The case...

...of the German defense minister's PhD thesis, or rather the plagiarism in it :)

The Guttenberg Plagiarism Scandal: 'German Society Is Applying a Double Standard' - SPIEGEL ONLINE - News - International

Interesting and...

...informative article.

This is an Arab 1848. But US hegemony is only dented | Tariq Ali | Comment is free | The Guardian

I would tend...

...to believe what he is saying, specially the last few words:

The prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has urged the UN security council not to impose sanctions on Libya.

Erdogan said sanctions would punish the Libyan people rather than Gaddafi's regime. He also suggested that the international community might be acting more out of concern about Libya's oil reserves than about the welfare of the country's people.

The people are already struggling to find food, how will you feed the Libyan people? Sanctions, an intervention, would force the Libyan people, who are already up against hunger and violence, into a more desperate situation. We call on the international community to act with conscience, justice, laws and universal humane values not out of oil concerns.

Two news items...

...demonstrating the irrelevance to which these two competing (at least apparently, if we forget the role one played in creating the other) characters/entities have been reduced in the context of world events:

Obama condemns Libyan violence, calls for international response

Al Qaeda's North African wing says it backs Libya uprising

So presumably...

...the bloodshed has to be at an acceptable level!

Clinton to Libya: End 'unacceptable bloodshed' - CNN.com: "Clinton to Libya: End 'unacceptable bloodshed'
By the CNN Wire Staff"

It seems...

...now that another crackpot, once terrorist, then statesman, despot all the way, is about to be dispatched.

Not to be forgotten are the unnamed hundreds laying their lives who would have made this possible at the end.

Finished reading...

...the following 2 books in the past couple of weeks (mainly during the 30 mins train ride, one-way, on my way to school, for about an hour of reading a few times a week).

1) Brothers in Arms: The Story of Al-Qaida and the Arab Jihadists by Camille Tawil.

This is a translation in English of the original in Arabic, and makes for really depressing reading. It presents, in all the details, how the roots of "jihad" were sown in the Afghan war, how the Western countries armed and trained the fodder, the surviving ones of which later turned back on their creators in brutal blowback, how the same Western countries accommodated the groups that sprung from the Afghan war when it suited their interests, how the intelligence agencies infiltrated the jihadi groups, and, not to be missed, the role that Pakistan played in all of this, as the base from where it all started, and from which the poor country has not recovered, more than 3 decades later.

Of course, who bore the brunt of all this: the poor men and women and children, in their millions, who had no part to play in this, but who suffered the terrible consequences.

THIS is a book I am happy to have read.

2) Conversations with Terrorists by Reese Erlich.

This one is not bad, though the only interesting, and unknown to me, character interviewed in the book was Geula Cohen, someone who is proud to be a terrorist, and believes in what any sane human being would find despicable. An excerpt from the book:

"Whatever benefits the nation, even if it brings harm to many individuals, is morally desirable, " Cohen writes. ...Such nationalism, once at the extreme end of the Israeli political spectrum, has today become part of the mainstream.

One more despot...

...gone. But the system remains. So do the torturers and killers and rapists, all having been trained and supported by the "civilized world". But they, like the leaders of the "civilized world" who support them, must be afraid deep down, of what can happen when battered and repressed people cast aside their fear.

For now, read the "statements" of the leaders of the "civilized world" and laugh.

Egypt's joy as Mubarak quits | Tariq Ali | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk

Egypt's joy as Mubarak quits | Tariq Ali | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk

This is...

...it. The power of the people. Despite the machinations of the "civilized world", and the depravity of the perverts who become its stooges, the people have made themselves heard.

This ain't victory...yet...but it will come, I now believe, maybe another three decades later, but rule of law is possible, for all people to walk with their heads held high, however distant the prospect may seem now.

Mubarak 'leaves Cairo' - live updates | World news | guardian.co.uk

George Bush calls off trip to Switzerland | Law | The Guardian

George Bush calls off trip to Switzerland | Law | The Guardian

A snowy day...

...in January.

Yasmin Alibhai-Brown: David Cameron's message is that Muslims are not wanted - Yasmin Alibhai-Brown, Commentators - The Independent

Yasmin Alibhai-Brown: David Cameron's message is that Muslims are not wanted - Yasmin Alibhai-Brown, Commentators - The Independent

Another family destroyed...

...in Pakistan. Then they wonder 'why do they hate us'.

Wife of man killed by Davis commits suicide | DAWN.COM | Latest news, Breaking news, Pakistan News, World news, business, sport and multimedia

Middle East unrest according to Glenn Beck and friends | World news | guardian.co.uk

Middle East unrest according to Glenn Beck and friends | World news | guardian.co.uk

No need of comments from me, if indeed I can comment on such stuff. This speaks for itself.

James Zogby: Politics and Nonsense on Egypt

James Zogby: Politics and Nonsense on Egypt

Interesting read.

US-Reaktion auf Krise in Ägypten: Obamas diplomatischer Blackout - SPIEGEL ONLINE - Nachrichten - Politik

US-Reaktion auf Krise in Ägypten: Obamas diplomatischer Blackout - SPIEGEL ONLINE - Nachrichten - Politik

"Keine Haltung, keine klaren Worte: Die US-Regierung hat die Krise in Ägypten verschlafen. Viel zu spät hat sie den Ernst der Lage begriffen und ringt nun hinter den Kulissen um eine Lösung des Konflikts. Versagt Präsident Obama dabei, ist seine Außenpolitik auf lange Sicht diskreditiert."

What the above means, in simple words, is that the US (and by implication "civilized world's") support for democracy and rule of law has been exposed for the BS it always was...if it needed any exposition at all in the first place. Those who have have risked so much to defy the despots are not so dumb.

Interesting article...

...about what's happening in Egypt. Unfortunately for the civilized world, no jihadis are mentioned as being behind the show of defiance by the people.

Quiet heroines whose courage has helped keep uprising going - Africa, World - The Independent

It's not radical Islam...

...that worries the US – it's independence

I ain't the one sayin' that. Read it here.

Today's headline...

...in the print edition of the Toronto Star reads:

"US backs Egypt's generals"

Is there any surprise in this? Did anyone really hope that democracy and justice would prevail? Or that the leader of the civilized world would support these lofty ideals?

How about this civilized voice?

Tony Blair: Mubarak is 'immensely courageous and a force for good'