Dive into the archives.
- Stratfor.com on Iraq 2005
It’s probably not entirely kosher to post subscription material on a blog, but this is significantly abridged to about 1/3 it’s total length. If you like this kind of stuff, get a Stratfor.com subscription!
Facing Realities in Iraq
December 30, 2004 1840 GMTBy George Friedman
On May 17, 2004, Stratfor argued that, “The United States must begin [...]
- Uzbekistani Elections
While the Ukraine was having its second presidential election, Uzbekistan was having a rather meaningless parliamentary election.
Five parties ran some 500 candidates for 120 seats in the lower house of parliament. These are the first elections since the country introduced a two-chamber parliament two years ago. But these weren’t really elections. Well, [...]
- Is it any different now?
Via the Marmot: this article on Korea-Russia relations.
Back in the 1970s, when I was a teenager in the then Soviet Union in my native Leningrad, many barbershops stocked copies of Korea magazine, a lavishly illustrated North Korean propaganda monthly. What was such a publication doing in the barbershops? The answer, I suspect, would be quite [...]
- Terminal Inspiration
Merhan Karimi Nasseri, also known as Sir Alfred Merhan, is an Iranian refugee who has been living on a red plastic bench next to a luggage store in the departure lounge of Terminal 1, Charles de Gaulle Airport since August 8, 1988. He is the unrecognized inspiration for this year’s Tom Hanks film Terminal as [...]
- Sore Losers of the Week
That distinction goes to two world figures: Usama Bin Laden and President Putin.
Bin Laden’s latest is an audio tape calling on all Iraqis to boycott the election, saying that anyone who participated would be considered an “infidel.” Keep it up, asshole. Your days are numbered.
The other sore loser is Putin, or at least [...]
- North Korea’s Liberalization Dilemma
I just read this article on DPRK defectors in the Washington Post, and it drove my pessimism about North Korea to even greater depths. The article shows, I think, why North Korea simply cannot liberalize and open up the easy way—it’s going to be a messy collapse at best.
Starting several years ago, North Korea [...]
- Inbound bogey over the North Pole… Patriot away!!
From Dean@Gadgetopia:
Welcome to the 2004 NORAD Tracks Santa Website For the 50th consecutive year, NORAD will be tracking Santa as he delivers presents tomorrow night. Let’s hope a Patriot missile doesn’t try to shoot him down by accident. It probably doesn’t matter, because according to a seriously geeky analysis, he’ll self-destruct anyway.
353,000 tons traveling at [...]
- Classical Greece on the Big Screen
Alexander leaves the big screen in a few days and I caught it at one of the last showings. I was pleasantly surprised. The reviews were so awful that my expectations couldn’t go much lower, but even keeping that in mind I think the film was very, very good. In fact, now [...]
- Can anyone guess who this is?
Click the comments section for the answer…
- Iran Diary
This past month has been extremely busy for me, both in my personal life and professional life. I had promised that I would put my journal describing my journey in Iran online once I got the holes filled. Well, it has been nearly a month since I returned, and I haven’t been able to fill [...]
