Dive into the archives.
- Iranian Crooks & EU Suckers
In light of his recent travels, I should probably defer blogging on Iran to Younghusband. But with the perfect storm of coverage on the Iraqi elections and Iranian nuclear program, I can’t sit on my hands—there is too much juicy stuff here.
The BBC can hardly contain its glee that the EU3 have recieved a [...]
- On Iranian duplicity and logic
You see, this illustrates the duplicity present in Iran.
In one newspaper:
Iran nuclear resolution adopted
Cyrus Naseri, an Iranian delegate to the talks, described the negotiations leading up to the agreement as “excruciating” but “friendly in most occasions.”
He said the resolution “signals the commencement of a new phase” and added, “We welcome the fact that the issue [...]
- Yushenko: Before and After
Ukrainian opposition leader Viktor Yushenko was apparently poisoned in the weeks before the election. We may never know if he was poisoned or not, but Yushenko, treated by Austrian doctors, has been left permanently disfigured by the incident. Just look at this comparison:
The ruling party claims the pro-western, cosmopolitan, out-of-touch Yushenko ate bad [...]
- The Netherlands vs Holland
What’s the difference between “Holland” and “The Netherlands”? Both titles refer to the same country, so what gives? “Holland” is just the name of two western provinces and are the location of the majority population, but is nonetheless widely used to refer to the entire country. It is perhaps equivalent to the [...]
- Calling all Farsi speakers!!
While at the Qods political rally in Tehran earlier this month I had a chance to pick up this pamphlet being handed out to the crowd. I don’t speak/read Farsi, but I think it would be really great if someone could translate this for us all. So hopefully someone out there can take a crack [...]
- Churchill vs. 43 Poll
In the words of eminent historian John Keegan, the genius of Winston Churchill in the run-up to WWII was that he managed to divide the world into those who were under the spell of Nazism and those who were against it, and created the impression that those against Hitler were the majority. For the War [...]
- Iran’s Nixon?
In response to Thomas Barnett’s post Iran’s ‘Nixon’ Considering Getting Kicked Around Again I sent him the following email:
Mr. Barnett,
I just returned from a month in Iran, and my feelings on the ground are that Rafsanjani doesn’t have a chance if he gets vetted for the next election. He is the target of much scorn [...]
- Pending Water Wars in Central Asia
“For Kazakhstan, the most alarm concerns two rivers—the Ili and Irtysh,” Eleusizov said. “The new infrastructure and factories in Xinjiang [in western China] consume a lot of water. The drinking water needs are increasing, too. If China continues to increase water consumption in the area, it will certainly affect the water resources on our side.”
Mr. [...]
- JFK Reloaded
I’m all for education and I love history—but must a simulation of JFK’s assasination really be so realistic that it requires a chunk of brain to fly off the visage of our dear former president?
(Not that I’m necessarily being judgmental. In case you’re wondering, that is my own screenshot. But I was far [...]
- Explaining Ukraine
Elections are frequently more than just left and right, liberal and conservative. Take South Korea: the elections are really a generational battle, with the younger generations voting for the Uri Party and President Park and the older generations backing the old school conservatives. Now in Ukraine, the pro-Moscow candidate Yanukovich has apparently defeated [...]
