Pacific Views

Friday Afternoon Stroll

Huffington Post: A collection of the HuffPo's Davos coverage.

ITAR-TASS: President Putin was a guest of honor at India's Republic Day parade, which is hardly surprising when Russia might build 10 nuclear reactors in India. Venezuela's President Chavez threatened to expel the US ambassador to his country, following critical remarks about the planned nationalization of additional portions of the energy sector and a telephone company.

Reuters: Iran accuses top IAEA personnel of spying, insisting that inspectors from countries initiating sanctions against Iran be barred from the country. (It should be noted that this charge would not be without precedent, as the US is known to have used the IAEA to spy on Iraq. It may or may not be true in this case, but it will not come off as an unreasonable suspicion internationally.) A bomb at a popular pet fair in Baghdad kills 15 people during Rep. Pelosi's visit. A UN resolution aimed at Iran's recent conference condemns Holocaust denial, with Iran's representative declaring the resolution a political ploy that will be used to further justify the treatment of the Palestinians. The US has officially declared open season on Iranians in Iraq. (This follows the recent kidnapping of Iranian diplomats in Erbil by US forces. The Kurds are now saying they want to help free the captured diplomats, which is probably about the smartest political move the Kurds could make at present, lacking in regional allies as they are.)

The News Blog: Yes, it does alarm me when a city government wants to use biometrics to monitor its workers' every movement, for their own good, of course. The major media has greatly sanitized coverage of the Iraq war, a reality that can be distinguished by watching various documentary productions on cable, but the war is probably one major disaster away from losing its last political legs. Winning hearts and minds, one wrecked apartment at a time. Though they've not directly attacked US troops, here's a bit more info on Iranian activities inside Iraq. The bizarre case of the murder of Americans in Iraq following their kidnapping by English-speaking militants outfitted in US gear.

Lawyers, Guns and Money: A tribute to National Forced Pregnancy Day. Accusations that Iranian IEDs are coming into Iraq are sketchily founded and even if true, may not be a function of Iranian policy. Pro-choice because, as noted by Canada's Justice Bertha Wilson, it's a matter of human dignity and the 'convenience' complaint trivializes women's lives. What happens when you cut community services for the mentally ill isn't even remotely funny. Two posts on the mandatory 10-year sentence for child molestation handed down to an 18 year old convicted under a bizarre law that criminalizes consensual oral sex between minors less than three years apart, which is a felony in Georgia. Why abortion rights contrarianism doesn't stand up to scrutiny.

Pandagon: You chicks should all get married because your singleness is undermining our '50s nostalgia. Amanda's bad at logic because wanting to be treated like an equal is equivalent to wanting to use someone like a servant. It's hard not to feel a little bad for the Cheney family as they come under attack for Mary Cheney's pregnancy, but Dick Cheney's reaction to it does him no credit. Why would it ever have been considered a type of derangement to think that George W. Bush isn't a nice person? Pam continues the sparring match with the ex-gay for pay. It's just a sad vignette when a fundamentalist Christian family kills their child, but gays deciding to commit their lives to each other in marriage threaten the very fabric of North Carolina society.

Posted by natasha at January 26, 2007 01:45 PM | Recommended Reading | TrackBack(1) | Technorati links |