Pakistan Expanding Nuclear Program
India currently has an estimated 30 to 35 nuclear warheads based on a sophisticated plutonium design. Pakistan, which uses a simpler, uranium-based warhead design, has sought for years to modernize its arsenal, and a new heavy-water reactor could allow it to do so, weapons experts say.
“With plutonium bombs, Pakistan can fully join the nuclear club,” said a Europe-based diplomat and nuclear expert.
God’s army has plans to run the whole Middle East – Sunday Times – Times Online
A few minutes’ drive south from central Beirut takes you into what appears to be a different country. Beirut itself has European-style architecture, shops, hotels and cafes with men and women mostly wearing western clothes.
Once you enter Hezbollah land, the scene changes. You feel as if you are in Qom, the Iranian holy city, with men sporting bushy beards and women covered by mandatory hijab, milling around in noisy narrow streets fronted by nondescript shops. Billboards that advertise global bands in Beirut are used in Hezbollah land for pasting giant portraits of Khomeini and the Iranian “supreme guide” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Not surprisingly Hezbollah describes its territory as “Dar al-Iman” (House of Faith). Continue reading “God’s army has plans to run the whole Middle East”
Independent Online Edition > Middle East
Just as Yugoslavia disintegrated after strong-man Tito, Iraq without Saddam is imploding along ethnic and religious divisions; hemmed-in by the unrealistic straight-line political boundaries historically-drawn by the Colonial Powers. (See next Post)
“Iraq as a political project is finished,” a senior government official was quoted as saying, adding: “The parties have moved to plan B.” He said that the Shia, Sunni and Kurdish parties were now looking at ways to divide Iraq between them and to decide the future of Baghdad, where there is a mixed population. “There is serious talk of Baghdad being divided into [Shia] east and [Sunni] west,” he said.
Count Ethnic Divisions, Not Bombs, to Tell if a Nation Will Recover From War – New York Times
The good news is that history suggests that the destruction of war has no lasting impact on economic prospects. The bad news is that most of these countries, especially Iraq, are filled with ethnic divisions and civil discord. The evidence shows that these problems, unlike bombs, cause lasting damage to the prospects for a nation’s economy, even if they do not boil over into civil war.
Boundaries between many countries of the Middle East, like those in Africa, were haphazardly put together in negotiations by European colonizers who had little regard for ethnic realities. Indeed, they sometimes even lumped enemies together on purpose, hoping that ethnic hatreds might reduce anticolonial feelings. In a new study, three economists — Alberto F. Alesina and Janina Matuszeski of Harvard University and William Easterly of New York University — document how important internal cohesion is for the health of a society. Continue reading “Count Ethnic Divisions, Not Bombs, to Tell if a Nation Will Recover From War”
Copper Clappers is one the classics from Johnny Carson’s “Tonight Show”. This 1968 segment features Jack Webb of “Dragnet” fame; playing his famous tough detective role helping Carson, the victim, break the case.
Here is a 1905 video taken driving down San Francisco’s Market Street. Compare that with this photo taken looking back from the Ferry Building tower, which you can see at the end-of the street in the video. Click on the picture and get an option to download a high-resolution version. Thanks to Randy for bringing this video to our attention. An earlier post on this blog of a simulation of how the Golden Gate would handle a similiar quake.
ScienceDaily: Gas Escaping From Ocean Floor May Drive Global Warming
Remarkable and unexpected support for this idea occurred when divers and scientists from UC Santa Barbara observed and videotaped a massive blowout of methane from the ocean floor. It happened in an area of gas and oil seepage coming out of small volcanoes in the ocean floor of the Santa Barbara channel –– called Shane Seep –– near an area known as the Coal Oil Point seep field. The blowout sounded like a freight train, according to the divers.
Atmospheric methane is at least 20 times more potent than carbon dioxide and is the most abundant organic compound in the atmosphere.
Watch this Japanese illusionist/street magician at work.
Apparently he’s a young guy who disguises himself as an elderly man. Thanks Jeff for sending us this one.
Marriott Hotels Ban Smoking In Rooms
Two decades ago, about half the company’s rooms were set aside for smokers, but demand has steadily dropped, with only 5 percent of customers now requesting smoking rooms. At the same time, complaints about cigarette odor have increased, and company officials have struggled to address the issue.
Marriott, which will enforce its ban by charging violators $200 to $300, follows that of the Westin Hotels & Resorts chain, which late last year announced it was making all 77 of its properties smoke-free
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