through. Timothy Tymkovich got through. ...
Quick little followup on Jimmy Wynn: Jay Bookman wrote an editorial about Wynn (original) in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. (Read it while you can; it’ll move to a paid archive at some point.) From the summaries of his past columns, I wouldn’t call him a conservative — he looks pretty liberal to me. He defended Wynn and praised the decisions made by the GBI. So, I guess that’s who’ll speak out against this injustice. Liberal columnists. ...
How times change. April 24, 2003 (original): The world must focus on the issue of nonproliferation, says President George Bush. “One of our goals and objectives must be to strengthen the nonproliferation regimes and get the whole world focused on proliferation of weapons of mass destruction,” he told Tom Brokaw of the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) during an April 24 interview aboard Air Force One on his way to Canton, Ohio. ...
Colin Powell’s concerned about Guantanamo Bay, it seems, or at least he’s writing Rumsfeld concerned letters about it. Man, there’s a wealth of implied information in that article. Not the least of which is anything you can glean from the fact that Powell’s writing letters rather than sitting down for a chat. He wants to be on the record? He can’t get a slot on Rumsfeld’s calendar? He wants amateur political observers like me to make random unfounded guesses? ...
Glenn Reynolds wrote about this case (original) as an example of Homeland Security out of control. I figured I’d take a look at it and condemn it; from his description it looked pretty open and shut. In fact, from the article, it looked pretty open and shut. Sure, the guy’s a right winger, but that’s no excuse for persecuting him. On the other hand, if he’s really taking a job at a gun store in order to collect names and home addresses of police in preparation for violent activity, that’s kind of the sort of thing you’d expect the cops to be worried about. So is Wynn telling the truth? ...
Mindboggling. The first debate of the election (original) and there’s no way I can find to watch or listen to it live. There’s not even an Internet feed. If I lived in South Carolina I’d have gone and bootlegged a feed somehow.
So, what’s up in the world this fine morning? Stratfor (original) kindly converted my US/Iraq war subscription into a general subscription, so I have a wealth of material to speak of. India and Russia are conducting joint naval exercises, which are pretty much symbolic — they want to remind the world that they’re allies. It’s a good thing to remember, considering that India fully intends to become a world power over the next twenty years. Bruce Sterling wrote a great article (original) about the India/China space race, which echoed this Guardian article from January. It might be somewhat disturbing to consider the fact that China, India, and Russia are all cheesed off about Gulf War II. Or not, if you think we’ve reached the end of history and no other nation will ever rise in prominence. ...