Arabian peninsula = Bahrain, Iraq, Iran, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Leb¬anon, Oman, Palestinian territories, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, United Arab Emirates, Yemen ( Read more... )

Just yesterday I finally stopped ignoring the Middle East and looked up a few things. Like who is Shia and who is Sunni. And who has nukes and where. And what exactly an Islamist is. It was....a useful exercise. Anyone else out there taking an interest in this juncture of history? I'm ready to be educated ( Read more... )

Ahmadinejad actually carried out a “personnel revolution” to change the composition of his Cabinet of Ministers. In that sense, we can agree with the interpretation of Middle East Institute President Evgeny Satanovsky, who said that Ahmadinejad had “made preparations for an internal coup by changing the format of power,” which shows that the clergy ( Read more... )

He makes a good argument for the use of nuclear power to limit the burning of fossil fuels. And he paints the US opposition to this effort as a selfish gambit to keep the world hooked on oil. There's a translation of his speech here.

The Daily Dish (Andrew Sullivan) is tracking the events starting with this post. I got a sense of what is going on from his posts, and you can too if you want, before the corporate news delivers their milquetoast spin. It's not pretty, or safe. The chant you hear repeated in this clip translates to “I will kill, I will kill, those who kill my ( Read more... )

( random thoughts )

Click to view

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/12/26/2455293.htm
Lots of Christains are mighty miffed, but once again I find myself agreeing with this man's criticisms of imperialist powers today, and with his hopes for the future of humanity.
( direct quotes from the ABC article )

http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/07/09/jesse-jackson-apologizes-for-obama-remarks/
( thoughts and links )

Click to view

I don't think the TV guy has much of a clue, but maybe you do.
Thanks to rinku for keeping me up to date.