Iran's Funny Man

The U.N. Security Council just announced a new, harsher set of sanctions on Iran. Meanwhile, Ahmadinejad continues to say Iran will continue on its quest to acquire nuclear energy--for "civilian" uses, of course! The U.N. can continue to issue these sanctions, but Iran just won't listen--how can we take the U.N. seriously this way?

Bush and Chavez Slug it Out

Bush and Hugo Chavez both romp around South America, trying to garner support. Then Chavez launches insults at Bush and claims it's "nothing personal."

Happy 50th Birthday Osama!

Apparently Bin Laden turns 50 years old in March! Hopefully al-Qaeda has mandatory retirement requirements soon.

The Offender Makes His Demands

So North Korea's Kim Jong Il launched missiles, then apologized, and now he's negotiating for increased aid packages and greater economic cooperation with South Korea? Doesn't he know trust takes time to build? He's the one who offended, he shouldn't be setting the terms of negotiations.

Palestinian Unity Comes Up Short

The new pact for a Palestinian Unity Government, signed between Hamas and Fatah, has come up short on world demands. Hamas holds the presidency of the PA, just short of half of the cabinet, and Hamas has agreed to "respect" (not abide by) former agreements between the PA and Israel, while still refusing to recognize Israel's existence. It seems that this agreement was assembled to show to the world a semblance of unity (we'll see if they actually stop killing each other) while trying to win a Saudi offer of aid, as well as end the world embargo on aid to the PA. My guess is that this new government will not hold together well and will not make any advances in the peace process, as Hamas will still not recognize Israel.

Groundhog Speaks the Truth

I never really figured out why we focus so much on a furry little animal to tell us about the weather, he doesn't usually get it right. World trends definitely are easier to predict, though.
Happy Groundhog's Day!

Denying the Truth

Jimmy Carter claims in his book that Israel is the primary obstacle to peace in the Middle East. The problem is that groups like Hamas and the PLO, who are considered to be Israel's partners for peace, explicitly declare in their charters and publicly say that they will accept no Jewish state there and that they refuse to even negotiate--in other words, the "occupation" refers to all of Israel, since the whole land belongs to the Palestinians, in their terrorist rhetoric. I asked Jimmy Carter myself how he could support his claim in light of this contradiction, but he just will not recognize facts even if they scream in his face--he simply cited 'statistics' that most of Hamas is moderate and accepts Israel, though their leaders like Khaled Mashal have declared again and again that they will never do this. Just goes to show that even presidents are naive.