russia – Page 7 – Citizen Reporter

Nicest Populations Get Murdered

Sitting in the heart of the Jordaan this evening, as boats sailed by, bikes rattled past, and drunken teenagers hobbled from bar to bar, I spent some quality time with a very special girl. She graduated, as did I, from the U of Amsterdam, and during her studies went off to Darfur to do field work related to displaced people and the genocide that happened and is beginning to happen again.

She’s been travelling alot lately, and so I updated her on things like Spike Lee’s documentary, conspiracy theories, and who’s been on Bill Maar’s show lately. As we sat there talking about all the death and destruction in the world, she began to go into detail about her experience in Darfur and how everything is unfolding with the world’s full knowledge and yet nothing is done.

Among the things she talked about was the hospitality she received there, how people were so unbelievably welcoming to an American girl from Georgia. They even knew I was Jewish, she said, to further emphasize how kind the people of Darfur are. We went on to speak about the oil deals and other interests, especially those of China and Russia, that further help to halt any and all efforts to intervene in the mass murders.

At some point, she puts her empty glass on the table and says something like

“It is almost like, the nicer a culture or a population, the more likely they are to be victims of mass murder.”

I thought about that as I rode home. I thought about her travels and how eventually, she’ll likely end up back in Sudan, trying to do whatever she can, her small part in the face of so much complacency. As sad as the conversation sometimes seemed, it is inspiring to spend time and share ideas with someone of such intelligence and understanding of the world around us.

Bad Things Happen in Nuremberg

Someone needs to make a musical version of tonight’s Portugal versus Netherlands match. I hate talking sports, but in this case we are talking musical theater. Like West Side Story meets Hamlet. Actually maybe not Hamlet.

It had everything… drama, dance, anger, love, and an insane Russian referee. Fantastic! All that’s missing is the music and we can take this show to broadway. If you didn’t see the match, go find it on bittorent, it’s not a sport, it is a show worthy of Andrew Lloyd Weber. 2 thumbs up!

bm133 Love Letters and Forgotten Secrets; The Words of Ahmadinejad

Judging by the news stories over the past few days, the US has come to accept that Iran can and should be talked with. While over the past few weeks, the Iranian president himself has been doing alot of talking, interviewing, and travelling. So what about this alleged monster as many western political leaders and media have portrayed him. We know he says some pretty contreversial things, but what else is he saying? This podcast looks into his recent words and rehashes Iran Contra, still very important it todays situation.

Links:
The Famous Letter
The Spiegel Interview
Iran-Contra on Wikipedia
and I mentioned Karmabanque Radio

Nuclear Irony

I burst into the amsterdam vlogger meetup this evening and my opening statement was as follows:

If you don’t want other nations to get nuclear weapons, try not developing them in the first place.

I listened to radio open source on the way from the oud west to de balie, and they were talking about what if Iran gets nuclear weapons. And then the bigshots give their little shpeal about what might happen and what might not. They bring plenty of points, some are even good, but I can’t stop having the same thoughts over and over:

Why does the United States or the European government get to decide who can and can’t have nuclear technology or weapons? I mean, I hate both and think both have brought more harm then good to the world. But put aside my idealistic evaluations — we live in a world where nuclear weapons exist. Yet somehow a few nations try to decide who can and can not have these weapons that can basically lead to the destruction of the earth. Somehow they are more responsible and are more qualified to determine right and wrong, good and evil, and responsible and irresponsible.

It just keeps repeating in my head — these weapons shouldnt exist to begin with, but they do. And who the hell can point the finger and say Iran is not allowed, while Pakistan, India, China, UK, Russia, North Korea, France, hell.. even Brazil has enriched uranium. Its the old double standard of international relations. Hypocracy through and through.

Driving Around with Nuclear Missiles

Thursday is my all-day in the fishtank day, where all the little fishies come to use the computers. As part of my fishtank ritual, I read the International Herald Tribune and the Financial Times; both because its the only reading material around and because Im looking for stories that deserve more attention. And today it was an article on the British Submarine fleet.

Some people may not find it a big deal, but I’m kind of baffled by the fact that the United Kingdom has a fleet of submarines in service that are still armed with long range nuclear missles carrying multiple warheads.
I repeat and I’ll quote the article:

Nevermind. I can’t quote it now, some dude is eating his lunch over it.

Anyway according to the Naval Defence Industries, the Vanguard class submarines current in service, carry a maximum of 48 nuclear warheads!

Now I ask you, British military, and people around the world. Why? What for? Why is it that certain countries still feel the need to pretend nuclear war could happen at any minute and that without the capability to launch a zillion nuclear missiles, their nation will never survive?

In this case I’m focusing solely on the UK. I’m sure the US and Russia also enjoy sending out their submarines loaded with nuclear missiles to launch at imaginary enemies.

According to the description in the FT, who I believe was quoting the Royal Navy, these nuclear missiles are to be used against “rogue nations.” Nice and specific eh?

The scariest part is that members of the Navy have to work with these useless, accident-waiting-to-happen weapons. I’m sure they’re very efficient and knowledgable with how to manage missiles with multiple world-destroying war heads. But even the slightest possiblilty of any type of nuclear accident is unacceptable.

The real reason they still exist? Beyond any military-strategic reasons, it’s because two major corporations profit from building and servicing the missiles: BAE and LockheedMartin. Who should both be taken to task by the public and by governments for encouraging and profiting from this out-dated and dangerous business arangement.

Bonus:
In honor of my occasional participation in videobloggingweek2006, I present a video montage of my thoughts the other day.

His Eyes Are Blood Thirsty

After wrapping up show 100 last night, since it was 3am anyway, I decided to catch some of the state of the union address. Course I could neither stomach or stay awake to watch more than 20 minutes of it, but I still had enough time to catch the war-criminal-in-chief’s Iran segment. And thought I was drowsy, it really hit home….

The man wants to invade Iran. The man wants to bomb Iran into the stoneage. I could see it, for some reason, this look I hadn’t noticed before. This dillusional rich-boy-turned-world leader actually believes it is an option to use war to get Iran to behave the way he thinks they should. And with the potential backing of the EU, China, and Russia, it suddenly occurred to me – he’s crazy, disconnected, and careless enough to order it. What difference does it make to him how many innocent Iranians would die, how many more soldiers would die, and all the remifications of invading a country as strong and proud as Iran.

I usually am not surprised by revelations in the realm of politics and conflict, you can usually see them coming, no matter how bad. But this one is a particularly tough one for me to swallow. I’m already thinking up actions that a podjournalist and an activist can take, to try and expose the stupidity and futility of using large scale violence to subjigate yet another nation in the name of “freedom”.